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The purpose of this action-oriented needs assessment was to ascertain the knowledge, motivation, and culture (KMC) needs of Blacks regarding joining the Be The Match bone marrow registry and participating in the bone marrow donation process. This needs assessment will be utilized to lay the foundation for an educational and research based nonprofit organization, Angels In Disguise, that I developed. This study will also be used to inform the bone marrow registry of the KMC needs of the Blacks who participated in this study. The data collection came from nine observations, four post-observation surveys, five donor interviews, two prototype development groups, and a prototype field test. The formative results from the data collection partially aligned with the literature, which showed that a lack of knowledge resulted in Blacks not joining the Registry. An outlier materialized from the formative data, indicating that all five donor interviewees had joined the bone marrow registry without having knowledge of it, its processes, or the critical need for Blacks to join. On the other hand, the formative data supported the literature when the donor interviewees became a bone marrow match and were faced with the decision to move forward with the bone marrow donation process. All five donor interviewees sought and obtained knowledge about the bone marrow registry prior to being able to move forward with the donation process. In contrast, the formative data around motivation fully aligned with the literature. Blacks who lacked motivation do not join the bone marrow registry or participate in the bone marrow donation process, whereas the literature stated that many Blacks do not join the bone marrow registry due to cultural attitudes and beliefs. Research indicates that the Black community distrusts the medical community due to their being used as medical guinea pigs in the past. Also, Blacks fear pain and their health being compromised due to bone marrow donation. Interestingly, the formative data results did not support or show a lack of support of the literature. Cultural attributes and beliefs did not manifest themselves in the formative data results. The two prototype development groups participated in design thinking utilizing iterative brainstorming exercises, rapid prototyping, and assumption testing. The prototype development groups analyzed the data by categorizing and coding the data into themes through participatory research and collaborative analysis. The results of the two prototype development groups culminated into a final prototype. The final prototype was aimed at addressing the KMC needs of the Black participants, which were two-fold. First, the Registry needs to build a relationship with the Black community. Second, participants required knowledge about the Registry, the matching and donation processes, and the critical need for Blacks to join the Registry and participate in the donation process be provided to them in an educational setting, a symposium. The final prototype culminated into a bone marrow symposium that was tested in the field. The final prototype consisted of three videos about the bone marrow registry, a panel discussion with three Black bone marrow donors who had donated to non-relatives, and a pre- and post-prototype field test survey. The summative findings of this study were the results of the pre- and post-prototype field test surveys and post prototype field test. The findings of the pre-prototype field test survey, regarding knowledge, indicate the participants knew nothing or very little about the bone marrow registry. After being exposed to the prototype, the participants indicated in the post-prototype field test survey they had learned by joining the bone marrow registry they could possibly save a life. They also indicated they did not need any additional information about the bone marrow registry in order to make a decision to join and participate in the bone marrow donation process. Regarding motivation, there was not much change between the pre- and post-prototype field test survey results. The participants had indicated in both the pre- and post-prototype field test surveys that they would be motivated to join the bone marrow registry and participate in the bone marrow donation process if it could save a life. With regard to culture, the participants indicated in both the pre- and post-prototype field test surveys that no beliefs would affect their decision to join the registry and participate in the bone marrow donation process.

This dissertation describes and evaluates the gradual development of e-government in the Czech Republic, especially the part that affects communication and interaction between public administration and private sector (citizens and firms). The introduction describes why an e-government was perceived as a separate discipline and how does it affect the development of IT and the Internet. The next section deals with the basic division of the government approach to an e-government -- whether the government pays attention only to legislation and standardization, and operation of IT services is left to the private sector, or whether the government itself guarantees the operation of some basic IT services. The largest part is devoted to the gradual development of e-government in the Czech Republic, its critical milestones (such as new laws) and starts (or ends) of important information systems. It also describes the successes and the failures of these milestones and their impact on both public administration and private sector. The final section describes the currently known vision of e-government in the Czech Republic (actually the absence of such a vision). In conclusion, it summarizes findings from previous chapters and it describes both the positive and the negative aspects of existing projects. Finally, it proposes how to mimic the successful ones and how to avoid the unsuccessful ones.

