Exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation is the single most important risk factor for skin cancers. The incidence and severity of skin cancers are on the rise in most parts of the world including Canada. Melanoma is the most aggressive form of skin cancer with a poor prognosis. It is possible to calculate the approximate time required to develop sunburn based on the skin type of an individual and the UV index of the region of residence. A tool was constructed for this purpose using various web technologies such as PHP and JavaScript. The tool was named SUNBUC as an acronym for Sun Burn Calculator. There were two phases of the study: 1. Usability testing and 2. A controlled trial, which was designed to test the impact of the tool on the sun protection behaviour of the respondents over a period of 3 months. The null hypothesis was that tailored information and response independent information has a similar impact on sun safety behaviour as measured by the frequency of usage of sun protection methods such as sunscreen. Ethics board approval was obtained for the study. The usability of the online survey and SUNBUC was tested on five respondents using the think-aloud method and evaluated using the System Usability Scale. The evaluation showed average usability and system modifications were made according to the findings of the think-aloud study. The controlled trial design consisted of the control group with 48 respondents and intervention group with 53 respondents. Post intervention survey responses were obtained from 46(96\%) and 48(91\%) respondents belonging to the control and intervention groups respectively. Having implemented SUNBUC, findings showed no significant difference between the respondents who used the tool and the control group in short-term sun protection behaviour. However, many respondents felt that SUNBUC gave them a sense of control over their behaviour, a proximal determinant of the behaviour itself as per the Theory of Planned Behaviour. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

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This thesis, "A Hypothetical Model for System Safety in Air Transportation," is addressed to an individual having a basic technical background and some familiarity with the air transportation system in the United States. The thesis identifies the need for the benefits to be obtained from a system-side program of safety activities. The organizational framework for implementation of a system safety program is presented as well as techniques of safety analysis.

Significant accidents are often related to the performance of a complex socio-technical system (enterprise) involving technology, people, organizations, processes, management and legislation. Approaches to identify factors that lead to accidents and then take them into account during the design, operation, maintenance and evolution of the socio-technical system (enterprise) are not well defined and not consistently utilized in practice. The emerging discipline of "enterprise engineering" provides an opportunity to apply an engineering approach to the design, operation, maintenance and evolution of enterprises to improve the likelihood of the enterprise achieving and maintaining its safety goals. The integration of design principles and approaches from the fields of systems engineering, safety engineering, management science and enterprise architecture into a Safety Enterprise Engineering (SEE) approach based on a consistent model of the enterprise provides the basis of the approach described in this thesis. A general process model for applying an enterprise engineering approach to safety management is defined. Design principles from nuclear industry best practice documents are identified and mapped to the general process model. The Fukushima nuclear accident that occurred in 2011 was used to identify weaknesses in current practices in the nuclear industry. These weaknesses were compared with best practices, as defined by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) documents, to identify the subset of weaknesses identified from the Fukushima accident that are also weaknesses within the IAEA set of best practices. The Safety Enterprise Engineering approach was applied to a slice of safety related functionality of a CANDU nuclear utility to demonstrate the degree to which the SEE approach overcomes weaknesses of both current practice and best practice within the nuclear industry. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

The rapidly increasing complexity of safety-critical embedded systems has been the cause of difficulty in assuring the safety of safety-critical embedded systems and managing their documentation. More specifically, current approaches to safety assurance are struggling to keep up with the complex relationships be- tween the ever growing number of components and the sheer amount of code underlying safety-critical embedded systems such as road vehicles. We believe that an approach to safety assurance able to cope with this complexity must: i) have sound mathematical foundations on which safety assurance can be built; and ii) provide a formal framework with precisely defined semantics in which the assurance can be represented. In doing this, assurance can be made less ad-hoc, more precise and more repeatable. Sound mathematical foundations also facilitate the creation of tools that automate many aspects of assurance, which will be invaluable in coping with the complexity of modern-day and future embedded systems. The model-based framework that achieves this is + Workflow . This framework is rigorous, developed on proven notations from model-based methodologies, comprehensively integrates assurance within the development activities, and provides the basis for more formal assurance cases. / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc)

