ABSTRACT Looking up at the sky, we would never guess that our atmosphere contains between one and three billion tons of dust and other particles at any given time.1 Wind assists in keeping this dust airborne, but gravity wins most of the time, forcing the dust particles earthward, proving the old adage: “what goes up, must come down.” Precipitant dust levels in the Western Cape do not follow the same pattern as the precipitant dust levels in the summer rainfall areas of South Africa. Due to the very dry summer conditions in the Western Cape, the precipitant dust levels can be very high, especially if sources of fugitive dust are ignored. An environmental consulting company positioned precipitant dust monitoring units at strategic locations, taking process and open dust sources into account. Both wet and dry depositions have been reported on in this report as one figure. Seasonal changes in, and long-term trends of, the amount of precipitant dust were documented and statistically analysed to determine if the precipitantdust levels were above the South African legislated action levels. The particle size analysis performed on the precipitant dust indicated that the dust was predominantly less than 100_μm and that about 22 percent of the particles by volume were under 15_μm. No significant decline in the precipitant dust levels around the calcining industry was noted. Recommendations are that they increase the dust control measures on site, especially near to the DHF sampling location. There was a significant decrease in the precipitant dust levels to the north and south of the smelting industry from October 2001 to April 2005, p-value 0.005 and 0.048. The recommendations for the smelting industry are that they continue to eliminate fugitive dust sources and that they continue to maintain a high awareness of dust control.

Attention to quality outcomes, cost reduction, value-based purchasing, and improved initiatives for hospital-acquired conditions (HACs), as well as labor utilization savings, provide a foundation for hospitals to achieve safety and quality outcomes. Falls resulting in fractures, joint dislocation, or other physical injuries are considered HACs and can produce unexpected consequences such as an increase in costs related to an increased length of stay. The CareView Communications system, a fall prevention management program that uses video surveillance technology, offers a strategy to prevent patient falls by customizing patient rounding, conducting fall risk assessments, and generating reports. Guided by Donabedian's framework, this project evaluated the effectiveness of implementation of CareView video monitoring to decrease falls, avoid falls with injury, and reduce use of the patient safety technician on the hospital's telemetry and neurological unit. One year of preimplementation fall data were compared to 1 year of postimplementation data to measure the video monitoring (VM) system effectiveness in fall reduction. Although there was a reduction in the number of falls on the neurological (4.08 to 3.24/1,000 patient days) and the telemetry (2.92 to 1.96.1,000 patient days) units, the results were not statistically significant. The results of this project could contribute to positive social change by helping to determine the effectiveness of the CareView system in reducing falls and identifying strategies for implementing the use of the VM system to reduce patient falls and enhance patient safety.

<p>Falls and fallinjuries are very common in peoples own homes in various institutions. Hospital inpatients often fall during daytime in connection with their visit to the toilet. Visual impairment such as cataract, glaucoma, macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy can cause falls. The purpose of this study was to examine patient´s records where falls and fallinjuries were documented at an emergency clinic and to examine if they were registered to visual impairment. The records from 68 hospital inpatients from the age of 65 years and older who did fall during the year of 2004, were examined. In spite of different preventive actions that were taken, falls and fallinjuries often happened when the patients were on the move and left on their own. The number of patients who have any visual impairment and a record at an eye clinic, were 41. Thirtytwo of the patients who have any visual impairment did fall between 18:00 - 06:00. In the emergency clinics records, there were no records about how the patients experienced their visual ability. Objective and subjective visual impairment were only registered in the eye clinics records. When risk assessments are made, visual impairment should be considered as a riskfactor for falling. It should be considered as an independent riskfactor as well as in addition with other riskfactors. When the patient gets to the ward, the nurse should ask the patient and register if he or she has any visual impairment. The nurse can therefore use strategies to plan the caring and prevent falls and fallinjuries during the patients stay at the emergency clinic. Visual impairment as well as the natural ageing affects the visual ability and therefore the wards environment should contain sharp colours and bright lightening.</p>

