This diploma thesis is focused on possibility of influencing public opinion through appropriate modification of information or conclusions arising from the statistical data. The thesis is not classically divided into two parts but into five smaller chapters, which are connected to each other. Absence of practical part is caused by examples are contained in each chapter. Chapter with the practise examples is in the conclusion of the thesis. The examples are commonly available on the Internet and most people do not pay attention to them.

Aim and method: This study aims to investigate the consumer behavior of the cosmetics customers and the consumer perception about the available local and foreign branded cosmetics products in Bangladesh. To achieve the purpose of the study, an effective mixture of qualitative and quantitative method has been utilized by conducting interviews and online survey with local businesspersons and consumers of cosmetics in Bangladesh respectively.   Result and conclusion: Consumer perception regarding cosmetics products in Bangladesh is influenced by seven factors identified in this study. They are country of origin, psychological attributes of the consumers, place where product is sold, external attributes, quality, consumers’ own characteristics and finally increased disposable income of the consumers. We identified all but one of these factors from the existing literature and our analysis showed that findings of the existing literature support our study. One new factor found in the course of this study is that the increasing number of middle to affluent consumers in Bangladesh is another crucial factor that motivates consumer perception towards cosmetics in the context of Bangladesh.   Contribution: The study contributes to literature coherent with consumer behavior and consumer perception regarding the customers of cosmetics products in Bangladesh. As the literature has remained unexplored in context of Bangladesh, this paper would be an insight for local and foreign branded cosmetics regarding how the consumers see the market and the factors that influence their purchase, preference and loyalty decisions. Furthermore, through the findings of the study, recommendations can be prescribed for the local cosmetics manufacturers to strengthen their market share in the future.

With the advent of the digital age, e-book reading has become one of the popular reading methods, and has been a hot research topic. The attitudes to the use of new technology, use intentions and usage behaviours have attracted much attentions from scholars. In this context, it is worthwhile to study the user’s intention to use e-books and what factors influence it.   Based on the UTAUT model and the previous research and literature, this study designed the research model and hypotheses that were consistent with the actual situations of this study, and conducted an empirical study of the user’s intention to use e-books. In this study, 320 valid samples were collected through an online questionnaire survey. Analysis of the collected data was performed using the SPSS and AMOS software to examine the research model and hypotheses and make corrections to them. It was found that the effort expectancy, facilitating conditions and individual innovation had significant influences on the use intention. The facilitating conditions had a significant influence on the effort expectancy. Moreover, the moderating effects of age, gender and education level were also found. However, the performance expectancy, social influence and perceived cost did not have a significant influence on the use intention.  Finally, this thesis proposed suggestions on how to influence users’ intention to use e-books, i.e. paying attentions to users’ needs, improving the quality of e-books, optimising e-book functions, and broadening the channels for e-book promotion.

In recent decades, economists are gradually showing their interests in the study of happiness. They even put forward some challenges to the traditional theories. In contrast, studies on Chinese happiness problem are not enough in terms of breadth and depth.  This paper used the data provided by China General Social Survey to conduct an empirical analysis. The model author adopted is Ordered Discrete Choice model. In the empirical section, author analyzed the impact of income, macroeconomic variables, etc.  Ultimately, based on the empirical results, author proposed some policy recommendations and further study suggestions.

