In this report, I study familial longitudinal count data with a Poisson regression model. The data is collected from individuals who are nested in families. I focus on two main issues to fit a model. The first one is the large number of excess zeros and the second one is multi-level random effects. My approach for solving these problems are to use either Zero Inflated Poisson (ZIP) or Negative Binomial (NB) models to control for the excess zeros which allow for estimation of another parameter for over dispersion while developing the model with individual and familial random effects. First, I use a Poisson regression model with only main effects. After that, I fit a ZIP model to control for the extra zeros. I provide information about general form of the exponential families and a discussion about the dispersion parameter. I also fit a Negative Binomial model instead of the ZIP model. I also build these models with only individual random effects and with both individual and familial random effects as well. I discuss the generalized estimating equation (GEE) approach to estimate the parameters of a generalized linear model with auto regressive correlation between outcomes. / text

Statkraft är helägt av Norska staten och är Sveriges fjärde största elproducent. Detta examensarbete syftar till att ta fram en metod för att lösa hur Statkraft Sverige AB ska lagra mjukvarubackuper av sina lokalkontrollssystem. För närvarande finns det ingen homogen lagringsmetod för backuper på företaget och problemet som ska lösas i examensarbetet är hur man kan lagra backuper från ett flertal heterogena system på en gemensam lagringsplattform. I och med att de allra flesta hjälpsystem för konfigurering av styrdatorer (PLC) bygger på Microsoft DOS/Windows så är det relativt enkelt att överföra backuper till en gemensam plattform. För äldre hjälpmedel kan man dock tänka sig att virtualisera hjälpmedlen på en nyare PC-dator med exempelvis VMware för att undvika problem som kan uppstå med äldre hårdvara. Därefter kan man arkivera backuperna i ZIP-format som man kan lagra på en server. Fördelen med att använda sig av ZIP för arkivering är att man får en inbyggd integritetskontroll av backuperna då ZIP har inbyggd cyclic redundancy check (CRC) som använder sig av kontrollsummor för att kontrollera så att filerna är korrekta. Dessutom så får man endast en fil i jämförelse med många filer per backup om man inte använder sig av arkivering. Backuperna ska sedan lagras på en server som ligger inom företagets intranät/kontorsnät som endast behörig personal har tillgång till. Uppladdningen av filerna kan gå till på flera olika sätt, större backupfiler från PC-system kan laddas upp direkt via nätverket och dokumentationen uppdateras manuellt. Mindre backupfiler skulle dock kunna laddas upp genom en webbsida på intranätet där dokumentationen uppdateras automatiskt i samband med uppladdning. Lagringsutrymmet för båda dessa lösningar är dock detsamma så det går även att ladda upp mindre backuper manuellt genom nätverket. Med dessa lösningar har berörda tekniker tillgång till backuperna vart de än befinner sig så länge internetuppkoppling finns genom ett virtuellt privat nätverk (VPN) till företagets intranät/kontorsnät. / Statkraft is the fourth largest electricity producer in Sweden and is fully owned by the Norwegian state. This thesis aims to develop a method for solving how Statkraft Sweden AB will store software backups of their local control systems. Currently there is no uniform method of storage for backups in the company and the problem to be solved in the thesis is how to store backups from multiple heterogeneous systems on a single storage platform. Based on the fact that the vast majority of help systems for configuring Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC) is based on Microsoft DOS / Windows, it is relatively simple to transfer the backups to a common platform. With older help systems it is also possible to virtualize these help systems on newer PC-based computers with for example VMware instances to avoid issues that can arise with older hardware. You can then archive the backups in ZIP-format that can be stored on a server, the advantage of using ZIP-archiving is to get a built-in integrity check of backups as ZIP has built in cyclic redundancy check (CRC) that uses checksums to check that the files are correct. Additionally, you get only one file in comparison to many files per backup if you do not archive in for example ZIP-format. The backups are then stored on a server within the company intranet / office network that is restricted to authorized personnel. The upload of the files can be done in several different ways; large backup files from PC-systems can be uploaded directly via the network, and the documentation is updated manually. Smaller and incremental backup files could however be uploaded through a web page on the Intranet, where documentation is automatically updated during upload. The storage space for both of these solutions is the same so that it is also possible to upload smaller backups manually through the network. With these solutions, the technicians can access the backups wherever they are as long as an Internet connection is available thru a virtual private network (VPN) Connection to the company’s intranet/office network.

