Management system for enhancing transfer of knowledge in wind power industry has not received sufficient research attention in recent times. In some cases, the wind power plant owner does not control the management system for operation and maintenance activities. Most of these wind power plants are under contract and rely upon the turbine vendor to perform most of the maintenance works and subsequently share their experience at the initial stage of operation. This research investigates the management system for the operations and maintenance activities of the offshore wind plant in Lillgrund. The research also explores the type of learning method that was adopted by the wind turbine vendor (Siemens) to transfer the operation and maintenance knowledge to the operator and owner (Vattenfall) within the speculated period. It was realized that in the next one year, the Vattenfall would be in full control of the operations and maintenance activities of the offshore wind power plant in Lillgrund. The co-management arrangement will give Siemens a good reputation and gainful experience in the wind power industry. The arrangement is achievable due to Siemens strategy to strive for constructive and long-standing relationships with their customer, based on trust, respect, and honesty. Vattenfall on the other hand, is aiming to be the partner of choice for their suppliers at the same time as best serving their internal customers. The provision for the training during the co-management period enables Siemens to strengthen their relationship with Vattenfall in this industry. In addition, Siemens also maintain close relationship with their customers and develop a large part of their portfolio, frequently on site. Vattenfall improves profitability and value creation, as a fundamental prerequisite for continued growth. The management systems of Vattenfall can be related to professional bureaucracy, this is due to the fact that it was organized to accommodate Siemens experts. Vattenfall benefits from the co-management activities of the operation and maintenance of the Lillgrund wind power plant for a specific period of time. The outcome of the research work has proven that there is an effective time-dependent proportionality for a gradual transfer of the technical knowledge of operation and maintenance from Siemens Wind AB to the Vattenfall personnel. The research started from the perspective of the maintenance method by Swedish standard for wind power, and the way things are being carried out in a more practical way in Lillgrund plant.

The subsurface environmental contamination investigation, assessment and remediation of petro-chemical contaminated site have been the most challenging environmental issues of environmental protection. If subsurface environmental mediums like soil and groundwater are contaminated, the investigation and remediation will always be time-consuming and costly even though they could not be cleaned up completely. Groundwater contaminated by chlorinated volatile solvents is more difficult to remedy owing to its property of dense non-aqueous phase liquid (DNAPL). This study focuses on petro-chemicals contaminated site whose subsurface environment is contaminated by chlorinated ethene. The study will also find out the efficient, effective and economic ways to identify and concretely delineate the characterization of subsurface environment and contamination, conduct human health risk management and take risk-based corrective action, so as to formulate an appropriate risk management strategy and solution. Firstly, this study applies a Triad approach to accelerate and streamline the investigation process of contaminated site. Introduction of project systematic planning, dynamic work strategy and in situ, real time survey or direct-push sampling like membrane interface probe, together with off-site measures like physical measurement and chemical analytic testing in laboratory, could reduce the key uncertain characteristics of subsurface environmental contamination and establish the conceptual cite models for health risk assessment cost-effectively. It is estimated that this method could save 6 million NTD and shorten 3 years¡¦ time in site characteristics delineation and remediation. If we wish to make the site defensible via managing the uncertain decision, the integration of Triad approach which is developed by United States Environmental Protection Agency, and Environmental Site Assessment, Accelerated Site Characterization, Health Risk Assessment and Risk-based Corrective action which were developed by American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), are proved in this study that they could help streamline the site characterization and remediation. This study is based on the conceptual site models of Triad Approach, the Risk-based corrective action of ASTM, the Health Risk Assessment and Evaluation Methods for Soil and Groundwater Contaminated Site, and also the software developed by the Taiwan Environmental Protection Administration. Through the health risk