<p><strong>Study</strong> <strong>objects</strong>: Three different productions companies which the authors have chosen to be anonymous. <strong>Purpose</strong>: The purpose with this study is to examine why production companies choose to use 3D-animations in television commercials, and what different kind of aspects affects their decisions. <strong>Theoretical</strong>: The theoretical chapter reviews the history of 3D-animation andtelevision commercials and other fields that will be relevant laterin the analysis and discussion. <strong>Method</strong>: A case study has been made on three different companies, two of the companies are active in post-production and the other one is active in the consulting area. Data was collected through semistructured interviews with two of the companies. The last interview was conducted via e-mail. <strong>Conclusions</strong>: There were different ground aspects (economy, control, targetaudience, consumer impression) that affected a productioncompany’s decision in whether or not to use 3D-animation in theirproductions of television commercials.</p>

An increased use of medical devices has been assumed to be a major cause of rising healthcare expenditures. Nations around the world are trying to keep costs down, but strong incentives still exist for the development and use of new devices. Innovation is, however, never exclusively good or bad and it is not easy to evaluate the net effect. Theories and empirical research on innovation have been produced for more than 100 years. In this, the diffusion of innovations has attracted the most interest, while other areas, such as the integration of technologies, have been less thoroughly researched. This thesis presents a model of medical device innovation in hospitals – from the first idea and invention effort to regular use of a new technology. The suggested model is built on three fundaments: (1) academic innovation literature, (2) empirical studies, and (3) observations of on-going innovation processes. The model is a synthesis of the accumulated knowledge in different innovation research traditions, and of empirical studies of the Swedish healthcare system and the medical device industry. The aim is to give a comprehensive picture of the innovation process, and to provide a theoretical model, which can be used for studying and influencing the paths of medical device innovations into healthcare practice. In order to achieve a balanced rate of change, with long-term societal benefits, an inter-disciplinary approach is necessary in the planning and regulation of medical device innovation. The new model combines academic views with political/entrepreneurial and healthcare views. Innovation, in this model, is suggested to occur in three integrated activity domains: invention, diffusion, and deployment. A great number of factors that influence these activities are investigated and described, and different roles and incentives are discussed. Deviations from traditional innovation theory are for example: (a) integration of invention activities as having an impact on later events; (b) inclusion of the inventor/developer as a main actor also in the diffusion and deployment domains; (c) increased focus of the concept of technology cluster innovation, and (d) the rationality of use and abandonment of knowledge as factors to be included in the estimation of consequences of innovation. Finally, the thesis suggests a number of model and methodology improvements and policy implications for management of innovation in hospitals.

Estonia is the only country in the world, which is totally dependent on oil shale in its energy system. Although this fossil fuel exists in enormous quantities around the world, it has so far not been utilized on a larger scale. The reasons for this have been both economic and, in recent times, ecological. It can therefore be argued that in most cases, oil shale represents an inferior solution compared to other energy sources. This work examines why a technology utilizing oil shale has developed in Estonia and why Estonia appears not to be in a position to switch to other energy sources. In this work it is claimed that oil shale actually has been an appropriate solution to short-term concerns, despite the fact that its long-term drawbacks have been identified. These circumstances led to path dependence. Once the technology was in place, it advanced along its learning curve producing a satisfactory outcome, but not an optimal one. However, this situation has been accepted due to the extremely turbulent institutional environment Estonia has undergone in the 20th century. In Sweden, a somewhat similar (but smaller) oil shale industry was shut down in the 1960s because of poor economic performance, but also because of the competition from other energy sources. Such competition did not take place in Estonia, in part due to the specific institutional set-up of the Soviet Union. This made it possible for the Estonian oil shale industry to develop further, causing the present lock-in. Today the existing infrastructure, the knowledge-base, and the particular socio-political circumstances of Estonia effectively prevent change. Furthermore, it is argued that because there was only little oil shale-related technology developed outside Estonia, most technology had to be developed domestically. This in turn has forced the Estonian oil shale industry to make several highly inconvenient alliances in order to gain room to manoeuvre. Partially as a result of this, there is today wide-spread scepticism towards the industry, but no exit in sight in the foreseeable future. One purpose of this work is to contribute to a broader understanding why human societies have become dependent on fossil fuels and to extend our knowledge on where to search for an exit.

