This thesis aims to create an easy to play exergame that can be used by office workers in theirday-to-day work to battle the long-term consequences of a sedentary lifestyle. A sedentarylifestyle can lead to serious health risks such as obesity and diabetes. This gives exergames anopportunity to be implemented in the daily life of the affected. Exergames have evolved frombeing solely playable from their own console such as Wii or Xbox Kinect to only needing a webcamera, making it accessible and portable for office workers and others all around the globe. Theonly thing left is the actual exergames themselves. The goal of this thesis is to expand an existinglibrary of exergames with a unique boxing game. The research questions are as follows, 1: Howshould the game be designed to incite large body movements? 2: How will achieving higherscores impact the players' movement? Answering research question one will involve a lot of trialand error and creative thinking to come up with a solution that answers the question but alsofeels good to play. Research question two will require user data collected during the gameplay tobe analyzed to see relations between the total movement and the total score. Tracking elbows todetect whether a cube is hit as well as having cubes always spawn on opposite sides is anefficient way to incite large body movements as the player needs to rotate the entire upper bodyand reach further than tracking the wrists would have required. The analyzed user data showedthat there was a linear relation between achieving a higher score and the total movementexercised during the game. Gaps between the right-hand elbow and left-hand elbows’ totalmovement were also found.

Extraanställning bland heltidsstudenter har blivit alltmer förekommande i dagens samhälle. Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka uttalade och outtalade förväntningar som heltidsstudenter har på sin arbetsgivare, samt vilka konsekvenser det kan bli av eventuella psykologiska kontraktsbrott. Det genomfördes 10 semistruktuerade intervjuer med studenter som har en extraanställning. Intervjuerna tematiserades där 5 centrala teman identifierades: engagemang och ansvar i utbyte mot högre lön, ömsesidig förståelse, gemensamma sociala aktiviteter, rättvisa kring förmåner samt stöd och återkoppling från chef. Resultatet visade bland annat att deltagarna förväntar sig att få bättre betalt när de engagerar sig i arbetet, samt att få vara mer delaktiga vilket kan gynna deras sociala kontaktnät. Utifrån tidigare forskning kunde det argumenteras att studenterna huvudsakligen innehar psykologiska kontrakt av transaktionell karaktär än relationell. Det diskuterades även att deltagarna finner en acceptans vid eventuella psykologiska kontraktsbrott vilket författarna argumenterar bero på studenternas medvetenhet om skillnader mellan extraanställda och heltidsanställda.

The main objective of this thesis is to develop novel misfit functions for full-waveform inversion such that (a) the estimation of the long-wavelength model will less likely stagnate in spurious local minima and (b) the inversion is immune to wavelet inaccuracy. First, I investigate the pros and cons of misfit functions based on optimal transport theory to indicate the traveltime discrepancy for seismic data. Even though the mathematically well-defined optimal transport theory is robust to highlight the traveltime difference between two probability distributions, it becomes restricted as applied to seismic data mainly because the seismic data are not probability distribution functions. We then develop a misfit function combining the local cross-correlation and dynamic time warping. This combination enables the proposed misfit automatically identify arrivals associated with a phase shift. Numerical and field data examples demonstrate its robustness for early arrivals and limitations for later arrivals.%, which means that a proper pre-processing step is still required. Next, we introduce differentiable dynamic time warping distance as the misfit function highlighting the traveltime discrepancy without non-trivial human intervention. Compared to the conventional warping distance, the differentiable version retains the property of representing the traveltime difference; moreover, it can eliminate abrupt changes in the adjoint source, which helps full-waveform inversion converge to geologically relevant estimates. Finally, we develop a misfit function entitled the deconvolutional double-difference measurement. The new misfit measures the first difference by deconvolution rather than cross-correlation. We also present the derivation of the adjoint source with the new misfit function. Numerical examples and mathematical proof demonstrate that this modification makes full-waveform inversion with the deconvolutional double-difference measurement immune to wavelet inaccuracy.