assessment of chlorinated ethenes contaminated site, this research aims to evaluate the quantitative health risk like chemical of concern, environmental medium, and human exposure pathway etc. The result of evaluation showed that the carcinogenic risk of tier 2 is 1.080E-01 which exceeds the acceptable risk-based standard, 1E-06; tier 2¡¦s non-carcinogenic risk, 1.819E+03, also exceeds the acceptable hazard index which is 1. Groundwater poses the highest risk among environmental media, followed by inhalation of vapor from contaminated soil and/or groundwater. The risk of inhalation of top soil particulates is the lowest. The most dangerous carcinogenic exposure of groundwater is using groundwater for shower and washing whose risk is 8.064E-02; the second highest carcinogenic pathway is groundwater ingestion. Trichloroethylene is the key chemical of concern which poses 95.6% of carcinogenic risk among all chemicals of concern. Groundwater ingestion poses the highest non-carcinogenic risk (8.919E+02), and the main chemical of concern is cis-1, 2-dichloroethylene. The main chemical of concern of soil volatilization is cis-1, 2-dichloroethylene, followed by trichloroethylene. If the site in this study wishes to reduce the health risk of human beings, it is suggested to simultaneously implement integrated risk-based corrective actions including institutional control, engineering control and remediation. For institutional control, prohibition of pumping groundwater and pumping well installation is the most cost-effective choice. For engineering control, concrete capping on uncovered surface soil is feasible when dealing with soil contamination. When it comes to groundwater contamination, steel sheet pile containment or pumping well installation could help intercept the migration of groundwater. Regarding remediation, in-situ chemical reduction injection or permeable reactive barrier, incorporated together with monitored natural attenuation are more practicable alternatives, however, they are time-consuming and costly. The process and result of this study could be the basis for managers and/or decision makers of contaminated site to conduct risk-based management and decision making.

This study aimed at investigating the effects of three different types of error correction feedback on foreign language students. This study is conducted in the Department of Foreign Languages at TOBB ETU in three B level clasess and three different error correction techniques are used to mesaure the effectiveness of each one on general writing success of the students. For this purpose, 68 preparatory school students at TOBB ETU participated the study. The data were collected through quantitative and qualitative data collection instruments. The pre-test and post test results as well as the grades of weekly regular writing assignments provided the quantitative data. The qualitative data came from the semi-structured students interviews. The analysis of the quantitative data, especially the comparison of the pre-test and post-test, indicated that the students who received three different types of feedback didn&amp / #8217 / t score significantly different from each other. However, a close scrutiny of the analysis of the grades of weekly writing assignments give important insight about the usefulness of the coded type of feedback as the students getting that type of feedback outperformed the others in most of the weeks. The analysis of the semi-structured interviews has shown that the students prefer more salient corrective types of feedback

In this thesis, several machining strategies to remove axially symmetric form error with small wavelength by Hydrodynamic Polishing process (abbreviated as HDP) were proposed. Three strategies were proposed progressively in the study so as to remove axially symmetric form error with small wavelength. The first and second tactics were based on a basic algorithm, say, directly solving of a set of simultaneous equations. In the first strategy, a set of simultaneous equations was constructed by relating the total machining action of each dwelling point to the corresponding initial error. Subsequently, a set of dwelling time was obtained by directly solving the simultaneous equations. The second strategy evaluates solutions in a similar way like the first one but more restrictions were concerned in solution evaluation. The third strategy is an optimal based method. A set of dwelling time was obtained by minimizing an objective function with given constraints. A series of computer simulations were conducted to estimate the residual error and examine the validity of the strategies. From the computer simulation, the first and second strategies were confronted with negative-time problem, so that merely limited improving of form precision was obtained. The proposed optimal strategy was shown to have high potential for improving the machining precision by the HDP process. Based on the proposed strategies, a better form precision of the work surface with small wavelength can be obtained.

