Indicator organisms (IOs) such as Escherichia coli and Enterococcus spp. are used to predict the presence of pathogens in waters. Determining the relationships between environmental factors, IOs, and pathogens is a key to assessing water quality and ensuring public health, yet certain strains of E. coli and Enterococcus spp. survive for long periods in natural waters. Molecular subtyping, using repetitive extragenic palindromic DNA sequences (BOX-PCR), has been used to discriminate among environmental E. coli and Enterococcus spp. isolates. The reproducibility of BOX-PCR patterns varies with DNA purification methods; therefore, it is important to develop a standardized, rapid, high throughput DNA purification protocol for population biology studies. I have compared the effects of DNA purification methods on the reproducibility, cost, and speed of producing BOX-PCR patterns using three methods: a commercially available Qiagen kit (Qiagen DNeasy tissue), a whole cell method requiring no pre-treatment, and a method developed in-house using the MacConnell Mini-prep 96 (mini-prep) instrument. The whole cell method was the least expensive, but demonstrated the least precision (reproducibility). The Qiagen kit and the Mini-prep 96 showed high reproducibility (90-95%); however, the Mini-prep 96 is less expensive and very rapid, allowing processing of up to 192 isolates/day. Water and sediment from a Florida river were placed in an outdoor flume that maintained turbulent flow and oxic conditions in the water column (~11 mg/L). The flume was inoculated with seven E. coli strains and nine Enterococcus spp. of distinct BOX-PCR phylotypes. Putative "survivor" strains previously isolated from mesocosms and disinfected wastewater effluent and control laboratory strains were chosen to test the hypothesis of differential survival of strains under hydrodynamically active conditions. IO strains isolated each day were typed by BOX-PCR (n=100 isolates/day), revealing differential survival of certain E. coli and Enterococcus strains. Ultimately, a better understanding of the effect of hydrodynamic regime and phylotype distribution on IO survival in water will allow more accurate modeling of the fate of these organisms in aquatic environments. This will in turn lead to a better understanding of the organisms we use as indicators of pollution. This is necessary to ensure the health and safety of all recreational water users.

Orientador: Denise de Campos Bicudo / Banca: Andréa Tucci / Banca: Liliana Rodrigues / Banca: Raoul Henry / Banca: Orlando Necchi Junior / Resumo: O estudo visou (a) identificar o nutriente limitante ao desenvolvimento do perifiton em escala sazonal no Lago das Ninfeias, (b) avaliar os principais atributos da comunidade indicadores desta limitacao, (c) caracterizar as principais alteracoes estruturais da comunidade de algas perifiticas frente ao enriquecimento artificial por nitrogenio e/ou fosforo e hierarquizar os fatores direcionadores dessas modificacoes. Foram realizados enriquecimentos isolados e combinado por N e P em represa rasa mesotrofica em quatro epocas do ano (primavera, verao, outono e inverno). Quatro tratamentos foram delineados utilizando substrato difusor de nutrientes (copos de poliestireno, preenchidos com solucao Agar e nutrientes . controle: sem adicao de nutrientes; N+: 0,75 M; P+: 0,05 M; NP+: adicao combinada dos dois sais, razao molar N:P = 15). A abertura dos copos foi revestida com malha de 20 um como substrato para o perifiton. Coletas foram realizadas aos 15o, 20o, 25o e 30o dias de colonizacao. A maior variabilidade dos dados limnologicos abioticos foi atribuida ao tipo de tratamento, seguida pela escala anual. A ACP indicou forte associacao entre a adicao de fosforo e, principalmente, adicao combinada com as maiores densidades de algas, clorofila-a e conteudo de fosforo do perifiton. O fosforo foi o nutriente limitante ao longo do ano e, dependendo do atributo, foi considerado como nutriente limitante, limitante primario ou co-limitado pelo nitrogenio. Exceto a massa organica, os demais atributos do perifiton foram bons indicadores da limitacao e a composicao quimica do perifiton foi decisiva na definicao desta limitacao. Foram encontrados 203 taxons, com maior representacao da classe Chlorophyceae. A riqueza especifica variou de 33 a 66 e sofreu maior influencia da epoca do ano / Abstract: Study aimed at (a) identifying the nutrient limitation to the development of algal periphyton in a seasonal scale at the Ninfeias Reservoir; (b) evaluating the main indicator community attributes of nutrient limitation; and (c) characterizing the main structural modifications underwent by the algal periphytic community caused by the artificial enrichment by nitrogen and/or phosphorus, as well as ranking the driven factors responsible for such modifications. Isolate and combined enrichments were carried out in a shallow, mesotrophic reservoir during four occasions (spring, summer, fall, and winter). Four treatments were designed using diffusing substrate (polystyrene vials filled with agar solution and nutrients . control: no nutrient addition; N+: 0.75 M; P+: 0.05 M; NP+: combined addition of N and P, molar ratio N:P = 15). Vial mouth was covered with a 20 um mesh cloth for periphyton colonization. Samplings were performed on the 15th, 20th, 25th, and 30th colonization days. The greatest abiotic limnological data variation was related to the kind of treatment, followed by the annual scale. PCA indicated a strong association between P and mainly combined P and N addition with the highest algal densities, chlorophyll a, and the P periphyton contents. Phosphorus was the limiting nutrient over the year, and depending on the periphyton attribute, it was either the only limiting nutrient, the primary limiting one, or colimited with N. Except for the organic mass, the remaining periphyton attributes were good nutrient limitation indicators, and periphyton chemical composition was conclusive in defining limitation. Two hundred and three taxa were identified, Chlorophyceae being the dominant algal class. Species richness varied from 33 to 66, being influenced mostly by the time of the year / Doutor

