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Maintaining coherency in a distributed system can prove challenging, this is especially true for distributed shared memory systems. The problem with remote synchronization in the distributed shared memory software ArgoDSM occurs when a lock operation has to cross the boundaries of a node, this causes a large number of self-invalidations (SI) or self-downgrades (SD) which is costly. The performance of the coherency protocol can be improved if the SI/SD situations can be avoided by using a suitable alternative. This work explores if the use of selective coherence operations and non-synchronizing locking can help alleviate the issue of SI and SD in ArgoDSM in order to improve performance compared to the cache-wide coherence operations that are triggered by the default locking mechanism in ArgoDSM. An implementation of the concept is done by replacing the standard coherence protocol used in locking operations with selective operations which is then used to analyze the performance compared to the baseline software.  The selective coherence operations are more powerful than the default protocol when applied to synchronization-heavy benchmarks, while the baseline software performs better when there is a lower amount of parallel work being done.

Access to homeownership is a major social and economic issue in many countries. Failure to maintain affordability has been discussed as the ultimate agglomeration diseconomy. This report sheds light on the thresholds for first-time buyers in Sweden and possible solutions through financial innovation. More specifically, an increased understanding of how alternative mortgage products and attributes of financial structure could fit into the Swedish market to make homeownership more accessible for first-time buyers. We can conclude that redistribution of risk in combination with a culture of bank financing might have explanatory power in why alternative mortgage products are not more common in Sweden. Due to relatively new changes, there was no demand until recently. In combination with the bank's low incentives, there has been no supply either. Furthermore, the rules and legalization have a role in the question where the main finding is a lack of exact definition of the concept of interest. This cause problem for some of these alternative mortgage products. The different attributes investigated through the viewpoint of the Swedish market and first-time buyers found no clear winner. The different attributes have positive and negative sides concerning first-time buyers. Some models probably need a correction of a few regulations and better structures for collateral change and debtor change. However, most of the products lower at least one of the thresholds for first-time buyers, which means that a lot comes down to the product's pricing. We welcome these innovations where we believe the products need to go from one-size-fits-all solutions to offering adapted solutions for individuals in different parts of their lives. As far as we know, this paper is the first of its kind in Sweden and contributes to the affordability discussion and alternative mortgage products. / Tillgång till bostadsägande är en stor social och ekonomisk fråga i många länder. Misslyckande med att upprätthålla överkomliga priser kans ses som en stor negativ effekt med agglomerations ekonomin. Denna rapport belyser trösklarna för förstagångsköpare i Sverige och möjliga lösningar genom finansiell innovation. Mer specifikt vill vi ge en ökad förståelse för hur alternativa bolåneprodukter och attribut för finansiella strukturer skulle kunna passa på den svenska marknaden för att göra bostadsägande mer tillgängligt för förstagångsköpare. Vi kan dra slutsatsen att en omfördelning av risk i kombination med en kultur av bankfinansiering kan ha en förklaringskraft till varför alternativa bolåneprodukter inte är vanligare i Sverige. På grund av relativt nya förändringar har det inte funnits någon efterfrågan förrän nyligen, i kombination med de låga incitamenten från banken har det inte heller funnits något utbud. Vidare spelar lagstiftning en roll i frågan där huvudfyndet är brist på exakt definition av begreppet ränta. Detta orsakar problem för vissa av dessa alternativa bolåneprodukter. De olika attributen har positiva och negativa sidor när det gäller förstagångsköpare. Sannolikt behövs korrigering av ett fåtal regelverk och bättre strukturer för säkerhetsbyte och gäldenärsbyte till för några av modellerna ska vara optimala. De flesta av produkterna sänker dock minst en av trösklarna för förstagångsköpare vilket gör att mycket handlar om prissättningen av produkten. Vi tror att produkterna behöver gå från en lösning som passar alla till att erbjuda olika anpassade lösningar för individer i olika delar av livet. Den här uppsatsen är så vitt vi vet den första i sitt slag i Sverige och bidrar till diskussion om bostadsmarknaden och den svenska strukturen samt alternativa bolåneprodukter.

