A Smartphone App to Promote Healthy Weight Gain, Diet, and Physical Activity During Pregnancy (HealthyMoms): Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial

Background: Excessive gestational weight gain is common and associated with adverse outcomes both in the short and long term. Although traditional lifestyle-based interventions have shown to mitigate excess gestational weight gain, little is known about whether mobile Health (mHealth) apps can promote healthy weight gain, diet, and physical activity during pregnancy. Objective: The primary aim of the HealthyMoms trial is to determine the effectiveness of a smartphone app (HealthyMoms) for mitigating excess gestational weight gain during pregnancy. Secondary aims are to determine the effectiveness of the app on dietary habits, physical activity, body fatness, and glycemia during pregnancy. Methods: HealthyMoms is a two-arm randomized controlled trial. Women are being recruited at routine visits at the maternity clinics in Linköping, Norrköping and Motala, Sweden. Women are randomized to the control or intervention group (n=150 per group). All women will receive standard care, and women in the intervention group will also receive the HealthyMoms smartphone app. Results: Recruitment of participants to the trial was initiated in October 2017, and 190 women have so far completed the baseline measurement. The baseline measures are estimated to be finalized in December 2019, and the follow-up measures are estimated to be completed in June 2020. Conclusions: This project will evaluate a novel smartphone app intervention integrated with existing maternity health care. If successful, it has great potential to be implemented nationally in order to promote healthy weight gain and health behaviors during pregnancy

Direct intramyocardial plasmid vascular endothelial growth factor-A165gene therapy in patients with stable severe angina pectoris A randomized double-blind placebo-controlled study: The Euroinject One trial

ObjectivesIn the Euroinject One phase II randomized double-blind trial, therapeutic angiogenesis of percutaneous intramyocardial plasmid gene transfer of vascular endothelial growth factor (phVEGF-A165) on myocardial perfusion, left ventricular function, and clinical symptoms was assessed.BackgroundEvidence for safety and treatment efficacy have been presented in phase I therapeutic angiogenesis trials.MethodsEighty “no-option” patients with severe stable ischemic heart disease, Canadian Cardiovascular Society functional class 3 to 4, were assigned randomly to receive, via the NOGA-MyoStar system (Cordis Corp., Miami Lakes, Florida), either 0.5 mg of phVEGF-A165(n = 40) or placebo plasmid (n = 40) in the myocardial region showing stress-induced myocardial perfusion defects on 99mTc sestamibi/tetrofosmin single-photon emission computed tomography.ResultsNo differences among the groups were recorded at baseline with respect to clinical, perfusion, and wall motion characteristics. After three months, myocardial stress perfusion defects did not differ significantly between the VEGF gene transfer and placebo groups (38 ± 3% and 44 ± 2%, respectively). Similarly, semiquantitative analysis of the change in perfusion in the treated region of interest did not differ significantly between the two groups. Compared with placebo, VEGF gene transfer improved the local wall motion disturbances, assessed both by NOGA (p = 0.04) and contrast ventriculography (p = 0.03). Canadian Cardiovascular Society functional class classification of angina pectoris improved significantly in both groups but without difference between the groups. No phVEGF-A165-related adverse events were observed; however, NOGA procedure-related adverse events occurred in five patients.ConclusionsThe VEGF gene transfer did not significantly improve stress-induced myocardial perfusion abnormalities compared with placebo; however, improved regional wall motion, as assessed both by NOGA and by ventriculography, may indicate a favorable anti-ischemic effect. This result should encourage more studies within the field. Transient VEGF overexpression seems to be safe

Processing unit resources in a distributed computing systems

The described program is designed for collecting, storing and processing data of distributed file system

