Training emergency response decision makers using live, virtual and/or constructive simulations can be highly complex since certain situations can generate stimulusresponse cycles that depend significantly on unpredictable human judgments. In particular, effective training scenarios require a combination of content contributed via pre-authored scripts and content generated dynamically during the training exercise. Large-scale exercises require multiple domain experts contributing oversight and content to the scenario as it proceeds. Such real-time adaptation requires situational and group awareness based on an understanding of pre-scripted materials and the adaptations of others. This thesis describes the evolution and evaluation of a collaborative graphical timeline system, called the Scenario Timeline System (STS), which facilitates asynchronous and synchronous collaborative timeline management, and its application in large-scale, computer-supported emergency response training exercises.

<p>I detta arbete har en undersökning genomförts angående hur spårbarhet upprätthålls vid användning av användarfall. Rapporten behandlar spårbarhet och användarfall separat för att belysa viktiga fakta inom båda områdena. Syftet med arbetet var att ta reda på hur olika tillvägagångssätt för att representera användarfall upprätthöll spårbarhet mellan olika krav, och mellan krav och dess ursprung. Informationen inom problemområdet samlades in genom en litteraturstudie. I undersökningen identifierades flera olika typer av spårbarhet, vilka sedan låg till underlag för identifiering av spårbarhet i användarfall. Undersökningen visade också att det finns flera olika sätt att representera användarfall, i allt från naturligt språk till formella diagram. Resultatet av undersökningen visade även att användningen av ett modelleringsspråk som Unified Modeling Language (UML), med inbyggda relationer och namnkonventioner, gjorde att spårbarhet kunde upprätthållas mellan olika krav, och mellan krav och dess ursprung. En begränsad spåbarhet identifierades i samband med att mindre formella representationer av användarfall använts.</p>

Poster presentation from the Living the Future 8 Conference, April 23-24, 2012, University of Arizona Libraries, Tucson, AZ. / In 2010, the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) developed an exciting new project, designed to support libraries in future visioning and preparation. The result was a set of 4 "alternate futures" narratives (scenarios) that do not discuss libraries, but rather the research environment in which libraries will function. These scenarios work together as a set, to shape and guide strategic conversation through highlighting critical uncertainties. KU Libraries became one of the first ARL institutions to bring this work home. We launched intensive, interactive workshops that offered our staff the opportunity to suspend disbelief and move beyond conventional understanding about our future. This poster will provide an overview of the ARL scenario set, and explain the outcomes and best practices of KU Libraries’ work.

I summarize the Randall-Sundrum braneworld scenario, and its application to solving the hierarchy problem in the Standard Model of elementary particles. A generalized Randall-Sundrum scenario is presented, which includes the presence of string-inspired massless Kalb-Ramond and dilaton fields, and includes their backreaction on the metric. It is shown that in such a scenario, solutions exist which can achieve the desired warping on the Standard Model brane, and which stabilize the modulus corresponding to the radius of the extra dimension. / text

Software architecture is considered as a set of architectural design decisions. Capturing and representing architectural design decisions during the architecting process is necessary for reducing architectural knowledge evaporation. Moreover, managing the evolution of architectural design decisions helps to maintain consistency between requirements and the deployed system. In this thesis, we create the Triple View Model (TVM) as a general architecture framework for documenting architectural design decisions. The TVM clarifies the notion of architectural design decisions in three different views and covers key features of the architecting process. Based on the TVM, we propose a scenario-based methodology (SceMethod) to manage the documentation and the evolution of architectural design decisions. We also conduct a case study on an industrial project to validate the applicability and the effectiveness of the TVM and the SceMethod. The results show they provide complete documentation on architectural design decisions for creating a system architecture, and well support architecture evolution with changing requirements. / text

