The aim of this study was to understand how a social workers responsible for foster children within the municipal social services, is working with the children’s continuous relationships with family members and other significant related, as well as which knowledge formed the basis for their work practice. The study is based on interviews with eight social workers from three different municipalities. The results showed that the work is based on the law which causing interpretations, in which the individual assessment is in fact to be based on the child's needs- and best, but in practice are decisions made by and involving several parties. The study showed that the guardians and foster cares wills and opinions weigh heavily, often at the expense of the child perspective. As a strategy to assess the child's best, the social workers turn to their own quiet knowledge and colleagues and the organization's traditions to retrieve knowledge that supports the decisions, and to a lesser extent to scientific knowledge and evidence-based practice. The social workers also expressed a wish to work more with scientific underpinnings, but the organization does not work with routine gathering of scientific knowledge.

Thesis (MScEng (Civil Engineering))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Water-retaining structures are commonly used in South Africa for the storage of potable water and waste water. However, a South African code pertaining to the design of concrete water-retaining structures do not currently exist and therefore use is made of the British Standard BS 8007 (1987). For the design of concrete water-retaining structures in South Africa, only the hydrostatic loads are considered while forces due to seismic activity are often neglected even though seismic excitations of moderate magnitude occur within some regions of the country. Hence, the primary aim of this study was to determine whether seismic activity, as it occurs in South Africa, has a significant influence on water-retaining structures and whether it should be considered as a critical load case. In order to assess the influence of seismic activity on the design of water-retaining structures the internal forces in the wall and the required area of reinforcement were compared. Comparisons were made between the seismic analyses and static analyses for both the ultimate and serviceability limit states. In order to obtain the internal forces in the wall use was made of an appropriate Finite element model. Three Finite element models were investigated in this study and the accuracy of each model was assessed based on the fundamental frequency, base shear force and overturning moment. These values were compared to the values obtained with the numerical method presented by Veletsos (1997) which was verified with Eurocode 8: Part 4 (2006). The results obtained indicated that seismic excitations of moderate magnitude do have a significant influence on the reinforcement required in concrete water-retaining structures. For both the ultimate limit state and serviceability limit state the required reinforcement increased significantly when seismic loads were considered in the design. As in the case for static design of water-retaining structures, the serviceability limit state also dominated the design of these structures under seismic loading. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Beton waterhoudende strukture in Suid-Afrika word op ‘n gereelde basis gebruik vir die stoor van drink- sowel as afvalwater. ‘n Suid-Afrikaanse kode vir die ontwerp van hierdie strukture bestaan egter nie en dus word die Britse kode BS 8007 (1987) hiervoor gebruik. Vir ontwerp doeleindes word soms slegs die hidrostatiese kragte beskou terwyl kragte as gevolg van seismiese aktiwiteite nie noodwendig in berekening gebring word nie. Seismiese aktiwiteite van gematigde grootte kom egter wel voor in sekere dele van Suid-Afrika. Die hoofdoel van hierdie studie was dus om die invloed van seismiese aktiwiteite, soos voorgeskryf vir Suid-Afrikaanse toestande, op beton waterhoudende strukture te evalueer asook om te bepaal of dit ‘n kritiese lasgevalle sal wees. Vir hierdie doel is die interne kragte asook die area staal bewapening vir elk van die statiese en dinamiese lasgevalle vergelyk. Vergelykings is getref tussen die dinamiese en statiese resultate vir beide die swigtoestand en die diensbaarheidstoestand. Vir die bepaling van die interne kragte is gebruik gemaak van eindige element modelle. Tydens hierdie studie was drie eindige element modelle ondersoek en die akkuraatheid van elk geëvalueer op grond van die fundamentele frekwensie, die fondasie skuifkrag en die omkeermoment. Hierdie waardes was ondermeer bereken met twee numeriese metodes soos uiteengesit in Veletsos (1997) en Eurocode 8: Part 4 (2006). Die resultate dui daarop dat die invloed van seismiese aktiwiteite op beton waterhoudende strukture in Suid-Afrika nie weglaatbaar klein is nie en wel in berekening gebring behoort te word tydens die ontwerp. Die interne kragte vir beide die swigtoestand en diensbaarheidstoestand is aansienlik hoër vir die seismiese lasgeval as vir die statiese geval. Die diensbaarheidstoestand het deurentyd die ontwerp van beton waterhoudende strukture vir seismiese toestande oorheers.

