<p>Information systems form the backbone of many organizations today and are vital for their daily activities. For each day these systems grows bigger and more customized to the point where it is heavily integrated in the current platform. However, eventually the platform grows obsolete and the system itself becomes an obstacle for further development. Then the question arises, how do we upgrade the platform while retaining customizations and data? One answer is data migration which essentially is the process of moving data from one device to another. The problems of data migration becomes evident with extensive and heavily customized systems which effectively lead to the absence of any general guidelines for data migration.This thesis attempts to take a first step in finding and testing a set of general migration guidelines that might facilitate the creation of future migration projects. This is achieved using a comparative analysis of the general migration guidelines contra the process of migrating data between different editions of the Microsoft SharePoint framework. The analysis attempts to find out if the general guidelines are general enough for this migration process and leave it to future research to further assess their generality. This paper will also investigate the importance of using incremental migration and the ability to perform structural change during migration as well as how these issues is handled by the built in migration tool of SharePoint. In the end the general guidelines proved to be sufficient to express the SharePoint migration process and should therefore be used for further research to assess their worth in other projects. In terms of the second issue, the built-in migration tool proved weak in handling either incremental migration nor structural change which is unfortunate due to the benefits these features bring.</p>

<p>Simulators provide great promises of pedagogical utility in a wide array of practices. This study focuses on the use of a full-scale mannequin simulator in training of personnel at an intensive care unit at a Swedish hospital. In medicine, simulators are a means of doing realistic training without risks for the patient. Simulators for use in intensive care medicine are built to resemble as closely as possible the human physiology. In the studied sessions the simulator (a Laerdal SimMan) is set up to be an as-authentic-as-possible replication of the nurses regular, day-to-day practice.</p><p>In examining the training-sessions, it was found that the participants often did other things than “proper” simulation, such as joking or making comments about the simulation. These “transgressional activities” were studied from a perspective of ethnomethodology, using video-recordings of the session. These were transcribed and analyzed in detail using ethnomethodologically informed interaction analysis.</p><p>Several themes were developed from the recordings and transcripts. These have in common that they demonstrate the participants’ own achievement and maintenance of the simulation as a distinct activity. The analysis provides an account of how the local order of the simulation is upheld, how it is breached and how the participants find their way back into doing “proper” simulation. It is an overview of the interactional methods that participants utilize to accomplish the simulation as a simulation.</p><p>This study concludes with a discussion of how this study can provide a more nuanced view of simulations, in particular the relation between simulated and “real” practices. Notions of realism, authenticity and fidelity in simulations can all be seen to be the participants’ own concern, which informs their activities in the simulation.</p>

<p>I den offentliga sektorn sker idag en genomgripande övergång till att erbjuda service via Internet genom elektroniska tjänster, e-tjänster. Få tjänster utvecklas utifrån ett användarperspektiv och många brister i tillgänglighet. Funktionshindrade, invandrare och äldre är tre grupper vars behov sällan uppmärksammas i utvecklingen av dessa tjänster. Detta ökar klyftorna i samhället.</p><p>Studien undersöker hur metoden personas kan användas för att kommunicera vilka behov som ett urval av dessa grupper har i sin användning av offentliga e-tjänster. Personas är en användarcentrerad form av målgruppsanalys där användare representeras genom personliga berättelser. Dessa beskriver fiktiva användares mål, vanor och behov.</p><p>Femton personer ur grupperna dyslektiker, synskadade och äldre intervjuades och observerades i sin användning av fyra offentliga e-tjänster. Intervjuerna resulterade i fyra exempel på personas som presenterades för fem myndighetsrepresentanter i en fokusgrupp. Där utvärderades den förväntade nyttan med att använda personas som en metod att beskriva användargrupper med särskilda behov.</p><p>Resultaten från fokusgruppen visar att studiens tillämpning av personas kompletterar och levandegör riktlinjer för tillgänglighet. Tillämpningen är dessutom lätt att ta till sig på kort tid. Personas ersätter inte möten och utvärderingar med faktiska användare, men kan ge stöd och spara resurser vid planering, utveckling och utvärdering av offentliga e-tjänster. Den generella formen av personas som presenteras i studien behöver anpassas till specifika produkter för att kunna vara praktiskt tillämpbara i faktiska utvecklingsprojekt.</p><p>Studien är utförd på uppdrag av Statskontoret som fram till den 31 december 2005 arbetade med att främja utvecklingen av en elektronisk offentlig förvaltning.</p>

<p>I studien har två experiment utförts med tyngdpunkt på arbetsminnets komponenter. Experimenten utgår från Baddeleys teori om arbetsminnet som är uppdelat på exekutiva funktioner för kontroll av olika undersystem, en fonologisk loop för auditiv information, ett visuospatialt skissblock för visuell information och en episodisk buffert för integrering av olika typer av information. För att testa dessa komponenter mot varandra utformades ett bildbaserat test för den episodiska bufferten. I experiment 2 ingick även två väletablerade test för kontroll av chunking och Stroop-effekten. Syftet var att kontrollera om det finns något samband mellan den episodiska bufferten och de andra komponenterna i Baddeleys min-nesmodell. I experimenten deltog 25 studenter som frivilliga försökspersoner. Resultaten visar att det finns en korrelation mellan Stroop-testet och testet för den episodiska bufferten vilket tyder på att de exekutiva funktionerna spelar en stor roll i arbetsminnets episodiska buffert.</p>

