<p> Despite high levels of global connectedness, which is characteristically representative of our 21st century society, United States citizens have been found to be significantly unaware of global affairs. Though the Department of Education has named social media as a viable option for improving the internationalization of classroom curricula, little research exists to quantitatively support such a claim. As what little research does exist exclusively investigates Facebook, no research looks into the viability of other popular social media platforms, such as Twitter or Instagram. The purpose of this study was be to probe, through an experimental design, the extent to which the presentation of globally-related information, textually-based in the case of Twitter and visually-based in the case of Instagram, as well as the source of such information, whether it be from a professional news outlet or a casual social media user, may play in effecting the way American college students consume and process digital information pertaining to global affairs. Such findings will help to pioneer the relatively under-investigated digital intersection of communication and education.</p>

<p> Educational technology can be a powerful tool and the advantages of using it in instruction are abundant. However, it is important that instructors use technology effectively. Recent rapid changes in technology have coincided with rapid growth in online learning. Since the 1990s, learning management systems (LMS) have been adopted in higher education as a means for providing instructors with educational technology tools to manage and facilitate their higher education classes. LMS tools play a significant role in the facilitation of online learning. The changes in educational technology and the growth in online learning have led educators in higher education to examine best practices for integrating technology in online learning. Retention is a major focus of higher education administrators. Thus, student satisfaction in online courses is a concern in order to decrease attrition and improve student persistence in online education. This study examines the relationships between student perception of the usefulness of LMS tools and student online course satisfaction in higher education.</p>

<p> This study is a hermeneutic phenomenology focused on a virtual high school in Central Louisiana. Because virtual education is growing quickly, and student performance in virtual high schools is inconsistent, the study seeks to provide a conceptual model from which to design virtual school curricula and develop virtual school teaches. The proposed model is grounded in three theoretical frameworks and validated through the experience of virtual school teachers. The theoretical frameworks informing the study are the Community of Inquiry model, Sense of Community theory, and the Theory of Transactional Distance. The research participants&rsquo; experiences are used to validate the proposed conceptual model for virtual high school course development. The result is a conceptual model that can be used by virtual high school course designers to guide the development of virtual school curricula. </p><p> The study can also be used to guide the development of strategies for delivering online courses and conducting professional development in a virtual learning environment. The study makes four major findings. The study finds virtual high school students vary in their motivation and autonomy. The study finds the teacher-student relationship to more individualized in the virtual school than in the traditional school. The study finds that virtual high school students do not perceive value in virtual learning communities. Finally, the study finds that virtual school teachers experience with technology is positive, but their students often experience trouble with technology. The study uses these findings to suggest a conceptual model from which to develop virtual high school curricula and teach virtual high school classes.</p>

The natural response to the intrusive bodily sensation of discomfort is positional change. The purpose of this study was to explore how children and young people with profound physical, learning and communication difficulties, largely dependent on others to gauge their need for positional change, have their comfort needs met when using postural management equipment. Thirteen qualitative case studies were undertaken. Nine of the participants attended a special needs education primary or secondary school, two were in transition to school and two attended day services. All participants had a neurodevelopmental disability, with each being the focus of one case study. Parents, teachers, therapists and key support staff were interviewed, and the school or day centre routines of the children and young people were observed, with selective video recording. Single case and cross case analyses were undertaken. The findings showed threats to comfort include the restrictive nature of various accessories, hastiness of care tasks producing positioning errors and the procedural stretching of tissues prior to application. Opportunities for lessening discomfort included scheduled daily routines and time out of postural management equipment. Equipment use for the children and young people in this study was intrinsically coupled with care giving. Attentive caregivers read the behavioural expressions of the children and young people and reassuringly responded, safeguarding them from discomforting experiences. This maximised each individual‘s adaptive functioning, without compromising the benefits of postural support. This study highlights that the same item of equipment can be both comfortable and uncomfortable. Given the social and interactional world in which the children and young people live and learn, and the complex nature of their difficulties, it is others who must accept responsibility for ensuring their optimal level of comfort.

No description available.

