Thesis (Ph. D. (Media Studies)) -- University of Limpopo, 2021 / This study focuses on the use of the internet for students’ academic performance at institutions of higher learning. Various internet applications including search engines, online library resources and social media are evaluated to explore how best they can be used to enhance students’ performance at institutions of higher learning. This is critical to ensure that students maximise the use of technology specifically for academic purposes. Generally, students are constant users of the internet at institutions of higher learning, hence it is cardinal to examine their internet use patterns for academic purposes. Institutions of higher learning have invested in advanced technology through the internet to enhance student academic purposes. Therefore, one would expect students to use various internet applications effectively for the betterment of their studies. In this study, the researcher used both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies. The researcher also employed exploratory and descriptive designs. These methodologies and designs are appropriate for this study because they allow data to be collected through focus group interviews and questionnaires. Focus group interviews were employed to collect qualitative data and questionnaires were used to collect quantitative data. The researcher conducted six focus groups from three institutions of higher learning, namely the University of Limpopo, University of Venda and Tshwane University of Technology, Polokwane campus. Three hundred and forty-three (343) questionnaires were analysed for this study. These data collection tools were pertinent for this study since they assist to determine factors that influence the attitudes, opinions and behavior of the participants. Online library resources play a cardinal role in enhancing the learning process for students by providing online content which could have been difficult to access without the internet. Social media improve and enhance students’ academic performance, but students do not know how best to use it for academic purposes. Proper integration of social media into education is needed. In contrast, students prefer to use social media purely for socialising and entertainment. Despite their ability to assist students in enhancing and improving learning process, social media are, mostly not used for academic purposes. xiv Additionally, students’ use of internet search engines exposes them to an array of information which require critical online information literacy in order to choose the best information. Lastly, the study contributes to the existing body of knowledge by creating a model which will enhance and assist students to easily access academic information through the use of a mobile application. The study also provides significant information which could be used to amend and draft new ICT policies within institutions of higher learning, taking into consideration the adoption of online learning through the use various technologies including social media. / The National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences (NIHSS)

<p>  </p> <p>The research described in this dissertation began in response to frequent questions from users of several crosswalks near a university campus. At each crosswalk was a sign indicating that motorists should yield to pedestrians in the crosswalk. That this message was not being interpreted uniformly was a concern at locations where heterogeneous road users (pedestrians, cyclists, and motorists) were interacting. Instead of trying to impose a single interpretation on users of each crosswalk, it was decided to observe and analyze interactions between users of the crosswalk. </p> <p>Several hours of video were recorded of pedestrians and motorists “negotiating” the right of way at the crosswalk. Because these crossing locations were marked but not signalized, they were called “semi-controlled crosswalks”. The negotiations took place during what were called pedestrian-motorist interactions (PMIs). The PMIs observed on video can be characterized as a “zebra-crossing” game, as described in Chapter 4 of this dissertation. </p> <p>Recently, computer vision (CV) algorithms have been extensively used in road users’ detection and tracking at an unparalleled spatial-temporal scale. In this study, CV algorithms have been applied to convert the video recordings into a large-scale spatial-temporal trajectory dataset including 800 pedestrians and cyclists interacting with more than 500 vehicles. Utilizing the trajectory dataset, a spatial-temporal graph convolutional network-based sequence to sequence (ST-GCN-Seq2Seq) algorithm has been developed to reasonably forecast heterogeneous road users’ trajectories and behavior in real time. Combining CV and ST-GCN-Seq2Seq algorithms can help both design an intelligent tracking system and achieve a form of “smart” interaction at semi-controlled crosswalks for heterogeneous road users.</p> <p>Based on road users’ arrival patterns detected from CV algorithms, it is likely that a "smart" control strategy can minimize the delay of pedestrians and motorists at crosswalks.  Therefore, another branch of this study is to investigate the “smart” control strategies at crosswalks using traffic signal controllers. A reinforcement learning framework was proposed as the “smart” control strategy, and several experiments were conducted using microsimulation. The proposed reinforcement learning framework is able to reduce traffic delay (efficiency), considering real-time pedestrian flow rates and vehicle flow rates with appropriate sensors.</p>

The main focus of this study has been to give an overview of the view on user of social tagging in research in the field of library and information science. 19 scientific articles where analyzed using qualitative texual analysis. The main focus points have been to look at the research view on user behaviour, user groups or types and user motivation, and how, and if this view has changed over time. The result shows no indication of big changes in the research. The perspective on users is changing gradually over the chosen timeframe and a more nuanced view on users is slowly becoming morepopular.This view is more centered around looking beyond the prcess of tagging as the only influence on users.

