Thesis (M. Div.)--Baptist Bible Graduate School of Theology, 2005. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 85-92).

<p>The ambient conditions such as air quality, noise, music, temperature, lighting and colour, in open-plan offices and their impact on employees are important for managements to recognize because open-plan offices are becoming more and more common in Swedish companies' office design today (Aronsson, 2005). For students, who will soon be entering the work force, it is important to understand how the characteristics of the ambient conditions can influence employee behaviour/satisfaction.</p><p>To have a working knowledge of what kinds of effects the ambient conditions can have is likely to increase one's chances of becoming a satisfied employee. An employee that is aware of the importance of creating a servicescape (the attributes of the physical surrounding) that meets its needs and desires is likely to enhance its satisfaction in the ambient conditions. A great number of managements may not be aware of the risks of working in an open-plan office where the ambient conditions are not satisfying the employees; ergonomic issues as well as heart diseases are the most serious results (Evans and Johnson, 2000, pp. 780-782). This leads to the problem formulation of this thesis: "How can management improve employee satisfaction in an open-plan office through the characteristics of a servicescape's ambient conditions?”.</p><p>Four main theories are included in the Theoretical Framework to provide a deep understanding for the reader about the complexity of problems that comes with working in an open-plan office. The Bitner theory and the research compiled by Sundstrom discuss ambient conditions and their impacts on employees' behaviour/satisfaction. Evans and Johnson’s theory discusses how stress is related to low-intensity noise. The final main theory, Person-Environment Fit, upholds the importance of a servicescape that fits employees’ needs and desires.</p><p>The ambient conditions influence employee behaviours in numerous ways (Davis, 1984, pp. 271) and at Sogeti’s open-plan office several ambient conditions are studied through an observation conducted during April 17th 2007 and a questionnaire with 15 closed questions. The outcomes of the observation and the questionnaire are analysed and concrete proposals are created for the Sogeti management to act upon in order to improve the characteristics of their open-plan office’s ambient conditions and thereby improve employee satisfaction.</p><p>One of the concrete proposals to how Sogeti may improve the ambient conditions in their open-plan office is to introduce a survey that should be handed out to the employees three or four times a year. The purpose of the survey is to define employees’ perceptions of the different ambient conditions.</p><p>Based on the outcomes from the survey, employees’ needs and desires of the servicescape, the ambient conditions’ characteristics, can be improved. Also, some examples of actions geared towards reducing the level of noise in the Sogeti open-plan office are to use ear phones when listening to music and to leave the open-plan office when conducting phone calls. The concrete proposals developed based on the Sogeti employees’ perceptions of the ambient conditions in the open-plan office are outcomes of this thesis that may serve as a tool for the Sogeti management to improve the ambient conditions of their servicescape and thereby increase employee satisfaction.</p>

<p>Living Lab är en öppen innovationsmiljö där innovationer samproduceras, testas och verifieras av användarna, tillsammans med företag och akademin i en kontext som representerar innovationens tänkta användningsområde. Genom samverkan kan olika värden skapas för företagen. Syftet med uppsatsen var att undersöka hur Living Lab skapar värde för företag och vilka värden företag kan identifiera ur de användarcentrerade aktiviteterna. Uppsatsen karaktäriseras av en kvalitativ ansats och grundar sig i en explorativ undersökning med djupintervjuer där fyra företag ligger till grund för uppsatsens resultat. Uppsatsen har visat att Living Lab skapat värden för företag genom att de fått mer tilltalande produkter, identifierat nya användarkategorier och samordnat resurser med företag. Living Lab är därmed värdeskapande för företag genom stöd för utvärdering, ny- och vidareutveckling av innovationer. Samverkan mellan användare, företag och akademin öppnar upp för ett kunskapsutbyte vilket skapar värde för företag då kompetensutveckling äger rum och en djupare kunskap om användarna kan erhållas</p>

