Design constraints is the first topic new interaction designers learn about intheir studies. These are supposed to be the properties of a design that limitsuser’s actions. This thesis aims to explore these constraints in depth tounderstand if there is more to learn about them when placed in a new setting,such as games. This knowledge could then be used to create better player oruser experience. To discover this, a detailed study of two escape rooms wasconducted and analyzed.The investigation showed that there is more to design constraints thanpreviously mentioned by theorists, especially when context changes, and thatdesign constraints should instead be interaction opportunities. Instead ofonly seeing constraints as limiting actions, they should become the clues forpossible interactions.

Under en längre tid har sjukvården brottats med en ökande personalproblematik, då många sjuksköterskor antingen blir sjuka eller väljer att säga upp sig. Sedan fem år tillbaka råder det även åretruntbrist på personal och notorna för hyrpersonal närmar sig astronomiska belopp. Hur organisationer väljer att organisera sig har visat på att ha stora konsekvenser för den operativa verksamheten. Föreliggande studie undersöker hur den operativa domänen upplever att verksamheten är organiserad och hur det påverkar deras arbete.Den teoretiska referensramen utgår från teorier om domäner, governmentality, positiv psykologi, krav-kontroll-stöd-modellen och copingstrategier. Vi har även använt oss av Lisbeth Rydéns studier kring arbetsmiljö och annan forskning som är relevant för ämnet. Studien utfördes med hjälp av kvalitativ metod i en kommun i södra Sverige med sjuksköterskor som arbetade på en akutmottagning.Resultatet visar att det finns skillnader i hur den operativa och den strategiska delen av verksamheten planerar och utför sitt uppdrag, och att det inom verksamheten saknas kanaler för kommunikation mellan dessa. Det leder till att det saknas en samstämmig syn på verksamheten och osäkerhet kring hur man kommer tillrätta med de problem som uppstår i arbetet. Sjuksköterskorna tvingas fatta egna beslut i verksamheten som blir kortsiktiga lösningar på problem som får långsiktiga effekter. Det kortsiktiga tänket skapar en upplevelse av stress och en känsla av otillräcklighet som egentligen kan definieras som frustration på grund av organiseringen. För att klara miljön försöker de se optimistiskt på framtiden, fokusera på arbetets positiva sidor, och inte sällan särkoppla mellan det som händer och hur de tolkar det känslomässigt.

The overall problem this research addresses is the costly impact of counterproductive work behaviors. The purpose of this study was to examine whether uncertainty, stress, or frustration are related to variability, or in predicting counterproductive work behaviors. Wavering economic conditions have steadily altered work environments, and with continuous work changes are growing feelings of uncertainty, concerns of employee and organizational safety, performance, and overall wellbeing. The social exchange theory and the workplace social exchange network were used in this study to better understand employee relationships and response behaviors. Research questions compared the relationships among perceived uncertainty, stress, frustration, and levels of counterproductive work behaviors. For this study, a sample of 180 volunteers completed the Psychological Uncertainty Scale, the Perceived Stress Scale-10, the Frustration Scale, and the Counterproductive Work Behavior Checklist-10. Volunteers were recruited via invitation by Findparticipants.com. and SurveyMonkey-® hosted the data collection. This non-experimental, quantitative study employed a survey design, and multiple linear regression analysis were used to test the hypotheses. Regression analyses indicated a significant relationship between frustration and counterproductive work behaviors (t = 4.269, p < .001); however, the relationship of uncertainty and stress with counterproductive behaviors was not statistically significant. Predicting employee negative behaviors and gaining a better understanding of factors with negative influences on work behavior allows leadership the opportunity to develop more sustainable strategies designed to influence and encourage positive social change.

The shortage of secondary agricultural education teachers within the United States is nothing new. Several studies have investigated the supply and demand of secondary agricultural education teachers to fill teaching vacancies. However, learning how to prevent secondary agricultural education teacher attrition is another problem. The purpose of this research was to determine the effect education level attainment and method of teacher certification of secondary agricultural education teachers in Region IV (Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, and Ohio) of the National Association of Agricultural Educators had on who may be at risk for leaving the teaching profession. Risk analysis was based on the constructs 1) Alternative Career Opportunities, 2) Expectations versus Realities, 3) People Frustrations, and 4) Passion for the Profession. A descriptive and ex post facto, causal comparative design was utilized for this study. The population for this study consisted of 2,125 secondary agricultural education teachers in Region IV of the National Association of Agricultural Educators. Participants (n = 425) were randomly selected based upon a 20% sample size from each of the states within NAAE Region IV. Potential participants were emailed invitations to participate as well as an active link to the survey through Qualtrics® program. A final sample size (n = 137) was used once missing and incomplete data were removed leaving a 33.3% response rate. Data analysis revealed that secondary agricultural education teachers in the sample were primarily male (61%), most often held a Bachelor’s plus degree (28%) as the highest level of education obtained, were traditionally certified (87.6%) and taught an average of 11.7 years. Seventyive percent of respondents were married. The results indicated the Expectations versus Realities construct as having the highest attrition risk means followed by Alternative Career Opportunities, People Frustrations, and Passion for the Profession. There were no differences found for the overall attrition risk and four constructs when comparing traditionally and alternatively certified secondary agricultural education teachers. Additionally, no differences were found in overall attrition risk scores and the four construct scores among educational levels for secondary agricultural education teachers in Region IV.

