This study sought to understand factors driving repurchase intentions for consumer electronics (CE) hardware and in particular mobile phones. The outcome of the study was expected to be of interest in academia and practice because it develops upon existing literature and identifies actionable variables that could be used to optimise market offerings. Based on a literature review it was hypothesised that the intent was driven by hedonic and utilitarian factors. These included conspicuousness and visibility; product bundling; reliability; technological features, usability of the product and the buyers’ age. The study tested these hypotheses using primary data. The method was employed to confirm the postulated drivers as well as to determine the direction of the effects. Data collection was conducted through a cross sectional internet survey enumerated in August 2010. The survey reached a broad sample of 144 responders. The analysis supported two of the six hypothesised drivers. The supported drivers were conspicuousness and usability. The recommendation was therefore to encourage the CE industry to focus on creating aesthetically appealing, fashionable devices that were intuitively easy to use requiring minimal assistance or product manuals. It also recommends that less emphasis be placed on durability, advanced features, on bundling additional extras and on targeting particular age groups. Copyright / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

Bakgrund: Covid-19-pandemin har haft stor påverkan på både samhälle och hälsovård specifikt. Vid utbrottet av pandemin var kunskapen om sjukdomen och hur den skulle behandlas otillräcklig, både nationellt och internationellt. Vårdpersonal bör via flexibla angreppsätt anpassa sig till den nya situationen utan att veta exakt hur denna sjukdom ska behandlas. Syfte: Syftet var att beskriva sjuksköterskors upplevelser av att vårda patienter med Covid-19 på vårdavdelning. Metod: Metoden är en litteraturöversikt av kvalitativa vetenskapliga artiklar där sjuksköterskors upplevelser av att vara vårdgivare till patienter med Covid- 19 studerats. Data analyserades utifrån Fribergs beskrivning av kvalitativ analys i fem steg. Resultat: Resultaten visade att sjuksköterskorna upplevde svårigheter vid anpassning till förändrad arbetsmiljö. Det gällde framförallt användning av skyddsutrustning och försämrade samt förändrade arbetsförhållanden. Inom ramen för de iakttagelserna av patientens lidande uppfattade sjuksköterskor maktlöshet, hjälplöshet, oro och avsaknad av kunskap samt brist på erfarenhet av sjukdomen. Hälsopåverkan i form av stress, rädsla och ångest präglade arbetssituationen men de fick stort stöd av sina familjer, vänner och kollegor. Slutsats: Studien visade att Covid-19 pandemin hade stor påverkan på sjuksköterskors arbetssituation. Pandemin resulterade också i negativa individuella upplevelser men det stora stödet från sjuksköterskornas närmaste familjemedlemmar och vänner var betydelsefullt för att orka med sin arbetssituation. Även samarbetet med kollegor var avgörande för att kunna genomföra sina arbetsuppgifter. / Background: The covid-19 pandemic hugely influenced society as well as the global Health care system. As the pandemic broke out, it became clear that the lack of knowledge about the disease would greatly affect the way treatment was conducted, nationally as well as internationally. Health care professionals had to adapt to the situation without knowing exactly how to treat each symptom as well as to adhere to this specific disease. Aim: This study investigates how nurses experienced their working conditions and treatment of patients with covid-19 disease. Method: This is a qualitative study based on analyses of scientific articles that had studied nurses’ experiences of working with covid-19 patients. The analysis was conducted using the available Fribergs qualitative five step method. Results: The results show that the investigated nurses experienced difficulties in adapting to a continuously changing work environment, especially when it came to the use of protective equipment in combination with the perceived worsening working condition. The investigated nurses had to adhere to a new normal situation categorized with feelings of powerless, and helplessness. However, the investigated nurses received the appropriate support from their close families, friends and colleagues which made their work acceptable despite the ongoing pandemic. Conclusion: The study showed that the Covid-19 pandemic had a major impact on nurses' work situation. The pandemic resulted in negative individual experiences, the great support from the nurses' closest family members in combination with colleagues and friends became the key factor in coping with the new normal working conditions.

