Firms constantly try their best to build up added value for products or services in order to raise their profitability in the wave of the global economy in 21th century. Originally, brands are simply used to distinguish the sellers of products or services, but once brand contacts with consumers, the interaction between firms marketing strategy and consumers¡¦ response begins. Hence the unique brand attributes and differentiation are developed based on product and brand positioning. The uniqueness and differentiation of brand attributes can attract consumers¡¦ recognition of brand, and it will gradually accumulate to become consumer based brand equity. Smartphone product knowledge is widely open and only one click away from consumers on internet, thus product involvement is gradually getting high. Moreover, the market is flooded with similar products since fierce industrial competition environment. For this reason, consumers¡¦ complex decision-making process among the numerous varieties of products interests me. After relevant literature review, the influence on brand equity, product involvement, perceived risk on smartphone is chosen to be the subject, in order to understand consumers¡¦ perceptions of brand recognition of smartphone. The study employs questionnaires with anonymous and convenience sampling. Total distribution of questionnaires was 347pcs, 342 were received, after deduction of invalid 37pcs, the valid questionnaires reached a total of 305. The empirical study conclusions are: 1. Brand equity affects consumers¡¦ perceived level of product involvement. High brand equity will bring out consumers¡¦ attention and importance of product. 2. Brand equity has direct influence on purchase intention. The objectives of this study are easily influenced by the constructs-perceived quality, brand awareness and different attributes-of brand equity when the decision-making process occurs. 3. Perceived risk does not have mediating effects among brand equity, product involvement and purchase intention. Consumers have no expectation of risk or uncertainty that would cause any loss of smartphone purchase behavior. 4. Product involvement is the mediating variable of brand equity and purchase intention. Strong brand equity can effectively seduce consumers¡¦ needs and interests and go a step further to raise their purchase intention indirectly. Key words: brand equity, product involvement, perceived risk, purchase intention and smartphone.

Denna uppsats syfte är att visa hur Sveriges befolkning använder sig av smartmobiler i kombination med resa. Detta område valdes att studera då vi som studerar turismvetenskap på universitetsnivå ansåg det vara väldigt relevant med tanke på att informationsflöden inom turism blivit allt mer digitaliserade.   I och med smartmobilens framväxt de senaste fem åren, med tillhörande nya funktioner, ständigt nya applikationer så ser vi att smartmobilen håller på att överta Internetanvändningen från den stationära likväl bärbara datorn ute i de svenska hemmen - hela 73 procent av Sveriges befolkning äger idag en smartmobil.   Tidigare studier har gjorts inom området smartmobiler, men inte i kombination med turism vilket vi ansåg vara viktigt då allt fler människor använder sig av Internet till hjälp både före, under och efter resor. Vi lade vårt fokus på hur den svenska befolkningen använde sig av Internet i sina smartmobiler i kombination med resa.   För att undersöka i vilken utsträckning som svenskar använder smartmobiler i samband med resa utförde vi en kvantitativ digital enkätundersökning. Populationen bestod av hela Sveriges befolkning mellan 18 - 75 år och urvalet utgjordes av 1026 slumpmässig utvalda personer, nio stycken män och nio stycken kvinnor från varje födelseår. Totalt fick vi in 123 stycken kompletta enkäter som vi sen använde oss av för att analysera och dra slutsatser utifrån. Genom att jämföra hur olika åldersgrupper utnyttjade smartmobilen kunde vi urskilja användarmönster och för att se vilken sorts användning som hörde samman valde vi att genomföra en faktoranalys.   Precis som med den generella användningen av smartmobiler var det yngre svenskar som utnyttjade smartmobilen i samband med resa allra mest. Den populäraste aktiviteten i alla åldersgrupper att utföra med smartmobilen, både före och under resa, var att kolla kartor och den mest populära aktiviteten efter resor var att ladda upp foton från resan. Skillnaderna mellan användingen under nationella resor och internationella resor var mindre än vi trodde och den enda betydelsefulla skillnaden vi fann var att våra respondenter använde smartmobilen i mindre utsträckning till att beställa biljetter och göra reservationer under internationella resor. / This study aims to show how the Swedish population uses their smartphones combined with traveling. This area was chosen to study as we are studying the science of tourism at the university level and considered it to be very relevant now that the tourism market is increasingly becoming digitized.   With the smartphone's emergence over the past five years and new features constantly being developed and updated, we can see that the smartphone is about to succeed the computer for Internet use. About 73 percent of Sweden's population owns a smartphone.   Previous studies have been made in the field of smartphones, but not in combination with tourism which we considered to be important as more and more people are using Internet while traveling both nationally and internationally. Our focus was on how the Swedish tourists uses their smartphones combined with traveling.   To examine the extent to which Swedes are using their smartphones in connection with their travel, we performed a quantitative digital survey. The population consisted of the entire Swedish population aged between 18 - 75 years, and the sample consisted of 1026 randomly selected people, nine of them male and nine of them women from every birthyear. In total, we received 123 complete questionnaires which we then used to analyze and draw conclusions from. By comparing how various age groups took advantage of the smartphone we could discern usage patterns and we also conducted a factor analysis to see what sort of use that connected together.   Just as with general use of smartphones, it was the younger crowd who used their smartphones in connection with travel most frequently. The most popular activity in all age groups with the smartphone, both before and during the travel, was to check maps and the most popular activity after traveling was to upload photos from the trip. The differences between use during national travel and international travel was less than we thought, and the only significant difference was that our respondents use the smartphone to a lesser extent to order tickets and make reservations during international travel.