Special education teachers sometimes experience problems with knowing how to construct and write transition goals that meet Indicator 13 requirements of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. This project examined the effects of teacher training in Indicator 13 requirements on the quality of transition goals. Participants included 17 special education teachers from one school district located in a western state. Target behaviors where increasing each participants’ post-test goal quality scores from individualized transition plans (ITP) written after they demonstrated knowledge about requirements through a post-instruction goal quality writing probe. Procedures involved (a) a pre examination of participants’ transition goals that were written for students prior to the training, (b) an instructional session on what needs to be included to meet Indicator 13 goal requirements, (c) a writing probe on a hypothetical student after the training to make sure the participants can write a goal statement, and (d) a post examination of participants’ transition goals written after the training. The researcher noted that participants’ demonstrated adequate goal-writing on the writing probe (6.88 out of 7.00) and that data collector ratings of goal quality scores increased from 2.82 to 6.53 mean ratings on a zero-to-seven point scale. These results could have implications in terms of participants’ transition goals becoming consistent with Indicator 13 requirements.

Bacterial source tracking (BST) methods often involve the use of phenotypic or genotypic fingerprinting techniques to compare indicator bacteria such as Escherichia coli isolated from unknown sources against a library of fingerprints from indicator bacteria found in the feces of various known source animals. The predictive capability of a library is based in part on how well the library isolates reflect the true population diversity of indicator bacteria that can potentially impact a water body. The purpose of this study was to compare the behavior of E. coli population structures in the feces of humans, beef cattle and horses across different parameters. Ribotyping and antibiotic resistance analysis were used to "fingerprint", or subtype E. coli isolates. Significantly greater diversity was observed in the E. coli population of horses compared to the human or beef cattle sampled. Subtype sharing between individuals from all host categories was infrequent, therefore the majority of E. coli subtypes were sampled from a single individual. The dominant E. coli populations of nine individuals (three per host source category) were monitored over time, which demonstrated that E. coli subtypes within a host individual vary on a monthly time frame, and an increase in the frequency of subtype sharing was noted between individuals within the same source group over time. The E. coli population of a single human that had just finished antibiotic treatment was studied on a daily basis for one month. The loss of an E. coli subtype with high antibiotic resistance was observed over time, however there was a single dominant E. coli subtype that was present at every sampling event during the entire month. Geographic distinctiveness of E. coli populations was investigated by sampling four herds located in different geographical regions. We observed that E. coli populations are not geographically distinct, but are somewhat individual-specific, as most E. coli isolates had a subtype that was found in a single individual. This study defines factors that should be considered when constructing a successful BST library, and suggests that E. coli may not be the appropriate indicator organism for BST.

