Medan teknologin ständigt utvecklas strävar mer och mer företag efter att automatisera arbetsuppgifter. Användningen av chatbotar sociala media blir allt mer vanligt som en ersättning av kundtjänster då de både är effektivt och pålitligt, samt att företagen sparar pengar. I denna projektrapport har ett IT-företag frågat efter en implementation och konceptbevis på en integration mellan deras applikation och meddelande tjänsten Microsoft Teams. De vill att det ska vara möjligt att använda en chatbot i Teams för att kunna fylla i information i ett formulär som sedan skickas som ticket till deras system. De som arbetar i systemet ska då kunna se ticketen och direkt kunna börja arbeta på uppgiften. I denna rapport beskrivs en lösning på detta problem samt, hur det fungerar, hur det implementeras samt en diskussion på lösningen. Diskussionen fokuserar på den slutliga lösningen, användartesterna, relaterat arbete, etiska problem samt framtida arbete. / As technology evolves, more and more companies strive to automate as much work as possible. The use of chatbots in messaging apps is becoming more and more common as replacements in the operation of customer service because of the efficiency and reliability it poses. Replacing customer service with chatbots also saves companies money. In this paper an IT company have asked for the implementation and proof of concept of integration between their server-side application, to Microsoft Teams. They want it to be possible to use a chatbot in Teams to send tickets containing data to their system in order to be handled by users of their application. In this paper a solution to this problem is described as well as discussions about the chosen implementation. The discussion is focused on the final solution, user tests, related work, ethical issues as well as future work. User tests of the implemented solution are included in the results. The conclusion of the work is that this implementation is useful and saves time and effort both for the customer and the employees. There is much potential for future work to be expanded upon, including specialized Ticket Forms and implemented AI.

This research explores the efficacy of word cards as a deliberate vocabulary learning technique and investigates the effects of testing on motivation for deliberate vocabulary study. While word cards are a widely supported method of deliberately studying target foreign language vocabulary, there is a surprising lack of research-based evidence supporting them, and very few researchers have asked students how they feel about word card learning. In addition, it is well known that testing can increase extrinsic motivation, but the motivational effects of regular vocabulary testing has so far been largely overlooked. The first two experiments in this study investigated the learning outcomes associated with making and studying from word cards. Experiment 1 is unique in that it is the first known study to isolate the learning outcomes of making word cards. The results indicated that the process of making word cards results in significant initial vocabulary learning, but a substantial amount of this new knowledge is lost in a relatively short period of time if no further study is carried out. The second experiment compared the use of self-made word cards with premade cards. The results indicated that although both methods are effective in the short and long-term, learners might be better studying from premade cards. However, the results of the third experiment led to the conclusion that premade cards are best suited to motivated learners. Qualitative data analysis revealed that learners generally have positive views of word card learning and understand the benefits it offers over other methods such as learning from lists or notebooks. The final experiment in this study examined the motivational effects of regular student-generated vocabulary testing and investigated whether learners can act as reliable raters of their peers’ vocabulary development. Results indicated that peer-to-peer vocabulary testing increases motivation for deliberate vocabulary learning even if test scores do not affect the students’ grades. Surprisingly, the student-generated and administered tests were more intrinsically motivating than extrinsically so. Taken together, the results of the various experiments offer support for the use of word cards for foreign language vocabulary learning and indicate that motivation for such types of learning can be increased by through peer testing. / Teaching & Learning

New PCI-e flash cards and SSDs supporting over 100,000 IOPs are now available, with several usecases in the design of a high performance storage system. By using an array of flash chips, arranged in multiple banks, large capacities are achieved. Such multi-banked architecture allow parallel read, write and erase operations. In a raw PCI-e flash card, such parallelism is directly available to the software layer. In addition, the devices have restrictions such as, pages within a block can only be written sequentially. The devices also have larger minimum write sizes (>4KB). Current flash translation layers (FTLs) in Linux are not well suited for such devices due to the high device speeds, architectural restrictions as well as other factors such as high lock contention. We present a FTL for Linux that takes into account the hardware restrictions, that also exploits the parallelism to achieve high speeds. We also consider leveraging the parallelism for garbage collection by scheduling the garbage collection activities on idle banks. We propose and evaluate an adaptive method to vary the amount of garbage collection according to the current I/O load on the device. For large scale distributed storage systems, flash memories are an excellent choice because flash memories consume less power, take lesser floor space for a target throughput and provide faster access to data. In a traditional distributed filesystem, even distribution is required to ensure load-balancing, balanced space utilisation and failure tolerance. In the presence of flash memories, in addition, we should also ensure that the numbers of writes to these different flash storage nodes are evenly distributed, to ensure even wear of flash storage nodes, so that unpredictable failures of storage nodes are avoided. This requires that we distribute updates and do garbage collection, across the flash storage nodes. We have motivated the distributed wearlevelling problem considering the replica placement algorithm for HDFS. Viewing the wearlevelling across flash storage nodes as a distributed co-ordination problem, we present an alternate design, to reduce the message communication cost across participating nodes. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our design through simulation.

