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Syfte och problemformulering: Denna studie syftar till att undersöka hur kommunikatörer i Sundsvall uppfattar och använder artificiell intelligens (AI) i sitt arbete med innehållsskapande på sociala medier. Fokus ligger på att förstå vilka motiv som driver deras användning av AI och hur de upplever att AI påverkar deras professionella praktik. Studien belyser de nya möjligheter och utmaningar som AI-teknologi medför inom marknadsföring och PR, samt de etiska överväganden som uppstår. Metod och material: För att besvara studiens syfte och frågeställningar använder denna studie kvalitativa metoder, inklusive strukturerade intervjuer med sex kommunikatörer från organisationer av olika storlekar i Sundsvall, stödda av en tematisk innehållsanalys i linje med Teorin om Uses & Gratification (U&G) och Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT). Huvudresultat: Resultatet visar att kommunikatörer i Sundsvall främst är motiverade av den effektivitet och kreativa support som AI erbjuder. AI uppfattas som ett stödjande verktyg som fungerar som en kollega. Social påverkan spelar en viktig roll i beslutet att använda AI eftersom det hjälper kommunikatörerna att hålla sig konkurrenskraftiga. Även fast AI kommer med många fördelar är den mänskliga kompetens fortfarande avgörande för att säkerställa att innehållet uppfyller professionella standarder.

The overall aim of this thesis was to examine the development of PR practitioner professional identity. The purpose was to examine how PR practitioner reason/talks about the image of the profession and how communicators use discursive tools to create their professional identity. The primary theoretical framework of the thesis is social identity and discursive psychology to understand how the professional identity is created. The chosen method was interview method where six interviews were conducted from the private and the public sectors in Umeå. The private organizations included are Punkt PR, which is a private PR agency and Polarbröd. The public sector organizations included are Umeå Kommun, Region Västerbotten, Polisen Nord and Vakin. The result of the analysis shows that the PR practitioner perceive that the image given by their profession is incorrect and largely based on ignorance of how their work look like. PR practitioner also see their profession as important for both the organization and the community. The thesis conclusions were that the PR practitioner build their identity by focusing on how and why they are important in society and for the organization. Another opinion from the PR practitioner was that the media often producing that a large part of the PR practitioner´s work is to deal with journalists and make the journalist's work more difficult, which the PR practitioner´s think is wrong.

Under år 2020 drabbades världen av en pandemi, ett omfattande virus vid namn Covid-19 som har påverkat både organisationer och individer runt om i världen negativt, vilket har krävt att värdet av en lyckad kriskommunikation varit stor för organisationer. På grund av detta är det viktigt att organisationen har kunskap i hur de ska anpassa sin kriskommunikation i sociala medier efter den typen av kris som Covid-19-pandemin är. Därför fokuserar denna uppsats på kriskommunikation i sociala medier för yrkesgruppen kommunikatörer under en pandemi som Covid-19. Syftet är att undersöka och identifiera faktorer som är viktiga för yrkesgruppen kommunikatörer när de ska kriskommunicera på sociala medier, samt undersöka och identifiera sociala mediers viktigaste egenskaper att använda som verktyg under en pandemi som Covid-19.  Uppsatsen grundas av empiriskt material i form av intervjuer och metoden som används är en kvalitativ metodansats med semistrukturerade intervjuer, med avsikt att studera den kunskap och de erfarenheter som respondenterna besitter. Uppsatsen underbyggs även av forskning inom användandet av sociala medier under en pandemi och kommunikatörens roll under en pandemi som tillsammans bygger en förförståelse för ämnet. Uppsatsen resulterar i sex viktiga egenskaper hos sociala medier som kan nyttjas i en kris som Covid-19-pandemin och fem teoretiska och praktiska faktorer som är viktiga för kommunikatören att utgå från i kriskommunikationen under en pandemi. De sex viktiga egenskaperna hos sociala medier är spridning, mätbarhet, ägandeskap, omvärldsbevakning, källa till information och dialog. De fem faktorer som uppsatsen resulterat i är situationen, resurser, saklig och faktabaserad information, snabb kommunikationsprocess och interaktion. Faktorerna kan generera i en lyckad kriskommunikation under Covid-19 och liknande kriser. / In 2020, the world was hit by a pandemic, a widespread virus called Covid-19 that has negatively affected both organizations and individuals around the world, which has shown that successful crisis communication is important for organizations. Because of this, it is important that the organization has knowledge of how to adapt its crisis communication in social media to the type of crisis that Covid-19 is. Therefore, this essay focuses on crisis communication in social media for the professional group of communicators during a pandemic like Covid-19. The purpose is to investigate and identify factors that are important for the professional group of communicators when they are to communicate in crisis on social media, as well as to investigate and identify the most important characteristics of social media to use during a pandemic such as Covid-19.  The essay is based on empirical material in the form of interviews and the method used is a qualitative methodological approach with semi-structured interviews, with the intention of studying the knowledge and experiences that the respondents possess. The thesis is also supported by research in the use of social media during a pandemic and the role of the communicator during a pandemic that together builds a pre-understanding of the subject.  The essay results in six important features of social media that can be used in a crisis such as Covid-19 and five theoretical and practical factors that are important for the communicator to start from in crisis communication during a pandemic. The six important characteristics of social media are dissemination, measurability, ownership, external monitoring, source of information and dialogue. The five factors that the essay resulted in are the situation, resources, factual and fact-based information, fast communication process and interaction. The factors can generate a successful crisis communication during Covid-19 and similar crises.