This dissertation explores applicant reactions to Internet-based selection procedures in order to advance theory and practice related to the use modern employee selection tools. Previous authors have explored this topic area (e.g., Harris et al., 2003). However, this dissertation goes beyond previous research by proposing and testing a model that incorporates the measurement of multiple constructs that are highly relevant to organizations when utilizing Internet-based selection procedures. Such constructs include privacy concerns, explanations, control, fairness perceptions, litigation intentions, organizational intentions, and test-taking motivation. Current organizational justice theory, previous findings from studies on applicant reactions to selection procedures, and research on Internet privacy concerns provided the foundation on which this research is based. This dissertation also pulls from theory in the legal, information sciences, and psychology literatures. A model of applicant reactions that included privacy concerns and multiple outcomes relevant to organizations was proposed. Hypotheses examining this model were tested via a high-fidelity laboratory study with student participants. One-third of the participants in this study were seeking jobs at the time of participation. Findings indicated that privacy concerns are an important predictor of both proximal (i.e., fairness perceptions) and distal (i.e., organizational intentions, test-taking motivation) applicant reaction outcomes. Results also demonstrated support for a mediating role of fairness perceptions in the relationships between privacy concerns and organizational intentions as well as between privacy concerns and test-taking motivation. Providing applicants with control and explanations were found to have no moderating effect on the relationship between privacy concerns and fairness perceptions. However, post-hoc analyses indicated that excuse explanations moderated the effect of privacy concerns on test-taking motivation. Theoretical implications of this dissertation include support for a one-factor model of organizational justice as well as a call for more integration of research from outside of industrial-organizational psychology. Additionally, areas for future research, including opportunities for improvement of study design involving timing of measures, are presented. Finally, implications for practice are discussed in regard to the possible impact of privacy concerns to large numbers of applicants participating in Internet-based selection processes, including a discussion on the importance of applicant privacy concerns to organizations and the use of multiple, inexpensive methods that may aid organizations in increasing fairness perceptions among applicants.

