Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Literature Review Study'
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Wiredu, Christopher Agyei. "The teaching of ecology in schools: a literature review." Thesis, Rhodes University, 2002. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003134.
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Project 1: This is a literature review on the teaching of ecology in South African schools. The importance of ecology education in the school curriculum is well reported. It is also reported that in spite of the apparent importance of the subject, not much ecology is taught or learned in schools. This report examines what ecology is supposed to be about and the challenges that confront its teaching. The approaches to teaching the subject are also discussed. It would seem that if teachers focus on teaching ecological concepts using constructivist teaching/learning strategies, students might be helped to learn ecology meaningfully. Project 2: 'Constructing eco-concepts' is a case study that reports the effects of a module whose design was informed by social constructivist ideas on the understanding of selected ecological concepts by college students. Social constructivism as a philosophy of learning has gained increasing attention in science education in recent times and yet the approach is so alien to so many. Many teachers still teach by the traditional teacher-centred approaches. This research project reports the conceptual change of students after undertaking the module. It also reports the students' perceptions about the teaching/learning strategies employed in the module. It would seem that the social constructivist strategies used in the module assisted the students to improve their frameworks of ecological concepts. Data also tend to reveal that the students enjoyed the approach to learning and had positive views about the social constructivist teaching/learning approach. Project 3: With the advent of the new curriculum framework for South Africa, the outcomes based curriculum, it would seem that teachers could no longer approach teaching by the traditional transmission methods. Colleges of education have been criticised for producing teachers who do not seem to be adequately prepared for their job. Presently, the argument seems to be that teachers would need in-service education on a wide scale and the colleges of education would seem to be important in-service teacher education centres. This research, using case study methodology, investigated the potential of one of the colleges of education to become an in-service teacher education institution based on its physical and human resources.
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Holden, Emily Ruth. "Mindfulness and cancer : a literature review and empirical study." Thesis, University of Birmingham, 2010. http://etheses.bham.ac.uk//id/eprint/1313/.
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This paper presents a new conceptualisation of how mindfulness-based interventions might be of psychological benefit to cancer patients and a review of the empirical literature evaluating the extent to which such benefits exist. The paper begins with an overview of mindfulness-based interventions, the mechanisms by which they are thought to have their therapeutic effects, and how they might apply to people dealing with the multiple challenges that cancer presents. This is followed by a review of the literature examining the effects of mindfulness-based interventions for cancer patients, specifically assessing how well the literature is currently able to address three key questions: 1. For whom is mindfulness helpful? 2. Does it matter how the intervention is packaged? 3. What kinds of benefits can mindfulness offer to cancer patients? A narrative synthesis of the literature finds some evidence that mindfulness-based interventions can offer psychological benefits to cancer patients but concludes that a preponderance of uncontrolled studies has led to prematurely strong conclusions in the literature. Finally, the paper suggests some implications of the review for clinicians, purchasers and researchers.
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Katikireddy, Naga Durga Leela Praveera, and Nidhi Veereddy. "LeAgile Measurement and Metrics : A Systematic Literature Review and Case Study." Thesis, Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, 2017. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:bth-15397.
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Context. Software engineers have been endeavouring to quantify software to obtain quantitative insights into its properties and quality since its inception. As of late, the use of Lean and Agile (LeAgile) methodologies is turning out to be progressively mainstream in the software industries. Managing software life-cycle tasks including planning, controlling and monitoring is primarily done by measurements. This is particularly valid in LeAgile organizations where these are day-to-day activities. On other words, dealing with agile development process like in any process, requires the collection of appropriate metrics to ensure visibility, inspection and adaptation as it is vital to know the effect of these methods and how product development and projects are performing. Are the goals being met? Are there any wastes? Is value being created? All of this is dependent on the ability to measure as correct and as objective as possible. Getting good metrics and interpreting them correctly is central in any product development organization. In agile approaches, the use of any metric needs to be clearly justified to decrease the amount of inefficient work done. This draws the need to discover metrics that are relevant to LeAgile methods to entail the benefits of measurement. Objectives. The main objective of this paper is to understand the current state-of-the-art and state-of-the-practice on the metrics usage in LeAgile methods. Additionally, to identify metrics that are suitable and have a high strength of evidence for their usage in the industries. Likewise, to construct a LeAgile measurement model based on the application of the metric’s context. Methods. This paper presents a two-step study; Firstly, a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) is conducted to present the state-of-the-art on using metrics in LeAgile Software Development. Second, to allow a better understanding of what measures are currently being used in collaboration between industry and academia, we have performed a case study at Telenor. Results. We found that metrics was mainly used to have an efficient flow of software development; to assess, track and improve product quality; for project planning and estimations; for project progress and tracking; to measure the teams and others. Additionally, we present the metrics that have compelling use and are worthy to be used in the industries. Conclusions. We conclude that traditional metrics or besides any metric can be used in an LeAgile context, provided they do not harm the agility of the process. This study identified 4 new metrics namely Business Value, Number of disturbance hours, Team Health check survey and Number of hours spent on IT divisions that are not present in the state-of-the-art. The gaps identified in the LeAgile measurement model built in this study can provide a roadmap for further research pertaining to the measurement model. Any of the topics identified as a means of completing the LeAgile measurement model developed in our study can be a fruitful area for future research.
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Reddy, Sri Sai Vijay Raj, and Harini Nekkanti. "Surveys in Software Engineering : A Systematic Literature Review and Interview Study." Thesis, Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Institutionen för programvaruteknik, 2016. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:bth-13370.
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Context: The need for empirical investigations in software engineering domain is growing immensely. Many researchers nowadays, conduct and validate their study using empirical evidences. Survey is one such empirical investigation method which enables researchers to collect data from the large population. Main aim of the survey is to generalize the findings. Many problems are faced by the researchers in the survey process. Survey outcomes also depend upon variables like sample size, response rate and analysis techniques. Hence there is need for the literature addressing all the possible problems faced and also the impact of survey variables on outcomes. Objectives: Firstly, to identify the common problems faced by the researchers from the existing literature and also analyze the impact of the survey variables. Secondly to collect the experiences of software engineering researchers regarding the problems faced and the survey variables. Finally come up with a checklist of all the problems and mitigation strategies along with the information about the impact of survey variables. Methods: Initially a systematic literature review was conducted, to identify the existing problems in the literature and to know the effect of response rate, sample size, analysis techniques on survey outcomes. Then systematic literature review results were validated by conducting semi-structured, faceto-face interviews with software engineering researchers. Results: We were successful in providing a checklist of problems along with their mitigation strategies. The survey variables dependency on type of research, researcher’s choices limited us from further analyzing their impact on survey outcomes. The face-to-face interviews with software engineering researchers provided validations to our research results. Conclusions: This research gave us deeper insights into the survey methodology. It helped us to explore the differences that exists between the state of art and state of practice towards problem mitigation in survey process.
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FREITAS, RAFAEL PARADELLA. "INVENTORY CONTROL OF SPARE PARTS: LITERATURE REVIEW AND A CASE STUDY." PONTIFÍCIA UNIVERSIDADE CATÓLICA DO RIO DE JANEIRO, 2008. http://www.maxwell.vrac.puc-rio.br/Busca_etds.php?strSecao=resultado&nrSeq=12396@1.
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Esta dissertação inicia com uma discussão sobre a
importância da gestão
de estoque para as empresas e dá um enfoque especial à
gestão de estoque de
sobressalentes para manutenção. Mostra-se que a gestão
eficiente deste tipo de
estoques pode ser a diferença entre ter ou não grandes
prejuízos, uma vez que os
seus custos são altos, mas sua falta pode gerar grandes
perdas. Além da
perspectiva econômica, os estoques de sobressalentes podem
ter funções
estratégicas importantes. Em seguida são apresentados
desenvolvimentos recentes
sobre a gestão de estoque de sobressalentes para então
propor um modelo baseado
no sistema de controle (r, q) no qual o nível ótimo de
estoque é atingido dada uma
restrição no nível de serviço. Por fim, o modelo é
utilizado para estimar o nível
ótimo de estoque de itens da Refinaria Landulpho Alves-
Mataripe, RLAM.This dissertation begins with a discussion about the importance of inventory control to companies with a special approach for inventory control of spare parts. It shows that an efficient control of this kind of inventories can avoid large financial losses, due the high stock carrying and stock-out costs. Besides the economic perspective, the inventory of spare parts can have important strategic functions. Next, the text presents the recent development of spare parts´ inventory control. Then it is proposed a model based on the (r, q) control system, in which the optimal stock level is achieved by a service level restriction. Finally, the model is used to estimate optimal stock levels of some Landulpho Alves-Mataripe Refinery´s spare parts.
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Hicks, Amanda W. "A comparison of informal reading inventories : a literature review and case study /." View abstract, 2001. http://library.ccsu.edu/ccsu%5Ftheses/showit.php3?id=1630.
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Thesis (M.S.)--Central Connecticut State University, 2001.Thesis advisor: Patti Lynn O'Brien. " ... in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Reading and Language Arts." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 42-44).
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Novotny, Alexander, Edward Bernroider, and Stefan Koch. "Dimensions and Operationalisations of IT Governance: A Literature Review and Meta-Case Study." WU Vienna University of Economics and Business, 2012. http://epub.wu.ac.at/3660/1/novotny2012.pdf.
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This paper seeks to tackle the current confusion about the constituent dimensions of IT Governance (ITG) and inconsistent operationalisation approaches inhibiting advances in research and organisational ITG practice. Through a structured literature review of ranked high-quality publications augmented by a meta-case study with five underlying projects, we find nine distinct dimensions of ITG. The input-oriented dimensions Compliance Management, IT Investment Management and ITG Improvement have received little attention in earlier conceptualisations, while the more output-oriented dimensions Business/IT Alignment and Business Value Delivery have featured more often in related studies. Scope and application of ITG may depend on the organisational context and the intentional use, such as regulatory or strategic. Depending on the context, more research seems to be warranted to develop context-dependent measurement constructs of ITG that can be compared over studies. (author's abstract)
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Macmasters, Alan. "Literature Review and Finite Element Study of Fibre Damaged CFRP laminates in Compression." Master's thesis, Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna, 2022. http://amslaurea.unibo.it/25891/.
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This work is a direct continuation of (Magnani 2020) who investigated the effects of fibre cuts on the compressive strength of CFRP laminates. The previous study experimentally found that fibre damage reduces compressive strength regardless of damage configuration. In addition, Magnani proposed a FR model which appeared to be in agreement with his experimental findings.
