Volume rendering (VRT) has been used with great success in studies of patients using computed tomography (CT), much because of the possibility of standardizing the rendering protocols. When using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), this procedure is considerably more difficult, since the signal from a given tissue can vary dramatically, even for the same patient. This thesis work focuses on how to improve the presentation of MRI data by using VRT protocols including standardized transfer functions. The study is limited to exclusively examining data from patients with suspected renal artery stenosis. A total number of 11 patients are examined. A statistical approach is used to standardize the volume rendering protocols. The histogram of the image volume is modeled as the sum of two gamma distributions, corresponding to vessel and background voxels. Parameters describing the gamma distributions are estimated with a Maximum-likelihood technique, so that expectation (E1 and E2) and standard deviation of the two voxel distributions can be calculated from the histogram. These values are used to generate the transfer function. Different combinations of the values from the expectation and standard deviation were studied in a material of 11 MR angiography datasets, and the visual result was graded by a radiologist. By comparing the grades, it turned out that using only the expectation of the background distribution (E1) and vessel distribution (E2) gave the best result. The opacity is then defined with a value of 0 up to a signal threshold of E1, then increasing linearly up to 50 % at a second threshold E2, and after that a constant opacity of 50 %. The brightness curve follows the opacity curve to E2, after which it continues to increase linearly up to 100%. A graphical user interface was created to facilitate the user-control of the volumes and transfer functions. The result from the statistical calculations is displayed in the interface and is used to view and manipulate the transfer function directly in the volume histogram. A transfer function generated with the Maximum-likelihood VRT method (ML-VRT) gave a better visual result in 10 of the 11 cases than when using a transfer function not adapting to signal intensity variations.

Orientador: Paulo Correa Lima / Dissertação (mestrado profissional) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Mecanica / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-10T02:07:53Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 SantosNeto_FaustoFerreirados_M.pdf: 2574451 bytes, checksum: e24cbfc7b809b1748a11da92aa5cca33 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006 / Resumo: Atualmente, numa economia globalizada, a sobrevivência das Empresas depende de suas habilidades e flexibilidades de inovar e efetuar melhorias continuas. Como resultado, as Empresas vem buscando incessantemente novas ferramentas de gerenciamento, que as direcionem para uma maior competitividade através da qualidade e produtividade. Este trabalho sugere um método para implementação de um Sistema de Manufatura Enxuta, numa empresa automobilística instalada no Brasil, que permita níveis mundiais de performance. Neste trabalho é feita uma revisão bibliográfica que engloba uma abordagem histórica do assunto e uma apresentação dos conceitos nos quais a Manufatura Enxuta está estruturado, além de ser apresentado um caso prático de implementação e abordagem gerencial, relatando seus estágios e os resultados obtidos. O que foi extremamente relevante é que esta implementação alcançou excelentes resultados, que foram obtidos sem investimentos em pessoal ou maquinários, mas apenas na no estudo e na implementação das ferramentas de manufatura enxuta Por fim, é feita uma análise relacionada a essa abordagem / Abstract: Nowadays, in the global economy, organizations survival depends on their capacity and flexibility to do continuous improvements, which take them to harder competitively through quality and productivity This work suggest a method for implementation, a Lean Manufacturing System, in an automobilist company installed in Brazil, that allow the company to reach a best industrial performance. This job is a bibliographic revision that inc1udes historic assumptions and presentation of concepts regarding lean manufacturing structure besides practice presentation and manager approach relating phases and results achieved. What was extremely relevant is that this implementation reached excellent results, which were obtained without investments in personal or machine, but only in the study or relocation of lay out and implementation of lean manufacturing tools. And the end it' s done related analyses of total approach / Mestrado / Planejamento e Gestão Estrategica da Manufatura / Mestre em Engenharia Mecânica

