This research aimed to discover whether the use of specific self-service technologies (SSTs) within hotels impacts employees’ attitudes and satisfaction with their working environment. The main goal of this study was to determine the existence of a relationship between the usage of self-service technology within hotels and actual measured employee job satisfaction. The outcome of this research allowed for providing both academic and practical knowledge regarding the impact of self-service technologies on the hotel industry. Research has shown that high levels of job satisfaction are connected with positive attitudes regarding workplace (Stanley, 2013) and that attitude has an indirect impact on firm financial performance (Rucci et al., 1998). Therefore, the rationale of this study was based on this pre-determined awareness that employee job satisfaction impacts firm bottom line performance. The data collection methodology used for this thesis research was a survey that was distributed directly to hotel employees. This survey focused on usage of self-service technologies within hotels, employee attitude towards these technologies, as well as, employee job satisfaction. The results indicated that these three self-service technologies have no impact on hotel employee job satisfaction. However, it appears that there may be some minor link between employees’ attitude toward certain self-service technologies used in their establishment, and their overall job satisfaction

The adopting of self-service technologies (SST) has for years been used as a vehicle for delivering service in aim to create value. The popularity of SST has recently increased within organizations and suppliers struggle to persuade customers to adopt the technique in order to co-create value for both customer and supplier. Previous research has covered this type of technology and its effects on service delivery in a business to consumer (B2C) perspective but it is relative undiscovered in the context of business to business (B2B). By studying the B2B relation within SST and the effects on value and value creation this paper identifies three value clusters at the supplier perspective and three at the customer perspective. At each perspective our result shows that there are two positive and one negative value clusters. These clusters can help organizations with both preventive actions and management of the negatives by seeing how relationships between values and value creation exist. Our study contributes empirical, theoretical and practical in the research fields of B2B, SST, service and business values.

L’objectif de ma thèse est de mieux comprendre le fonctionnement de deux proxies de température de surface de l’océan (SST), les indices Uk’37 et TEX86, notamment en terme de saison et de profondeur de production des alcènones et des tétraéthers sur lesquels ils reposent, au cours des 160 000 dernières années au niveau de la marge ibérique. L’originalité de ce projet de thèse réside dans sa double approche, avec d’une part l’acquisition des enregistrements sédimentaires, et d’autre part l’utilisation d’un outil de modélisation régionale couplée physique-biogéochimie pour simuler ces proxies sous 3 modes climatiques : au présent, lors du dernier maximum glaciaire, et lors d’événements de Heinrich. La confrontation des résultats des biomarqueurs avec ceux de tests de scénarios de production par la modélisation ont conduit aux conclusions suivantes. L’Uk’37 enregistre bien des SSTs moyennes annuelles, alors que le TEX86 présente a priori des températures beaucoup trop élevées pour cette zone. La formulation d’une calibration régionale pour le TEX86 permet d’obtenir des SSTs moyennes annuelles cohérentes. Le meilleur endroit de la marge ibérique pour appliquer ces deux paléothermomètres est le site de Shackleton. Après analyse fine des timings des signaux multiproxies, le TEX86 semble être produit à des profondeurs intermédiaires, potentiellement par des communautés d’Archées d’origine méditerranéenne. Les variations de gradients thermiques latitudinaux ont été quantifiées, et des réorganisations de masses d’eaux de surface et intermédiaire au niveau de la marge ibérique ont été envisagées selon le climat glaciaire/interglaciaire lors des évènements de type Heinrich. / My PhD project aims at better understanding the functioning of both organic proxies of sea surface temperature (SST), Uk’37 and TEX86, especially in terms of season and depth of alkenone and tetraether production, over the last 160 000 years on the Iberian Margin. The originality of this project lies in its double approach: on the one hand, with the acquisition of Uk’37 and TEX86 sedimentary records from the Iberian Margin, and on the other hand with the use of a coupled physics-biogeochemistry regional model to simulate these temperature proxies for 3 climate modes: at present, during the last glacial maximum, and during Heinrich Stadials. The comparison of biomarker results with those from modeling tests of production scenarios provided the following conclusions. Uk’37 does record annual mean SSTs, whereas TEX86 shows a priori too high temperature for this area. The formulation of a regional calibration for TEX86 index enables to obtain coherent past annual mean SSTs. The best location to apply both paleothermometers on the Iberian Margin is the Shackleton site. After refined analysis of multiproxy signal timings, TEX86 production seems to take place at intermediate depth, potentially by archaean communities coming from the Mediterranean Sea. Latitudinal thermal gradient variations are quantified, and glacial/interglacial surface and intermediate water masses reorganizations during 'Heinrich like' events are considered.

