The purposes of this study were to (a) determine graduate students' perceptions of the effectiveness of the delivery system and their level of comfort with the delivery system, (b) determine graduate students' perceptions of the effectiveness of the delivery system and their level of comfort with the teacher, (c) determine graduate students' level of comfort with the delivery system and their level of comfort with the teacher, (d) determine differences in graduate students' ratings of the effectiveness of the delivery system before a distance education session and after a distance education session, and (e) determine differences in graduate students' level of comfort with the teacher before a distance education session and after a distance education session.

We have found an operation between permutations in the symmetric group Sn upon which we have experimentally derived results that can be linked to desirable properties in cryptography, mainly in the domain of one-way functions. From it, we have implemented a beta version of an algorithm for a hashing function by exploiting the operation’s low computational cost for speed and its properties for security. Its design makes it resistant to length extension attacks and the encoding of blocks into permutations suggests that any differential cryptanalysis technique that is based on bit conditions should be useless against it. More precisely, when measuring the evolution of differences in the compression function, bit-based distances such as the exclusive-or distance should be replaced by another type of distance, still to be determined in future research. In this work we will present the algorithm and introduce a new framework of cryptanalysis for collision and preimage attacks in order to somehow measure its security. Once this is done, we will run comparison tests against MD5 and SHA256 in order to externally evaluate our algorithm in terms of speed, weaknesses and strength.

Title: Taoism and health: selected aspects Objectives: The first objective of this thesis is to present and interpret Taoist way of thinking with a special emphasis on its teachings regarding health. The second objective is to presents selected aspects of this 'spiritual philosophy' and its health benefits (nutrition, fasting, breathing and physical exercises and others) and tests them against currently available scientific studies. The prolonged goal would be to point out methods which complement the techniques and processes of western health care systems. The third objective examines the legislative situation in the Czech elementary education system regarding the health education topic and beneficial effect of Taoist methods to use. Methods: This master thesis is purely theoretical, focusing on the analysis of primary and secondary source material with continuous and subsequent synthesis. These methods have been complemented with compilation and comparative methods. Results: Based on the available source material, the Taoist way of thinking has been presented including his approach to health. Furthermore, traditional Taoist health promoting practices which were also an inspiration for Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) were being discussed. Based on scientific articles and studies, benefits and...

Föreliggande uppsats fördjupar sig inom ämnet gränslöst arbete och syftet är att synliggöra upplevelser av samt attityder till arbetssättet. Detta då gränslöst arbete idag blir allt vanligare som följd till medietekniken som implementeras i det dagliga arbetet. Genom en kvalitativ fallstudie och nio intervjuer med anställda på fallföretaget samlades empiri in kring deras upplevelser och attityder till arbetssättet. Respondenterna delades upp i tre subgrupper baserade på arbetsroll på företaget. Det visade sig finnas samband mellan hur respondenterna i de olika subgrupperna upplevde arbetssättet och det fanns avgörande skillnader i arbetssätt mellan grupperna. Attityderna såg relativt lika ut oavsett arbetsroll, samtidigt som respondenterna som påverkades minst av det nya arbetssättet var mer kritiska till det. Positiva attityder innebär inte att bakomliggande problem bör bortses från, då det kan uppstå problematik längre fram. / This study deepens within the topic boundaryless work and the aim is to visualize the experiences of, and the attitudes towards, that way of working. This is relevant since boundaryless work is becoming more and more common due to the technology that implements in to our daily work. Through a qualitative case study and nine interviews with employees at the case company, empirical data was gathered on their experiences and attitudes towards the way of working. The respondents were divided in to three subgroups based on their role at the company. As it turned out there were connections between how the respondents from the different subgroups experienced the way of working and there were vital differences between the roles. The attitudes on the other hand were similar regardless of the work roles, though the respondents that noticed flexible work the least were more critical to it. Positive attitudes do not mean that underlying issues or difficulties should be overlooked, since these can become more critical later on.

