Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Investigation into Information Requirements of the Social Sciences'

Following a number of recent far-reaching reforms to the UK NHS, St Thomas' Hospital (where this work was based) introduced a management structure based on the 'Clinical Directorate'. In order to lessen the increased workload commensurate with this measure, it was decided at St Thomas' that a new type of information system - the Directorate Information System or DIS - would introduced. This system was to 'support the business of the clinical directorate'. As part of the DIS project, a small study was set up toinvestigate the problems associated with the introduction of such an information system, and to suggest a design. This thesis reports on the study. The design of information systems in general, and clinical information systems in particular, seems to be an extremely difficult endeavour: many systems development projects end in failure. It is widely considered that the problems lie in inadequate requirements analysis and specification: consequently it was here that the project concentrated most of its efforts. It was recognised that when in use, the terms, quantities, and entities stored and displayed by an information system are interpreted by its users as terms, quantities, and entities in the organisation that is being supported (also called the domain in the thesis). This is perhaps the fundamental requirement of an information system: that it represents the organisation and processes it is to support. To assess the degree to which a design satisfies this requirement entails the development and use of three descriptions, or theories. The first is the theory of the domain; the second is a theory, or specification, of the proposed information system; the third is a theory of the way in which the information system is interpreted into the domain - this is called the interaction theory and is a composition of the first two theories. By inspecting the interaction theory inadequacies in the representation of the domain by the information system can be identified and, if necessary, rectified. There are four ways in which we are encouraged to modify information system designs so that they more accurately reflect the behaviour of the domain. These are called the four developmental motives. Through the use of a well constructed interaction theory, and guided by the desire for system simplicity on one hand and the four developmental motives on the other, an improved information system design can be engineered. For an interaction theory to be constructed and provide useful insight, both the domain theory and the information system specification must be semantically rich. Conventional analysis notations are inadequate for the task: mathematics (in this case set theory) is needed to represent and explore the domain, the information system, and the interpretation of the latter into the former. The construction of a good domain theory is the hardest part of the process. Representing the organisation as it is perceived by workers (in this case clinicians) as a set theoretic construction is fraught with difficulties. However, the judicious use of an adaptation of the scientific method means that we can have increased confidence that the resulting description of the organisation is a reasonable one and is not merely a statement of the analyst's preconceptions and prejudices. The thesis describes in more detail the background to the project, the use of the scientific method to derive a domain theory, the construction of interaction theories, and the engineering of information systems through the use of the four developmental motives. This is done through the use of a large case study which presents, documents, and discusses the theories used in the Directorate Information System project, and describes their evolution.

Background: The importance of accessible information within modern learning disability services and the wider society cannot be underestimated. This research aimed to explore both the production and implementation of accessible information for adults with learning disabilities. A novel approach to the accessible information ‘process’ was adopted; resulting in a movement away from specific resource focused research to a process focused approach. The research was conducted in three stages: a comprehensive review of the literature; a qualitative scoping exercise which investigated the firsthand experience of producing and implementing accessible information; and a qualitative investigation of the dynamic behaviours involved in the implementation of health related accessible information at a clinical level. Methodology: The purpose of the first stage was to comprehensively review and critically appraise the literature relating to accessible information, learning disabilities and symbolic development. This was achieved through a detailed search of electronic databases and hand-searches of the grey literature. For the scoping exercise, eighteen participants were recruited from four distinct sampling groups: adults with learning disabilities; staff from a specialist learning disability service; mainstream NHS and local authority staff; and speech and language therapists. Each participant took part in either a semi- structured focus group or interview. Eight participants (four community learning disability nurses and four of their learning disabled clients) took part in a non- participatory observational study. Conversational analysis was used to explore the sequence of both the vocal and non-vocal behaviours. Findings: The literature review revealed that there was a dearth of high quality primary research that has investigated accessible information within the field of learning disabilities. Of the seven relevant primary research studies, two quantitative studies measured the effectiveness of specific accessible resources through pre and post comprehension scores. Three mixed method studies, which were generally poorly reported, described a qualitative process of developing and/or appraising a specific accessible resource or guidelines as well as a quantitative element to investigate its effectiveness. Two qualitative studies attempted to answer broader questions relating to the human dimensions and experiences of accessible information. One explored the use of accessible information with a wider population and the other explored issues relating to the implementation of a specific accessible resource. These findings highlighted the largely resource-focused research and failed to report on accessible information as a process which involves the implementation of such resources. A Framework approach to thematic analysis was used to analyse the data collected from the scoping exercise which led to three main classifications: the ideology of accessible information, accessible information practice and the outcomes of accessible information. Firsthand experience varied across the stakeholders, highlighting differences in the operationalisation of national policies and legislation. The notion of accessible information being relevant to more than just people with learning disabilities was introduced. The data supported the approach of accessible information as a process, although the practice of implementing accessible resources appeared less advanced. Three main clusters of episodes were identified through the conversational analysis of the non-participatory observations. Cluster one related to providing the accessible health information; cluster two to topic development; and cluster three to consent. The findings revealed numerous intricacies in the vocal and non-vocal exchange. The use of an accessible resource appeared to promote joint attention; communicative style appeared influenced by the primary and secondary reported outcomes of the resource; practical considerations of the topic development were evident; and contradictory goals in the decision making process were highlighted. The notion of the implementation of accessible information as a dynamic process was confirmed. Conclusions: The combination of the chosen methodology and subsequent findings generated a novel approach to accessible information within the field of learning disability. In conceptualising accessible information as a process, with a particular focus on the implementation phase, the findings illustrated that it was the implementation phase that allowed for personalisation in providing and developing the information, which was dependent on the intersubjectivity of the communication partner and the person with learning disabilities. This in turn supported the accessibility of the information. These findings would not have been apparent without the movement away from specific resource focused research to a process focused approach.

