Characterization of Behavioural Patterns of Portuguese Blood Donors using Supervised and Unsupervised Learning

Tese de mestrado, Ciência de Dados, Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências, 2022Blood donations are essential to save innumerous lives on a global scale on a daily basis. Without blood donations, many medical procedures cannot take place. Thus, the study of what motivates blood donors to donate and how they behave is important to ensure a stable and safe blood supply. Several studies tried to understand the most important factors for blood donor return, by using mainly logistic regression models. Those studies identified several donor demographic characteristics as impor tant factors to describe donors’ future behaviour. However, in this dissertation it is argued that if models have a poor performance in the task for which they are trained for, the conclusions taken from them may be erroneous. Thus, this dissertation presents a contribution for the study of understanding blood donor behaviour by using the most recent machine learning, evaluation and interpretability techniques. In this dissertation, several machine learning experiments are implemented aiming to predict blood donors return one year following a given donation, gaining insights about blood donors future behaviour and which factors influence it the most. Primarily, the blood donations dataset is split according to several geographic characteristics. Each segment is further split into blood donations from new and experienced donors (i.e. those who donated more than once). For experienced donors several features regarding their past behaviour are computed. Finally, different machine learning models are trained on top of each segment. Our results suggest that donor’s demographics, as well as features regarding the donation, are not enough to predict donor return. As such, it is not possible to estimate the impact that donor’s demo graphics have on donor’s future behaviour. However, models trained over experienced donors performed significantly better than those trained over new donors data, due to the impact of past behaviour features. However, even with past behaviour features the machine learning models do not achieve outstanding scores in predicting donor future behaviour, and, as such, this work demonstrates that both demographics and past behaviour features are insufficient to accurately explain future behaviour

Modélisation et simulation de réseaux locaux et personnels sans fil : intégration des couches PHY et MAC

Dans ce travail nous nous intéressons à la modélisation des couches MAC et PHY dans le cadre des réseaux sans fil à faible, portée. Il présente les techniques de modélisation utilisées pour l'intégration des couches MAC-PHYs (Medium Access Control and Physical layer) de type IR-UWB (Impulse Radio Ultra Wideband) d'une part, et des nouvelles techniques de transmission à 60GHz incluant le beamforming d'autre part, dans le simulateur GloMoSim/QualNet. La modélisation de IR-UWB est basée sur la prise en compte directe des collisions d'impulsions et de l'interférence multi-utilisateur au niveau de la couche PHY par l'introduction du concept de séquences de réception et la notion d'orthogonalité en réception. L'architecture de modélisation proposée est basée sur l'utilisation d'une matrice d'interférence, elle a été développée en deux étapes : une première modélisation basée sur des trains d'impulsions uniformément espacées et une deuxième modélisation plus complète prenant en compte l'utilisation des séquences de sauts aléatoires également appelés séquences de time hopping. L'évaluation de performances de cette partie est basée sur une application typique des réseaux de capteurs dans le cadre d'une application de détection d'intrusion sur une surface protégée. La modélisation à 60 GHz à pour but la prise en compte des nouvelles techniques d'amélioration du débit, notamment l'agrégation et le beamforming. La prise en compte du beamforming est basée sur la définition, des diagrammes de rayonnement des antennes ainsi que de l'interface MAC-PHY/Antenne. La modélisation des deux protocoles de beamforming définis dans le standard 802.15.3c est également effectuée. L'évaluation de performances de cette partie est basée sur un système de distribution de contenu multimédia.In this work, we focus on physical and medium access control layer modeling and simulation for short range wireless communication. In particular, the modeling of the Impulse Radio Ultra Wide Band technique for wireless sensor networks and the high data rate communication modeling which uses millimeter wave and beamforming. The first part deals with the modeling of Impulse Radio Ultra Wide Band. The proposed model takes into account the pulse collision induced by multiple concurrent transmissions at the physical layer which is also called multi user interference. This aspect is accurately introduced thanks to the concept of reception time hopping sequences of concurrent reception and their orthogonality. The simulation architecture is built using two models: the first model is based on a uniformly distributed pulse train and the second model, more complete, takes into account variable time hopping sequences. The performance evaluation of this part is based on a typical wireless sensor networks application, in which sensor nodes are scattered on a particular area to detect and report intrusion events to a base station. The second part deals with the modeling of high data rate communication using millimeter wave. The targeted goal of millimeter wave transmission is to increase the data rate using some novel techniques: beamforming and data aggregation. Beamforming is modeled on the so-called codebook beamforming defined as the new beamforming technique for high data rate wireless communication standards. A methodology is developed to take into account the radiation pattern defined by the codebook indexes. For each index the gain of the directional antenna is computed for each direction. This is used in the simulation model physical layer to determine the directional antenna gain in a particular direction during the propagation stage. The defined protocols for sector level and beam level training defined in the 802.15.3c draft are also modeled. The performance evaluation of this part is based on a multimedia distribution system

