<p>There is no common understanding on what constitutes good sick-listing, a frequent and problematic task for many physicians, especially general practitioners (GPs) and orthopaedic surgeons. Aiming to achieve a deeper understanding of sick-listing practices, 19 GPs (I, III) and 18 orthopaedic surgeons (II) in four counties were interviewed, and data analysed qualitatively for views on good sickness certification and barriers to desired practice. Data from a survey of all 7665 physicians in two counties on emotionally straining problems in sickness certification (IV) was analysed quantitatively. </p><p>Some GPs exposed narrow views of sick-listing, where their responsibility was limited to issuing a certificate, while GPs with the most inclusive view had a perspective of the patient’s total life-situation and aimed to help patients shoulder their own responsibility (I). The orthopaedic surgeons´ perceptions of good sick-listing were mainly related to their views on their role in the health-care system. Some perceived their responsibility as confined to the orthopaedic clinic only, while others had the ultimate goal of helping the patient to become well functioning in life with regained work capacity – by means of surgery <i>and</i> proper management of sick-listing (II). </p><p>Difficulty handling conflicting opinions was a barrier to good sickness certification for GPs (III), and problematic for about 50% of all physicians and about 80% of GPs (IV). Orthopaedic surgeons’ handling of such situations varied from being directed by the patient, via compromising, to being directed by professional judgement (II). Other barriers included poor stakeholder collaboration (III). GPs with a workplace-policy on sickness certification reported fewer conflicts and less worry of getting reported to the disciplinary board in relation to sick-listing (IV).</p><p>Understanding physicians’ underlying views on and barriers to practicing “good sick-listing” can inform efforts to change physician practice. Communications skills training in handling sick-listing situations with conflicting opinions is recommended.</p>

