"We are in an era of big data, sensors, and monitoring technology. One consequence of this technology is the continuous generation of massive volumes of streaming data. To support this, stream processing systems have emerged. These systems must produce results while meeting near-real time response obligations. However, computation intensive processing on high velocity streams is challenging. Stream arrival rates are often unpredictable and can fluctuate. This can cause systems to not always be able to process all incoming data within their required response time.Yet inherently some results may be much more significant than others. The delay or complete neglect of producing certain highly significant results could result in catastrophic consequences. Unfortunately, this critical problem of targeted prioritized processing in overloaded environments remains largely unaddressed to date. In this talk, I will describe four key challenges that my dissertation successfully tackled. First, I address the problem of optimally processing the most significant tuples identified by the user at compile-time before less critical ones. Second, I propose a new aggregate operator that increases the accuracy of aggregate results produced for TP systems. Third, I address the problem of identifying and pulling forward significant tuples at run-time via dynamic determinants. Fourth, I design multi-input operators, such as the join operator, which produce multi-stream results in significance order. My experimental studies explore a rich diversity of workloads, queries, and data sets, including real data streams. The results substantiate that my approaches are a significant improvement over the state-of-the-art approaches."

Unbranched heterocytous cyanobacteria exhibit complex filament and colony architectures and variable life strategies from symbionts to free living planktic and non-planktic species. They are counted among microbial groups showing an extensive production of secondary metabolites, resulting in both pharmaceutically important and toxic compounds. The main focus of this thesis is to broaden our knowledge on bioactive secondary metabolite potential in this widespread group of cyanobacteria. An effective combination of methods including whole genome sequencing, bioinformatic analysis, and analytical chemistry techniques are applied to accomplish this task. The discrepancies in distribution of various classes of compounds among ecological groups defined by different life strategies are discussed. Additionally, the thesis endeavours to test multidisciplinary approaches to tackle taxonomic assignments of unresolved unbranched heterocytous cyanobacteria using morphological, phylogenetic and ecophysiological methods, including a meta-analysis of morphological traits.

Konkurrensen inom klädbranschen är hård och det finns många stora aktörer på marknaden. Småföretag har begränsade resurser till skillnad från de stora aktörerna, det blir därmed viktigt för dem att använda sig av kostnadseffektiva metoder för att kunna nå ut till kunderna. Marknadsföring är en avgörande del när det gäller överlevnad och expandering. Många aspekter spelar in när det handlar om företagens framtid, allt från hur man positionerar sig till hur effektivt man använder sig av marknadsföringsmixen. Det gäller att synas och att få kundens uppmärksamhet samt få kunderna till återköp. Vet inte din specifike kund att din produkt finns är det mycket enkelt – den existerar helt enkelt inte för konsumenten.Vi har undersökt, analyserat och jämfört olika marknadsföringsstrategier samt tittat på hur utvalda modeföretag tillmpar dessa i sin verksamhet idag. Därefter jämförde vi dem med varandra och med den teori vi tagit fram. Detta för att se likheter och skillnader hos företagen och mellan teorin och empirin.Vi hoppades med detta arbete kunna använda oss av våra teoretiska kunskaper vi fått genom vår utbildning och att tillämpa dessa på bästa sätt i studien.Competition within the clothing industry is intense and there are many big players on the market. Small companies have limited resources, unlike the big players, it is important for the small companies to use cost effective methods to reach out to their customers.Marketing is a crucial part in the survival and expansion. Many aspects come into play when it comes to companies' future, everything from how to position themselves to how they make use of the marketing mix in an effective way. You have to be seen and get customer's attention in order to get the customers to purchase. Doesn’t your specific customer know that your product exist, it is very simple - it simply do not exist for any consumer. We have examined, analyzed and compared various marketing strategies and how fashion companies apply them in their business process today. Then we compared them with each other and with the theory we have developed to see the similarities and differences among firms and between theory and empiricism.We hoped that our theoretical knowledge that we have gained through our education could make use for the research project, and that we can apply them in every step of the process. / Program: Textil produktutveckling med entreprenörs- och affärsinriktning

