Context. Industry is moving from co-located form of development to a distributed development in order to achieve different benefits such as cost reduction, access to skillful labor and around the clock working etc. This transfer requires industry to face different challenges such as communication, coordination and monitoring problems. Risk of project failure can be increased, if industry does not address these problems. This thesis is about providing the solutions of these problems in term of effective roles and responsibilities that may have positive impact on GSD team. Objectives. In this study we have developed framework for suggesting roles and responsibilities for GSD team. This framework consists of problems and casual dependencies between them which are related to team’s ineffectiveness, then suggestions in terms of roles and responsibilities have been presented in order to have an effective team in GSD. This framework, further, has been validated in industry through a survey that determines which are the effective roles and responsibilities in GSD. Methods. We have two research methods in this study 1) systematic literature review and 2) survey. Complete protocol for planning, conducting and reporting the review as well as survey has been described in their respective sections in this thesis. A systematic review is used to develop the framework whereas survey is used for framework validation. We have done static validation of framework. Results. Through SLR, we have identified 30 problems, 33 chains of problems. We have identified 4 different roles and 40 different responsibilities to address these chains of problems. During the validation of the framework, we have validated the links between suggested roles and responsibilities and chains of problems. Addition to this, through survey, we have identified 20 suggestions that represents strong positive impact on chains of problems in GSD in relation to team’s effectiveness. Conclusions. We conclude that implementation of effective roles and responsibilities in GSD team to avoid different problems require considerable attention from researchers and practitioners which can guarantee team’s effectiveness. Implementation of proper roles and responsibilities has been mentioned as one of the successful strategies for increasing team’s effectiveness in the literature, but which particular roles and responsibilities should be implemented still need to be addressed. We also conclude that there must be basic responsibilities associated with any particular role. Moreover, we conclude that there is a need for further development and empirical validation of different frameworks for suggesting roles and responsibilities in full scale industry trials.

Context: A District Heating System (DHS) uses a central heating plant to produce and distribute hot water in a community. Such a plant is connected with consumers’ premises to provide them with hot water and space heating facilities. Variations in the consumption of heat energy depend upon different factors like difference in energy prices, living standards, environmental effects and economical conditions etc. These factors can manage intelligently by advanced tools of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) such as smart metering. That is a new and emerging technology; used normally for metering of District Heating (DH), district cooling, electricity and gas. Traditional meters measures overall consumption of energy, in contrast smart meters have the ability to frequently record and transmit energy consumption statistics to both energy providers and consumers by using their communication networks and network management systems. Objectives: First objective of conducted study was providing energy consumption/saving suggestions on smart metering display for accepted consumer behavior, proposed by the energy providers. Our second objective was analysis of financial benefits for the energy provides, which could be expected through better consumer behavior. Third objective was analysis of energy consumption behavior of the residential consumes that how we can support it. Moreover, forth objective of the study was to use extracted suggestions of consumer behaviors to propose Extended Smart Metering Display for improving energy economy. Methods: In this study a background study was conducted to develop basic understanding about District Heat Energy (DHE), smart meters and their existing display, consumer behaviors and its effects on energy consumption. Moreover, interviews were conducted with representatives of smart heat meters’ manufacturer, energy providers and residential consumers. Interviews’ findings enabled us to propose an Extended Smart Metering Display, that satisfies recommendations received from all the interviewees and background study. Further in this study, a workshop was conducted for the evaluation of the proposed Extended Smart Metering Display which involved representatives of smart heat meters’ manufacture and residential energy consumers. DHE providers also contributed in this workshop through their comments in online conversation, for which an evaluation request was sent to member companies of Swedish District Heating Association. Results: Informants in this research have different levels of experiences. Through a systematic procedure we have obtained and analyzed findings from all the informants. To fulfill the energy demands during peak hours, the informants emphasized on providing efficient energy consumption behavior to be displayed on smart heat meters. According to the informants, efficient energy consumption behavior can be presented through energy consumption/saving suggestions on display of smart meters. These suggestions are related to daily life activities like taking bath and shower, cleaning, washing and heating usage. We analyzed that efficient energy consumption behavior recommended by the energy providers can provide financial improvements both for the energy providers and the residential consumers. On the basis of these findings, we proposed Extended Smart Metering Display to present information in simple and interactive way. Furthermore, the proposed Extended Smart Metering Display can also be helpful in measuring consumers’ energy consumption behavior effectively. Conclusions: After obtaining answers of the research questions, we concluded that extension of existing smart heat meters’ display can effectively help the energy providers and the residential consumers to utilize the resources efficiently. That is, it will not only reduce energy bills for the residential consumers, but it will also help the energy provider to save scarce energy and enable them to serve the consumers better in peak hours. After deployment of the proposed Extended Smart Metering Display the energy providers will able to support the consumers’ behavior in a reliable way and the consumers will find/follow the energy consumption/saving guidelines easily.

Context. Reminder system offers flexibility in daily life activities and assists to be independent. The reminder system not only helps reminding daily life activities, but also serves to a great extent for the people who deal with health care issues. For example, a health supervisor who monitors people with different health related problems like people with disabilities or mild dementia. Traditional reminders which are based on a set of defined activities are not enough to address the necessity in a wider context. To make the reminder more flexible, the user’s current activities or contexts are needed to be considered. To recognize user’s current activity, different types of sensors can be used. These sensors are available in Smartphone which can assist in building a more contextual reminder system. Objectives. To make a reminder context based, it is important to identify the context and also user’s activities are needed to be recognized in a particular moment. Keeping this notion in mind, this research aims to understand the relevant context and activities, identify an effective way to recognize user’s three different activities (drinking, walking and jogging) using Smartphone sensors (accelerometer and gyroscope) and propose a model to use the properties of the identification of the activity recognition. Methods. This research combined a survey and interview with an exploratory Smartphone sensor experiment to recognize user’s activity. An online survey was conducted with 29 participants and interviews were held in cooperation with the Karlskrona Municipality. Four elderly people participated in the interview. For the experiment, three different user activity data were collected using Smartphone sensors and analyzed to identify the pattern for different activities. Moreover, a model is proposed to exploit the properties of the activity pattern. The performance of the proposed model was evaluated using machine learning tool, WEKA. Results. Survey and interviews helped to understand the important activities of daily living which can be considered to design the reminder system, how and when it should be used. For instance, most of the participants in the survey are used to using some sort of reminder system, most of them use a Smartphone, and one of the most important tasks they forget is to take their medicine. These findings helped in experiment. However, from the experiment, different patterns have been observed for three different activities. For walking and jogging, the pattern is discrete. On the other hand, for drinking activity, the pattern is complex and sometimes can overlap with other activities or can get noisy. Conclusions. Survey, interviews and the background study provided a set of evidences fostering reminder system based on users’ activity is essential in daily life. A large number of Smartphone users promoted this research to select a Smartphone based on sensors to identify users’ activity which aims to develop an activity based reminder system. The study was to identify the data pattern by applying some simple mathematical calculations in recorded Smartphone sensors (accelerometer and gyroscope) data. The approach evaluated with 99% accuracy in the experimental data. However, the study concluded by proposing a model to use the properties of the identification of the activities and developing a prototype of a reminder system. This study performed preliminary tests on the model, but there is a need for further empirical validation and verification of the model.