The original objective of this work was to reproduce the proposed finite element model in order to perform a parametric study. However, the model was proven to be unsuitable and when its shortcomings were corrected, no strength reduction was found from fibre cuts. Additional models in agreement with the established literature were developed.
A literature review of experimental and numerical investigations into fibre damage in CFRP compression was conducted and found evidence suggesting that fibre cuts have minimal impact on the compressive strength of CFRP laminates, in complete contradiction with the experimental findings in (Magnani 2020). The observations made by Magnani do however appear to match well with investigations of fibre kinking and microbuckling. The proposed explanation for this is a failure in experimental methodology which filed the gaps in fibre cracks with resin without properly opening the cracks with the required tensile preload. This meant that, as the coupons were compressed, the fibre crack fronts entered matrix instead of butting into each other. The plastic deformation from the low yield polymer as the fibres penetrate this region would have induced unrealistically large distortion of fibres. This made the tested coupons behave as though they contained extremely large fibre misalignments induced by the gratuitous presence of matrix whose plastic deformation twisted the fibres out of alignment. This is in contrast with the fibre damage one would expect in real circumstances which would invariably crack the weaker matrix as well.
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Mirzabozorg, Roya. "THE EXPERIENCE OF RECOVERY AT HOME FOLLOWING AMBULATORY SURGERY PROCEDURE: A SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE REVIEW." Thesis, Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för hälso- och vårdvetenskap (HV), 2015. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-41955.
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Background: Patients’ recovery from surgery differs when they are in a hospital setting or at home. However, an often forgotten aspect of post-operative ambulatory care is the patients' recovery at home following ambulatory surgery.Aim: To explore and describe the patients’ experiences of recovery at home following the ambulatory surgery procedure.Method: A systematic review of 7 qualitative studies in English with pre-specified criteria was conducted. An overview of qualitative evidence derived from the 17 identified main themes across the 7 primary studies was analyzed.Result: Seven thematic analysis themes were identified as being core to the patients’ experience during recovery process at home: physical symptoms, a period of regaining pre-operative functions, psychological effects, the surgical wound, delayed recovery process, social support, and the sick-role condition.. These seven themes were described patient's experiences at home following ambulatory surgery from early stage of recovery to the time of getting back to normal life.Conclusion: Recovery at home following ambulatory surgery seemed to be challenging, a quality self-care at home was lacking in the form having full control and knowledge about symptoms; adequate information, education and medication during self-care management; sufficient support by carer and nurses; and enough time-off for recovery.
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Scannavino, Katia Romero Felizardo. "Evidence-based software engineering: systematic literature review process based on visual text mining." Universidade de São Paulo, 2012. http://www.teses.usp.br/teses/disponiveis/55/55134/tde-18072012-102032/.
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Context: Systematic literature review (SLR) is a methodology used to aggregate all relevant evidence of a specific research question. One of the activities associated with the SLR process is the selection of primary studies. The process used to select primary studies can be arduous, particularly when the researcher faces large volumes of primary studies. Another activity associated with an SLR is the presentation of results of the primary studies that meet the SLR purpose. The results are generally summarized in tables and an alternative to reduce the time consumed to understand the data is the use of graphic representations. Systematic mapping (SM) is a more open form of SLR used to build a classification and categorization scheme of a field of interest. The categorization and classification activities in SM are not trivial tasks, since they require manual effort and domain of knowledge by reviewers to achieve adequate results. Although clearly crucial, both SLR and SM processes are time-consuming and most activities are manually conducted. Objective: The aim of this research is to use Visual Text Mining (VTM) to support different activities of SLR and SM processes, e.g., support the selection of primary studies, the presentation of results of an SLR and the categorization and classification of an SM. Method: Extensions to the SLR and SM processes based on VTM were proposed. A series of case studies were conducted to demonstrate the usefulness of the VTM techniques in the selection, review, presentation of results and categorization context. Results: The findings have showed that the application of VTM is promising in terms of providing positive support to the study selection activity and that visual representations of SLR data have led to a reduction in the time taken for their analysis, with no loss of data comprehensibility. The application of VTM is relevant also in the context of SM. Conclusions: VTM techniques can be successfully employed to assist the SLR and SM processesContexto: Revisão Sistemática (RS) é uma metodologia utilizada para reunir evidências sobre uma quest~ao de pesquisa específica. Uma das atividades associadas à RS é a seleção de estudos primários. Quando o pesquisador se depara com grandes volumes de estudos, torna-se difícil selecionar artigos relevantes para uma análise mais aprofundada. Outra atividade associada à RS é a apresentação dos resultados dos estudos primários que atendem aos propósitos da RS. Os resultados são geralmente resumidos em tabelas e uma alternativa para reduzir o tempo consumido para entender os dados é o uso de representações gráficas. Mapeamento sistemático (MS) é uma forma mais aberta de RS, usado para construir um esquema de classificação e categorização sobre uma área de interesse. As atividades de categorização e classificação no MS não são tarefas triviais, pois exigem um esforço manual e conhecimento do domínio por parte dos revisores para a geração de resultados adequados. Embora relevantes, ambos os processos de RS e MS são demorados e muita das atividades são realizadas manualmente. Objetivo: O objetivo desta pesquisa é a utilização de Mineração Visual de Texto (VTM) para apoiar as diferentes atividades dos processos de RS e MS como, por exemplo, suporte à seleção de estudos primários, apresentação de resultados de RSs e a categorização e classificação em MSs. Métodos: Foram propostas extensões para os processos de RS e MS com base em VTM. Uma série de estudos de caso foram realizados para demonstrar a utilidade de técnicas VTM no contexto de seleção, revisão, apresentação de resultados e categorização. Resultados: Os resultados mostraram que a aplicação de VTM é promissora em termos de apoio positivo para a atividade de seleção de estudos primários e que o uso de representações visuais para apresentar resultados de RSs leva a uma redução do tempo necessário para sua análise, sem perda de compreensão de dados. A aplicação da VTM é relevante também no contexto da MS. Conclus~oes: Técnicas VTM podem ser empregadas com sucesso para ajudar nos processos de RS e MS
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Karlsson, Bok Michelle. "A comparative study of methylphenidate and lisdexamphetamine in adult ADHD – a systematic literature review." Thesis, Örebro universitet, Institutionen för medicinska vetenskaper, 2021. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:oru:diva-91520.
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Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) affects not only children as it was initially assumed but continues into adulthood in 50% of the cases. ADHD is a major cause of cognitive disability in children, increases risks for criminal behavior, unemployment and is generally associated with low quality of life. The treatment of ADHD is primarily with the so-called central stimulants, which increase norepinephrine and dopamine transmission in the brain. These medications are classed as narcotics, and currently there are no clinically available predictors of efficacy, so trial and error attempts are made until one finds optimal treatment. During the trial time, risk for additional suffering and adverse events increase. The main aim of the study was to compare methylphenidate (MPH) and lisdexamphetamine (LDX) in the treatment of adult ADHD. A second aim was to investigate predictors for treatment outcome that can be used for precision medicine. This study was a systematic review of the existing litterateur by searching two databases, PubMed and Cochrane Library. Inclusion criteria were adults with ADHD, treated with MPH or LDX for at least 6 weeks, in a randomized placebo-controlled design. The results indicate that both LDX and MPH are highly effective, with similar efficacy, but that LDX may be associated with less adverse events in adults and hence a better choice. Possible predictors of treatment response found were severity of illness, dosage of drug and level of education. These findings, including major weaknesses and limitations, will be discussed in what follows.
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Marland, Alexander J. "Constituency campaigning : a review of the literature and a case study of Ottawa Centre, 1997 /." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1998. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk1/tape11/PQDD_0006/MQ42412.pdf.
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Rogers, Derek. "AD-HOC WIRELESS NETWORKS: A COMMERCIALISATION CASE STUDY." International Foundation for Telemetering, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/604555.
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ITC/USA 2006 Conference Proceedings / The Forty-Second Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 23-26, 2006 / Town and Country Resort & Convention Center, San Diego, CaliforniaThis paper presents a case study of the commercialisation of an ad-hoc wireless network technology from a subsidiary of a multinational company. The paper does not disclose any intellectual property specifics, the organisations or individuals involved. Instead the paper focuses on generic issues associated with technology transfer; exploration of market opportunities, market validation, the identification of a novel business model and economic validation. The paper wraps the case study within the academic context of commercialisation providing substantive literature sources, tools and techniques for readers faced with similar challenges; tools and techniques that can be applied irrespective of the underlying technology.
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Ayalew, Tigist, and Tigist Kidane. "Identification and Evaluation of Security Activities in Agile Projects : A Systematic Literature Review and Survey Study." Thesis, Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Sektionen för datavetenskap och kommunikation, 2012. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:bth-4747.
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Context: Today’s software development industry requires high-speed software delivery from the development team. In order to do this, organizations make transformation from their conventional software development method to agile development method while preserving customer satisfaction. Even though this approach is becoming popular development method, from security point of view, it has some disadvantage. Because, this method has several constraints imposed such as lack of a complete overview of a product, higher development pace and lack of documentation. Although security-engineering (SE) process is necessary in order to build secure software, no SE process is developed specifically for agile model. As a result, SE processes that are commonly used in waterfall model are being used in agile models. However, there is a clash or disparity between the established waterfall SE processes and the ideas and methodologies proposed by the agile manifesto. This means that, while agile models work with short development increments that adapt easily to change, the existing SE processes work in plan-driven development setting and try to reduce defects found in a program before the occurrence of threats through heavy and inflexible process. This study aims at bridging the gap in agile model and security by providing insightful understanding of the SE process that are used in the current agile industry. Objectives: The objectives of this thesis are to identify and evaluate security activities from high-profile waterfall SE-process that are used in the current agile industry. Then, to suggest the most compatible and beneficial security activities to agile model based on the study results. Methods: The study involved two approaches: systematic literature review and survey. The systematic literature review has two main aims. The first aim is to gain a comprehensive understanding of security in an agile process model; the second one is to identify high-profile SE processes that are commonly used in waterfall model. Moreover, it helped to compare the thesis result with other previously done works on the area. A survey is conducted to identify and evaluate waterfall security activities that are used in the current agile industry projects. The evaluation criteria were based on the security activity integration cost and benefit provides to agile projects. Results: The results of the systematic review are organized in a tabular form for clear understanding and easy analysis. High-profile SE processes and their activities are obtained. These results are used as an input for the survey study. From the survey study, security activities that are used in the current agile industry are identified. Furthermore, the identified security activities are evaluated in terms of benefit and cost. As a result the best security activities, that are compatible and beneficial, are investigated to agile process model. Conclusions: To develop secure software in agile model, there is a need of SE-process or practice that can address security issues in every phase of the agile project lifecycle. This can be done either by integrating the most compatible and beneficial security activities from waterfall SE processes with agile process or by creating new SE-process. In this thesis, it has been found that, from the investigated high-profile waterfall SE processes, none of the SE processes was fully compatible and beneficial to agile projects.(046) 73 6136215
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Finck, Perry Fred. "Determining the most effective therapy for a client : a literature review with an original pilot study /." View online, 1985. http://repository.eiu.edu/theses/docs/32211130498134.pdf.
