In this study, a computer simulation model for library CD-ROM LAN systems was created. Using this model, the system optimization problems were examined. The simulation model imitated the process of the actual decision variables changing their values and generated the corresponding results. Under a certain system environment, if the values of decision variables are changing, the system performances are getting changed also. This study investigated these relationships with the created model. The system users' interarrival time, service time, and other relevant data were collected on randomly selected days in a university library. For data collection, both of the observation and the system automatic metering software were used. According to the collected data, a discrete events simulation model was created with GPSS/H. The simulation model was proven valid and accurate by a pilot test and by the calculation with queuing theory. Statistical tests were used for data comparison and analysis. In addition, animation technique was used to show the simulation process by using Proof Animation. By this technique, the simulation process was monitored on the screen.

Cette enquête épidémiologique porte sur l'impact sanitaire de la décharge de Mbeubeuss, réceptacle de l'ensemble des déchets ménagers et industriels de Dakar (Sénégal), sur la population résidant à proximité. Les déchets, stockés sans être recouverts, sont source de pollution atmosphérique et des sols, notamment par le plomb et le cadmium. Les répercussions sanitaires sont d'autant plus préoccupantes que de nombreux riverains de cette décharge sont directement ou indirectement exposés. L'objectif de cette étude était de déterminer, après caractérisation chimique des échantillons de sol et de particules atmosphériques, l'imprégnation de la population (enfants et adultes) à ces deux métaux et de rechercher leur éventuel impact sur la fonction rénale. Nos résultats ont mis en évidence des teneurs atmosphériques et telluriques en plomb et en cadmium plus élevées sur le site de la décharge (teneurs 20 à 80 fois plus élevées que celles de la zone témoin). L'imprégnation saturnine, déterminée au travers des plombémies, plomburies et des marqueurs biologiques d'effet (PPZ, AlaU), de même que les teneurs sanguines et urinaires en cadmium étaient significativement plus importantes chez les individus résidant au voisinage de la décharge. La production excessive d'espèces réactives de l'oxygène induite par cette imprégnation s'est traduit par une diminution du système de défenses antioxydantes (SOD, GPx, Sélénium, GSH) et une peroxydation lipidique (MDA) accrue chez les sujets exposés. En outre, les variations de certains des marqueurs sensibles et spécifiques de néphrotoxicité (concentrations urinaires élevées en protéines totales, en RBP et en CC16 ; et augmentation des activités GSTα et LDH) suggèrent l'apparition de signes discrets et précoces d'altération de la fonction rénale chez les individus résidant à proximité de la décharge. L'exposition aux émissions de la décharge de Mbeubeuss constitue donc une véritable source de risques pour l'environnement et la santé des populations environnantes. Cette étude pourrait sans doute contribuer à conscientiser les acteurs de la santé sur les risques liés à cette décharge et à placer ces problèmes environnementaux, qui constituent un nouveau défi pour les pays pauvres, au cœur des futurs programmes de développement. / This case-control study dealt with adverse health effects on the population living near Mbeubeuss landfill in Dakar (Senegal). All household and industrial waste arising from Dakar are stored in this open landfill without being covered and are therefore possible sources of air pollution and soil contamination by heavy metals, especially Pb and Cd. Health impacts are of particular concern since many of the neighboring residents of this discharge are directly or indirectly exposed. The objective of this study was to determine Pb and Cd concentrations in both environment and humans, and to evaluate possible renal function alteration within the adult and child populations. Our results showed that lead and cadmium concentrations of soils and atmosphere were higher in the landfill (20 to 80 times) than those of the control area. The lead impregnation, evaluated through the blood and urine lead levals, and the biomarkers of exposure (PPZ, ALAU) as well as blood and urine cadmiums levels, were significantly higher in the subjects neighboring the landfill. Excessive production of reactive oxygen species induced by the metal impregnation conducted in exposed subjects to a decrease in antioxidant defense system (SOD, GPx, Selenium, GSH) and an increase in lipid peroxidation (MDA). Moreover, changes in several sensitive and specific markers of nephrotoxicity (high urinary concentrations of total protein, RBP and CC16, as well as GSTα and increased activities) suggested the occurence of discrete and early signs of impaired renal function for the landfill neighboring population. Exposure to emissions from the Mbeubeuss landfill is therefore a source of risk for the environment and the health of people who live and/or work within it. This study could undoubtedly help to raise awareness of landfill-related health risks amoung stakeholders, and to place these environmental problems, wich constitute a new challenge for poor countries, at the heart of future development programs.