Dagens mobiltelefoner får fler och fler funktioner, det är inte längre ovanligt om det går att koppla upp sig mot Internet eller ta kort med mobiltelefonen. Men frågan som ställs i detta arbete är om mobiltelefonanvändarna är intresserade av dessa nya funktioner. Finns det de som är intresserade av vad som i detta arbete kallas basmobilen, vars funktioner är följande: telefonsamtal, SMS, telefonbok, samtalslista, alarm och möjligheten att kunna byta ringsignal. Efter en historisk inblick i mobiltelefonens utveckling ges en beskrivning av vad basmobilen motsvarar. Med hjälp av en enkätundersökning, intervjuer och insamlade dagböcker besvaras frågan vad mobiltelefonanvändarna är intresserade av. Resultatet visar att basmobilen inte är ointressant för enkätbesvararna, men det finns även en del som saknar funktioner. Detta tas sedan upp i diskussionsavsnittet, där det även finns ett förslag på hur mobiltelefoner ska byggas upp för att passa en så bred användargrupp som möjligt.

Annually, road accidents cause more than 1.2 million deaths, 50 million injuries, and US$ 518 billion of economic cost globally. About 90% of the accidents occur due to human errors such as bad awareness, distraction, drowsiness, low training, fatigue etc. These human errors can be minimized by using advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) which actively monitors the driving environment and alerts a driver to the forthcoming danger, for example adaptive cruise control, blind spot detection, parking assistance, forward collision warning, lane departure warning, driver drowsiness detection, and traffic sign recognition etc. Unfortunately, these systems are provided only with modern luxury cars because they are very expensive due to numerous sensors employed. Therefore, camera-based ADAS are being seen as an alternative because a camera has much lower cost, higher availability, can be used for multiple applications and ability to integrate with other systems. Aiming at developing a camera-based ADAS, we have performed an ethnographic study of drivers in order to find what information about the surroundings could be helpful for drivers to avoid accidents. Our study shows that information on speed, distance, relative position, direction, and size & type of the nearby vehicles & other objects would be useful for drivers, and sufficient for implementing most of the ADAS functions. After considering available technologies such as radar, sonar, lidar, GPS, and video-based analysis, we conclude that video-based analysis is the fittest technology that provides all the essential support required for implementing ADAS functions at very low cost. Finally, we have proposed a Smart-Dashboard system that puts technologies – such as camera, digital image processor, and thin display – into a smart system to offer all advanced driver assistance functions. A basic prototype, demonstrating three functions only, is implemented in order to show that a full-fledged camera-based ADAS can be implemented using MATLAB.

This thesis aim is to do a critical evaluation on SRK STORE APP (Shopping app for android) by applying the heuristic principles of usability, to obtain the usability issues or problems for the respective mobile application. Another vital element of this thesis is to attain the necessary suggestions for the respective mobile application by accomplishing the principles of the heuristic evaluation required for the mobile application. On the other hand, the outcome should be demonstrated that the mobile application is user flexible by following the principles of heuristic.

Background: To be aesthetic and attractive, the mobile application should be given an ideal user experience with usability. So we decided to focus on this utility field and while looking through the different articles, we came across one that talks about design principles and their concepts. The current thesis idea has been obtained by the literature survey we have done on the design principles of the heuristic evaluation and its concepts. This thesis is to attain the necessary suggestions and as well as the complemented solutions/recommendations for the specific mobile application by accomplishing the principles of the heuristic evaluation required for the mobile application.

Objectives: The main objectives of this project are examining the design principles and identifying the usability issues or problems of the respective mobile application and anthologizing a list of necessary suggestions for enhancing the mobile application and providing absolute recommendations to the existing application.

Methods: To compile a list of necessary suggestions and providing absolute recommendations for the mobile application, we have applied Jakob Neilson’s design principles. This specific method aids in determining the utility of design criteria and aids in the transformation of the interactive system by analyzing factors such as usability. Using this method, we will provide a concise detailed overview of the importance of design principles in an interaction. The key aim of employing design principles of usability is to ensure the performance and reliability of the effective interaction design, to provide meaningful user interaction assistance, and as well as to dispense an acceptable and optimal user experience.

Results: The results here obtained are the usability issues of the respective mobile application i.e., SRK STORE APP, and the heuristic principles which are not satisfied by the specific mobile application. The severity level of the heuristic principles will have resulted and the list of necessary suggestions for enhancing the mobile application and providing absolute recommendations to the existing application.

Conclusions: This study was conducted to evaluate the mobile application. Heuristic evaluation methodology was used to evaluate the system. Jakob Neilson’sdesign principles were used to depict the usability issues of the mobile application. The required suggestions and absolute recommendations/solutions are provided to the existing mobile application. 

The term Open Source Software (OSS) has been around for a long time in the world of computer science. Open source software development is a process by which we can manufacture economical and qualitative software and its source could be re-use in the improvement of the software. The success of OSS relies on several factors, e.g. usability, functionality, market focus etc. But in the end how popular the software will be measured by the number of users downloading the software and how much the software is usable to the users. Open Source Software achieve the status for stability, security and functionality. Most of this software has been utilized by expert level users of IT. But from the general users or the non-computer user’s point of view the usability issues of Open source software has been faced the most criticism [25, 26, 27, 28, 29, and 30]. This factor i.e. the usability issues of general user is also responsible for the limited distribution of the open source software [24]. The development process should apply the “user-centered” methodology [25, 26, 27, 28, 29, and 30]. In this thesis paper the issues of usability in OSS development and how the usability of open source software can be improved will be discussed. Beside this I investigate the usability quality of free Open Source Linux-based operating system Ubuntu and try to find out the usability standards of this OSS.

Detta kandidatarbete utgår ifrån två stycken frågeställningar kopplade till feminism: ”Hur kan Simone de Beauvoirs feminism gestaltas i digitala spel?” och ”Vad finns det för typiska könsroller i dagens digitala spel?”. För att svara på dess frågeställningar studerade vi de Beauvoirs bok ”Det Andra Könet”, utförde spelanalyser samt delade ut skriftliga intervjuer till spelare. Resultaten blev en prototyp till ett digitalt spel vars handling är en direkt inspiration ifrån utvalda kapitel från Simone De Beauvoirs bok ”Det Andra Könet”. Vi avser att detta spel kan bli ett exempel för framtida speldesigners hur man kan utveckla spel på ett alternativt sätt och även att digitala spel kan bli ett nytt medium för filosofer att bruka.

Libraries have for hundreds of years been an important entity for every kind of institute, especially in the educational sector. So now it is an age of computers and internet. People are now using electronic resources to fulfill their needs and requirements of their life. Therefore libraries have also converted to computerized systems. People can access and use library resources just sitting at their computers by using the internet. This modern way of running a library has been called or given the name of digital libraries. Digital libraries are getting famous for flexibility of use and because more users can be facilitated at a time. As numbers of users are increasing, some issues relevant to interaction also arise while using digital libraries interface and utilizing its e-resources. In this thesis we evaluate usability factors and issues in digital libraries and the authors have taken as a case study the real time existing system of the digital library in BTH. This thesis report describes digital libraries and how users are being facilitated by them. Usability issues are also discussed relevant to digital libraries. Users have been the main source to evaluate and judge usability issues while interacting and using this digital library. The results obtained showed dis¬satisfaction of users regarding the usability evaluation of BTH:s digital library. The authors used usability evaluation techniques to evaluate functionality and services provided by the BTH digital library system interface. Moreover, based on the results of our case study, suggestions of improvement in BTH:s digital library are presented. Hopefully, these suggestions will help to make BTH digital library system more usable in an efficient and effective manner for users.

