Purpose: The purpose of this study is to research the environment in which the IT-artifact exist, rather than the IT-artifact itself. Researching how founders of software startups manage their growth strategies, by researching essential internal and external factors and how they are represented in the founder’s growth strategy. This thesis is interested in the growth journey of startups, therefore we will study both software startups and software SMEs (small medium size enterprise). Research question: How does strategic management choices in the internal and external environment affect growth for software startups? Method: In this research we use a deductive approach, furthermore a qualitative research method was applied in order to gain a deeper understanding about the companies researched to answer our research question. We applied a comparative case study design as we wanted to analyze different cases/ companies and compared them both to each other using more or less identical methods. Semi-structured interviews were used as our preliminary data collection method as it allowed for flexibility. Conclusion: There is no perfect management strategy for software startups to achieve growth. The software industry is complex and rapidly changing, therefore the need to adapt and change the strategy to internal and external environment is essential to achieve growth. This research shows that the three most important factors affecting management strategies for growth in software startups are; (1) customers, (2) competitive advantage and (3) culture. Talented employees influence all the internal and external factors though the entire growth journey, both startups and SMEs. As the startup grows into being an SME, the internal organization factors become more important as well as scalability to achieve growth. / Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka den miljö i vilken IT-artefakten existerar, snarare än själva IT-artefakten. Denna studie syftar vidare till att undersöka hur grundare av software startups hanterar sina tillväxtstrategier, detta genom att undersöka viktiga interna och externa faktorer och hur de representeras i tillväxtstrategin. Denna studie syftar vidare till att studera tillväxt-resan för software startups, därför kommer vi studera både software startups och software SME:s (små och medelstora företag). Forskningsfråga: Hur påverkar strategiska managementval i den interna och externa miljön tillväxten för software startups? Metod: I denna forskning använder vi en deduktiv ansats, även en kvalitativ forskningsmetod användes för att få en djupare förståelse om de företag som studerades för att kunna besvara forskningsfrågan. Vi använde en komparativ design av fallstudier eftersom vi ville analysera olika fall/företag och jämföra dem med/mot varandra med mer eller mindre identiska metoder. Semistrukturerade intervjuer användes som vår preliminära metod för insamling av data eftersom det möjliggjorde flexibilitet i intervjuerna. Slutsats: Det finns ingen perfekt managementstrategi för software startups för att uppnå tillväxt. Programvaruindustrin (software) är komplex och förändras snabbt, därför är behovet av att anpassa och ändra strategin till intern och extern miljö avgörande för att uppnå tillväxt. Denna forskning visar att de tre viktigaste faktorerna som påverkar förvaltningsstrategier för tillväxt i software startups är; (1) kunder, (2) konkurrensfördel och (3) kultur. Talangfulla anställda påverkar alla dessa interna och externa faktorer genom hela tillväxtresan, både startups och små och medelstora företag (SME). När startups:en växer till att bli ett SME blir de interna organisations faktorerna viktigare samt skalbarhet för att uppnå tillväxt.

