Abstract Today everyone have a lot of meetings. The meetings¡¦ efficiency is quite low and group decision-making quality is bad. In foreign, many methods have good effects on it. Open space technology is one of them. But it has some conditions and assumptions which don¡¦t fit our culture and the conditions of our companies. We have to improve Open space technology to draw its effects. We improve it according to our assumptions and principles. We also assist it with some technologies, like Talking stick, circling, and catalytic mechanism. They all have outstanding and stable results. They can help Open space technology to overcome the deficit of ideal conditions. This research¡¦s main point is to introduce and collect the creative ways of the improved Open space technology. In two hospitals, we can see the improved Open space technology which has obvious effects and promote the group decision-making quality a lot. It still can get good results under the deficit of ideal conditions. We conclude that it has 9 traits as followed: 1. It lowers the barrier of inertia. 2. Interactions 3. Positive feedback 4. Participation 5. The form of activity 6. Safety 7. Closer contact with others 8. Appreciative attitude 9. Truly contribution This research is a initial research and introduction of the improved Open space technology. We suggest other researchers can popularize the improved Open space technology and get the more generalization results.

Downhole vibrations lead to downhole failures and decrease the rate of penetration (ROP). The bottom hole assembly (BHA) static and dynamic design is a key factor in optimizing drilling operations. The BHA should be designed to minimize the vibration levels in the axial, lateral, and torsional directions. This would be achieved by avoiding rotating the drillstring in the speeds that are nearby the natural frequency of BHA. The complexity associated with current BHA components requires using advanced computational tools that are capable of solving complex and time-consuming equations. Finite Element Analysis (FEA) is the most used technique in analyzing vibration behavior of the drillstring by mesh discretizing of a continuous body into small elements. This thesis will study the dynamic behavior of different BHA designs for Manifa and Karan fields of Saudi Aramco to optimize the drilling operations. The FEA software that will be used to conduct these studies is called Vibrascope™, which was developed by NOV. The software will determine the critical speeds of the drillstring that should be avoided to prevent resonance of the BHA, which will lead to severe downhole vibration. / text

Magister Curationis / The aim of the study was to explore the reasons why health workers reported their occupationally acquired needle stick injury. The secondary reasons for this study was to be able to identify the factors that contributed to the choice to report as well as the feelings health workers experienced during and after the injury. Methodology A qualitative research design with a phenomenological approach was used to gain understanding around why health workers reported the needle stick injury. Data was collected through a semi- structured interview. Population The 89 health workers at a Secondary Hospital in the Cape Town Metropole Health district who reported an occupational injury from 2001 to 2004. Sample Nine health workers were interviewed. Findings From the nine participants only six had needle stick injuries, while the other three had other blood and body fluid occupational exposures. The most common reason for reporting was that the health workers wanted to ensure their own physical well-being. Health workers and their families experienced emotional turmoil after the needle stick injury. / South Africa

Friction Stir Welding (FSW) is a solid-state joining process that is of special interest in joining aluminum and other alloys that are traditionally difficult to fusion weld. The energy required for this joining process is transmitted to the work-pieces through a rotating FSW tool. Modeling attempts, aimed at perfecting the process, rely on assumptions of the contact conditions present between the work-pieces and the FSW tool. Various studies have attempted to define these contact conditions. Both theoretical and experimental studies indicate the contact conditions between the work-piece and weld tool are unknown and may vary during the FSW process. To provide insight into the contact conditions, the objective of this study is to characterize the FSW nugget in terms of swept volume as indicated by the cross-sectional area and symmetry of the FSW nugget over a range of processing conditions.

No / There are several types of disc brake instabilities associated with the brake systems; however, they are usually classified into two main categories depending on the frequency range: brake groan 0–300 Hz and brake squeal 1– 16 kHz. The groan is associated with the stick-slip motion while the squeal is associated with the modal coupling. This paper presents a detailed analysis of low frequency noise (0–300 Hz) in a commercial vehicle trailer disc brake as a result of stick-slip vibration. A range of experimental techniques are used to understand the characteristic behaviour of the caliper and the brake pads during braking events on a laboratory test rig. The analysed brake system comprised a full disc brake assembly and the trailer suspension system with a beam axle. Laser-based optical displacement sensors were used to investigate the deformation of the caliper body and the brake pads during a braking application. The contact pressure distribution at the disc/pad interfaces were also measured to gain more insight into the contact profile of the pad surfaces. Results revealed that the stick-slip phenomenon, in this study, was a result of the combination of the deformation of the caliper and the friction material formulation of the brake pads. In addition, it was observed through the testing of two different sets of pads that a low compression modulus would help to reduce the stick-slip phenomenon.

Several truncated models for market weights are discussed. To summarize, the new truncated ordered stick breaking model introduced give restrictions on the ranks of the markets weights and show better fitting results for real data sets. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

No description available.

