Business-to-business (B2B) organizations are facing challenges related to complex sales cycles and increasing competition, resulting in more value-driven sales processes and a holistic ecosystem for the B2B marketplace. Recent studies have acknowledged the lack of research on inside sales and sales development in B2B organizations. Scholars point at the increasing importance of inside sales due to changes in the environment and increasing customer demands, which has resulted in the development of digital sales processes within companies. In this study, we have examined the early phase of the sales process referred to as customer acquisition, which is an important part for companies to do business and be profitable over time. In customer acquisition, lead generation and lead management are two central phenomena including generating potential customers and managing them in an adequate way. In this study, where we are writing on commission for Tele2 IoT, our aim was to develop recommendations for how they can improve their conversion rate and sales performance by asking; “How can B2B companies work with sales development processes and lead generation to improve their sales performance?” Based on a literature review of previous studies on sales processes, Internet of Things, and content marketing, we developed an exploratory and qualitative research design, where data was collected through twelve semi-structured interviews with respondents from the case company. Our empirical findings present how the development of a separate unit for Sales Development in Tele2 IoT can be a solution for handling the current challenges for lead generation and lead management. A dedicated Sales Development Representative (SDR) can be responsible for the early phase of the sales process before a Sales Manager takes over. This would include responsibility for lead generation, qualification, and follow-up to ensure that the qualified leads are timely managed. We demonstrate a model that conceptualizes how companies in a highly competitive business environment can initiate a dedicated function working with customer acquisition practices, which we refer to as Sales Development. In our model, we emphasize how three different channels for attracting and managing leads must be considered: 1) outbound lead generation, 2) inbound lead generation and 3) marketing automated lead generation, to improve sales performance. Based on these findings, we propose iterative customer acquisition processes where communication, documentation and cooperation are at its core. Finally, we propose a framework with reflective questions for managers and organizations to take into consideration when implementing Sales Development into their business. The study primarily contributes to the scarce research field of inside sales, where we encourage practitioners and academia to apply our model and utilize quantitative data measures to understand how a Sales Development configuration can improve lead generation within different industries.

<p>Understanding of thermal transport in small scales gains more importance with increasing demand in microelectronics and advancing fabrication technologies. In addition, scarce in energy sources adds more pressure with increasing expectations on research in energy conversion devices and renewable energies. In parallel to these, new phenomena observable only in small scales are discovered with the research, bringing more opportunities for engineers to solve real-world problems by applying the discoveries and more questions to answer. Thermal radiation as a thermal transport phenomenon is the epicenter of this research. Recent developments such as near-field radiative heat transfer exceeding blackbody radiation or control of radiative cooling via biasing grows the attraction on thermal radiation because these examples challenge our long-lasting understanding of nature. Exploring nature further in the small scale may help us meet the expectations mentioned above.</p> <p> </p> <p>In this thesis work, first, we carry out analyses on radiative heat transfer of natural hyperbolic material, calcite, and compare to that of a polar material SiC. Our study reveals that the high- modes within the hyperbolic bands are responsible for the substantial enhancement in near field radiation. Comparison of calcite with SiC illustrates the significance of the high- modes in calcite vs. surface polariton modes in SiC in their contributions to near-field radiation enhancement, for temperature differences ranging from 1 K to 400 K. We also noticed that the contributions of high- modes in calcite to near-field radiation is comparable to that of surface polaritons in SiC. The results of these analyses will be helpful in the search of hyperbolic materials that can enhance near field radiative transfer.</p> <p> </p> <p>Second, we demonstrate an experimental technique to measure near-field radiative heat transfer between two parallel plates at gap distances ranging from a few nanometers to far-field. A differential measurement circuit based on resistive thermometry to measure the defined temperatures are explained. To predict the defined temperatures, a computational method is utilized. We also detail an alignment technique that consists of a coarse and fine alignment in the relevant gap regions. This technique presents a method with high precision for gap measurement, dynamic gap control, and reliable sensitivity for extreme near-field measurements. Finally, we report experimental results that shows 18,000 times enhancement in radiative heat transfer between two parallel plates.</p> <p> </p> <p>Third, we analyze near-field radiative transfer due to hyperbolic phonon polaritons, driven by temperature gradient inside the bulk materials. We develop a mesoscale many-body scattering approach to account for the role of hyperbolic phonon polaritons in radiative transfer in the bulk and across a vacuum gap. Our study points out the equivalency between the bulk-generated mode and the surface mode in the absence of a temperature gradient in the material, and hence provide a unified framework for near-field radiative transfer by hyperbolic phonon polaritons. The results also elucidate contributions of the bulk-generated mode and the bulk temperature profile in the enhanced near-field radiative transfer.</p> <p> </p> <p>Forth, we study radiative heat transfer in hyperbolic material, hyperbolic boron nitride (hBN), and show a major contribution to energy transport arising from phonon polaritons supported in Reststrahlen bands. This contribution increases spectral radiative transfer by six orders of magnitude inside Reststrahlen bands compared to that outside Reststrahlen bands. The equivalent radiative thermal conductivity increases with temperature increase, and the radiative thermal conductivity can be of the same order of the phonon thermal conductivity. Experimental measurements are discussed. We showed the radiative contribution can account for as much as 27 % of the total thermal transport at 600 K. Hence, in hBN the radiative thermal transport can be comparable to thermal conduction by phonons. We also demonstrate contribution of polaritons to thermal transport in MoO₃. To calculate radiative heat transfer in three principal coordinates separately, we modify and apply the derived many-body model. Our analysis shows that radiative thermal conductivity in both in- and out-of-plane directions increases with temperature and contribution to energy transport by polaritons exceeds that by phonons.</p> <p> </p> Fifth, we build an experimental setup to examine near-field properties of materials using an external thermal source. The nanospectroscopy setup combines near-field microscopy technique, near-field scanning optical microscopy (NSOM), and Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. We further explain challenges in building a nanospectroscopy setup using a weak thermal source and coupling two techniques. This method enables us to investigate spectral thermal radiation and local dielectric properties in nanoscale.