En omfattande digitalisering har under den senaste tiden pågått i samhället där många företag väljer att till viss del eller helt flytta sin verksamhet till internet. För vissa branscher har det varit mer optimalt att skifta försäljningskanal, medan andra har stött på hinder. Livsmedelsbranschen är den bransch som dominerar totalmarknaden men den halkar efter i digitaliseringen. Denna studie har som syfte att ta reda på vilka faktorer som påverkar konsumenter att handla livsmedel på nätet. För att tillgodose studiens syfte användes en enkätstudie. Detta skapade möjlighet att få en djupare förståelse för konsumenternas beteenden. Enkätstudien bidrog också till att få en så bred bild om ämnet som möjligt inom den givna tidsramen för uppsatsskrivandet. Det empiriska materialet användes sedan som diskussionsunderlag till att jämföra med vad tidigare forskning har kunnat dra för slutsatser kring ämnet. Slutsatsen av studien är att det fortfarande är många konsumenter som inte handlar livsmedel på nätet. Respondenterna i denna studie ansåg att den främsta faktorn som påverkar att de hellre köper livsmedel i fysisk butik är att de vill kunna se och känna på varorna först. Priset på varor och fraktkostnad är även de faktorer som hade stor påverkan på varför konsumenter väljer bort att handla livsmedel på nätet. De faktorer som visade sig ha störst påverkan på hur ofta respondenterna handlade livsmedel på nätet var ålder, hushållsstorlek, varupris, fraktkostnad, krånglig retur/reklamation av varor samt trygga betalningsalternativ. / In recent times, an extensive digitalization has taken place in society where many companies choose to move their business to the Internet to some extent or completely. For some industries, it has been more optimal to change sales channels, while others have encountered obstacles. The food industry is the industry that dominates the total market, but it has fallen behind in the digitalization. The purpose of this study is to find out which factors that influence consumers to buy groceries online. In order to meet the purpose of the study, a survey study was used. This created the opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of consumer behaviour. The survey also helped to get as broad a picture of the topic as possible within the given time frame for the writing of the essay. The empirical material was then used as a discussion basis to compare with what previous research has concluded about the topic. The conclusion of the study is that there are still a lot of consumers who do not buy groceries online. The respondents in this study considered that the main factor that influences the fact that they prefer to buy groceries in a physical store is that they want to be able to see and feel the products first. The price of the products and shipping costs are also factors that had a major impact on consumers opinions. The factors that were found to have the greatest impact on how often the respondents buy groceries online were age, size of household, product price, shipping cost, difficult return/reclaim of products and secure payment options.

Magister Chirurgiae Dentium (MChD) / AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: Most children presenting to dental clinics have pain of varying intensity that usually, has been endured for long periods of time. A study done at Cardiff in the United Kingdom, found that only 15% of children that had dental pain visited the dentist. Therefore, understanding the motivations of patients in seeking health care is vital to the quality of life in the family and community and to the success of any oral health planning process. This study explored factors influencing the time between the initial pain experience and definitive dental treatment, that is, the time lapse. It assessed how factors such as pain, individual and community characteristics affect the timing of dental visits. METHOD: Parents or guardians accompanying children visiting two community dental clinics in Guguletu and Mitchells Plain in the Western Cape were asked to indicate how factors such as severity and duration of pain, efficacy of self-treatment, and impact on parents affected the decision to seek treatment. A total of one hundred and twenty six parents were interviewed using a structured questionnaire. The English questionnaire was translated into Xhosa and Afrikaans and used with the help of interpreters when necessary. Children attending these community dental clinics for treatment on a particular morning were included in the study sample. Children up to thirteen years of age (primary, mixed, and early permanent dentition) comprised the study sample. Only children that had a dental problem were included in the study. Children that were not accompanied by a parent or guardian were excluded. RESULTS: Close to half the children (43 - 45%) had never been to the dentist before. Parents from Mitchells Plain knew earlier of their children's dental problems (most knew14 days before visit) than those from Guguletu where most knew within the last 7 days. However, Guguletu children were presented to the dentist sooner after the painful experience (69.2% within 7 days) than Mitchells Plain where only 48.3% were presented within the same period. It was found that for these communities, the distance from the clinic, the mode of transport, and the fares charged greatly influenced dental attendance. Most families lived within 3km, and walked (more prevalent in Guguletu) or rode a taxi (more prevalent in Mitchells Plain). With taxi the most prevalent mode of transport, money was an important factor of dental attendance. Long queues at the clinic and waiting long for appointments, were cited by parents as the major hindrances to attendance. While a worsening of pain, loss of sleep and sensitivity to chewing hastened dental attendance, parental work commitment and the child's school delayed it. Most families (79%) tried some treatment at home prior to the dental visit. The remedies offered such as Disprin®, direct placement of crushed Disprin® and Panado® were a concern because they were potentially harmful. Both communities were in the low socio-economic class with Guguletu consistently the poorer of the two. They both had disrupted family life as reflected by the low rates of married parents. CONCLUSION: In the presence of pain Guguletu children were presented to the dentist sooner than those of Mitchells Plain. Accessibility of the clinics was a real concern especially in Guguletu. There was rampant inappropriate use of medications such as aspirin and antibiotics. The greatest impact of the child's pain on the parents was on affected sleep. The non-regular attendance pattern of the children closely followed that of the parents.