Forests represent both, one of the strongest drivers of, and solutions to, the rapid shift in the earth’s climate. Integrating the use of forests as a cost effective solution into emerging global carbon markets however has proven extremely difficult. The incentive for companies to utilize carbon credits as a means to offset emissions is heavily dependent upon the credibility of the project that created it. The difficulty proving the credibility of forest projects is largely due to the inherent variation associated with forest environments. British Columbia’s pine beetle epidemic provides an extreme example of just how quickly vast carbon sinks can suddenly become sources. As such, the creation of standards to ensure the security of carbon sequestered by forest projects has proven to be instrumental in encouraging their acceptance into the market. British Columbia has recognized that its forests play an integral role in its contribution to the global carbon cycle. As a result, heavy consideration is being made as to how this resource may be integrated as a source of carbon offsets for its own Cap-and-Trade market. This will mean establishing specific standards for forest projects in a BC context. This report reviews two regional standards from the states of Georgia and California, which could be applied as templates for a set of BC specific protocols for forest carbon sequestration projects. It is intended that through a comparison and analysis of these standards that potential problems faced in applying similar standards here will be identified.

The presented master's thesis deals with the issue of storing and sharing data from medical imaging systems. This thesis, inter alia, consists of organizational and informatics aspects of medical imaging systems data in multicentric studies containing MRI brain images. This thesis also includes technical design of a web-based application for image data sharing including a web interface suitable for manipulation with the image data stored in a database.

El presente informe tiene como finalidad exponer los aspectos más relevantes del expediente 06465-2009-0-1801-JR-CI-07, el mismo que se generó por una demanda de nulidad de acto jurídico. / Trabajo de suficiencia profesional

Att skydda sin data idag kommer med flera utmaningar då lösenord som enda autentiseringsmetod är otillräcklig. Lösenord är ofta användarvänliga, enkla att hålla koll på och är utan kostnad för användaren. Det går alltid att göra lösenord säkrare men det upplevs ofta som svårhanterligt. I stället för detta kan man även använda ytterligare autentiseringsmetod. Många sidor och tjänster använder idag så kallad två- eller flerfaktorsautentisering genom t.ex. BankID eller säkerhetsnycklar. Med all ny teknik följer nya säkerhetsaspekter att ta hänsyn till, speciellt om denna teknik lämnar efter sig spår som kan utnyttjas av t.ex. hackare. Arbetets syfte är att undersöka spårbara artefakter som är kopplade till de fysiska säkerhetsnycklarna Solo 1 och YubiKey 5 NFC i Windows Registret i Windows 10 Pro N, samt utvärdera om tidigare kända sårbarheter kan bidra till insikter om säkerhetsnycklars säkerhet. Detta genomförs med hjälp av två kvalitativa metoder, dels genom en kartläggning av sårbarheter, dels genom ett experiment. Baserat på de funna sårbarheterna som har hittats så går det inte att säga huruvida de säkerhetsnycklarna skiljer sig i säkerhetsnivå, men det är tydligt att det främst är i firmware och mjukvara där sårbarheterna finns. Huruvida den ena säkerhetsnyckeln är säkrare än den andra går inte att fastställa, samt om en öppen källkod har någon betydelse vad gäller säkerhet. Dessutom går det att konstatera att spårbara artefakter från en säkerhetsnyckel kan hittas i ett Windows operativsystem. Baserat på de funna sårbarheterna som har hittats så går det inte att säga huruvida de säkerhetnycklarna skiljer sig i säkerhetsnivå, men det är tydligt att det främst är i firmware och mjukvara där sårbarheterna finns. Huruvida den ena säkerhets-nyckeln är säkrare än den andra går inte att fastställa, samt om öppen källkod har någon betydelse vad gäller säkerhet. Dessutom går det att konstatera att spår-bara artefakter från en säkerhetsnyckel kan hittas i ett Windows operativsystem. / Protecting your data today comes with several challenges since a password as the only authentication method is insufficient. Passwords are often user-friendly, easy to keep track of, and at no cost for the user. Passwords can always be made more secure, but this task is often perceived as tedious. Instead, additional authentication methods may be used. Many sites and services today use so-called two- or multifactor authentication, e.g. BankID (a type of eID) or security keys. all new technology comes with unique security aspects to consider, especially if this technology leaves behind traces that can be exploited by, e.g., hackers. This study aims to investigate traceable artifacts associated with the physical security key Solo 1 and YubiKey 5 NFC in the Windows Registry in Windows 10 Pro N and to evaluate whether previously known vulnerabilities can contribute to insights into security key security. The study uses two qualitative methods, one mapping out the vulnerabilities and another through an experiment. Based on the vulnerabilities that was found, it is not possible to conclude whether the security keys differ in security level. Still, it is mainly in the firmware and software where the vulnerabilities exist. Whether one security key is more secure than the other is inconclusive, and whether open-source code has any implications regarding security. In addition, it is ascertained that traceable artifacts from a security key can be found in a Windows operating system.

