The agency will deal with organising social and cultural events providing gastronomical services and unusual experiences based on customers’ orders. The thesis is composed of two parts – theoretical and practical. The theoretical part focuses on the structure of the business plan, necessary analyses, sources of financing, and legal forms of business. The practical part comprises of knowledge gained from specialised literature and experience in this field. The conclusion involves a comprehensive choice of one most suitable option which is completed from a wide range of possibilities in separate chapters.

The diploma thesis is focused on the business plan, which deals with catering services. The thesis is composed of two parts – theoretical and practical. The theoretical part focuses on the structure of the business plan, necessary analyses, sources of financing, and legal forms of business. The practical part comprises of knowledge gained from specialised literature and experience in this field. The conclusion involves a comprehensive choice of one most suitable option which is completed from a wide range of possibilities in separate chapters.

This dissertation is devoted to study of complex systems in human physiology particularly heartbeats and brain dynamics. We have studied the dynamics of heartbeats that has been a subject of investigation of two independent groups. The first group emphasized the multifractal nature of the heartbeat dynamics of healthy subjects, whereas the second group had established a close connection between healthy subjects and the occurrence of crucial events. We have analyzed the same set of data and established that in fact the heartbeats are characterized by the occurrence of crucial and Poisson events. An increase in the percentage of crucial events makes the multifractal spectrum broader, thereby bridging the results of the former group with the results of the latter group. The crucial events are characterized by a power index that signals the occurrence of 1/f noise for complex systems in the best physiological condition. These results led us to focus our analysis on the statistical properties of crucial events. We have adopted the same statistical analysis to study the statistical properties of the heartbeat dynamics of subjects practicing meditation. The heartbeats of people doing meditation are known to produce coherent fluctuations. In addition to this effect, we made the surprising discovery that meditation makes the heartbeat depart from the ideal condition of 1/f noise. We also discussed how to combine the wave-like nature of the dynamics of the brain with the existence of crucial events that are responsible for the 1/f noise. We showed that the anomalous scaling generated by the crucial events could be established by means of a direct analysis of raw data. The efficiency of the direct analysis procedure is made possible by the fact that periodicity and crucial events is the product of a spontaneous process of self-organization. We argue that the results of this study can be used to shed light into the nature of this process of self-organization.

