This literature review was a selective examination of current obesity and physical activity research and opinions. Its purpose was more to evoke thought and discussion regarding the United States' obesity epidemic, rather than serve as an exhaustive account of prospective causes and solutions. Obesity and physical inactivity are major preventable health problems in the United States, but despite overwhelming evidence regarding the benefits of a healthy weight and regular physical activity, adult, childhood and adolescent obesity rates continue to escalate, creating significant health, medical and economic consequences. While obesity rates soar, a small population percentage has proven successful in long-term weight maintenance, even in the presence of significantly influential environmental and interpersonal factors. Reviewing strategies employed by National Weight Control Registry members, this literature review discusses the two behavioral components missing from standard or traditional, action-oriented intervention programs. Although th e Stages-of-Change Model ex plains an indi vidual"s readiness to change and the process in vo lved, se lf-effi cacy and self-regulating behav iors were shown to have a more positi ve effect on long-term maintenance. Thus, recommendati ons for practical appli cation include incorporating these behavioral components for a more effecti ve and client-centered interventi on program.

Statistical modelling is often used to relate the presence or abundance of species to environmental predictors, thereby providing a basis for predictive mapping of species or biodiversity. The variables included must thus be relevant and reflect actual changes in the environment. Therefore, the quantification of species–environment relationships is an important aspect of predictive modelling. This thesis examines how phytobenthic species or communities in the Baltic Sea relate to environmental gradients, and if different aspects of phytobenthic species distribution in the Baltic Sea could be explained by spatial or temporal variation in environmental factors. Predictive distribution modelling usually focuses on how environmental variables control the distribution of species or communities. Thus the relative weight of the predictor variables on different scales is of importance. In this thesis, I show that the relative importance of environmental variables depends both on geographic scale and location, and that it also differs between species or species groups. There are no simple explanations to the temporal variability in species occurrence. I here show that the temporal changes in species distribution within the phytobentic zone varies in a spatial context. I also try to find temporal and spatio-temporal patterns in species distribution that could be related to changes in climate or anthropogenic disturbance. However, the findings in this thesis suggest that single factor explanations are insufficient for explaining large-scale changes in species distribution. A greater understanding of the relationship between species and their environment will lead to the development of more sensitive models of species distributions. The predictions can be used to visualise spatial changes in the distribution of plant and animal communities over time. / At the time of the doctoral defense, the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 2: Submitted. Paper 3: Manuscript. Paper 4: Manuscript. Paper 5: Manuscript.

Spinal fusion is a surgical procedure used to correct structural spinal damage or abnormalities. Recovery is painful and consists of a minimum 3-day hospital stay. Specific body positioning is necessary for healing but is difficult to maintain due to physical discomfort. The purpose of this study was to use a single-subject multiple baseline design to compare the current practice of using standard hospital pillows to a body-sized pillow for increasing comfort and decreasing pain in pediatric patients recovering from spinal fusion surgery. Four adolescents who had recently undergone spinal fusion surgery served as participants. Outcome measures included self- and nurse-report, heart rate, and requested medication. Three patients found that the BodyPillow® increased their comfort as they recovered from surgery; the fourth reported that he was less comfortable. No changes in pain were reported with the BodyPillow®. Results should help guide medical care and future research regarding pediatric spinal fusion recovery.

