The purpose of this investigation is to examine how landscape architecture can create a different kind of threshold between land and water without controlling the edge between the two entities, but merely guiding the natural process of exchange. The design of Oyster Harbor on the Eastern Shore of Virginia is in contrast to normative development of waterfront sites. The hard edge of common practices of waterfront development stands in tension to the more natural evolving edge of many harbors.When creating a dialogue between land and water, the solution has always been to create a sea wall separating the two entities. It becomes the hard dividing line between a solid surface and liquid life. Is there a way to create a threshold that does not divide? How can landscape architecture create an exchange of qualities with land and water? Does the sea wall become the precedent to all concerns of tide and sea usurping lands edge? The edge between land and water is ever changing, so why not celebrate and personify that edge through creating a natural exchange between water and land. In order to create such an exchange, we must first look at the nature of water and land. Water is a free element that is composed of hydrogen and oxygen. It is inclined to motion, reflection, rise and fall. It holds a unique quality independent of man-induced control. Land is a more solid entity created by layers of stone and elements broken down by water. Land capacity is gauged by water, as in the water table. Throughout history, man has maintained a controlling relationship with land. However this is the opposite with water. Man has an inherent fear of water, the representative of both life and death. Though man tries, he cannot control water, he must work within the bounds set by water. How does one understand the evolutionary relationship of land and water without trying to control the elements that allow the relationship to occur? Through research, it is revealed that land actually usurps water through both a push and pull method of tides and water run off from land. Through time and tide, land builds up and infringes upon the natural edge of land and water. The plains move down, the vegetative roll moves forward, the beach ridges reconfigure, and the tidal flats create a shelf that extends out into the ocean floor.This evolution of land continually cycles on moon and sun paths that dictate the change in light, shade, wind, tides, motion, and human cycles. Whether recognizable or not recognizable, these macro and micro environmental cycles become a dance in the realm of landscape architecture. How does one reveal macro and micro environmental aspects through design with human interaction at the edge between land and water? / Master of Landscape Architecture

In recent years, omnichannel strategies have increased, which has changed consumer purchasing decisions process. With this, the purchase decision has changed the way consumers approach to make purchase decisions, which leads to the purchase process being reshaped. The approach has become more complex with other aspects to consider in current consumer purchasing decisions. Therefore, the purpose of this thesis has been to investigate how omnichannel strategies, which integrate online and offline shopping platforms, shape consumers' purchase decisions in Sweden's fast fashion industry for generation Z. The empirical results were obtained using a qualitative case study of 25 participants from Sweden through semi-structured interviews. The findings were then analysed and discussed with the presented literature to identify how consumers' purchase decisions in Sweden's fast fashion industry for generation Z have been shaped by omnichannel strategies, integrating online and offline shopping platforms. The conclusion of this thesis shows that it is complex to assume how omnichannel strategies, integrated by online and offline shopping platforms, shape generation Z purchase decisions in Sweden's fast fashion industry because the impact of these strategies is unique to each individual's shopping journey. This means that every purchase decision is personally individual and varies depending on the consumer's unique approach to purchasing in the complex and interconnected world of integrated omnichannel strategies, where the online and offline channels are seamlessly connected to provide a unified shopping experience.

