The aim of the study has been to analyse IS-sympathizers and their commitment to the Islamic State; however, this study will not be able to establish a representative result. The study has instead made an attempt to provide knowledge about four young Swedes who chose to leave Sweden in purpose to sympathize with, and to participate in the Islamic State. By announcing the aim of the study and the complexity of the subject area, the study has a hypothesis appropriated from earlier research which has been investigating young western Muslims. Hence, three question formulations derived; the first question intends to identify the previous research within two subject areas: religious identity and radicalization. The second question intends to analyse which common aim the four IS-sympathizers had for participating with the IS. In conclusion, the third question will analyse the possibility of a correlation between previous research and the collected empirical data. The study used a qualitative content analysis which also applied a deductive approach based on theories of deprivation and radicalization. The result of this study underlines that young Muslims acquire a stronger conflict between their individual and social concept of the world in relation to youths with the major ethnic background. The Western culture is being held up as a factor for a strengthened religious identity among the young Muslims when they are constantly forced to defend their religion. It appears that with a strengthened religious identity and a weakened national identity, the four Swedish IS-sympathizers chose to participate in the fighting in Syria after observing how the Western world had a passive standpoint regarding the prevailed situation in Syria. In this way, the four IS-sympathizers fought in favour of a religious identity in a country that they previously did not acquire a national belonging to.

Sammanfattning Syfte och frågeställningar Syftet är att undersöka om det föreligger något samband mellan 1RM i benböj och sprintlöpning på is kontra sambandet mellan sprintlöpning på barmark och 1RM i benböj för svenska damhockeyspelare i högsta serien SDHL. Finns det något samband mellan maxstyrka i 1RM i benböj och sprinter på barmark (utanför isen) hos svenska damhockeyspelare? Finns det något samband mellan maxstyrka i 1RM benböj och sprinter på is hos svenska damhockeyspelare? Finns det något samband mellan sprintlöpning på barmark och skridskosprinter på is? Metod Testerna utfördes vi två tillfällen med en veckas mellanrum. Vid första tillfället utfördes testerna i benböj ned till ett djup där lårbenet var parallellt med underlaget. Startvikten var 70% av den förväntade maxvikten och testpersonen hade två försök på varje vikt. Vid andra tillfället utfördes 30 meter sprint på barmark och på is och där fotoceller användes för mätning av tid (Time-it - basic set, ELEIKO). Fotocellsparen placerades på ställningar med en höjd på 91cm från underlaget med 1,5 meter avstånd från varandra och testpersonerna startade 0,5 meter innan första fotocellerna och fick välja själva när de skulle starta. Testpersonerna utförde två sprinter vardera på barmark respektive is där det bästa resultatet sedan användes i analysen. Samtliga analyser genomfördes i programmet SPSS. Resultat Studien resulterade i medelhöga negativa korrelationskoefficienter erhölls mellan variablerna 1RM i benböj och 30 meter barmarkssprint (r= -0,548). Ett svagt positivt samband hittades mellan variablerna 1RM och sprint på is (r = 0,164). Det fanns signifikanta skillnader mellan de två variablerna och med 95 procent säkerhet skiljer sig minst ett av medelvärdena ifrån de andra på ett sätt som inte beror på slumpen. På T-testet var Sig.värdet 0,000 på samtliga parametrar samt differensen i medelvärdet översteg 0,050 vilket gör att det inte går att dra någon slutsats över en större population. Slutsats Med vår studie kunde vi se ett starkare samband mellan testpersonernas prestation i sprinten på barmark och ett maximalt lyft i benböj (r = -0,548) än vad vi kunde se mellan resultaten i sprint på is och benböjen (r = 0,164) / <p>Ämneslärarprogrammet, Specialidrott</p>

This research conducted an interdisciplinary field experiment to identify relationships between productivity, user satisfaction and IS Helpdesk USP's use of effective communication behavior. An experimental group of Helpdesk USPs of a large retail organization were trained by communication professionals in communication effectiveness, with emphasis on the needs of the telephone environment.