<p>Syftet med uppsatsen var att analysera Tysklands anfall mot Frankrike år 1940 och närmre bestämt vad som hände vid floden Meuse mellan den 12 – 14 maj utifrån ett beslutsfattande perspektiv. För att kunna uppnå syftet valdes först en beslutsfattningsteori, OODA – loopen, som låg till grunden för bildandet av ett analysverktyg. Därefter användes en fallstudie för att beskriva de olika händelserna mellan den 12 – 14 maj. I fallstudien tas först det doktrinära synsättet på krig upp, därefter planering, organisation och slutligen förbandens aktioner. Utifrån denna grund analyseras sedan de olika faktorerna med hjälp av OODA – loopen. Slutligen drar författaren slutsatser baserat på analysen och svara på frågeställningarna. Resultaten påvisar en stor skillnad i förmåga att genomgå beslutsprocessen på vardera sidan där fransmännen har ett lägre tempo kontra tyskarna. Orsakerna till denna differens beror tillstor del på de kulturella skillnader som finns. Dessa kulturella skillnader bottnar i olika syn på krigföring. En annan faktor som påverkar är att tyskarna lyckas på grund av sina aktioner försvåra för fransmännen genom att agera på ett oväntat sätt. Konsekvenserna av den asymmetri som uppstår blir att fransmännen misslyckas med att slå tillbaka den tyska attacken trots ett gyllene tillfälle.</p> / <p>The purpose of this paper was to analyze the German attack on France in 1940 at the river Meuse from a decision making perspective. In order to achieve this aim a decision-making theory was chosen, OODA - loop, this theory formed the basis of witch an analytical tool was formed. After the formation of an analytical tool a case study were used to describe the different events that took place May 12 to 14 in1940. In the case study the doctrinal approach to war is first described, then the planning, organization, and finally the operations. On this basis an analysis of the various factors is preformed using the OODA - loop. Finally, the author draws conclusions based on the analysis and answer questions. The results show a significant difference in the ability to go through the decision-making process. The French have a slower pace versus the Germans. The reasons for this difference are due largely to the cultural differences. These cultural differences are rooted in different views of warfare. Another factor that has an effect is the way the Germans fight. Due to the unorthodox manner in the way that the Germans go about the French can´t rely on previous experience in the orientation phase. The consequence of the anomaly which arises is that the French fail to repel the German attack despite a golden opportunity.</p>

Syftet med uppsatsen var att analysera Tysklands anfall mot Frankrike år 1940 och närmre bestämt vad som hände vid floden Meuse mellan den 12 – 14 maj utifrån ett beslutsfattande perspektiv. För att kunna uppnå syftet valdes först en beslutsfattningsteori, OODA – loopen, som låg till grunden för bildandet av ett analysverktyg. Därefter användes en fallstudie för att beskriva de olika händelserna mellan den 12 – 14 maj. I fallstudien tas först det doktrinära synsättet på krig upp, därefter planering, organisation och slutligen förbandens aktioner. Utifrån denna grund analyseras sedan de olika faktorerna med hjälp av OODA – loopen. Slutligen drar författaren slutsatser baserat på analysen och svara på frågeställningarna. Resultaten påvisar en stor skillnad i förmåga att genomgå beslutsprocessen på vardera sidan där fransmännen har ett lägre tempo kontra tyskarna. Orsakerna till denna differens beror tillstor del på de kulturella skillnader som finns. Dessa kulturella skillnader bottnar i olika syn på krigföring. En annan faktor som påverkar är att tyskarna lyckas på grund av sina aktioner försvåra för fransmännen genom att agera på ett oväntat sätt. Konsekvenserna av den asymmetri som uppstår blir att fransmännen misslyckas med att slå tillbaka den tyska attacken trots ett gyllene tillfälle. / The purpose of this paper was to analyze the German attack on France in 1940 at the river Meuse from a decision making perspective. In order to achieve this aim a decision-making theory was chosen, OODA - loop, this theory formed the basis of witch an analytical tool was formed. After the formation of an analytical tool a case study were used to describe the different events that took place May 12 to 14 in1940. In the case study the doctrinal approach to war is first described, then the planning, organization, and finally the operations. On this basis an analysis of the various factors is preformed using the OODA - loop. Finally, the author draws conclusions based on the analysis and answer questions. The results show a significant difference in the ability to go through the decision-making process. The French have a slower pace versus the Germans. The reasons for this difference are due largely to the cultural differences. These cultural differences are rooted in different views of warfare. Another factor that has an effect is the way the Germans fight. Due to the unorthodox manner in the way that the Germans go about the French can´t rely on previous experience in the orientation phase. The consequence of the anomaly which arises is that the French fail to repel the German attack despite a golden opportunity.

Falls and fallinjuries are very common in peoples own homes in various institutions. Hospital inpatients often fall during daytime in connection with their visit to the toilet. Visual impairment such as cataract, glaucoma, macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy can cause falls. The purpose of this study was to examine patient´s records where falls and fallinjuries were documented at an emergency clinic and to examine if they were registered to visual impairment. The records from 68 hospital inpatients from the age of 65 years and older who did fall during the year of 2004, were examined. In spite of different preventive actions that were taken, falls and fallinjuries often happened when the patients were on the move and left on their own. The number of patients who have any visual impairment and a record at an eye clinic, were 41. Thirtytwo of the patients who have any visual impairment did fall between 18:00 - 06:00. In the emergency clinics records, there were no records about how the patients experienced their visual ability. Objective and subjective visual impairment were only registered in the eye clinics records. When risk assessments are made, visual impairment should be considered as a riskfactor for falling. It should be considered as an independent riskfactor as well as in addition with other riskfactors. When the patient gets to the ward, the nurse should ask the patient and register if he or she has any visual impairment. The nurse can therefore use strategies to plan the caring and prevent falls and fallinjuries during the patients stay at the emergency clinic. Visual impairment as well as the natural ageing affects the visual ability and therefore the wards environment should contain sharp colours and bright lightening.

