In healthcare, personal protective equipment (PPE) are sometimes misused due to improper skill acquisition or skill decay before clinical practice. Training is often didactic or web-based but it is unclear whether these methods transfer to effective physical performance. There is no standard method to evaluate these competencies and scheduling or space restrictions can limit physical practice. A Delphi survey produced relevant checklist and global rating items for evaluating use of PPE. Principles from skill learning and human-computer interaction were combined with the survey results to develop an interactive computer-based simulation for procedural practice of these skills. The assessment tool differentiated between experienced and newly-trained users and demonstrated inter-rater reliability. Learners rated their satisfaction with the simulation similar to a provincial online tutorial and pilot studies with the simulation demonstrated that learners practiced for a longer period when using the simulation as compared to the provincial online tutorial.

What explains the shift towards greater direct public oversight of financial markets in international financial regulation that has characterized the response to the global financial crisis of 2007-2010? Over this period, the main international financial regulatory bodies have abandoned the market-based mechanisms that had informed their approach towards the regulation of different financial domains in the years before the crisis and significantly expanded the perimeter of state-based regulation. However, the extent and the timing of this shift cannot be regarded only as the by-product of the crisis, nor they can be explained by the existing interpretations of the political determinants of international regulatory policies. This study builds upon existing state-centric explanations of international regulatory policies, but it goes beyond these works by exploring how the preferences of the most influential countries in response to the crisis have been influenced by variations in the degree of public salience of different financial domains. More specifically, this study argues that the lasting increase in the public salience of financial regulatory policies in the US and different European countries since the last quarter of 2008 has created strong incentives for elected officials in these countries to challenge the market-based approach that had emerged in the decade and half before the crisis and to directly interfere in the international regulatory agenda. In order to explain this shift, this study will analyse the evolution in the international governance of three sets of markets and institutions that have occupied an important position in the international regulatory agenda in recent years: 1) OTC derivatives; 2) rating agencies; 3) hedge funds. Besides making an empirical contribution to the literature on the politics of international financial regulation, this study also contributes theoretically to this literature by deepening our understanding of the nexus between international regulatory coordination and domestic public opinion.

Middle School represents a period of transition for the students. This transition is present not only in physical change, intellectual change, and emotional change, but also in terms of the type of reading instruction these students receive. One approach to reading instruction moves from a direct approach focusing on specific skills, to a functional approach of how to apply those skills in the content area classroom. The latter approach is process oriented, and focuses on learning the content by reading and participating in relevant learning activities. The focus of this study was to examine the interaction which takes place among textbooks, instructors, and students in the area of Social Studies within selected middle schools. Three phases were involved in this study. Phase one: Grade six Social Studies textbooks were evaluated using the Singer Reading Inventory, which evaluates the areas of organization, explication, conceptual density, metadiscourse, and instructional devices within a given textbook. Phase two: Visitations to five middle school Social Studies classrooms were conducted over an eight week period in an effort to determine the types of instructional strategies employed by teachers. Phase three: Academic achievement was measured by publisher provided examinations, teacher prepared examinations, or an aggregate of daily scores. Hypothesis one: Social Studies textbooks which are more considerate will result in greater student achievement. This hypothesis was rejected. The achievement of students was inversely related to the results of the evaluation of the textbooks as determined by the Singer Reading Inventory. The rejection of this hypothesis must be qualified in terms of the content the subareas of the Singer Reading Inventory measured, and the type of information the student had to acquire in order to perform well academically. Hypothesis two: Teachers who employ more strategies which are of a functional process approach will enhance student achievement in the content areas. This hypothesis was retained. The preceeding findings may be partially explained by considering the possibility that some classroom instructors compensate for the inadequacies of textbooks by providing more effective strategies and activities which enhance the interaction of information exchange within the classroom. / Graduation date: 1990

There is no abstract available for this dissertation.

A study was conducted to determine agreement between Christian school teachers and administrators regarding the importance of selected teacher evaluation criteria. Thirty-nine criteria were included from Christian school literature and from a list suggested by Manatt and Stow. The populations of the study included participants at the 1986 International Institutes for Christian School Teachers and Administrators and teachers and administrators from selected Midwest Christian schools.An instrument was administered on site to the Institute population and via mail to the Midwest population. Chi-square analyses were run to determine any significant differences of opinion.Findings1. There was a high degree of congruence of opinion between the teachers and administrators regarding the importance of the selected criteria suggesting a core of desirable teacher evaluation criteria for Christian schools.2. Thirty-five criteria, including all 20 suggested by Manatt and Stow, were considered to be very important by 3. Differences of opinion between teachers and administrators included respect for authority, which the administrators thought more important, and lesson plans and effective use of time, materials, and resources, which teachers thought more important.4. No conclusions could be made regarding the influence of any demographic information on the opinions.5. There was no evidence that a teacher's input into teacher evaluation is related to a teacher's satisfaction with teacher evaluation.A list was included in Chapter V of 22 teacher evaluation criteria which were mutually important to Christian school teachers and administrators.

