This thesis explores how single parents utilise online forums, particularly Reddit, to navigate parenting challenges and mental health issues. The study involves a mixed-method approach which includes sentiment analysis and thematic analysis.  Through a comprehensive analysis of forum posts and comments, the research identifies key themes and support mechanisms expressed by single parents in addition to the quantitative data from sentimental analysis representing the emotional tone of the text in the posts. The findings reveal that online communities serve as crucial platforms for emotional support, knowledge exchange, and community building. This research contributes to understanding the role of digital spaces in supporting single parents and offers insights for designing more effective online social support intervention by addressing AI-driven features, expert moderation and bridging the gap between online and offline social support for single parents.

Combining surveillance and emotion analysis seems to be on the doorstep and companies are fighting for a competitive edge with Artificial Intelligence. Our study investigates the attitudes of customers towards retail AI emotion recognition implementations and how they can be used by retailers. What role can emotion detecting AI systems play in retail customer interactions? How do people interact with novel AI surveillance technology and the ethical and privacy implications especially involving emotions, in retail environments? Semi-structured interviews were conducted to gather data from participants to gauge acceptable practices as well as privacy and ethical considerations. Respondents provided varied responses to different scenarios, but most were open to data collection and emotional data processing. Through analysis of the data, several key themes were uncovered including Convenience, Control over Data and Expectation of Privacy. The understandings gained throughout the research point to a need for guidelines and regulations to deploy emotion detecting AI safely and considerately. Finally, recommendations are provided for the multitude of aspects that require attention in designing AI monitoring systems.

This thesis focuses on addressing the limitations of existing human motion prediction models by extending the prediction horizon to very long-term forecasts. The objective is to develop a model that achieves one of the best stable prediction horizons in the field, providing accurate predictions without significant error increase over time. Through the utilization of quantization based models our research successfully achieves the desired objective with the proposed aligned version of Mean Per Joint Position Error. The first of the two proposed models, an attention-based Vector Quantized Variational AutoEncoder, demonstrates good performance in predicting beyond conventional time boundaries, maintaining low error rates as the prediction horizon extends. While slight discrepancies in joint positions are observed, the model effectively captures the underlying patterns and dynamics of human motion, which remains highly applicable in real-world scenarios. Furthermore, our investigation into a correlation-based Vector Quantized Variational AutoEncoder, as an alternative to attention-based one, highlights the challenges in capturing complex relationships and meaningful patterns within the data. The correlation-based VQ-VAE’s tendency to predict flat outputs emphasizes the need for further exploration and innovative approaches to improve its performance. Overall, this thesis contributes to the field of human motion prediction by extending the prediction horizon and providing insights into model performance and limitations. The developed model introduces a novel option to consider when contemplating long-term prediction applications across various domains and sets the foundation for future research to enhance performance in long-term scenarios. / Denna avhandling fokuserar på att hantera begränsningarna i befintliga modeller för förutsägelse av mänskliga rörelser genom att utöka förutsägelsehorisonten till mycket långsiktiga prognoser. Målet är att utveckla en modell som uppnår en av de bästa stabila prognoshorisonterna inom området, vilket ger korrekta prognoser utan betydande felökning över tiden. Genom att använda kvantiseringsbaserade modeller uppnår vår forskning framgångsrikt det önskade målet med den föreslagna anpassade versionen av Mean Per Joint Position Error. Den första av de två föreslagna modellerna, en uppmärksamhetsbaserad Vector Quantized Variational AutoEncoder, visar goda resultat när det gäller att förutsäga bortom konventionella tidsgränser och bibehåller låga felfrekvenser när förutsägelsehorisonten förlängs. Även om små avvikelser i ledpositioner observeras, fångar modellen effektivt de underliggande mönstren och dynamiken i mänsklig rörelse, vilket förblir mycket tillämpligt i verkliga scenarier. Vår undersökning av en korrelationsbaserad Vector Quantized Variational AutoEncoder, som ett alternativ till en uppmärksamhetsbaserad sådan, belyser dessutom utmaningarna med att fånga komplexa relationer och meningsfulla mönster i data. Den korrelationsbaserade VQ-VAE:s tendens att förutsäga platta utdata understryker behovet av ytterligare utforskning och innovativa metoder för att förbättra dess prestanda. Sammantaget bidrar denna avhandling till området för förutsägelse av mänskliga rörelser genom att utöka förutsägelsehorisonten och ge insikter om modellens prestanda och begränsningar. Den utvecklade modellen introducerar ett nytt alternativ att ta hänsyn till när man överväger långsiktiga prediktionstillämpningar inom olika områden och lägger grunden för framtida forskning för att förbättra prestanda i långsiktiga scenarier.