<p>Det svenska förarprovet har vuxit fram ur praktisk yrkeserfarenhet. Oavsett vilken trafikinspektör som bedömer ett specifikt körprov ska bedömningen göras lika. Kognitiva egenskaper bedöms i körprovet genom att observera handlingar och beteenden. Syftet med denna uppsats var att ur ett teoretiskt perspektiv undersöka hur trafikinspektörer bedömer kognition, för att undersöka vilka likheter och skillnader som finns. Tre analyser gjordes utifrån tolv intervjuer med trafikinspektörer vid två av Vägverkets förarprovskontor.</p><p>Trafikinspektörerna ombads beskriva vad som är viktigt hos en bilförare. Samtliga formella kriterier för körprovet nämndes av någon informant. Utöver kriterierna nämndes även många andra begrepp av ett fåtal personer vardera. Dessa begrepp kan räknas till områdena kognitionspsykologi, allmän psykologi, bilkörning och övergripande egenskaper. De tre mest nämnda begreppen var uppmärksamhet, erfarenhet och riskmedvetande.</p><p>Sju körprovskriterier definierades av trafikinspektörerna. Många olika begrepp användes för att definiera kriterierna och samtliga kriterier definierades olika av informanterna. Definitionerna delades in i kategorier och de kategorier som användes för samtliga kriterier var förberedelser, handlingar och perception.</p><p>Ur det som sades av informanterna gjordes en analys om hur begrepp kopplas samman med varandra, för att hitta alla associationer som görs till varje begrepp. Många olika kopplingar kunde hittas genom denna analys och av dessa nämndes hälften av enbart någon informant. Två kopplingar nämndes av elva av informanterna. Den ena var manövrering – automatisering, den andra var uppmärksamhet – syn.</p><p>Studien påvisade både likheter och skillnader i åsikter informanterna emellan. I viss utsträckning använda sig informanterna av samma begrepp, men de lade olika innebörder i begreppen. Trafikinspektörernas olika synsätt medför en risk för att de bedömer körprov olika trots att de använder samma bedömningskriterier.</p> / <p>The Swedish driving license test has developed from practical professional experience. Regardless of which traffic inspector judges a specific driving test, the judgement is to be equal. Cognitive qualities are judged in the driving test by observing actions and behaviours. The purpose of this essay was to investigate, from a theoretical perspective, how traffic inspectors judge cognition, in order to investigate differences and similarities. Three analyses were made, based on twelve interviews with traffic inspectors working at two of the Swedish Road Administration’s offices for driving license tests.</p><p>The traffic inspectors were asked to describe what is important in a car driver. All formal driving test criteria were mentioned by some informant. In addition to the criteria, many other concepts were mentioned by a few persons each. These concepts belong to the areas cognitive psychology, general psychology, car driving and overall qualities. The three most mentioned concepts, including criteria and other concepts, were attention, experience and risk awareness.</p><p>Seven driving test criteria were defined by the traffic inspectors. Many different concepts were used to define the criteria and all criteria were defined differently by the informants. The definitions were divided into categories. The categories preparations, actions and perception were used for all criteria.</p><p>An analysis about how concepts were connected to each other was made, in order to find all associations made with each concept. Many different connections were found in this analysis and more than half of these were mentioned by only one informant.</p><p>Two connections were mentioned by eleven informants. One of these was manoeuvring – automation, the other was attention – vision.</p><p>Both similarities and differences in opinions were found among the informants in this study. The informants used the same concepts to some extent, but they associated different meanings with the concepts. The traffic inspectors’ differences in opinions lead to a risk of judging driving tests differently, although the same judgement criteria are used.</p>

<p>An increasing amount of technology in cars makes new ideas and solutions necessary. This study will explore the idea of a personalized driver environment and investigate possible benefits and drawbacks with such a feature. The study consists of three parts: a pre-study exploring personalization, a survey investigating the attitudes towards personal settings, and finally an interview testing a specific solution. The survey was distributed in USA and Sweden while the interviews were conducted with Swedish subjects.</p><p>Overall, the concept of a personalized car has been well received. This study has shown that the most requested settings are associated with the driver position, hi-fi system and climate. The study also suggests that feeling in control of the personalization is more important than the benefits associated with automation. The user prefers visible solutions, such as a personal button on the key before hidden (e.g. using a button sequence or a menu system). Such a button promotes the feature while allowing the user to interact with the car in a familiar way. However, since little real user experience exists with such solutions it is important to continue research when further developing personalization of a car.</p>