Triangle Journal News, volume 1, number 11

Co-Editors: Allen Cook, John Stilwell. Staff Writers: Vincent Astor, Bob Dumais. Contributors: Becky Caperton, Lisa McGaughran, Gary Bodell, Vance Reger, Gary Coughlan. Typesetting and Layout: Allen Cook, John Stilwell, Bob Dumais, Vincent Astor. Advertising: Vincent Astor, Bob Dumais. Special thanks to Rhodes College and the Paul Barret Jr. Library for providing initial scanning of this collection.https://digitalcommons.memphis.edu/speccoll-mss-outmemphis4/1010/thumbnail.jp

Little Village June/July 2012

https://ir.uiowa.edu/littlevillage/1114/thumbnail.jp

Children's creativity museum : a place for imagination and innovation

This thesis is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Architecture in Architecture, 2013.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (page 77).Playing is a fundamental right and a vital component of the life of every child. lt is an inevitable element of a child's overall development and has a direct impact on physical, mental and social wellbeing. Through the play proc€ss, a child transforms from childhood to a healthy adult with the required skills such as cognitive, motor, psychological, health, education, communication and creativity to be a future citizen of a nation. More than two million children live in Dhaka city, the capital of Bangladesh. Thus, it is important to create a media art and technology based interactive museum to unite children of the city as one. As the children of Dhaka city are being deprived of outdoor play and recreation provision which is affecting their overall physical and mental development and thus affects their creativity, a museum of such will help the children of the city to have a healthy, educative, communicative and creative life.Maria KiptiB. Architectur

Sponsoring women’s football : Attracting sponsors in the Finnish sponsorship market

Sponsorship can provide an effective solution to many companies seeking a unique way to reach their stakeholders and, therefore, the popularity of this marketing instrument continues to thrive. While companies’ main aim is to achieve their commercial objectives through sponsorship, the financial aid given to the sport entities themselves is often crucial for their operation. This applies also to women’s football. The sport has witnessed a significant growth in recent years, culminating to the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2019, which attracted a record of 1 billion viewers for the first time since the competition began in 1991. Women’s football has also become more professional in Finland, but it is evident that the sport needs to receive more sponsors to cooperate with. The origins of this research lay in the Finnish Football Association’s need to find out how also the Finnish female football could attract more sponsors and how to build and develop the commercial side of the sport even more. The study is as a qualitative research, utilizing an exploratory approach. The existing sponsorship literature is extensive up to date, covering both women’s and men’s sports from various perspectives. However, specifically women’s football in Finland has not been studied from the business perspective before. To fill this gap, data has been gathered by interviewing both global companies and domestic companies already supporting women’s football and studying the motivations behind their commitment. Moreover, to understand better the Finnish sponsorship culture, three pilot interviews were conducted. The theoretical setting of the research was built on value creation and relationship marketing theories. The research found five critical attributes that can be recommended to women’s football teams to build their image and marketing messages on. Ability to reflect persuasive values, growing interest towards the game, channel to reach a wide consumer base, cost-effectiveness and appealing brand players are the elements valued by sponsors. Specifically, as a novel contribution of this study, the element of player brands was added to the previous widely cited model of the four main criteria that companies use when selecting the entity to be sponsored. Moreover, the research found that the modern comprehensive sponsorship approach appears to be more effective than the old-fashioned view of sponsors requiring only pure logo presence and visibility. The main finding of the present thesis is that even if companies identify some challenges related to women’s football as a sponsorship partner, the sport can be regarded as a legitimate business opportunity for companies, not only in the largest leading football countries in Europe and the US, but also in Finland.Sponsorointi tarjoaa ainutlaatuisen ja tehokkaan tavan tavoittaa sidosryhmiä, minkä ansiosta tämän markkinointikeinon suosio on edelleen merkittävä. Yritysten tavoitellessa kaupallisia tavoitteitaan sponsoroinnin avulla, rahallinen avustus urheilutoimijoille on usein erittäin kriittistä. Tämä pätee myös naisjalkapalloon. Laji on kasvanut merkittävästi viime vuosina, mistä yhtenä tärkeimmistä osoituksista oli vuonna 2019 Ranskassa järjestetyt naisten jalkapallon maailmanmestaruuskilpailut. Tämä tapahtuma rikkoi miljardin katsojan rajan ensimmäistä kertaa kisojen vuonna 1991 alkaneen historian aikana. Naisten jalkapallosta on tullut ammattimaisempaa myös Suomessa, mutta laji tarvitsee lisää sponsoreita tuekseen. Tämä Pro Gradu -tutkielma perustuu Suomen Palloliiton tarpeeseen selvittää, kuinka suomalainen naisjalkapallo voisi saada uusia yrityskumppaneita ja miten lajin kaupallista puolta voisi entisestään kehittää. Tämä tutkimus on toteutettu laadullisena tutkimuksena eksploratiivista lähestymistapaa käyttäen. Jo olemassa oleva sponsorointitutkimuskirjallisuus on ajankohtaista ja kattavaa, ja siinä on keskitytty sekä mies- että naisurheiluun useista eri näkökulmista. Suomalaista naisjalkapalloa ei kuitenkaan ole tutkittu kaupallisesta näkökulmasta. Aineisto tähän tutkielmaan oli kerätty haastattelemalla sekä kansainvälisiä että suomalaisia yrityksiä, jotka jo nykyisellään tukevat naisjalkapalloa. Tavoitteena oli tutkia näiden yritysten motiiveja ja näkökulmia sponsoroinnille. Lisäksi tutkimuksessa käytettiin kolmea pilottihaastattelua suomalaisen sponsorointikulttuurin ja sen nykytilanteen kartoittamiseksi. Teoreettinen viitekehys tutkielmalle perustuu arvonluontimalliin ja suhdemarkkinoinnin teoriaan. Naisten jalkapallojoukkueiden suositellaan jatkossa perustavan imagonsa ja markkinointiviestintänsä viiteen tutkimuksessa löydettyyn attribuuttiin. Sponsorit arvostavat naisten jalkapalloon assosioituja arvoja, lajin kasvavaa kiinnostusta, kanavia laajojen asiakasryhmien saavuttamiseen, kustannustehokkuutta sekä asiakkaisiin vetoavia pelaajabrändejä. Lisäksi modernin sponsorointilähestymistavan on havaittu olevan tehokkaampi verrattuna perinteiseen logonäkyvyyteen keskittyvään sponsorointiin. Vaikka naisten jalkapallon sponsorointiin liittyykin haasteita, laji voidaan nähdä varteenotettavana liiketoimintamahdollisuutena paitsi maailman johtavissa jalkapallomaissa, myös Suomessa