Due to the upcoming digitalization of the Swedish schools standardized national tests, the aim of this study is to compare the results of a reading comprehension test on paper versus on computer screen and to examine whether the results differ between boys and girls and between swedish and swedish as a second lanuague students, or not. Previous studies show inconclusive results, some show that students get higher results when taking a test on paper then on computer screen, some show that the results don’t differ between the two medias. In this study, the national test for course Svenska 1 (Swedish) and Svenska som andraspråk 1 (Swedish as a second language) from the autumn term 2011 was transformed into a digital test. 38 students in the 10th grade took the test and the results were then compared with the same students results on the following national test of the spring term 2016 which is given on paper. The results show that the scores between the digital test and the paperbased test don’t differ. The boys got equally lower scores than the girls in both the digital test and the paperbased test. The swedish as a second language students got lower scores than the swedish students. The results are discussed in relation to previous research by Ackerman and Lauterman (2012), Mangen, Walgermo and Brønnick (2013), Rasmusson (2014) , Pasquarella, Gottardo and Grant (2012) and Norman and Furnes (2016). / Med anledning av den kommande digitaliseringen av de nationella proven syftar denna studie till att undersöka om elevers resultat på läsförståelseprov skiljer sig åt beroende på om eleverna får provet på dator eller på papper. Studien undersöker även om provresultaten mellan pojkar och flickor samt svenska- och svenska som andraspråkselever skiljer sig åt. Tidigare forskning har gett splittrade resultat. Några studier har visat att elever får bättre resultat på ett pappersbaserat prov än på ett digitalt och några har visat att resultaten inte skiljer sig åt beroende på provformen. I denna studie användes det nationella läsförståelseprovet för kurserna Svenska 1 och Svenska som andraspråk 1, ett i digital och ett i pappersbaserad form. 38 elever i årskurs 1 på en gymnasieskola deltog i studien. Resultatet visade inte på någon skillnad mellan de båda provformerna utan att medelvärdet av delprovsresultaten var detsamma för proven. Pojkarna fick signifikant lägre resultat än flickorna på både det digitala och det pappersbaserade provet. Svenska som andraspråkseleverna fick lägre resultat än svenskeleverna. Resultatet diskuteras i relation till tidigare forskning av Ackerman och Lauterman (2012), Mangen, Walgermo och Brønnick (2013), Rasmusson (2014), Pasquarella, Gottardo och Grant (2012) och Norman och Furnes (2016).

Det aktuella examensarbetet utgår ifrån en genomförd förstudie som kartlagt brister i konsekvensutredning rörande företags kostnadseffekter vid regelgivning. Syftet med arbetet är att ta fram en modell för förbättrad kartläggning av population, den identifierade förbättringsmöjlighet som i enlighet med förstudien ses ha störst genomslagskraft på konsekvensutredningars övergripande kvalitet. Arbetet omfattar även utvecklandet av en plan för implementering. Det teoretiska ramverket för studien grundar sig på Demings förbättringskunskap och ideologin runt offensiv kvalitetsutveckling samt tillhörande hörnstensmodell. Den metod som användes för att lösa problemställningen grundar sig på en modifierad modell av en Plan-Do-Study-Act cykel som benämns som Check-Plan-Do. Undersökningen som genomförts och tillhörande resultat har genererat en applicerbar modell för förbättrad kartläggning av population. Resultatet svarar således mot det syfte som kännetecknar rapporten och skapar förbättrade förutsättningar för kartläggning av population genom utvecklandet av en standardiserad process. / The current bachelor thesis is based on an earlier pilot study that identified shortcomings in impact assessment regarding the company's cost effects in regulation. The purpose of the work is to develop a model for improved population mapping, the identified improvement potential which, according to the preliminary study, is seen to have the greatest impact on the overall quality of impact assessments. The work also includes the development of a plan for implementation. The theoretical framework for the study is based on Deming's profound knowledge and the ideology concerning total quality management and the associated cornerstone-model. To solve the problem a modified model of the Plan-Do-Study- Act cycle called Check-Plan-Do is used as methodology. The survey conducted and related results have generated an applicable model for improved population mapping. The result has corresponded to the purpose of the report and creates improved conditions for mapping the population through the development of a standardized process.

