In collaboration with Elders, this study explores the great need for their meaningful partnership in STBBI (sexually transmitted and/or bloodborne infections) research. / Indigenous Elders are highly regarded as community leaders, traditional healers, and experts of Indigenous cultures and knowledges (Clark & Wylie 2021; Hadjipavlou et al., 2018; Lessard et al., 2021). The meaningful partnership of Elders in Indigenous STBBI (sexually transmitted and/or bloodborne infections) research has become increasingly recognized as an integral part of developing decolonial research processes, ensuring the implementation of Indigenous methods in STBBI research, and increasing the sexual health and wellbeing of Inuit, Métis, and First Nations communities through the development of culturally and ethically responsive research (Flicker et al., 2015; Hillier 2020; O’Brien et al., 2020). This study sought to expand upon and connect current literature with the expertise and guidance of Indigenous Elders who have been involved in STBBI research. Thirteen Elders were recruited nationwide to participate in three virtual Talking Circles to explore their meaningful partnership in Indigenous STBBI research and to offer guidance to researchers on how to strengthen these research partnerships in the future. Five overarching themes emerged from the thematic analysis of these Talking Circles: (1) Understanding the historical and ongoing impacts of colonialism and the need to decolonize STBBI research; (2) Prioritizing the knowledge and lived experience of Elders and Indigenous people living with STBBI throughout the research process; (3) Centering spirituality and ceremony in Indigenous STBBI research; (4) The importance of implementing Indigenous methodologies in STBBI research; and (5) Foregrounding Indigenous ways of being, knowing, and doing in STBBI research. This study offers future Indigenous STBBI researchers a robust foundation to build meaningful research partnerships with Elders to improve STBBI research and benefit the sexual health and wellbeing of Métis, Inuit, and First Nations communities. / Thesis / Master of Social Work (MSW)

The population of Black farmers in the U.S. has declined to 2% of farmers in the U.S. because of institutional racism, land dispossession, heir’s property, and youth’s disinterest in farming. Most works on Black farmers have focused on racism, and heirs’ property, but little is known about the influence of race, gender, and inheritance on Black farmers’ experience. To understand this, I asked: what are the contemporary challenges associated with farming among Black farmers in Mississippi? How do race, gender, and inheritance influence the experiences of Black farmers? And how do Black farmers cope with their farming challenges? Twenty farmers in Mississippi were interviewed using semi-structured questions, and data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Findings shows that farming is a ‘retirement haven.’ Interviewees experience “closed door” to resources. Farming is gendered, and heirs’ property limits Black farmers to small acreages. Cooperative provides support for Black farmers.

Ray tracing is used in computer graphics to generate images. The process of rendering images using ray tracing includes testing large counts of rays for intersection against geometry. Testing for ray-geometry intersection is more formally known as the Ray Shooting Problem (RSP) and has broad applications across multiple communities. Hierarchical acceleration structures are frequently employed to index geometry and increase processing speed. Such hierarchical structures make it almost impossible for central processing units to predict memory access and branching patterns. This project focuses on the Bounding Volume Hierarchy (BVH) structure and improving its performance when querying large batches of first hit ray-geometry intersections. The core contribution is an Interleaved Prefetching Ray Traversal (IPRT) algorithm that addresses memory and branching issues. Five standardized test scenarios with varying geometric complexity provide evaluation data. The experimental evaluation suggests that for incoherent rays, IPRT achieves 6:1 - 41:8% faster performance compared to Stackless Traversal. However, for fully coherent rays, performance is 68:8 - 149:1% slower. These results suggest that for select ray tracing workloads that elicit low coherence, the IPRT algorithm is likely to outperform Stackless Traversal. A microarchitectural analysis affirms previous research; memory accesses and branching behavior are critical for performance. Surprisingly, addressing each component in isolation yields no significant performance improvement. It is paramount to address the two simultaneously, as the IPRT algorithm does successfully. / Ray tracing används inom datorgrafik för att generera bilder. Att rendera bilder med ray tracing kräver att datorer simulerar stora mängder ljusstrålar i en virtuell miljö. Problemet att beräkna om en stråle träffar geometri är mer formellt känt som Ray Shooting Problem (RSP) och har breda applikationer inom flera områden. Hierarkiska accelerationsstrukturer används ofta för att indexera geometri och öka beräkningshastighet. Sådana hierarkiska strukturer gör det nästan omöjligt för centrala processorenheter att förutsäga minnesåtkomst och förgreningsmönster. Detta projekt fokuserar på Bounding Volume Hierarchy (BVH) strukturen och dess prestanda. En ny algoritm tas fram för att behandla dessa identifierade problem: Interleaved Prefetching Ray Traversal (IPRT). Fem standardiserade testscener med varierande geometrisk komplexitet används för experimentell utvärdering. Den experimentella utvärderingen antyder i jämförelse med Stackless Traversal så uppnår IPRT-algoritmen 6:1 - 41:8% bättre prestanda för osammanhängande strålar. När det gäller helt sammanhängande strålar är prestandan dock 68:8 - 149:1% långsammare. En mikroarkitektisk analys bekräftar tidigare forskning; minnesåtkomst och förgreningsbeteende är mycket viktigt för prestanda. Isolerad optimering av faktorerna ger dessvärre ingen signifikant prestandaförbättring. Det är därför ytterst viktigt att optimera båda komponenter samtidigt, vilket IPRT-algoritmen lyckas med.

