Modern consumer devices present major challenges in digital forensic investigations due to security mechanisms that protect user data. The entire physical attack surface of a seized device such as a mobile phone must be considered in an effort to acquire data of forensic value. Several USB protocols have been introduced in recent years, including Power Delivery, which enables negotiations of power delivery to or from attached devices. A key feature is that the protocol is handled by dedicated hardware that is beyond the control of the device operating systems. This self-contained design is a security liability with its own attack surface and undocumented trust relationships with other peripherals and the main system-on-chips. This chapter presents a methodology for vulnerability discovery in USB Power Delivery implementations for Apple devices. The protocol and Apple-specific communications are reverse engineered, along with the firmware of the dedicated USB Power Delivery hardware. The investigation of the attack surface and potential security vulnerabilities can facilitate data acquisition in digital forensic investigations.

The increasing complexity and security of consumer products pose major challenges to digital forensics. Gaining access to encrypted user data without user credentials is a very difficult task. Such situations may require law enforcement to leverage offensive techniques – such as vulnerability exploitation – to bypass security measures in order to retrieve data in digital forensic investigations. This chapter proposes a digital forensic acquisition kill chain to assist law enforcement in acquiring forensic data using offensive techniques. The concept is discussed and examples are provided to illustrate the various kill chain phases. The anticipated results of applying the kill chain include improvements in performance and success rates in short-term, case-motivated, digital forensic acquisition scenarios as well as in long-term, case-independent planning and research scenarios focused on identifying vulnerabilities and leveraging them in digital forensic acquisition methods and tools.

This chapter shows how qualitative data can inform building computational models. The general issue is illustrated with the example of a model of structural shirking in organisations, i.e. insufficient time and effort stemming from the structure of the performed work. The first attempt to build a model of shirking with the use of assumptions present in social scientific theories displayed many shortcomings. Thus, a mixed-methods approach was chosen to inform the development of a second computational model. Conceptualising the second model began with performing individual IDIs with managers and lower-level employees and augmenting them with analyses of Polish legislation regulating employment relationships. Initial findings were enriched with theoretical assumptions. The complete concept of the mechanism of structural shirking was operationalised as acomputational model. Having developed both models, we discuss the phenomenon of shirking informing theories and real-world practices, as well as ways to study these practices in novel forms.

The European Union has been battling against the digital divide for several decades now when trying to mitigate the risk of social exclusion arising from the lack of broadband access, preventing citizens from full social and economic participation in the society. This has been done in the past by ensuring that a minimum set of services would be available to all end-users at an affordable price. However, various aspects of the rapid advances in technology, market developments and changes in user demand as well as the evolution of the telecommunications infrastructure (5G, IoT, Cloud, gigabit access, etc) increase the risk that citizens of rural areas are facing a severe risk of digital exclusion. To avoid this risk, the concept of subsidised rural networks was created by the European Commission. The idea as such is laudable, but the price tag remains unknown, which severely violates its implementability. In this article, based on the actual cost in a subsidised, but competitive, environment, we suggest a novel approach to realistically determine fair end-user's prices.

In this article we simulate the infrastructure costs for very fast networks in rural areas. FTTH technology has been around for at least a decade, but two brand new technologies are expected to launch commercially in the next couple of years: 5G and G. Fast. This could have a strong impact on infrastructure costs and the fulfilment of the European Union, rural coverage objectives. 5G seems to be very promising since LTE is not a reasonable solution for very fast networks. FTTC has so far not been a valid alternative, since for the last mile, the only options for FTTC has been ADSL and VDSL, which however cannot reach very fast data rates. G.Fast is three times faster than VDSL and has the advantage, comparing to FTTH, that the last mile infrastructure is already build in the form of copper local loop.

There is a growing interest in the utilization of digital services, such as software apps and cloud-based software services. The utilization of digital services enabled by ICT is increasing more rapidly than any other segment of the world trade. The availability of open data unlocks the possibility of generating huge market possibilities in the public and private sectors such as manufacturing, transportation, and trade. Digital service utilization can be improved by the adoption of cloud-based software services and through open data innovation for service development. However, open data has no value unless utilized and little is known about the development of digital services using open data. The use of contests to create awareness and call for crowd participation is vital to attract participation for digital service development. Also, digital innovation contests stimulate open data service development and are common means to generate digital services based on open data. Evaluation of digital service development processes stimulated by contests all the way to service deployment is indispensable. In spite of this, existing evaluation models are not specifically designed to measure open data innovation contest. Additionally, existing cloud-based digital service implications, opportunities and challenges, in literature are not prioritized and hence are not usable directly for adoption of cloud-based digital services. Furthermore, empirical research on user implications of cloud-based digital services is missing. Therefore, the purpose of this thesis is to facilitate the utilization of digital services by the adoption of cloud-based digital services and the development of digital services using open data. The main research question addressed in this thesis is: “How can contest-driven innovation of open data digital services be evaluated and the adoption of digital services be supported to improve the utilization of digital services?” The research approaches used are design science research, descriptive statistics, and case study for confirming the validity of the artifacts developed. The design science approach was used to design new artifacts for evaluating open data service development stimulated by contests. The descriptive statistics was applied on two surveys. The first one is for evaluating the implication of cloud-based digital service adoption. While the second one is a longitudinal survey to measure perceived barriers by external open data digital service developers. In this thesis, an evaluation model for digital innovation contest to stimulate service development, (Digital Innovation Contest Measurement Model) DICM-model, and (Designing and Refining DICM) DRD-method for designing and refining DICM-model to provide more agility are proposed. Additionally, the framework of barriers, constraining external developers of open data service, is also presented to better manage service deployment to enable viable service development. Organizers of open data innovation contests and project managers of digital service development are the beneficiaries of these arti-facts. The DICM-model and the DRD-method are used for the evaluation of contest and post contest deployment processes. Finally, the framework of adoption of cloud-based digital services is presented. This framework enables requirement engineers and cloud-based digital service adoption personnel to be able to prioritize factors responsible for an effective adoption. The automation of ideation, which is a key process of digital service development using open data, developer platforms assessment to suggest ways of including evaluation of innovation, ex-post evaluation of the proposed artifacts, and the expansion of cloud-based digital service adoption from the perspectives of sup-pliers are left for further investigations.

