Sammanfattning Syfte och frågeställningar Det övergripande syftet med studien var att kartlägga stammande individers attityd till sin egen stamning och stamning i allmänhet. - Hur påverkar stamning individens agerande i olika sociala situationer? - Skillnader i upplevd hälsa hos individer med lätt respektive svår stamning? Metod Studien baseras på enkäter. Målgruppen bestod av stammande individet från hela Sverige. Åldersspannet låg spritt mellan <20 år till >60 år, där 21-30 år stod för störst deltagande. Enkäterna besvarades online och automatisk inlagring av data skedde i Google Docs. Resultatanalys genomfördes i Excel och SPSS, därifrån togs även figurer fram. Resultat Sociala situationer där stamningen uppfattas som särskilt hinder kunde identifieras. Den upplevda graden av stamning skiljer sig inte mellan könen eller beroende av vid vilken ålder man började stamma. Inga resultat tydde på att de som stammar svårare, i högre grad söker hjälp för sina problem. Slutsats Stamning leder i många fall till undvikande beteenden. Vid stamning uppkommer negativa känslor. Det leder till en nedåtgående spiral. Stamning kan inkräkta på hälsa och välbefinnande. Många upplever det som positivt att träffa andra som stammar. Stamningen tycks bli bättre med åren. Vad detta beror på skiljer sig mellan individerna: acceptans, negligering och talträning. Då definitionen av stamnig skiljer sig är det mycket svårt att på ett enkelt sätt beskriva vad stamning är. / Abstract Aim The overall aim of the study was to discover the attitudes towards stuttering among people who stutters. - How does stuttering influence the individual behavior in social situations? - What differences are present in perceived health among people who stutters light and severely? Method The study is a quantitative study based on surveys. The target group for the survey, both men and women, consisted of stuttering individuals from all over Sweden. The age ranged was spread over <20 and >60 years, where the age 21-30 were accounted for the largest participation. The surveys were answered online and data was automatically stored in Google Docs. Result analysis and figure presentation was performed in Excel and SPSS. Results Social situations where stuttering is perceived as especially disturbing was identified. Perceived stuttering severity was not different between genders, age at onset of stuttering. Nor did severity coincide with care seeking behavior. Conclusion In most cases, stuttering results in avoidance behavior. Stuttering emerge negative emotions. It leads to a downward spiral. Stuttering can intrude to health and wellness. Many people who stutter experience meeting with other people who stutters as positive. The stuttering seems to get better with age. Reasons for the improvement differ among individuals: acceptance, neglect and speech therapy. Because of the differences among definition of stuttering it’s hard to describe it in an easy way.

Arbetsplatskonflikter är ett svårt ämne som tenderar att resultera i konsekvenser för både anställda och chefer i organisationer. Då jag anser mig ha upplevt en osäkerhet och frustration hos chefer när de ställts inför konfliktrelaterade samtal, funderade jag över hur det kunde vara möjligt att till synes välutbildade chefer agerade på sådant sätt. För att närma mig en förståelse i fenomenet valde jag att genomföra en studie av chefers subjektiva uppfattningar om hur deras utbildning fungerat som stöd vid konfliktrelaterade samtal med medarbetare. Samt att undersöka hur chefernas upplevelser och agerande kan tänkas ha påverkats av utbildningen. Eftersom att chefernas egna upplevelser var av intresse, genomfördes kvalitativa intervjuer. Studien har huvudsakligen analyserats i relation till Erving Goffmans dramaturgiska perspektiv, som liknar människor vid arbetsplatsen som skådespelare på en teaterscen. Resultatet av analysen visade bland annat att det fanns en efterfrågan av specifika kurser i konflikthantering hos de chefer som ansåg sig sakna sådan utbildning. Det visade sig även finnas tendenser av att de chefer som upplevde sig sakna specifika utbildningar i konflikthantering upplevde sig ha konfliktundvikande beteenden. Medan de chefer som ansåg sig ha relevant utbildning upplevde sig själva som trygga i sin roll vid konfliktrelaterade samtal med medarbetare. / Workplace conflicts is a difficult subject that tends to result in consequences for both employees and managers in organizations. Since I consider myself to have experienced insecutity and frustration among managers when faced with conflict-related conversations, I thought about how it could be possible that the seemingly well-educated managers acted in such a manner. In order to approach an understanding of the phenomenon, I decided to conduct a study of managers subjective perceptions of how their education served as support for conflict-related conversations with employees. And to explore how managers experiences and behavior may have been influenced by education. The fact that managers personal experiences were of interest, was qualitative interviews carried out. The study has mainly been analyzed in relation to Erving Goffman's dramaturgical perspective, that resembles people at work as actors on a stage. The results of the analysis showed that there was a demand for specific courses in conflict management within the managers who considered themselves lacking in such training. It also turned out to be tendencies that the managers that felt they where lacking in specific training in conflict management, felt like they had conflict avoidance behaviors. While the managers who felt like they had adequate training experienced themselves as secure in their role in conflict-related conversations with employees.

