Background: Healthcare workers are ranked among one of the top occupations for musculoskeletal disorder (MSD) injuries that affect the muscles, the bones, the nervous system and due to repetitive motion tasks (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2017). Numerous high-risk patient handling tasks such as lifting, transferring, ambulating and repositioning of patients cause injuries that can be prevented when evidence-based solutions are used for safe patient handling and mobility (SPHM) tasks. Purpose: The purpose of this quality improvement project was to evaluate the knowledge and attitudes of orthopedic nurses regarding the use of SPHM algorithms as the standard of care when transferring patients. Theoretical Framework. Lewin’s Theory of Change Methods. A quasi-experimental pretest-post-test design was utilized in this evidenced-based practice project. Results. Descriptive statistics that evaluated pre and post questionnaires of the orthopedic nurses noted nurses displayed behavioral and attitudinal intent to use the SPHM algorithms as the standard of care to improve patient outcomes by decreasing falls. Although the behavioral beliefs and attitudes reflected acknowledgement of SPHM skills and knowledge, nursing did not improve in their documentation of SPH fall risk as two separate tools were required on each patient. Conclusions: SPHM evidenced-based standards do guide staff to critically examine how to safely transfer and mobilize a patient. Patient fall rates did decrease during educational sessions, prompting the need for on-going education of all staff on the unit that transfers patients. The findings from this quality project may encourage future practice approaches to use of the safe patient handling (SPH) fall risk assessment tool for all patients to prevent patient falls.

Soil erosion is a major problem confronting land and water resources in many parts of the world and the spatial extent should be assessed and continually monitored. The combination of existing erosion models and remote sensing techniques within a Geographical Information System framework is commonly utilized for erosion risk assessment. In most countries, however, especially in developing countries such as South Africa, there is still an absence of standardized methodological frameworks that deliver comparable results across large areas as a baseline for regional scale monitoring. Assessment at the regional scale is often problematic due to spatial variability of the factors controlling erosion and the lack of input and validation data. Due to limitations of scale at which techniques can be applied and processes assessed, this study implemented a multi-process and multi-scale approach to support establishment of a methodological framework for South African conditions. The approach includes assessment of (i) sheet-rill erosion at a national scale based on the principles and components defined in the (Revised) Universal Soil Loss Equation, (ii) gully erosion in a large catchment located in the Eastern Cape Province by integrating eleven important factors into a GIS, and (iii) sediment migration for a research catchment near Wartburg in KwaZulu-Natal by means of the Soil and Water Assessment Tool. Case Study i illustrates that 20% (26 million ha) of South African land is classified as having a moderate to severe actual erosion risk (emphasizing sheet-rill erosion) and describes the challenges to be overcome in assessment at this scale. Case Study ii identifies severe gully erosion affecting an area of approximately 5 273 ha in the large catchment (Tsitsa valley) of the Eastern Cape Province and highlights gully factors likely to emerge as dominant between continuous gullies and discontinuous gullies. Case Study iii illustrates that a cabbage plot in the upper reaches of a research catchment near Wartburg is a significant sediment source, but is counterbalanced by sinks (river channel and farm dams) downstream. Model assumptions affecting outputs in the context of connectivity between sources and sinks are described. The factor-based nature of this multi-process and -scale approach allowed scrutiny of the role of the main factors in contributing to erosion risk. A combination of poor vegetation cover and susceptible parent material-soil associations are confirmed as the overriding factors in South Africa, and not topography and rainfall as frequently determined in the USA and Europe. A methodological framework with three hierarchical levels is then presented for South Africa. The framework illustrates the most feasible erosion assessment techniques and input datasets for which sufficient spatial information exists, and emphasizes simplicity required for application at a regional scale with proper incorporation of the most important factors. The framework is not interpreted as a single assessment technique but rather as an approach that guides the selection of appropriate techniques and datasets according to the complexity of the erosion processes and scale dependency. It is useful in determining the relative impact of different land use and management scenarios, as well as for comparative purposes under possible future climate change scenarios. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Geography, Geoinformatics and Meteorology / unrestricted