Context. Particle systems and particle effects are used to simulate a realistic and appealing atmosphere in many virtual environments. However, they do occupy a significant amount of computational resources. The demand for more advanced graphics increases by each generation, likewise does particle systems need to become increasingly more detailed. Objectives. This thesis proposes a texture-based 3D vector field particle system, computed on the Graphics Processing Unit, and compares it to an equation-based particle system. Methods. Several tests were conducted comparing different situations and parameters for the methods. All of the tests measured the computational time needed to execute the different methods. Results. We show that the texture-based method was effective in very specific situations where it was expected to outperform the equation-based. Otherwise, the equation-based particle system is still the most efficient. Conclusions. Generally the equation-based method is preferred, except for in very specific cases. The texture-based is most efficient to use for static particle systems and when a huge number of forces is applied to a particle system. Texture-based vector fields is hardly useful otherwise.

The thesis describes the following main question: Will the administrative labour during football tournaments be made easier with the help from a mobile web service or will it convey to unnecessary extra work? To be able to give a good and qualified answer to this question, the thesis will in the beginning describe how the technique for such a system might look like and also describe the existing administrative moments during a football tournament, this is too give the reader a deeper understanding for further reading. The thesis then goes on to describe a concrete system which is tested on three football tournaments. On the basis of the tests, interviews and through analysis of these the thesis will be able to answer our questions. The result which we present in the thesis have unfolded through testing of the system on three chosen football tournaments. The differences in way of labour pre and post the system have been analyzed and through interviews the value of these changes have been assessed. The results achieved in the thesis are as follows, the presented mobile web service does not only decrease the total work effort made by the tournament officials it also speeds up their work. With that information emerged we can conclude that the administrative work which occurs during a football tournament is made easier and it does not lead to any unnecessary extra work.

Rapporten huvudsyfte är att beskriva hur vi genom användning av språk och kommunikation har kunnat tillgodose våra användares krav på ett ärendehanteringssystem, samt på vilket sätt vi har använt artefakter för att kommunicera. Vi kommer att beskriva olika delar av projektet där språk och kommunikation har haft centrala "roller" och visat sig ha olika betydelse beroende på de personer som medverkar och i vilken miljö situationen har utspelat sig. Rapporten behandlar även hur resultatet av ovanstående har lett oss in i en utvecklingsprocess där vi försökt tillgodose användarens krav på bästa sätt. Vi kommer också att beskriva de kända och tidigare okända metoder som vi använt oss av för att uppnå vår målsättning, att överlämna en första prototyp av ett ärendehanteringssystem.

Background. According to the World Health Organization, over 264 million people suffer from depression. A recent trend to treat and combat depression is e-health applications like Headspace with the help of mindfulness or meditation. The rise of new treatment methods based on these concepts are seen as a promising alternative to traditional methods like cognitive behavioural therapy and medication. Objectives. The objectives of this study is to make a new mobile application, in the form of a mobile e-health prototype. The application, called MindBud, is designed to help the user reduce depressive thoughts. This is done by using a daily schedule to plan your day and in turn, reduce depressive thoughts and procrastination through structure. Then, the study seeks to compare two versions of this application, one version will have gamification elements and one will be without them. The comparison will measure overall user experience through a test called the system usability scale, and in addition measure the effectiveness of the application on depressive thoughts.Methods. Two versions of MindBud were implemented, one basic app and one with gamification elements added to it. The applications were then tested by performing an experiment with sixteen participants. Each of the participants tested both versions of the application, and then answered a questionnaire about the app. The answers of the questionnaire were used to compare test scores between the two versions of the application, to see if gamification had any impact on overall user experience and to see which gamification elements could be used to reduce depressive thoughts through the application. Results. The results show a slight increase in score in regards to overall user experience when comparing the gamified app with the basic one. Most notable increases came in questions about frequency of use, and complexity of the application. Additionally, the gamified application scored significantly better when participants were asked how much they thought the app version would reduce depressive thoughts.Conclusions. The gamification elements added were found to increase overall user experience, and also help reduce depressive thoughts more than the basic version. The used gamification elements were an in-game avatar, a reward system and an experience and level system. 

Att en dator hänger sig, inte gör som man vill eller bara är obegriplig är inget nytt fenomen. Dock är detta en del av vardagen på diariet i Regionens Hus i Mariestad, där de tre registratorernas arbetsprocesser innehåller ett antal problem som bland annat är datorrelaterade. Rapporten beskriver arbetet på diariet, de problem som finns, vem som äger problemen, och innehåller också en diskussion runt de befintliga problemen. Rapporten tar upp allt från postöppning till sökfel i programmet Diabas och mycket annat som ingår i arbetet som registrator. De problem som finns i arbetet på diariet har hopat sig över registratorerna som känner att det inte finns någon självklar part som de kan vända sig till för att få hjälp. Känslan av maktlöshet är alltid närvarande i arbetet när registratorernas datoriserade hjälpmedel inte gör som de vill. Rapporten är ett steg i att kartlägga problemen och vem som äger dem, och avsedd att bli en hjälp för registratorerna.

This study explores foveated rendering for its quality impact on players in virtual reality (VR) video game settings. Foveated rendering has the potential to decrease the performance cost by only rendering the part of the scene where the user is looking at a higher resolution, which it achieves with the use of an eye tracker. A user study is conducted to test the perceived visualquality by playing a fast-paced shooter game that requires manyeye and head movements using a head-mounted display (HMD). The game is played with three different types of foveation: no foveation, static, and dynamic foveated rendering. Results show that the majority of participants did not notice a difference in the visual quality between the foveated and non-foveated game versions.

Marching Cubes is a rendering technique that has many advantages for a lot of areas. It is a technique for representing scalar fields as a three-dimensional mesh. It is used for geographical applications as well as scientific ones, mainly in the medical industry to visually render medical data of the human body. But it's also an interesting technique to explore for the usage in computer games or other real-time applications since it can create some really interesting rendering. The main focus in this paper is to present a novel hybrid solution using marching cubes and heightmaps to render terrain; moreover, to find if it’s suitable for real-time applications. The paper will follow a theoretical approach as well as an implementational one on the hybrid solution. The results across several tests for different scenarios show that the hybrid solution works well for today's real-time applications using a modern graphics card and CPU (Central Processing Unit).

Detta kandidatarbete är en undersökning av begreppet emergence och hur det kan användas i skapandet av digital interaktiv konst. Vi undersöker sambandet mellan designern och datorn, och hur användaren kan interagera med båda dessa för att bidra till och utforma skapandet.

För att demonstrera detta har vi skapat en simulation, som är tänkt att efterlikna tidigt mänskligt beteende på hög nivå: uppståndelsen av civilizationer, interaktion mellan folkgrupper, och utnyttjande av naturliga resurser. Vi diskuterar de etiska och politiska konsekvenserna som följer på skapandet av en sådan simulation, och vilken sorts interaktion vi främjar i vår design.