This study investigated the efficacy of multiple indicators, multiple causes (MIMIC) methods in detecting uniform and nonuniform differential item functioning (DIF) among multiple groups, where the underlying causes of DIF was different. Three different implementations of MIMIC DIF detection were studied: sequential free baseline, free baseline, and constrained baseline. In addition, the robustness of the MIMIC methods against the violation of its assumption, equal factor variance across comparison groups, was investigated. We found that the sequential-free baseline methods provided similar Type I error and power rates to the free baseline method with a designated anchor, and much better Type I error and power rates than the constrained baseline method across four groups, resulting from the co-occurrence background variables. But, when the equal factor variance assumption was violated, the MIMIC methods yielded the inflated Type I error. Also, the MIMIC procedure had problems correctly identifying the sources DIF, so further methodological developments are needed.

金融市場瞬息萬變，幾乎所有商品價格都是非線性的動態過程，如何預測價格一直都是倍受討論和研究的議題。隨著電腦科技的不斷進步,許多財務學者以市場上的歷史交易資料作為研究對象，希望能夠預測出有效的結果。本研究利用 EEMD 法拆解原始加權指數訊號，建立類神經網路模型，並預測出未來市場之價格後，利用 FK 值當作交易門檻，帶回台指選擇權做交易測試並計算報酬。由於不同神經元個數會配適出不同的預測結果，本研究希望能夠找到較適合使用在指數預測的網路架構。 / The financial market forecasting is characterized by data intensity, noise, non-stationary, high degree of uncertainty, and hidden relationships. Investors are concerned about the forecasting market price. Throughout the development of computational technology, researchers have been involved in data mining on historical trading enabling them to have a more accurate data. This research uses Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition-based Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) learning paradigm to provide different ways to analyze the stock market. In our research, we used the ANN method to obtain our prediction of the stock price. First, the previous day’s stock price needs to be decomposed in order to see the various variables, that is, the numerous IMFs seen on the graphs. Acquiring the information, it is inserted into the ANN method to get a prediction. Following that, the prediction can then be transformed into a simpler result via the Forward Calculator % K indicator. As a result, the FK value can display a signal if to buy or sell, and confirm trading time, and make buy or sell Call-Put decisions on TAIEX options. In summary,we found different neuron numbers in the hidden layers that may affect the result of prediction.

The telephone-banking channel, delivered through call centres, has become an integral part of the distribution mix of retail financial institutions. To get the greatest competitive advantage from this channel, the strategic orientation, structural and behavioural aspects of the call centre must be aligned with its operational-service and sales-performance objectives. Unfortunately, while considerable managerial effort is expended developing call centres, often their performance results remain uncertain or uncommunicated. There are indications also that financial institutions should not underestimate active market orientation benefits; innovative, strategic-thinking and progressive structures; flexible, empathic leadership, and, valuing supportive human resource strategies. Our survey of Australian deposit-taking institutions investigates the extent to which strategic and behavioural aspects are aligned with its operational-service and sales-performance objectives. Specifically, managerial approaches to IT development, competitive positioning, leadership delegation, market research attitudes and product orientation were considered. Approaches to trust, conflict, morale and reward, and, key performance indicator (KPI) choices were sought also. Results show sales performance is positively related to more externally focussed strategic orientations. Reinforcing the importance of innovative human resource practices, performance is also related positively to psychosocial climate in general and employee reward and morale, in particular. This extension of management theory urges financial service leaders to actively contemplate one of its most important resources, people. Further, the survey itself indicated that while the majority of institutions continue to use operationally based key performance indicators, such as minimum call duration, the ability of the call centre to generate sales revenue is also being recognised. In summary, given the size and potential of the telephone-banking channel, this research encourages further, urgent exploration of strategic relationships among the channel, its market, performance measures and comprehensive people-centred HR strategies aimed at developing high employee trust, and satisfaction.