The genesis of atherosclerosis has previously been shown to be affected by the frictional load from the blood on the vessel wall, called the wall shear stress (WSS). Assessment of WSS can therefore provide important information for diagnoses, intervention planning, and follow‐up. Calculation of WSS requires high‐resolved velocity data from the vessel, which in turn can be obtained using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). In this work large eddy simulation LES was successfully used to simulate transitional flow in idealized as well as subject specific vessel models. It was shown that a scale resolving technique is to prefer for this application, since much valuable information otherwise is lost. Besides, Reynolds‐Averaged Navier‐Stokes (RANS) models have generally failed to predict this type of flow. Non‐pulsating flows of Reynolds numbers up to 2 000 in a circular constricted pipe showed that turbulence is likely to occur in the post‐stenotic region, which resulted in a complex WSS pattern characterized by large spatial as well temporal fluctuations in all directions along the wall. Time averaged streamwise WSS was relatively high, while time averaged circumferential WSS was low, meaning that endothelial cells in that region would be exposed to oscillations in a stretched state in the streamwise direction and in a relaxed state in the circumferential direction. Since every vessel is unique, so is also its WSS pattern. Hence the CFD simulations must be done in subject specific vessel models. Such can be created from anatomical information acquired with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). MRI can also be used to obtain velocity boundary conditions for the simulation. This technique was used to investigate pulsating flow in a subject specific normal human aorta. It was shown that even the flow in healthy vessels can be very disturbed and turbulence like, and even for this case large WSS variations were seen. It was also shown that regions around branches from the aorta, known to be susceptible for atherosclerosis, were characterized by high time averaged WSS and high oscillatory shear index. Finally, the predictive capability of CFD was investigated. An idealized model of a human aorta with a coarctation and post‐stenotic dilatation was studied before and after a possible repair of the constriction. The results suggested that small remaining abnormalities in the geometry may deteriorate the chances for a successful treatment. Also, high values of shear rate and Reynolds stresses were found in the dilatation after the constriction, which previous works have shown means increased risk for thrombus formation and hemolysis.

Under en lång tid har det satsats på att energieffektivisera byggnader under dess driftfas, då tidigare studier visar att driftfasen står för 85 procent av en byggnads totala energianvändning på 50 till 100 år, medan produktionsfasen står för 15 procent. Att bara ta hänsyn till klimatbelastning som uppstår under byggnadens bruk, har som konsekvens att energiförbrukningen förskjutits i fas, vilket resulterar i att energifördelningen har förflyttats till en ökad andel i produktionsfasen. Detta examensarbete syftar till att lyfta frågan om byggproduktionens energianvändning, genom att kartlägga hur mycket energi som förbrukas på plats i produktionskedet för att bygga ett flerbostadshus beläget i Umeå.  I detta examensarbete har tre olika stommaterial, platsgjuten betong, stål med prefabricerade betong och trä, undersökts och analyserats. För att projektet ska kunna genomföras har det utgåtts från ett referensobjekt, Kvarteret Sjörået på Tomtebo i Umeå som innefattar tre byggnader om fyra plan vardera, där endast ett fack av ett av husen undersöktes. Studien utgår från att fastställa det energikrävande momentet för de olika stommaterialen, för att sedan beräkna energiförbrukningen för dessa stommaterial baserat på det energikrävande momentet. Under projektets gång har olika aktörer inom byggbranschen kontaktats, simuleringar utförts i programmet TorkaS och en mängd olika antagande gjorts. Gällande mängder material har överförts från rapporten Livscykelanalys med fokus på energianvändning under tillverkningsfasen – en jämförelse mellan olika stommaterial av Mi Von Ahn. Resultatet som fås för det studerade referensobjektet visar att skillnaden i energianvändning för de olika stommaterialen är stor under produktionsfasen för referensobjektet. Resultatet visar att det går mest energi åt för att torka platsgjutna betongelement, då det krävs fläktar som i stort sätt drar mycket energi. När det är frågan om prefabricerade stomelement spelar stomelementens vikt stor roll, då det behövs lyftkranar som är anpassade efter byggelementens tyngd. Dessutom drar lyftkranarna olika mycket el, beroende på elementens vikt och lyfthastighet. Trästommen var mest fördelaktig i denna studie, på grund av stommens lätta vikt. Viktigt att poängtera är att resultatet för denna studie utgår från ett specifikt referensobjekt, vilket innebär att resultatet kan se annorlunda ut beroende på bland annat val av systemgränser. / For a long time the focus of energy efficiency in building constructions has mainly been focused on its operational phase, as previous studies show that the operational phase accounts for 85 percent of a building’s total energy consumption during its lifetime, estimated at 50 to 100 years, the production phase is estimated to account for 15 percent. By only accounting for the climate impact from buildings during the operational phase, has led to energy consumption shifting in phase, resulting in an increased share of the total energy distribution in the production phase. This thesis aims to highlight the issue of the energy consumption during the construction phase, by mapping how much energy is consumed on the spot in the production stage to build an apartment building located in Umeå. In this thesis three different framing materials has been examined and analyzed; in situ concrete, steel combined with precast concrete and wood. In order to implement the project, the main focus has been on a reference object, Kvarteret Sjörået in Tomtebo in Umeå, which includes three buildings of four floors each, where only one compartment of one of the buildings has been examined. The study of this thesis begins with determining the energy-consuming steps for each framing materials, followed by calculating the energy consumption of these frame materials. During the project contacts have been taken with various stakeholders from the construction industry in addition to simulations performed in the program TorkaS and a variety of adoption has been made. Regarding the amounts of material assumed consumption in this study a basis has been taken in the previous thesis Life cycle analysis with a focus on energy use during the manufacturing phase – a comparison of frame materials by Mi Von Ahn.  The result obtained for the reference object shows that the difference in energy consumption between the studied frame materials is high during the production phase of the reference object. The result further shows that in situ concrete frame is the most energy consuming alternative during the construction phase due to need of large fans that is consuming a lot of energy. When it comes to prefabricated frame materials the energy consumption is largely due to the need for cranes where one important aspect is the weight of the elements. In addition cranes use electricity depending on the elements weight and depending on the lifting speed. Wood was most advantageous in this study, because of its light weight body. Important to note is that the results of this study are based on a specific reference object, which means that the results may be different depending on many factors, for example the choice of system limits.

