No description available.

Objectives The primary objective of this study was to investigate the effect of the video-based smartphone app ‘VIDEA bewegt’ over eight programme weeks on physical activity in German adults. - Design The study used a single-arm observational design, assessing the app’s effectiveness under real-life conditions. Data were collected from July 2019 to July 2020. - Setting The app is enabling users to access video-based educational content via their smartphone. A clinical visit or in-person contact was not required. Participants All individuals registered in the freely available app were invited to take part in the study. - Interventions The app aims to increase physical activity in everyday life. It combines educative videos on lifestyle-related benefits and instructional videos of strength and endurance exercises to do at home with motivational components like goal setting, documentation of progress and personalised messages. - Primary and secondary outcome measures Primary outcomes were physical activity based one MET minutes per week (metabolic equivalent) and step numbers. Secondary outcomes included physical self-efficacy (motivational, maintenance, recovery self-efficacy), health-related quality of life: Mental Health Component Summary score and Physical Health Component Summary score. - Results Of 97 people included in the data analysis, 55 successfully completed the programme and all questionnaires. Significant increases over eight programme weeks (between T0 and T2) were observed in physical activity based on MET minutes per week, health-related quality of life, and recovery self-efficacy. Time spent sitting and body mass index significantly decreased for those completing the programme. Conclusions Although significant benefits of physical activity were observed following a complete-case analysis, results should be dealt with caution. Studies with a larger and less heterogeneous sample and robust study designs able to measure causal effects would be desirable. Trial registration number DRKS00017392.

[pt] Este estudo pretende analisar e discutir os principais dados sobre violência doméstica durante o primeiro ano de pandemia da Covid-19 e apresentar algumas respostas e iniciativas tecnológicas que foram aprimoradas e/ou criadas para atender as vítimas no Brasil. Com a propagação da Covid-19 em todo mundo no ano de 2020, medidas de isolamento social foram adotadas como importante estratégia para a redução do número de infectados pelo vírus. Ficar em casa, no entanto, virou sinônimo de insegurança para muitas mulheres, já que é no próprio domicílio onde ocorre grande parte dos casos de feminicídio no país. Um mês depois de a Organização Mundial de Saúde decretar a pandemia, o relatório Covid-19 e o Combate à Violência Contra Mulheres e Meninas (ONU Mulheres) já mostrava que o número de casos de violência doméstica tinha aumentado em vários lugares do mundo. Esse texto apresenta os principais aplicativos para celular, serviços de atendimentos online e outras ferramentas digitais, assim como aponta para a necessidade de iniciativas e políticas específicas, investimento e desenvolvimento em novas tecnologias para combater os casos de violência contra as mulheres. / [en] This dissertation aims to analyze and discuss the main data on domestic violence during the first year of coronavirus pandemic and present some answers and technological initiatives that were improved to assist victims in Brazil. With the spread of Covid-19 around the world during 2020, social isolation was adopted as an important strategy to reduce the number of people infected by the virus. However, staying home has become synonymous of insecurity for many women, as most of femicide cases happen at home. A month after the World Health Organization declares Covid-19 a pandemic, the report Covid-19 and Ending Violence Against Women and Girls (UN Women) already showed that the number of cases of domestic violence had increased in many parts of the world. This text presents mobile applications, online assistance services and other digital tools as points the need of specific initiatives and policies, investment, and development in new technologies to combat cases of violence against women.

The range of applications for high-quality automatic speech recognition (ASR) systems has grown dramatically with the advent of smart phones, in which speech recognition can greatly enhance the user experience. Currently, the languages with extensive ASR support on these devices are languages that have thousands of hours of transcribed speech corpora already collected. Developing a speech system for such a language is made simpler because extensive resources already exist. However for languages that are not as prominent, the process is more difficult. Many obstacles such as reliability and cost have hampered progress in this regard, and various separate tools for every stage of the development process have been developed to overcome these difficulties. Developing a system that is able to combine these identified partial solutions, involves customising existing tools and developing new ones to interface the overall end-to-end process. This work documents the integration of several tools to enable the end-to-end development of an Automatic Speech Recognition system in a typical under-resourced language. Google App Engine is employed as the core environment for data verification, storage and distribution, and used in conjunction with existing tools for gathering text data and for speech data recording. We analyse the data acquired by each of the tools and develop an ASR system in Shona, an important under-resourced language of Southern Africa. Although unexpected logistical problems complicated the process, we were able to collect a useable Shona speech corpus, and develop the first Automatic Speech Recognition system in that language. / MIng (Computer and Electronic Engineering), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