<p>The objective of this master thesis was to study the relation between public green open space and health among adolescents in Uppsala municipality, Sweden. The aim of the study was to investigate if there is an association between the access to green open space in the living environment and adolescent´s health, in terms of fysical activity, self- reported health and overweight. The public health questionnaire ”Liv och Hälsa Ung 2009” provided data together with a map over public green space, where the measure taken into account is the proportion of public green space in the living environment. The study includes 3423 adolescents, 12-19 years old. The statistical results indicate that access to public green space in the living environment is genrally not correlated to the health variables studied in this thesis. The author´s interpretation is that other health determinants are more crucial to adolescent´s health than green space, parents educationlevel is sugested as one. Further research is needed to support the findings of this study.</p> / <p>Syftet med föreliggande studie var att undersöka om det finns samband mellan tillgång till grönområden i boendeområdet och ungas hälsa (med avseende på fysisk aktivitet, självskattad hälsa och övervikt) i Uppsala kommun. Studien utgår i från redan befintliga data genom frågeformuläret ”Liv och Hälsa Ung 2009” som riktar sig till elever i årskurs 7 och 9 i högstadiet samt årskurs 2 i gymnasiet i Uppsala län. Studien omfattar 3423 elever i åldern 12-19 år. Med utgångspunkt i enkäten samt med hjälp av en karta över Uppsala kommuns grönområden undersöks måttet andel offentlig grönyta i boendeområden i förhållande till de valda hälsovariablerna. Sammanfattningsvis uppvisar resultatet få uppmätta samband mellan tillgång till grönområden i boendeområdet och de hälsovariabler som studerats. Författarens slutsats är att andra faktorer verkar vara viktigare för ungas hälsa, som exempelvis föräldrarnas utbildningsnivå. Det behövs dock fler studier genomföras för att bekräfta studiens fynd.</p>

The objective of this master thesis was to study the relation between public green open space and health among adolescents in Uppsala municipality, Sweden. The aim of the study was to investigate if there is an association between the access to green open space in the living environment and adolescent´s health, in terms of fysical activity, self- reported health and overweight. The public health questionnaire ”Liv och Hälsa Ung 2009” provided data together with a map over public green space, where the measure taken into account is the proportion of public green space in the living environment. The study includes 3423 adolescents, 12-19 years old. The statistical results indicate that access to public green space in the living environment is genrally not correlated to the health variables studied in this thesis. The author´s interpretation is that other health determinants are more crucial to adolescent´s health than green space, parents educationlevel is sugested as one. Further research is needed to support the findings of this study. / Syftet med föreliggande studie var att undersöka om det finns samband mellan tillgång till grönområden i boendeområdet och ungas hälsa (med avseende på fysisk aktivitet, självskattad hälsa och övervikt) i Uppsala kommun. Studien utgår i från redan befintliga data genom frågeformuläret ”Liv och Hälsa Ung 2009” som riktar sig till elever i årskurs 7 och 9 i högstadiet samt årskurs 2 i gymnasiet i Uppsala län. Studien omfattar 3423 elever i åldern 12-19 år. Med utgångspunkt i enkäten samt med hjälp av en karta över Uppsala kommuns grönområden undersöks måttet andel offentlig grönyta i boendeområden i förhållande till de valda hälsovariablerna. Sammanfattningsvis uppvisar resultatet få uppmätta samband mellan tillgång till grönområden i boendeområdet och de hälsovariabler som studerats. Författarens slutsats är att andra faktorer verkar vara viktigare för ungas hälsa, som exempelvis föräldrarnas utbildningsnivå. Det behövs dock fler studier genomföras för att bekräfta studiens fynd.