Thesis (MScEng (Civil Engineering))--University of Stellenbosch, 2005. / There has always been some debate in the past about the most effective and economical type of revetment to be used to combat or prevent erosion in rivers and channels. Some of the most common materials used for these mitigation measures are gabions, Reno mattresses and rip rap. A study done by the Colorado State University (CSU, 1984), comprised hydraulic tests of Reno mattresses used as a channel bed revetment. The result were compared with those of rip rap. This thesis mainly deals with the evaluation of incipient motion conditions for rock used in Reno mattresses and as rip rap. In this thesis the results of the CSU study and the design criteria of Maccaferri are evaluated and compared with the result obtained when applying the stream power theory and the Shields' theory with respect to incipient motion. This thesis includes the theory with respsect to incipient motion conditions, background to the CSU study and comparisons of the results of the CSU study and Maccaferri's design criteria with theoretical calculations. A cost comparison of Reno mattresses and rip rap as channel bed revetment measures, as well as conclusions and recommendations with regard to the design and use of these options, are also included. The frame of reference for this thesis is the set of CSU test results. The calibrations achieved, proposals made and accuracy of conclusions thus depend on those results.

Apesar das vantagens relacionadas ao uso de estruturas de contenção em solo reforçado, a maioria das obras em nosso país ainda é executada por soluções convencionais. A ausência de um conhecimento mais profundo sobre o real comportamento das estruturas em solo reforçado, principalmente em termos de deslocamentos, certamente impede uma utilização mais intensa desse tipo de obra no Brasil. Com isso, para contribuir para um melhor entendimento do desempenho de estruturas em solo reforçado, foram construídos oito protótipos de estrutura de contenção em solo reforçado com geotêxtil, com 4,0 m de altura cada. Todas as estruturas foram instrumentadas, principalmente visando os deslocamentos, para avaliar o comportamento de campo. Adicionalmente, foi realizada a análise, em longo prazo, de um talude íngreme com 15,3 m de altura, construído no estado americano de Idaho, em que foram realizadas leituras até cinco anos após o fim da construção. Esse trabalho apresenta os resultados de cada protótipo construído, juntamente com os resultados do talude íngreme em Idaho, tanto em curto, quanto em longo prazo. As análises desenvolvidas compreendem, além da avaliação dos resultados individuais de cada estrutura, uma análise paramétrica entre todos os protótipos, investigando entre outros fatores, o tipo de solo, tipo de geossintético e geometria interna das estruturas. Além disso, foi realizada uma abordagem especial sobre a análise em longo prazo do protótipo 7. Dentre as conclusões mais importantes obtidas nesta pesquisa, podem-se citar as grandes deformações de fluência registradas no protótipo 7, a tendência de formação de uma superfície potencial de ruptura linear para os protótipos construídos com solo granular e de espiral logarítmica para os protótipos construídos com solos coesivos, a importância da coesão no bom comportamento das estruturas e a redução das movimentações verticais das estruturas com o acréscimo do teor de areia na granulometria do solo / Despite the important advantages associated with the use of geotextiles as reinforcement, most retaining walls in Brazil still use more conventional. The lack of field monitoring data regarding the internal and face displacements of these structures has certainly prevented broader use of this reinforced soil technology. This study addresses several aspects related to the behavior of geotextile-reinforced soil structures, such as the deformability of reinforcement materials under the confinement of soil, and quantification of the actual failure mechanisms. To achieve these goals, eight 4.0 m high geotextile-reinforced soil retaining wall prototypes were built and instrumented in order to quantify their behavior under ambient atmospheric conditions. Granular and poorly draining backfills were used in this study. Innovative construction methods and instrumentation were developed specifically for this research program. A significant laboratory testing program was conducted to quantify the stress-strain properties of the soils and geosynthetics involved in the construction of the walls. As a reference, the behaviors of these prototype structures were compared with that of a long term analysis of a steep slope in