In the digital communication channels, the language is often described as more liberated and informal than the language used for other forms of writing. On the other hand, research has shown that the languages and the way it's used, are not detached from the commonly accepted norms that exist. This thesis aims to investigate what aspects and characteristics that are perceived as important when communicating through digital texts and chat conversations. The study further illustrates how respondents perceive their own language and how it may vary throughout various age groups. Previous research exhibits that there is an accommodation in the language based upon the receiver and situation. Furthermore, it also shows that what language is being used, is closely connected to a person’s identity. With this serving as a foundation, this paper examines how the elder respectively younger age group perceive their speech and language characteristics and what demands they possess on what language that is being used.  This study has been carried out through a quantitative method. More specifically, a questionnaire focused on respondents’ attitude of the language used in digital communication channels has been sent out. The sample was selected by a random sample strategy where the essay was shared on Facebook. To execute a comparative analysis, the respondents have been divided into two age groups; these two are “Respondents born 1991 or later” and “Respondents born 1990 or before”. This paper has successfully concluded that language norms and rules such as spelling, word order, punctuation marks and complete sentences, are perceived as important in texts and chat conversations. While both age groups consider the language norms and rules to be important, they do however differentiate to what degree. The elder age group perceive norms and rules as being more important than the younger age group. The characteristic that is the most important, in both age groups, is correct spelling. The study shows that there is a wider dispersion within the younger age group in comparison to the older age group, which is more cohesive and considers the rules and norms to be more important.

The linguistic landscape of Canadian workplaces is becoming more diverse as organizations employ individuals who come from various countries and speak different native languages. As language is an important marker of identity and group membership, language-based identities are powerful in shaping workplace experiences. Guided by both the ethnolinguistic identity theory (ELIT: Giles et al., 1977; Giles & Johnson, 1987) and communication accommodation theory (CAT: e.g., Dragojevic et al., 2016; Gallois et al., 2005; Giles & Ogay, 2006), this study explores the experiences of Spanish-speaking Latin Americans working in the Canadian National Capital Region in relation to their linguistic identities, coping strategies, and intergroup interactions. A thematic analysis of 24 semi-structured interviews shows that participants experience a dynamic shift in their identity in which they move between feelings of self-doubt and a sense of confidence and comfort in their workplaces. This shift occurs as they navigate the cognitive and emotional experiences of working in a nonnative language. Factors that influence this identity shift include social comparisons, positive implications associated with their native linguistic identity, negative evaluations, and empathy in the workplace. This study also provides a detailed description of the intrapersonal, interpersonal, and interactional coping strategies that participants enact to navigate their workplaces. In terms of intergroup interactions, the participant’s experiences, their evaluations, and reactions to accommodative or nonaccommodative behaviours from native speaking peers in their workplaces are explored. The final pages of this study include some recommendations for human resource practitioners.

Tatra mountain region is considered to be a part of Slovak and Polish national identity. It is remarkable for outstanding sceneries and man’s relation to the country that developed from first settlements to an important tourist tradition. Such large area can be retained only by preserving its values that stay valid through time. New concept for the region is based on fully functional network of tourist trails. Proposing four objects of tourist accommodation in thoroughly selected locations, the project presents an idea of architectural space dealing with different requirements of its users.

