The largest project at the AICG lab at Linköping University, Cognitive models for virtual characters, focuses on creating an agent architecture for intelligent, virtual characters. The goal is to create an agent that acts naturally and gives a realistic user experience. The purpose of this thesis is to develop and implement an appropriate learning model that fits the existing agent architecture using an agile project methodology. The model developed can be seen as an online unsupervised reinforcement learning model that enhances experiences through reward. The model is based on Maes model where new effects are created depending on whether the agent is fulfilling its goals or not.The model we have developed is based on constant monitoring of the system.

The actual project presents the development of a testing rig for a steam engine. A short overviewabout the development of steam engines is presented, until arriving to the development of thepresent engine, which will require to be tested in different ways.The testing rig studied on this project (based on a Lanchester engine) will be used to testdifferent materials and layouts for the group Piston-Cylinder.The engine is a high performance steam power engine, which is going to have a highpower/dimensions ratio, what will lead to require high performance components and materials.An introduction to the testing rig is presented, and the entire design project is done in order toreplace the disappeared documentation of the current testing rig, built on the 1970?s. Also somemodifications done in the original testing rig are presented, as well as some detected problemsand their possible solutions..

Induction motors, often referred to as the workhorse of the industry, play an important role in production today. Therefore, it's important to diagnose any faulty induction motor prior to failure to avoid costly and time consuming production stops.This thesis compares methods for diagnosing induction motors in operation, MCSA, Park's vector approach and the standard method used by Swedish industries today. By simulating broken rotor bars and short-circuit in one of the windings, each method is tested and the results are compared using matlab.The results need further verification due to uncertainties of the condition of the test motor, even though the experiment gives a hint of the different advantages of each method. A combination of the methods should be able to tell if the motor needs further examination..

This thesis examines the implications of a shorter  intensive action research  project on  the formative assessments  key  strategies  four  and  five  that  are  activating  learners  as  learning  resources  for  one another and activating learners as owners of their own learning.  The research questions were ?How do the pupils experience the formative approach?? ?What didactic consequences does the formative approach  mean  for  the  role  of  the  teacher??  and  ?How  does  the  formative  approach  affects  the pupils?  results  on a  short term??. The results were that the  majority of the pupils liked the approach and that they felt like their efficiency increased. The didactic consequences were that the teacher had to spend more time on evaluation but had more time during the lesson to listen to and discuss with the pupils. The pupils? results were not changed in comparison with the control group..

Quadrotor UAVs are self-stabilizing, autonomous flying machines that has recently become more popular than ever. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles have their roots in the military, where they were developed for use in reconnaissance and combat. During the last few years, advances in the fields of electronic sensors, electric motors and microcontrollers have enabled smaller designs and autonomic flight control even for private use. The quadrotor, which is the particular kind of UAV we are looking closer at in this paper, has 4 rotors in an X-like formation. This configuration has many advantages such as good lift capacity, non-complex mechanical structure and serviceability.In this project we aquired a current overview of the domain and determine whether it is possible to construct a quadrotor UAV designed for use in a WISENET sensor network on a low budget and short time schedule.Based on existing community project AeroQuad, a quadrotor is constructed with a budget of about 500 euro.

Lumilos is a work investigating the possibilities to use light and color in an interactive design context. I have explored different light sources and compared them to each other and given a short description of the history of light and how it has been developed during the industrialization in the western world. I have also investigated what is currently done in the field and summarized that with examples in the categories passive-, colored-, material- and interactive light. The conclusion is that working with interactive color and light is a hard task. There are many different angles to take into account such as personal likings and earlier experiences that is uncontrollable by the designer. Yet there are many possibilities and light is a material that is moldable in many forms. I have put the knowledge about light and color into practice and developed an interactive light wall that is visualizing energy consumption with the use of different colors of light and animations.

The purpose of this thesis is to ascertain the main determinable factors of Swedish SMEs capital structure decisions and to investigate whether existing capital structure theories are applicable on Swedish SME financing. We have used panel data to run regressions of various capital structure determinants on three measures of capital structure; short- term debt, long-term debt and total debt. We found that growth opportunities, profitability and age are the most important capitalstructures determinants for our sample. Firm size shows a small explanatory result but the effective tax rate and the asset tangibility do not seem to explain the capital structure at all. Thematurity matching principle is considered significant..

