Final thesis deals with information-mining from large sets of medical data using methods and machine learning algorithms. The subject of the theoretical part is machine learning and its distribution, description of the basic data types in data mining, most important classifications and predictions methods, criterion defining the quality of prediction methods, description of data mining methodology and frequently used systems. The practical part focuses on statistical and informatics survey of provided medical data, appropriate transformation, subsequent design and implementation of experiments using machine learning methods to acquire new knowledge and hidden information and finally interpretation of the results together with conclusions for target groups.

At the time of beginning this thesis, statistical parametric speech synthesis (SPSS) using hidden Markov models (HMMs) was the dominant synthesis paradigm within the research community. SPSS systems are effective at generalising across the linguistic contexts present in training data to account for inevitable unseen linguistic contexts at synthesis-time, making these systems flexible and their performance stable. However HMM synthesis suffers from a ‘ceiling effect’ in the naturalness achieved, meaning that, despite great progress, the speech output is rarely confused for natural speech. There are many hypotheses for the causes of reduced synthesis quality, and subsequent required improvements, for HMM speech synthesis in literature. However, until this thesis, these hypothesised causes were rarely tested. This thesis makes two types of contributions to the field of speech synthesis; each of these appears in a separate part of the thesis. Part I introduces a methodology for testing hypothesised causes of limited quality within HMM speech synthesis systems. This investigation aims to identify what causes these systems to fall short of natural speech. Part II uses the findings from Part I of the thesis to make informed improvements to speech synthesis. The usual approach taken to improve synthesis systems is to attribute reduced synthesis quality to a hypothesised cause. A new system is then constructed with the aim of removing that hypothesised cause. However this is typically done without prior testing to verify the hypothesised cause of reduced quality. As such, even if improvements in synthesis quality are observed, there is no knowledge of whether a real underlying issue has been fixed or if a more minor issue has been fixed. In contrast, I perform a wide range of perceptual tests in Part I of the thesis to discover what the real underlying causes of reduced quality in HMM synthesis are and the level to which they contribute. Using the knowledge gained in Part I of the thesis, Part II then looks to make improvements to synthesis quality. Two well-motivated improvements to standard HMM synthesis are investigated. The first of these improvements follows on from averaging across differing linguistic contexts being identified as a major contributing factor to reduced synthesis quality. This is a practice typically performed during decision tree regression in HMM synthesis. Therefore a system which removes averaging across differing linguistic contexts and instead performs averaging only across matching linguistic contexts (called rich-context synthesis) is investigated. The second of the motivated improvements follows the finding that the parametrisation (i.e., vocoding) of speech, standard practice in SPSS, introduces a noticeable drop in quality before any modelling is even performed. Therefore the hybrid synthesis paradigm is investigated. These systems aim to remove the effect of vocoding by using SPSS to inform the selection of units in a unit selection system. Both of the motivated improvements applied in Part II are found to make significant gains in synthesis quality, demonstrating the benefit of performing the style of perceptual testing conducted in the thesis.

My diploma thesis focuses on the comparison of possibilities of the statistical software SAS and SPSS in the area of the factor and cluster analysis and the multidimensional scaling. They deal with the methods for identifying groups of the similar statistical values (variables). The ascertained relations among the variables can serve to decrease the proportion vectors of the variables, which describe the individual monitored objects (statistical units), which helps us to apply other various methods, for example the regression or discriminant analysis. By one of the ways for finding the similarity of variables in the cluster analysis or the multidimensional scaling is searching for their relations. Whereas the base of the factor analysis is the formulation of the relation between two variables by means of the covariances, eventually Pearson correlation coefficient, it is possible to use also coefficients of correlation for the cluster analysis and the multidimensional scaling, in some case other measures. The thesis describes mainly the command syntax of the procedures implemented in SAS and SPSS. The meaning of the individual parametres and the partial specifications of each command are explained. The results gained by various types of analyses are compared on the basis of the real dataset. The possibilities of the statistical software SAS and SPSS are evaluated in the conclusion and it is referred to their advantages or disadvantages. The attention is also paid, for example, to the form of the input dataset, to the quaility of outputs or to the partial methods.