The objective of my thesis is to describe overall technological concept and organizational scheme od payment cards and outline trends and development in the near future. There has been a big effort for industry standardization (e.g. security standards). It describes also advantages and disadvantages of payment cards and means of authorization. The infomation mentioned here will be used in later part, in case studies. My 3-years working experience as a project manager at Wincor Nixdorf helped to further investigate these scenarios. This company is one of the market leaders and key players in banking and retail industry. Since the cost related issues are very importnant (especially in the time of crisis), I analysed and compared several scenarios of payment system installation in retail.

published_or_final_version / Transport Policy and Planning / Master / Master of Arts

by Chow Sau Shing, Leung Lai Man. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 58-59). / ABSTRACT --- p.ii / TABLE OF CONTENTS --- p.iii / LIST OF FIGURES --- p.v / LIST OF TABLES --- p.vi / Chapter / Chapter I. --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / Chapter I.I --- Objective --- p.2 / Chapter I.II --- Literature Review --- p.2 / Chapter I.III --- Background --- p.2 / Chapter I.III.I --- Credit Card Business Model --- p.2 / Chapter I.III.II --- Common Types of Credit Card --- p.5 / Chapter I.IV --- Methodology --- p.6 / Chapter I.IV.I --- Part 1: Customer Segmentation --- p.6 / Chapter I.IV.II --- Part 2: Customer Need Identification --- p.8 / Chapter I.IV.III --- Part 3: Customer Satisfaction --- p.10 / Chapter I.IV.IV --- Part 4: Case Studies on Market Competition --- p.11 / Chapter II. --- CUSTOMER SEGMENTATION --- p.12 / Chapter II.I --- Forming the Clusters --- p.12 / Chapter II.II --- Verifying the Cluster Size --- p.13 / Chapter II.III --- Analyzing the Clusters --- p.17 / Chapter II.III.I --- "Group 1: Low-spending, High-loyalty" --- p.18 / Chapter II.III.II --- "Group 2: High-spending, High-loyalty" --- p.18 / Chapter II.III.III --- "Group 3: Middle-spending, Low-loyalty" --- p.18 / Chapter III. --- CUSTOMER NEED INDENTIFICATION --- p.19 / Chapter III.I --- Selection Criteria Comparison by Ranking --- p.19 / Chapter III.I.I --- Similarly --- p.21 / Chapter III.I.II --- Differences --- p.22 / Chapter III.II --- Selection Criteria Comparison by Absolute Value --- p.23 / Chapter IV. --- CUSTOMER SATISFACTION --- p.26 / Chapter IV.I --- "Group 1: Low-spending, High-loyalty" --- p.27 / Chapter IV.II --- "Group 2: High-spending, High-loyalty" --- p.28 / Chapter IV.III --- "Group 3: Middle-spending, Low-loyalty" --- p.29 / Chapter IV.IV --- Overall Comparison and Discussion --- p.30 / Chapter V. --- CASE STUDIES ON MARKET COMPETITION --- p.32 / Chapter V.I --- Credit Card Market Shares --- p.32 / Chapter V.I.I --- "Group 1: Low-spending, High-loyalty" --- p.33 / Chapter V.I.II --- "Group 2: High-spending, High-loyalty" --- p.34 / Chapter V.I.III --- "Group 3: Middle-spending, Low-loyalty" --- p.36 / Chapter V.II --- Analysis of Major Players --- p.37 / Chapter V.II.I --- HSBC --- p.38 / Chapter V.II.II --- Hang Seng Bank --- p.41 / Chapter V.II.III --- Chase Manhattan --- p.43 / Chapter V.II.III --- Overall Comparison --- p.44 / Chapter VI. --- CONCLUSION --- p.46 / APPENDIX --- p.47 / BIBLIOGRAPHY --- p.58