Denna studie undersöker vilka designelement som påverkar distansstudenters upplevda engagemang i online-lärmiljöer, mer specifikt den etablerade digitala lärplattformen Moodle. Studiens syfte är att upptäcka och analysera vad som kan utvecklas, för att ytterligare inspirera till engagemang hos universitetsstudenter i Sverige. En kvalitativ metod användes, där studien tillämpade semistrukturerade intervjuer och användartester med sju deltagande studenter för att samla in empirisk data. En tematisk analys användes för att identifiera flera teman som påverkar studenters engagemang. Dessa teman inkluderar: information och navigation, struktur och gränssnitt, social och gemenskap, brist på stöd, begränsad interaktion, kommunikation och tekniska problem. Resultaten visade bland annat att bättre strukturering av innehåll, mindre komplicerat användargränssnitt och navigation, bättre social interaktion och effektivt studentstöd, väsentligt skulle bidra till att förbättra studenters upplevda engagemang. Dessa resultat understryker också institutionens och lärarens ansvar att skapa en känsla av gemenskap och stöd för att förbättra upplevelsen med att studera på distans. Insikterna från resultaten visar på flera praktiska utvecklingsområden på den undersökta lärplattformen. Studien bidrar till kunskap kring den pågående utvecklingen av distansundervisningen sedan pandemins spår. Där förståelsen kring hur lärplattformar kan utvecklas, kan skapa en bättre och mer engagerande lärande-upplevelse i framtiden. / This study explores which design elements affect distance students' experienced engagement in online learning environments, specifically focusing on the established digital learning platform, Moodle. The aim of the study is to discover and analyze areas for improvement that could further inspire engagement among university students in Sweden. A qualitative method was implemented by utilizing semi-structured interviews and user tests on seven participants to gather empirical data. A thematic analysis was used to discover several themes that influence student engagement in the current distance education environment. These themes include: information and navigation, structure and interface, social and community aspects, lack of support, limited interaction, communication, and technical issues. The results indicated that better content structuring, a less complicated user interface and navigation, improved social interaction, and effective student support could significantly enhance students' engagement. These findings also underscore the institution's and teachers responsibility to foster a sense of community and support to improve the experience of distance education. Insights from the results suggest several practical areas for development on the investigated learning platform. This study contributes to the knowledge about the ongoing development of distance education, post pandemic. Understanding how learning platforms can be developed can create a better and more engaging learning experience in the future.

La pérdida de privacidad se está convirtiendo en uno de los mayores problemas en el mundo de la informática. De hecho, la mayoría de los usuarios de Internet (que hoy en día alcanzan la cantidad de 2 billones de usuarios en todo el mundo) están preocupados por su privacidad. Estas preocupaciones también se trasladan a las nuevas ramas de la informática que están emergiendo en los ultimos años. En concreto, en esta tesis nos centramos en la privacidad en los Sistemas Multiagente. En estos sistemas, varios agentes (que pueden ser inteligentes y/o autónomos) interactúan para resolver problemas. Estos agentes suelen encapsular información personal de los usuarios a los que representan (nombres, preferencias, tarjetas de crédito, roles, etc.). Además, estos agentes suelen intercambiar dicha información cuando interactúan entre ellos. Todo esto puede resultar en pérdida de privacidad para los usuarios, y por tanto, provocar que los usuarios se muestren adversos a utilizar estas tecnologías. En esta tesis nos centramos en evitar la colección y el procesado de información personal en Sistemas Multiagente. Para evitar la colección de información, proponemos un modelo para que un agente sea capaz de decidir qué atributos (de la información personal que tiene sobre el usuario al que representa) revelar a otros agentes. Además, proporcionamos una infraestructura de agentes segura, para que una vez que un agente decide revelar un atributo a otro, sólo este último sea capaz de tener acceso a ese atributo, evitando que terceras partes puedan acceder a dicho atributo. Para evitar el procesado de información personal proponemos un modelo de gestión de las identidades de los agentes. Este modelo permite a los agentes la utilización de diferentes identidades para reducir el riesgo del procesado de información. Además, también describimos en esta tesis la implementación de dicho modelo en una plataforma de agentes. / Such Aparicio, JM. (2011). ENHANCING PRIVACY IN MULTI-AGENT SYSTEMS [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/13023

Yes / The competitive landscape of multiple e-commerce platforms and the vast amount of product reviews associated with these platforms have supported both consumers’ online shopping decision making and also served as a reference for product attribute performance improvement. This paper proposes a sentiment-driven fuzzy cloud multi-criteria model for online product ranking and performance to provide purchase recommendations. In this novel model, Bi-directional Long Short-Term Memory Network-Conditional Random Fields (BiLSTM-CRF), sentiment analysis, and K-means clustering are first integrated to mine product attributes and compute sentiment values based on reviews from various platforms. Next, considering the confidence of the sentiment value, the cloud model is combined with q-rung orthopair fuzzy sets to define the new concept of the q-rung orthopair fuzzy cloud (q-ROFC) and the interaction operational laws between q-ROFCs are given. The sentiment values of each product attribute from different platforms are cross-combined and transformed into a type of q- ROFC, while multiple interactive information matrices are established. To investigate the correlation among homogeneous attributes, the q-ROFC interaction weighted partitioned Maclaurin Symmetric mean operator is proposed. Finally, we provide real-world examples of online mobile phone ranking and attribute performance evaluation. The results show that our proposed method offers significant advantages in dealing with customer purchase decisions for online products and problems with performance direction identification. Managerial implications are discussed.