SVENSKA: Vårt kandidatarbete gick ut på att ta reda på om det var möjligt att utveckla ett kort spel i hög teknisk kvalitet och ändå skapa ett djupt intryck på spelaren. Under projektets gång utvecklade vi, med hjälp av UDK (Unreal Development Kit), ett skräckspel i 3D till PC vid namn The Horror at MS Aurora. För att erhålla den höga tekniska kvaliteten som vi var ute efter användes metoder som räknas som standard för stora speltitlar på marknaden: Animationer spelades in med Motion Capture och musiken skrevs med en full symfoniorkester i åtanke. Innan produktionsfasen tog vid gick alla gruppmedlemmarna igenom en research-fas, där var och en satte sig in i de områden som skulle komma att vara aktuella under produktionen (d.v.s. hur UDK fungerar, musikteori och orkestrationsteknik, hur man arbetar med Motion Capture-data o.s.v.).

I have written an experiential essay about my role as a preschool director and the important work decisions that I face. What is best for the child? That is something that I think is important to take into consideration.In the narrative, I describe how an induction occurs at my preschool. We use an "old" tried and true method which spans two to three weeks, which I believe is best for children under the age of two. They need to first connect withone educator who they are comfortable with before they are secure enough to play and explore the environment of the preschool.In recent years, another method has emerged which is shorter and which has quickly became popular in many preschools.

The main purpose of this study was to examine own and social influence on perfectionismwith individual athletes. The participants (n= 96) of this study represented ten different sportsand their ages was between 15 and 44. An interview with four of the participant wasconducted. The instruments used for this study was the Positive and Negative PerfectionismScale (Terry-Short et al., 1995) and for the interviews questions was based on own and socialinfluence. The results showed that there was a relationship between positive perfectionismand own influence, negative perfectionism and own influence, negative perfectionism andsocial influence.

In today's society, more and more people traveling with transports such as trains and buses. With this type of travel it often exists waiting at stations that in many cases perceives as negative. Previous research demonstrates that distraction can get people to experience the waiting as less negative. This paper aims to examine how waiting can be affected by distraction, and if it is possible to use a second type of waiting as a distraction. The authors have chosen to focus on travelers who are waiting.

SVENSKA: Vårt kandidatarbete gick ut på att ta reda på om det var möjligt att utveckla ett kort spel i hög teknisk kvalitet och ändå skapa ett djupt intryck på spelaren. Under projektets gång utvecklade vi, med hjälp av UDK (Unreal Development Kit), ett skräckspel i 3D till PC vid namn The Horror at MS Aurora. För att erhålla den höga tekniska kvaliteten som vi var ute efter användes metoder som räknas som standard för stora speltitlar på marknaden: Animationer spelades in med Motion Capture och musiken skrevs med en full symfoniorkester i åtanke. Innan produktionsfasen tog vid gick alla gruppmedlemmarna igenom en research-fas, där var och en satte sig in i de områden som skulle komma att vara aktuella under produktionen (d.v.s. hur UDK fungerar, musikteori och orkestrationsteknik, hur man arbetar med Motion Capture-data o.s.v.).

Due to a globalised world business travel is flourishing. This paper examines how middle level executives, travelling a lot in their work at a multi-national company, feel about their travel. It looks for links between business travel and work satisfaction among them. A short presentation of the patterns of business travel and relevant motivational and stress theories is given. Data for the paper is collected using a survey (78 participants) and interviews.

Soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks and fluxes in forest ecosystems are influenced by natural and human disturbances. In the tropical regions the highest impacts on disturbance in forest C cycles are related to human activities such as conversion of natural lands to cropland and pasture areas and to forest plantations. The disturbances in the forest C cycles will release CO2 emissions to the atmosphere triggering global warming. In this study the focus was set in subtropical soils in Brazil, south extreme region of Bahia. The aim of the study was to investigate whether reforestation of Eucalyptus plantations under former pasture areas will help mitigate climate change through carbon sequestration.

Traditional financial management has lately been criticized, since it gives inadequate and unilateral information for decisions and strategy of the operation. The purpose of this essay is to investigate if a balanced scorecard is able to work together with a budget and become a stronger control system for the management. Essential theory underlies the gathering of data as well as the analysis, and the empirical investigation is based on personal interviews. The conclusions drawn from my analysis are that two parallel control systems could complement each other?s weaknesses.