Bakgrund: På dagens arbetsmarknad råder det en hård konkurrens om kompetent personal. Organisationer har sett potentialen i att utvidga marknadsföringens användningsområde och skapa ett arbetsgivarvarumärke, ett så kallat employer brand(EB). Corporate social responsibility (CSR)-innehåll i en platsannons har visats ha enpositiv inverkan på organisationsattraktivitet, vilket är en dimension av EB. En särskiljning mellan olika aspekter av CSR i en platsannons har dock inte gjorts. Denna uppsats tar således upp denna stafettpinne och undersöker dessutom hur CSR kananvändas i syfte att organisationer ska kunna stärka sitt EB i syfte att attrahera kompetentpersonal. Att finna implikationer gällande generation Y:s preferenser kring CSR i förhållande till val av arbetsgivare anses som ett steg närmare målet att attrahera ung kompetent personal och således även ett steg närmare hållbar human resourcemanagement (HRM). Syfte: Att bidra med en vidare förståelse kring CSR:s betydelse i organisationers arbetemed att stärka sitt EB och på så sätt kunna attrahera kompetent personal i förhållande till individer inom en specifik kohort; generation Y. Metod: Utefter studiens syfte valdes en kvalitativ forskningsmetod med mindre inslag av kvantitativ forskningsmetod. Fyra manipulerade platsannonser togs fram som undersökningsverktyg; en platsannons innehållande en lägre grad av CSR, en platsannons innehållande intern CSR, en platsannons innehållande extern CSR samt en platsannons innehållande en högre grad av CSR. Studien genomfördes med hjälp av tre experimentella fokusgrupper där respondenterna individuellt fick besvara tvåsvarsformulär. Vidare genomfördes en fokusgruppintervju med respektive experimentellfokusgrupp. Slutsats: Attraktiviteten gentemot en organisation ökar när CSR-innehållet ökar. Indikationer på att individer tillhörande generation Y finner intern CSR, i förhållande tillextern CSR, mer attraktivt vid val av arbetsgivare. Vidare indikeras att organisationer kan använda CSR i kampen om kompetent personal, särskilt intern CSR för att differentiera sig som arbetsgivare gentemot konkurrenter och således stärka sitt EB. / Background: In todays labor market, there is hard competition for competent staff. Organizations have seen the potential of expanding the scope of marketing and creatingan employer brand, a so-called employer brand (EB). Corporate Social Responsibility(CSR) content in a job advertisement has been shown to have a positive impact onorganizational attractiveness, which is a dimension of EB. However, a distinctionbetween different aspects of CSR in a job advertisement has not been made. This essayaddresses this lack of research and also examines how CSR can be used in order fororganizations to strengthen their EB, in order to attract competent staff. Findingimplications regarding Generation Ys preferences around CSR in relation to choice ofemployer is considered as a step closer to the goal of attracting young competent staff andthus also one step closer to sustainable human resource management (HRM). Purpose: To contribute to a wider understanding of the importance of CSR in organizations' efforts to strengthen their EB, and thus attract competent staff in relation to individuals of a specific cohort; Generation Y. Methods: In coherence with the purpose of the study, a qualitative research method was chosen with a hint of emphasis on quantitative research methodology. Four manipulatedjob advertisements were presented as a research tool; a job advertisement containing alower degree of CSR, a job advertisement containing internal CSR, a job advertisement containing external CSR, and a job advertisement containing a higher degree of CSR. The study was conducted using three experimental focus groups where respondents individually responded to two response forms. Furthermore, a focus group interview was conducted with each experimental focus group. Conclusion: The attractiveness towards an organization increases as CSR contentincreases. There are indications that individuals of generation Y find internal CSRrelative to external CSR more attractive when choosing an employer. Furthermore, it isindicated that organizations can use CSR in the struggle for competent personnel, especially internal CSR, to differentiate themselves as employers against competitors, thus strengthening their EB.