Advisors are always examining best practices when serving students with technology. Online instruction has become a popular choice for students in higher education, and educators and other student personnel are looking to further accommodate their students by including academic services as part of a virtual environment. This study examines the usefulness of an online advising module geared at graduate students. I conducted a usability study of an online advising module created for graduate students in the College of Education and Human Performance (CEDHP) at the University of Central Florida. The online advising module was presented to current graduate students in the CEDHP. They were asked to make observations and provide feedback about their interactions with the online advising module. The final part of the usability test included giving students a survey to rate their overall satisfaction with the module. Results of the study showed that graduate students did benefit from viewing the online advising module. Participants reported an overall strong satisfaction rate with the module.

Zugl.: Augsburg, Universiẗat, Diss., 2005.

Service delivery to children with severe disabilities (CSDs) in developing countries share some common characteristics. These include inaccessible services due to the fact that the majority of services are located in a few large cities, the focus of services are usually on school-age children (with few for pre-schoolers), many services require specialised staff and high technology equipment that is not always available and professionals who tend to work in isolation with minimal integration between services. A particularly vulnerable group within the sphere of CSDs are beginning communicators because of their inability to articulate their needs, feelings and rights. Programmes to specifically address these communication needs by equipping them with the necessary skills to interact and participate in society, are very limited. Often the first contact that primary caregivers of a CSD have with professionals, is with the community health nurse. Furthermore, they often remain the only professionals who provide continuous support and assistance to these caregivers. It is therefore clear that these nurses need to be equipped with the necessary knowledge and skills in order to assist caregivers in dealing with their children with severe disabilities. This can be done by training these nurses (through multiskilling) to function as transdisciplinary professionals. Furthermore, a need for appropriate materials for service delivery to this population also exists. Consequently the BCIP (Beginning Communication Intervention Protocol) was developed. The BCIP addresses four important communication domains, namely communication means (including objects, photographs, manual signs, PCS symbols and a simplified 4-option digital speaker), functions (namely informational functions e.g. requesting more, requesting help, etc. and social functions, e.g. greeting, drawing attention to self, etc.), partners (both adults and peers) and the deliberate creation of communication opportunities (e.g. by providing small portions, placing desired items out of research) etc. Care was taken to ensure culture sensitivity and the authenticity of the BCIP. Twenty community health nurses were trained in the application of the BCIP. Training employed adult learning principles and was one week long, followed by three follow-ups that were conducted in situ (at two weeks, six weeks and five months post-training). Multiple measurements were used to evaluate the knowledge and skills acquired after training, namely questionnaires, structured interviews, skill demonstrations (which were video recorded and rated by the researcher and an independent rater) and a focus group. Results indicated that the BCIP training is relevant in bringing about a significant change in the targeted domains, namely knowledge and skills. Peripheral behaviours (namely attitudes, job satisfaction and type of service delivery provided) were all rated high at the onset of the research and thus quantitative data failed to show improvement. On the other hand, qualitative data from the focus group suggested improvement. / Dissertation (PhD (Augmentative and Alternative Communication))--University of Pretoria, 2004. / Centre for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (CAAC) / unrestricted

