I en studie från 2018 visade Arbetsmiljöverket att 28 % av Sveriges aktiva arbetstagare har upplevt någon form av arbetsrelaterade besvär. Att arbeta med arbetsmiljön och dess utveckling är chefernas ansvar i en organisation. Syftet med följande studie är att undersöka kommunala enhetschefers upplevelse av att arbeta med utvecklingen av arbetsmiljön inom sin verksamhet. För att undersöka vårt syfte utgick vi från följande frågeställning: Vilka möjligheter och utmaningar upplever chefer sig ha med utvecklingen av arbetsmiljön? Tio intervjuer med enhetschefer inom olika sektorer i en kommun genomfördes för att besvara frågeställningen. En tematisk analys tillämpades på det insamlade materialet och presenterades i fyra övergripande teman. Resultatet visar att enhetscheferna upplever utvecklingen av arbetsmiljön som viktigt, men också med flera utmaningar. Dessa försvårade utvecklingsarbetet och uppstod när enhetschefernas processer inte var synkroniserade med den övriga organisationen. Det var även utmanande att arbeta med den psykosociala arbetsmiljön på individnivå då varje ärende krävde en separat process. Det som möjliggjorde för ett framgångsrikt utvecklingsarbete var när medarbetarna var engagerade och delaktiga i processen samt att ett välfungerande stöd från HR-avdelningen fanns att tillgå. Studien visade att trots att cheferna upplever begränsningar i sitt arbete gör deras personliga engagemang i frågorna att de ändå arbetar med dem kontinuerligt. / In a 2018 study, the Swedish Work Environment Authority found that 28% of active workers in Sweden experienced some form of work-related problem. Managers in an organization are responsible for maintaining and developing the work environment. The present study aims to investigate municipal operation managers' perception of the process of work environment development in their operations. We asked the following question to examine managers' perceptions: What opportunities and challenges do managers encounter in the development of the work environment? Ten interviews were conducted with department managers in various sectors of a municipality to investigate our question. A thematic analysis performed on the data revealed four overall themes. The results demonstrate that department managers perceive the development of work environment to be important but challenging. Challenges to the development of work environment arose when managers' priorities were out of sync with those of the rest of the organization. It was also difficult to manage the psychosocial work environment, as individuals each required unique interventions. Successful work environment development occurred when employees were engaged and involved in the process and had pertinent support from the human resources office. The present study demonstrates that although managers experience limitations in maintaining and developing work environment, their personal commitment to the task allows them to work towards continuous improvement.

Magister Artium (Development Studies) - MA(DVS) / The objective of this research is to investigate the factors at plant level which impact on the diffusion of Japanese Manufacturing Techniques to enterprises in developing countries generally, and South Africa specifically. This informs the development of meaningful supply-side measures to improve the competitiveness of South African manufacturers. This has been achieved through both a thorough examination of the literature and through field research. The field research documents the implementation experiences in fifteen South African plants which participated in the Shopfloor Best Practice workshops of the Manufacturing Roundtable (MRT). I chose to examine these examples of transfer as I was a participant researcher, attached to the MRT. The central question which guided my research is what are the factors which affect the depth of systemic adoption of Japanese Manufacturing Techniques on the shopfloor in South Africa, and what this indicates for the breadth of diffusion of the techniques across the manufacturing sector as a whole. The research argument is that for sustainable adoption both social and technical aspects of Japanese Manufacturing Techniques need to be addressed. Focusing on the technical aspects only and presenting a universally applicable model obscures the realities of transfer, as the embeddedness of the techniques in the social and institutional context is ignored. The point of departure for analysis in this thesis is thus real examples of transfer, as opposed to a universally defined and abstracted model. The experience and opinions of the workshop participants, and those of managers in their plants, have been gathered through individual in-depth interviews and site visits. The evidence indicates that there are many factors both internal and external to the firm which are likely to constrain significantly the ability of some firms to move in the systemic direction. These include the poor primary education of much of the workforce, poor management skills, wage and social inequality and a lack of participation in the workplace. It becomes apparent that the process of diffusion amongst South African manufacturers is not likely to be rapid or steady, and that the most likely path is one of uneven diffusion.

