The purpose of this quantitative study was to investigate the perceptions of K-12 teachers as they relate to the implementation of the Tennessee Educator Acceleration (TEAM) evaluation framework. Survey links were sent to 1,115 K-12 teachers from 4 Northeast Tennessee school districts. The survey achieved a 24% return rate for a total of 270 participants. The research evaluated K-12 teachers’ overall perceptions of the TEAM evaluation framework, their perceptions of changes to their lesson planning processes, their perceptions of changes in the use of instructional strategies in their classrooms, and their perceptions of changes in the amount of time needed to prepare lessons for instruction since the implementation of the TEAM evaluation framework. Data sources analyzed consisted of an online survey design using a 5-point Likert-type scale. There were 4 research questions included in this research each with a corresponding null hypothesis. Each research question was analyzed with a series of single sample t-tests with mid-point of the scale (3.0) as the test value representing neutrality. All data were analyzed at the .05 level of significance. Findings from the data indicated a significant difference in perceptions of teachers in 3 of 4 areas. First the planning process for their lessons was reported to be more structured and focused on the evaluation rubric. Next, the instructional strategies used in their lessons were reported as more focused on higher order thinking skills. And finally the time required to plan instruction had increased since the implementation of the TEAM framework.

The process of economic innovation in Vietnam since the late 1980s presented its human resources in the private sector with constant challenges in terms of continuous improvement for operating effectiveness and efficiency. The challenges have been met by substantial investment of resources in business and management training. Returns from this training, however, have not received due attention. The study sets out to examine the reality of acquiring and utilising business and management training in local private businesses in Ho Chi Minh City, the country’s economic centre. In doing so, the study is expected to provide a better understanding of the characteristics of business and management training in Vietnam, and how this human resources development activity assists private businesses in a transitional economy. Based on Kirkpatrick’s evaluation framework, findings of the study revealed not only different approaches to business and management training but also the limited effects of the training on the trainees and private companies. Knowledgemania, or training for the sake of pursuing knowledge, was still very prevalent among the group of ‘Oriental’ companies whilst a more practical approach towards training aimed at meeting explicit business objectives was adopted by companies exposed to Western management practices. The research revealed that among the factors facilitating or hindering learning transfer within the case study companies, the ability to manage the training process and cultural values were the most influential. The research study also introduced two refined frameworks for training evaluation, aimed at small family and larger private businesses respectively. These refined frameworks incorporate not only the spirit of simplicity and practicality of Kirkpatrick’s framework but also relevant contextual factors. These frameworks are, therefore, able to serve as evaluation tools to reveal both training outcomes and spot the opportunities to further improve management of training. The experience and process of developing the frameworks gained in this research may assist future researchers when undertaking training evaluation in other business contexts.

<p>The Heimdal Framework presented in this thesis is a step towards an unambiguous framework that reveals the objective strength and weaknesses of the security of components. It provides a way to combine different aspects affecting the security of components - such as category requirements, implemented security functionality and the environment in which it operates - in a modular way, making each module replaceable in the event that a more accurate module is developed. </p><p>The environment is assessed and quantified through a methodology presented as a part of the Heimdal Framework. The result of the evaluation is quantitative data, which can be presented with varying degrees of detail, reflecting the needs of the evaluator. </p><p>The framework is flexible and divides the problem space into smaller, more accomplishable subtasks with the means to focus on specific problems, aspects or system scopes. The evaluation method is focusing on technological components and is based on, but not limited to, the Security Functional Requirements (SFR) of the Common Criteria.</p>

Evaluation is essential for Medical Informatics as well as many other disciplines. There is a growing interest and investment for evaluation researches and self evaluation works. Hospital Information System (HIS) evaluation frameworks have largely been discussed in the literature. However, existing frameworks lack one important aspect, to what extent user expectations from HIS are met. To complement this deficiency we designed an evaluation farmework for evaluating the user expectation in HIS. User expectation data are collected by means of &ldquo / Expectation Questionnaire&rdquo / . Fuzzy logic methodologies are used to evaluate the expectation meeting in the proposed evaluation framework. The evaluation variables are not represented in the result equally / they are reflected by the weights assigned by the users. Our proposed framework provides the overall degree to what extent user expectations are met. It also gives the opportunity to analyze to what extent each expectation is met and degree to what extent different user groups&rsquo / expectations are met. Education, sex and business title is determinants of general expectations about HIS. IS experience is not a determinant of medical users&rsquo / expectations in any expectations. The proposed framework is not a rival but an alternative or complementary to the existing frameworks. It is a different approach and has different computation methodology supported by fuzzy logic. The framework can give detail to the each variable level. These results are just a photo of the current situation / a deeper analysis of these findings must be done for further information about the causes of these results.