<p><em>I detta arbete har vi studerat tjänsten SMS-betalning. Vi har fokuserat på att utvärdera och beskriva tjänstens användningsområde samt dess styrkor och svagheter. Utifrån företaget Mobill, vars affärsidé är att utveckla en betalningstjänst via SMS har vi fått en bild av hur ett företag kan satsa på denna teknik. I en studie med konsumenterna har vi visat den generella bilden av inställningen till betalningstjänsten, detta för att vidare kunna utvärdera betalningssystemet. Dessa studier har båda en kvalitativ karaktär. Våra undersökningar har visat att betalningstjänstens främsta användningsområde är för mindre betalningar, så kallade mikrobetalningar, vid betalning av framför allt parkeringsavgifter, biljetter för transport, events och vägtullar. Konsumenternas attityd till betaltjänsten är positiv men fortfarande saknas det något för att en bredare användning ska utveckla sig. Vår studie visar dessutom att SMS-betalningen för med sig en stödtjänst nämligen SMS-biljetten, där SMS-systemet både ersätter betalningen av en biljett samt biljetten i sig. Något som kan ses som positivt och tala för tjänstens fortsatta tillväxt. Hotbilden är dock signifikant och utgörs av konkurrerande tjänster som kan substituera SMS-betalningen genom nyare, säkrare och mer effektiva betalningslösningar med mobiltelefonen som hjälpmedel. Om SMS-betalningens existens är hotad är dock mer tveksamt, möjligen på en längre sikt där även SMS-funktionen som kommunikations medel blir föråldrad och utbytt.</em></p> / <p><em>In this thesis we have made a study of SMS-payment. Our focus has been to describe and analyze the possible uses of the service as well as their strengths and weaknesses. Through the business of Mobill whose idea is to develop a payment method via SMS, we have obtained a picture of how a company invests in this technology. Our research has shown that the SMS-payments main area of use is for the so called micro payments, when paying parking fees, tickets for transportation, events or road tax. The attitude of the consumers is positive in general but there is still something missing that will enable a broader use of the service. Furthermore our study shows that the service also enables the customer to get an electronic ticket when paying tickets by SMS. This is a factor that might provide the payment method with more chance of success and further growth. However there is a significant threat to the service, provided by their competitors. These competitors are developing mobile payment systems that can be considered newer, safer and more effective than the SMS-payment and might end up being a substitution. Yet it is more questionable whether the existence of the SMS-payment is threatened. Perhaps in a long term view where even the SMS-function as a means of communicating will be considered old and ultimately end up being replaced.</em></p>

I detta arbete har vi studerat tjänsten SMS-betalning. Vi har fokuserat på att utvärdera och beskriva tjänstens användningsområde samt dess styrkor och svagheter. Utifrån företaget Mobill, vars affärsidé är att utveckla en betalningstjänst via SMS har vi fått en bild av hur ett företag kan satsa på denna teknik. I en studie med konsumenterna har vi visat den generella bilden av inställningen till betalningstjänsten, detta för att vidare kunna utvärdera betalningssystemet. Dessa studier har båda en kvalitativ karaktär. Våra undersökningar har visat att betalningstjänstens främsta användningsområde är för mindre betalningar, så kallade mikrobetalningar, vid betalning av framför allt parkeringsavgifter, biljetter för transport, events och vägtullar. Konsumenternas attityd till betaltjänsten är positiv men fortfarande saknas det något för att en bredare användning ska utveckla sig. Vår studie visar dessutom att SMS-betalningen för med sig en stödtjänst nämligen SMS-biljetten, där SMS-systemet både ersätter betalningen av en biljett samt biljetten i sig. Något som kan ses som positivt och tala för tjänstens fortsatta tillväxt. Hotbilden är dock signifikant och utgörs av konkurrerande tjänster som kan substituera SMS-betalningen genom nyare, säkrare och mer effektiva betalningslösningar med mobiltelefonen som hjälpmedel. Om SMS-betalningens existens är hotad är dock mer tveksamt, möjligen på en längre sikt där även SMS-funktionen som kommunikations medel blir föråldrad och utbytt. / In this thesis we have made a study of SMS-payment. Our focus has been to describe and analyze the possible uses of the service as well as their strengths and weaknesses. Through the business of Mobill whose idea is to develop a payment method via SMS, we have obtained a picture of how a company invests in this technology. Our research has shown that the SMS-payments main area of use is for the so called micro payments, when paying parking fees, tickets for transportation, events or road tax. The attitude of the consumers is positive in general but there is still something missing that will enable a broader use of the service. Furthermore our study shows that the service also enables the customer to get an electronic ticket when paying tickets by SMS. This is a factor that might provide the payment method with more chance of success and further growth. However there is a significant threat to the service, provided by their competitors. These competitors are developing mobile payment systems that can be considered newer, safer and more effective than the SMS-payment and might end up being a substitution. Yet it is more questionable whether the existence of the SMS-payment is threatened. Perhaps in a long term view where even the SMS-function as a means of communicating will be considered old and ultimately end up being replaced.

