Appointment scheduling involves picking a strategy for sequencing patient appointments such that the wait time per patient is minimized and the idle time and overtime for the doctor are minimized. The goal of this project is to increase the number of scans per day at the echocardiogram clinic in the Hospital for Sick Children. The objectives were realized by performing simulations of the workflow of the echo clinic using simulation software. The simulation model did not precisely reflect the echo clinic, and the disparity was attributed to limitations in the simulation model. Nevertheless, the user accepted the model and six different policy change scenarios were explored. All six scenarios yielded significant increases in average scans per day per sonographer. Scenario IV, which eliminated the use of sonographer schedules, was recommended to be implemented due to ease of implementation and lack of negative effect on patient wait time and sonographer overtime.

The application of Discrete-Event Systems (DES) theory to the problem of guar- anteeably enforcing concurrency constraints in multi-threaded applications has been studied under certain assumptions, namely, the assumption of a static pool of pre- existing instantiated threads, whose creation and termination are not modelled. This work proposes an extension of this case to handle dynamically instantiated and termi- nated threads using a Petri net formalism and an online limited-lookahead state-space search technique. / Thesis (Master, Computing) -- Queen's University, 2010-05-27 17:00:15.99

No description available.

Appointment scheduling involves picking a strategy for sequencing patient appointments such that the wait time per patient is minimized and the idle time and overtime for the doctor are minimized. The goal of this project is to increase the number of scans per day at the echocardiogram clinic in the Hospital for Sick Children. The objectives were realized by performing simulations of the workflow of the echo clinic using simulation software. The simulation model did not precisely reflect the echo clinic, and the disparity was attributed to limitations in the simulation model. Nevertheless, the user accepted the model and six different policy change scenarios were explored. All six scenarios yielded significant increases in average scans per day per sonographer. Scenario IV, which eliminated the use of sonographer schedules, was recommended to be implemented due to ease of implementation and lack of negative effect on patient wait time and sonographer overtime.

This thesis introduces a Dutch construction, called the Transition to Location Construction (TLC). The TLC is parallel to the way-construction in English. A second Dutch equivalent of the way-construction, called the weg-construction, is investigated in this thesis as well. The two Dutch constructions have a different meaning and syntax: the weg-construction is ditransitive and denotes motion along a path, whereas the TLC is transitive and denotes a transition to a location, which does not involve the traversal of a path. This thesis gives a detailed description of both Dutch constructions and demonstrates that they represent a mismatch in the syntax-semantics mapping: the verb has two syntactic complements, but these are not semantic argument of the verb. Moreover, the syntactic head of the sentence is not the semantic head, because the main verb is subordinate to a GO or CAUSE function. Both constructions are very productive and should therefore be taken seriously by any theory of syntax. The Minimalist Program currently does not incorporate constructions. In the Minimalist account offered here, several additional assumptions are made to account for the fact that it is not the verb that determines the complement configuration of the weg-construction and the TLC. In the literature, the English way-construction is considered to denote motion along a path. Based on the two Dutch constructions investigated here, the way-construction will be shown to be in fact ambiguous between a motion along a path reading and a transition to a location reading. Furthermore, this path/transition distinction is present in other Germanic languages as well, which has previously not been recognised.

First measurements are made of the underlying event in calorimeter jet events at the LHC, using 37 pb-1 of pp collisions at √s = 7TeV, recorded during 2010 by the ATLAS detector. Results are compared for an assumed di-jet topology based on a single identified jet, and an exclusive di-jet requirement. The number of charged particles in the azimuthal region transverse to the jet axis is recorded, as well as their total and average transverse momentum. The total energy carried by all particles - charged and neutral - is also calculated, using the full calorimeter acceptance |η| < 4:8. Distributions are constructed to show the variation of these quantities versus the transverse momentum of the selected jet, over the range 20 - 800 GeV. Additional jets in the transverse region are shown to dramatically influence the measured activity. Software is developed to perform Bayesian iterative unfolding, testing closure of the process and stability with respect to the number of iterations performed. Pseudo-experiments are used to propagate systematic errors, and the intrinsic error due to unfolding is estimated. Although the correction relies on a prior probablitity distribution, model-dependence is reduced to an uncertainty comparable to or smaller than experimental systematic errors. The software is used to correct underlying event measurements for effects introduced by the ATLAS detector. Unfolded results are compared to predictions from different Monte Carlo event generators used in LHC analyses, showing general agreement in the range |η| < 2:5, but discrepancies in the forward region. Comparison with other ATLAS results shows compatible behaviour in events defined by any high-momentum charged particle, or by leptonic Z-boson decays.

