The advances of information technologies have forced many enterprises to reconsider the way their business processes are conducted. Among the various information technologies, workflow management systems (WFMSs) are widely recognized as an effective tool to greatly improve the efficiency of business processes and customers¡¦ satisfaction. Today, a great number of commercial WFMSs have been available on the market; however, none of them are very successful due to the lack of some important features. One of the features that are needed by many business processes is the specification and enforcement of time constraints. In this thesis, we propose a time constraint model that helps workflow designer to define and verify time constraints. Different constraints may be verified at different times, e.g., definition time, invocation time, execution time. A workflow instance, once detected as a violation of some time constraint, could be terminated immediately to avoid the waste of precious resources as well as to provide prompt response to users. A variety of algorithms for verifying time constraints are proposed and analyzed.

This study aimed to investigate the role of time constraint on second language reading comprehension via the recruiting of 47 Saudi participants who were learning English as a second language. Subjects shared similar level of English proficiency; all participants were in their third semester of English at Aljouf University, Saudi Arabia, at the time of data collection. Participants were divided into three time groups; limited (20 minutes), extended (30 minutes), and unlimited (40 minutes). In terms of stimuli, a reading text was adapted from a standard English proficiency exam, TOEFL. The text consisted of 699 words and was of moderate level in difficulty, calculated as between 8th and 9th grade for native English speakers; passive structures comprised 6% of the text. Questions were also divided into three groups to elaborate the effect of time constraint on each type of questions. The particulars of the study were as follows. Firstly, this study analyzed effect of time constraint on the overall performance on the TOEFL reading passage. Then, effect of time on the three groups, including vocabulary-based questions, literal comprehension questions, and higher order inferential questions. Results revealed that time constraint tends to be an affective factor in reading. In the overall comparison among the 3 different time groups, the unlimited time group showed the highest performance on the reading comprehension task. ii In view of the categories of questions, no significant difference was found on the vocabulary-based questions between time condition groups. The overall low vocabulary scores across groups and the lack of significant effect for time constraint suggest that extended time does not compensate for poor vocabulary knowledge. On the other hand, the unlimited time group demonstrated the best performance relative to the other two groups on the literal comprehension and higher order questions. Of all three categories, the higher-order questions were the most difficult for all three time constraint groups. Overall, the results of this study show that time given to the reading task significantly affects overall reading comprehension scores, but they also suggest that this effect varies in relation to the types of questions.

This degree project examined the effect of time constraint on wing shape and phenotypic variation in wing shape along a latitudinal gradient in the damselfly species Lestes sponsa. Fore and hind wings from individuals originating from three different latitudes: North (66°N), Central (59°N) and South (54°N) Europe were treated with their native temperature and photoperiod. In addition, the north and south populations were treated with south and north conditions respectively, resulting in five groups in total. Morphometric analyses of the wings revealed a positive correlation between body mass and wing centroid size, along with a difference in wing shape between the groups. Forewings and hindwings from the northern group were broader and rounder than wings from the central and southern groups. Additionally, the wings from the transplant groups resembled those of the native group of their treatment, indicating a phenotypic plasticity in wing shape. Lastly, statistical tests of phenotypic variation revealed that variation was highest in relative warp 2 in the forewings and hindwings, and this warp represents the curvature of the wing both upwards/downwards or towards the inside/outside of the wing. These results on phenotypic variation indicate that even in a new or changing environment, L. sponsa could be capable of adapting to varying temperatures and environmental conditions. This study builds our understanding of how this damselfly species, and potentially insects, will be affected by current and future potential climate change.