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REIS, KAMILA ALMEIDA DOS. "OPERATIONAL PERFORMANCE IN SMALL COMPANIES: A SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE REVIEW AND A PROPOSAL FOR AN EMPIRICAL STUDY." PONTIFÍCIA UNIVERSIDADE CATÓLICA DO RIO DE JANEIRO, 2018. http://www.maxwell.vrac.puc-rio.br/Busca_etds.php?strSecao=resultado&nrSeq=35791@1.
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PONTIFÍCIA UNIVERSIDADE CATÓLICA DO RIO DE JANEIROCONSELHO NACIONAL DE DESENVOLVIMENTO CIENTÍFICO E TECNOLÓGICO
Pequenos empreendimentos são muito importantes para a economia de um país, especialmente daqueles em desenvolvimento, como o Brasil. Assim como as grandes empresas, as pequenas precisam encontrar formas de medir o seu desempenho operacional. Contudo, existem poucos trabalhos que abordem esse tema, devido principalmente à grande diversidade de indicadores que não se adaptam às realidades destas pequenas empresas. Este estudo tem por objetivo classificar estes indicadores por meio de uma revisão sistemática da literatura propondo uma taxonomia dos indicadores de desempenho operacional e dos determinantes, moderadores, mediadores e variáveis de controle do desempenho operacional de pequenas empresas e um framework para elaboração de pesquisas mais amplas com as diferentes variantes causais encontradas. Após a realização da revisão verificou-se que existem diversas nomenclaturas para o mesmo termo e que vários autores abordam os mesmos indicadores. Identificou-se ainda que o desempenho operacional em pequenas empresas é mensurado através de uma ou mais de suas cinco dimensões como escala do Desempenho Operacional, como escala de outros indicadores (Qualidade como escala de Desempenho organizacional), ou ainda sendo as próprias dimensões os indicadores de Desempenho (Inovação). Os resultados foram organizados em tabelas e dispostos no framework com as diferentes variáveis. A partir do framework, é proposto um modelo causal relacionando algumas das variáveis, para teste de survey aplicado a serviços em pequenas e médias empresas. Devido ao tempo de pesquisa e à generalização das palavras-chave, sugerem-se propostas de trabalhos futuros para a continuação da pesquisa.
Small enterprises are very important to a country s economy, especially those in development, such as Brazil. Like large companies, small companies need to find ways to measure their operational performance. However, there are few studies that address this issue, mainly due to the great diversity of indicators that do not adapt to the realities of these small companies. This study aims to classify these indicators through a systematic literature review proposing a taxonomy of operational performance indicators and determinants, moderators, mediators and control variables of the operational performance of small companies and a framework for elaboration of broader research with the different causal variants found. After the review, it was verified that there are several nomenclatures for the same term and that several authors address the same indicators. It was also identified that operational performance in small companies is measured through one or more of its five dimensions as an Operational Performance scale, as a scale of other indicators (Quality as an Organizational Performance scale), or even the dimensions themselves the indicators of Performance (Innovation). The results were organized in tables and arranged in the framework with the different variables. From the framework, it is proposed a causal model relating some of the variables, for test of survey applied to services in small and medium enterprises. Due to the research time and the generalization of the keywords, future work proposals are suggested for the continuation of the research.
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Chen, Hao, and Luyang Xu. "Software Architecture and Framework for Programmable Automation Controller: A Systematic Literature Review and A Case Study." Thesis, Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Institutionen för programvaruteknik, 2018. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:bth-16820.
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Background. PAC controller is a strengthened version of PLC controller. Its function is very similar, but its essence and construction are different. PLC and PAC have many successful applications in the field of industrial automation control. There is a lot of literature about the software architecture of PLC control system. However, there is almost no relevant literature on software architecture based on PAC control system. A well-performing and stable automatic control system is indispensable to the design and development of suitable software architecture. The quality and pattern of software architecture can even affect the stability and efficiency of the control system. Objectives. Based on these problems, we defined two primary objectives. The first is to investigate the architecture of some existing large industrial control systems, to analyze and summarize the scenarios and advantages and disadvantages of these architectural patterns. The second, based on the results of effort for the first objective, we want to propose and design a set of automated control solution architecture model based on PAC control system, which is implemented and applied in a printing house. In the process, we sum up the challenges and obstacles encountered in implementing the solution and provide some guidance or reference for those involved in the field. Methods. For the first objective, we used a systematic literature review to collect data about existing ICS architecture. Concerning the second objective, a case study was conducted in a printing house in Karlskrona Sweden, in the study, we proposed a software architecture model suitable for PAC automation control system. Then, we developed and tested the automation control system and summarized some challenges and obstacles in the process of the implementation. Results. The existing ICS (Industrial Control System) architecture models and critical problems and challenges in the implementation of ICS are identified. From the existing literature, we have summarized five commonly used large industrial control system architecture models, which are mainly using composite structures, that is, a combination of multiple architecture patterns. Also, some critical problems in the industrial control system, such as information security, production reliability, etc. are also identified. In the case study, we put forward an automatic control solution for Printing House based on SLR results. We designed the hardware deployment architecture of the system and the software control architecture. Generally speaking, this architecture is based on C/S architecture. In the development of client, we adopt the popular MVC architecture mode. In the longitudinal view of the whole system, an extended hierarchical architecture model is adopted. In the core control system, we adopt the modular architecture design idea. The whole control system is composed of 6 parts, four subsystems of PAC terminal, one server-side program and one client program. After a long time, development and test, our system finally goes online for the production, and its production efficiency is improved compared with the old system. Its expansion functions, such as Production Report and Tag Print, are deeply satisfying for the customers. Conclusions. In this research, we summarize and compare the advantages and disadvantages of several commonly used industrial control systems. Besides, we proposed a software architecture model and developed an automation control system based on PAC. We fill the gap that there is a lack of studies about the software architecture about the implementation of the automation control system based on PAC. Our result can help software engineers and developers in ICS fields to develop their own PAC based automation control system.
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Kloppers, Jacobus Christoffel. "Resection of biliary mucinous cystic neoplasms: Study of a single institutional cohort and a literature review." Master's thesis, University of Cape Town, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/27400.
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Background: Biliary mucinous cystic neoplasms (BMCNs) are uncommon neoplastic septated intrahepatic cysts which are often incorrectly diagnosed and have the potential for malignant transformation. Aim: The aim of this study was to assess the outcome of surgical resection of BMCNs. Methods: Data from a departmental and faculty registered prospective liver surgery database was used to identify patients who underwent surgery at Groote Schuur and the University of Cape Town Private Academic Hospitals for BMCN from 1999 to 2015. Standard demographic variables including age and gender were documented as well as detailed preoperative imaging, location and size, operative treatment, extent of resection, histology, post-operative complications using the Clavien-Dindo classification and long-term outcome. Results: Thirteen female patients (median age 45 years) had surgery. Eleven were diagnosed by computer tomography scan after investigation of abdominal pain or a palpable mass. Two were jaundiced. One cyst was found incidentally during an elective cholecystectomy. Five cysts were located centrally in the liver. Before referral three cysts were treated inappropriately with percutaneous aspiration or drainage and two were treated with operative deroofing. Six patients had anatomical liver resections and seven patients had non anatomical liver resections of which two needed ablation of residual cyst wall. One patient needed a biliary-enteric reconstruction to treat a fistula of the left hepatic duct. Median operative time was 183 minutes (range: 130-375). No invasive carcinoma was found on histology. There was no operative mortality. One surgical site infection was treated and one patient developed an intra-abdominal collection one month post-operatively. Two patients developed recurrent BMCN after 24 months. Conclusion: BMCNs should be considered in middle aged women who have well encapsulated multilocular liver cysts. Treatment of large central BMCNs adjacent to vascular and biliary structures in particular may require technically complex liver resections and are best managed in a specialized hepato-pancreatico-biliary unit.
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Hallick, Brian K. "Business location decisions a review of the literature and a case study of Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania /." Instructions for remote access. Click here to access this electronic resource. Access available to Kutztown University faculty, staff, and students only, 1997. http://www.kutztown.edu/library/services/remote_access.asp.
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Thesis (M.P.A.)--Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, 1997.Abstract precedes thesis as preliminary leaves [1]. Typescript. Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 45-06, page: 2943. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 81-85).
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Pham, Minh H. "Signal Detection of Adverse Drug Reaction using the Adverse Event Reporting System: Literature Review and Novel Methods." Scholar Commons, 2018. http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/7218.
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One of the objectives of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is to protect the public health through post-marketing drug safety surveillance, also known as Pharmacovigilance. An inexpensive and efficient method to inspect post-marketing drug safety is to use data mining algorithms on electronic health records to discover associations between drugs and adverse events.
The purpose of this study is two-fold. First, we review the methods and algorithms proposed in the literature for identifying association drug interactions to an adverse event and discuss their advantages and drawbacks. Second, we attempt to adapt some novel methods that have been used in comparable problems such as the genome-wide association studies and the market-basket problems. Most of the common methods in the drug-adverse event problem have univariate structure and thus are vulnerable to give false positive when certain drugs are usually co-prescribed. Therefore, we will study applicability of multivariate methods in the literature such as Logistic Regression and Regression-adjusted Gamma-Poisson Shrinkage Model for the association studies. We also adopted Random Forest and Monte Carlo Logic Regression from the genome-wide association study to our problem because of their ability to detect inherent interactions. We have built a computer program for the Regression-adjusted Gamma Poisson Shrinkage model, which was proposed by DuMouchel in 2013 but has not been made available in any public software package. A comparison study between popular methods and the proposed new methods is presented in this study.
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Jefferis, Paul Graham. "Associations between parental childrearing cognitions and conduct problems in young children : a literature review and empirical study." Thesis, University of Birmingham, 2002. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.399513.
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Joshi, Swapneel. "A study of pressure and shear force at the foot/shoe interface- a review of the literature." Thesis, University of Strathclyde, 2008. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.502333.