by Tso Miu Lin Debbie. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 55-61). / Questionnaire also in Chinese. / ABSTRACT --- p.ii / TABLE OF CONTENTS --- p.iv / LIST OF ISSUSTRATIONS --- p.vii / LIST OF TABLES --- p.viii / PREFACE --- p.ix / Chapter / Chapter I. --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / Chapter II. --- METHODOLOGY --- p.3 / Sample --- p.4 / Basic Contents of the Questionnaire --- p.4 / Limitation of the Questionnaire --- p.5 / Chapter III. --- FINDINGS OF THE RESEARCH --- p.6 / General Card Users Distribution --- p.6 / Credit Card Holding --- p.6 / Type of Credit Card Held --- p.7 / Different Aspects of Credit Cards --- p.8 / Important Aspects --- p.8 / Reasons for Not Paying by Credit Card --- p.10 / Reasons for Paying by Credit Card --- p.11 / Marketing Program of Credit Cards --- p.12 / Effective Marketing Channels to General Users --- p.12 / Effective Marketing Channels to High-end Users --- p.13 / Default Risk of Credit Cards --- p.13 / Total Credit Limit to Revenue Ratio --- p.13 / Credit Card Balances --- p.14 / Roll Over of Credit Card Balances --- p.15 / Roll Over of Card Balances to Revenue Ratio --- p.15 / Rejection of Credit Card Application --- p.16 / Interest-bearing Credit Cards Users --- p.16 / Demographic Characteristics of Interest-bearing Credit Card Users --- p.17 / Consumption Pattern --- p.17 / Gender --- p.18 / Age --- p.18 / Occupation --- p.19 / Home Condition --- p.19 / Education --- p.20 / Credit Card Behaviors of Interest-bearing Credit Card Users --- p.20 / Heavy Credit Cards Users --- p.21 / Demographic Characteristics of Heavy Credit Card Users --- p.21 / Consumption Pattern --- p.21 / Gender --- p.22 / Age --- p.22 / Occupation --- p.23 / Home Condition --- p.23 / Education --- p.24 / Credit Card Behaviors of Heavy Credit Card Users --- p.24 / Roll over frequency --- p.24 / Roll over card balances --- p.25 / Chapter IV. --- ANALYSIS OF RESEARCH FINDINGS --- p.26 / General Card Users Distribution --- p.26 / Different Aspects of Credit Cards --- p.26 / Physical Functions Vs Psychological Functions --- p.26 / Card Issuers Vs Co-branding Partners --- p.27 / Price Conscious Credit Card Users --- p.28 / Credit Cards Usage --- p.28 / Default Risk of Credit Cards --- p.28 / Effective Marketing Program --- p.29 / Effective Marketing Program for General Users … --- p.29 / Effective Marketing Program for Interest-bearing Users --- p.30 / Effective Marketing Program for Heavy Users --- p.31 / Chapter V. --- RECOMMENDATION --- p.32 / Product --- p.32 / Functional Aspects of Credit Cards --- p.32 / Co-branding Partners of Credit Cards --- p.33 / Price --- p.33 / Place --- p.34 / Promotion --- p.35 / Promotion for General Credit Card Users --- p.35 / Promotion for Interest-bearing Credit Card Users --- p.36 / Promotion for Heavy Credit Card Users --- p.37 / Default Risk --- p.38 / Chapter VI. --- CONCLUSION --- p.39 / GLOSSARY --- p.42 / APPENDIX --- p.46 / Questionnaire (English version) --- p.46 / Questionnaire (Chinese version) --- p.51 / BIBLIOGRAPHY --- p.55

by Yu Wai-Yip. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 51-57). / TABLE OF CONTENTS --- p.i / LIST OF EXHIBITS --- p.iii / Chapter / Chapter I. --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / Project Objectives --- p.3 / Methodology --- p.3 / Chapter II. --- WHAT IS SMART CARD --- p.5 / A Brief History of Smart Card --- p.5 / Classifications of Smart Card --- p.7 / Categorization by Security Level / Contact Vs Contactless / Chapter III. --- EVOLUTION OF SMART CARD MARKETS --- p.11 / Smart Card Versus Magnetic Stripe Card --- p.11 / Possible Applications --- p.13 / Payment Applications / Transportation Applications / Healthcare Applications / Telecommuncations Applications / Global Market Trend --- p.22 / Chapter IV. --- SMART CARD APPLICATIONS IN HONG KONG --- p.25 / Transportation Applications --- p.27 / Healthcare Applications --- p.28 / Payment Applications --- p.30 / Mondex Card and Visa Cash Card / Hong Kong Jockey Club Smart Card / Identification Applications --- p.32 / Chapter V. --- ANALYSIS OF THE HONG KONG SMART CARD MARKET --- p.33 / Smart Card as An Individual Product --- p.34 / Smart Card as a Form of Monetary Exchange --- p.34 / Smart Card as a System --- p.36 / Technological Environment / Political-legal Environment / Competitive Environment / Economic Environment / Socio-cultural Environment / Perspertive of All-in-one Smart Card in Hong Kong --- p.43 / Chapter VI --- SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS --- p.47 / Summary --- p.47 / Conclusions --- p.48 / BIBLIOGRAPHY --- p.51