The master’s thesis addresses the transmedia education strategies applied in the CO2 degrees challenge, a project by the Global Carbon Capture and Storage Institute (GCCSI), dedicated to educating students about the low-carbon technology carbon capture and storage (CCS). Based on the literature review, the thesis theoretically discusses the public perception of low-carbon technology and carbon capture and storage in connection to transmedia storytelling and education. The thesis is structured upon a qualitative approach and conducts a detailed study of a selected single case. In addition, expert interviews are used to support the in-depth analysis of the case study with the use of the transmedia design analytical and operational model by Gambarato et al. (2020). The analysis provides insights into how this technical process was presented to the educators and students and identifies challenges and opportunities of the transmedia education project in the realm of low-carbon technologies. The results of the study show that the CO2 degrees challenge offered a significant contribution to the knowledge dissemination about the CCS technology among students, helped them to understand current problems, and to discuss real-time solutions. The results also point to the challenge of communicating a scientific and engineering topic with the audience outside of the technological and engineering industry, the complicated structure of the project, and difficulties connected with possible financial interests of the private companies supporting and funding the educational material and the project itself.

I och med att videospel blir mer avancerade, inte bara grafiskt utan också som konstform samt att dom erbjuder en mer inlevelsefull upplevelse, så kan det förväntas att spelen också ska erbjuda en större utmaning för att få spelaren bli ännu mer engagerad i spelet. Dagens spelare är vana vid fiender vars beteende styrs av tydliga mönster och regler, som beroende på situation agerar på ett förprogrammerat sätt och agerar utifrån förutsägbara mönster. Detta leder till en spelupplevelse där målet blir att klura ut det här mönstret och hitta ett sätt att överlista eller besegra det. Men tänk om det fanns en möjlighet att skapa en ny form av fiende svarar och anpassar sig beroende på hur spelaren beter sig? Som anpassar sig och kommer på egna strategier utifrån hur spelaren spelar, som aktivt försöker överlista spelaren? Genom maskininlärning i spel möjliggörs just detta. Med en maskininlärningsmodell som styr fienderna och tränas mot spelarna som möter den så lär sig fienderna att möta spelarna på ett dynamiskt sätt som anpassas allt eftersom spelaren spelar spelet. Den här studien ämnar att undersöka stegen som krävs för att implementera maskininlärning i Unity motorn samt undersöka ifall det finns någon upplevd skillnad i spelupplevelsen hos spelare som fått möta fiender styrda av en maskininlärningsmodell samt en mer traditionell typ av fiende. Data samlas in från testspelarnas spelsessioner samt deras svar i form av ett frågeformulär, där datan presenteras i grafform för att ge insikt kring ifall fienderna var likvärdigt svåra att spela mot. Svaren från frågeformulären används för att jämföra spelarnas spelupplevelser och utifrån detta se skillnaderna mellan dom. Skalan på spelet och dess enkelhet leder till att svaren inte bör påverkas av okända och ej kontrollerbara faktorer, vilket ger svar som ger oss insikt i skillnaderna mellan dom olika spelupplevelserna där en preferens för fiender styrda av maskininlärningsmodeller kan anas, då dom upplevs mer oförutsägbara och varierande. / As video games become more complex and more immersive, not just graphically or as an artform, but also technically, it can be expected that games behave on a deeper level to challenge and immerse the player further. Today’s gamers have gotten used to pattern based enemies, moving between preprogrammed states with predictable patterns, which lends itself to a certain kind of gameplay where the goal is to figure out how to beat said pattern. But what if there could be more in terms of challenging the player on an interactive level? What if the enemies could learn and adapt, trying to outsmart the player just as much as the player tries to outsmart the enemies. This is where the field of machine learning enters the stage and opens up for an entirely new type of non-player character in videogames. An enemy who uses a trained machine learning model to play against the player, who can adapt and become better as more people play the game. This study aims to look at early steps to implement machine learning in video games, in this case in the Unity engine, and look at the players perception of said enemies compared to normal state-driven enemies. Via testing voluntary players by letting them play against two kinds of enemies, data is gathered to compare the average performance of the players, after which players answer a questionnaire. These answers are analysed to give an indication of preference in type of enemy. Overall the small scale of the game and simplicity of the enemies gives clear answers but also limits the potential complexity of the enemies and thus the players enjoyment. Though this also enables us to discern a perceived difference in the players experience, where a preference for machine learning controlled enemies is noticeable, as they behave less predictable with more varied behaviour.