Syftet med studien är att undersöka om det finns skillnader i den politisk kommunikationen på digitala plattformar beroende på vilken målgrupp kommunikationen riktar sig till samt analysera hur dessa skillnader utspelar sig. Målet är att ge en djupare förståelse för hur politisk kommunikation är anpassad till olika målgrupper och hur strategier och budskap är utformade för att nå och engagera väljare i olika åldersgrupper. Forskningsfrågan som ska besvaras är: Hur anpassar politiska partier sin kommunikation på digitala plattformar för att nå sin målgrupp? Huvudmaterialet består i första hand av primärkällor, men även sekundära källor förekommer. Till de primära källorna hör bland annat Instagraminlägg från Moderaterna (MUF) och Socialdemokraternas Ungdomsförbunds (SSU) sidor samt Facebookinlägg från Moderaterna (M) och Socialdemokraternas (S) officiella sidor. De sekundära källorna består huvudsakligen av tidigare forskning och artiklar. Studiens teoretiska ramverk bygger på Gunnar Sjöbloms teorier om de tre politiska arenorna och Jürgen Habermas teorier om det offentliga samtalet och det fria ordet, metoden som används är en kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Slutsatserna visar bland annat att ungdomsförbund, som riktar sig till en yngre målgrupp, tenderar att ha en mer informell och humoristisk ton medans de officiella partierna, som riktar sig till en äldre målgrupp, tenderar att kommunicera mer objektivt och formellt. / The purpose of the study is to investigate whether there are differences in political communication on digital platforms depending on which target group the communication is aimed at and to analyze how these differences play out. The goal is to provide a deeper understanding of how political communication is adapted for different target groups and how strategies and messages are designed to reach and engage voters in different demographic groups. The research question to be answered is: How do political parties adapt their communication on digital platforms to reach their target group? The main material consists primarily of primary sources, but secondary sources also occur. The primary sources include, among other things, Instagram posts from the pages of the Moderate Youth Union (MUF) and the Social Democrats Youth Union (SSU), as well as Facebook posts from the official pages of the Moderates (M) and the Social Democrats (S). The secondary sources mainly consist of previous research and articles. The study's theoretical framework is based on Gunnar Sjöblom's theories about the three political arenas and Jürgen Habermas theories about the public sphere and free speech, the method used is a qualitative content analysis. The conclusions show, among other things, that youth associations, which are aimed at a younge target group, tend to have a more informal and humorous tone, while the official parties, which are aimed at an older target group, tend to communicate more objectively and formally.