Titel: Omvärlden påverkar: En studie av hur revisionsbyråernas marknadsföring har påverkats av den avskaffade revisionsplikten för mindre och medelstora företag. Nivå: Kandidatuppsats i företagsekonomi; Marknadsföring Författare: Reine Haddad och Louise Mattsson Handledare: Jonas Kågström Datum: 2012- Juni Syfte: Med uppsatsen vill vi undersöka om revisionsbyråernas marknadsföring förändrats i samband med att revisionsplikten för mindre bolag avskaffats, det vill säga om marknadsföringen påverkas av omvärldsfaktorer. Metod: I studien används en abduktiv ansats där information samlats in dels via Internet (WayBack Machine) och dels genom att ta del av annonser från en revisionsbyrå. För att tydliggöra materialet sammanställdes det i frekvenstabeller, wordles och diagram. Resultat & Slutsats: I enlighet med vad den valda teorin framställer ser vi att även revisionsbyråerna ändrar delar av sin marknadsföring när förändringar i omvärlden sker. Omfattningen av förändringarnas påverkan på marknadsföringen varierar från revisionsbyrå till revisionsbyrå, bland annat beroende på revisionsbyråernas syn på marknadsföring, hur stora förändringarna i omvärlden är och hur snabbt revisionsbyråerna tar till sig dessa förändringar. Uppsatsens bidrag: Vårt examensarbete har bidragit med att ge en bild av hur revisionsbyråernas marknadsföring påverkas av förändringar i omvärldsfaktorer. Detta kan vara användbart då marknadsföraren måste ta dessa omvärldsfaktorer i akt vid planering och utformning av marknadsföringen. Nyckelord: Revisionsplikt, revisionsbyrå, marknadsföring, påverkan och omvärldsfaktorer. / Title: The influences of the environment: A study of how the marketing of the auditing firms has been affected by the abolishing of the mandatory auditing for smaller companies. Level: Final assignment for Bachelor Degree in Business Administration Authors: Reine Haddad and Louise Mattsson Supervisor: Jonas KågströmDate: 2012 – June Aim: Our aim with this thesis is to investigate if the marketing of the auditing firms has changed as a result of the abolishing of the mandatory auditing for smaller companies. Method: In this study we are using an abductive approach where information has been gathered partly through the Internet (WayBack Machine) and partly through advertisements from PwC, an auditing firm. The results of the study are put together in frequency tables, wordles and diagrams. Result & Conclusion: We can, according to the theoretical representation, draw the conclusion that the auditing firms are changing parts of their marketing due to changes in the environment. The dimension of the changes on the marketing fluctuates from auditing firm to auditing firm, depending on, for example, the size of the changes in the environment, how quick the auditing firms are adjusting to these changes and the auditing firm’s vision of marketing. Contribution of thesis: The contribution of our thesis is to illustrate how the marketing of the auditing firms are changing due to environmental factors. This can be useful when the marketer have to consider these environmental factors when planning and designing the marketing activities. Keywords: Mandatory auditing, auditing firm, marketing, influence and environmental factors.

<p>Although much research has focused on cognitive ability and the genetic and environmental factors that might influence it, this aspect of human nature is still far from being well understood. It has been well-established that certain factors such as age and education have significant impacts on performance on most cognitive tests, but the effects of variables such as cognitive pastimes and strategies used during testing have generally not been assessed. Additionally, no genetic variant has yet been unequivocally shown to influence the normal variation in cognitive ability of healthy individuals. Candidate gene studies of cognition have produced conflicting results that have not been replicable, and genome-wide association studies have not found common variants with large influences on this trait.</p><p>Here, we have recruited a large cohort of healthy volunteers (n=1,887) and administered a brief cognitive battery utilizing diverse, common, and well-known tests. In addition to providing standard demographic information, the subjects also filled out a questionnaire that was designed to assess novel factors such as whether they had seen the test before, in what cognitive pastimes they participated, and what strategies they had used during testing. Linear regression models were built to assess the effects of these variables on the test scores. I found that the addition of novel covariates to standard ones increased the percent of the variation in test score that was explained for all tests; for some tests, the increase was as high as 70%.</p><p>Next, I examined the effects of genetic variants on test scores. I first performed a genome-wide association study using the Illumina HumanHap 550 and 610 chips. These chips are designed to directly genotype or tag the vast majority of the common variants in the genome. Despite having 80% power to detect a common variant explaining at least 3-6% (depending on the test) of the variation in the trait, I did not find any genetic variants that were significantly associated after correction for multiple testing. This is in line with the general findings from GWA studies that single common variants have a limited impact on complex traits.</p><p>Because of the recent technological advances in next-generation sequencing and the apparently limited role of very common variants, many human geneticists are making a transition from genome-wide association study to whole-genome and whole-exome sequencing, which allow for the identification of rarer variants. Because these methods are currently costly, it is important to utilize study designs that have the best chance of finding causal variants in a small sample size. One such method is the extreme-trait design, where individuals from one or both ends of a trait distribution are sequenced and variants that are enriched in the group(s) are identified. Here, I have sequenced the exomes of 20 young individuals of European ethnicity: 10 that performed at the top of the distribution for the cognitive battery and 10 that performed at the bottom. I identified rare genetic variants that were enriched in one extreme group as compared to the other and performed follow-up genotyping of the best candidate variant that emerged from this analysis. Unfortunately, this variant was not found to be associated in a larger sample of individuals. This pilot study indicates that a larger sample size will be needed to identify variants enriched in cognition extremes.</p><p>Finally, I assessed the effect of topiramate, an antiepileptic drug that causes marked side effects in certain cognitive areas in certain individuals, on some of the healthy volunteers (n=158) by giving them a 100 mg dose and then administering the cognitive test two hours later. I compared their scores at this testing session to those at the previous session and calculated the overall level to which they were affected by topiramate. I found that the topiramate blood levels, which were highly dependent on weight and the time from dosing to testing, varied widely between individuals after this acute dose, and that this variation explained 35% of the variability in topiramate response. A genome-wide association study of the remaining variability in topiramate response did not identify a genome-wide significant association.</p><p>In sum, I studied the contributions of both environmental and genetic variables to cognitive ability and cognitive response to topiramate. I found that I could identify environmental variables explaining large proportions of the variation in these traits, but that I could not identify genetic variants that influenced the traits. My analysis of genetic variants was for the most part restricted to the very common ones found on genotyping chips, and this and other studies have generally found that single common genetic variants do not have large affects on complex traits. As we move forward into studies that involve the sequencing of whole exomes and genomes, genetic variants with large effects on these complex traits may finally be found.</p> / Dissertation