Today we are experiencing a rapidly increasing trend to use social networking in ways that dramatically affect both our personal and our public lives. This is a global phenomenon being experienced around the world. Exactly how this technology is being used and by whom is of great interest. The problem is that not a lot of research has been conducted to investigate the role social networking sites play to influence a person’s attitude toward sharing knowledge at work. In light of the marked increase in the use of social networking sites and how it is changing the way we live, both at work and during leisure activities, this research examines the factors that influence our attitudes towards knowledge sharing. This study presents the results of a quantitative research to understand the nature and impact of these motivating factors and analyzes how they influence our attitudes regarding the use of social networking sites as a venue in which to share knowledge. This study was conducted by means of an Internet survey. A self-administered questionnaire provided data and assisted in determining the degree to which the use of social networking sites is being used to share knowledge in the workplace. This non-experimental, cross-sectional, correlational study was conducted by means of quantitative research procedures to investigate the impact and influence social networking has on the knowledge transfer process. This research showed how social networking has redefined the collaborative environment that encourages knowledge holders to share their valuable knowledge. The results show that some factors, such as organizational climate, the subjective norm, and knowledge sharing attitudes, have a dominant impact on our behavior regarding the use of social networking sites and our intention to share knowledge with others. Another set of factors influenced our behavior and attitudes, but to a lesser degree, while one factor, anticipation of extrinsic rewards, actually exerted a negative influence on an individual’s knowledge sharing attitudes. The results of this dissertation increased and contributed to our understanding of the relationship between social networking sites and intention to share knowledge and set the stage for follow-on research.

The use of color coded prompts to influence students' food selections in choosing a balanced meal was investigated. Yellow, green, blue, and orange dots, representing the four major food groups, grains, fruit and vegetables, dairy, and meat respectively were displayed at the point-of-selection on food entree cards along the serving line of a college dining hall. Two grain servings, two fruit/vegetable servings, one dairy serving, and one meat serving, were suggested as the optimal combination for a balanced meal. The results indicated that the prompts, although noticed and understood by the majority of the students, did not significantly influence their food selections. These findings are inconsistent with earlier studies substantiating the effectiveness of color coded prompts at the point-of-selection in influencing food choices. Implications are discussed.