September 11: Perspectives From the Field of Philanthropy -- Volume Three

Assesses the philanthropic sector's response to September 11 through interviews with leaders in the field. Provides lessons learned in the government-philanthropic relief effort, highlighting unresolved public policy issues. Includes recommendations

Albuquerque Morning Journal, 12-02-1910

https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/abq_mj_news/5199/thumbnail.jp

Yrittäjyyskasvatus – Tulevaisuuden siltojen rakentaja ja raja-aitojen murtaja? 11. Yrittäjyyskasvatuspäivät 2017 Oulussa, Artikkelikirja

The aim of this project was to create a preliminary theoretical framework of howto utilize humour strategically in organizations with the aim of creating newbusiness opportunities. The present multidisciplinary discussion paper will identifyresearch gaps and combine viewpoints of international business management,international business communication, marketing and education in a novel way. Itappears that in previous literature on humour in a business context, discussionshave taken place in different ‘silos’ and as a result, the connections betweendifferent research fields have been scarce. Consequently, a more comprehensiveunderstanding of the significance of humour in business innovations is necessary.Firstly, we are proposing a framework and a research agenda for exploring differentstrategic ways of using humour in companies. Secondly, in the Hurmos-project wehave already collected empirical evidence based on this framework, and somepreliminary results are also presented. Hence, the potential, as well as the limitsand risks of humour in business have been examined in terms of both internal andexternal corporate communication. We have focused on such research aspects ascorporate storytelling, corporate and employer branding, and work engagement.Peer group mentoring has been used as one tool for collecting relevant narrativesfrom companies. Additionally, we have explored innovation communication, inparticular how humour can be applied as a strategic tool in new businessdevelopment both in facilitating creative Research, Development and Innovation(R&D&I) work environments, and in incorporating humour into product andservice innovation in practice. Our empirical results will provide a much neededmore comprehensive view of the role of humour as a strategic tool in corporatecommunication and business innovation. The results also provide a point of departure for further research. Besides academia, results and generated know-how will be of interest to managers of large corporations as well as start-up companies.</p