The aim of this exploratory study was to determine whether there was any significance to the proposition that the ability of individuals to assess entrepreneurial risks differed between entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs, with a particular focus on the risk identification and risk prioritisation abilities.A survey strategy was followed which made use of a case study exercise to ascertain what risks the sample groups of entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs identified. Demographics and other risk variables, such as risk propensity and risk perception, were also excluded to provide context and eliminate certain alternative explanations.No significant differences were found between entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs with respect the risks that they identified in the case study exercise. Entrepreneurs perceived the case study as more favourable and had a higher risk propensity. Entrepreneurs also found the case study exercise more difficult than non-entrepreneurs. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

Master thesis touches upon the interesting spheres of risk classification, measurement and management of financial institutions. Modern banks have numerous credit risk measurement models at their disposal. However, agreement about performance of those models is not that unanimous and to some point the models are blamed for breaking out of 2007 financial crisis. In the theoretical part of the thesis we provide survey of risk measurement practices in banks. We investigate the main types of risk of banks in their day-to-day activities. Special focus is paid on the credit risk and on the models and techniques of its measurement; Practical part of thesis then contains construction and accuracy estimation of particular credit-risk-model (Altman Z-score). In it we construct and compute Altman Z-score for sample of firms from two chosen sectors in United Kingdom. Main goals of the work are a) testing accuracy of the model by comparing its outputs to real development, and b) econometric testing of the specification of the model itself.

The purpose of this paper is to study the application of HACCP principles in dairy production systems for mitigation of potential water related hazards by control measures and legislation applicable at farm level. HACCP logical sequence approach including some principles of environmental risk assessment was the method used for the present study (FAO/IDF, 2004;Horchner et al., 2006). Literature review, farms visits, interviews, informal questionnaires and confirmation on site of the gathered information were the prerequisites of the study. Four flow diagrams in SA and three in Benin were drawn to describe the 11 steps relating the activities of the seven types of dairy farming systems recorded altogether in these countries (FAO/IDF, 2004,McCrindle, 2007). From the flow diagrams, almost three groups of 30 potential hazards were identified. Biological, chemical and physical hazards were characterized and their effects described according to the source, pathways, mechanisms, of water pollution. It was noticed that water use during farming activities is linked to the number of animals and is an important factor to qualify the magnitude of the risk of water pollution. Critical Control Points (CCPs) were identified. In SA, national legislation includes legal prerequisites for commercial dairy farming systems (SA GOVERNMENT 2005, 2006, 2007). Although water resources policies, strategies, legislation and management are strongly established, their implementation does not clearly include dairy by-products. In Benin dairy production strategy and development started in 2000. Basic legislation relating water resources is being updated. In commercial farming systems (F1 and F2 in SA), F7 in Benin, biological and chemical potential hazards are the main threat to water quality. Direct or indirect source of contamination due to manure, feces, urine, chemicals and stock remedies, waste water, occurs through husbandry practices (milking), pasture and housing. In SA, farmers are aware of International dairy standards, norms and practices such as GAP, GMP and GHP even if the practices are not completely respected. HACCP is not well yet well implemented at producer level althougth some commercial dairy processors have started the implementation of the system (FEDICS, 2004, CEBENOR, 2007). Environmental care (CCP11 and CCP12) are the main critical control points recorded which are not mitigated by the national legislation in both countries. In regard to traditional farming systems (F3, F4) and in SA, (F5, F6) in Benin, national legislation does not include prerequisites for biological and physical hazards; these are the main threat of water pollution and are due to direct or indirect contamination through drinking and grazing. Chemical hazards are not important because inputs of stock remedies are low in these systems. Farmers are not aware of International dairy standards, norms and practices such as GAP, GMP and GHP which are fairly respected. HACCP is unknown at producer level. CCPs relating animal treatment and care are partly mitigated by the national legislation. Stock remedies, drugs residues and Pharmaceuticals are controlled in both countries although Benin faces the introduction of uncontrolled veterinary drugs through illegal frontiers. The majority of the CCPs are not completely mitigated by national legislation for traditional dairy farms in both countries. / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Paraclinical Sciences / unrestricted

