The aim of the study was to explore the democratic mission of the preschool as expressed in the preschool teachers’ talk and practical work and also through the children’s actions. The goal was to acquire new knowledge about how the democratic mission is carried out in preschool practice and what democratic subjects are supported and developed by the preschool teachers. Field studies were carried out between 2008 and 2010, with a concentration in spring 2009. The study included 5 preschool teachers and 20 children aged 3-6. Observations were made during the teachers’ planning meetings, when they worked with the children and when the children were playing or acting on their own. Two focus group interviews with the preschool teachers were also carried out, and local documents, for example work plans and evaluations, were analyzed. The results indicate that there has been a shift in view from group orientation in the preschool to greater focus on the individual child. In the analysis of the democratic subjects it was clear that much of what happens in the preschool is focused on individual children rather than the children as a group. In summary, preschool teachers speak of the democratic mandate as important but difficult to implement in their daily work. Children’s influence and participation are set up as goals in the work plan, but the preschool teachers do not feel they come to fruition in the pedagogical practice. Still, they define and condition children’s influence and they do work at the task, seemingly unconsciously, in practice. For their part, the children often seize opportunities when they arise but they also create their own. They take initiative and present ideas about what they want to do in preschool. It even turned out they had influence far beyond the preschool walls. / Förskolans demokratiuppdrag beskrivs som centralt och viktigt men hur omsätts det i praktiken? Hur ser förskollärarna på det de förväntas göra, hur arbetar de med detta i förskolans vardag och hur går det att förstå ur ett barnperspektiv? Observationer har genomförts på en förskoleavdelning med barn i åldern 3-5 år. Förskollärarna har intervjuats och förskolans olika dokument har analyserats. Syftet var att undersöka förskolans demokratiuppdrag så som det kommer till uttryck genom förskollärares tal och handlingar och genom barns agerande i förskolans verksamhet. Resultaten visar att förskollärarna framförallt förstår demokratiuppdrag i förskolan som en fråga om barns möjligheter till inflytande- ett villkorat inflytande. Barnen tar, inom ramen för de villkor som ställs upp, vara på de möjligheter till inflytande som ges. Bland annat genom att ta egna initiativ, göra motstånd under planerade aktiviteter och utmana de regler som finns på förskolan. Analysen visar också att förskollärarna har en komplex syn på det demokratiska subjekt som eftersträvas. Det ses som individualistiskt ur vissa aspekter, barnen ska kunna stå för sina egna åsikter, det ses som socialt, barnen ska lära sig att lyssna på andra, och det ses också som politiskt, barnen ska kunna vara med och påverka verksamheten genom att själva handla. Som ett didaktiskt bidrag presenteras en ny analysmodell; Institutionella demokratihändelser.

The thesis describes the methodology of evaluation of extreme events and development of cartographic information system for this purpose. Existing complex risk assessment systems in the world are analysed highlighting their advantages and disadvantages. Author proposes original integrated risk assessment methodology based on integration of information from different geographic data sources. A cartographic information system designed by the author allows for the assessment of extreme events threats and risks. The developed methodology includes methodology of cartographic information system component development and deployment. The work describes necessary extreme events data, methods of their collection and database design principles. The created model enables the user to collect the data on extreme hazard events and to aggregate several threats into a single synthetic threat. The concepts of risks and threats and risk assessment methodology are explained. The author introduces project of an information system operating in the Lithuanian Geographic Information Infrastructure and integrated in the Lithuania spatial information portal. The system is tested with several consistent spatial data sets for Lithuania. The thesis presents experimental results that show increased geological and meteorological risk areas in Lithuania. Finally, methodological and practical conclusions about the methods and system customization, reliability and compliance with standards are presented. / Disertacijoje aprašoma ekstremalių įvykių vertinimo kartografinės informacinės sistemos kūrimo metodologija. Analizuojamos pasaulyje egzistuojančios kompleksinės rizikos vertinimo sistemos išryškinami jų trūkumai ir privalumai. Atliktos analizės pagrindu sukuriama originali daugeliu duomenų šaltinių pagrįsta kompleksinio rizikos vertinimo metodologija ir aprašoma autoriaus suprojektuota informacinė sistema leidžianti vertinti ekstremalių įvykių grėsmes ir riziką. Sukurta metodologija apima kartografinės informacinės sistemos sudedamųjų dalių kūrimo ir diegimo metodiką. Aprašomi sistemos veikimui reikiamų duomenų tipai, jų surinkimas, ekstremalių įvykių duomenų bazės kaupimo principai, sukuriamas ekstremalių įvykių grėsmių skaičiavimo ir kelių grėsmių apjungimo į vieną sintetinę grėsmę modelis. Aprašomas rizikos ir grėsmės santykis ir rizikos vertinimo metodologija. Disertacijoje taip pat pateikiama visos sistemos, veikiančios Lietuvos geografinės informacijos infrastruktūroje, ir integruotos Lietuvos erdvinės informacijos portale projektas. Sistema išbandyta su Lietuvoje pasiekiamais ir realiai egzistuojančiais erdvinių duomenų rinkiniais. Pateikiami eksperimento metu gauti rezultatai, rodantys padidintų geologinių ir meteorologinių rizikos rajonus Lietuvoje. Darbo pabaigoje pateikiamos metodologinės ir praktinės išvados apie metodų ir sistemos pritaikymą, patikimumą ir atitikimą standartams.