Världen står inför ett stort vattenförsörjningsproblem som måste lösas – så många som 884 miljoner människor använder idag potentiellt förorenade vattenkällor till sitt dricksvatten. Denna rapport fokuserar på ett av de drabbade länderna som är Uganda. Syftet med projektet är att undersöka vilket/vilka av de fem olika ugandiska växterna; Erythrina abyssinica, Musa spp, Cyperus papyrus, Imperata cylindrica och Coffea canephora som är mest lämplig för rening av kadmium- och blykontaminerat grundvatten. Katjonbyteskapaciteten bestäms genom laboration. Analyser kring växtmaterialen görs med hjälp av litteraturstudier och intervjuer med en doktorand från Uganda. M. spp visar sig ha klart högst katjonbyteskapacitet och finns även i form av mycket avfall, därför anses denna vara det mest lämpliga materialet för rening. Lösningen skulle kunna implementeras i samhället med ett filter gjort av växtmaterial, om vidare forskning görs. / The world is facing a major water supply problem to solve, as many as 884 million people currently use potentially polluted water sources for their drinking water. This report focuses on one of the affected countries, which is Uganda. The project aims to examine which of the five different Ugandan plants; Erythrina abyssinica, Musa spp, Cyperus papyrus, Imperata cylindrica and Coffea canephora that is the most suitable for purification of cadmium- and lead contaminated groundwater. The cation exchange capacity is determined by laboratory experiment. Literature studies and interviews with a Ugandan postgraduate student are used for the analysis of the plant materials. M. spp has the highest cation exchange capacity and contributes with a lot of waste material; therefore it is considered the most suitable material for purification. The solution could be implemented in the community with a filter made of plant material, if further research is done.

The amount of data being collected is increasing astronomically. Hence questions about privacy and data security are becoming more important than ever. A fast-changing culture is also reflected in the demands and requirements placed on software systems. Products and services need to evolve with the demands and feedback from customers to stay relevant on the market. Working methods and technologies have been refined to afford updating software continuously. However, rapidly changing software cause concern for the quality and level of security in the release. This thesis is a comprehensive literature study, reviewing the challenges of ensuring secure practises for continuously evolving software. The problem solved by the thesis is lack of an overall picture of the security concerns during continuous evolution. The findings are summarised in a checklist of areas of concern for security when maintaining and updating systems with continuous practises in cloud environments. This study shows that ensuring security, while delivering continuous releases, is a daunting task. It requires close collaboration between teams handling different aspects of software. This, in turn, entails a widening of competences to include knowledge about the work of other departments. It is concluded that personnel with this wide range of skill will be hard to acquire. / I en tid då mängden data som samlas in om individer ökar i ohindrad takt, blir frågor om integritet och informationssäkerhet viktigare än någonsin. Kraven på snabb utveckling och förändring präglar även metoderna för mjukvaruutveckling. Produkter och tjänster måste konstant anpassas efter kundernas önskemål för att förbli relevant på marknaden. Arbetssätt och teknologier har utvecklats över tid för att möjliggöra mjukvara som uppdateras kontinuerligt. Konstant föränderlig mjukvara leder dock till oro för kvalitén och säkerheten av uppdateringarna. Den här uppsatsen är en litteraturstudie som undersöker utmaningarna att säkerställa säkerhet för mjukvara som uppdateras kontinuerligt. Problemet som löses genom studien är den saknade helhetsbilden av säkerhetsproblem vid kontinuerligt föränderlig mjukvara. Resultatet sammanfattas i en checklista för områden som väcker oro för säkerheten vid arbetssätt som tillåter kontinuerliga uppdateringar i moln-miljöer. Studien visar att leverera säkra lösningar kontinuerligt är en svår uppgift. Det kräver nära samarbete mellan team som sköter olika delar av mjukvaruutveckling. Detta fordrar vida kompetenser som inkluderar förståelse av varandras arbete. Att finna personal med tillräckligt vida kompetenser uppskattas vara problematiskt.

