<p>The researcher has been working for CIAT, as a community development facilitator and research assistant for past five years (2001-2006). CIAT has been involved in testing tools and methods for promoting participation and tracking changes at community level under different pilot projects in Eastern and Central Africa in partnership with national research organizations of respective countries. One of CIAT&rsquo / s areas of research is developing participatory monitoring and evaluation systems that are appropriate for rural communities. The researcher has been involved in designing and setting up community-driven participatory monitoring and evaluation systems on a pilot basis with communities in Eastern and Southern Africa.</p>

Detta examensarbete är utfört hos Swisslog under våren 2013. De hade problem med den manuella styrningen av deras pallstaplingskran för höglager, som upplevdes ryckig och svår att kontrollera vid låga hastigheter. Huvudsyftet var att undersöka varför detta fenomen uppstod och hur det kunde lösas med både hård- och mjukvarumässiga metoder. Utöver detta undersöktes hur produktionskostnaden, för delarna av kranen som rör den manuella styrningen, kunde reduceras. Det upplevda fenomenet är känt som biodynamic feedthrough. Det innebär att konstruktionens acceleration matas genom operatörens kropp och skapar en återkoppling till styrdonet, i detta fall en joystick. Operatörens hand ger en oavsiktlig störsignal som gör systemet instabilt som i sin tur skapar en oscillation som ökar i amplitud och är svår eller omöjlig att stoppa. Den föreslagna lösningen är att digitalt lågpassfiltrera styrsignalen från joysticken. Det dämpar de skarpaste spikarna i signalen och förhindrar systemet att ta in de snabba handrörelser som kranens acceleration har skapat. / This bachelor thesis was written at Swisslog, who had a problem with the manual control of their high-bay pallet stacker crane. The ride was perceived rough and hard to control at lower speeds.    The main purpose was to examine the source of the phenomenon and how to solve the problem with both software and hardware. It was also requested to investigate ways to lower production costs of the parts of the crane related to the manual control.   The experienced phenomenon is known as biodynamic feedthrough. It refers to the acceleration of the structure affects the body of the operator causing a feedback loop to the input, in this case a joystick. The hand of the operator causes an involuntary control input and making the system unstable and causing an oscillation increasing in amplitude over time. This may be hard or impossible to stop.   The proposed solution is a low-pass filter applied at the output of the joystick. This attenuates the sharpest spikes from the joystick control signal and prevents the system from receiving the fast hand movements caused by the acceleration of the crane.

Introduction: Thromboprophylaxis recommendations for hospitalized cancer are based on trials done for the general medically patients, as there are no randomized clinical trials(RCTs) looking at thromboprophylaxis in medically ill patients with cancer. Methods: To determine if thromboprophylaxis is safe and effective to prevent VTE these patients, a Systematic Review(SR) was done. A survey was performed to assess: clinical equipoise, trial design and minimally clinically important difference(MCID) for a potential trial. Lastly, a pilot study for an RCT was designed. Results: The pooled RR of VTE was 0.91 (95%CI:0.21 to 4.0;I2:68%) among hospitalized cancer patients receiving thromboprophylaxis compared to placebo. 63.9% believe there is clinical equipoise and 58.3% would consider participating in a RCT comparing different agents/dosing. The MCID for absolute reduction in symptomatic VTE between two arms was 2% and for “acceptable” increase in major bleeding events was 1%. Conclusion: The risk-benefit ratio of current doses of thromboprophylaxis administered to hospitalized cancer patients is unclear and additional RCTs are necessary.

Substance use during pregnancy can adversely affect both health and social outcomes for the infant and the mother. Many practices related to the care of infants with prenatal substance exposure are not consistent from one facility to another and have been developed on an anecdotal basis rather than based on empirical research. A replication study of a 2002 national practice survey is being planned that will describe some of the practices related to daily care, discharge planning, and community support for this group of infants and their caregivers. In this thesis, I present the findings of a pilot study that was conducted as a prelude to this larger national study. A summary of a literature review of recent survey research is presented along with a description of the process of revising a previously developed instrument to survey the practices used when caring for infants with prenatal drug and alcohol exposure and their mothers in the hospital setting. Content validity of this revised instrument was established with the support of a content expert group and the revised instrument was pilot tested with a small sample of nurses who practice in hospitals that will not be eligible for the national study. The findings from this pilot study will guide the research team in developing and conducting the national survey. / Graduate / 0539 / 0380 / 0573