Objectives: To report the incidence of objective and subjective neurosensory disturbance (NSD) after orthognathic surgery in a major orthognathic centre in Hong Kong, and to investigate the risk factors that contributed to the incidence of NSD after orthognathic surgery. Materials and Methods: A retrospective cross-sectional study on NSD after orthognathic surgery in a local major orthognathic centre. Patients who had bimaxillary orthognathic surgery reviewed at post-operative 6 months, 12 months or 24 months were recruited to undergo a neurosensory test with subjective and 3 objective assessments. Possible risk factors of NSD including subjects’ age and gender, surgical procedures and surgeons’ experience were analyzed. Results: 238 patients with 476 sides each of maxillary and mandibular procedures were recruited. The incidences of subjective NSD after maxillary procedures were 16.2%, 13% and 9.8% at post-operative 6 months, 12 months and 24 months, respectively; the incidences of subjective NSD after mandibular procedures were 35.4%, 36.6% and 34.6% at post-operative 6 months, 12 months and 24 months, respectively. Objective neurosensory tests showed general reduced sensitivity in subjects with subjective NSD. Increased age was found to be a significant risk factor of NSD after orthognathic surgery at short term (at 6 months and 12 months) but not at 24 months. SSO has a significantly higher risk of NSD when compared to VSSO. SSO in combination with anterior mandibular surgery has a higher risk of NSD when compared to VSSO in combination with anterior mandibular surgery or anterior mandibular surgery alone. Gender of patients a nd surgeons’ experience were not found to be risk factors of NSD after orthognathic surgery. Conclusion: The incidence of NSD after maxillary and mandibular orthognathic procedures at post-operative 6 months, 12 months and 24 months was reported. Increased age was identified as a risk factor of short term post-operative NSD but not in long term (24 months or more). Specific mandibular procedures were related to higher incidence of NSD after orthognathic surgery. / published_or_final_version / Dental Surgery / Master / Master of Dental Surgery

Describing human eye movement behavior as an alternating sequence of saccades and fixations turns out to be an oversimplification because the eyes continue to move during fixation. Small-amplitude saccades (e.g., microsaccades) are typically observed 1-2 times per second during fixation. Research on microsaccades came in two waves. Early studies on microsaccades were dominated by the question whether microsaccades affect visual perception, and by studies on the role of microsaccades in the process of fixation control. The lack of evidence for a unique role of microsaccades led to a very critical view on the importance of microsaccades. Over the last years, microsaccades moved into focus again, revealing many interactions with perception, oculomotor control and cognition, as well as intriguing new insights into the neurophysiological implementation of microsaccades. In contrast to early studies on microsaccades, recent findings on microsaccades were accompanied by the development of models of microsaccade generation. While the exact generating mechanisms vary between the models, they still share the assumption that microsaccades are generated in a topographically organized saccade motor map that includes a representation for small-amplitude saccades in the center of the map (with its neurophysiological implementation in the rostral pole of the superior colliculus). In the present thesis I criticize that models of microsaccade generation are exclusively based on results obtained during prolonged presaccadic fixation. I argue that microsaccades should also be studied in a more natural situation, namely the fixation following large saccadic eye movements. Studying postsaccadic fixation offers a new window to falsify models that aim to account for the generation of small eye movements. I demonstrate that error signals (visual and extra-retinal), as well as non-error signals like target eccentricity influence the characteristics of small-amplitude eye movements. These findings require a modification of a model introduced by Rolfs, Kliegl and Engbert (2008) in order to account for the generation of small-amplitude saccades during postsaccadic fixation. Moreover, I present a promising type of survival analysis that allowed me to examine