When a choice model fails, the standard economics exercise is to weaken one assumption at a time to study what has changed. This is often accompanied by the understanding that future work will relax multiple assumptions simultaneously in order to explain actual behavior. This dissertation does exactly that, and by studying seemingly independent behavioral anomalies as related to one another we obtain new insights about why behavior departs from standard models. Chapter 1 studies how violations of structural assumptions like expected utility and exponential discounting can be connected to reference dependent preferences with set-dependent reference points, even if behavior conforms with these assumptions when the reference is fixed. This is done with the introduction of a unified framework under which both general rationality (WARP) and domain-specific structural postulates (e.g., Independence for risk preference, Stationarity for time preference) are jointly relaxed using a systematic reference dependence approach. The framework allows us to study risk, time, and social preferences collectively, where behavioral departures from WARP and structural postulates are explained by a common source—changing preferences due to reference dependence. In our setting, reference points are given by a linear order that captures the relevance of each alternative in becoming the reference point and affecting preferences. In turn, they determine the domain-specific preference parameters for the underlying choice problem (e.g., utility functions for risk, discount factors for time). Chapter 2, a joint work with Silvio Ravaioli, conducts an empirical test for one of the models in Chapter 1. It studies how the introduction of a very safe or very risky option affects risk attitude. In a laboratory experiment, we find that adding safer options increases displayed risk aversion, and it does so even when the added options are not chosen. This finding is robust across participants and treatments (e.g., degenerate and non-degenerate safe options). By contrast, we find that the addition of risky options does not result in a detectable change in risk attitude. Our results are in line with Chapter 1’s Avoidable Risk Expected Utility model. Chapter 3 studies choices over time, which allows us to study anomalies “at a given time” and “across time” as related to one another. This is achieved by studying how past choices affect future choices in the framework of attention. Limited attention has been proposed as an explanation for the failure of “rationality”, where better options are not chosen because the decision maker has failed to consider them. We investigate this idea in a setting where (1) the observable are sequences of choices and (2) the decision makers are aware of the alternatives they chose in the past when they face future choice sets. This provides a link between two kinds of rationality violations: those that occur in a cross section of one-shot decisions and those that occur within a sequence of realized choices. Unlike the former, the frequency of the latter is naturally bounded, and their occurrence helps pin down preferences whenever a standard model of limited attention cannot.

No description available.

The old water system in Sala, formerly belonging to thesilver mine, is analysed with regard to dam safety focusing onthe hydrological aspects. The hydrological safety of the riskclass I dams in the area, built in the 16th century, is notconsidered adequate according to the Swedish guidelines fordesign flood determination. A review is made of internationalprinciples for design flood determination. The overview showsthat there is no common principle used internationally whendealing with design flood for dams. In some countries there isan ambition to implement risk assessment for evaluation ofhydrological safety. However, at present Australia is the onlycountry that has fully integrated risk assessment in theirdesign flood guidelines. A risk assessment of the water systemin Sala shows that neither increasing the spillway capacity norimplementing flood mitigation measures in the watershed haveany significant effect on dam safety in the area. Nothingindicates that watersheds with a high presence of mires, likein the Sala case, should be particularly well suited forimplementing flood mitigation in the watershed as a dam safetymeasure. In order to safely handle the design flood in Sala andavoid dam failure due to overtopping the flood needs to bediverted from the water system. <b>Key words:</b>dam safety; design flood; flood mitigation;hydrological; risk assessment