Im ersten Teil der Arbeit wurde die Verwendung von Präkursor microRNA-21(pre-miR21)-spezifischen Peptidnukleinsäure(PNA)-Sonden zur Inhibierung der Dicer-vermittelnden miRNA-Reifung untersucht. Im Gegensatz zur Arbeitshypothese wurde bei der Behandlung von Zellen mit den pre-miR21-spezifischen PNA-Sonden jedoch keine Änderung des miR-21 Niveau beobachtet. Um die Hybridisierung der Sonde an die Zielsequenz nachzuweisen, wurden fluorogene Hybridisierungssonden zur erzwungenen Interkalation (FIT-Sonden), unter Verwendung des Interkalationsfarbstoffes Thiazolorange (TO), entwickelt. Wie vorläufige Ergebnisse zeigen, könnte die TO-PNA Sonde für die Unterscheidung von Zellen mit hohem miR-21-Gehalt nützlich sein, aber eine weitere Verbesserung der Sonde ist noch erforderlich. Im nächsten Teil der Arbeit wurden neuartige FIT-Sonden für die Analyse der Dicer-vermittelnden miR-21-Reifung entwickelt. Um die gleichzeitige Detektion der entstehenden pre-miR21 und der antisense miR-21 (as-miR21) in Echtzeit zu ermöglichen, wurden die Verwendung von spektral unterscheidbaren FIT-Sonden auf Quinolinblau(QB)-und TO-Basis getestet. Das entwickelte Sonden-Paar ermöglichte die Analyse der rhDicer-Reaktion. Dabei wurde entdeckt, dass die rhDicer-Reaktion an der in vitro transkribierten pre-miR21 unspezifisch spaltet. Zusätzlich wies die kürze as-miR21 spezifische TO-Sonde (7nt) eine Sensitivität gegenüber der Anwesenheit des Ago-2 Proteins auf. In der Zukunft könnten die entwickelten Sonden für schnelle in vitro Screenings neuer Dicer-und Ago-2-Inhibitoren angewendet werden. Im zweiten Teil der Dissertation wurde die Verwendung von niedermolekularen Inhibitoren (small molecular inhibitors, SMIs) getestet. Zusammenfassend könnten die zwei identifizierten SMIs für die Inhibierung der miR-122-Reifung genutzt werden, allerdings bleibt die Spezifität der SMIs fraglich und mögliche off-target-Effekte können nicht ausgeschlossen werden. / MicroRNAs (miRNAs) represent small non-coding RNA molecules that mostly negatively regulate gene expression. To yield mature miRNAs, primary miRNA precursors go through two consequent cleavages by Drosha and Dicer RNAse. This work describes the development of tools for inhibition und monitoring the dicer-mediated miRNA processing. Here, peptide nucleic acid (PNA) based probes, targeting the precursor miR-21 (pre-miR21), were designed for inhibition the dicer-mediated miR-21 maturation. In contrast, no change in miR-21 level was observed after cell treatment with the pre-miR21 specific PNA probes. To detect the probe/target hybridization state, the fluorogenic forced intercalation (FIT) PNA probes, bearing thiazole orange dye (TO), were developed. As preliminary results show, the FIT PNA probe might be useful for discrimination of high miR-21 abundant cells, but further probe improvement is still required. To monitor the pre-miR21 cleavage, the combination of the two spectrally distinguishable FIT PNA probes, bearing quinoline blue (QB) and TO fluorophore, was developed to allow the rapid and simultaneous detection of pre-miR21 and antisense mature miR-21 (as-miR21). The probe set was successfully used for detection of the modelled dicer reaction. However, the monitoring of rhDicer reaction have revealed that rhDicer cleaves the in vitro transcribed pre-miR21 nonspecifically. Additionally, the short as-miR21 specific TO PNA probe (7nt) was responsive to the presence of Ago-2 protein. In future, the developed probes can be applied for the fast in vitro screening of new Dicer and Ago-2 inhibitors. In the second part of this work, an alternative approach, small molecular inhibitors (SMIs), was tested. Two identified pre-miR122-targeting SMIs might be used for inhibition of the miR-122 maturation, although, a specificity of these SMIs remains questionable and possible off target effects cannot be excluded.