Abounding acts of repression committed in democracies have continued to be overlooked and under-analyzed by many researchers and scholars due to "democratic exceptionalism". As the United States enters yet another consecutive year of declining political satisfaction and freedom. It has become pertinent that as conflict study researchers, scholars, and readers alike that there is a basic understanding of coercion including acts that have been committed within our own countries. Countless scholars have focused conflict study research on underdeveloped or emerging democracies, yet many have overlooked the seamy side of developed ones. This article aims to explain the relationship between the United States and state-sponsored repression from the 1990s to 2015. In hopes to better understand how variables like economic, social, and political vulnerabilities as well as race and sex influence repressive trends in the United States. In addition, this article hopes to extend the scope of conflict study research by including mass incarceration as a form of repression that has been used to control not only dissent but also satisfy the needs of elites to maintain a present state of affairs. This article tests various hypothesis to understand how repression continues to function in modern American society.

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<p>My dissertation is a Black feminist inquiry into how Black women writers employ soul food imagery to equally assert their characters’ Blackness and sexual agency in post-Black Arts texts. These include Gayl Jones’ <em>Eva’s Man </em>(1976), Ntozake Shange’s <em>Sassafrass, Cypress & Indigo</em> (1982), Gloria Naylor’s <em>Bailey’s Café</em> (1992), and TT Bridgeman’s <em>Pound Cake for Sweet Pea </em>(2004). These novelists tell complex stories of Black women’s grappling with respectability, trauma, and erotic and sexual agency. In each novel, these Black women share a common reliance upon soul food that is often underexamined in critical scholarship. I argue that soul food is essential to how Black women cope with the duality of pleasure and pain by helping them assert liberated senses-of-self amidst sexism and its attendant emotional and physical violence. I also conceptualize this coping as a vibrational reprieve. </p>

Mjukvaruutveckling kräver bra arbetsmetoder för att man ska kunna leverera effektivt och välfungerande mjukvara. För att lyckas med detta behöves en bra arbetsmetod som de kan arbeta efter. Agila metoder blir mer populära att arbeta med när det gäller mjukvaruutveckling i dagens teknikföretag. Fler företag går över att arbeta efter agila metoder med projekt istället för den traditionella vattenfallsmetoden. Anledningen till detta är att fler och fler företag misslyckas att leverera projekten i tid med vattenfallsmetoden vilket medför mer kostnader för företag. Agila metoder hjälper däremot företag att få struktur som leder till bättre arbetssätt som i sin tur resulterar i att projekten blir avslutade i tid. Denna studie undersökte användning och anpassningar av agila metoden Scrum på en bank och om detta har medfört några förbättringar i arbete med mjukvaruutvecklingsprojekt. Undersökningen genomfördes med hjälp av intervjuer med Scrummästare, Agila coacher, produktägare samt chefer som arbetar med Scrum-metoden. Resultatet visar att agila metoden Scrum ger mer struktur samt transparens till projekt. Anpassningar till produktägarrollen på företaget har medfört att rätt uppdrag blir prioriterade och teamen får en tydlig backlogg att arbeta efter. Arbetet enligt Scrummetoden har hjälpt team att få en tydlig struktur och ökat leverans av projekt. / Software development requires good working methods to be to deliver efficient and effective software. To achieve this, companies require a good working method that they can work with. Agile methods are becoming more popular to work with when it comes to software development in today's technology companies. More companies are beginning to work with agile methods for project management instead of the traditional waterfall method. The reason for this is that more and more companies fail to deliver projects on time with the waterfall method, which means more costs for companies. The reason for this is that more and more companies fail to deliver projects on time with the waterfall method, which means more costs for companies. Agile methodologies however help companies to get structure that led to better work, which in turn results in that projects are completed on time. This study examined the usage and customization of agile method Scrum in a bank, and if this has led to some improvements in the work of software development projects. The investigation was conducted through interviews with Scrum Master, Agile coaches, product owners and managers who work with the Scrum method. The result shows that the agile method Scrum provides more structure and transparency to projects. Adaptations to the product owner role in the company has led to that right assignment are prioritized and teams get a clear backlog to work with. The work with the Scrum method has helped the team to have a clear structure and increased delivery of projects.