A graph in which every edge is labeled positive or negative is called a signed graph. We determine the number of ways to sign the edges of the McGee graph with exactly two negative edges up to switching isomorphism. We characterize signed graphs that are both sign-symmetric and have a frustration index of 1. We prove some results about which signed graphs on complete multipartite graphs have frustration indices 2 and 3. In the final part, we derive the relationship between the frustration index and the number of parts in a sign-symmetric signed graph on complete multipartite graphs.

Almost a century after its discovery, superconductivity (SC) is still the most challenging and fascinating topic in condensed matter physics. Organic superconductors show exotic phases and phase transitions with a change in temperature or pressure. In this dissertation, we studied the phases and phase-transitions in one-dimensional (1D) and two-dimensional (2D) organic materials. This dissertation itself is a group of three sub-projects. In project (i), we studied the properties of a novel state “paired electron crystal” (PEC) in the quarterfilled Hubbard model to understand the phases and properties of 2D organic materials. We also studied the effects of charge and spin frustration on the 2D strongly correlated quarterfilled band. Our conclusions are based on exact diagonalization (ED) studies that include electron-electron and adiabatic electron-phonon interactions. For moderate to strong frustration, the dominant phase is a novel spin-singlet PEC. We discuss the implications of the PEC concept for understanding several classes of quarterilled band materials that display unconventional superconductivity. In project (ii), we studied the thermodynamics of a zigzag ladder model, applicable to quasi-1D organic materials. Using the quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) method, we studied the thermodynamics of charge ordering in quarterilled quasi-1D organic charge transfer solids (CTS). Previous theoretical studies on these CTS have focused on ground state properties or purely 1D systems. In the zigzag ladder, no separate high-temperature ordering is expected; instead the ladder is metallic at high temperature, and as temperature decreases, a single transition to the PEC state with a spin-gap takes place. In project (iii), we studied superconducting pairing correlation and metal-insulator transitions in the halfilled Hubbard model. We employed the Hubbard model and used the path integral renormalization group (PIRG) method for this study. Antiferromagneticmediated SC was suggested for small to large frustration in anisotropic triangular lattices. Previous work on the halfilled Hubbard model using the ED method was successful in showing the absence of d-wave SC on a small anisotropic triangular lattice. We extended this study to larger lattices to investigate the existence of long-range order of superconducting pair-pair correlations. We also show the absence of d-wave SC in this model on larger lattices.

The first project of this dissertation focuses on an extension of the Path Integral Renormalization Group (PIRG) method to the extended Hubbard model (EHM) including on-site U and a nearest-neighbor interaction V. The PIRG method is an efficient numerical algorithm for studying ground state properties of strongly correlated electron systems. A major advantage of the PIRG is that it is free from the Fermion sign problem. Many observables can be calculated using Wick’s theorem. The EHM is particularly important in models of charge-transfer solids (CTS) and at 1/4illing the V interaction drives a charge-ordered state. We test the method with comparisons to small two-dimensional (2D) clusters and long one-dimensional (1D) chains. The second project of this dissertation focuses on the Coulomb enhancement of superconducting pair-pair correlations in frustrated quarterilled band lattice systems. A necessary condition for superconductivity (SC) driven by electron correlation is that electronelectron (e-e) interactions enhance long range superconducting pair-pair correlations relative to the noninteracting limit. We present high-precision numerical calculations within the 2D Hubbard model on up to 100 sites showing that long range superconducting pair correlations are enhanced only for electron density 0.5. At all other fillings e-e interactions suppress pair correlations. We argue that the enhancement of pairing is due to a tendency to form local spin singlets at density 0.5. Our work provides a key ingredient to the mechanism of SC in the 2D organic-CTS superconductors, as well as in many other unconventional superconductors with frustrated crystal lattices and density 0.5. In the third project we apply our proposed concept to a real material, kappa-(BEDTTTF)2X. We present numerical results for 32 and 64 site lattices using the Constrained Path Monte Carlo and PIRG methods over a wide range of carrier density. We show that superconducting pair-pair correlations in this model are enhanced by e-e interactions for d-wave pairing symmetry uniquely for a hole density close to quarterilling. Our results indicate that this enhancement of superconductivity is not related to the presence of antiferromagnetic order, but to the strong tendency to spin-singlet formation in the quarterilled band.