Person-Organization Fit (POF) bezeichnet die Kompatibilität von Personen und Organisationen, wobei häufig Werte als Beurteilungsgrundlage dienen. Forschungsergebnisse zeigen, dass ein hoher POF zwischen Arbeitgebern und -nehmern nicht nur positive Auswirkungen auf die Arbeitszufriedenheit hat, auch sind für Arbeitsuchende solche Organisationen attraktiv, mit denen sie eine hohe Passung unterstellen. Die Arbeit widmet sich im Spiegel der Theorie des POF theoretisch und empirisch dem Einfluss von flexiblen Arbeitsformen (zur Ermöglichung von Zeit- und Ortsunabhängigkeit bei der Arbeit) auf die Wahrnehmung der Arbeitgeberattraktivität. Es wird untersucht, inwiefern POF als Erklärungsmechanismus für Arbeitgeberattraktivität dienen kann, in Abhängigkeit der verschiedenen Ausprägungen flexibler Arbeitsformen – u.a. werden allgemein flexibilitätsbezogene Angebote sowie die spezifische flexible Arbeitsform Telearbeit betrachtet, ebenfalls werden Effekte der Nichtverfügbarkeit flexibler Arbeitsformen in den Blick genommen. Neben POF wird auch der Einfluss von AOS (Anticipated Organizational Support) für den Effekt auf Arbeitgeberattraktivität untersucht. Darüber hinaus analysiert diese Arbeit die Rolle der Persönlichkeitsdisposition Work Locus of Control im Zusammenhang mit dem Person-Organization Fit. Die Ergebnisse erweitern nicht nur den wissenschaftlichen Kenntnisstand, auch liefern sie Impulse für die Praxis des Employer Branding.

This project studies the signal detection and identification problem in high-dimensional noisy data and the possibility of using it on microbiome data. An extensive simulation study was performed on generated data using as well as a microbiome dataset collected on patients with Parkinson's disease, using Donoho and Jin's Higher criticism, Jager and Wellner's phi-divergence-based goodness-of-fit-test and Stepanova and Pavlenko's CsCsHM statistic . We present some novel approaches based on established theory that perform better than existing methods and show that it is possible to use the signal identification framework to detect differentially abundant features in microbiome data. Although the novel approaches produce good results, they lack substantial mathematical foundations and should be avoided if theoretical rigour is needed. We also conclude that while we have found that it is possible to use signal identification methods to find abundant features in microbiome data, further refinement is necessary before it can be properly used in research. / Detta projekt studerar signaldetekterings- och identifieringsproblemet i högdimensionell brusig data och möjligheten att använda det på mikrobiomdata från människor. En omfattande simuleringsstudie utfördes på genererad data samt ett mikrobiomdataset som samlats in på patienter med Parkinsons sjukdom, med hjälp av ett antal goodness-of-fit-metoder: Donoho och Jins Higher criticis , Jager och Wellners phi-divergenser och Stepanova och Pavelenkos CsCsHM. Vi presenterar några nya tillvägagångssätt baserade på vedertagen teori som visar sig fungera bättre än befintliga metoder och visar att det är möjligt att använda signalidentifiering för att upptäcka olika funktioner i mikrobiomdata. Även om de nya metoderna ger goda resultat saknar de betydande matematiska grunder och bör undvikas om teoretisk formalism är nödvändigt. Vi drar också slutsatsen att medan vi har funnit att det är möjligt att använda signalidentifieringsmetoder för att hitta information i mikrobiomdata, är ytterligare experiment nödvändiga innan de kan användas på ett korrekt sätt i forskning.

Agile methodologies are one of the most common approaches for companies to develop new software products. Within these methodologies, a significant focus is placed on rapid deliveryand minimal documentation. However, this focus can lead to documentation, especially that concerning quality requirements (QR), being overlooked in favor of speed. This can result in a decrease in the overall quality of the final software product. To address these issues, the suitability of Generative AI (GenAI) is examined to analyze its potential in solving these problems. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether GenAI is suitable foraddressing issues related to QR documentation within agile methodologies. The study conducted a case study on a company currently using GenAI. The data collection method used for this investigation was semi-structured interviews. The Task-Technology Fit (TTF) model was used to evaluate the suitability of GenAI for QR documentation. The results show that "Ease of Use" and "Production timeliness" are GenAI"s greatest strengths. However,other aspects such as "Quality" and "System reliability" showed weaker results. Future research should focus on exploring the broader use of GenAI within agile methodologies and developing comprehensive training programs for the effective use of GenAI.