Streaming av TV och film är en snabbt växande och konkurrensutsatt marknad, där det ständigt uppkommer nya aktörer och tjänster. Detta ställer krav på företagen bakom tjänsterna att vara innovativa för att kunna ligga i framkant och fortsätta locka kunder bland sina konkurrenter. Det finns många faktorer som påverkar innovationsgraden hos företag inom denna bransch eller hos många branscher generellt, och en av dessa är organisationsstrukturen hos produktutvecklingsteamet. Syftet med detta arbete är att undersöka hur organisationsstrukturen i produktutvecklingsteamen hos företag inom streaming av TV och film påverkar innovationsgraden. Studien är utförd på två företag inom den svenska streamingbranschen av TV och film och dessa kommer jämföras med varandra. Upplevda för- och nackdelar med hur man organiserar sina respektive produktutvecklingsteam kommer även att undersökas och jämföras. Arbetet inleddes med en litteraturstudie för att erhålla kunskap kring hur organisationsstruktur påverkar innovationsgrad generellt och för att hitta stöd och bakgrund till utförandet av arbetet. Efter litteraturstudien utfördes totalt tre kvalitativa semistrukturerade intervjuer, med en respondent på det ena företaget och två på det andra. Den kvalitativa studien undersökte hur företagen är strukturerade både på bolagsnivå och på teamnivå, hur deras produktutvecklingsprocess ser ut och hur respondenterna ser att dessa faktorer påverkar deras möjligheter till innovativt arbete. Resultatet av denna undersökning användes sedan för att hitta gemensamma teman i intervjuerna som kopplar till organisationsstrukturens påverkan på innovationsgrad.  Studien visar att de två intervjuade företagen hade en likartad organisationsstruktur på bolagsnivå, och att detta verkar vara vanligt inom denna bransch. Det finns dock inga direkta bevis för att detta skulle gynna innovationsgraden hos företagen. Det visade sig även att företagen hade en snarlik organisationsstruktur på teamnivå, men där det ena företaget föreslår fasta team som är korsfunktionella (det vill säga att man har personer med olika kompetenser som jobbar tillsammans i till exempel ett projekt), medan det andra företaget föreslår en mer konsulttung setup. Studien visar att en flexibel samt tydlig process och struktur på teamnivå, där de anställda känner sig fria och kan vara med och påverka, bidrar till att de känner sig mer innovativa - vilket med stöd av existerande forskning föreslår att detta kan leda till högre innovationsgrad. Vidare föreslår studien att användandet av agila arbetsmetoder verkar vara en ledande faktor till innovationsgraden hos företag inom denna bransch. / Within the already competitive market that is streaming and on demand TV, new services and players emerge on a regular basis. This puts a lot of pressure on existing companies behind the streaming services to be innovative and keep consumers interested in their product. There are many factors that affect innovation, one of these is the organizational structure of the product development team. The purpose of this study is to examine how organizational structure in product development teams affects innovation, in which ways organizational structure can foster and overturn innovation and how existing companies, within the industry of streaming film and TV, organizes their product development teams to enable innovation. The study was conducted at two Swedish companies within the streaming industry. Their organizational structure, and how it affects their innovative capabilities, will be compared along with experienced pros and cons of the employees surrounding the organizational structure related to innovation will also be examined. The study began with a comprehensive literature review, this was done to obtain the knowledge needed to dive deeper within the subject of organizational structure and innovation and at the same time act as a building block for the rest of the study. Furthermore, a semi structured qualitative interview was conducted that involved three respondents from two different companies within the Swedish streaming business of TV and film. The qualitative interview examined how the companies are structured, both at company level and at team level, how their product development process works and how the respondents think this affects their ability to be innovative. The result of these interviews was then examined to find common themes which connects organizational structure and its impact on innovation.  The study showed that both interviewed companies had a similar organizational structure at firm level, and that this kind of structure seems to be frequent within the industry. However, no direct evidence was found to support that this style of structure would benefit their innovative capabilities. It also showed that the companies had similar organizational structures at team level, but where one company utilizes fixed teams that are cross-functional (when people of different functional expertise work together), while the other company proposes a more consultancy-heavy setup. The study showed that a flexible yet comprehensible process and structure at team level, where employees feel free and can participate and influence, contribute to making them feel more innovative. This, with support of existing research, suggests that these factors can lead to a higher degree of innovation. Furthermore, the study suggests that the use of agile working methods seems to be an important factor for companies within this industry that seek to improve their innovative capabilities.