Thesis deals with the definition of quality health care, quality management approaches, quality measurement and strategies that help us to achieve a better level of quality. Another part of this work defines indicator of quality, properties, the development phase and what it is used. The aim of this work is to define a set of national indicators of quality health care in the Czech Republic.

Ph.D. (Geography) / The focus of Aeolian research has mainly been on wind-blown dust from desert and arid areas. Numerous dust emission schemes have been developed over the years aimed at accurately estimating dust emission rates from various soil types and land use surfaces. Limited research has been done on wind-blown dust from smaller area sources – such as mine tailings and ash storage facilities. Lately, the concern about the environmental and health impacts, caused by dust from mine tailings storage facilities and ash disposal sites, has become more prominent, calling for better methods in determining dust emissions and their related impacts. This thesis established a practical approach for wind-blown dust emissions estimation and dispersion modelling from mine waste and ash storage facilities for the purpose of legal compliance assessment. Extensive research on the physics of wind erosion has been done over the past decade, compelling the re-evaluation of previously applied techniques. The latest and most widely applied dust emission schemes are evaluated to determine, through systematic testing of parameterisation and validation, using empirical mine waste and coal ash data, a best-practice prescription for quantifying wind-blown dust emissions and determining effects on a local scale using commercially available dispersion models. The applicability of two dust-flux schemes, (one developed by Marticorena and Bergametti (1995) and the simplified Shao 2004 scheme, as reported in 2011) for the quantification of wind-blown dust emissions, were tested using site specific particle size distribution data, bulk density and moisture content from six gold- and one platinum- tailings storage facilities and from two ash storage facilities. The availability of the required input parameters and the uncertainty associated with these parameters, were tested. The dependency of the Shao et al. (2011) model on plastic pressure (P) and the coefficient cy, both of which are not easily determined, added to the uncertainty of the emission rates. In this study, P and cy were both interpolated using the range limits provided by Shao (2004) for natural soils. By calculating P, using the salt and calcium carbonate content, similar values were obtained. The minimally disturbed dust fraction, as required by the Shao et al. (2011) scheme were derived from particle size distribution analysis but found to be more representative of the fully disturbed particle size faction (𝜂fi) and therefore needed to be corrected to represent the minimally disturbed particle size faction (𝜂mi) through the application of a correction factor, CF𝜂mi. Specific attention was given to the quantification of the threshold friction velocity (u*t) and the threshold velocities (u*), and how these two parameters relate to each under variable wind speed and time durations. This was tested using sub-hourly averaged meteorological data, one set reflected 5-minute intervals and the other 10-minute intervals. Dependent on the frequency and strength of the sub-hourly wind gusts, the resulting dust-flux rates were found to vary significantly when based on hourly averaged wind data in comparison with 5- and 10-minute wind data. Dispersion models are useful tools in air quality management. Whereas ambient monitoring provides actual ambient concentrations for specific pollutants at set locations, atmospheric dispersion models can be used to simulate any number of pollutants and determine the impacts at any location within the modelling domain. These dust-flux schemes of Marticorena and Bergametti (1995) and Shao et al. (2011) have been coupled with the US EPA regulatory Gaussian plume AERMOD dispersion model for the simulation of ground level concentrations resulting from wind-blown dust from mine tailings facilities. For this study, two Case Studies were evaluated; one included two of the gold mine tailings and the second focused on the platinum tailings. Simulated ambient near surface concentrations were validated with ambient monitored data for the same period as used in the model. For the Marticorena and Bergametti (1995) dust-flux scheme, only z0 had to be adjusted to provide a good fit with measured data – whereas the Shao et al. (2011) scheme resulted in significantly higher concentrations, resulting in an over-prediction of the measured data. By applying the correction factor, CF𝜂mi, to the minimally disturbed dust fraction, the predicted concentrations improved considerably. The coupling of the dust-flux schemes with a regulatory Gaussian plume model provided simulated ground level PM10 concentrations in good agreement with measured data. The best correlation was found under conditions of high wind speeds when the prevailing wind was from the direction of the tailings storage facility. This thesis demonstrates that simulated impacts from complex source groups can be performed, within an acceptable range of certainty, using widely applied dust-flux schemes. These dust-flux schemes, developed primarily for large-scale desert and arid areas, have been demonstrated to be applicable also to small-scale sources, of the order of 1 km2, and can be coupled to regularly available dispersion models for impact evaluations of wind-blown dust. The value of this improved approach to the mining and mineral processing industries are substantial, allowing for more accurate health risks and adverse environmental assessments from wind-blown dust from large material storage piles, a source category that has hitherto been difficult to quantify.

The master's thesis deals with the quality of software products focusing on usability of these products and methods of its measurement. The thesis resumes the definitions of quality from different sources and quality models according to available standards. It also describes usability in detail and methods and metrics for its measurement and analyses current situation in this field. In the thesis the tool for measuring usability of desktop software products was designed and implemented.