Introduction Zambia is aiming to achieve the World Health Organisation (WHO) target of 90% vaccination coverage among children under five years. The 2018 Zambia Demographic and Health Survey (ZDHS) established that Copperbelt province had the highest vaccination coverage at 83%. However, Luapula province was lowest at 67%. The aim of this study was to identify predictors of full vaccination among children aged 12-23 months in Zambia. Methods A cross-sectional design was used to draw information about individual, relationship, community and societal predictors of full vaccination among children aged 12-23 months. Data was collected using a structured closed question format interview administered to mothers from the 2018 ZDHS. The information collected was on background characteristics such as age and education of mothers with vaccinations of their children. chi-square test was used for associations and binary logistic regression was used for multivariable analysis. Results Children born from mothers 20-24 years were most vaccinated 27.4%. Logistic regression showed higher education 10.55 AOR; 95% CI, 1.27-87.53, ability to read whole sentence 1.59 AOR; 95% CI, 1.07-2.35, currently working 1.37 AOR; 95% CI, 1.01-1.86, owning a mobile telephone 1.44 AOR; 95% CI, 1.00-2.34, residing in rural area 1.46 AOR; 95% CI, 1.67-3.62, watching television daily 1.92 AOR; 95% CI, 1.15-3.21 and belonging to a middle category 1.91 AOR; 95% CI, 1.15-3.15 increased odds of full vaccination. Conclusion This study has shown that predictors of full vaccination cut across all the four levels of the Socio Ecological Model (SEM) hence the need for a holistic approach.

The purpose of this study was to explore leadership effectiveness from the perspectives of the Full Range Leadership Model and Cognitive Style Theory within the framework of understanding both followers and leaders as individual¿s attitudes to leadership effectiveness. Leadership effectiveness was measured using newly developed self-report instrument, the Leadership Effectiveness Questionnaire (LEQ) with three scales of effectiveness as suggested by Yukl (2002), which were: 1) aims, 2) followers¿ attitude towards the leader and, 3) group processes. The Full Range leadership approaches were measured using Bass & Avolio¿s (1997) Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) Form 5X-Short, whilst cognitive style was gathered by using Allinson & Hayes¿s (1996) Cognitive Style Index (CSI). A two stage (questionnaire survey followed by semi structured interviews) mixed method study was undertaken. Questionnaire data was gathered from 331 followers and 172 leaders in Malaysian Government-Linked Companies, and 10 leaders involved in the interviews. Findings from the survey suggest that a transformational approach was correlated significantly and positively with effectiveness. Intuitive Cognitive Style also correlated significantly with leadership effectiveness. Findings from the semistructured interviews identified a few more characteristics of an effective leadership such as balance and appreciative, whilst new dimensions of cognitive style identified such as rational and holistic. / Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) Malaysia; and Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas).

Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) offer energy-efficient lighting and are widely adopted. However, LED drivers that regulate power can fail when subjected to voltage disturbances on the electrical grid. This research investigates how components within LED drivers durability when undergoing voltage impulses and swells using simulation-based methods. An LED driver circuit was modeled in LTspice circuit simulation software. Impulses from 35-65V and equivalent voltage swells were applied to the simulated driver. The electrical stresses on components were statistically analyzed using the design of experiments and general full factorial. This methodology identified the most vulnerable components and their common durability/failure mechanisms during impulse and swell events. The findings provide insights into design changes that harden drivers against grid disturbances. This study determines that higher capacitor voltage ratings improved voltage impulse and swell withstand. Additionally, adding a surge suppression diode across the LED minimized diode reverse breakdown during swells. This simulation-based approach enables the informed design of robust LED drivers that can withstand electrical grid perturbations through strategic hardening of the most vulnerable components. The methodology and findings provide a framework for the reliability optimization of LED drivers and other power electronic systems exposed to power quality disturbances.Keywords: LED driver, voltage disturbance, component failure, circuit simulation, design of experiments (DOE), general full factorial.

Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a complex autoimmune connective tissue disorder. SSc presents with severe pathological clinical manifestations, including vasculature abnormalities, dysregulation of the immune system, and excessive extracellular matrix deposition that results in tissue fibrosis. How immune system abnormalities impact SSc remains poorly understood. Here we sought to explore the role of co-inhibitory receptors (co-IRs), which are important regulators of autoimmune responses. Previous studies showed altered co-IR expression in various autoimmune diseases, including SSc. Here we show that T cells co-expressing the co-IRs programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) and T cell immunoreceptor with immunoglobulin and ITIM domain (TIGIT) are expanded in lung tissue obtained from SSc patients, as compared to healthy controls (HC). Furthermore, we found a significant association between the frequency of PD-1+TIGIT+ CD4+ T cells and lung disease in SSc patients. In addition, PD-1+TIGIT- and PD-1+TIGIT+ CD4+ cells in SSc patients showed an altered balance in cytokine production, characterized by reduced secretion of Interferon-γ, a cytokine with known anti-fibrotic properties, and increased levels of Interleukin-4, which is known for its pro-fibrotic activities. To test the impact of this changed cytokine balance on fibroblast biology, we co-cultured PD-1+TIGIT- and PD-1+TIGIT+ CD4+ T cells with normal dermal fibroblasts and found that PD-1+TIGIT- and PD-1+TIGIT+ T cells from SSc patients showed a reduced capacity to suppress collagen production, compared to the same subsets from HC subjects. Thus, co-IR-expressing T cells from SSc patients show features of dysfunction and may have lost anti-fibrotic activities. To further define the phenotype and functions of co-IR-expressing T cells subsets in SSc patients, we next designed a comprehensive immunophenotyping panel for full spectrum flow cytometry (FSFC) that included detection of lineage-defining transcription factors. Using this novel panel and an unbiased analysis approach, we compared T cell subset composition in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from HC subjects, and SSc and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients. Our analysis revealed broad shifts such as a decrease in the naïve CD4+ and CD8+ T cell compartment in SSc and in SLE patients. Importantly, changes in specific T cell subsets that were discovered in SLE patients, but not SSc patients, had a broad increase in T helper (Th)1 and T cytotoxic (Tc)1 subsets and a decrease in Th2/Tc2 subsets compared to HC subjects. Interestingly, we found a distinct Tc1 subset with exhaustion characteristics that was significantly reduced in both SSc and SLE patients compared to HC subjects. In the γδ T cell population, we found that while T-bet+ Vδ2 cells were decreased in SSc and SLE patients, the T-bet+ Vδ1 subset showed proliferative characteristics and was increased in SLE. Importantly, our analysis revealed differences in specific T cell subsets between SSc patients treated with immunosuppressants vs untreated patients, including an increase in Th17 cells in diffuse cutaneous SSc (dcSSc) patients that were not treated with immunosuppressants, and an increase in memory regulatory T cells in both dcSSc and limited cutaneous SSc (lcSSc) patients that were not treated with immunosuppressants. Our study demonstrates the value of a multiparameter FSFC panel in the identification of differentially represented and novel subsets of T cells in SSc and other autoimmune diseases. We demonstrated that T cell subset composition is altered in the peripheral blood of SSc patients and show that features of specific T cell subsets’ dysfunction are potentially contributing to SSc pathophysiology.

Community colleges have developed into vital resources for affordable, easy access, high quality education. Community college instructors with previous leader experience possess the credentials needed to teach their curricula and to lead learning experiences in the classroom. Researchers have found that instructors who display transformational leadership qualities can influence student actions, awareness, and learning outcomes. This study was conducted to explore community college faculty who possess transformational leadership qualities in relation to student extra effort, student perception of instructor effectiveness, and overall satisfaction with the instructor. The conceptual framework is the full range leadership theory which is one of the most broadly used comprehensive leadership theories. The measurement tool used was Avolio and Bass's (2004) Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ), which measures nine factors of leadership skills through a quantitative survey. These findings present support for the recognition of the value of transformational leadership in the community college environment. Consistent with the findings of this study, transformational leadership has been viewed as the most revered leadership model in the full range leadership theory. Instructors have the ability to integrate critical components of transformational leadership behaviors to impact the student experience in the classroom, resulting in higher levels of student outcomes of extra effort, effectiveness, and satisfaction. The findings add to the body of literature and provide insight into the leadership skills of community college instructors from previous business experience.

The U.S. military requires the ability to rapidly deploy troops, equipment, and materials anywhere in the world. Recent operations have brought attention to the need to utilize austere, unsurfaced, and sometimes sub-standard airfields within a theater of interest. These airfields may require additional taxiways and aprons. One option for the rapid construction of such is airfield matting systems. The focus of the work for this thesis was commercially available airfield matting systems to support large military transport aircraft, such as the C 17. Several test sections with differing strength soils were built with chosen mats tested in an elimination method, using a load cart that simulates contingency loading of one main gear of the C 17. Matting systems were evaluated based on logistical and assembly requirements, and deformation and damage sustained during traffic. A modeling effort was performed to investigate the potential of a simple model to predict the response of these matting systems under full-scale testing.

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