The introduction of mobile devices to the pockets and handbags of people living all over the world has made the practice of mobile computing nearly ubiquitous in modern society. iSeeMe is an Android application that empowers the user through the revelation of the vast amount of private data that mobile devices are capable of silently capturing in the background. iSeeMe strives to provide the user with a means to correlate this passively-collected information with data of personal importance to the user. This report looks into the development and implementation of the iSeeMe solution. It discusses design decisions, describes the iSeeMe architecture, and outlines the process of engineering the application. It also examines the role of personal data in modern society and explores the mobile application market to see where iSeeMe will fit in among similar applications. Finally, it analyzes the results of the development effort and identifies areas for future enhancement. / text

The use of smartphone for the detection of biological constituents is becoming a useful tool as a point-of-care (POC) device and diagnostics. When combined with microfluidic paper analytic devices (μPAD) and particle immunoassays, we have the ability to detect bacterial pathogens with sensitivity and specificity. Environmental conditions as well as variability in smartphone imaging and the cellulose in paper microfluidics however can sometimes easily interfere with the detection of small signal changes. Combining this issue with the detection of pathogens in blood (our model biological sample of interest) becomes difficult with such a platform because of the complexity of the sample matrix. However, in this research we take a novel approach at utilizing polystyrene’s auto-fluorescence and the high energy of UV LEDs in a particle immunoassay in order to increase our signal change. We first characterized how the smartphone actually responds to UV light (275-385 nm) with respect to the RGB components in its images. We were then able to determine a favorable response using the 385 nm UV LED. The detection of green fluorescence by polystyrene particles was possible by analyzing the smartphone’s image in the green channel. There was a significant difference in signal change with blood samples including polystyrene versus just blood samples with a normalized signal intensity change of 2.5 (150%). The detection of polystyrene fluorescence was translated into a field deployable prototype, where preliminary trials showed promising results in detecting Escherichia coli in blood with a current limit of detection of 50 CFU/ml. With further experimentation and optimization the limit of detection could be improved to 10 CFU/mL, making it a very useful tool in the detection of blood borne pathogens to prevent complications with onset bacteremia and the more serious cases of sepsis. This assay platform could provide an easy to use solution with detection in a short time (assay time of 1 min) compared to the lengthy blood culture monitoring or biomarker detection.

Busy families of Nova Scotia and similar populations find it challenging to make healthy nutrition and exercise choices due to time constraints (Chircop et al, under review; Jabs et al, 2007; Devine et al, 2006). Smartphone application technology can provide health behavior change interventions in a mobile and fast format (Breton, Bernard, Fuemmeler, Lorien & Abroms, 2011). Using focus groups, this research addressed parent’s perceptions on how smartphone application technology can support nutrition and physical activity habits within their family and what, if any, barriers exist in adopting this form of health behavior intervention. Findings revealed this population believes smartphone health applications can improve family nutrition and physical activity as long as barriers are minimized and requirements for adoption are met. Diffusion of Innovations theory was used to understand the adoption rate within the target population. Thoughts on future work efforts for related health behaviour interventions is discussed.

