The mortality/morbidity and quality of life benefits of exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation (CR) are well established, yet adherence to exercise is generally poor post-discharge. Recent trials have attempted to enhance adherence to aerobic activities during transition from CR to home-based exercise. However, these trials have not addressed resistance training, which is also an integral part of many participants' CR exercise routines. Because accessibility to familiar training equipment (e.g., weight machines) and instruction may be limited for many patients upon completion of CR, poor adherence to this beneficial form of exercise can be resultant. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a brief intervention involving the provision of a motivation-enhancing instructional manual and elastic Thera-Bands® on self-efficacy for, outcome expectancies for, and adherence to, upper body resistance exercise. It was hypothesized that participants receiving the intervention would report higher self-efficacy, outcome expectancies and greater adherence than those in a standard care control condition. The study was a randomized controlled trial involving informed and consenting CR participants recruited from an established outpatient CR programme at a major urban hospital (N = 40; n_males = 32; M_age= 61.20 ± 11.10). Participants in the intervention group (n=20) received an orientation to home-based upper body resistance training, a theory-based instructional manual designed to enhance self-efficacy and outcome expectations, and Thera-Bands®. The standard care control group received an orientation to home-based upper body resistance training and standard care CR follow-up (n=20). Participants completed baseline measures of self-efficacy for performing resistance training and activities of daily living as well as outcome expectancy measures one week prior to discharge from CR. The same measures were completed again one week later (i.e., at the end of the CR program), and at 4-weeks post-discharge. Participants logged their sets of upper-body resistance exercises continuously throughout the 4-week period following completion of the CR program. There were no differences between groups on any of the study variables at baseline. Participants in the intervention condition reported higher self-efficacy and outcome expectations for resistance training than controls at the 4-week follow-up assessment. Adherence to resistance training was significantly greater with the intervention group completing over twice as many (105%) sets over the four weeks than the control group. Maintaining or increasing upper body strength is an important outcome of CR as it relates to the performance of many activities of daily living. However, adherence to resistance exercises may be difficult upon completion of supervised, facility-based CR. This study illustrates that the provision of a motivation-enhancing instructional manual and low cost materials has a positive impact on self-efficacy, outcome expectations and adherence to resistance training, and may help participants make a successful transition to home-based resistance exercise. / Thesis / Master of Science (MS)

Resistance against antibiotics has become a global world problem. The effect of antibiotics is affected by the resistant bacteria and they cause infections that are difficult to treat. This is a major burden on the healthcare and leads to increased mortality. Globally, about 700,000 people die each year because of antibiotic resistance. By the year 2050 death rates are estimated to have increased to 10 million deaths per year due to the lack of effective treatment methods against multiresistant bacteria. Pharmaceutical companies’ research to develop new antibiotics is steadily decreasing, while multiresistant bacteria increase in number and spread. Bacteria evolve fast and highly resistant bacteria seem to evolve almost at the same pace as new drugs are discovered. As more antibiotics are used, more resistance is developed, so the pharmacy industry keep having to find new antimicrobial agents that the bacteria haven´t figured out how to protect themselves against yet.  The aim of this study was to investigate different treatment options available for infectious diseases that are currently in phase 2 or 3 clinical trials studies or research is being conducted on? This study is a literature study, five articles were selected from PubMed and analyzed. One study evaluates the effect of using new compounds to target a new potential pocket on DNA-gyrase. One study evaluates if silver can disturb the structure of the bacteria and thus increase the flow of antibiotics into the cell. Three studies evaluate the effect of nanoparticles containing metals such as silver or copper-zink-iron and the bacteriocin nisin. The current study shows that new compounds as well as new approaches to treating bacterial infections are expected to help stop this crisis. New strategies in the field of antibiotics include new drug targets, new drug delivery methods and new drug combinations. The compounds produced and directed against the new pocket on DNA-gyrase were stopped due to toxicity but opens a new path for further research. Cells treated with silver had different membrane permeability, destabilized the structure of the peptidoglycan layer and increased production of hydroxyl radicals. Nanoparticles seem to be a potential antibacterial agent, the advantage of nanoparticles is that substances can be combined within nanoparticles and provide synergistic effects. With the help of nanotechnology, drug delivery systems can be improved as well as drug administration. More studies are needed though to investigate the safety of taking nanoparticles and to verify the results of this literature review. / Resistens mot antibiotika har blivit ett globalt världsproblem. Effekten av antibiotika påverkas av de resistenta bakterierna och detta leder till att infektioner blivit svårare att behandla. Detta ger belastning på sjukvården och leder till ökad dödlighet. I världen dör ca 700 000 människor till följd av antibiotikaresistensen och år 2050 beräknas dödsfallen stigit till 10 miljoner per år p.g.a. att det saknas effektiva behandlingsmetoder mot de multiresistenta bakterierna. För att behandla bakteriella infektioner krävs nya föreningar riktade mot bakteriella patogener samt nya tillvägagångsätt för att stoppa denna kris. Inom detta område är framgången låg och även om kliniska försök med antimikrobiella medel är säkra och effektiva, dröjer det flera år innan de är tillgängliga för klinisk användning. Nya strategier inom antibiotikafrågor innefattar nya läkemedelsmål, nya leveransmetoder till läkemedelsmålet och nya läkemedelskombinationer. Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka vilka behandlingsalternativ som finns tillgängliga mot infektionssjukdomar som ligger i fas 2-3 studier, eller som man bedriver forskning på. Arbetet är en litteraturstudie och de vetenskapliga artiklarna är hämtade från databasen Pubmed. I detta arbete har fem studier analyserats. Studie I visar att föreningarna som framställts och riktades mot den nya fickan på DNA-gyras avbröts p.g.a. toxicitet. I resterande studier (II, VI och V) visade att nanopartiklar är ett potentiellt alternativ för att avdöda bakterier. Studie III visar att celler som behandlats med silver hade annan membranpermeabilitet, destabiliserade peptidoglykanlagret och ökad produktion av hydroxylradikaler. Mer forskning och studier krävs för att undersöka riskerna med att administrera nanopartiklar samt verifiera resultaten i denna litteraturstudie och framförallt krävs det mer forskning kring nya potentiella antimikrobiella medel i allmänhet.