The market for community properties is a relatively new market for private investors. Previously, local governments usually owned these properties. The demands for community properties from property companies and institutions have increased over the past 10 years and an increasing number of local governments are selling their properties. One popular type of community property is elderly accommodations. This study aims to provide an overview of the greatest risks concerning elderly accommodations in comparison with office buildings and rental housing properties according to different operators. The study is based on a qualitative approach and information has mainly been obtained through interviews with ten operators. Elderly accommodations are generally viewed upon as a safe segment since they usually have long leases, often with a municipality, which is considered to be a very safe tenant. Investing in such properties is therefore often compared to buying a bond. The view on what is the greatest risk differs between the operators. According to most operators the greatest risk is in the residual value by the end of the lease contract. Yet we have not reached the end of the long contracts since these properties became popular on the market about 10 years ago. The residual value is mostly influenced by the political risk, the location and the alternative use of the property. This differs from office properties that are more dependent on the economic situation and rental residual places that are more dependent on the location than elderly accommodation properties. Research show that there have been changes in what the elderly demand in their living environment. Despite that most operators believe that changes in preferences will not have a substantial impact on the segment and that elderly accommodation properties is a safe product. / Marknaden för samhällsfastigheter är en relativt ny marknad för privata aktörer. Tidigare ägdes fastigheterna oftast av kommuner och landsting. Efterfrågan på samhällsfastigheter från fastighetsbolag och institutioner har ökat under de senaste 10 åren och allt fler kommuner och landsting säljer av sina fastigheter. En populär typ av samhällsfastigheter är äldreboenden. Denna studie syftar till att ge en bild av vilka risker som är de största för äldreboenden i jämförelse med kontor- och hyresbostadsfastigheter enligt olika aktörer. Studien bygger på en kvalitativ metod och information har främst inhämtats genom intervjuer med tio olika aktörer. Äldreboenden ses generellt som ett säkert segment i och med att de vanligtvis har långa hyresavtal, ofta med en kommun vilket anses vara en mycket säker hyresgäst. Att investera i en sådan fastighet jämförs därför ibland med att köpa en obligation. Synen på vad som är den största risken skiljer sig mellan aktörerna. Enligt de flesta är den största risken restvärdet vid kontraktstidens slut. Än har vi inte nått till de långa hyreskontraktens slut sedan äldreboenden blev populära på marknaden. Risken för restvärdet är långsiktig efterfrågan på fastigheten vilket främst påverkas av den politiska risken, läget samt fastighetens alternativanvändning. Detta skiljer sig från kontorsfastigheter som styrs mer av konjunktur och hyresbostadsfastigheter som är mer lägesberoende. Forskning visar att det har skett förändringar i vad de äldre efterfrågar i sitt boende. Trots detta tror de flesta aktörer att förändrade preferenser inte kommer att ha en allt för stor påverkan på segmentet och att äldreboenden är en säker investering.

Drilled foundations are often considered to be a standard method of installation of steel core piles and similar foundation components in sensitive environments such as urban areas where other common technologies such as stranding or diging cannot be applied. Much research has been made in the area of how the piles interact in the clay. BESAB, who are specialists within underpinning, have observed that it takes time for a house to settle after an underpinning. There are uncertainties when it comes to how the house adapts to an underpinning. During interviews experts have given many different possible explanations but it seems to be a lack of knowledge in the area. All agree that it takes a couple of years for a house to adapt to an underpinning. The recommendation is to wait at least 2 years before proceed with the work in the house. In the project that has been studied in this research, precision leveling points have been measured 2-3 times a week to monitor the settlements throughout the project. The measurements have shown a greater settlement on the street level than in the basement, 2 floors down from the street level during the same amount of time which lead to the question: What are the effects of underpinning in a house? The major reason for that settlement has occurred in the area is that the foundation, consisting of wooden piles, has lost its carrying capacity due to the lowered ground water level. During underpinning the house is mostly affected by dynamic forces. The structure gets temporary weakened when holes are made in walls for beams and drilling is made in already sensitive foundation. The fixated parts of the structure, where the load transferring elements are already installed between the pile and the structure, can get locally loaded when drilling is made in adjacent areas. After underpinning the house with its weight is settling on the piles. The house has to adapt to a new mode of action. This can be done either by just leaving the house and wait for the piles to take load and get compressed or by pre-load the piles with the expected final load of the house to avoid the time for the compression of the piles. The greatest risk linked to this phenomenon is that new cracks can occur due to post settlements and in worst case in an elevator shaft or in the water proofing in bathrooms or kitchen. If renovation work starts before the house have stopped settle than the risk is big that cracks will occur in the newly renovated areas resulting in that the renovation have to be re-done. 4 Effective communication is essential to assess risks involved with an underpinning and to avoid tensions between actors involved in an underpinning project if damage due to post settlement will occur. The problem investigated in this report is translated in to Kuhn’s theory on science the beginning of the crisis. Further research is required to develop the empirics in to theory. Accurate measurements must be collected and these must be processed in mathematical statistics. Models must be built and existing theories within structural- and geotechnical engineering must be studied in further depth to be able to state a new paradigm in this area.