abstract: Effective collection and dissemination of project information, including best practices, help increase the likelihood of project performance and are vital to organizations in the architecture-engineering-construction (AEC) industry. Best practices can help improve project performance, yet these practices are not universally implemented and used in the industry, due to the following: 1) not all practices are applicable to every project or organization, 2) knowledge lost in organizational turnover which leads to inconsistent collection and implementation of best practices and 3) the lack of standardized processes for best practice management in an organization. This research, sponsored by National Academy of Construction, the Construction Industry Institute and Arizona State University, used structured interviews, a Delphi study and focus groups to explore: 1) potential benefit and industry interest in an open repository of best practices and 2) important elements of a framework/model that guides the creation, management and sustainment of an open repository of best practices. This dissertation presents findings specifically exploring the term "Practices for Excellence", its definition, elements that hinder implementation, the potential value of an open online repository for such practices and a model to develop an open repository. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Engineering 2014

Effective patient care requires interprofessional collaboration and decisions based on clinical guidelines. The goal of this study was to determine how interprofessional collaboration influences the introduction of nursing Best Practice Guidelines. This study was a secondary qualitative analysis of data obtained from interviews and reports from two selected sites (long term care and community health care) that demonstrated interprofessional collaboration during the introduction of nursing Best Practice Guidelines. Findings emphasized the importance of communication, the role of an interprofessional team, and the understanding of the roles of all involved in the introduction of discipline specific clinical guidelines. In addition, unregulated staff members were involved in leadership roles and their work was important in providing effective interprofessional collaborative care during the introduction of guidelines. Therefore, it is essential to appropriately involve all members of the interprofessional team, regardless of discipline or educational level, during the introduction of clinical guidelines.

No description available.

The following study is a demonstration of the effectiveness of porous pavement and an infiltration trench as Best Management Practices (BMPs) in the reduction of stormwater and its constituents. The field work of the study was conducted from 1986 through 1988 and the report was written in 1990 and finalized in 1996. Results of the study show that porous pavement and the infiltration trench significantly reduced the volume of stormwater runoff as well as its constituents from an urban parking lot area. In addition, wetfall and dryfall were found to be the major contributors to the runoff loading and yet were not comparable to associated studies. Peak and total flow runoff volumes were reduced significantly thereby reducing the overall pollutant loading. Antecedent dry period was found to be related to pollutant loading but only up to about 5 days total. / Master of Science

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 18-21, 2004 / Town & Country Resort, San Diego, California / Over the last year, the Telemetry Data Center at White Sands Missile Range has conducted extensive comparative testing between its’ 20 year old Best Source Selector and several “off the shelf” selectors currently available. This paper explores the concerns involved in the process of selecting a new Best Source Selector and examines the inherent problems and differences associated with the old and new selectors.

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, California / The size of the range at White Sands means multiple acquisition sites are needed to properly cover a typical vehicle trajectory. As vehicle complexity increase, the need for robust acquisition grows. Multiple acquisition sites are needed to provide as complete coverage as practical. Space Diversity combining would provide a single composite source for all the displays and recording, but this is not practical due to the large distances between acquisition sites. Instead a composite is made from the various sites by correlation on non-encrypted (or decrypted) data. The previous best source selector, a frame synch histogrammer, could produce encrypted and decrypted composites. Some of our customers have missed the encrypted composites, hence the subject is revisited to encourage development. This paper reviews post decryption correlation and then focuses on correlating on encrypted data. The encryption serves to eliminate the ambiguities that are inherent in decrypted (nonencrypted) signals. So, it may be possible to accomplish this with a small correlator. The expected performance would be similar to that of correlated composites on decrypted or unencrypted data. The typical configuration would be considerably smaller as well since only two decrypters would be needed. One decrypter alone would be insufficient and could not resolve the case where only one site has data and the remaining sites have noise. When there is no correlation the correct site cannot be resolved. Testing these compositing methods is also discussed, as a good test method also provides insight on how the compositor should work.

Thesis (M. Ed.)--University of South Africa, 2002.

