The problem addressed is the significant lack of empirical research to describe the nature and extent of technology for use in physical therapy education (PTE). The goal was to facilitate the use of instructional technologies in accredited physical therapy (PT) courses. Computing technologies offer efficient, accessible methods for delivery of education as well as instructional formats with unique advantages for the allied health sciences. In order to facilitate the use of instructional technologies in accredited PT courses the nature and extent of current technology use in PTE are described. A description of technologies used for health professional education was extracted from the literature and used to develop a valid and reliable online survey instrument. An effort was made to survey all full-time faculty in the 200 Doctor of Physical Therapy programs accredited by the Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education. A 44% response rate was received from 904 faculty representing 193 programs. The results demonstrate that the technologies used most can be characterized as those that support cognition rather than content delivery. It is also apparent that a significant number of faculty are using technology for education while their self-assessment indicates that they have insufficient knowledge and skills to do so. Also, the findings indicate that many faculty have a limited knowledge of the technologies used in the locations where their students will receive clinical education and possibly gain employment following graduation. These results are discussed in detail. Seven recommendations are offered to facilitate diffusion of technology throughout courses offered in graduate PT programs.

Este trabalho investigou como as sequências de atividades mediadas por recursos computacionais contribuem para o processo de formação dos conceitos científicos de calor, trabalho e entropia entre estudantes licenciandos em Química. Essa pesquisa atravessa diversos campos do conhecimento como educação, psicologia e computação, visando a estruturar e a analisar diferentes estratégias pedagógicas mediadas por tecnologias computacionais tais como a animação interativa, a modelagem e a simulação computacional. A fundamentação teórica do eixo didático e pedagógico encontra-se apoiada nos estudos de Zabala e Galperin, enquanto que o eixo psicológico busca inspiração na Teoria Histórico- Cultural de Vigotski e em seus estudos experimentais do desenvolvimento de conceitos científicos. Para responder esse problema de pesquisa, foi utilizado o método de investigação de estudo de casos, sob o enfoque explanatório. Os casos ou unidades de análise consistiram em dois grupos de estudantes do curso de licenciatura em Química do Instituto Federal Fluminense, RJ, Brasil, cujas ideias conceituais foram acompanhadas durante as atividades computacionais, em termos de emprego dos signos e sua aplicação não mecânica, reflexão acerca das propriedades gerais e essenciais dos objetos e capacidade de abstração. Com isso, foi proposto um desdobramento das ideias de Zabala e Galperin relativas às qualidades desejáveis nas sequências de atividades mediadas por recursos computacionais, bem como descrito um modelo teórico para a dinâmica do processo de formação dos conceitos científicos durante as respectivas sequências de atividades. / This study aimed to investigate how the sequences of activities mediated by computational resources contribute to the formation process of scientific concepts of heat, work and entropy among chemistry undergraduate students. Our research goes through several fields of knowledge such as education, psychology and computing, in order to structure and analyze different teaching strategies mediated by educational technologies such as interactive animation, modeling and computer simulation. The theoretical basis for didactics and pedagogy is supported by the Zabala and Galperin studies, while the psychological framework is inspired in the Historical-cultural Theory of Vygotsky and his experimental studies on the development of scientific concepts. To answer our research problem, the case study method was used under an explanatory focus. Our cases or units of analysis consisted of two students groups from the graduate program of chemistry of Fluminense Federal Institute, RJ, Brazil, whose conceptual ideas were followed during computational activities, in terms of signs employment and its non mechanical application, reflection on the general and essential properties of objects and the capacity for abstraction. As a result, we were able to propose a deployment of Zabala and Galperin ideas focused on the qualities desirable in the sequences of activities mediated by computational resources and also describe a theoretical model for the dynamic formation process of the scientific concepts during the respective sequence of activities.