Idaho, USA. This wall is 15.3 m high, with displacement measurements carried out until five years after the end of the construction. A parametric analysis was conducted for the prototypes, in order to investigate the effects of soil type, reinforcement type and internal geometry of the structures. Among the most important conclusions obtained in this research, it is the large creep strains observed in prototype 7, the tendency of a linear potential slip surface observed for the walls constructed with granular backfills, and a log spiral slip surface for the prototypes constructed with cohesive backfills, the importance of the apparent cohesion in the behavior of the structures, and the reduction of the vertical movements of the structures with the increase of the amount of sand in the grain size distribution of the soil

Problemformuleringen som ligger till grund för denna undersökning är att det förväntas bli brist på sjuksköterskor i hela landet och att tidigare undersökningar har visat att kommuner generellt anses vara mindre attraktiva arbetsgivare. Syftet med den här studien utgår från att undersöka vilka faktorer sjuksköterskor anser är attraktiva i ett kommunalt arbete. Vidare är syftet att jämföra synen på attraktivt arbete mellan sjuksköterskor och deras arbetsgivare för att se om bilden överensstämmer utifrån de båda perspektiven.   Tidigare forskning har visat att faktorer som är viktiga för en individ att lockas och stanna på en arbetsplats berör ett brett spektrum av faktorer. Viktiga faktorer berör bland annat arbetsmiljö, ledarskap, autonomi, uppskattning och möjlighet till utveckling. Studier som tidigare jämfört sjuksköterskornas och arbetsgivarens syn på attraktivt arbete har inte tagit hänsyn till arbetsmiljö som faktor och har mestadels genomförts i sjukhusmiljö. Den föreliggande studien har genomförts inom en kommunal verksamhet och utgått från individens uppfattning från deras egen livsvärld.  Studien grundar sig i ett fenomenologiskt förhållningssätt och använder en kvalitativ metod då datainsamling skett genom semistrukturerade intervjuer. Undersökningen har genomförts på två urvalsgrupper: sjuksköterskor och representanter från arbetsgivaren.   Faktorer som visar sig viktiga för sjuksköterskor i kommunal verksamhet är bland annat arbetsklimat, kollegor och ersättning. Synen stämmer till stor del överens med arbetsgivarens men skillnader återfinns i hur yrket betraktas, ersättningens betydelse samt vilken möjlighet som finns för utveckling och inflytande. Det finns ett behov av uppskattning och en ökad förståelse för den vård som sjuksköterskor bedriver. För den kommunala sjukvården är det två faktorer att fokusera på för att attrahera och behålla sjuksköterskor. / The background that forms the basis of this study is an expected shortage of nurses nationwide and earlier research that implies that public sector organizations generally are perceived as less attractive organizations. This study intend to obtain knowledge about which factors nurses perceive as attractive in a public sector organization. The aim of this study is to compare nurses and their managers perceptions of which factors that are important to attract and retain nurses, and further if these perceptions differ from each other.   Previous research have shown that there is a wide range of factors that are important to attract and retain nurses. The important factors are for example work environment, leadership, autonomy, appreciation and opportunity for development. Studies that previously been comparing the perceptions of nurses and their employers have not considered work environment as a factor, and they have been carried out mainly in a hospital environment. The present study is made in a public sector and the starting point is how the individual comprehend its reality.   The study has a phenomenological approach and uses an qualitative method on basis that the data collection has been done through semi structured interviews. The research have focused on two groups of candidates: nurses and representatives of the employer.  Factors that have shown to be important for nurses in a public sector is for example work climate, colleagues and salary. The nurse perceptions does in most parts correspond with the employers perception. Contradictions is found in how the profession is valued, the significance of salary and also the opportunity for development and autonomy. There is a clear need for appraisal and understanding for the care that is given by the nurses from the leaders and politicians in the organization. For the public sector healthcare that is two factors that should be focused on to attract and retain nurses.

