O objetivo desse estudo foi verificar o efeito de diferentes volumes de treinamento de força na força máxima de membros inferiores e na hipertrofia do reto femoral e do vasto lateral após quatro, oito e doze semanas em indivíduos treinados em força. Vinte e seis indivíduos jovens saudáveis do sexo masculino (idade 23,6 ± 4,6 anos, massa corporal 76,6 ± 7,5 kg, estatura 1,75 ± 0,1 cm), com tempo médio de treinamento de força (4,7 ± 4,1 anos) foram divididos em três grupos experimentais, treinamento de força alto volume (TFAV, n = 8), treinamento de força médio volume (TFMV, n = 9) e treinamento de força baixo volume (TFBV, n = 9). As medidas de força dinâmica máxima (1RM) e de área de secção transversa muscular (ASTM) do reto femoral (RF) e do vasto lateral (VL) foram realizadas nos momentos pré- treinamento, pós quatro semanas, pós oito semanas e pós-treinamento. O volume total de treinamento apresentou aumento estatístico para todos os grupos TFAV (p < 0,0001), TFMV (p < 0,0001) e TFBV (p < 0,0001) ao longo do período experimental. Os valores de 1RM aumentaram de maneira significativa após a oitava semana de treinamento TFAV (11,8 ± 4,7%; p < 0,0001) e TFMV (12,1 ± 8,5%; p < 0,0001) e TFBV (9,6 ± 7,3%; p < 0,001) e no pós-treinamento TFAV (13,9 ± 3,9%; p < 0,0001), TFMV (16,7 ± 10,8%; p < 0,0001) e TFBV (14,0 ± 8,1%; p < 0,0001) para todos os grupos, porém não foi observado diferença entre os grupos. A ASTM do RF apresentou aumento estatístico no pós-treinamento somente para o grupo TFAV (15,0 ± 11,9%; p < 0,0001). Apenas o grupo TFAV aumentou estatisticamente a ASTM do VL após quatro semanas de treinamento (7,71 ± 4,42%; p < 0,0001), porém todos os grupos aumentaram significativamente a ASTM do VL após oito semanas de treinamento TFAV (11,37 ± 3,88%; p < 0,0001), TFMV (9,68 ± 9,36%; p < 0,0001) e TFBV (7,26 ± 3,15%; p < 0,01) e no pós-treinamento TFAV (14,54 ± 4,07%; p < 0,0001), TFMV (14,77 ± 8,24%; p < 0,0001) e TFBV (8,66 ± 3,97%; p < 0,001), porém não foi observado diferença entre os grupos. Os resultados do presente estudo demonstraram que, independente do volume adotado, os ganhos de força máxima foram semelhantes. Por outro lado, a ASTM foi influenciada pelo volume de treinamento, dado que o grupo TFAV foi o único que apresentou aumento significativo da ASTM do RF no pós-treinamento e aumentou a ASTM do VL com apenas quatro semanas de treinamento / The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of different strength training volumes on muscle strength and hypertrophy of the lower limbs after four, eight and twelve weeks of strength training in strength-trained individuals. Twenty-six healthy young males (age 23.6 ± 4.6 years, body mass 76.6 ± 7.5 kg, height 1.75 ± 0.1 cm), with an average experience of strength training (4.7 ± 4.1 years) were divided into three groups, high-volume strength training (TFAV, n = 8), mid-volume strength training (TFMV, n = 9) and low-volume strength training (TFBV, n = 9). Maximum dynamic strength (1RM) and muscle cross-sectional area (MCSA) of the rectus femoris (RF) and vastus lateralis (VL) were measured at baseline, after four weeks, after eight weeks and post-training. The total training volume significantly increased for the groups TFAV (p < 0.0001), TFMV (p < 0.0001) and TFBV (p < 0.0001) throughout the experimental period. The 1RM values increased after the eighth weeks of training, compared to baseline values, for the TFAV (11.8 ± 4.7%; p < 0.0001), TFMV (12.1 ± 8.5%; p < 0.0001), and TFBV (9.6 ± 7.3%; p < 0.001) groups, and post-training TFAV (13.9 ± 3.9%; p < 0.0001), TFMV (16.7 ± 10.8%; p < 0.0001) and TFBV (14.0 ± 8.1%; p < 0.0001) for all groups, with no difference between groups. Only TFAV group presented higher RF MCSA values at post-training (15.0 ± 11.9%; p < 0.0001). Furthermore, only TFAV significantly increased the VL MCSA after four weeks of training (7.71 ± 4.42%; p < 0.0001). All of the groups presented significantly greater VL MCSA than baseline values at eight weeks TFAV (11.37 ± 3.88%; p < 0.0001), TFMV (9.68 ± 9.36%; p < 0.0001) and TFBV (7.26 ± 3.15%; p < 0.01) and at post-training TFAV (14.54 ± 4.07%; p < 0.0001), TFMV (14.77 ± 8.24% ; p < 0.0001) and TFBV (8.66 ± 3.97%; p < 0.001), with no difference between groups. The results of this study demonstrated that, regardless of the adopted volume, the muscle strength gains were similar. On the other hand , MCSA was influenced by the training volume, since the TFAV was the only group that showed significant increase of RF MCSA post- training and increased VL MCSA with only four weeks of training

