Doing the Right Thing : A Study of Cross-Generational Eldercare Decision-making in Community and Disease Context

Utilizing the sociology of knowledge perspective, as well as elements of structural-functional theory this study examined the decision-making process as it relates to eldercare. Specifically, how does the knowledge of available resources, community context, and caregiving beliefs affect the caregiving alternative one chooses? Furthermore, what role does family social milieus play in the decision-making process? This research used a 20-item interview schedule developed specifically for this study; and the unit of analysis was the individual responsible for making decisions about the care received by an elder. The survey used both closed and open-ended questions, designed to capture data related to the cultural, socio-demographic, and social structural level of each respondent. Thirty-three (33) individuals responsible for eldercare decision-making completed an interview, which took anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours to complete. Data from closed ended questions were coded and entered into an SPSS file. The data from open-ended questions were summarized on a case-by-case basis and the content analyzed for particular themes or patterns that could be measured. Finding from this study, as well as policy recommendations are discussed, concentrating on social service agencies, medical organizational resources, public education as it relates to social and medical agencies, and economic and medical dilemmas effecting decision-makers

Doing the Right Thing : A Study of Cross-Generational Eldercare Decision-making in Community and Disease Context

Utilizing the sociology of knowledge perspective, as well as elements of structural-functional theory this study examined the decision-making process as it relates to eldercare. Specifically, how does the knowledge of available resources, community context, and caregiving beliefs affect the caregiving alternative one chooses? Furthermore, what role does family social milieus play in the decision-making process? This research used a 20-item interview schedule developed specifically for this study; and the unit of analysis was the individual responsible for making decisions about the care received by an elder. The survey used both closed and open-ended questions, designed to capture data related to the cultural, socio-demographic, and social structural level of each respondent. Thirty-three (33) individuals responsible for eldercare decision-making completed an interview, which took anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours to complete. Data from closed ended questions were coded and entered into an SPSS file. The data from open-ended questions were summarized on a case-by-case basis and the content analyzed for particular themes or patterns that could be measured. Finding from this study, as well as policy recommendations are discussed, concentrating on social service agencies, medical organizational resources, public education as it relates to social and medical agencies, and economic and medical dilemmas effecting decision-makers

The role of the ERENET Network in harmonizing university enterpreneurial education syllabuses in CEE

The paper presents the historical backround of the establishment of the Entrepreneurship research and Development network among the Central and Eastern European Universities - ERENET. It presents the basic declaration, its legal status, iam and main fields of activities. Special emphasis is given to strenghten the Central European Set of Values. It descrices the main projects carried our by ERENET and summariyes the major events. Last it referrs to the basic international relations of the organization.

Micro-grinding of titanium

Titanium and its alloys are difficult-to-cut materials, commonly used in several application fields, such as: medicine, aerospace, automotive and turbine manufacturing due to their biocompatibility, corrosion resistance, excellent mechanical and thermal properties, and light weight. However, its machining is associated with several difficulties, such as high tool wear, low surface quality, high cutting forces and high costs. To overcome these problems, using a proper and efficient manufacturing process seems essential. Micro-grinding provides a competitive edge in the fabrication of small-sized features and parts with superior surface quality compared with other processes. The quality aspects such as surface integrity of the parts produced by micro-grinding is influenced by various factors related to the induced mechanical and thermal loads during the process. Therefore, the machining parameters must be carefully chosen and controlled. Hence, developing an advanced, highly effective and efficient method, which can produce high quality micro-parts without inducing sub-surface damage, seems essential.In this study, experimental and analytical investigations on 2D micro-grinding of titanium are presented. The run-out of micro-tools can be affected by the relatively high forces induces by mechanical dressing, meaning that the dressing and tool-conditioning possibilities are limited. Therefore, a proper set of dressing parameters is obtained for dressing of micro-grinding tools. An analytical model, which considers grits interaction, heat transfer and actual micro-grinding tool topography is developed which is able to predict the surface roughness and cutting forces for a given set of dressing and grinding parameters. It is shown that the topography of the tool varies with changing the dressing parameter which affects the grinding forces and surface roughness. In the analytical model the actual topography of the tool is considered in the simulation for the first time.\ua0 Additionally, the model is able to determine grinding parameters that generate minimum surface roughness with minimizing the grinding forces. To determine the correct chip thickness with the maximum material removal rate, an appropriate grinding tool and optimum process parameters to generate highly accurate contours in a micron scale will be further analyzed. Using the analytical model, the effects of process parameters and tool surface topography are mapped to the process outputs, i.e. surface roughness and grinding forces. The results show that the analytical model enables the prediction of micro-grinding forces with a total error of 13.5% and surface roughness with the total error of 16%. The simulation results match with the experimental results to a greater degree in the low cutting speed range, rather than at higher cutting speeds. The results also indicate that the dressing parameters, such as the dressing overlap ratio and the speed ratio are influential factors, affecting surface roughness and grinding forces. Using higher values of dressing overlap ratio (Ud up to 1830) reduced the surface roughness, however, leads to approximately 70% higher cutting forces. The observed 40% reduction in the grinding forces is achieved by increasing the cutting speed from 6 to 14 m/s, but this increases the surface roughness. Higher values of the dressing overlap ratio reduce the chip cold-welding on the abrasive grains and causes less loading of the tool in form of chip nests. Welded clogging of the grinding pin at lower Ud values deteriorates the surface quality resulting in increased surface roughness. Using the up-dressing method leads to lower chip loading over the surface of the grinding tool, which improves the ground surface. Moreover, the down-dressing of micro-grinding pins results in higher value of surface roughness and lower grinding forces compared with up-dressing