A gradual rise in Earth's surface temperature marks a transition from the late Paleocene to the early Eocene ca. 58-51 Ma. Paleocene/Eocene boundary (∼55.5 Ma) sediments deposited in the midst of this slow warming ubiquitously reveal evidence for a massive isotopically light carbon injection and an associated rapid but transient global warming event, or hyperthermal, that has been termed the Paleocene Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) and attributed to a carbon injection from multiple potential sources. The PETM has gained importance over the past two decades as a potential geologic analog to the modern anthropogenic carbon injection and climate change. However significant questions surrounding the nature of the carbon injection at the onset of the PETM remain. The Clarence River valley, located in the Marlborough region, South Island, New Zealand, contains a series of outcrops of lithified late Paleocene to early Eocene sediments originally deposited on a paleo-slope margin. Within these sections, the Lower Limestone Member of the Amuri Limestone Formation records the interval of interest. A Lower Limestone prominent recessed unit consisting of multiple marl-rich beds and recording a pronounced negative carbon isotopic excursion (CIE) marks the PETM at sections that have been bisected by tributaries to the Clarence River, including Mead Stream and Dee Stream. Here I detail and discuss Clarence valley Lower Limestone sections and relate these records to global trends with an emphasis on adding constraints to the PETM carbon injection. Specifically, I document the lithologic and carbon isotopic expression of the PETM and two younger paired sets of early Eocene events that, similar to the Mead Stream and Dee Stream PETM sections, reveal negative CIEs and expanded marl-rich units coincident to identical CIEs and condensed carbonate dissolution horizons in deep-sea sections. I further quantify the abundance of bioturbating macrofauna trace fossils through the PETM at both Mead Stream and Dee Stream and argue that New Zealand margin intermediate waters became hypoxic precisely coincident to the PETM carbon injection. In concert, these findings suggest a PETM carbon addition mechanism capable of both diminishing intermediate water dissolved oxygen and of repeated early Eocene injections. / U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF); Joint Oceanographic Institutions (JOI), Inc.

Did governments in different countries regulate common concerns about patient safety differently? If so how and why did they do this? This thesis undertakes a historical comparison of the regulation of patient safety in Britain and Canada between 1980 and 2005. These jurisdictions began the period with very similar regulatory frameworks, but by 2005 there were distinct differences in each jurisdiction‘s regulatory response to patient safety. Britain was very actively regulating all aspects of service provision within its health system in the name of patient safety, whereas Canada‘s regulatory direction showed adherence to the 1980s model with only scattered incremental developments. This thesis assesses the broader sociopolitical context and the structure of the health systems in each jurisdiction and concludes there are differences in the logics of these systems that established a foundation for future regulatory divergence. It is argued that between 1980 and 2005 there were two factors that influenced regulatory directionality in each jurisdiction: changing political norms associated with the development of neoliberalism and the New Public Management; and events or scandals associated with the provision of health services. The differing levels of penetration of both the changing political norms into governance cultures and of scandals into the public and political consciousness are critical to explaining regulatory differences between jurisdictions. The thesis concludes that what and how governments chose to regulate is a function of the perceived need for action and the dominant social and political norms within that society. Context is everything in the formulation of regulatory approaches to address pressing social problems.