Este trabalho investigou como as sequências de atividades mediadas por recursos computacionais contribuem para o processo de formação dos conceitos científicos de calor, trabalho e entropia entre estudantes licenciandos em Química. Essa pesquisa atravessa diversos campos do conhecimento como educação, psicologia e computação, visando a estruturar e a analisar diferentes estratégias pedagógicas mediadas por tecnologias computacionais tais como a animação interativa, a modelagem e a simulação computacional. A fundamentação teórica do eixo didático e pedagógico encontra-se apoiada nos estudos de Zabala e Galperin, enquanto que o eixo psicológico busca inspiração na Teoria Histórico- Cultural de Vigotski e em seus estudos experimentais do desenvolvimento de conceitos científicos. Para responder esse problema de pesquisa, foi utilizado o método de investigação de estudo de casos, sob o enfoque explanatório. Os casos ou unidades de análise consistiram em dois grupos de estudantes do curso de licenciatura em Química do Instituto Federal Fluminense, RJ, Brasil, cujas ideias conceituais foram acompanhadas durante as atividades computacionais, em termos de emprego dos signos e sua aplicação não mecânica, reflexão acerca das propriedades gerais e essenciais dos objetos e capacidade de abstração. Com isso, foi proposto um desdobramento das ideias de Zabala e Galperin relativas às qualidades desejáveis nas sequências de atividades mediadas por recursos computacionais, bem como descrito um modelo teórico para a dinâmica do processo de formação dos conceitos científicos durante as respectivas sequências de atividades. / This study aimed to investigate how the sequences of activities mediated by computational resources contribute to the formation process of scientific concepts of heat, work and entropy among chemistry undergraduate students. Our research goes through several fields of knowledge such as education, psychology and computing, in order to structure and analyze different teaching strategies mediated by educational technologies such as interactive animation, modeling and computer simulation. The theoretical basis for didactics and pedagogy is supported by the Zabala and Galperin studies, while the psychological framework is inspired in the Historical-cultural Theory of Vygotsky and his experimental studies on the development of scientific concepts. To answer our research problem, the case study method was used under an explanatory focus. Our cases or units of analysis consisted of two students groups from the graduate program of chemistry of Fluminense Federal Institute, RJ, Brazil, whose conceptual ideas were followed during computational activities, in terms of signs employment and its non mechanical application, reflection on the general and essential properties of objects and the capacity for abstraction. As a result, we were able to propose a deployment of Zabala and Galperin ideas focused on the qualities desirable in the sequences of activities mediated by computational resources and also describe a theoretical model for the dynamic formation process of the scientific concepts during the respective sequence of activities.

Este trabalho investigou como as sequências de atividades mediadas por recursos computacionais contribuem para o processo de formação dos conceitos científicos de calor, trabalho e entropia entre estudantes licenciandos em Química. Essa pesquisa atravessa diversos campos do conhecimento como educação, psicologia e computação, visando a estruturar e a analisar diferentes estratégias pedagógicas mediadas por tecnologias computacionais tais como a animação interativa, a modelagem e a simulação computacional. A fundamentação teórica do eixo didático e pedagógico encontra-se apoiada nos estudos de Zabala e Galperin, enquanto que o eixo psicológico busca inspiração na Teoria Histórico- Cultural de Vigotski e em seus estudos experimentais do desenvolvimento de conceitos científicos. Para responder esse problema de pesquisa, foi utilizado o método de investigação de estudo de casos, sob o enfoque explanatório. Os casos ou unidades de análise consistiram em dois grupos de estudantes do curso de licenciatura em Química do Instituto Federal Fluminense, RJ, Brasil, cujas ideias conceituais foram acompanhadas durante as atividades computacionais, em termos de emprego dos signos e sua aplicação não mecânica, reflexão acerca das propriedades gerais e essenciais dos objetos e capacidade de abstração. Com isso, foi proposto um desdobramento das ideias de Zabala e Galperin relativas às qualidades desejáveis nas sequências de atividades mediadas por recursos computacionais, bem como descrito um modelo teórico para a dinâmica do processo de formação dos conceitos científicos durante as respectivas sequências de atividades. / This study aimed to investigate how the sequences of activities mediated by computational resources contribute to the formation process of scientific concepts of heat, work and entropy among chemistry undergraduate students. Our research goes through several fields of knowledge such as education, psychology and computing, in order to structure and analyze different teaching strategies mediated by educational technologies such as interactive animation, modeling and computer simulation. The theoretical basis for didactics and pedagogy is supported by the Zabala and Galperin studies, while the psychological framework is inspired in the Historical-cultural Theory of Vygotsky and his experimental studies on the development of scientific concepts. To answer our research problem, the case study method was used under an explanatory focus. Our cases or units of analysis consisted of two students groups from the graduate program of chemistry of Fluminense Federal Institute, RJ, Brazil, whose conceptual ideas were followed during computational activities, in terms of signs employment and its non mechanical application, reflection on the general and essential properties of objects and the capacity for abstraction. As a result, we were able to propose a deployment of Zabala and Galperin ideas focused on the qualities desirable in the sequences of activities mediated by computational resources and also describe a theoretical model for the dynamic formation process of the scientific concepts during the respective sequence of activities.