The purpose of the study was to provide for the improvement of instruction in the secondary schools of Saudi Arabia. To fulfill this goal, the study was designed to accomplish three tasks: 1) describe the nature, scope and effectiveness of the current system of teacher evaluation; 2) determine the attitude of the Saudi educators toward the existing system; 3) develop a new system and propose it for evaluating secondary school teachers in Saudi Arabia. Literature relating to the model of evaluation, criteria used in evaluating teachers, role of personnel involved in teacher evaluation, and processes and instruments used in evaluating teachers was reviewed.Letters to some of the Saudi educational authorities were sent in order to obtain information about the present system of teacher evaluation, and to acquire any studies that have been conducted in the area of teacher evaluation. A questionnaire was sent to Saudi administrators and teachers now studying at American universities. The purpose of the questionnaire was to obtain information relating to the procedure used in evaluating secondary school teachers in Saudi Arabia, to elicit their judgments of the effectiveness of the present system, and to obtain their recommendations for developing the present system of teacher evaluation.Most of the literature that was received from Saudi Arabia indicated a negative reaction toward the present teacher evaluation system. Also the answers and comments of most of the respondents to the questionnaire statements revealed a general dissatisfaction with the present evaluation system.The proposed design was based upon the review of literature, interviews with American school personnel, suggestions from respondents to the questionnaire, participation in part of the activities of the staff development program at Ball State University, consultation with some experts in the field of teacher evaluation, review of some evaluation instruments used in evaluating teachers at different school systems in Indiana, and the review of most of the material now used for evaluating secondary school teachers in Saudi Arabia.The evaluation model described the expected role of the supervisor, the building principal, the department chairman, the peer teachers, the students, and the teacher being evaluated in teacher evaluation. Also the model defined the criteria which should be used in the teacher evaluation program.The suggested procedure for evaluation was illustrated under the listed activites:1. An introductory conference. The main purpose of this conference, which is managed by the supervisor, is to explain the general outline and the procedure evaluation process.2. Departmental meetings. The chairman of the department is in charge of running these meetings. The common technique of conducting a departmental meeting in general and the technique followed at the first departmental meeting in specific are clarified.3. Field work or the cycle of evaluation. This section is concerned with the procedure to be followed in the teacher evaluation. The procedure of evaluation includes the following activities:a) Setting goals and objectives. The teacher with the help of the department chairman writes the behavioral or instructional objectives of the course in general and of each unit in specific.b) Data collection. The data about the teacher being evaluated is collected from various sources and by different techniques such as classroom observation, teacher self-evaluation and student and peer questionnaires.c) Analysis of data. The department chairman and the teacher analyze the information collected by classroom observation and questionnaires.The purpose of the data analysis was defined. After the data analysis the department chairman writes the evaluation report.The evaluation of the department chairman and the end-of-the year evaluation were included in the model. Recommendations related to the application of the model and to the betterment of the teaching-learning process were formulated.

As the demand for energy increases, as well as the demand for renewable energy, Vattenfall, as network owner, receives many requests to connect new wind power to the grid. The limiting factor for how much wind power that can be connected to the grid is in this case the maximum current capacity of the overhead lines that is based on a line temperature limit. The temperature limit is set to ensure a safety distance between the lines and the ground. This master thesis project is a part of a research project at Vattenfall Research and Development that is examining the possibilities of increasing the allowed current on overhead lines in order to be able to connect more wind power to the existing network. Measured data from two overhead lines in southern Sweden is analyzed and the internal relations between the measured parameters are examined. The measured parameters are overhead line sag, line temperature, ambient temperature, solar radiation, wind speed and line current. The results indicate that there is a big load margin that could be utilized to increase the maximum current as long as further work could show that low winds at line height correlates with low wind at nacelle height. The results show that the sag versus line temperature is approximately linear within the measured temperature range. This means that a real-time-monitoring system measuring the line temperature should give adequate knowledge of the line position to ensure the safety distance. A model for the line temperature as a function of insolation, current, ambient temperature and wind speed has been estimated for one of the lines. Simulations show that a sudden increase in current at a worst-case scenario would give the operators about ten minutes to react before the line reaches the temperature limit.