Bakgrund: Fysisk våld mot kvinnor i nära relationer är ett samhällsproblem. Kvinnor som varit med om våld är en vanlig patientgrupp hälso-och sjukvården. Sjuksköterskor inom akutsjukvården är de som först kommer i kontakt med den utsatta kvinnan. Våld i nära relation kan leda till att kvinnan upplever skuld och skam vilket leder till rädsla för att söka vård. Sjuksköterskans roll i vårdandet är att identifiera vårdbehov samt lindra kvinnans lidande. Syfte: beskriva sjuksköterskors upplevelser av att vårda kvinnliga patienter som utsatts för fysiskt våld i nära relation. Metod: En litteraturöversikt där datamaterialet baseras på sex kvalitativa samt tre kvantitativa vetenskapliga artiklar. Resultat: Ur analysen identifieras tre teman; Känslomässiga utmaningar, förmåga att identifiera förekomst av våld och hinder i organisationen med sju underteman. Konklusion: Kvinnor som blivit utsatta för fysiskt våld i nära relation är en svår patientgrupp att möta. Tidsbrist, bristande arbetsmiljö samt brist på kunskap är tre faktorer som hindrar en god vårdrelation mellan parterna. / Background: Physical intimate partner violence against women is a society problem. Women who have experienced violence are a common group of patients in the health care system. Nurses in the emergency department are those who first encounter the women who have been exposed to violence. Physical violence involves beating, kicks and strangulation. Intimate partner violence can lead to woman experiencing guilt and shame which leads to fear of seeking care. The role of the nursingis to identify care needs and alleviate the woman's suffering. Purpose: Describe nurses' experiences of caring for female patients who have been subjected to physical intimate partner violence. Method: A literature review based on six qualitative and three quantitative articles. Findings: The analysis identifies three themes; Emotional challenges, ability to identify the occurrence of violence and obstacles in the organization with seven sub-themes. Conclusion: Women who have been exposed for physical intimate partner violence is a difficult patient group to deal with. Professional experience contributes to the emergency nurses can more easily identify and manage this patient group. Lack of time, bad work environment and lack of knowledge are three factors that impede a good care relationship between the parties.

This thesis deals with mechanical design of FDM 3D printer with a built-in material feeder with monitoring of remaining material. The aim of this thesis is designing the FDM 3D printer with minimum print volume of 200x200x200 mm and with usage of measured data for optimising the 3D printing process. This 3D printer is targeted to the non-experienced users, so the emphasis was on ease of use and reliability of the printer. Despite the fact that it is an innovative design solution, the suitability of the design was verified experimentally as part of this thesis. The choice of the material feeder design, which is essential for the presented thesis, was justified by the realization of prototypes of two suitable designs, from which the optimal solution was chosen. The knowledge obtained from testing the prototypes was then used for the final design of 3D printer. The usage of data for optimization of the printing process is realized by a C++ compatible source code that is a part of this thesis.

Denna studie är en kandidatuppsats inom ämnet textilteknologi med inriktning på designteknik. Studien undersöker skillnader mellan två olika graderingsmetoder. Undersökningen görs på uppdrag av ett svenskt modeföretag som vill undersöka om kundernas returer med anledningen ”fel storlek”, kan bero på graderingen. Syftet är att hitta en metod som gör att proportionerna i grundstorleken bibehålls även i de större storlekarna. Men också undersöka rörelseviddens roll för god balans i såväl grundstorleken som i största storleken. De två graderingsmetoder som jämförs är proportionell gradering och gradering med procentuell rörelsevidd. Som utgångspunkt skapas olika måttlistor anpassade efter de olika metoderna. Sedan graderas en tunika och en kofta, tillhandahållna från företaget. En 3D-avprovning görs för att utvärdera den visuella passformen, skillnaden mellan metoderna samt hur lik passformen blev den ursprungliga passformen för grundstorleken. Plaggmåttlistor jämförs samt visuella skillnader på mönsterdelar. En passformsjustering på en av modellerna görs för att undersöka hur det påverkar passformen i den största storleken. Resultatet av studien visar att det blir skillnad mellan de olika metoderna både visuellt på 3D-avprovningen, på mönsterdelarna samt värdemässigt i måttlistorna. Hur stora skillnaderna blir mellan metoderna beror på mängden rörelsevidd i grundstorleken. Dessutom observerades att skillnaderna mellan metoderna ökade ju längre ifrån grundstorleken en storlek befann sig. Resultatet av 3D-avprovningen visade att det är viktigt att passformen i grundstorleken är god innan gradering påbörjas och att det är fördelaktigt för plagg med mycket rörelsevidd att gradera med procentuell rörelsevidd. / This study is a bachelor's thesis in the field of textile technology with focus on design technology. The study examines differences between two different grading methods. The survey is carried out on behalf of a Swedish fashion company that wants to investigate whether the customers' returns for the "wrong size" reason may be due to the grading. The aim is to find a method that keeps the proportions in the basic size even in the larger sizes. But also investigate the role of ease for good balance in both the basic size and the largest size. The two grading methods that are compared are proportional grading and grading with percentage ease. As a starting point, different measurement lists are created adapted to the different methods. Then a tunic and a cardigan, provided by the company, are graded. A 3D fitting is done to evaluate the visual fit, the difference between the methods and how similar the fit became the original fit for the basic size. Garment measurement lists are compared as well as visual differences on pattern parts. A fit adjustment on one of the models is done to investigate how it affects the fit in the largest size. The result of the study shows that there is a difference between the different methods, both visually on the 3D test, on the pattern parts and in terms of value in the measurement lists. The magnitude of the differences between the methods depends on the amount of ease in the basic size. In addition, it was observed that the differences between the methods increased the further from the basic size. The result of the 3D test showed that it is important that the fit in the basic size is good before grading and that it is preferable for garments with a lot of ease to be graded with a percentage ease.