time-dependent influences on postsaccadic eye movements. In addition, I examined the interplay of postsaccadic eye movements and postsaccadic location judgments, highlighting the need to include postsaccadic eye movements as covariate in the analyses of location judgments in the presented paradigm. In a second goal, I tested model predictions concerning preparatory influences on microsaccade generation during presaccadic fixation. The observation, that the preparatory set significantly influenced microsaccade rate, supports the critical model assumption that increased fixation-related activity results in a larger number of microsaccades. In the present thesis I present important influences on the generation of small-amplitude saccades during fixation. These eye movements constitute a rich oculomotor behavior which still poses many research questions. Certainly, small-amplitude saccades represent an interesting source of information and will continue to influence future studies on perception and cognition. / Die Beschreibung des Blickbewegungsverhaltens als eine sich abwechselnde Folge von Sakkaden und Fixationen stellt eine starke Vereinfachung dar, denn auch während einer Fixation bewegen sich die Augen. Typischerweise treten Bewegungen von kleiner Amplitude (z.B. Mikrosakkaden), 1-2 mal pro Sekunde während einer Fixation auf. Frühe Studien zu Mikrosakkaden wurden von Fragen bezüglich des Einflusses von Mikrosakkaden auf die visuelle Wahrnehmung, und Studien zu der Rolle von Mikrosakkaden bei der Fixationskontrolle dominiert. Fehlende Evidenz für eine Rolle, die ausschließlich Mikrosakkaden zufällt, führten zu einer sehr kritischen Betrachtung von Mikrosakkaden. In den letzten Jahren rückten Mikrosakkaden wieder mehr in den Fokus. Vielerlei Zusammenhänge mit Wahrnehmung, okulomotorischer Kontrolle und Kognition, sowie neue Erkenntnisse bezüglich der neurophysiologischen Implementierung von Mikrosakkaden konnten aufgedeckt werden. In den letzten Jahren wurden verschiedene Modelle der Mikrosakkadengenerierung vorgestellt. Auch wenn sich diese in ihren exakten Mechanismen unterscheiden, so teilen sie doch die Annahme, dass Mikrosakkaden in einer topographisch organisierten motorischen Karte für Sakkaden ausgelöst werden. Diese Karten beinhalten eine Repräsentation für klein-amplitudige Sakkaden im Zentrum der Karte (mit dem rostralen Pol der colliculi superiores als neurophysiologische Implementierung). In der vorliegenden Arbeit kritisiere ich, dass Modelle der Mikrosakkadengenerierung ausschließlich auf Resultaten langanhaltender präsakkadischer Fixation beruhen. Ich führe an, dass Mikrosakkaden in einer natürlicheren Situation untersucht werden sollten, nämlich während der Fixation nach einer großen Sakkade. Die Untersuchung postsakkadischer Fixation bietet eine neue Möglichkeit Modelle der Mikrosakkadengenerierung zu falsifizieren. In den Studien zeige ich, dass Signale über den Fehler in der Sakkadenlandeposition (visuelle und extra-retinale), sowie fehler-unabhängige Signale, wie die Zielreiz-Exzentrizität, einen entscheidenden Einfluss auf kleine Sakkaden haben. Diese Resultate erfordern Modifikationen an dem kürzlich eingeführten Modell von Rolfs, Kliegl und Engbert (2008), um die Generierung von kleinen Sakkaden auch während der postsakkadischen Fixation erklären zu können. Darüber hinaus präsentiere ich eine viel versprechende Ereigniszeitanalyse, die uns erlaubt zeitabhängige Einflüsse auf das postsakkadische Blickbewegungsverhalten zu untersuchen. Außerdem untersuche ich das Zusammenspiel von postsakkadischen Augenbewegungen und postsakkadischen Positionsurteilen. Dabei wird die Bedeutung von postsakkadischen Augenbewegungen als Kovariate in den statistischen Analysen betont. Ein zweites Ziel dieser Arbeit besteht darin Modellvorhersagen bezüglich vorbereitender Einflüsse auf die Mikrosakkadengenerierung zu untersuchen. Die Ergebnisse, hinsichtlich eines signifikanten Einflusses des preparatory set auf die Mikrosakkadenrate unterstützt die wesentliche Modellannahme, dass erhöhte fixationsbezogene Aktivität zu einer größeren Anzahl an Mikrosakkaden führt. In der vorliegenden Arbeit präsentiere ich wichtige Einflüsse auf die Generierung von kleinen Sakkaden während der Fixation. Diese Augenbewegungen stellen ein vielseitiges okulomorisches Verhalten dar, welche weiterhin zahlreiche Fragen mit sich bringen und sicherlich zukünftige Studien zu Wahrnehmung und Kognition beeinflussen werden.

