Health Sciences Centre (HSC) in Winnipeg is the major healthcare facility serving Manitoba, Northwestern Ontario, and Nunavut. An evaluation of HSC’s adult surgical patient flow revealed that one major barrier to smooth flow was their Operating Room (OR) scheduling system. This thesis presents a new two-stage elective OR scheduling system for HSC, which generates weekly OR schedules that reduce artificial variability in order to facilitate smooth patient flow. The first stage reduces day-to-day variability while the second stage reduces variability occurring within a day. The scheduling processes in both stages are mathematically modelled as multi-objective optimization problems. An attempt was made to solve both models using lexicographic goal programming. However, this proved to be an unacceptable method for the second stage, so a new multi-objective genetic algorithm, Nondominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II – Operating Room (NSGAII-OR), was developed. Results indicate that if the system is implemented at HSC, their surgical patient flow will likely improve. / October 2008

This study is about the child’s perspective when it comes to work with financial assistance. The purpose of the study was partly to describe how social workers regard the child’s perspective in their work with financial assistance and partly to look into whether they impose a child’s perspective in their practical work. To fulfill this purpose the authors used a quantitative method and sent out a web based survey to all the social workers actively working with financial assistance in Stockholm town. This study is based on the results of 93 replies. The results show that the social workers believe to a great extent that they have an understanding for the child’s perspective. They also claim to practice the child’s perspective to a relatively great extent. The social workers are less inclined to acknowledge the principle of children’s right to make themselves heard. According to the Convention on the Rights of Children as well as Swedish law children have the right, when it comes to matters that involve them, to express their opinion and have it taken into consideration, with regards to their age and maturity, but in the financial assistance procedure that right is not being met

In Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own the narrator clearly expresses her rage and resentment exposing the absence and exclusion of women through history and she also focuses on the unfair position of women in her contemporary society. The narrator encourages women to emancipate themselves and to be aware of the idiosyncratic nature of society that restricts them to the private sphere. The aim of this paper is to offer a different interpretation of A Room of One’s Own and demonstrate how Woolf excludes contemporary working-class women from partaking in her feminist message. In order to demonstrate the exclusion of working-class women three major perspectives have been integrated throughout the text: readings of A Room of One’s Own, a historical aspect including classism, and the significance of Woolf’s biographical background. My analysis highlights Woolf’s unintentional class bias, her ladylike manner, and the centrality of financial independence in A Room of One’s Own and displays how these features entail the exclusion of working-class women. The conclusion demonstrates that the amalgamation of the three perspectives mentioned above provides a nuanced and critical reading of A Room of One’s Own.

Case study on teaching Mandarin learning-area in resource rooms in elementary school Abstract This study adopted case study approach to observe on-site two elementary resource room teachers in teaching Mandarin learning-area. Further, through class observation, formal/informal interviews, and the researcher¡¦s reflections, the teachers¡¦ practices of teaching methods, teaching content analysis, curriculum planning, teaching priority setting, preparation, and other teaching related factors were discussed. Data were analyzed according to the subjects of the content. The major findings are as follows: 1. In case A, the teacher had outstanding performance on game-oriented teaching. The interaction between the teacher and students was natural and energetic. The fun-way teaching method lighted up the class atmosphere and improved students¡¦ learning effect; children were willing to actively participate in the learning process when encouraged by incentive system. 2. In case B, the teacher effectively guided students to summarizing main points, often using spiral curriculum to connect one teaching subject to another. Children learned through down-to-earth teaching steps, and the learning results were presented through an item-by-item writing mode from the teacher. 3. The teacher of case A extended the teaching content with a broad variety and diversity while the teacher of case B wrapped up teaching highlights in every respect. Both teachers combined the textbooks with the information and knowledge of other fields, thereby effectively intensifying and broadening students¡¦ learning. Thus, they helped enrich the students¡¦ everyday knowledge and views. 4. The teacher of case A focused on the learning of Mandarin characters, phonetics, interpretation, phrase usage, and sentence making. The goal was to strengthen students¡¦ basic abilities. The teacher of case B stressed on cultivation of students¡¦ listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills. Both teachers followed their selected teaching curriculum programs in line with their pre-set teaching priorities. 5. Both teachers designed learning worksheets in conjunction with the teaching content to help students practice repeatedly in the learning process. They also individually taught and guided special students. Keywords: Resource room, Mandarin learning-area, case study