Numerous IS researchers have argued that IS Security can be more effectively managed if the emphasis goes beyond the technical means of protecting information resources. In an effort to adopt a broader perspective that accounts for issues that transcend technical means alone, Dhillon and Torkzadeh (2006) present an array of 9 fundamental and 16 means objectives that are essential for maximizing IS security in an organization. These objectives were derived using a value-focused thinking approach and are organized into a conceptual framework. This conceptual framework provides a rigorous theoretical base for considering IS security in a manner that accounts for both technical and organizational issues; however, no direction is provided for using these objectives so that informed decisions can be made. As a result, the goal of this dissertation is to develop a decision model using Multiple Objective Decision Analysis (MODA) techniques that seek to provide informed alternatives to decision makers who desire to maximize IS security within an organization.

Incidents of computer abuse, proprietary information leaks and other security lapses have been on the increase. Most often, such security lapses are attributed to internal employees in organizations subverting established organizational IS security policy. As employee compliance with IS security policy is the key to escalating IS security breaches, understanding employee motivation for following IS security policy is critical. In addition to several types of extrinsic motives noted in prior studies, including sanctions, rewards, and social pressures, this study adds that an important contributing intrinsic factor is empowerment. Per Thomas and Velthouse’s (1990) intrinsic motivation model, empowerment is the positive feelings derived from IS security task assessments. Through survey data collected from 289 participants, the study assesses how dimensions of psychological empowerment (i.e., competence, meaning, impact, and choice) as derived from IS security task may impact the IS security performance of the participants, measured by their compliance with IS security policy. The study demonstrates that the competence and meaning dimensions of psychological empowerment have a positive impact on participants’ IS security policy compliance intention, while impact has a marginal negative influence on compliance. Furthermore, dimensions of psychological empowerment can be predicted by structural empowerment facets, particularly IS security education, training, and awareness (SETA), access to IS security strategy and goals, and participation in IS security decision-making. In addition, the competence and meaning dimensions of psychological empowerment may act as mediators for the relations between structural empowerment and participants’ IS security policy compliance. Theoretical contributions, managerial implications, and directions for future research of this study will be discussed.

The sex determining region Y-box 2 (sox2) gene is one of the most important transcription factors during development, particularly the development of the central nervous system (CNS). It is expressed in embryonic stem cells and later in neural stem cells, where it modulates their maintenance and differentiation. In humans, heterozygous mutations are associated with eye malformations, including anophthalmia and severe microphthalmia. Also, a subset of patients has extra-ocular phenotypes, such as hearing loss, seizures and pituitary hypoplasia. Although the roles of sox2 in embryonic stem cells and eye development are well studied, the function of sox2 in brain development and disease is still elusive. The aim of this project was to characterize a novel role for sox2 in the development of zebrafish epithalamus, which was identified from an in silico screen previously performed in our laboratory. The zebrafish epithalamus, located in the dorsal diencephalon, consists of three main structures: the pineal gland, the parapineal organ and the habenular nuclei. The pineal gland, also known as epiphysis, is a photoreceptive (in zebrafish) and neuroendocrine organ that detects light and rhythmically produces melatonin in order to regulate the circadian rhythms. The parapineal organ is located to the left side of the pineal gland and is important for the elaboration of the asymmetries observed between the left and right habenular nuclei. Finally, the bilateral habenulae are part of the dorsal diencephalic conduction system that links the forebrain with the mid- and hindbrain. The left and right habenulae show both molecular and neuroanatomical asymmetries, including differences in neuropil organization, in levels of gene expression and in the morphology and connectivity of their neurons’ projections. The relatively simple architecture of the pineal gland and the asymmetric character of the habenulae provide a useful tool for studying cell-fate determination, cell migration and establishment of brain asymmetries. In this study, we used zebrafish as a model to dissect the novel functions of sox2 in the development of the epithalamus. We showed that sox2 works synergistically with Notch pathway to negatively regulate neurogenesis within the pineal gland. The pineal gland consists of only two cell types: the photoreceptors and the projection neurons. Previous studies showed that the Notch and BMP pathways are important for the proper specification of these cells. Here, we show that sox2 normally inhibits the photoreceptor cell fate, whereas it has no effect on the number of projection neurons. Therefore, sox2 complements Notch and BMP pathways in cell-fate determination within the pineal gland. In addition, downregulation of sox2 results in abnormal parapineal organ development and disruption of the asymmetric architecture of the habenulae. A subset of sox2 morphant embryos develops right-sided parapineal organs, which is consistent with abnormal bilateral expression of the Nodal gene, pitx2 (paired-like homeodomain transcription factor 2). Also, timelapse experiments showed that migration of the parapineal cells is defective, resulting in scattered cells. The aberrant parapineal development leads to disorganization of the habenular nuclei, as shown by the abnormal neuropil arrangement and the expression of the asymmetric marker kctd12.1 (potassium channel tetramerisation domain containing 12.1).