Οι εφαρμογές συναίσθησης (awareness applications) αποτελούν συστήματα ενίσχυσης της αντίληψης της παρουσίας (presence) και εντάσσονται στην ευρύτερη κατηγορία των συστημάτων υποστήριξης της επικοινωνίας με τη διαμεσολάβηση υπολογιστών (computer mediated communication systems). Μια πληθώρα τέτοιων εφαρμογών – μικρών και εξειδικευμένων ακόμη – έχει αναπτυχθεί τα τελευταία χρόνια (π.χ. MSN, Facebook), ενώ αναμένεται η ευρύτερη διάδοσή τους ως αποτέλεσμα της ανάπτυξης των κινητών επικοινωνιών. Η παρούσα διπλωματική εργασία βασίζεται στην πλατφόρμα ανάπτυξης εφαρμογών συναίσθησης ASTRA. Το συγκριτικό πλεονέκτημα της πλατφόρμας απέναντι στις υπάρχουσες εφαρμογές είναι ότι είναι γενικευμένη και συνεπώς μπορεί να οδηγήσει στην ανάπτυξη πλήθους εφαρμογών με σχετικά εύκολο τρόπο, δίνοντας τεράστια ώθηση στην ευρύτερη ανάπτυξη του πεδίου. Η εργασία αποσκοπεί στην δημιουργία ενός πλαισίου αξιολόγησης (evaluation framework) εφαρμογών συναίσθησης, το οποίο θα βασίζεται κυρίως στο πρότυπο ISO 9126. Για το σκοπό αυτό θα αναλυθεί το εν λόγω πρότυπο και θα εντοπιστούν οι ιδιαίτερες διαστάσεις των συστημάτων συναίσθησης (τα οποία θα αναλυθούν ως εφαρμογές διαδικτύου). Στη συνέχεια θα ομαδοποιηθούν τα χαρακτηριστικά τους και θα ενταχθούν στα τέσσερα στοιχεία εξωτερικής ποιότητας που προβλέπει το πρότυπο. Ως πεδίο εφαρμογής του πλαισίου θα χρησιμοποιηθεί η πλατφόρμα ASTRA, η οποία θα αξιολογηθεί με βάση αυτό. Για το σκοπό της εργασίας θα αναπτυχθούν και ορισμένες εφαρμογές συναίσθησης με τη χρήση της πλατφόρμας. / This thesis presents a quality evaluation framework for awareness systems. These are Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) systems, which support people’s needs to communicate and enhance their sense of presence. In general, quality is defined by the extent to which the software meets user needs and requirements. Our framework is based on the ISO9126 standard, which includes two quality dimensions, external and internal, and defines a set of quality criteria for each. We have chosen to adopt the end-user standpoint in evaluating awareness systems, thus we model only the four criteria groups of external quality, that is, functionality, usability, reliability and efficiency. Firstly, we present a brief introduction to software quality and the ISO9126 standard. Then, we present presence and awareness systems, and discuss their emergence and the needs they serve. We continue with a broad survey of presence and awareness systems and social software. For each of the surveyed systems (the list includes Facebook, MSN, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn et al), we present an extensive list of features, which support user/community management and application management. A comparative table summarizes the features of the systems surveyed. Based on this discussion, we develop the proposed evaluation framework, by listing detailed criteria for each of the four groups of external quality, according to ISO9126. For each group, we list two tables of criteria, one for community management evaluation and one for application evaluation. The criteria are sub-grouped into presentation, navigation, escalation, content, applications, communication, awareness, and connectedness. Each table is followed by a brief explanation of the criteria it contains and the range of values they assume. Then we present in detail ASTRA, the first pervasive CMC system that was designed and developed in order to enhance presence without requiring users to use a computer to join. ASTRA applies a pervasive computing interface on top of a social computing system, which supports community and awareness application management. The focus-nimbus model is used to describe the awareness framework and a novel connectedness theory is validated with the system. Finally, we evaluate and classify the presence and awareness systems, including ASTRA, according to the proposed evaluation framework.