<p>Према Светском савету за путовања и туризам, пословни туризам представља један од најрентабилнијих и најуноснијих облика туризма на међународном туристичком тржишту. У стратешким документима релевантним за развој туризма на нивоу Републике Србије, као и на нивоу АП Војводине, пословни туризам је идентификован као један од приоритетних облика туризма, који на кратак рок може допринети бољем позиционирању дестинација на међународном туристичком тржишту и промовисању туристичке понуде. Упркос својим туристичким атрактивностима, традицији и могућностима за организовање пословних догађаја, Војводина још увек тражи и гради своју позицију на европском тржишту пословних догађаја, у сенци првенствено Београда, али и других дестинација у региону. С обзиром на велику конкуренцију која влада међу дестинацијама пословних догађаја, у овом раду се, применом статистичких метода, испитивала конкурентност Војводине као дестинације пословног туризма. Модел, коришћен у истраживању, настао је на основу Crouch и Ritchie модела конкурентности туристичке дестинације, коме су додати специфични фактори релевантни за дестинације пословног туризма. Истраживање конкурентности Војводине као дестинације пословног туризма спроведено је у периоду од фебруара до јула месеца 2010. године. У истраживању су учествовали различити субјекти на страни туристичке понуде. Применом статистичких метода (дескриптивна статистичка анализа, т-тест за независне узорке и анализа варијансе ANOVA), утврђени су главни конкуренти Војводине, као и слабости и предности Војводине у односу на конкурентне дестинације. Резултати истраживања показују да примарни сет дестинација које су конкуренти пословном туризму Војводине, чине Мађарска, Хрватска и Словенија. На нивоу појединачних дестинација, поред већ три поменуте, сваки трећи испитаник види Београд као једног од три главна конкурента пословном туризму Војводине, што указује на међукластерску конкурентност у туризму Србије. Дескриптивна статистичка анализа је показала да Војводина није конкурентна дестинација пословног туризма у окружењу. &bdquo;Менаџмент дестинације&ldquo; и &bdquo;политика дестинације, планирање и развој&ldquo; су најслабије карике у моделу конкурентности Војводине као туристичке дестинације, док су атрибути дестинације: мултикултурална средина, гастрономска понуда и гостољубивост локалног становништва конкурентне предности Војводине. Непрепознатљивост дестинације на европском тржишту пословних догађаја, непостојање организованог система за развој пословног туризма (конгресни биро, кластери, јавно-приватно партнерство), недовољне промотивне активности дестинације у односу на конкуренте, непостојање специјализованих кадрова и агенција за пословни туризам су актуелни проблеми и недостаци у пословном туризму Војводине, који захтевају посебну пажњу креатора туристичке политике и носилаца развоја туризма, како на нивоу Војводине, тако и на нивоу Србије.</p> / <p>Prema Svetskom savetu za putovanja i turizam, poslovni turizam predstavlja jedan od najrentabilnijih i najunosnijih oblika turizma na međunarodnom turističkom tržištu. U strateškim dokumentima relevantnim za razvoj turizma na nivou Republike Srbije, kao i na nivou AP Vojvodine, poslovni turizam je identifikovan kao jedan od prioritetnih oblika turizma, koji na kratak rok može doprineti boljem pozicioniranju destinacija na međunarodnom turističkom tržištu i promovisanju turističke ponude. Uprkos svojim turističkim atraktivnostima, tradiciji i mogućnostima za organizovanje poslovnih događaja, Vojvodina još uvek traži i gradi svoju poziciju na evropskom tržištu poslovnih događaja, u senci prvenstveno Beograda, ali i drugih destinacija u regionu. S obzirom na veliku konkurenciju koja vlada među destinacijama poslovnih događaja, u ovom radu se, primenom statističkih metoda, ispitivala konkurentnost Vojvodine kao destinacije poslovnog turizma. Model, korišćen u istraživanju, nastao je na osnovu Crouch i Ritchie modela konkurentnosti turističke destinacije, kome su dodati specifični faktori relevantni za destinacije poslovnog turizma. Istraživanje konkurentnosti Vojvodine kao destinacije poslovnog turizma sprovedeno je u periodu od februara do jula meseca 2010. godine. U istraživanju su učestvovali različiti subjekti na strani turističke ponude. Primenom statističkih metoda (deskriptivna statistička analiza, t-test za nezavisne uzorke i analiza varijanse ANOVA), utvrđeni su glavni konkurenti Vojvodine, kao i slabosti i prednosti Vojvodine u odnosu na konkurentne destinacije. Rezultati istraživanja pokazuju da primarni set destinacija koje su konkurenti poslovnom turizmu Vojvodine, čine Mađarska, Hrvatska i Slovenija. Na nivou pojedinačnih destinacija, pored već tri pomenute, svaki treći ispitanik vidi Beograd kao jednog od tri glavna konkurenta poslovnom turizmu Vojvodine, što ukazuje na međuklastersku konkurentnost u turizmu Srbije. Deskriptivna statistička analiza je pokazala da Vojvodina nije konkurentna destinacija poslovnog turizma u okruženju. &bdquo;Menadžment destinacije&ldquo; i &bdquo;politika destinacije, planiranje i razvoj&ldquo; su najslabije karike u modelu konkurentnosti Vojvodine kao turističke destinacije, dok su atributi destinacije: multikulturalna sredina, gastronomska ponuda i gostoljubivost lokalnog stanovništva konkurentne prednosti Vojvodine. Neprepoznatljivost destinacije na evropskom tržištu poslovnih događaja, nepostojanje organizovanog sistema za razvoj poslovnog turizma (kongresni biro, klasteri, javno-privatno partnerstvo), nedovoljne promotivne aktivnosti destinacije u odnosu na konkurente, nepostojanje specijalizovanih kadrova i agencija za poslovni turizam su aktuelni problemi i nedostaci u poslovnom turizmu Vojvodine, koji zahtevaju posebnu pažnju kreatora turističke politike i nosilaca razvoja turizma, kako na nivou Vojvodine, tako i na nivou Srbije.</p> / <p> According to World Travel &amp; Tourism Council, business tourism is one of the most profitable<br /> forms of tourism on the international tourism market. In tourism related strategic documents of the<br /> Republic of Serbia and of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, business tourism is considered<br /> as one of priorities in tourism development that could improve destination position on the<br /> international tourism market. In despite of tourist attractions, tradition in organization of business<br /> events and possibilities for business events creation, Vojvodina Province has still been in the<br /> process of searching and building its position on the European business events market, in the<br /> shadow of Belgrade and other destinations in the region. Considering great competition among<br /> destinations worldwide in holding business events, the subject of this dissertation was to examine<br /> the competitiveness of Vojvodina Province as a business tourism destination. Model, used in this<br /> research, was created based on Crouch и Ritchie model of tourist destination competitiveness,<br /> which was modified adding specific factors relevant for business tourism destination. Research was<br /> conducted in the period February - July 2010 among the representatives of tourism offer and<br /> tourism experts in Vojvodina Province. Statistical methods, used in research are descriptive<br /> statistical analysis, t-test and analysis of variance ANOVA. The results show the competitors of<br /> Vojvodina Province as a business tourism destination, as well as weaknesses (or disadvantages) and<br /> strengths of Vojvodina Province in comparison to its primary competitors. The primary competitors<br /> of Vojvodina province as a business tourism destination, identified in this research, are Hungary,<br /> Croatia and Slovenia. Also, every third participant in research mentioned Belgrade as a competitor<br /> of Vojvodina Province. The results of descriptive statistical analysis show that Vojvodina Province<br /> is not competitive business tourism destination in the region. The weakest competitiveness factors<br /> are destination management and tourism policy, planning and development, whereas the destination<br /> attributes: multicultural environment, gastronomy offer and hospitality of locals are the competitive<br /> advantages of Vojvodina Province. Absence of recognition and awareness of destination on<br /> European business events market, non existence of destination convention bureau, insufficient<br /> promotion activities, absence of human resources and agencies specialized in business events are<br /> actual problems and weaknesses of business tourism in Vojvodina Province, which should be in<br /> focus of tourism policy makers and tourism development plans.</p>