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In individuals with diabetes mellitus, foot ulceration presents one of the most important risk factors in lower limb amputation. The investigation of foot ulceration is in-turn dependent on the study of plantar pressure and shear forces acting at the foot. The purpose of this study was to determine and assess the feasibility of the available methods and techniques to measure 'plantar pressure' and 'shear stresses' acting at the foot/shoe interface. From earlier studies using force-plate systems it can be concluded that the simultaneous measurement of 'shear stress' and 'pressure' is crucial in the diagnosis of plantar ulceration. However, methods to quantify both in conjunction with each other in an in-shoe situation are not well demonstrated. Investigations revealed various methods and processes to measure 'pressure' but on the other hand there seems to be a comparative lack in information of the procedures to 'measure shear stresses.
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Paulusson, Malin. "Daily Travel Mode Choice from an Intersectional Perspective : -A Literature Review and a Case Study in Uppsala." Thesis, Uppsala universitet, Institutionen för geovetenskaper, 2015. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-254893.
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The transport sector is an extensive contributor to the total CO2 emissions, and private transports hold a vast share. This has implications on environmental and human health, which eventually have economic consequences for society. Equal access to opportunities is essential in a sustainable society and public transport is a crucial element. Apart from public transport, physical active transport modes are key components in a sustainable transport system. The aim of this thesis was through an intersectional perspective to gain deeper understanding about travel mode choices and to identify barriers to use of public transport. This thesis comprises an extensive literature review of 62 articles, reviews and publications on travel behavior and travel mode choice undertaken in different parts of Sweden, Germany, UK, Portugal and the USA. A limited case study shares through nine qualitative interviews the travel experiences of four men and five women in different ages in Nåntuna/Vilan and Sävja in Uppsala, Sweden. The influencing factors were categorized and later intersectionally analyzed with the respect to gender, age and socioeconomic class. The analysis revealed that travel mode choices are complex and can be made for various reasons. Access to a car, habits, travel pattern and time indicated to be the most influencing factors. Economic resources seemed to influence the availability of transport mode, and indications could be seen that economic resources might impair gender differences. Looking at preferences and actual mode choice, the study sample illustrates that men, older, and richer, are having more opportunities to take their preferable mode choice. Planning factors appeared to both promote and constrain the use of public transport. Public transport seemed to have hard to meet everyone’s need, and indicated to have low competitiveness to the car. It is suggested that future research focuses on how to meet more people’s need in order to increase the use of public transport by its own attractiveness. Further research is also suggested about the health perspective of physical active modes and public transport. The study revealed difficulties in studying experiences outside the white, majority Swedish norm. More time would have been needed to include ethnicity, as it is an important aspect and should be included in future research.Transportsektorn bidrar till en omfattande del av det totala koldioxidutsläppet, och privata transporter utgör en ansenlig del av detta. De miljö- och hälsomässiga negativa effekterna är betydande, vilket följaktligen kommer att få sociala och ekonomiska konsekvenser. Det övergripande politiska målet är att öka användandet av hållbara transportmedel, så som fysiskt aktiva färdmedel och kollektivtrafik. Lika möjligheter att nå arbeten och service är en förutsättning för ett hållbart samhälle, och kollektivtrafiken är en viktig nyckel till detta. Förutom kollektivtrafiken är också fysiskt aktiva färdmedel, så som cykling och gång, en nyckelfaktor i ett hållbart transportsystem. Syfte: Syftet med den här masteruppsatsen är att få djupare kunskap om de faktorer som påverkar resebeteende och färdmedelsval, samt att identifiera barriärer för kollektivt resande. Uppsatsen har ett intersektionellt perspektiv och undersöker hur maktfaktorer som kön, ålder och socioekonomisk klass påverkar valet av färdmedel. Metod: En omfattande litteraturstudie om resvanor och resebeteende i Sverige, Tyskland, Storbritannien, Portugal och USA föregick en fallstudie. Med fokus på de två områdena Nåntuna/Vilan och Sävja, i Uppsala, Sverige, genomfördes en mindre fallstudie. Nio kvalitativa intervjuer belyser fyra män och fem kvinnors erfarenheter från sina dagliga färdmedelsval. Resultat: Av dessa framgår att färdmedelsval är komplexa; de kan göras av olika anledningar, samt olika anledningar kan leda till samma val. En mängd olika faktorer indikerade på att påverka valet av färdmedel, bland annat tillgången till bil, vanor, attityder, resmönster och restiden. Dessutom indikerar resultat att maktfaktorer som kön, ålder och socioekonomisk klass formar möjligheterna till att välja färdmedel. Indikationer tyder på att ekonomiska resurser styr tillgången på färdmedelsval samt kan minska könsskillnader. Det emellertid ringa urvalet exemplifierar att män, äldre och rikare har större möjligheter att välja sitt önskvärda färdmedelsval. Respondenternas erfarenheter visar att planeringsfaktorer kan både främja och försvåra användandet av kollektivtrafiken. Kollektivtrafiken verkade ha svårt att möta människors olika behov och därmed vara konkurrenskraftig i förhållande till bilen. Mer forskning om detta är nödvändig för att öka och behålla resenärer utifrån kollektivtrafikens egen attraktionskraft. Vidare så föreslås ytterligare studier om länken mellan hälsa, fysiskt aktiva färdmedelsval och kollektivtrafikanvändande. Studien innefattar inte erfarenheter från personer med annan bakgrund än vit, majoritetssvensk eftersom det hade krävt mer tid än vad denna studie medgav. Det är dock ett viktigt perspektiv för framtida forskning.
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Welham, Alice. "Facial emotion processing in genetic neurodevelopmental syndromes (a literature review) and acquired brain injury (an empirical study)." Thesis, University of Birmingham, 2013. http://etheses.bham.ac.uk//id/eprint/4201/.
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This volume is in two parts. The literature review asks what we know of facial emotion processing in genetic neurodevelopmental syndromes associated with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Of the five syndromes most frequently associated with ASD in the literature, empirical investigations of facial emotion processing were found for two: Fragile X Syndrome (FXS) and Down's Syndrome (DS). People with DS may be impaired on tasks involving the recognition of facial emotions. People with FXS demonstrate atypicalities when processing facial emotion, such as possible autonomic differences. Implications for the association with ASD are considered. In the empirical paper, recognition of facial "threat" emotions (fear, anger and disgust) was assessed in chronic neurological patients with anatomically diverse, stable brain lesions. They were found to perform more poorly than a group of age-matched healthy participants. For the patient group, we then used voxel-based morphometry (VBM) to assess in an unbiased fashion the relationship between accuracy of recognition of fear, anger and disgust (individually and then together) and the integrity of grey matter across the whole brain. There was evidence of brain regions in which damage correlated with reduced emotion recognition ability for the three emotions individually, and also for accuracy combined across the three emotions.
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Judd, Rebecca. "Meaning in palliative care : a literature review of psychological interventions and study of men's experience of caring." Thesis, University of Birmingham, 2015. http://etheses.bham.ac.uk//id/eprint/6363/.
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This thesis presents two papers. The first is a systematic review exploring the evidence for meaning-focused psychological interventions in palliative care. Eleven papers, studying seven different meaning-focused interventions were reviewed. There was evidence that the group therapies are successful in improving individual’s psychological well-being when they are facing a life-threatening illness. However, a number of issues with the quality of the studies reviewed made it difficult to draw firm conclusions. It is recommended that further research be conducted to explore these therapies further and develop tools specifically designed to measure meaning. The second paper explored the experience of men caring for a dying spouse, and their experience seeking help for themselves during this time. The data were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis creating three overarching themes, ‘Illness Questions Everything’; ‘Constructing the Caring Role’ and ‘Help-Seeking at the Limit’. The men struggled to make sense of the carer role, constructing it as giving purpose and meaning. Seeking help for themselves was seen as “incompatible” and only considered as a ‘last resort’. Men’s caring qualities need to be destigmatised so that they more easily identify with this role, and thus look after themselves whilst caring for their dying loved one.
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Kavakure, Jules. "Managing risk factors for caries with behaviour change approach : a systematic literature review and observational registry study." Thesis, Högskolan Kristianstad, Fakulteten för hälsovetenskap, 2020. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hkr:diva-21445.
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It is estimated that nearly 100% of adults had dental caries worldwide. The disease can be approached with a biopsychosocial perspective. Overall, the aim of this study was to assess how behaviour change approach is used to manage risk factors for caries, which was divided in two sub-objectives;1. To illuminate behaviour change methods used to manage risk factors for caries, 2. To explore caries incidence among adult patients who have received behaviour change therapy treatment against caries.To answer the first sub-objective a systematic literature review was performed. To explore dental health status among adults who received behaviour change therapy due to caries, data from the national register in odontology SKaPa was analysed with descriptive and analytic statistics.The findings of the systematic literature review retrieved one RCT-study in the field of behaviour change therapy and caries. Findings from the register study showed there was no corralation between behaviour change therapy and DFT, no differences in inqualities among gender regardning DFT, no differences in DFT related to behaviour change therapy, that among therapy codes for behaviour change therapy behavioural therapy, 60 minutes or more was less frequently used and that dental professionals most frequently used behaviour change therapy when treating initial caries.The conclusion of this study are that there is a lack of scientific evidence regarding managing risk factors for caries with behaviour change approach. The study indicate that qualitative as well as randomized controlled studies would contribute to more knowledge about managing risk factors for caries with behaviour change approach.
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Wells, John. "A literature review of school improvement, A case study, school improvement at one school site; School improvement models." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1998. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk1/tape10/PQDD_0019/MQ54914.pdf.
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Embertsén, Maria. "Sustainable Stormwater Handling and Water System Urban Design. : A literature review and a case study in Nacka, Sweden." Thesis, KTH, Mark- och vattenteknik (flyttat 20130630), 2012. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-171815.
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Climate change presents us with greater and greater challenges and stormwater is an important part of our future water problems. In some parts of the world the increase and intensification in precipitation causes strain on existing infrastructure while, in others, draughts are becoming more and more severe. Handling stormwater sustainably does not only gain the environment by controlling pollutant spreading, helping with flooding control and water reuse but can also have added values in urban areas if included in urban planning. Implementing green infrastructure and sustainable stormwater solutions creates jobs and are in many countries seen as the future way of handling stormwater. There are many different techniques and ways of adopting sustainable stormwater handling depending on the local problem and physical as well as economic conditions. Together they all have in common of creating added values when implemented. Increased biodiversity, improved air quality, reduced noise, improved growing conditions for urban trees and aesthetical values that have a positive effect on human health are just some of the positive added values of sustainable stormwater handling. The case study in this report concerns a new development on a peninsula in the municipality on Nacka, Stockholm. The recommendation is to adopt the approach of many small solutions that combines to a sustainable way of handling stormwater that not only solves the problem but creates added values in the living and working area. Stormwater is a resource that should be used as one in order to have sustainable urban planning.
