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The focus of the research is on quantitative characterization of a potential relationship between income and health. The study is conducted in both levels and increments contexts. As a background, the research relies on Grossman's standard economic model of health as well as on previous empirical investigations. The source of the data is the Survey of Income and Labour Dynamics, administered by Statistics Canada. The set of instruments implemented includes ordered probit and ordered logit models, gamma GLM models, the OLS method and bootstrapping techniques in linear models. The results of the study suggest that there exists a strong association between the levels of health and income, whereas no evidence of significant association between the increments is present. / Thesis / Master of Science (MS)

国立情報学研究所で電子化したコンテンツを使用している。

The issue of ¡§how can a company benefited from information technology (IT)¡¨ is one of the most important strategical issues to an enterprise in this increasingly competitive global market. Enterprises and their collaborative industries are paving their way to the level of total computerization in the hope of gaining the superiority in the market with the aid of computerization. Therefore, we can see that the integrated IT network system has become the main neural network which is vital to an enterprise at the strategical level. As a direct result of that, the quality of the IT services offered by the IT service providing sector inside of an enterprise does influence how good the IT network may be inside of an enterprise after a long period of time. For that reason, it is possible to infer that the service quality of the IT service holds the key to building a successful IT environment inside of an enterprise. This paper evaluates the level of the quality of the services offered by the IT service providing sector inside of an enterprise. This research also looks into the issues of how the results derived from this research may help to improve the quality of the services offered by IT service providing sector inside of an enterprise. This research uses ¡§five-dimension¡¨ service quality evaluation model, which is brought up by Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry along with SEVERQUAL questionnaire plus consulting with the characters of IT service providing sector, to develop the primary questionnaire first. The final questionnaire for evaluating the quality of the services offered by IT sector inside of an enterprise was later developed after (1) consulting with the experts in this area (2) pre-test (3) analysis of the credibility of the questionnaire were done. The final questionnaire was finally put to test at later stage. The results gained through the questionnaires were also studied at later stage. The results derived from this study display the differences between the expectations and the perceptions of the service quality of the IT service providing sector among the interviewers are huge as far as the IT system users are concerned. However, there are no notable differences between the recognition of the quality of the services of the IT service providing sector and the expectation of the quality of the IT services of the users. Furthermore, the degree of total satisfaction of the user and the perceptions of the different dimensions of the users are interconnected. In the research, the variable of the population of the IT user doesn¡¦t influence the two options, such as ¡§age¡¨ and ¡§duration of work¡¨ with regards to the quality of the services provided by the IT service providing sector. Otherwise, the variable of the population of the IT user does influence the degree of total satisfaction of the user. ¡§Tangibility¡¨, which is in the ¡§first thing-to-be-improved¡¨ area as far as the IT service quality is concerned, must be dealt with swiftly and efficiently according to the results derived from the analysis diagram of ¡§expectation and perception of the service quality of the IT service providing sector¡¨. This research aims to extend the study of the service quality of the service industry to the study of the service quality of the IT service providing sector inside of the enterprises. Therefore, this research may be used as to an alternative method to evaluate the service quality of the IT service providing industry inside of the enterprises. The chief executive officers and the IT managers in an enterprise may use the ¡§measurement of IT service quality from different dimensions ¡§developed in this research as a reference when devising the strategies of the service quality of the IT service providing industry inside of the enterprise.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-04-16T14:48:41Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 470171 bytes, checksum: 86f0a0816d97179201ca370ac43c25e9 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007-03-14 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / The main objective of this thesis is to evaluate the strategic planning process carried out in municipal solid waste collection agency (EMLUR) of the city of João Pessoa, Paraíba, Brazil. The research adopted a quantitative-qualitative methodological approach to this case study. The factors that determine organizational performance were examined through a review of the origin and evolution of strategic planning. This theoretical and methodological foundation was applied to the case study and proved to be particularly appropriate. The research revealed that EMLUR s strategic plan was developed through surveys, studies, interviews and especially through workshops conducted in accordance with the PEP methodology (Souto-Maior, 2002). The participants of these workshops were managers of EMLUR, who formed a strategic management group. The PEP process demonstrated that the agency mainly and urgently needed to respond to two strategic issues, i.e, fundamental problems that affect the whole organization. One of the issues was concerned with the external environment and was targeted to its main objective- to keep the city clean. The other was concerned with its internal environment and focused in its human resources. To tackle the two issues the PEP process led the agency to strategic actions and six projects. Thus, in the EMLUR case, the planning approach enabled the agency to reach its main objectives, both in terms of process and results. / Esta dissertação objetiva avaliar o processo de planejamento estratégico em uma empresa de limpeza urbana do município de João Pessoa, a EMLUR. O trabalho associa uma abordagem quali-quantitativa com uma metodologia de estudo de caso. As raízes da metodologia de planejamento estratégico, sua evolução e objetivos, visando satisfazer as demandas de um meio ambiente em constante evolução foram revistas. Os fatores determinantes do desempenho do processo são especificamente analisados. Esta base teórica foi aplicada ao caso EMLUR. O enfoque metodológico adotado mostrou-se particularmente adequado à pesquisa de avaliação de processos. O processo de construção do Plano Estratégico da EMLUR foi desenvolvido por intermédio de levantamentos, estudos, consultas e, em especial, oficinas (workshops), de acordo com a metodologia PEP (SOUTO-MAIOR, 2002). Destas oficinas participaram dirigentes e principais gestores da EMLUR. O Processo da PEP revelou que a organização necessita urgentemente resolver duas questões estratégicas, isto é, problemas fundamentais que afetam a EMLUR, sendo uma questão voltada para o ambiente externo e ligada a atividade fim da organização, e a outra voltada para o ambiente interno ligado a área de recursos humanos. Para enfrentar estas questões foram formuladas estratégias de ações e projetos estratégicos. Portanto, a abordagem PEP no caso da EMLUR, atingiu os seus principais objetivos, tanto no que se refere aos resultados quanto em relação ao processo participativo, embora devido à limitação de tempo desta pesquisa, só foi possível verificar os resultados de curta duração.

