Karst terrains are landscapes with a distinctive hydrology and set of landforms that arise from a combination of high bedrock solubility and well-developed secondary (fracture) porosity. Karst areas are easily polluted due to the rapid transport of unfiltered percolating water through the systems. While many individuals are able to identify karst landforms such as sinkholes and caves, an understanding of the interconnectedness of the surface and subsurface in karst landscapes, as well as the vulnerability of karst areas to degradation, is often limited. Show caves, which are caves made accessible to visitation by humans through built infrastructure, can serve as an excellent venue through which to educate large quantities of people about the importance of these landscapes and sensitivities of them to degradation. Using Carter Caves State Park as a case study site, this study revealed that mobile eye-tracking technology can be used to develop cave tours that are both educational and entertaining by identifying greatest visitor interest at stops and along tour routes (i.e., where a visitors’ gaze falls throughout the tours).

Detta kandidatarbete behandlar ämnet karaktärsdesign inom 2D spel. Det har undersökts vilkavisuella val som kan göras i skapandet av en karaktär samt hur en ljuddesign ser ut inomkaraktärsdesign. Avhandlingen innehåller tidigare & aktuell forskning som undersöker hur formerföljer funktioner hos en karaktär och hur färger kan påverka den visuella bilden av en karaktär.Forskningskapitlet innehåller också hur man tar fram personlighet hos en karaktär. Kapitlet omljuddesign innehåller ljudeffekter, röster, och inlevelse inom karaktärsdesign.I kandidatarbetet ingår skapandet av karaktärer i ett 2D spel, hur dem skulle kunna se ut ochljuddesignen till dem. Karaktärerna tas fram genom skisser av kroppar och ansikten. Valen iskapandet av karaktärerna baseras på egna preferenser, men primärt utifrån den forskning som hargjorts. Det slutgiltiga kandidatarbetet innehåller diverse forskningen som har undersökts om vadman behöver tänka på när man skapar en karaktär i ett 2D spel. Diskussionen innefattar vårakritiska åsikter om resultatet av vår undersökning och egna tankar. / This bachelor thesis adresses the subject character design in 2D games. Research about what visualchoices can been made in the creation of a character, as well as how a sounddesign looks like incharacter design. The bachelor thesis includes past & current research that examines how shapesfollows functions in a character and how colors can affect the visual image of a character. Theresearch chapter also includes how to bring out the personality in a character. The chapter aboutsounddesign contains sound effects, voices and immersion relative to character design.In the bachelor thesis includes the production of characters in a 2D game, how they could look likeand their sounddesign. The characters are finalized through sketches of bodies and faces. Thechoices in the creation of the characters are based out of own preferences, but primarily based onthe research that has been done. The result of the bachelor thesis will contain research that has beenexplored about what to consider when creating a character in a 2D game. The discussion containsour critcal opinions of the result of our thesis and our own thoughts.

Growing pressure is being placed upon educational institutions as students, employers and governments look at the economic, demographic and technological environments of the present, expecting them to have the answers for the future. Many institutions are turning to information and communication technology (ICT) for some of these answers. The focus of this study is two fold - the use of ICT in teaching and learning by teaching staff within an Australian tertiary institution (Curtin University of Technology) and the mechanisms the University has established in order to realign themselves with the information age. At certain stages these two coincide to provide an insight into the organisational culture and teaching environment of one Australian University. The key research questions that guided this study are as follows: How are Curtin University teaching staff utilising ICT in their teaching and learning?; What is the relationship between the ICT behaviour of a University's teaching staff and the strategies used to implement the University's ICT strategic planning initiatives?; What is an appropriate model for future implementation of ICT into teaching and learning at an Australian university? A combination of qualitative (interview and case study techniques) and quantitative (survey and Likert-type instruments) methods was employed. Overall, this study can be described as longitudinal in nature, relying upon such tools as observation, interviews and survey instruments, to collect data at appropriate points in time from the various samples. Since it has already been acknowledged that such change takes time, the study focused specifically on those changes which occurred during the two academic years (1999-2000) at Curtin University of Technology. / It appears that the critical mass stage for integrating ICT into teaching and learning has been reached by the teaching staff involved in the Curtin survey sample. The most common teaching mode adopted by the survey sample is the traditional lecture and tutorial (workshop or laboratory) mode. However, the data revealed that over the 16 month period of the study there was a large increase in the use of Web-based material for teaching and learning. The data revealed that a number of factors emerged which affected the adoption of ICT. These factors included: leadership across the university, attitude toward the use of ICT; the perceived benefits of adopting ICT in teaching and learning; incentives, modeling mechanisms, the provision of adequate support structures; the time factor; training; facilities and resources. The reflective monitoring system utilised in this study (the TracIT reports) revealed the changes in ICT behaviour and the changes in the ICT environment, as well as the source of initiation of the change. It appears that most of the 'real changes' which occurred in the teaching practice of the case study sample were individually driven, with some others being influenced by their own Department/School or by student pressure. The study also found that the adoption of ICT into the working environment of a university teacher significantly increases the workload of individual staff. The existence of transformational leadership across all levels of the University was identified as a major factor in the promotion and adoption of ICT and ultimately the development of a truly professional learning community. / From the extensive data collected in this longitudinal study an empirical model or framework, the "Curtin University Professional Learning Community Model", was introduced. Many of the teaching staff at Curtin University involved in this particular study have clearly demonstrated their commitment to the adoption of ICT for teaching and learning. The detailed case study data has also revealed that many of the teaching staff possess professional attributes which would be admired and valued in any university. Universities are facing the challenge of identifying what role ICT will play in the future of higher education and how to implement the appropriate strategies which will meet these needs. This study has found that the key to meeting the challenge seems to be to harness strategies that lead to the development of a professional learning community. The Curtin University Professional Learning Community Model has identified the key elements which need to be in place if the use of ICT for teaching and learning is to be not only adopted, but sustained and more importantly, effective in the teaching and learning process. This study has clearly revealed that it is only through the synergy of university commitment and individual commitment that real change can actually take place, the change in this case being the adoption of ICT in teaching and learning practices. The strategies suggested by the empirically derived model can begin this journey to a truly professional learning community.