Kommunikation är en förutsättning för att organisationer ska fungera och sätten att kommunicera på har utvecklats i takt med den tekniska utvecklingen. Med det stora utbudet av kommunikationskanaler som finns idag kan det vara svårt att veta vilken kommunikationskanal som lämpas i olika situationer. Den här rapporten baseras på en fallstudie där den upplevda kommunikationseffektiviteten tenderade att variera beroende på vilken kommunikationskanal som användes vid nyhetsspridning. Tidigare forskning har studerat hur valet av kommunikationskanal kan påverka kommunikationseffektiviteten ur olika perspektiv, men inte då informationstypen är en nyhet. Därför ansågs det intressant att studera hur olika kommunikationskanaler påverkar kommunikationseffektiviteten vid nyhetsspridning.   Syftet med studien var att lyfta fram och beskriva hur kommunikationskanaler påverkar den upplevda kommunikationseffektiviteten, när informationstypen är en nyhet. För att uppnå syftet skulle följande forskningsfråga besvaras:   Vilka för- och nackdelar upplever anställda med kommunikationskanaler gällande kommunikationseffektiveten vid nyhetsspridning på ett stort nationellt företag?   Teorier som användes för att uppnå syftet med studien var Media Richness Theory och Osgood och Schramms cirkulära kommunikationsmodell. Teorierna har använts för att förklara hur nyhetsspridning sker på fallföretaget och för att belysa och eventuellt förklara upplevda problem i samband med nyhetsspridningen.   Data samlades in genom tillämpning av en kvalitativ metod och utförandet av semistrukturerade intervjuer. Undersökningen visade att det upplevdes för- och nackdelar med samtliga kommunikationskanaler, samt att den upplevda kommunikationseffektiviteten tenderade att variera, beroende på vilken nyhetstyp som kommunicerades via kommunikationskanalerna. När resultatet ställdes mot forskningsfrågan och det teoretiska ramverket visade det sig att upplevda för- och nackdelar med kommunikationskanalerna, var kopplat till huruvida nyhetstypen är rutin- eller icke rutinmässig och hur den matchas med en rik eller fattig kommunikationskanal, vilket Media Richness Theory också förklarar.   Slutsatsen av studien visade att nyhetsspridning som sker face to face och via telefon möjliggör interaktion och förmedling av känslor i realtid, men där känslor inte upplevs förmedlas lika bra via telefon som face to face, de många signalerna kan dessutom upplevas som överväldigande. Mejl, anslagstavla och intranät är tidsmässigt effektivt och plats och tids oberoende i olika grad. Däremot är möjligheten till interaktion och förmedling av känslor begränsad. Resultatet tyder på att kommunikationskanalernas för- och nackdelar verkar vara kopplat till huruvida kommunikationskanalerna upplevs som lämpliga för att förmedla olika typer av nyheter. Rika kommunikationskanaler upplevs som effektiva för att förmedla icke rutinmässiga nyheter och mindre rika kanaler upplevs som effektiva för att förmedla rutinmässiga nyheter. / Communication is an important function within organizations and the ways of communicating have developed rapidly due to technological development, which can make it difficult to know which communication channel that is best to use in different situations. This report is based on a case study were the perceived communication efficiency tended to vary depending on which communication channel that was used. Previous research shows how the choice of communication channels can affect the communication efficiency, however, it does not show this from the perspective of news as an information type. Therefore, it was considered interesting to study how different communication channels affect the communication efficiency in terms of news distribution.   The aim of this study was to illustrate and describe how communication channels affect the perceived communication efficiency when the information that is transferred consists of news. To achieve this, the following research question would be answered:   What advantages and disadvantages do employees experience with communication channels regarding the communication efficiency for news distribution in a large national company?   Theories that have been applied in the study are Media Richness Theory and Osgood and Schramms circular communication model. Theories have been used to explain how news distribution takes place in the case company and to illustrate and possibly explain the problems that the company experience with news distribution.   Data was collected by applying a qualitative method in which semi-structured interviews have been used. The result shows that respondents experience both advantages and disadvantages with all the communication channels and that the perceived communication efficiency tended to vary depending on which kind of news. When the result was set against the research question and the theoretical framework, advantages and disadvantages that were experienced, turned out to be depending on if the news were routine or non-routine and how it was matched with a rich or poor communication channel, which Media Richness Theory also declare.    The conclusion of this study shows that news distribution through face to face and telephone enables direct interaction and transmission of emotions, however, emotions are not transmitted as well through telephone as face to face. The many signals can also be experienced as overwhelmingly. E-mail, intranet and signboard are effective in terms of time and are not as depending on time and space. In addition, the possibility of direct interaction and transmission of feelings is limited. The result indicates that advantages and disadvantages with the communication channels seems to be linked to whether the channel is perceived as suitable to transfer different kinds of news. Rich communication channels are perceived to be effective for transmitting non-routine news and poor channels are perceived to be effective for transmitting routine news.

