Aims: Coronary Revascularization (CR) has increased patients' survival rate globally. However, the lack of a consensus definition of Health Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) and the different methodological and conceptual approaches adopted by researchers in the cardio-revascularization field create an incomplete picture of the influence of CR on individuals' HRQoL. By using mixed methodology, the current research aimed to explore Greek CHD patients' perspectives of their HRQoL after CR (Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting (CABG) or Percutaneous Coronary Interventions (PCI)), as well as detect and explain individual disparities. Method: Two studies were conducted with a total sample of 487 individuals: (1) The translation and validation of the Coronary Revascularization Outcome Questionnaire (CROQ) into Greek and (2) The longitudinal mixed methods study, the main study of the thesis, following a sequential explanatory design with two research components: a) the longitudinal quantitative component aimed to detect changes in patients' HRQoL (both overall and its subdomains) following CR over a 12-month period based on individuals' subjective evaluation as captured by the CROQ, detect the influence of CR type on the outcome and to explore potential predictors (individuals' demographic, clinical and behavioural features). Data were analysed using multilevel modelling; b) the qualitative component aimed to capture individuals' lived experience, their view and understanding of themselves and their life approximately 12 months after treatment using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Results/findings: Based on participants' subjective evaluations as captured by the validated Greek version of the CROQ, one year after CR Greek Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) patients experience an increase in their HRQoL level compared to prior to CR. The pattern of change though is not constant; initially HRQoL increases with time, and then decreases again, however, remaining much greater compared to prior to CR one year after CR. Regarding the influence of the CR type of treatment on patients' HRQoL level, a year after CR mixed findings are revealed. In the symptoms and physical functioning subdomain, patients treated with CABG demonstrate a greater increase compared to patients treated with PCI. In the psychosocial functioning subdomain no difference is found. In the cognitive functioning subdomain, patients treated with CABG demonstrate a decline compared to their cognitive functioning prior to the CR. Various demographic, clinical and behavioural features are demonstrated to be predictors of the outcome though not consistent for all subdomains. The main predictors associated with larger positive changes following CR seem to be sex, BMI and smoking; females with low BMI that do not smoke tend to demonstrate a greater increase in HRQoL after CR. According to individuals' lived experience, participants, reflecting on their experience one year after treatment, perceive CR as a simple process and their negative experience is mostly related to medical care. Many participants with no symptoms or adverse effects tend to misperceive CHD, viewing their health condition as an acute disease treated with CR. Trying to understand disease causality they tend to adopt medical discourse especially in relation to stress as a factor that can be controlled by themselves and reflect on their own responsibility as a causal factor. Feeling grateful for being alive, sensing a different body, a 'revitalized body' as many participants suggest, as well as a fear of re-occurrence or disease progression motivate individuals to work on aspects of the self related to the CHD development in an effort to regain control over their life which has been reduced after the CHD diagnosis. In effect a dramatic change in how the self and life are viewed is reported, highlighting a positive growth; a greater appreciation of life, a personal growth and effort to build more meaningful relationships. Challenges that participants face in modification of their lifestyle are attributed to both external and internal factors. Concerning smoking participants' accounts point to a lack of knowledge regarding the relationship between smoking and CHD, a lack of support (by experts or family members) and conscious denial as a way to cope with every day anxiety and stress, but also a pleasure in everyday life. The findings provide a complementary insight into perceptions of individuals with CHD about their quality of life one year after CR, suggesting that other factors beyond CR may influence their perspectives. Conclusions/implications: This study highlights the benefits of using a mixed methods longitudinal design in exploring HRQoL. Both the quantitative and qualitative findings support the notion that HRQoL is a multidimensional, continuously changing concept, providing support for the Wold Health Organization's definition. Also, the findings suggest that CR has a positive influence on individuals' HRQoL. The effect of the CR type needs further investigation as mixed findings are observed in the present thesis. Moreover, it seems difficult to investigate the pure effect of CR on individuals' HRQoL without taking into consideration individuals' adjustment processes and positive growth triggered by the CR. The self regulation model (SRM) might be considered a useful theoretical framework for developing theory-based interventions aiming to alter patients' false beliefs since individuals' making-meaning process seems to be aligned with it. Finally, the complementary insights concerning smoking may help health care providers to develop smoking cessation interventions tailored to cardiac patients.