This study attempted to test! 1) an alternative interpretation of Amsel frustration effect and, 2) the possibility of extending Bindra’s novelty theory. Sixty-eight children were trained to pull two successive levers. During training two groups, 100:50 and 100:100, were always rewarded at the first goal box (G1) whereas two other groups, 0:50 and 0:0, were never rewarded at G1. During testing groups 100:50 and 0:50 were given 50% reward at G1 while groups 100:100 and 0:0 were respectively always rewarded and never rewarded at G1. All subjects were always rewarded at G2 both during training anti testing. The data did not yield the typical frustration effect which rendered the alternative interpretation un-testable. The data offered supportive evidence for Bindra’s novelty theory. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

A way to obtain materials that show novel phenomena is to explore the interplay between geometry and interactions. When it is not geometrically possible to satisfy all the interactions by a given configuration, then to find the ground state becomes very complicated. This interplay between geometry and interactions defines geometrical frustration. One of the most popular examples of geometrical frustration in magnetism is spin ice. In this system, nearest neighbour ferromagnetic interactions between Ising spins in a pyrochlore structure emulate water ice by showing the same degree of frustration. This is manifested by the same ground state residual entropy. Although the clearest example of spin ice among magnets is shown by Dy₂Ti₂O₇, the behaviour of this material is richer than that of pure spin ice. The large magnetic moments of the rare earth Dy form a spin ice that also interacts via dipolar interactions. These long range interactions give rise to monopolar excitations which dramatically affect the dynamics of the system with respect to the pure spin ice case. In this thesis magnetisation experiments and numerical methods are used to explore the properties of the magnetic insulator Dy₂Ti₂O₇. We study its excitations at low temperature and describe the out-of-equilibrium characteristics of the magnetisation processes, below a temperature where the system freezes out. For temperatures above the freezing temperature, we describe and measure a 3D Kasteleyn transition and the concomitant Dirac strings associated to it, for the field in the [100] crystallographic direction. For temperatures below the freezing temperature, we find new out-of-equilibrium phenomena. Magnetic jumps are measured and their sweep rate dependence analysed. A deflagration theory is proposed and supported by simultaneous magnetisation and sample temperature measurements obtained by a new design of a Faraday magnetometer.

Dans les systèmes de spins quantiques, la frustration et la basse dimensionnalité génèrent des fluctuations quantiques et donnent lieu à des phases exotiques. Cette thèse étudie un modèle d'échelle de spins avec des couplages frustrants le long des montants, motivé par les expériences sur le cuprate BiCu$_2$PO$_6$. Dans un premier temps, on présente une méthode variationnelle originale pour décrire les excitations de basse énergie d'une seule chaîne frustrée. Le diagramme de phase de deux chaînes couplées est ensuite établi à l'aide de méthodes numériques. Le modèle exhibe une transition de phase quantique entre une phase dimérisée est une phase à liens de valence résonnants (RVB). La physique de la phase RVB et en particulier l'apparition de l'incommensurabilité sont étudiées numériquement et par un traitement en champ moyen. On étudie ensuite les effets d'impuretés non-magnétiques sur la courbe d'aimantation et la loi de Curie à basse température. Ces propriétés magnétiques sont tout d'abord discutées à température nulle à partir d'arguments probabilistes. Puis un modèle effectif de basse énergie est dérivé dans la théorie de la réponse linéaire et permet de rendre compte des propriétés magnétiques à température finie. Enfin, on étudie l'effet d'un désordre dans les liens, sur une seule chaîne frustrée. La méthode variationnelle, introduite dans le cas non-désordonné, donne une image à faible désordre de l'instabilité de la phase dimérisée, qui consiste en la formation de domaines d'Imry-Ma délimités par des spinons localisés. Ce résultat est finalement discuté à la lumière de la renormalisation dans l'espace réel à fort désordre. / In quantum spins systems, frustration and low-dimensionality generate quantum fluctuations and give rise to exotic quantum phases. This thesis studies a spin ladder model with frustrating couplings along the legs, motivated by experiments on cuprate BiCu$_2$PO$_6$. First, we present an original variational method to describe the low-energy excitations of a single frustrated chain. Then, the phase diagram of two coupled chains is computed with numerical methods. The model exhibits a quantum phase transition between a dimerized phase and resonating valence bound (RVB) phase. The physics of the RVB phase and in particular the onset of incommensurability are studied numerically and by a mean-field treatment. Afterwards, we study the effects of non-magnetic impurities on the magnetization curve and the Curie law at low temperature. These magnetic properties are first discussed at zero temperature with probability arguments. Then a low-energy effective model is derived within the linear response theory and is used to explain the magnetic properties at finite temperature. Eventually, we study the effect of bonds disorder, on a single frustrated chain. The variational method introduced in the non-disordered case gives a low disorder picture of the dimerized phase instability, which consists in the formation of Imry-Ma domains delimited by localized spinons. This result is finally discussed in the light of the strong disorder real space renormalization.