Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder which is histopathologically characterised by amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles. Amyloid plaques consist of the amyloid β-peptide (Aβ) that can form aggregates in the brain. Aβ is generated from the amyloid precursor protein (APP) through proteolytic cleavage. APP belongs to a conserved protein family that also includes the two paralogues, APP-like proteins 1 and 2 (APLP1 and APLP2). Despite the immense amount of research on APP, motivated by its implication in AD, the function of this protein family has not yet been determined. In this thesis, we have studied the expression and proteolytic processing of the APP protein family. Our results are consistent with previous findings that suggest a role for APP during neuronal development. Treatment of cells with retinoic acid (RA) resulted in increased synthesis. In addition, we observed that RA treatment shifted the processing of APP from the amyloidogenic to the non-amyloidogenic pathway. The proteins in the APP family have been hard to distinguish both with respect to function and proteolytic processing. However, for development of new drugs with APP processing enzymes as targets this is of great importance. Our studies suggest similarities, but also differences in the mechanism regulating the processing of the different paralogues. We found that brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) had different impact on the members of the APP family. Most interestingly, we also found that the mechanism behind the increased processing in response to IGF-1 was not identical between the homologous proteins. In summary, our results indicate that in terms of regulation APLP1 and APLP2 differ more from each other than from APP. Our studies open up the possibility of finding means to selectively block Aβ production without interfering with the processing and function of the paralogous proteins.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder, neuropathologically characterized by neurofibrillay tangles and deposition of amyloid-β (Aβ) peptides. Several mutations in the gene for amyloid precursor protein (APP) cause familial AD and affect APP processing leading to increased levels of Aβ42. However, the Arctic Alzheimer mutation (APP E693G) reduces Aβ levels. Instead, the increased tendency of Arctic Aβ peptides to form Aβ protofibrils is thought to contribute to the pathogenesis. In this thesis, the pathogenic mechanisms of the Arctic mutation were further investigated, specifically addressing if and how the mutation affects APP processing. Evidence of a shift towards β-secretase cleavage of Arctic APP was demonstrated. Arctic APP did not appear to be an inferior substrate for α-secretase, but the availability of Arctic APP for α-secretase cleavage was reduced, with diminished levels of cell surface APP in Arctic cells. Interestingly, administration of the fatty acid docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) stimulated α-secretase cleavage and partly reversed the effects of the Arctic mutation on APP processing. In contrast to previous findings, the Arctic mutation generated enhanced total Aβ levels suggesting increased Aβ production. Importantly, this thesis illustrates and explains why measures of both Arctic and wild type Aβ levels are highly dependent upon the Aβ assay used, with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and Western blot generating different results. It was shown that these differences were due to inefficient detection of Aβ oligomers by ELISA leading to an underestimation of total Aβ levels. In conclusion, the Arctic APP mutation leads to AD by multiple mechanisms. It facilitates protofibril formation, but it also alters trafficking and processing of APP which leads to increased steady state levels of total Aβ, in particular at intracellular locations. Importantly, these studies highlight mechanisms, other than enhanced production of Aβ peptide monomers, which could be implicated in sporadic AD.

Social networking applications that are developed using traditional software and architecture have scalability issues. One way to overcome the high cost of scaling social applications is to use Cloud Computing (CC). There are various cloud computing platforms available. One very interesting CC platform is Google App Engine (GAE). This research focuses on using the free GAE as a way to re-implement existing social networking applications.<p> The research focuses on how to move social applications into the cloud and on the evaluation of their performance. The thesis investigates the GAE platform, and its features. The study shows how to re-implement a social networking application using GAE cloud with limited code approximately 600 lines and evaluates the scalability of the applications.