This book offers a coherent theoretical and multimodal perspective on research, teaching, and learning in different non-formal, semi-formal, and formal learning environments. Drawing on examples across a range of different settings, the book provides a conceptual framework for research on learning in different environments. It provides conceptual models around learning design which act as a framework for  how  to  think  about  contemporary  learning,  a  guideline  for  how  to  do  research on learning in different sites, and a tool for innovative, collaborative design with other professionals. The book highlights concepts like multimodal knowledge representations; framing and setting; transformation, transduction, and re-design; signs of learning and cultures of recognition in different social contexts. The  book  supports  innovative  thinking  on  how  we  understand  learning,  and will appeal to academics, scholars, and postgraduate students in the fields of education research and theory, learning sciences, and multimodal and social semiotics. It will also be of interest to school leaders, university provosts, and professionals working in education. 

Flood management policy has been the subject of an international joint research

project with the Upper Tisza in Hungary as its pilot study area. Design specications

for a geographically explicit simulation model are presented. Potential flood

management policies, based on surveys and interviews with stakeholders, are presented.

Some experiments on an executable prototype of the simulation model are

also reported on, where the consequences of flood management policies are investigated.

Focus has been on nancial policy measures, mainly insurance. Besides

more traditional evaluation of policy scenarios, the model incorporates adaptive

optimisation functionality. The report incorporates three contributions:

1. the insurance policy issue in Hungary is framed in the broader context of flood

management

2. the structuring of a flood risk policy model, capable of simulating flood failures

and estimating the economic consequences

3. reports from policy experiments performed on the implemented prototype

flood risk policy model

The Hungarian government is experiencing escalating costs for ood mitigation

measures and for economical compensation to victims. In a joint

research project between the International Institute of Applied System Analysis

(IIASA) in Austria, Computer and System Science Department (DSV)

in Sweden, and the Hungarian Academy of Science, the ooding problem of

Upper Tisza in Hungary is investigated. A catastrophe simulation model has

been implemented, where dierent policy options are tested and evaluated.

We investigate how the willingness to buy insurance aects the results on

the macro-level and on the micro-level.

The number and severity of weather related catastrophes is

increasing. Economic losses from these catastrophes are

escalating, mainly as a result of concentration of assets and

population in high-risk areas. How to deal with these

economic liabilities in a fair way at the level of the individual

property owners is the focus of our research.

As a case study we choose the Tisza, a river in Hungary that

flows through one of the poorest agricultural regions of

Europe that frequently floods. The use of a simulation model

for evaluating alternative flood management policies is a

natural choice, since it is impossible to predict the time,

location and magnitude of a flood; historical data is of limited

use when looking at the outcome of future policies. The

behaviour of the river and the financial consequences are

simulated on a year-by-year basis.

Here we have extended the simulation model by using the

Consumat approach to model the individual property owners.

We compare the results with respect to wealth distribution in

the case of Consumat agents and simple (non-Consumat)

agents. In the Consumat case, the results show that system is

more dynamic and more realistic.

Information and communication technologies are not value-neutral. I examine two domains, public health surveillance and sustainability, in five papers covering: (i) the design and development of a software package for computer-assisted outbreak detection; (ii) a workflow for using simulation models to provide policy advice and a list of challenges for its practice; (iii) an analysis of design documents from three smart home projects presenting intersecting visions of sustainability; (iv) an analysis of EU-financed projects dealing with sustainability and ICT; (v) an analysis of the consequences of design choices when creating surveillance technologies. My contributions include three empirical studies of surveillance discourses where I identify the forms of action that are privileged and the values that are embedded into them. In these discourses, the presence of ICT entails increased surveillance, privileging technological expertise, and prioritising centralised forms of knowledge.

With the ongoing environmental disruptions, designers are increasingly interested in exploring nature–technology entanglements that create sustainable and collaborative futures. Although largely unarticulated, these emerging design inquiries are motivated by care for nature, which indirectly depends on cultural and social human practices. Drawing on a broad set of works on care from feminist theory, science and technology studies, and human–computer interaction, this article introduces a care framework that focuses on revealing tensions in the interrelationship between humans and nonhumans. The framework is used to examine an initial study in which five participants engaged with a speculative design probe, specifically a combination of a device and a plant, envisioning a scenario in which plants generate electricity. We reveal how forms of care manifest differently in a human–plant–technology dynamic and identify tensions, such as plants being considered utilities, proxies, or humans.