ABSTRACT This thesis represents a two phase, qualitative study using both Expert Review Panel and Delphi Panel research methods. The two research questions guiding this study were: 1) Phase I: What does culturally safe nursing practice mean, and how do we know when it is being practiced; and 2) Phase II: Can proposed culturally safe nursing practices be coded through use of International Classification for Nursing Practice (ICNP®) and/or Nursing Intervention Classification (NIC)? Originating from the field of nursing in New Zealand, there is interest in adopting cultural safety in Canada to support culturally safe nursing care for Canada’s Indigenous people (Canadian Nurses Association, 2009). A synthesis of the literature was conducted in Phase I of this study revealing six hallmarks of culturally safe nursing care. Those are: 1) Creating trust; 2) Relinquishing power over relationships; 3) Approaching people with respect; 4) Seeking permission; 5) Listening with your heart and ears; and 6) Attending to those who’s beliefs and practices differ. Representing culturally safe care of an Indigenous elder, a case scenario, developed by the principle investigator (PI), was presented to cultural safety experts (n=3) participating on an Expert Review Panel (ERP). The results of ERP showed that all six culturally safe nursing practices were represented in the case scenario. Validating that culturally safe nursing practices could be succinctly defined contributes to new knowledge, and most importantly informs nurses how to practice in a culturally safe nursing way. The purpose of using a Delphi panel method in Phase II was to see if culturally safe nursing practices in the case scenario could be represented in the ICNP® and NIC nursing languages by experts in those particular languages. To explore this two groups of subject matter experts in ICNP® (n=3) and NIC (n = 3) were invited to participate in separate Delphi panels. Overall, the Phase II Delphi panel results reflected the divergent way ICNP® and NIC are structured, in that terms alone do not provide enough contextual meaning to support clinical practice. The results of the ICNP® Delphi Panel showed that one ICNP® nursing intervention could represent culturally safe nursing care: Establishing Trust. Otherwise, the abstract composition of ICNP® terms affected the study results. The NIC Delphi panel results reflect the content and structure of NIC, and as such the experts identified the following four NIC nursing interventions that reflect culturally safe nursing care, they are: 1) Culture Brokerage, 2) Complex Relationship Building, 3) Emotional Support, and 4) Active Listening. Succinctly defining what nurses do is important; therefore, nursing languages need to be unambiguous, contextual so they are accurately and consistently documented. Validating culturally safe nursing practices exist—and further ensuring they are represented in standardized nursing languages and terminology sets and thus coded for use in an electronic health record (EHR)—ensures that culturally safe nursing care data is captured in the EHR. / Graduate

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(理学) / 甲第21578号 / 理博第4485号 / 新制||理||1644(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院理学研究科地球惑星科学専攻 / (主査)教授 余田 成男, 教授 秋友 和典, 准教授 石岡 圭一 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Science / Kyoto University / DGAM

Tillverkande företag kan stöta på hinder inom produktionsflödet. Dessa kan bero på kommunikationsbrister, problem med produktionsplaneringen eller någon annan typ av ledning, samt problem som uppstår på grund av varierande kapacitet i olika operationer inom företagets flöde. Syftet med detta arbete är därför att undersöka och identifiera organisatoriska utmaningar som kan finnas i ett tillverkande företags produktionsflöde. Målet med studien är att metodiskt och strukturerat belysa problem och dra upp dem till ytan. För att ta reda på de organisatoriska utmaningarna undersöktes produktionsflödet genom en specifik process på ett fallföretag, en härdningsprocess. Tillvägagångssättet för undersökningen som genomförts är en litteraturgenomgång som introducerar begreppet Lean Production, samt förstudier i form av åtta semistrukturerade intervjuer. Svaren från intervjuerna utgjorde grunden för en workshop som genomfördes med totalt 14 deltagare från företaget. Resultatet från undersökningen gjorde det tydligt att det finns förbättringspotential med avseende på många olika faktorer inom flödet. I dagsläget saknas en tydlig kommunikation om behov mellan olika processer före och efter härdning. Det resulterar i ett ojämnt flöde av produkter och behov av en tydligare planering i produktionsflödet. Resultatet av undersökningen utgör grunden till en föreslagen arbetsmetod på fallföretaget med syfte att minska eller eliminera de identifierade utmaningarna. Slutsatsen av studien blir således att de olika metoderna och modellerna inom Lean Production med fördel kan assistera fallföretaget i att hantera aktuella utmaningar samt synliggöra eventuella nya utmaningar. För att säkerställa att den framtagna arbetsmetoden fungerar på andra tillverkande företag krävs dock ytterligare forskning på fler företag. / Obstacles within production flows at manufacturing companies can occur. These obstacles may occur due to lack of communication, problems with the production planning department or some other leading function within the company, alternatively due to varying capacity of different operations in the production flow.  Because of these problems, the purpose of this thesis is to investigate and identify possible organizational challenges within the production flow of a manufacturing company. The objective with this analysis is to enlighten problems in a methodical and structured way. In order to identify the organizational challenges, the production flow through a specific process at a case company is being analyzed, a curing process. A literature review introducing Lean Production, as well as eight semi-structured interviews, was the beginning of the methodology. To answer the purpose of the thesis, a workshop with 14 participants from the company was held, and the interview answers formed the base for the workshop.  Results of the study shows that the production flow has a few areas that are in need of some improvements. Today, the company is lacking a clear communication of needs between some processes before and after the curing process. The results of this is an uneven product flow and the need for clearer, short term planning within the production flow. Results of the study will be implemented in the working method at the case company, with the purpose to reduce or eliminate the identified challenges.  Outcomes of this thesis are methods and models within Lean Production that could assist the case company in addressing existing challenges as well as identifying future challenges. In order to ensure that the suggested method is applicable by other manufacturing companies, further research of more companies is needed.

