The main purpose for this study was to examine how boys with destructive and self-harming behaviour are perceived and comprehended by school counsellors and literature. The study assessed how boys who harm themselves are defined both in practice and in theory by using a social constructivist point of view and a gender perspective. The study was divided in two parts concerning gathering knowledge of the matter. The authors, using a method called qualitative semi-structured interviews, interviewed nine school counsellors. To acquire scientific knowledge, the authors implemented a literature review and researched books and journal articles regarding boys who self-harm. An essential discovery is that boys, who self-harm, have a tendency to be overlooked and excluded from the issue. This is mainly depending on how these boys often express their feelings by acting out their emotions in a physical manner. It is socially acceptable for boys to be extroverted, to be louder and use bigger gestures while girls are introvert and emotional human beings. This is depending on social expectations on each gender and the qualities and behaviour that are associated with being either male or female.

This thesis is an analysis of the use and definition of the concepts health, well-being and welfare within the field called “the science of animal health and welfare”. The materials used are a literature survey of the field, qualitative interviews with Swedish veterinary surgeons and a study of the concepts in legislation concerning animals in England, Germany and Sweden. The main emphasis has been on theoretical definitions explicitly stated in the different texts or in the interviews. Two ways of distinguishing between animals are used: according to species and according to the role that animals have for humans. As a result it becomes salient whether the definitions have limits with regard to species or role. In the thesis a great number of definitions of the three concepts are interpreted, compared and criticised. As a result a limited number of definitions have been categorised and collected into clusters which fulfil minimal requirements of consistency and practicability. The analysis supports the use of all three concepts – health, well-being and welfare – since they are all needed for making crucial distinctions in the science of animal health and welfare.

Denna uppsats inriktar sig på rekvisitet verksam i betydande omfattning (verksamhetsrekvisitet) i relation till ”vanliga anställda” i personalägda fåmansföretag. Det framgår i förarbetena att verksamhetsrekvisitet anses vara uppfyllt när delägarens arbetsinsatser har stor betydelse för vinstgenereringen. Den avgörande faktorn här är om delägaren genom arbetsinsatser genererat intäkter till företaget. Arbetsinsatser av ”vanliga anställda”, dvs. anställda utan någon ledarbefattning eller utan kvalifikationer för företagets kärnverksamhet, anses i vanliga fall inte generera vinster till företaget. Det avgjordes dock några rättsfall där domstolen ansåg att ”vanliga anställda” var verksamma i betydande omfattning. Det är därför relevant att utreda om domstolens bedömningar i de här rättsfallen avviker från syftet bakom verksamhetsrekvisitet. Uppsatsens syfte är att utreda om domstolens bedömningar i rättspraxis som berör rekvisitet ”verksam i betydande omfattning” i relation till ”vanliga anställda” i personalägda företag avviker från lagstiftarens syfte bakom rekvisitet. Lagtexten ger ingen förklaring till hur verksamhetsrekvisitet ska tolkas. I uppsatsen läggs därför vikt vid analysen av förarbeten för att fastställa motivet till lagstiftningen. För att uppnå uppsatsens syfte görs därefter en jämförande analys av praxis med förarbetena. Författaren finner att domstolens bedömningar avviker från syftet bakom verksamhetsrekvisitet beträffande ”vanliga anställda” i personalägda företag. Uppsatsen visar att domstolen stegvis har slutat ta ställning till om arbetsinsatser av sådana anställda har någon betydelse för vinstgenereringen. Domstolen betraktar ”vanliga anställda” som aktivt verksamma utan att ge övertygande skäl till sitt avgörande. Det visas även att domstolens avgöranden påverkar framtida bedömningar i likartade mål. / This thesis focuses on the criterion significantly active in relation to ordinary employees in employee-owned private companies. Shareholders in close companies are considered to be significantly active when their undertakings are essential for the company’s profit. The decisive factor here is whether the shareholders contribute profits to the company. Ordinary employees usually are not concidered to generate profits to the company. Nevertheless, there have been several legal cases in which the Court stated that ordinary employees were significantly active. The question that arises is if the Court’s judgement in these cases deviates from what the legislator meant with the criterion “significantly active” concerning ordinary employees. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate whether the Courts’s judgement in the case law that concerns the criterion “significantly active” in relation to ordinary employees in employee-owned private companies deviates from what the legislator meant with this criterion. The law does not provide any guidance to how the criterion shoud be interpreted. The thesis is based therefore on the comparative analysis of the preparatory work with the relevant case law in order to answer the purpose of this thesis. The conclusion made in this thesis is that the Court’s judgement does deviate from what the legislator meant with the criterion “significantly active” concerning ordinary employees in employee-owned private companies. The analysis shows that the Court does not take into consideration whether such employees’ contribution is profitable to the company. The Court states that ordinary employees are significantly active without giving any convincing justification for its decision. Furthermore, the Court’s decisions affect future judgements in similar cases.

