Praktiska effekter av begreppsförvirring för en databas konceptuella design : En fallstudie om databas- och begreppsmodellering

Company X develops a laboratory information system (LIS) called System Y. The informationsystem has a two-tier database architecture consisting of a production database and a historicaldatabase. A database constitutes the backbone of a IS, which makes the design of the databasevery important. A poorly designed database can cause major problems within an organization.The two databases in System Y are poorly modeled, particularly the historical database. Thecause of the poor modeling was unclear concepts. The unclear concepts have remained in thedatabase and in the company organization and caused a general confusion of concepts. The splitdatabase architecture itself has evolved into a bottleneck and is the cause of many problemsduring the development of System Y.Company X investigates the possibility of integrating the historical database with the productiondatabase. The goal of our thesis is to conduct a consequence analysis of such integration andwhat the effects would be on System Y, and to create a new design for the integrated database.We will also examine and describe the practical effects of confusion of concepts for a databaseconceptual design.To achieve the goal of the thesis, five different method steps have been performed: a preliminarystudy of the organization, a change analysis, a consequence analysis and an investigation of theconceptual design of the database. These method steps have helped identify changes necessaryfor the organization, a new design proposal for an integrated database, the impact of theproposed design and a number of effects of confusion for the database.

Attitudes Towards and Uses of the Japanese Adverbzenzen by Swedish Learners of Japanese

The word zenzen is an adverb that is used frequently in daily conversational Japanese. From the Meiji period (1868-1912) until the early Showa period (1924-1989) the word was used together with both affirmative and negative words to form expressions. In the early Showa period the grammatical rules in education changed so that the only acceptable use was together with a negative word. From the 1990’s onward, the use together with an affirmative word has made a comeback especially among younger Japanese people. However even though the usage together with an affirmative word has made a comeback and was considered normal once in history, in today’s society it is still considered as slang and thus not recommended usage in formal situations. Foreign language learners however, tend not to learn a language only by textbooks but also by imitating the language of native Japanese speakers and Japanese popular culture. This may lead to a confusion regarding what words are acceptable to use in conversations. Therefore in this study, an online survey that examines the usage and attitudes regarding the word zenzen aimed at Japanese language learners at Swedish universities was conducted. The results of the survey showed that although a majority of the learners showed a good understanding of the usage, more than half of the learners displayed a feeling of confusion regarding the usage of the word. The gender comparison regarding the usage showed no major differences. Having lived in Japan, having Japanese friends whom you speak Japanese with regularly and length of Japanese study was associated with an increased understanding of the usage. Regular consumption of Japanese popular culture, however, was not associated with an increased understanding of the usage. A literature analysis was also conducted to examine the attitudes regarding the usage of zenzen in a variety of books with topics including business language and books aimed at Japanese language teachers. The results showed that zenzen used together with a negative word was considered as the norm while zenzen used together with an affirmative word was not recommended to be used in formal situations. When recommending proper usage of the word zenzen together with an affirmative word to foreign learners of Japanese, hijou-ni and totemo was seen as better alternatives to zenzen in a formal situation.

Pro-premiär eller pro-president? : Om distinktionen mellan parlamentarism, presidentialism och semi-presidentialism

Propremiar or pro-president? On the distinction between parliamentarism, presitentialism and semi-presidentialism. From comparative research on the constitutional development in Central and Eastern Europe and also from the longstanding debate on whether parliamentarism or presidentialism best facilitates democracy, it is apparent that there has been and continues to be, a certain degree of confusion concerning the concepts of semi-presidentialism and presidentialism. Different scholars mean different things by the terms and therefore classify countries differently. In this article I argue that the conceptual dichotomy between pro-premiär (premier-presidentialism) and pro-president systems (presidentparliamentary systems) provide the best solution to several of the problems related to categorising constitutional types, most importantly perhaps to the presidential power dilemma. I, furthermore, employ these concepts on the post-communist constitutional systems and try to reveal patterns with regard to presidential power, geographical region and democratisation.

Det är alltid bäst innan förändring : En studie om motivation vid förändring, individens upplevelse & ledares påverkan

Förändringar är vanligt förekommande i organisationer och forskning visar att många förändringsinitiativ tyvärr misslyckas. Genomförandet av förändringar som fokuserar på individens motivation är lyckosamma i bemärkelsen att personalen trivs och att arbetet inte blir lidande. Studien syftar till att ta reda på hur ledare kan arbeta för att främja medarbetares motivation vid organisationsförändringar. Genom ett kvalitativt perspektiv och en deduktiv ansats har vi undersökt vad som påverkar och främjar medarbetares motivation vid organisationsförändringar. Undersökningen har genomförts på två avdelningar i ett stort företag i Gästrikland som vid tiden för insamling av data, genomgick en förändring. Studien är en fallstudie med avsikt att undersöka den specifika skiftformsförändringen som företaget genomgick. Tillvägagångssättet för insamlingen av material är en process som ämnar att, genom delaktighet och diskussion ta reda på vad som motiverar medarbetare under förändringar. Analysen av resultatet visar att individernas grundläggande behov i arbetet, till viss del inte varit uppfyllda vilket har lett till att en del personal givit uttryck för att de är omotiverade och att de känner ett motstånd mot förändringen. Det upplevda motståndet består i en rad olika känslor, bland annat; chock, oro och förvirring som uppkommer på grund av osäkerhet och brist på kontroll rörande individens arbetssituation. Känslorna hämmar motivationen och kan ge en upplevelse av att de grundläggande behoven i arbetet inte är uppfyllda, även fast de kan vara det. Studien visar att ledare kan påverka motståndet och främja medarbetares motivation under förändringar dels genom att bjuda in till delaktighet i ett så tidigt stadie som möjligt i förändringsprocesssen och dels genom att på ett tydligt sätt kommunicera och informera kring förändringens innebörd. Det gör att individen upplever kontroll över sin framtid i arbetet vilket påverkar upplevelsen av att de grundläggande behoven inte skulle vara uppfyllda och gynnar motivationen. Ledare behöver även vara lyhörda för att alla upplever förändringar olika och läsa av behov och önskemål och anpassa eventuellt stöd efter det.

Clinical interventions, implementation interventions, and the potential greyness in between - a discussion paper

Background: There is increasing awareness that regardless of the proven value of clinical interventions, the use of effective strategies to implement such interventions into clinical practice is necessary to ensure that patients receive the benefits. However, there is often confusion between what is the clinical intervention and what is the implementation intervention. This may be caused by a lack of conceptual clarity between 'intervention' and 'implementation', yet at other times by ambiguity in application. We suggest that both the scientific and the clinical communities would benefit from greater clarity; therefore, in this paper, we address the concepts of intervention and implementation, primarily as in clinical interventions and implementation interventions, and explore the grey area in between. Discussion: To begin, we consider the similarities, differences and potential greyness between clinical interventions and implementation interventions through an overview of concepts. This is illustrated with reference to two examples of clinical interventions and implementation intervention studies, including the potential ambiguity in between. We then discuss strategies to explore the hybridity of clinical-implementation intervention studies, including the role of theories, frameworks, models, and reporting guidelines that can be applied to help clarify the clinical and implementation intervention, respectively. Conclusion: Semantics provide opportunities for improved precision in depicting what is 'intervention' and what is 'implementation' in health care research. Further, attention to study design, the use of theory, and adoption of reporting guidelines can assist in distinguishing between the clinical intervention and the implementation intervention. However, certain aspects may remain unclear in analyses of hybrid studies of clinical and implementation interventions. Recognizing this potential greyness can inform further discourse.