I denna rapport tas ett problem till sjöss upp, nämligen alkohol. Alkoholgränsen i ‰ (promille) på sjön går vid 1,0 ‰ och med bil går gränsen vid 0,2 ‰. Detta ämne är aktuellt då det figurerat tv-program såsom Kustbevakarna som visat hur alkoholpåverkade människor tagits om hand av Kustbevakningens personal (www.kanal5.se). Med detta i åtanke ges här ett designförslag på en alkolåsmodul att ha i fritidsbåtar. Modulen ska vara enkel att använda och inte vara till belastning. Meningen med alkolåset är att förhindra att alkoholpåverkade människor ska kunna skadar sig själva eller någon i sin omgivning på grund av ouppmärksamhet eller vårdslöshet. Alla ombord borde ha sin egen uppgift för att harmonin ”Happy Ship” (”glatt skepp”) ska infinna sig. Studien om alkolåsmodulen innefattar enkäter och intervjuer med användare för att få en så oberoende syn på både design och funktion som möjligt. Till vår hjälp hade vi ett teoretiskt ramverk som kallas Aktivitetsteori (AT). Resultatet blev ett designförslag på ett alkolås kombinerat med förarintyg. Förarintyget sätts i alkolåsmodulens kortläsare och ska sitta där under hela resans gång. Detta designförslag kan ge bättre förutsättningar för en säkrare sjöfart då föraren måste blåsa i alkolåset, samt inneha ett giltigt förarintyg för att få klartecken att starta båten. Har föraren alkohol i utandingen kommer farten regleras med hänsyn till vilken promillehalt föraren hade. Försäkringspremien kan också komma att antingen sänkas, om inloggningarna varit utan alkohol, eller höjas om inloggningar visar att alkohol funnits i utandningen eller ej. Denna premieåtgärd gjordes för att båten vid extrema väderförhållanden eller vid eventuell olycka, måste kunna flyttas. Till alkolåsmodulen gavs också ett förslag på hur inloggningen kom att fungera med sina olika rutor i administrationen. / In this report we address a problem at sea, namely alcohol. The limit at sea measured in ‰ (permille) is at 1,0 ‰ but in a car the limit is 0,2 ‰. This topic is relevant and it has also been brought up in a TV-show that showed people under the influence of alcohol being taken care of by the coastguard (www.kanal5.se). With this in mind we're presenting a design proposal of an alcolock module to install in pleasure boats. The module should be simple to use and not to be seen as a burden. The purpose of this alcolock is to prevent people under the influence of alcohol from hurting themselves or others in their environment due to inattention or recklessness. Everyone onboard should have their own assignments to create the harmony of “Happy Ship”. The study of the alcolock module consists of surveys and interviews with the users to get as close to an independent view as possible regarding design and function, without our influence. To aid us, we used a theoretic framework called Activity Theory (AT). The result was a design proposal of an alcolock combined with a drivers license. The drivers license is inserted in the card reader of the alcolock module and will remain there for the duration of the trip. This design proposal might result in a safer environment at sea, since the operator has to breathe in the alcolock, and possess a valid drivers licence to be able to start the boat. If the operator has alcohol on his/her breath the speed will be reduced with consideration of the amount of alcohol. The insurance policy might also either be reduced or increased, depending on if there were alcohol on the operators breath or not. The reason for this is that the boat has to be movable in case of bad weather or an accident. There was also a suggestion to how the log on process would work with the different administrational pages.

<p>IMIS (Integrated Mobile Information System for Diabetic Healthcare) aims at providing healthcare on both stationary and mobile platform, which is based on Engström’s triangle model in Activity Theory. It focuses on the need for communication and information accessibility between care-providers and their shared patients. Based on the identified need in the target area, IMIS has decided to construct a network-based communication system to support communication and accessibility to patients’ journal. Since the system integrates various roles from the heath care organization, it is a challenge to provide a useful software program to the group members. In order to facilitate the application and enhance the Human-Computer interaction of the system, agent technology is applied to increase the flexibility factor so that the system could be self-adapted to a wider range group of users.</p><p>Besides, this thesis also introduces the approach of using social-psychology — Activity theory in HCI, and discuss the integration of these different disciplines. The Multi-agents System is applied with Gaia methodology from micro perspectives. From the macro perspective Activity theory constructs the coordination mechanism of the different agents. A prototype is applied based on the different model of our research.</p>