Research has suggested that persistence in the face of challenges plays an important role in learning. However, recent work on wheel-spinning—a type of unproductive persistence where students spend too much time struggling without achieving mastery of skills—has shown that not all persistence is uniformly beneficial for learning. For this reason, Study 1 used educational data-mining techniques to determine key differences between the behaviors associated with productive persistence and wheel-spinning in ASSISTments, an online math learning platform. This study’s results indicated that three features differentiated between these two modes of persistence: the number of hints requested in any problem, the number of bottom-out hints in the last eight problems, and the variation in the delay between solving problems of the same skill. These findings suggested that focusing on number of hints can provide insight into which students are struggling, and encouraging students to engage in longer delays between problem solving is likely helpful to reduce their wheel-spinning. Using the same definition of productive persistence in Study 1, Study 2 attempted to investigate the relationship between productive persistence and grit using Duckworth and Quinn’s (2009) Short Grit Scale. Correlational results showed that the two constructs were not significantly correlated with each other, providing implications for synthesizing literature on student persistence across computer-based learning environments and traditional classrooms.

College students experience high levels of stress, especially those in health care programs. The purpose of this study was to determine what factors contribute to Tennessee radiography student stress levels and the methods by which they cope with stress. Additionally, do demographic factors affect radiography student stress levels? The research was conducted February 4 to March 30, 2016. A survey was distributed to students in a radiography program at two and four year colleges in Tennessee. Participants were asked questions on factors that influence their stress levels, coping strategies, and health issues experienced in the past year. Descriptive statistics, independent samples t-test, and Pearson correlations were used to determine what factors influenced student stress levels, the most effective coping strategies, and if demographics affected student stress levels. This analysis revealed that school causes students the most stress, while taking a break was the most used stress coping strategy.

How have food identities and practices in upper middle class homes responded to foodie culture? While the majority of the sociological literature focuses on gendered divisions of labor in the kitchen, food security, and healthy eating, my research focuses on how foodie culture discourse has entered the home and shaped food identities and practice. My sample consists of interviews with thirteen parents, both mothers and fathers, with at least one child in the "tween" age range. Using grounded theory, I analyzed and coded the data for recurring themes. I then divided the participants into two groups based on how they discussed their identity as it relates to food; Group 1 viewed food work as a hobby while Group 2 viewed food work as a chore. My findings include themes of the discussion of food identity, nutritional discourse knowledge, shopping practices, defensive moments, feeding strategies, and fathers who cook. My study demonstrates that race, ethnicity, gender, class, nutritional discourse knowledge, time, and parenting style all play an important role in the formation of food identity.

Business leaders require the appropriate strategies and knowledge to successfully grow their companies through international expansion. Multinational enterprises (MNEs) in the West Bank in Palestine often encounter complex barriers as the executives of the firms explore business opportunities in foreign countries. The objective of this single case study was to explore, in depth, the perspectives of business leaders from a population of executives of an MNE in the West Bank. The conceptual framework used in the study was cultural intelligence. The selected multinational business leaders participated in semistructured, face-to-face interviews followed by member checking. The 2 executives of the MNE shared their experiences and knowledge concerning the internationalization processes of their company. The data analysis process followed Yin's 5-phase analysis cycle; it entailed an analysis of interview responses followed by member checking and a review of administrative documents of the MNE under study. Three themes emerged from the data analysis: international knowledge and adaption of local conditions, strategic partnerships, and diversification and specialization. The findings from the study could contribute to positive social change by encouraging executives to explore business opportunities in the West Bank, resulting in an increase in employment rate and better living standards for the residents.

