Portable IT devices such as laptops, smart phones and computer tablets are becoming ever more ubiquitous. At the same time, the population of the Western world is growing older, with aging bringing about changes with regards to individuals' physical and mental capabilities. These facts raises important questions about how well suited these devices are for use by elderly people. This study focuses on the cognitive aspects of the devices' usability, using the concept of mental models to analyze the users' understanding of a computer tablet. It also draws upon theory of graphical user interfaces in its analyses.

This thesis has examined the Tekla Structures modeling software and answered the question of whether it could act as a suitable modeling program for the design department at Bjerking AB in Uppsala. The method used in this work is a case study of a previous project with existing basis to work form. The demarcation of the study was to examine only the usability of the foundations of in situ concrete. The work examined three main areas within the design process. The first was to model the concrete elements then to model the reinforcing and ultimately production of the drawings. Because Autodesk Revit was the existing modeling program in the Department conducted the evaluation as a comparison between the two programs.

Web pages are visited through a variety of different devices with varying screensizes. One method for adapting web pages to this variety is called responsive design. Geographical information, often in the form of embedded maps, is common on the web. The combination of responsive design and geographical information has been shown to lead to interaction problems and is therefore assumed to need special considerations. This thesis examines this combination and investegates how presentation of geographical information can be adapted to responsive web design.

Hidden away in the pristine landscape on the northeast shore of the Dominican Republic, the remote village of Miches is on the verge of shifting its economic resource base from traditional fishing into what could become an international model for sustainable tourism. The aim of this thesis was to produce a vision of a waterfront park near the center of the village; demonstrating concept-based landscape design that reflects the goals of sustainable development originating from the local incentive structure. A composite landscape analysis and design concept both served to inform and guide the design work, which was executed through model building, hand drawings, and production of a visual presentation in the format of an architectural competition entry. The design concept, All invited, signifies the distinction between the development that is about to take place in Miches and the otherwise common all-inclusive resorts, where tourists are set apart from the local community and spend most of their time within the fenced-off premises of the hotel. All invited also captures the typical Dominican hospitality, and mirrors the aspirations of turning Miches into a safe and welcoming place for visitors. The result is a public park design that is equally inviting local residents as it is to tourists, and where the unique qualities of the site are emphasized without being exploited.

A new phenomenon on the Internet is the online audience response. Mentimeter is a web-based tool where you can create online polls. The users can then cast a vote and the result is shown in real time. We want to test the information visualization in Mentimeter and we base our hypothesis, that a better graph design is possible, on the work of Edward Tufte and Stephen Few. Edward Tufte is an emeritus at Yale University, where he held courses in statistical evidence and information design and has created theories about how visual information should be designed.

Man has through out times and in all cultures shaped their bodies to the existing bodily ideals. Men's bodily ideals had changed over the last thirty years to a more muscular, less bodyfat and more V-shaped body. Men and women focus their attention to different body parts. That is why there is a need for a questionnaire witch is specially designed for men. The purpose of this study was to deliniate the body image of men aged 20 to 30 years and to test the reliability of the questionnaire "Mäns kroppsuppfattning".

During the late twentieth century, political and societal changes gave rise to an increased interest in performance evaluation in public organizations. This development also affected libraries in the public sector. The main concern for this master thesis is performance measurement in libraries. In this study two different types of libraries are investigated, one public and the other academic. My aim is to find out if and how performance measurement appears in the libraries annual activity reports.

Aquatic organisms are usually not exposed to single substances but rather to mixtures of toxicants in streams located in agricultural areas. The transport of pesticides used in the agricultural area in Sweden is monitored with continuous environmental supervision every year. During 2002-2008 an average of 10 pesticides were found in each sample and 40% of the samples contained substances with concentrations higher than the Water Quality Standards. Chemical risk management is normally based on single-test evaluations. A problem when assessing mixture toxicities is that the constituents and concentrations of pollutants in the environment vary greatly.

Porsche är ett tysk bilföretag mest känt för sportbilar och är en del av Volkswagen koncernen. Volkswagen Group Sverige tillgodoser Porsche Sverige med ett reklamationssystem som heter PRT.PRT är en webbapplikation som är skriven med Active Server Pages och Visual Basic 6 komponenter. PRT är i dagsläget svårunderhållet och allmänt småbuggit att använda och jobba med. Systemet körs även på gamla servrar som Volkswagen Group Sverige vill sluta att använda. Detta har gett att Volkswagen Group Sverige vill avveckla detta system och skriva om PRT till en klient som kan nås remote istället för via webben.