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Hoye, Sarah M. "An exploration of normal and pathological attachment and separation in children : a literature review and art therapy case study." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1998. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk1/tape11/PQDD_0017/MQ47736.pdf.
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Armitage, J. N. "The epidemiology and management of acute urinary retention : a study based on Hospital Episode Statistics and systematic literature review." Thesis, University College London (University of London), 2011. http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1318057/.
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Acute urinary retention (AUR) is characterised by the sudden and painful inability to pass urine and is common in older men. It causes significant morbidity, frequently results in emergency hospital admission and often requires surgery. The aim of this thesis was to investigate ways of improving the management of men with AUR. The Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) database of the Department of Health was used to investigate mortality after AUR. In 100,067 men with spontaneous AUR, the one year mortality was 4.1% in men aged 45-54 and 32.8% in those aged 85 and over. In men with spontaneous AUR aged 75-84, the most prevalent age group, the one year mortality was 12.5% in men without comorbidity and 28.8% in men with comorbidity. The importance of comorbidity on mortality of men with AUR prompted the development of The Royal College of Surgeons of England (RCS) Charlson Score to improve comorbidity identification in HES. The RCS Charlson Score uses an explicit coding philosophy that is simple to use, more accurate than existing adaptations of the Charlson Score, reflects the current understanding of the prognostic impact of comorbidity and allows international comparisons. Given that many men with AUR are elderly, have significant comorbidity and therefore have a high risk of death, minimally invasive treatment alternatives to surgery for AUR were evaluated. Systematic literature review defined the role of prostatic stents as an effective treatment for frail and elderly men. Although only observational data were available a specifically developed checklist to assess methodological quality gave context to the findings. This thesis demonstrates that the management of AUR must focus not only on the prostate but also on the patient’s overall health status. The urologist should adopt a holistic approach when assessing and treating men with AUR to ensure the best possible outcomes.
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Brown, Petrina S. "Caring for a spouse with dementia : a literature review and exploratory study of carers' experience of their marital relationship." Thesis, University of Sheffield, 2008. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/10300/.
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This thesis comprises three main sections. The first is a literature review on the influence of marital relationship on the experience of spouse carers of people with dementia. Due to methodological weaknesses findings need to be interpreted with caution, however, the research suggests that positive premorbid and concurrent relationships are indicative of greater wellbeing in spouse carers, and also that dementia impacts negatively on marital relationship. Implications for clinical practice and ideas for future research are explored. Section Two is a report on a study exploring spouse carers' experience of their marital relationship whilst caring for a husband or wife with severe dementia. Ten spouse carers (six wives and four husbands) of people suffering from severe dementia participated in a semi-structured interview which was transcribed and analysed in accordance with Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) methodology. Five interrelated processes with 19 sub-themes were identified; Establishing connections and forming a lasting relationship, Experiencing dementia as a threat to the relationship, Attempting to maintain the existence of a relationship, Desire to care and Experiencing the impact of caring on wellbeing. Implications for clinical practice and further research are discussed. The third section provides a critical appraisal of the research process and includes an exposition of key lessons learnt, future Continuing Professional Development needs and personal reflections on future functioning as a researcher within the role of a Clinical Psychologist.
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Bexell, Andreas. "Software Source Code Readability : A Mapping Study." Thesis, Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Institutionen för programvaruteknik, 2020. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:bth-20164.
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Background: Building software systems is an iterative and collaborative project, requiring developers not only to write code, but to maintain, expand, fix and enhance code already written. In order to do so, reading code is a central activity, and therefore it is important that code is written in a manner that makes it readable. Objectives: To map the state-of-the-art of software source code readability and find the definitions and methods to measure it, and provide an overview of the kinds of factors considered to impact software source code readability, and to compare this to practitioners' experiences of software source code readability. Methods: A systematic literature review of 76 studies in 72 papers from the last 40 years, explicitly concerning software source code readability, is compared with the results of five interviews with practitioners, of which three are case studies of commits explicitly targeting readability. Results: While individual factors' contribution towards readability is studied with some success, more general modelling studies often suffer from methodological problems, making them difficult to apply in practice or in studies of the correlation between software source code readability and other metrics. Conclusions: Key elements of the state-of-the-art have been implemented in practice, however, readability models are not used by the practitioners in this study. Several factors mentioned by practitioners are not considered by the studies included, and further qualitative study of software development practitioners may be needed.
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Murray, Robin Anne. "On my watch : a review of the environmental education literature with particular reference to South Africa, and South African teenagers." Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/96937.
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Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2015.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: About half a million students matriculate from South African high schools each year, with limited environmental education and an underdeveloped capacity to live sustainable lives. This does not seem to be the case in some other parts of the world, where many high school students appear to be receiving education that is relevant to the socio-ecological crisis. The rationale of this thesis was to understand this phenomenon and explore what could be done to improve the situation for South African teenagers. This was a desktop study based upon systematic literature review methodology. The primary research objectives were to describe the local context of the study, explore emerging environmental education theoretical themes and detail a number of practical initiatives from around the world. The research process culminated in the fourth objective, which was to consolidate the work into key learnings for South Africa, with particular reference to South African teenagers. A backdrop to environmental education was provided that included a discussion on the global socio-ecological crisis, development and sustainable development in South Africa. The definition and use of the term “environmental education” was justified. In this instance, it is an inclusive definition that incorporates eco-literacy, ecological learning and education for sustainability. In addition to this, a brief comparative history of sustainable development and environmental education has been tabulated. Key theoretical themes in environmental education cluster around the centrality of place. Six themes are presented, namely space and place, trans-national education and third-culture kids, claims of transformation, principles of environmental education, institutional innovation, and the sustainability researcher. Three kinds of practical initiatives emerged in the literature review. These are “green fields” environmental education (brand new institutions), “moving train” environmental education (adaption of existing organisations) and “plug-in” environmental education. Eight initiatives are described, providing examples for all three of these groups. The key learnings for environmental education in South Africa and South African teenagers conclude this thesis. Among other key learnings, the value of the radical perspective is presented, as well as the benefit of perceiving environmental education through different lenses, including a historical one. The link between environmental education and food is explored. It is suggested that the theory and praxis of place-based education exerts a gravitational pull on many aspects of this work. It seems that place-based education provides a “holding space” for environmental education in South Africa, and a starting point for future research or practical application.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Ongeveer ’n halfmiljoen studente matrikuleer jaarliks aan Suid-Afrikaanse hoërskole. Hierdie leerders beskik oor beperkte omgewingsopvoeding en ’n onderontwikkelde vermoë om volhoubare lewens te lei. Dít blyk nie die geval te wees in ander wêrelddele nie, waar baie hoërskoolleerders oënskynlik onderrig ontvang wat met die sosio-ekologiese krisis verband hou. Die beweegrede vir hierdie tesis was om hierdie verskynsel te verstaan en te bepaal wat gedoen kan word om die stand van sake vir Suid-Afrikaanse tieners te verbeter. Die navorsing het bestaan uit ’n lessenaarstudie op grond van ’n stelselmatige literatuuroorsig. Die hoofnavorsingsdoelwitte was om die plaaslike konteks van die studie te beskryf, ontluikende teoretiese temas op omgewingsopvoedkundige gebied te verken, en ’n aantal praktiese inisiatiewe van oor die hele wêreld te beskryf. Die navorsingsproses het uitgeloop op die vierde doelwit, naamlik om die studieresultate in kernlesse vir Suid-Afrika, bepaald met verwysing na Suid-Afrikaanse tieners, te verwerk. Eerstens word die agtergrond van omgewingsopvoeding geskets, wat onder meer bestaan uit ’n bespreking van die wêreldwye sosio-ekologiese krisis sowel as ontwikkeling en volhoubare ontwikkeling in Suid-Afrika. Die omskrywing en gebruik van die term ‘omgewingsopvoeding’ word ook geregverdig. In hierdie geval word die term inklusief gebruik om ook na eko-geletterdheid, ekologiese leer en onderwys vir volhoubaarheid te verwys. Daarbenewens bied die studie ’n bondige vergelykende geskiedenis van volhoubare ontwikkeling en omgewingsopvoeding in tabelvorm. Die vernaamste teoretiese temas op omgewingsopvoedkundige gebied draai om die kernrol van plek. Ses temas word aangebied, naamlik ruimte en plek, transnasionale onderwys en derdekultuurkinders, bewerings van transformasie, beginsels van omgewingsopvoeding, institusionele innovasie, en die volhoubaarheidsnavorser. Drie soorte praktiese inisiatiewe het uit die literatuuroorsig na vore getree, naamlik “braakland”-omgewingsopvoeding (splinternuwe instellings), “bewegende trein”-omgewingsopvoeding (aanpassing van bestaande organisasies) en “inprop”-omgewingsopvoeding. Agt inisiatiewe word beskryf, wat voorbeelde van ál drie hierdie groepe bied. Die tesis bied ten slotte die belangrikste lesse vir omgewingsopvoeding in Suid-Afrika en vir Suid-Afrikaanse tieners aan. Dit sluit onder andere in die waarde van die radikale perspektief, sowel as die voordeel daarvan om omgewingsopvoeding deur verskillende lense, waaronder ’n historiese een, te beskou. Die koppeling tussen omgewingsopvoeding en voedsel word verken. Die studie kom tot die gevolgtrekking dat die teorie en praktyk van plekgebaseerde onderwys ’n soort ‘beweegruimte’ vir omgewingsopvoeding in Suid-Afrika, sowel as ’n wegspringplek vir toekomstige navorsing of praktiese toepassing, bied.
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Vanti, Adriana Amorim. "Tumor glômico subungueal: estudo epidemiológico e retrospectivo, no período de 1991 a 2003." Universidade de São Paulo, 2004. http://www.teses.usp.br/teses/disponiveis/5/5133/tde-01102014-145503/.