An estimated 70,000 preventable medication errors occur in Canada annually, causing up to 23,750 deaths. Medication errors increase when the number of medications being administered increases. Therefore, people with multi-morbidity who take several medications at once are more vulnerable to medication errors. Medication errors can be prevented by developing and managing an efficient healthcare system integrated with technology. Near Field Communication (NFC) technology, in particular, has been shown to improve the quality of health care and increase patient safety. NFC has a powerful ability to identify and track objects such as patients and medications; its identification and tracking abilities give it significant potential especially in detecting drug interaction and drug allergy. The main objective of this thesis is to present a novel solution using NFC-enabled smartphone integrated with NFC application to detect and update drug allergies and drug interactions for people with multi-morbidity during medication administration. / The system has been implemented using Samsung Nexus S smartphone with Android 2.3.6 platform, MIFARE Classic 1K tags, and a database populated with 10 patients’ record and 30 medications. The system was validated for the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), accuracy, and computational and communicational cost.

This essay deals with the influence of leadership on student use of Smart phones as an ICT tool at after school care. I use a qualitative, hermeneutical method that departs from two stories. I also use qualitative interviews with both structured and unstructured questions. My reflections and interpretations are, through the interviews, complemented by my colleagues’ views of the use of Smart phones and how that is affected by how the activities are managed. I have faced a dilemma in my stories where I have to choose between following the school’s rules or help the students that need help with the use of Smart phones. Reflecting on the stories leads me to view my own leadership and style of leadership in a critical light and to view myself in a wider context within a problematic organization with a hierarchical leadership. This leads to other dilemmas that occur in a school organization, where helpful factors to a change can be seen in different perspectives with the open dialogue as an advantage.

BAKGRUND: Användandet av smartphones har de senaste åren ökat markant i åldrarna 13- 16 år och 93 % använder internet dagligen. I och med det faktum att Sveriges regering har skapat en myndighet för att följa medieutvecklingen med syftet att stärka unga inom just detta område, så ansåg vi att det var intressant att undersöka hur ungdomar själva upplever sitt användande av smartphone. SYFTE & FRÅGESTÄLLNINGAR: Syftet med studien var att undersöka om dagens informationssamhälle, i och med det ökade användandet av smartphones, kan vara gynnande för individens känsla av egenmakt och delaktighet. Vi ville också belysa vad individen lär sig via sitt användande av smartphone samt hur individen socialiseras via den. Detta undersökte vi med följande frågeställningar: a) Hur kan smartphonen användas som en medierande artefakt för att främja lärande? b) Vilka uttryck för socialisation formulerar trettonåringarna kring sitt användande av smartphone? c) Hur kan egenmakt och delaktighet möjliggöras genom användande av smartphone? METOD: Vi valde en kommundel med relativt goda socioekonomiska förutsättningar och en kvalitativ metodansats i form av fokusgruppsdiskussioner. Vi genomförde sex fokusgruppsdiskussioner på tre kommunala skolor med både pojkar och flickor som var tretton år. RESULTAT: a) Resultatet visade att smartphonen fungerar som en medierande artefakt för lärande till exempel i form av att de delar sina kunskaper tillsammans med vänner och att de söker upp information. b) De deltagande trettonåringarna uttrycker att de främst använder sin smartphone i syftet att kommunicera med familj och vänner via sociala medier där de lär normer och värderingar samt hur de ska agera i förhållande till andra i deras omgivning. c) Smartphonen fungerar som en artefakt som främjar känslan av egenmakt. Smartphonen främjar också känslan av delaktighet i form av att de finner glädje i att vara uppdaterade och följa med i nyheter. De uttrycker dock att det kan finnas negativa effekter som stress och utanförskap. SLUTSATS: Slutsatsen vi drar av denna studie är att smartphonen absolut är en viktig faktor för trettonåringarna i den tidsepok vi lever i. När teknologin går framåt är det viktigt att vi följer med i utvecklingen och därmed behöver vi vara våra ungdomar behjälpliga med hanteringen av det. Vi anser att fördelarna med användande av smartphone väger över så länge det inte ur en socioekonomisk aspekt skapar klyftor i samhället.