An expected boom of local travel market is rising, as well as the stronger requirement of diversified travel information/resource services, when the government policy of the strait is improving and the constraints for the tourists from Mainland China will be official released. Some of the travel information/resources and the related behavior of end user on internet have been dramatically influenced by Web 2.0 concept, the service encounter on web has been substituted by the voluntary participation/sharing gradually. Hence, this research will study and measure the relationships and influences of travel information among information transmission and interaction of service, customer satisfaction,trust, and customer lifetime value which based on Web 2.0 technology for local commercial travel blogs. An online questionnaire survey has been applied for the users of local commercial travel blogs, and 635 effective samples have been received. The SEM(structural equation modeling) is adopted for analyze the collected datums with package software SPSS and AMOS for testing the path relationship of variables, parameter estimation and goodness of fit for our model. This research identified that direct relationship between technology infusion in service encounter and perceived service quality but customer satisfaction, nevertheless, the customer satisfaction by perceived service quality can not be affected directly by technology infusion in service encounter. Further, the perceived service quality related to customer satisfaction so as to trust. And, the technology infusion in service encounter can affect customer lifetime value by perceived service quality, customer satisfaction and trust indirectly.

Cloud-radio access network (CRAN) is expected to be the core network architecture for next generation mobile radio system. In CRANs, joint signal processing is performed at multiple cloud computing centers (clouds) that are connected to several base stations (BSs) via high capacity backhaul links. As a result, large-scale interference management and network power consumption reduction can be effectively achieved. Unlike recent works on CRANs which consider a single cloud processing and treat inter-cloud interference as background noise, the first part of this thesis focuses on the more practical scenario of the downlink of a multi-cloud radio access network where BSs are connected to each cloud through wireline backhaul links. Assume that each cloud serves a set of pre-known single-antenna mobile users (MUs). This part focuses on minimizing the network total power consumption subject to practical constraints. The problems are solved using sophisticated techniques from optimization theory (e.g. Dual Decomposition-based algorithm and the alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM)-based algorithm). One highlight of this part is that the proposed solutions can be implemented in a distributed fashion by allowing a reasonable information exchange between the coupled clouds. Additionally, feasible solutions of the considered optimization problems can be estimated locally at each iteration. Simulation results show that the proposed distributed algorithms converge to the centralized algorithms in a reasonable number of iterations. To further account of the backhaul congestion due to densification in CRANs, the second part of this thesis considers the downlink of a cache-enabled CRAN where each BS is equipped with a local-cache with limited size used to store the popular files without the need for backhauling. Further, each cache-enabled BS is connected to the cloud via limited capacity backhaul link and can serve a set of pre-known single antenna MUs. This part assumes that only imperfect channel state information (CSI) is available at the cloud. This part focuses on jointly minimizing the network total power consumption as well as backhaul cost. It then suggests solving this optimization problem using the majorization-minimization (MM) approach. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm converges in a reasonable number of iterations.

