Shift work is a work schedule being the opposite of normal daytime work, often defined as working time outside normal daytime hours (06:00 to 18:00). In recent years, shift work has been associated with an increased risk of numerous chronic conditions including for example cardiovascular disease, some types of cancer, type II diabetes, and the metabolic syndrome. While some studies on the association between shift work and chronic disease have found results supporting it, others have not. Therefore, more research is needed to clarify potential associations.The aim of this thesis was to further study the proposed association between shift work and cardiovascular disease. This was addressed by performing two studies, one analysing if shift workers had an increased risk of ischemic stroke compared to day workers. The other study analysed whether shift workers had an increased risk of short-term mortality (case fatality) after a myocardial infarction compared to day workers. The studies were performed using logistic regression analysis in two different case-control databasesThe findings from the first study indicated that shift workers did not have an increased risk of ischemic stroke. The findings from the second study showed that male shift workers had an increased risk of death within 28 days after a myocardial infarction; the results did not indicate an increased risk for female shift workers. The results from both studies were adjusted for both behavioural and medical risk factors without affecting the results. The findings from this thesis provide new evidence showing that male shift workers have an increased risk of death 28 days after a myocardial infarction, however more research is needed to clarify and characterise any such potential associations.

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Tidigare studier berör främst funktion, praktik, innehåll och relevans i den muntliga rapporten. När det gäller omvårdnad i den muntliga rapporten hittades ingen vetenskaplig litteratur. Författarna i den här studien anser att omvårdnad är lika viktig som medicinen i patientvården. Syftet är att belysa omvårdnad i den muntliga rapporten mellan sjuksköterskor. En observationsstudie utfördes på sex avdelningar på ett sjukhus i Skaraborg. Data spelades in på band för att transkriberas, analyseras och tolkas. Resultatet visar att omvårdnad förekommer i den muntliga rapporten mellan sjuksköterskor genom sex huvudteman och tio underteman. Det rapporterades om patienternas tillstånd, vilka åtgärder sjuksköterskorna utfört och vad sjuksköterskorna som skulle påbörja sitt arbetspass skulle tänka på och göra under sitt skift. Studien tolkar att den information som sjuksköterskor delar med varandra under en rapport är omvårdnad då den möjliggör en god patientvård. / Prior studies mainly concern the function, practice, content and relevance of the shift report. When it comes to care in the shift report no scientific literature were found. The authors of this study consider care to be just as important as medicine in the patient care. The aim of this study is to shed light on care in the nurse-to-nurse shift report. An observational study was carried out in six divisions at a hospital. The data was recorded on tape to be transcribed, analyzed and interpreted. The results imply, through categorization into six main themes and ten sub themes, that care is evident during the nurse-to-nurse shift report. Patient’s condition and which actions the nurses had executed were reported, as well as what the nurses, who were about to start their work shift, had to perform and keep in mind. The information being shared in the nurse-to-nurse shift report is in this study interpreted as care seeing that it make a good patient care possible.