VPN-teknologin är känd för att skydda användarens personliga integritet och säkerhet online. Genom att etablera en krypterad tunnel mellan användare och VPN-tjänstens server möjliggörs flera funktioner. Dessa funktioner kan inkludera anonym surfning genom att maskera användarens IP-adress och geografiska plats, eller tillhandahålla en säker anslutning över ett offentligt nätverk. Den systematiska litteraturstudien undersöker problemområdet inom VPN-lösningaroch försöker sammanställa relevant forskning. Två databaser användes för att hitta artiklar med hjälp av en sökterm, där 31 artiklar accepterades efter granskning. Tematisk kodning användes och fyra huvudområden identifierades: Sårbarhet i protokoll, hårdvara, mjukvara och kryptering och autentisering. Analysen visar bland annat på att det finns problem inom VPN-tekniken, speciellt inom området protokoll. Enkätstudien undersökte svenska studenters vanor kring VPN användande och hur de tror att det påverkar deras säkerhet online. Enkätstudien hade 83 deltagare, vilket gjorde att urvalet inte var representativt för den valda populationen. Enkätstudien visade att deltagarna använde sig av VPN-tjänster för att få tillgång till institutionellt innehåll, platslåst media, skydda sin personliga integritet och öka sin säkerhet online. Majoriteten av deltagarna svarade att en VPN-tjänst garanterar maskering av IP-adress och många trodde även att det skyddar mot spårning. Resultaten från de två metoderna visar att det finns ett behov av att öka användarnas medvetenhet kring VPN-teknologins för- och nackdelar samt de problem som finns. / VPN technology is known for safe guarding users' personal privacy and security online. By establishing an encrypted tunnel between users and the VPN service's server, several functions are enabled. These functions can include anonymous browsing by masking the user's IP address and geographical location, as well as providing a secure connection over a public network. The systematic literature review examines the problem domain within VPN solutions and aims to compile relevant research. Two databases were used in order to find articles using a search term, resulting in the acceptance of 31 articles after the review process. Thematic coding was applied, identifying four main areas: protocol vulnerabilities, hardware, software, and encryption and authentication. The analysis indicates the presence of issues within VPN technology, particularly in the area of protocols.The survey study investigated Swedish students' habits regarding VPN usage and their perception of its impact on their online security. The survey study had 83 participants, which means the sample was not representative of the chosen population. The survey study revealed that participants used VPN services to access institutional content, geographically restricted media, protect their personal privacy, and enhance their online security. The majority of participants responded that a VPN service guarantees IP address masking, and many believed it provides protection against tracking. The results from the two methods indicate a need to enhance users' awareness regarding the advantages and disadvantages of VPN technology, as well as the existing issues.

Användningen av molntjänster är utbredd bland företag idag, där den flexibilitet och tillgänglighet som erbjuds i molntjänster har påskyndat övergången från lokal datalagring och mjukvara. Tillämpningen av en tredjepartsleverantör för datalagring och användning av tjänster i molnet har skapat vissa farhågor om säkerhet och tillhörande risker. Därför syftar denna uppsats till att öka kunskapen om cybersäkerhet och tillhörande risker i molntjänster för användare och tjänsteleverantörer. För att uppnå det uttalade målet ställdes följande forskningsfråga: Vilka är säkerhetsriskerna i molntjänster idag, är det skillnad mellan molntjänstanvändare och molntjänstleverantörer i upplevda säkerhetsrisker? För att besvara forskningsfrågan har avhandlingen framför allt använt sig av tematisk analys av data som samlats in via semistrukturerade intervjuer och mailintervjuer. Intervjuerna har genomförts på ett urval av molntjänstleverantörer (två företag) och slutanvändare av molntjänster (två företag). Utifrån analysen av den insamlade empiriska datan fann avhandlingen att användare och leverantörer av molntjänster uppfattar insiderrisk som den mest kritiska säkerhetsrisken. För användare av molntjänster ansågs dataläckage, särskilt relaterat till kunddata, vara den högsta risken. Detta skiljer sig från molntjänstleverantörer, de är oroliga för konsekvenserna av ett dataläckage. För molntjänstleverantörer handlar det om att kunna visa att man tar en insider attack som en stor säkerhetsrisk och motarbetar den på ett förebyggande sätt för att öka förtroendet hos de företag som väljer att använda molntjänster. Samtidigt behövs fortsatt fokus på utvecklingen av säkerheten mot olika typer av hackerattacker och intrångsförsök som tas upp i studien för att inte försumma de säkerhetsrisker som ändå bör tas på allvar. / The use of cloud services is widespread among companies today, where the flexibility and availability offered in cloud services has sped up the transition from local data storage and software. The application of a third-party provider for data storage and the use of services in the cloud has created some concerns about security and associated risks. Therefore, this thesis aims to increase knowledge about cyber security and associated risks in cloud services for users and service providers. To achieve the stated aim the following research question was raised: What are the security risks in cloud services today, is there a difference between cloud service users and cloud service providers in perceived security risks? To answer the research question, the thesis predominantly made use of thematic analysis of data collected via semi-structured interviews and email-interviews. The interviews were conducted on a sample of cloud service providers (two companies) and end-users of cloud services (two companies). From the analysis of the collected empirical data, the thesis found out that cloud service users and providers perceive insider risk as the most critical security risk. For cloud service users, data leakage, particularly related to customer data, was considered to be the highest risk. This differs from cloud service providers; they are worried about the consequences of a data leakage.For cloud service providers, it is about being able to demonstrate that you take an insider attack as a major security risk and work against it in a preventive way in order to increase the trust of the companies that choose to use cloud services. At the same time, continued focus is needed on the development of security against various types of hacker attacks and intrusion attempts addressed in the study in order not to neglect the security risks that should still be taken seriously.