This thesis is concerned with exploring methods for making computing systems more resilient to problems in the network communication, both in the setting of existing infrastructure but also in the case where no infrastructure is available. Specifically, we target a situation called network partitions which means that a computer or device network is split in two or more parts that cannot communicate with each other. The first of the two tracks in the thesis is concerned with upholding system availability during a network partition even when there are integrity constraints on data. This means that the system will optimistically accept requests since it is impossible to coordinate nodes that have no means of communicating during finite intervals; thus requiring a reconciliation process to take place once the network is healed. We provide several different algorithms for reconciling divergent states of the nodes, one of which is able to allow the system to continue accepting operations during the reconciliation phase as opposed to having to stop all invocations.  The algorithms are evaluated analytically, proving correctness and the conditions for termination.  The performance of the algorithms has been analysed using simulations and as a middleware plugin in an emulated setting. The second track considers more extreme conditions where the network is partitioned by its nature. The nodes move around in an area and opportunistically exchange messages with nodes that they meet. This as a model of the situation in a disaster area where the telecommunication networks are disabled. This scenario poses a number of challenges where protocols need to be both partition-tolerant and energy-efficient to handle node mobility, while still providing good delivery and latency properties. We analyse worst-case latency for message dissemination in such intermittently connected networks. Since the analysis is highly dependent on the mobility of the nodes, we provide a model for characterising connectivity of dynamic networks. This model captures in an abstract way how fast a protocol can spread a message in such a setting. We show how this model can be derived analytically as well as from actual trace files. Finally, we introduce a manycast protocol suited for disaster area networks. This protocol has been evaluated using simulations which shows that it provides very good performance under the circumstances, and it has been implemented as a proof-of-concept on real hardware.

This thesis contributes to three research areas in software security, namely security requirements and intrusion prevention via static analysis and runtime detection. We have investigated current practice in security requirements by doing a field study of eleven requirement specifications on IT systems. The conclusion is that security requirements are poorly specified due to three things:  inconsistency in the selection of requirements, inconsistency in level of detail, and almost no requirements on standard security solutions. A follow-up interview study addressed the reasons for the inconsistencies and the impact of poor security requirements. It shows that the projects had relied heavily on in-house security competence and that mature producers of software compensate for poor requirements in general but not in the case of security and privacy requirements specific to the customer domain. Further, we have investigated the effectiveness of five publicly available static analysis tools for security. The test results show high rates of false positives for the tools building on lexical analysis and low rates of true positives for the tools building on syntactical and semantical analysis. As a first step toward a more effective and generic solution we propose decorated dependence graphs as a way of modeling and pattern matching security properties of code. The models can be used to characterize both good and bad programming practice as well as visually explain code properties to programmers. We have implemented a prototype tool that demonstrates how such models can be used to detect integer input validation flaws. Finally, we investigated the effectiveness of publicly available tools for runtime prevention of buffer overflow attacks. Our initial comparison showed that the best tool as of 2003 was effective against only 50 % of the attacks and there were six attack forms which none of the tools could handle. A follow-up study includes the release of a buffer overflow testbed which covers 850 attack forms. Our evaluation results show that the most popular, publicly available countermeasures cannot prevent all of these buffer overflow attack forms.

Syftet med denna undersökning är att ta fram en taxonomi för databashanteringssystem (DBMS) som kan förenkla valet av DBMS, då det kan vara en lång och komplicerad process. Taxonomin klassificerar kriterier hos DBMS som anses viktiga i en litteraturstudie av flertalet artiklar. Arbetet visar även på en strukturerad process för att gå från krav till val av databashanterare i form av ett poängsystem som använder sig av taxonomin och DBMS rangordning på olika kriterier. Valprocessen tar ställning till de val och krav som användaren lämnat och slutligen tilldelas denne ett förslag, utan att kräva tid och avancerade kunskaper. / The purpose of this study is to develop a taxonomy for database management systems (DBMS) that can simplify the choice of DBMS, when this usually can be a long and complicated process. The taxonomy classifies criteria of DBMS that are considered important in the literature of several articles. The work also shows a structured process to go from requirements to the choice of the DBMS in form of a score based system that uses the taxonomy and the management system’s ranking on different criteria. User choices and other mandatory information is taken into consideration by the process to represent the most suitable DBMS, without requiring time and advanced skills of the user.