No description available.

There is an ongoing struggle in the digital public sphere over the signification of “Anonymous.” Anonymous exists at the intersection of multiple discursive networks battling for control of the internet including governments, private corporations, non-governmental organizations, individual citizens and multi-lateral institutions. In this dissertation, I propose to document and analyze the battle for signification and re-signification of “Anonymous” between the American network state and hacktivist networks that deploy the moniker Anonymous. Internally, I argue that Anonymous is a meme complex used by counterpublic networks of satire and/or dissent. Anonymous originated in a digital civic space: the image board 4chan. The tactics of Anonymous reflect the creative culture of 4chan. On 4chan, participants share, alter, create and exchange memes. Anonymous networks practice “image politics” and operate on a logic of mass inclusion that treats the cyberspace as a location of direct action as well as organization. Externally, Anonymous highlights the contradictory nature of American responses to hacktivism. While there is universal rejection of Anonymous within the American network state, the State Department rhetorically supports hacktivism in places such as Egypt while the FBI, US Cyber Command, and NSA label domestic hacktivists as terrorists. The outcome of the rhetorical battle over Anonymous has implications for the future of free speech and protest in cyberspace. Domestic penalties for cyberactivists are severe, and the preservation of the rhetorical space for digital protest is under threat.

We examined the effects of keeping hand actions in working memory on the speed of naming handled objects. The features of the hand action and objects’ handle matched or mismatched on two dimensions: alignment (left vs. right), orientation (horizontal vs. vertical). For objects presented in their canonical upright position, the speed of naming was only slower when the actions were partially incongruent with the target object. For rotated objects, the effect was reversed. The pattern of results suggests that the identification system is more sensitive to the functional goal (i.e. the end state) of the rotated object in evoking action representations than the actions evoked by the depicted view (i.e. the beginning state). The findings, overall, strongly support the notion that action representations play a functional role in object identification. / Graduate / 0633 / 0623 / tlin23@gmail.com

In today's society we are used to regularly visit the sport arena to cheer for our favorite team, we go to the cinema to enjoy a good movie or maybe to the theatre to experience a grand performance. It has become far more common in the last years to buy tickets to these kinds of events online. To make sure that the customer will keep on buying their tickets from the online booking companies the booking experience itself has to be hassle-free and easy to understand. The customer will most likely, if possible, avoid the website if the booking itself is experienced as having problems and insecurities.   The purpose of this study is to determine some of the most fundamental designs and functions of online booking websites today as perceived by the general public. This study will also examine some of the existing online booking websites. The empirical methods used in this study was of both quantitative and a qualitative nature to ensure that the data collected would be suited to secure a substantial analysis. The qualitative method consisted of an observation of the earlier mentioned online booking websites. These already existing functions and designs were then used to create a checklist that was used to see which websites had which designs. The quantitative method was an online survey created to collect both the public's most wanted features, their opinion of these and how an online booking could be optimized. This study presents the different functions and designs that the respondents prefers while making an online booking. It also shows the existing functions and designs amongst booking sites today. These sites are then also evaluated according to the respondents answers to see which online booking site that is preferred. The results in this study shows that the costumers want the booking system to show the chosen event to be visible during the course of the booking, they want to be able chose their exact seats and they want to the booking to be made in as few pages and klick's as possible.