| 1. |
- Alenljung, Beatrice
(författare)
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Decision-making in the Requirements Engineering Process : A Human-centred Approach
- 2005
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Complex decision-making is a prominent aspect of requirements engineering and the need for improved decision support for requirements engineers has been identified by a number of authors. A first step toward better decision support in requirements engineering is to understand decision-makers’ complex decision situations. To gain a holistic perspective of the decision situation from a decision-makers perspective, a decision situation framework has been created. The framework evolved through a literature analysis of decision support systems and decision-making theories. The decision situation of requirements engineers has been studied at Ericsson Microwave Systems and is described in this thesis. Aspects of decision situations are decision matters, decision-making activities, and decision processes. Another aspect of decision situations is the factors that affect the decision-maker. A number of interrelated factors have been identified. Each factor consists of problems and these are related to decision-making theories. The consequences of this for requirements engineering decision support, represented as a list that consists of desirable high-level characteristics, are also discussed.
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| 2. |
- Alenljung, Beatrice
(författare)
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Envisioning a Future Decision Support System for Requirements Engineering : A Holistic and Human-centred Perspective
- 2008
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Complex decision-making is a prominent aspect of requirements engineering (RE) and the need for improved decision support for RE decision-makers has been identified by a number of authors in the research literature. The fundamental viewpoint that permeates this thesis is that RE decision-making can be substantially improved by RE decision support systems (REDSS) based on the actual needs of RE decision-makers as well as the actual generic human decision-making activities that take place in the RE decision processes. Thus, a first step toward better decision support in requirements engineering is to understand complex decision situations of decision-makers. In order to gain a holistic view of the decision situation from a decision-maker’s perspective, a decision situation framework has been created. The framework evolved through an analysis of decision support systems literature and decision-making theories. The decision situation of RE decision-makers has been studied at a systems engineering company and is depicted in this thesis. These situations are described in terms of, for example, RE decision matters, RE decision-making activities, and RE decision processes. Factors that affect RE decision-makers are also identified. Each factor consists of problems and difficulties. Based on the empirical findings, a number of desirable characteristics of a visionary REDSS are suggested. Examples of characteristics are to reduce the cognitive load, to support creativity and idea generation, and to support decision communication. One or more guiding principles are proposed for each characteristic and available techniques are described. The purpose of the principles and techniques is to direct further efforts concerning how to find a solution that can fulfil the characteristic. Our contributions are intended to serve as a road map that can direct the efforts of researchers addressing RE decision-making and RE decision support problems. Our intention is to widen the scope and provide new lines of thought about how decision-making in RE can be supported and improved.
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| 3. |
- Andersson, S.-O., et al.
(författare)
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The criteria nurses use in assessing acute trauma in military emergency care
- 2007
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Ingår i: Accident and Emergency Nursing. - : Elsevier BV. - 0965-2302 .- 1532-9267. ; 15:3, s. 148-156
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Emergency medical care for seriously injured patients in war or warlike situations is highly important when it comes to soldiers' survival and morale. The Swedish Armed Forces sends nurses, who have limited experience of caring for injured personnel in the field, on a variety of international missions. The aim of this investigation was to identify the kind of criteria nurses rely on when assessing acute trauma and what factors are affecting the emergency care of injured soldiers. A phenomenographic research approach based on interviews was used. The database for the study consists of twelve nurses who served in Bosnia in 1994-1996. The criteria nurses rely on, when assessing acute trauma in emergency care, could be described in terms of domain-specific criteria such as a physiological, an anatomical, a causal and a holistic approach as well as contextual criteria such as being able to communicate, having a sense of belonging, the military environment, the conscript medical orderly and familiarity with health-caring activity. The present study shows that the specific contextual factors affecting emergency care in the field must also be practised before the nurse faces military emergency care situations. This calls for realistic exercises and training programs, where experience from civilian emergency care is interwoven with the knowledge specific to military medical care. © 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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| 4. |
- Bu, Huajie, et al.
(författare)
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Genotype < 21CAs/>= 21CAs and allele < 21CAs of the MANBA gene in melanoma risk and progression in a Swedish population
- 2009
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Ingår i: Molecular medicine reports. - : Spandidos Publications Ltd.. - 1791-2997 .- 1791-3004. ; 2:2, s. 259-263
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Cutaneous melanoma is characterized by poor patient outcome in its later stages. The search for genetic markers is therefore crucial for the identification of populations at risk for melanoma. Highly polymorphic CA repeats in 3 proximity in the MANBA gene were examined by PCR-capillary electrophoresis in 185 Swedish melanoma patients and 441 tumor-free age- and gender-matched individuals. The associations of the polymorphisms with melanoma risk, the pigment phenotypes of the patients and tumor characteristics were analyzed. A significant difference in allelic distribution between melanoma patients and tumor-free individuals was observed. The frequency of the MANBA genotype <21CAs/>= 21CAs was significantly higher in melanoma patients than in the controls. When comparing allele distribution in patients and their matched controls, the allele <21 CAs was found to be associated with the female gender (39.8 vs. 31.2%, P=0.041, OR=1.46, 95% Cl 1.02-2.10), but not with male gender (34.4 vs. 30.9%, P=0.39). Within the melanoma group, there were no differences in the distribution of the MANBA alleles associated with patient gender or age before or after 55 years at diagnosis, nor was there any association between the MANBA genotype and pigment phenotype or tumor sites. The MANBA allele <21CAs was, however, associated with thin melanomas at diagnosis (Breslow thickness <= 1.5 mm and Clark levels I and II). In conclusion, these data suggest that MANBA polymorphisms might be an indicator of tumor growth and progression and, together with other markers, could be used to identify individuals at increased risk of melanoma.