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O tumor glômico é uma neoplasia benigna de células glômicas, de ocorrência incomum, observado como lesão solitária na falange distal dos quirodáctilos, representando de 1% a 4,5% das neoplasias das mãos. Foram estudados 20 casos de tumor glômico ocorridos no período de 1991 a 2003, nos ambulatórios de Dermatologia do Hospital das Clínicas e do Hospital do Servidor Público Municipal de São Paulo. Analisaram-se os prontuários, avaliando-se os aspectos epidemiológicos, clínicos e exames complementares, dando ênfase ao exame histopatológico e métodos de imagem. Os achados epidemiológicos deste estudo não diferiram significativamente do levantamento bibliográfico pesquisado, confirmando tratar-se de um tumor raro e pouco conhecido. A tríade clássica do tumor glômico \"dor paroxística, sensibilidade local e hipersensibilidade à alteração de temperatura\" esteve presente em 15 dos 20 casos examinados. Confirmou-se, na casuística analisada, a preferência pelos quirodáctilos e maior acometimento do sexo feminino. Histologicamente, os dados obtidos foram similares aos existentes na literatura, houve predominância do padrão arquitetural celular e a presença de cápsula tumoral, foi encontrada em apenas três casos. Os métodos de imagem não foram utilizados de maneira sistemática como auxiliares diagnóstico do tumor glômico, embora sejam de grande auxílio na confirmação e delimitação do tumor, especialmente a ressonância magnética que nesse estudo foi realizada em quatro dos 20 casos estudados, mostrando lesão evidente e não deixando dúvidas quanto ao diagnóstico. As recidivas, consideradas raras, ocorreram em 15% dos casos, por isso há a necessidade de um acompanhamento cirúrgico prolongadoThe glomus tumor is a benign neoplasia of glomus cells, of uncommon occurrence, observed as a solitary lesion on distal phalanx of the chirodactyls, representing from 1% to 4,5% of the hand neoplasias. 20 cases of glomus tumor, occurred from 1991 to 2003, have been studied in the ambulatories of Dermatology of Hospital das Clínicas and of Hospital do Servidor Público Municipal of São Paulo. The medical registers had been analyzed and the epidemiologic and clinical aspects and complementary examination such as histopathologic examination and methods of images had been evaluated. The epidemiologic findings of this study did not differ significantly from the bibliographic research realized, confirming that it is an unfrequent and poorly studied tumor. The classical triad of glomus tumor symptoms: \"paroxysmal pain, local sensitivity and hypersensitivity to the fluctuation of temperature\" was present in 15 of the 20 studied cases. In the analyzed casuistry, the preference for chirodactyls and the greater number of manifestation on female sex had been confirmed. Histologically, the achieved data were similar to the ones presented in the literature, there was prevalence of the cellular architectural pattern and the presence of tumorous capsule was found in just 3 cases. The image methods were not used in a systematic way as a glomus tumor diagnosis aid, although they were a great help on the confirmation and delimitation of the tumor, especially the magnetic resonance imaging. The reincidences were considered sporadic and occurred in 15% of the studied cases, for this reason there is necessity of an extended surgical attendance
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Ledin, Annica, and Lisbet Olsen. "Sjuksköterskans syn på svårigheter i telefonrådgivning: En litteraturstudie. : Difficulties in telephone advice as perceived by registered nurses: A literature study. ." Thesis, Örebro universitet, Hälsoakademin, 2009. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:oru:diva-9161.
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Background. Telephone advice increases the accessibility to health care and the streamlined work at primary health care centres. The goal of telephone advice nursing is to give the caller a correct advice, adapted to the caller’s situation, in order to reach correct care level. However, registered nurse’s telephone advice includes risks for misjudgement. Aim. The aim was to describe the view of registered nurse’s telephone advice at primary health care centres and call canters. The issues were if registered nurse perceived difficulties in their telephone advice and in that case, which the difficulties are. Method. A literature study was used, with systematic search in Cinahl and Pubmed, and also a manual search. In total 13 articles were included in this study. Content analysis was used. Results. Registered nurse’s had difficulties in telephone advice in following areas: computerized decision aids, non-visual communication, third-part communication, limited resources, the registered nurse's vulnerability, genus and ethnicity, and also ethical questions. Conclusion. Registered nurses perceive difficulties in telephone advice. Registered nurses should take part in the development of computerized decision support and receive continuous training in communication skills. Registered nurse’s telephone advice should be facilitated by the existence of an open climate at the workplace, to discuss and to reflect on difficulties in telephone advice. Keywords. Perception, telenursing, telephone consultation, literature review.Bakgrund. Telefonrådgivning ökar tillgängligheten till sjukvården och effektiviserar vårdcentralernas arbete. Målet med telefonrådgivning är att ge rådsökande rätt råd, anpassade efter dennes unika situation för att rådsökande ska nå rätt vårdnivå. Men sjuksköterskans telefonrådgivning innefattar risker för felbedömningar. Syfte. Syftet var att beskriva sjuksköterskan syn på sin telefonrådgivning vid vårdcentraler och sjukvårdsrådgivningar. Frågeställningar var om sjuksköterskan uppfattar svårigheter i sin telefonrådgivning och i så fall vilka svårigheterna var. Metod. En litteraturstudie med systematisk sökning i Cinahl och Pubmed samt manuell sökning. Sökningen resulterade i totalt 13 vetenskapliga artiklar, vilka analyserade enligt innehållsanalys. Resultat. Sjuksköterskans hade svårigheter i telefonrådgivning inom följande områden: datoriserat beslutstöd, icke-visuell kommunikation, uppgifter i andrahand, begränsade resurser, sjuksköterskans utsatthet, genus och etnicitet samt etiska frågor. Slutsats: Sjuksköterskans uppfattar svårigheter i telefonrådgivning. Sjuksköterskorna bör vara med att utveckla det datoriserade beslutstödet och få fortlöpande utbildning i kommunikationsfärdigheter. Sjuksköterskans telefonrådgivning bör underlättas av att det råder ett öppet klimat på arbetsplatsen för att diskutera och reflektera de svårigheter som finns med telefonrådgivning. Nyckelord. Svårigheter, sjuksköterskor, telefonrådgivning, litteraturstudie.
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Higuchi, Marcelo Makoto. "Digital games platforms: a literature review, an empirical assessment of quality and exclusivity in video-game market and a study on project management." Universidade de São Paulo, 2018. http://www.teses.usp.br/teses/disponiveis/3/3136/tde-23052018-114837/.
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Digital games are part of the creative industries, which is based on value creation through ideas and creativity. This market has gained relevance due to technology development that attracted both new firms and users. The present dissertation aims to explore three themes: (1) video game market as a two-sided market; (2) the effects of characteristics and behavior of game titles on consoles sales; and (3) project management to develop digital games. Those themes were explored through three articles: the first is a literature review and a bibliometric study of the economic concepts on two-sided market, which focused at identifying main topics, research trends and avenues for futures research. The second text is an analysis on the simultaneous influence of games\' quality and exclusivity on console sales. The last one is a qualitative, multiple-case study to understand, explore and suggest improvements to game project management in the Brazilian market. Findings include: (1) the main authors and topics, trends and developments, from and avenues for future research; (2) combinations of quality and exclusivity can affect console sales either positively or negatively, (3) quality has a predominant effect on sales over games non-exclusivity; and (4) the use of agile methodologies and Design Thinking are diffused among game developers.Sem resumo.
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De, Goveia C. "Legionella infections : a review of the literature and a prospective serological study of the incidence of Legionnaires disease at Groote Schuur Hospital." Master's thesis, University of Cape Town, 1989. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/25585.
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A prospective study of patients with pneumonia admitted to Groote Schuur Hospital took place over a one-year period in an attempt to assess the incidence of legionella pneumonia. Acute and convalescent serum samples were obtained from 113 patients. Eight patients (7,1%) showed a fourfold rise in antibody titre against Legionella pneumophila group 1 antigen by indirect immunofluorescent test (IFAT). The findings suggest that legionella pneumonia, although not common, should be considered in the aetiology of pneumonia at Groote Schuur Hospital. The results are presented and a review of the literature is undertaken.
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Burfoot, Christopher. "Tourism as a tool for communicating complex environmental issues : Applying the ecosystem services framework to nature-based tourism activities across Iceland." Thesis, Södertörns högskola, Miljövetenskap, 2017. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:sh:diva-32928.
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Throughout the twenty-first century, the lowering cost and increased availability of travel options has resulted in virtually uninterrupted economic growth of the international tourism sector. While financially beneficial, the increased movement of people has also been shown to have a negative impact on the environment, leading to the growth of a more environmentally-friendly approach to travel called nature-based tourism. One country at the forefront of the nature-based tourism movement is Iceland, and while the sector has grown significantly in the country over the past decade, the way in which information concerning environmental issues is communicated to tourists has not been widely researched. Being the case, the aim of this study was to examine the extent to which environmental issues are communicated to the general public through the use of the ecosystem services framework. Four popular nature-based tourism activities were selected for analysis; a whale watching tour, a horse riding tour, a boat tour of a glacial lagoon and a spa experience in a geothermal hot spring. A literature review concerning how the ecosystem services framework related to each of these tours was carried out and findings were compared to observatory data gathered through participation in said tourism activities. Results showed that while scientific publications could be found for each tour/ecosystem service combination, information concerning environmental issues was not widely communicated to participants in the nature-based tourism activities using the ecosystem services framework.
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Balmer, Nanette F. "The structure of county government a review of the literature and a case study of county government in Lehigh and Northampton Counties, Pennsylvania /." Instructions for remote access. Click here to access this electronic resource. Access available to Kutztown University faculty, staff, and students only, 1992. http://www.kutztown.edu/library/services/remote_access.asp.
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Thesis (M.P.A.)--Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, 1992.Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 45-06, page: 2930. Abstract precedes thesis as [1] preliminary leaf. Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 54-60).
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Nuttall, Martin Chandler. "Practice and outcomes for radical urological cancer surgery in England : a study based on hospital episode statistics and a review of the literature." Thesis, University College London (University of London), 2006. http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1445854/.
