Software Engineering is a rapidly changing area, especially in terms of its technological foundation. The computer and information technology changes both the kind of systems to be built and the methods and tools available with which to build them. To be able to stay competitive there is no doubt that managing knowledge is very important to the corporate learning process. But even when companies are superior to their competitors technologically, they often find it hard to handle knowledge within the company. Knowledge is to know, to be aware of something. Knowledge that have been gained by action, by exercise of a profession, is the most valuable knowledge. Explicit knowledge can be expressed by words and numbers, while tacit knowledge is not easily expressed and thus hard to formalize and write down. This licentiate’s dissertation presents the results from efforts in communicating, measuring and preserving knowledge. Approaches for communicating knowledge to individuals with no or little knowledge within the software development domain are presented. Furthermore, experiences regarding knowledge management at team level (small group) are presented. Our study show that knowledge is hard to measure, and thus difficult to preserve in text or number format. Instead, we propose that you should build social networks and rely more on oral communication.

Mobile handheld devices have become friends in people’s daily lives. Frequent usage of available applications, especially video streaming, causes exponential growth in mobile IP traffic. Service providers and application developers need to know the tradeoff between the end-to-end (e2e) performance and cost since, not fully met expectations of customers from those applications cause reduced usage of services, revenue, and growth in the churn rate. The user-centric approach, which involves users into the assessment of the performance of a particular service or application, has become important within the inter-disciplinary research field Quality of Experience (QoE). The ultimate goal is to obtain simplified QoE models on particular applications based on the underlying network-based performance metrics as well as other non-technical metrics related to the end-user. Android smartphones that use open-source code and well-documented Application Programming Interfaces (API), facilitate researchers to do low-level and network-based performance analysis on end-user mobile devices while considering user feedback. In this thesis, the influential factors for Android smartphone-based QoE are studied. The relation between the quantified user-perceived QoE metric, i.e., Mean Opinion Score (MOS), and the artifacts in real-time video streaming such as blockiness and jerkiness caused by network-level metrics, e.g., Packet Delay Variation (PDV), Maximal Burst Size (MBS), and video bit rate are identified. Challenges in assessing the user-perceived QoE of video with the focus on memory effects are discussed. The relation between the objective metric of user reaction time and the user-perceived QoE is presented. Furthermore, different methods to assess end-user-perceived QoE such as Day Reconstruction Method (DRM), Experience Sampling Method (ESM), and preliminary online survey are described. Further influential factors, e.g., context, user routines, user lifestyle, and Quality of Service (QoS) metrics such as Round Trip Time (RTT) and Server Response Time (SRT), are studied. The thesis is concluded with preliminary findings that relate the instantaneous total power consumption to the jerkiness of a real-time video stream with evidences such as stalling events.

Emotions are thought to be a key factor that critically influences human decision-making. Emotion regulation can help to mitigate emotion related decision biases and eventually lead to a better decision performance. Serious games emerged as a new angle introducing technological methods to learning emotion regulation, where meaningful biofeedback information displays player's emotional state. This thesis investigates emotions and the effect of emotion regulation on decision performance. Furthermore, it explores design and evaluation methods for creating serious games where emotion regulation can be learned and practiced. The scope of this thesis was limited to serious games for emotion regulation training using psychophysiological methods to communicate user's affective information. Using the psychophysiological methods, emotions and their underlying neural mechanism have been explored. Through design and evaluation of serious games using those methods, effects of emotion regulation have been investigated where decision performance has been measured and analyzed. The proposed metrics for designing and evaluating such affective serious games have been exhaustively evaluated. The research methods used in this thesis were based on both quantitative and qualitative aspects, with true experiment and evaluation research, respectively. Serious games approach to emotion regulation was investigated. The results suggested that two different emotion regulation strategies, suppression and cognitive reappraisal, are optimal for different decision tasks contexts. With careful design methods, valid serious games for training those different strategies could be produced. Moreover, using psychophysiological methods, underlying emotion neural mechanism could be mapped to provide optimal level of arousal for a certain task. The results suggest that it is possible to design and develop serious game applications that provide helpful learning environment where decision makers could practice emotion regulation and subsequently improve their decision making.

Europe is becoming more technology-saturated with each passing day, and due to the 1:1-initiative, the school is no exception. The field of education is in a state of change, with a myriad of ICT (abbr. Information and communications technology) tools under development and trial. The evaluation of these tools are done mostly from the perspective of the students as users, and while the perspectives of the teachers are often utilized in their roles of educational experts, their reality as users of technology is not considered. In this thesis, through a literature review of both ICT in education and tangibility, the qualitative means of semi-structured interviews, and a framework for technology-enabled practice transformation, we find that the inclusion of ICT into education is largely extrinsic. We also find that the teachers have not been sufficiently educated on the changed practice of education in an ICT context, which brings about a number of negative emotional consequences. With this result in mind, we propose, among other things, the need for a modernized teacher education based around ICT didactics, and an explanation as for why tangible ICT is not utilized in education.