This research involves a legal impact study of the State College Nuisance Property Ordinance and an assessment of State College Rental Property Managers in the role of place manager/intimate handler of offender. The impact of the Ordinance was assessed by employing an interrupted time series design which examined five years of pre-ordinance violations against five years of post-ordinance violations. The assessment of State College Rental Property Managers in the role of place manager/intimate handlers of offenders was assessed through a mail survey. The survey contained items that measured the level to which State College Rental Property Managers have assumed this role. This level was then regressed against the offenses covered under the Ordinance in order to determine if this role has an impact on reducing and/or deterring offenses in rental units. The data suggest that the Ordinance was successful in reducing violations in nuisance rental units. In addition, the analyses of the survey revealed that a higher level of place manager/intimate handler of offender was positively correlated with criminal and ordinance violations. / Dr. Randy L. Martin Dr. Kathleen J. Hanrahan Dr. Jennifer J. Roberts Dr. John A. Lewis

Sammanfattning Enligt Migrationsverket har andelen invandrare i Sverige ökat avsevärt de senaste åren vilket har lett till att vissa stadsområden fått ekonomiska och sociala problem. För att förbättra utsatta stadsområden slöt regeringen år 2007 ett avtal med nio kommuner i landet. Växjö kommun var en av dem som ingick i avtalet och år 2013 blev kommunen tilldelad 4,8 miljoner kronor i prestationsbaserade medel. Araby är en utsatt stadsdel i Växjö där alltfler blir bidragsberoende och behöver jobb. För att stärka arabybornas levnadsvillkor driver kommunen ett stadsutvecklingsarbete. De 4,8 miljoner kronorna som Växjö kommun blev tilldelade beslutades att gå till projekt riktade mot arabyborna med Växjö kommun som samordnare.  Syftet med uppsatsen var att genom användandet av verksamhetsteorins modell, öka förståelsen av hur en offentlig samordnare av ett utvecklingsarbete påverkar de projekt som är involverade. För att uppfylla vårt syfte hade vi först en ostrukturerad intervju där vi också fick tillgång till dokument för att få övergripande förförståelse av Araby stadsutvecklingsarbete. Därefter genomfördes fyra semi-strukturerade intervjuer med fyra av de projektledare som blev tilldelade pengar av de 4,8 miljonerna. Resultatet vi fick fram visar på att Växjö kommun som offentliga samordnare av Araby stadsutvecklingsarbete påverkar projekten på olika sätt, bland annat genom att de satte riktlinjerna i form av övergripande mål för arbetet som skulle genomföras av projekten, mängden pengar varje projekt blir tilldelade, regler i form av krav och kriterier samt hur samarbetet ska gå till mellan Växjö kommun och projekten. Vår uppsats speglar en studie där projektledarna anser att Växjö kommun endast har haft en liten påverkan på dem och deras arbete, något som varit väldigt uppskattat ur projektledarnas synvinkel. I och med det visar denna uppsats hur offentliga aktörers påverkan på projekten varit positivt enligt projektledarna. / The proportion of immigrants in Sweden has increased considerably in recent years and as a result some districts have economic and social problems. To improve the vulnerable urban areas with these issues, the government signed an agreement back in 2007 with nine municipalities of Sweden. One of the municipalities that signed that agreement was Växjö. In the year of 2014 Växjö was allocated 4.8 million Swedish crowns in performance-based funding by the government. Araby is a district in Växjö municipality where more and more people have become dependent on subsidy and in need of jobs. In order to strengthen the residents' living conditions in Araby, the municipality has an urban development work. The 4.8 million crowns that Växjö were assigned, was decided to go to projects targeting the residents of Araby with Växjö Municipality as a coordinator. The purpose of this paper is through the use of the activity theory model, increase the understanding of how a public coordinator of an urban development work affects the projects involved. In order to fulfill our purpose we have had an unstructured interview and access to documents in order to obtain comprehensive understanding of the Araby urban development work. This was followed by four structured interviews with four of the project managers that were assigned funds of the 4.8 million crowns. The interview questions were based on the activity theory. The results we concluded show that the municipality of Växjö as a public coordinator of Araby urban development work affects the projects in various ways. The municipality of Växjö has affected the projects through setting guidelines in terms of overall objectives for the work to be carried out of the projects the amount of money each project is assigned, rules in terms of requirements and criteria, just to name a few. Our essay shows a case in which the projects considers that the municipality of Växjö only has a small impact on them and their work, something that has been highly appreciated among the project managers. This shows how public actors influence on the projects has been positive according to the project managers.