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Complete, timely and accurate data are needed to monitor the quality of surgical care in the UK. However, large-scale national audits are labour-intensive and expensive. Furthermore, within surgery many studies have noted wide variation between post operative outcomes amongst hospitals. Studies have also tried to determine whether the number of cases performed at a hospital is one component that can influence surgical outcomes. With this in mind, the overall aims of this thesis were to describe the practice and outcomes for radical urological cancer surgery in England, and to determine whether the number (or 'volume') of procedures that a hospital carries out is a potential determinant of outcomes. The objectives of this thesis were fivefold. Firstly, to use administrative data from Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) of the English Department of Health between 1995 and 2002 to report activity and outcomes for patients recorded as having undergone a radical prostatectomy (RP), radical cystectomy (RC) or radical nephrectomy (RN). Secondly, to develop and validate a comorbidity index for the first time within the HES database. The obtained index, based on the Charlson score, increased with age, was higher in patients admitted as an emergency, and also predicted outcomes. Thirdly, to review the literature to establish to what extent volume could be an explanation for variation in outcomes between surgical providers. This review concluded that surgical outcomes, on average, should improve with increasing hospital or surgeon volume, although the evidence for RN was weakest. Fourthly, to establish, through conducting a national survey, the views of the surgeons performing these procedures regarding 'volume and outcome' relationships. This survey discovered that most consultants supported the principle of volume thresholds, but with wide variation as to where thresholds should be set. Finally, to determine through analysis of the HES data whether post-operative outcomes in England depend on the volume of procedures that a hospital performs. In brief, hospital volume was inversely related to in-hospital mortality following RC. No similar effect was demonstrable following RN. No effect of volume on length of stay after RC or RN was identified, but length of stay after RP was shorter in high volume hospitals. Data from this thesis provides some evidence in support of volume-based health policies for RC, but less support for such policies relating to RN or RP.
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Schneider, Christian, and Oscar Andersson. "Examining Levels of Automation in the Wood Processing Industry - A case study." Thesis, Tekniska Högskolan, Högskolan i Jönköping, JTH, Industriell organisation och produktion, 2016. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hj:diva-33713.
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Companies operating in the wood processing industry need to increase their productivity by implementing automation technologies in their production systems. An increasing global competition and rising raw material prizes challenge their competitiveness. Yet, too extensive automation brings risks such as a deterioration in situation awareness and operator deskilling. The concept of Levels of Automation is generally seen as means to achieve a balanced task allocation between the operators’ skills and competences and the need for automation technology relieving the humans from repetitive or hazardous work activities. The aim of this thesis was to examine to what extent existing methods for assessing Levels of Automation in production processes are applicable in the wood processing industry when focusing on an improved competitiveness of production systems. This was done by answering the following research questions (RQ): RQ1: What method is most appropriate to be applied with measuring Levels of Automation in the wood processing industry? RQ2: How can the measurement of Levels of Automation contribute to an improved competitiveness of the wood processing industry’s production processes? Literature reviews were used to identify the main characteristics of the wood processing industry affecting its automation potential and appropriate assessment methods for Levels of Automation in order to answer RQ1. When selecting the most suitable method, factors like the relevance to the target industry, application complexity or operational level the method is penetrating were important. The DYNAMO++ method, which covers both a rather quantitative technical-physical and a more qualitative social-cognitive dimension, was seen as most appropriate when taking into account these factors. To answer RQ 2, a case study was undertaken at a major Swedish manufacturer of interior wood products to point out paths how the measurement of Levels of Automation contributes to an improved competitiveness of the wood processing industry. The focus was on the task level on shop floor and concrete improvement suggestions were elaborated after applying the measurement method for Levels of Automation. Main aspects considered for generalization were enhancements regarding ergonomics in process design and cognitive support tools for shop-floor personnel through task standardization. Furthermore, difficulties regarding the automation of grading and sorting processes due to the heterogeneous material properties of wood argue for a suitable arrangement of human intervention options in terms of work task allocation. The application of a modified version of DYNAMO++ reveals its pros and cons during a case study which covers a high operator involvement in the improvement process and the distinct predisposition of DYNAMO++ to be applied in an assembly system.
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Khan, M. Shahan Ali, and Ahmad ElMadi. "Data Warehouse Testing : An Exploratory Study." Thesis, Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Sektionen för datavetenskap och kommunikation, 2011. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:bth-4767.
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Context. The use of data warehouses, a specialized class of information systems, by organizations all over the globe, has recently experienced dramatic increase. A Data Warehouse (DW) serves organiza-tions for various important purposes such as reporting uses, strategic decision making purposes, etc. Maintaining the quality of such systems is a difficult task as DWs are much more complex than ordi-nary operational software applications. Therefore, conventional methods of software testing cannot be applied on DW systems. Objectives. The objectives of this thesis study was to investigate the current state of the art in DW testing, to explore various DW testing tools and techniques and the challenges in DW testing and, to identify the improvement opportunities for DW testing process. Methods. This study consists of an exploratory and a confirmatory part. In the exploratory part, a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) followed by Snowball Sampling Technique (SST), a case study at a Swedish government organization and interviews were conducted. For the SLR, a number of article sources were used, including Compendex, Inspec, IEEE Explore, ACM Digital Library, Springer Link, Science Direct, Scopus etc. References in selected studies and citation databases were used for performing backward and forward SST, respectively. 44 primary studies were identified as a result of the SLR and SST. For the case study, interviews with 6 practitioners were conducted. Case study was followed by conducting 9 additional interviews, with practitioners from different organizations in Sweden and from other countries. Exploratory phase was followed by confirmatory phase, where the challenges, identified during the exploratory phase, were validated by conducting 3 more interviews with industry practitioners. Results. In this study we identified various challenges that are faced by the industry practitioners as well as various tools and testing techniques that are used for testing the DW systems. 47 challenges were found and a number of testing tools and techniques were found in the study. Classification of challenges was performed and improvement suggestions were made to address these challenges in order to reduce their impact. Only 8 of the challenges were found to be common for the industry and the literature studies. Conclusions. Most of the identified challenges were related to test data creation and to the need for tools for various purposes of DW testing. The rising trend of DW systems requires a standardized testing approach and tools that can help to save time by automating the testing process. While tools for operational software testing are available commercially as well as from the open source community, there is a lack of such tools for DW testing. It was also found that a number of challenges are also related to the management activities, such as lack of communication and challenges in DW testing budget estimation etc. We also identified a need for a comprehensive framework for testing data warehouse systems and tools that can help to automate the testing tasks. Moreover, it was found that the impact of management factors on the quality of DW systems should be measured.Shahan (+46 736 46 81 54), Ahmad (+46 727 72 72 11)
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Singh, Inderjeet. "A Mapping Study of Automation Support Tools for Unit Testing." Thesis, Mälardalens högskola, Akademin för innovation, design och teknik, 2012. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:mdh:diva-15192.
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Unit testing is defined as a test activity usually performed by a developer for the purpose of demonstrating program functionality and meeting the requirements specification of module. Nowadays, unit testing is considered as an integral part in the software development cycle. However, performing unit testing by developers is still considered as a major concern because of the time and cost involved in it. Automation support for unit testing, in the form of various automation tools, could significantly lower the cost of performing unit testing phase as well as decrease the time developer involved in the actual testing. The problem is how to choose the most appropriate tool that will suit developer requirements consisting of cost involved, effort needed, level of automation provided, language support, etc. This research work presents results from a systematic literature review with the aim of finding all unit testing tools with an automation support. In the systematic literature review, we initially identified 1957 studies. After performing several removal stages, 112 primary studies were listed and 24 tools identified in total. Along with the list of tools, we also provide the categorization of all the tools found based on the programming language support, availability (License, Open source, Free), testing technique, level of effort required by developer to use tool, target domain, that we consider as good properties for a developer to make a decision on which tool to use. Additionally, we categorized type of error(s) found by some tools, which could be beneficial for a developer when looking at the tool’s effectiveness. The main intent of this report is to aid developers in the process of choosing an appropriate unit testing tool from categorization table of available tools with automation unit testing support that ease this process significantly. This work could be beneficial for researchers considering to evaluate efficiency and effectiveness of each tool and use this information to eventually build a new tool with the same properties as several others.
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Roberts, Alison. "Staff experiences of physical intervention methods of restraint in learning disability settings : a review of the literature and a report of an exploratory study." Thesis, University of Sheffield, 2004. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.412748.
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Suleman, Mehrunisha. "Does Islam influence biomedical research ethics? : a review of the literature and guidelines, and an empirical qualitative study of stakeholder perceptions and ethical analysis." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2016. https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:3369e994-d40f-40ac-b752-dfd205a164b6.
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Islam, its texts and lived practice, finds growing importance within the global discourse on bioethics, as there is an increasing Muslim population and burgeoning interest in biomedical research and biotechnologies in the Muslim world. The aim of this thesis is to assess if and how Islam influences the ethical decision making of researchers, REC (researcher ethics committee) members, guideline developers and Islamic scholars in the biomedical research context. I began addressing this question by first reviewing the literature that has been published to explore the role that Islam plays in the literature on biomedical research ethics. There is evidence that some Muslim countries have developed "Islamic" guidelines. That is, guidelines with the explicit aim of setting out Islamic values and stating their relevance to the ethics of research. A review of research guidelines employed within countries with a significant Muslim population, was carried out, to investigate the role of Islam in such guidelines. The literature and guideline review revealed that although international guidelines have been adapted to incorporate Islamic views, studies have shown that the latter are of limited practical application within a "Muslim country" setting. An empirical study was carried out in two case study sites to assess the extent to which Islam influences ethical decision making within the context of biomedical research. 56 semi-structured interviews were carried out in Malaysia (38) and Iran (18) with researchers, REC members, guideline developers and Islamic scholars to understand whether Islam influences what they consider to be an ethico-legal problem, and if the latter emerges, then how such issues are addressed. The empirical study indicates five main conclusions. The first is that Islam and its institutional forms do impact ethical decision making in the day-to-day practice of biomedical research in countries with a Muslim population and/or in the research careers of Muslim researchers. Secondly, it shows that there are many distinctive mechanisms, such as the involvement of Islamic scholars, the process of ijtihad (independent reasoning) and the production of fatawah (legal edicts), by which Islam does identify and develop ethical views about biomedical matters. Thirdly, HIV/AIDS poses major challenges to the world of Islam as it does the rest of world. The epidemic raises issues that touch on cultural sensitivities that are important to Islamic societies and this study has shown that no simple or single response was observed to the ethical issues arising from HIV/AIDS. Fourthly, researchers face practical challenges when deliberating women's autonomy in contexts where Islam is appropriated within 'male dominated' contexts. The role and status of women is disputed in such contexts with views ranging from women needing their husband's permission to leave the home to men and women having equal freedoms. Finally, this study describes and analyses how the personal faith of researchers and their deep commitment to Islamic ethics and law influences their understanding of their legal and moral accountability and ethico-legal decision making. It shows that researchers adopt multiple roles and are required to balance numerous value systems and priorities and face moral anxiety and frustration when these different moral sources are in conflict. Overall, this study indicates that, in the countries studied, Islam does influence biomedical research ethics, and that this can be appreciated through the growing reference to Islam and its scriptural sources in biomedical research ethics literature, research ethics guidelines and the role of Islam in the day-to-day practice of biomedical researchers in the case study sites, that has been captured in the empirical study.