The central research problem of this study was the challenges that occur with the United States Joint Warfighters Center's (JWFC) implementation of information systems (IS) requirements-gathering process. Thus, this study investigated the contribution of perceived security clearance (PSC), developer perceived user involvement (DPUI), and computer self-efficacy (CSE) to efficiency of the perceived requirements-gathering process (PERGP). Due to the perceived efficiency of IS development, the U.S. Department of Defense statutory document called the Joint Capability Integration and Development System (JCIDS), mandated that as an IS development requirement, the rapid development of IS was needed to sustain U.S. warfighters. As a result, the central aim of this study was to look at several variables that may predict the efficiency to the IS requirements-gathering process at JWFC. The central research question behind this study was: What are the contributions of PSC, DPUI, and CSE to the PERGP at the JWFC? This study proposed a theoretical model, and two statistical methods were used to formulate models and test predictive power: Multiple Linear Regression (MLR) and Ordinal Logistic Regression (OLR). The sample size of this study included 61 IS developers from JWFC. The results of this study indicated a strong reliability for the measures of all variables (PSC, DPUI, CSE, and PERGP). Moreover, results of both models developed indicated that DPUI is a significant contributor to PEGRP, while CSE was demonstrated to be significant contributor to PEGRP only via the OLR model providing the indication that the relationships among the measured variables was non-linear. Additionally, results demonstrated that DPUI was the most significant contributor to PEGRP in both models, while PSC had little or no contribution to the dependent variable, PEGRP. This study also identified two key implications for practice and research. The first impaction of this study is the investigation of unique factors such as PSC and PEGRP in the context of military-based IS development within DOD organizations. Results of this study can help managers in government organizations that are faced with security clearance issues to identify contributors in the early phase of IS development that could possibly hinder PEGRP. The second implication of this study is the non-significant results related to PSC in this investigation. For researchers, such results may need future validation in other governmental and military-based organization. Moreover, such results may indicate to managers in government organizations that are faced with security clearance issues that security clearance, at least as indicated by the results of this study, has no major hindering on the PEGRP. These results maybe profound in their implications and, as such, needed additional validations.

Våldsbejakande extremism är ett relativt nytt problem för Socialtjänstens verksamhet, vilket innebär att ett flertal socialsekreterare runt om i Sverige arbetar med ärenden som rör våldsbejakande extremism utan att ha någon specifik utbildning inom ämnet. Studiens syfte har således varit att få en djupare inblick i socialarbetares arbete avseende barn vars föräldrar har stridit för Islamiska staten (IS) samt vilka utbildningar som finns tillgängliga. Studien utgår från en kvalitativ forskningsmetod, insamling av empiri utfördes genom semistrukturerade intervjuer med socialsekreterare från tre olika städer i Sverige. Analysering av empirin har utförts med hjälp av en konventionell kvalitativ innehållsanalys.   Under intervjuerna framkom det att det råder skilda uppfattningar bland socialsekreterarna med avseende på utbildningen inom ämnet, där vissa anser att det underlag som tillhandahållits är bristfälligt, medan andra känner sig trygga i det. Vidare skiljer sig arbetssättet åt i de olika städerna rörande barn vars föräldrar som stridit för IS, exempelvis med avseende på uppsökande verksamhet. Det genomgående temat i intervjuerna var att dessa ärenden ska behandlas som vanliga ärenden och att socialsekreterarna inte ska särskilja barnen och familjerna, detta för att familjerna inte ska känna att de blir behandlade på ett annorlunda sätt på grund av sin bakgrund.