A review of anatomical and behavioural studies of the limbic system suggests that some structures which Papaz proposed as the central mechanism of emotion might be involved in food hoarding behaviour. Various structures in Papez· circuit were destroyed surgically and observations were taken on subsequent changes in food hoarding behaviour. In addition, observations were made on nest building behavior and on avoidance performance. It was found that rats with bilateral damage to the mammillothalamic tract and mammillary body were severely depressed in hoarding and avoidance behaviour. Septal damage caused a less severe deficit in both behaviours while hippocampal, domical or thalamic damage did not have a significant effect. A pilot study of hoarding behaviour in the hamster was carried out. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

In this thesis we examine the question whether it is possible to model approach and avoidance behaviour with probabilistic machine learning. The results from this project will primarily aid in our collective understanding of human existence. Secondly, it will extend the knowledge with regards to probabilistic machine learning in the Neuroscience domain. We aid this through building a Variational Recurrent Neural Network (VRNN) that is trained on Electroencephalography (EEG)-data from participants that is subjected to odours with varying pleasantness. The pleasantness of the odours is used to divide the participants into two classes based on their self reported experience. This data is used to train the VRNN. The performance of the VRNN is evaluated by how well we are able to reconstruct the original data from a low dimensional latent representation. In this task the model performs on a similar level as related works. We further investigate how changes in the latent space effects reconstructed data. Despite being disentangled, the latent variables are hard to interpret. Furthermore we try to classify and cluster the latent space as either approach or avoidance behaviour with a Support Vector Machine and Uniform Manifold Approximation. The classification results are only slightly better than random, indicating that the learned latent space is not suitable for the task This is most likely due to the patterns that make up approach and avoidance behaviour is seen as noise by the VRNN. This leads to the patterns not being accurately modelled. This is shown by the evidence that frontal α -asymmetry that exists in the data is not reconstructed by the model. The conclusion is therefore that a VRNN is less suitable for modelling underlying behaviour from raw EEG data due to the low signal to noise ratio. We instead suggests to focus on specific frequency ranges in specific regions when applying machine learning in this domain. / Den här uppsatsen behandlar frågan huruvida det är möjligt att modellera närmande och frånstötande beteendemönster med hjälp av maskininlärning. Resultaten från detta projekt ämnar huvudsakligen att främja vidare förståelse av den mänskliga existensen. Vidare ämnar den även att utvidga förståelsen av hur probabilistisk maskininlärning kan användas för att utforska dylika hänseenden. Vi genomför detta genom att bygga en Variational Recurrent Neural Network-modell (VRNN) som tränas på data från experiment där personer utsätts för olika lukter samtidigt som deras Elektroencefalografi (EEG) spelas in. Deltagarna delas in i två klasser beroende på deras självrapporterade upplevelse av luktens njutbarhet. Maskininlärningsmodellen utvärderas genom att vi analyserar hur väl den lyckas rekonstruera datan. Detta lyckas den väl med. Vidare så undersöker vi hur förändringar i modellens latenta rum påverkar rekonstrueringen av datan. Resultaten från det experimentet är ej tydliga. Vidare så försöker vi klassificera och klustra det latenta rummet med avseende på närmande och frånstötande beteende med hjälp av en Support Vector Machine och Uniform Manifold Approximation. Resultaten från dessa experiment är att vi inte lyckas klassificera eller klustra det latenta rummet med avseende på närmande och frånstötande beteende bättre än slumpen. Vi argumenterar för att detta beror på att de underliggande mönster som skapar dessa beteenden ses som brus av VRNN-modellen och därmed inte modelleras. Detta visas genom att frontal α-asymmetri som existerar i datan ej rekonstrueras av modellen. Slutsaten blir därmed att en VRNN är mindre passande att använda vid modellering av underliggande beteenden av obehandlad EEG data. Detta på grund av det låga signal till brus-förhållandet i EEG-datan. Vi föreslår att istället fokusera på specifika frekvensområden i specifika hjärnregioner när maskininlärning appliceras på EEG.