The global interest in green vehicleshas been growing since it is letting out less pollution than normal internal combustion engines (ICE) and many people want to get into the ecological-friendly alternative mode of transport. The solar car is one of these types of green vehicles, which is powered by renewable energy with zero emissions. The solar car makes use of its solar panel that uses photovoltaic cells to convert sunlight into electricity to the batteries and to also power the electric motor. The state of solar cars is that it is almost exclusively for competition and when competing a strategy is needed to get the best placement. Having knowledge about how the car is behaving is a good basis for building a driving strategy. Therefore, a case study is made on World Solar Challenge (WSC) focused on the cars of JU Solar team with the use of datasets such as topographical data and solar irradiation. An optimization model is made that inputs these datasets and simulates a time period (an hour) and checks the set battery discharge rate (BDR or C rating). It is concluded that a safe BDR is between 8 to 9 % per hour (i.e. 0.08 to 0.09 C), relative to the full capacity of the battery. Results shows an improved mean speeds of the solar cars and improved finish times. The model also works very well for solar cars that are not meant for racing. Since it keeps a relatively stable state of charge for long term driving, that ensures battery longevity. With these results JU Solar team can use this model to improve their driving strategy but could also be used for economical driving for the future of commercial solar cars. This paper recommends to follow a simple procedure, to keep the BDR on 9% as long as the sun irradiation stays above 800 W/m2, and lower the BDR to 8% if irradiation goes below 800 W/m. Adjustments to increase the BDR for the end of the race is also recommended for optimal driving strategy.

Machine translation (MT) as a field of research has known significant advances in recent years, with the increased interest for neural machine translation (NMT). By combining deep learning with translation, researchers have been able to deliver systems that perform better than most, if not all, of their predecessors. While the general consensus regarding NMT is that it renders higher-quality translations that are overall more idiomatic, researchers recognize that NMT systems still struggle to deal with certain classic difficulties, and that their performance may vary depending on their architecture. In this project, we implement a challenge-set based approach to the evaluation of examples of three main NMT architectures: convolutional neural network-based systems (CNN), recurrent neural network-based (RNN) systems, and attention-based systems, trained on the same data set for English to French translation. The challenge set focuses on a selection of lexical and syntactic difficulties (e.g., ambiguities) drawn from literature on human translation, machine translation, and writing for translation, and also includes variations in sentence lengths and structures that are recognized as sources of difficulties even for NMT systems. This set allows us to evaluate performance in multiple areas of difficulty for the systems overall, as well as to evaluate any differences between architectures’ performance. Through our challenge set, we found that our CNN-based system tends to reword sentences, sometimes shifting their meaning, while our RNN-based system seems to perform better when provided with a larger context, and our attention-based system seems to struggle the longer a sentence becomes.