Denna studie undersöker svenska internetanvändares kunskaper och inställningar till datainsamling genom cookies. Syftet med studien är att ta reda på vilken nivå deras kunskap ligger på och vad de har för inställning till cookies samt om det finns något samband mellan dessa. Studien baseras på en kvantitativ undersökning genom en webbenkät och kompletteras med en kvalitativ undersökning i form av semi-strukturerade intervjuer. Webbenkäten genererade åttiotre svar och av dessa var det sex respondenter som blev intervjuade. Resultatet visade på en låg kunskapsnivå om datainsamling genom cookies och en neutral eller negativ inställning till dessa. Det fanns en oro bland respondenterna att deras personliga information hamnar i fel händer eller att deras integritet kränks. Trots oron fanns det även en nonchalans och likgiltighet inför internetanvändarnas egna ansvar och agerande till datainsamlingen. Slutsatserna som kunde dras var att inställningen till cookies var mestadels negativ och kunskapsnivån kring dem var generellt väldigt låga. Ett behov av relevant utbildning inom ämnet skulle behövas då kunskapsnivån hos internetanvändare måste bli högre och de behöver utveckla en digital kompetens för att få rätt förutsättningar i dagens digitaliserade samhälle. / This study examines Swedish internet users' knowledge and attitude towards data collection through cookies. The purpose of the study is to find out the level of their knowledge and what attitude they have towards cookies as well as examining if there is a relation between the two. The study is based on quantitative research through an online survey and was strengthened by qualitative research in the shape of semi-structured interviews. The survey generated eighty-three responses and from them six respondents were interviewed. The result showed a low level of knowledge about data collection through cookies and a neutralt or negative attitude towards these. There was a general concern among the respondents of their personal information falling into the wrong hands or having their privacy violated. Despite the concerns there was also a casualness and indifference towards the internet users own responsibility and behavior with data collection. In conclusion the attitude towards cookies was mostly negative and the knowledge was in general very low. There’s a need for relevant education of the subject to raise the level of knowledge by the internet users so that they can develop a digital literacy and get the right conditions in today's digitalized society.

Traffic accidents is one of the major causes of fatalities and economic loss around the world. Thus, there is an urgent need for a better understanding about the factors that contribute to accidents so that the accidents can be prevented in the future. The research objective of this thesis is to analyze the traffic accidents between vehicles and unprotected road users (pedestrians and bicycles) in Stockholm, finding spatial distribution patterns, related attributes and examining relationships between accidents and a number of vehicle flows. The data is first analyzed with general statistical analysis to examine the basic characteristics. There is no apparent trend of change among the number of accidents per year, while the numbers of accidents happening from May to October is higher than the rest of the year except for July due to less traffic during holiday period. Most traffic accidents occur in overcast weather, on a dry road surface, or during the day. In the spatial analysis part of the thesis, Global Moran’s I is used to detect whether there is an attribute-related spatial distribution pattern. Hot spot analysis is then applied on the clustered attributes to find significant hot and cold spots over the study area. The conclusions are that road surface conditions and occurrence time during day/night are two related factors that influence traffic accidents while weather is not considered a related attribute since the accidents distribute randomly in terms of weather, of which it is difficult to obtain temporally-aligned, detailed local information for further analysis. Different parameters are selected and discussed during the process. When calculating the distance between two accidents in traffic accident analysis, Manhattan distance is more appropriate than Euclidean distance since traffic accidents are restricted to the road network. The distance band determines scales of analysis tools, with 50 meters on an intersection and 500 meters for a larger region in Stockholm. Most hot spots arise at intersections and roundabouts where different types of traffic flows meet each other. The result of the relationships between traffic accidents and different types of vehicle flows shows that the correlation coefficients between number of traffic accidents and traffic flows are low, meaning that there is no obvious correlation between them, which is also proved by the scatter plots. Poisson regression model is applied on the traffic accident data. As a result, high-risk and low-risk areas in Stockholm are pointed out. Some are consistent with the hot-spot analysis result.