It is widely recognized that the world’s over-reliance on transportation contributes to many environmental problems, especially in urban areas. Sustainable  mobility is a solution and an important dimension of a Smart City. Shared mobility services are part of sustainable mobility and they are widening its portfolio especially in the past decade. However, the number of users is still low compared to its high potential, and innovative solutions can only succeed with the combination  of increasing the awareness of citizens, incentivizing them, and promoting their behavioural change. This paper is dedicated to the shared mobility business models as part of the collaborative consumption, and finding out the challenges and opportunities of this emerging market in a Swedish context and comparing it to a Moroccan one.  The goal is to explore the key features of the main market players and the possible ways of improvements that could possibly take carpooling and car-sharing to a next level. It explores the high potential of gamification and other mechanisms to incentivize voluntary behavioural changes towards shared  mobility solutions. In a first place the theoretical part provide an overview of the shared mobility in general with its different aspects highlighting the role of new technologies and internet in the development of this concept. An online survey aimed at testing the knowledge of the respondents on the concept, discover which elements affect  their involvement and find out how things can be improved by analysing the feedbacks. / Det är allmänt känt att världens beroenden av transporter bidrar till många miljöproblem, särskilt i stadsområden. Hållbar mobilitet är en lösning och en viktig dimension i en smart stad. Delade mobilitetstjänster är en del av hållbar mobilitet och dess portfölj har utökats särskilt under det senaste decenniet. Antalet användare är dock fortfarande lågt jämfört med den höga potentialen och innovativa lösningar kan bara lyckas med kombinationen av att öka medvetenheten om medborgarna, stimulera dem och främja deras beteendeförändringar. Denna rapport är inriktat på affärsmodellerna för delad mobilitet som en del av konsumtion genom samarbete och identifierar utmaningarna och möjligheterna på den nya marknaden i ett svenskt sammanhang och jämför det med en marockansk. Målet är att utforska huvudaktörerna hos de viktigaste marknadsaktörerna och möjliga sätt för förbättringar som möjligen kan ta bilpoolning och bildelning till nästa nivå. Potentialen inom gamification och andra mekanismer för att stimulera frivilliga beteendemässiga förändringar mot gemensamma mobila lösningar undersöks. Inledningsvis ger den teoretiska delen en översikt över den delade mobiliteten i allmänhet med sina olika aspekter som framhäver rollen som ny teknik och internet vid utvecklingen av detta koncept. Genom en online-undersökning som syftar till att testa kunskapen om konceptet hos de svarande, har faktorer som påverkar deras engagemang och hur saker kan förbättras identifierats.

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Den här studien behandlar begreppet delat ledarskap med utgångspunkt i en förskoleorganisation som öppet berättat att de använder den här typen av ledarskap. Delat ledarskap är en ledarskapsmodell där ansvar, befogenheter och arbetsuppgifter är uppdelade eller gemensamma mellan två eller flera ledare. Det delade ledarskapet beskrivs som en bra och passande ledarskapsmodell för komplexa organisationer och deras krav. Syftet med studien är att undersöka vad det delade ledarskapet medför i praktiken utifrån ledare och medarbetares upplevelser. På grund av Skolverkets regelsättning är funktionellt delat ledarskap den enda tillåtna varianten av delat ledarskap i skolsektorn. Således kommer studien främst att fokusera på den typen av delat ledarskap. Studien är en fallstudie med en fenomenologisk ansats där det insamlade materialet består av nio intervjuer med personer som anställts både innan och efter införandet av ledarskapsmodellen. Förskoleorganisationen består av sex olika förskoleenheter varav tre av dessa medverkar i den här studien. För att få så brett perspektiv som möjligt utgår studien både utifrån ett medarbetar- och chefsperspektiv.   Studiens slutresultat visar att delat ledarskap kan vara gynnande för ledningen, men att medarbetarna fortfarande saknar det närvarande ledarskapet från rektorn och enhetschefen. Det framkommer även hur organisationsprocesser kan förenklas genom frekvent och god kommunikation, tillit och personkemi, som är tre viktiga faktorer för ett lyckat delat ledarskap. Slutsatsen konstaterar vidare att det finns utmaningar i den horisontella relationen inåt som kan försvåras om ledarna inom ett delat ledarskap inte är kompatibla med varandra. Då funktionen av prestigelöshet och ett kompletterande ledarskap inom ett delat ledarskap är faktorer som skapar grunden till samarbete. / This study will discuss the term shared leadership inside of a kindergarten-organization who have openly announced that they use this kind of leadership. Shared leadership is a leadership model where responsibility, authority and work tasks are divided or shared between two or more leaders. The shared leadership has been described as a good and appropriate leadership model for complex organizations and their requirements. The purpose of the study is to investigate what the shared leadership provides in practice seen from the leaders’ and coworkers’ experiences. Because of rules set up by Skolverket, functional shared leadership is the only allowed variant of shared leadership in the school sector. Thus the study will first and foremost focus on this kind of shared leadership. The study is a case study with a phenomenological approach where the collected material consists of nine interviews with people who were employed both before and after the implementation of the leadership model. The kindergarten-organization consists of six different kindergarten-units, whereof three of these are participating in the study. To achieve as wide of a perspective as possible the study will consider a worker-perspective and a leader-perspective.    The study’s result shows that shared leadership can be beneficial for management, but that coworkers still miss the attending leadership from both principal and unit manager. Furthermore, the study’s result also shows how organizational processes can be simplified through frequent and good communication, trust and personal chemistry, which are three important factors for successful shared leadership. The conclusion further states that there are challenges in the horizontal relationship inwards which can be made more difficult if the leaders within a shared leadership are not compatible with each other. Since the function of lack of prestige and a complementary leadership within a shared leadership are factors that create the basis for cooperation.