Soil nail walls are a form of mechanical earth stabilization for cut situations. They consist of the introduction of passive inclusions (nails) into soil cut lifts. These nailed lifts are then tied together with a structural facing (usually shotcrete) . The wall lifts are constructed incrementally from the top of cut down. Soil nail walls are being recognized as having potential for large cost savings over other alternatives. The increasing need to provide high capacity roadways in restricted rights of way under structures such as bridges will require increasing use of techniques such as combined soil nail and piling walls. The Swift Delta Soil Nail wall required installing nails between some of the existing pipe piling on the Oregon Slough Bridge. This raised questions of whether the piling would undergo internal stress changes due to the nail wall construction. Thus, it was considered necessary to understand the soil nail wall structure interaction in relation to the existing pile supported abutment. The purpose of this study was to investigate the Swift Delta Wall using finite element (FE) modeling techniques. Valuable data were available from the instrumentation of the swift Delta Wall. These data were compared with the results of the FE modeling. This study attempts to answer the following two questions: 1. Is there potential for the introduction of new bending stresses to the existing piling? 2. Is the soil nail wall system influenced by the presence of the piling? A general purpose FE code called ABAQUS was used to perform both linear and non-linear analyses. The analyses showed that the piling definitely underwent some stress changes. In addition they also indicated that piling influence resulted in lower nail stresses. Comparison of measured data to predicted behavior showed good agreement in wall face deflection but inconsistent agreement in nail stresses. This demonstrated the difficulty of modeling a soil nail due to the many variables resulting from nail installation.

A numerical study was performed in order to investigate the effects of base excitation characteristics (peak acceleration amplitude and frequency of the excitation), soil strength and wall flexibility on the dynamic response of cantilever earth-retaining walls. In this study, Plaxis v8.2 dynamic finite element code was used. Previous 1-g shake table tests performed by &Ccedil / ali&amp / #56256 / &amp / #56570 / an (1999) and Yunat&ccedil / i (2003) were used to compare the experimental results with those obtained by finite element analysis. Comparison of experimental and numerical results indicated that the code was capable of predicting the dynamic lateral thrust values and bending moment profiles on the wall stems. In the light of these validation studies, a parametric study was carried on for a configuration that consists of an 8 meters high retaining wall supporting the same height of dry cohesionless backfill. Total and incremental dynamic thrust values, points of application and dimensionless bending moment values were presented together with the results obtained from commonly used pseudo static Mononobe-Okabe method and Steedman-Zeng approaches. According to the finite element analyses results, total dynamic active thrust act at approximately 0.30H above wall base. Base motion frequency becomes an important factor on magnitudes of dynamic active thrust when it approaches to the natural frequency of the system. Significantly high overturning moments were predicted at wall base in this case. It was observed that increasing wall rigidity causes an increase in forces acting on the wall stem during dynamic motion.

Dynamic behaviour of gravity and cantilever retaining walls is investigated by finite element method, incorporating the nonlinear elasto-plastic material properties of soil and seperation of the wall and backfill. Two dimensional finite element models are developed employing the finite element software ANSYS. The wall is modelled to rest on a soil layer allowing translational and rotational movements of the wall. Soil-wall systems are subjected to harmonic and real earthquake motions with different magnitude and frequency characteristics at the base. The maximum lateral force and its application point durinG dynamic loading are determined for each case. It is observed that the frequency content of the base motion has a significant influence on the dynamic lateral soil pressures and the lateral forces considerably increase as the base motion frequency approaches the fundamental frequency of the soil layer. The maximum lateral thrusts calculated by finite element analyses are generally found to be greater than those suggested by Mononobe-Okabe method and experimental findings. Nevertheless, the locations of the application point obtained by finite element method are found to be in good agreement with the results of experimental studies.