Most immigrants relocate to the "land of opportunities" in search of greener pastures. Because of their desperate circumstances, they often work much harder than the average American to succeed. Strong social ties embedded in ethnic communities of immigrant populations have been considered vital assets for immigrant entrepreneurs (Yang et al. 2011, p. 639). However, little quantitative research has been done on the influence of biological kinship and altruism within the arena of ethnic entrepreneurs. It is well-documented that successful immigrant entrepreneurs and businesses can create jobs for others as well. Members of the same ethnic group often form communities in a host country. These communities live near one another, speaking the same language and honouring the same culture. These factors play an essential role in immigrant entrepreneurship and the creation of enclave businesses. Ethnic economies potentially provide a protected market for production of ethnic goods and an opportunity for greater business networks - including providing experience and apprenticeship to co-ethnic employees. In this study, the hypothesis is that small businesses founded and operated by immigrants are much more likely to hire immigrants, especially immigrants from a home country identical or similar to their own. The data collected by questionnaire was analysed using the Social Sciences Statistical Package (SPSS). Frequency distribution tables were used to analyse the research questions. To accept or reject the hypothesis, a statistical analysis was conducted. The formulated hypotheses were tested using inferential statistics chi-square. As far as immigrant entrepreneurs and their businesses are concerned, the descriptive study methodology used to test the hypothesis was successful in the sense that the results validated the idea that indeed immigrant small business owners are drawn towards other immigrants, preferably of their own ethnic or cultural background.

Diploma thesis "Mediation Analysis in Sociology" deals with mediation analysis and possibilities of its application in sociology, depending on the type of the dependent variable that enters the analysis. In the first case the dependent variable is continuous - in this case the SPSS software and its PROCESS add-on are used to directly analyse the mediation. In the second case the dependent variable that enters the analysis is binary - the PROCESS add-on doesn't allow this option; therefore, the analysis is performed in SPSS software by the set of linear and logistic regressions according to the Baron & Kenny method. Two case studies from the field of sociology, GSS (General Social Survey) and ISSP (International Social Survey Programme), are used in the thesis and the consequences of the transition from continuous dependent variable to binary are examined using the secondary analysis of these data.

Debatten kring ordningsvakternas roll gällande trygghetsarbetet i samhället har blivit allt mer aktuell. Fler och fler kommuner ansöker om ordningsvaktsfördordnanden för att patrullera på otrygga platser, trots att detta ligger utanför ordningsvakternas traditionella arbetsområde, samtidigt som deras inflytande på tryggheten står något oklar. Syftet med denna studie är att utvärdera effekten av implementerandet av ordningsvakter på ett centralt beläget stationsområde i Järfälla kommun. Studien baseras huvudsakligen på en baslinje- och en eftermätning i enkätform som genomförts innan och efter implementerandet av ordningsvakter, men också på kriminalstatistiken från det studerade området. Analysen som genomförts med hjälp av statistiska sambandsanalyser i SPSS har fokuserat på att se hur tryggheten utvecklats i ordningsvakternas förordnandeområde, med särskilt fokus på utvecklingen mellan olika åldersgrupper och mellan män och kvinnor. Dessutom har utvecklingen av den registrerade brottsligheten analyserats genom kriminalstatistiken. Resultatet indikerar att tryggheten inte ökats av insatsen. Däremot har konsekvenserna av otryggheten minskat, och då främst bland kvinnor. Vidare antyder kriminalstatistiken att den registrerade brottsligheten legat relativt konstant de senaste 10 åren, och att implementeringen av ordningsvakter inte haft någon mätbar effekt på de brottstyper som inkluderats i studien. Framtida studier bör likt denna genomföra mätningar vid flera tillfällen över tid med en implementerad trygghetåtgärd däremellan för att bättre kunna uttala sig om åtgärdens direkta påverkan på tryggheten. Samtidigt borde ordningsvakter som trygghetsåtgärd ifrågasättas, både med tanke på evidensbrist gällande deras effekt på tryggheten, men också med anledning av att brottsförebyggande och trygghetsskapande arbete går utanför deras arbetsbeskrivning och ansvarsområde. / The ongoing debate on security guards role in society is becoming more and more stressed. The phenomena has spread through several Swedish counties who´s intentions are to hire security guards for assignments like safety keeping and patrolling which doesn´t comply with their ability and training as security guards. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effects of the implementation of security guards on a central located train station in Järfälla county. The study is based on a former research that used survey methods for the gathering of data. The data was comprised with the help of a two time measure, one before the implementation of security guards and one after. The local criminal record has also been used as data for this study. The study has analyzed these different data through a statistical pattern program called SPSS. The program was used to measure how peoples view of safety had changed in the given location with focus on age and gender. The results indicated that there hasn´t been any change toward the view of safety after the implementation of security guards. Although the consequences of a person’s unsafety has decreased, which can be seen in women especially. Furthermore it can be seen through the local criminal record that the level of crime has been relatively stable the last 10 years. This suggests that the implementation of security guards hasn´t had the effect on crime it presumes to have. Future studies should continue to carry out measurements over time with an implemented security measure in between. This to better be able to express an opinion about the direct impact of the measure on the safety. At the same time security guards as security measure should be challenged, both considering the lack of evidence about their effect on safety, but also regarding that crime prevention and preventing security goes beyond their job descriptions and responsibility.

