Thèse--Neuchâtel. / Bibliography: p. [163]-169.

Cloud computing has grown from being a business concept to one of the fastest growing segments of modern ICT industry. Cloud computing are addressing many issues emerged by the globalization in terms of the ever faster pace of growth, shorter product life cycles, increased complexity of systems and higher investment needs. Cloud computing is enetrating all sectors of business applications and has influenced the whole IT industry. The business model has grown to be an alternative to traditional on-premise systems, where traditional environment, applications and additional IT infrastructure is maintained in-house within the organization. However, organizations are still reluctant to deploy their business in the cloud. There are many concerns regarding cloud computing services and despite all its advantages, cloud adoption is still very low at an organizational landscape. Hence, this master thesis aims to investigate what the drawbacks regarding a transition from an on-premise system to a cloud computing service are and how these relate to factors that influence the decision of adoption. Furthermore, this study will investigate how cloud service providers can develop a pro-active approach to manage the main drawbacks of cloud adoption. In order to fulfill the aim of the study, empirical research in form of data collection of  onducted interviews were carried out. The results of the study identified security and perceived loss of control as the main drawbacks in the transition from an on-premise system to a cloud computing service. Since these findings could be described as foremost technological and attitudinal, the thesis contributes to practitioners in terms of implications of communicating and educating customers and adherence to industry standards and certifications as important factors to address. Lastly, this thesis identified lack of understanding for cloud computing as a result of poor information, indicating for further research within this area.

The world is currently experiencing an extraordinary explosion of data due to the advancements in digitalization, this has made the decision-making processes become increasingly complex. Modern decision-making incorporates various technologies such as AI, big data, and machine learning and they offer significant advantages in terms of speed, scalability, and granularity. However, the adoption of AI technology also has drawbacks. This paper sheds light on the potential negative outcomes that AI can produce, by systematically reviewing and synthesizing the literature. This paper provides a comprehensive overview of privacy, aversion, accountability, transparency and explainability, and bias, to give insight on the dark side of using AI in decision-making. The findings indicate that to address these issues in the dark side of AI, transparency and explainability are central. By providing explanations, ensuring privacy, and promoting transparent algorithms, we can mitigate these problems and create sustainable AI. Allowing us to embrace its potential while minimizing risks and maximizing benefits. In this paper, the aim is to contribute to the existing literature on AI-supported decision-making by presenting a broad picture and understanding of this area. Based on the findings, directions for future research in AI decision-making are presented to improve the knowledge about how to mitigate the risks of using AI in decision-making.

Context: Over the last two decades, software architecture has introduced a new trend insoftware development. This new trend has completely changed the normal methods andpractices of software engineering. The focus has become the architectural elements ratherthan code and sub-routines. Architecture description languages (ADLs) have been proposedfor this kind of architecture based software development. There are a number of differentADLs both in academia and industry; they are not totally adopted by the software engineeringcommunity, but they are not avoided either. In this research work, an investigation has beenperformed based on the ADLs evaluation in practice. Objectives: The main aim of this study is to investigate evaluation of ADLs in academia andindustry. To explore the benefits and drawbacks of ADLs in practice. The study also exploresthe different quality factors improved by ADLs. Further different methods used to buildarchitecture with ADLs and then how to use architecture described with an ADL in softwaredevelopment and maintenance have also been reported. Methods: This research study has been carried out using the systematic literature reviewmethod. The systematic literature review follows the guidelines suggested by Kitchenham[21]. Results: This research review has resulted in total of 102 different ADLs. It has been foundthat out of the 102 different ADLs, 69 ADLs have been evaluated in academia and only 33ADLs have been evaluated in industry. ADLs have also been classified based on theirindustrial and academia evaluation. There are total 31 different benefits and 19 differentdrawbacks of ADLs have been identified. This review also extracted 20 different qualityfactors from literature that are improved by using ADLs in practice. Further 13 differentmethods used to build architecture with ADL have also been reported. Finally 9 differentmethods of ADLs used in software development and maintenance have been identified. Conclusions: The Large number of ADLs with little evaluation in industry suggests thatmore work needs to be done in order to improve ADLs evaluation in practice. ADLs providemore benefits compared to their drawbacks which suggests that ADLs can be very beneficial.Knowledge gained during this research study, suggests that ADLs are mostly unrecognized.More awareness about ADLs should be provided in education and practice.