This study seeks to understand the transmogrification of four Mexican foreign language teachers as they participate in a teaching exchange in American schools throughout the United States. Previous research into development of competent membership in given communities of practice points to the need for mutual engagement with other community members, an understanding of the community activity, and a shared repertoire among community members. Framed within an activity theory perspective, the present study examined how the teachers's socio-historical background, cultural tools and artifacts, along with other pedagogical activities, community rules, and division of labor mediated the teachers' understanding of their professional identity within their exchange communities. Situated within a cohort of thirteen exchange teachers, these four teachers employed an electronic discussion board, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), and instant messaging to narrate their experiences as well as create a global support community. Data collected from these electronic medium were employed as research texts to evidence shared construction of teacher identity within the teachers' local communities. The research texts, in turn, served as data for the development of narrative accounts of these teachers' activities and experiences as mediational factors in community participation. Findings from this study uncover the importance of pedagogical activity as a mediational factor in the transmogrification of teacher identity for these exchange teachers. In additon, it is suggested that culturally shared repertoire, family participation, and social interaction are essential factors in mediating competent community membership in local communities. Finally, this study points to the fluid nature of teacher identity; it proposes that this conceptualization of self-as-teacher is constantly transforming due to mediation by pedagogic activity and participation in local communities of prac tice.

The purpose of this study is to describe how the activity is arranged for a student with learning disablities. I have used an method based on etnografic influences. I made observations in a school for three days I took notes during the observations. I made one interview with the teacher where I used open fomulatet questions. This study is based on activity theory and one of my results is that teachers in primary school did not have the competence to meet all childrens needs. I found that many things in the activity affected the students in it and that the purpose of the activity changed according to the activity in it. Primary school as activity seemed to push the student with learning disabilities towards special school since it was in special school the comptence and the ability to arrange the activity to meet the needs the student had in a better way. / Denna studie handlar om skolan som verksamhet och hur verksamheten arrangeras för att svara upp mot elevers behov. Jag har tittat specifikt på en verksamhet där en elev med inlärningssvårigheter finns och där eleven får stöd av grundsärskolans verksamhet. Jag har använt mig av ett förhållningssätt som inspirerats av etnografin som metod där jag använt intervju och deltagande observationer som verktyg. Eleven når inte kunskapskraven för grundskolan men hör heller inte till verksamheten grundsärskola. Detta gör att eleven står emellan verksamheter. Verksamheten grundskola som ska ge elever det stöd de har behov av men som inte riktigt förmår och verksamheten grundsärskola som eleven inte tillhör där kompetens att möta eleven och resurser att möta eleven finns. Mina frågeställningar handlade om vilka handlingar för att nå målen i verksamheten som synliggörs och vad samverkan mellan grundskola och grundsärskola innebär? Jag har kommit fram till att de handlingar som synliggörs i verksamheten grundskola inte leder eleven mot målen för verksamheten. Grundskolan har gjort sig beroende av grundsärskolans verksamhet för att ge elven det stöd eleven behöver.

A particular interest of distance education researchers is the community of inquiry framework, which was developed for the purpose of taking a closer look at computer mediated communication in educational contexts (Garrison, Anderson, Archer, 2000). However, it is somewhat surprising that although the community of inquiry framework has been developed based on distance education contexts, it does not consider the complexities of the community’s global and local contexts, the potential linguistic demands of the teaching and learning contexts, and how power, agency, and identities are negotiated in these contexts. Through six cases of online instructors teaching in international contexts at the tertiary level, I explored the negotiation of teaching presence as viewed through the lens of cultural historical activity theory (Engeström, 1999, 2001). In this view, instructors are engaged in a dynamic process in which teaching presence is shaped through the mediating components of the activity system. This multi-case study employed cross case analysis drawing on data from interviews with students, program coordinators, and instructors, in addition to analyses of discussion forum transcripts, course documents, formative evaluations, student and instructor reflections, and researcher-participant observations. The linguistic challenges faced by both instructor and students for whom the language of instruction was a second or third language and instructors’ sociocultural identities, positioning, and conceptualization of the online interaction spaces were found to be important mediators in the negotiation of teaching presence.