I samband med läroplansrevideringen 2017 är programmering en del av det obligatoriskaämnesinnehållet i läroplanen för grundskolan, förskolan och fritidshemmet (Skolverket2018). Sedan höstterminen 2018 gäller den reviderade utgåvan som styrdokument förverksamma lärare. Tidigare forskning, framförallt ur internationellt perspektiv, harindikerat på en osäkerhet hos lärare kring införandet av programmering i undervisningen.Ett perspektiv som dock sällan belysts i tidigare forskning, kopplat till programmering, ärlärarstudenters attityder till implementeringen. Vi undrade därför hur lärarstudentersattityder till implementeringen av programmering såg ut. För att undersöka detta har enenkätstudie bland studenter med ämnesbehörighet inom NO/teknik vid Malmö universitetgenomförts.Utifrån Ajzens (2005) teori, Theory of Planned Behavior, har resultatet analyserats ochvisar att föreställningar om den upplevda kontrollen och föreställningar om normen haren stor påverkan över lärarstudenternas attityder kring programmering. Analysen avresultatet visar även att studierna har en stor påverkan på attityderna kring programmeringdå studenter från termin 4, 6 och 8 har svarat varierat i enkäten men efter tydliga mönsterberoende av termin där studiegången i vissa fall påverkar attityden positivt medan den iandra fall tenderar att påverka attityden negativt.

The following report is a description of the design, development, and evaluation of an online statistics performance support system. The target audience for the support system is students of Instructional Psychology and Technology (IP&T), especially those who have taken the IP&T 550 "Empirical Inquiry and Statistics" course. The product is designed to be used as a supplemental reference tool. The main purpose of the online performance support system is to help IP&T students select appropriate statistical procedures for their research and learn how to perform the necessary calculations using a statistics analysis software package called SPSS. This report summarizes the needs analysis, target audience analysis, instructional design process and the formative evaluation of the product. The results of the evaluation indicated that the users found great value in the product, that it was useful and effective in helping them select an appropriate statistical procedure, and that it helped them conduct the procedure in SPSS.

E-government is basically described as using all available electronic media to provide an online public services companies, agencies, citizens or persons in certain country or region. This provision can be provided by the government institutions, agencies, or organisation, in addition to public and private sectors subject to government policies and legislation. Political instability, armed conflict, corruption and chaotic situations are considered to be an obstacle confronting public services delivery and governance in some developing countries around the world. Therefore, Libya is selected a case study of this research. Post the 2011 ousting of the Gadhafi regime in Libya, the country has been experiencing a severe and deep-rooted environment of conflict and chaos, which has destabilised and in some cases dismantled government institutions throughout the country. Within this environment, the original aim of this study was to explore the possibility of implementing e-government services that can provide public services to citizens and, if so, how and what services could be utilised. An exploratory qualitative pilot study was conducted to investigate the feasibility of e-government implementation in Libya utilising the knowledge of government officials. The study found that, the Libyan government had recently and successfully implemented an online e-passport service. An extensive literature review carried out in relation to e-government implementation to help understanding lesions learned and factors behind such success then to utilise the knowledge for further services implementations. Critical success factors of e-government implementation were addressed but available ones are related to stable countries under normal situations. This research is aiming to investigate its implementation in chaotic environment where not much of research is available. During the chaotic environment and instability, different factors may emerge to drive the implementation and the usage of e-services such environment. From government perspectives, it is noticed that cases of corruption, lack of citizens’ safety and poor infrastructure were found to be drivers behind the success of existing government institutions and departments of implement e-passport system. Social collaboration and trust in government institutions’ commitment were emerged from the citizens’ perspectives as factors encouraged the citizens to use the e-passport system. Quantitative data analysed using structural equation modelling techniques using SmartPLS (3.2.7) together with the SPSS 23 were used to analyse the collected data. The outcome were used to propose a framework that can improve the implementation of public e-services while the country at unrest. Another contribution of this studies is the proposal of social collaboration model towards better e-services in such environment.

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