The aim of this paper is to bring theoretical concepts from other areas of scholarly research to bear on synchronous online education in a cross-disciplinary effort to shed light on what is going on by introducing systems of thought from other areas. The liminality and associated communitas which are found in synchronous online learning environments are examined for their possible consequences for learning in general and language learning in particular. Like computer-mediated communication, liminality has been associated with disinhibitory effects. Lack of excessive inhibition has been shown to have positive effects on second language production. The position of the online learner as “neither here nor there” or perhaps simultaneously both here and there is investigated and discussed. 

This article investigates how images are understood inside and outside heritage institutions. It focuses on information specialists in libraries, archives, and museums and on a very specific yet substantial end-user group for visual heritage material: university scholars in the humanities. Based on a survey on the production and use of descriptive metadata, this study discloses that there is an ontological divide between these two groups, and that the extensive production of descriptive metadata does not match the needs and interest of researchers in the humanities, but rather other end users. An increased dialogue is needed between these two groups concerning what metadata should be attached to images. This potentially could lead to a broader and more extended scholarly use of visual heritage material.

Structure-based influential nodes identification is a long-term challenge in the study of complex networks. While global centrality-based approaches are generally considered to be more accurate and reliable, the requirements of complete network information and high computational complexity are hard to meet, limiting their applications in many practical scenarios. In addition, recent studies have highlighted the effect of cyclic structures introducing redundant paths in network connectivity and exaggerating the importance of traditional centrality measures. In this work, we develop a new centrality metric, called Multi-Spanning Tree-based Degree Centrality (MSTDC), to quantify node importance with linear complexity by leveraging redundant ties. MSTDC is calculated using the aggregation of degrees of a small number of spanning trees constructed with a few randomly selected root nodes. Experiments on synthetic and empirical networks reveal that MSTDC obtains superior performance than other benchmark network centralities in identifying influential nodes from the perspective of both maintaining network connectivity and maximizing spreading capacity. In addition, we find that MSTDC is extraordinarily effective in networks with high clustering coefficients. Our study provides novel insights into the role of redundant ties in network structural and functional analyses.

In an ever-increasing competitive business environment, it has become increasingly important to be able to obtain efficient and sustainable business operations not only by efficient core procedures but also by being able to minimise losses incurred by risk taking. The latter by handling both operational risks and financial risks in a unified model. This is important not least in businesses that handle sets of simultaneous large projects, which is the topic of risk handling in project portfolios. In this paper, we present a novel method for business risk handling for project portfolios under strong uncertainty. The method is based on event trees representing each adverse consequence modelled, together with mitigation costs and effects. The aggregation of all consequences for all projects together constitutes the risk portfolio for the business. This method is used in one of Sweden’s largest manufacturing enterprises having a vast portfolio of projects in the form of ongoing tenders for orders.

In decision analysis, there are several problems with the assignment of precise numbers to decision components, such as probabilities, values and weighs. These can very seldom realistically be estimated. Therefore, various alternative approaches have been suggested over the years, such as interval, capacity and ranking models. The more general of these are however problematical from several computational viewpoints and in this article, we deal with the server-side issues when converting the application from a stand-alone PC program to a server-client decision analytical software. On a server with a large number of users, space requirements become paramount as opposed to a single user on a PC. On a PC, matrices can be explicitly stored in memory, while on a server, to save space, matrices might have to be stored in an implicit (compacted) way, leading to space-time trade-offs.

We present the method used in an ongoing project in Jordan for a multi-stakeholder, multi-criteria problem of formulating a nationwide energy strategy for the country for the next decades. The Jordanian government has recognized the need for energy transition and the main goal of the energy strategy is to provide a reliable energy supply by increasing the share of local energy resources in the energy mix, while reducing dependency on imported fossil fuels, by diversifying energy resources, also including renewable energy sources, nuclear and shale oil, and by enhancing environmental protection. There were strong incentives for a collaborative approach, since the ways in which different stakeholder groups subjectively attach meanings to electricity generation technologies are recognized as important issues shaping the attainment of energy planning objectives. To understand the meaning of these constructs, we are using a multi-stakeholder multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) approach to elicit criteria weights and valuations.

The requirement to assign precise numerical values to model entities such as criteria weights, probabilities, and utilities is too strong in most real-life decision situations, and hence alternative representations and evaluation mechanisms are important to consider. In this paper, we discuss the DecideIT 3.0 state-of-the-art software decision tool and demonstrate its functionality using a real-life case. The tool is based on a belief mass interpretation of the decision information, where the components are imprecise by means of intervals and qualitative estimates, and we discuss how multiplicative and additive aggregations influence the resulting distribution over the expected values.