I denna uppsats undersöks ungdomars användning av gratis mobilapplikationer. Uppsatsen lyfter fram faktorer som påverkar applikationsanvändningen och förklarar hur faktorerna i jämförelse med varandra påverkar användningen. Genom detta nyanseras även skillnader mellan användningen av gratis-applikationer och betal-applikationer.En kvalitativ studie gjordes i form av två fokusgrupper där den åtskiljande faktorn var förvärvsinkomst. Deltagarna fick i grupper diskutera olika teman, till exempel pris, sociala påtryckningar och attityd kring användningen av mobilapplikationer. Resultatet av gruppintervjuerna tolkades och analyserades utifrån en tolkningsram baserad på företagsekonomiska teorier. Tolkningsramen grundar sig till största del på en modell för mobilapplikationsanvändningsavsikt (Nysveen et al. 2005a), en teori om prissökningsbeteende (Darke et al. 1995) och en teori om etiskt besluttagande (Tan 2002).Några av slutsatserna som dras är att de mest framstående faktorerna för påverkan är pris, sociala påtryckningar och upplevd användbarhet och att skillnader mellan teori och de verkliga faktorer som påverkade respondenterna existerar. Studien och dess slutsatser bidrar med ny kunskap om konsumentbeteendet och kan användas för vidare forskning eller som en inspirationskälla för strategiutformning. / In this thesis investigated the usage of free mobile application among young people. Factors that influence the usage are highlighted and the influence of each factor is explained in comparison to the other influencing factors. The difference between the usage of free mobile applications and applications that cost is also emphasized due to this comparison.A qualitative study was done with two focus groups where the disjunctive factor for the two groups was income. The respondents discussed in groups different themes in the context mobile application usage. Examples of themes discussed are price, normative pressure and attitude. The results of the group interviews was interpreted and analyzed through an interpretative framework of business economic theories. The framework is largely based on a model of mobile application usage intention (Nysveen et al. 2005a), a theory of price search behavior (Darke et al. 1995) and a theory of ethical decision making (Tan 2002).Some of the contributing conclusions of the study are that the most prominent influent factors are price, normative pressure and perceived usefulness and that there exists a difference between theory and the real influencing factors of the respondents. This study and its conclusions contribute with new knowledge of consumer behavior and can be used for further research or as a source of inspiration for strategy elaboration.

Detta projekt går ut på att skapa en stabil och användbar mobilapplikation utvecklad i programspråket Java. Syftet är att underlätta åtkomsten och kommunikationen mellan Studentportalen och studenterna. Slutprodukten är Mittuniversitetets inofficiella applikation, kallad Mittuniversitetets Android-app. som begränsas i första hand till enheter med operativsystemet Android. Genom undersökningar, gjorda via både Mittuniversitetets studentportal i form av en enkät och fysiskt på Mittuniversitetet campus Sundsvall i form av muntliga intervjuer, utreds vilka områden studenterna helst vill ha i applikationen och det är utefter dessa som applikationen utformas. Applikationen betraktas som färdig när studenterna bl.a. kommer åt sina uppgifter och får dessa presenterade på ett stilrent sätt. Tre olika lösningsalternativ ges men jämförelser av för- och nackdelar leder till att endast ”direktanslutning som lösning” genomförs i detta projekt. För att ge läsaren en grund för fortsatt förståelse av rapporten beskrivs vissa delar närmare i rapporten. Rapporten visar även att åtkomsten till Studentportalen effektiviserats till 5 skärmtryck genom Mittuniversitetets applikation från tidigare 24 skärm-tryck genom mobiltelefonens egna webbläsare. Samtliga mål i projektet anses vara uppfyllda och visas som skärmdumpar i rapporten. Avslutningsvis framgår även förslag för vidareutveckling av applikationen. / This project is made for creating a stabil and useful mobile application developed in Java. The purpose of this project is to make the access and communication easier between the student and the student portal. The product of this project is the unofficial app of Mid Sweden University, called Mittuniversitetets Android-app, that in first hand is limited to Android-devices. By doing research, both by letting students answer a survey online on Mid Sweden University's student portal and by asking student physically at Mid Sweden University campus Sundsvall, the investigation tells which parts of the student portal students would like to have in the mobile application and it is according to those answers that the direction of the application has been developed. The product, which is the application, is considered complete when the students are able to for exempel reach their information and get the information presented in a good way. Three different suggestions for a solution is given and by comparing the benefits of those only one solution is chosen. The solution chosen is ”direct-connection as solution”. To be able to give the reader better basical and understandable knowledge some parts are explained in more detail in this report. The report also shows that the access to the student portal is more effective now that only 5 taps are required by using the Mid Sweden University application to get a students information instead of 24 taps by using the web-browser on the cellphone. All goals in this thesis is considered accomplished and screenshots shows this in the report. Finally there is also suggestions for some future works given in this report.