Low back pain has become one of the most influential musculoskeletal diseases of modern society. It is one of most expensive diseases in terms of medical costs and increased worker absenteeism, which can lead to permanent disability and places strain on the economy as a whole. Pain has been recognised as a disease in itself, which has certain consequences when it becomes chronic. Many kinds of treatment options exist with varying degrees of success. The question is thus which treatment option is the most favourable and cost-effective. Conservative treatment is the most recommended form of treatment when no serious underlying diseases are present. Exercise has been shown to be very effective in the treatment of chronic low back pain but there are still questions regarding the use of exercise therapy. The predetermined goal of the study was to ascertain whether an aggressiveprogressive exercise programme, and specifically what kind of exercises, would be more effective in the treatment of chronic low back pain. This was achieved through a number of steps, which included an extensive literature review, the identification of an appropriate test battery with related minimum physical requirements and cut scores, subject recruitment and screening of subjects, the implementation of the intervention and the subsequent re-testing of the subjects. Once the data was completed, the next step was to make use of two case studies to assist in illustrating the effectiveness of individual patients compared to the sample as a whole. These case studies were of patients who completed the entire programme but one took longer to complete the programme. This assists in illustrating the value of maintaining exercise protocol. The results from the present study are extremely positive. The two case studies provided a glimpse of the potential value that could be added through the implementation of more aggressive-progressive exercise interventions in the treatment of chronic low back pain. The final product will greatly assist exercise therapists concerned with the treatment of chronic low back pain along with cognitive-behavioural techniques. Hopefully this study will provide insight into managing chronic low back pain in South Africa from an exercise standpoint. Secondly the study will provide practical techniques to implement in an era in which economic difficulties are rife.AFRIKAANS: Laerugpyn het een van die invloedrykste muskuloskeletale siektes van die moderne samelewing geword. Dit is een van die duurste siektes in terme van mediese koste en verhoogde siekverlof deur werkers, wat kan lei tot permanente ongeskiktheid en ’n verhoogde las plaas op die ekonomie as ’n geheel. Pyn word erken as ’n siekte op sy eie wat sekere gevolge het wanneer dit chronies begin raak. Verskeie soorte behandelingsopsies is beskikbaar met variërende grade van sukses. Die vraag is dus watter behandelingsopsie is die bruikbaarste en koste-doeltreffendste. Konserwatiewe behandeling is die mees aanbevole metode van behandeling wanneer daar geen ernstige onderliggende siektetoestande teenwoordig is nie. Dit is reeds bewys dat oefening baie doeltreffend is in die behandeling van chroniese laerugpyn. Daar bestaan egter steeds vrae rondom die gebruik van oefening as terapie.Die vooropgestelde doelwit van die studie was om te bepaal of ’n aggressiewe-progressiewe inoefeningsprogram doeltreffend sal wees in die behandeling van chroniese laerugpyn, en meer spesifiek watter tipe oefening die doeltreffendste sal wees. Die navorsing het bestaan uit ’n paar stappe wat ingesluit het ’n intensiewe literatuursoektog, die identifisering van ’n gepaste toetsbattery met verwante minimum fisieke vereistes en afsnytellings, die verkryging en evaluering van proefpersone, die implementering van die intervensieprogram en die daaropvolgende hertoetsing van die proefpersone.Nadat die invordering van die data en die gepaardgaande analise van die data voltooi is, was die volgende stap om gebruik te maak van twee gevallestudies ten einde die doeltreffendheid van die intervensieprogram vir individuele proefpersone te ilustreer deur dit te vergelyk met die groep as ’n