Dans ce mémoire, tant dans la partie création que recherche, je m’emploie à penser l’expérience du sublime. Je dis « expérience » parce que le sublime n’est ni un contenu ni une forme. C’est le fait pour le sujet d’éprouver et d’épouser ses propres limites, à savoir celles du corps et de l’entendement. Confronté aux bornes de son imagination, il découvre sa vocation métaphysique et aspire à ce qui le dépasse. En un mot, il y va d’une expérience paradoxale, car ce qui vulnérabilise renforce à la fois. J’aborde dans ma nouvelle, Le testament de Cassandre, cette épreuve du sublime par laquelle la souffrance se fait offrande. Le personnage éponyme en fait l’expérience dans sa portée la plus tragique. Renonçant à s’affranchir de la mort au nom de ce qui la rattache aux siens, Cassandre préfèrera le néant avec eux à l’éternité seule. S’il n’y a pas de lieu à proprement parler du sublime, il y a des espaces où il est susceptible de surgir, d’éclore. Le fragment, écriture de la dissémination et de l’organicité, en est un. À l’instar du sublime, il s’offre comme une force à l’œuvre plutôt qu’une forme donnée. De là la pertinence de les étudier ensemble, dans des œuvres où ils se rencontrent, et selon une approche esthétique, domaine par excellence du sensible. C’est dans cette perspective que mon essai, L’épreuve initiatrice, esthétique du sublime dans À travers un verger de Philippe Jaccottet et Les Amandiers de Thierry Hentsch, se penche sur les récits fragmentaires de Jaccottet et de Hentsch qui, en butte à l’inconcevable, avouent leur désœuvrement, mais accusent le coup, se ramassent et s’y exposent, encore. / My goal in the following work, as much in the research component as the creative component, is to think the « experience » of the sublime. I say « experience » because the sublime is neither form nor content. It is the subjective act of grasping and surpassing our own limits as they manifest in the mind and body, specifically with regards to the faculty of understanding. Confronted with the frontiers of our imagination, we come to know our metaphysical calling and we seek to transcend it. This experience is paradoxical in the sense that it renders us vulnerable, while also strengthening and reinforcing us. In my short story Le testament de Cassandre, I explore the challenge of coming to grips with the sublime. As the titular character traverses great suffering – the sublime’s tragic gift – she must choose between freedom from death or a lifetime with those she loves. Faced with this cruel choice, Cassandre prefers the cold embrace of nothingness to an eternity alone. The sublime has no single domain, although there are spaces where it is more likely to emerge or to bloom. Writing in fragments (fragmentary writing) – a style that is at once organic and diffuse – is one of those spaces. Like the sublime, writing in fragments resists form while transmitting force and power. Hence the pertinence of studying this style and the sublime together in works where they are both present. It is from this perspective that my essay The Initiating Test: The Aesthetic of the Sublime in À travers un verger by Philippe Jaccottet and Les Amandiers by Thierry Hentsch, examines the fragmentary accounts of Jaccottet and Hentsch who, in the face of the unthinkable, admit to their own lassitude while simultaneously blaming their circumstances, only to gather themselves anew to be exposed once again.

Orientador: Ana Carolina de Souza Chagas / Resumo: Nematódeos gastrintestinais são um grande obstáculo na produção de ovinos. A seleção para resistência tem sido uma abordagem eficiente e factível para lidar com esse problema. A utilização e investigação de marcadores genéticos para características de resistência poderiam acelerar o melhoramento genético e levar ao melhor entendimento dos mecanismos moleculares de resistência. O objetivo desse estudo foi verificar a possibilidade de seleção para características de resistência e resiliência em cordeiros da raça Morada Nova, estimar as potenciais respostas correlacionadas e avaliar se cinco polimorfismos de base única (SNPs, OAR2_14765360, OAR6_81718546, OAR11_62887032, OAR12_69606944 and OAR15_59871543) estão associados às características de resistência e resiliência. Um total de 287 cordeiros e 131 matrizes foram submetidas a dois desafios parasitários consecutivos e independentes por infecção oral com 4.000 larvas infectantes (L3) de Haemonchus contortus. Contagem de ovos por grama de fezes (OPG), volume globular (VG) e peso corporal vivo (PV) foram monitorados a cada uma ou duas semanas para 42 dias em cada desafio. Amostras de DNA de 287 cordeiros, 131 matrizes e 4 reprodutores machos foram amplificados por ARMS-PCR ou PCR-RFLP e os genótipos foram determinados. Estimativas de parâmetros genéticos foram obtidas para dias individuais de coleta, e para a característica como um todo com medidas repetidas, utilizando modelos animais mistos. A análise de variância (ANOVA) foi u... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: Gastrointestinal nematodes are a major constraint in sheep production. Breeding for resistance has proven to be an effective and feasible approach to address this problem. The use and investigation of genetic markers for resistance traits could accelerate genetic progress and lead to a better understanding of underlying molecular mechanisms. The aim of this study was to verify the possibility of selection for resistance and resilience traits in Morada Nova lambs, to estimate potential correlated responses and to evaluate if five single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) (OAR2_14765360, OAR6_81718546, OAR11_62887032, OAR12_69606944 and OAR15_59871543) are associated with resistance and resilience traits. A total of 287 lambs and 131 ewes were submitted to two consecutive independent parasite challenges by oral infection with 4,000 infective larvae (L3) of Haemonchus contortus. Faecal egg counts (FEC), packed cell volume (PVC) and body weight were measured every one or two weeks for 42 days in each trial. DNA samples from 287 lambs, 131 ewes and 4 rams were amplified by ARMS-PCR or PCR-RFLP and genotypes were determined. Estimates of genetic parameters were obtained for individual records as well as for overall traits with repeated measures, using mixed animal models. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used for association analyses between SNP genotypes and phenotypes. In case of significant association, the allele substitution effect was calculated based on a linear model. Heritabi... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