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Prospective epidemiologic evidence indicates that both stressful life events (SLEs) and depression are associated with an increased risk of subclinical atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease (CVD) events. Even though stressful life events (SLEs) and depression co-occur and may act together to influence cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk, these psychosocial factors have been mainly examined in isolation. For instance, depression may moderate the relationship between SLEs and CVD outcomes. I hypothesized that depressive symptoms would potentiate the deleterious effect of SLEs on subclinical atherosclerosis. This hypothesis is plausible, given that depressed adults exhibit exaggerated and prolonged sympathetic nervous system, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, and inflammatory responses to stress, which in turn could promote atherosclerosis. As compared to their nondepressed counterparts, depressed individuals may also be more likely to engage in maladaptive methods to cope with SLEs (e.g., increased tobacco use, alcohol use, and consumption of low-nutrient, energy dense foods), which could also promote atherosclerosis. I examined cross-sectional data from 274 to 279 (depending on the outcome measure) older, African American adults (mean age = 66 years, 67% female) with no evidence of clinical CVD or dementia who participated in the St. Louis African American Health-Heart study (2009–2011). Number of SLEs was assessed using the Life Events Calendar, a structured interview. From this interview, a continuous SLEs variable was computed (number of adult SLEs: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, or 11+). Severity of depression symptoms was measured using the 17-item Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D). Two measures of subclinical atherosclerosis were obtained: carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT; assessed by ultrasonography) and coronary artery calcification (CAC; assessed by multi-detector computerized tomography). I conducted linear (CIMT) and logistic (CAC) regression models, first adjusted for demographics (age, sex, education) and then fully-adjusted (demographics; mean arterial pressure; low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C); hemoglobin A1c; BMI; tobacco use; diabetes diagnosis; and use of antihypertensitve, lipid lowering, antidiabetic, and antidepressant medications). No main effects of SLEs or HAM-D were found for CIMT or CAC. There were also no SLEs by HAM-D interactions for CIMT or CAC. Because the current results are largely inconsistent with prior literature and there is a paucity of studies utilizing African American samples, future research is needed to examine the independent and interactive associations of SLEs and depressive symptoms with measures of subclinical atherosclerosis. If the present results are replicated, it may suggest that SLEs, depressive symptoms, and their interactive effect are not cardiotoxic among African American adults.