I Sverige finns 21 000 broar som Trafikverket förvaltar (Trafikverket, 2018a). Två brotyper som finns är rambro och balkbro. Rambron är en av de vanligaste brotyperna och är uppbyggd som en fast inspänd konstruktion. Brosystemet kallas plattrambro eller balkrambro beroende på om balkarna eller plattan är det bärande elementet. Om bron istället är fritt upplagd på stödkonstruktionen, kallas brosystemet för plattbro eller balkbro (Vägverket, 1996). ZIP-balksbron är uppbyggd som en balkbro med en modell liknande omvända T-balkar som läggs fläns mot fläns. Brosystemet kommer ursprungligen från Spanbeton i Holland och gjorde under år 2019 premiär på den svenska marknaden med ett projekt i Härnösand. Bron har en spännvidd på 20,55 meter bestående av nio ZIP-balkar. Balkarna prefabriceras på Strängbetongs fabrik i Långviksmon utanför Härnösand. Projektet blev klart under hösten 2019. Syfte och mål med examensarbetet var att undersöka skillnader mellan ZIP-balksbron och en traditionell exemplifierad plattrambro. Aspekterna som undersöktes var underhållet hos de två brotyperna, materialåtgång av betong och armering, last av trafik samt att det gjordes en utvärdering av projektet. Resultatet visar att ZIP-balksbron kräver mer underhåll än en plattrambro eftersom balkbroar har övergångskonstruktion och brolager. Den tar även mer tid att inspektera då den innehåller manhål. ZIP-balksbron använder sig av 29,38 % mindre betong på en meter. Armeringsdifferensen mellan broarna är försumbart. Momentet av den vertikala respektive horisontella lasten av trafik är 44,5 % respektive 19,2 % större hos ZIP-balksbron jämfört med plattrambron. Resultatet visar även på ett bra utfört brobygge som kan hänvisas i brolösningen, samt nöjda parter från flera håll. Slutsatsen är att plattrambron är mer fördelaktig att använda ur ett underhållsperspektiv, en balkbro kräver betydligt större underhåll än de driftåtgärder som årligen sker på broar. Men, genom arbetets bevisning använder ZIP-balksbron mindre betong än hos en traditionell plattrambro och har en enkel byggprocess, vilket ökar förtroendet för brolösningen och framförallt för prefabricering inom brobranschen. Trots att brotypen kräver ett större underhåll samt en ökad och mer komplex momentfördelning än hos en plattrambro, kan säkerheten under byggtiden vara en avgörande aspekt vid val av brobyggen i framtiden. / The ZIP-beam bridge is constructed as a beam bridge with inverted T-beams placed with flanges next to each other. The bridge system is originally from Spanbeton in Holland and it is having its premiere on the Swedish market during year 2019 with an ongoing project in Härnösand. The bridge span is 20,55 meters consisted with nine ZIP-beams. The project was finished in august 2019.  The purpose and goal were to examine differences between the ZIP-beam bridge and a traditional slab frame bridge. The aspects to examine was maintence, use of concrete and reinforcement and traffic loads.  The results show that the ZIP-beam bridge requires more maintenance than the slab frame bridge. The ZIP-beam bridge uses 29,38 % less concrete per metre. The use of reinforcement is negligible. The moment force of the horisontal and vertical traffic loads is 44,5 % respective 19,2 % larger at the ZIP-beam bridge. The conclusion of this paper shows that even though the ZIP-beam bridge requires more maintenance and a more complex moment force than a slab frame bridge, the safety during the building time as well as the less amount of concrete used can be a conclusive factor when building bridges in Sweden in the future.