Comparatively few of the vast number of suggested decision-analytical methods have been widely spread in actual practice. The majority of those methods call for exact and accurate numbers as input, which could be one of several reasons for this lack of actual use; people frequently seem to be unfamiliar with, or reluctant to express those, in a sense, “true” values required. Many alternative methods to resolve this complication have been suggested over the years, including procedures for dealing with incomplete information. One way, which has proliferated for a while, is to introduce so-called surrogate numbers in the form of ordinal ranking methods for multi-criteria weights. In this chapter, we show how those can be adapted for use in probability elicitation. Furthermore, when decision-makers possess more information regarding the relative strengths of probabilities, that is, some form of cardinality, the input information to ordinal methods is sometimes too restricted. Therefore, we suggest a testing methodology and analyze the relevance of a set of cardinal ordering methods in addition to the ordinal ones.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to discuss the adequacy of International Mine Action Standards 09.20 (IMAS 09.20) and the used standards ISO 2859 in the context of demining. Design/methodology/approach: The authors show how the actual quality level acceptable quality limit (AQL) significantly affects the average total quality cost for one lot with a single sampling plan and, consequently, the average total quality cost, and as AQL increases, the cost of rejecting a lot and the cost of sampling increase. Findings: The sampling plans for demining are not always optimal given economical and other concerns and that other mechanisms should be considered. Practical implications: Addressing opportunity costs for adopting wide samplings plans instead of clearing uncleared land per default, as well as balancing producer and consumer consequences seems, therefore, to be highly relevant from a socio-economical perspective. Originality/value The general understanding of quality management and the systems involved are limited within the mine action sector. IMAS and most national mine action standards provide only a fairly narrow description of the issue. This implies that the field is missing opportunities to achieve efficiency and effectiveness, as well as to learn from and improve upon past experiences. The authors demonstrate herein that sampling provides little additional confidence as to whether a particular area is free from explosive hazards and substantial savings can be made compared to the current practice.

There are basically two categories of books on decision-making. One tells stories of how intuition guides decision-making. The other delineates a formal approach, based on decision-trees or matrices, often impenetrable to real-life decision makers. This book combines the best elements of both perspectives in a way that can be easily understood by all who are struggling with complex decisions, either as individuals or as organisations. It demonstrates how intuition and psychological insights can be harnessed to design relevant models and decision strategies, and describes how goals can be adequately formed and operationalised. Finally, the book integrates these processes in an analytical framework for decision-making.

Projektets huvudsyfte har varit att undersöka kvalitetsgranskade konferensartiklars tillgänglighet samt konferensers OA- och publiceringspolicies för att på så sätt klarlägga olika aspekter vad det gäller parallellpublicering i svenska publiceringsdatabaser. För ändamålet har projektdeltagarna undersökt ett urval konferenser och konferensartiklar via sina publiceringsdatabaser under ett specifikt tidsintervall och beskrivit dem utifrån ett gemensamt schema.

Undersökningen har visat att publiceringsdatabaserna fyller en viktig funktion för att synliggöra konferenspublikationer. Vi har funnit att minst ca. 50 % av konferensartiklarna kan publiceras som post-prints i våra publiceringsdatabaser. Därför är det av stor vikt att fortsätta arbetet med att utnyttja de lokala publiceringsdatabaserna som publiceringskanal och att inte bara använda dem som ett verktyg för parallellpublicering och primärpublicerat material, som avhandlingar och rapporter, utan även som en källa framförallt för konferensartiklar ”utan hem”, som vi nu vet utgör en stor del av vårt undersökningsmaterial (ca. 15 %).

 Mellan 20-25 % av de undersökta artiklarna fanns i något slags öppet OA-arkiv; ca. hälften av dessa fanns i någon av projektdeltagarnas egen publiceringsdatabas. Detta talar för att den egna publiceringsdatabasen är en viktig faktor för öppen tillgänglighet.

Ca. 10% av konferenserna i studien hade en uttrycklig OA-policy eller gav uttryck för en sådan genom att öppet tillgängliggöra konferensartiklar på sina konferenssajter. Ett stort problem när det gäller parallellpublicering av konferensartiklar är just bristen på information om OA-policy.

Konferenspubliceringslandskapet är komplicerat och parallellpubliceringen av dokument härifrån är mycket tidskrävande. Vi skulle framför allt önska en liknande policy-resurs som SHERPA/RoMEO för konferenser. Men för närvarande finns inget annat alternativ än att lusläsa konferensernas upphovsrättsinformation till författarna och av denna försöka dra slutsatser om ev. parallellpublicering.

För att underlätta framtida hantering och klassificering av konferensartiklar i svenska publiceringsdatabaser, framför allt med tanke på ev. framtida nationella bibliometriska analyser via SwePub, föreslås ett antal rekommendationer.

Abstract. The purpose of this paper is to illuminate ways in which language and communication relatedbarriers may be experienced in learning. Because of increased ICT usage, Project Africa’s Women’sAcademy, that is in focus of the research, felt that some issues regarding language and communicationappeared in another way than before without using ICT. The research was conducted in Lunga-Lunga,Kenya, November 2009 and through Internet communication (e.g. logs, letters stored in a socialnetworking site). The paper mainly draws on literature on ICT and Joseph Kaipayil’s ontology to collectindividual ‘experiences’. The results show that many barriers arise because of cultural diversities amongthe learners; e.g. difference ways of employing concepts and regard the objects in the world. In makingpolicies, therefore, account must be taken on a local and individual level as well as on a transnationaland collective level.

Purpose – This study aims to examine manually formulated queries and automatic query generation in an early phase of a patent “prior art” search.