The present study aims to investigate the foraminiferal assemblages of the recent samples in terms of abundance and diversity, to determine the bathymetrical and the geographical distributions of the foraminiferal assemblages. This study further intends to put forward the responses of foraminifers to environmental factors (e.g. bathymetry, salinity, substrate, pollution, water currents, etc.) on the distribution of foraminifers. In this manner, foraminiferal fauna has been taxonomically identified and quantitatively analyzed in the 34 grab samples distributed at depths from 18 m. to 190 m. collected from the Gulf of iskenderun. Counting 300 individuals from each sample, the relative abundances of 151 benthic foraminiferal species belonging to suborders of Rotaliina, Miliolina, Textulariina, Spirillinina and Lagenina have been determined. The relative abundances of samples are dominated by Ammonia tepida / Adelosina cliarensis, Nonion sp.A, Textularia bocki, Reussella spinulosa, Cribroelphidium poeyanum, Adelosina pulchella, Buccella granulata, Elphidium advenum and Nonion depressulum that are also common in the western Mediterranean. Furthermore, the Lessepsian migrants / Peneroplis pertusus, Septoloculina angulata, Septloculina rotunda, Septoloculina tortuosa, Vertebralina striata and Amphistegina lobifera are abundant in only southeastern part of the gulf. Because of complex distribution scheme of benthic foraminifers, some statistical analysis (Cluster Analysis, DCA and CCA) have been applied to relative abundance (percentage) of the most abundant, ecologically important taxa in order to visualize assemblages and their representative species. Two main clusters, mainly controlled by CaCO3 and substrate, have been obtained. It is recognized that the distribution of benthic foraminiferal assemblages are not strongly depend on depth as it expected.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Arkitektkopia AB, Umeå : Sveriges lantbruksuniv., 2009. / Härtill 4 uppsatser.

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how a multi-national company can adapt its business marketing strategy to emerging markets. The research approach of the thesis was a case study of CCI in Turkey and Kazakhstan to see how the company can adapt it international business marketing strategy to conditions of local market. The study was done by identifying of the current situation on the emerging markets and the company and by describing external environment and institutional factors within emerging markets. Analysis of current elements of international business marketing strategy and environmental factors that have affected it was done by applying theoretical framework to the case study. The last step was to give recomendations for the company to adapt or standart international business marketing strategy and importance of analyze external enviromental factors for the international business marketing strategy for the emerging markets. Data for the thesis was collected from primary sources through interviews and secondary data through company’s presentations and articles, internet sources. The study showed that CCI enters each new market with standard brand portfolio tries to make adaptations of promotion and communication strategies to conductions of local market and to get external fit which will bring competitive and societal advantages for CCI on those markets where company operates. We have identified number of external environmental factors in Kazakhstan that have a certain influence on CCI’s operations. Economical situation has largely affected CCI’s operations and activities in Kazakhstan. This factor directly affects consumption level and purchasing power and behavior of local consumers. The legislation has obviously affected the company as well, resulting in local production. Cultural issues are also influenced CCI operations in Kazakhstan. That expressed through difference in consumption preferences of local consumers, which were directed aside traditional drinks. In the end of the thesis some recommendations are given. Among the most important are – to balance between standart brand portfolio and adapt communication and distribution strategies accorging local enviromental factors; to identify which environmental factors can affect the company, which will require adjustments, and which can be influenced by the company; to effort developing personal relationship with customers, distributors, retailers in order to increase the competitive advantage and gain an increased loyalty among them.