INTRODUCTION: HIV disease is thought to be cluster in specific areas rather than be evenly distributed. A study to show a significantly higher HIV risk in certain geographical areas would be beneficial for resource allocation purposes. AIM: The purpose of this study is to describe the demographics of the study population, describe the demographics of those participants that tested HIV-positive, and determine the associations between zip code of residence, HIV infection, and risky behavior. METHODS: Data were collected by Georgia State University’s Center of Excellence for Health Disparities Research for The Geography Project. Univariate and multivariate binary logistic regression analyses were performed on select variables. A p-value of < 0.05 and a 95% confidence interval (CI) were used to determine significance. RESULTS: Participants in high risk groups zip codes were roughly 6.7 times more likely to have been given an HIV-positive result prior to the survey (OR=6.717, CI=1.989-22.683, p=.000), 4.4 times more likely to have been infected with HIV at the time of the survey (OR=4.402, CI=2.109-9.187, p=.000), and 1.4 times more likely to have more than 3 sex contacts in the 6 months prior to the survey (OR=1.425, CI=1.075-1.890, p=.014). The association between HIV and persons that identify as transgender was extremely significant (OR= 28.335, CI=8.305-96.678, p=.000). DISCUSSION: The results indicated that participants in the high risk zip codes group were at a higher risk for HIV infection and having 3 or more sex contacts in the 6 months prior to the interview.

INTRODUCTION: The rate of smoking is significantly higher among people living with HIV (PLWH) in comparison to the general population (CDC, 2017b; Humfleet et al., 2009). Tobacco use among PLWH heightens the risk for HIV-related symptoms and is a pertinent public health issue. Smokers living with HIV are also more likely to develop non-AIDS-related illness in comparison to non-smokers living with HIV. Smoking cessation interventions are desperately needed to cater towards PLWH. This warrants the need for patient-provider interactions in healthcare facilities regarding smoking cessation. AIM: To document rates of smoking and visitations to healthcare facilities among persons living with and without HIV in higher vs. lower-risk areas and to examine associations among healthcare visitations, stressors, and smoking in these sub-samples (i.e., PLWH in higher-risk areas, PLWH in lower-risk areas, people without HIV in higher-risk areas, people without HIV in lower-risk areas). METHODS: Secondary analyses were conducted using data from a network-based, HIV endemic study that was conducted in Metro Atlanta (Rothenberg, Dai, Adams & Heath, 2017). The study included 927 participants from 10 Atlanta zip codes (5 lower-risk and 5 higher-risk based on reported HIV cases). Participants provided information on their smoking status and healthcare visitations, as well as whether they had experienced several stressors (e.g., violence, homelessness, being threatened with a weapon, lack of transportation). Descriptive analyses and frequency distributions were conducted and presented on key variables. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to examine associations between key variables and smoking. RESULTS: Overall, the rate of smoking was quite high in this study. Seventy-four percent of the sample smoked, which is almost five times the smoking rate among the general adult U.S. population (CDC, 2016a). The smoking rate was strikingly high among PLWH in the higher-risk areas (95%). In unadjusted analyses, participants who were older, male, homeless, and do not drive their own car were more likely to smoke. In the adjusted analyses age, gender, and lack of transportation remained significant predictors of smoking. Visitations to healthcare facilities were not significantly associated with smoking or other variables in this study. DISCUSSION: Smoking appears quite common among PLWH, especially those living in higher-risk areas. This study provided important information on the extent to which persons living with and without HIV in higher and lower-risk areas of Atlanta are receiving healthcare services, as well as how demographic factors and stress relate to smoking in these sub-samples. Future research is needed to develop and disseminate effective smoking cessation programs among smokers living with HIV.

The conformational conversion of the cellular prion protein (PrPC) to PrP scrapie (PrPSc) is a hallmark of prion diseases [1]. The cellular role of PrP and the mechanism of PrPSc neurotoxicity remain largely elusive. Therefore, the identification of new prion-like proteins can assist in revealing the function of PrP. A recent study identified a sub-branch of ZIP (Zrt-, Irt-like protein) metal transporters, including ZIP5, ZIP6 and ZIP10, to be evolutionarily related to PrP. This thesis attempts to understand the functional relevance of this relationship between PrP and ZIP transporters with regard to PrP pathobiology. Preliminary observations indicated that PrP, ZIP6 and ZIP10 underwent endoproteolysis in scrapie-infected mouse brains. PrP and ZIP10 processing mimicked the proteolysis which occurs in cell culture during zinc-deficient conditions, suggesting that scrapie infection may be associated with zinc deficiency. More work is needed to uncover whether ZIPs can contribute to the propagation of prion diseases.

