The Internet represents a unique opportunity for people to interact with each other across time and space, and online communities have existed long before the Internet's solidification in everyday living. There are two inherent challenges that online communities continue to contend with: motivating participation and organizing information. An online community's success or failure rests on the content generated by its users. Specifically, users need to continually participate by contributing new content and organizing existing content for others to be attracted and retained. I propose both participation and organization can be enhanced if users have an explicit awareness of the implicit social network which results from their online interactions. My approach makes this normally ``hidden" social network visible and shows users that these intangible relations have an impact on satisfying their information needs and vice versa. That is, users can more readily situate their information needs within social processes, understanding that the value of information they receive and give is influenced and has influence on the mostly incidental relations they have formed with others. First, I describe how to model a social network within an online discussion forum and visualize the subsequent relationships in a way that motivates participation. Second, I show that social networks can also be modeled to generate recommendations of information items and that, through an interactive visualization, users can make direct adjustments to the model in order to improve their personal recommendations. I conclude that these modeling and visualization techniques are beneficial to online communities as their social capital is enhanced by "weaving" users more tightly together.

Several factors inform health professionals decisions to migrate from developing to developed countries to practice their profession. This study explores the Push and Pull factors that informed African-trained physicians decisions to migrate to the province of Saskatchewan, how well they integrated into their new working environments upon arrival and how that might contribute to future migration and retention in Saskatchewan. Based on questionnaire surveys and face-to-face interviews, this study identified differences in the relative importance of precipitating factors for physicans from South, North and Other African nations. Although the majority of African-trained physicians for the study indicated that profession-related push factors were the precipitating factors for their migration, a smaller number did not cite these as important. Most respondents for the study integrated well into the health care system and have remained at their current location of practice because of the support they received from colleagues at their work places.

Social media on the Web has become more common over the last decade and in recent years it has grown immensely. The social media with the highest amount of members is Facebook, where not only private persons are found - companies started to establish their profiles on the network in 2006. However, little is known about how these companies succeed and reach their audience with information dissemination and interact with them. The aim of this study is to contribute with information to local companies on how they can manage to maintain their activity with different approaches and strategies. This study examines how three different local companies chooses to spread information and maintain relationships with their members on Facebook. The research question in this thesis is: How are companies active on Facebook, in regard of dissemination of information and interaction? This is examined with the help of a framework which suggests three strategies with different grades of activity, which is applicable on the companies Facebook sites. The three strategies proposed by Waters, Burnett, Lamm and Lucas (2009) include disclosure, information dissemination and involvement. Disclosure contains a description about the company and its services, logo and opening hours. Information dissemination comprises photographs, video and audio files as well as news and campaigns in posted announcements or links. Involvement includes interactivity with customers, and between customers where ways to contact the company, such as e-mail and message boards exists. An e-commerce store is also presented in this strategy. The outcome of this thesis is that companies will have the best approach and strategy if they mirror their Facebook strategy with their business strategy. It is also of great importance to have continuous activity, both information dissemination and interactivity on the companies Facebook sites.

Animal preferences in choice tests have frequently been used within animal welfare research to make recommendations about animal handling and husbandry. It is therefore important that these results are obtained in a way that, as far as possible, respects the behavioural capabilities of the animal. Stress has been shown to affect cognitive processes in animals and could therefore affect the decision making process. To examine the effects of stress on decision making, 16 laying hens were trained to distinguish between two different quantities of a food reward. A decision balance point was found, by increasing the cost of reaching the large reward, in lines with the theory of demand curves. Hens were then tested in a t-maze choice test with both balanced and unbalanced sets of options, with and without prior stress treatment. Choice, latency to choose, heart rate and temperatures were recorded. Hens that received stress treatment prior to their first test session were affected by this even in subsequent sessions where they did not receive stress treatment. This effect was not found in hens that first received stress treatment prior to their second test session. This shows the influence of previous experiences on animal decision making. Also, a decrease in heart rate during the decision making period was found, when making a choice between balanced options, indicating anticipation of difficulty. Additionally, this shows that physiological measurements such as heart rate could be of importance for future studies and greater understanding of underlying processes of animal decision making.

The reason to return is a phenomenon which tells us that many people want to travel back to a destination they visited before. Even if there are changes in the society with the New tourist who seeks for the authentic, this essay is proving that there still is a dominance of repeat tourism and search for belonging and safety. That implication shows evidence that there still are remaining from old tourism about security with the destination and so on. Further, investigation tells us about the returning tourists, their driving forces and push-factors that create a will for tourists to return. Is it a question of how loyal tourists are to the destination, attitudes and/or tradition when planning the trip? We have made a survey that covers why tourists travel and what impacts are created during their decisions. Also included are the questions about the will of return and the reasons why. Having children proved to be a crucial part of the decision making process, where parents chose destinations out of the children-oriented places. Returning to a destination, on the other hand, is a product of safety-seeking together with a positive experience and beautiful surroundings, all weaved up to raison d'être - just to be.