Design/methodology/approach – The study was performed partly within a patent domain setting, involving three professional patent examiners, and partly in the context of the CLEF 2009 Intellectual Property (CLEF-IP) track. For the exploratory study of user-based query formulation, three patent examiners performed the same three simulated real-life patent tasks. For the automatic query generation, a simple term-weighting algorithm based on the RATF formula was used. The manually and automatically created queries were compared to analyse what kinds of keywords and from which parts of the patent documents were selected.

Findings – For user-formulated queries, it was found that patent documents were read in a specific order of importance and that the time varied. Annotations and collaboration were made while reading and selecting/ranking terms. Ranking terms was experienced to be harder than selecting terms. For the automatic formulated queries, it was found that the term frequencies used in the RATF alone will not quite approximate what terms will be judged as relevant query terms by the users. Simultaneously, the results suggest that developing a query generation tool for generating initial queries based on patent documents is feasible.

Research limitations/implications – These preliminary but informative results need to be viewed in the light that only three patent experts were observed and that a small set of topics was used.

Originality/value – It is usually difficult to get access to the setting of the patent domain and the results of the study show that the methodology provided a feasible way to study manual and the manual query formulation of the patent engineer.

Increasing digitization and the emergence of new data sharing practices are likely to change how our understanding of history is negotiated. The curation of data is always culturally and ideologically inflected. Accordingly, archiving practices are not only fundamental for our understanding of the past but vital in navigating the present. We have to pay particular attention to the consequences of the interfaces that curate history, especially in relation to big data. Crowdsourcing, social media, linked open data, and other participatory and open science practices challenge the archiving practices in cultural heritage institutions due to the character of the networked publics involved and the established structures between and within institutions. However, they also open up new opportunities and practices when it comes to understanding and defining our shared culture. In this workshop we will bring together researchers who have studied these issues or are working to develop critical perspectives on archiving practices.

Distributed decision making with several stakeholders has various facets. On one hand, it enables significant opportunities for fast and efficient information provision, in particular when various structuring frameworks are provided. On the other hand, there are several problems regarding the reliability and consistency of the data produced in social media contexts as well as with the frameworks themselves. Online collaborative data production systems where crowd feedbacks are aggregated and mediated are easily affected by group biases. There are also several credibility and verification issues as the representativeness of the participants normally is difficult or impossible to determine. This chapter discusses the handling of user data in tools for crowd sourced data production and suggests a framework for describing the socio-technical setting for the production of data, and thereby the detectability of bias patterns in collaborative information production.

Data-driven school improvement has been proposed to improve and support edu-cational practices and more studies are emerging describing data-driven practices in schools and the effects of data-driven interventions. This paper reports on a study that has taken place within a national program where 15 schools from six different municipalities and organizations are working at classroom, school and municipality levels to improve educational practices using data-driven methods. The study aimed at understanding what educational problems teachers, principals and administrative staff in the project aimed to address through the utilization of data-driven methods and the challenges they face in doing so. Using a mixed method design, we identified four thematic areas that reflect the focused problem areas of the participants in the project, namely didactics, democracy, assessment and planning, and mental health. All development groups identified problems that can be solved with data-driven methods. Along with this, we also identified five challenges faced by the participants: time and resources, competence, ethics, digi-tal systems and common language. We conclude that the main challenge faced by the participants is data literacy, and that professional development is needed to support effective and successful data-driven practices in schools.

In this chapter, the focus is on knowledge representations in different sites of learning. We will give some examples of formal, semi-formal, and non-formal institutional framings, as well as of choices of representational resources—both in terms of designs for learning and play, and designs in learning. The knowledge area is the Middle Ages, a period which reappears in books, music, films, and games in late-modern contexts. This chapter is thereby also an example of learning outside and inside schools, and of how different institutional logics and choices of material resources affect which type of knowledge that is valued, and what is seen as signs of learning.

Cycling is one of the most sustainable transport modes available and it is widely promoted inmany urban areas. The health benefits from cycling has shown to be substantial, includingdecreased risks of diseases related to overweight and enhancing brain capacity. However, inurban areas cyclists can temporaly be exposed to high levels of air pollution, resulting inhealth risks as opposed to health benefits.

The objective of this thesis is to develop a rasterbased test model in GIS that estimates theinhaled dose of air pollution for cyclists based on relative particle concentration in differenttransportation micro-environments. The method used is a least-cost path approach,calculating three different routes; shortest, fastest and least dose for four different trips withinSödermalm, Stockholm.

The results show that the inhaled particle dose can be greatly reduced, 39% - 58% for three ofthe routes, by choosing the least dose route. One of the most interesting findings is thesubstantial increase of dose when high levels of particles are combined with uphill cycling.

The conclusion for the thesis is that a raster-GIS model can be very useful for estimating doseof different air pollution particles and chemicals along cycling routes. For this purpose thetest model could be applied with no or little additional development, while with furtherdevelopment it might be possible to develope a cycle route planner for public use.