The emergence and development of mobile technology has changed traditional behavior during live music events and challenges concert etiquette. Artists have polarized reactions to the ubiquity of smartphones and companies have started realizing the potential to develop systems which allow the audience to interact more with both the performer and the light and sound show itself. Research has looked into how people traditionally behave and how consumer expectations have altered due to the digital revolution, but has not looked into differences between age groups, gender and concert genre to find out how different people express engagement. The research question is: How can interactive technology be used to enhance audience engagement? With the sub-questions: What engages individuals at concerts? How can engagement be measured? Findings within the study show that there are some differences between both age groups and between concert genres but engagement is expressed in similar ways regardless of gender. The differences that do exist between generations and genre preference are slight. People most commonly express engagement with a combination of voice and movement. Interactive technology designed for live music events settings needs to be based on existing patterns of behavior as people do not want too much focus to be on technology during concerts. The technology should enhance existing behavior and have a low learning curve as interactive technology risks becoming disengaging if it requires too much focus from the user. / Framväxten och utvecklingen av mobil teknik har förändrat traditionellt beteende under live musik konserter och lett till att konsertetikett utmanats. Artister har polariserade reaktioner gällande användningen av smartphones och företag har börjat realisera potentialen att utveckla system som gör det möjligt för publiken att interagera mer med både artisten samt ljus- och ljudspelet. Forskning har undersökt hur folk traditionellt sett beter sig och hur konsumenternas förväntningar har förändrats på grund av den digitala revolutionen, men har inte tittat på skillnader mellan åldersgrupper, kön och konsertgenrer för att ta reda på hur olika människor uttrycker engagemang. Forskningsfrågan är: Hur kan interaktiv teknik användas för att öka publikens engagemang? Med delfrågorna: Vad engagerar individer under konserter? Hur kan engagemang mätas? Resultatet i studien visar att det finns vissa skillnader mellan åldersgrupper och mellan konsertgenrer men att engagemang uttrycks på liknande sätt oavsett kön. Skillnaderna som finns mellan generationer och genrepreferenser är få och små. Folk uttrycker oftast engagemang genom en kombination av röst och rörelse. Interaktiv teknik som är designad för live musikevent måste baseras på befintliga beteendemönster eftersom människor inte vill att alltför stort fokus hamnar på teknik under konserter. Tekniken bör förbättra det befintliga beteendet och ha en låg inlärningskurva eftersom interaktiv teknik risker att blir oengagerande om det kräver för mycket fokus från användaren.

The company Ehandelslösningar works within web development, primarily with e-commerce where they have both individuals and companies as their customers. Some of these companies offer services of their own and as a result, these companies have their own customers whom they have to meet and interact with on a daily basis. This led to Ehandelslösningar wanting their own calendar system, so that these companies could then use it to set up appointments. The requirement was that the developed calendar system had to be user-friendly, contain necessary functionality, and that it had to be implemented as a WordPress plugin. The project was therefore divided into two parts, the first centering on how to design a calendar system, and the second being the development and implementation of the calendar system as a WordPress plugin. The project began with a literary study of the different aspects that make up this project, such as calendars and WordPress, as well as user-friendly design and plugin security. Existing WordPress calendar plugins and other online calendar systems were chosen for analysis. The analysis was done in order to identify strengths and flaws in the design of calendar systems, which in turn would help the development of the WordPress plugin. Based on the analysis, features were selected and then implemented into the developed WordPress plugin, which is named EHLCalendar. The admin of a WordPress website can create time slots, practitioners and services once they have activated EHLCalendar. Visitors select a service, the practitioner they want, and a date in order to see the available time slots and book an appointment. / Företaget Ehandelslösningar arbetar inom webbutveckling, främst med e-handel där de har både privatpersoner och företag som sina kunder. Vissa av dessa företag erbjuder tjänster, vilket innebär att företagen möter och interagerar med sina egna kunder dagligen. På grund av detta så vill Ehandelslösningar ha sitt eget kalendersystem som dessa företag kan använda för att hantera tidsbokningar med sina kunder. Kraven var att kalendersystemet som utvecklas ska vara användarvänligt, innehålla nödvändig funktionalitet samt vara implementerad som ett plugin för WordPress. Projektet är därför uppdelat i två delar. Det första gäller designen av ett kalendersystem, och det andra gäller utvecklingen och implementationen av kalendersystemet som ett WordPress plugin. Projektet började med en literaturstudie av de olika aspekterna som projektet består av, så som kalender och WordPress, samt användarvänligt design och plugin säkerhet. Existerande kalender plugin för WordPress och andra online kalendersystem blev valda för analys. Analysen utfördes för att kunna identifiera styrkor och svagheter i designen av ett kalendersystem. Kunskapen från analysen hjälper sedan utvecklingen av WordPress pluginet. Efter analysen valdes funktioner som sedan blev implementerade i den utvecklade WordPress pluginet, nämd EHLCalendar. Genom att aktivera EHLCalendar så kan en administratör skapa tillgängliga tider, praktiker och tjänster i sin WordPress webbsida. En användare som besöker sidan behöver sedan välja en tjänst, den praktiker de vill ha, och ett datum för att se dem tillgängliga tiderna som kan bokas.