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| 5. |
- Charonis, Georgios, et al.
(författare)
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Prolonged use of intrauterine contraceptive device as a risk factor for tubo-ovarian abscess
- 2009
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Ingår i: ACTA OBSTETRICIA ET GYNECOLOGICA SCANDINAVICA. - : Wiley. - 0001-6349 .- 1600-0412. ; 88:6, s. 680-684
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Objective. The intrauterine contraceptive device (IUCD) is the most preferred method of reversible contraception in the world today. The Swedish Medical Products Agency currently recommends that women who had a copper IUCD inserted around age 40 do not need to have it extracted until one year after the menopause. Design. Retrospective study. Setting. Skovde Central Hospital, Sweden. Population. All 114 women receiving in-patient treatment for pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) over five years between January 2001 and December 2005. Methods. Comparison between cases of tubo-ovarian abscesses and salpingitis with focus on the effects of IUCDs used continually for andgt; 5 years after insertion. Main outcome measures. Age-adjusted risk of PID within or after five years of use, microbiological findings in blood, intraabdominal pus, cervical secretions or on extracted IUCDs. Results. There were 31 cases of tubo-ovarian abscesses, 63 of salpingitis, four of endometritis, and 16 of mild genital infection. When comparing women with the same IUCD andgt; 5 years to women having the same IUCD andlt;= 5 years, the risk of tubo-ovarian abscess was higher than the risk of salpingitis (OR 19.7; 95% CI 4.5-87.2). The risk remained significant after adjustment for age, both on multiple regression analysis (OR 13.5; 95% CI 2.5-72.9) and in stratified analysis for the age group 35-50 years (OR 12.0; 95% CI 1.8-81.7). Blood or abdominal cultures from patients operated upon were positive in 47.7% of the sampled cases. Intestinal tract microbes and upper respiratory tract microbes were more common than sexually transmitted infection microbes. Conclusions. The current Medical Products Agency recommendation that a woman nearing the end of her reproductive phase can safely use the same IUCD for a period exceeding five years is challenged.
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| 6. |
- Cäker, Mikael
(författare)
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Customer focus : An accountability dilemma
- 2007
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Ingår i: The European Accounting Review. - : Routledge. - 0963-8180 .- 1468-4497. ; 16:1, s. 143-171
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Customer-related measures are today often included in management accounting systems. In this paper, two situations are displayed where these measures are problematic to the managing process. The main argument of the paper is that customer accountability may serve to question demands for hierarchical accountability, as put forward in management accounting systems. The paper is based on a case study, in which two groups show strong customer accountability which is disturbing to the managing process. In the first group, socializing accountability processes to the customers override hierarchical accountability concerning delivery performance. In the second group, aligned accountability to customers and managers for customer-related measures override hierarchical demands for accountability for financial performance. The argument of the paper may be taken as a basis to question the broadening of management accounting to incorporate customer-related aspects. An organization needs to be managed in a balanced way. However, it should not be taken for granted that all aspects need to be incorporated into management accounting. With strong customer accountability, management accounting may need to be devoted to classical tasks of emphasizing financial performance and formalized processes.
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| 7. |
- Cäker, Mikael, 1972-
(författare)
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Management accounting as constructing and opposing customer focus : three case studies on management accounting and customer relations
- 2005
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis is on the relation between management accounting and customer focus and relates to discussions about how internal managing processes in organizations are interrelated with interorganizational relations, specifically constructions of customers. Both a normative and a descriptive perspective on the relation are taken within the different parts of the thesis, which consists of a licentiate thesis, three articles and a synthesizing text. The purpose is to understand the interaction between management accounting and customer focus on operative levels in industrial organizations, where focus on customer has a central place. The results are also discussed with respect to its possible importance in the development of managing processes of organizations. The thesis is based on three cases, which have been studied with mainly a qualitative approach.In the licentiate thesis, traditional accounting models, originally developed to provide information for analyzing products, are revisited under the assumption that customers and products are equally interesting to analyze. The three articles explore the role of management accounting in interpreting customers and the interface to customers. In the first article, strong customer accountability is found to override the intentions from managers, as communicated through the accounting system. Arguments of how management accounting can be perceived as inaccurate then have a central place in motivating how customers are prioritized in a way not favored by managers. Furthermore, in the second article, customers are experienced as both catalysts and frustrators to change processes and changes in management accounting are found in eo-development with the different customer relations and how different customers prefer to communicate. The third article explores how coordination mechanisms operate in relation to each other in coordination of customer-supplier relationships. A strong market mechanism creates space for bureaucratic control and use of management accounting. However, the use of bureaucratic control in turn relies on social coordination between actors in order to function.These four parts are revisited and related to each other in a synthesizing part of the thesis. The relation between management accounting and customer focus is approached in two ways. Management accounting may construct customer focus, making it impossible to distinguish between the two. However, another interpretation of the relation is management accounting and customer focus as opposing logics, where management accounting represents hierarchical influence, homogeneous control processes and cost efficient operations, and customer focus represents customer influence, control processes adapted to the customer and customized operations.