The thesis component of a degree program is vital since the quality of it contributes to the quality of the whole degree. Maintaining the quality of the degree programs and handling the constantly increasing numbers of students entering higher education simultaneously is a challenge for many higher educational institutions. This paper presents a study of how ICT can be used to improve the quality and effectiveness of the thesis projects at Bachelors and Masters Levels. Further, how the blended model of supervision supports solving the issues of managing supervisor time efficiently and providing a quality guidance for thesis students are also explored. Supervisors’ perceptions of the ICT enabled thesis process are captured via interviews. Statistics about the completed theses and the user log data of the ICT system are triangulated to complement supervisor perceptions. Results revealed that the supervisors take advantage of the functions in the system to support improving the quality and the quantity of the theses, and the blended supervision model adapted in the thesis process support the supervisors to have a better collaboration with the students.

To satisfy Jordan’s growing demand for electricity and to diversify its energy mix, the Jordanian government is considering a number of electricity-generation technologies that would allow for locally available resources to be used alongside imported energy. Energy policy in Jordan aims to address both climate change mitigation and energy security by increasing the share of low-carbon technologies and domestically available resources in the Jordanian electricity mix. Existing technological alternatives include the scaling up of renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind; the deployment of nuclear energy; and shale oil exploration. However, the views, perceptions, and opinions regarding these technologies—their benefits, risks, and costs—vary significantly among different social groups both inside and outside the country. Considering the large-scale policy intervention that would be needed to deploy these technologies, a compromise solution must be reached. This paper is based on the results of a four-year research project that included extensive stakeholder processes in Jordan, involving several social groups and the application of various methods of participatory governance research, such as multi-criteria decision-making. The results show the variety of opinions expressed and provide insights into each type of electricity-generation technology and its relevance for each stakeholder group. There is a strong prevalence of economic rationality in the results, given that electricity-system costs are prioritized by almost all stakeholder groups.

We report an ethnographic study of prosocial behavior inconnection to League of Legends, one of the most popular games in the world. In this game community, the game developer, Riot Games, implemented a system that allowed players to volunteer their time to identify unacceptable player behaviors and punish players associated with these behaviors. With the prosocial goal of improving the community and promoting sportsmanship with in the competitive culture, a small portion of players worked diligently in the system with little reward. In this paper, we use interviews and analysis of forum discussions to examine how players themselves explain their participation in the system situated in the game culture of League of Legends. We show a myriad of social and technical factors that facilitated or hindered players' prosocial behavior. We discuss how our findings might provide generalizable insights for player engagement and community-building in online games.

Purpose – This study aims to provide insight to the little-researched phenomenon of reverse knowledge flow within multinational corporations (MNCs) and to explain the role of managerial attention in exploiting the prospect of knowledge transfer from subsidiaries located in developing countries. Design/methodology/approach – Existing literature across disciplines has been integrated to provide a clear description of the concept of reverse knowledge flow and managerial attention, in order to explain the role of managerial attention in reverse knowledge transfer activities within MNCs. Two pilot studies were conducted on European MNCs to build the background for this study. Findings – Managerial attention is a key factor in recognising potential source of knowledge within the multinational network, and a prior requirement for knowledge transfer to take place. Attention decisions are partially based on the knowledge source location, awareness/attractiveness, and the strategic importance. Thus, MNCs can adopt managerial practices and control mechanisms to influence the attention of executives and achieve higher knowledge flow from subsidiaries. Research limitations/implications – There is a need to undertake empirical research and in-depth case studies of knowledge management practices using the arguments and framework provided in this article. Practical implications – MNCs can develop mechanisms for overcoming attention biases influence on reverse knowledge flow. The attention based approach can lead to better subsidiary integration and knowledge management practices in MNCs. Originality/value – This study advances the theory on reverse knowledge flow in MNCs by presenting an attention based theoretical framework for effective knowledge transfer.

Are you searching for a book that discusses teaching excellence from both a global and future perspective? In that case, Global perspectives on teaching excellence - A new era for higher education is a highly relevant and interesting book with contributions from 42 individuals, all involved in higher education in many countries. Christine Broughan, Graham Steventon and Lynn Clouder, researchers from Coventry University in the United Kingdom, are the editors. In this book, the concept of teaching excellence is explored by international authors who highlight a number of key issues. One issue is that teaching excellence has no international definition because it is such a complex subject covering diverse ontological, epistemological and cultural contexts. We can read this book with three questions in mind: If and how teaching excellence can be measured; what impact frameworks, initiatives and awards have on teaching excellence; and, what are the new challenges for global teaching excellence in the 21st century? The authors’ focus is a blend of political, theoretical and applied research which gives the reader many different perspectives on teaching excellence.

Professional development directed towards migrant teachers is provided at six Swedish Universities. These teachers study 1-2 years to become eligible to teach in Swedish schools. Part of this training is the placement period, where they become familiar with the Swedish school environment while guided by a placement supervisor. In this study, we examine migrant teachers’ experiences with digital technology and media during their placement period, using the theoretical concept of “unfamiliar ways of thinking and practising”. Data in this qualitative study was collected from a total of 34 migrant teachers through five focus groups and nine individual interviews. The migrant teachers’ former teacher education was completed in twenty different countries. A qualitative content analysis was conducted. The results indicate that the placement supervisor is of great importance for the improvement of migrant teachers’ digital competence, as it is defined in the Swedish context. As a role model, the placement supervisor can be a motivator and an inspirational force for migrant teachers. Findings also show that migrant teachers express unfamiliar ways of thinking and practising concerning the curricula, pedagogical methods and in their role as teachers, which has implications for how digital technology and media isused pedagogically.