Over the past decade, the rapid developments and growth of information and communication technology (ICT) have triggered a new wave of customer service. This study utilizes the net-enable business innovation cycle theory with secondary data analysis to analyze the process and outcomes of the implementation of emerging technology, i.e., web-based application and voice over internet protocol (VoIP) for the case company, i.e., A Company. We investigate the characteristics and feature of the emerging technology including the web-based application and VoIP, identify the potential economic opportunity for the A Company, analyze the needed business innovation for its growth, and assess the potential value for its customer. The findings have the potential to contribute to the understanding of impacts occurring in the innovation associated with the implementation of the emerging technology for the A Company and offer rich insights for the company to exploit the economic opportunities, the needed business innovation, and the potential value for the customer. This approach also provides a systematic template that helps an organization to decide whether an emerging technology is worthy to implement.

Magistro darbo santrauka. Darbe atlikta Pedagoginių psichologinių tarnybų veiklos analizė ugdymo proceso daly-vių (pedagogų, tėvų) požiūriu ir pagal vertinimo dokumentų (vertinimo 5 formų, kurias pildo PPT) turinį. Taikytas kokybinių ir kiekybinių tyrimų derinimas. Taikyti metodai: pusiau struktūruo-tas interviu ir PPT pildomų 5 formų pažymų turinio (content) analizė. Pusiau struktūruotas interviu padėjo atskleisti ugdymo dalyvių požiūrį į bendrąsias PPT veiklos tendencijas: vertinimo ir pažini-mo, konsultavimo, rekomendacijų teikimo, metodinę, tyrimo, veiklos organizavimo, visuomenės švietimo. PPT pažymų analizė atskleidė vaiko vertinimo turinį šiais aspektais: vertinamosios infor-macijos pobūdis (pozityvus ir negatyvus); vertinamosios ir rekomendacinės informacijos santykis; pedagoginės psichologinės pagalbos sritys (pedagoginė, psichologinė, socialinė) ir kryptingumas (ugdymo proceso dalyvių atžvilgiu). Darbe buvo naudoti analizės kriterijai, taikyti J. Ruškaus, A. Ališausko, O. Šapelytės tyrime. Taikyta aprašomoji statistika (procentai, vidurkiai, dažniai) bei ne-parametriniai (Kruskal-Wallis, Wilcoxon) testai. Tyrime dalyvavo 20 tėvų, 40 mokyklų atstovų (pedagogų, specialistų), kurių vaikai ar ugdytiniai buvo vertinami ir konsultuojami Pedagoginėse psichologinėse tarnybose. Analizuota 119 PPT pildomų 5 formų pažymų, gautų iš 93 mokyklų, ku-rias aptarnavo 45 PPT. Svarbiausios empirinio tyrimo išvados: 1. Dominuoja palankus tėvų ir pedagogų požiūris į PPT atliekamą... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Summary The paper deals with the analysis of the activity of the Pedagogical Psychological services based on the point of view of the participants of educational process (educators, parents) and the content of assessment documents ( 5 forms filled by PPS). Consistency of a qualitative and a quantitative research has been employed. The following methods of a semi – structured interview and a supplementary analysis of the content of the forms filled by PPS have been applied. A semi – structured interview helped to reveal the participants’ attitude towards the general tendencies of the activities of PPS including those of assessment and cognition, consulting, recommendation rendering, methodology, investigation, activity manage-ment, education of society. The analysis of the PPS forms disclosed the content of the child’s as-sessment through the following aspects: the character of the evaluative information (positive and/or negative), the relationship between the evaluative and recommendational information; the spheres of Pedagogical Psychological aid (pedagogical, psychological, and social), and the purpose (from the perspective of the participants of educational process). The criteria employed in the analysis had been used in the research by J.Ruskus, A.Alisauskas and O.Sapelyte. The descriptive statistics (per-centage, mean, frequency) and non – parametric tests (Kruskal – Wallis, Wilcoxon) have been ap-plied in the Thesis research. The presence of 20 parents, 40... [to full text]

Through this thesis I aim to bring forth how IT (information technology) could be used in different ways to create a better collaboration between students and companies. My intentions are to explore and observe what the demands are from both parties and find out, if it is the lack of an up to date platform that causes discrepancy in establishing relationships. Due to the limited time accorded for this research, I will focus on evaluating the platform, LinkedStudent and elaborate a design suggestion in attempt to enable a better collaboration. The research question is “How would it be possible to create a close relationship in between students and companies with the help of IT?” This paper endeavors to shed light on issues like usability, user experience and web 2.0 both theoretically and empirically. With the amount of knowledge I have gathered during my study years I opt for a deductive approach of the problem, which on the course of the research through induction will be proven. The core assumption being that an innovative and warm environment can be created on a platform by interacting on the Web through organized communities with dynamic capabilities. A platform can be the optimal solution to establish relationships based on common interest.