Media usage, as well as media advertising, is growing in tandem with each other. Media users will, regardless of which medium that is in use, encounter a considerable amount of advertising. As we are moving towards a more digitized world, and also a more digitized media sphere, a new communication landscape has been formed. The digitalization has provided new ways to communicate and also new ways to advertise. Now there is not only possible to advertise through traditional offline media channels, such as radio and television, but also possible to advertise through online media, such as Facebook and Instagram. Personalized advertising is an advertising format which has evolved with the growth of online advertising and the ability to collect media users’ data online. Personalized advertisements are formed to comply with the media users’ preferences and have been proven to be effective and in some cases appreciated. Though, this form of advertisements has brought up concerns regarding the media users’ integrity online and previous research does, therefore, claim that personalized advertising is a paradox. Furthermore, a question that can be asked regarding advertising and the new communication landscape that has emerged is: what can be said about media users’ attitudes towards advertising online compared to advertising offline? The purpose of this study is to examine media users’ attitudes towards advertising online, compared to attitudes towards advertising offline, and further investigate whether the mediums themselves seem to have an impact on the receiver’s attitudes towards advertising. The study’s three research questions compose the structure which is followed throughout the study. Furthermore, to answer the research questions, a survey has been implemented. The survey intended to investigate media users’ attitudes towards advertisements online and offline. The theories the study is based on are Marshall McLuhan’s theory The Medium is the Message, The advertising value model by Ducoffe and Personalization. Based on the study’s theory and theoretical framework, the result was analyzed and discussed. The result of the study shows that media users’ attitudes towards advertising are overall rather similar, regardless of age, gender and political position. Further, a pattern that shows connections between media users’ self-reported awareness, their consent of data collection and their appreciation of personalized advertising online was found. The study further examines differences between attitudes towards different mediums, however, we can conclude that the mediums themselves have been proven to not be determinant in media users’ attitudes towards advertising - the experiences of advertising are rather negative regardless of where the media user encounters them. This study contributes with information and insight regarding media users’ attitudes towards advertising in different mediums, further, how media users stand regarding online privacy and concession with data collection in relation to their attitudes towards personalized advertising.

Information systems (IS) research frequently uses survey data to measure the interplay between technological systems and human beings. Researchers have developed sophisticated procedures to build and validate multi-item scales that measure latent constructs. The vast majority of IS studies uses classical test theory (CTT), but this approach suffers from three major theoretical shortcomings: (1) it assumes a linear relationship between the latent variable and observed scores, which rarely represents the empirical reality of behavioral constructs; (2) the true score can either not be estimated directly or only by making assumptions that are difficult to be met; and (3) parameters such as reliability, discrimination, location, or factor loadings depend on the sample being used. To address these issues, we present item response theory (IRT) as a collection of viable alternatives for measuring continuous latent variables by means of categorical indicators (i.e., measurement variables). IRT offers several advantages: (1) it assumes nonlinear relationships; (2) it allows more appropriate estimation of the true score; (3) it can estimate item parameters independently of the sample being used; (4) it allows the researcher to select items that are in accordance with a desired model; and (5) it applies and generalizes concepts such as reliability and internal consistency, and thus allows researchers to derive more information about the measurement process. We use a CTT approach as well as Rasch models (a special class of IRT models) to demonstrate how a scale for measuring hedonic aspects of websites is developed under both approaches. The results illustrate how IRT can be successfully applied in IS research and provide better scale results than CTT. We conclude by explaining the most appropriate circumstances for applying IRT, as well as the limitations of IRT.