The range of applications for high-quality automatic speech recognition (ASR) systems has grown dramatically with the advent of smart phones, in which speech recognition can greatly enhance the user experience. Currently, the languages with extensive ASR support on these devices are languages that have thousands of hours of transcribed speech corpora already collected. Developing a speech system for such a language is made simpler because extensive resources already exist. However for languages that are not as prominent, the process is more difficult. Many obstacles such as reliability and cost have hampered progress in this regard, and various separate tools for every stage of the development process have been developed to overcome these difficulties. Developing a system that is able to combine these identified partial solutions, involves customising existing tools and developing new ones to interface the overall end-to-end process. This work documents the integration of several tools to enable the end-to-end development of an Automatic Speech Recognition system in a typical under-resourced language. Google App Engine is employed as the core environment for data verification, storage and distribution, and used in conjunction with existing tools for gathering text data and for speech data recording. We analyse the data acquired by each of the tools and develop an ASR system in Shona, an important under-resourced language of Southern Africa. Although unexpected logistical problems complicated the process, we were able to collect a useable Shona speech corpus, and develop the first Automatic Speech Recognition system in that language. / MIng (Computer and Electronic Engineering), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

L'apprentissage par problèmes (APP) est une méthode pédagogique innovante utilisée à l'échelle du programme de génie électrique de l'Université de Sherbrooke. La présente recherche vise à identifier les stratégies d'apprentissage et d'étude utilisées par les étudiants de ce programme. Des observations en classe et la passation d'un questionnaire sont les outils méthodologiques qui ont été utilisés dans cette étude. Les objectifs poursuivis impliquent la description des stratégies utilisées par les étudiants lors de trois unités d'APP, en considérant les effets possiblement associés au groupe d'appartenance et aux tuteurs responsables de l'encadrement. Cette recherche vise également à identifier les perceptions des étudiants du programme de génie électrique concernant les stratégies utilisées lors de trois unités d'APP. Cette recherche vise enfin à comparer les perceptions des étudiants quant à l'utilisation de stratégies dans le cadre de la version traditionnelle par rapport aux perceptions des apprenants inscrits dans la version innovante du programme.

Heparan sulfate (HS), an unbranched sulfated carbohydrate chain, and the HS-degrading enzyme heparanase play important roles in physiological and pathological processes during all stages of life, from early embryogenesis to ageing. Accumulated information shows that HS and heparanase are involved in inflammatory processes and associated diseases, e.g. rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and Alzheimer’s disease. In this thesis I have investigated the role of HS and heparanase (Hpa) in inflammatory-related pathologies. In the first project, Hpa overexpressing mice (Hpa-tg) were induced with a murine model of RA. We found a pro-inflammatory role of Hpa through enhancing the activity of T-cells and innate immune cells, which contributed to an augmented severity of clinical symptoms in the Hpa-tg mice. In my second project, we revealed co-current interaction of heparin with both ApoA1 and SAA of HDL isolated from plasma of inflamed mouse. Mass spectrometry analysis indicated close proximity of ApoA1 and SAA on the HDL surface, providing a molecular and structural mechanism for the simultaneous binding of heparin to apoA1 and SAA. In my third project, we investigated the role of Hpa in AA amyloid formation and resolution in mice in a model of AA-amyloidosis. We found a similar degree of amyloid formation in Hpa-KO mice compared to the wildtype control mice, but the resolution process was faster in Hpa-KO mice. The rapid clearance of deposited SAA in Hpa-KO mice was associated with upregulated expression of matrix metalloproteases. The results suggest an associated function of ECM proteases with heparanase in the process of AA amyloid resolution. In my fourth project, we found that overexpression of heparanase impaired inflammation associated beta amyloid (Aβ) clearance in the brain of an Alzheimer’s disease mouse model. Examination of the cytokine profile of brain lysates revealed an overall lower inflammatory reaction in the double transgenic (tgHpa*Swe) mice compared to single APP-tg (tg-Swe) mice in response to LPS-induced inflammation.