Research into adverse events in home care is at a very early stage worldwide. Adverse event research in other health care sectors has demonstrated that patients can and do suffer harm, much of which is preventable, during the receipt of health care services. A stratified, random sample of patients who had received home care nursing service and were discharged in 2004/05 from three Ontario home care programs was studied to develop basic exploratory and descriptive evidence to advance the understanding of AEs in home care. The outcome is an estimate of the incidence of adverse events among patients, description of adverse event types and factors associated with adverse events, and the development of models predictive of home care patients with higher and lower potential for adverse events, and of the location of patients with adverse events. Positive critical indicators were identified in 66.5% of 430 cases. Sixty-one adverse events were identified in 55 (19.2%) of these 286 cases. When adjusted for sampling methodology, the adverse event rate was 13.2 per 100 patients (95%, CI 10.4% - 16.6%, SE 1.6%). Thirty-three percent of the adverse events were rated as having more than a 50% probability of preventability; 1.4% of all patients experienced an adverse event related death. Eight of the 45 factors significantly associated with adverse events formed a single factor model predictive of adverse events. Six two-factor interactions and the absence of one factor were also predictive of the occurrence of adverse events. Five of the 12 critical indicators significantly related to adverse events, as well as 7 critical indicator combinations formed models that reliably located about two-thirds of patients who had, and almost all patients who had not, experienced an adverse event. This study suggests that a significant number of home care patients experience adverse events, two-thirds of which are preventable. Use of adverse event sensitive factors as a screening tool for patients that may benefit from enhanced case management and clinical vigilance, and those unlikely to be placed at increased adverse event risk by maintaining current levels of vigilance, presents an opportunity to improve patient safety. Retrospective critical indicator models identifying home care patients who have experienced an adverse event can be used to estimate adverse event incidence rates and changes in rates over time.

The quadrivalent (q-) human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine is praised for its near perfect efficacy of 98% in the per-protocol population and minimal safety concerns. Adherence to the dosing schedule of 0, 2 and 6 months outside clinical trials has not yet been described. Furthermore, clinical trials were underpowered to detect rare, but serious, adverse events including convulsions, seizures and epilepsy in young girls targeted by American and Canadian national advisory committees. This retrospective cohort study followed Grade 8 girls eligible for Ontario’s HPV immunization program during the 2007/08 to 2010/11 campaign years. Using Ontario’s immunization and health databases, baseline characteristics, qHPV vaccination, dates of qHPV vaccination and diagnoses of serious neurological events were identified for each cohort member. The proportions of girls who initiated and completed the qHPV vaccine program were determined. Adherence to the recommended dosing intervals and for ‘time-to-series completion’ was calculated as the proportion of eligible girls whose number of days between doses complied with the recommended dosing interval. A self-matched, case only approach was used to estimate the age-adjusted rate ratio (RR) of neurological events in the 0-30 day period following qHPV vaccination. The primary study endpoint was a composite of the first occurrence of a convulsion, seizure or epilepsy. Secondarily, an epileptic seizure only endpoint was assessed, as were the influence of a number of predisposing risk factors. An overall uptake of 50.24% was observed, of which, 87.02% received at least three doses. Adherence to the recommended dosing interval was most difficult in scheduling of the second dose (70.80%). There was no increased risk observed for the primary endpoint in the 0-30 days following qHPV vaccination (RR 1.01, 95% CI 0.92-1.10). However, this association was modified in girls with predisposing risk factors for epilepsy. There was an increased risk observed for the epileptic seizure only endpoint (RR 1.64, 95% CI 1.28-2.10). In Ontario, the overall uptake of the qHPV vaccine is low. Once initiated, series completion is high, with the majority receiving the vaccine in a timely manner. A risk for epileptic seizures following vaccination may be limited to girls with predisposing risk factors. / Thesis (Master, Community Health & Epidemiology) -- Queen's University, 2012-09-28 17:56:59.608

The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the relation between sporting events, where alcohol is served, and the attitude towards alcohol among adolescents. We conducted a survey with 195 respondents, all of whom was students of Swedish upper secondary school. The respondents were between 15 and 18 years of age. The data were analyzed using theories of attitudes and norms. We also analyzed the data using previous research. Results indicated that there is a connection between visiting sports events where alcohol is served and the attitude towards alcohol among these youths. Those who had been on these sporting events in the last year had a more positive attitude towards and more frequently consumed alcohol than those who hadn't been on any of these sporting events.