Darbo tikslas – įvertinti ir palyginti Alytaus miesto ligoninės medicinos personalo fizinę ir psichosocialinę darbo aplinką bei įtakos turinčius veiksnius. Darbo uždaviniai: Nustatyti pagrindinius žalingus fizinės aplinkos veiksnius ligoninės padaliniuose. Įvertinti ligoninės personalo psichosocialinę aplinką medicinos personalo požiūriu. Nustatyti medicinos personalo negalavimus, sąlygojamus fizinės ir psichosocialinės aplinkos Metodika. Tyrimas buvo vykdomas Alytaus apskrities ligoninėje. Buvo atliekamas vienmomentinis tyrimas. Kokybinių požymių statistiniam ryšiui įvertinti buvo naudojamas Chi-kvadrato (χ2) kriterijus. Lyginant du santykinius dydžius ir norint nustatyti, ar jų skirtumas esminis buvo apskaičiuojamas z-kriterijus. Ryšiai buvo laikomi statistiškai reikšmingais, kai p < 0,05. Naudojant binarinę logistinę regresiją gauta matematinė išraiška, nusakanti įvairių nepriklausomų veiksnių įtaką Rezultatai. Apie trečdalis respondentų labai gerai arba gerai vertino bendrą patalpų įspūdį (30,5 proc.), apšvietimą (37,6 proc.) ir dydį (30,1 proc.). Patalpas personalui pailsėti gerai įvertino tik 14 proc. apklaustųjų ir daugiau nei pusė (56,0 proc.) jas vertino blogai. Statistiškai reikšmingai dažniau infekcinio skyriaus darbuotojai nei terapinio, chirurginio bei kitų teigė, kad jų darbo patalpų bendras įspūdis labai blogas ar blogas. Darbo patalpų apšvietimą geriau įvertino tik 6-8 val. per parą dirbantys respondentai lyginant su dirbančiais 9-12 ar daugiau. Statistiškai... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The purpose of the study: The purpose of the study is to evaluate and compare the correlation between physical and psychosocial environmental factors and its impact on medical personnel in Alytus City Hospital. Study objectives: The study objective is to identify major negative physical environmental factors affecting personnel and evaluate the psychosocial environment from a personnel perspective at the hospital. In addition, the objective is to diagnose medical personnel troubles partially correlated with the physical and psychosocial environment. Methods: The study was conducted in Alytus City Hospital by conducting a onetime study. Chiroquadrate criteria were used to evaluate quality features of the statistical data. Z-criteria of the two comparative parameters were used to determine their value significance. The results were statistically significant, when p<0.05. Binary logistic regression was used to solve the mathematical conversion, which was a factor for various independent effects. Findings: 1/3 of the respondents evaluated the following environment as “very good” or “good”: overall room conditions (30.5 %), lighting (37.6 %), and space (30.1%). Only 14% of the respondents evaluated room condition as “good” compared with other departments, while 56.0 % of the respondents evaluated it as ��poor”. According to the statistics, the personnel from the Infectious Diseases Departments more than the staff from the Therapeutics or Operating Room rated their work... [to full text]

Tyrimų tikslas – ištirti diferencijuotą ir kompleksinį aplinkos veiksnių poveikį skirtingų genotipų sėjamojo žirnio (Pisum sativum L.) fiziologinei reakcijai bei nustatyti šių veiksnių tarpusavio sąveikos įtaką fiziologiniams rodikliams. Tyrimų uždaviniai: Nustatyti skirtingos substrato drėgmės ir UV-B spinduliuotės diferencijuotą ir kompleksinį poveikį įvairių genotipų sėjamajam žirniui: 1.Esant dabartiniams klimato veiksnių parametrams. 2.Padidėjusios anglies dioksido koncentracijos sąlygomis. 3.Pakilusios temperatūros sąlygomis. 4.Prognozuojamų klimato veiksnių parametrų sąlygomis (padidėjus CO2 koncentracijai ir temperatūrai). / The aim of research – to investigate the differential and complex effect of environmental factors on the physiological responses of different genotypes of sowing pea (Pisum sativum L.) and to evaluate the impact of factor interaction among factors on physiological indices. The tasks of research: To identify the differentiated and integrated effect of different substrate moisture and UV-B radiation on different genotypes of sowing pea: 1.Under the current parameters of climatic factors; 2.Under the increased CO2 concentrations; 3.Under increased temperature; 4.Under predicted climatic factors conditions (increased CO2 concentration and temperature).