Studien utgår från en fenomenografisk ansats där vårt fenomen som vi vill undersöka är hur förskollärarna erfar sin stödjande roll i undervisningssituationer i, genom och för leken. För att kunna identifiera förskollärarnas uttryck för vårt fenomen så tar vi stöd i begreppet scaffolding, som ingår i den sociokulturella teorin. Men även med hjälp av begreppet outside and inside the flow. Studien är en kvalitativ undersökning där vi med hjälp av semistrukturerade intervjuer utgick från en intervjuguide. Denna intervjuguide fick förskollärarna som vi intervjuade ta del av. I vårt resultat kunde vi se att förskollärarna talar om leken och undervisningen på två olika sätt. De talar om hur man kan undervisa och lära ut genom leken och att man även också kan undervisa och lära ut för leken.

The role of sales has evolved over the last decade, mostly driven by technological and social changes. One major shift is the growth in importance and in size of the inside sales function. Inside sales are sales that are conducted remotely or virtually using one or more Information Technology (IT) tools without the traditional in-person interaction. Despite the growing importance of inside sales, studies that show the key determinants and practices that can improve inside sales success are rare and have tended to focus on determinants affecting individual salesperson performance. Moreover, existing approaches to customer acquisition in inside sales often rely on subjective intuition, expert suggestions and gut feeling, which often hurts the chances of qualifying and converting leads to sales, and eventually diminishes inside sales success. This research aims to address such shortcomings by: 1) investigating the key dimensions and determinants of inside sales success by summarizing the existing body of knowledge using a systematic review and meta-analysis; and 2) develop comprehensible lead conversion models that integrate the interplay of relevant determinants in the lead conversion process. This doctoral research aims to: (1) Synthesize the literature and draw a big picture of B2B sales success by providing practitioners and scholars with a comprehensive state-of-the-art understanding of the determinants of B2B sales success and their significance in inside sales. (2) Identify and validate several key lead engagement factors crucial for inside sales success. (3) Demonstrate the potential of data-driven analytics by collecting multiple historical datasets from several companies representing different industries. This includes investigating and discovering new insights that will improve lead conversion outcomes, which contributes to the literature on the ongoing discussion of effective sales pipeline management. (4) Provide sales practitioners with comprehensible lead conversion models that integrate industry specific behavior and performance of salespeople, characteristics of leads and/or prospects, and workflow strategy aspects. This will help sales practitioners to better understand problems and opportunities in lead management, take proactive actions, and improve their sales success.