This thesis presents the development and evaluation of IT-based methods and systems for supporting assessment of symptoms and enabling remote monitoring of Parkinson‟s disease (PD) patients. PD is a common neurological disorder associated with impaired body movements. Its clinical management regarding treatment outcomes and follow-up of patients is complex. In order to reveal the full extent of a patient‟s condition, there is a need for repeated and time-stamped assessments related to both patient‟s perception towards common symptoms and motor function. In this thesis, data from a mobile device test battery, collected during a three year clinical study, was used for the development and evaluation of methods. The data was gathered from a series of tests, consisting of selfassessments and motor tests (tapping and spiral drawing). These tests were carried out repeatedly in a telemedicine setting during week-long test periods. One objective was to develop a computer method that would process tracedspiral drawings and generate a score representing PD-related drawing impairments. The data processing part consisted of using the discrete wavelet transform and principal component analysis. When this computer method was evaluated against human clinical ratings, the results showed that it could perform quantitative assessments of drawing impairment in spirals comparatively well. As a part of this objective, a review of systems and methods for detecting the handwriting and drawing impairment using touch screens was performed. The review showed that measures concerning forces, accelerations, and radial displacements were the most important ones in detecting fine motor movement anomalies. Another objective of this thesis work was to design and evaluate an information system for delivering assessment support information to the treating clinical staff for monitoring PD symptoms in their patients. The system consisted of a patient node for data collection based on the mobile device test battery, a service node for data storage and processing, and a web application for data presentation. A system module was designed for compiling the test battery time series into summary scores on a test period level. The web application allowed adequate graphic feedback of the summary scores to the treating clinical staff. The evaluation results for this integrated system indicate that it can be used as a tool for frequent PD symptom assessments in home environments.

Non-rigid image registration is an important tool for analysing morphometric differences in subjects with Alzheimer's disease from structural magnetic resonance images of the brain. This thesis describes a novel probabilistic approach to non-rigid registration of medical images, and explores the benefits of its use in this area of neuroimaging. Many image registration approaches have been developed for neuroimaging. The vast majority suffer from two limitations: Firstly, the trade-off between image fidelity and regularisation requires selection. Secondly, only a point-estimate of the mapping between images is inferred, overlooking the presence of uncertainty in the estimation. This thesis introduces a novel probabilistic non-rigid registration model and inference scheme. This framework allows the inference of the parameters that control the level of regularisation, and data fidelity in a data-driven fashion. To allow greater flexibility, this model is extended to allow the level of data fidelity to vary across space. A benefit of this approach, is that the registration can adapt to anatomical variability and other image acquisition differences. A further advantage of the proposed registration framework is that it provides an estimate of the distribution of probable transformations. Additional novel contributions of this thesis include two proposals for exploiting the estimated registration uncertainty. The first of these estimates a local image smoothing filter, which is based on the registration uncertainty. The second approach incorporates the distribution of transformations into an ensemble learning scheme for statistical prediction. These techniques are integrated into standard frameworks for morphometric analysis, and are demonstrated to improve the ability to distinguish subjects with Alzheimer's disease from healthy controls.