44 pp. / Updated December 15, 2003

The increasing complexity and size of modern Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) has led to a sharp decline in productivity among CPS designers. Requirements on safety aggravate this problem further, both by being difficult to ensure and due to their high importance to the public. Tools, or rather efforts to facilitate the automation of development processes, are a central ingredient in many of the proposed innovations to mitigate this problem. Even though the safety-related implications of introducing automation in development processes have not been extensively studied, it is known that automation has already had a large impact on operational systems. If tools are to play a part in mitigating the increase in safety-critical CPS complexity, then their actual impact on CPS development, and thereby the safety of the corresponding end products, must be sufficiently understood. An survey of relevant research fields, such as system safety, software engineering and tool integration, is provided to facilitate the discussion on safety-related implications of tool usage. Based on the identification of industrial safety standards as an important source of information and considering that the risks posed by separate tools have been given considerable attention in the transportation domain, several high-profile safety standards in this domain have been surveyed. According to the surveyed standards, automation should primarily be evaluated on its reliable execution of separate process steps independent of human operators. Automation that only supports the actions of operators during CPS development is viewed as relatively inconsequential. A conceptual model and a reference model have been created based on the surveyed research fields. The former defines the entities and relationships most relevant to safety-related risks associated with tool usage. The latter describes aspects of tool integration and how these relate to each other. By combining these models, a risk analysis could be performed and properties of tool chains which need to be ensured to mitigate risk identified. Ten such safety-related characteristics of tool chains are described. These safety-related characteristics provide a systematic way to narrow down what to look for with regard to tool usage and risk. The hypothesis that a large set of factors related to tool usage may introduce risk could thus be tested through an empirical study, which identified safety-related weaknesses in support environments tied both to high and low levels of automation. The conclusion is that a broader perspective, which includes more factors related to tool usage than those considered by the surveyed standards, will be needed. Three possible reasons to disregard such a broad perspective have been refuted, namely requirements on development processes enforced by the domain of CPS itself, certain characteristics of safety-critical CPS and the possibility to place trust in a proven, manual development process. After finding no strong reason to keep a narrow perspective on tool usage, arguments are put forward as to why the future evolution of support environments may actually increase the importance of such a broad perspective. Suggestions for how to update the mental models of the surveyed safety standards, and other standards like them, are put forward based on this identified need for a broader perspective. / Den ökande komplexiteten och storleken på Cyber-Fysiska System (CPS) har lett till att produktiviteten i utvecklingen av CPS har minskat kraftigt. Krav på att CPS ska vara säkra att använda förvärrar problemet ytterligare, då dessa ofta är svåra att säkerställa och samtidigt av stor vikt för samhället. Mjukvaruverktyg, eller egentligen alla insatser för att automatisera utvecklingen av CPS, är en central komponent i många innovationer menade att lösa detta problem. Även om forskningen endast delvis studerat säkerhetsrelaterade konsekvenser av att automatisera produktutveckling, så är det känt att automation har haft en kraftig (och subtil) inverkan på operationella system. Om verktyg ska lösa problemet med en ökande komplexitet hos säkerhetskritiska CPS, så måste verktygens påverkan på produktutveckling, och i förlängningen på det säkra användandet av slutprodukterna, vara känd. Den här boken ger en översikt av forskningsfronten gällande säkerhetsrelaterade konsekvenser av verktygsanvändning. Denna kommer från en litteraturstudie i områdena systemsäkerhet, mjukvaruutveckling och verktygsintegration. Industriella säkerhetsstandarder identifieras som en viktig informationskälla. Då riskerna med användandet av enskilda verktyg har undersökts i stor utsträckning hos producenter av produkter relaterade till transport, studeras flera välkända säkerhetsstandarder från denna domän. Enligt de utvalda standarderna bör automation primärt utvärderas utifrån dess förmåga att självständigt utföra enskilda processteg på ett robust sätt. Automation som stödjer operatörers egna handlingar ses som tämligen oviktig. En konceptuell modell och en referensmodell har utvecklats baserat på litteraturstudien. Den förstnämnda definierar vilka entiteter och relationer som är av vikt för säkerhetsrelaterade konsekvenser av verktygsanvändning. Den sistnämnda beskriver olika aspekter av verktygsintegration och hur dessa relaterar till varandra. Genom att kombinera modellerna och utföra en riskanalys har egenskaper hos verktygskedjor som måste säkerställas för att undvika risk identifierats. Tio sådana säkerhetsrelaterade egenskaper beskrivs. Dessa säkerhetsrelaterade egenskaper möjliggör ett systematiskt sätt att begränsa vad som måste beaktas under studier av risker relaterade till verktygsanvändning. Hypotesen att ett stort antal faktorer relaterade till verktygsanvändning innebär risk kunde därför testas i en empirisk studie. Denna studie identifierade säkerhetsrelaterade svagheter i utvecklingsmiljöer knutna både till höga och låga nivåer av automation. Slutsatsen är att ett brett perspektiv, som inkluderar fler faktorer än de som beaktas av de utvalda standarderna, kommer att behövas i framtiden. Tre möjliga orsaker till att ett bredare perspektiv ändå skulle vara irrelevant analyseras, nämligen egenskaper specifika för CPS-domänen, egenskaper hos säkerhetskritiska CPS och möjligheten att lita på en beprövad, manuell process. Slutsatsen blir att ett bredare perspektiv är motiverat, och att den framtida utvecklingen av utvecklingsmiljöer för CPS sannolikt kommer att öka denna betydelse. Baserat på detta breda perspektiv läggs förslag fram för hur de mentala modellerna som bärs fram av de utvalda säkerhetstandarderna (och andra standarder som dem) kan utvecklas. / <p>QC 20141001</p>