<p><strong><em>Research Question</em></strong><strong><em>:</em></strong> Can organizations truly create value for all its stakeholders simultaneously, without a significant trade-off from one group to another? And what role does current ICT infrastructure play?<strong> </strong></p><p><strong><em>Purpose:</em></strong> This study is aimed at determining how organizations create value simultaneously for stakeholders without a trade-off, and also examine the role of ICT (Information and communication technologies) in balancing responsibility in trying to satisfying all stakeholders (customers, suppliers, society, environment, employees and shareholders) in complex ICT environments.</p><p><strong><em>Methodology:</em></strong> The study involves business organizations in Sweden. A research questionnaire was sent to one thousand five hundred top level management executives in Swedish based business organizations, to collect data.  Business organizations were carefully selected to cut across many industry sectors.</p><p><strong><em>Findings:</em></strong><strong> </strong>Some of the findings includes: that many companies in Sweden still have a hard time satisfying all stakeholders simultaneously without trade-off, even with the huge ICT infrastructures. We discovered that although companies invest a lot on ICT, but the combination of strategy which will bring corporate partnership and create value for all without “robbing Peter to pay Paul” is still lacking.</p><p><strong><em>Research Limitations:</em></strong><strong> </strong>First, the study was limited to Sweden because of lack of resources to conduct interviews in many countries. Thus, there is the need to exercise caution in generalising these findings. Second, the number of respondents was limited, because it was difficult to get very busy top management executives from different companies to respond to our questionnaire.  <strong></strong></p><p><strong><em>Originality:</em></strong> This research work provides insight to understand and interpret balanced stakeholder value creation in companies, identify attributes for simultaneous value creation, as well as the role information and communication technology play in achieving this objective.</p><p><strong><em>Keywords:</em></strong> Stakeholder, Value Creation, Information and communication technology, Sustainable Value, and Stakeholder Analysis</p>

<p>Traditional education system on campus has been using as a legacy over decades to support educational learning. The major change over time has been made by the use of technology supporting students in the academic community. As the majority of students in higher education today belong to the digital-age-student generation, they frequently use online technology to interact with instructors, other learners, and to access online materials. In this study, the result is primarily presented from campus students’ perceptions, to gain a deeper understanding of how social media is being used to support educational and collaborative/cooperative learning. Although, almost all the respondents are frequent social media users, only a quarter of them use such media regularly for academic purposes. Through use of social media in academia, students have encountered with benefits─ as convenience, possibility of interaction anywhere/anytime, time-saving, low price and many others─ in addition to facing to limitations─ such as less effective or spontaneous contact, connection problems, lack of platform compatibility, less creative and innovative thinking, and other issues─ which have been discussed in this study.</p><p>This thesis adopted a qualitative research and the characterization of knowledge that is used is exploratory research method with the use of interview as a tool for empirical data collection. Twenty interviews have been conducted with Uppsala University higher education students within random subject disciplines. Among many different social media, the most frequent ones used by majority of students are e-mail, a common asynchronous media to interact with instructors and other learners; and Instant Messaging (IM), a synchronous communication way to interact with co-workers, classmates, or group-mates. Furthermore, learners use social media to coordinate their collaborative/cooperative work, share documents and ask questions. Facebook, Wikipedia, YouTube and other popular social media are also sometimes used for educational purposes.</p><p>The findings indicate that social media seems particularly beneficial for supporting educational learning; though there are some negative aspect and limitations. Learners look at using the technology and social media as a complement to support their studies and collaboration/cooperation. However, not many of them consider using such media as a substitute for face-to-face interactions and the traditional campus education. By drawing on this thesis and the previous studies, proposition on how use of social media supports educational learning in the future has been emerged.</p>