Syftet med denna undersökning är att öka förståelsen och kunskapen om hur fritidshemslärare förhåller sig till att arbeta med fysisk aktivitet på fritidshemmet. Frågeställningarna som fokuseras är: Vilket förhållningssätt har fritidshemslärarna angående arbetet med fysiska aktiviteter? Vad är syftet med fysisk aktivitet på fritidshemmet enligt fritidshemslärarna? Hur möjliggörs fysiska aktiviteter i de olika fritidshemsverksamheterna? I denna kvalitativa studie genomförs semistrukturerade intervjuer med hjälp av en intervjuguide tillsammans med sex fritidshemslärare. Efter utförda intervjuer tillämpas en kvalitativ innehållsanalys för att upptäcka likheter och olikheter bland deltagarnas svar. Undersökningens teorigrund utgår från den salutogena teorins KASAM-modell vilket innebär att begriplighet, hanterbarhet och meningsfullhet är centrala inslag för lärandet i fritidshemsundervisningen. Resultatet visar att fritidshemslärarna är eniga om att fysisk aktivitet på fritidshemmet är viktigt för elevernas välbefinnande och fortsatt intresse för någon form av rörelse. De är överens om att motivation är avgörande och att fritidshemslärare spelar en betydande roll i att engagera elever genom varierande tillvägagångssätt. I resultatet framkommer olika uppfattningar angående syftet med fysiska aktiviteter i fritidshemsundervisningen, där positiva upplevelser av rörelse, tillämpning av motorik och stärkande av mångsidiga förmågor är centrala aspekter. Samtidigt finns en samsyn om att aktiviteterna har ett viktigt syfte att främja total hälsa och förmedla kunskaper om hälsosamma levnadssätt. Resultatet visar även att fritidshemsverksamheterna har en stor variation när det kommer till att möjliggöra fysiska aktiviteter, både organiserat och spontant samt i varierande miljöer. Dessutom skapar fritidshemmen flera tillfällen för aktivitetsformen genom olika tillvägagångssätt som främjar och bidrar till rörelse.