The ambient conditions such as air quality, noise, music, temperature, lighting and colour, in open-plan offices and their impact on employees are important for managements to recognize because open-plan offices are becoming more and more common in Swedish companies' office design today (Aronsson, 2005). For students, who will soon be entering the work force, it is important to understand how the characteristics of the ambient conditions can influence employee behaviour/satisfaction. To have a working knowledge of what kinds of effects the ambient conditions can have is likely to increase one's chances of becoming a satisfied employee. An employee that is aware of the importance of creating a servicescape (the attributes of the physical surrounding) that meets its needs and desires is likely to enhance its satisfaction in the ambient conditions. A great number of managements may not be aware of the risks of working in an open-plan office where the ambient conditions are not satisfying the employees; ergonomic issues as well as heart diseases are the most serious results (Evans and Johnson, 2000, pp. 780-782). This leads to the problem formulation of this thesis: "How can management improve employee satisfaction in an open-plan office through the characteristics of a servicescape's ambient conditions?”. Four main theories are included in the Theoretical Framework to provide a deep understanding for the reader about the complexity of problems that comes with working in an open-plan office. The Bitner theory and the research compiled by Sundstrom discuss ambient conditions and their impacts on employees' behaviour/satisfaction. Evans and Johnson’s theory discusses how stress is related to low-intensity noise. The final main theory, Person-Environment Fit, upholds the importance of a servicescape that fits employees’ needs and desires. The ambient conditions influence employee behaviours in numerous ways (Davis, 1984, pp. 271) and at Sogeti’s open-plan office several ambient conditions are studied through an observation conducted during April 17th 2007 and a questionnaire with 15 closed questions. The outcomes of the observation and the questionnaire are analysed and concrete proposals are created for the Sogeti management to act upon in order to improve the characteristics of their open-plan office’s ambient conditions and thereby improve employee satisfaction. One of the concrete proposals to how Sogeti may improve the ambient conditions in their open-plan office is to introduce a survey that should be handed out to the employees three or four times a year. The purpose of the survey is to define employees’ perceptions of the different ambient conditions. Based on the outcomes from the survey, employees’ needs and desires of the servicescape, the ambient conditions’ characteristics, can be improved. Also, some examples of actions geared towards reducing the level of noise in the Sogeti open-plan office are to use ear phones when listening to music and to leave the open-plan office when conducting phone calls. The concrete proposals developed based on the Sogeti employees’ perceptions of the ambient conditions in the open-plan office are outcomes of this thesis that may serve as a tool for the Sogeti management to improve the ambient conditions of their servicescape and thereby increase employee satisfaction.

Detta examensarbete utförs i sammarbete med ett företag som tillverkar produkter i polyuretan. Syftet med en av dessa produkter är att skydda kablar mot böjande samt axiella krafter. Företaget tillverkar idag denna produkt genom att tillföra gjutmassan underifrån, vilket leder till att gjutmassan trycks upp i konstruktionen. Detta är för att luftbubblor inte ska uppstå. Företaget har dock problem när det gäller tillverkning av produkten då den innehåller mer än tre ton gjutmassa. Företagets process blir begränsad till gjutmassans brukstid och komponentblandarens materialflöde, därför krävs en ny metod för att tillverka produkter med större volym. Detta arbete ska undersöka olika möjligheter att tillverka produkter som väger upp till sex ton och är upp till åtta meter långa genom att tillföra gjutmassan ovanifrån. Metoden får inte ge upphov till defekter så som rullningar, sprickor eller att luftbubblor uppstår hos produkten. Metoden ska även vara pålitlig då tillverkning av produkter med större dimensioner är kostsamt. Först görs en litteraturstudie för att undersöka på vilka olika sätt som gjutformen kan fyllas. Detta ger att gjutningen sker med Open Casting. När gjutmetoden är bestämd så genomförs en brainstorming där olika metoder för att tillverka produkten tas fram. Beräkningar på hållfastheten och volymen hos gjutformen samt arbetstrycket i slangarna som transporterar gjutmassan utförs på den metod som väljs till fortsatt arbete. Beräkningarna ger att slangarna som gjutmassan ska transporteras i 10 meter upp till gjutformen inte kan ha en större diameter än 25 mm för att trycket i slangen inte ska bli för lågt eller att ytnivån hos gjutmassan inte ska höjas för snabbt mot slutet av gjutprocessen. Hållfasthetsberäkningarna visar att gjutformen måste förstärkas då det vätsketryck som uppstår från gjutmassan ger upphov till plasticering. Ytterligare undersökningar görs på de yttre komponenter som krävs för att utföra den framtagna metoden. En av dessa är olika lösningar på hur styrningen av munstyckets position i förhållande till gjutmassans yta kan ske. Det görs även en undersökning på hur slangarna som gjutmassan transporteras i ska matas upp ur gjutformen. Då det kommer vara få produkter som tillverkas varje år på företaget så dras slutssatsen att ingen motordriven samt positioneringsutrustning är ekonomiskt försvarsbara att införskaffa, utan det ska istället utföras med beräkning av gjutnivån samt handarbete vid matning av slangen. / This bachelor thesis is made in cooperation with a company that manufactures polyurethane products. The purpose with one of these products is to protect cables from bending and axial forces. Today the company produces this product by adding the resin blend from beneath, which leads to the resin blend being pushed up in the construction. This prevents air entrapments from appearing. The company has problems with manufacturing products that are larger than three tonnes. The company’s process gets limited by the resin blend’s potlife and the dispensing equipment’s material flow; that is why a new manufacturing method for products with larger volumes is needed. This thesis is going to study the possible ways to manufacture products that are up to six tonnes and eight meters high by adding the resin blend from above. The process should not cause defects such as flow marks, cracks or air entrapments in the product. The process should also be reliable since manufacturing of products with large volume is expensive. First a literature study is made to examine different ways to fill the cast. The study shows that the filling of the cast should be made by Open Casting. When the cast method is determined a brainstorming is implemented where different methods to manufacture products are developed. On the method that is selected for continued work calculations on strength and volume of the cast and the working pressure in the hoses that transports the resin blend is made. These calculations show that the hoses that transport the resin blend 10 meters up to the cast cannot have a larger diameter than 25 mm, since the working pressure in the hoses should not be too low or that the surface of the resin blend should not rise to fast at the end of the casting process. The strength calculation of the cast shows that it must be reinforced since the pressure from the resin blend cause stresses larger than the yield strength. Additional studies are made on the outer components that are needed to perform the chosen method. One of these was different solutions on how the steering of the nozzles position in relation to the surface of the resin blend could work. A study on how the hoses that transports the resin blend should be moved up to the cast is also made. Since few products will be manufactured by the company each year it is determined that no engine or equipment for positioning the nozzle is economically viable to procure, this should instead be made by calculations of the resin blend surface and manual labor by the operator to move the hoses.