Plusieurs types d’applications industrielles complexes, relèvent du domaine multidisciplinaire de l’Electro-Hydro-Dynamique (EHD) où les interactions entre des particules chargées et des particules neutres sont étudiées dans le contexte couplé de la dynamique des fluides et de l’électrostatique. Dans cette thèse, nous avons étudié par voie de simulation numérique certains phénomènes Electro-Hydro-Dynamiques comme l’injection unipolaire, le phénomène de conduction dans les liquides peu conducteurs et le contrôle d’écoulement avec des actionneurs plasma à barrières diélectriques (DBD). La résolution de tels systèmes physiques complexes exige des ressources de calculs importantes ainsi que des solveurs CFD parallèles dans la mesure où ces modèles EHD sont mathématiquement raides et très consommateurs en temps de calculs en raison des gammes d’échelles de temps et d’espace impliquées. Cette thèse vise à accroitre les capacités de simulations numériques du groupe Electro-Fluido-Dynamique de l’Institut Pprime en développant un solveur parallèle haute performance basé sur des modèles EHD avancés. Dans une première partie de cette thèse, la parallélisation de notre solveur EHD a été réalisée avec des protocoles MPI avancés comme la topologie Cartésienne et les Inter-communicateurs. En particulier, une stratégie spécifique a été conçue pour prendre en compte la caractéristique multi-blocs structurés du code. La nouvelle version parallèle du code a été entièrement validée au travers de plusieurs benchmarks. Les tests de scalabilité menés sur notre cluster de 1200 cœurs ont montré d’excellentes performances. La deuxième partie de cette thèse est consacrée à la simulation numérique de plusieurs écoulements EHD typiques. Nous nous sommes intéressés entre autres à l’électroconvection induite par l'injection unipolaire entre deux électrodes plates parallèles, à l’étude des panaches électroconvectifs dans une configuration d'électrodes lame-plan, au mécanisme de conduction basé sur la dissociation de molécules neutres d'un liquide faiblement conducteur. Certains de ces nouveaux résultats ont été validés avec des simulations numériques entreprises avec le code commercial Comsol. Enfin, le contrôle d’écoulements grâce à un actionneur DBD a été simulé à l’aide du modèle Suzen-Huang dans diverses configurations. Les effets de l’épaisseur du diélectrique, de l’espacement inter-électrodes, de la fréquence de la tension appliquée et sa forme d’onde, sur la vitesse maximale du vent ionique induit ainsi que sur la force électrique moyenne ont été étudiés. / Several intricately coupled applications of modern industries fall under the multi-disciplinary domain of Electrohydrodynamics (EHD), where the interactions among charged and neutral particles are studied in context of both fluid dynamics and electrostatics together. The charge particles in fluids are generated with various physical mechanisms, and they move under the influence of external electric field and the fluid velocity. Generally, with sufficient electric force magnitudes, momentum transfer occurs from the charged species to the neutral particles also. This coupled system is solved with the Maxwell equations, charge transport equations and Navier-Stokes equations simulated sequentially in a common time loop. The charge transport is solved considering convection, diffusion, source terms and other relevant mechanisms for species. Then, the bulk fluid motion is simulated considering the induced electric force as a source term in the Navier-Stokes equations, thus, coupling the electrostatic system with the fluid. In this thesis, we numerically investigated some EHD phenomena like unipolar injection, conduction phenomenon in weakly conducting liquids and flow control with dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma actuators.Solving such complex physical systems numerically requires high-end computing resources and parallel CFD solvers, as these large EHD models are mathematically stiff and highly time consuming due to the range of time and length scales involved. This thesis contributes towards advancing the capability of numerical simulations carried out within the EFD group at Institut Pprime by developing a high performance parallel solver with advanced EHD models. Being the most popular and specific technology, developed for the distributed memory platforms, Message Passing Interface (MPI) was used to parallelize our multi-block structured EHD solver. In the first part the parallelization of our numerical EHD solver with advanced MPI protocols such as Cartesian topology and Inter-Communicators is undertaken. In particular a specific strategy has been designed and detailed to account for the multi-block structured grids feature of the code. The parallel code has been fully validated through several benchmarks, and scalability tests carried out on up to 1200 cores on our local cluster showed excellent parallel speed-ups with our approach. A trustworthy database containing all these validation tests carried out on multiple cores is provided to assist in future developments. The second part of this thesis deals with the numerical simulations of several typical EHD flows. We have examined three-dimensional electroconvection induced by unipolar injection between two planar-parallel electrodes. Unsteady hexagonal cells were observed in our study. 3D flow phenomenon with electro-convective plumes was also studied in the blade-plane electrode configuration considering both autonomous and non-autonomous injection laws. Conduction mechanism based on the dissociation of neutral molecules of a weakly conductive liquid has been successfully simulated. Our results have been validated with some numerical computations undertaken with the commercial code Comsol. Physical implications of Robin boundary condition and Onsager effect on the charge species were highlighted in electro-conduction in a rectangular channel. Finally, flow control using Dielectric Barrier Discharge plasma actuator has been simulated using the Suzen-Huang model. Impacts of dielectric thickness, gap between the electrodes, frequency and waveform of applied voltage etc. were investigated in terms of their effect on the induced maximum ionic wind velocity and average body force. Flow control simulations with backward facing step showed that a laminar flow separation could be drastically controlled by placing the actuator at the tip of the step with both electrodes perpendicular to each other.