Syftet med studien var att beskriva ambulanspersonalens självskattning/upplevelse av smärta i rygg, leder och muskler samt sömn, vila och återhämtning. Ytterligare ett syfte var att undersöka om det finns några skillnader i nämnda besvär relaterat till kön och yrkeskategori. Data samlades in med enkäter och personal vid fyra ambulansstationer i Mellansverige deltog i studien. Sammanlagt delades 110 enkäter ut och 89 enkäter besvarades (svarsfrekvens 81 %). Resultatet avseende själskattad smärta visade att 53 personer (59,6 %) uppgav att de hade haft ländryggsbesvär de senaste 12 månaderna. Trettionio personer (43,6 %) uppgav nacksmärta de senaste12 månaderna. Tjugonio personer (32,6 %) uppgav skuldra/axelsmärta. Resultatet visade ingen statistisk signifikant skillnad mellan kön och yrkeskategorier. Resultatet avseende sömn visade att 72 personer (81 %) upplevde att de sov ganska bra till mycket bra. Cirka hälften av de 89 deltagarna 53 % uppgav att de kunde återhämta sig efter varje arbetspass och under lediga perioder uppgav 49 personer (55 %) att de kunde återhämta sig i stort sett varje period. Resultatet visade ingen statistisk signifikant skillnad mellan kön eller yrkeskategorier när det gällde smärt – och sömnbesvär. Slutsats: För att förbättra arbetsmiljön för ambulanspersonal bör åtgärder inriktas mot belastningsergonomiska faktorer i arbetet. / The purpose of the study was to describe the ambulance personnel’s self-assessment/experiences of pain in the back, joints and muscles as well as sleep, rest and recovery. A further aim was to investigate whether there are any differences in the problems related to gender and profession. Data were collected with questionnaires, and personnel at four ambulance stations in central Sweden participated in the study. A total of 110 questionnaires were distributed, and the overall response rate was 81 %. The results for soul-rated pain showed that 53 persons (59, 6 %) reported low back pain in the last 12 months. Thirty-nine persons (43, 6 %) reported neck pain the past 12 months. Twenty-nine persons (32, 6 %) reported shoulder/shoulder pain. The results show no statistically significant difference between gender and occupational categories. The results showed that 72 persons (81 %) experience that they slept pretty good to very good. Approximately half of the 89 participants, 53 % reported they could recover after each session and during her free period reported 49 persons (55 %) experience that they could recover almost every period. The results show no statistically significant difference between gender or occupational categories regarding. Conclusion: To improve the work environment for ambulance personnel, measures should be focused on load and strain ergonomic factors.

Syfte: Syftet är att med hjälp av två projektutvärderingsmodellerna studera två olika projekt och se hur dessa fungerar i praktiken samt komma fram till vilka beståndsdelar en adekvat samt välfungerande projektutvärdering bör innehålla. Metod: Jag har valt en kvalitativ metodansats där fem intervjuer har genomförts för att nå djupare förståelse för det valda ämnet. Intervjuerna har varit semistrukturerade i sitt slag då jag har använt mig av två olika utvärderingsmodeller som utgångspunkt i intervjuprocessen. Resultat och slutsats: Det fanns vissa skillnader samt likheter mellan de två utvärderingsmodellerna vilka jag har redogjort för och därefter har jag tydliggjort de delar som jag anser att en utvärderingsmodell bör bestå av för att fungera på ett adekvat sätt. De huvudsakliga punkter som jag kom fram till var; val av utvärderingsinriktning, tidpunkt för utvärderingsarbetet, typ av frågeställningar, utvärderingspart samt anledningen till utvärdering. Förslag på fortsatt forskning: Det skulle vara intressant att utvärdera ett enda projekt med hjälp av båda utvärderingsmodellerna för att på ett tydligare sätt se skillnaderna mellan Reflectmetodiken och Åttapunktsprogrammet. Förslag på andra val av fortsatt forskning är en mer djupgående analys av Reflectmetodikens olika fokusområden samt deras placeringar och viktningar på Reflectus positioneringskarta. Uppsatsens bidrag: Jag hoppas att min studie kan bidra till en ökad förståelse för begreppet projektutvärdering samt framhäva vikten av denna process och dessutom bidra till fortsatt forskning inom mitt valda ämne.