<p>Human existence and welfare depend on functional ecosystems. Ecosystems are critical to sustain life-support services for human well-being. One method that visualizes that humanity requires ecosystem services for resource consumption and assimilation of produced waste is ecological footprints. This study focuses on the ecosystem service carbon sequestering. A quantification of this ecosystem service showed the potential for accumulation of carbon in different ecosystems in Stockholm and Norrbotten County for the years of 1995 and 2004. This study also provides an estimate of the ecosystem area that is appropriated to accumulate all carbon from total carbon dioxide emissions in Stockholm and Norrbotten County respectively. The appropriated ecosystem area represents the ecological footprint. The ecological footprint is also calculated for Stockholms läns landsting`s total carbon dioxide emissions in 2004. The total potential for accumulation of carbon is lower in the ecosystems in Stockholm County in 2004 than in 1995 and the corresponding figure for Norrbotten County has increased. The results indicate that the total potential for carbon accumulation in Stockholm County was approximately 427 kton C year-1 in 1995 and 352 kton C year -1 in 2004. In 1995 the ecosystems in Stockholm County could assimilate 26% of the county’s total emissions whereas the figure for 2004 was 21%. In Norrbotten County, the total potential for accumulation was approximately 2 824 kton C year -1 in 1995 and 2 983 kton C year -1 in 2004. The ecosystem area that is appropriated to assimilate total emissions of carbon dioxide was smaller in 2004 than in 1995 in Stockholm County and larger in Norrbotten County. The ecological footprint for total carbon dioxide emissions in Stockholm County was 12 696 km2 in 1995 and 12 506 km2 in 2004. The corresponding estimate for Norrbotten County indicate that the ecological footprint for total carbon sequestering was 14 457 km2 in 1995 and 32 146 km2 in 2004. The result shows that both regions require large areas of ecosystem to absorb total emissions of carbon dioxide. Stockholms läns landsting´s ecological footprint was 409 km2, which corresponds to 3.3 % of the County’s total ecological footprint. Stockholm County depends on ecosystem areas outside the region for assimilation of the region’s total emissions of carbon dioxide. According to the results Norrbotten County is self-sufficient with regard to the ecosystem service carbon accumulation. This study also includes a discussion of the advantages and limitations of the ecological footprint as a methodology. The received results serve as the starting point for this discussion. Ecological footprints are pedagogic and communicative indicators and can therefore reach out to a broad audience which is a great advantage with the method. It is a static measure and is therefore incapable of giving any presages. Ecological footprints do not take the dynamics and complexity of ecosystems into account and can therefore not provide any information about the possibilities for ecosystems to deliver ecosystem services at the same quality and quantity in the future. The method does not take socio-economic factors into consideration. For these reasons, ecological footprint should not be used as an indicator for sustainability. On the other hand, ecological footprint can illustrate why an ecologically sustainable development is necessary by visualizing that human welfare and existence rely on functional ecosystems.</p>

<p>The presence of human pathogens in water indicates the sanitary risk associated with different types of water utilization. This study surveyed the sources of human pathogens in urban waters. In order to evaluate the microbiological water quality of urban water, the enumeration of various indicator bacteria (total coliform, fecal coliform, E.coli and enterococci) is usually used.</p><p>The abundance of indicator bacteria in urban water indicates the level of fecal contamination and the presence of other human pathogens such as protozoan pathogens (Giardia lamblia & Cryptosporidium parvum).</p><p>Fecal pollution of urban waters can be from human and animal origin. Point sources of fecal contamination in an urbanized area are the effluents of urban wastewater treatment plants. While non-point sources are usually originated from diffuse sources such as (runoff from roads, parking lots, pets, leaks, failing septic systems and illegal sewer connections to storm drains). urban stormwater is considered as a major carrier for delivering human pathogens from diffuse sources to receiving waters. Increases in urban stormwater volumes have resulted from increasing urbanization and growth of impervious surfaces.</p><p>In order to reduce high amounts of human pathogens in urban waters, different methods are used nowadays to develop urban wastewater treatment plants technologies and urban stormwater management practices.</p>

