The masters thesis on due diligence focuses on the practical use of due diligence. The aim of this thesis is to identify risks for the investor, examples of adjustments to EBITDA, net debt and net working capital and calculate the value of the target company compared to the value offered by the real investor on the market.

Context. Operating room (OR) is one of the most expensive resources of a hospital. Its mismanagement is associated with high costs and revenues. There are various factors which may cause OR mismanagement, one of them is wrong estimation of surgery duration. The surgeons underestimate or overestimate surgery duration which causes underutilization or overutilization of OR and medical staff. Resolving the issue of wrong estimate can result improvement of the overall OR planning. Objectives. In this study we investigate two different techniques of feature selection, compare different regression based modeling techniques for surgery duration prediction. One of these techniques (with lowest mean absolute) is used for building a model. We further propose a framework for implementation of this model in the real world setup. Results. In our case the selected technique (correlation based feature selection with best first search in backward direction) for feature selection could not produce better results than the expert’s opinion based approach for feature selection. Linear regression outperformed on both the data sets. Comparatively the mean absolute error of linear regression on experts’ opinion based data set was the lowest. Conclusions. We have concluded that patterns exist for the relationship of the resultant prediction (surgery duration) and other important features related to patient characteristics. Thus, machine learning tools can be used for predicting surgery duration. We have also concluded that the proposed framework may be used as a decision support tool for facilitation in surgery duration prediction which can improve the planning of ORs and their resources. / Zahoor Ali 00923339474002 Muhammad Qummer ul Arfeen 0046760652203

The purpose of this report was to investigate the sound environments in lecture halls at Umeå University and to assess to whether the sound environments in these lecture halls are satisfactory and whether have good speech intelligibility or not. Based on a web survey, a number of lecture halls were selected for this investigation, namely Hörsal A, Hörsal C, N280, KB.F3.01, Ma121, KB.E3.01, N340 and N335. Assessing room acoustics includes many relevant parameters, therefore a delimitation has been made. Only installation noise, reverberation time and speech intelligibility have been investigated. The methods followed established Swedish standards i.e SS-EN ISO 16032:2004 for installation noise,” integrated impulse response method” SS-EN ISO 3382:2:2008/AC:2009 for reverberation time and direct FULL STI (speech transmission index) IEC 60268-16:2011 for speech intelligibility. An ocular inspection was carried out of all the selected lecture halls. The result from the STI test showed that all the lecture halls except for Hörsal A have a good speech intelligibility, if the audience has normal hearing and they are listening to a lecture in their native language. In Hörsal A there are three measuring positions that fails to achieve the threshold for good speech intelligibility. The conclusion for all of the measurements that has been made are that Ma121 and KB.E3.01 has a satisfactory sound environment and that Hörsal A, Hörsal C, N280, KB.F3.01, N340 and N335 need actions to improve their sound environment so they can fulfil the benchmarks in Swedish public health authority regulations in FoHMFS 2014:13 and/or SS 25268:2007.

Real time convolution has many applications among others simulating room reverberation in audio processing. Non-uniformly partitioning filters could satisfy the both desired features of having a low latency and less computational complexity for an efficient convolution. However, distributing the computation to have an uniform demand on Central Processing Unit (CPU) is still challenging. Moreover, computational cost for very long filters is still not acceptable. In this thesis, a new algorithm is presented by taking advantage of the broad memory on Graphics Processing Units (GPU). Performing the computations of a non-uniformly partitioned block convolution on GPU could solve the problem of work load on CPU. It is shown that the computational time in this algorithm reduces for the filters with long length.

Kyoto University (京都大学) / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(工学) / 甲第15661号 / 工博第3319号 / 新制||工||1501(附属図書館) / 28198 / 京都大学大学院工学研究科建築学専攻 / (主査)教授 鉾井 修一, 教授 門内 輝行, 教授 髙田 光雄 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当

This thesis investigates the use of action research and activity theory to promote the professional development of teachers in an Icelandic upper secondary school. The purpose of the research was to develop a new model to foster professional development through enhancing the participants’ agency to transform their practice. It was carried out with an action research group of twenty-one school professionals and an outside consultant. The group’s aim was to find ways to increase students’ sense of responsibility for their studies. The project combined the ideas behind the Change Laboratory, one of the methods of developmental work research established by Engeström and action research as elaborated by McNiff. I termed our approach the Change Room. There activity theory and the theory of expansive learning provided the participants with a conceptual framework, historical analysis and tools to analyse what changes might be appropriate in our classroom practice. The action research provided the participants with the method and tools to guide the participants when carrying out and evaluating these changes. The research focus was on tensions the participants experienced in their classroom practice. Through creative resolutions of these tensions the intention was to develop better practices and contribute to school development. The research used both action research and case study methodology. The research tools were documentary analysis, interviews, surveys, research diary and observations. The findings were analysed using deductive process based on activity theory. The teachers experienced tensions in their classroom practice between students’ active and passive learning, didactic and dialogic teaching methods, and the requirement to cover the syllabus and to promote deep learning. To resolve these tensions the teachers have developed teaching practices that enhanced active student learning and given more weight to the students’ voices. Participation in the action research group enhanced both individual and collective learning of the school professionals. Their agency to change practice was increased and they also developed more cross curriculum agency. The combination of activity theory and action research in the Change Room provides a new model for enhancing teachers’ professional development and collaboration that has potential to transform classroom practice.