Genom detta arbete undersökte jag hur akustiskt pianon kunde användas som ljudkälla för att skapa de ljud jag behövde för att arrangera och producera poplåtar. Tre låtar skapades där ljuden manipulerades utifrån olika metoder. Låt 1 endast använda sig av ”preparerat piano”-tekniker men jag var inte tvungen att manipulera alla ljud. I Låt 2 fick inga ljud låta som ett piano vilket uppnåddes genom samma ”preparerat piano”-tekniker följt av vidare manipulation i datorn. Ljuden i Låt 3 fick jag manipulera så lite eller mycket jag ville, alltså en kombination av metod 1 och 2. Det jag slutligen kom fram till var att känslan av ett fullt arrangemang kunde uppnås med olika manipulationsmetod. Arbetet med den tredje låten var dock för mig mest effektiv då den öppnade upp flest möjligheter samt gav mig mer kontroll.

The purpose of this project is to explore the concept of inside-out change and inner sustainability in the context of societal norms through the process of how they change from childhood into adulthood. What are they and how do they affect our wellbeing and quality of life? To challenge the societal norms and become aware of its negative effects on the individual and collective, we need to allow ourselves space to acknowledge the importance of our inner life. The design aims to create a physical (and psychological) space with the help of video art and design, where the audience is given time for the mind to wander, to hopefully inspire and motivate for improved inner sustainability and change from the inside-out.

This thesis concentrates on problematic field of architectural education and practice related to window role. Phenomena of window loosing it’s primary functional purpose [inside-outside connection in terms of view and daylight] and becoming more decorative element of the facade. This paper content consists of analysis of case studies by evaluating window provided light and view qualities using qualitative and quantitative methods in chosen office buildings. Analysis and results are followed by the discussion of window role oppositions between architect’s and user’s perspective together with secondary topics coming out of it. As the result of analysis and discussion - guidelines for window design are suggested and conclusive experiment of their customization is demonstrated. This thesis  concentrates on awareness of window identity crisis as well as examine and provide simple manners, which can increase quality of daylight and view through the openings in architectural planning.

This work describes the application of spiroligomers as serine hydrolases mimetics. Through collaboration with Kendall Houk's group, for the first time in the Schafmeister lab, we demonstrate that "theozymes" can be successfully used as models to design highly functionalized spiroligomer constructs for organocatalysis. We demonstrate a structure-function relationship between the structure of a series of bi-functional and tri-functional spiroligomer based transesterification catalysts and their catalytic activity. First, we designed and synthesized a series of stereochemically and regiochemically diverse bi-functional spiroligozymes to identify the best arrangement of a pyridine as a general base catalyst and an alcohol nucleophile to accelerate attack on vinyl trifluoroacetate as an electrophile. The best bifunctional spiroligozyme reacts with vinyl trifluoroacetate to form an acyl-spiroligozyme conjugate 2.7x103-fold faster than the background reaction with benzyl alcohol. We then incorporated an additional urea functional group to activate the acyl-spiroligozyme intermediate through hydrogen bonds and enable acyl transfer to methanol. The best trifunctional spiroligozyme carries out multiple turnovers and acts as a transesterification catalyst with k1/kuncat of 2.2x103 and k2/kuncat of 1.3x102. Quantum mechanical calculations identified four transition states in the catalytic cycle and provided a detailed view of every stage of the transesterification reaction. With the aim of accelerating the k2, we sought to design better oxyanion holes that hold multiple hydrogen bonding groups in close proximity of the catalytic groups. A macrocyclic motif would be a good candidate to force the oxyanion hole arm to arrange hydrogen-bonding groups in a precise three-dimensional constellation for transition state stabilization. In Chapter 4, we introduce an in silico designed macrocyclic spiroligomer, which overlays well with catalytic active site of an inhibitor bound-esterase. Finally, we detail our effort to develop new methodologies for rapidly synthesizing spiroligomers on solid-support. This would allow us to efficiently permute their structures for diverse applications such as organocatalysts, host molecules, and biologically related applications such as inhibiting protein-protein interactions. / Chemistry