Within Swedish universities students are often required to work in groups to collaborate on projects or to write essays. A salient feature characterizing this type of work is the lack of a stable and fixed location wherein project- related activities can be carried out and accomplished. Thus, by regarding students as instances of nomadic workers, this thesis investigates the nomadic practices in the context of their group work, with particular attention to issues related to collaborative and coordinative aspects. Although the lack of a stable office has, somehow, always characterized students’ activities, the spread of mobile technologies raises relevant analytical issues concerning the relationships between individuals’ practices, the use of particular technologies and the physical environments in which interactions may occur. In this regard, this thesis provides an example of how a philosophical conceptualization of place as the product of human experience can assist in exploring: (a) the relationships between students’ activities, the locales they work at, and the situated use of specific technological artifacts; (b) how students occupy and experience places, by investing them with activities, meanings and values; (c) how different physical environments constrain and shape the way activities are performed. The data were collected by means of ethnographically-informed methods during two different field studies for which two design courses, held at a technical university, had been chosen as settings. Within both of them, the participants were to develop a prototype of novel IT technologies, and to account for the evolution of their projects by means of a report. The two studies aimed at understanding: (a) how students organize their activities at a number of locations, and how it reflects on the activities they engage with; (b) the strategies they adopt and the technologies they use to overcome problems deriving from the lack of a stable workplace, (c) the different ways a workplace is practically created, how it emerges from students’ interactions with the environment they inhabit, and how it is mediated by the technology they use (place-making). Observations, field-notes, video-recordings, semi-structured interviews were used during the phase of data collection. Some participants were also asked to fill in a diary and to take pictures of the different sites used for their project activities. In addition, a workshop, organized as a focus group, was arranged in order to unpack issues concerning students’ usage of various technologies, with respect to number of people involved, ongoing activities and the related chosen locations. The data analysis suggests that taking into account the way a place is disassembled and the way nomadic workers manage to move out of it is central to an understanding of their work practices. Moreover, it shows that the participants experienced planning the division of work as essential in order to manage coordination and collaboration within the groups, to organize collaborative and individual activities, and to allocate them to differing physical places. Furthermore, this thesis outlines in what way a focus on place may assist designers in reflecting on the design of educational environments, and of technological artifacts enabling students to share and integrate heterogeneous sources of information. / QC 20100806

Study objects: Three different productions companies which the authors have chosen to be anonymous. Purpose: The purpose with this study is to examine why production companies choose to use 3D-animations in television commercials, and what different kind of aspects affects their decisions. Theoretical: The theoretical chapter reviews the history of 3D-animation andtelevision commercials and other fields that will be relevant laterin the analysis and discussion. Method: A case study has been made on three different companies, two of the companies are active in post-production and the other one is active in the consulting area. Data was collected through semistructured interviews with two of the companies. The last interview was conducted via e-mail. Conclusions: There were different ground aspects (economy, control, targetaudience, consumer impression) that affected a productioncompany’s decision in whether or not to use 3D-animation in theirproductions of television commercials.