A new version of the Deforming-Spatial-Domain/Stabilized Space--Time (DSD/SST) formulation of incompressible flows has been introduced recently to have additional subgrid-scale representation features. This is the space--time version of the residual-based variational multiscale (VMS) method. The new version is called DSD/SST-VMST (i.e. the version with the VMS turbulence model) and also Space--Time VMS (ST-VMS). The thesis starts with a brief overview of the ST-VMS method. It continues with a comprehensive set of test computations with 3D airfoil geometries at high Reynolds numbers and comparison with experimental data. The thesis shows that the test computations signal a promising future for the ST-VMS method.

A new version of the Deforming-Spatial-Domain/Stabilized Space--Time (DSD/SST) formulation of incompressible flows has been introduced recently to have additional subgrid-scale representation features. This is the space--time version of the residual-based variational multiscale (VMS) method. The new version is called DSD/SST-VMST (i.e. the version with the VMS turbulence model) and also Space--Time VMS (ST-VMS). The thesis starts with a brief overview of the ST-VMS method. It continues with a comprehensive set of test computations with 3D airfoil geometries at high Reynolds numbers and comparison with experimental data. The thesis shows that the test computations signal a promising future for the ST-VMS method.

Cette thèse a eu pour objectif d'étudier des questions naturelles de définissabilité autour des transducteurs bidirectionnels.Il est bien connu que les transducteurs bidirectionnels définissent une plus grande classe de transductions que celles des transducteurs unidirectionnels. La première question que nous avons étudiée est donc de décider si un transducteur bidirectionnel est définissable par un transducteur unidirectionnel. Il a été montré en 2013 que cette question est décidable pour des transducteurs fonctionnels (nous montrons aussi en paralèlle que cette question devient indécidable si les transducteurs ne sont plus fonctionnels) mais la complexité de la procédure de décision était non-élémentaire.Nous proposons une caractérisation de la "définissabilité par transducteur unidirectionnel" décidable en espace doublement exponentiel. Cette caractérisation est effective en ce sens qu'elle produit en temps triplement exponentiel le transducteur équivalent. De plus, nous avons étudié ce problème aussi pour les transducteurs "sweeping", pour lesquels la procédure de décision et la construction du transducteur équivalent requièrent une exponentielle de moins. Comme nous avons par ailleurs montré qu'il existe des familles de fonctions réalisables de façon unidirectionnelle avec au minimum deux sauts exponentiels, notre procédure est optimale dans le cas "sweeping".Le fait d'avoir particulièrement étudié les transducteurs"sweeping" nous a poussé à étudier d'autres questions dedéfinissabilité~: est-ce qu'un transducteur donné estréalisable par un transducteur sweeping ? Et par un transducteursweeping réalisant au maximum k passages ? Nous montrons que cesquestions sont décidables avec les mêmes complexitésobtenues précédemment. Comme nous avons montré qu'ilexiste une borne sur le nombre de passages nécéssaires pourréaliser avec un transducteur sweeping une transductiondonnée, cela nous permet aussi de minimiser le nombre de passages d'untransducteur sweeping.Enfin nous avons cherché à caractériser la classe destransductions sweeping dans d'autres modèles de transductions,les Streaming String Transducers (SST) et lestransductions MSO. Cela a en autres permis, en établissant unecorrespondance entre le nombre de passages des transducteurssweeping et le nombre de registres d'une sous-classe de SST, deminimiser le nombre de registres pour une classe intéressantede SST. Dans l'ensemble, notre travail a permis de couvrir l'ensembledes relations entre ces modèles, et les questions dedéfinissabilité qui se posent naturellement. / The goal of this thesis was to study definability questionsabout finite-state transducers and in particular two-waytransducers. It is known that two-way transducers cover a larger classof transductions than one-way transducers. Then the first question wetackled is the one-way definability problem: is it possible torealize a given two-way transduction by a one-way transducer? Thisproblem was shown to be decidable for functionaltransducers (we also show as a side result that one-way definability becomes undecidable for non-functional transducers) but the decision procedure had non-elementary complexity.We proposed a characterization of one-way definability thatallows us to decide it in double-exponential space, and provide anequivalent one-way transducer of triple-exponential size. We firststudied this question for a restricted class, namely sweepingtransducers, for which the decision procedure and the construction ofthe one-way transducer take one less exponential. For suchtransducers, our procedure is optimal in the sense that we have shownthat there exists a family of functions that are one-way definable andfor which an equivalent one-way transducer requires doubly exponentialsize.The study of sweeping transducers raised other definability questions: Is a given transducer equivalent to some sweeping transducer? And to some sweeping transducer that performs at most k passes? We showed that those questions are decidable and the decision procedure, as well as the equivalent transducer, have the same complexity as in the one-way case. Moreover, as we have shown that there exists a bound on the number of passes required to realize a transduction by a sweeping transducer, we managed to obtain a procedure to minimize the number of passes of a sweeping transducer.Finally we tried to characterize sweeping transducers in other models for regular transductions such as Streaming String transducers (SST) and MSO transductions. As we obtained an equivalence between the number of passes of a sweeping transducer and the number of registers of the equivalent SST we provided a minimization procedure for the number of registers of a large class of SST's. To conclude, our work allowed us to provide a good overall understanding of the definability questions between the models for regular transductions and in particular regarding the resources, whether it is the number of passes (and of course one-way definability is crucial in that aspect) or the number of registers.