Digitization of data offers more opportunities for future health and medicine care due to the availability of information technology in our everyday lives. Several studies have provided us with insights in designing persuasive eHealth services, but only a few studies have investigated the design of a persuasive eHealth application by using presently available smartphones and while including the target group. By pursuing an iterative design process, three smartphone application prototypes were created and tested with senior citizens by using cognitive walkthroughs, use case scenarios and semi-structured interviews. The results indicated that the target group involvement had positive influences on the design of the prototypes, with user insights uncovering setbacks and opportunities in the design. Thus, the study presents a set of primary characteristics for designing a persuasive eHealth application to be usable with smartphones and how the iterative design process with the involvement of senior citizens shaped the design.

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Technology has become ubiquitous in people’s everyday life. The number of websites and mobile applications available is growing, but so are various persuasive approaches to influence human behavior and decision-making in online environments. While designing for persuasion has many potential benefits, recent years have revealed different deceptive design techniques that utilize the understanding of psychological principles to nudge people in a desired direction. This thesis outlines and explores this phenomenon known as dark patterns, which favors business goals over user values. Practitioners have laid out many deceiving design strategies in the past, but it remains unclear how the end user perceives and experiences them. Therefore, a qualitative method approach was chosen to study the end users’ perspectives on the subject. The analysis of the data shows that even though there was some awareness, many manipulative techniques were unknown. Participants blame the businesses, remark however to be partly responsible for their own fate. In addition, the acceptability of such techniques shifts depending on the respective dark pattern.