Synthetic nacre : Produced by in situ crystallisation

This thesis describes a sequence of experiments which have been performed with the intention to produce synthetic nacre. Synthetic nacre is a biomimetic material based on nacre, a material which can be found in mollusc shells. Nacre is a nanocomposite which has improved mechanical properties compared to the principal component aragonite (95% wt%). The improved properties of nacre are derived from the polymeric components in the composite which allows from redistribution of forces under load. Carbonates sequester CO2 in the geological CO2-cycle. If precursor are sourced correctly, the CaCO3 in synthetic nacre can temporarily sequester CO2. Crystals with the intended pseudohexagonal morphology have been synthesised. However, subsequent quantitative analysis could not support these findings in a follow-up experiment. This discrepancy might have been caused by differences in the method. Moist nanopaper was found to be mineralisable while maintaining a layered structure

Synthetic nacre : Produced by in situ crystallisation

This thesis describes a sequence of experiments which have been performed with the intention to produce synthetic nacre. Synthetic nacre is a biomimetic material based on nacre, a material which can be found in mollusc shells. Nacre is a nanocomposite which has improved mechanical properties compared to the principal component aragonite (95% wt%). The improved properties of nacre are derived from the polymeric components in the composite which allows from redistribution of forces under load. Carbonates sequester CO2 in the geological CO2-cycle. If precursor are sourced correctly, the CaCO3 in synthetic nacre can temporarily sequester CO2. Crystals with the intended pseudohexagonal morphology have been synthesised. However, subsequent quantitative analysis could not support these findings in a follow-up experiment. This discrepancy might have been caused by differences in the method. Moist nanopaper was found to be mineralisable while maintaining a layered structure

Fibrer från Rensenor : Mekaniska processer och rötningsprocesser för att extrahera kollagenfibrer

Collagen fibres from reindeer tendons can be used to create threads. These threads have traditionally been used in Sápmi crafts. Due to the high cost of manual extraction, tendon-based threads have been replaced with cheaper synthetic threads. However environmental concerns have been raised within the Sápmi crafts communities regarding the synthetic threads. To mitigate the impacts of synthetic threads and to better utilize the reindeer after slaughter a more efficient fibre extraction process has been sought after. In this study two venues have been investigated, softening and retting. In this study softening will refer to the breaking of bonds through the use of a liquid. Retting will refer to a controlled degradation of a material through biological processes. Softening and retting aided mechanical extraction of collagen fibres. The softening, using water and in some cases polyethylene glycol, reduced entanglement and friction. The retting can be divided into short term retting and long-term retting, up to six weeks. Neither the short-term retting nor the long-term retting did facilitate the extraction significantly compared to a simpler softening treatment. Softening on the other hand made extraction easier. A 70 hour softening with water at room temperature had the largest impact. The extraction became slightly easier when the samples were further softened with polyethylene glycol. This was compared to a reference sample where water was used for further softening. Mechanical fibre extraction methods were also evaluated. The softened tendon samples were calendered between two rollers at 1.2 bar and 5.0 bar. The samples using the higher pressure were easier to separate. The samples were then manually torn apart into fine fibre bundles. Many of the manual methods used can be automated but they would need specialized equipment. The mechanically extracted fibres were then spun into yarns through hand spinning with moistened fingers. The tensile properties of the fibres and the yarns were determined. The fibres and the yarns were also evaluated through light microscopy. Both the yarns and fibres showed a high degree of variation in the tensile tests. The use of manual methods likely contributed to the high variation. The yarns slipped which caused a lower tenacity compared to the fibres. The mean fibre tenacities were between 17-20 cN/tex, depending on factor. Neither of the factors were significantly different. The elasticity of the fibres varied to a large extent. The fibres exhibited an almost fully elastic deformation until break. The fibres were white to cream and slightly translucent when viewed in a light microscope. The yarns were uneven and glossy

Utmaningar vid implementering av RoboticProcess Automation : En studie om vilka utmaningar som RPA-leverantörerkan ställas inför vid implementering av RPA