Residential care in nursing homes continues to be necessary for those individuals who are no longer able to live safely and comfortably at home. The demographic change with increasing number of persons over 65 years in the next 20 years also means that the percentage of those who will require care in a nursing home some time before the end of their lives will increase. Therefore, anticipating this pressure to expand nursing home availability, it is critical that these services are developed from a profound understanding of what creates the best value. Nursing homes in developed countries have evolved over the past half-century from being places of mainly custodial care to facilities responsible for the management of an ever increasing range of complex nursing and medical conditions. Nursing home residents are frail older adults with complex needs, dependent on advanced nursing care.  Determining what aspect of nursing homes should and can be measured is the current work of many national health care systems. However, uncovering what the nursing home residents perceive as the most important aspects of quality and how they experience living in a nursing home is necessary to develop effective person-centred care.  The overall aim of the present thesis was to contribute to a deeper understanding of quality of care in nursing homes, integrating the professionals’, residents’ and family’s perspectives. The research design is a qualitative approach to explore the concept quality of care and its domains. The thesis comprises a review of internationally used nursing sensitive quality indicators for nursing homes. The indicators are evaluated for their validity as described in the literature. The thesis further describes the residents’ experiences with the interpersonal factors of nursing care quality, as well as the residents’ experiences of living in a nursing home. The thesis also explores the understanding and belief about nursing home quality held by family members of residents. The thesis is based on in-depth interviews of residents in four different nursing homes, and focus group interviews of family members of residents in two different nursing homes. The findings are that quality of care in long-term care in nursing homes encompasses at least four domains: quality of the living conditions, quality of the nursing staff, quality of direct nursing care, and quality of the social environment. Moreover, care quality is influenced by a range of external factors such as the national policy, laws and regulations, management of the organization and the physical building. The local community provides a context in which the nursing home is more or less integrated into. The review of internationally used quality indicators indicate that some factors of care processes and health outcomes for nursing home residents could be measured and give valid and reliable evaluation of the nursing home care quality. In the explorative qualitative study, residents and family placed more emphasis on physical and psychological well-being, interpersonal relationships and the social environment if quality of care is to result. Objective indicators of essential areas of resident-experienced quality need to be developed. This should be done in collaboration with the residents and their next-of-kin, in addition to professional expertise. Methodological and practical implications of the results are discussed. / Sykehjem er en helsetjeneste som vil være nødvendig for eldre som ikke føler seg trygge eller kan få tilstrekkelig behandling, pleie og omsorg i eget hjem. Antall eldre over 65 år er økende i Norge, noe som innebærer et økt press på sykehjem i framtiden. Det er derfor av stor betydning at sykehjemstjenesten utvikles med tanke på å skape best mulig nytteverdi ut fra behov. Sykehjemmene har utviklet seg de siste 50 årene fra hovedsakelig et botilbud til helseinstitusjoner som gir avansert helsehjelp. Sykehjemsbeboere er skrøpelige eldre med komplekse problemstillinger, avhengig av avansert sykepleie. Kvalitetsindikatorer er kvantitative mål som reflekterer en profesjonell standard for pleie og omsorg, og slike mål benyttes i økende grad for å vurdere kvalitet i sykehjem. Imidlertid er det nødvendig å inkludere det som har størst betydning for sykehjemsbeboere i slike mål for å kunne gi god pasientsentrert sykepleie.   Hovedmålsettingen med studien var å bidra til en dypere forståelse av sykehjemskvalitet, ut fra helsepersonellets, beboernes og pårørendes ståsted. Avhandlingen omfatter en oversikt over kvalitetsindikatorer som er i bruk internasjonalt. Videre beskriver avhandlingen beboernes erfaringer med mellommenneskelige faktorer ved sykehjemskvalitet, samt hvordan de erfarer å bo i et sykehjem og opplever kvaliteten på “hjemmet” sitt. I avhandlingen blir også pårørendes forståelse av og meninger om sykehjemskvalitet utforsket. Avhandlingen er basert på dybdeintervju av beboere ved fire ulike sykehjem, og fokusgruppeintervjuer med pårørende ved to av sykehjemmene.   Funnene viser at kvalitet på pleie og omsorg i sykehjem omfatter minst fire hovedområder: Bokvalitet, personellkvalitet, helsetjenestekvalitet og sosial kvalitet. Videre er pleie- og omsorgskvaliteten påvirket av en rekke eksterne faktorer som nasjonale føringer, lovverk, ledelsesstruktur, bygningskonstruksjon og lokale forhold. Den internasjonale oversikten over kvalitetsindikatorer gir indikasjoner på at noen av dem kan brukes som pålitelige og gyldige evalueringer av kvaliteten på pleie og omsorg, samt helserelaterte resultater for beboerne. I den kvalitative intervjuundersøkelsen med beboere og pårørende, ble fysisk og psykisk velvære, mellommenneskelige forhold og det sosiale miljøet tillagt større betydning for kvaliteten. Objektive indikatorer for disse beboererfarte områdene for kvalitet må utvikles. For å sikre at disse er pasientsentrerte, bør utviklingen av kvalitetsindikatorer gjøres i tett samarbeid med sykehjemsbeboerne og pårørende, i tillegg til helsepersonell.