This application for PhD by publication is the culmination of a series of investigations concerning the development of a conceptual model of student satisfaction with their higher education (HE) experience. The five core papers that sequentially contributed to knowledge are presented within this application, together with their supporting papers. In particular, the investigations focussed on what were the main determinants of student satisfaction utilising critical incident technique (CIT). New determinants of quality within higher education were identified as a result, namely motivation, praise/reward, social inclusion, usefulness, value for money and fellow student behaviour. The resultant research papers have made an original contribution to knowledge in the area of quality in HE. The rationale for using CIT to gather and analyse data was to investigate its effectiveness in triangulating with existing methods used in HE to measure student satisfaction. The CIT research was triggered by previous research that had developed and tested a student satisfaction questionnaire. CIT is used to gather data that is defined as ‘rich’. It is ideal when researching new areas. The questionnaire was based on the work of Sasser et al (1978) who proposed that service delivery consisted of a ‘bundle’ of goods and services, which incorporated distinct elements (the facilitating goods, the sensual service and the psychological service). The CIT survey instrument subsequently adopted, built upon the seminal work by Flanagan (1954) who developed it to assess the psychological impact (on pilots) when learning to fly. Both survey instruments were used to identify the determinants of quality in higher education from a student’s point of view and ultimately what was considered “critically critical” (Edvardsson & Nilsson-Wittel, 2004). An evaluation of teaching quality was carried out as part of this series during the mid-2000 era, and a comparison made of some of the existing measurement methods used at the time, such as student feedback questionnaires and peer review practices. A review of the potential use of mystery students in higher education was also carried out. This particular study highlighted the lack of confidence (by teaching personnel) in the existing methods for evaluating teaching quality as well as some mistrust of the concept of using mystery students in a classroom setting. A multi-method approach was chosen for this series of studies, because of the merits in using both quantitative and qualitative studies to generate data. Using such an approach provided a sequential method of analysing and presenting the data for this cross-sectional study. The initial student satisfaction questionnaire was a quantitative instrument and gathered data on importance and satisfaction ratings (using a five-point Likert scale) which were further analysed used quadrant analysis. The CIT survey was largely qualitative in nature and gathered written narratives from students about their positive and negative experiences; the resulting data used interpretive thematic analysis to identify key themes and any resulting patterns that could be coded quantitatively for input into the statistical software package SPSS. Each piece of research was underpinned by the existing literature at the time; this has inevitably progressed since then. CIT has been widely used in the service sector and additional determinants of quality within higher education have been identified within the current literature. A number of papers presented with this application have generated academic discussion in the field and these are evidenced by the number of citations for the applicant’s work. Moreover, the applicant’s additional supplementary papers also appended for background information have also been cited within the academic literature. The findings can be applied to teaching practice and within policy documents that support front-line teaching (and other) personnel in higher education.

Children sometimes experience loss and trauma through critical incidents such as unexpected bereavement through accidental death which can have negative psychological effects. In many countries, where there is a school psychology service, it would seem likely that an Educational Psychologist could be involved in order to mitigate such psychological effects. Support led by Educational Psychologists and others is often organised through Critical Incident Response Teams.Since 1994 a range of support offered by Educational Psychology Services in England has been documented in the literature. There is information in the literature about the range of professionals involved and the type of support that is offered. However, it is not clear why some responses/teams are more sustainable and why they vary in structure. The literature broadly specifies critical incident responses, but this research aims to provide a more detailed specification, sharply focussed on the process of developing a Critical Incident Response Team.The present study involved a series of interviews at seven Local Authorities which have Critical Incident Response Teams all of which have been operational for at least five years. Multiple sources of evidence are used, namely semi-structured interviews with lead Educational Psychologists for critical incident support and other Educational Psychologists and professionals who are part of the Critical Incident Response Team. The transcriptions of all the semi-structured interviews were analysed using content analysis and thematic analysis. The findings were used to propose a theoretical model, containing indications of context, personnel and process factors to consider for the development of a sustainable Critical Incident Response Team.