In modern societies the activity of driving has become almost an essential routine. Vehicles are considered by many as indispensable tools for accomplishing their daily tasks and they are the main form of transportation for millions of people. The average driver spends, voluntarily, considerable amounts of time on the road, using their vehicle to transport himself even for small distances and knowing that its use presents him with some form of comfort and convenience; yet, drivers frequently regard their road experience as tiring and fastidious, but their persistence in using their vehicle at every opportunity serves as proof of a pleasurable experience. So far car manufacturers, traffic authorities and designers of technology have been mainly concerned with aspects of the road that ensure drivers safety, increase power engine, provide more comfort, and maintain better streets, etc; however, the actual feelings of the driver as he travels through the streets has not yet been taken into a great account by the developers of the road environment. For this reason this thesis tries to create awareness on the existence and constant presence of people’s emotions as they drive, which have the mutual power to influence their action on the road and their driving patterns. In order to capture a drivers’ emotional experience this study uses three main methods. One of them is Cultural Probes, consisting of common objects specifically Postcards, Pictures, and Web-logs, to measure unknown factors about the users. The second is the use of Ethnographic studies on the driving activities through the use of observations, the popular talk-aloud-protocol and the shadow method. Finally, the Experience Sampling Method is used, which tries to captures the experience of an individual as it unfolds in its natural context. With the combined used of these three methods some of the main factors of the road’s environment that are commonly able to influence the driver’s emotions in negative or positive ways were discovered, which include the intensity and type of light, the different types and sources of sound, the perceivable landscapes and surrounding architectures and the different kinds of continuously occurring interactions. These are just some of the many factors that can influence emotions on the road, and hopefully this study will open the curiosity for a deeper study of these and other aspects of the emotional driving experience.

Monster fyller en väldigt viktig roll i dagens skräckfilm och skräckspel där en av deras största uppgifter är att vara skrämmande. Denna uppsats är en studie som fokuserar på hur man designar skrämmande monster inom spel och film. Vi har, med hjälp av teoretiska tolkningar, tagit reda på faktorer som kan påverka vad människor ser som monster samt hur man kan göra monstret skrämmande på en kognitiv nivå. Exempel på sådana här faktorer är kultur, etnicitet, religion. Även sexism och rasism har en betydelse i detta samband. Med hjälp av tidigare forskning och analys av skräckfilmer och skräckspel har vi samlat in tips och idéer över hur man designar skrämmande monster. Dessa tips och idéer tillhandahåller vi i den resulterande bok om monsterdesign som vi skrivit i anslutning till denna studie.

Internationally, universities are undergoing renewal because of technological and social changes that both increases the importance of open and flexible learning, as well as makes it practicable. Net-based education makes it possible to create courses where students can collaborate and share knowledge globally. Collaborative Learning in Virtual Communities, with the working title Sesame, is a cooperative project between Blekinge Institute of Technology, BTH, and University of Pretoria, UP that has intention to provide a course like this. The aim of this collaboration is to initiate research in, as well as to test, and evaluate methods for net-based collaborative learning to see how this can provide new perspectives for students and lecturers in both countries. One key concept in the project is ?internationalisation at home? and this means interaction and knowledge sharing between people from different countries, and cultures, without them having to physically leave their country. In this thesis we describe the phase of constituting Sesame focusing on the cooperation between the involved parties from the two countries.

AI is something that has become more important in today’s games and gets higher pressure to act human and intelligent. This thesis examines which methods are preferred when creating an AI that can learn from its previous experiences. Some of the methods that are examined are tree structures, Artificial Neural Network and GoCap. By creating an application with one of the methods and a survey of how the AI in the application was perceived we got a result that showed us if the method was functional. From this we discuss if the other methods would have been more effective, how we could have improved the AI and what the future for game-AI holds.

Smartphones med Android som operativsystem har under de senaste åren blivit en allt större del av vår vardag. Kandidatarbetet undersöker vilken försäljningsmetod man som utvecklare ska använda sig av för att få största möjliga förtjänst, när man säljer ett spel på Androids marknad. De försäljningsmetoder, som studerats, är reklam, prissatt och in app billing. Från insamlad statistik av Google och enkäter har en förståelse kring vilken metod att föredra tagits fram. Resultaten visar att alla fungerar trots deras olikheter sinsemellan. Förslag på hur en blandning av försäljningsmetoderna kan användas och hur man applicerar rätt metod till rätt spel diskuteras och presenteras.

Many everyday systems and products seem to be designed with little regard to usability. This leads to the frustration, wasted time and errors. So the usability of the product is important for its survival in the market. In many previous studies the usability evaluation of the iPhone and iPad carried out individually and very little work has been done on the comparative usability evaluation. However, there was not any study conducted on the comparative usability evaluation and measuring the performance of the iPhone versus iPad in a controlled environment. In this research work, the authors performed the comparative usability evaluation and measured the performances of the iPhone and iPad on the selected applications by considering the young users as well as the elderly users. Another objective of this study is to identify the usability issues in performances of the iPhone and iPad. A survey and experiment techniques were used to achieve the dened objectives. The survey questionnaire consisted of 42 statements that presented the different usability aspects. The objectives of the survey study were to validate the identified issues from the literature study, identify new issues and measure the signicant difference in user opinions for the iPhone and iPad. However, the experiment studies helped to measure the performance significances between the devices against the three user groups (novice user, experienced user, elderly user) and among the groups over the devices. Further, objective was to measure the satisfaction level of the participated users against the iPhone and iPad. The experiment was performed in a controlled environment. Total six tasks (two tasks per application) were dened and each participant performed the same task on both devices. Generally the authors found that the participants performed better on the iPad with lower error rates as compare to the iPhone.

In the light of challenges the lack of interoperability in systems and services has long been recognized as one of the major challenge to the wider implementation of the eHealth applications. The opportunities and positive benefits of achieving interoperability are eventually considerable, whereas various barriers and challenges act as impediments. The purpose of this study was to investigate the interoperability among different health care organizations. The knowledge of this study would be supportive to health care organizations to understand the interoperability problems in health care organizations. In the first phase of literature review interoperability challenges in Sweden and other EU countries were identified. On the basis of findings interviews were conducted to know the strategies and planning about interoperability in health care organizations. After analysis of interviews, questionnaires were conducted to know the opinions of different medical IT administrator and health professionals. The authors find after the analysis of interviews and questionnaire that adopting eHealth standard, same system, insuring the security of patient’s health record information and same medical language could be implemented in Sweden and other EU countries health organizations.

