Abstract The information and communication technology (ICT) industry has expanded rapidly during the past decades and has changed in terms of frequent technology development, increase in product complexity, constant time-to-market pressures, heavy price erosion and the decrease in physical dimensions. Successful product development thus requires effective requirements engineering and acknowledging the different needs of internal and external stakeholders. A vital challenge for ICT companies is requirements for products typically changing during product development. In addition, requirements are not interpreted the same way in different parts of organisations. Today’s products being more complicated than ever, and customer segments more fragmented, requirements engineering and testing is currently a bottleneck for product development and production. In this dissertation, requirements engineering in ICT companies is studied from four complementary viewpoints – current challenges, manufacturing requirements, external requirements, and optimal acceptance limits in manufacturing. The dissertation is qualitative and inductive in nature and is based on interviewing experienced industrial managers. The study included also an element that can be seen as constructive. The researcher has analysed the obtained material and made conclusions. The main result of this dissertation can be summarised as requirements engineering having a coordinating role in complex ICT product development. In addition, this study highlights the potential of the design for excellence (DfX) concept for addressing a vast amount of requirements from numerous internal and external stakeholders. ICT companies should consider full integration of tools and databases related to requirements. Also, delaying decision-making in product development projects to a stage, where adequate amount of information is available, could help coping with changing requirements. Addressing the challenges of a large and complex organisation requires creating and documenting processes for a vast amount of issues. It may be sensible to consider the benefits of establishing a separate DfX management organisation for coordinating internal and external requirements. In addition, the managers in ICT companies should notice that in contrast to the conventional thinking, widening the manufacturing acceptance limits makes business sense in some cases.

As technology becomes increasingly intelligent and pervasive in the physical context of daily life, it is crucial to consider the design of technological artifacts to develop new interaction paradigms that can expand technological capabilities, shape behaviors, establish new practices, and broaden our worldview. This thesis proposes using principles of animism to inform the design of interactive objects as a way to encourage people to reflect on their relationships with the world around them, and to perceive objects beyond their roles as mere tools or ephemeral fashion products. Animism, as a design metaphor, can be powerful in creating expressive, affective, and empathetic interactions with interactive objects. Through the use of behavioral, physical, and social metaphors, an animistic object can communicate in a more nuanced way with its changing form and behavior within a given context. An animistic object can connect in multi-sensorial ways to provide an individual and idiosyncratic experience, which can afford one to construct new meanings with their surrounding objects and re-form their relationship with them. Animistic objects aim to create a poetic dialogue between themselves and their humans, fostering a deeper relationship that surpasses their utilitarian and aesthetic value. The goal of this thesis is to define animism in the context of industrial and interaction design, examine dimensions of animistic qualities, and evaluate implications of animistic objects in building rapport between human and artifacts.

Given a logic circuit that fails a test, diagnosis is the process of narrowing down the possible locations of the defects. Diagnosis to locate defects in VLSI circuits has become very important during the yield ramp up process, especially for 90 nm and below technologies where physical failure analysis machines become less successful due to reduced defect visibility by the smaller feature size and larger leakage currents. Successful defect isolation relies heavily on the guidance from fault diagnosis and will depend even more for the future technologies. To assist a designer or a failure analysis engineer, the diagnosis tool tries to identify the possible locations of the failure effectively and quickly. While many defects reside in the logic part of a chip, defects in scan chains have become more and more common recently as typically 30%-50% logic gates impact the operation of scan chains in a scan design. Logic diagnosis and scan chain diagnosis are the two main fields of diagnosis research. The quality of diagnosis directly impacts the time-to-market and the total product cost. Volume diagnosis with statistical learning is important to discover systematic defects. An accurate diagnosis tool is required to diagnose large numbers of failing devices to aid statistical yield learning. In this work, we propose techniques to improve diagnosis accuracy and resolution, techniques to improve run-time performance. We consider the problem of determining the location of defects in scan chains and logic. We investigate a method to improve the diagnosability of production compressed test patterns for multiple scan chain failures. Then a method to generate special diagnostic patterns for scan chain failures was proposed. The method tries to generate a complete test pattern set to pinpoint the exact faulty scan cell when flush tests tell which scan chain is faulty. Next we studied the problem of diagnosis of multiple faults in the logic of circuits. First we propose a method to diagnose multiple practical physical defects using simple logic fault models. At last we propose a method based on fault-tuple equivalence trees to further improve diagnosis quality.