The criminal justice system relies heavily on eliciting truthful information from suspects to solve crimes. A paramount problem with this approach involves the questioning of young suspects. Numerous studies support the conclusion that youth is a risk factor for providing false information during police questioning. The present study examined the influence of temporal discounting (the tendency for individual’s behavior to be influenced more strongly by proximal than distal factors; Berns, Laibson, & Loewenstein, 2007; Critchfield & Kollins, 2001) and other developmental factors (i.e., impulse control, future orientation, and sensation seeking) thought to underlie youths’ increased interrogative vulnerability. In line with previous research examining developmental differences in confession decisions, it was predicted that youth would be more likely than adults to provide false admissions to escape the immediate consequences of the situation. Furthermore, it was predicted that youth demonstrating lower impulse control, deficits in future orientation, and increased sensation seeking would be most likely to engage in this tendency. Using a randomized experimental design 205 adult and youth participants were questioned about their engagement in 20 criminal and unethical behaviors. Participants were told responding “yes” or “no” to these questions would have either immediate consequences (i.e., answering a series of repetitive questions) or future consequences (i.e., meeting with a police officer in a few weeks). Analyses revealed evidence of temporal discounting: Participants provided more admissions when denials, rather than admissions, were punished with immediate consequences. Contrary to hypotheses, age, impulse control, future orientation and sensation seeking did not moderate this relationship. Similarly, hypotheses regarding the relationship between age group, impulse control, and future orientation were unsupported. Compared to adults, adolescents did not exhibit less impulse control or future orientation. The current study was the first to experimentally examine factors thought to underlie youths’ increased proclivity to provide false information in interrogation. Justice system involved youth may differ from youth in the current study in key ways that help explain the lack of support for study hypotheses. Because of these differences, it is imperative that future research focuses on youth who are most at risk of encountering the justice system as suspects.

Compared to traditional business services, IT-enabled services provide more value to customers and providers by enabling traditional business services with Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and delivering them via e-channels (i.e., Internet, Mobile networks). Although IT-enabled service systems help in co-creating value through collaboration with customers during service design and delivery, they raise challenges when we attempt to understand, design and produce innovative and intelligent IT-enabled services from a multi-disciplinary perspective by including businesses, technology and people for value addition and increasing benefits. Due to their social-technical nature and characteristics (i.e., Intangibility, Inseparability, Perishability, Simultaneity), IT-enabled services also lack common methods to systemize services driven by customer requirements and their satisfactions and co-produce them through ad-hoc collaboration. In this thesis, we propose a middle-out methodology to model, design and systemize advanced IT-enabled service driven by customer requirements and collaboration among all actors to jointly co-create service systems. From a multi-disciplinary perspective, the methodology relies on a multi-view models including a service system reference model, a requirement model and a collaboration model to ensure system flexibility and adaptability to requirement changes and take into account joint efforts and collaboration of all service actors. The reference model aims at a multi-disciplinary description of services (ontological, systematical and characteristic-based descriptions), and formalizing business knowledge related to different domains. As for the requirement model, customer needs are specified in common expressiveness language understandable by all service actors and made possible its top-down propagation throughout service lifecycle and among actors. The collaboration model advocates a data-driven approach, which increases busi-ness, technical and semantic interoperability and exhibits stability in comparison to business processes centric approaches. Finally, the collaboration hinges on de-livery channels expressed as data flows and encapsulating business artifacts as per which business rules are generated to invoke underlying software components.

Texting while driving is a growing problem that has serious, and sometimes fatal, consequences. Despite laws enacted to curb this behavior, the problem continues to grow. Discovering factors that can reduce such risky behavior can significantly contribute to research, as well as save lives and reduce property damage. This study developed a model to explore the motivations that cause a driver to send messages. The model evaluates the effects that boredom, social relationships, social anxiety, and social gratification (BRAG) have upon a driver’s frequency of typing text messages. In addition, the perceived severity of the consequences and the presence of a passenger were also be evaluated for any moderating effects on a driver’s texting. Furthermore, a set of hypotheses based on the BRAG model were presented. To investigate these hypotheses, a survey instrument was developed and data was collected from 297 respondents at a mid-sized regional university in the Pacific North west of the United States. Prior to the distribution of the survey, an expert panel and a pilot study were used to ensure the reliability of the instrument. Partial least squares structured equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to evaluate the predictive validity of the BRAG model. This evaluation included an assessment of the reflective measures, as well as a detailed analysis of the structural model. Additionally, knowledge visualization techniques were used to emphasize the significance of the findings. The results of this analysis showed that the social gratification one receives from maintaining their social relationships is a significant predictor of texting while driving. Additionally, the results showed that drivers continued to text, regardless of the consequences. However, boredom and social anxiety were not significant predictors of texting while driving. This study makes important contributions to the information systems body of knowledge and has implications for state and local lawmakers, in addition to public health officials. Prior research has shown that bored or anxious individuals use texting to relieve those feelings of discomfort. However, this study did not extend those findings to drivers. As this study found that laws banning texting while driving do not deter this behavior, public health officials and lawmakers should investigate other means of deterring texting while driving, given the significant impact it has on the increase of fatal car accidents in recent years.