Background: Adverse events are poor health outcomes caused by medical care rather than the underlying disease process. Voluntary reporting is a key component to adverse event reduction; however, incident reporting systems contain many limitations. The Patient Safety Learning System (PSLS) is an electronic incident reporting system with several unique features that were designed to address the weaknesses of previous systems, including a process for physician assessment of reported events to determine their significance. The primary objectives for this study were to determine the positive predictive value of the PSLS for identifying adverse events. Secondary objectives were to identify event, patient, and system-level factors associated with true events, and to assess event rates over time. Methods: I performed a retrospective cohort study using electronic health care data collected data from the Ottawa Hospital, between April 1 2010 and September 30, 2011. We Included all reported patient safety events if they occurred in adults aged 18 and older, admitted to an inpatient ward at the Civic, General, or Heart Institute campus. Events that occurred on Psychiatry, Rehabilitation services, were excluded due to data restrictions. A Clinical Reviewer manually reviewed each event to distinguish true events from non-events. For each hospital program, we used a generalized linear mixed model (GLIMMIX) to predict true events, using the role of the reporter as a random effect. Results: Over the study period, there were 2,569 events reported by hospital staff and physicians. Of these, 660 were rated as adverse events and 1,909 were rated as near misses. This yielded an overall positive predictive value of the PSLS system of 63% (95% CI 62-65%). The variance between reporters was not significant for Critical Care, Heart Institute, Nephrology, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Surgery and Periops, therefore I used a traditional logistic regression model with a common intercept. Number of months the PSLS was available was the only significant covariate found in all programs; the direction of the relationship was the same across all programs, and showed a decrease in true events reported over time. Other common covariates included: time from admission to event, severity of illness, and admission type. All models achieved a good calibration, yet discrimination was poor (c <0.70) in all models except Heart Institute. Discrimination ranged from 65% in Critical Care to 77% in the Heart Institute. Overall, the rate of patient safety events reported for inpatients was 6.39 per 1000 patient days. After an initial learning period, from April 2010-January 2011, in which rates were low, reporting rates increased and stabilized; remaining constant from month to month. The rate of true patient safety event reporting fluctuated greatly from April 2010-January 2011, after which they began to steadily decline. Trends in reporting were similar across hospital campus, reporter, and program. The majority of patient safety events were reported by nurses (44%), and laboratory staff (42%). The remaining 14% of events were reported by the classification ‘Other,’ which included all other hospital staff, such as technicians, physicians, and administrative staff. Only 7 physicians reported events to the PSLS during my study period, therefore, they were categorized under ‘Other’. Conclusions: Despite the many unique advantages of the PSLS, the proportion of true events reported has remained low. The overall utility of statistical models to predict patient safety events is limited. The traditional patient and system-level covariates, which are used to predict risk of adverse outcomes with high accuracy, did not help us discriminate between true patient safety events from non events. It is possible that many different individual and institutional barriers are influencing reporting and perhaps reviewing behavior, which in turn leads to non-clinical variability in what gets reported and classified as a patient safety event.

The diploma thesis focuses on information systems analysis and assessment of a chosen company. After results evaluation based on this analysis, a proposal will be made on how to convert the former information system into a new one. This proposal will be described from an economic point of view at the end of the thesis as well.

No description available.

No description available.

<p> The McMaster Incident Detection Algorithm <MacAlg> automatically detects incidents en the Burlington Skyway for the Burlington Freeway Traffic Managment System <FTXS>. This paper describes the calibration, testing and evaluation of functions of northbound stations 1 through 6. The testing and evaluation of the two weekly data sets is illustrated and discussed. Some of the resulting functions are recommended to the Burlingtion FTNS to evaluate how well the MacAlg detects incidents. This research compliments the work: of Persaud, Hall and Hall (1989), who are developing and testing the logic of the MacAlg. The results of this paper contribute information to the further development and testing of the MacAlg's logic. </p> / Thesis / Bachelor of Arts (BA)