Technology advances at a fast rate and pupils encounter a larger amount of English outside school than they do in the EFL classroom. In addition, an update to the Swedish curriculum (LGR 11), that concerns digitalization takes effect in July this year (2018). That is why this thesis aims to explore Swedish EFL teachers’ use of pupils’ extramural (out-of-school) English experience of new media in the EFL classroom. New media is a means of mass communication, a product or service that provides entertainment or information through a computer or the Internet. New media is generally created by the users and for this thesis, relevant new media are social media, social networks sites, online streaming, fan sites and gaming. The results of this study show that about two-thirds of the 27 teachers surveyed in this study have used new media in their English teaching sometime in the last two years. Most of the teachers use it because they are interested in new media, to catch the attention of the pupils or because they find the content of new media useful for their teaching. One-third of the teachers did not use new media and reported that they did not have sufficient knowledge on how to use new media in their English teaching. The results also show that even though new media is used by many of these teachers, the use of it is basic and few reflections are made during the use of new media. Further research about why teachers lack knowledge and how the use of new media can be extended would arguably give a better understanding of teachers’ use of pupils’ extramural English experience of new media. / <p>Engelska</p>

Detta är en kvantitativ studie med syfte att undersöka lärares användning av digitala verktyg i matematikundervisningen på mellanstadiet. Forskningsfrågorna har inriktat studien till vilket syfte lärare har till att använda sig av digitala verktyg och hur de använder sig av det. Metoden som har använts för undersökningen är enkäter vars respondenter varit lärare från flertalet olika kommuner i Sverige. Lärarna som deltagit arbetar på grundskolan i årskurs 4-6 och undervisar i matematik. Resultatet visar på vilka olika sätt lärare använder sig av digitala verktyg i sin matematikundervisning. Fördelar med användandet lyfts fram där lärare utrycker att det är motiverande och att de själva kan variera och individanpassa undervisningen. Resultatet visar även att lärarna saknar kunskap och tid för att använda digitala verktyg i sin undervisning. Det teoretiska ramverket som använts för analysen visar vilken nivå lärarna i undersökningen ligger i förhållande till användandet av digitala verktyg i deras matematikundervisning. Denna analys visar på vilka kunskaper lärarna har om digitala verktyg och i vilken utsträckning de används. / This is a quantitative study aimed at studying teachers’ use of digital tools in mathematics teaching in elementary school. Research question have focused the study on the purpose teachers have of using digital tools and how they use it. The method used for the survey is questionnaires whose respondents were teachers from several different municipalities in Sweden. The teachers who has participated works at elementary school in grades 4-6 and teach in mathematics. The result shows the different ways teachers use digital tools in their mathematics education. Advantages of use are highlighted where teachers express that motivation is motivated and that they themselves can vary and personalize the teaching. The result also shows that teachers lack knowledge and time to use digital tools in their teaching. The theoretical framework used for the analysis shows the level at which the teachers in the survey relate to the use of digital tools in their mathematics education. This analysis shows the knowledge of teachers about digital tools and the extent to which they are used.

This is a short summary of a recent survey [FR03] focusing on the observed evidence, that Internet connectivity is positively correlated with spread of democracy at high levels of significance. The results of multivariate correlation analysis and probabilities regression estimate models are based on the combined analysis of mid - 1991's, to 2001 data series of the Eurostat's and US Census Bureau, the World Bank, and OECD's statistical data service which track the growth of information technology and rating of freedom and democracy worldwide.(author's abstract)

Presented through the lens of the Theory of Relative Deprivation (Tajfel & Turner, 1986), this thesis aims to establish and quantify the link between inaccessibility in online contexts for people with low-vision or blindness, and the psychosocial impacts that may be associated with this inaccessibility. As there is existing research on this topic with elderly participants (Lagacé, Charmarkeh, Zaky, & Firzly, 2016), the focus for this research was working-aged people. The following research questions were addressed: 1) Does perceived lack of internet accessibility lead to perceptions of unfairness among low-vision or blind individuals? 2) In turn, do perceptions of unfairness negatively impact their level of self-esteem, and civic engagement? The hypothesized results were modeled as lower levels of perceived access lead to lower levels of perceived fairness, which in turn, lower the levels of civic engagement and self- esteem. Using a sample of 69 participants between the ages of 21-65, a self-report questionnaire was administered. It was found that perceived fairness was correlated on three of four scale items with self-esteem levels; the perception of fairness was not correlated with civic engagement; civic engagement and self-esteem were significantly correlated; and perceived access was correlated with levels of self-esteem.