Background: Hemodialysis patients (HDP) often suffer from kidney failure with comorbidities, such as depression, anxiety and stress. Physical activity (PA) has a positive influence on these comorbidities. Objective: The purpose was to determine the current level of PA and identify potential correlates influencing PA in HDP to deduce prevention approaches. Material and methods: Data were collected in 13 dialysis centers in Bavaria. A standardized questionnaire was used to analyze PA (EHIS-PAQ) and influencing factors in 240 HDP. Gender differences were calculated using the t‑test and the Mann-Whitney U‑test (significance level p < 0.05). For correlation analyses with PA, Spearman’s correlation coefficient rs and multivariate logistic regression analysis were used. Results: The results showed that HDP were on average moderately active for 76.31 min per week (standard deviation, SD 124.02 min). Male HDP were less active and showed significantly more depressive symptoms than female HDP (p < 0.05). The HDP who were more active assessed their subjective health condition on a higher level than HDP who were not active. Depression, stress, and age showed a negative association and sport-specific self-efficacy a positive association with PA (p < 0.05). Multivariate logistic regression revealed that sport-specific self-efficacy increased the chance of becoming physically active while depression reduced the chance of achieving 150 min PA. Conclusion: The majority of HDP were barely active. The results reveal the necessity to further promote PA in patients with chronic renal failure. Physicians should be aware of patients’ self-efficacy as well as depressive symptoms and develop concepts that strengthen the self-efficacy and promote the positive effects of PA on health.

We set out to find connections between different areas of interest in a persuasive aug-mented reality system, in an effort to change behaviour. To limit the scope of the study we chose to create a scenario, namely persuading users to take the stairs and not the elevator when trying to reach higher floors of a building. During a thorough literature study, we found Cialdini’s work about influencing human behaviour and Fogg’s behavioural model, which describes why we make the choices as we do. A small semi-structured interview was conducted on respondents that was using the stairs and elevator in a building to verify these findings, which our analysis did. We then found information and methods from gamification and color theory that was applicable in or-der to change or support these behaviours. Our predetermined scenario and the theo-retical framework were combined into a conceptual model. The conceptual model in-cludes what we call “Vision scenario”; It is a collection of manipulated images, of how the methods could be visualized through the augmented reality glasses when used. Persuasive technology systems come with some ethical dilemmas, which are discussed during the latter part of our thesis. We concluded that there are connections to be made between these areas of interest. However, further research is needed in order to improve our conceptual model. We as Authors are aware that there is much to be ex-plored and connections of other areas that could be made in our conceptual model but the time and our previous knowledge was limited.

For many years seed growers have thought that definite relationships existed between seed production and the weather. When this subject is approached there is little unity of opinion, even among neighboring seed growers. This lack of unity would indicate that growers generally are aware of some cause which affects seed setting, but they are not certain that any particular condition of the weather is the chief contributing factor. Scientific writers1 on the subject are also confident that weather is probably one of the major factors influencing seed production.

Research on biosynthesis of tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) ribonucleic acid (RNA) in vitro has been reported by Cochran, et al; Karasek and Schramm; Kim and Wildman; Cornuet and Astier; and Tongur and Baland in. It has been postulated that the replication of a number of viruses containing single-stranded RNA is accompanied by the formation of a virus-specific double-stranded helical RNA, the replicative form. This has been demonstrated both for animal and bacterial viruses including MS2. The double helical structure of purified replicative form of MS2 was established by X-ray diffraction studies. One of the strands was shown to be a viral RNA strand of the parental type ("plus" strand), the other being complementary to it ("minus" strand). Studies on Escherichia coli infected with RNA phages suggest that a structure containing both a "plus 11 and a "minus " strand is an obligatory intermediate in viral reproduction.