This study set out to investigate how ICT design relates to users’ affect, cognition and creativity in task performance. More specifically, the intent is to highlight how ICT design can elicit positive effective states and enhance cognitive abilities, including creative thinking in task activity within distance learning. In addition to this is to emphasize the synergies between ICT design, affect, cognition, and creativity from as well theoretical as empirical perspectives. To achieve the objective of this study, a qualitative empirical method was used. A survey questionnaire was chosen as a collection data technique. As far as analysis is concerned, phenomenology analytic strategy was espoused to explore how the participants perceive the phenomenon under inquiry. As for theory, central themes were selected for review given the synergy between them and their implication for the topic. They include: ICT; design; ICT design aspects: aesthetics, functionality, and usability; affect and cognition; and creativity; as well as the synergies between these concepts. Key findings highlight the role of affective quality of ICT design aesthetics in eliciting positive affective states among users when they acquire and use new ICT products or services regardless of their motivational needs. Most users consider aesthetics, usability, and functionality as design aspects but they tend to differ in ranking them depending on how they emotionally perceive them. Simplicity in ICT design is perceived as pleasurable aesthetic value. Further, natural colors are favored most by ICT users and positively affect their emotions so do the other aesthetical features associated with computers, software graphics, and web design. Using ICT inspire users creativity in task performance through what design affective qualities induce as positive affect in them in addition to software usability and functionality depending on the user. There are some synergies between design aesthetics, affect, cognition, and creativity. Moreover, ICT design can, depending on additional factors, ease and help users’ to carry out complex task and if software applications are skillfully used, they can help stimulate users’ creativity in task performance because of the built-in capabilities that are intended to enhance cognitive and emotional abilities of users. In addition, users differ on the elements they focus on when interacting with ICT depending on their inclination. Human attentional capacity and intensity can play a role in creativity. Crystallization of creativity can be triggered when various ICT design elements are perceived in a useful way.

In this thesis work, two major problems confronting elections system in Africa; multiple registrations and diversion/shortages of election materials, taking the Nigerian content into consideration is addressed. These problems have been described as being so corrosive in nature such that ICTs in the form of eVoting if fully implemented will only compound or exacerbate the current situation due to poor ICTs awareness in the continent. However, in order to contain these problems with some form of ICTs tools along side the traditional election system, we proposed an RFID-based framework where voter’s identification and election materials are RFID-based. We believe this will enhance effective and efficient identification and tracking. Operations similar to the chain supply and inventory management are utilized. Also benefits resulting from the adoption of this framework; national ID card, national register, etc. are addressed.

I den här slutreflektionen kommer ni att kunna läsa om vårt kandidatarbete i sin helhet. Ni får ta del av det koncept vi arbetade fram och strävade efter att realisera. Ni kommer att få följa med i arbetsprocessen där vi låter er få inblick i hur vi gick från idé till färdig produkt inom de tre avdelningarna programmering, grafik och ljud. Avslutningsvis kommer vi att reflektera över kandidatarbetstiden, både som grupp och på individnivå. Några av de frågeställningar vi tar upp handlar om hur vi har lyckats genomföra projektet trots bristande planering och utan någon hierarkisk ordning samt hur det har varit att arbeta i en grupp där majoriteten av medlemmarna har haft en ny roll för första gången i ett projekt. Throughout this final reflection you'll be able to read about our graduation project as a whole. You'll take part of the concept we developed and strived after trying to realize it. An insight of our work process where we describe how we transfered our idea from paper to a final product will be given. You will read about the work process from the programmers, sound designers and graphical artists perspective. Toward the end of the document thoughts about how we worked as a team and at an individual level are discussed. Some of the questions we bring up is about how we managed to complete the project despite the lack of planning, hierarchic structure and at last, how it was like working in a new area of expertise for the first time.

This study endeavors to investigate the negative environmental impacts of the prevailing ICT design approaches and to explore some potential remedies for ICT design unsustainability from environmental and corporate sustainability perspectives. More specifically, it aims to spotlight key environmental issues related to ICT design, including resource depletion; GHG emissions resulting from energy-intensive consumption; toxic waste disposal; and hazardous chemicals use; and also to shed light on how alternative design solutions can be devised based on environmental sustainability principles to achieve the goals of sustainable technologies. The study highlights the relationship between ICT design and sustainability and how they can symbiotically affect one another. To achieve the aim of this study, an examination was performed through an extensive literature review covering empirical, theoretical, and critical scholarship. The study draws on a variety of sources to survey the negative environmental impacts of the current mainstream ICT design approach and review the potential remedies for unsustainability of ICT design. For theory, central themes were selected for review given the synergy and integration between them as to the topic under investigation. They include: design issues; design science; design research framework for ICT; sustainability; corporate sustainability; and design and sustainability. Findings highlight the unsustainability of the current mainstream ICT design approach. Key environmental issues for consideration include: resource depletion through extracting huge amounts of material and scarce elements; energy-intensive consumption and GHG emissions, especially from ICT use phase; toxic waste disposal; and hazardous substances use. Potential remedies for ICT design unsustainability include dematerialization as an effective strategy to minimize resources depletion, de-carbonization to cut energy consumption through using efficient energy required over life cycle and renewable energy; recyclability through design with life cycle thinking (LCT) and extending ICT equipment’s operational life through reuse; mitigating hazardous chemicals through green design - low or non-noxious/less hazardous products. As to solving data center dilemma, design solutions vary from hardware and software to technological improvements and adjustments. Furthermore, corporate sustainability can be a strategic model for ICT sector to respond to environmental issues, including those associated with unsustainable ICT design. In the same vein, through adopting corporate sustainability, ICT-enabled organizations can rationalize energy usage to reduce GHG emissions, and thereby alleviating global warming. This study provides a novel approach to sustainable ICT design, highlighting unsustainability of its current mainstream practices. Review of the literature makes an advance on extant reviews of the literature by highlighting the symbiotic relationship between ICT design and environmental sustainability from both research and practice perspectives. This study adds to the body of knowledge and previous endeavours in research of ICT and sustainability. Overall, it endeavours to present contributions and avenues for further theoretical and empirical research and development.

The study set out to understand and demonstrate the role the ICT sector could play as a critical enabler in the transition and progress towards an energy– efficient, low carbon economy. More specifically, the study of sustaining ICT for sustainability has twofold intent: (2) to investigate the direct footprint of ICT sector and explore how it can be tackled through adopting sustainable design–based solutions; and (2) to highlight the enabling potential of ICT sector to mitigate climate change and massively improve energy efficiency across the economy, identifying and quantifying the global ICT impacts and opportunities in the context of energy and carbon emissions savings. To achieve the aim of this study, a pertinent and extensive literature review covering theoretical, empirical, and critical scholarship was performed to investigate the phenomenon. The study draws on a variety of sources to survey the unsustainability of ICT sector pertaining to energy–intensive consumption and explore potential solutions through espousing environmental design practice, and also to examine the role of ICT in delivering energy–efficient solutions through its products and services. Validity was ensured through using quality academic and industry literature as well as relevant studies carried out by a range of eminent researchers, experts, and stakeholders (i.e. NGOs, research centers). Findings highlight the unsustainability of ICT sector regarding energy– intensive consumption and concomitant GHG emissions associated with its products and services. Of the whole lifecycle, the use phase of ICT is the most critical. Data centers and telecom networks devour energy. Planned obsolescence entrenched in software design shorten upgrade cycle, which makes software utilities a planet killer as to energy consumption. Alternative sustainable design–based solutions entail using renewable energy and most efficient energy required over ICT’s life cycle – de–carbonization strategy. Also, digitization is an effective strategy for ICT sector to slash energy use per unit. To reduce the footprint of data centers and telecom networks, design solutions vary from hardware and software to technological improvements. Designing out built–in obsolescence in software technology is a key factor in the energy equation. As for the enabling role of ICT, the findings are highly illuminating. The ICT sector must step up its efforts in reducing its direct footprint in order to claim a leadership role in an energy–efficient, low carbon economy. Although the ICT sector’s own emissions will increase because of global growing demand for its products and services, the real gains will come from its enabling potential to yield substantial energy efficiency improvements and emissions reductions across the economy. The sheer scale of the climate change challenge presents smart development mitigation opportunities for ICT sector to deliver environmentally sustainable solutions. The largest identified opportunities are: dematerialization; intelligent transport and logistics; intelligent buildings; smart power supply; and efficient industrial processes and systems. This study provides a novel approach into sustainable design in ICT, underlining unsustainable design practices in ICT sector. Review of the literature makes an advance on extant reviews by highlighting the synergic relationship between ICT design, sustainability, and the economy.

