<p>This thesis looks at two sides of the same coin: how to support the production and future development at a specialist medical technology department at Danderyd Hospital. The two sides are; a pilot study of a product management system (PDM) and an interview based study on the characteristics of the silent knowledge of the technicians. The department (National respiratory centre, NRC) is facing retirement of several key employees.</p><p>The technical study shows that the success of an implementation is largely dependent on the users’ prior knowledge and use of a 3D Computer aided design system (CAD).The system itself is shown to fulfill the Lifecycle requirement of tracking the products (mostly tracheostomy tubes) but without a CAD centered workflow, some substantial education and preferably some new recruits, an implementation of the PDM system will fail. The author recommends development of the current “low-tech” system of MS Excel and Access rather than redistribute the dependency from technician towards a complex, commercial software and its vendor.</p><p>The analysis of the technicians’ silent knowledge with the newly developed method, epithet for silent knowledge (ETK), shows that the longer employment time:</p><ul><li>the more differentiated technicians become in describing their work,</li><li>practical knowledge are regarded higher and</li><li>the social and collective problem solving factors of the work becomes more important.</li></ul><p>Typically, it is shown that a new employee should preferably enjoy problem solving, being pragmatic and social as well as having some prior education or work experience in a CAD and/or a PDM system.</p>

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The Transcription Start Site Associated non-coding RNAs (TSSaRNAs) have been predicted across the three domain of life. However, still, there are no reliable annotation efforts to identify their biological functions and their underline molecular machinery. Therefore, this project addresses the question of what are the potential functions of TSSaRNAs regarding their roles in addressing the cellular functions. To answer this question, we aimed to accurately identify TSSaRNAs in the model organism Halobacterium salinarum NRC-1 (an Archean microorganism) that incubated at the standard growth condition. Consequently, we aimed to investigate TSSaRNAs structural stability in the term of the thermodynamic energies. Moreover, we attempted to functionally annotate TSSaRNAs based on Rfam functional classification of non-coding RNAs. Based on the statistical approach we developed an algorithm to predict TSSaRNA using next-generation RNA sequencing data (RNA-Seq). To perform structural annotation of TSSaRNAs, we investigated the structural stability of TSSaRNAs by modeling the secondary structures by minimizing the thermodynamic free energy. We simulated TSSaRNAs tertiary structures based on the secondary structures constrain using the Rosetta-Common RNA tool. The structures of the minimum free energy supposed to be biophysically stable structures. To investigate the higher order structures of TSSaRNAs, we studied the hybridization between TSSaRNAs and their cognate genes as part of RNA based regulation system. Also, based on our hypothesis that TSSaRNAs may bind to protein to trigger their function, we have investigated the interaction between TSSaRNAs and Lsm protein which known as a chaperone protein that mediates RNA function and involved in RNA processing. Our pipeline to perform the functional annotation of TSSaRNAs aimed to classify TSSaRNAs into their corresponding Rfam families based on two steps: either through querying TSSaRNAs sequences against the co-variance models of Rfam families or by querying the Rfam sequences against the co-variance models of the consensus secondary structures in TSSaRNAs. The results showed that the prediction algorithm has succeeded to identify a total of 224 TSSaRNAs that expressed in the same strand of the mRNAs and 58 TSSaRNAs that expressed as antisense of the mRNAs. The identified TSSaRNAs molecules showed a median length of 25 nucleotides. Regarding the structural annotation of TSSaRNAs, the results showed that most of TSSaRNAs possessed thermodynamically stable secondary structures and their tertiary structures were capable of forming more complex structures through binding with other biomolecules. About the formation of higher-order structures, we have observed that most of TSSaRNAs (92.2%) were capable of hybridizing into their cognate genes also 55 TSSaRNAs indicated putative interactions with Lsm protein. Furthermore, the computation docking experiments demonstrated the TSSaRNAs-Lsm complexes associated with favorable binding energy of a median of -542900 kcal mole -¹. Regarding the functional annotation of TSSaRNAs, the results showed that the majority of TSSaRNAs (42.05%) considered as potential cis-acting regulators such as cis-regulatory element and sRNAs, but still, there are potential trans-acting regulators to regulate distant molecules such as CRISPR and antisense RNA. Moreover, the results indicated that TSSaRNAs could trigger more complex function as a catalytic function such as Riboswitch or to play a role in the defense against a virus such as CRISPR. As a conclusion; based on the results of this study we could state that TSSaRNAs have several potential functions opening the experimental validation perspective. / Os RNA não codificantes associados ao sítio de início da transcrição - em inglês, transcription start site associated non-coding RNAs (TSSaRNA) - foram observados nos três domínios da vida. No entanto, sem esforço confiável de anotação para identificar suas funções biológicas e seus mecanismos moleculares. Portanto, esse projeto levanta a questão de quais são as funções em potencial dos TSSaRNAs a respeito de seus papeis nas funções celulares. Para responder esta questão, nós objetivamos em identificar de forma eficaz os TSSaRNAs no organismo modelo Halobacterium salinarum NRC-1 (um microrganismo do domínio Arqueia) encubado em uma condição de crescimento padrão. Consequentemente, nós investigamos a estabilidade estrutural dos TSSaRNAs em relação a energias termodinâmicas. Ainda, fizemos a anotação funcional dos TSSaRNAs baseado na classificação funcional Rfam dos RNAs não-codificantes. Baseada em uma abordagem estatística nós desenvolvemos um algoritmo para predizer TSSaRNA usando dados de sequenciamento de RNA de nova geração (RNA-Seq). Para investigar a estabilidade estrutural dos TSSaRNAs nós modelamos as estruturas secundárias minimizando a energia livre termodinâmica para alcançar a estrutura mais estável biofisicamente. Nós simulamos estruturas terciárias de TSSaRNAs baseado nas restrições das estruturas secundárias usando a ferramenta Rosetta-Common RNA. As estruturas de energia livre mínima seriam supostamente estruturas estáveis biofisicamente. Para investigar as estruturas de ordem superior (quaternária) dos TSSaRNAs, nós estudamos a hibridização entre os TSSaRNAs e seus genes cognatos como parte de um possível sistema de regulação baseado em RNA. Ainda, baseada na hipótese que os TSSaRNAs podem ligar à proteína para habilitar sua função, nós investigamos a interação entre TSSaRNAs e proteína Lsm que é conhecida por ser uma proteína chaperone que media função do RNA e está envolvida no processamento do RNA. Nosso pipeline para executar a anotação funcional dos TSSaRNAs objetivou classificar as TSSaRNAs em suas correspondentes classes Rfam baseado em dois passos: por meio de consulta das sequências TSSaRNA em relação a modelos de covariância de famílias Rfam ou por consulta de sequências Rfam em relação a modelos de covariância das estruturas de secundárias de consenso das estruturas secundárias nos TSSaRNAs. Os resultados mostraram que o algoritmo de detecção teve sucesso em identificar um total de 224 TSSaRNAs que expressaram na mesma direção dos mRNAs e 58 TSSaRNAs que expressaram no sentido oposto (antisenso) dos mRNAs. As moléculas TSSaRNAs identificadas mostraram um comprimento mediano de 25 nucleotídeos. A respeito da anotação estrutural dos TSSaRNAs, os resultados mostraram que a maioria dos TSSaRNAs possuíam estruturas secundárias estáveis termodinamicamente e suas estruturas terciárias foram capazes de formar estruturas mais complexas por meio de vínculos com outras biomoléculas. Quanto à formação de estruturas de maior de estruturas de alta ordem nos observamos que a maioria dos TSSaRNAs (92.2%) são capazes, pelo menos em princípio, de hibridizar em seus genes cognatos e, também, 55 TSSaRNAs evidenciaram interagir com a proteína Lsm. Além disso, os experimentos computacionais de docking demonstratam os complexos TSSaRNAs-Lsm associados com energia de ligação favorável com uma média de - 542900 kcal mole -¹. Quanto à anotação funcional dos TSSaRNAs, os resultados mostraram que a maioria dos TSSaRNAs (42.05%) podem ser consideradas potenciais reguladores atuando em cis tais como elemento cis-regulamentar e sRNAs, mas ainda há pontenciais reguladores atuando em trans para regular moléculas em loci distantes, tais como CRISPR e RNA antisense. Além disso, os resultados mostraram que TSSaRNAs podem potencialmente ativar funções mais complexas como uma função catalítica, tal como Riboswitch ou executar um papel de defesa contra vírus, tal como CRISPR. Como conclusão; baseado nos resultados desse estudo, nós podemos afirmar que TSSaRNAs possuem várias funções em potencial abrindo a perspecitiva de validação experimental.