Nowadays mobile devices are being used by a huge number of users around the world, however, there are many people with different type of disabilities including vision, hearing, mobility, learning problems, and more having no ability to operate the devices properly and yet struggling with inaccessibility of them in their daily life. Assistive technologies are placed between users and mobile devices in order to help user interactions with mobile devices. Although these assistive technologies are absolutely assisting users to access mobile devices but, mobile content is not fully accessible for users yet. In this thesis work, the interactions between visually impaired users and Apple touchscreen iPhone 7 through built-in feature, VoiceOver screen reader was investigated. The purpose of the investigation was to identify the challenges and issues while visually impaired users interacting with mobile devices through VoiceOver. In order to identify accessibility issues of VoiceOver, an evaluation inspection done on a set of five participants in form of a semi-structured interview. The result from collecting participant’s opinions, comments, and feedbacks acknowledged that VoiceOver basically makes the Apple iPhone 7 accessible to visually impaired users, however, there are still some usability issues that impediment full mobile accessibility available for visually impaired users. User perspectives, experiences, and feedbacks are very much valuable for identifying and understanding usability and accessibility issues in order to improve the mobile accessibility. The results from the evaluation showed that it deserves more investigation on mobile accessibility in order to design simple, operable, understandable, and robust mobile hardware and software for fully supporting visually impaired users. / Nu för tiden används mobila enheter av ett stort antal användare runt om i världen, men samtidigt finns det många människor med olika typer av funktionshinder som syn- hörsel- rörlighet- och inlärningsproblem med mera som inte har möjlighet att använda enheterna på ett adekvat sätt, men trots det anstränger de sig med att använda mobila applikationer i sitt dagliga liv. För att råda bot på problemet placeras tekniska hjälpmedel mellan användare och den mobila enheten för att underlätta interaktionen mellan användare och den mobila enheten. Även om dessa hjälpmedel hjälper användare med funktionshinder att komma åt mobila enheten, är mobilt innehåll ännu inte fullt tillgängligt för dessa grupper. I den här avhandlingen undersöktes interaktionen mellan användare med synskada och Apple Touchscreen iPhone 7, genom en förinstallerad VoiceOver-skärmläsare. Syftet med utredningen var att identifiera utmaningar och problem när synskadade interagerar med mobila enheter. För att identifiera VoiceOver-problem, det gjordes en studie på en grupp av fem deltagare i en ostrukturerad och öppen formad intervju. Resultatet från deltagarnas åsikter, kommentarer och feedback visar att VoiceOver ökar i grunden tillgängligheten av Apple iPhone 7 för användare med synskada, även om det fortfarande kvarstår användbarhetsproblem som förhindrar fullgod mobil tillgänglighet för denna grupp. Användarperspektiv, erfarenheter och feedback är mycket värdefull information för att identifiera och förstå användbarhets- och tillgänglighetsfrågor för att förbättra mobil tillgänglighet. Resultat visade att det behövs mer utredning om mobil tillgänglighet för att utforma enkel, operativ, förståelig och robust maskin- och programvara för att ge fullt stöd till användare med synskada.