Class of 2015 Abstract / Objectives: Characterize all patients in the emergency room diagnosed with anxiety disorders from 11/01/2013 until 5/31/2014 to identify insurance coverage and demographic trends. Methods: Retrospective descriptive study of patients who present to the emergency department between 11/01/2013 – 05/31/2014 and discharged with a primary documented diagnosis of an anxiety disorder. Age, race, and gender were recorded in addition to insurance coverage. Results: 406 visits were reviewed: 212 (52.2%) males and 194 (47.8%) females. Average age per visit: 40.34 (SD=13.388). Race recorded with each visit: 189 (46.6%) white, 146 (36.0%) Hispanic, 42 (10.3%) African American, and 29 (2.2%) other. The most common insurance coverage was Medicaid at 63.3%, while 6.4% of visits had no insurance coverage. There was a significant difference in the distribution in number of ED visits between genders (Mann-Whitney U=17,407.5, p=0.007, sig ≥0.05). A Kruskal-Wallis Test showed a significant difference in the number of ED visits between racial groups X²=43.434, p=0.000 as well as a significant difference between Medicaid and other insurance groups X²=37.778, p=0.021. Conclusions: Men appear to have a higher frequency in anxiety symptoms requiring an ED visit than women do. White patients tend to have a greater frequency in anxiety symptoms followed by Hispanic patients. Medicaid tends to be the most prevalent insurance coverage used.

Low frequencies in small rooms are a problem that can affect the sound quality and therefore give an impaired listening experience if not treated. Even the slightest change of the subwoofer position can make a difference. Measurements have been made for two different subwoofer positions in a small control room, called the original and the alternative position. The original position represents the position that is normally used for the chosen control room. The alternative position was selected by measuring the position that had the flattest frequency response. The positions were tested with listening tests by 20 audio engineering students to see what differences existed between the two. The result shows that the original position was perceived to have more bass, which could be connected to the measurements. The subjects also showed that they could agree on the meaning of three of the given attributes used for the listening tests. If a flatter frequency response is wanted for the chosen control room, the alternative position is an option.

Bakgrund: Sjukvårdens kostnader ökar, liksom antal vårdtillfällen och vårdtyngd och krav finns därför på att effektivisera vården. Samtidigt som vården skall effektiviseras så skall också kvaliteten på vården tillgodoses. Syfte: Att undersöka och beskriva operationssjuksköterskors upplevelser av arbete på effektivitetssal. Metod: Studien utfördes med en beskrivande kvalitativ ansats och ett ändamålsenligt strategiskt urval har använts. Tio operationssjuksköterskor med erfarenhet av att arbeta på effektivitetssal fick svara på sex i förväg utformade frågor genom enskilda intervjuer som spelades in på ljudband. Datan transkriberades sedan och analyserades genom innehållsanalys, där två huvudkategorier och flera underkategorier framkom. Resultat: Det finns både fördelar och nackdelar med arbetet på effektivitetssal samt också erfarenheter som inte kan tolkas som enbart positiva eller negativa. Fördelar var bland annat att arbetet var stimulerande, det var bättre teamarbete och bättre kommunikation. Nackdelar var bland annat att det av vissa ansågs stressigt och att personalen kunde uppleva sämre kontroll. Slutsats: På effektivitetssalarna tycks det råda ett högre tempo, som av operationssjuksköterskorna kan upplevas som både stimulerande och stressigt och med arbetet finns både för- och nackdelar. Klinisk betydelse: Genom resultatet framkommer vad som redan fungerar bra i arbetet på effektivitetssal och även var möjligheter till förbättringar finns, förbättringar som kan göra arbetet än mer effektivt. / Background: Costs of healthcare are increasing and so is the amount of admissions to the hospitals as well as the burden of care in the wards, and therefore demands for more efficiency in the healthcare system is required. While healthcare needs to become more efficient there is also a demand that the quality on healthcare is met. Aim: To investigate and describe operating room nurses experiences of working in an efficiency OR unit. Method: The study was conducted using a descriptive qualitative approach and a purposeful sampling strategy was used. Ten operating room nurses, with experience of working in an efficiency OR unit, answered six beforehand designed questions through individual interviews that were recorded on audiotape. The data was transcribed and then analyzed by content analysis, where two main categories and several sub-categories emerged. Result: There are advantages and disadvantages of working in an efficiency OR unit and there is also some experience that can’t be interpreted as solely positive or negative. Advantages were that the work was found stimulating, there was better teamwork and better communication. Disadvantages were, among other things, that work could be found stressful by some of the staff and staff could also experience loss of control. Conclusion: It seems to be a faster pace in efficiency OR units, which can be perceived as both stimulating and stressful among operating room nurses and there are also both advantages and disadvantages with the work. Clinical relevancy: The result shows what already works well in the efficiency OR units and also where opportunities for improvement exist, improvements that could make work more efficient.

Infections are a major cause of morbidity and mortality during the post-operative phase of patients’ recovery. Wound infections are the second most commonly encountered type of nosocomial infection. Because wound infections can be introduced by not applying infection control measures and sterile technique principles in the operating room, the implementation of infection control principles is an imperative. The aim of this study was to explore and describe infection control practices related to the prevention of Surgical site infections in the operating rooms in a public health care sector in the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality. The findings were compared with practices, as indicated in an evidence-based guideline. The research design was quantitative, explorative, descriptive, comparative-descriptive and contextual in nature. The research sample consisted of all the professional nurses, in the operating room. The data were collected by means of a self-administered questionnaire. Descriptive statistics was used to present the data in the form of tables and graphs. Based on the analysis of the data, some recommendations were made for the implementation of infection control practices, in order to prevent Surgical site infections in the operating room.