O objetivo geral da pesquisa é identificar um referencial bíblico que descreva a existência de um método de Gestão de Pessoas (GP) no ministério de Paulo em Éfeso. Para atingir este alvo, foram estabelecidos os seguintes objetivos específicos: O que é GP? Qual o verdadeiro sentido, ou a interpretação correta de (At 19.1-10)? De acordo com a perícope delimitada e seu contexto, é possível identificar um processo de gestão e formação de líderes na estadia de Paulo em Éfeso? Estas perguntas e objetivos básicos harmonizam a pesquisa da seguinte forma: A primeira parte aborda: as etapas históricas e o processo evolutivo da GP; suas premissas conceituais, explicitando com detalhes o que ela é; seus objetivos principais no que se refere ao gerenciamento de pessoas; e os processos utilizados para sua efetivação no contexto das organizações. Dez argumentos sobre a relevância de uma GP na igreja finalizam esta primeira parte. Vale expor neste instante que o APÊNDICE I - (exegese histórico crítica de Atos 19.1-10) agregado a pesquisa tem como objetivo fundamentar as afirmações feitas no segundo capítulo e apontar um referencial bíblico da GP no ministério de Paulo. O método exegético histórico/crítico é um dos procedimentos mais utilizados para análises diacrônicas da bíblia e submete o texto selecionado a mais de quarenta estágios distintos, que por sua vez, possibilitam diferentes olhares e permitem uma interpretação literal, ampla e profunda da perícope delimitada. O segundo e último capítulo toma como base os elementos conceituais do primeiro capítulo e encadeia com o conteúdo da exegese de (At 19.1-10) e didaticamente constrói uma ponte entre as ações de Paulo em Éfeso e o processo de GP do século 21. Esta última parte finaliza com a identificação de três habilidades de Paulo no que se refere ao processo de agregar, aplicar e capacitar pessoas para o exercício do serviço cristão. Dentro desse prisma, o presente trabalho pretende fornecer reflexões e ferramentas que viabilizem a implantação da GP no contexto eclesiástico atual. Acredita-se que a mesma possa alinhar os interesses da igreja com os interesses de seus colaboradores e trazer uma interdependência maior entre ambos. / The purpose of this research paper is to identify a biblical model that describes the existence of a People Management (PM) method in Pauls ministry at Ephesus. To achieve this end, we established the following specific goals: What is PM? What is the real meaning or the correct interpretation of Acts 19.1-10? According to the text and its context, is it possible to identify a leadership management and training process during Pauls stay in Ephesus? These questions and basic objectives shape the research as follows: The first part addresses: the historic phases and progression of PM; its conceptual premises, explaining with details what they are; its main objectives in relation to people management; and the processes used to implement it in the context of organizations. Ten arguments supporting the relevance of PM in church end this first part. It would be good to point out that the APPENDIX I (historical critical exegesis of Acts 19.1-10) included in this research paper seeks to substantiate the affirmations made in the second chapter and point out the biblical model of PM in Pauls ministry. Historical critical exegesis is one of the most common procedures in diachronic analysis of the Bible, and submits the selected text to forty distinct stages, which in turn, permit different viewpoints and allow an exact, deep and wide interpretation of the selected text. The second and last chapters are based on the conceptual elements of the first chapter and link these with the exegesis (Acts 19.1-10) didactically building a bridge between Pauls actions in Ephesus and the process of 21st century PM. This last part ends with the identification of three of Pauls skills in the process of aggregating, applying and enabling people to exercise Christian service. Within this perspective, this work intends to provoke thought and provide tools to make PM implementation viable in the current ecclesiastical context. It is believed that PM can align the interests of the church with those of its collaborators and encourage greater interdependence between both.

Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) have the potential to greatly affect every part of industrial and people’s lifestyle. For this reason, iPack VINN Excellence Center contributes to wireless tracking platform for fresh food and lifestyle. Every new idea or technology is attempted to integrate to the WSN for more efficient, better user experience and lower power consumption. Meanwhile Near Field Communication (NFC), a short-range wireless connectivity technology, which can make communication easily,safety and intuitively arousing iPack interest. So this master thesis focus on integrating NFC technology into existing systems to build a NFC-enable Wireless Sensor Network system. And with thissystem, only one simple touch, data from sensor node can be transmitted to mobile phone or tablet. Furthermore parameters of sensor node also can be configured easily by using above devices. So basically the NFC peer-to-peer communication protocol is mainly used. To implement and test the functions of the demonstration, a sets of hardware is needed to chosen and bought. How to design the system without changing old WSN is very tricky. To design a NFC adapter which can connect existing WSN with NFC part is thesolution of this thesis. So the main task was designing a NFC adapter which could be connected with either mobile phone/tablet or sensor node. It was the NFC adapter that makes mobile phone/tablet or sensor node NFC enabled. For the connection method, the high speed UART interface was chosen to connect with sensor node. The architecture of NFC adapter includes two main parts, A NFC chip (PN532) from NXP and a MCU(VNC2) from FTDI. The PN532 uses its antenna to send or receive data with different NFC protocols. The VNC2 is used to store sensor collected data and sends command though UART to control the PN532. Learning to use the PN532 was a tough task during the thesis work. Both official manuals and demo application are helpful for understanding the PN532 controlling. In addition, We analysed the sniffer data from demo application and code from NXP software design kit (SDK). which helped us to know the process of the PN532 peer-to-peer communication. After learning from official application, user manual and monitoring software/hardware design kid applications, we began to design our own hardware suitable SDK for the NFC adapter. At first we connected the hardware parts. When hardware connection was ready, we wrote and tested the firmware for VNC2 platform. Then due to the reason that Windows is more stable than our build VNC2 platform system at that moment, we wrote our own software design kid for NFC adapter under Windows OS first. The basic idea of software design kid is easy to use, modify and integrate into any other platforms. At the end of the thesis project, we integrated our own SDK into VNC2. When integration was done, a lot of stability and performance validation were done. Based on the result of testing, we optimized and modified our SDK and tested it again. This thesis project basically handles out a new ideal of integrating NFC to existing wireless sensor network to make WSN NFC enable. To prove the idea, we made a demo to show the enhanced sensor node and the results are satisfied. However there still has a lot of works and a lot of improvement should can be done in the future.