Syftet med examensarbetet är att främja den hållbara utvecklingen i anläggningssektorn. Målet med rapporten är att visa hur miljöklassningssystemet CEEQUAL kan förbättras samt hur användningen kan främja hållbar utveckling i mark och anläggningsprojekt i Sverige. CEEQUAL är ett miljöklassningssystem inom infrastruktur och anläggning som har utvecklats i Storbritannien av Institution of Civil Engineers.  I examensarbetet har följande frågeställningar undersökts:  Hur fungerar CEEQUAL i praktiken?  Vad är den svenska erfarenheten från användningen av CEEQUAL?  Hur kan anläggningssektorn förbättra miljö/hållbarhetsarbetet genom miljöklassning med CEEQUAL?  Hur kan man förbättra miljöklassningssystemet CEEQUAL?  Frågorna har besvarats genom metoderna litteraturstudie och dokumentanalys men även genom intervjuer med olika aktörer inom anläggningsbranschen.  Denna rapport innehåller en kort sammanfattning av vad hållbar utveckling betyder och en fördjupning inom miljöklasscertifieringssystemet CEEQUAL samt dess användning inom anläggnings- och infrastrukturprojekt.  En jämförelse mellan CEEQUAL, de 16 nationella miljömålen och Kretsloppsrådets mål har också utförts för att se om de behandlar samma miljöområden.  En certifiering sker i flera olika steg. En certifiering genomförs av en utbildad assessor som bedömer och ger poäng på svaren av frågorna som återfinns i CEEQUAL:s manual. Betyget beror på hur väl projektet uppfyllt de krav som CEEQUAL efterfrågar. Det kontrolleras sedan av en oberoende granskare och godkänns till sist av CEEQUAL som ger ett slutbetyg.  Certifieringssystemet CEEQUAL har både har för- och nackdelar. En av de största nackdelarna är det inte finns någon svenskanpassad version. Frågorna i manualen är på engelska och svårtolkade vilket leder till att det tar tid att förstå dem samt att det med tiden ökar risken till att CEEQUAL tappar sin trovärdighet.  TGOJ-porten (TGOJ står för Trafikaktiebolaget Grängesberg-Oxelösunds Järnvägar) är ett anläggningsprojekt där syftet var att byta ut en järnvägsbro till en betongbro som gjuts i krossmaterial. Resultatet visar att de stora förbättringsåtgärderna som exempelvis återanvändning av material samt inköp av krossmaterial var redan identifierade innan CEEQUAL beslutades att användas. / The purpose of this work is to promote sustainable development in the construction sector. The goal of this rapport is to show how environmental classification system CEEQUAL can be improved and how their use may promote the sustainable development of land and construction projects in Sweden. CEEQUAL is an environmental classification system for infrastructure that has been developed in the UK by the Institution of Civil Engineers.  The following questions were investigated in the thesis:  How does CEEQUAL work in practice?  What is the Swedish experience from the use of CEEQUAL?  How can the contruction sector improve the environmental work through an environmental classification with CEEQUAL?  How can the environmental classification system CEEQUAL be improved?  The questions were answered by the methods literature studies and document analysis but also interviews with various actors in the construction market.  This report contains a brief summary of what sustainable development means, a specialization in environmental classification system CEEQUAL and its use in the construction and infrastructure projects.  A comparison between CEEQUAL, the sixteen environmental quality objectives and The Ecocycle Council objectives has also been done to see to see if they deal with similar environmental areas.  A certification is done in several steps. The certification is carried out by a trained assessor who assesses and gives points for the answers of the questions found in CEEQUAL's manual. The score depends on how well the project met the requirements that CEEQUAL demand. It is then checked by an independent verifier and approved finally by CEEQUAL giving a final grade.  The certification system CEEQUAL have both advantages and disadvantages. One of the main disadvantages is that there is no Swedish adapted version. The questions in the manual are in English and difficult to interpret which leads to that it takes time to understand them and also that it over time increases the risk that CEEQUAL loses its trustworthiness.  TGOJ-port (TGOJ stands for Trafikaktiebolaget Grängesberg-Oxelösunds Järnvägar) is a construction project where the aim was to replace a railway bridge to a concrete casted in crushed aggregate. The results shows that the major improvement measures such as recycling of materials and the purchase of aggregate materials were already identified before CEEQUAL was decided to be used.

This research was two-fold in its purpose: the first purpose being to assess the perceived relevance of the current state competency standards adopted in Texas by the State Board for Educator Certification (SBEC) as they apply to the work of the educational diagnostician and the second being to examine the diagnostician's perceived ability of training institutions to prepare professionals for the field of special education evaluation. This study examined the perceptions of educational diagnosticians (N = 432) through the use of a survey instrument. Specifically the survey instrument was designed to assess diagnosticians' perceptions of importance of the SBEC competencies to special education evaluation in general, and to their practice in particular; the frequency with which they use the competencies; and their degree of training to meet the demands of the competencies through their preparatory program. Results indicate variability with regard to the perceived importance of the competencies and the degree of preparation to meet the demands of the competencies in practice.