Purpose To investigate ocular surface sensations, specifically ocular discomfort using psychophysical and clinical techniques. The measurement of discomfort on the ocular surface has been limited to the use of traditional rating scales until recently. This thesis focuses on the scaling of discomfort using a psychophysical approach and also investigates the less explored area of the influence of blur on ocular discomfort. The specific aims of each chapter are: Chapter 2: To evaluate the difference thresholds of the central cornea in lens and non-lens wearers. Chapter 3: To devise a novel scale for ocular discomfort, relating subjective estimation of discomfort arising from contact lens wear to discomfort produced by the pneumatic stimuli delivered by a modified Belmonte esthesiometer. Chapter 4: To evaluate the influence of blur on ocular comfort while systematically manipulating vision using habitual refractive correction, induced spatial and optical blur, and under the absence of visual structure. Chapter 5: To examine if subjects rate discomfort and intensity of suprathreshold pneumatic stimuli differently when viewing clear and defocused targets and to examine the suprathreshold scaling of stimuli under the same visual conditions. Methods Chapter 2: The mechanical sensitivity of the central cornea was determined in 12 lens wearers and 12 non-lens wearers using a modified Belmonte pneumatic esthesiometer. The mechanical threshold of the central cornea was first estimated using the method of limits. Then, a series of systematically increasing stimuli were presented, with the first stimuli being 25% less than the threshold. The subjects were asked to compare the intensity of each stimulus with the preceding one and report if any difference in intensity was detectable. The intensities at which the subjects perceived an increased intensity from the previous was recorded. The difference threshold (DL) was the differences between the stimulus intensities at which an increase was perceived and five DLs were measured for each subject. Weber’s constants that relate the size of the difference thresholds to the stimulus intensity were derived for each DL level and repeated measures ANOVA was used to compare the Weber’s constants in the lens and non-lens wearing groups. Chapter 3: Twenty seven participants were enrolled for this magnitude matching study. Soft (HEMA) contact lenses of eight different lens designs varying in base curve and diameter were fit on all participants. The study was conducted on two separate days with four lenses randomly assigned on each day. The assigned soft contact lens was placed on the chosen eye and the sensations were measured using a numerical rating scale. Following this, the subjects were asked to regulate the intensity of the pneumatic stimulus using the control dial in order to match the discomfort from the stimulus to the discomfort from contact lens wear. At the completion of magnitude matching, ratings of sensations were again recorded. Pearson product moment correlation was used to correlate the objective esthesiometer matches to the subjective ratings of discomfort reported by each participant. The method of least log squares was used to derive the power exponents as defined by Stevens’ power law and analyze the psychophysical functions. Repeated measures ANOVA was used to investigate the effect of lens sequence and session on ocular discomfort with contact lens wear. The impact of lens type and time on discomfort was studied using linear mixed modeling. Chapter 4: Twenty emmetropic subjects rated ocular comfort, vision and sensation attributes (burning, itching and warmth) under conditions of normal vision, spatial blur and dioptric defocus, each session lasting for five minutes. Subjects viewed digital targets projected from a distance of 3m, and ocular surface sensations, vision were rated using magnitude estimation. Dioptric defocus was produced using +6.00DS contact lenses and equivalent spatial blur was created by spatially blurring the targets. Clear target images were used during dioptric defocus and blurred images during spatial blur session. Comfort was also rated under the absence of visual structure in fifteen of the participants using a ganzfeld and black occluders. Repeated measures ANOVA was used to compare vision and comfort ratings between the different experimental conditions. Chapter 5: Twenty one participants were enrolled. Ocular discomfort was produced by delivering mechanical stimuli from a pneumatic esthesiometer, and participants were asked to rate the intensity of stimulus and the discomfort induced by it under clear and defocused visual conditions. Esthesiometry was performed on one eye while the fellow eye viewed either a clear or blurred 6/60 fixation target through a trial lens. For the clear visual condition, the trial lens contained +0.25DS over their distance refractive correction and for the defocused condition, an additional +4.00DS was used. Mechanical thresholds from the central cornea were estimated using ascending methods of limits and then stimuli that were 25%, 50%, 75% and 100 % above threshold were presented in random order. Participants rated intensity and discomfort of each stimulus using a 0-100 numerical scale where 0 indicated no sensation and 100 indicated highest imaginable intensity/discomfort. There were 3 sessions with clear visual conditions and 3 sessions with defocus, in random order. Results Chapter 2: The functions relating Weber’s constants to stimulus intensities were slightly different in lens and non-lens wearing groups, although the absolute thresholds were similar. Repeated measures ANOVA revealed a significant main effect of DL level on Weber’s constant (p<0.001), with the Weber’s fraction at the first DL being higher than the following DLs. A significant main effect of the group type was also observed, with the lens wearers showing higher Weber’s constants than the non-lens wearers (p=0.02) However, there was no interaction between DL level and lens wearing group on Weber’s constants (p=0.38). Chapter 3: The average and individual psychophysical functions appeared to follow Stevens’ power function, with mechanical and chemical stimuli giving rise to different power exponents. Examination of the individual transducer functions revealed that only about half of the subjects were able to match the contact lens sensations to the pneumatic stimulus discomfort, with both mechanical and chemical stimulation. The lens types did not have any impact (p=0.65) on the session or sequence in which the lens was presented, although an effect of session and sequence on discomfort was observed. The average discomfort ratings produced by the different lens types were similar. There appeared to be significant effects of time (p<0.001) on the reporting of discomfort with lens wear, with the discomfort upon lens insertion rated to be higher than after lenses settling. Chapter 4: Ratings of vision under spatial blur and dioptric defocus were significantly different (p<0.001) from normal vision condition. Vision with dioptric defocus was rated worse (p<0.001) than spatial blur. Significant differences in comfort were observed between normal vision and blur, including spatial blur (p=0.02) and dioptric defocus (p=0.001). However, there was no significant difference (p=0.99) in comfort between spatial blur and dioptric defocus. Comfort remained unchanged between normal vision, occluders and ganzfeld although vision was absent in the later two conditions. Chapter 5: There was no significant difference in mechanical thresholds under clear and defocused conditions with a paired t-test (p=0.66) and similar results were obtained with repeated measures ANOVA, with no significant difference in discomfort (p=0.10) and intensity (p=0.075) ratings between the two visual conditions. However, paired t-test between the derived exponents under clear and defocused conditions showed significant differences for discomfort (p=0.05) and no significant difference for the ratings of intensity (p=0.22). Comparison of exponents between discomfort and intensity showed a significant difference in both clear (p=0.02) and defocus conditions (p<0.001). Conclusions: Chapter 2: The differential sensitivity of the ocular surface can be successfully measured with a pneumatic esthesiometer and it appears that Weber’s law holds true for corneal nociceptive sensory processing. There are subtle differences in mechanical difference thresholds between lens and non-lens wearers suggesting the possibility of different neural activity levels in the two groups. Chapter 3: Subjective ratings of discomfort can be scaled by corneal esthesiometry in a selective group of people. In the subset of subjects with poorer correlations, perhaps the pneumatic mechanical stimulus was too localized and specific to match the complex sensations experienced while wearing contact lenses. However, there is also a group of subjects who are poor at making judgments about ocular comfort. Hence, the use of special sensory panels should be considered when ocular comfort is the primary outcome. Chapter 4: There does seem to be an association between clarity of vision and ocular comfort, although the pathways for pain and vision are perhaps exclusive. Interactions between vision and other senses have been reported, but a similar inter-sensory interaction between pain and vision is yet to be clearly demonstrated. The decreased comfort observed in this study might perhaps be due to nocebo or Hawthorne effects. Chapter 5: Suprathreshold scaling of pneumatic stimuli can vary with the viewing conditions, with defocus associated with higher exponents than clear visual conditions. However, the ratings of comfort appear to be similar under both the conditions. If defocus does affect comfort, it is subtle and does not affect the sensory components, but tiny effects through the affective aspect of pain can contribute to the differences in power exponents. The differences in the perception of comfort do not appear to be attributable to the differences in threshold or sensory intensity.