Alzheimer's disease is the most common type of dementia in the elderly; it is characterized by early deficits in learning and memory formation and ultimately leads to a generalised loss of higher cognitive functions. While amyloid beta (Aβ) and tau are traditionally associated with the development of Alzheimer disease, recent studies suggest that other factors, like the intracellular domain (APP-ICD) of the amyloid precursor protein (APP), could play a role. In this study, we investigated whether APP-ICD could affect synaptic transmission and synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus, which is involved in learning and memory processes. Our results indicated that overexpression of APP-ICD in hippocampal CA1 neurons leads to a decrease in evoked AMPA-receptor and NMDA-receptor dependent synaptic transmission. Our study demonstrated that this effect is specific for APP-ICD since its closest homologue APLP2-ICD did not reproduce this effect. In addition, APP-ICD blocks the induction of long term potentiation (LTP) and leads to increased of expression and facilitated induction of long term depression (LTD), while APLP2-ICD shows neither of these effects. Our study showed that this difference observed in synaptic transmission and plasticity between the two intracellular domains resides in the difference of one alanine in the APP-ICD versus a proline in the APLP2-ICD. Exchanging this critical amino-acid through point-mutation, we observed that APP(PAV)-ICD had no longer an effect on synaptic plasticity. We also demonstrated that APLP2(AAV)-ICD mimic the effect of APP-ICD in regards of facilitated LTD. Next we showed that the full length APP-APLP2-APP (APP with a substitution of the Aβ component for its homologous APLP2 part) had no effect on synaptic transmission or synaptic plasticity when compared to the APP-ICD. However, by activating caspase cleavage prior to induction of LTD or LTP, we observed an LTD facilitation and a block of LTP with APP-APLP2-APP, effects that were not seen with the full length APLP2 protein. APP is phosphorylated at threonine 668 (Thr668), which is localized directly after the aforementioned critical alanine and the caspase cleavage site in APP-APLP2-APP. Mutating this Thr668 for an alanine abolishes the effects on LTD and restores LTP induction. Finally, we showed that the facilitation of LTD with APP-APLP2-APP involves ryanodine receptor dependent calcium release from intracellular stores. Taken together, we propose the emergence of a new APP intracellular domain, which plays a critical role in the regulation of synaptic plasticity and by extension, could play a role in the development of memory loss in Alzheimer’s disease. / La maladie d’Alzheimer est la forme la plus commune de démence liée au vieillissement ; elle est caractérisée par des déficits précoces d’apprentissage et de mémorisation et entraîne à terme une perte généralisée des fonctions cognitives supérieures. Alors que l’amyloïde-bêta (Aβ) et la protéine tau sont traditionnellement associées au développement de la maladie d’Alzheimer, des études récentes suggèrent que d’autres facteurs, tels que le domaine intracellulaire (APP-ICD) du précurseur de la protéine amyloïde (APP), pourraient jouer un rôle. Dans notre étude, nous avons testé si l’APP-ICD pourrait affecter les mécanismes de transmission ou de plasticité synaptique dans l’hippocampe, qui sous-tendent les processus d’apprentissage et de mémorisation. Nos résultats ont indiqué que la surexpression de l’APP-ICD dans des neurones du CA1 de l’hippocampe entraînait une diminution de la transmission synaptique dépendante des récepteurs AMPA et NMDA. Notre étude a montré que cet effet était spécifique de l’APP-ICD puisque son plus proche homologue l’APLP2-ICD n’a pas eu cet effet. De plus, l’APP-ICD entraînait un blocage de la potentialisation à long terme (LTP), une augmentation de l’expression et une facilitation de l’induction de la dépression à long terme (LTD), mais l’APLP2-ICD n’a eu aucun de ces effets. Notre étude a montré que cette différence observée en transmission et en plasticité synaptique entre les deux peptides réside dans le changement d’une seule alanine dans l’APP-ICD pour une proline dans l’APLP2-ICD, et que l’APP(PAV)-ICD n’avait pas d’effet sur la plasticité synaptique. Nous avons aussi démontré que l’APLP2(AAV)-ICD mimait l’effet de l’APP-ICD pour la facilitation de la LTD. Ensuite nous avons montré que la longue forme APP-APLP2-APP (APP avec un changement de la séquence de l’Aβ pour celle homologue de l’APLP2) ne montrait pas d’effet en comparaison avec l’APP-ICD, ni sur la transmission synaptique ni sur la plasticité synaptique. Cependant, en activant le clivage par les caspases préalablement à l’induction de la LTD ou la LTP, nous avons observé une facilitation de la LTD et un iii blocage de la LTP avec l’APP-APLP2-APP, des effets que nous n’avons pas reproduit avec la longue forme APLP2. La thréonine 668 phosphorylable se trouve immédiatement après l’alanine et le site de clivage par les caspases dans l’APP-APLP2-APP. La mutation de la Thr668 pour une alanine a aboli son effet sur la LTD et restauré la LTP. Finalement, nous avons montré que la facilitation de la LTD par l’APP-APLP2-APP dépendait de la libération de calcium intracellulaire par les récepteurs ryanodines. En conséquence, nous proposons l’émergence d’un nouveau domaine de l’APP jouant un rôle critique, en plus de l’Aβ, dans les processus à la base de l’apprentissage et qui en conséquence pourrait jouer un rôle dans le développement de la maladie d’Alzheimer.

