M.Comm. / Volgens West (1988: 1) begin mense vanwee verskeie redes 'n sakeonderneming: vir wins, vir onafhanldikheid, of weens desperaatheid - wanneer hulle byvoorbeeld 'n lang termyn van werkloosheid in die gesig staar. Sommige voorbeelde van nuwe sakeondernemings, soos by dit stel, is waarvan drome gemaak word, die "rags to riches progress of dazzling proportions". Alhoewel die suksesstories inspirerend is vir baie voornemende sakeondernemers en dit spreekwoordelik die goud aan die einde van die reenboog uitwys, is die realiteit van kleinsakeondernemings dikwels verskillend en teleurstellend in die wereld daar buite. Die gemiddelde kleinsakeonderneming kan eers beskou word as lewensvatbaar as dit die eerste vyf jaar van bestaan oorskry het. Navorsing toon ook dat ongeveer 85% van alle nuwe sakeondernemings in die eerste vyf jaar misluk (West, 1988: 1). Die oorsake van die mislukkings wissel weens verskeie faktore. Na aanleiding van 'n studie onder kleiner sakeondernemings is die oorsake soos volg bevind: deels ekonomies (47,7%), finansieel (38,4%), onervarenheid (7,1%), nalatigheid van die eienaar (3,4%) en ander redes (3,7%) (Timmons, 1999: 32).

No description available.

Text in Afrikaans / In this quantitative study emphasis is placed on the role of the nurse as a member of the rehabilitation team. Furthermore, the role of the nurse in patient education as well as the importance of effective patient education during the rehabilitation process after hip replacement surgery is emphasised. Various factors that impacted on the rehabilitation process are highlighted. A structured interview schedule was used to interview a group of 20 respondents. All of the respondents participated voluntarily. Orem's Selfcare Theory was used as a theoretical basis for the study. The researcher determined which information respondents regarded as important to attain functional independence during the rehabilitation process. The data gathered would serve as recommendation for a planned information brochure that could in future be given to patients at their first visit to the surgeon before surgery. The brochure could then be used as a basis for patient education in the course of the rehabilitation process. / Advanced Nursing Sciences / M.A. (Verpleegkunde)

Text in Afrikaans / In this quantitative study emphasis is placed on the role of the nurse as a member of the rehabilitation team. Furthermore, the role of the nurse in patient education as well as the importance of effective patient education during the rehabilitation process after hip replacement surgery is emphasised. Various factors that impacted on the rehabilitation process are highlighted. A structured interview schedule was used to interview a group of 20 respondents. All of the respondents participated voluntarily. Orem's Selfcare Theory was used as a theoretical basis for the study. The researcher determined which information respondents regarded as important to attain functional independence during the rehabilitation process. The data gathered would serve as recommendation for a planned information brochure that could in future be given to patients at their first visit to the surgeon before surgery. The brochure could then be used as a basis for patient education in the course of the rehabilitation process. / Advanced Nursing Sciences / M.A. (Verpleegkunde)

published_or_final_version / abstract / Orthopaedics and Traumatology / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Orthopaedics and Traumatology / Master / Master of Philosophy

Thesis (M.S.)--West Virginia University, 2001. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains ix, 80 p. : ill. (some col.). Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 75-80).

Medical imaging tools technologically supported by the recent advances in the areas of computer vision can provide systems that aid medical professionals to carry out their expert diagnostics and investigations more effectively and efficiently. Two medical application domains that can benefit by such tools are ophthalmology and Total Hip Replacement (THR). Although a literature review conducted within the research context of this thesis revealed a number of existing solutions these are either very much limited by their application scope, robustness or scope of the extensiveness of the functionality made available. Therefore this thesis focuses on initially investigating a number of requirements defined by leading experts in the respective specialisms and providing practical solutions, well supported by the theoretical advances of computer vision and pattern recognition. This thesis provides three novel algorithms/systems for use within image analysis in the areas of Ophthalmology and THR. The first approach uses Contourlet Transform to analyse and quantify corneal neovascularization. Experimental results are provided to prove that the proposed approach provides improved robustness in the presence of noise, non-uniform illumination and reflections, common problems that exist in captured corneal images. The second approach uses a colour based segmentation approach to segment, measure and analyse corneal ulcers using the HVS colour space. Literature review conducted within the research context of this thesis revealed that there is no such system available for analysis and measurement of corneal ulcers. Finally the thesis provides a robust approach towards detecting and analysing possible dislocations and misalignments in THR X-ray images. The algorithm uses localised histogram equalisation to enhance the quality of X-ray images first prior to using Hough Transforms and filtered back projections to locate and recognise key points of the THR x-ray images. These key points are then used to measure the possible presence of dislocations and misalignments. The thesis further highlights possible extensions and improvements to the proposed algorithms and systems.

