Effects of pulmonary rehabilitation program in a patient with severe asthma diagnosis

Objective: to present the effectiveness of pulmonary rehabilitation programs in the treatmentof a patient with asthma, this is the case of a young Caucasian girl —17 years old— with severe asthma diagnosis, with symptoms since she was eight years old, 10th grade student. Method: She was referred to the program of Pulmonary Rehabilitation after three hospitalizations during the last year due to asthmatic crises, dyspnoea in activities of daily living, and intolerance to physical exercise. In the initial evaluation, a patient with non-controlled asthma was found; she was receiving short-acting medication admitting that she was not complying with regular use and with a prescribed dose of the pharmacological treatment and that she ignored the importance of this commitment for optimal evolution. The patient expressed concern about the progressive deterioration at her respiratory and functional level during the last year and her fear and anxiety for not being able to breathe during activities befitting her age. Results: One month after receiving bronchodilators and long-acting steroids permanently and complying with recommendations about regular use and adequate inhalatory technique, the patient was included in a three-times a-week program of pulmonary rehabilitation during eight weeks for upper and lower extremity endurance and resistance training. Conclusion: This intervention showed significant changes in the patient at functional level and a greater social participation.

Effects of a multi-session Cognitive Bias Modification program on interpretative biases and social anxiety symptoms in a sample of Iranian socially-anxious students

This study examines the effects of a multi-session Cognitive Bias Modification (CBM) program on interpretative biases and social anxiety in an Iranian sample. Thirty-six volunteers with a high score on social anxiety measures were recruited from a student population and randomly allocated into the experimental and control groups. In the experimental group, participants received 4 sessions of positive CBM for interpretative biases (CBM-I) over 2 weeks in the laboratory. Participants in the control condition completed a neutral task matched the active CBM-I intervention in format and duration but did not encourage positive disambiguation of socially ambiguous scenarios. The results indicated that after training the positive CBM-I group exhibited more positive (and less negative) interpretations of ambiguous scenarios and less social anxiety symptoms relative to the control condition at both 1 week post-test and 7 weeks follow-up. It is suggested that clinical trials are required to establish the clinical efficacy of this intervention for social anxiety.

Data Processing Student Working

A student from the Data Processing program at the New York Trade School is shown working. Black and white photograph with some edge damage due to writing in black along the top.

Utveckling av en mobiltelefontjänst för att spela in TV-program på din dator från distans

Denna rapport är resultatet av kursen Examensarbete i Informatik på Högskolan Dalarna. Examensarbetet är uppdelat i två delar. Ena delen har som syfte att ge en förstagångsanvändare en introduktion i Mobile.NET. Här beskrivs även vissa skillnader mot traditionell ASP. Andra delen, som uppfyller målet har varit att utveckla en tjänst som gör det möjligt att spela in tv-program på en dator från olika mobila enheter samt pc. Det arbete som föranlett rapporten har bestått av en egenhändigt framtagen metod som hämtat inspiration från Direct-modellen samt Polyas generella metod.Slutsatserna som framkommit är att det idag inte finns tillräckligt bra wap-tjänster som lockar allmänheten att wappa. Mobiltelefonen kommer till sin fulla rätt som en förlängd fjärr-kontroll, som kan integrera människan med hemmet på långa avstånd. För att utvecklingen av wap-tjänster ska ta fart krävs högre prestanda och nya idéer om tjänster. En tanke är att fler tjänster och nya idéer kommer ta fart nu när Microsoft släppt sitt utvecklingsverktyg Mobile Internet Toolkit. Nu behöver utvecklaren inte göra en tillämpning för varje mobilenhet. Kanske kommer denna rapport väcka en ny tanke om vad wap-tjänster kan göra.

Frihetsbegreppets utveckling i Folkpartiets program 1967-1997

Denna uppsats studerar utvecklingen av begreppet frihet i Folkpartiets partiprogram mellan 1967-1997. Undersökningen tar hänsyn till partiprogram och program om näringslivspolitik samt utbildningspolitik. Det olika sammanhang som frihet presenteras i relateras till tre typer av frihet och idealtyper om socialliberal och nyliberal frihet.Förändringen av synen på frihet går till en viss del från en frihetssyn där alla skall ha möjlig¬het att förverkliga sin egen potential till en frihetssyn där Folkpartiet anser att individerna skall få spendera sina egna resurser efter eget huvud. Trenden är en övergång från en socialliberal politik till en nyliberal politik. De tendenser där detta blir tydligast är i synen på friskolorna och åsikterna om hur befolkningen bör bli beskattade och vilket syfte som beskattningen har. Igenom hela perioden håller Folkpartiet vissa värden konstanta. Folkpartiet förespråkar in¬dividens rätt mot olika organisationer och att marknadsekonomi är önskvärd men inte perfekt.

Task assignment optimization in SAP Extended WarehouseManagement

Nowadays in the world of mass consumption there is big demand for distributioncenters of bigger size. Managing such a center is a very complex and difficult taskregarding to the different processes and factors in a usual warehouse when we want tominimize the labor costs. Most of the workers’ working time is spent with travelingbetween source and destination points which cause deadheading. Even if a worker knowsthe structure of a warehouse well and because of that he or she can find the shortest pathbetween two points, it is still not guaranteed that there won’t be long traveling timebetween the locations of two consecutive tasks. We need optimal assignments betweentasks and workers.In the scientific literature Generalized Assignment Problem (GAP) is a wellknownproblem which deals with the assignment of m workers to n tasks consideringseveral constraints. The primary purpose of my thesis project was to choose a heuristics(genetic algorithm, tabu search or ant colony optimization) to be implemented into SAPExtended Warehouse Management (SAP EWM) by with task assignment will be moreeffective between tasks and resources.After system analysis I had to realize that due different constraints and businessdemands only 1:1 assingments are allowed in SAP EWM. Because of that I had to use adifferent and simpler approach – instead of the introduced heuristics – which could gainbetter assignments during the test phase in several cases. In the thesis I described indetails what ware the most important questions and problems which emerged during theplanning of my optimized assignment method.