A Study of Current Operation of Resource Rooms of Public Elementary Schools in Kaohsiung Abstract The aim of this study is to explore the achievement of current operation of resource rooms of public elementary schools in Kaohsiung city, and the impact of education reform by Ministry of Education in Taiwan on resource rooms. A total of 20 teachers from unclassified resource rooms in 20 schools respectively were interviewed through six types of unsturctrued questions. The results of interview indicate 1) a majority of these 20 teachers are females under 40 with bachelor degrees, who were either graduated from departments of special education in Teachers¡¦ College or had received non degree programs of special education, 2) methods or the courses adopted for those who need special education were basically supportive with 4-6 hours a week of regular extra-course in resource rooms. Final grades of students¡¦ performance were a compromise among teachers of both general classrooms and resource rooms, 3) improvement of students¡¦ learning and behavior is the advantage of the resource rooms, while the possible labeling effect is the disadvantage, 4) difficulties or limitations lie in the enrollment of unclassified handicap students and in the extra work load on the teachers of recourse rooms, 5) promotion of resource rooms is based on suggestions from students¡¦ parents, teachers, as well as guidelines of education reform by Ministry of Education in Taiwan, and 6) teachers of resource rooms believed that education reform careated more impact on the learning of resource room students in general classes than on course operation in resource rooms. Key words: Resource room of public elementary school, Kaohsiung city

In recent years, the demand for higher cleanliness and air quality control of the indoor environment is increasing especially during the manufacturing process. Although different design standards and codes were adapted worldwide, the air flow pattern analysis still dominates the design process. The parameters affecting the design process were cross-examined, including the air change rate, clean room sizes and layout, air supply and exhaust ports layout, unbalanced supply and exhaust air volume (QR=1.2QS), until system optimization is achieved. Furthermore, FFU system with 0.46m/s air speed was identified to be appropriate for injection module designs. In order not to increase manufacturing cost, the FFU can be design with three-fiered speed control to provide energy efficiency with space flexibility. However, in low-speed operation, the slightly positive pressure cannot be maintained properly and should be avoided to operate in unconditioned rooms.

Transparent InO (Indium oxide) thin-film transistors fabricated by reactive ratio frequency (rf) magnetron sputtering at room temperature were demonstrated on glass and plastic substrates. The resistivity, transmittance, X-ray diffraction pattern, and surface morphology of the films prepared at a 50% oxygen partial pressure were investigated, the resistivity and the average transmittance of the films were 4.2¡Ñ104 £[-cm and 87 %, respectively. In addition, Indium tin oxide (ITO) and silicon nitride (SiNX) thin films were used as the electrode and gate insulator. The resistivity and the average transmittance of ITO electrodes were 7¡Ñ10-4 £[-cm and 85%. On the other hand, the maximum leakage current of less than 10-9A/cm2 was obtained for the SiNX layer at an electric field of 1 MV/cm. For the InO TFT on glass substrate with 6 £gm channel length and 20 £gm channel width, the measured saturation mobility, threshold voltage, on/off ratio and subthreshold swing are 9.39V-1s-1, 1.5V, 2.2¡Ñ107and 0.5 V/decade. For the TFTs prepared on plastic substrate, the measured saturation mobility, threshold voltage, on/off ratio and subthreshold swing are 8.19V-1s-1, 1.83V, 1.43.¡Ñ106and 0.8 V/decade, respectively.

The existence of Room Temperature Ionic Liquids (RTILs) has been known for a long time, but only recently have they been pulled to the forefront of chemical research. This increase in attention can be attributed to a keen interest in their intrinsic properties for a wide variety of potential applications. RTILs have been used as alternative solvents for organic synthesis as well as catalysis, as well as supports for the purification or extraction of metals. Being ionic in nature and liquid at temperatures below 100°C, RTILs lend themselves to the electrochemist. As a result, they have been looked at for use in electrochemical systems such as high capacity batteries and supercapacitors. Due to their extremely high density of charge carriers relative to more well-known aqueous electrochemical systems, a new theoretical approach must be taken. Currently, a large gap exists between theoretical approaches and experimental results. The work contained within this thesis aims to provide insight into the interface between a RTIL and an electrified gold electrode.

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