Existing literature indicates that although both academics and practitioners recognize knowledge management (KM) as a source of competitive advantage, users are not always willing to use a knowledge management system (KMS). Because of the social nature of knowledge transfer, a KMS can be considered a socio-technical system. Many explanations have been presented for this failure to utilize the KMS. These explanations include a number of the socio-technical factors relating to people, processes, and technologies. While these factors may have significant explanatory power when examined independently, existing studies have not sufficiently addressed the interactions among all three socio-technical factors or their impacts on KMS usage. The goal of this study was to develop a comprehensive understanding of socio-technical factors that impact KMS usage within decision support systems (DSS). A comprehensive framework was presented that will be helpful in developing and improving KMS initiatives and thus improving KM across the organization. This study identified factors of people (self-efficacy, social ties, and ease of use), processes (leadership, culture/climate, and governance), and technologies (system & information quality, and technology fit) and their influence on KMS system usage. Analysis for this problem required a causal, non-contrived field study employing structural equation modeling. Founded on socio-technical systems theory, nine hypotheses were proposed. Data was collected using a 36 item survey distributed to KMS users from a variety of industries in the United States. Confirmatory factor analysis and an eight-stage structural equation modeling procedure were used to analyze 97 usable responses. The results confirmed that technology-oriented factors predicted knowledge seeking and contributing in DSS. Furthermore, significant positive relationships were confirmed between certain sociotechnical factors including: (1) people and process, (2) people and technology, (3) processes and technology, (4) processes and people, (5) technology and people, and (6) technology and processes. These findings extend the relevance and statistical power of existing studies on KMS usage. This study indicated that the most important concerns for increasing KMS usage were system quality, information quality, and technology fit. Results also confirmed that in the context of this study, people-oriented factors (self-efficacy, social ties, and ease of use/usefulness) and organizational process factors (leadership, organizational culture/climate, and governance) were not critical factors directly responsible for increasing KMS usage. However, the relationships among socio-technical factors all had positive significant relationships. Therefore, investments in people and process-oriented factors will create a more favorable perspective on technology-oriented factors, which in turn can increase KMS usage. On a practical front, this study provided indicators to managers regarding a number of desirable and undesirable conditions that should be taken into consideration when developing or implementing knowledge management initiatives and the systems to support them. This study offered an original contribution to the existing bodies of knowledge on socio-technical factors and KMS usage behavior. The constructs presented in this study highlighted the significance of social and technical relationships in understanding knowledge seeking and contribution in a decision-driven organization.

Thesis (MCIS - Computer and Information Sciences) -- AUT University, 2008.
Includes bibliographical references. Also held in print ( xi, 105 leaves : ill. ; 30 cm.) in the Archive at the City Campus (T 621.382 LOL)

Online child sexual abuse material (CSAM) is a growing problem that transcends geographical borders. In order to improve cooperation between international law enforcement, knowledge concerning the jurisdiction, procedure and issues with investigations in different countries is needed. This study aims to provide information on the Swedish context by (a) exploring how the Swedish police work with investigations of online CSAM, and (b) identifying potential challenges. The research questions have been answered by qualitative interviews with law enforcement personnel. Systematic text condensation revealed that there is a significant difference in the procedure between the police regions and that four major problems face the police. First, the police are dependent upon digital forensic experts but have limited access to their expertise and other resources due to the crime not being prioritised. Second, Internet Service Providers are not required to save their users IP-addresses, which complicates identification of the suspect. Third, a holistic perspective within the police is required. Investigators should work with all sexual crimes against children and not just CSAM, in order to be able to see reoccurring elements in the identification process. Four, there is a lack of public knowledge concerning CSAM that affects the resources and number of cases the police receive. The Swedish police is currently creating regional cybercrime centres in an attempt to create a national strategy for computer-related investigations. The implications on the victim identification process and development of treatment for offenders are discussed, as well as future directions. Clearer guidelines are needed.