Arbetet har utförts i syfte att belysa möjligheten för Sjöfartsverket att använda helikopter istället för att allokera lotsar med lotsbåttransport till fartyg. Detta har gjorts i ett ekonomiskt perspektiv genom att använda Payback-metoden. Metoden har använts explorativt där det ekonomiska underlaget från nuvarande verksamhet vid allokering med lotsbåt jämförts med de beräknade kostnaderna för Sjöfartsverkets SAR-helikoptrar om de utför samma transporter. Ingen vikt har lagts vid vilka eventuella processförbättringar detta skulle kunna leda till, utan enbart vad kostnaderna för samma transporter skulle bli med det nya transportsättet. Resultatet har tagits fram utifrån tre aspekter: Hur det ses från lotsningens sida, hur det ses från helikopterfunktionens sida och slutligen vad det kommer att innebära för Sjöfartsverket som helhet. De slutsatser som framkommit är att lotsningsfunktionen får högre kostnader för sina transporter, helikopterverksamheten får mindre möjlighet till övning med samma ekonomiska ramar men att Sjöfartsverket totalt kan spara 17 miljoner SEK per år genom att skära ned i lotsbåtsverksamheten. / This work has been carried out to investigate the potential of the Swedish Maritime Administration to use helicopters instead of pilot launches (boats) to assign pilots to ships. The aim has been to estimate this process from an economic perspective with use of the Payback method. The method has been utilized in an exploratory way. Financial data was requested from current operations in allocating the pilot to vessels and these were compared with the estimated costs of the Maritime Administration SAR helicopters operating over the same transport. No attention has been paid to the possible process improvements that this could lead to, simply what the cost of the same transport would be with the new mode of transport (helicopter). The result is illuminated from three horizons. How it is seen from the piloting side, how it is seen from the helicopter function's side and ultimately what it will mean for the Swedish Maritime Administration as a whole. The conclusion reached is that the piloting function will have higher costs for transport, helicopter operations may be less able to exercise within the same economic framework and that the Swedish Maritime Administration could potentially save 17 million SEK per annum by cutting back on pilot launch costs.

Loss of Control (LOC) accidents are a major threat for aviation, and contribute the highest risk for fatalities in all aviation accidents. The major contributor to LOC accidents is pilot spatial disorientation (SD), which accounts for roughly 32% of all LOC accidents. A pilot experiences SD during flight when the pilot's expectation of the aircraft's state deviates from reality. This deviation results from a number of underlying mechanisms, such as distraction, failure to monitor flight instruments, and vestibular illusions. Previous researchers have developed computational models to understand those mechanisms. However, these models are limited in scope as they do not model the pilot's knowledge of the aircraft dynamics. This research proposes a novel model to predict the best-possible-pilot-expectation of the aircraft state given vestibular and visual cues. The proposed model uses a Model-Based Observer (MBO) as the infrastructure needed to establish an “expert pilot”. Expert pilots are known to form an internal model of the operated system through training and experience, which allows the expert to generate better internal expectations of the system states. Pilots' internal expectations are enhanced by the presence of information fed through the pilots̕ sensory systems. Thus, the proposed model integrates pilot's knowledge of the system dynamics (i.e. an aircraft model) with a continuous vestibular sensory model and a discrete visual-sampling sensory model. The computational model serves to investigate the underlying mechanisms of SD during flight and provide a quantitative analysis tool to support flight deck and countermeasure designs.