The goal of the thesis is to analyze chosen electronic payment systems. The thesis is divided into two parts -- theoretical and practical. Theoretical part is dedicated to cover types of electronic payment system. Also is devoted to the issues of certain legal aspects that are common to all payment systems; defines the necessary concepts and business entities commonly encountered in the payment processing environment. Practical part focuses on the evaluation of usability, safety and usefulness for merchants mainly working with credit cards and particularly with alternative payment system like PayPal, iDEAL, Sofortbanking and Webmoney. Consider the advantages and disadvantages of certain payment systems. Describes the practical applicability of PCI DSS and 3-D Secure protocol.

No description available.

L'imagerie par tomographie en cohérence optique (OCT) est prometteuse comme support de la prise de décision au cours des procédures d'interventions coronariennes percutanées (PCI), pou évaluer les lésions athéromateuses, juger de la bonne implantation du stent, et dépister les lésions vasculaires dues au stent. L'OCT représente donc bien une aide potentielle pour le cardiologue interventionnel tout au long de la procédure de stenting, avec un impact certain sur la stratégie interventionnelle initialement programmée. De plus, l'OCT se révèle comme un nouvel outil pour prédire la dissection des bords de stent chez les patient avec ACS sans élévation du segment ST, rendant possible une stratification des patients quant à ce risque. Des essais cliniques randomisés sont maintenant nécessaires pour savoir si l'assistance par l'OCT pendant la procédure améliore le pronostic à long terme des patients après PCI / Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) imaging is promising in decision making during Percutaneus Coronary Interventions {PCI) procedures, including evaluating controversial plaque lesions, assessing stent implantation, and surveying stent-related vascular injury. Thus, OCT has potential to guide interventional cardiologists throughout the stent implantation procedure, impacting on planned interventional strategy. In addition, OCT is the most novel image technology to predict stent edge dissection for patients with non-ST-segment elevation ACS, enabling risk stratification of patients who are at a higher risk of this complication. Large-scale randomized trials are now warranted to assess whether OCT results and guidance during de procedure improve long-term clinical outcomes of PCis.

The NetCOPE framework has proven itself as a viable framework for rapid development of hardware accelerated wire-speed network applications using Network Functions Virtualization (NFV). To meet the current and future requirements of such applications the NetCOPE platform has to catch up with upcoming 400 Gigabit Ethernet. Otherwise, it may become deprecated in following years. Catching up with 400 Gigabit Ethernet brings many challenges bringing necessity of completely different way of thinking. Multiple network packets have to be processed each clock cycle requiring a new concept of processing. Advanced memory management is used to ensure constant memory complexity with respect to the number of DMA channels without any impact on performance. Thanks to that, even more than 256 completely independent DMA channels are feasible with current technology. A lot of effort was made to create the framework as generic as possible allowing deployment of 400 Gigabit Ethernet and beyond. Emphasis is put on communication between the framework and host computer via PCI Express technology. Multiple Ethernet ports are also considered. The proposed system is prepared to be deployed on the family of COMBO cards, used as a reference platform.

No description available.