Hållbarhet är ett ämne som är aktuellt i många länder i världen. Social hållbarhet har i relation till ekologisk och ekonomisk hållbarhet haft mindre fokus, men har växt alltmer de senaste åren. Social hållbarhet är särskilt viktig när det kommer till sjukhus med avseende på deras känsliga natur gentemot sjukhusets användare. I denna studie avgränsas sjukhusets användare främst till patienter och vårdpersonal, men även besökare. Sjukhusmiljön har en avgörande roll när det kommer till patientens läkningsprocess och vårdpersonalens arbetsplats. Sjukhus är även en plats där människor med olika bakgrund, förutsättningar och behov samlas vilket gör att social hållbarhet är en viktig aspekt att ta hänsyn till vid ombyggnad av sjukhus. I denna studie undersöks det hur projektledare uppfattar social hållbarhet och hur de arbetar med det vid ombyggnad av sjukhus med avseende på sjukhusets användare. För att besvara de frågeställningar som ställs i studien har intervjuer med sju projektledare och en hållbarhetsansvarig på ett landstingsägt fastighetsbolag utförts. Fastighetsbolaget förvaltar och utvecklar vårdfastigheter i ett av Sveriges större landsting. Vidare har även litteratur inom ämnet studerats för att i kombination med intervjuerna uppfylla studiens syfte och besvara studiens frågeställningar.  Resultatet av denna studie visar att projektledare har en relativt god uppfattning om vad social hållbarhet är, baserat på den teori som har studerats, men att de inte alltid arbetar med det i projekt på ett medvetet och strukturerat sätt. Begreppets breda omfattning och otydlighet är faktorer som projektledare tar upp som problem i arbetet med social hållbarhet vid ombyggnad av sjukhus. Vidare påvisar denna studie att projektledare arbetar med social hållbarhet, men inte med en systematisk syn på vad begreppet innebär. För att säkerställa att projektledare har goda förutsättningar i arbetet med social hållbarhet bör begreppet ha en tydlig definition. Kommunikationen kring begreppet bör också vara tydlig, både inom organisationen och inom projektet. Det finns även utrymme att förbättra de verktyg som projektledaren har till hands i projekt. / Sustainability is a subject that is relevant in many countries of the world. There has been less focus on social sustainability in relation to ecological and economic sustainability, but it has been growing more and more in recent years. Social sustainability is particularly important when it comes to hospitals in terms of their sensitive nature regarding the hospital users. In this study, ‘hospital users’ refer to patients, health care staff and visitors. The hospital environment plays a crucial role in the patient's healing process and the health care staff's work place. A hospital is also a place where people with different backgrounds, conditions and needs gather, which means that social sustainability is an important aspect to take into account in the rebuilding of hospitals. This study examines how project managers perceive social sustainability and how they work with it in rebuilding of hospitals with regard to hospital users. In order to answer the questions posed in the study, interviews with seven project managers and a sustainability manager at a county council owned real estate company have been conducted. The real estate company operates and develops health care properties in a larger county council in Sweden. Furthermore, literature within the subject has been studied in order to fulfill the study's purpose and to answer the questions, in combination with the interviews. The result of this study shows that project managers have a relatively good idea of what social sustainability is, but that they do not always work with it in projects in a conscious and structured way. The broad scope and the ambiguity of the concept are factors that are seen as problematic by the project managers when working with social sustainability in the rebuilding of hospitals. Furthermore, this study shows that project managers work with social sustainability, but not with a systematic view of what the concept means. In order to ensure that project managers have adequate prerequisites in the work with social sustainability, the concept should have a clear definition. Communication about the concept should also be clear, both within the organization and within the project. More over, the study shows that there is room for improvement of the tools that the project manager has at hand in projects.