abstract: With the rise of mobile technology, the personal lives and sensitive information of everyday citizens are carried about without a thought to the risks involved. Despite this high possibility of harm, many fail to use simple security to protect themselves because they feel the benefits of securing their devices do not outweigh the cost to usability. The main issue is that beyond initial authentication, sessions are maintained using optional timeout mechanisms where a session will end if a user is inactive for a period of time. This interruption-based form of continuous authentication requires constant user intervention leading to frustration, which discourages its use. No solution currently exists that provides an implementation beyond the insecure and low usability of simple timeout and re-authentication. This work identifies the flaws of current mobile authentication techniques and provides a new solution that is not limiting to the user, has a system for secure, active continuous authentication, and increases the usability and security over current methods. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Computer Science 2014

During the last decades, the dependency on software has increased. Many of today’s modern devices embed software to control their functions. The increasing dependency has also taken part in shaping the software development process to produce better quality software. Many researchers and practitioners have spent large investments to improve the software development process. A research area within software engineering that addresses the assessment and improvement issues in development processes is called Software Process Improvement (SPI). One of the essential aspects in software process improvement is measuring the outcome of the implemented changes. The measurement and evaluation of software process improvement provides the means for the organization to articulate the achievement level of their goals. Although the importance of measuring and evaluating the outcome of software process improvement is paramount, there exist no common guidelines or systematic methods of measuring and evaluating the improvement. This condition evokes difficulties for practitioners to implement software process improvement measurement programs. This issue has raised the challenge to develop and implement an effective framework for measuring and evaluating the outcome of software process improvement initiatives. This thesis presents a measurement and evaluation framework for software process improvement. SPI-MEF provides guidelines in the form of systematic steps to evaluate the outcome of software process improvement. The framework is based on key concepts which were elaborated in previous work. In this thesis, a validation of SPI-MEF is also conducted by involving representatives from academia and industry. The validation is aimed to judge the frameworks’ usability, applicability and usefulness. Finally, a refinement of the framework is carried out based on the input from the validation.

This thesis presents a mechatronics master degree project held at Tritech TechnologyAB by two students from The Royal Institute of Technology (Stockholm, Sweden).It covers a study of the future agenda with IoT (Internet of Things) and the devel-opment of an evaluation framework for designing end devices in IoT systems. Thethesis also presents the leading technical solutions for IoT end devices and a toolfor choosing among available technologies. Lastly, the thesis reports from an in-depth study on power consumption and battery life-span of the two communicationtechniques BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) and Thread.Data has been collected from literature studies by published authors, company pa-pers and from interviews with experts in the area. This data contributed to thefuture agenda prognosis, the generated evaluation framework and the collected tech-nical information. The attributes constituting the design guidance tool were statedbased on the evaluation framework. The in-depth study was carried out by runningthe two technologies on development boards where data on power consumption wascollected. The future prognosis of the IoT development was found to include 20-50 billiondevices by the year of 2020. The largest design areas appear to be within vehicleindustry, safety systems and home and city automation. Obstacles for the develop-ment seem to be a question about safety and how companies are to create a clearbusiness case out of it. Seven different subgroups of metrics were found constitutingto an evaluation framework and seven communication technologies with compatiblehardware form the basis for the developed design guide tool. In the in-depth study,data on power consumption for BLE and Thread were collected during a simple caseof sensing and transferring temperature data. / Denna avhandling presenterar ett examensarbete inom mekatronik gjort på TritechTechnology AB av två studenter från Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan (Stockholm,Sverige). Den omfattar en studie av den framtida prognosen för IoT (Internet ofThings) och utvecklingen av ett ramverk för de minsta enheterna i IoT-system.Avhandlingen presenterar också de ledande tekniska lösningarna för små IoT-enheteroch ett verktyg för att välja bland tillgänglig teknik. Slutligen rapporterar denockså från en mer djupgående studie av energiförbrukning för de två kommunika-tionsteknikerna BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) och Thread.Data har samlats in från litteraturstudier av publicerade artiklar, företagsartiklaroch från intervjuer med experter inom området. Den informationen har bidragittill slutsatser kring framtiden med IoT, utvecklandet av ramverket och den samladetekniska informationen. Attributen som det utvecklade verktyget är baserat på kom-mer från ramverkets parametrar. Den fördjupade studien genomfördes genom attimplementera de två teknikerna på utvecklingskort där data om energiförbrukningsamlades in. Den framtida prognosen för Internet of Things befanns omfatta 20-50 miljarder en-heter år 2020. Fordonsindustrin, säkerhetssystem och hem -och stadsautomationverkar vara de mest populära områdena för utveckling. De största hindren förutvecklingen är en fråga om säkerhet och hur företag ska kunna skapa en tydligaffärsmodell inom området. Sju olika undergrupper av parametrar befanns utgöraramverket och sju kommunikationsteknik med kompatibel hårdvara ligger till grundför det designade verktyget. I den fördjupade studien samlades uppgifter om en-ergiförbrukningen för BLE och Thread in under ett enkelt fall av avläsning ochöverföring av temperaturdata.

