I media under de senaste åren har en mörk bild av unga svensk-somalier vuxit fram bland annat kopplat till gängkriminalitet. Det påverkar även de unga svensk-somalier som inte hamnat snett. Som en kontrast till dem som hamnat i kriminalitet, arbetslöshet och utanförskap lyfts svensk-somaliska högskolestudenter fram i denna studie. Syftet var att skapa förståelse för deras identitetsskapande och upplevelse av meningsfullhet samt hur det påverkar deras välbefinnande. Studien utgick ifrån ett socialpsykologiskt perspektiv och analyserades med hjälp av teorierna KASAM och social identitetsteori samt begreppen etnicitet, mellanförskap och dubbel kulturell tillhörighet. Metoden var kvalitativ och kvalitativa semistrukturerade intervjuer genomfördes med 10 respondenter. Respondenterna var högskolestuderande med svensk-somalisk ursprung i åldern 21-24 år. Resultatet visade att etnicitet, religionstillhörighet, familj, vänner och föreningsliv varit viktigt i identitetsskapandet. Religion, familj och målmedvetenhet beskrevs som viktiga delar för att skapa meningsfullhet. Dessutom var det vanligt att motgångar och negativt bemötande vändes till en motivationskälla. De framgångsfaktorer för välbefinnande som framkom var gemenskap, socialt stöd, tro, målmedvetenhet och att vända motgångar till motivation. / In the media in the recent years, a negative picture of young Somali-Swedes has emerged, among other things linked to gang crime. It also affects the young Somali-Swedes who have not gone astray. As a contrast to those who ended up in crime, unemployment and exclusion, Somali-Swedish university students are highlighted in this study. The aim was to create an understanding of their identity formation and experience of meaningfulness and how it affects their well-being. The study was based on a social psychological perspective and has been analyzed with the help of the theories Sense of Coherence (SOC) and Social Identity Theory (SIT) as well as the concepts of ethnicity, in-betweenness and dual cultural belonging. The method was qualitative and qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten respondents. The respondents were university students of Somali-Swedish origin aged 21-24. The results showed that ethnicity, religious affiliation, family, friends and participation in civic society were important in the formation of identity. Religion, family and sense of purpose were described as important elements in creating meaning. In addition, it was common that adversity and negative treatment were turned into a source of motivation. The factors of success for well-being that were found were community, social support, faith, purposefulness and turning adversity into motivation.

La thèse intitulée "Conception, caractérisation et optimisation d’un transistor à effet de champ haute tension en Carbure de Silicium (SiC) et de leur diode associée", s’est déroulée au sein du laboratoire AMPERE sous la direction du Prof. D. PLANSON. Des premiers démonstrateurs de JFET ont été réalisés. Le blocage du JFET n'est pas efficace, ceci étant lié aux difficultés de réalisation technologique. Le premier travail a consisté en leur caractérisation précise puis en leur simulation, en tenant compte des erreurs de processus de fabrication. Ensuite, un nouveau masque a été dessiné en tenant en compte des problèmes technologiques identifiés. Les performances électriques de la nouvelle génération du composant ont ainsi démontré une amélioration importante au niveau de la tenue en tension. Dans le même temps, de nouveaux problèmes se sont révélés, qu’il sera nécessaire de résoudre dans le cadre de travaux futurs. Par ailleurs, les aspects de tenue en court-circuit des JFETs en SiC commercialement disponibles ont été étudiés finement. Les simulations électrothermiques par TCAD ont révélé les modes de défaillances. Ceci a permis d'établir finalement des modèles physiques valables pour les JFETs en SiC. / Silicon carbide (SiC) has higher critical electric field for breakdown and lower intrinsic carrier concentration than silicon, which are very attractive for high power and high temperature power electric applications. In this thesis, a new 3.3kV/20A SiC-4H JFET is designed and fabricated for motor drive (330kW). This breakdown voltage is beyond the state of art of the commercial unipolar SiC devices. The first characterization shows that the breakdown voltage is lower (2.5kV) than its theoretical value. Also the on-state resistance is more important than expected. By means of finite element simulation the origins of the failure are identified and then verified by optical analysis. Hence, a new layout is designed followed by a new generation of SiC-4H JFET is fabricated. Test results show the 3.3kV JFET is developed successfully. Meanwhile, the electro-thermal mechanism in the SiC JFETs under short circuit is studied by means of TCAD simulation. The commercial 1200V SIT (USCi) and LV-JFET (Infineon) are used as sample. A hotspot inside the structures is observed. And the impact the bulk thickness and the canal doping on the short circuit capability of the devices are shown. The physical models validated by this study will be used on our 3.3kV once it is packaged.