Women student veterans have been an understudied student population for decades. Although researchers have explored women student veterans' transition to higher education from the military, challenges relating to their peers, and mental health and service-related disabilities, there is virtually no literature on their lived experiences in the college classroom (Atkinson et al., 2018). The field lacks research on the narratives and counternarratives of the women student veterans' lived experiences in the classroom and on campus, and how their gender and veteran identities add to or hinder those experiences. Addressing this gap in the literature, this qualitative study explored the following research questions: 1) What experiences do undergraduate cisgender women student veterans have in the college classroom? and 2) How do gender and student veteran identity influence cisgender women student veterans' experiences in the classroom? Veteran Critical Theory (VCT; Phillips and Lincoln, 2017) was used as a guiding framework for this qualitative study. The tenets of the theory provided guiding principles that assisted in understanding and evaluating how policies, procedures, and practices in the military and higher education marginalize and oppress women student veterans. Narrative inquiry was used as the methodological approach for data collection and analysis, which allowed the women student veterans to express themselves and their lived experiences through dialogue and stories (Creswell, 2014). Participants included seven undergraduate women student veterans (five from large, public research universities, and two from community colleges), between the ages of 23 to early forties, and were veterans from various branches of the military (Air Force, Army, and Marine Corps). Data was collected through a participant questionnaire and semi-structured interviews and analyzed using initial and second-cycle coding procedures. In response to the study's first research question (What experiences do undergraduate cisgender women student veterans have in the college classroom?), the theme of classmates emerged with the sub-themes of organic reveals, microaggressions, indifference, inability to relate, and ignorance. The participants shared they refrained from informing their classmates of their veteran identity unless it came up organically in conversation. They also shared that on occasion, when they did share their veteran identity, they experienced various forms of microaggressions or indifference. The participants described their inability to relate to their civilian peers due to differences in age, marital/parental status, and general life experiences. The participants also shared their frustrations regarding their classmates' ignorance of veterans and the military. Another theme that emerged was faculty and included sub-themes of indifference and positive interactions. The participants discussed how they only revealed their veteran status to their faculty if it came up organically in class conversation, and their faculty responded either positively or were indifferent to the news. None of the participants had negative experiences with their faculty regarding their veteran identity or military affiliation. Several participants spoke of specific positive interactions they had experienced with faculty members and how those interactions had a lasting and influential impact on their classroom and academic experiences. The final theme that emerged was experiences with the campus environment beyond coursework, which included sub-themes of "veteran-friendly" campus, disability support services, "you don't look like a veteran," and liberal environment. Regarding having a "veteran-friendly" campus, participants described having both positive and negative experiences. Many mentioned they did not participate in veteran-related activities on campus due to their busy schedules, and they also did not know of other women veterans on campus. Some described the ease of using their GI Bill benefits, while one participant talked about the gender inequity of having to rush against the clock to finish classes before her GI Bill benefits expire due to multiple stop-outs from having her children. A couple of participants also described their experiences working with disability support services on campus. One participant had a positive, easy, and simplistic experience obtaining an accommodation letter for her military-related disabilities, while another participant described multiple challenges in trying unsuccessfully to get accommodations for her military-related disabilities. The women in the study also described multiple instances where their peers on campus and other veterans in the community would comment "you don't look like a veteran" when they would reveal their veteran identity. Additionally, participants described their campuses' geographical areas as being liberal environments. Several of the women shared that they felt anti-military and anti-veteran sentiments from their classmates while on campus, resulting in their desire to "blend in" and not advertise their veteran identity. When referring to campuses being liberal environments, the findings in the study also found that the participants were not referring to a geopolitical ideology, but rather an undercurrent of privilege and a negative peer culture that exists on campus. In response to the second research question (How do gender and student veteran identity influence cisgender women student veterans' experiences in the classroom?), several themes emerged: gender identity, sexism, and veteran identity. The first theme, gender identity, was a consistent theme throughout each of the participant's interviews. They described how being a woman had a