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Berg, Cathrine, and Sunhee Kim. "Att vara anhörig till en familjemedlem som fått stroke." Thesis, Mälardalens högskola, Akademin för hälsa, vård och välfärd, 2017. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:mdh:diva-34867.
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Bakgrund: Stroke är en av de vanligaste orsakerna till funktionsnedsättningar och död i Sverige. De flesta som fått en stroke blir beroende av stöd från sina anhöriga. Anhöriga bör delta i vården av den som fått stroke för att underlätta i deras tillvaro. Syfte: Att beskriva upplevelsen av att vara anhörig till en människa som har fått stroke. Metod: En litteraturstudie med tio kvalitativa vetenskapliga artiklar med beskrivande syntes. Resultat: Först kände de anhöriga en osäkerhet över situationen, en känsla av kaos uppstod och de var oroliga inför framtiden. Sedan kände de anhöriga sig ensamma i tillvaron, de upplevde brist i stödet från hälso- och sjukvården samt obehag över det stora ansvaret som nu följde. De anhöriga började sedan acceptera framtiden, de kände tacksamhet över sin livssituation och de började omprioritera sitt liv. Slutsats: Genom att låta sjuksköterskor ta del av de anhörigas upplevelser kan de ge bättre och mer anpassad information och stöd individuellt till de anhöriga. Detta skulle ge patienten ett bättre stöd och minska onödigt lidande.Background: In Sweden, Stroke is one of the most common causes to disability and death. Stroke can provide serious consequences and most of patients need to be helped by their close family members. It is important for close family members to be involved in the care of patients who have had a stroke to facilitate the life. Aim: To describe the experience of being a close family member of a person who has had a stroke. Method: A literature review based on ten qualitative scientific articles with descriptive synthesis. Result: At first, close family members felt the uncertainty of the situation because of a sense of chaos and worries about future. At second, they felt loneliness in life because they experienced a lack of support from health care and overwhelming responsibility that followed. Lastly, the family members accepted the future because they felt gratitude for their lives and they began to re-prioritize their life. Conclusion: By allowing nurses to take more knowledge of the family members' experience, they can understand why it is important to provide better and more detailed and individual support to the family members. This would give the patient a better support and reduce unnecessary suffering.
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Hallander, Joakim. "Electrification and Development:The case study of Rwanda." Thesis, Uppsala universitet, Institutionen för geovetenskaper, 2017. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-324649.
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As of today, 1.1 billion people in the world lack access to electricity, while 2.9 billion rely on polluting fuels such as firewood, charcoal and kerosene for cooking. This is most prominent in Sub-Saharan Africa where two thirds of the population do not have access to electricity and modern cooking fuels. As electricity serves a prominent part of modern society, electrification is often referred to as a key enabler for socio-economic development. The United Nations have agreed on 17 Sustainable development Goals with the aim to stimulate action over the next fifteen years in areas of critical importance for ending poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. According to the World Bank, energy is interconnected with 125 out of the total 169 sub-targets that are included in the Sustainable Development Goals. The goal of this thesis is to investigate the relation between access to electricity and relevant development indicators. By assessing previous research within the field of electrification and development, a number of key indicators have been selected for further analysis. A statistical analysis on the development of these indicators in the case study of Rwanda was performed and demonstrated that access to electricity services does have considerable impact on socio-economic development.
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Enge, Ida Baltzersen. "The Effect of Brine Composition and Rock Type on Oil Recovery by the Use of Combined Low-Salinity Waterflooding and Surfactant Flooding : A Literature Review and Experimental Study." Thesis, Norges teknisk-naturvitenskapelige universitet, Institutt for petroleumsteknologi og anvendt geofysikk, 2014. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:no:ntnu:diva-25843.
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The possibility of achieving incremental oil recovery by the use of low salinity injection water has been demonstrated by numerous laboratory experiments and an increasing amount of field trials. The underlying mechanisms behind this phenomenon are not well understood, but many researchers have suggested that it is related to complex crude oil/brine/rock interactions. In recent years, positive results have been presented regarding the combination of low salinity water and surfactant injection. This Thesis aims to investigate the effect of brine composition and rock type on low salinity surfactant injection.A series of coreflooding experiments were conducted on two different types of outcrop Berea sandstone cores, with different mineral composition, aged with different compositions of brine containing varying concentrations of NaCl, CaCl2 and MgCl2 and one crude oil. The cores were flooded with low salinity brine in secondary mode, and a low salinity surfactant solution, using the anionic surfactant Sodium Dodecylbenzene Sulfonate, in tertiary mode, both performed at 60°C. Oil recovery and the shape of production curves were analyzed and compared. The results show a clear trend that oil recovery is highest when the contrast between in-situ- and flooding divalent cation content is highest. Cores saturated with a brine containing 10% divalents, where 9% of this was CaCl2, and flooded with pure NaCl brine, produced the highest amount of oil during low salinity brine injection for both types of Berea cores. The low salinity oil recovery ranged from 42.3 to 57.7% OOIP. Low salinity surfactant injection recovered incremental oil for all the corefloods, varying from 2.1 to 8.5% OOIP. Another observation was that cores aged with brines containing divalent cations appeared to be more oil-wet, and had a larger benefit from the low ionic strength of the injection brine, regardless of the mineral composition of the rock. The shape of the production curve for some of these cores indicated a change in wettability during the low salinity brine injection.There is an increasing interest in designing an injection brine composition with the aim of recovering maximum amount of oil. Optimized composition can also lead to maximum recovery of a chemical flood. This research was carried out having this mindset. It was observed that by changing the chemistry of the injection brine, while everything else was fixed in the COBR system, there was an 11% difference in in oil recovery in low salinity waterflooding and an 18% difference in final oil recovery after tertiary low salinity surfactant flooding. This reinforces the importance of the brine composition on oil recovery, and presents a basis for further research.
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Skoglund, Per. "Grid connected large-scale energy storage : Literature review regarding present technology and application, with a complementary case study that investigates the profitability of storage within a wind farm." Thesis, Umeå universitet, Institutionen för tillämpad fysik och elektronik, 2017. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-135758.
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In the transition from traditional power plants to more environmentally friendly alternatives will generate a need for more flexibility in production, transmission and consumption. Energy storage can be provide the flexibility that are required to continue to have a robust and stable electrical system. The purpose of this report is to give an overview of the electrical energy storage technologies. The classification of energy storage technologies used in this report is mechanical, chemical and electrical. In these three categories were ten different technologies presented with function, advantages, disadvantages, degree of maturity and research area for each technology. The distribution between the globally operational energy storage technologies were presented. Also the framework and regulations for actors to own and operate an energy storage in Sweden. This review was complemented with a case study about connecting a lithium ion battery system to a wind farm. The case investigated the profitability for 20 MW wind farm with a 12 MW and 18 MWh energy storage system for a five and ten-year period. The utilization of the storage was optimized with \textit{What's best} for three different investment cost. The review were done in order to answer: what is the futures energy storage technology?, what applications can be replaced by energy storage for an electricity producer? and what will the effects be of the new actor Aggregator? The result from comparing three different prices for lithium ion batteries resulted in a non-profit scenario for all the cases in a five-year period. There were a maximum, minimum and predicted futuristic price, which generated a loss of 731, 220 and 76.6 MSEK for respective case. Only the futuristic price for a ten-year period indicated an profit. The conclusion that can be drawn from this case study is that energy storage is too expensive and the extra income from utilization of the energy storage is not enough to motivate an energy storage investment. There are not a single technology that possesses all of the required properties for the applications. In the future there will be a combination of technologies to cover all the applications. For the seasonal storage pumped hydro and compressed air are most promising technologies. The flywheels and supercapacitors can contribute with short powerful burst of energy that are needed for power quality and operating reserves. For the more wide range application such as power fleet optimization and integrate the renewable energy production, batteries in form of lithium ion battery and sodium-sulfur battery will most probably be used. For electricity producers energy storage can replace existing solutions. Instead of using diesel generators for black start services, an battery can be used. Also the power quality could be enhanced with batteries acting as filters. The process can be more utilized in a more efficient way with an energy storage. The aggregator actor gathers small variable load from e.g several houses and participate on the electricity market. This actor will level out the differences in power demand during the day. It will reduce the losses and reduce the need for grid investments in both the transmission and distribution networks. It would also generate more available frequency reserves and probably change how the market is paying for the generated benefits.
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Dulal, Nabin Raj, and Sabindra Maharjan. "A Comparative Study of Component Based Regression Testing Approaches without Source Code." Thesis, Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Sektionen för datavetenskap och kommunikation, 2011. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:bth-4357.
Full textAbstract:
Context: Today, most of the software products are built with COTS components. When a new version of these components is available, it is difficult to perform testing as the vendors of the component do not usually provide source code. Various regression testing techniques have been developed, but most of the techniques are based on the source code for change identification. So, the testers are facing different challenges in performing effective testing. Objectives: The goal of this research is to find out the different approaches that are used to identify changes in modified COTS component, analyze the main characteristics of those approaches and investigate how these characteristics can be used in selection and development of CBRT approach. Methods: To fulfill the aims of the research, we have conducted systematic literature review of different CBRT approaches from the year 1993-2010. From systematic literature we found out 32 papers relevant to our study. Data related to our research are extracted from those papers and conclusion is made. The relevant articles were searched in six scientific databases such as IEEE Explore, ACM Digital Library, SpringerLink, Science Direct, Scopus, and Engineering Village. Furthermore, online survey was conducted based on the characteristics of CBRT approaches. This survey was conducted to validate the SLR result. Results: From the systematic Literature Review we have found out 8 different characteristics of CBRT approaches such as applicability, automation, complexity, behavior model used, coverage criteria, strength and weakness, theory used and input. We observe that these are the most important characteristics in CBRT approaches and these approaches should be considered in selecting or developing new CBRT approach. The results from the survey also validate our findings. From survey some more factors were identified. Conclusion: The research develops the state-of-art of CBRT approaches towards future research. The result of this thesis will be helpful for the researchers as well as practitioners who are working on CBRT. The result of the thesis can be considered as a basis for further study. Based on the result of this thesis further study can be done on making a framework based on these characteristics and support component based regression testing.Nabin Raj Dulal, 139, Jagriti Tole Marg, Balaju-16, Kathmandu , Nepal ph: +97714351087