This thesis looks at two sides of the same coin: how to support the production and future development at a specialist medical technology department at Danderyd Hospital. The two sides are; a pilot study of a product management system (PDM) and an interview based study on the characteristics of the silent knowledge of the technicians. The department (National respiratory centre, NRC) is facing retirement of several key employees. The technical study shows that the success of an implementation is largely dependent on the users’ prior knowledge and use of a 3D Computer aided design system (CAD).The system itself is shown to fulfill the Lifecycle requirement of tracking the products (mostly tracheostomy tubes) but without a CAD centered workflow, some substantial education and preferably some new recruits, an implementation of the PDM system will fail. The author recommends development of the current “low-tech” system of MS Excel and Access rather than redistribute the dependency from technician towards a complex, commercial software and its vendor. The analysis of the technicians’ silent knowledge with the newly developed method, epithet for silent knowledge (ETK), shows that the longer employment time: the more differentiated technicians become in describing their work, practical knowledge are regarded higher and the social and collective problem solving factors of the work becomes more important. Typically, it is shown that a new employee should preferably enjoy problem solving, being pragmatic and social as well as having some prior education or work experience in a CAD and/or a PDM system.

Although products of coal combustion (PCCs) such as coal ash are currently exempted from classification as a hazardous waste in the United States under the 1976 Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is now revising a proposed rule to modify disposal practices for these materials in order to prevent contamination of ground- and surface water sources by leached trace elements. This paper analyzes several aspects of EPA’s scientific reasoning for instating the rule, with the intent of answering the following questions: 1) Are EPA’s cited values for PCC production and disposal accurate estimates of annual totals?; 2) In what ways can EPA’s leaching risk modeling assessment be improved?; 3) What is the total quantity of trace elements contained within all PCCs disposed annually?; and 4) What would be the potential costs and feasibility of reclassifying PCCs not under RCRA, but under existing NRC regulations as low-level radioactive waste (LLRW)? Among the results of my calculations, I found that although EPA estimates for annual PCC disposal are 20% larger than industry statistics, these latter values appear to be closer to reality. Second, EPA appears to have significantly underestimated historical PCC disposal: my projections indicate that EPA’s maximum estimate for the quantity of fly ash landfilled within the past 90 years was likely met by production in the last 30 years alone, if not less. Finally, my analysis indicates that while PCCs may potentially meet the criteria for reclassification as low-level radioactive waste by NRC, the cost of such regulation would be many times that of the EPA June proposed disposal rule ($220-302 billion for PCCs disposed in 2008 alone, versus $1.47 billion per year for the Subtitle C option and $236-587 million for Subtitle D regulatory options). / text

The nuclear industry has long relied upon bounding parametric analyses in predicting the safety margins of reactor designs undergoing design-basis accidents. These methods have been known to return highly-conservative results, limiting the operating conditions of the reactor. The Best-Estimate Plus Uncertainty (BEPU) method using a modernized version of the Code-Scaling, Applicability, and Uncertainty (CSAU) methodology has been applied to more accurately predict the safety margins of the Oregon State University Advanced Plant Experiment (APEX) facility experiencing a Loss-of-Feedwater Accident (LOFA). The statistical advantages of the Bayesian paradigm of probability was utilized to incorporate prior knowledge when determining the analysis required to justify the safety margins. RELAP5 Mod 3.3 was used to accurately predict the thermal-hydraulics of a primary Feed-and-Bleed response to the accident using assumptions to accompany the lumped-parameter calculation approach. A novel coupling of thermal-hydraulic and statistical software was accomplished using the Symbolic Nuclear Analysis Package (SNAP). Uncertainty in Peak Cladding Temperature (PCT) was calculated at the 95/95 probability/confidence levels under a series of four separate sensitivity studies. / Graduation date: 2013