A series of research studies have recently identified an issue called strain localization in welded wire reinforced (WWR) members. This phenomenon reportedly concentrates strains at welded cross wire locations and severely limit ductility. Those that identified the phenomenon used it to imply that WWR is unsafe because it does not warn of failure. This dissertation is investigating details to mitigate the strain localization effect and demonstrate the WWR can be used safely. A moment curvature analysis is developed using Response2000 program and calibrated using experimental data. Parametric study was developed to present a recommendation of details and minimum reinforcement required for WWR slabs. The effect of different types of WWR coating on mechanical properties were investigated. The dissertation next examined the effects of strain rate on the mechanical properties of WWR and traditional rebar. In total, fifty four slabs have been constructed using WWR and rebar with various cross wire spacing, using a realistic design. The strain localization phenomenon was not demonstrated, but WWR slabs are somewhat less ductile than traditionally reinforced members. The WWR members were shown to provide adequate ductility for warning of impending failure visually and with a well-accepted ductility measure. The WWR members were also shown the ability of load redistribution. The effect of coating demonstrates that both galvanizing WWR and coating WWR with epoxy has a positive effect on mechanical properties, along with adding corrosion resistance. The effect of strain rate shows that increase in loading rate tend to increase the yield and ultimate stresses and percent area reduction, however the loading rate increase does not have a significant effect on elastic modulus, elongation and uniform elongation.

Research has indicated that there are certain ingredients that make therapy successful. One of these ingredients may be the actual therapist providing the therapy. The concept of a person’s way of being appears in some literature, but the concept of therapist way of being has not been well developed and explored. The purpose of this study was to form a definition of therapist way of being, to gain an understanding of how way of being influences a client’s change in therapy, and to describe and ways of being that are beneficial and detrimental to a client’s journey of change. Data were collected from panelists, who were all licensed clinicians and all reported being at least somewhat familiar with the concept of way of being. The results of the study include a proposed definition of way of being, descriptions of ways of being that promote and deter client change, questions that might be asked of a therapist to better understand his or her way of being, potential responses to these questions that might indicate a change-promoting or change-deterring way of being, and lastly, suggestions for future research on therapist way of being.

In communication and marketing there have been a shift from a transaction focus with emphasis on persuasion to a relationship focus referred to as a two-way communication with increased interactivity. Traditional companies are challenged to understand how their business can take advantage and adapt to the digital changes and opportunities when it comes to communication and building relationships and gain the ability to anticipate and deliver what customers expect them to. B2B companies have a slower adaption to digital media and digital changes compared to B2C companies and when it comes to digital channels there is many opportunities to discover. B2B companies still feel dependent on traditional communication when it comes to building relationships but the digital trend pressure companies to get involved and keep up digitally. The constantly expanding digital landscape force B2B companies to find a way to utilize digital platforms and channels in order to create strong digital relationships with retailer and audience The purpose of this study is to investigate and gain an understanding how B2B wholesalers communicate and build digital relationships with retailers. A qualitative method is used featuring a single-case study with Company X a B2B firm operating in the wholesale trade business as a producer and a wholesaler. Data used in the study is collected from semi-structured interviews with employees from the sales and marketing department. Digital marketing is one of the most emerging tools within communication, that B2B businesses not yet use to its full potential but are eager to discover the opportunities and advantages B2C companies adapted for a long time. B2B businesses use digital tools to support and strengthen the communication and relationship with retailers however findings reveal traditional tools is still the prefered communication method in B2B. Our findings suggest how there are still qualities lacking in digital communication that can only be achieved through traditional communication with psychical meetings. Empirical suggestion on how a B2B company can adopt techniques from B2C and apply it in a B2B context.

This normative comparative study sought to compare the reading achievement, in English and Spanish, of Latino English learners in a 50/50 two-way immersion (TWI) bilingual program to Latino English learners in a 90/10 TWI program. The scores from 55 students across four TWI programs, two 50/50 and two 90/10, were analyzed. The principal from each school was also interviewed. Quantitative data from the district’s reading Benchmark Book Test, California Standards Test/English Language Arts and Standards-based Test in Spanish were analyzed using repeated measures ANOVA, Bonferroni Post Hoc and Chi Square to compare the means between the students’ reading achievement in Spanish and English by program model. Overall the biliteracy results revealed that the main effect between programs was not significant (p = .23) nor was the within subjects effect (p = .42). However, the interaction of grade and program was significant (p = .001). English and Spanish literacy results showed the students in the 50/50 TWI program outperformed students in the 90/10 TWI program by end of fifth grade; however across program models more students reached grade level literacy in English than in Spanish. Interviews with the principals of each school revealed that when analyzing test data at the school site level, English data were analyzed more closely and more systematically due to accountability measures indicating that NCLB has had a profound effect on the biliteracy attainment of Latino English learners in two-way immersion.

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No description available.