significant impact in their military experience as they experienced various forms of gender inequities, sexual harassment and assault, as well as having to work twice as hard to earn respect and acknowledgements. The women also discussed how those experiences impacted their desire to want to "blend in" on their campuses and be "regular" students. Although they shared that being a woman in class made no real difference in their in-class experiences, the findings showed that gender played a key role in the way they approached their veteran identity, which influenced how they engaged with their classmates and faculty in the classroom and on campus. The participants did clarify, however, that they felt age, marital status/parental status, and a difference in general life experiences from their civilian peers were more influential to their classroom experiences than their gender. The next theme that emerged was sexism. The participants discussed how they experienced various forms of sexism and gender inequities in the military. They shared numerous anecdotes of their experiences in the military due to their gender. Another theme that emerged was veteran identity. Three sub-themes also emerged: blending in, fear, and reactions to "thank you for your service." With regard to blending in, the participants described their desire to blend in on their campuses and not advertise their veteran status. The second sub-theme of fear was in reference to the participants' feelings when anticipating the responses of their civilian classmates and faculty after revealing their veteran identity. The third sub-theme that emerged was reactions to "thank you for your service". Several participants discussed how the well-intentioned statement of gratitude makes them uncomfortable because they do not know how to respond. Overall, the participants described how they typically felt the need to keep their veteran identities to themselves unless it came up organically in conversation, but their veteran identity was not as salient as some of their other identities (i.e., student, mother, friend, etc.). In conclusion, this study offers implications and recommendations for policy and practice. These include training faculty and staff on veterans and military culture; providing additional resources and staff for on-campus resources like veteran resource centers and disability support services, improving classroom environments, peer culture and the liberal environment, and improving campus policies and procedures to better support student veterans. Further research should explore how to better serve women student veterans on college campuses, undergraduate women student veterans from other parts of the country and other types of higher education institutions; and the harmful effects of "thank you for your service" and similar comments. / Doctor of Philosophy / Women student veterans have been an understudied student population for decades. Although researchers have explored women student veterans' transition to higher education from the military, challenges relating to their peers, and mental health and service-related disabilities, there is virtually no literature on their lived experiences in the college classroom (Atkinson et al., 2018). The field lacks research on the narratives and counternarratives of the women student veterans' lived experiences in the classroom and on campus, and how their gender and veteran identities add to or hinder those experiences. Addressing this gap in the literature, this qualitative study explored the following research questions: 1) What experiences do undergraduate women student veterans have in the college classroom? and 2) How do gender and student veteran identity influence women student veterans' experiences in the classroom? Seven participants participated in an interview where they shared details about their experiences serving in the military, interacting with civilians as veterans, and their experiences in college classrooms and on campus. In response to the study's first research question (What experiences do undergraduate women student veterans have in the college classroom?), the findings included the theme of classmates with the sub-themes of organic reveals, microaggressions, indifference, inability to relate, and ignorance. Regarding the second research question (How do gender and student veteran identity influence women student veterans' experiences in the classroom?), several themes emerged: gender identity, sexism, and veteran identity. The theme of veteran identity also included sub-themes of fear and participants' negative reactions to the phrase, "thank you for your service." This study offers implications and recommendations for policy and practice and recommendations for further research. Such efforts may not only assist in the support of women student veterans, but all student veterans and other marginalized and underrepresented students.

<p>The purpose of this research is to analyze business incubators and the relevant factors that take place inside these organizations.</p><p>The methodology used was a case study approach, which investigates a real environment, in this case: NeoEmpresa, a business incubator located in La Paz, Bolivia. The explanatory approach is also considered in this research since the purpose is to explain the business incubation characteristics as well as understand the importance of knowledge transfer and network creation inside business incubators.</p><p>The findings propose that the most adequate incubation model strongly depends on the incubator’s main purpose and that the learning practices that take place inside an incubator involve knowledge transfer, more considered experience transfer, and networking as relevant factors.</p>