Trelleborg Rubore AB utvecklar, tillverkar och säljer laminerade material för olika industriella applikationer, framförallt till bilindustrin.Examensarbetet är gjort i samarbete med Trelleborg Rubore AB där de vill göra förändringar på sin slittlina. Genom analys ska det ges möjlighet att förbättra ergonomin samt förbättra produktionen.Den långa ställtiden i jämförelse med körtiden samtidigt som nästan allt material går igenom lina 3 skapar ett problem för Rubore AB. Genom att analysera dagens läge och hitta de största problemen med lina 3 kan ett antal alternativ föras fram som ger svar på målet och syftet med arbetet.

Traditional pension products have today been replaced by products that are linked directly to the unit value of some kind of investment portfolio. These products contribute to more vulnerable situations for insurance companies in terms of uncertainties of future obligations. This master thesis aims to create a general valuation model in line with Solvency II regulation, which is able to value the best estimate of the insurance liability. The model will use a state model, stochastic scenario generator model and the Makeham function for estimating mortality intensity. An applied case study was conducted to evaluate how stressed market- and insurance conditions would impact the liability. Additional studies was performed to test how different degrees of rational behaviour among policyholders would impact the liability.  The policyholder population was fictitious and consisted of 100 policyholders. The results illuminated that the degree of rationality had a relative significant impact on the insurance company's liability, as opposed of what impact trends in longevity had on the best estimate in a separated stress test. On the other hand, when stress testing market risk and trend in longevity at the same time, the non-linearity risk was relatively high. The results of this thesis indicated the importance of studying risks in a combined case and not only separately, and also that higher degree of rational behaviour among policyholders could lead to an increase in surrender of profit generated policyholders which in turn affected the insurance liability.

Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka ett antal familjehemsföräldrars erfarenheter av att befinna sig i en juridisk process, där det placerade barnets biologiska förälder gjort en hemtagningsbegäran och yrkat på att vården enligt LVU skall upphöra. Mer specifikt avser studien att beskriva hur familjehemsföräldrarna upplever den juridiska processen avseende de placerade barnens känslomässiga, beteendemässiga och sociala utveckling, sin egen relation med barnen, kontakten med barnens biologiska föräldrar samt kontakten med barnets omgivande professionella nätverk. Studien bygger på kvalitativa halvstrukturerade intervjuer med åtta familjehemsföräldrar i fyra olika familjehem. Familjehemmen är geografiskt åtskilda och belägna på olika platser i Sverige. Som teoretiska ramverk har ett anknytningsteoretiskt perspektiv och teorier om barn och trauma använts. Tidigare studier och forskning visar på att de familjehemsplacerade barnen är en särskilt utsatt grupp i samhället och att barnens rättsskydd är mycket begränsat. Resultatet i denna studie utgör inget undantag. Intervjupersonerna beskriver att barnen under den juridiska processen är utsatta för mycket stark psykisk stress. Barnen uppvisar svåra psykiska symptom som tydligt följer den juridiska processens faser. I den stund de nås av hotet om uppbrott så ökar barnens symptom med dissociation, tilltagande mardrömmar samt svårigheter att hålla urin och avföring. Studien bekräftar således tidigare forskning som visar på att placerade barn ständigt omges av en oro och osäkerhet kring placeringens varaktighet och stabilitet i tillvaron. Även familjehemsföräldrarnas situation är utsatt. Flera av intervjupersonerna beskriver att de mått mycket dåligt under de omständigheter som den juridiska processen medför. Familjehemsföräldrarna upplever en känsla av maktlöshet och att de sviker barnen. Maktlösheten uppkommer också utifrån familjehemmens svaga rättsliga ställning som innebär att de inte är någon part i de rättsliga processerna och kan således inte driva barnens intressen. Resultatet visar också på brister i stödet, både till familjehemmen och barnen. Barnen som är i stort behov av terapeutisk behandling förvägras detta då det terapeutiska arbetet förutsätter stabilitet, vilket paradoxalt nog är det som saknas i dessa barns tillvaro. Utifrån ett anknytningsteoretiskt perspektiv så innebär otryggheten och avsaknaden av förutsebarhet under placeringen att barnen varken får möjlighet att knyta an till familjehemsföräldrarna eller hjälp med att separera från de biologiska föräldrarna.