<p>The spread of influenza A subtype H5N1 has recently heightened pandemic concern and preparedness for a pandemic influenza virus has become a global priority. Research in risk communication emphasizes the importance of providing the recipients with information they need to make informed independent judgments. This entails understanding how these judgments are made, and what kind of information that serves this purpose. Decisions have been examined in a wide variety of scientific disciplines and produced several interesting methods and models to understand judgment and decisions. These methods and models were investigated and compared with regard to their fit to these conditions.</p><p>The work in this thesis was oriented toward three main questions. The first question was how to find out how people would react during an emergency. The second question was what kind of research in decision theory could explain and be used to predict these results. The third question was whether a mental model of the threat of pandemic influenza can be described, and what is its implication on risk communication.</p><p>A mental model approach to explore risk communications was used with qualitative interviews with health care workers in Östergötland, Sweden. The transcripts were analyzed according to methods drawn from mental models research and risk communication to extract influence diagrams. These influence diagrams serves as an abstract representation of the respondents’ mental model of the threat of pandemic influenza. This influence diagram was compared to a corresponding expert mental model developed from literature and interviews with influenza experts.</p><p>The mental models approach has been shown to provide a description of comprehension with several benefits. One benefit is that the method is a relatively easy way to gather notions in the target population which can be used for drafting risk information. Another benefit is that the existing notions and sense of causal patterns can be described, instead of merely memorized facts.</p><p>The comparison between the mental models of health care workers and influenza experts revealed both functional and destructive misconceptions. Unrelated information received by the respondents was also shown to be linked together in a way that is in conflict with expert knowledge. This tendency to create causal connections in order to organize knowledge may be important to consider in risk communication.</p>

<p>This licentiate thesis argues that a key to understanding the embodiment of cognition is the “sharing” of neural mechanisms between sensorimotor processes and higher-level cognitive processes as described by simulation theories. Simulation theories explain higher-level cognition as (partial) simulations or emulations of sensorimotor processes through the re-activation of neural circuitry also active in bodily perception, action, and emotion. This thesis develops the notion that simulation mechanisms have a particular representational function, as off-line representations, which contributes to the representation debate in embodied cognitive science. Based on empirical evidence from neuroscience, psychology and other disciplines as well as a review of existing simulation theories, the thesis describes three main mechanisms of simulation theories: re-activation, binding, and prediction. The possibility of using situated and embodied artificial agents to further understand and validate simulation as a mechanism of (higher-level) cognition is addressed through analysis and comparison of existing models. The thesis also presents some directions for further research on modeling simulation as well as the notion of embodied simulation as off-line representation.</p> / Report code: LiU-Tek-Lic-2007:21.

<p>This thesis aimed partly to examine the effects of gender on conversation dynamics, partly to investigate whether interaction between participants with contrasting opinions promotes cognitive development on a moral task. Another objective was to explore whether particular conversational features of interaction would have any impact upon a pair’s joint response or on each child’s moral development. The conversations were coded with regard to simultaneous speech acts, psychosocial behaviour and types of justifications used. The results show no gender differences regarding psychosocial processes, but the boys used more negative interruptions, more overlaps and significantly proportionately more justifications in the form of assertions than the girls in the study. Gender differences were often more pronounced in same-gender as opposed to mixed-gender pairs, but children also altered their behaviour to accommodate to the gender of their conversational partner. Children who participated in the interaction phase of the study showed more overall progress on an eight-weeks delayed post-test than those who did not. However the only conversational feature that was related to the outcomes of conversation and development was the use of expiatory force justifications which were associated with a more advanced reply immediately after interaction as well as two weeks later.</p>

<p>Today’s automobile cockpit is filled with different buttons and screen-based displays giving input and relaying information in a complex human-machine system. Following in the footsteps of the early 1970s flight industry, this thesis work focused on creating a complete glass cockpit concept in the automobile.</p><p>Our automobile glass cockpit consists of three displays. A touch screen based centre console with an interface that we took part in creating during the spring of 2006. Parallel to this ongoing master thesis, a head-up display was installed by a group of students and we had the opportunity of giving input regarding the design of the graphical interface.</p><p>The third display, a LCD, replaces the main instruments displaying speed, RPM, fuel level, engine temperature etc. Together with ideas on an extended allocation of functions to the area on and around the steering wheel, creating a dynamic mode based interface replacing today’s static main instruments was the focus of this project.</p><p>After conducting a thorough theoretical study, a large number of ideas were put to the test and incorporated in concept sketches. Paper sketches ranging from detailed features to all-embracing concepts combined with interviews and brainstorming sessions converged into a number of computer sketches made in an image processing software. The computer sketches was easily displayed in the cockpit environment and instantly evaluated. Some parts were discarded and some incorporated in new, modified, ideas leading to a final concept solution.</p><p>After the design part was concluded, the new graphical interface was given functionality with the help of a programming software. As was the case with the computer sketches, the functionality of the interface could be quickly evaluated and modified. With the help of a custom-made application our interface could be integrated with the simulator software and fully implemented in the automobile cockpit at the university simulator facilities.</p><p>Using a custom made scenario, the interface underwent a minor, informal evaluation. A number of potential users were invited to the VR-laboratory and introduced to the new concept. After driving a pre-determined route and familiarizing themselves with the interface, their thoughts on screen-based solutions in general and the interface itself was gathered. In addition, we ourselves performed an evaluation of the interface based on the theoretical study.</p>