This thesis applies energy measurements to the domain of continuous integration (CI) and continuous delivery (CD) pipelines. The goal is to conduct transparent and fine-granular energy measurements of these pipelines, increasing awareness and allowing optimizations regarding their energy efficiency. CI and CD automate processes like compilation, running tests, and code analysis tools and can improve the software quality and developer experience and enable more frequent releases. Initially, the applicability of existing energy measurement approaches for these tasks is analyzed. Afterward, a generic framework consisting of a pipeline run analyzer, a resource consumption collector, and an energy calculator is proposed. A representative implementation for a state-of-the-art infrastructure is devised to demonstrate its functionality, enabling the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data from real-world examples. Finally, it is examined whether this data aligns with the theoretical considerations and can be used to optimize the pipelines. The overall goal is to contribute to the sustainability of DevOps processes and therefore counteract the disastrous consequences of unrestrained climate change. / Denna avhandling tillämpar energimätningar på området kontinuerlig integration (CI) och kontinuerlig leverans (CD). Målet är att genomföra transparenta och finkorniga energimätningar av dessa pipelines, vilket ökar medvetenheten och möjliggör optimeringar av deras energieffektivitet. CI och CD automatiserar processer som kompilering, testkörning och kodanalysverktyg och kan förbättra programvarukvaliteten och utvecklarens upplevelse samt möjliggöra tätare lanseringar. Inledningsvis analyseras tillämpligheten av befintliga metoder för energimätning för dessa uppgifter. Därefter föreslås ett generiskt ramverk som består av en analysator för pipelinekörning, en insamlare av resursförbrukning och en energikalkylator. För att demonstrera dess funktionalitet utarbetas en representativ implementering för en modern infrastruktur som möjliggör insamling, analys och tolkning av data från verkliga exempel. Slutligen undersöks om dessa uppgifter stämmer överens med de teoretiska övervägandena och kan användas för att optimera rörledningarna. Det övergripande målet är att bidra till hållbarheten i DevOpsprocesser och därmed motverka de katastrofala konsekvenserna av ohämmade klimatförändringar.

Выпускная квалификационная работа 56 страниц, 19 рисунков, 11 источников, 8 приложений. Цель работы – разработка клиентской части веб-приложения «Мониторинг IT-конференций». В процессе работы был проведён анализ популярных фреймворков для веб-разработки, настроена интеграция с серверами CDN на базе сервиса Surge, создан Docker-образ с веб-приложением, настроена интеграция с GitHub Actions для CI/CD, настроен клиентский и серверный мониторинги на базе Sentry. В результате ВКР разработана клиентская часть на базе фреймворка Next.js для веб-приложения «Мониторинг IT-конференций». / Final qualification work 56 pages, 19 figures, 11 sources, 8 appendices. The purpose of the work is to develop the client part of the web application "Monitoring of IT conferences". In the process, we analyzed popular frameworks for web development, configured integration with CDN servers based on the Surge service, created a Docker image with a web application, configured integration with GitHub Actions for CI/CD, configured client and server monitoring based on Sentry. As a result of the final qualifying work, the client part was developed on the basis of the Next framework.js for the IT Conference Monitoring web application.

We present multisightline absorption spectroscopy of cool gas around three lensing galaxies at z = 0.4-0.7. These lenses have half-light radii r(e) = 2.6-8 kpc and stellar masses of log M-*/M-circle dot = 10.9-11.4, and therefore resemble nearby passive elliptical galaxies. The lensed QSO sightlines presented here occur at projected distances of d = 3-15 kpc (or d approximate to 1-2 r(e)) from the lensing galaxies, providing for the first time an opportunity to probe both interstellar gas at r similar to r(e) and circumgalactic gas at larger radii r >> r(e) of these distant quiescent galaxies. We observe distinct gas absorption properties among different lenses and among sightlines of individual lenses. Specifically, while the quadruple lens for HE 0435-1223 shows no absorption features to very sensitive limits along all four sightlines, strong MgII, Fe II, Mg I, and Ca II absorption transitions are detected along both sightlines near the double lens for HE 0047-1756, and in one of the two sightlines near the double lens for HE 1104-1805. The absorbers are resolved into 8-15 individual components with a line-of-sight velocity spread of Delta v approximate to 300-600 km s(-1). The large ionic column densities, log N greater than or similar to 14, observed in two components suggest that these may be Lyman limit or damped Ly a absorbers with a significant neutral hydrogen fraction. The majority of the absorbing components exhibit a uniform supersolar Fe/Mg ratio with a scatter of < 0.1 dex across the full Delta v range. Given a predominantly old stellar population in these lensing galaxies, we argue that the observed large velocity width and Fe-rich abundance pattern can be explained by SNe Ia enriched gas at radius r similar to r(e). We show that additional spatial constraints in line-of-sight velocity and relative abundance ratios afforded by a multisightline approach provide a powerful tool to resolve the origin of chemically enriched cool gas in massive haloes.

Ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn’s disease (CD) are the two common forms of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). They share similar clinical and demographic features as well as harbor key differences in tissue damage and prognosis. Previous studies indicated that they contributed to the increased rick to Colorectal cancer (CRC). However, whether UC and CD share inflammatory signatures still remains controversial. In addition, no inflammatory signatures have been reported on CRC. To answer these questions, a comprehensive study has been conducted on collected microarray datasets. Our analysis suggests that although CD and UC share common inflammatory pathways, they also present difference. Especially, CD patients are likely to have type I response, while UC patients are inclined to undergo type II response. Pathway enrichment analysis on CRC uncovered two potential CRC-specific inflammatory pathways.

Purpose The purpose of this thesis is to develop a holistic understanding of customers’ value perceptions and experiences within the online apparel industry. In doing so, the authors’ hope to develop managerial guidelines for companies to utilize. This will be done with a customerdominant logic approach. Design/Methodology/Approach As the study aims to understand behavior and perceptions, the authors have used an inductive, qualitative method to gain the deepest possible customer insight. By using a case study, the authors have been able to further understand the given context. Using focus group interviews resonated in the authors aim to understand why the participants reasoned as they did, as they would in a focus group session argue for their standpoint. The interview template was influenced by the theories on value formation within customer-dominant logic. Findings This study strengthens the relevance of CD logic empirically and provides a deeper understanding of customers’ value perceptions and the reasons behind them. Functional elements of value were proven to be important, yet it was the values derived of emotional and life-changing elements that created true value. Based on the findings of this study, the authors have proposed a new term, true value, which refers to a state-of-mind in which a person finds in psychological well-being through the experiences derived from a product or service. Furthermore this study highlights social media’s importance within the given context. Originality/Value Previous research on customer-dominant logic has mainly been on a theoretical level. This research contributes to service research by studying the phenomena through empirical research within the online apparel industry. Furthermore, this research develops managerial guidelines for companies applying customer-dominant logic within the given context. Research Implications/Limitations Awareness of the importance of social media within the online apparel industry can provide insight and assist businesses in shaping marketing strategies. This research was limited by time, demographical group and geographical location. Furthermore, the generalizability of the results is limited to the given context.

Objectives. The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to evaluate whether certain maternal variables were associated with the performance of a primary cesarean delivery rather than a spontaneous vaginal delivery among apparently healthy pregnant women in the Commonwealth of Virginia.Methods. This study utilized the 2004 Virginia Statistics File for Live Births which contained 103,830 records. From this dataset, the following groups of women were excluded: multiparous women, women who had had a previous delivery by any method, women with medical and obstetric problems, women with any labor and delivery complications, women with premature births and women with multiple gestations. The resulting study population only included ostensibly healthy women who had no medical and/or obstetric indication for a primary cesarean delivery. The main outcome variable was the performance of a primary cesarean delivery and the independent variables included maternal race, age, location of residence in the state, educational level, method of payment, birth attendant and number of prenatal visits. Descriptive statistics were first calculated and subsequently univariate and multiple logistic regression analyses were performed to calculate crude and adjusted odds ratios for each variable. Results. The study population included 18,873 live births. The following maternal variables were statistically significantly associated with an increased likelihood of having a primary cesarean section: black race (adjusted odds ratio (OR) 1.58,95% confidence interval (CI) 1.42, 1.76, p-value Conclusions. Specific maternal variables are associated with an increased likelihood of having a primary cesarean section in the absence of an overt medical or obstetric indication (i.e. an elective cesarean section) among women in the Commonwealth of Virginia. These results have important public health implications for patients, obstetric care providers and the healthcare system. Pregnant women need to be fully informed about the risks and benefits of cesarean delivery. Furthermore, ethical issues regarding the provision of elective cesarean sections need to continue to be explored as should the monetary costs of this procedure to our healthcare system.