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ABSTRACT Patient safety and safety outcomes in hospitals are a major concern. A hospital’s safety climate indicates the degree to which the organization prioritizes patient safety and achieves intended care outcomes. Relationships between nurse managers and frontline nurses and relationships between health care team members are pivotal in promoting a positive safety climate which in turn reduces adverse patient outcomes. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine frontline nurses’ perceived relationships with nurse managers and health team members to identify factors associated with safety climate (SC) in a community hospital located in a western Canadian city. The study was guided by Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) theory. Leader-Member Exchange theory postulates that dyadic relationships and work roles develop over time through a series of exchanges between nurse managers and frontline nurses. The study further incorporated Team-member exchange (TMX), a theoretical extension of LMX. Team-Member Exchange was used to guide the study of reciprocal exchanges among nurses and other members of the health care team. A non-experimental, cross-sectional survey design was used to explore the relationship between acute care nurses’ perceived LMX, TMX, and SC. A convenience sampling technique was employed. Licensed practical nurses (LPNs) and registered nurses (RNs) were invited to complete a survey package comprised of four scales. A response rate of 31.1% was achieved with N=105. The majority of respondents were female (89.5%), over 45 years of age, and employed part-time. About half of the respondents were diploma-prepared nurses, whereas the other half had a baccalaureate degree in nursing. Based upon data’s non-normal distribution and various levels of variables, Kruskall Wallis H statistics were used to assess and compare groups in terms of the nurses’ education, gender, length of experience in their current position, specialty experience, organization experience, age, and LMX, TMX, and SC scores. Age was the sole demographic factor that had a statistically significant positive association with LMX and SC. This finding supported the notion that mature nurses enhance the SC. The relationship between TMX, LMX, and SC was explored through Spearman’s rho correlation statistics. LMX and TMX were found to have statistically significant relationships with SC. Multivariable regression analysis was used to identify factors with an association with SC. Nurses’ relationships with team members had a slightly stronger association with SC in comparison with LMX. Over 66% of SC variance was accountable by LMX, TMX, and nurses’ age. This study’s results support the nurse manager who partners with nurses to promote team work to deliver safe patient care and accomplish organizational goals. The presence of strong leadership that incorporates LMX and TMX theories into practice with the reliance upon mature nurses may facilitate the attainment of a positive SC and positive patient outcomes. Further longitudinal studies are recommended to add to the knowledge of the relationships between LMX, TMX, SC and patient outcomes.

Variably dolomitized limestone samples from the Rundle Group in Western Alberta, Canada were deformed under a variety of confining pressures and at room temperature in a triaxial rock press. The aim of this research is to establish the mechanical behaviour and brittle constitutive laws of limestone and dolomite composites. This data can then be used to develop strength profiles of thrust faults in the Rocky Mountain Fold and Thrust Belt. For example, many of the thrust faults in the Canadian Foreland are composed of limestone–dolomite composites, yet the mechanical properties of these composites remain unknown. Sample protoliths were selected for their similar grain sizes and grain size distributions, low porosity and low silica content in order to best examine relationships between these parameters and the distribution of strain between the dolomite and calcite. This study shows that increasing dolomite content correlates to an increase in strength at low and medium confining pressures. At high confining pressures, distributed brittle deformation adds complexities that are attributed to textural controls. Microstructural analysis of deformed samples shows that at approximately thirty to forty-five weight percent dolomite is interconnected via a dolomite grain network that provides a load-bearing capacity to the dolomite. This load-bearing capacity correlates to dramatic jumps in the strength of dolomite–limestone composites observed with increasing confining pressures. Inherent weaknesses in calcite grains such as twin planes and cleavage intersections are exploited by fractures resulting in reduced peak strengths of calcite-rich composites. Calcite generally absorbs strain and distributes it into finer spaced fracture networks than in dolomite. In dolomitized rock that still contains calcite cleavage within dolomite is not exploited, rather transgranular cracks break dolomite down into irregular and angular particles. At near pure dolomite content and at high confining pressure dolomite will fracture and disaggregate along cleavage. Comminuted dolomite grains commonly show a larger distribution of sizes and have more irregular shapes than contiguous comminuted calcite grains. Comminuted calcite particles are commonly much smaller than comminuted dolomite grains and show more regular shapes and an even grain size distribution.

This master thesis discusses legal status of a member of the limited liability company according to the Czech and Slovak legislation. The legal status is analysed mostly in terms of member's rights and obligations. Furthermore, the thesis focuses on the ways in which the status of the member originates and terminates. Each chapter starts with an analysis of the Czech legislation, which is followed by comparison with the Slovak. Finally, the legislations are evaluated including similarities and differences and remarking their advantages and disadvantages. The aim of the thesis is to verify, whether the legal status of the member is similar in both countries, since they are closely connected historically, geographically and politically.

