Published Article / The implementation of the outcomes-based education and training (OBET) and learner-centred approaches specifically in the health technology programmes at the Central University of Technology, Free State (CUT) exposed facilitators to new challenges in teaching and assessment. The current assessment environment in these programmes was established, using two questionnaires aimed at facilitators and students. The results of the study showed a trend towards innovation in assessment and the establishment of an assessment culture when compared with specific characteristics in literature on meaningful and scholarly assessment practices.

The focus of this thesis is the regulatory aspects of environmental hazard and risk assessment of chemicals, with a particular emphasis on whether current regulatory requirements are sufficient for assessing the risks chemicals pose to the environment. Since the way that chemicals are currently regulated on a global, regional or national level is complex and challenging, it is not surprising that there are faults with the current system. Legislations and regulations, such as the European regulation on Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and restrictions of Chemicals (REACH), specifically indicates that unnecessary testing should be avoided wherever possible. However, this has not been the case for all hazard evaluations and some substances may have been assessed unnecessarily, or incorrectly resulting in significant underestimation of the potential effects to the environment. The aim of this research was to identify the major pitfalls and flaws with how environmental risk assessments are being performed, and to find a more harmonious approach to properly ensure that chemicals are regulated more appropriately. Within this thesis, there are examples of ecotoxicity studies for substances that should have little or minimal environmental consequences but which have been required for regulatory reasons. Such an example highlighted in this thesis is the artificial sweetener sucralose or silica fume. Conversely, other substances which are likely to have severe adverse environmental impacts could have been authorised for use inappropriately without the additional research that was carried out. Examples of potentially harmful chemicals not being regulated sufficiently, detailed in this thesis, include benzoylurea pesticides, used in aquaculture, and novel antifoulant substances such as thiophenones used in industrial processes. The papers in this thesis indicate that there is a large disparity between how some substances are being regulated. In order to improve the current situation and to aid environmental risk assessors and regulatory authorities, integrated strategies have been proposed incorporating all available data to collectively inform on for example the bioaccumulative properties of a substance. In addition, recommendations for improving the risk assessment processes are discussed with the aim of better regulating chemicals and harmonizing future environmental risk assessments.

No description available.

The main goal of my thesis is to provide an in-depth analysis of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), which is currently one of the significant legal tools of environmental quality protection. In case any public or private project is likely to have a significant effect on the environment, it needs to pass through the EIA proceedings. This process precedes the development consent to the project. The original EU legal regulation (Council directive 85/337/EEC amended by Directives 97/11/EC, 2003/35/EC and 2009/31/EC) is described in the first part of the thesis. The main sources of this chapter are the judicial decisions of the Court of Justice of the European Communities that reflect the incorrect transpositions of the directive into the legal order of the individual member states. The second chapter is focused on specific attributes of the Czech legal regulation that is included in the legal act no. 100/2001 Sb. modified by further amendments. The regulation is divided into two parts: The first part, the assessment, is concluded by a non-binding opinion, while the second part is concluded by development consent or refusal, as based on particular legal regulations. The most severe issue of the Czech regulation is the insufficient ensurance of participation opportunities of members of the public...

Currently in the field of demolition, which generates most of the waste in the construction industry, the treatment of waste largely relies on landfill or degraded recycling, which leads to significant consumption of natural resource and energy and a shortage of landfill site. In order to improve the inefficiency of demolition waste recovery, “to suggest improvements in the environmental impact of the demolition industry in UK” was set as the aim of the present research. After the identification of few opportunities for communication between demolishers and constructers in the current social system, a collaboration support system between these two stakeholders called ‘Demolition Project Mapping’ (DPM) system was suggested. In the system, the impact evaluation tool developed in the 4D-CAD software is applied to the demolition project simulation. This tool allows the users to dynamically simulate the impact of project planning which can be designed in the tool. In the pilot study, the simulation result shows the large potential to reduce the impact (e.g. 28% for the cost) by the tool application.