Since the publication of Truscott’s paper in 1996 arguing against the effectiveness of grammar correction in second language (L2) writing, there has been an ongoing debate regarding the effectiveness of written corrective feedback (WCF) in the field of second language acquisition (SLA). This debate has continued due to conflicting research results from research examining short-term effects of WCF and scarcity of research investigating its long-term effects (Ferris, 2004, 2006). Using a mixed-method research design, this study investigated the effects of direct and indirect WCF on students’ revision accuracy of the same piece of writing as well as its transfer effects on new pieces of writing over time. The present study also investigated the differential effects of direct and indirect CF on grammatical and non-grammatical errors. Using a stimulated recall strategy, the study further explored students’ perception and attitude regarding the types of feedback they received. Fifty-three intermediate level English-as-a-second-language (ESL) students were divided randomly into four groups: direct, underlining only, Underlining+meta- linguistic, and a control group. Students produced three pieces of writings from three different picture prompts and revised those over a three-week period. To examine the delayed effects of feedback on students’ writing skills, each group was also asked to produce a new piece of writing two weeks later. The results demonstrated that all three feedback groups significantly outperformed the control group with respect to revision accuracy in all three writing tasks. WCF did not have any significant delayed transfer effects on improving students’ writing skills. Short-term transfer effects on overall accuracy, however, were found for Underlining+metalinguistic CF, but not for other feedback types. In terms of grammatical and non-grammatical accuracy, only Direct CF displayed significant short-term transfer effects on improving grammatical accuracy. These findings suggest that while Direct CF was successful in improving short-term grammatical accuracy, both direct and indirect CF has the potential to improve accuracy in writing. The findings also clarify that no single form of CF can be effective in addressing all types of linguistic errors. Findings from the qualitative study demonstrated that different aspects of direct and indirect CF helped learners in different ways to successfully attend to different types of CF. In the case of Direct CF, learners who successfully corrected errors believed that the explicit information or correction was useful for them. They believed that it helped them understand what errors they made and helped them remember the corrections. Learners who were successful in correcting errors from indirect CF in the form of underlining and in the form of underline in combination with metalinguistic CF indicated that these two types of indirect CF helped them notice the errors, think about the errors, guess the correct form(s) or feature(s) and also remember the correction. The findings also indicated that both grammatical and non-grammatical errors could be difficult for learners to correct from indirect CF if they do not have sufficient L2 proficiency. Findings from the qualitative study also indicated that while learners considered both direct and the two indirect CF as useful, indirect CF in the form of underlining together with metalinguistic CF was preferred by a majority of learners as it provided valuable information about the errors made as well as promoting thinking and better understanding. / Graduate / 0290 / khaledk@uvic.ca

Epidemiological studies on malocclusion have been primarily concerned with its aetiology and distribution. However, due to the varied and often subjective methods of assessment, many of these studies provide conflicting data related to malocclusions (Solow, 1970). To address this, the F&eacute / d&eacute / ration Dentaire Internationale (FDI) in close collaboration with the World Health Organisation (WHO) developed an objective method for measuring occlusal traits (Baume et al., 1973). This method was used to obtain the epidemiological data on occlusal traits for 14-year-old children Kampala in order to provide baseline data related to malocclusion. A total of 402 subjects were examined. Of these 65% were female and 35% were male. Thirty percent of the sample had at least one dental anomaly. The most commonly extracted teeth were mandibular first molars (43.6%) and maxillary canines (17.3%). The high frequency of extracted permanent canines in this sample is unique. By and large, many of the occlusal traits related to the canine are attributable to the practice of ebinyo, a form of dental mutilation, which still seem to be rife in many communities in Uganda. Similar to other studies (Massler and Frankel, 1951 / de Muňiz, 1986 / Ferguson, 1988 / Kaka, 1993), mandibular first molars were five times more likely to be missing than maxillary first molars while the ratio of missing maxillary to mandibular canines was found to be 2.5:1. Crowding was most frequently observed in the mandibular incisal segment while spacing was mostly in the maxillary incisal region, thus supporting the view of Brunelle et al., (1996) that although prevalence may vary from study to study, more people have malaligned mandibular incisors than maxillary incisors concurs with these studies. Of the subjects studied, 6.8% had a diastema of 3mm and more. Regarding space measurements, 17.9% of the sample population had at least one segment with crowding, 18.2% had at least one segment with spacing while 33.6% had some degree of incisor malalignment and 54.2% of the sample population had some form of space anomaly. About 70% of the subjects had symmetric molar relationships of which 54.2% were Class I, 9.2% Class II and 3.2% Class III similar to the universal distributional pattern. Crossbites were not a major finding, and were present in only 7% of the sample. The distribution of overjet was relatively symmetrical on the left and right. Negative overjet (anterior open bite) was a rare occurrence in an average of 2.4% of the population. In 77.6% of the population, the overjet ranged from 1 to 4mm, and in 22.4%, the overjet was either edge-to-edge, reverse or 5mm and over. About 7.3% had an overjet of 5-6mm while only 2.1% had an overjet greater than 6mm. Approximately 53.7% of the population had an overbite of 1-3mm. Edge-to-edge and open bite incisor relationships were found in less than 10% of the sample. Although ideal occlusion as described by Angle (1907) in the Ugandan sample is very rare, using the data derived from this study, normal occlusion as defined by statistical distribution can be described.

A public orthodontic system generally is designed to prioritize patients so that those who have the greatest need receive treatment. The aim of this study was to compare the subjective perceptions of the occlusal appearance of 11 to 12 year-old schoolchildren of Nairobi with the modified Aesthetic Component (AC) scale of the Index of Orthodontic Treatment Need (IOTN). The objectives were to assess the children&rsquo / s perception of their occlusal appearance, categorise the occlusal appearance using the AC scale, by both the children and researcher / and to compare the children&rsquo / s&rsquo / perception and the AC of the IOTN.

This thesis investigates corrective-feedback episodes and learners?? private speech in Japanese language classrooms at a university to examine both overt and covert speech of the adult learners in relation to their target language learning. Corrective-feedback episodes between teachers and learners in language classrooms have been focused on as typical interactions in the classrooms and a factor that contributes to learning of target languages. Ohta (2001) found that learners noticed their teachers?? corrective feedback to the other learners and responded to the feedback in their private speech, and that they also repeated others or manipulated sounds or forms by using their private speech. As learners notice a gap between what they actually can produce and what they want to say, when they produce target languages, even without feedback (Swain, 1985; Swain and Lapkin, 1995), learners?? private speech should be examined as well as their corrective-feedback episodes in classrooms. The data were collected from six learners and two teachers at a Level 2 (upper beginning) Japanese course for two semesters (throughout a year). The data are composed of classroom observations, audio and video-recordings of the classrooms, and stimulated recall interviews with both the teachers and the learners following the classroom recordings. All corrective-feedback episodes and the learners?? private speech were transcribed and coded according to error type, corrective-feedback type, types of response to the feedback, and types of the learners?? private speech. The teachers tended to use recasts often because of the time limitation of the classroom teaching and their teaching policy. However, all the learners preferred to be given opportunities to self-correct their own errors before being provided with correct answers by recasts. Private speech had functions of cognitive/metacognitive, affective/social, and self-regulation, which overlapped with each other. The learners were aware of their use of private speech in the classrooms. The teachers sometimes noticed their learners?? use of private speech in the classes. The learners used both Japanese and English as cognitive tools as well as communicative tools. The learners used every opportunity for their learning, by overtly and covertly participating, in the class.