Customer Relationship Management has been an integral part of the enterprise since two decades. Today, enterprises that focus on customer satisfaction need to manage their relationships with their customers effectively. This demand has allowed software vendors to create CRM solutions. The technology and broadband advancement allowed the CRM vendors to enhance their product portfolio by developing web-based CRM systems, in addition to their CRM on-premise solutions. These vendors adopted the business model in which CRM on-demand systems are provided via monthly-subscription fees, decreasing the total cost of ownership massively for enterprises in need of these systems. This business model is especially attractive for Small-To-Medium Enterprises who are searching for cost-efficient CRM systems. Currently, CRM on-demand market is quite saturated with more than 40 vendors providing similar solutions. Furthermore, CRM on-demand is delivered via Software-as-a-service method, which is a relatively new technology with unique benefits along with drawbacks. Thus, it’s of vital importance for managers in SMEs to make the right decision while evaluating the CRM on-demand option and systems. This research is meant to address this issue by building a proposed framework for CRM on-demand system evaluation. The inductive research uses qualitative and quantitative approaches for data collection and analysis. The evaluation criteria for CRM on-demand systems at a functional and general level were proposed. The general criteria were refined via collecting data from CRM on-demand experts and users in SMEs by structured questionnaires. Combining these criteria created the proposed framework which was applied to evaluate two major CRM on-demand systems in the market. The results indicate that CRM on-demand systems cover the basic functionalities of CRM including sales, marketing and service modules and offer enhanced functionality such as mobile CRM, social CRM and customizations. The research also revealed drawbacks of CRM on-demand systems such as disintegration with legacy applications, limited language support, limited country availability and technology maturity which needs to be addressed in the future. This research provides valuable insight for managers in SMEs when selecting CRM on-demand systems for their companies. Furthermore, the academicians interested in CRM and cloud computing could improve this initial proposed framework and adapt it further to different cases.

There is currently no set standard for evaluating visualization environments. Even though the number of visualizations has increased, there is a tendency to overlook the evaluation of their usability. This thesis investigates how a visualization tool for crowd trajectory data can be made using the visualization technique of animated maps and the JavaScript library D3.js. Furthermore it explores how such a visualization tool can be evaluated according to a suggested framework for spatio-temporal data.     The developed tool uses data taken from the UCY Graphics Lab, consisting of 415 trajectories collected from a video recorded at a campus area. User evaluation was performed through a user test with a total of six participants, measuring effectiveness as completed tasks, and satisfaction as ease of use for three different amounts of trajectories. Qualitative data was recorded through using the think aloud protocol to gather feedback to further improve the implementation. The evaluation shows that the visualization tool is usable and effective, and that the technique of animated maps in combination with a heatmap can aid users when exploring and formulating ideas about data of this kind. It is also concluded that the framework is a possible tool to utilize when validating visualization systems for crowd trajectory data. / Det finns i dagsläget ingen etablerad standard för att utvärdera visualiseringssystem. Även om antalet visualiseringar har ökat finns det en tendens att förbise utvärderandet av deras användbarhet. I det här arbetet undersöker vi hur ett visualiseringsverktyg för data av gångbanor hos folksamlingar kan skapas, med hjälp utav visualiseringsmetoden animated maps och JavaScript-biblioteket D3.js. Vidare undersöker vi hur det är möjligt att evaluera ett visualiseringsverktyg utefter ett givet ramverk.  Visualiseringsverktyget använder data från UCY Graphics Lab. Datan består av 415 gångbanor som är insamlade från en videoinspelning av ett campusområde. En utvärdering genomfördes sedan med sex deltagare, där visualiseringens effektivitet och användarvänlighet mättes. Frågorna ställdes för tre olika mängder av gångbanor. Kvalitativa data dokumenterades genom en så kallad ''think aloud'', för att ge återkoppling och förslag på möjliga förbättringar av visualiseringen. Evalueringen visar på att animated maps i kombination med en heatmap kan hjälpa användare att utforska data av gångbanor hos folksamlingar, samt att verktyget är effektivt och användbart. Det är också visat att det ramverk som användes vid evalueringen är ett möjligt verktyg för att validera visualiseringsverktyg av den typ som gjorts i det här projektet.