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| 8. |
- Ebenman, Bo, 1953-, et al.
(författare)
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Using community viability analysis to identify fragile systems and keystone species
- 2005
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Ingår i: Trends in Ecology & Evolution. - : Elsevier BV. - 0169-5347 .- 1872-8383. ; 20:10, s. 568-575
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Owing to interdependences among species in ecological communities, the loss of one species can trigger a cascade of secondary extinctions with potentially dramatic effects on the functioning and stability of the community. It is, therefore, important to assess the risk and likely extent of secondary extinctions. Community viability analysis is a new technique that can be used to accomplish this goal. The analysis can also be used to identify fragile community structures and keystone species and, hence, to provide guidelines for conservation priorities. Here, we describe the principles underlying community viability analysis and review its contributions to our understanding of the response of ecological communities to species loss.
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| 9. |
- Ericsson, AnnMarie, 1972-
(författare)
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Enabling Tool Support for Formal Analysis of ECA Rules
- 2009
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Rule-based systems implemented as event-condition-action (ECA) rules utilize a powerful and flexible paradigm when it comes to specifying systems that need to react to complex situation in their environment. Rules can be specified to react to combinations of events occurring at any time in any order. However, the behavior of a rule based system is notoriously hard to analyze due to the rules ability to interact with each other.Formal methods are not utilized in their full potential for enhancing software quality in practice. We argue that seamless support in a high-level paradigm specific tool is a viable way to provide industrial system designers with powerful verification techniques. This thesis targets the issue of formally verifying that a set of specified rules behaves as indented.The prototype tool REX (Rule and Event eXplorer) is developed as a proof of concept of the results of this thesis. Rules and events are specified in REX which is acting as a rule-based front-end to the existing timed automata CASE tool UPPAAL. The rules, events and requirements of application design are specified in REX. To support formal verification, REX automatically transforms the specified rules to timed automata, queries the requirement properties in the model-checker provided by UPPAAL and returns results to the user of REX in terms of rules and events.The results of this thesis consist of guidelines for modeling and verifying rules in a timed automata model-checker and experiences from using and building a tool implementing the proposed guidelines. Moreover, the result of an industrial case study is presented, validating the ability to model and verify a system of industrial complexity using the proposed approach.
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| 10. |
- Gao, Jingfang, et al.
(författare)
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RAD50/MRE11/NBS1 proteins in relation to tumour development and prognosis in patients with microsatellite stable colorectal cancer
- 2008
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Ingår i: Histology and Histopathology. - : Histology and Histopathology. - 0213-3911 .- 1699-5848. ; 23:12, s. 1495-1502
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- RAD50/MRE11/NBS1 complex is essential for DNA double-strand break repair and for maintaining genomic integrity. In this study, we immunohistochemically examined MRE11, NBS1 and RAD50 expression in primary CRCs (n = 208), the corresponding distant (n= 41) and adjacent normal mucosa ( n= 130), and lymph node metastases ( n= 26), and investigated their clinicopathological significance in colorectal cancers ( CRCs). We found that the intensity and percentage of MRE11 and NBS1 in primary CRCs were positively correlated with each other and with RAD50 (P < 0.0001). Strong expression of MRE11, NBS1 or combined RAD50/MRE11/NBS1 was related to MSS, positive hMLH1 expression, earlier tumour stage (TNM stage I and II) and favourable survival (P < 0.05). A high percentage of MRE11 expression was associated with less local recurrence and high apoptotic activity (P < 0.05). In MSS CRCs, the expression of MRE11 and NBS1 was stronger than that in normal mucosa (P < 0.05), and strong expression of NBS1 in primary tumour was related to favourable survival of patients in TNM stage I and II (univariate analysis: P = 0.03; multivariate analysis: P = 0.07). In MSI CRCs, neither MRE11 nor NBS1 expression showed differences among normal mucosa, primary tumour and metastasis, or among clinicopathological variables. In conclusion, RAD50/MRE11/NBS1 proteins interacted with each other, which had different clinicopathological significance in MSS and MSI CRCs, and further, each component of the complex might have additional roles. NBS1 might be a prognostic factor for patients with MSS tumour in TNM stage I and II.
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