En stark motivering till omställning från icke-förnybar till förnybar energi är ökningen av elförbrukning i världen, med målet att minska klimatpåverkan. Denna elförbrukning förväntas stiga från dagens 140 TWh till 190 TWh år 2045 i Sverige. I och med detta etableras nu konceptet Co-Living på den svenska bostadsmarknaden vilket innebär att människor delar på hemmet. I denna studie undersöktes en testbädd på KTH Live-In Lab där olika bostadskonfigurationer har granskats, där den första konfigurationen var singelboenden och den sista är Co-Living. Syftet med studien var att undersöka de boendes beteendeförändringar med avseende på resursförbrukning i hemmet och undersöka om det gick att se en skillnad mellan konfigurationerna. Resurserna som undersöktes var el och vatten. Studien utfördes genom att undersöka data för el- och varmvattenförbrukning samt aktiveringar och användningstid för dusch och tvättställ. Mätperioderna var på tre månader och innefattade fyra boenden i varje konfiguration. Resultatet visar en ökning i Co-Living, av elförbrukning per person på cirka 12,5% under 2021. Vattenförbrukningen per person visade en ökning på ca 56%. Det gick även att se att antalet aktiveringar, per person, för dusch och tvättställ steg med 41%. Sist i resultatet steg användningstiden, per person, för dusch och tvättställ med 132%. Slutsatsen av studien visar en märkbar ökning av resursförbrukning hos boenden i det studerade Co-Living jämfört med singelboenden. Men det finns en osäkerhet om denna förändring var på grund av Co-Living då exempelvis Covid-19 har visat sig kunna ha stor påverkan på resultatet. / One of the strong reasons for converting to renewable energy sources is the increasing amount of resource usage, with the goal to reduce the climate impact of it. The electricity usage is expected to rise from today’s 140 TWh to 190 TWh until year 2045 in Sweden. With this, the concept of Co-Living is now being established on the housing market. The concept is based on people sharing an accommodation. In this study, obtained data from a testbed called Live-In Lab was investigated. The data is obtained from different building configurations of accommodations, where the first one is single households and the last one is Co-Living. The purpose of this study was to examine the resident’s behavioral changes that affected the resource usage, to see if there were differences between the different configurations. The examined resources were electricity and water. The study was conducted by examining data for electricity and water usage, also usage time and activations for shower and basin. Data was collected for periods of three months and there were four tenants in each configuration. The results show that the usage, per person, of electricity increased by 12,5%, and water by 56% in 2021. Noticeable was also that the number of activations, per person, for shower and basin increased by 41%. Lastly the usage time for shower and basin increased by 132% per person. The conclusion for this study is that there is a noticeable increase of resource usage in the investigated Co-Living, comparing with single households. But there is a great uncertainty regarding Co-Living being the main reason for this difference, as Covid-19, for example, also has had a strong impact on resource usage.

The main aim of this thesis is to evaluate the effect of meridional blur, using refractive induced astigmatism, on visual performance at far and close distances. Visual performance was evaluated using letter discrimination tasks at distance and near (visual acuity, VA) and a reading task at near on subjects with pharmacologically blocked (young) or absent accommodation (presbyopic and pseudophakic). The effect of astigmatism was tested using positive cylindrical lenses oriented at 180 and 90 degrees, these simulating with- (WTR) and against-the-rule (ATR) astigmatism. Other refractive status were also evaluated, namely, in-focus and spherical defocus. The visual performance data were correlated with biometric measurements (pupil size, anterior chamber depth (ACD), corneal and ocular aberrations, corneal multifocality, patient age, axial length). Further, the functionality of meridional blur was evaluated for alphabets in addition to the standard Roman alphabet using a VA task. The results confirm that myopic astigmatism contributes to a better visual performance at closer distances, with ATR astigmatism providing higher performance for reading tasks compared to other forms of astigmatism. Anatomical factors such as pupil size, corneal multifocality and ACD were significantly correlated visual performance, while other ocular characteristics were not. Ray tracing modelling using wavefront data was a moderate predictor of VA and reading acuity. The results of the effect of meridional blur orientation on alphabets other than the Roman alphabet, suggest that visual performance is dependent on the interaction between blur orientation and letter¿s spatial characteristics. In conclusion, pseudoaccommodation is a multifactorial phenomenon with pupil size being the major contributor for the improvement in visual performance. Against-the-rule shows advantages over WTR astigmatism, by providing higher reading performance, however extending the present and previous findings for clinical application will require further investigation on the effect of meridional blur in common and socio-culturally adapted tasks. / Bradford School of Optometry and Vision Sciences

Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur socialsekreterare inom socialtjänsten och personal vidskyddade boenden upplever att tillgången till och utformningen av skyddsinsatser ser ut förvåldsutsatta kvinnor med en missbruksproblematik. Syftet är även att undersöka hur deupplever att denna målgrupps möjligheter till skydd fungerar i relation till våldsutsattakvinnor utan missbruksproblematik. Studien utgår från en kvalitativ metod där de teoretiskabegreppen stigma, handlingsutrymme och ideala offret används för att analysera resultatet.Studiens slutsatser är att arbetet med våldsutsatta kvinnor beskrivs som särskilt komplext dåbåde våldsutsattheten och missbruket ska beaktas. Ett hinder i arbetet med målgruppen ärstigmatiseringen som resulterar i att många kvinnor inte vill söka hjälp. Tillgången tillskyddade boenden är begränsad för målgruppen. Både tillgången till och utformningen avskyddade boenden måste förbättras för att kunna tillgodose behoven. Studiens slutsatser geren inblick i den särskilda utsattheten som finns hos våldsutsatta kvinnor medmissbruksproblematik, samt bidrar med förslag till utvecklingsmöjligheter i arbetet medmålgruppen inom det sociala arbetet. / The aim of the study is to investigate how social workers within the Social Services and staffat sheltered accommodation perceive the access to and the design of protection efforts forabused women with an addiction problem. Also to investigate how they perceive this group'sopportunities for protection work in relation to abused women without an addiction problem.The study is based on a qualitative method where the theoretical concepts of stigma,professional discretion and the ideal offer are used to analyze the results. The conclusions arethat the work with women exposed to violence is described as particularly complex as boththe exposure to violence and the abuse must be taken into account. An obstacle in workingwith the group is the stigma that contributes to many women not wanting to seek help.Access to sheltered accommodation is limited for the women. Both the availability and thedesign of sheltered accommodation must be improved to meet the needs. The conclusions areconsidered to be able to give an insight into the vulnerable that exists in abused women withaddiction problems and contribute with suggestions for development opportunities in thework with the women within the social work sector.

Based on the human ecological pyramid described by Robert Ezra Park, the founder of Human Ecology at Chicago School of Sociology around 1920 (Park 1952; visualized by Teherani-Krönner 1992), Duncan developed his model for comprehensive research on changes in human societies. He believed that scientific analysis had to include the interplay and interaction of the following components: population (P), organization (O), environment (E) and technology (T). This research frame – POET - became known as the Ecological Complex visualized as a rhombus (Duncan 1959; Teherani-Krönner 1992; Teherani-Krönner 2014). Such an approach needs inter- and transdisciplinary research methodologies. Combining this human ecological model with theoretical and conceptual approaches in gender studies (Boserup 1970, Teherani-Krönner 2014) will open a new perspective to gender sensitive environmental researches. As the UNDP has stated: “human development if not engendered, is endangered”. This simple but far-reaching message of Human Development Report (UNDP 1995) should be taken more seriously into account in theoretical and practical work (gender mainstreaming and gender budgeting). The gender gap (FAO 2011) will be a roadblock to sustainable environmental development (Jacobson 1992) under climate change conditions. Therefore the POET model needs to be engendered. The paper will present a new concept and a methodological framework to discover natural and cultural resources with regard to climate change accommodation. / Trên cơ sở tháp sinh thái nhân văn có lồng ghép giới được xây dựng bởi Robert Ezra Park, nhà sáng lập ngành học về sinh thái nhân văn tại trường Khoa học xã hội Chicago vào khoảng năm 1920 (Park 1952; do Teherani-Krönner thể hiện năm 1992), Duncan đã phát triển một mô hình nghiên cứu toàn diện về sự thay đổi trong xã hội loài người. Ông cho rằng các phân tích khoa học cần phải bao gồm sự tương tác qua lại giữa các thành tố sau: dân số (P), tổ chức (O), môi trường (E), và công nghệ (T). Khung nghiên cứu này được gọi tắt là POET, được biết tới với tên gọi tổ hợp sinh thái, và được thể hiện bằng hình ảnh của một hình thoi (Duncan 1959; Teherani-Krönner 1992; Teherani-Krönner 2014). Cách tiếp cận này cần phải sử dụng các phương pháp nghiên cứu liên ngành và đa ngành. Kết hợp mô hình sinh thái nhân văn với các cách tiếp cận về lý thuyết và định nghĩa trong các nghiên cứu về giới (Boserup 1970, Teherani-Krönner 2014) sẽ mở ra một hướng nghiên cứu mới đối với các nghiên cứu về môi trường có liên quan tới nhạy cảm giới. Tổ chức Phát triển LHQ (UNDP) đã nêu rõ: “Nếu sự phát triển của con người không tính đến vấn đề giới, sự phát triển đó sẽ gặp trở ngại”. Thông điệp đơn giản nhưng hàm chứa này được nêu trong báo cáo: Phát triển con người của UNDP (1995) cần được xem xét một cách nghiêm túc hơn trong lý thuyết và thực tiễn (lồng ghép giới và lập ngân sách có tính đến vấn đề giới). Khoảng cách về giới (FAO 2011) sẽ là một cản trở trên con đường phát triển môi trường bền vững (Jacobson 1992) trong các điều kiện biến đổi khí hậu hiện tại. Do đó, mô hình POET cần được xem xét cả từ góc độ giới. Bài viết đưa ra một khái niệm mới và một khung phương pháp logic nhằm phát hiện các nguồn lực tự nhiên và văn hóa trong bối cảnh biến đổi khí hậu.