No description available.

Transition metal nitrides (TMNs) refractory ceramic materials are  widely employed as wear-resistant protective coatings in industrial machining as well as diffusion barriers inhibiting migration of metal impurities from the interconnects to the semiconducting region of electronic devices. TiN is the prototype of this class of materials and the most studied among TMNs. However, also for this system, a complete picture of the migration processes occurring at the atomic scale is still lacking. In this work I investigate the stability of Ti vacancy configurations and corresponding migration rates in TiN by means of density functional theory (DFT) calculations and ab-initio molecular dynamics simulations (AIMD). DFT calculations show that Ti vacancies tend to stay isolated because of repulsive interaction which decreases as the inverse of the distance between the vacancies.The equilibrium jump rate of single Ti vacancies in TiN is extrapolated temperature as a function of temperature from the results of non-equilibrium AIMD simulations accelerated by a bias force field according to the color diffusion algorithm. For each force field and, the jump occurrence times are fitted with the two parameters Gamma distribution in order to obtain the non equilibrium jump rate with the corresponding uncertainty. Extrapolated equilibrium values show an Arrhenius-like behavior, with activation energy Ea= (3.78 ± 0.28)eV and attempt frequency A = 4.45 (x3.6±1) x 1014 s-1.

Thesis (MPhil (Sustainable Development Planning and Management))--University of Stellenbosch, 2007. / Large scale events have historically been ignored by those involved in the sustainability debate. However there is growing realization that major events can have significant environmental and socio-economic impacts and opportunities. This has been highlighted by the global growth of a phenomenon which has become known as event greening. The hosting of a major event like the Olympic Games comes with benefits and problems to the host city or region. The question is can the benefits be maximised and the problems minimised? This thesis shows that events can be hosted in a manner that contributes positively to the host city and limits the negative impacts, by incorporating principles of sustainable development with in the event management plan. This is known as event greening. Managing an event in a way that minimizes negative impacts and maximizes positive impacts produces results that are true reflections of success of a major event (GoJ Report, 2003). Event greening has been evolving since the early 1990’s and has arguable reached a point where absolute definition and standardisation is required to ensure its authenticity and integrity into the future. As the practice of event greening programmes occurs more and more so the need for a benchmarking tool to ascertain true measurable all encompassing impacts of events becomes more essential. The use of a Sustainability Rating System was employed as a way of measuring the percentage sustainability an event greening project or programme is actually achieving. This system was developed as a way of determining whether event greening is in fact contributing to sustainable development or is it another attempt at perceived sustainability best practice known as green washing. A selection of event greening projects is measured according to the Sustainability Rating System and the results show event greening is progressively contributing to global sustainable development best practice. This thesis also suggests that event greening is evolving into a sophisticated mechanism for implementing sustainable development best practice through mega- events. This research is a prelude to developing an assessment tool and a standard for event greening. The use of the Sustainability Rating System in this thesis and the discussed results propose this method as an adequate rudimentary tool which can be used to assess in a broad way the extent of sustainability of an event greening programme. This method and the information in this thesis are intended to be used as a first step in the development of an industry event greening measuring and evaluating standard or tool. It is intended that this thesis will act as a catalyst for further research and development into standards, benchmarking and possibly even certification processes for event greening.