Radio frequency identi cation (RFID) is a rapidly emerging technology that enables au- tomatic remote identi cation of objects. Passive and semi-passive RFID systems can be distinguished from other forms of wireless systems, because the RFID tags (transponders) communicate by way of backscatter. In addition, passive tags derive their energy from the RF energy emitted by the reader. RFID technology can provide a fully automated data capture and analysis system. Compared to a passive RFID system, an open platform semi-passive UHF RFID tag can provide identi cation, security, low-power (compared to a wireless sensor net- work(WSN)), medium range and medium processing speed. However, the eld of semi- passive RFID is still under development, and has yet there are no open development platforms available. This thesis develops a prototype of a semi-passive UHF RFID tag that is compatible with the leading UHF RFID standard EPCglobal Gen 2 Class 1. I alsot has the exible I2C and analog digital converter(ADC) interface, which allows the additional of external analog and digital sensors. The sensor data can be read by microcontroller and stored at memory. Standard reader can get sensor data by sending QUERY and READ command to tag. Test results of our open platform semi-passive UHF RFID tag demonstrated that it can achieve a read rate above 50% when an open platform semi-passive UHF RFID tag is placed four meters from the reader antenna and the reader output power is set to 21 dBm. In addition, the proposed semi-passive open platform RFID tag consumes very little power (4.9 mA in 2V with system frequency set to 8MHz).

With the rapid development and popularity of information technology, criminals and mischievous computer users are given avenues to commit crimes and malicious activities. One of the commonly used tactics, called steganography, is to hide information under a cover media so that except participants, no one else knows the existence of such information. Many techniques have been proposed for hiding data in images, videos and audios, but there is not much research devoted to data hiding in the popular MS Office documents which have recently adopted Office Open XML (OOXML) format. In this research, we first focus on identifying several data hiding techniques for OOXML documents. Then, we design and develop a fast detection algorithm based on the unique internal structure of OOXML documents, which contains multiple XML files, by using multi-XML query technique. Experimental results show the proposed detection algorithm outperforms the traditional one in terms of detection speed and completeness, where performance is the key to success of detecting hidden data in OOXML documents due to the fact that millions of documents are generated and transferred over the internet every day. / UOIT

Different open space types are assumed to be valued in different ways by the public. This thesis analyzes four spatially explicit hedonic models of Baltimore County, Maryland to examine the effect of six different open spaces types on house value using 2007 sales data. The first model analyzes open space value using proximity measures of open spaces, while the other three models use percent area measures of open space at different neighborhood distance. Marginal monetary values of the open spaces are estimated. Additional eight hedonic models, four urban and four rural, are used to analyze the differences and similarities between the value placed on open space by urban dwellers and rural dwellers. Among the open space types under study, storm water retention area is found to have the most prevalent influence on house value and in most instants this influence is found to be negative. Differences and similarities in urban and rural perspective on open space value are also discussed. Proximity to lakes without improvements has positive effect on house prices for both rural and urban area. Golf course area in urban neighborhood has negative influence on house prices, whereas in rural area its influence is seen to be positive.