This thesis explores the cultural considerations American technical communicators must address when working with French colleagues and when creating technical documentation for French audiences. A review of the literature on intercultural communication theory was conducted, along with a review of the limited research on technical communication in France and the needs of French audiences. A qualitative online survey of French technical communicators was also conducted. Through this survey, French technical communicators reported on their intercultural beliefs, experiences, and practices, and information, language, and cultural needs. Survey responses were analyzed using inductive thematic analysis. Two main themes were developed as a result of this analysis: the importance of adapting content to French audiences, and the cultural differences between French and American information needs and communication styles. Survey findings are combined with theoretical and practical literature to offer American technical communicators guidance for successful intercultural interactions. This thesis concludes with suggestions for future practice and research in intercultural technical communication.

Personer med afasi lider ofta av sina språkliga svårigheter och upplever dem som ett allvarligt problem. När förmågan till effektiv kommunikation genom talat språk inte räcker till kan ett Alternativt och Kompletterande Kommunikationssätt (AKK) behövas. Det möjliggör att personen, förutom med tal, kommunicerar med till exempel bilder, gester eller tecken. Proceduren att välja ett passande AKK är komplicerad och det händer att ett hjälpmedel som inte passar individens behov sätts in av logoped, eller att ett hjälpmedel inte sätts in alls. För att utveckla och förbättra möjligheten att avgöra om och i så fall vilket hjälpmedel som bör användas har Lasker och Garrett utvecklat bedömningsverktyget The Multimodal Communication Screening Test for persons with Aphasia (MCST-A). Denna studies huvudsyfte var att översätta MCST-A till svenska. Studien delades upp i tre delar; 1) översättning och anpassning av MCST-A till svenska, 2) prövning av översättningen på personer utan afasi samt 3) en första testning på personer med måttlig till grav kronisk afasi där deras resultat på MCST-A jämfördes med en skattning av deras förmåga att kommunicera med AKK i vardagen. Översättningen och anpassningen ledde till en fungerande version på svenska. Resultatet från testningen på personer med afasi går i linje med tidigare forskning, där resultatet på MCST-A speglar personers skattade förmåga att kommunicera med AKK i vardagen. MCST-A kan således vara ett användbart instrument för att avgöra om och på vilken nivå ett hjälpmedel kan användas av en person med afasi. Det är dock inte möjligt att dra en generaliserbar slutsats utifrån denna studies resultat då urvalet var begränsat. / Individuals with aphasia often suffer from their language difficulties and experience them as a serious problem. When the ability to communicate effectively through spoken language is insufficient, an Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) may be required. This allows the person, in addition to speech, to communicate with for example pictures, gestures or body language. The procedure for choosing a suitable AAC is complicated, sometimes an aid that doesn’t suit the needs of the individual is provided by speech-language pathologists and sometimes an aid isn’t provided at all. In order to develop and improve the ability to determine if and what aids should be used, Garrett and Lasker developed the assessment tool The Multimodal Communication Screening Test for Individuals with Aphasia (MCST-A). The main purpose of this study was to translate MCST-A into Swedish. The study was divided into three parts; 1) translation and adaptation of MCST-A to Swedish, 2) testing the translation on persons without aphasia, and 3) a first test on persons with moderate to severe chronic aphasia, where their results on MCST-A were compared with an estimate of their ability to communicate with AAC in daily life. The translation and adaptation led to a working version in Swedish. The results from the persons with aphasia is in line with previous research, where the results on MCST-A reflects the estimated ability to communicate with AAC in their daily lives. Thus, MCST-A can be a useful tool to determine whether if and on what level aids can be used by a person with aphasia. However, it’s not possible to draw a generalizable conclusion based on the results of this study as the sample was small.