Congested traffic corridors in dense urban areas are key contributors to the degradation of urban air quality. While waiting at bus stops, transit patrons may be exposed to greater amounts of vehicle-based pollution, including particulate matter, due to their proximity to the roadway. Current guidelines for the location and design of bus stops do not take into account air quality or exposure considerations. This thesis provides a unique contribution to roadside air quality studies and presents an innovative method for the consideration of bus shelter placement. Exposure to roadside pollutants is estimated for transit riders waiting at three-sided bus stop shelters that either: 1) face roadway traffic, or 2) face away from roadway traffic. Shelters were instrumented with particulate matter monitoring equipment, sonic anemometers for wind speed and direction, and vehicle counters capable of categorizing vehicles by length. Temperature and relative humidity were gathered from a nearby monitoring station. Data were collected for two different days at three shelters during both the morning and afternoon peak periods for a total of eleven data periods. Bus shelter orientation is found to significantly affect concentration of four sizes of particulate matter: ultrafine particles, PM1, PM2.5, and PM10. Shelters with an opening oriented towards the roadway were observed to have significantly higher concentrations inside the shelter than outside the shelter. In contrast, shelters oriented away from the roadway were observed to have significantly lower concentrations inside the shelter than outside the shelter. The differences in average particulate matter concentrations are statistically significant across all four sizes of particulate matter studied. Additional correlation and linear regression investigation reveals interactions between particulate concentrations and built environment characteristics, vehicle flow, and weather conditions. Temperature and relative humidity played a large role in the diurnal variation of average concentration levels. In all instances, particulate concentrations were greater during the morning period, often substantially so. Particulate concentrations are shown to vary based on both wind speed and direction. Vehicle flow is correlated with particulate levels, though significance is not consistent. Lagged vehicle flow is demonstrated to be more consistently significant. Regression analysis suggests weather factors such as wind, temperature, and relative humidity explain roughly 70% of particulate variation, while vehicle flow explains less than 6%.

No description available.

Call quality has been crucial from the inception of telecommunication networks. Operators need to monitor call quality from the end-user¿s perspective, in order to retain subscribers and reduce subscriber ¿churn¿. Operators worry not only about call quality and interconnect revenue loss, but also about network connectivity issues in areas where mobile network gateways are prevalent. Bandwidth quality as experienced by the end-user is equally important in helping operators to reduce churn. The parameters that network operators use to improve call quality are mainly from the end-user¿s perspective. These parameters are usually ASR (answer seizure ratio), PDD (postdial delay), NER (network efficiency ratio), the number of calls for which these parameters have been analyzed and successful calls. Operators use these parameters to evaluate and optimize the network to meet their quality requirements. Analysis of speech quality is a major arena for research. Traditionally, users¿ perception of speech quality has been measured offline using subjective listening tests. Such tests are, however, slow, tedious and costly. An alternative method is therefore needed; one that can be automatically computed on the subscriber¿s handset, be available to the operator as well as to subscribers and, at the same time, provide results that are comparable with conventional subjective scores. QMeter® ¿ a set of tools for signal and bandwidth measurement that have been developed bearing in mind all the parameters that influence call and bandwidth quality experienced by the end-user ¿ addresses these issues and, additionally, facilitates dynamic tariff propositions which enhance the credibility of the operator. This research focuses on call quality parameters from the end-user¿s perspective. The call parameters used in the research are signal strength, successful call rate, normal drop call rate, and hand-over drop rate. Signal strength is measured for every five milliseconds of an active call and average signal strength is calculated for each successful call. The successful call rate, normal drop rate and hand-over drop rate are used to achieve a measurement of the overall call quality. Call quality with respect to bundles of 10 calls is proposed. An attempt is made to visualize these parameters for better understanding of where the quality is bad, good and excellent. This will help operators, as well as user groups, to measure quality and coverage. Operators boast about their bandwidth but in reality, to know the locations where speed has to be improved, they need a tool that can effectively measure speed from the end-user¿s perspective. BM (bandwidth meter), a tool developed as a part of this research, measures the average speed of data sessions and stores the information for analysis at different locations. To address issues of quality in the subscriber segment, this research proposes the varying of tariffs based on call and bandwidth quality. Call charging based on call quality as perceived by the end-user is proposed, both to satisfy subscribers and help operators to improve customer satisfaction and increase average revenue per user. Tariff redemption procedures are put forward for bundles of 10 calls and 10 data sessions. In addition to the varying of tariffs, quality escalation processes are proposed. Deploying such tools on selected or random samples of users will result in substantial improvement in user loyalty which, in turn, will bring operational and economic advantages.