Bakgrund Klädesbranschen står inför nya möjligheter i form självserviceteknologi (SST). Ett flertal butiker har redan börjat använda olika typer av teknologiska lösningar. Det verkar dock finnas meningsskillnader angående om det är en god idé att införa SST i alla typer av butiker. Syfte Syftet med studien var att skapa en djupare förståelse för hur svenska konsumenters shoppingstil och teknikmognad möjliggör användningen av SST i klädesbutiker. Genomförande Efter en utförlig litteraturstudie konstruerades en enkät baserad på inom ämnet etablerade metoder inom köpbeteende och teknikmognad. Enkät delades ut i Linköping. En statistisk analys genomfördes därefter med hjälp av programvaran SPSS. Resultatet jämfördes och utvärderades till sist mot tidigare genomförda studier inom området. Slutsats Svenska konsumenter har olika shoppingstilar samt olika nivåer av teknikmognad. Studien identifierade fem konsumentgrupper av shoppingstilar samt fem konsumentgrupper av teknikmognad. De konsumenter som klassificerats som vane- och lojalitetsshoppare samt undvikare av shopping har en hög teknikmognad således är implementering av SST en god idé för dessa konsumentgrupper. För stilarna: shoppingälskaren och den förvirrade shopparen verkar potentiellt användande av SST mindre positivt då dessa karaktäriseras av lägre teknikmognad. / Background The apparel industry faces new possibilities in the form of selfservice technology (SST). Several stores have already started using different types of technological solutions. There seem to be a disagreement regarding whether or not this is a good idea to implement SST in all types of apparel stores. Purpose The purpose of this study is to create a deeper understanding regarding Swedish consumers decision making styles and their technology readiness and how this enables the use of SST in apparel stores. Completion After an extensive literature review a survey was created. The survey was based on well established tools for measuring consumer decision making styles and technology readiness. The survey was distributed in Linköping, Sweden and then analyzed in SPSS. Conclusion Swedish consumers have different consumer decision making styles and different levels of technology readiness. The study showed that it was possible to divide the consumers into four different groups regarding consumer decision making style. The consumers classified as habitual and brand loyal and shopping avoiders showed high levels of technology readiness, the enabling of SST for this type of consumer seems promising. The shopping lover and the confused shopper enabling of SST seems less promising since they show low levels of technology readiness.