The concept of asymmetric information is probably best described by medieval idiom to buy a pig in a poke or to buy a cat in a sack, and is a long standing issue in a market economy. A solution to this predicament, is thought to be an objective third party certifier who would provide true information for the market participants. Credit Rating Agencies (CRAs) by all definitions act as such certifiers within financial markets and have been on the public spotlight for the last years. In both cases, the US subprime mortgage crisis and the EU sovereign debt crisis, the agencies were charged for miss-information on quality of financial products, that led to financial losses for the investors or debtors. Theoretical deduction suggest that certain market reaction to CRA announcements may indicate  if markets perceive CRAs themselves as selling a cat in a sack to the investors. Event study approach is employed to investigate how do sovereign debt market react to CRA announcements. The results suggest that sovereign debt market reaction is more pronounced if three major CRAs issue clustered announcements, and more actively react to following announcements as opposed to the leading ones.

The purpose of this thesis is to identify key factors underlying exchange rate developments during the European sovereign debt crisis by examining the impact of credit rating news, published by the three leading credit rating agencies, on conditional returns and volatility of EUR/USD (direct quotation) exchange rate. Empirical results highlight the importance of interest rate differential and volatility index of options exchange in explaining EUR/USD exchange rate volatilities. Downgrade announcements by Standard &amp; Poor’s as well as watch revisions by Fitch Ratings had a detrimental impact on the value of Euro, leading to a subsequent Euro depreciation over the period under consideration (January 2009 – April 2012).