Social factors moderate the impacts of natural hazards, which means that households are affected differently when exposed to the same hazard. This differential impact of hazards can be explained by the concept of social vulnerability, which is commonly assessed to inform disaster preparedness and response action. Most of these assessments, however, focus their analyses on large administrative units and, consequently, neglect the heterogeneity of households within these units. This thesis leverages data from Malawi’s social registry (the UBR) to construct a Household Social Vulnerability Index for Nsanje – one of the most disaster-prone districts in Malawi. In Nsanje, geocoded socio-economic data was collected using a census-sweep approach with the goal of registering 100% of the district’s residents. From this dataset, indicators are deductively selected and analyzed using Principal Component Analysis to produce a social vulnerability score for each household. These index scores are mapped at a spatial resolution of 0,01°. By repurposing a social registry to inform a new set of actors, including humanitarian and disaster risk management practitioners, the thesis highlights the considerable scope for collaboration within the realm of data and information by actors and policy fields that traditionally largely have operated in isolation from one another.

The Georgia Department of Public Health has been engaged in a registry-based quality improvement initiative to monitor and improve the quality of stroke care. It is important to evaluate effectiveness of the quality improvement initiative in order to expand the effort to other sites or disease conditions. The studies, included in this dissertation, addressed whether acute ischemic stroke patients cared for by hospitals participating in the Georgia Coverdell Acute Stroke Registry (GCASR) had a better survival than those treated at other facilities, assessed whether quality of care as measured by nationally accepted ten performance measures is associated with improved patient outcome and evaluated the impact of intravenous alteplase treatment on 1-year mortality. Three data sources – GCASR, Georgia Discharge Data System and the death data – were used for analyses. These data sources were linked applying both a hierarchical deterministic and a probabilistic linkage methods. Survival after stroke incident was analyzed using the extended Cox proportional hazard model. Generalized estimating equation (glimmix procedure) and conditional logistic regression were applied, respectively, to assess the association of quality of care and intravenous alteplase use with 1-year mortality. Acute ischemic stroke patients treated at nonparticipating facilities had a hazard ratio for death of 1.14 (95% confidence interval, 1.03–1.26; p-value = .01) after the first week of admission compared with patients cared for by hospitals participating in the registry. Among patients treated in GCASR-participating hospitals, patients who received the lowest and intermediate quality care respectively had a 3.94 (95%CI: 3.27, 4.75; p-value <0.0001) and a 1.38 (95%CI: 1.12, 1.62; p-value=0.002) times higher odds of dying in one year compared to those who got the best quality stroke care. Patients who were eligible but did not receive IV alteplase had a 1.49 (95%CI: 1.09-2.04; p-value=0.01) times higher odds of dying within one year than those who were treated with the thrombolytic agent. The results strongly suggest that registry-based quality improvement effort has brought significant improvements in ischemic stroke patients’ outcomes. Therefore, it is critical that hospitals adopt a quality improvement strategy to change the process of care delivery for a better patient outcome.

When choosing a gift, the gift-giver has three distinct but interdependent goals: the item must 1) satisfy the recipient 2) be self-reflective for the gift-giver, and 3) indicate the nature of the relationship between the giver and the recipient. However, these goals are often mutually exclusive, making it infeasible for the giver to meet both his/her own and the recipient’s needs with his/her gift choices. In both essays we look at how the important moderator of social closeness between the giver and recipient influences givers’ prioritization of these goals. In Essay 1, we constrain givers to choose from a gift registry and posit that purchasing an identity-incongruent product can threaten an individual’s identity, particularly when purchasing for a close (vs. distant) friend who is an integral part of the self. Five experiments in the context of gift registry show that givers choosing identity-incongruent gifts for a close (vs. distant) friend experience an identity threat and seek to re-establish their shaken identities by endorsing the threatened identity and choosing identity-expressive products in subsequent decisions. In Essay 2 we loosen the constraints of the gift choice and allow givers to choose or reject the gift registry. Our main hypothesis is that when choosing for a close (vs. distant) friend, the giver will discount the recipient’s explicit preferences in favor of a gift that signals the giver’s identity or the relationship between them. However, prior research indicates that close friends choose inaccurately for one another as they conflate their own preferences with those of the recipients’. Thus we suggest that since givers are more likely to make a free choice (vs. registry choice) for a close (vs. distant) friend, they face an increased likelihood of choosing a less desirable gift for their close friends. / text