Trots att det finns många tekniska hjälpmedel ombord, vilka har i uppgift att hjälpa navigatören att framföra fartyget på ett säkert sätt, så fortsätter grundstötningar att inträffa. Denna litteraturstudie sammanställer och granskar grundstötningsolyckor som inträffat på svenska fartyg och på utländska fartyg som befunnit sig på svenskt territorialvatten under åren 2011-2016. Studien behandlar frågeställningar om vilka huvudsakliga faktorer som ligger till grund för att grundstötningar inträffar. Studien omfattar såväl inre som yttre faktorer. De inre faktorerna som behandlas är styrmetod, bryggbemanning och vilken typ av sjökort som använts. Våghöjd, vindstyrka, typ av farvatten, sikt- och ljusförhållande ingår i de yttre faktorerna. Både de inre- och yttre faktorerna sammanställs och presenteras för att kunna ge en bild av vad som kan ha föranlett grundstötningarna. Studiens resultatet visar att passagerar- och bulkfartyg av det mindre tonnaget står för majoriteten av olyckorna. I likhet med tidigare studier är antalet olyckor som beror på den mänskliga faktorn hög. / Even though there are plenty of technological aids onboard modern-day merchant vessels, intended to help the Officer on watch to drive his vessel safely, groundings continue to happen. This literature study summarises and reviews data from several groundings that involved Swedish-registered ships and ships within Swedish territory during the period 2011-2016. This study covers questions about the main factors that have caused the groundings. It covers both internal and external factors. Method of steering, bridge manning and type of chart belong to the internal factors. Factors such as wave height, wind force, type of waters, visibility and light conditons are part of the external factors. This data is then discussed and analysed to give a picture of what may have caused the groundings. The results show that the smaller tonnage passenger and bulk carriers account for the majority of the accidents. Like previous studies the number of accidents due to human factors are high.

Denna studie har som syfte att undersöka digitala verktyg ur ett genusperspektiv, hur pedagogerna förhåller sig till dessa två områden och hur genus konstrueras i mötet med de digitala verktygen. I studien har utgångspunkten varit forskning kring genusordning och socialkonstruktionismen som innebär att vi lär av och med varandra och att olika strukturer och normer påverkat vårat förhållningssätt till genus. Denna studie har grundat sig i intervjuer av sex personer och två observationstillfällen. Resultatet visade att det råder viss osäkerhet kring användningen av digitala verktyg vilket bidrar till en svårighet att använda dessa verktyg i genusarbetet. Pedagogerna visar på ett medvetet tänk kring genus genom intervjuerna men som i praktiken ibland faller i glömska, här kan tidigare erfarenheter styra hur de handlar. Resultatet visar hur det kan skilja sig i den digitala världen och den fysiska miljön i verksamheten. Avsaknaden av kompetens kring digitala verktyg gjorde att några av pedagogerna ansåg att de hade större nytta av en extra personal istället för att köpa in digitala verktyg.

This is a project exploring a possible future of embedded mobile augmented reality services in people's daily routine. The project was conduct- ed at Umeå Institute of Design as a MFA Thesis in Interaction Design. The constant development of technologies along- side with society’s increased usage of the mobile phone makes this medium more and more inter- esting amongst all age groups. The existing solu- tions focus on ways of communicating through short time interactions as well as on gameplays with a focus on storytelling. So far, these existing solutions are rarely implementing a service aspect for people's daily routine. The mobile augmented reality technology has the power to serve a variety of purposes, which are for now, not discovered. This lack of exploration creates challenges for the market and the user which leads to discourage in that medium. To understand the needs of the people and the language of the technology, I immersed myself into the augmentation of realities and conducted a thorough research with conversations with the target group and experts in the field, opportunity evaluations, and concepts testing. The insights gathered during the research brought the conclu- sion that the medium has the power to transfer knowledge by having the user experiencing rath- er than observing. This increases the chances of understanding and participating with information. This is why the project’s goal is to form a mobile AR service example, where the user feels motivat- ed to engage with their surroundings in their daily routine. The final outcome of the project consists of a plat- form which allows the user to explore the history of their current location. The platform is clustered in two areas. On the one hand a content library gathers information about explored locations. This information is displayed through a list and detail view of written information as well as through an immersive gallery. This gives the user the oppor- tunity to easily explore and share their discoveries with their communities. On the other hand an interactive map as well as a lens filter enables the user during their exploration to discover the infor- mation. Based on a data preview visualisation the user is able to create their own contextual digital gallery. This experience motivates the user to easily start discovering their location as well as building up routines based on that kind of interaction. This new service showcases possibilities to design for mobile AR as well as strengthen the relation be- tween the users and their environment.