The pedagogics of the leisure time center where the signifiers are the group, the experience and the situation, all these would make possibilities for the leisure time teachers to work with mathematics in an untraditional way, to complement the formal mathematics with an informal, everyday mathematics. This way to educate goes together with what the science depicts is missing in the traditional way of educating. The students need to work more with problem solving, creative, colloquial and practical with mathematics, preferably in interaction together. The purpose of the study is to try to get to know how the leisure time center operates to enable the development in mathematics of the students. Which are the activities the leisure time center offers where the students mathematical competence increases through encouragement and challenges. To get material for my analysis I have chosen two methods, observations and interviews, to get a broad and immerse comprehension of the scope of the survey. I have proceeded from the mathematician Alan Bishop and his theories about the six universal mathematical activities. I have also chosen to link my observations and the interviews to the social constructivism, i.e. that the human active construct knowledge in interaction together with others. The result of the survey is that the teachers has a good theoretical competence when it comes to informal mathematics. The presented activities are mostly sport and playing, and the equipment that is offered has to do with sport. These activities are according to Bishop mathematical activities themselves, but to encourage and challenge the students in their mathematical development, it requires mental presence, dedication and curious teachers.

The COVID-19 pandemic has extensively impacted upon society and limited opportunities for social interaction due to government regulations. University students have been required to adapt to a transition from classroom to online based learning, with a subsequent loss of resources and study-specific venues for social interaction. In general, university students are identified as being at increased risk of experiencing mental health issues; social isolation and loneliness incurred as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic can further contribute to students’ vulnerability. The present study explores student attitudes concerning the transition to online studies using the theoretical foundation of Challenge and Threat states, and examines the utility of Written Emotional Disclosure to improve student coping. The study was undertaken with 45 students (23 women, 22 men; aged between 18-35 years) attending Umeå University. Data were collected during the completion of an online based expressive writing intervention. Participants were instructed to write about their experience of the transition to online studies, and reflect upon how they could develop strategies to cope with possible academic difficulties. Participants also reported levels of general anxiety, positive and negative affect, emotional and social loneliness, challenge, threat, worry, and confidence. Data analysis revealed that students’ reporting heightened levels of general anxiety as well as emotional loneliness were more likely to experience the transition as threatening and were more prone to excessive worry. No statistically significant intervention effects were found. Limitations of the present study are discussed and future research is proposed. / COVID-19-pandemin har påverkat samhället i stor utsträckning och de införda restriktionerna har begränsat möjligheterna till social interaktion. Universitetsstudenter har varit tvungna att ställa om till onlinestudier, med förlust av resurser och studiespecifika sociala sammanhang som följd. Universitetsstudenter är en riskgrupp när det kommer till mental ohälsa; social isolering och ensamhet till följd av COVID-19-pandemin kan ytterligare bidra till elevernas sårbarhet. Denna studie har undersökt studenters attityder gentemot övergången till onlinestudier utifrån teorin om Challenge- and Threat states och om Written Emotional Disclosure kan förbättra studenternas coping. Undersökningen genomfördes med 45 studenter (23 kvinnor, 22 män, i åldern 18-35 år) som studerade vid Umeå universitet. Data samlades in genom en onlinebaserad skrivövning. Deltagarna instruerades att skriva om sina erfarenheter av övergången till onlinestudier och reflektera över hur de kunde utveckla strategier för att hantera eventuella svårigheter. Deltagarna rapporterade också nivåer av positiva och negativa affekter, emotionell och social ensamhet, challenge, threat, oro och självförtroende. Analyser visade på att studenter med högre nivåer av ångest och emotionell ensamhet var mer benägna att uppleva övergången till onlinestudier som mer hotfull och oroade sig i högre utsträckning kring densamma. Inga statistiskt signifikanta interventionseffekter hittades. Denna studies begränsningar diskuteras och fokus för framtida forskningsområden föreslås