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of School Intervention Teams (SITs) in assisting learners with Special Educational Needs (SEN) at community junior secondary schools (CJSS) in Botswana. This case study was guided by the cultural-historical theory on cognitive development by Lev Vygotsky and Bill Hettler’s theory on wellness dimensions. The study used mixed research approach which combined qualitative and quantitative method. The data collection instruments used included questionnaires which were completed by members of SITs, semi-structured oral interview which was specifically planned for SIT coordinators and lastly, document analysis. This research task was carried out under the permission of University of South Africa (UNISA) Ethics Clearance Committee and Ministry of Education and Skills Development (Botswana). Letters of consent were obtained from the school heads, SIT coordinators and members of SIT in the sampled community junior secondary schools (CJSS). The findings of this study showed that the effectiveness of SIT is dependent upon availability of positive attitude and support towards Inclusive Education by school management team, teachers, parents, external stakeholders (Botswana examinations Centre, Central Resource Centre, Principal Education Officers for Special education). Effectiveness of SIT is also enhanced by availability of resources such as teaching learning aids, office and classroom for remediation of the identified learners. Therefore, there is still a great gap between special education recommendation and their implementation in CJSS in Botswana and this hinders the effectiveness of SITs. / Inclusive Education / M. Ed. (Inclusive Education)

The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of School Intervention Teams (SITs) in assisting learners with Special Educational Needs (SEN) at community junior secondary schools (CJSS) in Botswana. This case study was guided by the cultural-historical theory on cognitive development by Lev Vygotsky and Bill Hettler’s theory on wellness dimensions. The study used mixed research approach which combined qualitative and quantitative method. The data collection instruments used included questionnaires which were completed by members of SITs, semi-structured oral interview which was specifically planned for SIT coordinators and lastly, document analysis. This research task was carried out under the permission of University of South Africa (UNISA) Ethics Clearance Committee and Ministry of Education and Skills Development (Botswana). Letters of consent were obtained from the school heads, SIT coordinators and members of SIT in the sampled community junior secondary schools (CJSS). The findings of this study showed that the effectiveness of SIT is dependent upon availability of positive attitude and support towards Inclusive Education by school management team, teachers, parents, external stakeholders (Botswana examinations Centre, Central Resource Centre, Principal Education Officers for Special education). Effectiveness of SIT is also enhanced by availability of resources such as teaching learning aids, office and classroom for remediation of the identified learners. Therefore, there is still a great gap between special education recommendation and their implementation in CJSS in Botswana and this hinders the effectiveness of SITs. / Inclusive Education / M. Ed. (Inclusive Education)

Chaque année, plus de 5 millions de personne à travers le monde deviennent hémiplégiques suite à un accident vasculaire cérébral. Ce soudain déficit neurologique conduit bien souvent à une perte partielle ou totale de la station debout et/ou à la perte de la capacité de déambulation. Dans l’optique de proposer de nouvelles solutions d’assistance situées entre le fauteuil roulant et le déambulateur, cette thèse s’inscrit dans le cadre du projet ANR TECSAN VHIPOD « véhicule individuel de transport en station debout auto-équilibrée pour personnes handicapées avec aide à la verticalisation ». Dans ce contexte, ces travaux de recherche apportent des éléments de réponse à deux problématiques fondamentales du projet : l’assistance au passage assis-debout (PAD) des personnes hémiplégiques et le déplacement à l’aide d’un véhicule auto-équilibré à deux roues. Ces problématiques sont abordées du point de vue de la robotique avec comme question centrale : peut-on utiliser l’approche Takagi-Sugeno (TS) pour la synthèse d’une commande ? Dans un premier temps, la problématique de mobilité des personnes handicapées a été traitée sur la base d’une solution de type gyropode. Des lois de commande basées sur les approches TS standard et descripteur ont été proposées afin d’étudier la stabilisation des gyropodes dans des situations particulières telles que le déplacement sur un terrain en pente ou le franchissement de petites marches. Les résultats obtenus ont non seulement permis d’aboutir à un concept potentiellement capable de franchir des obstacles, mais