This article presents the implementation of ISO/IEC 29110 in a four-person IT startup company in Peru. After completing the implementation of the ISO/IEC 29110 project management and software implementation processes using an agile approach, the next step was to execute these processes in a project with an actual customer: software that facilitates communication between clients and legal consultants at the second-largest insurance companies in Peru. Managing the project and developing the software took about 900 hours. Using ISO/ IEC 29110 software engineering practices enabled the startup to plan and execute the project while expending only 18 percent of the total project effort on rework (i.e., wasted effort). In this article, the authors also describe the steps and the effort required by the VSE to be granted an ISO/IEC 29110 certificate of conformity. The startup became the first Peruvian VSE to obtain an ISO/IEC 29110 certification. The ISO/IEC 29110 certification facilitated access to new clients and larger projects.

Due to the competitive nature of airline industry and the desire to minimise aircraft weight, there is a continual drive to develop lightweight, reliable and more comfortable seating solutions, in particular, a new generation slim economy seat. The key design challenge is to maximise the “living space” for the passenger, with strict adherence to the ‘Crash Safety Regulations’. Cranfield University is addressing the needs of airliners, seat manufactures and safety regulating bodies by designing a completely novel seat structure coined as “Sleep Seat”. A generous angle of recline (40 degree), movement of “Seat Pan” along the gradient, fixed outer shell of the backrest, and a unique single “Forward Beam” design distinguishes “Sleep Seat” form current generation seats. It is an ultra-lightweight design weighing 8kg (typical seat weight is 11kg). It has to sustain the static (CS 25.561) and dynamic (CS25.562) “Emergency landing” loads as specified by “Certification Specifications (CS). Apart from maintaining structural integrity; a seat-structure must not deform, which would impede evacuation, should absorb energy so that the loads transferred to Occupants are within human tolerance limits and should always maintain survivable space around the Occupant. All these parameters, which increase a life-expectancy in a ‘survivable’ crash, can be estimated using either experimental testing or virtual simulation tools such as “Finite Element Analysis (FEA). Design of the “Sleep Seat” is still in its conceptual phase and therefore experimental testing for all the design iterations involved is unrealistic, given a measure of the costs and timescales involved. Therefore focus of research is to develop practical and robust FE methodologies to assess static and dynamic performances of a seat-structure so as to compare different design concepts based on their strength, seat interface loads (a limit defined by strength of aircraft-floor), maximum deformations and cross-sectional forces ... [cont.].

Studien syftar till att upptäcka svårigheter vid implementering av kvalitetsledningssystemet ISO 9001:2015 på små företag. För att uppnå studiens syfte samlades teorier om kvalitetsledningssystemet ISO 9001 och dess implementerings- och certifieringsprocess in. En fallstudie genomfördes på två analysenheter för att sedan jämföras mot det teoretiska ramverket och erhålla ett resultat. De mest bidragande faktorerna till icke-certifiering av ISO 9001 hos små företag visade sig vara tidsbrist, resursbrist samt kompetensbrist.

The purpose of this study is to gather information related to the professional status of the science teachers in the four-year accredited high schools of Texas for the school year 1952-1953. The principal concern of the study is "Who is teaching science?"

This study investigates the inter-rater reliability of appraisers who award exceptional quality points on the Texas Teacher Appraisal Instrument. Inter-rater reliability was measured when appraisers scored exceptional quality points after viewing a videotaped lesson. Comparisons were made between appraisers when grouped according to elementary or secondary certification, sex, years of administrative experience, and type of training. A total of 707 subjects from 56 school districts participated in the study. Five research hypotheses were formulated with the .05 level of significance for acceptance. All hypotheses were tested by correlation of coefficients, multiple response procedures, frequencies, and percentages. The data measuring inter-rater reliability of the appraisers in training imply that there is very little reliability in the awarding of exceptional quality points on the Texas Teacher Appraisal Instrument. The findings of this study are that certification, sex, administrative experience, and type of training made no significant differences when scoring the instrument. Therefore, it is concluded that the scoring of exceptional quality points is a subjective, professional judgment made by each appraiser when observing a teacher. Since no significant reliability was found, the scoring of exceptional quality points cannot be supported as a reliable means of determining the quality of teaching in Texas schools. Generally, elementary certified appraisers awarded fewer exceptional quality points than secondary appraisers, males awarded slightly more points than females, appraisers indicated no noticeable trend because of years of administrative experience, and less experienced appraisers had the tendency to award more points than experienced appraisers. Therefore, inter-rater reliability in awarding exceptional quality points cannot be expected on a consistent basis. Each appraiser, regardless of certification, sex, years of administrative experience or training, will use his or her own professional judgment when scoring the instrument.