Countermovement vertical jump (CMVJ) performance may be acutely facilitated via potentiation (PAP) due to central and peripheral factors. PURPOSE: To investigate the effects of two methods of PAP in trained weightlifters (n=16); group 1: stronger (n=7) and group 2: weaker (n=9) upon unweighted countermovement jumps (CMVJs) over a 15 minute time period. METHODS: A series of maximal unweighted CMVJs were performed prior to, then at, 30, 60, 120, 180, 300, 480, 660, 780, and 900 seconds following two conditions: isometric mid-thigh clean pulls (C1) and dynamic mid-thigh clean pulls (C2). Dependent variables included, jump height (JH, cm), peak power (PP, W), peak velocity (PV, m·s-1), and peak force (PF, N). RESULTS: A series of repeated measures ANOVA: conditions (2); time points (10); groups (2) were performed on JH, PP, PV, and PF (p>.05). Significant main effects for JH existed by condition (C1>C2) (p=.001, ES=.571, 1-β=.979, mean diff=.053cm), group (G1>G2) (p=.018, ES=.339, 1-β=.702, mean diff=.053), and time (60s>900s, 120s>900s, 180s>900s) (p=.014, ES=.148, 1-β=.910).Within subjects main effects for JH were seen for the stronger group for JH by condition (C1>C2) (p=.055, ES=.757, 1-β=.947, mean diff=.053cm), and weaker group by condition (C1>C2) (p=.025, ES=.487, 1-β=.676, mean diff=.054cm). Significant main effects existed for PP by condition (C1>C2) (p=.000, ES=.631, 1-β=.995, mean diff=427.9W), group (G1>G2) (p=.008, ES=.405, 1-β=.819, mean diff=1660.1W), and time (60s>480s, 60s>660s, 60s>780s, 60s>900s>120s>900s, 180s>480s, 180s>660s, 180s>780s) (p=.000, ES=.355, 1-β=1.00, mean diff=240.1W ).Within subjects main effects for PP were seen for the stronger group for condition (C1>C2) (p=.055, ES=.761, 1-β=.951, mean diff=516.8W), and time (120s>900s) (p=.000, ES=.471,1-β=.999, mean diff=319.5W). In the weaker group; significant main effects by condition (C1>C2) (p=.025, ES=.485, 1-β=.672, mean diff=339.1W) and time (120s>900s, 180s>480s, 180s>900s, 300s>900s) (p=.003, ES=.281, 1-β=.963, mean diff=319.5W). Significant main effects were seen for jump PV by condition (C1>C2) (p=.001, ES=.536,1-β=.962, mean diff=.177 m·s-1), group (G1>G2) (p=.022, ES=.320, 1-β=.665, mean diff=.298m/s) and by time (60s>900s, 120s>900s, 180s>900s) (p=.016, ES=.145, 1-β=.904). Within subjects main effects for jump PV in the stronger group by condition (C1>C2) (p=.007, ES=.727, 1-β=.911, mean diff=.165m/s), and time (120s>900s) (p=.036, ES=.269, 1-β=.840, mean diff=.073 m·s-1). In the weaker group there were significant main effects for jump PV by condition (C1>C2) (p=.028, ES=.474, 1-β=.654, mean diff=.188 m·s-1). A significant main effect for jump PF by group (G1>G2) (p=.014, ES=.363, 1-β=.747, mean diff=647.0N) and time (60s>baseline) (p=.05, ES=.122, 1-β=.824, mean diff=71.0N) was seen. Within subjects, a significant main effect for jump PF in the weaker group by time (60s>780s) (p=.012, ES=.247, 1-β=.919). There were no significant interactions for any of the dependent variables (p >.05). CONCLUSION: Isometric mid-thigh clean pulls appear to have a greater potentiating effect than dynamic mid-thigh pulls on PP and PV during subsequent CMVJ0’s, and stronger weightlifters tend to have a more favorable response to both conditions. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: Whole-body isometric movements may be a more effective at eliciting a potentiation response than dynamic movements in strength and power athletes.