Education and Earnings for Poverty Reduction : Short-Term Evidence of Pro-Poor Growth from the Mexican Oportunidades Program

Education, as an indispensable component of human capital, has been acknowledged to play a critical role in economic growth, which is theoretically elaborated by human capital theory and empirically confirmed by evidence from different parts of the world. The educational impact on growth is especially valuable and meaningful when it is for the sake of poverty reduction and pro-poorness of growth. The paper re-explores the precious link between human capital development and poverty reduction by investigating the causal effect of education accumulation on earnings enhancement for anti-poverty and pro-poor growth. The analysis takes the evidence from a well-known conditional cash transfer (CCT) program — Oportunidades in Mexico. Aiming at alleviating poverty and promoting a better future by investing in human capital for children and youth in poverty, this CCT program has been recognized producing significant outcomes. The study investigates a short-term impact of education on earnings of the economically disadvantaged youth, taking the data of both the program’s treated and untreated youth from urban areas in Mexico from 2002 to 2004. Two econometric techniques, i.e. difference-in-differences and difference-in-differences propensity score matching approach are applied for estimation. The empirical analysis first identifies that youth who under the program’s schooling intervention possess an advantage in educational attainment over their non-intervention peers; with this identification of education discrepancy as a prerequisite, further results then present that earnings of the education advantaged youth increase at a higher rate about 20 percent than earnings of their education disadvantaged peers over the two years. This result indicates a confirmation that education accumulation for the economically disadvantaged young has a positive impact on their earnings enhancement and thus inferring a contribution to poverty reduction and pro-poorness of growth.

Värdigt liv och välbefinnande, enligt vem? : en kvalitativ studie om brukare och biståndshandläggares beskrivningar av ett värdigt liv och välbefinnande : Dignity and well-being, according to whom? : a qualitative study of elderly and assistance officer´s descriptions of a dignified life and wellbeing

We are two students named Susanne Grönlund and Anna Zaar and have jointly worked together this c-essay called "dignity and well-being according to whom? The paper is written at Högskolan dalarna in Falun.The purpose of this study was to investigate how the elderly and assistance officer describes dignity and well-being and how it is consistent with the government's bill on the national values that the National Board has developed.Our empirical study consists of four qualitative interviews, two older people dependent on community care and two assistance officers. The study's theoretical basis is Antonovsky's salutogenic approach and SOC. The survey focuses on different themes such as dignity, integrity, participation, treatment, wellbeing, security and meaningfulness which are also central themes in the Government Bill on the national values for elderly.The results show that the respondents believe that a life of dignity is difficult to define and also a subjective experience. The results also show a consistency between what the elderly, assistance officer and the national values that define dignity and well-being. Social Services Act, national values should serve as a starting point for municipalities to improve elderly care, thereby creating a sense of coherence for the individual. Keywords: Elder care, dignity, integrity, participation, attitude, well-being, security and meaningfulness.

Revising the Program Portfolio: Elevating Academic Program Performance and Strategic Alignment

At many institutions, program review is an underproductive exercise. Review of existing programs is often a check-the-box formality, with inconsistent criteria and little connection to institutional priorities or funding considerations. Decisions about where to concentrate resources across the portfolio can be highly politicized. This report profiles how academic planning exemplars use program review as a strategic tool, integrating data on academic quality, student demand, and resource utilization to improve the economics of challenged programs and prioritize programs for investment and expansion.

Managing Dual Enrollment Programs: Review of Program Models, Operations, and Outcomes

Universities that offer dual enrollment programs for high school students must manage increasing student demand in the face of changing state legislation. This brief examines how institutions finance their dual enrollment programs, and how they ensure academic rigor as their programs continue to grow. The report also considers how dual enrollment programs ensure that students can transfer credits, and what strategies they use to encourage DE students to matriculate as undergraduates.

Impacts of Graduate Student Enrollment Increases

As graduate schools seek to increase enrollment, faculty and staff must consider the impacts of enrollment increases on program curricula, faculty workloads, and course delivery methods. This brief examines how other institutions prepare for and implement increases in graduate enrollment. More specifically, the report reviews how graduate enrollment goals and rates impact faculty workloads, program curriculum and course delivery methods.

Faculty Instructional Quality Assessment Practices Incorporating Teaching Portfolios and Peer Review with Student Course Evaluations

Program directors and department chairs require different means of assessing faculty quality due to the unreliability of student course evaluation data. This report outlines alternative strategies for review committees to assess faculty instructional quality. This report also details incorporation of annual performance reviews for tenure-track faculty into tenure decisions.

Expediting New Program Development: Meeting Market Demand and Leveraging Internal Resources

Expediting new program development can help universities meet student and employer demand while gaining an edge over competitors, but coordinating program development and approval requires careful preparation and execution. This report profiles strategies to measure market demand for new programs, choose programs for accelerated development, and leverage internal resources. The report also suggests ways to structure and staff program development to maximize speed and effectiveness.

Developing a Credit for Prior Learning Program: System-Wide Strategies for Program Creation, Operations, and Recruitment

Credit for prior learning programs help students complete degrees more quickly and for less money. This report addresses the challenges of scaling up a credit for prior learning program at the university system level, and explores the delineation of responsibilities between system staff and institutional staff.