<p dir="ltr">The goal of this thesis is to develop a method of evaluating long-term IAQ performance of an industrial facility and use machine-learning to model the relationship between critical air pollutants and the facility’s HVAC systems and processes. The facility under study for this thesis is an electroplating manufacturer. The air pollutants at this facility that were studied were particulate matter, total-volatile organic compounds, and carbon-dioxide. Upon sensor installation, seven “zones” were identified to isolate areas of the plant for measurement and analysis. A statistical review of the long-term data highlighted how this facility performed in terms of compliance. Their gaseous pollutants were well within regulation. Particulate matter, however, was found to be a pressing issue. PM10 was outside of compliance more than 15% of the time in five out of seven of the zones of study. Some zones were out of compliance up to 80% of the total collection period. The six pollutants that met these criteria were deemed critical and moved on to machine learning modeling. Our model of best fit for each pollutant used a gaussian process regression model, which fits best for non-linear rightly skewed datasets. The performance of each of our models was deemed significant. Every model had at least a regression coefficient of 0.935 and above for both validation and testing. The maximum average error was 12.64 ug.m^3, which is less than 10% of the average PM10 concentration. Through our modeling, we were able to study how HVAC and production played a role in particulate matter presence for each zone. Exhaust systems of the west side of the plant were found to be insufficient at removing particulates from their facility. Overall, the methods developed in this thesis project were able to meet the goal of analyzing IAQ compliance, modeling critical pollutants using machine learning, and identifying a relationship between these pollutants and an industrial facility’s HVAC and production systems.</p>

The service sector of the global economy is undoubtedly growing and increasingly highlighting the criticality of service quality to enhanced profitability in most service organisations. The demand for accountability from different stakeholders, including clients, has also made service quality a highly debated, researched and most powerful competitive trend shaping marketing and business strategy. Developing reliable measurement instruments of service quality and strategies for the improvement of service quality invariably become the most important responsibilities for managers in many organisations. In the absence of conceptual clarity on service quality, divergent views on the dimensionality of service quality and the lack of a psychometrically valid service quality measure in archival institutions, this study set out to develop and subsequently validate a measurement instrument to assess service quality in an archival institutional setting. The two research questions investigated in this study were: (1) what are the dimensions for measuring service quality in archival institutions, and (2) how can the dimensions of service quality in archival institutions be measured effectively. The methodology for this study involved a two-phased qualitative and quantitative analysis addressing these two research questions. The study followed the standard psychometric procedure for developing constructs. This research has resulted in the important findings and relevant conclusions for both academics and practitioners interested in service quality in the archival environment. The service quality measurement instrument formulated is called ARCHIVqual and has three dimensions, namely (1) security of information (with 4 items), (2) integrity of information (with 3 items) and (3) usability of information (with 2 items). Besides measuring service quality in the archival environment, ARCHIVqual will also serve as a tool for conducting periodic surveys thereby identifying specific problematic areas in archival institutions. / Graduate School for Business Leadership / DBL

The aim of this study was to use plants to determine the degree of heavy metal contamination in water and sediments in order to effectively monitor and provide possible recommendation to improve the water quality in the aquatic ecosystem of the Bottelary River.

Thesis (M. Tech. - Dept. of Chemistry, Faculty of Applied and Computer Sciences) -- Vaal University of Technology, 2010 / The increased production and application of pesticides for agricultural and non-agricultural purposes has caused the pollution of air, soil, ground and surface water. This has a negative impact on the environment as well as human health due to direct exposure or through residues in food and drinking water. The continuous monitoring of pesticides residues in environmental samples has great importance and demands high efficiency, unique selectivity and high sensitivity techniques. Gas chromatography and high performance liquid chromatography have been established for years as the techniques for the analysis of pesticides residues. The dissertation deals with the qualitative and quantitative determination of selected pesticides in the Southern Gauteng region using Liquid- liquid extraction solid-phase extraction, high performance liquid chromatography, gas chromatography equipped with electron capture detector and gas chromatography mass spectrometry. Liquid-liquid extraction and solid-phase extraction using dichloromethane, hexane and ethyl acetate as the extracting solvent were optimized and evaluated for the determination of pesticides in surface water in the Southern Gauteng region. From the developed method the techniques were applied to water samples taken from different rivers selected namely: Zuikerbosch, Rand Water barrage and Kliprivier for sampling. Dichloromethane was used as a solvent in this study since a recovery test was done between dichloromethane, Ethyl acetate and n-hexane. The percentage recovery test for 4,4-DDT, 4,4-DDE, 2,4-DDD and Endosulfan 1 & 2 ranged from 89.9% -97.3% for dichloromethane, 87.3%-96.8% for hexane 88.4%-97.1% for ethyl acetate. The extracts obtained were subjected to column chromatography for clean up. Thereafter 1µl of the cleaned extracts were injected into the Gas chromatography equipped with an electron capture detector. Organochlorines 4,4-DDT and its metabolites, Organophosphate Chlorypyriphos and carbamates were detected using Gas chromatography electron capture, Gas chromatography mass spectrometry and high performance liquid chromatography.