Aim. The aim of the study was to evaluate the efficacy, safety and possible mechanism of action of potassium humate loaded with selenium Objectives. The objectives of the study were to evaluate the possible in vitro cytotoxic effect of potassium humate loaded with selenium (Phse) on the growth of primary cell cultures (lymphocytes), to evaluate the in vitro antioxidant activity of Phse, to evaluate the in vitro effect of Phse on CR3 expression using mixed leukocytes, to evaluate the anti-inflammatory properties of Phse using the carrageenan-induced paw oedema rat model and finally to evaluate the effect of Phse on acute phase proteins in the rat model Methods. For the cytotoxicity effects on lymphocytes, the MTT assay was used where lymphocytes were isolated and divided in to two groups, one group was stimulated with PHA and the other not, then the cells were treated with different concentrations of the test compounds. The evaluation of the antioxidant activity was done using the ORAC and DCFH-DA assays with the DCFH-DA assay also done using the HepG2 cell line. The expression of CR3 by mixed leukocytes was quantified by flow cytometry. The evaluation of the anti-inflammatory properties of Phse was done using the carrageenan-induced paw oedema rat model. The rats were randomly assigned to six groups, the negative control, positive control, experimental group 1, 2, 3 and sham group. A once daily dose by gavage for five consecutive days of their respective treatment was administered. Prior to the assay the rats were dosed according to the experimental group to which they were assigned. On the fifth day of the experiment, 50 µl of λ- Carrageenan was injected subplanter into the right hind paw of the rats and 50 µl of saline into the left hindpaw. The right hind paw volume of each rat was measured hourly from the time of injection for seven consecutive hours with a water displacement plethysmometer. At the end of the 7 hours the rats were anaesthetised and approximately 5 ml of blood was collected via cardiac puncture. The blood was centrifuged, the plasma removed and frozen at -80°C until assayed. For evaluating the effects of the test compounds on acute phase proteins ELISA was used according to the manufacturer’s protocols. Results. None of the test compounds were toxic to lymphocytes but rather caused cell proliferation. The test compounds demonstrated no antioxidant activity, with Phse showing pro-oxidant activity. All the test compounds inhibited the expression of CR3 significantly with selenium free Ph being the most potent inhibitor. Ph reduced the carrageenan induced paw oedema volumes in a similar manner to indomethacin and Phse had an insignificant effect. Ph decreased SP slightly but the results were not statistically significant whereas Se and Phse had no effect. All the test compounds statistically significantly decreased plasma CRP levels with Se showing the greatest effect. Conclusion. Phse is safe but not more effective than Ph as an anti-inflammatory agent. / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / gm2014 / Pharmacology / unrestricted

It has been evidenced by the increased amount of contacts being made in Counseling Services of Utah State University that students have been very much concerned about whether or not they should be in college. The discussion concerning which college to attend has been heard often among high school graduates, and for many, Utah State University has been a first choice. An increased drop-out rate among students has been found in the past few years. This study has been accomplished to determine which of the entering students at Utah State have been sufficiently prepared to enter into a course of study on a full time basis. The many drop-outs have been an indication that many have not been prepared for collegiate work at this institution. If this has been the case, it is properly in order that some studying and reviewing be done in connection with the entrance requirements of the University.

System integration is the given solution to connecting and making different softwares and applications of today to collaborate without the need to create completely new programs or systems.       In this thesis, a component created for system integration with the purpose of being run on-premise will be the base on how a cloud based solution could be constructed and what benefits this would present, both in matters of scalability, elasticity and distribution as well as expenses. The cloud platform provider will be Microsoft Azure with the resources that are provided within and the presented solutions will primarily follow the cloud service model PaaS, presenting the benefits this provides for development within system integration.

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