Health technology assessment (HTA) is a process that evaluates the value and effects of health technology during its life cycle and provides scientific information to decision makers. However, the chasm between healthcare and innovation has been highlighted in several research areas. HTA as a bridge connecting the research and decision-making demands, achieving more transparent processes and high quality of evidence to enable more effective and safer MedTech innovations to reach and benefit healthcare and patients. This thesis aims to examine the current status of HTA across different countries compared to Sweden to identify the major hurdles and enablers in this process and any opportunities for learning across systems. Germany, the United Kingdom, and Finland are three countries being compared to Sweden in the thesis. A literature review combined with interviews were the main methodologies used for this project. Peer-reviewed literature, government documents, and official websites gave an overview of the HTA systems in selected countries and laid a solid foundation for the more in-depth interviews. Eight interviews (nine interviewees) with HTA agencies and companies were performed via Zoom, along with an email communication(one interviewee) with Fimea. The interviews were used as a support tool to gain a better understanding of the whole HTA system. Some personal opinions were also helpful to gain a view of the system from an alternative, more practical perspective. The results show the different HTA processes and the evidence generation paths in four countries. Views from MedTech companies are also given. The HTA in Sweden has two main pathways: SBU and TLV. These two agencies have particular traits that work differently with distinct purposes. In terms of the evidence generation and assessment methods, they also share different points of view. It is difficult to simply compare these systems in parallel due to the system's complexity and different healthcare conditions in every country. But all countries, including Sweden, should realize the challenges ofthe existing HTA systems, and try to reduce the evidence generation gap between expectation and reality. This would create more opportunities for small MedTech companies to be involved in the process, and actively participate in international HTA cooperation.
Hälsoteknikutvärdering (HTA) är en process som utvärderar värdet och effekterna avhälsoteknik i dess livscykel och ger vetenskaplig information till beslutsfattare. Klyftanmellan hälso- och sjukvård och innovation har dock lyfts fram inom fleraforskningsområden. HTA länkar forskning och beslutsfattande genom att möjliggöramer transparenta processer och hög kvalitet på bevis för effektivare och säkrareMedTech-innovationer att nå och gynna sjukvård och patienter. Denna uppsats syftartill att undersöka HTA:s nuvarande status i olika länder jämfört med Sverige för attidentifiera de största hindren och möjliggörare i denna process och eventuellamöjligheter till lärande i olika system. Tyskland, Storbritannien och Finland är treländer som jämförs med Sverige i avhandlingen. Litteraturöversikt och intervjuer är de huvudsakliga metoderna som används för dettaprojekt. Forskargransakad litteratur, regeringsdokument och officiella webbplatser gaven översikt över HTA-systemen i utvalda länder och lade en solid grund för följandeintervjuer. Åtta intervjuer (nio intervjuade) med HTA-byråer och MedTech-företaggenomfördes via Zoom, tillsammans med en e-postkommunikation med Fimea.Intervjuerna användes som ett stödverktyg för att ge en bättre förståelse för hela HTAsystemet.Vissa personliga åsikter gav tillfälle att förstå HTA från ett alternativtperspektiv jämfört med dess beskrivning i litteraturen. Resultaten visar olika HTA-processer och bevisgenereringsvägar i fyra länder, samtsynpunkter från MedTech-företag. HTA i Sverige har två huvudvägar: SBU (viaregionala HTA centra) och TLV. Dessa två vägar har speciella egenskaper som fungerarannorlunda och med olika syften. När det gäller bevisgenerering ochbedömningsmetoder skiljs de även åt. Det är utmanande att jämföra dessa systemparallellt på grund av systemets komplexitet och olika sjukvårdsförhållanden i varjeland. Men alla länder, inklusive Sverige, bör inse brister i befintlig HTA och försökaminska bevisgenereringsgapet mellan förväntan och verkligheten. Under tiden skapasfler möjligheter för små MedTech-företag att delta i processen och delta aktivt iinternationella HTA-samarbeten.