Darbo tikslas Ištirti šlaunikaulio galvos diametro, tūrinio polietileno išsidėvėjimo ir chirurginės technikos įtaką atokiesiems rezultatams po klubo sąnario endoprotezavimo. Darbo uždaviniai 1. Nustatyti kartotinų operacijų dažnį po klubo sąnario endoprotezavimo Lundo Universitetinėje ligoninėje, lyginant 22 ir 32 mm šlaunikaulio galvas ir sekant pacientus nuo 9-21 metų po operacijos. 2. Palyginti suminį kartotinų operacijų dažnį po protezavimo Klaipėdos ligoninėje ir Lundo Universitetinėje ligoninėje, sekant pacientus iki 14 metų po operacijos abiejuose centruose. 3. Ištirti polietileno dėvėjimąsį esant skirtingo diametro šlaunikaulio galvoms ir nustatyti ryšį su pacientų aktyvumu, kūno masės indeksu, amžiumi ir gūžduobės inklinacijos kampu. 4. Ištirti sąnarinio skysčio kiekio t.y. ultragarsu matuojamo „kapsulinio atstumo“ ir šlaunikaulio galvos diametro ryšį protezuotame klubo sąnaryje. Metodai Mes ištyrėme 1,720 Scan Hip Classic I KSE, implantuotus 1,550 pacientams, operacijos buvo atliktos Lundo Universitetinėje ligoninėje 1983-1995 metais. Palyginome suminį revizijų dažnį tarp 22 ir 32 mm diametro šlaunikaulio galvų. Visiems pacientams buvo implantuotas tas pats Scan hip stiebas. Pacientus sekėme nuo 9 iki 21 metų po operacijos. Mes ištyrėme 655 Scan Hip Classic I KSE, implantuotus 582 pacientams Klaipėdos ligoninėje 1991 – 2001 metais ir palyginome suminį revizijų dažnį su 932 Scan Hip Classic I KSE, implantuotais 825 pacientams Lundo Universitetinėje... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Aseptic loosening is the major complication and causes more than 85% of the revisions in hips in Lithuania. The etiology of aseptic loosening is multifactorial, involving both mechanical and biological processes. Socket and stem micromotion and polyethylene wear are important factors that influence the long term durability of THA’s. The expected annual wear of polyethylene (PE) cups is approximately 0.1mm. This means that billions of submicron-sized wear particles are released in to the hip joint. These particles induce inflammatory process in the THA hip and have been recognized as a major reason for osteolysis and subsequent failure of the prosthetic hip. It has been recognized that besides other factors femoral head size significantly influences wear. Larger diameter femoral head is associated with increased volumetric wear in metal-PE THA . You would expect that the differences eventually would show up in different cumulative revision rates (CRR) for different head sizes. However few reports in the literature analyzed survival rates in THA with different diameter femoral heads and did not find a significant difference when followed up to 12 years. It is still unknown if a longer-term follow-up would reveal differences in CRR depending on head size. Our aim was to analyze cumulative revision rates in THA in order to investigate if a follow-up up to 21 years would reveal differences in CRR depending on head size. How surgical implantation technique and experience in THA... [to full text]

SUMMARY The amount of disabled people of working age is icreasing in Lithuania. In the second place in the structure of primary disablement are connective tissue and muscle-skeleton diseases. In 2002 for the first time recognized as invalids were 2898 persons, in 2003 – 3448 persons. Part of inhabitants are becoming invalids because of the joint diseases. The most effective and modern treatment of hip arthrosis and some other hip joint diseases is total hip arthroplasty. In 2003 the State Patient’s Cash has received 4704 requests for total hip arthroplasty. This problem becoms more and more urgent (State Patient’s Cashies, 2004). Kinesitherapy in the gym and in the swimming pool are the main means used in the restoring of functional abilities of the patients after total hip arthroplasty. One can find the data about the efficiency of kinesitherapy for the patients after total hip replacement, but there is no separate data about efficiency of the kinesitherapy in the swimming pool. The aim of the research: to evaluate the efficiency of the kinesitherapy in the swimming pool for the patients after total hip replacement. The tasks: 1. To evaluate the change of functional abilities of the patients, who received the kinesitherapy in the gym. 2. To evaluate the change of functional abilities of the patients, who received the kinesitherapy in the gym and in the swimming pool. 3. To compare the change of functional abilities between the patients of both groups. 4. To establish the... [to full text]