This doctoral dissertation investigates the challenges “foreign teachers” experience in the encounter with the Swedish school and the possibilities they have to manage challenges and to establish their legitimacy. The participants of this study were newly employed in the pre-school, the primary school and the secondary school. The material includes interviews with 21 teachers and complementing observations at the workplaces of five of these teachers. Principals and colleagues have also been interviewed as well as administrators and teacher educators of supplementary teacher training programs. The shift of language of instruction was reported as causing challenges and demanded time and energy from the teachers in preparing the lessons. Here the teachers mentioned knowledge and correct use of the subject specific vocabulary and the ability to use everyday language in the process of building a bridge to the language of the subjects. Difficulties in the interaction with colleagues and parents were reported; when being positioned as less competent due to their second language speaker status. Some examples also reveal that everyday interaction demands knowledge of social practices that are not always familiar to these teachers. The value of individual assets (e.g. professional experience, profound subject knowledge and multilingualism) is enhanced when school principals recognize the resources of these teachers and make use of them in the communities of practice at school. In using activity theory, difficulties in the interaction with students or problems with questioning parents could be analyzed with regard to communities of practice, rule systems or division of labor in the activities of the school. This thesis emphasizes the importance of a critical discussion of existing norms, values and hierarchies in local school contexts if schools in Sweden in general are to be seen as learning and working contexts for teachers as well as students of all backgrounds. / Flerspråkighet Litteractitet Utbildning (FLU)

The importance of studying challenges in implementing information technology solutions in health care organizations is highlighted by the huge investments in health care information technology (HIT) which has been spurred by recent government mandates. Information technology can help improve health care delivery cost by facilitating the standardization of work processes or routines and reducing variations among them. Set in a premier 950+ bed hospital in the south eastern part of US, this dissertation consists of two studies examining the challenges involved in implementing HIT solutions. In the first study, we seek to gain deep insights into how the process of creating a patient’s chart evolves over time in a health care institution. The second study focuses on the users of Electronic Health Records (EHR) system, investigating the compliance behavior of various providers with respect to patient records in the system. In the first study, through the lens of Activity theory our results show that the charting routine is implicated by the following environmental factors: (1) Tools, (2) Rules, (3) Community, and (4) Roles, and by individual factors: (5) Computer Self-Efficacy and (6) Risk Propensity. In the second study, our results indicate that there is a substantial effect of subculture of the different occupational groups on IT security compliance intent and behavior in a health care institution.

This thesis analyses the implementation of a student-centred learning approach at the Eduardo Mondlane University (UEM), in the context of the current curricular reform. The main objective of the thesis is to gain understanding of the implementation of a student-centred learning approach and how the innovation is related to the acquisition of teachers’ pedagogical competence at the above mentioned university. A sociocultural approach and more specifically Cultural Historical Activity Theory is used as a theoretical framework given that it provides a view of learning as a context based social activity. A qualitative approach based on document analysis, classroom observations and semi-structured interviews with different actors in the process of teaching, learning and teacher training was used. The findings of the three studies carried out and presented in four articles in the thesis show that the lecturers do not feel ownership of the curriculum reform introducing the new pedagogical approach, and revealed a conflict of interests in the process of implementation of the reform. Students appear to be unclear about the significance of the new approach and they cannot judge if it is correctly implemented. Contextual factors such as a high number of students in the classroom, poor infrastructure and inadequate access to educational resources also affect the students’ performance in their learning. The university teachers expressed a need for training and the creation of adequate material conditions in order to be able to apply the innovations. However, signs of positive attitudes towards this approach were also revealed by the informants, which demonstrates the existing potential of the reform. It was found that the role of the teacher is crucial in making students active, motivated and self-regulated. Moreover, the students’ active learning depends on several factors, such as contextual, social and psychological aspects of the process. In relation to the acquisition of teachers’ pedagogical competence, a comparative study of the official documents of Eduardo Mondlane University and Umeå University explicitly shows a focus on the development of pedagogical competence for all categories of teachers. However, due to significant differences in historical pre-conditions, cultural contexts and educational artefacts the findings revealed many differences in the corresponding collective activity systems. In conclusion, the thesis indicates that the implementation of student-centred learning at UEM depends on the availability of good educational infrastructure and also the development of human resources. Furthermore, less hierarchical communication at the university could accelerate the process.