Social networking applications that are developed using traditional software and architecture have scalability issues. One way to overcome the high cost of scaling social applications is to use Cloud Computing (CC). There are various cloud computing platforms available. One very interesting CC platform is Google App Engine (GAE). This research focuses on using the free GAE as a way to re-implement existing social networking applications.<p> The research focuses on how to move social applications into the cloud and on the evaluation of their performance. The thesis investigates the GAE platform, and its features. The study shows how to re-implement a social networking application using GAE cloud with limited code approximately 600 lines and evaluates the scalability of the applications.

Physical inactivity is the fourth leading risk factor for global mortality. To prevent and change this the society need to develop good approaches and interventions to promote physical activity. The purpose of this thesis was to investigate which experience existing users have of smartphone training applications. Also to study if this can be a possible resource for health promotion. Six active users applied to participation after they had seen an ad in social media. The participants were interviewed with semi-structured interview. The result of the study showed that it is common that the use of the application is mainly for fun, and that the application´s visual documentation contributes to increased motivation to be physically active. The users also enjoy recording the physical activity and to collect all the activities at the same place makes it easy to go back and evaluate and compare the training results. The conclusion was that the use of these training applications can be seen as a free and accessible tool and can be a future tool in health promotion to provide greater motivation to be physical active. In order to ensure that the use of training applications contributes to increased physical activity, further studies are needed such as a randomized control study with larger sample groups and a longer period of study. / Fysisk inaktivitet är den fjärde största riskfaktorn för förtida död i världen idag. Cirka en av tre vuxna är inte tillräckligt fysiskt aktiv. För att skapa en förändring av denna utveckling finns flera hälsofrämjande insatser med avsikt att främja den fysiska aktiviteten. Den tekniska utvecklingen gör det möjligt att nå ut till en stor population via internet som finns tillgängligt i de flesta smartphones. Dess anslutningsmöjligheter och räckvidd i kombination med att mobiltelefoner ofta finns nära till hands, lyfter fram värdet av smartphones som ett verktyg för att mäta och influera till fysisk aktivitet. Syftet till denna studie var att undersöka vilka erfarenheter och upplevelser befintliga användare har av träningsappar, samt studera om dessa är ett möjligt verktyg i hälsofrämjande insatser. För att insamla data till studien har sex befintliga användare, 2 män och 4 kvinnor, intervjuas med semi-strukturerad intervju. Användarna anmälde sig frivilligt efter de sett upplagd annons på sociala medier. Intervjuerna har sedan transkriberats och analyserats med innehållsanalys. I resultatet framkommer att de olika användarna värderar olika funktioner i appen. Det gemensamma är dock att användandet av appen främst är för nöjets skull och att appens visuella dokumentation bidrar till ökad motivation att vara fysiskt aktiv. Även att dokumentera och ha all fysisk aktivitet samlad på ett ställe så att det sedan är lätt att gå tillbaka för att utvärdera och jämföra aktiviteten med tidigare resultat är upplevda fördelar med appen. Slutsatsen är att användandet av dessa träningsappar kan ses som ett gratis och lättillgängligt verktyg och ett möjligt hjälpmedel i hälsofrämjande arbete för att ge ökad motivation till att vara fysisk aktiv. För att säkerställa om användandet av träningsapparna bidrar till en ökad fysisk aktivitet krävs vidare studier med större urvalsgrupp och längre studieperiod.