<p>This thesis presents the work of developing and testing a programming tool specially designed for children. The purpose of this tool is to make children capable of creating visual simulations and games that consist of actors interacting in a virtual world. The name of the programming tool is Behavior Cards, which comes from the fact that actors are programmed by giving them cards representing different kinds of behaviors. Behaviors are to some extent pre-programmed and can include general events specifying how the actors should act in different situations, in contrast to specifying every possible situation that can occur. The idea is that Behavior Cards should be easier to use than a more traditional text based programming tool, but it should also be expressive within the domain of visual games. These goals can be accomplished by using different types of representations – such as icons, symbols and text – combined with an interaction technique based on direct manipulation of objects. Two versions of Behavior Cards have been developed and tested together with 11-year-old children. The results show that behaviors were useful for programming relatively advanced visual programs in a quick and effective manner, and that the children were able to learn and use the concept for creating simple programs. Further studies are needed to examine if children also can analyze and solve more complex programming problems.</p> / <p>Arbetet som den här uppsatsen beskriver omfattar utveckling och testning av ett programmeringsverktyg för barn. Syftet med verktyget är att barn ska kunna skapa visuella simulationer och spel genom att programmera aktörer som agerar och interagerar med varandra i en värld. Programmeringsverktygets namn är Behavior Cards, vilket kommer av att aktörernas agerande programmeras genom att tilldela dem kort som representerar olika typer av beteenden. Beteenden är till viss del förprogrammerade och kan innehålla generella händelser för hur aktörer ska agera i olika situationer, i motsats till att definiera varje tänkbar situation som kan uppkomma. Tanken är att programmerandet ska vara enklare än med traditionella, textbaserade, programmeringsspråk, men samtidigt kraftfullt inom den specifika domänen. Detta kan åstadkommas genom att använda olika typer av representationer – såsom ikoner, symboler och text – i kombination med en interaktionsteknik baserad på direktmanipulation av objekt. Två prototyper av programmeringsverktyget har utvecklats och testats på barn i 11-årsåldern. Resultaten visar att beteenden är tillämpbart för att programmera relativt avancerade visuella program på ett snabbt och effektivt sätt, och att barnen kunde lära sig och använda konceptet för att skapa enkla program. Det krävs dock fördjupade studier för att ta reda på om barn kan analysera samt lösa mer komplexa programmeringsproblem.</p>

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / With the continuing demand for services and information in multiple places in real time, companies are dealing with increasingly sensitive information for their business and many of them are not prepared to undertake the management of these information. In information systems, audit trails, also called audit logs, are records of activities from users and administrators. Audit trails help companies to keep a historical control of changes in information, but they do not safeguard the vulnerability of improper handling of these tracks nor eliminate traces of malicious changes, such as what might happen with the use of smart cards for micro-payments in educational institutions, which is a trend. This dissertation presents a model for protection of trails (logs) that can be used as a solution to problems on treatment and protection of audit trails. The model is based on data encryption and the sharing of responsibility in the care of registry keys, giving condition to guarantee the validity of information in systems of identification and payments. It was validated in the replica database to the payment system from the restaurant at Federal University of Santa Maria. / Com a contínua demanda por disponibilidade de serviços e de informações em diversos locais e em tempo real, as empresas estão tendo que lidar com informações cada vez mais sensíveis aos negócios, onde muitas delas não estão preparadas para realizar a gestão destas informações. Nos sistemas de informação, trilhas de auditoria, também chamadas de logs de auditoria, são registros das atividades de usuários e administradores. As trilhas de auditoria auxiliam as empresas a manterem um controle histórico sobre alterações nas informações, mas não eliminam a vulnerabilidade de manipulação indevida destas trilhas para eliminar rastros de modificações maliciosas, tal como o que pode acontecer no uso de smart cards para realização de micro pagamentos em instituições do setor educacional, o que é uma tendência. Este trabalho apresenta um modelo de proteção de trilhas (logs) que pode ser utilizado como solução para o problema do tratamento e proteção das trilhas de auditoria. O modelo é baseado em criptografia dos dados e em divisão de responsabilidades na guarda das chaves do registro, possibilitando condições de se garantir a legitimidade das informações em sistemas de identificação e pagamento, e foi validado junto ao banco de dados réplica ao sistema de pagamentos do Restaurante Universitário da Universidade Federal de Santa Maria.