Språk både reflekterar och påverkar vår världssyn. Hur mottas då försök från gräsrotsnivå att introducera ett könsneutralt pronomen i ett språk som speglar den i samhället rådande könsdikotomin? Syftet med denna uppsats är att utifrån Hirdmans och Butlers respektive genusteorier undersöka vilken inställning användare på ett stort svenskt internetforum har till det könsneutrala personliga pronomenet hen. Undersökningen genomfördes med hjälp av en internetbaserad enkät som besvarades av cirka 150 personer. För att analysera svaren till de slutna frågorna tog vi hjälp av statistikprogrammet SPSS och för att bearbeta de öppna frågorna har vi använt oss av en tematisk analys. Resultatet visar på starkt polariserade åsikter runt hen, där ungefär lika många personer är för som emot ordet. Bland dem som är emot användandet av hen uppfattar de flesta att syftet med ordet är att skapa ett könslöst samhälle, medan hen-förespråkarna ser det som ett komplement till hon och han. Vi har även kunnat se att det finns ett visst samband mellan individens attityd till hen och dennes syn på kön och genus, vilket bekräftar vår hypotes om att det finns en sådan korrelation. / Language reflects our worldview as well as shapes it. How is grass roots level attempts to introduce a gender neutral pronoun received in a society which reflects a gender dichotomy? The purpose of this study is to, inspired by Hirdman’s and Butler’s respective theories on gender, explore what attitudes users of a large Swedish internet community have towards the gender neutral pronoun hen. The current work was performed using an Internet-based survey which was completed by roughly 150 individuals. To analyze the closed ended questions of the survey we used SPSS, whereas the open ended questions were processed with the aid of a thematic method of analysis. The results indicate that the opinions concerning hen are largely polarized, with about as many respondents pro as against the usage of the word. Among those who are against using hen the majority perceive that creating a “genderless” society is the main purpose of the word, whereas most of the word’s intercessors think  that the purpose is to pose as a complement to the pronouns han and hon (he and she).  The study shows that there is a certain connection between the respondent’s attitude towards hen and his/her view on gender, which confirms our hypothesis that there is such a correlation.

HIV/AIDS is widely spread in Zambia. Numerous organizations work to disseminate information about how individuals can prevent themselves and others from infection. Youth Vision Zambia (YVZ) is a non- governmental organization that works from Lusaka, Zambia to increase knowledge about sexual reproductive health and rights among young people aged 10-24. This qualitative case study explores which means of communication strategies YVZ uses to reach and inform their target group about Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) by interviewing staff working for the organization. A qualitative survey was also conducted where 29 respondents belonging to the target group answered questions regarding the information about SRHR they have received from YVZ, how they were reached and if they find the work of YVZ of importance. In order to also get a perception about the interpersonal communication channels YVZ use I attended four meetings arranged for young people where the purpose was to discuss sexual health related issues conducting participant observations. In addition, YVZ put an extensive effort on providing an SMS-short code system which allows people to send questions related to SRHR and in turn get answers from a YVZ councilor. The aim was to seek answers to whether the users had found the SMS service useful or not. The results show a variety of different communication tools that YVZ uses in their daily work and in the light of previous research on communication for development and social change and health communication an analysis was carried out. / HIV/AIDS har stor spridning I Zambia. Ett flertal organisationer jobbar med att sprida information om hur individer kan förhindra sig själva och andra att bli smittade. Youth Vision Zambia (YVZ) är en icke- statlig organisation som verkar i Lusaka, Zambia och jobbar för att öka kunskapen om sexuell reproduktiv hälsa och rättigheter (SRHR) bland unga människor i åldrarna 10-24 år. Denna kvalitativa fallstudie utforskar vilka typer av kommunikationsstrategier YVZ använder sig av för att nå ut till samt informera deras målgrupp om dessa områden. För att göra detta intervjuades personal som jobbar på organisationen. Studien ämnar också undersöka hur ungdomar som tagit del av YVZ’s information uppfattar den, om de anser den värdefull samt hur de fick kännedom om deras arbete, detta gjordes genom att utforma en kvalitativ enkät. 29 enkäter var det som i slutändan användes till sammanställningen av resultat och genomförandet av analys. YVZ jobbar även till stor grad med interaktiv kommunikation i deras arbete i att informera och engagera ungdomar vilket styrde intresset till att även genomföra deltagarobservationer. Vid fyra tillfällen blev således dessa observationer genomförda. Vidare lägger YVZ stor vikt vid att kommunicera via mobiltelefoni vilket visar sig genom deras short message system (SMS) där de erbjuder tjänsten att genom att skicka ett SMS till ett kortnummer innehållande frågor rörande SRHR och genom att göra det få svar och råd från personal från YVZ. Detta resulterade i att en SMS-enkät skickades ut innehållande endast en fråga med syfte att ta reda på om användare av tjänsten har funnit den värdefull eller ej. Resultaten som framkommit genom att tillämpa dessa metoder visar på en variation av kommunikationskanaler som YVZ använder sig av i deras dagliga arbete och i ljuset av litteratur som belyser kommunikation för utveckling och social förändring and hälsokommunikation så lägger denna studie fram en analys angående dessa.