This work seeks to illustrate the potential benefits afforded by implementing aspects of fluid dynamics, especially the latest computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling approach, through numerical experimentation and the traditional discipline of physical experimentation to improve the calibration of the severe reactor accident analysis code, MELCOR, in one of several spent fuel pool (SFP) complete loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA) scenarios. While the scope of experimental work performed by Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) extends well beyond that which is reasonably addressed by our allotted resources and computational time in accordance with initial project allocations to complete the report, these simulated case trials produced a significant array of supplementary high-fidelity solutions and hydraulic flow-field data in support of SNL research objectives. Results contained herein show FLUENT CFD model representations of a 9x9 BWR fuel assembly in conditions corresponding to a complete loss-of-coolant accident scenario. In addition to the CFD model developments, a MATLAB based control-volume model was constructed to independently assess the 9x9 BWR fuel assembly under similar accident scenarios. The data produced from this work show that FLUENT CFD models are capable of resolving complex flow fields within a BWR fuel assembly in the realm of buoyancy-induced mass flow rates and that characteristic hydraulic parameters from such CFD simulations (or physical experiments) are reasonably employed in corresponding constitutive correlations for developing simplified numerical models of comparable solution accuracy. / text

Text in English with abstracts in English, isiZulu and Xhosa / This research applies the Near Repeat Calculator (NRC) to identify near repeat residential burglary patterns in the Hillcrest (KZN) policing area for the first time. A total of 490 residential burglaries, over a 12-month period, reported to Hillcrest police station were mapped (geocoded) and the near repeat calculations were visualised using the Geographic Information Systems (GIS). The month-to-month near repeat calculations are analysed and suggest that the NRC is a valuable tool that can predict the space-time locations of near repeat residential burglaries in the Hillcrest policing area. / Lolu cwaningo lusebenzisa i-Near Repeat Calculator (NRC) ukuhlonza amaphethini okuphindaphindeka kwezigameko zokugqekezwa kwamakhaya endaweni eyenganyelwe yisiteshi samaphoyisa sase-Hillcrest (KZN). Izigameko zokugqekezwa kwamakhaya ezingama-490 ezabikwa esiteshini samaphoyisa sase- Hillcrest esikhathini esiyizinyanga eziyi-12 zaboniswa emfanekisweni webalazwe lendawo (geocoded) futhi izilinganiso zamathuba okuthi ziphinde zenzeke izigameko zokugqekezwa kwamakhaya zaboniswa ngokuthi kusetshenziswe umfanekiso owenziwe nge-Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Kwahlaziywa amathuba enyanga nenyanga okuphindaphindeka kwezigameko, futhi imiphumela eyatholakala kulokhu iyabonisa ukuthi i-NRC iyithuluzi eliwusizo impela elingabikezela izindawo nesikhathi lapho kungaphinda futhi kwenzeke khona izigameko zokugqekezwa kwamakhaya endaweni eyenganyelwe yisiteshi samaphoyisa sase-Hillcrest. / Olu phando lusebenzisa uhlobo lokubala olwaziwa ngokuba yiNear Repeat Calculator (NRC) ngenjongo yokubona isimbo sokuqhekezwa kwezindlu zabantu kummandla ophantsi kwamapolisa aseHillcrest (eKZN). Kuqwalaselwe ama-490 eziganeko zoqhekezo lwemizi ezaxelwa emapoliseni aseHillcrest kwisithuba seenyanga ezili-12, kwaye uhlobo lokubala oluqikelela ukuphindwa kweziganeko zoqhekezo luboniswe ngokusebenzisa inkqubo ekuthiwa yiGeographic Information Systems (GIS). Ubalo oluqikelela ukuphindwa kweziganeko luphononongiwe kwinyanga nenyanga, kwaye iziphumo zibonisa ukuba iNRC sisixhobo esinexabiso, esinokukwazi ukuqikelela indawo nexesha apho kunokuphinda kuqhekezwe khona kummandla ophantsi kwamapolisa aseHillcrest. / Criminology and Security Science / M.A. (Criminology)