In Sweden, a growing number of students in teacher education have a migrant background. A specific group consists of those with a foreign teaching degree who wish to complement their studies to become eligible to teach in Swedish schools. Within Swedish teacher education, there is a lack of studies examining how migrant teachers perceive the Swedish educational system, how teaching and learning are understood and practised, and how these experiences can be related to migrant teachers’ previous experiences. In the present study, migrant teachers’ encounters with Swedish teacher education at four Swedish Universities were examined in relation to the notions of “unfamiliar ways of thinking and practising” to highlight ways of teaching and learning that are perceived as unfamiliar. Data in this study was drawn from a web survey completed by 228 respondents with a foreign teaching degree coming from 54 countries. Additionally, five focus groups and nine individual interviews were conducted. Furthermore, 30 reflective texts written by 15 participants were analysed. The results highlight the cultural embeddedness of Swedish teacher education and demonstrate how migrant students struggle with unfamiliar teaching and learning methods, epistemological understanding, examination practices and the roles and expectations from society or between teachers and students. To conclude, this research underscores the importance of situated reflexivity and awareness with intercultural experiences in mind, when designing teaching and learning, and supporting inclusion and equality. These findings and the way of identifying the unfamiliarity in teaching and practising may be applicable in other countries as well.

The paper presents a new Monte Carlo track structure code (KURBUC_carbon) for simulations of full slowing down carbon projectiles C⁰–C⁶⁺ of energies 1 keV/u–10 MeV/u in water vapour. The code facilitates investigation of spatial resolution effect for scoring track parameters under the Bragg peak of carbon ion beam. Interactions of carbon projectiles and secondary electrons were followed event-by-event down to 1 keV/u cutoff for primary ions, and down to 10 eV for electrons. Electronic interactions and nuclear elastic scattering were taken into account, including charge exchange reactions and double electronic interactions for the carbon projectiles. The reliability of the code was tested for radial dose, range, and W-value. The calculated results were compared with the published experimental data, and other model calculations. The results obtained showed good agreement in most cases where comparisons could be made. Depth dose profiles for 1-10 MeV/u C⁶⁺ were used to form an SOBP of 0.35 mm width in water. At all depths of the SOBP, the energy distributions of the carbon projectiles varied appreciably with the change in the scoring volume. The corresponding variation was nearly negligible for the track average LET, except at the distal end of the SOBP. By varying the scoring slab thickness from 1 to 100 µm, the maximum track average LET decreased by ~30%. The Monte Carlo track structure simulation in the full slowing down mode is a powerful tool for investigation of biophysical properties of radiation tracks under the Bragg peak and SOBP of carbon ion beam. For estimation of radiation effectiveness under the Bragg peak the new Monte Carlo track structure code provides yet another accurate and effective dosimetry tool at a single cell level. This is because radiobiology within tissue elements can only be understood with dosimetry at cellular and subcellular level.

This chapter introduces the notion of designs in learning, which focuses on aspects regarding how learners (either individually or collectively) negotiate, make choices, and design their learning and representation of a phenomenon and of a knowledge area. Designs in learning can thus be seen as a way to approach issues regarding learners’ agency and performativity in learning contexts of various kinds. The chapter further contextualizes this aspect of learning by introducing the idea of rhizomatic webs as a metaphor for learning. A condition for being able to grasp learning as a performative act and the rhizomatic character of meaning-making is an openness in terms of what is recognized as valid representations of knowledge. We argue for the importance of recognizing a multitude of meaningful expressions in learning, introduced here as a capacity to embrace multimodal knowledge representations. The ideas presented in the chapter are exemplified with some glimpses of a collaborative process of filmmaking in a school context. In order to show how meaning-making evolves in the work to make representations in film, the chapter also introduces the notions of epistemological commitments of modes, transformation, and transduction.

I den emipiriska studien beskrivs hur IKT kan användas som länk för inklusion i skolan.

Real asset investment appraisal in the public sector often requires that objectives beyond return on investment are taken into account. Recently, environmental impact and climate change issues are often used to motivate investments, but despite this formal approaches are seldom being used for this purpose. In this paper we investigate the application of real option valuation and multi-criteria decision analysis in the appraisal of a public sector investment in the form of a logistics park, aimed to reduce the emissions from cargo traffic. Although this appraisal approach captures important features of the real situation in terms of that flexibility is considered and multiple criteria is taken into account, the requirement for the information needed for the model led to a need to use best-estimates, and a systematic approach to sensitivity analysis is therefore desired.

In recent years emphasis has been placed on opening up governments and empowering and engaging citizens in governmental activities: this view of e-government is referred to as government 2.0. Government 2.0 focuses on governments becoming more transparent, accessible, and responsive, and on governments promoting increased collaboration and participation.  There is also an increasing demand from citizens to interact and gain access to government services through mobile devices. Adopting mobile and wireless technology within the public sector is referred to as mobile government (m-government) and this new phenomenon is expected to become an important part of the development of e-government. By combining government 2.0 and m-government, The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the research community envisages benefits and calls for action within this field.

This research answers this call, and addresses the research problem of how to design an m-government solution for complaint and problem management that enables government 2.0. Challenges that inhibit Swedish municipalities from adopting and utilizing such a solution are also identified in this research.