The future is here. New digital, disruptive innovations are changing and affecting industries across society. And the emerging Quantum Computing (QC) industry is not an exception. Billions of dollars have been invested by actors such as governments, large enterprises like IBM and AWS, and by smaller to medium firms towards achieving a fully working QC-technology. Therefore, firms who are looking to adopt it must address the barriers that come with it. This thesis therefore explores what barriers, with the objective on key ones, that exist when firms are adopting QC-technology as a service into their business strategy. The geographical scope of this study is the European and North American industries. The applied method is qualitative and based on the methodology of grounded theory where six semi-structured interviews are carried out with key experts in the field . Furthermore, the analytical PESTLE-framework was used to systemically code and categorize the barriers found from the interviews to analyze the political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental factors connected to the research question. By using key experts from different parts of the industry and this framework, it resulted in a holistic view of the industry’s barriers. The findings of this study are that the QC-industry is still in its early era with 34 barriers of adoption identified and eight of them deemed to be the key ones because of their significance and frequency of mentions. The eight key barriers are QC-technology is costly, impatient investors, funding issues, lack of consistent revenue streams, lack of awareness from top management, insufficient ecosystem, lack of skilled labor and immature technology. The most important minor barriers of the other 26 include lack of standardization and benchmarks, lack of collaboration between certain geographical parties, misinformation from vendors and not using external advisors. Nonetheless, the QC-technology is on the up-rise and is projected to affect industries across the world. Firms in these industries must therefore learn to adopt to the dynamic changes that come with what the QC industry brings. Therefore again, it is the intention of this thesis to explore the key barriers and mitigation strategies to overcome them. / Framtiden är här. Nya digitala, disruptiva innovationer håller just nu på att förändra och påverka industrier över hela samhället. Den växande kvantdatorindustrin är inte ett undantagsfall. Flertalet miljarder dollar med målet att uppnå en fullt funktionell kvantdator har investerats av aktörer som stater, stora företag som IBM och AWS samt små till medelstora företag. Därför bör företag som kommer att påverkas av effekterna adressera barriärerna som finns. Den här uppsatsen undersöker därför vilka barriärer, med fokus på de essentiella, som existerar för företag när de ska adaptera kvantdatorteknologi som en service i deras affärsstrategi. Den geografiska omfattningen berör den nordamerikanska samt den europeiska marknaden. Metodiken som användes var ”Grounded theory”- metodologin där sex semi-strukturerade intervjuer utfördes med nyckelexperter i industrin. Fortsättningsvis så användes PESTLE-ramverket för att systematiskt koda samt kategorisera de identifierade barriärerna utifrån politiska-, ekonomiska-, sociala- , teknologiska-, legala- samt miljöaspekterna. Genom att ha erhållit data från nyckelexperter från olika delar av industrin samt använt ramverket så gav det en holistisk bild av industrins barriärer. Resultatet av studien är att kvantdatorindustrin är i ett tidigt skede med 34 barriärer identifierade och åtta av dem som anses vara de mest essentiella på grund av deras signifikans samt frekvens av omnämnanden. De åtta nyckelbarriärerna inkluderar att kvantdatorteknologin är dyr att investera i, otåliga finansiella investerare, finansieringsproblem, brist på konsistenta intäktsflöden, brist på medvetenhet av ledningen, bristfällande ekosystem, brist på kompetent personal och icke-mogen teknologi. De viktigaste mindre barriärerna utav de 26 inkluderar brist på standardisering samt riktmärken, brist på samarbete mellan vissa geografiska områden, felaktig information från industrin till köparna, samt att inte ta hjälp av externa rådgivare. Vidare, så är kvantdatorteknologin samt industrin i helhet i en uppgång och förväntat att förändra industrier över hela världen. Företagen i dessa industrier bör därför lära sig redan idag att adaptera sig till de dynamiska förändringarna som kvantdator industrin medför. Därför är syftet för det här examensarbetet att utforska nyckelbarriärerna och strategierna som i syfte för att överkomma dem.

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This thesis examines the benefits and drawbacks of cloud computing technology within the GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums) sector of Sweden and Finland. It employs the case study of the recently developed and launched Digital Archive Project at Åland Maritime Museum which leveraged the Amazon Web Services (AWS) technology stack to provide a cloud-based digital platform for the museum's archival materials. The primary objective of this study is to understand the interaction, usage, and suitability of cloud computing technologies and the impact of User Experience (UX) (primary users being the GLAM professionals) on digitalization efforts. This study analyzes eight GLAM institutions in Sweden and Finland using semi-structured interviews and compares the trust and readiness of adapting to private cloud service providers. The findings reveal that Finland has a more ‘aggressive’ and experimental approach to newer technologies such as cloud computing tools, compared to Sweden. In Sweden, there is an appreciation for pleasant UX and methods to make heritage material more accessible, but there is also a lot of hesitation due to the data privacy regulations in the aftermath of the Schrems II Judgment and the invalidation of the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Agreement. The study concludes that AWS as a cloud provider is difficult to incorporate in the public sector GLAM institutions compared to the private sector. The study also provides practical recommendations for GLAM institutions and professionals and calls for further interdisciplinary research with Digital Humanists at the center of it.