Fall among the elderly is an important health issue. Fall detection and movement tracking techniques are therefore instrumental in dealing with this issue. This thesis responds to the challenge of classifying different movement types as a part of a system designed to fulfill the need for a wearable device to collect data for fall and near-fall analysis. Four different fall activities (forward, backward, left and right), three normal activities (standing, walking and lying down) and near-fall situations are identified and detected. Different machine learning algorithms are compared and the best one is used for the real time classification. The comparison is made using Waikato Environment for Knowledge Analysis or in short WEKA. The system also has the ability to adapt to different gaits of different people. A feature selection algorithm is also introduced to reduce the number of features required for the classification problem.

Introduction: A review of the literature shows that standard clinical balance measures do not adequately predict fall risk in community-dwelling older individuals. There is significant evidence demonstrating the interactions of fear, anxiety, and confidence with the control of standing posture. Little is known however about the nature of this relationship under more challenging balance conditions, particularly in the elderly. The primary purpose of this work was to evaluate the relationship between fear of falling, clinical balance measures and fall-risk. Methods: Three studies were conducted evaluating the effects of postural threat (manipulated by support surface elevation) and/or cognitive loading (working memory secondary task) on clinical balance performance and task-specific psychological measures. Predictive and construct validity as well as test-retest reliability was evaluated for measures used to assess fear of falling and related psychological constructs . Results: Postural threat resulted in reduced balance confidence and perceived stability as well as increased state anxiety and fear of falling. These changes were significantly correlated to decrements in performance of clinical balance tasks. Neither standard clinical scales of balance and mobility nor generalized psychological measures, alone or in combination, could predict falls in community-dwelling elderly. However, combined scores on selected challenging clinical balance tasks could significantly predict falls. Furthermore, improved predictive precision resulted from having these tasks performed under combined postural threat and cognitive loading. Finally, the inclusion of task-specific psychological measures resulted in further improvements to predictive precision. Psychological measures demonstrated fair to excellent test-retest reliability in both healthy young and independent-living older individuals. Conclusions: Clinical balance tasks performed under more challenging conditions likely better reflect everyday experiences in which a fall is likely to occur. Incorporating easy-to-administer task-specific psychological evaluations and self-reported health estimates with clinical balance assessments might improve the likelihood of correctly identifying community-dwelling individuals at risk for falls. Improved estimates of fall-risk may lead to a reduction in the number of falls experienced in this population, thereby reducing the significant burden of fall-related hospitalizations, treatments and rehabilitation on the individual, families and health care system.

Fall among the elderly is an important health issue. Fall detection and movement tracking techniques are therefore instrumental in dealing with this issue. This thesis responds to the challenge of classifying different movement types as a part of a system designed to fulfill the need for a wearable device to collect data for fall and near-fall analysis. Four different fall activities (forward, backward, left and right), three normal activities (standing, walking and lying down) and near-fall situations are identified and detected. Different machine learning algorithms are compared and the best one is used for the real time classification. The comparison is made using Waikato Environment for Knowledge Analysis or in short WEKA. The system also has the ability to adapt to different gaits of different people. A feature selection algorithm is also introduced to reduce the number of features required for the classification problem.

Syftet med studien var att studera var i hemmet de flesta fallolyckorna hos äldre sker, kön- och åldersfördelning, fallolycksfrekvens samt bidragande faktorerna till dessa fallolyckor. Under sex månader har ”Projekt Kersti” samlat in fallrapporter från äldre boende i Falu kommun som drabbats av fallolycka. Dessa fallrapporter har bearbetats till anonymt material av ansvariga för ”Kersti projektet” och uppsatsförfattarna har sedan fått tillgång till materialet för att göra en register studie. De 517 insamlade fallrapporterna har bearbetats och sammanställts och resultatet av studien visade att de flesta fallolyckorna inträffade i sovrummet och det vanligaste föregående symtomet till fall var trötthet. De vanligaste yttre omständigheterna i samband med fall var att individen tappade balansen eller gick utan skor och den vanligaste aktiviteten i samband med fall var att individen var på väg till eller ifrån någonting när fallolyckan inträffade.