Phase transitions abound in the physical world, from the subatomic length scales of quark condensation to the decoupling forces in the early universe. In the Bose-Einstein condensation phase transition, a gas of trapped bosonic atoms is cooled to a critical temperature. Below this temperature, a macroscopic number of atoms suddenly starts to occupy a single quantum state; these atoms comprise the Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC). The dynamics of the BEC phase transition are the focus of this dissertation and the experiments described here have provided new information on the details of BEC formation. New theoretical developments are proving to be valuable tools for describing BEC phase transition dynamics and interpreting new experimental results. With their amenability to optical manipulation and probing along with the advent of new microscopic theories, BECs provide an important new avenue for gaining insight into the universal dynamics of phase transitions in general.Spontaneous symmetry breaking in the system's order parameter may be one result of cooling through a phase transition. A potential consequence of this is the spontaneous formation of topological defects, which in a BEC appear as vortices. We experimentally observed and characterized the spontaneous formation of vortices during BEC growth. We attribute vortex creation to coherence length limitations during the initial stages of the phase transition. Parallel to these experimental observations, theory collaborators have used the Stochastic Gross-Pitaevski Equation formalism to simulate the growth of a condensate from a thermal cloud. The experimental and theoretical statistical results of the spontaneous formation of vortex cores during the growth of the condensate are in good quantitative agreement with one another, supporting our understanding of the dynamics of the phase transition. We believe that our results are also qualitatively consistent with the Kibble-Zurek mechanism, a universal model for topological defect formation.Ultimately, our understanding of the dynamics of the BEC phase transition may lead to a broader understanding of phase transitions in general, and provide new insight into the development of coherence in numerous systems.

Background: The markets conditions are changing and recent research show that the era of offshoring manufacturing and jobs to foreign countries now is coming to an end. Nearshoring gives the possibility to overcome the challenges that offshoring causes. Furthermore, both the internal parameters and key driving forces in the environment is important to consider in the decision of where to locate the future supplier base. Purpose: The purpose for this thesis is to identify how the future supplier base for the glass lighting segment should be located, taken into consideration the internal parameters availability, sustainability, product quality and cost, and the key driving forces in the environment. Methodology: In this thesis a case study approach is used, with a positivistic perspective and an abductive approach. To identify the key driving forces, the methodology of a scenario analysis is used. Conclusions: Considering the internal parameters and the key driving forces in the environment a use of three nearshoring hubs, closely located to the sales markets, Asia, Europe and North America, is supported for the future supplier base for the glass lighting segment.

As the global warming brings more and more disasters, controlling greenhouse gas emission is one of the main global crucial issues nowadays. As one of the main emitters in the world, China faces more and more international pressure to reduce the emission, so it is urgent to make the transition to a low carbon economy.At the same time, China has been going through the fast urbanization process as shown in the “Northam Curve”, and the current urbanization mode requires the demand of the carbon-intensive consumption, and could lead to the massive carbon emission as well. However, it is contradictory to the long-time sustainable development in China. So, under the current condition, the reduction plan needs to be fit in the Chinese demand, so it is very crucial, and requires innovation and creation to analyze the reduction factor and find the balance point between the urbanization and low carbon development mode. Regarding to the different urbanization rate and economic development modes characters between the East, Central, West part of China, this thesis uses inductive and deductive method to study. Firstly, it chooses one province from each region to investigate. Then it integrated urbanization factor into Kaya equation to study different factors impacts on the carbon dioxide emission in the three sample provinces. It also selected the co-integration econometrics method to study the equilibrium relationship between the carbon dioxide emission and other main factors. Through analyzing the current reduction plan, it explains and forecasts the possible emission in 2015. The result suggests that the anticipated carbon dioxide emission might be able to achieve under the transition to a low carbon economy mode. Different regions should have their own feasible plans through controlling the urbanization rate, slowing the economic development rate and through reducing the energy intensity, improving the energy structure.