Kreativitet är ett populärt begrepp som frekvent förekommer i arbetslivet. Trots begreppets popularitet varierar förutsättningar till att vara kreativ mellan arbetsplatser, och många medarbetare upplever att de inte får utlopp för sin kreativitet i sin arbetsroll. Den föreliggande studiens syfte låg därmed i att undersöka hur olika förutsättningar kan påverka kreativiteten. De två frågeställningar som besvarades var: a) Kan individers kreativa prestation manipuleras av prestationskrav under uttalad tidspress? b) Kan individers självskattade kreativitet manipuleras av prestationskrav under uttalad tidspress? En experimentell studie utfördes med totalt 89 deltagare randomiserat fördelade i två grupper. Experimentgrupp 1 hade totalt 47 deltagare, varav 23 kvinnor (48.9%) och Experimentgrupp 2 hade totalt 42 deltagare, varav 15 kvinnor (35.7%). Experimenten genomfördes individuellt och enskilt med en deltagare åt gången. De mätinstrument som användes var Guilfords (1967) Alternative Uses Task för att mäta kreativitet och Mini-IPIP6 för att även kontrollera för personlighetsdrag. Det aktuella föremålet i Alternative Uses Task var en kaffemugg som deltagarna skulle komma på alternativa användningsområden till. Experimentgrupp 1 fick ett prestationskrav att komma på minst 15 alternativ samt uttalad tidspress. Experimentgrupp 2 utförde samma kreativa uppgift, men hade inget prestationskrav och ingen uttalad tidspress. Data analyserades med hjälp av IBM SPSS och de analysverktyg som användes var Pearsons korrelation (r), oberoende t-test och Repeated Measures ANOVA. Resultaten visade 1) att Experimentgrupp 1 producerade fler kreativa idéer än Experimentgrupp 2, men att Experimentgrupp 2 hade signifikant högre kreativ kvalitet på sina idéer än Experimentgrupp 1. Vidare visade resultaten 2) att manipulationen inte hade en signifikant effekt på den självskattade kreativiteten när personlighetsdraget Openness kontrollerades för. / Creativity is a popular term that frequently occurs in the working life. Despite its popularity, the possibility to be creative varies a lot between work places, and many employees feel that they do not have a creative outlet in their work role. The purpose of the present study was to examine how different conditions could affect creativity. The two questions that this study intended to answer was: a) Can individuals' creative performance be manipulated by performance requirements during explicit time constraint? b) Can individuals' self-rated creativity be manipulated by performance requirements during explicit time constraint? An experimental study was conducted with a total of 89 participants randomly distributed into two groups. Experimental group 1 had a total of 47 participants, of which 23 women (48.9%) and Experimental group 2 had a total of 42 participants, of which 15 women (35.7%). The experiments were conducted individually with one participant at a time. The measuring instruments used were Guilford's (1967) Alternative Uses Task to measure creativity and Mini-IPIP6 to control for personality. The current item used in Alternative Uses Task was a coffee mug that the participants were assigned to write down as many alternative uses for as possible. Experimental group 1 had a performance requirement to write down a minimum of 15 alternative uses and an explicit time constraint. Experimental group 2 did the same task, but without performance requirement and no explicit time constraint. The collected data was analysed with IBM SPSS and the tools used for the analyses was Pearson's correlation (r), independent t-test and Repeated Measures ANOVA. The results showed a) that Experimental group 1 produced a higher number of creative ideas than Experimental group 2, but that Experimental group 2 had a significantly higher creative quality on their ideas than Experimental group 1. Further the results showed b) that it was not possible to manipulate the self-rated creativity when the personality trait Openness was controlled for.

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When a new transport service is introduced, people have to learn and familiarize themselves with the new service before they decide to adopt it. These processes are developed over time, thus produce dynamics in individuals’ behavioural responses towards the service. This affects the demand of the new service, thus affect revenues. Available studies have examined the factors influencing these responses from microeconomic perspectives. The influence of the theory-based subjective factors has not been examined empirically. Understanding these would assist transport and urban planners to design a better marketing strategy to increase the market share of the new service. A change in seasons affect individuals’ activity-travel decisions, thus produce dynamics in activitytravel patterns in different seasons. Individuals’ constraints, in a form of mandatory activities (working/studying), are influencing individuals’ decisions to participate in day-to-day nonmandatory activities (leisure and routine activities). The interdependency between travel demand, time allocation and mode choice that considers interactions between mandatory and non-mandatory activities, in different seasons is less explored. Understanding these would assist transport planners and operators to manage travel demand strategies across different seasons of the year and provide better transportation systems for all individuals. This thesis includes five papers. Paper I explores individuals’ characteristics of the quick-response and the adopters of the new public transport (PT) service and examines the temporal effects. Paper II investigates the subjective factors influencing a quick-response to the new PT service by proposing a modified attitude-behaviour framework. Paper III and IV analyse the effects of seasonal variations and individuals’ constraints on their day-to-day activity-travel decisions and patterns. Paper V analyses the attrition and fatigue in the two-week travel diary panel survey instrument. / <p>QC 20170323</p>

Les travaux présentés dans cette thèse ont porté sur l’étude de faisabilité technique et logicielle du système i-GUIDE, système interactif de guidage des personnes dans les hypermarchés. Nous avons détaillé l’analyse fonctionnelle du besoin du système. Ensuite, nous avons étudié l’impact de l’intégration du système dans le magasin à travers le diagramme BPMN. Nous avons opté pour l’approche UML pour décrire les principales fonctionnalités de notre système ainsi que les objets nécessaires pour son bon fonctionnement. Une architecture du système i-GUIDE, basée sur la technologie RFID avec une application sous Android, a été présentée. Par ailleurs, nous avons proposé des approches d’optimisation de parcours dans un hypermarché basées sur la méthode de recherche tabou pour deux problèmes. Pour le premier problème, nous avons choisi le critère de la plus courte distance pour la détermination du chemin et pour le deuxième nous avons ajouté une contrainte de temps pour des articles en promotion. Avant de chercher le chemin le plus court à parcourir pour trouver les articles existants dans la liste de courses, nous avons proposé une méthode pour ladétermination des distances entre les articles de l’hypermarché pris deux à deux / The present work focuses on the technical feasibility study of i-GUIDE system which is a real time indoor navigation system dedicated to assist persons inside hypermarkets. We detailed its functional analysis. Then, we studied the impact of integrating the system inside hypermarkets. We opted for an UML design to describe its main functionalities and objects required. We presented architecture of i-GUIDE system based on RFID technology with an Android application. Furthermore, we introduced optimization approaches based on tabu search to compute the route visiting items existing in a shopping list for two problems. The first one treats the shortest path to pick up items and the second one adds a time constraint for promotional items. Before computing the shortest path, we introduced a method to determine distance between each two items existing in the hypermarket