<p>The aim of this work was to develop a production process for the enzyme xyloglucan <i>endo</i>-transglycosylase from <i>Populus tremula x tremuloides</i> (<i>Ptt</i>XET16-34). The natural transglycosylating activity of this enzyme has previously been employed in a XET-Technology. This chemo enzymatic method is useful for biomimetic modification of cellulose surfaces and holds great potential for industrial applications. Thus, it requires that the XET-enzyme can be produced in larger scale.</p><p>This work also shows how the wildtype <i>Ptt</i>XET16-34 was modified into a glycosynthase. By mutation of the catalytic nucleophile into an alanine, glycine or serine residue, enzymes capable of synthesising defined xyloglucan fragments were obtained. These defined compounds are very valuable for further detailed studies of xyloglucan active-enzymes, but are also useful in molecular studies of the structurally important xyloglucan-cellulose interaction.</p><p>A heterologous production system for <i>Ptt</i>XET16-34 was previously developed in the methylotrophic yeast Pichia pastoris. A methanol-limited fed-batch process was also previously established, but the yield of active XET was low due to proteolysis problems and low productivity. Therefore, two alternative fed-batch techniques were investigated for the production of <i>Ptt</i>XET16-34: a temperature-limited fed-batch (TLFB) and an oxygen-limited high-pressure fed-batch (OLHPFB).</p><p>For the initial recovery of XET after the fermentation process, two different downstream processes were investigated: expanded bed adsorption (EBA) and cross-flow filtration (CFF).</p>

Αντικείμενο της Διατριβής αποτελεί η διερεύνηση των δυνατοτήτων του Γεωαφρού Διογκωμένης Πολυστερίνης (ΓΔΠ) για τη χρησιμοποίησή του ως σεισμικό μονωτικό παρέμβλημα σε συμβατικούς τοίχους εδαφικής αντιστήριξης (τύπου βαρύτητας ή προβόλου) καθώς και σε ακρόβαθρα γεφυρών. Η παρούσα έρευνα βασίζεται στην αριθμητική ανάλυση της συμπεριφοράς συμβατικών τοίχων αντιστήριξης κάτω από τη δράση οριζόντιας σεισμικής διέγερσης βάσης. Οι αναλύσεις διεξάγονται τόσο για μη-μονωμένους τοίχους όσο και για τοίχους σεισμικά μονωμένους με παρέμβλημα ΓΔΠ. Το παρέμβλημα έχει τη μορφή κατακόρυφου φύλλου μικρού σχετικά πάχους που τοποθετείται σε επαφή με την πίσω όψη του τοίχου παρεμβαλλόμενο μεταξύ τοίχου και επιχώματος. Οι αναλύσεις διεξάγονται χρησιμοποιώντας τη μέθοδο πεπερασμένων στοιχείων (κώδικας PLAXIS v.8) με την παραδοχή ιξωδοελαστικής συμπεριφοράς εδαφικού επιχώματος και κατακόρυφου ελαστικού τοίχου δεδομένης ευκαμψίας και στροφικής αντίστασης της βάσης. Ως δυναμική διέγερση βάσης χρησιμοποιούνται αρμονικές χρονοϊστορίες επιτάχυνσης μεταβαλλόμενου εύρους και συχνότητας. Κατ’ αρχήν αξιολογείται η αξιοπιστία της χρησιμοποιούμενης μεθόδου ανάλυσης και τα αποτελέσματα των αναλύσεων συγκρίνονται με ανάλογα δημοσιευμένα αποτελέσματα και διαπιστώνεται πολύ καλή συμφωνία όσον αφορά την τιμή της σεισμικής ώθησης και το ύψος εφαρμογής της από τη βάση του τοίχου. Για την περίπτωση των σεισμικά μονωμένων (με παρέμβλημα ΓΔΠ) τοίχων οι εξεταζόμενες παράμετροι περιλαμβάνουν το σχήμα του παρεμβλήματος, την πυκνότητα και το ποσοστιαίο (σε σχέση με το ύψος του τοίχου) πάχος του ΓΔΠ, tr, την ευκαμψία του τοίχου, την καθ’ ύψος μεταβολή του μέτρου ελαστικότητας του ΓΔΠ και τη συχνότητα διέγερσης της βάσης. Η