The goal of this study was to examine the professional development experiences of two participants while they were creating standards-based individualized education plan (IEP) goals using a virtual world called TeacherSim. The focuses of the study were how did special educators engage with the task of creating standards-based IEP goals using TeacherSim and how did TeacherSim support or hinder this? This research used a descriptive case study selecting two participants from the larger data set of seven participants. The data was analyzed using qualitative coding which compared the observed experiences with the case propositions. This case study demonstrated that special education professionals can work at a distance to learn the process of creating standards-based IEP goals while using the technology of a virtual world. Similarly, the use of virtual world technology appeared to facilitate feelings of physical and social presence, which aided in online collaborative activities.

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In 1898, H G Wells published The War of the Worlds, a scathing indictment of colonialism from the perspective of the colonized. The following year, Rudyard Kipling penned The White Man’s Burden, describing colonial conquest as driven by duty, for the sake of the subjugated. They shared a vantage point from the literary pedestal of fin-de-siècle London, but what they saw was very different.            The War of the Worlds can be read as an allegory of colonialism where the tables are turned and the colonial masters are suddenly exposed to a ruthless and technologically superior power. What can be inferred about the Martians’ motives? Can they be perceived as driven by duty, by wishing to take care of or serve their captives’ needs? With the information provided in the The War of the Worlds, could a Martian Kipling write “The Green Man’s Burden” to motivate the invasion of the Earth?           Using postcolonial tools of analysis, this essay digs into the britishness of Wells’ colonizers and colonized, as well as into the britishness of Wells’ own perspective. Some postcolonial theorists argue that representatives of the colonial powers cannot represent the subjugated. Does his background and nationality disqualify Wells to describe the effects of colonialism? I argue that it does not. Staying in the social space of the West helped Wells erode the ideology of colonialism by tailoring it to be received and understood by his target audience, his contemporary countrymen.

Stability analysis of networked dynamical systems has been of interest in many disciplines such as biology and physics and chemistry with applications such as LASER cooling and plasma stability. These large networks are often modeled to have a completely random (Erdös-Rényi) or semi-random (Small-World) topologies. The former model is often used due to mathematical tractability while the latter has been shown to be a better model for most real life networks. The recent emergence of cyber physical systems, and in particular the smart grid, has given rise to a number of engineering questions regarding the control and optimization of such networks. Some of the these questions are: How can the stability of a random network be characterized in probabilistic terms? Can the effects of network topology and system dynamics be separated? What does it take to control a large random network? Can decentralized (pinning) control be effective? If not, how large does the control network needs to be? How can decentralized or distributed controllers be designed? How the size of control network would scale with the size of networked system? Motivated by these questions, we began by studying the probability of stability of synchronization in random networks of oscillators. We developed a stability condition separating the effects of topology and node dynamics and evaluated bounds on the probability of stability for both Erdös-Rényi (ER) and Small-World (SW) network topology models. We then turned our attention to the more realistic scenario where the dynamics of the nodes and couplings are mismatched. Utilizing the concept of ε-synchronization, we have studied the probability of synchronization and showed that the synchronization error, ε, can be arbitrarily reduced using linear controllers. We have also considered the decentralized approach of pinning control to ensure stability in such complex networks. In the pinning method, decentralized controllers are used to control a fraction of the nodes in the network. This is different from traditional decentralized approaches where all the nodes have their own controllers. While the problem of selecting the minimum number of pinning nodes is known to be NP-hard and grows exponentially with the number of nodes in the network we have devised a suboptimal algorithm to select the pinning nodes which converges linearly with network size. We have also analyzed the effectiveness of the pinning approach for the synchronization of oscillators in the networks with fast switching, where the network links disconnect and reconnect quickly relative to the node dynamics. To address the scaling problem in the design of distributed control networks, we have employed a random control network to stabilize a random plant network. Our results show that for an ER plant network, the control network needs to grow linearly with the size of the plant network.

Among the many shifts within public archaeology and heritage during recent years is an endeavour to find new methods of engagement which has been broadly undertaken within the field. This thesis suggests one such method could be found in the use of Tabletop Roleplaying Games (TTRPGs). It does so by examining the current issues in public archaeology and how an intersection between archaeology and game studies could be applied. This includes the importance of empathy and roleplaying in understanding of the past and how this could be applied to the field of public archaeology. / Under de senaste åren har det funnits en strävan av att hitta nya metoder för att presentera och engagera människor för arkeologi och kulturarv. I den här uppsatsen har en sådan metod i form av brädspel som inkluderar rollspel (TTRPGs) presenterats och analyserats. I uppsatsen tas aktuella frågor inom publik arkeologi upp och hur interaktionen mellan arkeologi och spelstudier skulle kunna tillämpas och bidra till att engagera människor i arkeologi och kulturarv.  Studien inkluderar betydelsen av empati och rollspel och hur detta skulle kunna appliceras inom området publik arkeologi.