La partie superficielle des zones de subduction (0-10 km de profondeur) a longtemps été considérée comme asismique. Cependant la découverte de séismes très basses fréquences dans cette zone, ainsi que la propagation très superficielle de la rupture cosismique lors du séisme de Tohoku-Oki (Japon) remettent en question cette hypothèse jusqu’alors largement admise. L’une des raisons pour lesquelles le potentiel sismogénique de cette zone est mal contraint réside dans le fait que les processus qui y règnent sont complexes, mêlant déformation et diagenèse (principalement la transformation des argiles de type transition smectite vers illite), et ainsi difficilement reproductibles en laboratoire. Au cours de cette thèse, des expérimentations en presse triaxiale sur échantillons smectitiques (représentatifs des matériaux accrétés dans les prismes d’accrétion) et illitiques ont été réalisées sous différentes conditions de pression de confinement (de 50 à 200 MPa) et de température (20°C et 300°C). Ces expériences ont été menées afin d’identifier les modes de déformation de ces échantillons, et de déterminer les effets couplés de cette déformation et de la diagenèse sur la rhéologie de ces roches et notamment leur potentiel à générer des instabilités de glissement. Dans ces expériences, le style de déformation est à chaque fois similaire, avec, tout d’abord, une localisation progressive de la déformation le long d’une zone de cisaillement, puis formation d’une fracture. Malgré cette constance dans le style de déformation, le comportement rhéologique des échantillons, lui, est drastiquement opposé entre les expériences à 20 et à 300°C, avec un comportement exclusivement durcissant à 20°C (i.e. stable) quel que soit la minéralogie, et un comportement qui évolue systématiquement vers du stick-slip (i.e. instable) à 300°C (pour les échantillons smectitiques). Ces résultats montrent que la réactivité chimique des smectites au cours de la diagenèse (activée dans les expériences à 300°C) conditionne la formation d’instabilités de glissement. Nous proposons que la réactivité chimique des smectites dans les zones de subduction pourrait promouvoir la propagation de la rupture cosismique vers la surface. / The shallow portion of subduction zones (0-10 km depth) has long been considered as unable to store and release seismic energy. However, the detection of very-low frequency earthquakes in this zone, as well as the propagation of the coseismic rupture to the trench during the Tohoku-Oki earthquake, question this hypothesis. The difficulty to assess the seismogenic potential of this shallow portion lies principally in the complexity of the processes that occur in this zone, combining deformation and diagenesis (especially the smectite-to-illite transition), and hence not easily reproducible in laboratory. In order to analyse the mechanical properties of the shallow portion of subduction zones, triaxial tests have been performed with smectitic and illitic samples, under confining pressure between 50 and 200 MPa and at temperature of 20 and 300°C. The aim of these experiments was to identify the deformation modes of such sedimentary material and to determine the effects of deformation and diagenesis on rheology of these materials and on the rock potential to exhibit instable failure. In the experiments, deformation operates under the same pattern with a progressive localisation from shear band to fracturation. Even if the deformation style does not differ much between experiments, the rheology of the samples tested at 20°C and at 300°C contrasts drastically. Indeed, while the samples (smectitic and illitic) tested at 20°C show exclusively a strengthening behaviour (i.e. stable), the smectitic samples tested at 300°C exhibit a rheology that systematically evolves from strengthening to stick-slip behaviour (i.e. unstable). These results indicate that the chemical reactivity of smectite under diagenetic conditions (diagenesis is activated in the experiments conducted at 300°C) constitutes a weakening mechanism promoting unstable sliding. Finally, we propose that, at the subduction zone scale, the chemical metastability of smectite could promote the propagation of the coseismic rupture to the very shallow portion of accretionary prisms.

Bakgrund: Operationssjuksköterskan använder olika förebyggande åtgärder för att skydda och förhindra patienten och arbetslaget mot stick- och skärskador. Förebyggande metoder kan vara hands free-teknik och neutral zon, dubbla handskar eller trubbig suturnål. Syfte: Att med denna intervjustudie belysa vad operationssjuksköterskan använder för metoder för att förebygga tillbud av stick- och skärskador. Metod: Studien var en semistrukturerad intervjustudie med fyra yrkesverksamma operationssjuksköterskor inom perioperativ omvårdnad. Materialet transkriberades och analyserades med manifest innehållsanalys och presenterades i tema och kategorier. Resultat: Ett tema och tre kategorier framkom. Under temat Intraoperativ strategi framkom tre kategorier Ordning, Teknik och Kommunikation. Slutsats: Operationssjuk-sköterskorna i denna studie använder sig av en intraoperativ strategi med ordning, teknik och kommunikation samt olika tekniker med följsamhet beroende på det aktuella ingreppet. / Background: The theatre nurse uses different prevention measures to protect the patient and the theatre team from any stick and cut injuries. Technique and strategies which could be used are hand-free technique and neutral zone, double gloves and blunt surgical needles. Objective: The point of this study is to illustrate the theatre nurse and the use of methods to prevent stick and cut injuries. Method: The study was conducted by semistructured interviews with four professional theatre nurses. The material was transcribed and analysed with content analyse. The results were presented in themes and categories. Results: One theme and three categories appeared. Beneath theme Intraoperative strategies three categories appeared Order, Technique and Communication. Conclusion: The theatre nurses in this study use an intraoperative strategy with order, diffrent techniques and communication with compliance depending on the current operation.