geheel. Die twee gevallestudies was van proefpersone wat die intervensieprogram volledig voltooi het, alhoewel die een proefpersoon langer geneem het om die intervensieprogram te voltooi. Dit help om die navolgingswaarde van ’n inoefeningsprotokol te illustreer. Die resultate van die huidige studie is uiters positief. Die twee gevallestudies gee ’n mate van insig wat betref die potensiële waarde wat verkry kan word deur die implementering van ’n meer aggressiewe-progressiewe inoefeningsintervensie vir die behandeling van chroniese lae rugpyn. Die finale produk sal die nodige ondersteuning aan oefeningsterapeute bied wat onseker is oor die behandeling van chroniese laerugpyn deur middel van aggressiewe-progressiewe inoefeningsintervensies en kognitiewe gedragstegnieke. Hierdie studie sal dus die begrip en insig van die behandeling van chroniese laerugpyn in Suid-Afrika verhoog vanuit ’n oefeningsuitgangspunt. Tweedens sal die studie die gebruik van praktiese oefentegnieke aanmoedig in ’n era waarin ekonomiese tye moeilik is. / Thesis (DPhil)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Biokinetics, Sport and Leisure Sciences / unrestricted

Les animaux infectés ont une odeur, une apparence, un comportement et/ou un son différent de leurs congénères non infectés. Ces différences peuvent servir d'indices pour reconnaître et éviter les individus infectés. Des études récentes montrent que les hôtes potentiels peuvent utiliser les indices visuels et/ou chimiques pour éviter les individus infectés et minimiser les risques d'infection. Par ailleurs, la prévalence d’un parasite dans l’environnement peut influencer l’apprentissage ainsi que la force de sélection pour la reconnaissance et l’évitement de ce parasite. Bien qu'il existe des preuves que les poissons utilisent des comportements d’évitement pour réduire le risque d'infection, les mécanismes sous-jacents restent peu connus. Nous avons examiné la capacité de deux populations (naïves et expérimentées aux parasites) de crapets-soleil (Lepomis gibbosus) à distinguer les congénères infectés par des vers parasites et les congénères non infectés (c.-à-d. expériences de choix binaires) en utilisant séparément les indices visuels et chimiques. En présence d’indices visuels, les crapets ont montré une forte préférence pour leurs congénères, quel que soit le niveau d'infection, plutôt que d'être seuls. À l’inverse, les crapets évitaient leurs congénères et restaient seuls en présence d’indices chimiques. Nous suggérons que les indices visuels et chimiques ne sont pas redondants et que les crapets utilisent les deux pour prendre des décisions sociales adéquates. Les poissons des deux populations n'ont montré aucune préférence en présence d’indices visuels de congénères infectés et non infectés. Cependant, en présence d’indices chimiques, il existait une grande variation en termes de préférence : certains préférant les congénères non infectés et d'autres préférant les congénères infectés. En moyenne, notre population naïve a évité les congénères infectés alors que notre population expérimentée n'a montré aucune préférence, ce qui suggère une habituation aux signaux d'infection dans la population expérimentée. Nous proposons que les crapets utilisent des indices chimiques plutôt que visuels pour discriminer leurs congénères infectés et non infectés. Notre étude souligne l'importance de prendre en compte différents indices sensoriels ainsi que la charge parasitaire lors de l'étude des comportements d'évitement et de formation de bancs. Ceci est particulièrement important sachant que l'environnement chimique et visuel ainsi que l'abondance des parasites sont modifiés par les changements globaux tel que les pluies acides, le brunissement et l’eutrophisation des écosystèmes d’eau douce. / Infected animals smell, look, behave and/or sound different from uninfected conspecifics. These differences can serve as cues used to recognize and avoid infected individuals. Recent studies show that visual and/or chemical cues of infected individuals can be used by potential hosts to modify their movement behaviours and minimize risks of infection. Furthermore, the prevalence