This qualitative modified participatory study underpinned by social critical theory explored the experiences of immigrant medical practitioners seeking registration in New Zealand. The occupational science notions of occupation, occupational deprivation and occupational apartheid were used to understand the experiences of the participants. The objective of the study was to understand the experiences of the participants and facilitate their self-empowerment through facilitated dialogue, affording them opportunities for collective action. Data was obtained through in-depth interviews and focus group discussions with eighteen immigrant medical practitioners who were doctors and dentists as well as two physiotherapists. The two physiotherapists were sampled out of necessity to explore diversity in findings. Transcripts were analysed using thematic analysis. This method included the processes of coding data into themes and then collapsing themes into major themes which were organised under categories. Four categories were created in the findings describing the experiences of immigrant practitioners and suggesting solutions. Firstly; findings revealed that immigrant medical practitioners had a potential worth being utilised in New Zealand. Secondly; it was found that these participants faced negative and disabling experiences in the process of being registered. Thirdly; the emotional consequences of the negative experiences were described in the study. Fourthly; there were collectively suggested solutions where the participants felt that their problems could be alleviated by support systems modelled in other Western English speaking countries that have hosted high numbers of immigrant medical practitioners from non-English speaking countries. This collective action was consistent with the emancipatory intent of participatory research informed by social critical theory. This study resulted in drawing conclusions about the implications of the participants’ experiences to well-being, occupational satisfaction as well as diverse workforce development initiatives. This study is also significant in policy making as it spelt out the specific problems faced by participants and made recommendations on what can be done to effectively utilise and benefit from the skills of immigrant medical practitioners. A multi-agency approach involving key stakeholders from the government departments, regulatory authorities, medical schools and immigrant practitioners themselves is suggested as a possible approach to solving the problems faced by these practitioners.

Call centers are an important function of most companies’ day to day business activities. They are often the link between a company and its customers and hugely impact the customer’s perspective or point of view (POV) of a company. A call center in the most general sense is a place, representing a business, which receives inbound calls from customers and/or makes outbound calls to customers, the latter being most commonly referred to as telemarketing. There was a time when a typical call center strictly consisted of agents who handled inbound/outbound calls; these agents are considered specialized agents. Generally speaking, a specialized agent is one trained, in-depth, in a particular area of knowledge. Most businesses have transgressed from your typical call center into contact centers. Contact centers operate essentially the same as a call center but interact with the customer in a variety of ways including, but not limited to: Phone, Mail, Fax, Email, and Internet (via online chat and instant messaging applications). The dynamics of these kinds of call centers has caused an increase in the need for agents to become more diverse in their talents and abilities to handle different types of calls. This has lead to specialized agents becoming general or “cross-trained” agents in which they are trained, broadly, over several areas of knowledge. The purpose of this thesis is to compare specialized agents to cross-trained agents and through the use of simulation, determine which of the two are more efficient and reliable in their ability to service the customer. This thesis has three major components: Simulation, Reliability Analysis, and Comparison. The results indicate that a cross-trained model is more reliable and efficient than a specialized model. Performance metrics common to call center literature, simulation, and Lean reliability systems were used to determine the effectiveness and reliability of the two models.

Several factors inform health professionals decisions to migrate from developing to developed countries to practice their profession. This study explores the Push and Pull factors that informed African-trained physicians decisions to migrate to the province of Saskatchewan, how well they integrated into their new working environments upon arrival and how that might contribute to future migration and retention in Saskatchewan. Based on questionnaire surveys and face-to-face interviews, this study identified differences in the relative importance of precipitating factors for physicans from South, North and Other African nations. Although the majority of African-trained physicians for the study indicated that profession-related push factors were the precipitating factors for their migration, a smaller number did not cite these as important. Most respondents for the study integrated well into the health care system and have remained at their current location of practice because of the support they received from colleagues at their work places.

The determination of the right number of servers in a multi-server queueing system is one of the most important problems in applied queueing theory. The problem becomes more complex in a system that consists of both cross-trained and specialized servers. Such queueing systems are readily found in the call centres (also called contact centres) of financial institutions, telemarketing companies and other organizations that provide services to customers in multiple languages. They are also found in computer network systems where some servers are dedicated and others are flexible enough to handle various clients' requests. Over-staffing of these systems causes increased labour costs for the underutilized pool of agents on duty, while under-staffing results in reduced revenue from lost customers and an increase in queue times. The efficient design and analysis of these systems helps management in making better staffing decisions. This thesis aims to develop models for establishing agent staffing levels in organizations with cross-trained and specialized staff with a view to minimizing cost and maintaining a desirable customer satisfaction. The work investigates the effect of various traffic loads on the number of agents required and the cost. It also considers how using specialized agents, flexible agents and a combination of both categories of agents affects the system. It uses a contact centre that has agents with monolingual, bilingual and trilingual (English, French and Spanish) capabilities to do the study.