Context: The invention of mobile phones makes the human life easier. The purpose of this study is to identify security risks in mobile banking and to provide an authentication method for mobile banking transaction by using bio-metric mechanism. Objectives: Current mobile banking authentication is challenging and identified as a major security risk. Literature review shows that customer distrusts mobile banking due to security issues. The authors discuss security risks in current authentication methods in mobile banking. Methods: There are different methods and approaches to handle authentication in mobile banking. In this thesis, we propose a new approach of authentication in mobile banking. The strengths and weaknesses of existing approaches of authentication are identified with the help of Literature Review and interviews. The authors present basic transaction model and include security risks. By Literature Review it is found that finger print mechanism is a suitable method for authentication. Authors focus on authentication method and present a biometric scanning device which can identify the customer’s finger print thus enabling the customer to access mobile banking facility. Results: An authentication model is proposed through design process. The proposed biometric design was validated by conducting a workshop. The analysis of the workshop’s results showed that customer’s trust in security for mobile banking will be increased by finger print mechanism. To promote mobile banking, it is necessary to improve customer trust in terms of security. Conclusions: The authors concluded that, only authorized person will be able to use mobile banking services by incorporating bio-metric finger-print mechanism. By literature review and interview it was found that finger-print mechanism is more suitable than other ordinary mechanisms like login and password mechanism, SMS etc.

Den här uppsatsen undersöker monomytens två inledande steg The Ordinary World och The Call to Adventure samt hur dessa kan gestaltas i digitala spel. Syftet är att få insikt i hur spelmediet kan använda sig av de här teorierna om berättelsestrukturer för att skapa mer engagerande upplevelser. För att undersöka problemområdet konkretiserades teorierna i ett ramverk utifrån vilket en spelprototyp utvecklades och två redan existerande digitala spel analyserades. Prototypen jämfördes med de analyserade spelen för att undersöka på vilket sätt teorierna om The Ordinary World och The Call to Adventure gestaltats. Undersökningen visade på att spelmediet erbjuder en mängd olika sätt att gestalta teorierna på och vilka för- och nackdelar dessa gestaltningssätt har. Vidare pekade användandet av monomyten på dess fortsatta relevans inom spelmediet, men även på de problem som reproduktionen av monomytens struktur kan leda till.

Detta är en kandidatuppsats som presenterar en analys av ett spelföretag och dess verksamhet med fokus på gruppdynamik, ledarskap och projektledning. Uppsatsen är indelad i tre delar, analys, genomförande och resultat. Analys delen beskriver följande verksamhetsområden; hur gruppen anställda på Black Drop Studios agerar i samspelet med varandra, vilken typ av ledarskap som bedrivs, hur produktionen är strukturerad, vilka projektledningsverktyg och metoder som används. Genomförande delen beskriver olika åtgärder för dessa verksamhetsområden, för att göra dessa mer effektiva. Resultat delen beskriver vilka åtgärder som införts samt vilka som planerade att genomföras. Sammanfattningsvis har gruppen utvecklats till en mer högpresterande grupp med en större insikt i vad som påverkar deras sätt att fungera som ett team och deras behov ledarskap, verktyg och arbetsmetoder inför framtida projekt och utmaningar.

Abstrakt I detta arbete undersöks hur konceptet lek går att applicera på digitala spel och hur man presenterar ett fiktivt universum och de regler som definierar det universumet. Syftet med denna undersökning är att öka kvaliteten på digitala spel för spelare genom att öka förståelsen för hur sådana regler introduceras. Frågeställningen som ämnas att besvaras är “hur kan man introducera realistiska, semi-realistiska och fiktiva regler i ett spel?”. Undersökningen baseras delvis på analyser kring varför vissa introduktioner av regler ofta accepteras och andra inte, dels på utvärdering av en gestaltning och dels på tidigare forskning. Denna undersökning är indelad i två delar; en researchdel och en produktionsdel. För att besvara frågan har research skett kring vad som känns till sedan tidigare och ett digitalt spel har producerats där den stora regeln som skiljer verkligheten från detta fiktiva universum är paranormal aktivitet, eller spöken. Nyckelord: regler, magisk cirkel, inlevelse och spelproduktion. Abstract In this work the concept of play and how it may be applied to digital games and how to introduce a fictional universe and the rules that define that universe is being investigated. The purpose of this work is to increase the quality of digital games by increasing our understanding of how such rules may be introduced. The question to be answered is “how may realistic, semi-realistic and fictional rules be introduced in a digital game?”. This work is based partly on analyses on why some introductions of rules are often accepted and some often not, partly on evaluation of a product created by us and partly on earlier research. This work is split into two parts; one research part and one production part. To answer the question research about what is previously known has been conducted and a digital game has been produced where the main rule that separates the fictional universe from ours is paranormal activity, or ghosts. Keywords: Rules, magical circle, immersion and game production.

Utförandet av projektet har varit att implementera två stycken fightingspels Artificiell Intelligens (kommer att förkortas AI). En oadaptiv och mer deterministisk AI och en adaptiv dynamisk AI som använder reinforcement learning. Detta har utförts med att skripta beteendet av AI:n i en gratis 2D fightingsspels motor som heter ”MUGEN”. AI:n använder sig utav skriptade sekvenser som utförs med MUGEN’s egna trigger och state system. Detta system kollar om de skriptade specifierade kraven är uppfyllda för AI:n att ska ”trigga”, utföra den bestämda handlingen. Den mer statiska AI:n har blivit uppbyggd med egen skapade sekvenser och regler som utförs delvis situationsmässigt och delvis slumpmässigt. För att försöka uppnå en reinforcement learning AI så har sekvenserna tilldelats en variabel som procentuellt ökar chansen för utförandet av handlingen när handlingen har givit något positivt och det motsatta minskar när handlingen har orsakat något negativt.

Genreblandning har de senaste fem åren blivit en allt större del i hur datorspel designas. Den här uppsatsen är en studie i hur genreblandning kan appliceras i en spelproduktion och hur denna produktion och dess genreblandning uppfattas av en grupp utomstående som sedan spelar spelet. Den blandning som studeras är den mellan genrerna role-playing game, dual-joystick shooter och minigolf. Resultaten från den enkät denna grupp sedan svarar på visar att genreblandning mellan de valda genrerna fungerar trots deras olikheter sinsemellan, men att det är mycket viktigt att spelets övriga element inte försummas till förmån för genreblandningen. Det framgår även att den grad till vilken de tre genrerna blandas i spelet respondenterna testar inte är den maximala.

Problem:I dag finns det ett stort behov av säkra identifierings metoder på Internet. Traditionellt sätt är en handskriven namnteckning en form av identifiering och vad som behövs är en elektronisk motsvarighet. Hypotes: "Elektroniska signaturer leder till ökad integritet och säkerhet vid identifiering på Internet" Syfte: Målet och syftet med denna uppsats är att studera och analysera huruvida elektroniska signaturer kommer att bidra till ökad integritet och säkerhet vid identifiering på Internet. Slutsats:Genom att jämföra praktiska erfarenheter (fallstudie) och teoretiska kriterier kunde vi analysera oss fram till att vår hypotes är sann.