Sedan det officiella bildandet av EU så har idén om en gemensam europeisk identitet funnits. Både EU och Sverige har försökt förverkliga denna idé – det finns däremot forskning som tyder på att det är ett tämligen svårdefinierat koncept. I läroplanen för gymnasieskolan finns en formulering rörande utvecklandet av elevernas europeiska identitet. I och med dess svårdefinierade natur så väcker det frågan kring hur lärare själva konceptualiserar en europeisk identitet, vilket besvarar föreliggande studies syfte. Dessutom är det meningen att synliggöra lärares resonemang kring möjligheter och utmaningar som finns med att undervisa om en europeisk identitet. Således har en kvalitativ intervjustudie genomförts där sju verksamma samhällskunskapslärare intervjuats och analyserats utifrån en social identitetsteori. Resultatet av studien visade att det saknas en samstämmighet bland lärarna gällande vilka aspekter som kan utgöra en del av en europeisk identitet. Sekularism, mångkulturalism och kontinentens historia framstod som de främsta aspekterna, men varenda aspekt ifrågasattes kontinuerligt av samtliga lärare. Det fanns en brist på möjligheter bland de intervjuade lärarna som menade att EU och identitet utgjorde självklara förutsättningar men att det kräver ett visst intresse från läraren själv. Vid talan om utmaningar så fann de intervjuade lärarna bland annat att det är en svårdefinierad fråga, ett obekvämt ämne för vissa lärare och framför allt en brist på förankring i ämnesplanen, vilket gör att det europeiska hamnar i skymundan. Den nationella och globala identiteten ges mer utrymme i ämnesplanen och således är det naturligt att dessa behandlas mer i klassrummet. / Ever since the foundation of the European Union, the idea of a common European identity has existed. Both the EU and Sweden have tried to make this idea come into fruition – however, previous research indicate the difficulty in defining this concept. In the Swedish curriculum for upper-secondary school, there is a formulation regarding developing the students’ European identity. Due to its difficulty to define, it raises the question regarding how teachers themselves conceptualize a European identity, which explains the main purpose of this study. Another objective was to investigate teachers reasoning regarding the potential possibilities and challenges when teaching about a European identity. Therefore, a qualitative interview study was conducted where seven active civics teachers were interviewed and analyzed using a social identity theory. The results of the study pointed to a lack of consensus among the teachers regarding what aspects to include in a European identity. Secularism, multiculturalism and the continent’s history emerged as the most prevalent aspects; however, each aspect was continually disputed by every teacher. There was also a lack of possibilities presented. EU and identity were the most obvious in terms of core content, but it requires a certain interest from the teacher. The interviewed teachers brought up several challenges, including its difficulty to define, its uncomfortable nature and, above all, its absence from the course curriculum. This effectively sidelines the European identity from making any significant appearance. The national and global identity are present in the course curriculum and are therefore given a higher priority.

Digitalization crosses all areas of life (Hess et al. 2014). Recent progress in artificial intelligence (AI) opens new potentials for further developments and improvements, with virtual coaching being a prime example. Virtual coaches (VCs) aim to optimize the user’s life by transforming cognition, affection, and behavior towards a stated goal. Since they emerged from the health and sports domain, a typical example are VCs in the form of digital avatars, which instruct physical exercises, shape health-related knowledge and provide motivational support to achieve the user’s goals (e.g., weight loss) (Ding et al. 2010; Tropea et al. 2019). Nonetheless, the application areas of VCs are versatile and exploring the potential areas (e.g., healthcare, work, finance, leisure, and environment) constitutes an essential topic of future research and development. According to Gartner’s hype cycle for human capital management technology, VCs are still in their infancy but are considered innovation triggers for the following years (Gartner, Inc. 2021). Specifically, VCs can be a replacement or complement for traditional human-to-human coaching scenarios and promise broad access to personalized coaching services independent of place and time (Graßmann and Schermuly 2021). As a result, VCs may contribute to solving challenges posed by an aging society and skilled labor shortage (European Commission 2016; Edwards and Cheok 2018). Last but not least, the recent COVID-19 pandemic additionally showcased the need for VCs as an alternative to traditional face-to-face interventions. Against this background and driven by the potential and promises of VCs, research has recently engaged in developing and understanding VC applications (Tropea et al. 2019; Lete et al. 2020; Graßmann and Schermuly 2021). To introduce the concept in information systems (IS) research and provide a basis for researchers and practitioners alike, this catchword aims at providing a holistic view on VCs. The structure of this paper is as follows. Section 2 elaborates a definition, delimits VCs from related system classes, and proposes a research framework. Section 3 aggregates existing research into the framework and concludes with an outlook on future IS research perspectives.