Vaikai dėl įvairių priežasčių, netekę tėvų globos patenka į globos įstaigas, patirdami prieštaringus išgyvenimus, net nesąmoningai reiškia protestą, elgiasi negatyviai. Problemiško, nekontroliuojamo elgesio globos namų auklėtinius šių įstaigų darbuotojai nukreipia į socializacijos centrus. Vaikai, keliaujantys iš vienos institucijos į kitą, tampa tarsi institucinės aukos. Štai toks asmuo, praėjęs kelias skirtingo griežtumo globos institucijas, subręsta ir patenka į suaugusiųjų pasaulį. Jų gyvenimo scenarijus kuriamas ant sutrikdytos (iškreiptos) socializacijos pamato jau nuo ankstyvos vaikystės. Per patirtį įgyta programa nematomai veikia žmogaus gyvenime nepriklausomai nuo pasipriešinimo ir laisvo pasirinkimo. Korekcijos proceso veiksniai galėtų pakreipti buvusių globos namų ir socializacijos centrų auklėtinių gyvenimo scenarijų. Tai įtakotų jų nuostatas savo ir aplinkinių atžvilgiu, kurios susijusios su veiklos perspektyvomis, gyvenimo kokybe bei sėkminga integracija visuomenėje. / The children who have lost their parents due to some reasons get to foster homes. Having gone through different contradictory negative emotions there, they, sometimes even subconsciously, express their protest behaving badly. The children who are uncontrollable and break behavioral norms are directed to socialization centres by social workers. These children who move from one such an organization to another are practically becoming victims of these social institutions. At last, after being in these organizations that can rather differ in their limits of freedom, such a person grows up and becomes an adult. Life scenario of these young people is created on a destorted social basement since their early childhood. The acquired life programme invisibly influences a person’s life through his/her experience independently on any kind of struggle or a free choice. Some activities that correct this process can seriously change life scenario of former students of foster homes and socialization centres. In such a way we can influence their previous perception of themselves and the surrounding world in order to change it because this perseption is directly connected with work with a different perspective, life quality and successful integration in the society.

In 2009, 4.1 million Canadians over the age of twelve experienced an activity-limiting injury. Of these injuries 35% occurred from sport or physical activity (Canadian Community Health Survey, 2009). Although injuries occur most commonly in sport and exercise activities, it is difficult to study injured athletes with similar injuries all occurring within the same time frame. Therefore, a scenario protocol was used in the study which described the occurrence of an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury. The purpose of this study was to compare a modeling, an imagery, and a control group on psychological factors related to a hypothetical injury. Healthy athletes (N=86; M age = 22.06 years; SD = 4.37) who had no recent experience of an injury and had not experienced an ACL injury were included in the study. At baseline, athletes read a scenario that described the occurrence of an ACL injury. Participants then completed questionnaires including, demographic information, expected pain, task and coping efficacy, projected rehabilitation adherence, and movement imagery ability. Within two weeks of completing the baseline testing, participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: control, modeling, or imagery. Participants either met with the primary researcher or were sent a link via email in order to complete the follow-up. At the beginning of the follow-up, all groups were given the scenario to read over. Then participants were given the respective treatment. The modeling condition consisted of a video of an athlete who described his experience of an ACL repair. The guided imagery condition involved a recorded script that detailed the recovery process of an ACL injury. The control condition only read the scenario. Afterwards, participants completed the questionnaires involving expected pain, task and coping efficacy, and rehabilitation adherence. Four separate 3 (group) x 2 (time) repeated measures ANOVAs and two ANCOVAs were conducted to examine between group differences in athletes’ perceptions of pain, task and coping efficacy, and rehabilitation adherence before and after the intervention was administered. No group by time interactions were found for any of the dependent variables. However, there were changes over time for pain, F(1, 81) = 5.97, p = .017, task efficacy, F(1, 79) = 193.23, p < .001, coping efficacy, F(1, 79) = 11.16, p = .001, and frequency of adherence, F(1, 32) = 5.17, p = .03. Findings from manipulation check questions suggest that modeling and imagery could serve as pre-injury education tools for athletes to use if they are faced with an injury in the future. / Thesis (Master, Kinesiology & Health Studies) -- Queen's University, 2010-11-02 14:35:08.256