The aim of this thesis is to, through an empirical study ofthe social tags in the City of Stockholm libraries? OPACwith critical discourse analysis, examine the social tags?linguistic design, usability, and communicative potential? all in relation to the context. It is a linguistic study andit is important to take into account that the tags are extremelyshort texts ? single-word-texts. My starting-pointis that the tags are a form of utility texts.What I find is that a clear majority of the tags are nounsand function as index terms, but that there are differencescompared to authorized index terms.

The aim of this Masters thesis is to investigate the notions and use of non fiction literature of children 9-11 years old. Moreover, this study tries to dissect the underlying concepts that exert influence over the target groups notions and use of non fiction literature. The method and empirical basis of this study is qualitative, with interviews of eight children within the target group. We use a theory of reading exchange to highlight the different areas of usability of non fiction for children. To emphasize how children use non fiction as representative for actual facts, or as non fiction with fictional content, we use a four-field correlation model.

Through geopolitical theory this thesis explores how conflicts within states can be read and understood according to an analytical model determining one or several possible causes for the conflict.  The model is created by the author and reflects geopolitical theory by giving three possible explanations to an intrastate conflict: culture, economy or territorial construction. The aim of the thesis is testing this model on two selectively chosen case studies ? i.e. two intrastate conflicts ? namely: the upcoming referendum in Scotland and the terror attack at Tiananmen Square in China.

With the new generation of smartphones the boundaries for what is a mobile phone and whatis a computer becomes more subtle. 2009 the shipment of smartphones with touchscreen morethan double the 2008 figure and the total amount of smartphones is now over 10 % of the totalworldwide shipments of mobile phones. There?s still one problem to solve and that is the lackof web content specifically adapted for smartphones.The purpose of this paper is to identify and analyze from a user and usability perspective howto make a successful migration and design of a user interface for an existing web basedsystem so that it also fit smartphones.The paper starts with a theoretical reference material containing examples of differentapproaches for design and migration of an interface.A case study is performed and prototypes are designed with support from guidelines andrecommendations in the theory part.The conclusion stipulates that in the present situation there are no shortcuts when it comes tomigration of an existing web based system for the mobile web. The recommendation is aspecific interface for each different unit that are going to interact with the system.Research that analyzes differences between all mobile web browsers would be of greatinterest, a research that hopefully leads to guidelines for what level of mobile web standardthey should at least support.

With the new generation of smartphones the boundaries for what is a mobile phone and whatis a computer becomes more subtle. 2009 the shipment of smartphones with touchscreen morethan double the 2008 figure and the total amount of smartphones is now over 10 % of the totalworldwide shipments of mobile phones. There?s still one problem to solve and that is the lackof web content specifically adapted for smartphones.The purpose of this paper is to identify and analyze from a user and usability perspective howto make a successful migration and design of a user interface for an existing web basedsystem so that it also fit smartphones.The paper starts with a theoretical reference material containing examples of differentapproaches for design and migration of an interface.A case study is performed and prototypes are designed with support from guidelines andrecommendations in the theory part.The conclusion stipulates that in the present situation there are no shortcuts when it comes tomigration of an existing web based system for the mobile web. The recommendation is aspecific interface for each different unit that are going to interact with the system.Research that analyzes differences between all mobile web browsers would be of greatinterest, a research that hopefully leads to guidelines for what level of mobile web standardthey should at least support.

With the new generation of smartphones the boundaries for what is a mobile phone and whatis a computer becomes more subtle. 2009 the shipment of smartphones with touchscreen morethan double the 2008 figure and the total amount of smartphones is now over 10 % of the totalworldwide shipments of mobile phones. There?s still one problem to solve and that is the lackof web content specifically adapted for smartphones.The purpose of this paper is to identify and analyze from a user and usability perspective howto make a successful migration and design of a user interface for an existing web basedsystem so that it also fit smartphones.The paper starts with a theoretical reference material containing examples of differentapproaches for design and migration of an interface.A case study is performed and prototypes are designed with support from guidelines andrecommendations in the theory part.The conclusion stipulates that in the present situation there are no shortcuts when it comes tomigration of an existing web based system for the mobile web. The recommendation is aspecific interface for each different unit that are going to interact with the system.Research that analyzes differences between all mobile web browsers would be of greatinterest, a research that hopefully leads to guidelines for what level of mobile web standardthey should at least support.