The final thesis focuses on the issue of measuring efficiency in the delivery of information and communication services in one of the multinational banking institutions operating within Czech market, particularly in the context of its information technology department. Measuring of the effectiveness is demonstrated on built Business Intelligence (BI) solution. The main goal of this work is therefore the development and implementation of BI solution that provides automated reporting to measure the effectiveness of mentioned department. The thesis is divided into two parts -- theoretical and practical. Theoretical part focuses on BI basics, efficiency measurement models, ITIL and issue of SLA. In the practical part there is development of BI solution described with the entire application life cycle demonstration. Benefit of the final thesis is mainly in the deployment of BI product in real company. For of a wider audience is the key benefit contained especially in the theoretical part where the basic information of BI and performance measurement possibilities can be found.

The purpose of this study is to understand the factors behind Chinese student’s English-speaking proficiency. The hypothesis formed to answer this issue follows: “Large factors influencing Chinese students’ English speech proficiency is an examination-oriented education system, degree of childhood exposure to English and motivational, stress-free learning environments.”  Data has been collected by sending out an anonymous online questionnaire to Chinese students at Swedish Universities, asking about their learning experiences. A criterion for participation was to have taken either the IELTS or the TOEFL. Stephen Krashen’s theories on second language acquisition was used as source material because of its reliability and well-established ideas. Additionally, previous research and data from the IELTS or the TOEFL has also been included. The participants were also asked to include their results from the IELTS or the TOEFL for the purpose of comparing the different categories of reading, writing, speaking and listening ability, with focus placed on factors affecting speech proficiency. Our study found some support for our hypothesis. The results showed that the Chinese English education system places a lot of attention on reading which might deprioritize other parts of language learning such as speaking. The system also promotes examinations, which shapes curriculum into focusing on test results. In short, the testing-based system influence the way students are taught. Participants considering “speaking” to be highly important, but many received low speaking scores.  Our questionnaire showed that many students experienced nervousness when speaking English, the reason for this might be that they have not received comprehensible input and sufficient time to acquire the language, meaning that they are not yet ready to produce natural speech.  Ideally, a larger sample of participants, more survey questions and an in-depth interview with the students would have been preferable and resulted in more reliable results, which can be taken into consideration for future research.

This essay deal with implementation of the Incident management as one of the possible means to minimize risks and losses arising from failures in the organization’s infrastructure and inaccessibility of their "business-critical" applications. It focuses primarily on the organization focused on electronic commerce.

This master's thesis deals with analysis and selection of a new information system for a small company Výtahy – Elektro Žižka, s.r.o., which is engaged in manufacturing, reconstructing, and with revision of elevators. The main goal of the thesis is to analyse current condition of company’s hardware and software equipment and eventually suggest some possible improvements. Furthermore the thesis deals with main business processes according to which the information system will be chosen. Based on these changes, the time and financial plan will be formed.

<div>Having historically received less attention than other linguistic structures(Derwing & Munro,2005),second language (L2) pronunciation instruction represents an emergent area of research in the field(Thomson & Derwing, 2015). While several methods have been shown to be effective for improving L2 segmental production, including explicit instruction(Aliaga-García & Mora, 2009; Lord, 2010; Saito & Lyster, 2012)and inductive visual feedback instruction (Offerman & Olson, 2016; Olson, 2014b; Olson, 2019), there is a notable lack of empirically-based research comparing approaches(Derwing & Munro, 2015; Leeet al., 2015). Moreover, research has largely ignored the effects of instruction on L2 perception, due in part to the tacit assumption thatL2 perception precedes L2 production (Levy & Law, 2010). Responding to these gaps, this study provides a large-scale comparative analysis of three types of pronunciation instruction (explicit instruction[EI], visual feedback[VF], and a combination instruction [CI] approach) on L2 segmental production and perceptionin Spanish. Production-oriented analyses focus on the change in voice onset time (VOT), and perceptual analyses focus on anL2 discrimination task (AXB task) and a nativeness judgment task (Liker-scale ratingtask).Differences in VOT for the stops /p,t,k/ in word-initial position exist for English (long-lag VOT) and Spanish (short-lag VOT) (Lisker & Abramson, 1964), causing notable accentedness for English-speaking L2 learners of Spanish (Lord, 2005), thus serving as the basis for L2 learner performance. Considering results for the production portion of the study, all three experimental groups were found to outperform the control (CO) group, along with each experimental group significantly improving individually from pretest to posttest. For the perception portion, participants did not display difficultly in discriminating between long-lag and short-lag productions at the pretest, and as such, showed no improvement following instruction. In contrast,results from the nativeness judgment task showed thatparticipants were not able to categorize sounds as native-like (Spanish) or non-native-like (English), and significant improvement following training was found only for the CI group. Additionally, previous L2 perception theories largely focus on category formation and discrimination of sounds, such as the SLM (Flege, 1987), the PAM (Best, 1994), and the PAM-L2 (Best & Tyler, 2007), while this study considers perception as it applies to both discrimination and the social categorization of sounds in the L1 and L2. For the production and perception portions, the CI group largely outperformed all groups. It is proposed that the combination of two different modalities, auditory and visual (Baran-Łucarz, 2012), provides learners more resources for noticing (Schmidt, 1990) differences between their L1 and L2 forproduction and perception purposes.Moreover, the CI treatment is proposed to be most beneficial for teaching L2 pronunciation, although more research is to be done with comparative analyses for different segments in the L2, as it has been previously noted that not all pronunciation treatments are equally beneficial to L2 learners for different segmental features (Ruellot, 2011). This study adds to theoretical understanding of L2 phonetic acquisition, in both production and perception,while empirically testing pedagogical approaches in a classroom setting.<br></div>