AbstractThe subject of gamification is a relatively new and novel concept when it comes to stimulating behavior. Gamification is the use of game elements in a non-game context. Gamification is a tool that can motivate people to engage with activities related to health, education and personal productivity. Gamification can be used in a plethora of areas, and business and organizational contexts are no exception.This study investigates how gamification and the use of game elements in an organizational context influence internal marketing activities. Internal marketing is a management philosophy that explores how to treat employees as internal customers to increase the quality of service. This study investigates how gamification and game elements can help accomplishing this goal through influencing internal marketing activities. The study answers the following research question:The purpose of the study is to investigate how gamification and game elements of an app influence internal marketing activities. The app we are investigating was developed by Volvo Group for their employee ambassador program, called #WeAreVolvoGroup. The app is the context which is being investigated as it contains elements of gamification. A conceptual framework has been developed containing game elements as an influence on seven internal marketing activities, which are job product development, employee recruitment, training and education, motivation and reward, internal market research, internal communication, and retention of staff.A qualitative study was conducted by interviewing managers and users of the app, #WeAreVolvoGroup. By using the thematic analysis, the results were presented and combined into themes that were further analyzed and connected to the conceptual framework. The conceptual framework was revised by retracting internal marketing activities that the app did not contribute to, which were job product development, employee recruitment, training and education, and retention of staff, and adding additional factors that the app contributes to. The findings of this study demonstrate that gamification influences the internal marketing activities that were present in the app listed as motivation and reward, internal communication, and internal market research, as well as additional factors which was company culture and personal branding. Our findings showed that the gamification and game elements of the app influenced these activities