ils ont également permis de souligner la principale difficulté liée à l’applicabilité de l’approche TS en raison du conservatisme des conditions LMIs (inégalités matricielles linéaires). Dans un second temps, un banc d’assistance au PAD à architecture parallèle a été conçu. Ce type de manipulateur constitué de multiples boucles cinématiques présente un modèle dynamique très complexe (habituellement donné sous forme d’équations différentielles ordinaires). L’application de lois de commande basées sur l’approche TS est souvent vouée à l’échec compte tenu du grand nombre de non-linéarités dans le modèle. Afin de remédier à ce problème, une nouvelle approche de modélisation a été proposée. À partir d’un jeu de coordonnées bien particulier, le principe des puissances virtuelles est utilisé pour générer un modèle dynamique sous forme d’équations algébro-différentielles (DAEs). Cette approche permet d’aboutir à un modèle quasi-LPV où les seuls paramètres variants représentent les multiplicateurs de Lagrange issus de la modélisation DAE. Les résultats obtenus ont été validés en simulation sur un robot parallèle à 2 degrés de liberté (ddl) puis sur un robot parallèle à 3 ddl développé pour l’assistance au PAD. / Every year more than 5 million people worldwide become hemiplegic as a direct consequence of stroke. This neurological deficiency, often leads to a partial or a total loss of standing up abilities and /or ambulation skills. In order to propose new supporting solutions lying between the wheelchair and the walker, this thesis comes within the ANR TECSAN project named VHIPOD “self-balanced transporter for disabled persons with sit-to-stand function”. In this context, this research provides some answers for two key issues of the project : the sit-to-stand assistance (STS) of hemiplegic people and their mobility through a two wheeled self-balanced solution. These issues are addressed from a robotic point of view while focusing on a key question : are we able to extend the use of Takagi-Sugeno approach (TS) to the control of complex systems ? Firstly, the issue of mobility of disabled persons was treated on the basis of a self-balanced solution. Control laws based on the standard and descriptor TS approaches have been proposed for the stabilization of gyropod in particular situations such as moving along a slope or crossing small steps. The results have led to the design a two-wheeled transporter which is potentially able to deal with the steps. On the other hand, these results have also highlighted the main challenge related to the use of TS approach such as the conservatisms of the LMIs constraints (Linear Matrix Inequalities). In a second time, a test bench for the STS assistance based on parallel kinematic manipulator (PKM) was designed. This kind of manipulator characterized by several closed kinematic chains often presents a complex dynamical model (given as a set of ordinary differential equations, ODEs). The application of control laws based on the TS approach is often doomed to failure given the large number of non-linear terms in the model. To overcome this problem, a new modeling approach was proposed. From a particular set of coordinates, the principle of virtual power was used to generate a dynamical model based on the differential algebraic equations (DAEs). This approach leads to a quasi-LPV model where the only varying parameters are the Lagrange multipliers derived from the constraint equations of the DAE model. The results were validated on simulation through a 2-DOF (degrees of freedom) parallel robot (Biglide) and a 3-DOF manipulator (Triglide) designed for the STS assistance.

This thesis is an exploratory look into the use of mindfulness practice on in-depth nature experiences to determine if the practice has benefit to the participant, their outdoor experience, and overall connectedness with nature. An original research project examined three groups of adolescents from St. Michaels University School Outdoor Education program in Victoria, BC, Canada, as they hiked the Juan de Fuca trail. Two of the three groups undertook a simple mindfulness protocol to explore the outcomes. Based on participant-observation and interviews, mindfulness practice was determined to be a useful practice towards alleviating stress and anxiety associated with aspects of in-depth outdoor experiences, such as morning preparations. Participants who practiced mindfulness on the trip asked fewer questions about the future and remained present more often than those who did not practice mindfulness. A further finding was that there are aspects of mindfulness inherent in in-depth nature experiences, such as sitting around a fire. These inherent mindfulness moments should be encouraged as they provide benefit to trip experiences, and potentially towards greater connectedness with nature. Overall, this qualitative study suggests that mindfulness is a useful tool for the benefit of human well-being and nature connection. However, more research is needed to further identify the magnitude and mechanisms of the benefit. / Graduate