Introduction: The first aim of this study is to gain more knowledge about why public libraries choose to organize reading groups for adults. The second aim is to shed light on the possible transformative potential of public libraries’reading groups for adults. Method: Semi-structured interviews with six librarians at Bibliotek Uppsala were conducted. Three of the librarians had an overall responsibility for the reading group activities within the organization. The other three librarians led reading groups themselves. The interviews were recorded and transcribed. Analysis: A thematic content analysis was conducted to interpret the transcripts of the interviews.  Results: The librarians’ thoughts regarding what participants can gain from reading groups were categorized within the following themes: They can inspire more or more extensive reading, they can promote democracy and participation, they can encourage people to meet and fulfill an important social function, they can promote health, personal growth, and can give the participants new perspectives. This is largely consistent with previous studies reagarding what participants themselves state reading groups contribute to their lives. The result further shows that there are many favorable conditions for transformative learning within the library’s reading groups. Conclusion: The librarians see that the reading groups can fulfill more functions than promoting reading. Among other things, they point out that the reading groups, for several different reasons, are in line with the library’s democratic mission. Based on the theory of transformative learning, it is possible to see the potential of reading grups to promote critical reflection. According to the theory of transformative learning, it is believed that it is of the utmost importance that citizens of democratic societies develop their critical thinking. Thus, reading groups that develop the participants' ability to reflect could therefore also be justified on the basis of the library's democracy mission.   This is a two years master’s thesis in Library and Information Science.

The following research project is split into two phases and concludes with a synthesis of both phases. The overarching aim of the research project is to explore how mainstream schools can best work with alternative providers to make collective provision for those identified as having Behavioural, Emotional and Social Difficulties. In the first phase, a realistic evaluation methodology (Pawson & Tilley, 1997) is adopted and semi structured interviews are used to explore the experiences of staff in relation to pupils on a shared placement. A provisional theory is then developed to explain the outcomes of the shared placement arrangement. The second phase of the research involves gathering the views and perceptions of the pupils and also utilises the realistic evaluation approach. The aim of this phase is to refine and update the provisional theory developed in Phase 1. This study adopts a mixed methods approach, utilising semi-structured interviews with the pupils. A quantitative element is introduced through a closer examination of the relationship between pupils’ sense of school belonging and the success, or otherwise of the shared placement. Throughout both phases of the research, there is a focus on discovering how a shared placement affects the pupil and what the outcomes of this arrangement are. The project is also heavily focused on identifying the contextual conditions that either facilitate or inhibit positive outcomes occurring. The findings of the research indicate that shared placements can lead to a variety of outcomes for pupils. When it works well, pupils become more engaged with their education and this has a positive impact on their behaviour and emotional development. However, it is also clear that shared placements can result in undesirable outcomes including further disengagement from the mainstream school. When outcomes were positive, the shared placement increased pupils’ self-efficacy, aspirations and facilitated achievement. These factors were supported by valuing pupil voice, excellent partnership working between settings and the schools willingness to include children with complex needs. This research also highlights that a greater sense of belonging to the mainstream school is associated with an increased likelihood of positive outcomes occurring. This project has explored an area which has been largely neglected in previous research. The theories developed have a variety of implications for Educational Psychologists as well as wider implications, and these are discussed in the final section. Figure 1 presents a visual overview of the research project.

Collaboration is a vital skill in today’s knowledge economy. Regrettably, many learners lack the regulatory skills required for complex collaborative tasks. In particular, groups struggle to construct shared task perceptions of collaborative tasks on which to launch engagement. Thus, the purpose of this dissertation was to examine how computer supported collaborative learning (CSCL) tools can be leveraged to support shared task perceptions for regulating collaboration. Because investigating this process brings forth a wide array of methodological challenges, a second purpose of this dissertation was to explore how CSCL tools can be used as a methodological solution for capturing this process. Towards this end, research unfolded across one conceptual paper and two empirical studies: (a) Miller & Hadwin (2015a) extended work conceptualizing self-, co-, and shared-regulation in successful collaboration and drew on this theoretical framework to propose ways in which CSCL tools can be designed to support and research regulation of collaboration; (b) Miller, Malmberg, Hadwin, & Järvelä (2015) investigated the processes that contributed to and constrained groups’ construction of shared task perceptions in a CSCL environment in order to inform further refinement of supports; (c) Miller & Hadwin (2015b) examined the effects of tools providing different levels of individual and group support on construction of shared task perceptions and task performance. Together, findings revealed the potential of blending pedagogical tools to support shared task perceptions with research tools for examining and understanding regulation. In particular, findings evidenced shared task perceptions to be a complex and challenging social phenomenon and shed light on ways in which CSCL tools may prompt and promote this process. In addition, data generated by learners as they interacted with CSCL supports created valuable opportunities to capture shared task perceptions as they unfolded in the context of meaningful collaborative tasks across the individual and group level. / Graduate / 0525 / fgage@uvic.ca