Summary This thesis consists of an ethnographic investigation of five Swedish household's everyday life in their kitchens during the spring 2001 and an analysis of this context, which for certain can be apt for the development of the smart home services of today. Finally some future opportunities on how to systematise ethnography for design use also are drawn. The focus of investigation of this thesis is to find out what actual happens in some situations in ordinary kitchens. Specific interest is showed for the articulation work, while most smart appliances of today supports only goal-oriented activity, hence evolved from the ground of the home PC interaction. The ethnographical investigation is focused on three specific events in a house hold which all are assumed to take place in the families kitchen. The events are: 1) When a family plans and books an amusement activity. 2) When a family plans it's shopping. 3) When a person solves a goal oriented task, for example details about cooking a meal.

The conception phase is one of the most important phases of software projects. In this phase it is determined which software development company will perform a software project. To obtain a software project, companies can have several bidding strategies. This thesis investigates if and how game theory can be a helpful tool to evaluate bidding for software projects. This thesis can be divided into two different parts: a theoretical and a practical. The theoretical part investigates the applicable parts of game theory in this thesis, explains what software projects are, explains the difference between costing and bidding and provides results of a literature survey about bidding behaviour. The practical part introduces a study to investigate strategies and bidding behaviour of software engineers, explains the experimental design that found the study, provides the results of the performed study and a discussion of the results. This thesis concludes that game theory contains some concepts that make it possible to evaluate bidding for software projects.

The use of information and communications technology (ICT) to provide medical information, interaction between patients and health-service providers, institution-to-institution transmission of data, in known as eHealth. ICT have become an inseparable part of our life, it can integrate health care more seamlessly to our everyday life. ICT enables the delivery of accurate medical information anytime anywhere in an efficient manner. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the single leading cause of death, especially in elderly people. The condition of heart is monitor by electrocardiogram (ECG). The Electrocardiogram (ECG) is widely used clinical tool to diagnose complex heart diseases. In clinical settings, resting ECG is used to monitor patients. Holter-based portable monitoring solutions capable of 24 to 48-hour ECG recording, they lack the capability of providing any real-time feedback in case of alarming situation. The recorded ECG data analyzed offline by doctor. To address this issue, authors propose a functionality of intelligence decision support system, in heart monitoring system. The proposed system has capability of generate an alarm in case of serious abnormality in heart, during monitoring of heart activity.

Commercial computer gaming is a large growing industry, that already has its major contributions in the entertainment industry of the world. One of the most important among different types of computer games are Real Time Strategy (RTS) based games. RTS games are considered being the major research subject for Artificial Intelligence (AI). But still the performance of AI in these games is poor by human standards because of some broad sets of problems. Some of these problems have been solved with the advent of an open real time research platform, named as ORTS. However there still exist some fundamental AI problems that require more research to be better solved for the RTS games. There also exist some AI algorithms that can help us solve these AI problems. Anytime- Algorithms (AA) are algorithms those can optimize their memory and time resources and are considered best for the RTS games. We believe that by making AI algorithms anytime we can optimize their behavior to better solve the AI problems for the RTS games. Although many anytime algorithms are available to solve various kinds of AI problems, but according to our research no such study is been done to compare the performances of different anytime algorithms for each AI problem in RTS games. This study will take care of that by building our own research platform specifically design for comparing performances of selected anytime algorithms for an AI problem

Commercial computer gaming is a large growing industry that already has its major contributions in the entertainment industry of the world. One of the most important among different types of computer games are Real Time Strategy (RTS) based games. RTS games are considered being the major research subject for Artificial Intelligence (AI). But still the performance of AI in these games is poor by human standards due to some fundamental AI problems those require more research to be better solved for the RTS games. There also exist some AI algorithms those can help us solve these AI problems. Anytime- Algorithms (AA) are algorithms those can optimize their memory and time resources and are considered best for the RTS games. We believe that by making AI algorithms anytime we can optimize their behavior to better solve the AI problems. Although many anytime algorithms are available to solve various kinds of AI problems, but according to our research no such study is been done to compare the performances of different anytime algorithms for an AI problem in RTS games. This study will take care of that by building our own research platform specifically design for comparing performances of our selected anytime algorithms for an AI problem.

Background

The cosmetic industry is growing at a fast pace and, like other industries, there are a few problems regarding e-retailing that makes it hard for customers to make optimal purchase decision. Example of problems are; the number of e-retailers increase, e-retailers’ variety of products increase, and the content is almost unlimited. Companies have started to personalize to solve these problems. However, there is a lack in the literature regarding how-to best design personalization with regard to its dimensions and subcategories. Therefore, the next step is to get an understanding of which dimensions and subcategories that are the most effective.

Objectives

At present, the majority of the literature regarding personalization focus on how personalization can be performed and not in which way personalization should be performed to increase customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. This means that the knowledge regarding the subcategories within personalization and their effectiveness is limited. Therefore, the purpose of this thesis is to increase the body of knowledge regarding which subcategories that is the most effective in increasing customer satisfaction and/or loyalty. Knowledge about this topic can give companies perspectives to know how personalization should be designed to increase customer satisfaction and customer loyalty.

Methods

This study was a survey type, resulting in primary quantitative data collecting and analyzes. A pilot test was first made, before the final questionnaire. This to test the reliability and validity. The data from the pilot study were partly analyzed in SPSS and partly analyzed manually. The data from the final questionnaire were then analyzed in SPSS.

Results

Regarding customer satisfaction, there is a statistically significant difference between content personalization and AIGUI (Adaptive Interface and Graphical User Interface) personalization as well as between AIGUI personalization and combination (content and AIGUI) personalization. However, there is no statistical difference between content personalization and combination personalization. Regarding customer loyalty, the is no statistical difference between the personalization groups.

Conclusions

An e-retailer in the cosmetic industry should focus on content personalization or combination personalization

Today, it is often reported about piracy copying in the mass media. Anyone can, with little knowledge and cost, copy films, music, games and software, which often also are easily accessible on the Internet. No one can quite understand or answer how big this problem is, and for whom. Organisations and companies within the line of business are trying with different means to deal with the trend that copied, digital information is getting a larger spread and demand amongst consumers. This by trying to develop improved copy protection, and by working for more stringent legislation amongst copyright for digitally based products. The questions we asked ourselves were, if new laws and copy protection have any impact on the consumers and if it’s possible for the organisations to make use of the Internet instead of seeing it as a threat. To get an answer to this, we have among other things tried to find out the meaning of copy protection, which various types of copy protection that exists and how well they are functioning. We have also illustrated the fact that the legality of copy protecttion is questioned, this because according to the copyright laws in different countries, you have the right to make a copy for your own personal use. We have examined the attitudes of copying amongst producers and consumers of digital information and how they can be brought closer together in the struggle that is being carried out between them. We have also investigated the economic losses and effects due to piracy copying, and if there are any suggested measures for dealing with piracy copying, besides copy protection and laws. Through an inquiry along with interviews, we have investigated how much a person downloads and/or copies, and if copy protection and legal actions have a deterrent effect on the sole individual. This we have put in relation to the organisations’ attempt to prevent piracy copying, to see if there are any alternative ways to overcome the problem. The answer is that copy protection and laws are not the right methods in the battle against piracy copying. This is proven by the consumers’ attitude towards copy protection, i.e. there is always a way around them, and products that have been copy protected cannot be used satisfyingly. It is also proven by the fact that neither the consumers, nor the actors of the law, think that the copyright law has an affect towards the sole individual. Instead, the organisations within the line of business should use the Internet for distribution of their products, and make use of its advantages. In that way, the organisations can supply their products in a way that is comfortable and easily available for the consumers, and at a lower cost compared to today.