<p>Aim: The aim was to investigate the ambulance nurses experiences during a specific ambulance missions that led to usage of LUCAS ™.Method: Participating ambulance nurses were randomly assigned from a total sample group of 12 women and 39 men. Five women and five men participated. Qualitative interviews were conducted, where the Critical Incident Technique approach was used. Collected interviews were valued using qualitative content analysis.Result: Interview texts were divided into three domains, 10 subcategories could be identified which were sorted into three categories. A theme was finally formulated.The initial alarm data from SOS Alarm is important for the ambulance nurses preparation. There where cardiac arrest situations when the work went well, as well as situations where problems arose. The informants expressed that they should practice on LUCAS ™ to a greater extent than they now are doing. Staff in the emergency room, some time was perceived as stressful and they did not listen. The informants expressed frustration with the major administrative tasks after a LUCAS™ case, on the other hand, the "team spirit" where highlighted, they solve the task together.Conclusion: Developments during ambulance missions where LUCAS ™ will be used depends on, alarm data, resources, situation at the scene, planning, roles, supervision, handling of LUCAS ™ and Case Report Form, relatives and viewer reactions, the receipt at the emergency department and finally that ambulance staff cooperates after the LUCAS ™ mission.</p> / <p>Syfte:<strong> </strong>Syftet var att undersöka ambulanssjuksköterskors upplevelser under ett bestämt ambulansuppdrag som ledde fram till begagnande av LUCAS™.</p><p>Metod: Deltagande ambulanssjuksköterskor lottades ur en total urvalsgrupp bestående av 12 kvinnor och 39 män. Fem kvinnor och<strong> </strong>fem män deltog. Kvalitativa intervjuer genomfördes, där Critical Incident Technique metoden användes. Insamlade intervjudata värderades med hjälp av kvalitativ innehållsanalys.</p><p>Resultat:<strong> </strong>Intervjutexten kunde delas in i tre domäner, 10 underkategorier kunde identifieras som sorterades i tre kategorier. Slutligen formulerades ett tema. De initiala larmuppgifter från SOS Alarm är viktiga för ambulanssjuksköterskornas förberedelser. Det förekom hjärtstoppssituationer där arbetet gick bra, likväl situationer där problem uppstod. Informanterna uttryckte att de borde öva på LUCAS™ i större utsträckning än de gör i nu läget. Vid en del situationer upplevdes mottagande personal på akutmottagningen som stressade och att de inte lyssnade. Betecknande för informanternas upplevelser vad gäller de administrativa uppgifterna efter LUCAS™ uppdraget var inte positivt, dock betonades "team work".</p><p>Slutsats: Utvecklingen under ambulansuppdrag där LUCAS™ kommer till användning är beroende av; larmfakta, resurser, situationen på plats, planering, roller, arbetsledning, hanterandet av LUCAS™ och Case Report Form, anhöriga och åskådares reaktioner, mottagandet på akutmottagningen och slutligen att ambulanspersonalen samarbetar efter LUCAS™ uppdraget.</p>

Banking and online financial services are part of our critical infrastructure. As such, they comprise an Achilles heel in society and need to be protected accordingly. The last ten years have seen a steady shift from traditional show-off hacking towards cybercrime with great economic consequences for society. The different threats against online services are getting worse, and risk management with respect to denial-of-service attacks, phishing, and banking Trojans is now part of the agenda of most financial institutions. This trend is overseen by responsible authorities who step up their minimum requirements for risk management of financial services and, among other things, require regular risk assessment of current and emerging threats.For the financial institution, this situation creates a need to understand all parts of the incident response process of the online services, including the technology, sub-processes, and the resources working with online fraud prevention. The effectiveness of each countermeasure has traditionally been measured for one technology at a time, for example, leaving the fraud prevention manager with separate values for the effectiveness of authentication, intrusion detection, and fraud prevention. In this thesis, we address two problems with this situation. Firstly, there is a need for a tool which is able to model current countermeasures in light of emerging threats. Secondly, the development process of fraud detection is hampered by the lack of accessible data.In the main part of this thesis, we highlight the importance of looking at the “big risk picture” of the incident response process, and not just focusing on one technology at a time. In the first article, we present a tool which makes it possible to measure the effectiveness of the incident response process. We call this an incident response tree (IRT). In the second article, we present additional scenarios relevant for risk management of online financial services using IRTs. Furthermore, we introduce a complementary model which is inspired by existing models used for measuring credit risks. This enables us to compare different online services, using two measures, which we call Expected Fraud and Conditional Fraud Value at Risk. Finally, in the third article, we create a simulation tool which enables us to use scenario-specific results together with models like return of security investment, to support decisions about future security investments.In the second part of the thesis, we develop a method for producing realistic-looking data for testing fraud detection. In the fourth article, we introduce multi-agent based simulations together with social network analysis to create data which can be used to fine-tune fraud prevention, and in the fifth article, we continue this effort by adding a platform for testing fraud detection. / Finansiella nättjänster är en del av vår kritiska infrastruktur. På så vis utgör de en akilleshäl i samhället och måste skyddas på erforderligt sätt. Under de senaste tio åren har det skett en förskjutning från traditionella dataintrång för att visa upp att man kan till en it-brottslighet med stora ekonomiska konsekvenser för samhället. De olika hoten mot nättjänster har blivit värre och riskhantering med avseende på överbelastningsattacker, nätfiske och banktrojaner är nu en del av dagordningen för finansiella institutioner. Denna trend övervakas av ansvariga myndigheter som efterhand ökar sina minimikrav för riskhantering och bland annat kräver regelbunden riskbedömning av befintliga och nya hot.För den finansiella institutionen skapar denna situation ett behov av att förstå alla delar av incidenthanteringsprocessen, inklusive dess teknik, delprocesser och de resurser som kan arbeta med bedrägeribekämpning. Traditionellt har varje motåtgärds effektivitet mätts, om möjligt, för en teknik i taget, vilket leder till att ansvariga för bedrägeribekämpning får separata värden för autentisering, intrångsdetektering och bedrägeridetektering.I denna avhandling har vi fokuserat på två problem med denna situation. För det första finns det ett behov av ett verktyg som kan modellera effektiviteten för institutionens samlade motåtgärder mot bakgrund av befintliga och nya hot. För det andra saknas det tillgång till data för forskning rörande bedrägeridetektering, vilket hämmar utvecklingen inom området.I huvuddelen av avhandlingen ligger tonvikten på att studera ”hela” incidenthanteringsprocessen istället för att fokusera på en teknik i taget. I den första artikeln presenterar vi ett verktyg som gör det möjligt att mäta effektiviteten i incidenthanteringsprocessen. Vi kallar detta verktyg för ”incident response tree” (IRT) eller ”incidenthanteringsträd”. I den andra artikeln presenterar vi ett flertal scenarier som är relevanta för riskhantering av finansiella nättjänster med hjälp av IRT. Vi utvecklar också en kompletterande modell som är inspirerad av befintliga modeller för att mäta kreditrisk. Med hjälp av scenarioberoende mått för ”förväntat bedrägeri” och ”value at risk”, har vi möjlighet att jämföra risker mellan olika nättjänster. Slutligen, i den tredje artikeln, skapar vi ett agentbaserat simuleringsverktyg som gör det möjligt att använda scenariospecifika resultat tillsammans med modeller som ”avkastning på säkerhetsinvesteringar” för att stödja beslut om framtida investeringar i motåtgärder.I den andra delen av avhandlingen utvecklar vi en metod för att generera syntetiskt data för test av bedrägeridetektering. I den fjärde artikeln presenterar vi ett agentbaserat simuleringsverktyg som med hjälp av bland annat ”sociala nätverksanalyser” kan användas för att generera syntetiskt data med realistiskt utseende. I den femte artikeln fortsätter vi detta arbete genom att lägga till en plattform för testning av bedrägeridetektering. / <p>QC 20151103</p>