Citizens in Sweden can submit complaints and problems concerning a community, such as broken streetlights, to municipalities. By enabling complaints and problems to be reported through mobile devices it facilitates reporting at the point and time of discovery of the issue. Complaint and problem reporting is therefore a suitable m-government service. The m-government solution for complaint and problem management was designed and evaluated within a research project. This compilation thesis builds on and communicates research performed within the research project. By following a design science research methodology, the complaint and problem management solution is designed and evaluated. The solution (Munizapp) comprises a mobile application (app) and an integration platform (ePlatform). The app is the front-end that enables citizens to report complaints and problems to municipalities. The ePlatform facilitates seamless two-way communication between the app and back-end case management system in municipalities. A theoretical evaluation shows that the solution has functionalities that enable all aspects of government 2.0. Additional evaluations indicate evidence of citizens finding the solution valuable and easy to use. There is willingness among municipalities to adopt and utilize the designed m-government solution, but there are challenges that inhibit them from realizing the full potential of the solution. The challenges identified in this research are described and related to business process management and to government 2.0. Future research should investigate how to overcome these challenges.

Integral transmembrane (TM) proteins are essential constituents of biological membranes where they fulfill a variety of important cellular functions. Because of difficulties with determining their structures by experimental techniques, comparably few 3D structures of membrane proteins are known so far. Therefore, computational methods trained on the available structures using only the protein sequence as input have become important tools in this field. In this chapter, we give a short introduction to the topic and then summarize recent bioinformatics tools for the prediction of structural as well as functional properties of alpha-helical and beta-barrel TM proteins. We present methods that allow predicting the locations of alpha-helical and beta-strand TM segments, to determine the exposure status of residues in the TM region to the surrounding lipids, and that allow functional annotations from the protein sequence.

There is increasing interplay between humans and artificial intelligent (AI) entities in online environments. With the growing autonomy and sophistication of these AI systems, the hybrid communities which are formed start to behave like the more-familiar, human-only social systems. This sets up the challenge to find systematic ways to ensure reliable governance for these interactions just as we do in human communities. This article proposes a novel approach to build governance for hybrid communities using what we call Conscientious Design (CD). There are two key aspects to CD: 1) the introduction of value categories that guides the identification of relevant stakeholder values, coupled with 2) a tripartite model for online institutions that serves to describe the interactions of hybrid communities of humans and artificial entities in a way that is consistent with the values of all stakeholders.

Background: Continuous professional development (CPD) is necessary for every healthcare professional, but it is even more important in developing countries. In addition to the traditional need for CPD to keep improving the quality of service delivery, in developing countries, some health professionals work in remote areas where they lack the experience of senior colleagues. In this regard, online CPD is among the strategies that can improve the quality of health care services delivery.

Aim: Thus, this study assessed the needs, facilitators, and barriers of using online learning for continuous professional development among nurses, midwives, and physicians in Rwanda.

Design: The study used a cross-sectional study design and a survey to collect quantitative data from physicians, nurses, and midwives on their views about online learning for continuous professional development needs, facilitators, and barriers.

Method: The study used proportionate stratified random sampling strategy to collect quantitative data from 261 participants from 51 health institutions. The major analysis used was descriptive statistics in terms of describing the responses of participants in percentages and frequencies.

Results: The findings indicate that 97.3% of participants consider the importance of CPD, 71.6% prefer blended approach for CPD, and 86.5% use smartphones. About the internet status, 28.0% of participants reported to have fast and stable internet, 57.1% to have fast but not stable internet, and 14.2% reported to have not fast and stable internet.

Conclusion: Nurses, midwives, and physicians perceive online learning as a good source of continuing professional development, but its implementation must depend on improved internet access, compatible technology with smartphones, or increasing the availability of computers and tablets at health institutions.

The conditions for higher education teachers operating in a technology-enhanced education setting and an open educational context – such as Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) – are different when compared to traditional teaching methods (e.g. in a lecture hall). This study investigates the grounds for 20 teachers at Swedish Higher education institutions to be involved in MOOC development projects. Six categories are found and described; including curiosity, merits, teaching development, flexibility, as well as the possibility to disseminate their research and expand their professional networks. Interviewees believed that the work was a viable way to strengthen their research portfolio, while also making a limited effort for teaching, enhancing the dissemination possibilities and strengthening their research networks.

This paper introduces a novel method aimed at enhancing onlinetooffline (O2O) services recommendations by utilizing twolayer knowledge networks. The primary objective of this method is to assist consumers in efficiently navigating the myriad of options available when choosing O2O services. Using co-occurrence relationships, we construct a two-layer knowledge network system, comprising a service knowledge network based on service usage information as the first layer and a consumer knowledge network, built on co-used behaviors as the second layer. The former is established upon service use data, while the latter is founded on co-used behaviors among consumers. The features and information of these two knowledge networks can complement each other to produce precise and effective recommendations. Empirical findings gained from our experiments demonstrate that: (1) the proposed recommendation method outperforms widely-used and state-of-the-art recommendation methods; (2) both the service knowledge network and consumer knowledge network play an equally significant role in O2O service recommendations; (3) the location of O2O services is an essential factor in consumers' choices for services. Notably, this research also identifies the optimal parameter settings for the proposed recommendation method.