Rapid prototyping tools exist in many fields of science and engineering, but are rare in biology especially not general tools that can handle the diversity and complexity of the many spatial and temporal scales in nature. In this thesis a general use, cell-based, middle-out biology emulation programming framework (outlining a programming paradigm) is presented, that enables biologists to emulate and use virtual biological systems of previously unimaginable complexity and potentially get results accurate enough to be used in research and ultimately, in clinical practice, such as diagnosis or operations. With this technology, virtual organisms can be created that are viable, fit and can be optimised for any task that arises. The tool, realised with a programming framework created for the C++ language is detailed and demonstrated through several examples of increasing complexity, namely several example organisms and a cancer emulation, showing both viable virtual organisms and usable experimental results.

Aging buildings will sooner or later be in need of renovation, which opens opportunities to reduce energy use. Even if economically feasible energy measures or technologies exist, they are not always implemented, leading to an energy efficiency gap. This dissertation deals with how energy measures are handled and why they are enabled or disabled during the planning and design of renovations. During renovations, different kinds of building professionals are engaged, here referred to as middle professionals. The meeting practice of the professionals is investigated, with a focus on how the middle professionals exert influence from the middle-out and to the top and bottom, and how and why they enable or disable measures aimed at energy efficiency or reduction. Three renovation projects are followed in the municipality-owned housing company Stångåstaden, in Linköping, Sweden. The housing company’s goal is to reduce the amount of purchased energy by 25% by 2025. Methods applied during the research are semi-structured interviews, participant observations and document analysis. The conclusions show that energy measures were implemented, but more can be done in renovations. Predefined meeting agendas make the process efficient but not flexible, thus it can be difficult to introduce innovations and alternative ways of thinking into the process. The professionals usually selected measures they had used before. Energy calculations attracted little interest compared to the aggregated knowledge from previous projects, and experience and tacit knowledge were highly valued. This and more lead to a renovation process where it is difficult for energy to enter the current meeting practice. / Byggnader behöver förr eller senare renoveras, vilket ger möjligheter att minska energianvändningen. Existerande energieffektiva och lönsamma åtgärder genomförs emellertid inte i tillräcklig utsträckning, det så kallade energieffektiviseringsgapet. Avhandlingen handlar om implementering av energieffektiviseringsåtgärder vid renovering av flerfamiljshus och varför vissa åtgärder genomförs medan andra väljs bort. I avhandlingen undersöks hur de professionella i mitten av beslutshierarkin, kan påverka implementeringen av energieffektiva åtgärder uppåt och nedåt i en organisation men även utåt, i en horisontell riktning. Undersökningen rör de professionella aktörernas inflytande i planerings- och designfasen, och hur de fattar beslut om att inkludera eller exkludera energieffektiva åtgärder. Studien omfattar tre renoveringsprojekt i det kommunägda bostadsbolaget Stångåstaden i Linköping. Bostadsbolagets mål är att minska mängden köpt energi med 25% till år 2025. Studien bygger på semistrukturerade intervjuer, deltagande observationer och dokumentanalys. Slutsatserna är att även om bostadsföretaget genomför energiåtgärder, kan mer göras i renoveringsprocesser för att förbättra energieffektiviteten. Förbestämda agendor på projektgruppsmötena gör processen effektiv men inte flexibel, och det kan vara svårt att introducera innovationer och alternativa sätt att tänka kring energi. De professionella i mitten valde oftast åtgärder som de tidigare hade använt, energiberäkningar spelade en liten roll och erfarenhetsbaserad kunskap värderades högt. Allt detta och mer leder till en renoveringsprocess där det är svårt att föra in energi i dagens mötespraktik.

高階主管在面臨日益艱難的經濟情勢與經營環境〈主要是來自消費者(Customers)、競爭(Competition)及變動(Change)等3C的壓力）時，依賴傳統組織架構及報告系統來獲取決策資訊的作法，其有效性正受到強烈的質疑。高階主管資訊系統(Executive　Information Systems,EIS)可說是九○年代電腦資訊系統應用的新領域，它以易學易用的圖形使用者介面、多維分析及往下展開的特性，使高階主管能迅速存取各種攸關其企業成敗的關鍵性資訊。由於其親切易用，近年來EIS的應用更沿組織階層向下發展，成為Everyone Information Systems。在企業發展EIS日趨普遍的情況下，一套系統化的分析設計方法更形重要。 　　然而，在相關的文獻中對EIS的發展方法並沒有提出具體的執行步驟，只有概念性的描述，不易引導開發人員及高階主管將其策略理念轉換為資訊需求，而許多發展EIS失敗的例子，正是由於系統資訊需求不正確、時間與成本超出預算、操之過急及政治因素等所造成。因此實務界人士據其顧問經驗提出一個EIS快速發展方法，強調雛型系統的快速建立以爭取高階主管的持續支持及系統的後續發展。但因仍缺乏系統化的需求分析方法，系統發展者往往需經多次歷練才能領悟其中訣竅，也不易將個人經驗傳授於他人。因此雖然企業組織眾人已感受到EIS的重要性，相關的軟硬體工具也可親易用，而EIS的成功推展卻仍受到相當限制。 　　有鑑於此，本論文以符合文獻中對EIS發展方法之概念性描述的「資訊導向」觀念為基礎，並參考快速雛型系統發展方式，運用「中間擴散」(Middle-Out)方向，整合策略分析及資訊系統規劃的具體作法，發展一套結構化的EIS發展方法，稱為EISAD，含目標分析、關鍵成功要素分析、主要績效指標分析、資料分析、資料庫設計、輸出設計、轉換設計、程序及控制設計等步驟。並以金融業為例：說明此方法論的實際運用過程。以期在理論上對EIS發展方法論，及實務上對金融資訊系統應用層次之提昇有所貢獻。 / Due to the rapid changes of business environment and the increasing customer demands and competition pressure, it is getting important to have Executive Information Systems(EIS) to help executives access to high-level strategic information. Recently, EIS has even evolved down the organization hierarchy to become "Everyone Information Systems". The increasing EIS demand endues the needs for EIS development methodology. However, the literature contains only a few academic studies of EIS development methods which are broad and vague. The EIS development has not been researched in a rigorous and systematic manner. Many practitioners adopt a rapid prototyping approach to attract the executives for further support. Due to the lack of a systematic approach to help extracting the user requirements, it is usually up to the developer's experience to informally address the executives' information needs and this experience is hard to be transferred to others. In this thesis, we propose an EIS development methodology, called EISAD, based on the information-oriented concepts and middle-out system development direction. EISAD integrates related tools in strategic analysis and information systems planning as a structurized EIS development methodology. The step by step explanation of the EISAD is illustrated using a banking example.