This research investigates the potential of digital platforms to broaden the scope of action and empower permaculture communities in their attempt to challenge the capitalist mode of production regarding topics such as food harvesting and consumption patterns. It draws on Manzini’s (2018) critique of neoliberalism and his discussion on designing for social innovation, which suggests focusing on and enhancing existing members' capabilities rather than their needs; fostering cross-collaboration within and among communities; and allowing these collaborations to mature over time. It combines design thinking and co-design to develop further a previously existing proof of concept of a mapping platform that connects permaculture initiatives in Brazil. When it was created in 2018, this platform was tested by potential users who underscored severe usability limitations, and as a result, it was never fully implemented. This thesis discusses such limitations and proposes an improved platform to empower those communities by fostering collaboration beyond individuals and local groups towards regional communities.

Denna studie utreder möjligheterna till design för ett hållbart konsumtionsbeteende i syfte att motverka matsvinn i hushåll. Med ett användarcentrerat fokus undersöks detta genom tekniker från Design for Sustainable Behaviour och Nudging. Kylskåpet används som fokusområde för att identifiera behov i användandet för att minska matsvinnet genom lösningar inuti och utanför kylskåpet. Genom metoder såsom Cultural probes, intervjuer, observationer och litteraturstudier anknutet till ett teoretiskt ramverk grundat i hållbar utveckling så presenteras designförslaget Food Members. Kunskapsbidraget består av insikten att det är möjligt att implementera kunskap om matens hållbarhetsbehov i kombination med användarnas behov inom ramen för en hållbar beteendeförändring i användarcentrerad design. / This study investigates the possibilities for design for sustainable consumption behavior in order to counteract food waste in households. With a user-centered focus, this is explored through techniques from Design for Sustainable Behavior and Nudging. The refrigerator is used as a focus area to identify needs for use in order to reduce food waste through solutions inside and outside the refrigerator. Through methods such as Cultural probes, interviews, observations and literature studies linked to a theoretical framework based on sustainable development, the design proposal Food Members is presented. The knowledge contribution consists of the insight that it is possible to implement knowledge about the food’s sustainability needs in combination with the users’ needs within the framework of a sustainable behavior change in user-centered design.

A ubiquitous household appliance, the washing machine currently sees a fall in its usage life to a mere 7 years, with valuable and finite resources getting lost to the landfill faster than ever. The reason?  Mechanical obsolescence and barriers in repair that make helpless users as far removed from the process as possible. The goal of my degree project is to create long lasting product and service experiences through easier channels of repair and to design deeper partnerships between humans and the appliances that surround them. I want to be part of a rising sustainability movement that aims for a seismic shift in thinking by creating resilient product experiences.  Can the key to a sustainable future be appliances that last for generations?

In today’s competitive automotive market, many of the world’s leading organizations utilize the Lean manufacturing philosophy in order to increase productivity and stay competitive. With this philosophy come many great methods for improving processes, where focus is put on reducing or eradicating any actions or process that fail to create value for customers, the so-called waste. However, one question that remains is how fast a process actually can be. Having “40% waste”, how can one know if this is the endpoint of a successful efficiency improvement journey, or if the waste can be reduced all the way down to 0%? This Master thesis seeks to identify where this endpoint is located for a specific design of the product, aiming to help organizations allocate improvement work to where it does the greatest impact. Hence, knowing if the endpoint for a process already is reached, organizations can steer improvement work to R&D departments instead of trying to improve something not capable of improving. The findings show that organizations can use the results from this study in more than just one context. Not only will it complement the Lean philosophy by providing a measure of the absolute shortest durations for each individual activity or process under ideal conditions, but also will it facilitate communication between R&D and assembly departments at an earlier stage of the development process by quantifying the impact of different design choices on the total assembly time.