αποτελεσματικότητα της σεισμικής μόνωσης περιγράφεται ποσοτικά με τον συντελεστή Ar που ορίζεται ως το επί τοις εκατό ποσοστό της μείωσης (λόγω μόνωσης) της σεισμικής ώθησης σε σχέση με την τιμή που προκύπτει χωρίς μόνωση. Σχετικά με το σχήμα του παρεμβλήματος (κατά την έννοια του ύψους του τοίχου) διεξήχθησαν αναλύσεις για ορθογωνικό σχήμα και τρία τριγωνικά σχήματα και τα αποτελέσματα υποδεικνύουν ότι η βέλτιστη αποτελεσματικότητα επιτυγχάνεται με χρήση ορθογωνικού σχήματος. Επίσης διαπιστώθηκε ότι είναι δυνατή η επίτευξη τιμών της αποτελεσματικότητας σεισμικής μόνωσης Ar>50% για τιμές πάχους παρεμβλήματος tr 15%. Τα αποτελέσματα υποδεικνύουν επίσης ότι, επειδή η προκύπτουσα σχέση Ar - tr είναι μη γραμμική, απαιτούνται σχετικά μεγάλα πάχη παρεμβλήματος για τη μείωση της σεισμικής ώθησης σε ποσοστό μεγαλύτερο του 50%. Τέλος, για τον αντισεισμικό σχεδιασμό τοίχων αντιστήριξης προτείνεται δοκιμαστικά η εφαρμογή διαδικασίας που βασίζεται στον ΕΑΚ 2000, χρησιμοποιώντας όμως διπλάσια τιμή για το συντελεστή συμπεριφοράς, qw, εφόσον επιδιώκεται η επίτευξη αποτελεσματικότητας Ar=50%. / The objective of the Thesis is the investigation of the possibility to use the Expanded Polystyrene Geofoam (EPS Geofoam) for the seismic isolation of earth retaining walls. The research is based on the results of numerical analyses (using the finite element method) for determining the response of vertical walls supporting horizontal backfill and subjected to horizontal harmonic base excitation. The seismic isolation is realized by placing a column of EPS geofoam (compressible inclusion) between the back-face of the wall and the backfill. The response is calculated by using elastic analysis (with viscous damping for the backfill material). The efficiency of seismic isolation is quantitavely described by the Isolation Efficiency, Ar, defined as the ratio (in percent) of the reduction of earthquake thrust (due to isolation) to the earthquake thrust without isolation. The parameters investigated are the shape of the inclusion, the density and the (percent) thickness, tr, of the EPS geofoam, the wall flexibility, the variation of EPS geofoam modulus of elasticity with depth as well as the amplitude and frequency of excitation. The results of the analyses indicate that the optimum shape of the inclusion is the orthogonal (i.e. constant thickness with depth) whereas the effect of the inhomogeneity of the EPS geofoam along the depth of the wall is negligible, as long as the analysis is conducted using a constant mean value for the Modulus of Elasticity of EPS. The results also indicate that an Isolation Efficiency of about 50% may be achieved by using an inclusion thickness of about 15% of the wall height. Due to the nonlinearity of the relation Ar – tr, further increase of the inclusion thickness has a minor effect on the isolation efficiency of the inclusion. Based on the results of all analyses a tentative procedure is proposed for the earthquake resistant design of earth retaining walls. According to the procedure, the wall is designed following the methodology of the Hellenic Seismic Code (2000) and using qw values twice as those indicated by the Code. The required thickness of the EPS inclusion, tr, is then selected from a diagram relating the tr value to the flexibility of the wall and the density of the inclusion.