Försäkringskassan (FK) har fått i uppdrag av regeringen att vidareutveckla bedömningsförfarandet för sjukskrivna i Sverige. Som en del i detta har bland annat ett nytt bedömningsinstrument tagits fram för att användas vid arbetsterapeutisk kompletterande bedömning av medicinska förutsättningar för arbete. Instrumentet bygger på det redan befintliga bedömningsinstrumentet Assessment of Work Performance (AWP), med tre utvalda arbetsuppgifter och kallas för AWP-FK. Syftet med den här studien var att göra en initial prövning av AWP-FK med fokus på innehållsvaliditet och användbarhet. Som metod användes kvalitativa telefonintervjuer med nio arbetsterapeuter som ingick i Försäkringskassans pilotstudie. Resultatet indikerar att AWP-FK har en god innehållsvaliditet och användbarhet. Arbetsterapeuterna i studien ansåg att instrumentet var relevant för både målgruppen och bedömning i förhållande till den reguljära arbetsmarknaden. Några förslag på förändringar föreslogs, t.ex. att förtydliga vissa instruktioner i manualen till AWP-FK. I diskussionen tas vikten av att klienterna förstår syftet med bedömningen och får återkoppling på sitt utförande upp. Även bedömningsmiljöns påverkan på bedömningen har diskuterats. Vidare studier kring AWP-FK behövs för att säkerställa en god validitet, användbarhet och reliabilitet. / The Swedish Social Insurance Agency (Försäkringskassan, FK) has been commissioned by the Government to further develop the assessment procedure for those on sick leave in Sweden.  As part of this, a new assessment instrument has been developed for occupational therapy assessment of the medical ability to work. The instrument is based on the Assessment of Work Performance (AWP), using three selected tasks, and is called AWP-FK. The purpose of this study was to do an initial assessment of AWP-FK with a focus on content validity and utility. The method chosen was qualitative telephone interviews with nine occupational therapists who participated in the Agency's pilot study. The results indicate that AWP-FK has good content validity and utility. The occupational therapists in the study believed that the instrument was relevant, both for the target group and assessment in relationship to the regular labour market. Some suggestions for change have been included, for example that certain instructions in the AWP-FK manual be clarified. The importance of clients understanding the purpose of the assessment and receiving feedback on their performance, and the influence of the assessment environment is discussed. Further studies on AWP-FK are needed to ensure high validity, utility and reliability.

<p>U okviru disertacije izvr&scaron;ena je identifikacija<br />ključnih hemijskih toksiĉnih supstanci poreklom iz<br />higijenskih sredstava i njihove ambalaţe na životnu<br />sredinu. Spektrofotometrijskom metodom izvr&scaron;ena<br />je analiza sadržaja fosfora u pra&scaron;kastim detergentima,<br />komunalnim otpadnim vodama Ni&scaron;kog<br />kanalizacionog sistema i u reci Ni&scaron;avi. Nakon<br />proračuna sadržaja fosfora izvr&scaron;ena je procena<br />količine ukupnog fosfora generisanog iz higijenskih<br />sredstava, a koji moţe da ima izrazito negativan<br />uticaj na životnu sredinu. Teorijska saznanja i<br />eksperimentalni podaci omogućuju optimalno upravljanje<br />hemijskim toksičnim supstancama iz higijenskih<br />sredstava u skladu sa važećim zakonskim<br />propisima i dostignutim naučnim saznanjima.</p> / <p>This dissertation presents the identification of key<br />toxic chemicals originating from hygiene and<br />cleaning products and their packaging and the<br />assessment of their environmental impact. The<br />research involves a spectrophotometric analysis of<br />phosphorus content in powder detergents, in<br />municipal sewage from the City of Ni&scaron; sanitary<br />sewer, and in the Ni&scaron;ava river. Calculation of<br />phosphorus content is followed by the assessment of<br />the total amount of phosphorus generated from<br />hygiene and cleaning products, which can have<br />considerably negative environmental impact.<br />Theoretical findings and experimental data allow<br />optimal management of toxic chemicals from<br />hygiene and cleaning products in compliance with<br />current legislation and scientific knowledge.</p>