En ny värld har skapats med Internets möjligheter till marknadsföring med sociala medier i centrum. Det har satt marknadsföraren på okänd mark då sociala medier introducerar helt nya prövningar då konsumenten själv kan styra över det publicerade materialet som ett företag väljer att lägga ut. Kommunikationens tillvägagångssätt mellan en kund och ett företag har förändrats, och därmed även beteendemönstret för respektive part. Detta leder till många frågetecken som; hur går företaget tillväga? Behåller vi ett traditionellt angreppssätt? Aggressivt eller passivt? Viralt eller direkt? Studien tar an ett kvalitativt angreppssätt där två aktuella aktörer på marknaden har valts ut och därefter intervjuats. Det är två företag verkande inom varsin social medie-marknadsföring strategi, nämligen viral marknadsföring respektive direktmarknadsföring. Som primär informationsdata har delvis strukturerade frågor använts. Till hjälp för att besvara forskningsfrågorna och övriga frågetecken i problemdiskussionen har teorier utvecklats utifrån studiens grundteorier, viral och direktmarknadsföring. Båda av de intervjuade företagen tycks vara medvetna om att det nödvändigt att följa med i utvecklingen med social medie marknadsföring. De båda företagen tycks också bedriva framgångsrika marknadsföringskampanjer inom de båda marknadsföringsstrategierna viral och direkt marknadsföring. Kommunikationen är en gemensam nämnare för de båda marknadsföringsstrategierna. Det är även viktigt att nå rätt målgrupp vid rätt tidpunkt. Det går att hitta risker med båda nämnda strategier, men de ser ganska olika ut för respektive strategi. Att kunna definiera störningsmomentet och ta itu med det kan underlätta för budskapet. Viral och direktmarknadsföring är två vitt skilda strategier som används inom sociala medier. De båda tycks ändå vara framgångsrika strategier med stor utdelning då de verkar på rätt plattform. Det återstår att se hur social medie-marknadsföring kommer att formas i framtiden.

It is an indisputable fact that cities have experienced a process of economic and spatial restructuring accompanied by the globalization of economy throughout the world since the 1980s. In line with this process, industrial sector has also witnessed economic and social restructuring process. Research in regional planning marks this process as a consequence of emerging industrial dynamics such as new technologies, new markets, and lower labor costs under new spatial divisions of labor. Such industrial dynamics brought spatial restructuring as well. Therefore, industrial firms are willing to relocate production activities to the new areas where they maintain the spatial margins of profitability. In this respect, today, one of the main discussion arenas of industrial geography is to explain the reasons of the industrial relocation. Within this context, this thesis focuses on the main push and pull factors that underlie the relocation process of industrial activities towards outside of Istanbul as well as beyond the provincial boundaries. In order to show this, a case study was conducted in Gebze Organized Industrial Zone (GOIZ) because 1/100.000 scale Environmental Management Plan of Istanbul has determined GOIZ as the potential area where the firms can relocate. The case study covered 37 firms which constitute the total number of firms relocated from Istanbul. Results of the thesis show that traditional location factors such as transport, site and premises are the most important factors that motivate firms to relocate from Istanbul to the GOIZ. However, contemporary factors are not much explanatory in case of the GOIZ.

Researchers consistently conclude that finances and health are the two most significant factors associated with retirement decision-making and a successful retirement experience. Retirement planning is one mechanism by which individuals prepare for the retirement transition; however, retirement planning routinely emphasizes financial concerns, often to the exclusion of health or other significant aspects of retirement. Retirement planning is an increasingly relevant topic at a time when the population is aging, company-sponsored pensions and retiree benefits have diminished significantly, and reform is being sought for the long-standing social programs that have provided support for generations of older Americans. From a financial perspective, few would question the positive benefits associated with retirement planning; however, preparing for a healthy retirement is equally important. If a relationship between retirement planning and health status were to be established, Americans might find increased public and private support for individual retirement planning efforts, particularly among more vulnerable populations such as minorities and women. This dissertation explores the notion that engagement in retirement planning is associated with health status through three studies. Utilizing data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), the first article explores prevalence of plans for retirement among worker and retiree respondents, and compares health and other key characteristics associated with planning among the two sub-samples. The second and third articles focus on time order relationships between health status and retirement planning, with article two addressing the question of whether onset of poor health precedes planning for retirement and article three examining health status of planners versus non-planners, over time, to determine whether those who engage in retirement planning are more likely to realize better health outcomes. A brief review of th e health, retirement, and retirement planning literature provides the theoretical framework for these research questions and related hypotheses.This dissertation consists of five chapters. Chapter 1 is an introduction to the retirement planning and health literature, Chapters 2-4 describe the series of three studies conducted, and Chapter 5 discusses the overall conclusions as well as future directions for research.