Abstrakt För att utveckla och förändra spelmediet behandlar detta arbete impressionism och digitala spel. Båda ämnena diskuteras och belyses från olika vinklar för att undersöka hur de två ämnena kan sammanföras i en spelproduktion. Spelproduktionen har testats av spelstudenter för att få deras åsikter om hur spelet fungerar och deras syn på kopplingen mellan impressionism och digitala spel. Arbetet avslutas med en diskussion och slutsats där alla fakta som tagits in under kandidat-arbetet analyserats. I diskussionen lyfts följande ämnen fram: impressionism, konst, hur spelmediet ser ut idag, tv- och dataspelsgestaltning, interaktion och hur dessa två ämnen, impressionism och digitala spel kan föras samman. Resultatet tyder på att detta är möjligt. Nyckelord: Spelideologi, Impressionism, Ideologin, Estetiken. Upplevelse, Digitala Spel och Spelmediet. Abstract To develop and alter digital games this work treats impressionism in relation with digital games. Both topics are being discussed from different angles and viewpoints to investigate how these two subjects can be brought together in a game production. The production has been trialed by game development students to receive their views on how the game is working and their view on the connection between impressionism and digital games. The candidate work concludes with a discussion where all facts which have been gathered throughout the work have been analyzed. In this discussion the following subjects have been brought forward; impressionism, art, the digital game today, television and digital games interpreta-tion, interaction and how the two subjects, impressionism and digital games can be brought together. The result of the work indicates that this should be possible. Keywords: Digital Game Ideology, Impressionism, Ideology, Aesthetics. Experience, Digital Games and Game as a Media.

Context. Digital games are an important application of software due to its growing popularity in society. As digital games are introduced in a growing number of homes we see a rapidly extending user base ranging from young to elderly. Since digital games now have reached beyond the early adopters and now engage a range of users that are more unfamiliar with the context of digital games and thus less trained and schooled in the clichés of digital games, the importance of previous knowledge in the digital games area are entering a sort of common knowledge to interpret and make meaning of society. Objectives. The thesis cover two related aspects of basic digital game competences; firstly a theoretical review of the topic that secondly is followed by a study where we investigate how experienced players learn to play a digital game together and which types of activities they utilize in order to do so. Methods. This thesis consists of two parts with different methods; a review of the term and concept of game literacy as well as a case study performed as an interaction analysis of players engaging with a new digital game. For the second part the interaction analysis was conducted in three phases 1) recording of players and notes of timestamps of interesting situations, 2) actual interaction analysis and transcribing and 3) review. To be able to show a modus operandi for the players’ interaction and learning situations, a single pair of players were selected, and therefore also allowed for a chronological presentation of the play session and learning situations. Results. In the first part of the thesis we present our results concerning that the use of the term game literacy is not consistent throughout the discourse, but rather two different viewpoints. Furthermore we suggest a taxonomy that allow for a more continuous view of game literacy knowledge than previously presented. Secondly we show that competences from previous games not always allow for a more efficient play performance due to the fact that different games have different cognitive schemas. Conclusions. We conclude that concepts like game literacy and “the player’s repertoire” where it is suggested that the player builds on previous knowledge to perform better within any game should be viewed with more criticism than previously. Previous experience of how a game function and the solution to solve problems in other games may not be fruitful at all. Players that utilize the same cognitive schemas they developed in other games could be hindered when trying to play a new game. Furthermore we conclude that the “reflective” learning style that other researchers (i.e. Gee) refer to, when playing games, is not the only one and that the players take some time to reach a reflecting level during play.

Stock Prices have been modeled using a variety of techniques such as neural networks, simple regression based models and so on with limited accuracy. We attempt to use Random Walk method to model movements of stock prices with modifications to account for market sentiment. A simulator has been developed as part of the work to experiment with actual NASDAQ100 stock data and check how the actual stock values compare with the predictions. In cases of short and medium term prediction (1-3 months), the predicted prices are close to the actual values, while for longer term (1 year), the predictions begin to diverge. The Random Walk method has been compared with linear regression, average and last known value across four periods and has that the Random Walk method is no better that the conventional methods as at 95% confidence there is no significant difference between the conventional methods and Random Walk model.

For this bachelor’s thesis we have investigated how we can make use of realism in order to create immersion in a virtual environment. Our goal is to investigate the relationship between realism an immersion in order to create an understanding of how to create immersion and build better gaming experiences. To investigate the problem area, we have created a 3D environment where we used realism as a foundation to discuss our choices and the choices made in other games. We concluded that there is no perfect method to fully measure and define immersion but we found strong connections between realism and immersion. In the end we felt that you should always work with realism as a foundation when attempting to create immersion in a virtual environment.

This thesis takes in to account mainly the cooperative design and human factors from ubiquitous computing design perspective. Areas such as role of cooperative design in ubiquitous computing perspective, the changing attributes of society and the associated issues, the changing shape of public service delivery and need for a change in methodology in ubiquitous computing projects have been discussed. The overall approach is taking advantage of Suchman’s idea of ‘design as an artful integration of different social as well as technical aspects'. The advantage of the technique has been taken by bringing together social and societal aspects, agenda of governments from IT perspective, human factors and purely designs methodology to frame up in which we need to re-assess ubiquitous computing design methodology. The thesis work comprises literature review, and a case study to pick up on the role of cooperative and participatory design. The probe was specifically in the context of ubiquitous computing design requirements and ubiquitous computing vision

In the last decade video games have made great improvements in terms of arti cial intelligence and visuals. Researchers have also made advancements in the arti cial intelligence eld and some of the latest research papers have been exploring potential elds. This report will cover the background of potential eld and examine some improvements that can be made to increase the performance of the algorithm. The basic idea is to increase performance by making a GPGPU(General purpose graphic processing unit) solution for the creation of potential elds. Several GPGPU implementations are presented where focus has lied on optimizing memory access patterns to increase performance. The results of this thesis show that an optimized GPGPU implementation can give up to 18.5x speedup over a CPU implementation.

During observatons of the current educational-games market we felt that the current use of game design did not utilize the full potential that games have for education. That made us wonder how can the media of games be used better for education? David A. Kolb’s thoughts about Experiential learning can be connected to game design and the understanding of games. The question “What game can we create with the help of game centred design and experiential learning to create a transition from physical mathematics to abstract mathematics for children in preschool?” came forth and to test our thoughts the prototype Sushi Panic was created. Through tests with preschoolers and educators we tried varying versions and hypothesises. The results were positive but large differences in the understanding between individual children changed our view of the prototype. The connection between experiential learning and video games is something that should continue to be developed since there still is a lot the fields can learn from each other.