This paper presents the results of a workplace study of two smaller companies in the design industry. The core issue has been to investigate the companies use of technical tools and to what extent social praxis influence the daily work. The methods used are based on a qualitative analysis of interviews and observations. Various kind of work procedures, such as verbal and computerized, have been identified, but the most important occurrence was how spontaneous conversations between employees required certain flexibility, since the actors repeatedly were required to change focus and quickly perceive different information. For that reason, a thesis has been defined regarding how the use of spontaneous communication put an indirect need of a flexible working environment and also how this lead to more significant participation and exchange of information, as well as more awareness at the companies..

Intermodulated force microscope (ImAFM) is a type of dynamic AFM. ImAFM opens up possibilities for mapping the topography and making quantitative determinations of material parameters at the same time. With increased information the need to generate more informative images of the sample emerges. In this Bachelor's degree project I have created tools for rendering images of a sample. The topography is plotted as the height and a material parameter is color coded on topography.

This qualitative study examines how users of boardgamegeek.com chooses which analogue game to buy. The purpose of the study is to find out which factors constitutes the choice of games and how the information of these factors reach the consumer. The investigation is executed by users of boardgamegeek.com explaining their latest game purchase in a questionnaire survey online. The results show that many of the respondents research the games they are interrested in beforehand and based on this information make their choice. Despite of this we can see that many game developers and distributors does not make this information available for the consumers, but leaves this task to the public..

The way we interact with computers will soon change dramatically. The input interfaces are becoming more and more intuitive and one of the latest technologies is a touch screen interface capable of dealing with multiple inputs simultaneously. The tools we use to communicate with the computer - such as the mouse and the keyboard, will slowly disappear and be replaced with tools more comfortable and more natural for the human being to use. The purpose of this project was to create a basic framework for future projects dealing with this interface, as well as creating some example programs. This report describes my work and my experiences with this new interface..

This Master?s Thesis aims to illustrate in what ways the two Swedish environmental assessment tools, the Environmental Load Profile and EcoEffect differ and if performed valuations gives different results and environmental goals.The built urban environment causes about half the environmental loading in Sweden. The society?s ambition towards sustainable development has resulted in demands reducing the environmental load. One way to accomplish this change is with the assistance of tools for environmental assessment of the built environment.

This report is a result of a diplomawork in construction engineering.The goal of this thesis is to highlighthow the work with planning andperformance management is done in theprojects at the Swedish buildingcontractor Skanska Väg & anläggning,region Stockholm/Mälardalen, districtMark Stockholm North, compared toSkanska?s policies.The comparison was made with focus onfive tools for productivity. The toolsare as follow: broken-down schedule,work sets, visual control, performancemanagement/progress monitoring and bestpractice.The study showed that the usage of thedifferent tools varied both within andbetween the different projects.Practically none of the projects whereusing the tools progress monitoring andbest practice, mostly due to fewoperations being applicable. The worksets are now mostly documented, but theyare rarely followed up. Performancemanagement is somewhat inconsequentialfor the moment, but during 2011 targetsheets will be introduced, withtemplates for setting up targets.Scheduling is one of the most importantworks regarding planning.

This thesis presents a comparative study of image registration at two picture collection libraries. The two registration systems are analyzed as to the theoretical principles behind them and their practical application, and related to theoretical tools for subject analysis and bibliographic standards. While a growing number of picture collections now digitize their material, generally accepted standards and methods for the registration of digital images are still lacking. Many different systems coexist, often developed in-house in response to ad hoc needs and based on traditional registration tools created for textual documents, resulting in internationally incompatible mixed-format systems. The two picture collections examined here, however, have opted for similar, standardized tools for registration and subject analysis, and while there are differences in their application and focus, they have both considered issues of cross-system compatibility.

The disconnect between assumptions regarding computer users interactions made by software engineers and the actual interactions do, for various reasons, not always match. Gathering actual usage data from user interfaces can enable software designers to make better educated decisions. By buildning a prototype for collecting such data from a diagnosis tool for the automotive industry this project has shown not only how to benefit from the data but also how to perform the work. The data is 1 600 sessions consisting of 26 000 individual events. From this it has shown that available tools can assist in rudimentary questions regarding usage.

When working with market communications it is important that ones brand is noticed and remembered, for which the marketer has many tools at hand. This study compares the communicative effects of PR and paid advertisement on consumers, in response to the underlying purpose to provide a theoretical framework for better understanding the relative effects of the two tools. In the struggle for consumers? attention we find ads to be a tool to achieve wider brand knowledge, whilst PR is rewarded more extensive elaboration once noticed. The study also affirms the causal link between communication credibility, attitude toward the communication and brand attitude.

This study shows the thoughts, hopes and wishes of two male and two female music teachers, in grades 6 ? 9 from four different cities of Sweden. The emphasis lays on usage of digital tools. As the schools now stand before lots of changes in its curriculums; the use of digital tools was the main thing that caught my interest. How has the schools interpreted what this means? What does this mean in terms of purchases for the schools? We already know that many schools are lacking proper facilities to conduct music lessons so this ads on even larger needs.

This thesis discusses the possibilities to distribute digital video in a military vehicle. Today, an analogue system is used, which has a maximum capacity of eighteen video sources and the same number of monitors. The purpose of this thesis is to increase the systems capabilities regarding secure distribution and additional functions. Both software and hardware tests are made to investigate the features of the digital video standard MPEG-2. Both the coding delay and the image quality are of great interest.

The overall purpose of this study is to examine how preschool teachers make use of digital tools in correlation with pedagogical documentation. More specifically, the purpose is to interview preschool teachers about their ideas and their use of the digital tool Förskoleappen to record and document childrens learningprocesses. The purpose will be answered with help from the following questions: In what way do preschool teachers use Förskoleappen in pedagogical documentation? What ideas and views do preschool teachers have about digital technology in general and Förskoleappen in particular? In order to find the answers to our questions we carried out a qualitative study in the form of interviews with six preschool teachers from two different preschools. We have used the designtheoretical perspective as our theoretical frame.

The ÅF Group is a leader in technical consulting, with expertise founded on more than a century of experience. They offer highly qualified services and solutions for industrial processes, infrastructure projects and the development of products and IT systems. They are also one of the leading names in certified third-party testing and inspection work.Today the ÅF Group has approximately 4,000 employees. Their base is in Europe, but their business and clients are found all over the world.A part of ÅF-Engineerings business is programming different automation systems to clients. Another part is support in both telephone and personal visits.Because the number of clients is high and the flora of different automation systems is big the consequence is that the employees must have access to many licenses with programming tools.

The study set out to find how artists organize and use their personal collections from a Personal Information Management (PIM) perspective, and how that use affects their practice and their art production. A secondary object of the study was to articulate the ways that personal collections are utilized as tools by creative users.  The empirical data consisted of five qualitative, semi-structured interviews with Swedish and Norwegian sound artists. The constant comparative method was used for analysis, and Activity Theory was used as a theore- tical framework for the study. The study concluded that artists? personal collections, while diverse in content and structure, serve the same functions as tools in creative processes, and that attention to the uses of personal collections highlight needs that could be better met by integrated PIM-functionality.

The web is a constantly growing medium that presumably plays an increasing role in public library reference services. In order to provide high quality reference service the librarians need to be able to master this medium. Therefore it is interesting to get an understanding of how librarians actually use the web. The aim of this Master s thesis is to investigate what web search tools are used by public librarians in reference service. Furthermore, the aim is to get an understanding of how the librarians think about those tools and what background factors influence their selection of tools.