L'objectif de cette thèse a été d'analyser la dynamique de l'interaction entre les ondes baroclines (ou rail des dépressions) et la variabilité basse fréquence de l'atmosphère aux moyennes latitudes. Deux approches distinctes ont été suivies pour étudier le rôle des déferlements d'ondes baroclines sur les courants-jets, l'une reposant sur les données réanalysées et l'autre sur des simulations numériques. La première partie de la thèse a plus précisément consisté à étudier le lien entre les déferlements d'ondes de Rossby et les quatre régimes de temps sur l'Atlantique Nord en hiver en utilisant les réanalyses ERA40. Le calcul des fréquences d'occurrence des déferlements d'ondes a montré que ceux-ci tendent généralement à renforcer les régimes sauf le blocage scandinave qui est détruit par du déferlement cyclonique au sud du Groenland. Ensuite, les précurseurs des transitions entre régimes de temps ont été identifiés. Le premier précurseur est relié à la propagation linéaire d'anomalies basse fréquence (période supérieure à 10 jours). Ce précurseur n'est pas systématique mais il survient durant la transition du régime zonal vers le blocage environ une semaine avant ce dernier où il prend la forme d'un train d'ondes quasi-stationnaire excité par des anomalies convectives dans l'Atlantique subtropical. Le second précurseur plus systématique intervient au niveau des interactions non-linéaires entre les tourbillons transitoires haute et basse fréquences et a pu être relié aux déferlements d'ondes. La formation et la destruction du blocage scandinave ont ensuite été plus particulièrement étudiées en analysant respectivement les transitions préférentielles du régime zonal au blocage et du blocage vers l'anticyclone groenlandais en lien avec les dépressions de surface et les déferlements d'ondes. Les dépressions de surface atteignent les mêmes intensités pendant la formation et la destruction du blocage mais ne suivent pas les mêmes trajectoires. Pendant la formation du blocage, les dépressions de surface ont des trajectoires rectilignes se dirigeant vers le nord de la Scandinavie et sont liées à un déferlement anticyclonique. Pendant la destruction du blocage, les trajectoires des dépressions de surface sont courbées sur l'Atlantique Nord en direction du Groenland et sont reliées à du déferlement cyclonique qui favorise ainsi l'apparition de l'anticyclone groenlandais. Notre analyse suggère que cette différence de comportement provient de la forme de l'écoulement basse fréquence qui n'est pas le même pendant la formation et la destruction du blocage et qui favorise un certain type de déferlement plutôt qu'un autre. Dans la seconde partie de la thèse, nous avons analysé le lien entre les températures de surface de la mer (SSTs) et le comportement du rail des dépressions avec le modèle de circulation générale de l'atmosphère Arpège-Climat en mode aquaplanète pour mieux comprendre les téléconnexions telles que l'Oscillation Arctique et/ou l'Oscillation Nord-Atlantique d'un point de vue idéalisé. / This thesis aims at analyzing the dynamics of the interaction between baroclinic waves (stormtrack) and the atmospheric low-frequency variability at midlatitudes. Two different approaches have been followed to study the impact of baroclinic wave breakings on jet-streams, one using reanalysis data and the other numerical simulations of a climate model. The first part of the PhD dealt with the link between Rossby wave breakings and the four weather regimes over the North Atlantic in winter using ERA40 reanalysis. The calculation of wave breaking frequencies showed that wave breakings tend to reinforce weather regimes except the Scandinavian blocking which is destroyed by cyclonic wave breaking south of Greenland. Then, precursors of weather regime transitions have been identified. The first precursor is linked to the linear propagation of low-frequency anomalies (period greater than ten days). This is not a systematic precursor but it occurs during the zonal to blocking transition about one week before this latter and is related to a quasi-stationary wave train excited by convective anomalies in the North Atlantic subtropics. The systematic second precursor is related to non-linear transient eddy interactions and has been linked to Rossby wave breakings. The link between the surface cyclones, Rossby wave breakings and the formation and decay of the Scandinavian blocking has been more precisely studied through the preferential transitions from the zonal weather regime to the blocking and from the blocking to the Greenland anticyclone. During the formation and decay of the blocking, surface cyclones reach the same intensities but do not follow the same trajectories. During the blocking formation, surface cyclones follow straight trajectories toward the north of Scandinavia and are linked to an anticyclonic wave breaking. Whereas during the blocking decay, surface cyclones trajectories are curved over the North Atlantic toward Greenland and are linked to a cyclonic wave breaking favouring the Greenland anticyclone formation. Our study suggests that this difference of behavior comes from the shape of the low-frequency flow which is not the same during the formation and the decay of the blocking and which can favour a particular type of wave breaking rather than another. The second part dealt with the link between sea surface temperatures (SSTs) and the storm-track in the atmospheric general circulation model Arpège-Climat in aquaplanet mode to better understand teleconnections such as the Arctic Oscillation and/or the North Atlantic Oscillation from an idealized point of view. We performed a sensitivity analysis of the eddy-driven jet variability to various stationary SST profiles.