We investigate the solution of large-scale generalized algebraic Bernoulli equations as those arising in control and systems theory in the context of stabilization of linear dynamical systems, coprime factorization of rational matrix-valued functions, and model reduction. The algorithms we propose, based on a generalization of the Newton iteration for the matrix sign function, are easy to parallelize, yielding an efficient numerical tool to solve large-scale problems. Both the accuracy and the parallel performance of our implementations on a cluster of Intel Xeon processors are reported.

From the theories of Ackoff about system theory and how the management of an organization should perform, the concept of situation awareness is discussed. A short history of the situation awareness concept is given in the light of aviation and human cognition. Motives are given why it is of interest to explore the concept of SA. The Russian Theory of Activity (Activity Theory) is presented with the focus on the orientational activity to give the background for a comparison against the adaptive-learning management system as presented by Ackoff. As result a definition of SA is presented, the result of the comparison of theories is presented, discussed and summarized in a conceptual design and future research is presented.

The present paper discusses the cultural and stylistic issues in the translation of a part of the 2004 Republican Party Platform. Political text in American English and Swedish is in focus, and translation examples are accounted for and categorised according to Vinay & Darbelnet’s (1995) system theory of translation procedures. The conclusion is that cultural issues caused fewer problems than stylistic ones when the Republican Party Platform 2004 was translated.

The dynamical origin of complexity is an object of intense debate and, up to moment of writing this manuscript, no unified approach exists as to how it should be properly addressed. This research work adopts the perspective of complexity as characterized by the emergence of non-Poisson renewal processes. In particular I introduce two new complex system models, namely the two-state stochastic clocks and the integrate-and-fire stochastic neurons, and investigate its coupled dynamics in different network topologies. Based on the foundations of renewal theory, I show how complexity, as manifested by the occurrence of non-exponential distribution of events, emerges from the interaction of the units of the system. Conclusion is made on the work's applicability to explaining the dynamics of blinking nanocrystals, neuron interaction in the human brain, and synchronization processes in complex networks.

The main purpose of this study was to increase knowledge on the views of students with reading and writing difficulties when it comes to their perception of their difficulties, school experiences and future aspirations. The second aim was to increase knowledge about some differences and similarities between Malta and Sweden in the subject field. The research questions concerned students’ descriptions of their diagnostic processes, perception of their difficulties, strengths and coping strategies, school experience and future aspirations. A qualitative interview study was conducted with five Swedish and six Maltese upper secondary school students. The Ecological systems theory and Didactic theory together with previous research were used to analyse the results. To summarise the results, almost all of the students diagnosed with dyslexia showed a positive attitude towards having the report. The Maltese students described the absolute necessity of a diagnosis to receive support. No student in the study described having received support and structured phonological training as recommended by previous research. The students described a wide range of difficulties, strengths and coping strategies mainly in line with previous research. The importance of concentration when learning and taking tests was accentuated. Listening to a skilled teacher was emphasised as one of the best ways of learning, and the importance of willpower was highlighted. The students showed the importance of communicating with teachers, finding own methods, and make the most of one’s strengths to close the gaps in the areas in which one experiences difficulties. For all the Maltese students, private lessons have been a source of support, while none of the Swedish mentioned any private training. For the majority, both parents and a hobby played an important role when it comes to support and well-being. All students described school as difficult, but students’ experiences of school ranged from humiliating to somehow supportive. Some of the Maltese students described that they were afraid of being judged for using dyslexia as an excuse, while some of the Swedish students described they felt the right to support and adjustments. All students but one described that they had lowered their future aspirations due to their difficulties. All students seem to rely on their own strategies for school success. In the light of the theoretical framework – the Ecological systems theory, Didactic theory and previous research – the results could imply both a need for improving teachers’ literacy and didactic skills within the existing systems as well as a need for curriculum development and change of examinations systems.

The aim was to study how school professionals working with newly arrived immigrant children and youth experience how these students integrate into the school. The study is a qualitative research conducted in Sweden. The first part of the research focused on studying what factors affect the integration of newly arrived immigrant in schools while the second part focused on what strategy is used to ensure their integration. The findings of the study were thematically analyzed using the ecological systems theory as a framework of analysis. Through semi-structured interviews, four teachers and a counsellor expressed their perception on the integration of newly arrived immigrants’ student into schools. The result showed that the teachers are the core agent for integration within schools. It was shown that past experiences, family, social connections, educational background, school system, migration policies, culture are important factors that affect the integration process of these students.

This study attempts to examine how gender roles appear in the adaption of Margaret Atwood’s published book, The Handmaid’s Tale TV series, which introduces the fictional and dystopian society Gilead, where the infertility rates decreased as the result of climate change. This study focuses on the first, second and third seasons of the TV series from 2017-19. A qualitative method was used to study how groups of males and females are portrayed in a hierarchy. This study examines how males and females are represented in The Handmaid’s Tale through a content analysis with multimodal critical discourse analysis as a method, completed with gender system theory and feminist standpoint theory.  In the study, we focused on four groups of females and two groups of males that were included in an obvious ranking in the hierarchy of Gilead. All of the groups were analyzed separately to observe how their gender roles were represented in the TV series. Consequently, we compared the male groups to the female groups to examine the differences between their representation and ranking in the hierarchy in Gilead. The results of this study shows that males are dominant and females are submissive in Gilead, which confirms the gender theory used in this study. The low-ranking groups of females, such as the handmaids or the marthas also confirmed the existence of the feminist standpoint theory. It shows that the groups of males were placed in the highest ranking in the hierarchy in Gilead, even though some of the women seemed to be powerful, it was not enough to dominate all of the male groups in the hierarchy.

This paper addresses itself to the problem of the analysis of the decision making processes in the area of Human Resources Planning.

This essay examines the role of metaphoric thought at the symposium Beyond reductionism: New perspectives in the life sciences organised by the Hungarian-born writer Arthur Koestler in 1968. The symposium can be interpreted in part as a protest against the metaphor of man as a machine, which was connected by the participants to reductionism in a broader, cosmological sense. Metaphors were widely utilised by the participants to communicate scientific and philosophical ideas, but the use of metaphors was also criticised for over-simplifying a complex reality. Different variants of general system theory were explored by some participants as a way of avoiding the limits of specific metaphoric imagery. Analogies based on modern linguistics were repeatedly used to explain biological and behavourial processes, as an alternative to the established mechanistic, reductionist models. Reductionism was also connected to existential concepts of meaning and alienation in connection with the concurrent student riots. Using Max Black's interactive theory of metaphor, this essay argues that the symposium produced a more coherent anti-reductionist position than is apparent at first sight, while also highlighting the importance of metaphors and analogies in the life sciences discourse of the late 1960's.

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