Rapportering av tillbud är generellt bristfällig. Flera olyckor skulle kunna ha förhindrats om tillbudsrapporterna hade kommit in. Mycket av arbetet med att förhindra olyckor ligger idag på arbetsplatsledningen och därmed krävs det en kontinuerlig och integrerad kommunikation mellan yrkesarbetare, underentreprenör och arbetsplatsledning. Arbetsplatsolyckor på byggarbetsplatser i Sverige står idag för den tredje högsta siffran vad gäller inrapporterade olyckor. Tillsammans med bransch- och arbetsgivarorganisationen Sveriges Byggindustrier vill byggsektorn förbättra rutinerna så att arbetet sker på rätt sätt från början eftersom detta skulle kunna förhindra att någon skadas eller att någon omkommer på arbetsplatsen, då brister i tillämpning av rutinerna oftast är orsaken.   Denna studie undersöker behovet av ett digitalt rapporteringsverktyg för mobiltelefon, som främst är riktat till yrkesarbetare och underentreprenör samt undersöka hur tillbudsrapportering och arbetsmiljöarbete kan förbättras. Studiens undersökande del indelades i tre segment för att identifiera hur en digital rapporteringslösning kan bidra till ett enklare arbetssätt och främja underentreprenörens delaktighet i tillbudsrapportering. Litteraturstudier och samtal med intressenter genomfördes med arbetstagare från fyra olika delar av Wästbyggs organisation för att få en uppfattning om hur fallföretaget arbetar med arbetsmiljö och tillbudsrapportering idag. Slutligen genomfördes en intervjustudie baserad på samtal med sju respondenter från sex olika delar av fallföretagets organisation.  Förhoppningsvis kan studien bidra till att fallföretaget i framtiden väljer att använda en digital rapporteringslösning för tillbud, då det enklare skulle involvera underentreprenörer med både svensk och utländsk bakgrund samt förenkla uppföljningen för arbetsplatsledningen och kvalitets-, miljö- och arbetsmiljögruppen. I rapporten diskuteras definitionen av ett tillbud, förändringsarbete i fallföretagets organisation, kommunikation på byggarbetsplats och applikation till mobiltelefon. Gemensamt bidrar dessa till ett mer välfungerande arbetsmiljöarbete och innebär dessutom att fler tillbud kan rapporteras in.   För att arbetsmiljöarbetet och tillbudsrapporteringen ska kunna förbättras ytterligare bör även rutiner förtydligas samt följas upp. Detta genom ett bättre ledarskap innefattande nya metoder som förenklar spridningen av värdefull kunskap internt, vilket skulle främjas av mer lättläst information tillgänglig på både svenska och engelska. / Work-related accidents at construction sites in Sweden today represents the third largest number regarding reported accidents. Together with the industry council Sveriges Byggindustrier the construction sector wants to improve the routines aiming for the work to be performed correctly from the beginning since this would prevent personal injuries or incidents with deadly outcome, as shortcomings in the routines is the most common cause. Incident reporting is generally lacking; thus, many accidents could have been prevented if the incident reports had been sent in. A large part of the work regarding accident prevention is today the responsibility of the workplace management. Hence there is a demand for continuous and integrated communication between the professional workers, subcontractors and the work-place management.     This study aimed to investigate the need of a digital reporting tool for mobile phone use, mainly directed to the professional workers and subcontractors as well as elucidate how incident reporting and health and safety management system can be improved. The investigating part of the study was divided into three subparts to identify how a digital report solution could contribute to a simplified mode of working, promoting the subcontractors’ involvement in the incident reporting. Literature studies combined with conversations with the stakeholders were conducted with the employees from four different sections of Wästbyggs organisation to get a perception about how the case-company handles the work environment and incident reporting today. Finally, an interview study based on conversations with seven respondents from six different parts of the organization of the case-company was conducted.  Hopefully, this study can contribute to the case-companies choosing a digital solution for incident reporting in the future. This would in a simpler way involve the subcontractors regardless of origin and it would also simplify the follow-up for the workplace management as well as for the quality-, environment-, and work environment group. In this report, the definition of an incident, change-promoting work in the organization of the case-company, communication at the construction site and a mobile phone application was discussed.      Taken together, these factors contribute to a more smoothly functioning health and safety management system and could further lead to an increase in incident reports being sent in. In order for the health and safety management system and incident reporting to be additionally improved, the current routines ought to be improved and followed up. This could be implemented through better leadership including novel improved methods, simplifying the proliferation of valuable knowledge internally which could very well be promoted by legible information available in both Swedish and English.