The conformational conversion of the cellular prion protein (PrPC) to PrP scrapie (PrPSc) is a hallmark of prion diseases [1]. The cellular role of PrP and the mechanism of PrPSc neurotoxicity remain largely elusive. Therefore, the identification of new prion-like proteins can assist in revealing the function of PrP. A recent study identified a sub-branch of ZIP (Zrt-, Irt-like protein) metal transporters, including ZIP5, ZIP6 and ZIP10, to be evolutionarily related to PrP. This thesis attempts to understand the functional relevance of this relationship between PrP and ZIP transporters with regard to PrP pathobiology. Preliminary observations indicated that PrP, ZIP6 and ZIP10 underwent endoproteolysis in scrapie-infected mouse brains. PrP and ZIP10 processing mimicked the proteolysis which occurs in cell culture during zinc-deficient conditions, suggesting that scrapie infection may be associated with zinc deficiency. More work is needed to uncover whether ZIPs can contribute to the propagation of prion diseases.

The war on poverty started in America in the early 1960s, and the poverty rate of 22.4 percent in the year 1959 decreased to 11.1 percent in 1973. Regrettably, this war did not last long enough, as poverty rate increased to 15.1 percent in 1993. In the year 2000 the US poverty rate declined, but always stayed above 11.1 percent. Kentucky also did not achieve success in this poverty war, and it resulted in growing numbers of poor people. Analysis of poverty has always aroused the interest of economists, sociologists and policy makers. Goal of this paper is to intricate appropriate strategies and invent effective prevention efforts to eradicate the young adult poverty. Estimation of Gini coefficients for various age groups indicates that the young adult population of Kentucky is at risk. The purpose of this paper is to determine the factors of young adult poverty, employing ZIP Code data in Kentucky. Data analysis reveals that rural young adults are more vulnerable than urban young adults in Kentucky. Some significant factors such as; male and female educational level, presence of minorities and type of employment are the primary determinants of poverty for this age group. Analysis of outcomes leaves suggestions for the policy makers to exterminate young adult poverty from Kentucky.

Development in multicellular organisms requires a strict balance between cell division and differentiation. The simple architecture of the Arabidopsis thaliana root makes it an ideal model for studying molecular mechanisms controlling both the transition from cell division to cell differentiation and cell fate determination. The class III Homeodomain-Leucine Zipper (HD-ZIP III) transcription factors (TFs) are well known developmental regulators, controlling important aspects of embryogenesis, shoot meristem activity, leaf polarity and vascular patterning. The HD-ZIP III TFs are under post-transcriptional control of microRNA165 (miR165) and miR166. In this thesis, I present a cell-to-cell signalling pathway underlying root vascular patterning and describe signaling pathways downstream of the HD-ZIP III TFs in their control of root development. The TF SHORTROOT (SHR), moves from the vascular stele cells to the surrounding endodermal cell layer. We show that SHR acts here to transcriptionally activate MIR165A and MIR166B, and the miR165/6 produced in the endodermis act non-cell autonomously to post-transcriptionally restrict HD-ZIP III mRNA levels in the peripheral stele. The resulting graded HD-ZIP III activity domain in the radial stele dose-dependently determines vascular cell type; high levels of HD-ZIP III in the central stele result in metaxylem formation while lower levels in the peripheral stele result in protoxylem. We provide evidence that the HD-ZIP III factors act as de novo xylem specifiers, because the quintuple mutant lacking all five HD-ZIP III genes forms no xylem. Furthermore, reducing the plasmodesmatal aperture through callose accumulation inhibits the bi-directional mobility of both signalling molecules, providing evidence that both SHR and miR165/6 move cell-to-cell via plasmodesmata to control root development. I present downstream components of the miR165/HD-ZIP III TFs in the root meristem, identified through a time-course induction of miR165 coupled to transcriptome analyses. This experiment revealed novel roles for HD-ZIP III TFs in vascular patterning and meristem size control. I show that HD-ZIP III directed repression of auxin hormone signalling in the xylem axis is essential for proper xylem differentiation. Furthermore, I provide data to show that they also control the balance of reactive oxygen species in the root meristem, thereby directing meristem size and ultimately controlling root growth.

The aim of the thesis is to design dividing element into offices (Office Space) and the production of the scale 1 : 1, which should verify the correctness of the procedure in the design and sizing of the product in terms compliance of ergonomics and used materials. The work is divided into theoretical and practical part. The theoretical part deals with the history of the storage elements and screens, current trends, ergonomics, safety, regulations and standards, and the impact of new materials and technologies that affect the formation of product design. The practical part deals with summary, a description of the different stages of the creative process, used materials and the description of the development of the final draft.