The subject matter of master disseration is rational behavior. Its dedicated to the following questions: what kind of behavior can be named “rational”, and how we can model it in strict logical terms (and then in program languages). These questions were raised earlier in Artificial Intelligence researches, and very soon the modeling of human behavior for computers encounters some problems. The general name of these problems is the frame problem.The main aim of the research work is solution of the frame problem from deontic logic point of view. I find this formalism the most suitable for investigation of human (rational) behavior. The work contain historical consideration of the frame problem and its strict definition in terms of basic formalism, as interconnection of two correlated problems: ramification problem and qualification problem. The ramification problem is given an option to solve it by extending the basic formalism (with adding of notion of state constraints, influence information and, most importantly, the laws of causal relationships). To solve the problem of qualification the formalism is extended by introducing possible worlds semantic. We consider the properties of this model and offers a solution to the problem of qualification through valuation by the expectation degree, and introducing normative modal operators on this basis. / Общая тема магистерской диссертации - рациональное поведение. Рассмотрение последнего в рамках Искусственного Интеллекта с точки зрения моделирования в строгих логических терминах (для последующего воспроизведения в языках программирования) привело к выявлению ряда трудностей. Общее название им - проблема фреймов. Главная цель данной работы - решение проблемы фреймов с точки зрения логики деонтических модальностей. В диссертации проводится историческое рассмотрение проблемы фреймов, дается строгое её определение для введенного базового формализма (как двух взаимосвязанных проблем — проблемы ветвлений и проблемы квалификации). Рассматривается проблема ветвлений, дается вариант её решения за счет расширения базового формализма (добавляются понятия ограничений состояний, информации о влияниях, и, самое главное, законов причинных связей). Рассматривается проблема квалификации, базовый формализм расширяется посредством введения для него семантики возможных миров, рассматриваются свойства этой модели и предлагается вариант решения проблемы квалификации за счет оценки по степени ожидаемости, и вводящихся на этой основе модальных нормативных операторов.

This essay delves into the question of whether the desire to understand children in their thought process can lead adults into interpret children ́s thoughts through their own worldview. It explores the idea whether it is futile to believe in the possibility of fully understanding and if we could benefit by surrender that notion.  Inspired by Camus ́essay The myth of Sisyfos and Nagel ́s exploration of the subjective nature of experience in What is it like to be a bat? this essay grapples with the concept of absurdity and the question if Camus and Nagels ideas of absurdity can be helpful for adults in their challenge to grasp a child ́s perspective. Through an exploration of absurdity and a critical examination of adult’s belief in their ability to understand children, specifically concept such as child’s perspective in childhood sociology, this essay aims to shed light on the complex relationship between children and, adults emphasizing the importance of humility and recognizing the inherent limitations of whether a human being fully can understand another human being regardless age. Furthermore, the children ́s book Gropen is used to make visible the ideas about how the realities of children and adults are expressed.

Reading is a past time activity that is popular all around the world. It is something thathelps us escape reality and put our focus elsewhere. When immersing yourself in afictional world, it can be intriguing to think of how it was created. When we think ofworld-building, we think especially of fantasy works such as The Lord of The Rings orSF classics such as Dune takes place. But what about fictional worlds that are closer tothe world known by its readers? Ernest Hemingway based his novel The Old Man andThe Sea on the actual world, which makes it believable and relatable. Most previousstudiesfocus on underlying meanings of the narrative, on metaphors orstylistic choices.It is a novel that is narratively limited to one man and a fish out in the open ocean, butit still feels as if the world surrounding them is vast. Hemingway was known for usinga simple style when creating his fictional worlds and this essay will try to comprehendhow he managed to create such an intricate world by following one simple fishermanand his struggle with the biggest fish of his life. In this essay I will argue that the useof an emic point of view – using the perception of the protagonist Santiago – invitesthe reader to recenter to one point in this vast world, while the occasional intrusion ofan etic perspective establishes a connection between the narrator and reader thatlocalizes Santiago’s point of view.