of a parasite in the environment can influence learning and the strength of selection for parasite recognition and avoidance. Although there is some evidence that fishes use prophylactic behaviours to reduce infection risk, the underlying mechanisms remain unknown. We investigated the ability of two populations (naive and experienced to parasites) of wild caught pumpkinseed sunfish (Lepomis gibbosus) in distinguishing between conspecifics infected with parasitic worms versus uninfected individuals (i.e. binary choice experiments) using visual and chemical cues separately. Pumpkinseeds showed a strong preference for conspecifics, regardless of their infection level, over being alone when given visual cues but avoided conspecifics and remained alone when given chemical cues. We suggest that visual and chemical cues are not redundant, and that pumpkinseeds use both to make relevant social decisions. Fish of both populations did not show any preferences when given visual cues of infected and uninfected conspecifics. However, in the presence of chemical cues, there was a great variation in terms of preference: some preferring uninfected conspecifics while others preferring the infected ones. On average, our naive population avoided infected conspecifics whereas our experienced one did not show any preferences, suggesting habituation to infection cues in the experienced population. We propose that pumpkinseeds use chemical rather than visual cues to discriminate between infected and uninfected conspecifics and make a shoaling decision. Our study highlights the importance of considering different sensory cues as well as parasite load when studying avoidance and shoaling behaviours. This is particularly important in a time of modifying chemical and visual environment as well as parasites abundance through global change such as acid rain, browning and eutrophication of freshwater ecosystems.

Intraguild competition and predation have been recognised as important ecological factors influencing the population dynamics of carnivores. The effects of these interactions are often asymmetrical due to a size-related dominancy hierarchy. However, it has been suggested that competitively subordinate carnivores can minimise the costs of predation and competition through spatial and temporal avoidance. Here I investigate the ecological and behavioural mechanisms by which cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) coexist with competitively stronger lions (Panthera leo) and spotted hyaenas (Crocuta crocuta). Fieldwork was carried out in the Okavango Delta, northern Botswana, between October 2008 and August 2011. A total of 20 Global Positioning System (GPS) radio-collars were fitted on all known cheetahs (n=6), lion prides (n=5) and spotted hyaena clans (n=6) in the study area (approx. 3 000 km²). Pre-programmed radio-collars recorded locations and activity continuously for each individual and these data were complemented with direct behavioural observations. Cheetah data were analysed with respect to the temporal and spatial likelihood of encountering lions and spotted hyaenas. Results suggest that the response to the risks posed by other predators is species-specific, habitat-specific and dependent on the immediacy of the risk. Resource partitioning was not the main mechanism for coexistence as cheetahs overlapped extensively with lions and spotted hyaenas in time, space and habitat use. Instead, cheetahs adjusted their spatial distribution in response to immediate risks or adapted their habitat use depending on their vulnerability (e.g. behaviours such as feeding or with differing levels of moonlight at night). In general, cheetah temporal and spatial distribution is a hierarchal process, firstly driven by resource acquisition and thereafter fine-tuned by predator avoidance. In addition, habitat heterogeneity seemed to be key in facilitating coexistence. Understanding the behavioural mechanisms that interacting apex predators adopt to regulate these negative interactions could be crucial to carnivore conservation, especially as human-related habitat loss is forcing species into ever smaller areas.