Breastfeeding is recommended as the optimal source of nutrition for newborns for the first 6 months of life and beyond with the addition of complementary foods. While breastfeeding initiation rates have been increasing, duration rates remain a concern as many women prematurely discontinue due to difficulties encountered rather than maternal choice. In addition, there is a sizable gap between rates of exclusive breastfeeding and current recommendations. Targeting modifiable variables that may be amenable to intervention is one strategy to improve breastfeeding outcomes. One such modifiable variable is breastfeeding self-efficacy. Although research has clearly shown that breastfeeding self-efficacy is predictive of breastfeeding duration and exclusivity, it is unknown whether it can be enhanced to improve breastfeeding outcomes. The purpose of this pilot randomized controlled trial was to examine the feasibility and compliance of a newly developed trial protocol and the acceptability of an intervention to increase breastfeeding self-efficacy in the immediate postpartum period. Secondary outcomes included determining whether there were any trends between groups related to breastfeeding self-efficacy, duration, and exclusivity. Participants included 150 primiparous mothers who were breastfeeding their healthy, full-term infants. Eligible and consenting mothers were randomized to either a control group (standard postpartum care) or an intervention group (standard postpartum care plus the self-efficacy intervention). Participants allocated to the intervention group received three individualized, self-efficacy enhancing sessions with the researcher; two sessions were conducted in hospital, and one was administered via telephone 1 week following hospital discharge. A research assistant blinded to group allocation collected outcome data at 4 and 8 weeks postpartum. The results suggested that the administration of the intervention was feasible and that there was a high degree of protocol compliance; the majority of participants reported that the intervention was beneficial. Secondary outcomes identified that there was a trend among participants in the intervention group to have improved breastfeeding outcomes, including higher rates of breastfeeding self-efficacy, duration, and exclusivity at 4 and 8 weeks postpartum. Preliminary evidence also suggested that the self-efficacy intervention may have assisted to decrease perceptions of insufficient milk supply among the intervention group participants. Overall, the findings from this pilot trial indicated that a larger trial is warranted.

This thesis seeks to assess the exposure of children in outdoor play areas of early childhood centres in Auckland City to traffic-related PM10 pollution. An estimated 400 premature deaths occur each year in New Zealand due to motor vehicle emissions. In addition to premature deaths, acute and chronic health effects including asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), heart disease and bronchitis, as well as increased hospitalisations and restricted activity days (sick days) are also associated with vehicle emissions. Epidemiological studies have shown that respiratory diseases such as asthma can be exacerbated by increases in the concentration of particulates of less than 10 microns in diameter (PM10) from motor vehicle emissions. Significant positive associations have been found between proximity to heavily travelled roads and increased childhood respiratory disease symptoms including hospitalisations for childhood asthma. In spite of this evidence, many early childhood centres in Auckland are located adjacent to busy roads. Children at these early childhood centres spend much of their time playing in the outdoor areas of these centres with the potential for particulates from motor vehicle emissions to exacerbate symptoms in those children already suffering from respiratory disease and asthma. Very little research has been carried out either in New Zealand or internationally on the air quality of outdoor play areas of early childhood centres in relation to motor vehicle emissions and childhood respiratory disease and asthma. The extent of monitoring is also limited and the amount of exposure data available in New Zealand relatively sparse, particularly in comparison with Europe. Levels of traffic-related PM10 in the outdoor play areas of early childhood centres were measured in centres located adjacent to busy roads and in centres away from a quiet road or adjacent to a very quiet road for comparison. Two of five early childhood centres located alongside busy roads had PM10 levels that exceeded the World Health Organization (WHO) guideline value. While PM10 levels monitored at the other three centres located alongside busy roads did not exceed the WHO guideline value, results were often only marginally within this guideline value. In contrast, PM10 levels monitored at two centres located away from a quiet road and one centre located adjacent to a very quiet road were well within the WHO guideline value. This pilot study provides preliminary evidence that children attending early childhood centres located alongside busy roads have greater exposure to traffic-related PM10 pollution than those attending early childhood centres located away from a quiet road or adjacent to a very quiet road. If the link between PM10 exposure and health effects is causal, as suggested by epidemiological studies, then children attending early childhood centres proximal to busy roads are at a greater risk of respiratory illness than children attending early childhood centres adjacent to quiet roads. Further work is required to confirm the findings in this small sample of air quality around early childhood centres in a larger sample, and possibly to undertake an epidemiological study to confirm the link to health effects. Drawing on the precautionary principle, prudent territorial local authorities should be encouraged to introduce regulations ensuring that any new early childhood centres are located at a specified distance from major roads, and that information for parents, ongoing PM10 monitoring and processes for issuing PM10 advisories when limits are exceeded are available in existing early childhood centres that are adjacent to busy roads.

Thesis (M.S.)--Ohio University, March, 1999. / Title from PDF t.p.

Thesis (M. S.)--Aerospace Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2005. / Bottasso, Carlo, Committee Chair ; Hodges, Dewey, Committee Member ; Bauchau, Olivier, Committee Member. Includes bibliographical references.