La microrobotique est un domaine de recherche en croissance rapide et les microsystèmes sont très demandés par un large éventail de notre vie. Aujourd’hui, des solutions d'automatisation massive sont déjà disponibles pour la production en série des microsystèmes, tandis que la production de petites quantités s'appuie principalement sur des processus manuels en l'absence de système de micro-manipulation flexible. Un processus manuel impose des contraintes à la productivité et la précision, ce qui accroît les difficultés pour les petites et moyennes entreprises à conquérir leur place sur le marché international. Dans ce contexte, la société pionnière pour la microrobotique Percipio Robotics a proposé une plate-forme cobotique Chronogrip, qui vise à gérer la micro-manipulation flexible. Toutefois, la solution n'est pas encore complète et il y a trois principaux défis à résoudre :• la dynamique de l'actionneur piézo-électrique stick-slip n'est pas entièrement comprise, ce qui retarde le développement des stratégies de suivi de trajectoire;• les interfaces haptiques ont peu de bande passante en raison des propriétés mécaniques, par conséquent il n'y a aucune option disponible qui soit capable de reproduire des informations haptiques de haute dynamique depuis le micromonde;• pour la micro-manipulation à la pince dans l'horlogerie, aucune interface haptique existante n'est en mesure d'assurer un fonctionnement intuitif et efficace.L’objectif de la thèse consiste à répondre à ces trois défis. La première partie de la thèse est consacrée à l'élaboration d'un modèle dynamique non linéaire de l'actionneur piézo-électrique stick-slip. Le résultat montre qu'il est le premier modèle dynamique qui puisse décrire la dynamique de l'actionneur dans des domaines temporels et fréquentiels, pour les fonctionnements en sous-pas et en grand déplacement, et à la fois pour les directions vers l'avant et l’arrière. La deuxième partie de la thèse est consacrée à développer une méthode pour étendre la bande passante d’une interface haptique en double étage en utilisant la technique de signal crossover. Le résultat montre que la bande passante est uniformément étendue à 1 kHz, ce qui rend possible la reproduction des phénomènes de haute dynamique depuis le micromonde. La troisième partie de la thèse vise à concevoir une interface haptique intuitive dédiée aux opérations d’horlogerie à la pince. Le design est également compatible avec l'utilisation conventionnelle d’une pince. Il est prévu d'intégrer tous les résultats de ces trois sujets de recherches dans la plate-forme de cobotique Chronogrip afin d’améliorer la productivité et l'efficacité de la micro-manipulation. / Microrobotics is a fast growing field of research and microsystems are in high demand from across a wide spectrum of our life. Nowadays, mass automation solutions are already available for large batch production of microsystems, while small batch production mainly relies on handmade processes due to the lack of flexible micro-manipulation system. Handmade processes have limited productivity and accuracy, which makes it more and more difficult for small and medium-sized enterprises to conquer their place on the international market. Under such circumstances, pioneer microrobotics company Percipio Robotics has proposed a desktop cobotic platform, Chronogrip, which aims to handle flexible micro-manipulation. However, the solution is not yet complete and there are three main challenges to resolve:• the dynamics of the piezoelectric stick-slip actuator is not fully understood, which delays the development of trajectory tracking strategies;• existing haptic interfaces have limited bandwidth due to their mechanical properties, consequently there is no available option that is able to render high dynamic haptic information from the microworld;• for tweezers-based micro-manipulation in watchmaking process, no existing haptic interface is able to provide intuitive and effective operation.The objective of thesis is to address these three issues. The first part of the thesis is dedicated to the development of nonlinear dynamic model of the piezoelectric stick-slip actuator. The result shows that it is the first dynamic model which can describe the actuator dynamics in time and frequency domain, for stepping and scanning mode, and for both forward and backward motion. The second part of the thesis is devoted to develop a method to extend the bandwidth of dual-stage haptic interface by using the signal crossover technique. The result shows that the bandwidth is uniformly extended to 1 kHz, which makes it possible to reproduce high dynamic phenomena from the microworld. The third part of the thesis aims to design an intuitive haptic interface for tweezers-based watchmaking operations. The design is also compatible with conventional tweezers-based usage. It is expected to integrate all of the three research results into the cobotic platform Chronogrip to enhance the productivity and effectiveness of micro-manipulation.