Title: A study of how the Brick and Mortar business can utilize Location-based Marketing in Sweden. - Technologies, Strategies, Privacy & Integrity and Receptiveness from a consumer and expert perspective. Date: 2014-05-20 Level: Bachelor Thesis in Marketing Authors: Philip Lagström and Gustaf Stenlund. Supervisor: Klaus Solberg Søilen. Purpose: The purpose of this research is to create an understanding of what location-based marketing is and how brick and mortar businesses in Sweden can use this type of marketing, and how it affects sales and the customer experience. The objective is also to find out how consumers percept location-based marketing and possible privacy and integrity concerns. Theoretical framework: The theoretical framework begins with theory regarding Smartphone usage in Sweden and privacy & integrity concerns. The theory also discusses the brick and mortar business. Further, it discusses what kinds of techniques and methods that are used by location-based marketing today is, and how push and pull strategies can be used within location-based marketing. Method: The research is based on a combination of a qualitative and quantitative study. This was made to get the experts point of view and also the consumers’ perspective. The qualitative part consisted of three interviews with experts in the field of location-based marketing, mobile applications, Smartphone marketing and digital marketing. The quantitative part consisted of a survey with 357 participants Empirical framework: The empirical study consists of interviews and a survey. It begins with the interviews with the three experts; this part involves thoughts regarding location-based marketing within brick and mort, best method of LBM, consumer receptiveness, negative/positive aspects, privacy and integrity and future prospects for location-based marketing. This followed by the results from the quantitative survey with our 357 respondents; the survey gives a consumer point of view on important factors such as Smartphone use, consumer interest regarding LBM, receptiveness, privacy and integrity concerns and loyalty. Conclusion: The conclusion made in this dissertation is that location-based marketing is a great part of the digital marketing mix, and could potentially work well for Swedish brick and mortar businesses. It has potential to create increased value for consumers, which in turn can develop into a loyal customer base. The respondents of our survey are not concerned about their privacy and integrity. However, it could be a devastating blow for retailers if dealt with incorrectly.

Monitoring an individual’s mobility with a modern smartphone can have a profound impact on rehabilitation in the community. The thesis objective was to develop and evaluate a third-generation Wearable Mobility Monitoring System (WMMS) that uses features from inertial measurement units to categorize activities and determine user changes-of-state in daily living environments. A custom suite of MATLAB® software tools were developed to assess the previous WMMS iteration and aid in third-generation WMMS algorithm construction and evaluation. A rotation matrix was developed to orient smartphone accelerometer components to any three-dimensional reference, to improve accelerometer-based activity identification. A quaternion-based rotation matrix was constructed from an axis-angle pair, produced via algebraic manipulations of acceleration components in the device’s body-fixed reference frame. The third-generation WMMS (WMMS3) evaluation was performed on fifteen able-bodied participants. A BlackBerry Z10 smartphone was placed at a participant’s pelvis, and the device was corrected in orientation. Acceleration due to gravity and applied linear acceleration signals on a BlackBerry Z10 were then used to calculate features that classify activity states through a decision tree classifier. The software tools were then used for offline data manipulation, feature generation, and activity state prediction. Three prediction sets were conducted. The first set considered a “phone orientation independent” mobility assessment of a person’s mobile state. The second set differentiated immobility as sit, stand, or lie. The third prediction set added walking, climbing stairs, and small standing movements classification. Sensitivities, specificities and -Scores for activity categorization and changes-of-state were calculated. The mobile versus immobile prediction set had a sensitivity of 93% and specificity of 97%, while the second prediction set had a sensitivity of 86% and specificity of 97%. For the third prediction set, the sensitivity and specificity decreased to 84% and 95% respectively, which still represented an increase from 56% and 88% found in the previous WMMS. The third-generation WMMS algorithm was shown to perform better than the previous version in both categorization and change-of-state determination, and can be used for rehabilitation purposes where mobility monitoring is required.