At Halmstad University a project was developed to provide recommendations forupgrading and downgrading the cloud resource app service plan based on the customersusage over the last 30 days. In today’s day and age, cloud resources and services are oftenquite expensive and offers a variety of different plans which can make it overwhelmingfor the customer to easily choose which tier they need for their plan. The result of thisscript indicate that the cloud users should consider changing subscription tier based onhow the historical data of their usage of the plan has looked like during the last 30 days.The proposed algorithm suggests an upgrade of a tier if the plan is overutilized andsuggest a downgrade of a tier if the plan is underutilized. The developed PowerShell codeuses the First-Fit and the Rule-based algorithmic approach from the related workresearched in the paper. The result found was that the code was able to give suitablerecommendations to scale up and down tiers for plans which were under and overutilizedbased on the percentual utilization rules set up and Legacy/DEV SKU mapping. Theresults obtained showed that the suggested plan can reduce costs by up to 30% and giveroughly 438.2% more performance per $USD spent. / Vid Högskolan i Halmstad utvecklades ett projekt för att ge förslag på uppgraderingaroch nedgraderingar av molnresursern app service plan baserat på användarens senaste 30dagars användning. Då dagens molnresurser och tjänster ofta är dyra och erbjuder ettöverflöd av planer, kan det vara förvirrande för användare att välja rätt nivå för sinabehov. Projektet föreslår att användarna ska överväga att byta plan beroende på hur denhistoriska datan har sett ut för planens användning, där en uppgradering rekommenderasom tjänsten är överanvänd och en nedgradering om planen är underanvänd. Denutvecklade PowerShell koden använder sig av First-fit och det regelbaserade algoritmtypen som utvecklades med inspiration från litteraturstudien. Resultatet av projektetindikerar att koden kunde ge optimala upp och ned skalnings rekommendationer beroendepå de olika procentuella trösklarna satta samt mappningen av Legacy och utvecklingstiers. Analyseringen av resultatet pekar på att det går att spara runt 30% på app serviceplan kostnaderna samt att app service planerna får 438,2% mer prestanda per spenderad$USD i jämförelse med nuvarande planen.

Syfte: Syftet är att visa för- och nackdelar för organisationskulturens påverkan på rekryteringen hos organisationer som är präglade av organisationskultur, samt hur en organisation avgör vilken individ som passar in. Vi ämnar beskriva eventuella risker, möjligheter och begränsningar med dessa metoder för både organisation och individ. Metodik: En flerfallsundersökning på fem organisationer inom den privata sektorn har tillämpats som undersökningsdesign med en induktiv ansats. Genom en kvalitativ metod där semi-strukturerade intervjuer har genomförts har data producerats fram. Slutsats: Organisationskulturen präglade vad organisationerna sökte hos en kandidat mer än hur rekryteringsprocessen utformades. För att finna rätt kandidat var en realistisk företagspresentation framträdande tillsammans med utformningen av intervjun. Organisationernas rekryterade efter sina värderingar, vilka presenterades i en företagspresentation och diskuterades kring under intervjun. Fördelarna för organisationen blev minskad risk för misstolkning tillsammans med större valfrihet bland kandidater och ett verktyg för organisationen att dämpa för höga förväntningar på arbetet. Nackdelarna blev fler moment att ta ställning till vilket är resurskrävande samtidigt som flera förutsättningar krävdes för att få önskad effekt. Fanns inte rätt förutsättningar för matchningen riskerades en resurskrävande process med oförutsedda resultat. / Purpose: The purpose is to present advantages and disadvantages of how organizational culture affects the recruitment in organizations that are incused by organizational culture, and how an organization decides which individual that fits the organization. We intend to describe certain ventures, possibilities and limitations with these methods for both organization and individual. Methodology: A more case study has been applied on five organizations within the private sector as a research design, with an inductive approach. A qualitative method has been used where semi-structured interviews have been implemented from where data has been established. Conclusion: Organizational culture incused the recruitment by what they were looking for in an applicant rather than how it affected the recruitment process. To find the right applicant a realistic organizational presentation was prominent together with how the interview was designed. The organization recruited applicants after their values, which were presented by the organization and discussed during the interviews. The advantages were reduced risk of misinterpretation by applicants along with a greater possibility of choice and a tool for organizations to reduce too high expectations on employment. The disadvantages were more elements to examine while the process became resource demanding, while several conditions had to be fulfilled. If the right conditions couldn’t be obtained the risk was a resource demanding recruiting with an unforeseen result.