The research question is: How do young people experience having a family member in prison? This question is posed within the Scottish policymaking context, in which high rates of imprisonment and reoffending are entrenched problems for the Scottish Government. In relation to children and young people, there has been a focus on the performance measurement of holistic policies accessed through the universal services of health, education and social work. Although there has been a growing awareness of some key issues that affect families affected by imprisonment, concern tends to be focused on parental imprisonment, ignoring wider family relationships. In addition, older teenagers and young adults have largely been overlooked. This stage of development is an important one, because it represents the time when young people make the transition into adulthood. As such, it is highly intertwined with issues relating to self-­‐identity. The thesis addresses the policies that are most relevant to young people, as well as the policies that more generally relate to families affected by imprisonment. It takes an approach informed by critical discourse analysis to critique the construction of young people and families, arguing that Scottish policymaking fails to address the core needs of these young people, and that the Scottish Government only deals with families affected by imprisonment at arms length. This leaves a policy gap, which third sector organisations step in to fill. The research includes empirical data from young people, who described their experience in open-­‐structured interviews. A thematic analysis of the interview data shows the complexity of the emotional state that young people enter when faced with the imprisonment of a parent, sibling or partner. A discussion of the resultant psychological effects, with reference to classic sociology of imprisonment literature, demonstrates that imprisonment is potentially traumatizing, causing feelings of isolation and a sense of being ignored or even silenced. The empirical data also includes semi-­‐structured interviews with professionals from third sector organisations, whose evidence shows that the policy environment presents a number of obstacles that block the way to providing appropriate services to young people. In addition, the topic of family imprisonment is under-­‐explored by the professionals and this increases the risk that young people will feel the need to stay silent. In conclusion, the thesis reviews the theoretical framework, the policymaking environment and the lived experience of the young people and the professionals who work with them to conclude that there is a pressing problem, which is inadequately understood, and which requires the more insightful approach that research such as this can help to inform.

Petroleum engineers generate reservoir simulation models to optimize production and maximize recovery. History matching is one of the methods used to calibrate the reservoir models. During traditional history matching, individual model variable parameters (permeability, relative permeability, initial water saturation, etc) are adjusted until the production history is matched using the updated reservoir model. However, this method of utilizing only one model does not help capture the full range of system uncertainty. Another drawback is that the entire model has to be matched from the initial time when matching for new observation data. Ensemble Kalman Filter (EnKF) is a data assimilation technique that has gained increasing interest in the application of petroleum history matching in recent years. The basic methodology of the EnKF consists of the forecast step and the update step. This data assimilation method utilizes a collection of state vectors, known as an ensemble, which are simulated forward in time. In other words, each ensemble member represents a reservoir model (realization). Subsequently, during the update step, the sample covariance is computed from the ensemble, while the collection of state vectors is updated using the formulations which involve this updated sample covariance. When a small ensemble size is used for a large, field-scale model, poor estimate of the covariance matrix could occur (Anderson and Anderson 1999; Devegowda and Arroyo 2006). To mitigate such problem, various covariance conditioning schemes have been proposed to improve the performance of EnKF, without the use of large ensemble sizes that require enormous computational resources. In this study, we implemented EnKF coupled with these various covariance localization schemes: Distance-based, Streamline trajectory-based, and Streamline sensitivity-based localization and Hierarchical EnKF on a synthetic reservoir field case study. We will describe the methodology of each of the covariance localization schemes with their characteristics and limitations.

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The purpose of this dissertation is to help sending churches of all sizes confidently reclaim their biblical role of member care to the missionary families they send. Chapter 1 introduces the concept of member care and establishes the local church as primary care giver in missions. It also shows the purpose, definitions, limitations and delimitations, and research methodology. Chapter 2 looks at the history of member care starting with William Carey and Lottie Moon and the beginnings of Baptist missionary care. The chapter then looks at the past fifty years of member care. This chapter also looks at preventable and non-preventable attrition and special issues in care including re-entry and the missionary kid. Chapter 3 surveys the Scriptures to build a case for a biblical mandate for care to its sent ones. It starts by looking at biblical precedent for such care using the churches at Antioch and Philippi as examples. Chapter 4 examines six leading member care churches in the US and surveys their best practices in care culture to families. Through the research obtained in these interviews, I offer a list of best practices in care ministry to families. Chapter 5 offers suggestions for sending churches to start care well by accessing, training, and mobilizing families with care in mind. In this chapter I summarize the research and make recommendations for the twenty-first century sending church.

The new Ashton Bridge is a concrete tied-arch structure with a cable-supported deck, which spans 110 metres below the arching ribs. The tie-beam members, connecting the arch ribs, each have six longitudinal tendons that have primarily straight profiles. The author set out to validate the structural behaviour of the tie-beams, after the post-tensioning construction stage. This objective was achieved by validating selected finite element model parameters with field conducted tests. The input parameter, which is the prestress loading onto the structure, was validated with tendon elongation measurements and tendon lift-off tests. The output parameter, which is the strain and displacement response of the structure, was verified by measuring the elastic deck shortening and the strain gauge readings. Lower tendon extensions were encountered during tensioning. This required calibration of the friction coefficients and model updating. Lift-off tests and deck shortening measurements provided and order size estimation of the structural behaviour, but was not adequate for model validation. The strain gauge readings showed a close correlation with the expected strain state of the structure and offered insight into the behaviour of the structure during post-tensioning. The methods described in this dissertation may be used for validating the structural behaviour of concrete bridges subject to post-tensioning. Suggestions for improving tendon lift-off tests and deck shortening measurements are also presented.

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