Stiftelsen för Internetinfrastruktur har rapporterat att användningen av Internet är utbredd och placerar Sverige bland dem främsta av världens länder. År 2010 hade 84 procent av den svenska befolkningen över 16 år tillgång till Internet i hemmet och av dessa hade 97 procent bredband. De flitigaste Internetanvändarna återfanns inom åldersgruppen 16-24 år där hela 92 procent uppger att de använder Internet dagligen. Utbredningen av Internet är i huvudsak positiv och bidrar till det gemensamma samtalet i samhället. Den leder dock samtidigt till en rad nya problem som samhället har att hantera. Ett av dem är kränkande behandling och mobbning som fått helt nya dimensioner när de sker över Internet. Kränkningar över Internet får en spridning som är svår att hantera och bemöta för den som är utsatt. När kränkningarna passerar gränsen för vad som är brottsligt enligt Brottsbalken ställs polisen inför nya utmaningar. Vårt syfte har varit att med en explorativ fallstudie belysa hur rättsväsendet reagerar på denna nya form av kränkningar, innefattande avvägningen att inleda en polisutredning, utredningens genomförfarande och domstolens bedömning och utslag. Vi utgår från ett fall av kränkningar som av domstolen rubricerats som grovt förtal. Gärningsmännen är ett antal unga män i åldrarna femton till nitton år. De har gjort filmer om flickor med kränkande innehåll och grova sexuella anspelningar och sedan spridit filmerna via chattnätverket MSN och även videohemsidan Youtube. Ett fyrtiotal flickor har enligt utredningen drabbats. Vi har granskat förundersökningsprotokoll och domstolens utslag samt intervjuat utredningscheferna på polismyndigheten som utredde fallet. Detta för att belysa fenomenet kränkande behandling över Internet och diskutera kring hur samhällets åtgärder skulle kunna förbättras.
The Internet Infrastructure Foundation has reported that the use of Internet is widespread and places Sweden among the best countries in the world. In 2010, 84 percent of the Swedish population aged 16 and above had access to the Internet at home, and 97 percent of those users had broadband. The most frequent Internet users were in the age group 16-24 years old where 92 percent stated they use the Internet on a daily basis.The spread of the Internet is essentially positive and contributes to the public debate on problems of modern society. This simultaneously leads to a series of new problems that society has to deal with. One of these new problems is harassment and bullying that has reached entirely new dimensions by the use of Internet. Harassment over the Internet has a distribution that is difficult for the victim to handle and respond to. When harassment crosses the border for what is considered a crime according to the penal code, the police face new challenges to handle.The goal of this bachelor's thesis has been to use an exploratory case study to illustrate how the legal system responds to this new form of harassment, including the considerations to start a police investigation, the procedures of the investigation and the court’s ruling. We start from a case of harassment that the court classified as aggravated defamation. The perpetrators are a number of young men aged fifteen to nineteen years old. The young men have made films about girls containing highly offensive content with sexual innuendo and then spread the films through the chat network MSN and even on the video website YouTube. According to the investigation forty girls have been affected. We have reviewed the investigation protocol, the court records and conducted interviews with police investigators in order to illustrate the phenomenon of harassment and bully behavior on the Internet. We also discuss how society measures could be improved.

With the evolution of Information Technology, especially the Internet, system integration is becoming a common way to expand IT systems within and beyond an enterprise network. Although system integration is becoming more and more common within large organizations, however, the literature review had found IS research in this area had not been sufficient, especially for the development of integration solutions within large organizations. It has made research like this one conducted within a large NZ government agency necessary. Four system integration projects were selected and studied using case study research methodology. The case study was designed and conducted using guidelines mainly from the well-known R. K. Yin’s (2002) “Case Study Research” book. The research was set to seek answers for a series of research questions, which were related to requirements of system integration and challenges for solution development. Special attention had been given to XML applications, as system integration and XML were found to be coupled in many system integrations and frameworks during the literature review. Data were first gathered from all four projects one by one, and then the bulk of analysis was done on the summarized data. Various analysis methods including chain-of-evidence, root-cause-analysis and pattern-matching were adopted. The principles of interpretive research proposed by Klein and Myers (1999) and triangulation were observed. In conclusions, a set of models have been derived from the research, namely a model for clarifying integration requirements; a model for integration solution architecture; a model for integration development life cycle and a model of critical success factor for integration projects. A development framework for small to medium size integration projects has also been proposed based on the models. The research also found XML application indeed would play an important role for system integration; the critical success factors for XML application included suitable development tools, development skills and methodologies.