Research into adverse events in home care is at a very early stage worldwide. Adverse event research in other health care sectors has demonstrated that patients can and do suffer harm, much of which is preventable, during the receipt of health care services. A stratified, random sample of patients who had received home care nursing service and were discharged in 2004/05 from three Ontario home care programs was studied to develop basic exploratory and descriptive evidence to advance the understanding of AEs in home care. The outcome is an estimate of the incidence of adverse events among patients, description of adverse event types and factors associated with adverse events, and the development of models predictive of home care patients with higher and lower potential for adverse events, and of the location of patients with adverse events. Positive critical indicators were identified in 66.5% of 430 cases. Sixty-one adverse events were identified in 55 (19.2%) of these 286 cases. When adjusted for sampling methodology, the adverse event rate was 13.2 per 100 patients (95%, CI 10.4% - 16.6%, SE 1.6%). Thirty-three percent of the adverse events were rated as having more than a 50% probability of preventability; 1.4% of all patients experienced an adverse event related death. Eight of the 45 factors significantly associated with adverse events formed a single factor model predictive of adverse events. Six two-factor interactions and the absence of one factor were also predictive of the occurrence of adverse events. Five of the 12 critical indicators significantly related to adverse events, as well as 7 critical indicator combinations formed models that reliably located about two-thirds of patients who had, and almost all patients who had not, experienced an adverse event. This study suggests that a significant number of home care patients experience adverse events, two-thirds of which are preventable. Use of adverse event sensitive factors as a screening tool for patients that may benefit from enhanced case management and clinical vigilance, and those unlikely to be placed at increased adverse event risk by maintaining current levels of vigilance, presents an opportunity to improve patient safety. Retrospective critical indicator models identifying home care patients who have experienced an adverse event can be used to estimate adverse event incidence rates and changes in rates over time.

This project was concerned with the development of a finite element model capable of simulating a drop-impact event of handheld radio devices. Handheld radios call for exceptional robustness and reliability due to their deployment in critical applications. The development of a drop-impact finite element model aims to provide greater understanding of impact behaviours, this insight would ultimately be used to develop more robust and optimised handheld electronic products. Before such analysis tools can be introduced into the product development cycle an understanding of finite element methods, of setup parameters for the finite element solver and the accuracy of simulation results must be considered. Experimental results were used throughout the project to validate the finite element models developed. A drop-impact test rig was designed and constructed to control both impact orientation and velocity of the handheld radios tested. Drop-impact modelling of a handheld radio is extremely challenging because of the complex interaction of the contacting surfaces, the complex stress-strain and damping characteristics of the materials, and the excitation of the high frequency modes. For this reason, the finite element model was developed in two stages: a simplified radio was used to develop the understanding of the above complexities and then the understanding implemented in a more detailed radio model. The mesh size of the finite elements, the elastic and the damping characteristics of the materials and the contact conditions for the simplified radio model were varied to understand their influence on the simulation results. The finite element input settings and parameters were altered to give better agreement with the experimental results of the simplified radio model. The detailed radio was subsequently modelled. The lessons learnt from the simplified radio model were applied to the analysis of the detailed radio assembly. Despite general agreements, there were some differences between the finite element and experimental results which was attributed to the high complexity of the model. The project delivered a workable finite element model capable of analysing the drop-impact event of handheld radio devices. Suggestions have been provided that would further improve the quality of the model.

Festivals and other events are often seen as important means for contributing to the positive image of a place and for increasing visitor numbers, for involving the local community and for creating job opportunities. Organising an event involves the temporary coordination of performers, an audience, volunteers, sponsors and other partners, and in the end an event is simultaneously produced and consumed. When the music has stopped or the actors have come off stage, when the audience has gone home and the premises have been cleared of rubbish, there might be few signs of an event having ever taken place. However, the value of an event is seen to extend beyond its immediate boundaries. This dissertation looks at event organising from a resources perspective. Which resources are engaged, and how do they contribute? Key questions that emerge concern the event’s connection to the place where it is held, how different actors are included or excluded and finally how the aesthetic aspects of an event attract resources. The study draws on observations of five cultural events and interviews with artistic directors, managers and collaboration partners. / <p>Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 2008</p>