Several factors inform health professionals decisions to migrate from developing to developed countries to practice their profession. This study explores the Push and Pull factors that informed African-trained physicians decisions to migrate to the province of Saskatchewan, how well they integrated into their new working environments upon arrival and how that might contribute to future migration and retention in Saskatchewan. Based on questionnaire surveys and face-to-face interviews, this study identified differences in the relative importance of precipitating factors for physicans from South, North and Other African nations. Although the majority of African-trained physicians for the study indicated that profession-related push factors were the precipitating factors for their migration, a smaller number did not cite these as important. Most respondents for the study integrated well into the health care system and have remained at their current location of practice because of the support they received from colleagues at their work places.

The determination of the right number of servers in a multi-server queueing system is one of the most important problems in applied queueing theory. The problem becomes more complex in a system that consists of both cross-trained and specialized servers. Such queueing systems are readily found in the call centres (also called contact centres) of financial institutions, telemarketing companies and other organizations that provide services to customers in multiple languages. They are also found in computer network systems where some servers are dedicated and others are flexible enough to handle various clients' requests. Over-staffing of these systems causes increased labour costs for the underutilized pool of agents on duty, while under-staffing results in reduced revenue from lost customers and an increase in queue times. The efficient design and analysis of these systems helps management in making better staffing decisions. This thesis aims to develop models for establishing agent staffing levels in organizations with cross-trained and specialized staff with a view to minimizing cost and maintaining a desirable customer satisfaction. The work investigates the effect of various traffic loads on the number of agents required and the cost. It also considers how using specialized agents, flexible agents and a combination of both categories of agents affects the system. It uses a contact centre that has agents with monolingual, bilingual and trilingual (English, French and Spanish) capabilities to do the study.

Beef fajitas have become a popular food item, but the supply of traditional muscles is insufficient to meet the growing demand. There is a need for alternative muscles that have similar eating characteristics to those currently marketed as beef fajitas. Four different treatments - papain (P), blade tenderization (B), papain + blade tenderization (P+B), and control (C) - were applied to sixty USDA Choice M. diaphragma pars costalis, M. transversus abdominis, M. obliquus abdominis internus, M. rhomboideus, M. trapezius, M. latissimus, and M. serratus ventralis. Muscles were cut into sections and frozen at -10ºC for evaluation by a trained sensory panel, consumer panel, and Warner-Bratzler shear force (WBSF) measurements. Trained panelists found that regardless of muscle, the addition of papain improved palatability scores. In general, treatment tended not to affect the palatability scores of the M. diaphragma pars costalis and M. serratus ventralis, which tended to receive higher scores in comparison to the other muscles. In general, the control and blade tenderized M. trapezius received the lowest trained and consumer panel palatability scores and had the highest WBSF values (P < 0.05). Regardless of muscle (except for M. diaphragma pars costalis and M. serratus ventralis), P and P+B treatments reduced WBSF values (P < 0.05). Consumers (n=81) gave the M. transversus abdominis, M. serratus ventralis, and M. latissimus similar (P > 0.05) tenderness ratings when the P treatment was applied. Consumers tended to prefer the flavor and tenderness of beef fajita strips that were treated with P and P+B and indicated a preference to purchase muscles with these treatments. Consumers were willing to purchase M. serratus ventralis treated with P+B and M. latissimus treated with P the majority of the time. Papain improved the eating quality of the muscles studied. The M. latissimus and M. serratus ventralis when treated with papain alone or in combination with blade tenderization, performed well enough to be considered as alternatives for traditional beef fajitas.

Call centers are an important function of most companies’ day to day business activities. They are often the link between a company and its customers and hugely impact the customer’s perspective or point of view (POV) of a company. A call center in the most general sense is a place, representing a business, which receives inbound calls from customers and/or makes outbound calls to customers, the latter being most commonly referred to as telemarketing. There was a time when a typical call center strictly consisted of agents who handled inbound/outbound calls; these agents are considered specialized agents. Generally speaking, a specialized agent is one trained, in-depth, in a particular area of knowledge.Most businesses have transgressed from your typical call center into contact centers. Contact centers operate essentially the same as a call center but interact with the customer in a variety of ways including, but not limited to: Phone, Mail, Fax, Email, and Internet (via online chat and instant messaging applications). The dynamics of these kinds of call centers has caused an increase in the need for agents to become more diverse in their talents and abilities to handle different types of calls. This has lead to specialized agents becoming general or “cross-trained” agents in which they are trained, broadly, over several areas of knowledge.The purpose of this thesis is to compare specialized agents to cross-trained agents and through the use of simulation, determine which of the two are more efficient and reliable in their ability to service the customer. This thesis has three major components: Simulation, Reliability Analysis, and Comparison. The results indicate that a cross-trained model is more reliable and efficient than a specialized model. Performance metrics common to call center literature, simulation, and Lean reliability systems were used to determine the effectiveness and reliability of the two models.