Quality online health information/knowledge is globally in high demand. Achieving such quality necessitates a multi-disciplinary requirements engineering approach that enables elicitation, analysis and representation of the viewpoints from a broad variety of related sources. These sources include health and health education/promotion professionals, health informaticians and application design experts, and health consumers, the primary users of such knowledge. In addition, maintaining and improving quality over time requires such a large set of viewpoints to be updated regularly. This dissertation endeavors to provide an enabling methodology to address the above needs specifically in the field of eHealth. This research was conducted in two steps. In the first step, the existing methods of requirements engineering applicable into our particular scope of eHealth applications, aimed at health promotion/education, were reviewed to develop a framework for knowledge requirements engineering. In the second step, the usability and usefulness of the proposed framework were evaluated throughout a four-phase study (0-III). During this study, knowledge requirements engineering was used to specify the pieces of information that should be included in a quality health Web site targeting university students. Within the established framework, requirements data was gathered from various sources, including literature, existing Web sites, and interviews with local health professionals and university students. The evaluation results showed that the pieces of information and health topics specified using the framework consistently matched those the subjects preferred. In addition, the findings provided evidence that such information, when used by health search engines to index and retrieve online health resources, helped the subjects choose the resources that actually matched their interest. Finally, the data showed a higher satisfaction of the subjects with the health Web site that was built based on the knowledge requirements specified, as compared to the other selected health Web sites. This dissertation makes significant contributions to the fields of health informatics, health promotion, and requirements engineering. It contributes to the field of health informatics by expanding the scope of requirements engineering to include the field of eHealth and knowledge provision. The approach presented illustrates how various viewpoints related to requirements knowledge should be elicited, analyzed, and reasoned to build valid knowledge requirements specifications representing viewpoints of all sources consulted. It also illustrates how such specifications can be used as a basis to build quality eHealth applications. In the field of health promotion, this dissertation demonstrates a knowledge provision methodology that is grounded in the models of health behaviour change. This methodology allows health educators to rationally and accurately specify not only the health topics of high interests to health consumers, but also the type of knowledge they would prefer to be provided in the related knowledge artifacts. More particularly, this research has specified the health knowledge content of preference to adolescent consumers. These specifications highlight the particular knowledge needs of this age group, which can be used as a basis for local to national health promotion activities targeting these consumers. Finally, the research contributes to the field of requirements engineering by illustrating an integrated requirements engineering approach that accommodates multiple viewpoints and allows transparent reasoning and representation of requirements. It is anticipated that the concept of knowledge requirements engineering introduced and discussed in this dissertation will open a new area of research and practice for health informaticians. Subsequently, the methodology demonstrated can be improved and further advanced to address the needs of other domains of health and health-related knowledge.

This research work is focused on understanding the effects of inhomogeneity on traffic flow by theoretical analysis and computer simulations. Traffic has been observed at almost all levels of natural and manmade systems (e.g., from microscopic protein motors to macroscopic objects like cars). For these various traffic, basic and emer- gent phenomena, modelling methods, theoretical analysis and physical meanings are normally concerned. Inhomogeneity like bottlenecks may cause traffic congestions or motor protein crowding. The crowded protein motors may lead to some human diseases. The congested traffic patterns have not been understood well so far. The modelling method in this research is based on totally asymmetric simple exclusion process (TASEP). The following TASEP models are developed: TASEP with single inhomogeneity, TASEP with zoned inhomogeneity, TASEP with junction, TASEP with site sharing and different boundary conditions. These models are motivated by vehicular traffic, pedestrian trafficc, ant traffic, protein motor traffic and/or Internet traffic. Theoretical solutions for the proposed models are obtained and verified by Monte Carlo simulations. These theoretical results can be used as a base for further developments. The emergent properties such as phase transitions, phase separations and spontaneous symmetry breaking are observed and discussed. This study has contributed to a deeper understanding of generic traffic dynamics, particularly, in the presence of inhomogeneity, and has important implications for explanation or guidance of future traffic studies.