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Novel forms of brain-inspired programming models related to novel computer architecture are required to both understand the mysteries of intelligence as well as break barriers in computational complexity, and computer parallelism. Artificial Intelligence is focused on developing complex programs based on abstract, statistical prediction engines that require large datasets, vast amounts of computational power, and unbounded computation time. By contrast, the brain utilizes relatively few experiences to make decisions in unpredictable, time-constrained situations while utilizing relatively small amounts of physical computational space and power with high degrees of complexity and parallelism. We observe that intelligence requires the accommodation of ambiguity, conflict, and paradox. From a structural perspective, this means the same set of inputs leads to conflicting results that are likely produced in isolated regions of the brain that function independently until an answer must be chosen. We further observe that, unlike computer programs, brains constantly interact with the physical world where external constraints force the selection of the best available response in time-quality trade-offs ranging from fight-or-flight to deep thinking. For example, when intelligent beings are presented with a set of inputs, those inputs can be processed with different levels of thinking, utilizing heterogeneous algorithms to produce answers dependent upon the time available to process them. We introduce the Troop meta-approach, which is a novel meta computer architecture and programming. Experiments demonstrate our approach in modeling conflict when the same set of inputs are heterogeneously processed independently using maze solving and ordered search in real-world environments with unpredictable, random time constraints. Across one hundred trials, on average, the Troop solution solves mazes almost six times faster than the only other solution, which does not accommodate conflict but can always produce a result when required. Two other experiments based on ordered search show that, on average, the Troop solution returns a position that is over twice as accurate as the other solutions which do not accommodate conflict but always produce a result when required. This work lays the foundation for more research in algorithms that utilize time-accuracy trade-offs consistent with our approach. / This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 2204780. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. / Master of Science / New types of brain-inspired computer architectures and programming models are needed to break barriers that hinder traditional methods in computer parallelism as well as to understand better the phenomenon by which intelligence emerges from the structure of the human brain. Traditional research in the field of Artificial Intelligence is focused on developing complex programs based on simulating low-level models of the brain such as artificial neural networks. The most advanced of these methods are processed on large supercomputers that use vast amounts of power and have unlimited amounts of time to process a task producing a single result. By contrast, the human brain is relatively small and uses very little power. Furthermore, it can use relatively few experiences to make very quick and inaccurate but necessary decisions to survive in unpredictable environments. But the brain can produce many different and conflicting decisions to the same problem. Given more time, the human brain can use higher levels of thinking located in different parts of the brain to produce better decisions. Thus, we observe that intelligence requires the ability to handle conflicting answers to the same problem. From a highlevel perspective, this means different and independent structures of the brain can simultaneously produce conflicting answers that solve the same problem. We further observe that, unlike traditional computer programs, the brain constantly interacts with the physical world, where different circumstances within the environment force the best available decision to be carried out. Based on these observations, this research introduces novel approaches that we collectively reference as the Troop meta-approach to develop computer architectures that solve real-world problems, such as maze solving. This research demonstrates the approaches by first introducing scenarios inspired by humans solving problems in environments where unforeseeable events occur that force decisions to be made that are not the most accurate but necessary not to fail the overall objective. For example, military and law enforcement trainees use square mazes to prepare for unpredictable environments. When a threat presents itself, if a soldier or officer does not react to a circumstance in time, their failure may be fatal. To demonstrate that our approaches are feasible, this research then presents three experiments based on the problems of the scenarios and uses the Troop meta-approach to solve each one. Across three experiments, on average, the computer architectures and related algorithms developed using the Troop meta-approach solve mazes or search databases while responding to unpredictable real-world events faster or more accurately than traditional architectures and algorithm pairs that do not handle simultaneous decisions that conflict. This work lays the foundation for more research in methods and computer architectures that utilize multiple conflicting decisions.