There is a recurring interest and attention regarding the problems with M&A integrations andthe difficulty to implement these successfully. Focus is often set on necessary financialaspects and smart strategic moves but equally important factors such as leadership andculture has recently been shown to be crucial. The purpose of this study has been to identify potential kinds of efficiency drawbacks inchange management situations of complex M&A integrations. Complex M&A integrationshave been designated by constellations of multiple companies, concentrated in differentindustries. The data collection has been a qualitative case study that spanned over three months, locatedinternationally. More than 40 interviews were conducted, in which the majority have beenface-to-face. The co-operating company contributed with employees to interview and gatherknowledge from, where emphasis was placed on differentiating the interviewees to reduceany potential bias. The findings demonstrate many forms of identified efficiency drawbacks, which inconclusions are later categorized into the efficiency drawback lack of leadership. Thisefficiency drawback may be considered critically important to address, advantageouslyproactively for successful M&A integrations. / Det förekommer ett återkommande intresse och uppmärksamhet gällande problematiken medM&A-integrationer och att det är så svårt att genomföra lyckade sådana. Fokus hamnar oftapå nödvändiga finansiella aspekter och smarta strategiska drag men minst lika viktigafaktorer såsom ledarskap och kultur har på senare tid visats vara avgörande. Syftet med denna studie har varit att identifiera eventuella former av effektivitetshämmareinom förändringsmiljöer uppkomna av komplexa M&A-integreringar. Med komplexa M&Aintegreringaravses i detta fall M&A-konstellationer av multipel art, det vill säga där fler äntvå företag ingår, koncentrerade inom skilda industrier. För datainsamling har valts en kvalitativ fallstudie som sträckt sig över tre månader,lokaliserad internationellt. Drygt 40 intervjuer har utförts, där majoriteten har varit fysiska.Det samarbetande företaget har hållit med personal att intervjua och samla in kunskap ifrån,där tonvikt har lagts vid att differentiera intervjuobjekten för reducering av eventuell bias. Resultatet påvisar många former av identifierade effektivitetshämmare där slutsatsen senarekategoriserar in dessa i effektivetshämmaren avsaknaden av ledarskap. Dennaeffektivitetshämmare kan således anses kritiskt viktig att åtgärda, fördelaktigen proaktivt, förlyckade M&A-integreringar.

Att inom företag och organisationer använda sig av molntjänster är den senaste heta trenden inom IT-världen. Men vad finns det egentligen för fördelar och nackdelar med att använda sig av molntjänster? I denna uppsats beskriver vi först fenomenet molnetoch molnjänster, även känt som cloud computing. Efter det har vi gjort en litteraturstudie för att ta reda på vad det finns för för och nackdelar med användandetav molntjänster. Vi har till slut utfört en kvalitativ enkätundersökning för att ta reda påvad IT-företag som använder sig av molntjänster upplever för för och nackdelar meddem. Den genomförda litteraturstudien resulterade i ett visst antal för och nackdeler.Dessa för och nackdelar har vi delat in i åtta stycken kategorier med övergripande teman. Vi har därefter utformat enkätfrågorna utifrån dessa kategorier.

With the growth of wireless technologies in sectors like the military, aviation, etc, there is a need to determine the authenticity of a genuine user. Today's conventional authentication mechanisms are based on three factors: knowledge, possession and biometrics. These factors are prone to theft, hardware failure, expensive, etc. Consequently, there is a need of a stronger solution. One such solution is Location Based Authentication that considers the location information of a user. The location information is time based and thus hard to steal. However, accuracy of the GPS, signal strength inside the building, etc, affects its potential. Consequently, there is a need to address alternatives. One such alternative is to implement a puzzle-based authentication scheme based on the location information. In the proposed scheme, the server asks dynamic location-based questions and the client answers them based on the proposed route of travel. This scheme strengthens the current authentication mechanisms.