L'enseignement/apprentissage du français au lycée scientifique en Italie. Pratiques de classe et création de supports appropriés.Cette thèse porte sur l'étude des langues vivantes étrangères dans les établissements du secondaire en contexte italophone. L'objectif de ce travail a été de mener une réflexion sur l'enseignement/apprentissage du français au lycée scientifique, tout en focalisant l'attention sur l'attitude des apprenants face à des tentatives d'initiation à la langue de spécialité complémentaires au développement des programmes scolaires consacrés, notamment, à l'histoire littéraire. Nous avons émis l'hypothèse générale stipulant qu'« il est possible d'envisager l'organisation de séances au cours desquelles l'apprenant, s'exprimant en français, se livre à des tâches susceptibles de le motiver, lui permettant de connaître le discours et le milieu d'action propres aux futurs professionnels dans le domaine scientifique et médical ».L'hypothèse en objet a été testée par le biais d'une recherche-action qui a eu lieu en contexte institutionnel. Cette approche a été fondée sur l'utilisation de tâches, choisies/conçues selon le niveau des apprenants, liées surtout à des situations auxquelles les destinataires étaient susceptibles de se confronter dans la vie de tous les jours. La presque totalité du travail a été effectuée grâce à l'emploi des TIC.Les résultats ont prouvé l'efficacité de la recherche de terrain et en ont témoigné l'appréciation de la part des jeunes apprenants concernés. Par conséquent, l'ambition de cette thèse est de contribuer à nourrir le débat sur l'utilité de l'étude de deux langues vivantes étrangères dans les établissements du secondaire italiens, en harmonie avec les dispositions du Conseil de l'Europe, de même que de dégager les étapes d'un cheminement éducatif menant à l'acquisition des habiletés linguistiques nécessaires lors de séjours d'études/de travail en pays francophones pendant les années à venir. / This Thesis deals with the study of foreign languages within the Italian High School System.The goal of this work is to draw the attention to the way of teaching/learning French at High School (option maths and science), focusing on the students' attitude while learning a second foreign language, as well as to outline some new educational tools likely to replace the old fashioned ones still in use.In order to achieve this goal, we examined and tested a general hypothesis, stipulating whether “it is possible to set up sessions during which the learner is involved in seemingly motivating activities, and, while expressing himself in French, manages to learn the language and environment of a specific field, familiar to his future professional scientific and medical world”. Such hypothesis was tested following up an experimental action research, that took place within an institutional context. This approach was supported by targeted assignments, based on everyday life situations, then given to the students according to their level of knowledge of the language. Most of the work was carried on thanks to TIC. The results confirmed the effectiveness of the research on this ground, and showed the appreciation of some of the young participants. Consequently, the aim of this Thesis is to contribute to the discussion concerning the need of studying two foreign languages at the Italian High School, in line with the dispositions given by the Counsel of Europe, as well as to follow the steps of the educational training leading students to acquire all the language skills to study or work abroad.

Abstract The information and communication technology (ICT) industry has expanded rapidly during the past decades and has changed in terms of frequent technology development, increase in product complexity, constant time-to-market pressures, heavy price erosion and the decrease in physical dimensions. Successful product development thus requires effective requirements engineering and acknowledging the different needs of internal and external stakeholders. A vital challenge for ICT companies is requirements for products typically changing during product development. In addition, requirements are not interpreted the same way in different parts of organisations. Today’s products being more complicated than ever, and customer segments more fragmented, requirements engineering and testing is currently a bottleneck for product development and production. In this dissertation, requirements engineering in ICT companies is studied from four complementary viewpoints – current challenges, manufacturing requirements, external requirements, and optimal acceptance limits in manufacturing. The dissertation is qualitative and inductive in nature and is based on interviewing experienced industrial managers. The study included also an element that can be seen as constructive. The researcher has analysed the obtained material and made conclusions. The main result of this dissertation can be summarised as requirements engineering having a coordinating role in complex ICT product development. In addition, this study highlights the potential of the design for excellence (DfX) concept for addressing a vast amount of requirements from numerous internal and external stakeholders. ICT companies should consider full integration of tools and databases related to requirements. Also, delaying decision-making in product development projects to a stage, where adequate amount of information is available, could help coping with changing requirements. Addressing the challenges of a large and complex organisation requires creating and documenting processes for a vast amount of issues. It may be sensible to consider the benefits of establishing a separate DfX management organisation for coordinating internal and external requirements. In addition, the managers in ICT companies should notice that in contrast to the conventional thinking, widening the manufacturing acceptance limits makes business sense in some cases.