Aim: The aim was to investigate the ambulance nurses experiences during a specific ambulance missions that led to usage of LUCAS ™.Method: Participating ambulance nurses were randomly assigned from a total sample group of 12 women and 39 men. Five women and five men participated. Qualitative interviews were conducted, where the Critical Incident Technique approach was used. Collected interviews were valued using qualitative content analysis.Result: Interview texts were divided into three domains, 10 subcategories could be identified which were sorted into three categories. A theme was finally formulated.The initial alarm data from SOS Alarm is important for the ambulance nurses preparation. There where cardiac arrest situations when the work went well, as well as situations where problems arose. The informants expressed that they should practice on LUCAS ™ to a greater extent than they now are doing. Staff in the emergency room, some time was perceived as stressful and they did not listen. The informants expressed frustration with the major administrative tasks after a LUCAS™ case, on the other hand, the "team spirit" where highlighted, they solve the task together.Conclusion: Developments during ambulance missions where LUCAS ™ will be used depends on, alarm data, resources, situation at the scene, planning, roles, supervision, handling of LUCAS ™ and Case Report Form, relatives and viewer reactions, the receipt at the emergency department and finally that ambulance staff cooperates after the LUCAS ™ mission. / Syfte: Syftet var att undersöka ambulanssjuksköterskors upplevelser under ett bestämt ambulansuppdrag som ledde fram till begagnande av LUCAS™. Metod: Deltagande ambulanssjuksköterskor lottades ur en total urvalsgrupp bestående av 12 kvinnor och 39 män. Fem kvinnor och fem män deltog. Kvalitativa intervjuer genomfördes, där Critical Incident Technique metoden användes. Insamlade intervjudata värderades med hjälp av kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Resultat: Intervjutexten kunde delas in i tre domäner, 10 underkategorier kunde identifieras som sorterades i tre kategorier. Slutligen formulerades ett tema. De initiala larmuppgifter från SOS Alarm är viktiga för ambulanssjuksköterskornas förberedelser. Det förekom hjärtstoppssituationer där arbetet gick bra, likväl situationer där problem uppstod. Informanterna uttryckte att de borde öva på LUCAS™ i större utsträckning än de gör i nu läget. Vid en del situationer upplevdes mottagande personal på akutmottagningen som stressade och att de inte lyssnade. Betecknande för informanternas upplevelser vad gäller de administrativa uppgifterna efter LUCAS™ uppdraget var inte positivt, dock betonades "team work". Slutsats: Utvecklingen under ambulansuppdrag där LUCAS™ kommer till användning är beroende av; larmfakta, resurser, situationen på plats, planering, roller, arbetsledning, hanterandet av LUCAS™ och Case Report Form, anhöriga och åskådares reaktioner, mottagandet på akutmottagningen och slutligen att ambulanspersonalen samarbetar efter LUCAS™ uppdraget.