The dual mechanism of cognitive control framework (DMC) describes cognitive control via two strategies: proactive and reactive. Individuals using a proactive strategy, focus on actively maintaining goal-relevant information in memory, whereas reactive individuals store goal-relevant information and retrieve it when cues are present. Reimer and colleagues (2015, 2017) added cue-probe location shifts to the typical AX-CPT, as well as, a virtual-reality environment version of the AX-CPT. Through this, they found that the effect of location shifts vary depending on whether a proactive or reactive mode of control is utilized. Thus, the aim of the present study was to test whether the effect of location shifts on cognitive control depends on type of control strategy used. Two versions of the AX-CPT were used: shift alone and shift with no-go trials. The shift alone AX-CPT examined the influence of location shifts in proactively-biased young adults. The shift with no-go trials AX-CPT examined the influence of location shifts with a manipulation that is known to induce a reactive control strategy (Gonthier et al., 2016). It was hypothesized that cue-probe location shifts would have a differential effect on mode of control. Results demonstrated that type of AX-CPT given, cue-probe location, and type of trial presented individually influenced participant performance. There was also an interaction between AX-CPT type and trial type that provides evidence for a successful manipulation of mode of control. The hypothesized interaction between all variables, however, was not found. Possible limitations of the present study, as well as, future direction were discussed.

En los últimos años, la evolución de los medios online ha ocasionado gran impacto en las tendencias de compra. Esto afecta principalmente a las marcas que buscan crecer a través del mundo digital, por lo que cada vez son más las marcas que trasladan sus negocios a redes sociales o páginas web, buscando dar al consumidor una mejor experiencia de compra. El objetivo principal, en muchos casos, es tener un valor diferencial que haga que sus marcas conecten con sus clientes, es ahí donde entra el término engagement, también conocido como consumer Brand engagement (CBE) que trata de la relación entre el consumidor y la marca, creando un vínculo social y emocional que lleva al consumidor a interactuar con la marca en el ámbito tanto online como offline. La presente investigación considera dos de las principales estrategias de promoción basadas en precio (reducción directa y reducción en el propio producto) como principal fuente de engagement para las marcas en Instagram y se pretende descubrir si la relación entre ambas es positiva o negativa. Para ello, se utilizaron técnicas de recolección de datos cuantitativos y cualitativos que luego de ser analizados dan resultados favorables a la investigación. / In the las years, the evolution of online media has caused a big impact on buying trends. The mainly effects brands that seek to grow through the digital world, so that more and more brands that move their business to social networks or web pages, seeking to give the consumer a better shopping experience. The main objective, in many cases, is to have a differential value that makes their brands connect with their costumers, that’s where the engagement term comes in, also known as consumer brand engagement (CBE) that deals with the relationship between the costumer and the brand, creating social and emotional link that leads the costumer to interact with the brand, both online and offline. This research considers two of the main strategies of promotion based in price (direct reduction and reduction in the product itself) as the main source of engagement for the brands in Instagram and it is intended to discover if the relationship between both is positive or negative. To reach this objective, quantitative and qualitative data collection techniques were used, after being analyzed, they give favorable results to the investigation. / Trabajo de investigación

Supply chain disruptions are more prevalent in Ghana as businesses develop and become more complex. While business leaders recognize the importance of reducing the exposure to disruptions, 83 % of companies still suffer a form of disruption. Using the systems theory as the conceptual framework, the purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore strategies supply chain managers in Ghana use to reduce disruptions in the supply chain. The data collection was through face-to-face, semi-structured interviews from 12 supply chain managers who gave tape-recorded interview responses to 8 questions. Transcript evaluation, member checking, and methodological triangulation ensured reliability and strengthened the credibility of the data collected. Data analysis revealed 6 themes, which included identification of disruptions before they occur, information sharing and collaboration between partners, management strategies to mitigate supply chain disruptions, inventory optimization, availability of human capital, energy, and finance problems. The identification of disruptions was important to participants because they believed if they identified potential disruptions they might prevent them from happening. The collaboration between partners was important because participants believed that the speed at which stakeholders work together after a disruption determines the extent of the cost and the recovery period. Business leaders could apply the findings to provide insight to businesses to reduce disruptions, improve best practices, and increase business profits. Implications for social change include the enhancement of company profits given efficiencies in the supply chain. Such increase in profits leads to increases in taxes, which contributes to the overall betterment of the local communities.