Microfabrication of heated nebulizer chips for mass spectrometry

Microfabrication technologies originating from the semiconductor industry were applied to the instrumentation of analytical chemistry. Heated nebulizer (HN) chips made of silicon and glass were developed. The HN chips are used to vaporize a sample prior to detection by a mass spectrometer. The chips can be used with both liquid and gaseous samples and they are compatible with multiple atmospheric pressure ionization techniques, which enables wide applicability with different separation methods and various types of analytes. Better sensitivity, flexibility and operation with a lower sample and nebulizer gas flow rates was achieved by the miniaturization of the heated nebulizer. The chips can operate with 50 nL min-1 to 5 µL min-1 sample flow rates typical of microfluidic separation systems. Silicon and glass microfabrication methods - etching, wafer bonding and thin film technology - were developed and applied to the fabrication of the HN chips in 40 different layout and process variations. The thermal behaviour of the chips and the shape of the gaseous jet produced by the chips was studied. A method was developed for measuring the temperature distribution of a gaseous jet using a miniature thermocouple attached to a computer controlled xyz stage. Different methods for making capillary tube and electrical interconnections to the chips were also studied. Liquid chromatography (LC) column chips were developed resulting in an integrated chip having both an LC column and a heated nebulizer on a single chip. At the end of the LC column there is a high aspect ratio micropillar frit which enables packing the column with particles. The novel chips developed in this work extend the available ionization methods and the range of suitable analytes compared to the previously presented chips for mass spectrometry

Numerical simulation of the impact response of natural fibre composites

The aim of this thesis is study essential stages that develop a FEM, finite element method, via Abaqus to reproduce one experimental test requires. The laboratory research that inspired this thesis was carry out by the Tampere University of Technology material department. The laboratory experiment was an impact, of a spherical projectile, against a composite plate. The essential and crucial characteristic of that empirical project was the material, which is a natural fiber composite (NFC). This becomes a key factor in the numerical design, because the software does not contain an in-build material conceived to reproduce NFC behaviour. The need to develop a analytical model and afterwards generated a VUMAT is explored. The thesis has two main parts, the fist one focus in delving and setting the best method to replicate the impact over a traditional composite material plate with the tools Abaqus 2017 provides. After this task, the method will be used in the simulation of a impact over a natural fiber composite plate. With the obtained results the need of a user-material generated by a user-subroutine in Abaqus will be assess. In the case this is required the correct choice will be a VUMAT subroutine, it is used to define the mechanical constitutive behaviour of a material, for elements type C3D8R

0028/2009 - Problemas na Elicitação de Requisitos: Uma visão de pesquisa/literatura

A primeira fase na engenharia de requisitos é a elicitação de requisitos, na qual as informações sobre as necessidades do cliente são adquiridas, sendo crucial e crítica e podendo comprometer todas as etapas subseqüentes do desenvolvimento. O presente relatório apresenta um levantamento dos problemas que ocorrem durante a elicitação de requisitos citados na literatura da área

Analysis and Optimisation of an Organic Optical Link

Organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) have been historically used extensively for displays, and more recently for lighting applications. However, the low-cost of materials and direct-deposition manufacturing processes involved in organic semiconductor fabrication means that OLEDs are uniquely placed for low-cost integrated optical interconnects. This thesis presents novel high-speed analysis and optimisation of OLEDs for communications purposes. DC and small-signal measurement results for small-molecule OLEDs fabricated by Dr. Kou Yoshida at the University of St. Andrews are presented and are used to inform a detailed 5-layer OLED simulation model. Correlation is drawn between the experimental small signal impedance measurements and the experimental luminescent output, from which a novel electrical model is built to predict bandwidth. Extension of the OLED physical simulation shows for the first time that by using a constant fraction of the overall simulated device resistance (a ‘luminescent resistance’), this RC-based model can be used to predict device small signal bandwidths, which suggests validity of both the simulation and the electrical modelling approach, provided that the exciton lifetime is less than the RC time-constant. This simulation is then used to forecast trends in device performance, allowing traditional inorganic semiconductor engineering tools to be brought into the field of organic device optimisation. Finally, these OLEDs are used in an optical link to provide a world-record equalisation-free OLED communications data rate of 130 Mbps.EPSRC Studentship 1466721 EPSRC via the Ultra Parallel Visible Light Communication Project (EP/K00042X/1