Since 1990s, World Health Organization defines abortion as safe if it was done with a recommended method that was appropriate to the pregnancy duration and if the person providing the abortion was trained. In this study, we used a three-tiered categorization on abortion safety. Abortion is less safe if the pregnancy was terminated either by untrained individuals or under dangerous methods, and least safe if neither of the two criteria was met. We included all available empirical data on abortion methods, providers, and settings, and factors affecting safety as covariates to estimate the global, regional, and sub regional distributions of abortion by safety categories for the period 2010-2014. We applied a Bayesian hierarchical model with two regression submodels to estimate abortion safety. One submodel estimated safe proportions and the other one divided unsafe into less safe and least safe proportions. Country intercepts were included in both submodels and estimated using hierarchical models. Data sources were assigned varying levels of uncertainty or treated as minima or maxima to reflect quality of reporting. We constructed 90% highest density intervals as credible intervals to reflect uncertainty in final outcomes. We carried out model selection using information criteria. We examined model validation and carried out various checks to verify the sensitivity of reporting to prior distributions used and outlying countries. We found that the model was reasonably well calibrated and subregional estimates were not sensitive to outlying observations or prior choice. Of the 55· 7 million abortions that occurred worldwide each year between 2010–14, we estimated that 30·6 million (54·9%, 90% uncertainty interval 49·9–59·4) were safe, 17·1 million (30·7%, 25·5–35·6) were less safe, and 8·0 million (14·4%, 11·5–18·1) were least safe. The proportion of unsafe abortions was significantly higher in developing countries than developed countries, and significantly higher in countries with highly restrictive abortion laws than in those with less restrictive laws. In-depth assessments of data quality and factors affecting abortion safety in outlying countries may result in further model improvements.

This study examined the types of training that school principals currently have and perceive they need in order to effectively address school safety and respond to crisis events. Elementary, middle, and high school principals across the Commonwealth of Virginia were surveyed utilizing an adjusted version of the School Safety Needs Training Survey constructed by the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services Virginia Center for School Safety. Out of the total 1,791 surveys sent out, 648 surveys were returned, resulting in a 36 percent response rate. Analyses of Variances (ANOVA) and descriptive statistics were run on the data, and Bonferroni post hoc tests for significance were conducted in order to examine differences in the perceived training needs of principals based on level of administration. Findings indicated that principals had the most training on the school safety topics of medical emergencies, managing bomb threats, and responding to crisis incidents. Principals at the elementary, middle, and high school levels all reported that they needed more training in the area of dealing with disruptive and assaultive students and intervening with angry and abusive parents and family members. Significant differences were found between elementary and middle school principals and elementary and high school principals. Findings indicate that middle and high school principals were more concerned with receiving training on topics that dealt with violent and criminal activity than elementary school principals. / Ed. D.

It is important for highway agencies to monitor the pavement friction periodically and systematically to support their safety management programs. The collected data can help implement preservation policies that improve the safety of the roadway network and decrease the number of skidding-related crashes. This dissertation introduces new approaches to effectively use tire-pavement friction data for supporting asset management decisions. It follows a manuscript format and is composed of five papers. The first chapter of the dissertation discusses the principles of tire pavement friction and surface texture. Methods for measuring friction and texture are further discussed in this chapter. The importance of friction in safety design of highways is also highlighted. The second chapter discusses a case study on developing pavement friction management program. The proposed approach in this chapter can be used by highways agencies to develop pavement friction management program. Contrary to general perception, that friction is only influencing wet condition crashes, this study indicated that friction is associated with both wet and dry condition crashes. The third and fourth chapters of the dissertation introduce a soft-computing approach for pavement friction management. Artificial Neural Network and Fuzzy Logic approach are presented. The learning ability of Neural Network makes it appealing as it can learn from examples; however, Neural Network is generally complicated and hard to understand for practical purposes. The Fuzzy system on the other hand is easy to understand. The advantage of Fuzzy system over Artificial Neural Network is that it uses linguistic and human like rules. Sugeno Neuro-Fuzzy approach is used to tune the proposed Fuzzy Logic model. Neuro-Fuzzy approach has the benefit of incorporating both 'learning ability' of neural network and human ruled based decision making aspect of fuzzy logics. The application of the fuzzy system in real-time slippery spot warning system is demonstrated in chapter five. Finally, the sixth chapter of the dissertation evaluates the potential of grinding and grooving technique to restore friction properties of the pavement. Once sleek spots are identified through pavement friction management program, this technique can be used to restore the friction without compromising the roadway smoothness. / Ph. D.