Thesis (MComm (Statistics and Actuarial Science))--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / The goodness-of- t of a statistical model describes how well it ts a set of observations. Measures of goodness-of- t typically summarize the discrepancy between observed values and the values expected under the model in question. Such measures can be used in statistical hypothesis testing, for example to test for normality, to test whether two samples are drawn from identical distributions, or whether outcome frequencies follow a speci ed distribution. Goodness-of- t for copulas is a special case of the more general problem of testing multivariate models, but is complicated due to the di culty of specifying marginal distributions. In this thesis, the goodness-of- t test statistics for general distributions and the tests for copulas are investigated, but prior to that an understanding of copulas and their properties is developed. In fact copulas are useful tools for understanding relationships among multivariate variables, and are important tools for describing the dependence structure between random variables. Several univariate, bivariate and multivariate test statistics are investigated, the emphasis being on tests for normality. Among goodness-of- t tests for copulas, tests based on the probability integral transform, Rosenblatt's transformation, as well as some dimension reduction techniques are considered. Bootstrap procedures are also described. Simulation studies are conducted to rst compare the power of rejection of the null hypothesis of the Clayton copula by four di erent test statistics under the alternative of the Gumbel-Hougaard copula, and also to compare the power of rejection of the null hypothesis of the Gumbel-Hougaard copula under the alternative of the Clayton copula. An application of the described techniques is made to a practical data set.

During the design of sports equipment, the main focus is usually on physical performance attributes, neglecting key subjective factors such as feel and comfort. The personal protective equipment worn in sport is a typical example, where injury prevention has taken precedence over user comfort, but it is anticipated that with a new approach to the design process, comfort can be improved without sacrificing protection. Using cricket leg guards and taekwondo chest guards as an example, this study aimed to develop a systematic method for assessing user perceptions and incorporating them into the design process. Players perceptions of the factors that influence the comfort of cricket leg guards and taekwondo chest guards were elicited through the use of co-discovery sessions, focus groups and individual interviews, and analysed through an inductive process to produce a comfort model. The relative importance of each different comfort dimension was identified through the use of an online questionnaire utilising the analytical hierarchy process method. Through the combination of these methods, six general dimensions were identified with a weighting regarding the amount to which each one determines a user's perceived comfort. For both cricket and taekwondo, the majority of players ranked Fit as the most important factor affecting comfort. Experimental procedures were developed to objectively test the Fit of cricket leg guards, with regards to batting kinematics, running performance and contact pressure. These methods were combined with subjective assessments of leg guard performance, to determine if there was a relationship between users perceived comfort and objective test results. It was found that shot ROM and performance were not significantly affected by cricket leg guards, despite perceptions of increased restriction whilst wearing certain pads. Wearing cricket leg guards was found to significantly decrease running performance when compared to running without pads (p<0.05). In addition, it was found that the degree of impedance depended on pad design and could not solely be attributed to additional mass. These results correlated with the subjective assessment of three different leg guards, with respondents identifying the pad which had the largest influence on their running biomechanics and impeded their performance the most, as the most restrictive pad. Contact pressure under the pad and straps was also measured for four different leg guards whilst running. The results found that the top strap applied the greatest amount of pressure to the leg, especially at the point of maximum knee flexion. The peak pressure under the top strap was found to reach up to three times that of any other area of the pad. These results were reflected in the subjective assessment of the leg guards, with all nine subjects identifying the top strap as an area of discomfort for certain pads. The results also suggested there was a preference for pads with a larger more consistent contact area, as pad movement was perceived to increase when contact area variation was greater. Finally the results from this research were used to develop a product design specification (PDS) for a cricket leg guard, specifying size, mass, contact pressure and shape. The PDS was used to develop a concept design which would maximise comfort, whilst maintaining protection.