This study compared how four English-language newspapers in the United States and South Korea covered the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA). A content analysis using QDA Miner was conducted for 354 articles from the New York Time, the Washington Post, the Korea Herald, and the Korea Times to determine how each paper framed the topic. Overall the newspapers’ media framing aligned with their national concerns and interests. The literature review supported the idea that identifying frames in natural language articles and investigating the relative highlighting of issues was important in analyzing news coverage. The two Korean newspapers gave the issue of the KORUS FTA four times more news coverage than the two U.S. papers. The Korean public showed their concerns by rallies against the KORUS FTA during the negotiations. Opinion pieces of the U.S. newspapers gave their audiences generalized information on this issue while opinion stories of Korean papers focused on for-or-against debates about the KORUS FTA. The U.S. and Korean newspapers covered various industries differently reflecting the relative importance of those industries to each country if the treaty were approved eventually by the U.S. Congress and the Korean National Assembly. In addition, this research found that news stories in papers from both nations followed episodic frames, whereas opinion articles used thematic frames. This study provided empirical evidence to contribute to journalism scholars, journalists, and audiences for a better understanding of media framing.

The purpose of this study is to examine particular aspects three web designers use, with regard to layout and content, to effectively create a bilingual or multilingual website that targets Hispanics. In addition, it examines the processes that are used in creating a Spanish-language website. In-depth interviews were conducted with three web designers from top 25 Hispanic-targeted websites, as determined by Hispanic Online. Results indicate a six-step process that web designers should follow when creating a bilingual or multilingual website. Implications for web designers of organizations thinking about creating a bilingual or multilingual website are cited and recommendations for future studies are discussed.

Traditional education system on campus has been using as a legacy over decades to support educational learning. The major change over time has been made by the use of technology supporting students in the academic community. As the majority of students in higher education today belong to the digital-age-student generation, they frequently use online technology to interact with instructors, other learners, and to access online materials. In this study, the result is primarily presented from campus students’ perceptions, to gain a deeper understanding of how social media is being used to support educational and collaborative/cooperative learning. Although, almost all the respondents are frequent social media users, only a quarter of them use such media regularly for academic purposes. Through use of social media in academia, students have encountered with benefits─ as convenience, possibility of interaction anywhere/anytime, time-saving, low price and many others─ in addition to facing to limitations─ such as less effective or spontaneous contact, connection problems, lack of platform compatibility, less creative and innovative thinking, and other issues─ which have been discussed in this study. This thesis adopted a qualitative research and the characterization of knowledge that is used is exploratory research method with the use of interview as a tool for empirical data collection. Twenty interviews have been conducted with Uppsala University higher education students within random subject disciplines. Among many different social media, the most frequent ones used by majority of students are e-mail, a common asynchronous media to interact with instructors and other learners; and Instant Messaging (IM), a synchronous communication way to interact with co-workers, classmates, or group-mates. Furthermore, learners use social media to coordinate their collaborative/cooperative work, share documents and ask questions. Facebook, Wikipedia, YouTube and other popular social media are also sometimes used for educational purposes. The findings indicate that social media seems particularly beneficial for supporting educational learning; though there are some negative aspect and limitations. Learners look at using the technology and social media as a complement to support their studies and collaboration/cooperation. However, not many of them consider using such media as a substitute for face-to-face interactions and the traditional campus education. By drawing on this thesis and the previous studies, proposition on how use of social media supports educational learning in the future has been emerged.

Research Question: Can organizations truly create value for all its stakeholders simultaneously, without a significant trade-off from one group to another? And what role does current ICT infrastructure play? Purpose: This study is aimed at determining how organizations create value simultaneously for stakeholders without a trade-off, and also examine the role of ICT (Information and communication technologies) in balancing responsibility in trying to satisfying all stakeholders (customers, suppliers, society, environment, employees and shareholders) in complex ICT environments. Methodology: The study involves business organizations in Sweden. A research questionnaire was sent to one thousand five hundred top level management executives in Swedish based business organizations, to collect data.  Business organizations were carefully selected to cut across many industry sectors. Findings: Some of the findings includes: that many companies in Sweden still have a hard time satisfying all stakeholders simultaneously without trade-off, even with the huge ICT infrastructures. We discovered that although companies invest a lot on ICT, but the combination of strategy which will bring corporate partnership and create value for all without “robbing Peter to pay Paul” is still lacking. Research Limitations: First, the study was limited to Sweden because of lack of resources to conduct interviews in many countries. Thus, there is the need to exercise caution in generalising these findings. Second, the number of respondents was limited, because it was difficult to get very busy top management executives from different companies to respond to our questionnaire.   Originality: This research work provides insight to understand and interpret balanced stakeholder value creation in companies, identify attributes for simultaneous value creation, as well as the role information and communication technology play in achieving this objective. Keywords: Stakeholder, Value Creation, Information and communication technology, Sustainable Value, and Stakeholder Analysis

The focus of this paper is to discuss the relationship between organizational changes and information communication technology (ICT) in Taiwan semiconductor industry. Besides, we also examine the effect of ICT adoption workforce on productivity and organizational change. In this paper, our organizational change includes electronics ICT and manpower saving cost. We develop a treatment effect to estimate organizational change. Electronics ICT adoption leads organizational change and then causes firms to employ less low-skilled labors. Organizational change also makes productivity growth further in semiconductor industry.