Streaming blir dagligen en allt mer populär form av musikkonsumtion. Denna typ av medium har gjort det allt mer enkelt för individer att lyssna på musik. Diskussioner om de villkor som kreatörerna som bidrar med värde till dessa medium påpekar dock tuffa arbetsförhållanden. Kreatörer tenderar att få låg ersättning och dålig översikt över den data som relaterar till artistens lyssnare. I och med Web3:s framfart har det påbörjats en diskussion om decentraliserade musikplattformar som ett alternativ till de traditionella streamingtjänsterna. Det är inom detta område som studien ämnar att utforska acceptansen kreatörerna har av detta alternativa sätt att distribuera musik. Utifrån ramverket TAM (Technology acceptance model) skapades en modell. För att testa denna modell genomfördes sedan en enkätstudie. Det insamlade materialet användes sedan för att utföra en univariat, bivariat samt multivariat analys med hjälp av frekvenstabeller, Spearmans korrelationskoefficient och PLS-SEM-verktyg. Resultatet visade på möjliga problemområden, bland annat validiteten hos enkätfrågorna, men även lämpligheten hos studiens ramverk i förhållande till den typen av system som faktiskt undersöktes. Det var dock tydligt att urvalets användning av plattformen i fråga var en direkt effekt av hur deras avsikt till att använda densamma såg ut. Denna användaravsikt berodde sedan på deras attityd till plattformen som i sin tur berodde på den nytta de upplevde att plattformen genererade. / Music streaming is growing in popularity on a daily basis. This type of medium has made listening to music more accessible to its users. Discussions regarding tough working conditions for the creators that bring value to the platforms are becoming more common. Creators tend to get low compensation and insufficient data regarding its listeners. In regards to the growing interest with Web3 technology, discussions are being held about decentralized music platforms potential of being an alternative to the traditional streaming platforms. It’s within this field the study aims to shed some light in regards to the acceptance creators have toward this alternative way of distributing music. With regards to the theoretical framework TAM (Technology acceptance model), a model was constructed. In order to evaluate this model a survey was conducted. The data collected was then used to perform a univariate, bivariate and multivariate analysis. These were possible with the help of frequency tables, Spearmans correlation coefficient as well as PLS-SEM tools. The results brought light to several possible problem areas, amongst these the validity of the questionnaire, but also the adequacy of the theoretical framework with regards to the a type of system the study actually concerns itself with. It was, however, clear that the creators’ actual use of the platform was a direct product of their intention to use it. This intention was a result of their attitude towards the platform, which in turn depended on the usefulness the creator perceived the platform to generate.

Sedan den industriella revolutionen har till dagens tillverkningsindustri utvecklat ett fokus på anpassningsbar, effektiv och hållbar tillverkning. Samtidigt har det administrativa arbetet digitaliserats genom informationssystem. Mindre företag kan ha utmaningar med att hitta lämpliga informationssystem anpassade till deras behov. Flexibla och anpassningsbara informationssystem är viktiga för att stödja även mindre företag. Syftet med studien är att identifiera vilka utmaningar ett mindre företag inom tillverkningsindustrin ställs inför gällande informationshantering. Denna studie har genomförts med forskningsstrategin Design Science. Totalt utfördes åtta semistrukturerade intervjuer där fyra anställda från Föllinge Hälsoprodukter AB intervjuades i två omgångar: kravinsamling och utvärdering. Technology Acceptance Model 3 (TAM3) användes som stöd för att konstruera intervjuguide för respektive omgång och stöd till den tematiska analysen av datainsamlingen. En prototyp av informationssystem utvecklades med funktionalitet och design baserat på kravinsamlingen. Studiens resultat omfattar problematik, krav samt utvärdering av prototyp vilket är i linje med forskningsupplägget design science. Resultatet visade att ett informationssystem med samlad information och tydlig design av gränssnitt skulle förbättra kommunikationen och effektiviteten för företaget. Utöver dessa resultat uppmärksammades det att tidsaspekten kan ha en påverkan på teknisk acceptans. Detta upptäcktes, när en av respondenterna ändrade sin attityd om att tillämpa ett informationssystem i arbetet, mellan kravinsamling och utvärdering. Miljö- och hållbarhetsaspekter beaktades genom användning av teknik och system som kan effektivisera företagens processer och bidra till minskad pappersanvändning och resursslöseri. / Since the industrial revolution, today's manufacturing industry has developed a focus on adaptable, efficient, and sustainable manufacturing. At the same time, administrative work has been digitized through information systems. Small companies may face challenges in finding suitable information systems tailored to their needs. Flexible and adaptable information systems are important to support even smaller companies. The purpose of this study is to identify which challenges faced by a small manufacturing company in terms of information management. This study was conducted using the research strategy of Design Science. A total of eight semi-structured interviews were conducted, where four employees from Föllinge Hälsoprodukter AB were interviewed in two rounds: requirement collection and evaluation. The Technology Acceptance Model 3 (TAM3) was used as support to construct the interview guide for each round and support the thematic analysis of the data collection. An information system prototype was developed with functionality and design based on the requirements collection. The results of the study include problems, requirements and evaluation of the prototype, which is aligned with the design science research strategy. The results showed that an information system with consolidated information and clear interface design would improve communication and efficiency for companies. In addition to these results, it was observed that the time aspect can have an impact on technical acceptance. This was discovered when one of the respondents changed their attitude about implementing an information system in their work, between the requirement collection and evaluation stages. Environmental and sustainability aspects were considered by utilizing technology and systems that can streamline company processes and contribute to reduced paper usage and resource wastage.