Sammanfattning I det här examensarbetet undersöker vi IT som verktyg i skolan.  Hur lärare använder sig av dator, smartboard, smartphone, surfplatta eller digital kamera, dessa kallar vi digitala redskap, i undervisningen. En smartboard är en interaktiv tavla med touchfunktion som är kopplad till en dator och projektor. Vårt syfte är att undersöka i vilken omfattning de digitala redskapen integreras i undervisningen och de frågor vi ställer oss är: I hur stor omfattning använder sig lärare av digitala redskap i undervisningen? Hur beskriver lärare sina möjligheter- tankar kring-att använda IT i undervisningen?   Det material studien bygger på är inhämtat genom intervjuer och observationer på två skolor. Intervjufrågorna är utformade efter den litteratur vi läst och utifrån det vi vill undersöka. Intervjuerna spelas in för att underlätta vår bearbetning och sammanfattning av resultatet i del fyra. Eftersom det behövs fullmakt vid videoinspelning, av både lärare och elevernas föräldrar så valde vi att endast observera lärarna och de digitala redskapens påverkan på klassen. Vid sidan av detta har vi även valt att titta närmare på hur arbetet kring IT är formulerat i läroplanen. Riktlinjerna och målen relateras till den tidigare forskning som presenteras i studien och de resultat som framkommit i vårt eget arbete. Ett flertal statliga projekt har varit aktiva sedan 1970-talet för att införa digitala redskap i skolan. Vi har tagit del av en modell, TPACK och en teori, Pull-and Push. TPACK modellen används som ett redskap för att synliggöra användningen av digitala redskap i undervisningen. Eftersom vi menar att eleverna visar ett större intresse för lektionens innehåll när läraren använder digitala redskap. TPACK uppstår, som vi senare går in på, när lärarna använder sig av sin faktakunskap, pedagogisk kunskap samt den tekniska kunskapen samtidigt. För att uppmärksamma effekterna av samhällets användning av digitala redskap och vad samhället kräver att man bör kunna, använder vi Pull-and push teorin. Det visar på en efterfråga som resulterar i ett större användande av till exempel digitala redskap i skolan. Studiens resultat visar bland annat att lärarna vill använda de digitala redskapen mer men att de saknar kunskap och utbildning i de digitala redskapen. Majoriten av de intervjuade lärarna uttrycker att det behövs satsas mer på tekniken i skolan så att den blir lättare att arbeta med samt mer tid.

The continuous increase in wireless usage forces an immense pressure on wireless communication in terms of increased demand and spectrum scarcity. Service providers for communication services had no choice but to allocate new parts of the spectrum and present new communication standards that are more spectrally efficient. Communication is not only limited to mobile phones but recently attention has been given to intelligent transportation systems (ITS) where cars will be given a significant place in the communication network. Vehicular Ad-Hoc Network (VANET) is already assigned a slice of the spectrum at 5.9GHz using the IEEE802.11p standard also known as Dedicated Short-Range Communication (DSRC); however, this assignment will have limited range and functionality at first, and users are expected to depend on existing wireless mobile channels for some services such as video streaming and car entertainment. Therefore, it is essential to integrate existing wireless mobile communication standards into the skeleton of ITS at launch and most probably permanently. An investigation was carried out regarding the existing communication standards including wireless local area networks (WLAN) and it was found that frequency bands from 400MHz up to 6GHz are being used in various regions around the world. It is also noted that current state of the art transceivers are composed of several transmitter front-ends targeting certain bands and standards. However, the more standards to be supported the more components to be added and the higher the cost not to mention the limited space in mobile devices. Multimode Multiband (MMMB) transmitters are therefore proposed as a potential solution to the existing redundancy in the number of front-end paths in modern transmitters. Broadband amplifiers are an essential part of any MMMB transmitter and they are also among the most challenging especially for high power requirements. This work explains why single ended topologies with efficiencies higher than 50% have a fundamental bandwidth limit such that the highest frequency of operation must be lower than twice the lowest frequency of operation. Hence, Push-Pull amplifier topology is being proposed as it was found that it has inherent broadband capabilities exceeding those of other topologies with comparable efficiency. The major advantage of Push-Pull power amplifiers is its capability of isolating the even harmonics present in the even mode operation of a Push-Pull amplifier from the less critical odd mode harmonics and the fundamental frequency. This separation between even and odd signals comes from the inclusion of a Balun at the output of push-pull amplifiers. Such separation makes it possible to operate amplifiers beyond the existing limit of single ended power amplifiers. To prove the concept, several Baluns were designed and tested and a comparison was made between different topologies in terms of balance, bandwidth and odd and even mode performances; moreover, to illustrate the concept a Push-Pull power amplifier design was implemented using the multilayer Low Temperature Co-fired Ceramics (LTCC) technology with a bandwidth ratio of more than 100%.