I ABSTRACT Autor: Mgr. Helena Vomáčková Title: The Possibilities of Evaluation of the Sport Performance on the Postural Functions - CDP Normative Data for Sport Population Objective: The main aim of the dissertation is to determine the standardized values (normative data) of individual parameters of test protocols obtainable with usage of dynamic computer posturography of the NeuroCom SMART EquiTest System (hereinafter SMEQ). The partial second goal is to compare the determined normative data with the existing values used for routine evaluation of postural stability given by the SMEQ software. Another partial goal is to determine the reliability of individual test parameters in an additional pilot survey. Methods: Data for the determination of standardized values were obtained by laboratory measurements using the SMEQ system and subsequently were converted, unified and adjusted for further processing by statistical "software R". To determine the normative data, an input data-set obtained from a deliberately selected group of active athletes (n = 245) in the selected age range of 20 - 30 years with an average age of 24,04 (± 1,23 years), with an average body height of 173, 29 (± 10,04 cm), mean body weight 68,46 (± 13,10 kg) and mean BMI 22,67 (± 3,04) was used. To calculate the predicted normative data for...

Für komplexe Entwicklungsaufgaben von Großserienanwendungen mit hohem Reifegrad haben sich standardisierte Entwicklungsprozesse erfolgreich etabliert. Existieren diese für eine Aufgabenstellung nicht, kann bei überschaubarem Projektumfang gepaart mit hohem Neuheitsgrad ein Generalist den gesamten Entwicklungsprozess mit hoher Dynamik situativ und iterativ ohne Vorgegebene Ablaufstruktur erfolgreich leiten. Zur raschen und ganzheitlichen Erfassung von unbekanntem oder nicht hinreichend erfasstem (Teil-)Systemverhalten sowie der relevanten Interdependenzen und Einflussgrößen kann die menschliche Wahrnehmung bei der Testung von Spielmodellen und Prototypen einen wertvollen Beitrag leisten. Zur allgemeinen Nutzung des so erworbenen Wissens ist jedoch deren explizite Darstellung von zentraler Bedeutung. Anhand von zwei ausgewählten Praxisbeispielen wird dies verdeutlicht.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / The purpose of this study was to determine the relative contribution to the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) English Language Arts (ELA) of five variables: Type of Community (Urban or Suburban), Gender, Race, Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test (PSAT) Verbal, and PSAT Writing. MCAS is a criterion-referenced examination administered to students at various grade levels to determine their knowledge of approved curriculum. As of 2003, students must pass the mathematics and English language arts sections in order to receive a diploma. Data for the study was gathered from three urban and four suburban school districts in Massachusetts. Data about 914 students was collected from Summer 2001 - Winter 2002. Multiple regression statistical analysis was used to examine the collective and separate contributions of five independent variables; gender, race, type of community (urban or suburban), score on the verbal subtest of the PSAT, and score on the writing subtest to the findings on the dependent variab le - tenth grade language arts achievement on the MCAS. Results of the statistical analyses showed a strong relationship between MCASELA and the five independent variables, with most of the relationship attributable to the PSAT Verbal test results. Three other variables combined - PSAT Writing, Type of Community, and Gender - accounted for just 4% of the additional variance. Step-wise multiple regression analysis indicated that exclusion of Race did not diminish predictiveness, and Gender added very little to predictiveness. PSAT Verbal, PSAT Writing, and Type of Community were the principal contributions to variation in MCAS-ELA in the study. The four null hypotheses and results follow: There is no significant relationship between the dependent variable - MCAS-ELA -- and the independent variables -- Type of Community, Gender, Race, PSA T Verbal, and PSAT Writing - rejected. There is no significant relationship between each independent variable and each of the other independent variables - rejected. There is no significant relationship between the dependent variable and the other variables taken together - rejected. There is no significant additional vanance m MCAS - ELA accou nted for by an independent variable after other variable (s) - responsible for greater contributions to variance - (have) accounted for as much of the variance as possible - accepted. / 2031-01-01