<p>Pregnancy is one of the most important periods of a woman’s life, during which lots of potentially worrying changes occur in her body. Being aware of the nature of these changes can help her to make informed decisions and decrease her level of uncertainty and anxiety. Delivering information to pregnant women to help understand these changes is not a new idea. Brief searches of the web turned up many related resources and information. One important aspect of pregnancy that was found to be widely used was keeping daily records in a paper-based format. However, to the author’s best knowledge, there is no pregnancy specific electronic personal health record (ePHR) currently being used in Canada. In this study, a preliminary pregnancy specific PHR module was developed, and its usefulness and usability evaluated.</p> / Master of Science (MSc)

Background: Play is the child’s natural world. According to psychoanalytical studies, play has an important role in children’s development, and the absence of play during a child’s life could lead to severe pathological implications. Based on this theory and being aware that physiotherapy treatment programs could be long lasting, tiresome and lacking motivation for children, this literature review presents a perspective regarding the integration of play within physiotherapy programs and examines the physical and emotional outcomes during this integration. Aim: To investigate the outcomes of integrating play in physiotherapy for children with chronic health conditions. Method: The research strategy for this review was a thorough search of peer-reviewed articles in the databases CINAHL and AMED which include articles from the fields of allied and complementary medicine, as well as the database Scope Med. Participants were children with chronic health conditions, ranging from 2-18 years old. In the term ‘play’ virtual reality and video game activities were included due to the lack of research. In addition, articles from a previous literature review conducted by the author were also included in the present paper. Results: The focus of researchers on children with CP and the lack of evidence for children with other health conditions, the persistence of physiotherapists to assess mainly physical outcomes and not emotional needs of children, and the measurement tools used for this purpose are presented. Conclusions: For children with chronic health conditions who attend physiotherapy sessions, play could serve as a mediate and an appropriate developmental approach in order to achieve physical and emotional changes. There is a need for physiotherapists to balance physical and emotional needs, and have a more ‘human’ relationship, rather than a ‘bodily’ - strict professional relationship with children. Although the information presented in this review is not considered as sufficient to draw conclusions, it could serve as a first step for researchers to study this integration in greater depth, and to focus on children with conditions other than CP.

Mobile commerce can be seen as the phenomenon, which is likely to take over e-commerce since purchasing online is increasing on mobile applications (Parameswari, 2015). The problem this study addresses is the uncertainty that may follow when purchasing online via mobile applications. The purpose of this study is to investigate some human and technology factors for perceived trust in mobile applications. Human factors are defined as the same thing as user factors throughout this thesis.   This will answer the research question: What are the most important user and technology factors for perceived trust in mobile applications? The study is limited to two main areas (human and technology factors) that have been broken down into three subgroups based on perceived trust. These subgroups are: informative context for decision-making, ease of use and payment methods.   To gather data, an online self-completion questionnaire was conducted and was sent out to different social groups on Facebook. The participated segmentation resulted in needing to be modified according to uneven response rates in the different age groups. The target group went from the whole Swedish population to only people in the ages span of 16-32. The collected data was processed in the analysis program SPSS to find relations among the variables.   All the chosen factors resulted in being of great importance for users to perceived trust in mobile applications and to increase the interactivity between human and machine. However, only payment methods showed a significant value in relation to perceived trust. This result will be useful to companies when developing mobile applications to keep customers and increase sales.