Dans le cadre de la nouvelle société de l'information multimédia et communicante, cette thèse propose des contributions méthodologiques et techniques relatives à la représentation, l'animation et la transmission des objets virtuels.<br /><br />Les méthodes existantes sont analysées de façon comparée et les performances des standards multimédias actuels évaluées en termes de réalisme d'animation et de débit de transmission. Pour surmonter les limitations mises en évidence, un nouveau cadre de modélisation et d'animation de personnages virtuels est proposé. Le modèle SMS (Skeleton, Muscle and Skin), fondé sur le concept de contrôleur de déformation d'un maillage, est introduit et sa formulation mathématique développée. Le graphe de scène 3D et le flux de compression associés à SMS sont décrits. L'approche SMS est évaluée dans le cadre d'un nouveau service de transmission télévisuelle d'un signeur virtuel destinés aux déficients auditifs. Le modèle SMS a été promu dans le standard MPEG-4 version 5.

Model-based systems engineering (MBSE) is an enterprising systems engineering methodology, which in replacing traditional, document-centric systems engineering methods, has the potential to reduce project costs, time, effort and risk. The potential benefits of applying MBSE on a project are widely discussed but are largely anecdotal. Throughout the System Engineering and Project Management industries, there is a strong desire to quantify these benefits, particularly within organizations that are looking to apply it to their complex, system of systems projects. The objective of this thesis was to quantify the benefits that model-based systems engineering presents, particularly in terms of project cost estimates. In order to quantify this qualitative data, statistical analysis was conducted on collected perceptions from industry experts and professionals. The results of this work led to identifying future research that should be completed in order to make MBSE an industry-wide standard for the development and estimation of projects.

Art is everything what people do with time and space is a theoretical text, which includes some of the author’s ideas on contemporary art situation and its definition. The work could be interesting for the people working in the sphere of humanities, as much as to everybody else living in this world. / "Menas yra viskas, ką žmonės daro su laiko ir erdve" - teorinis tekstas, kuriame galima atrasti kai kurias autoriaus mintys apie šiandieninę situaciją su menu ir apie šio termino definiciją. Darbas gali būti įdomūs kaip žmonėms, dirbantiems humanitarinių mokslų srityje, taip pat ir visiems kitiems žmoniems gyvenantiems šiame pasaulyje.

L’examen des dispositions de la loi libanaise n.75 du 3 avril 1999 sur la propriété littéraire et artistique relatives aux oeuvres audiovisuelles nous permet de déterminer le cadre juridique relatif à ce type de création. Pour accéder à la protection par le droit d’auteur, l’oeuvre audiovisuelle doit bénéficier d’un certain degré d’originalité mais aussi elle doit répondre à la définition légale de l’oeuvre audiovisuelle consacrée à l’article 1 de la loi libanaise. Une fois les conditions d’accès à la protection déterminées, on peut étudier le régime juridique applicable à ce type de création. Les oeuvres audiovisuelles sont qualifiées par l’article 9 de la loi libanaise d’oeuvres collectives. Cette qualification nous permet de déterminer le régime juridique applicable. Ceci implique la détermination des différents "acteurs" de l’oeuvre audiovisuelle, leurs droits et les modes d’exploitation de ces droits. / The examination of the provisions of Lebanese law number 75 dated on April 3, 1999 concerning the literary and artistic property for audiovisual works allow us defining the legal framework for this type of creation. Therefore, to reach the copyright protection, any audiovisual work shall benefit from a certain degree of originality and shall also meet the legal definition of an audiovisual work stipulated in article one of the Lebanese law. Once the necessary conditions for an audiovisual work protection are defined, we can proceed with the study of legal regulations applicable to this kind of creation. Audiovisual works are qualified by article 9 of the Lebanese law on collective works. Based on the audiovisual work qualification, we can define the applicable legal regulations. This involves identifying the different “actors” of audiovisual work, their rights and ways of exploiting these rights.

L'apprentissage de l’algèbre abstraite semble correspondre, pour les étudiants de niveau universitaire ou collégial, à l'introduction d'une multitude de nouveautés conceptuelles. Afin de mieux comprendre les raisons du taux d'échec important mesuré dans cette discipline, nous avons tenté de dégager les obstacles ou les difficultés rencontrés et nous les avons regroupés en quatre familles. Sur la base d'un exemple tiré d'une séquence d'introduction à l'algèbre abstraite et des productions des étudiants, nous relèverons que, en plus de devoir franchir un cap dans le niveau d'abstraction requis, les étudiants sont, souvent pour la première fois de leur parcours, confrontés à une théorie axiomatique développée comme telle, à des définitions de nature essentielle dont l'emploi va parfois à l'encontre du sens usuel, à l'absence de représentation graphique ainsi qu'à un processus de preuve formelle pour lequel ils n'ont été jusque-là que peu entraînés. / For university or college students, the learning of abstract algebra seems to involve a multitude of conceptual innovations. To better understand the reasons for the high failure rate in abstract algebra courses, we have aimed at identifying the obstacles or difficulties encountered and grouped them into four families. Based on an example from an introductory sequence in abstract algebra, we will show that in addition to having to reach an unprecedented level of abstraction, students, often for the first time in their mathematical instruction, have to face simultaneously an axiomatic theory developed with essential type definitions that seem to go against the usual meaning, a lack of graphical representation as well as a process of formal proof for which they had little to no training.