In this study I have studied the European Unions suggestion about disembarkation of refugees from a human rights perspective - especially the perspective of human value and human dignity. Human dignity is central. It is expressed in the preamble to the UN Human Rights, as well as in its first paragraph; “Everyone has the right to dignity, and it shall not be violated.” I have studied refugees that have previously spent time in large refugee camps outside Europe, in Jordan and in Libya. In my study I use Libya as an example on what refugees can face in camps in third-world countries. The subject caught my attention since the Norwegian ship MS Tampa picked up refugees on international water outside Australia. The Norwegian captain tried to leave them on Australian land but was refused to do so. Australia sent a military boat to pick them up and left them at an island outside Australia. Moreover European politicians have discussed the idea of off-shore, placements of refugees at disembarkation camps as a way of solving the problem of huge number of refugees that are looking for asylum in Europe as well as the many deaths at the Mediterranean Sea. There has also been a discussion on quota refugees chosen by the UNHCR. This made me wonder how the situation would be for the remaining refugees that will stay in these large camps, maybe for years, as well as how their human rights are respected in camps outside Europe where Europe have no control? How does this correspond to the principle of human value? In my qualitative study I started by making a literature study. Thereafter continued with an interview study where I interviewed refugees that have stayed at camps outside Europe. The purpose of the interview and the study was to take part of their narratives and to make their voices heard. I found that the narrative of refugees is not heard, this makes them feel less valued as human, or not even a human. Their dignity is violated, and their human rights are not respected. Their interests have been forced to give way to the interest of the state.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 25-28, 1999 / Riviera Hotel and Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / GSFC in keeping with the tenets of NASA has been aggressively investigating new technologies for spacecraft and ground communications and processing. The application of these technologies, together with standardized telemetry formats, make it possible to build systems that provide high-performance at low cost in a short development cycle. The High Rate Telemetry Acquisition System (HRTAS) Prototype is one such effort that has validated Goddard's push towards faster, better and cheaper. The HRTAS system architecture is based on the Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus and VLSI Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs). These ASICs perform frame synchronization, bit-transition density decoding, cyclic redundancy code (CRC) error checking, Reed-Solomon error detection/correction, data unit sorting, packet extraction, annotation and other service processing. This processing in performed at rates of up to and greater than 150 Mbps sustained using a high-end performance workstation running standard UNIX O/S, (DEC 4100 with DEC UNIX or better). ASICs are also used for the digital reception of Intermediate Frequency (IF) telemetry as well as the spacecraft command interface for commands and data simulations. To improve the efficiency of the back-end processing, the level zero processing sorting element is being developed. This will provide a complete hardware solution to extracting and sorting source data units and making these available in separate files on a remote disk system. Research is on going to extend this development to higher levels of the science data processing pipeline. The fact that level 1 and higher processing is instrument dependent; an acceleration approach utilizing ASICs is not feasible. The advent of field programmable gate array (FPGA) based computing, referred to as adaptive or reconfigurable computing, provides a processing performance close to ASIC levels while maintaining much of the programmability of traditional microprocessor based systems. This adaptive computing paradigm has been successfully demonstrated and its cost performance validated, to make it a viable technology for the level one and higher processing element for the HRTAS. Higher levels of processing are defined as the extraction of useful information from source telemetry data. This information has to be made available to the science data user in a very short period of time. This paper will describe this low cost solution for high rate data processing at level one and higher processing levels. The paper will further discuss the cost-benefit of this technology in terms of cost, schedule, reliability and performance.