ABSTRACT Finding ways to improve nutritional and physical activity components with today's adolescents is a significant problem. The obesity epidemic is over 10 years old and little research has been done on successful interventions that motivate today's students using the latest technology. A total of 140 middle school students and four physical education teachers participated in a 4-week study using a newly created application (AFIT app) for supplemental teaching in and out of the classroom. Combining a theoretical framework of Self-Determination and motivating strategies implored in today's mobile technology, significance was found using the PACE (2001) instrument in fruits and vegetable and physical activity psychosocial behaviors. The pretest to posttest for fruits and vegetables revealed a decrease in confidence for behaviors that support meeting recommended daily requirements in eating fruits and vegetables. The pretest to posttest for physical activity highlighted an increase in supporting behaviors for meeting the daily physical activity requirements, and an increase in friend support for meeting those daily physical activity requirements. Intrinsic and extrinsic motivators were incorporated in the app design and the tenets of autonomy, competence, and relatedness were used as adolescent motivators. At the end of the 4-week study, benefits and obstacles were also noted for both teachers and students with recommendations to increase teachers' in-services with regard to the latest technology and troubleshooting procedures. A home survey highlighted the need for more adult education in the household and stressed the importance of family support in both fruits and vegetables and physical activity behaviors.

Cette thèse explore les ressources cognitives que mobilisent des élèves ingénieurs dans un APP (Apprentissage par problème) dans une tâche de conception d'un objet technique. La situation-problème à laquelle ces élèves sont confrontés est constituée par un système technique inédit de réfrigération sans apport extérieur d'énergie. Dans cet apprentissage, les élèves doivent concevoir l'objet technique et apprendre des concepts en thermodynamique. Deux groupes d'élèves sont comparés : le premier dispose d'un modèle analogique d'une situation connue pour aborder la situation nouvelle, le second ne dispose que du texte. Les questions de recherches : Que construisent ces élèves comme connaissances ?Qu'apportent ces deux types d'apprentissage (l'apprentissage par une situation connue et l'apprentissage par le texte) ? Quels sont les obstacles que rencontrent ces élèves ? Les hypothèses : un apprentissage par une situation connue conduit à la construction de connaissances opératives (des concepts outils). Un apprentissage par le texte conduit à la construction de connaissances décontextualisées (des concepts objets). Un apprentissage par les situations dans un dispositif didactique conduit ultérieurement à la construction de concepts catégoriels. Ces deux types d'apprentissage impliquent l'obstacle épistémologique dans la construction des concepts dans leurs deux fonctions : outil et objet.

Mobilių technologijų populiarėjimas tarp vartotojų ir jų platformų įvairovė skatina mobilių programėlių kūrėjus užimti vis didesnę rinkos dalį. Kiekviena mobili platforma turi savo specifiką, todėl kūrėjams reikia vis daugiau žinių arba specialistų kuriant mobilias aplikacijas, tam reikalinga papildomų resursų, apmokymų,kaštų ir laiko. Vienas iš galimų problemos sprendimų, sukurti tam tikrus įrankius, kurie mobilių programėlių projektavimo ir kūrimo bei testavimo etape, leistų automatiškai suprojektuoti, suprogramuoti mobilias aplikacijas, nepriklausomai kokiai platformai išlaikant tos programėlės logiką. Tam pakaktų mobilių programų kūrėjams turėti vienai mobiliai platformai aprašytą modelį arba programėlę, ir iš jų remiantis MDA (Model Dirven Architecture) metodologijomis arba aprašytais karkasais atliktų transformacijas į reikiamą platformą. Šiame darbe pateikimas MDA principais paremtos sukurtos priemonės , kurios, atlieka programų transformacijas iš Android į Windows Phone. Įrodant transformacijų svarbą, atliktas transformavimo priemonių tyrimas, įvedant tam tikras metrikas ir jų palyginimą tarp atskirai realizuotų programų, šių priemonių transformuotų programų ir naudojant universalias priemones kaip JavaScript arba žiniatinklio principu veikiančių programų. / There is growth of mobile technologies and platforms providing for users so and developers of mobile applications need to take a larger market. There is some specificity of platforms, therefore developer needs a more knowledge or experts of mobile application developing where require a more resources, training, costs and it takes a time. One of the possible solutions to the problem, to make the tools which allow design and create mobile applications independent by platform keep the logic in design and development or testing phase. This is sufficient for developers to design or creates one mobile applications and using methods of Mobile Driven Architecture (MDA) and frameworks create transformations more applications many platforms. In this research paper representing the tools developed based MDA to carry out transformations from Android to Windows Phone. To prove the importance of transformations performed research of transformation tools with certain comparison of metrics between the programs of separated implementation, these tools transformed programs and used universal tools like JavaScript or web-based software implementation.