In this master thesis, the problem of tracking groups using an image sequence dataset is examined. Target tracking can be defined as the problem of estimating a target's state given prior knowledge about its motion and some sensor measurements related to the target's state. A popular method for target tracking is e.g. the Kalman filter. However, the Kalman filter is insufficient when there are multiple targets in the scene. Consequently, alternative multitarget tracking methods must be applied along with methods for estimating the number of targets in the scene. Multitarget tracking can however be difficult when there are many unresolved targets, e.g. associating observations with targets in dense crowds. A viable simplification is group target tracking, keeping track of groups rather than individual targets. Furthermore, group target tracking is preferred when the user wants to know the motion and extension of a group in e.g. evacuation scenarios. To solve the problem of group target tracking in video surveillance, a combination of GM-PHD filtering and mean shift clustering is proposed. The GM-PHD filter is an approximation of Bayes multitarget filter. Pedestrian detections converted into flat world coordinates from the image dataset are used as input to the filter. The output of the GM-PHD filter consists of Gaussian mixture components with corresponding mean state vectors. The components are divided into groups by using mean shift clustering. An estimate of the number of members and group shape is presented for each group. The method is evaluated using both single camera measurements and two cameras partly surveilling the same area. The results are promising and present a nice visual representation of the groups' characteristics. However, using two cameras gives no improvement in performance, probably due to differences in detections between the two cameras, e.g. a single pedestrian can be observed being at two positions several meters apart making it difficult to determine if it is a single pedestrian or multiple pedestrians.

<p>An on-line identifier using Functional Link Network (FLN) and Pole-shift (PS) controller for power system stabilizer (PSS) application are presented in this thesis. To have the satisfactory performance of the PSS controller, over a wide range of operating conditions, it is desirable to adapt PSS parameters in real time. Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) transform the inputs in a low-dimensional space to high-dimensional nonlinear hidden unit space and they have the ability to model the nonlinear characteristics of the power system. The ability of ANNs to learn makes them more suitable for use in adaptive control techniques.</p> <p>On-line identification obtains a mathematical model at each sampling period to track the dynamic behavior of the plant. The ANN identifier consisting of a Functional link Network (FLN) is used for identifying the model parameters. A FLN model eliminates the need of hidden layer while retaining the nonlinear mapping capability of the neural network by using enhanced inputs. This network may be conveniently used for function approximation with faster convergence rate and lesser computational load.</p> <p>The most commonly used Pole Assignment (PA) algorithm for adaptive control purposes assign the pole locations to fixed locations within the unit circle in the z-plane. It may not be optimum for different operating conditions. In this thesis, PS type of adaptive control algorithm is used. This algorithm, instead of assigning the closed-loop poles to fixed locations within the unit circle in the z-plane, this algorithm assumes that the pole characteristic polynomial of the closed-loop system has the same form as the pole characteristic of the open-loop system and shifts the open-loop poles radially towards the centre of the unit circle in the z-plane by a shifting factor &alpha; according to some rules. In this control algorithm, no coefficients need to be tuned manually, so manual parameter tuning (which is a drawback in conventional power system stabilizer) is minimized. The PS control algorithm uses the on-line updated ARMA parameters to calculate the new closed-loop poles of the system that are always inside the unit circle in the z-plane.</p> <p>Simulation studies on a single-machine infinite bus and on a multi-machine power system for various operating condition changes, verify the effectiveness of the combined model of FLN identifier and PS control in damping the local and multi-mode oscillations occurring in the system. Simulation studies prove that the APSSs have significant benefits over conventional PSSs: performance improvement and no requirement for parameter tuning.</p>

Till recently, no significant attempts have been made of developing Aircraft Based Augmentation System (ABAS) architectures capable of generating integrity signals suitable for safety-critical GNSS applications and no commercial ABAS products are available at present. The aim of this research is to support the design a system that generates integrity signals suitable for GNSS application. The conceptual design and key mathematical models were recently developed by the Italian Air Force Experimental Flight Test Centre (CSV-RSV) [1, 2]. Such a system, would be able to provide steering information to the pilot, allowing for real-time and continuous integrity monitoring, avoidance of safety/mission-critical flight conditions and fast recovery of the required navigation performance in case of GNSS data losses. The key elements addressed in this thesis are the development of a CATIA model for military and civil aircraft, supporting antenna obscuration and multipath analysis. This is to allow the ABAS system to generate suitable integrity flags when satellites signals are lost. In order to analyse the GNSS signal loss causes, the GNSS constellation models, the flight dynamics models, fading models, multipath models, Doppler shift models, and GNSS receiver tracking technology previously developed by CSV-RSV, are considered in this research.