在網際網路普及率日益升高的現今，各式各樣以網路作為媒介的商業模式快速興起，而平台的概念更顛覆了過往的使用習慣，藉由將使用者群聚在同一虛擬環境中，使他們之間產生互動與交流，許多商業價值便從中應運而生。透過同邊與跨邊網路效應的發酵，不斷累積用戶數、建構使用平台的慣性，久而久之便加深了用戶的黏著度，也增加了移轉成本。 本研究便著重於近年來平台商業模式的新概念：群眾募資，探討其如何跨越過往繁複的籌資手續，創造出一個可供擁有創意專案的提案者及擁有資金的贊助者媒合的場域。先分別對全球群眾募資產業和台灣群眾募資產業概況做出簡單的分析，知曉目前的大環境趨勢及台灣的市場發展潛力，並以美國的Kickstarter和台灣的flyingV兩間群眾募資平台作為個案研究對象。在了解兩個案的發展現況、營運模式後，再以策略行銷4C架構剖析兩者建立出平台機制以處理用戶的四項交易成本。 而研究結果發現，雖然兩者在政經環境及市場規模上的差異造成經營成效上的落差，但除去外在的先天因素後，Kickstarter相較於flyingV，建構出的4C循環更加完善，也使其自創立以來一直穩居全球群眾募資界的龍頭地位。而flyingV雖然在台灣擁有最高的市佔率，但在平台本身的4C架構上仍有許多成長空間，因此本研究最終以Kickstarter為範本，對flyingV在現行環境下的營運模式以4C架構做出建議，期許flyingV未來能持續發展，成為亞洲群眾募資平台的領導品牌。

Nya tekniker som Web 2.0 har med en tvåvägskommunikation utvecklat förutsättningarna på Internet som i sin tur bidragit till sociala medier som Facebook, Twitter och Instagram. Denna tillväxt har ändrat marknadsföring från att rikta sig mot ”rätt” kunder till att skapa en relation med sina kunder. Företag använder sociala medier i större utsträckning då de har insett betydelsen av att finnas aktiva på olika sociala medier. Eftersom plattformarna används på olika sätt av både konsumenterna som företagen, vilka typer av inlägg passar företagen att publicera beroende på plattformen för att sedan påverka sina följare? Studien har för avsikt att analysera fyra svenska företags sätt att använda sig av och sprida budskap på sociala medier. Syftet besvaras med stöd ifrån studiens teoretiska referensram och även studiens egna insamling av data. Denna del bestod av en netnografiskobservation som undersöker hur de fyra företagen kommunicerar på de olika plattformarna idag samt två intervjuer, på en av de observerade företaget och på en PR-byrå hållits. Syftet är att exemplifiera kommunikationsverktygen/strategierna de använder samt hur de interagerar med sina konsumenter för att nå ut via de olika plattformarna. Frågorna studien vill behandla och bygger på är följande: • Hur använder svenska företag de olika plattformarna idag? • På vilka sätt skiljer sig användningen av dessa? • Hur ser företagens interaktion ut på de olika plattformarna? Utifrån diskussionen uppvisade företagens användning av de olika plattformarna inte en likvärdig frekvens av deras aktivitet på Facebook, Twitter och Instagram. Man kunde även se branschspecifika skillnader, klädbranschen kontra telekommunikationsbranschen resulterade i att företagen var aktiva på olika sätt. Företag som H&M och Gina Tricot publicerade mer frekvent och även under helgerna i jämförelse med Tele2 och Telia. Genom webbens utveckling (web 2.0, 3.0) är konsumenter inte längre passiva och intagit en ny roll i deras relation till företagen. Studiens resultat påvisar tydligt hur sociala medier fungerar som en tvåvägskommunikation inte enbart mellan konsumenterna utan även mellan företaget och konsument. De olika plattformarna kunde användas som ett verktyg till kommunikationsmixen men även som ett kommunikationsverktyg för att stärka kundrelationen. / New techniques like web 2.0 has with a two-way communication developed the conditions we find with Internet today and this in it’s turn has contributed to different social media platforms’ like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. This has changed marketing as we know it, from aiming to the “right” customers to aiming towards creating a relationship with its’ customers. Most companies have discovered the value of using social media. Since different platforms are used in different way, what kind of content should the companies use depending on the platform and affect its followers? This thesis intends to look in to four companies’ ways of using and spreading their “message” through social media. This is answered with help from the theory this thesis is using and the thesis’ own data. Based on the discussion the companies use of the various platform are not equivalent on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. The clothing industry versus the telecommunication industry result was that these companies use the platform in different ways. Companies like H&M and Gina Tricot had a more published more frequently compared to companies like Tele2 and Telia. With the development of the web, consumers are not passive and has adapted a new role in their relationship towards companies. The result of this thesis clearly shows how social media works as a two-way communication and not just between the consumers but also between the consumers and the companies. The conclusion ofthis thesis was that the companies can use social media as an added tool to the communication mix but it can also be used as a communication tool to strengthen customer relations.