Organisationer blir allt mer beroende av digitala lösningar i den dagliga verksamheten för att upprätthålla konkurrensen gentemot andra företag. Under en längre tid har organisationer implementerat Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system för att effektivisera verksamheterna och öka konkurrensfördelarna. I takt med utvecklingen av digitala lösningar har begreppet Robotic Process Automation (RPA) växt fram. RPA implementeras för att automatisera och effektivisera organisationers affärsprocesser. Likt implementering av ERP-system finns det utmaningar kopplade till implementering av RPA som behöver hanteras för att minska kostnader och öka effektiviteten. Tidigare forskning som identifierats har undersökt utmaningar vid implementering av RPA utifrån kundens och projektets perspektiv. Däremot har tidigare forskning som identifierats inte undersökt eller behandlat utmaningar utifrån RPA-leverantörens perspektiv, vilket resulterade i studiens syfte och undersökningsområde. Syftet med studien är att undersöka och kartlägga utmaningar som RPA-leverantörer kan ställas inför vid implementering av RPA. För att besvara frågeställningen och erhålla en djupare förståelse kring undersökningsområdet har nio RPA-konsulter intervjuats. Studiens resultat påvisar att kartlagda utmaningar utifrån RPA-leverantörens perspektiv vid implementering av RPA både skiljer sig och överensstämmer med utmaningar som identifierats i litteraturstudien utifrån projektets och kundens perspektiv. I slutsatsen presenteras elva utmaningar som RPA-leverantörer kan ställas inför vid implementering av RPA. Organizations are becoming more dependent on using digital solutions in their daily operations to stay competetive with other companies. Organizations have implemented Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems for a long time to streamline operations and increase competitive advantages. Along with the development of digital solutions, the concept of Robotic Process Automation (RPA) has developed. RPA is implemented to automate and streamline the organization's business processes. As an implementation of ERP systems, there are challenges associated with the RPA implementation that must be addressed to reduce costs and increase efficiency. Previous research that has been identified has investigated challenges with implementing RPA from a customer and project perspective. However, previous identified research has not investigated or mapped the challenges from the perspective of the RPA supplier, which resulted in the study's purpose and area of ​​study. The purpose of the study is to investigate and map the challenges that RPA suppliers may face when implementing RPA. To answer the question of the study and gain a deeper understanding of the study area, nine RPA consultants were interviewed. The result from the study demonstrates that mapped challenges from the RPA supplier perspective both differ and confirm challenges identified in previous research from a customer and project perspective. The conclusion presents eleven challenges that RPA suppliers may face when implementing RPA

Fallstudie i politiskt användarbeteende på Wikipedia

Wikipedia has since its inception in 2001 become the world’s largest encyclopedia and continues to enjoy a high degree of support from the general public. This report investigate differences in the user creation process of content between political and unpolitical articles. According to the results the revisions per user follow a similar pyramid pattern in both the political and unpolitical articles. When investigating the number of reverts the results differ between the political and unpolitical articles. More reverts are made by semi active users in the political articles.  The report also establish that some political categories exhibit a significantly longer edit history than the Wikipedia average and that these categories contain a disproportionately high number of reverts among their revisions.  Conclusions are that there are differences between political and unpolitical articles in regard to who do reverts and the number of reverts per page.Wikipedia har sedan det skapades 2001 blivit världens största encyclopedia och den fortsätter erhålla en hög grad av stöd och tillit från allmänheten. Denna rapport undersöker skillnader i användarbeteende under skapande processen av innehåll för politiska och opolitiska artiklar. Det framkom att politiska artiklar uppvisar en liknande pyramid struktur som opolitiska i hänseende till antalet revisioner per användare men att de skiljer sig i hänseende till reverts, som till en högre grad utförs av mellan-aktiva användare i politiska artiklar. Rapporten tar även och visar att vissa politiska kategorier har längre editeringshistorier än Wikipedias genomsnitt och dessa kategorier innehåller en oproportionerligt hög andel reverts bland sina revisioner. Slutsatser är att det finns skillnader mellan politiska och opolitiska artiklar i hänseende till vem som gör reverts och antalet reverts per sida