Problem: Many individuals with chronic illnesses such as stroke and ongoing activity limitations report self-perceived health related quality of life (HRQL) that is similar to that of healthy individuals. This phenomenon is termed response shift (RS). RS describes how people change: internal standards in assessing HRQL (recalibration), values (reprioritization), or how they define HRQL (reconceptualization), after an event such as stroke. Changes in HRQL post stroke may be inaccurate if RS is not taken into account. Increased knowledge of RS may affect the way in which HRQL measures are used, both clinically and in research. The overall objective was to assess RS in construct specific HRQL models post stroke: physical function, mental health, and participation. Methods: Data were analysed from the longitudinal study “Understanding Quality of Life Post-Stroke: A Study of Individuals and their Caregivers”. Six-hundred and seventy- eight persons with stroke at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months post stroke participated. Generic and stroke specific HRQL measures were collected. Descriptive analysis was completed with SAS, and identification of RS utilized structural equation modeling with LISREL. Results: Mean age of participants was 67 years (SD 14.8), and 45% were female. RS was identified in mental health using a framework which was developed for identifying RS statistically with multiple time points. RS was also identified in physical function where it had not been expected, possibly due to the self perceived nature of the response options. The effect size of change in physical function was affected by the presence of RS. The timing of RS in mental health and physical function was primarily around the 12 month time period, and predominantly recalibration RS. RS was also identified in participation. Conclusions: The framework that was developed was useful in identifying RS and incorporated important issues such as multiple testing and validation of the model. The presence of RS affects measurement of HRQL constructs post stroke; recalibration RS can be measured clinically with specific methods to account for RS. RS should also be measured in research studies to ensure accurate measurement of change. Future research should evaluate additional models in stroke and other populations. / October 2008

<p>An on-line identifier using Functional Link Network (FLN) and Pole-shift (PS) controller for power system stabilizer (PSS) application are presented in this thesis. To have the satisfactory performance of the PSS controller, over a wide range of operating conditions, it is desirable to adapt PSS parameters in real time. Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) transform the inputs in a low-dimensional space to high-dimensional nonlinear hidden unit space and they have the ability to model the nonlinear characteristics of the power system. The ability of ANNs to learn makes them more suitable for use in adaptive control techniques.</p> <p>On-line identification obtains a mathematical model at each sampling period to track the dynamic behavior of the plant. The ANN identifier consisting of a Functional link Network (FLN) is used for identifying the model parameters. A FLN model eliminates the need of hidden layer while retaining the nonlinear mapping capability of the neural network by using enhanced inputs. This network may be conveniently used for function approximation with faster convergence rate and lesser computational load.</p> <p>The most commonly used Pole Assignment (PA) algorithm for adaptive control purposes assign the pole locations to fixed locations within the unit circle in the z-plane. It may not be optimum for different operating conditions. In this thesis, PS type of adaptive control algorithm is used. This algorithm, instead of assigning the closed-loop poles to fixed locations within the unit circle in the z-plane, this algorithm assumes that the pole characteristic polynomial of the closed-loop system has the same form as the pole characteristic of the open-loop system and shifts the open-loop poles radially towards the centre of the unit circle in the z-plane by a shifting factor &alpha; according to some rules. In this control algorithm, no coefficients need to be tuned manually, so manual parameter tuning (which is a drawback in conventional power system stabilizer) is minimized. The PS control algorithm uses the on-line updated ARMA parameters to calculate the new closed-loop poles of the system that are always inside the unit circle in the z-plane.</p> <p>Simulation studies on a single-machine infinite bus and on a multi-machine power system for various operating condition changes, verify the effectiveness of the combined model of FLN identifier and PS control in damping the local and multi-mode oscillations occurring in the system. Simulation studies prove that the APSSs have significant benefits over conventional PSSs: performance improvement and no requirement for parameter tuning.</p>