Syfte med studien är att få kunskap om vad estetiska lärprocesser bidrar till i förskolan. Metoden i studien antar en kvalitativ ansats i vilken förskollärare från fyra olika förskolor bidrar med sina uppfattningar i digitalt genomförda personliga intervjuer. Resultatet har analyserats utifrån teorin Design för lärande. De estetiska lärprocesserna beskrivs i studiens resultat som kommunikativa verktyg som inkluderar både verbalt språk och multimodala uttryckssätt. All verksamhet i förskolan, även en estetisk lärprocess, gynnas enligt förskollärarna av att sättas i sitt sammanhang samt att kopplas till en social kontext. Lärande inom en trygg och lustfylld miljö kan få barnen att känna sig bekräftade, få självförtroende och skapa sin egen identitet. Resultatet indikerar att estetiska inslag i förskolans verksamhet kan ge barn möjlighet att få vara den de är och uttrycka sig på sitt eget individuella sätt utifrån likvärdiga förutsättningar. Ett inkluderande synsätt i undervisningen möjliggörs genom möten och kommunikation med olika människor vilket estetiska lärprocesser främjar. Estetiska lärprocesser kan på sikt skapa trygga ramar och en röd tråd för barnen. Det är ingen färdig metod men de estetiska lärprocsserna kan förmodas fungera som en källa till inspiration inom förebyggande interkulturellt arbete i förskolans verksamhet. Undervisning inom estetiska lärprocesser förutsätter nämligen engagerade förskollärare som i samspel med barnen gör dem delaktiga både i styrda och spontana sammanhang under hela dagen då lustfylld, inkluderande och pedagogisk verksamhet pågår. Didaktiska implikationer visar att barn i förskolan behöver genuint engagerade och närvarande förskollärare som aktivt interagerar med barnen. / The purpose of the study is to get knowledge of what aesthetical processes in learning can contribute to within pre-school platform. The method in the study has a quality approach in which pre-school teachers from four different pre-schools contribute with their opinions in digitally implemented personal interviews. The result has been analyzed by the theory of Design for learning. The aesthetical processes in learning are in the result of the study described as communicative tools including both verbal as well as  multimodal expressions. All activities in pre-school, also an aesthetical process in learning, benefits according to the pre-school teachers by being put in a context as well as in social connections. Learning within a secure and pleasurable environment can enable the children being seen, to give them confidence and allow them to find their own identity. The result indicates that aesthetical elements in pre-school surroundings can give children a chance to be who they are as well as express themselves in their own individual way fromout equal conditions. An including approach in the way of teaching is being enabled through meetings and communication beetween different people, and by using aesthetical processes those meetings come naturally. Lomgterm, aesthetical processes in learning, can create secure frameworks and a red thread for the children. It is not a complete method but the aesthetical processes in learning supposedly can function as a source of inspiration when it comes to a preventive intercultural work in pre-schools. Teaching, using aesthetical processes in learning, actually requires dedicated pre-school teachers who are interacting with the children, making them involved in controlled as well as in more spontanous situations throughout the whole day while joyful. including and pedagogical activities take place. Didactical implications show that children in pre-school need genuinelly dedicated and attendant pre-school teachers who actively interact with the children.

This is a master’s thesis project of 30 credits written with guidance from the Swedish research institute ICT Viktoria and Industrial Ecology at KTH. This thesis is conducted by two students at KTH, one with a background in Mechanical Engineering and Industrial Ecology and the other with a background in Energy and Environmental Technology. This study focuses on circular economy linked to the furniture industry in Sweden and how the transition from theoretical to practical concepts can be improved. The methods of this thesis consist of three semi-structured interviews, a survey and an analytical comparative literature review. The interviews, survey and literature review is analyzed with the purpose of finding important criteria relevant for office chairs in circular business models. The interviews are performed face-to-face with three different key persons; an office supply manager, a CEO at a refurbishing company and a product manager. The study focuses on product design within the Swedish furniture industry although some aspects regarding circular business models, logistics and psychological values are included. The results are design criteria for office chairs in circular business models and a design evaluation program for the industry built on these. The program, based on multi criteria analysis, can help reduce the gap between theory and practice of how circular economy should be implemented in the industry. By giving early feedback during the design phase on how well an office chair and a company’s structure meet circular economy criteria the authors hope to ease and speed up this transition. The main characteristics of an office chair designed for circular business models are: Durable Easy to service Adaptable Modular Homogeneous material composition in modules Although the transition to circular business models can be a comprehensive process the authors believe that if furniture manufacturers would integrate circular business models for office chairs into their business structure this would be both economically viable and highly beneficial for their environmental profile which can strengthen their position on the market.

System identification concerns how to construct mathematical models of dynamic systems based on experimental data. A very important application of system identification is in model-based control design. In such applications it is often possible to externally excite the system during the data collection experiment. The properties of the exciting input signal influence the quality of the identified model, and well-designed input signals can reduce both the experimental time and effort. The objective of this thesis is to develop algorithms and theory for minimum cost experiment design for system identification while guaranteeing that the estimated model results in an acceptable control performance. We will use the framework of application oriented Optimal Input Design (OID). First, we study how to find a convex approximation of the set of models that results in acceptable control performance. The main contribution is analytical methods to determine application sets for controllers with no explicit control law, for instance Model Predictive Control (MPC). The application oriented OID problem is then formulated in time domain to enable the handling of signals constraints, which often comes from the physical limitations on the plant and actuators. The framework is the extended to closed-loopsystems. Here two different cases are considered. The first case assumes that the plant is controlled by a general (either linear or non-linear) but known controller. The main contribution here is a method to design an external stationary signal via graph theory such that the identification requirements and signal constraints are satisfied. In the second case application oriented OID problem is studied for MPC. The proposed approach here is a modification of a results where the experiment design requirements are integrated to the MPC as a constraint. The main idea is to back off from the identification requirements when the control requirements are violating from their acceptable bounds. We evaluate the effectiveness of all the proposed algorithms by several simulation examples. / <p>QC 20150126</p>