This study aims to investigate to what extent Swedish upper secondary school learners of L2 English understand the meanings of polysemous words and whether puns can be used to teach such words. A test and two questionnaires were constructed to retrieve data from both students and teachers. The results of the study show that Swedish upper secondary school learners of L2 English generally have an acceptable knowledge of polysemous words, but depending on the type of program the students are attending, their understanding differs. Based on these results, it was also concluded that puns can be used in education to teach students about the meanings of polysemous words. The results from the questionnaires display that students in general have a positive attitude towards using puns in the classroom and that they found them entertaining and humorous. In addition, the students also saw this approach as beneficial to their retention and motivation. Lastly, the teachers expressed that using humor can strengthen the learning process, and if the students find the teaching situation enjoyable, they learn faster and it can increase their retention.

The Nordin group at Brigham Young University has been focused on developing 3D printing technology for fabrication of lab-on-a-chip (microfluidic) devices since 2013. As we showed in 2015, commercial 3D printers and resins have not been developed to meet the highly specialized needs of microfluidic device fabrication. We have therefore created custom 3D printers and resins specifically designed to meet these needs. As part of this development process, ad hoc 3D printer control software has been developed. However, the software is difficult to modify and maintain to support the numerous experimental iterations of hardware used in our custom 3D printers. This highlights the need for modular yet reliable system software that is easy to use, learn, and work with to adapt to the unique challenges of a student workforce. This thesis details the design and implementation of new 3D printer system software that meets these needs. In particular, a software engineering principle-based design approach is taken that lends itself to several specific development patterns that permit easy incorporation of new hardware into a 3D printer to enable rapid evaluation of and development with such new hardware.

Introduktion: Tredimensionell printing (3DP) är en teknik som använder en digital fil för att producera ett 3D-objekt, exempelvis en läkemedelstablett, genom en så kallad additiv process, vilket innebär att byggmaterialet läggs på successivt lager för lager. Syfte: Denna studie har ett tvådelat syfte, dels att presentera två 3D-printingstekniker, laserbaserade system (SLA) och smält deponeringsmodellering (FDM) som idag används för läkemedelsframställning samt göra en metodjämförelse, dels att ge exempel på samt beskriva några olika tabletter som framställts med hjälp av dessa tekniker. Metod: Studien genomfördes i form av en systematisk litteraturstudie och använde i första hand databasen PubMed för att hitta relevanta vetenskapliga artiklar i ämnet. Resultat: Resultatet redovisas i två delar. Första delen jämför de två viktiga 3DP-tekniker laserbaserade system (SLA) och smält deponeringsmodellering (FDM). Andra delen beskriver olika typer av tabletter som kan framställas med 3D-printing. Slutsats: Utifrån resultatet framgår det att 3D-printing är en framväxande teknik som skapar nya, intressanta terapimöjligheter. Dessutom framgår det att FDM lämpar sig bättre än SLA som framställningsteknik inom läkemedelsvärlden där det ställs höga krav på kostnadseffektivitet men också på grund av dess förmåga att generera formuleringar med olika frisättningsprofiler och på så sätt producera individanpassade läkemedel.

Looking at Bilingualism and L2/SLA (Second Language Acquisition) theory and practice are there points of convergence that reflect notions of global emerging bilingualism, and can be used in language learning. Giving an overview of the key theories within each field then using a literature review from June 2013 – June 2014 we see what approaches are suggested in 36 journals. The journals show an increase in discussion, but there is still a notable lack of both dialogue and experimental work. One possible approach Language as SocialSemiotic approach (LASS) which builds on Halliday’s Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) emphasises created meaning.

The increased popularity of listening to audiobooks has influenced the discussion of literacy, pressuring the educational system to adjust accordingly. This study investigates if the audiobook is being used as a teaching tool in the upper secondary, SLA classroom and what attitude teachers have toward using audiobooks in their teaching as well as the reasons behind their attitudes. This research also investigates whether there is a correlation between age or student program and the usage of audiobooks. To gather data, a questionnaire was sent out to 46 English language teachers in upper secondary school in Halland. The questionnaire included open-ended questions which resulted in qualitative answers from 28 participants. The retrieved result proved that most upper secondary school English teachers are using the audiobook as a teaching tool, however, the reason for their usage differed. Some participants, who did not make use of the audiobook in their classroom still had a positive attitude towards using it and could present many beneficial aspects of it. The result contradicts the initial hypothesis about teachers showing reluctance using audiobooks in their teaching.