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Teknikens utveckling har gått fort fram de senaste åren, dagens smartphoneanvändare harmöjligheten att utföra ärenden som det för något år sedan krävdes en dator för. I denna studieutfördes en undersökning av mobila Internet-användares vanor och vad som är utmärkandeför mobilt internetanvändande. Tio respondenter förde loggbok där de fyllde i ett detaljeratschema för varje aktivitet, bl.a. var och vad de besökte. De tio respondenterna intervjuadessedan för att få ett djupare intryck av deras mobila internetavändande.Resultaten visar att den vanligaste platsen för surfning skedde i hemmet, respondenternatrodde dock att de skedde under transport. Oftast besöktes nyheter och den vanligastevaraktigheten var två minuter. Respondenterna hade en genomgående positiv attityd tillmobilt internet, ett flertal beskriver hur det förenklar deras vardag. En svaghet med mobiltinternet är enligt studien hastigheten och mottagningen. / Recent years technological development has been rapid, today smartphone users have theability to carry out matters that a few a years ago required a computer. In this study a surveywas conducted of how mobile internet user’s habits look, what are the characteristicsof mobile internet usage? Ten respondents kept a logbook in which they filled in a detailedschedule for each activity, among other things, where they were during the visit andwhat they visited. Later the ten respondents were interviewed to get a deeper impression ontheir mobile internet usage.The results show that the most common place for surfing was at home, although respondentsthought that they occurred during transport. The most visited sites were news; the mostcommon duration for an activity was two minutes. Respondents had a consistently positiveattitude towards the mobile internet; a number of them described how it simplifies things intheir day-to-day life. One weakness of the mobile internet that was mentioned a couple oftimes during the study was the speed but also the reception of the internet.

Information systems design was investigated and a model was developed aimed obtaining organisational advantages through quality and participation. This was developed by connecting high quality information assurance in an IS to the needs of the organisation and incorporating the users in the development through participation factors. The model generates a instruction that connects the impact on the individual and organisation when developing an IS to the organisational benefits. Its purpose is to enable the benefits of motivation, awareness and empowerment. We applied the model using the case study approach for connecting the model to a real life situation. The results provided a blueprint to implement the IS design strategy and may be investigated later to verify if the advantages were reached. The work is of great interest to project managers, software developers and programmers / Design av informationssystem var undersökt. En modell togs fram med målet att knyta organisatoriska fördelar från kvalitet och medverkan av organisationen i framtagandet av ett IS. Modellen skapades utifrån två ståndpunkter, hög kvalitet på datasäkerhet och de behov som finns inom organisationen samt en inkorporerad medverkan av användarna i framtagandet av IS. Modellen fungerar som en instruktion med målet att koppla påverkan på organisationen samt individen av att implementera ett IS till de organisatoriska fördelarna genererade av förändringen. Resultatet möjliggör fördelarna av motivation, medvetenhet och empowerment hos organisationen samt individen. Vi applicerade modellen i ett verkligt företag. Resultatet blev en beskrivning för realisering av en IS designstrategi. Denna strategi bör senare bli utvärderad för att säkerställa att det önskade målet har uppnåtts. Detta arbete skulle kunna intressera projektledare, mjukvara utvecklare och programmerare.