Cette thèse étudie l’opposition du Parti communiste italien (PCI) et du Parti communiste français (PCF) au bloc atlantique, du début de la guerre froide jusqu’à l’admission de la République fédérale d'Allemagne (RFA) dans l'OTAN. L'approche choisie est d'intégrer les sphères « nationale » et « internationale », pour éviter de limiter l’analyse seulement aux logiques d’opposition de la Guerre froide. La compréhension des stratégies d’opposition de deux partis au bloc atlantique est primordiale, vu que, le PCF et le PCI sont, à l’époque, les deux plus grands partis communistes de l’Europe occidentale, et favorables aux constitutions française et italienne de l’après Deuxième Guerre mondiale. En tenant compte de l’interaction entre enjeux nationaux et pressions internationales, la thèse dresse un portrait de l’évolution des PCF/PCI dans leur opposition au bloc atlantique, en mettant en relief les similitudes et les différences. En s’appuyant sur plusieurs sources primaires, telles que les documents officiels des deux partis et les documents diplomatiques et ministériels italiens, français, russes et américains, elle explique l’évolution de deux partis. Si les conditions de départ, avec l’éviction des gouvernements nationaux des deux partis et la pression accrue des États-Unis et de l’Union soviétique, sont similaires, l’élaboration à long terme des stratégies est différente. En termes généraux, le PCF se caractérise par une stratégie plus « dogmatique », par rapport au bloc atlantique. Par conséquent, la tendance des communistes français sera celle d’une opposition plus attentive à la situation internationale qu’aux enjeux nationaux, avec une inversion de cette tendance qui arrive seulement à la moitié des années 1950, avec la campagne contre la CED. De leur côté, les communistes italiens sont capables, depuis le début et nonobstant les pressions internationales, d’élaborer une opposition plus équilibrée entre enjeux nationaux et situation internationale. Il en résulte que la stratégie du PCI sera plus efficace car, à plusieurs reprises, elle mettra en difficulté le gouvernement italien sur le fond de son choix atlantique. / This thesis studies the opposition of the Italian Communist Party (ICP) and the French Communist Party (FCP) to the Atlantic bloc, from the beginning of the Cold War until the entry of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) into NATO. The approach chosen is to integrate the 'national' and 'international' spheres, in order to avoid framing the analysis solely in terms of Cold War opposition. The comprehension of the oppositional strategies of two parties to the Atlantic bloc is very important, as the PCF and the PCI were the two largest communist parties in Western Europe at the time, and favorable to the French and Italian constitutions after World War II. Considering the interaction between national issues and international pressures, the dissertation draws a portrait of the evolution of the CPF/CPI in their opposition to the Atlantic bloc, highlighting similarities and differences. The thesis relies on several primary sources, such as official documents of the two parties and Italian, French, Russian and American diplomatic and ministerial documents, to explain the evolution of the two parties. While the starting conditions, with the exclusion from the national governments of both parties and the increased pressure from the US and the Soviet Union were similar, the long-term development of strategies was different. In general, the PCF was more "dogmatic", in relation to the Atlantic bloc. Consequently, the tendency of the French communists was to focus more on the international situation than on national issues, with a reversal of this tendency only in the mid-1950s, during the campaign against the EDC. For their part, the Italian communists were able, from the start and notwithstanding international pressures, to develop a more balanced opposition taking into account national issues and the international situation. As a result, the PCI's strategy was more effective, as it repeatedly challenged the Italian government on its Atlantic choice.

No description available.

<p>Examensarbetet syftar till att jämföra nya alternativ till olika system för användning i laborationer i reglerteknikkurser för olika studentkategorier. Det skall utredas vilket av ett antal alternativ till mjukvaruplattformar som är bäst lämpat att användas vid reglerteknikundervisningen i ITN:s reglerlaboratorium vid Linköpings universitet. Tidigare laborationer i berörda kurser skall även modifieras så att dessa kan genomföras i de nya systemen.</p><p>Examensarbetet resulterade i en rad modifierade laborationer och system att tillämpa i dessa. De nya systemen medför att all reglering sköts direkt från en dator istället för tidigare variant med externa apparater som programmeras. På så sätt kan större fokus läggas på regleringen i sig och inte de system som tillämpas för att utföra den.</p> / <p>The purpose of this thesis work is to compare new alternatives for different systems to use in laborations, in courses offered in control system design, for different types of students. The intention is to investigate which of a number of software platform alternatives are best suited for these purposes. Current laborations are to be modified to be viable in the new systems.</p><p>The project resulted in a number of modified laborations and control systems to use in these. The new solutions are made so that all of the control is done by one computer, as opposed to the previous solution where external units had to be programmed and controlled. This way, the laborations can focus more on the control theory and less on the systems used to realize it.</p>

Examensarbetet syftar till att jämföra nya alternativ till olika system för användning i laborationer i reglerteknikkurser för olika studentkategorier. Det skall utredas vilket av ett antal alternativ till mjukvaruplattformar som är bäst lämpat att användas vid reglerteknikundervisningen i ITN:s reglerlaboratorium vid Linköpings universitet. Tidigare laborationer i berörda kurser skall även modifieras så att dessa kan genomföras i de nya systemen. Examensarbetet resulterade i en rad modifierade laborationer och system att tillämpa i dessa. De nya systemen medför att all reglering sköts direkt från en dator istället för tidigare variant med externa apparater som programmeras. På så sätt kan större fokus läggas på regleringen i sig och inte de system som tillämpas för att utföra den. / The purpose of this thesis work is to compare new alternatives for different systems to use in laborations, in courses offered in control system design, for different types of students. The intention is to investigate which of a number of software platform alternatives are best suited for these purposes. Current laborations are to be modified to be viable in the new systems. The project resulted in a number of modified laborations and control systems to use in these. The new solutions are made so that all of the control is done by one computer, as opposed to the previous solution where external units had to be programmed and controlled. This way, the laborations can focus more on the control theory and less on the systems used to realize it.