49 research outputs found

    Variability of Exposure and Estimation of Cumulative Exposure in a Manually Operated Coal Mine

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    This study aims at estimating variability in exposure to respirable dust and assessing whether the a priori grouping by job team is appropriate for an exposure-response study on respiratory effects among workers in a manually operated coal mine in Tanzania. Furthermore, estimated exposure levels were used to calculate cumulative exposure. Full-shift personal respirable dust samples (n = 204) were collected from 141 randomly chosen workers at underground and surface work sites. The geometric mean exposure for respirable dust varied from 0.07 mg m À3 for office workers to 1.96 mg m À3 for the development team. The analogous range of respirable quartz exposure was 0.006-0.073 mg m À3 . Variance components were estimated using random effect models. For most job teams the within-worker variance component was considerably higher than the between-worker variance component. For respirable dust the estimated attenuation of the linear exposure-response relationship was low (5.9%) when grouping by job team. Grouping by job team was considered appropriate for studying the association between current dust exposure and respiratory effects. Based on the estimated worker-specific mean exposure in the job teams, the arithmetic mean cumulative exposure for the 299 workers who participated in the epidemiological part of the study was 38.1 mg · yr m À3 for respirable dust and 2.0 mg · yr m À3 for quartz

    Validity of self-reported criminal justice system involvement in substance abusing women at five-year follow-up

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    <p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Few studies have compared self-reported criminal behaviour with high-quality databases of criminal offences and judicial sanctions. Self-reported problems from drug abusers are generally believed to be valid. We assessed the validity of self-reported theft, drug offences and prison sentences from a five-year follow-up of female substance abusers who were originally treated in a compulsory care unit in Lund, run by the Swedish Board of Institutional Care.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Data from a total of 106 of a consecutive sample of 132 women inter-viewed in a five-year follow-up. All were thoroughly assessed for somatic complaints, psychiatric and psychological problems, background factors with standardized instruments. Data over the five years were linked to official records of judicial sanctions, retrieved from The National Council for Crime Prevention, Stockholm, Sweden. Register data have a full cover for the whole cohort. The current data base contain full data back to 1975 up to 2004.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Agreement was assessed for each year, as well as for the total period. Statistical control was performed for other types of crimes and prison. Although statistically significant, agreement was modest, and in contrast to previous studies, patients under-reported violence charges.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The findings suggest that self-reports of criminal behaviour from women can be used with some caution, and that the validity of self-report may vary between types of criminal justice system involvement.</p

    The Performances of Three Commercially Available Assays for the Detection of SARS‐CoV‐2 Antibodies at Different Time Points Following SARS‐CoV‐2 Infection

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    The aim of this study was to evaluate the performances of three commercially available antibody assays for the detection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) antibodies at different time points following SARS-CoV-2 infection. Sera from 536 cases, including 207 SARS-CoV-2 PCR positive, were tested for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies with the Wantai receptor binding domain (RBD) total antibody assay, Liaison S1/S2 IgG assay and Alinity i nucleocapsid IgG assay and compared to a two-step reference ELISA (SARS-CoV-2 RBD IgG and SARS-CoV-2 spike IgG). Diagnostic sensitivity, specificity, predictive values and Cohen’s kappa were calculated for the commercial assays. The assay’s sensitivities varied greatly, from 68.7% to 95.3%, but the specificities remained high (96.9%–99.1%). The three tests showed good performances in sera sampled 31 to 60 days after PCR positivity compared to the reference ELISA. The total antibody test performed better than the IgG tests the first 30 days and the nucleocapsid IgG test showed reduced sensitivity two months or more after PCR positivity. Hence, the test performances at different time points should be taken into consideration in clinical practice and epidemiological studies. Spike or RBD IgG tests are preferable in sera sampled more than two months following SARS-CoV-2 infection.publishedVersio

    Jakten pÄ WOW! Kunde- og opplevelsessentrisk kultur i Coop Øst

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    Denne studien handler om metodikken for Ä implementere innovasjon i en tjenesteorganisasjon. Funn fra denne studien peker pÄ en rekke faktorer som kan ha vÊrt avgjÞrende for implementeringen av innovasjonen, i tidlig-, midt-, og sen fase av prosessen. Disse faktorene baserer seg pÄ blant annet Ä skape forankring og eierskap til innovasjonen, tiltak og verktÞy i prosessen, kompetanse og ledelse i samvirkelaget og Ä visualisere effekten av innovasjonen. Det teoretiske rammeverket bygger pÄ litteratur om organisasjonskultur og tjenesteinnovasjon, herunder forretningsmodellinnovasjon. Videre peker funnene i denne studien pÄ noen mulige forklaringer pÄ hvorfor de ulike faktorene har vÊrt viktig for implementeringen av forretningsmodellinnovasjonen. Forklaringene henger sammen med blant annet at tjenester ikke kan lagres, at tjenester mÄ tilpasses den enkelte kunde og kontekst, strategisk relevant kultur som styrende element og fellesskap og tilhÞrighet som grunnlag for motivasjon og inspirasjon

    Hva vi snakker om nÄr vi snakker om filmutvikling

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    Denne masteroppgaven bygger pĂ„ samtalebaserte intervjuer med tre filmkonsulenter i Norsk filminstitutt og en ved Vestnorsk filmsenter, og alternative perspektiv tas inn gjennom undersĂžkelser ved to undervisningsmiljĂžer og en rekke filmkulturelle arrangementer. Problemstillingen tar utgangspunkt i et nytt skille for de filmpolitiske mĂ„lene mellom kunstnerisk kvalitet og kulturell verdi, som innfĂžres i filmmeldingen En fremtidsrettet filmpolitikk i 2015. En slik differensiering av mĂ„lkravene ses i sammenheng med Kulturutredningen 2014, som etterlyser en tydeliggjĂžring av kunst og kulturinstitusjonenes samfunnsrolle for Ă„ legitimere og avklare forholdet mellom politikk og kulturfeltet. Med utgangspunkt i Hans van Maanens syntese av kunstfilosofi og moderne kunstsosiologi i ”How to Study Art Worlds - On the Societal Functioning of Aestetic Values” (2009), utvikles en modell som visualiserer forholdet mellom filmestetikk og dens funksjon for samfunnet. Med bruk av dokumentanalyse og diskursanalyse vil vi kartlegge og undersĂžke hvilke politiske mĂ„lkrav, verdier og kunstneriske kriterier som vektlegges ved utĂžvelsen av skjĂžnn i filmutviklingsarbeid, og spĂžrre om en artikulering av filmens samfunnsforpliktelse vil kunne medfĂžre Ăžkt legitimitet og aktualitet for filmkulturen, eller omvendt kunne lede til Ăžkt mĂ„lstyring og kompromissvilje. Oppgaven innebĂŠrer slik bĂ„de en empirisk undersĂžkelse av diskursene i norsk filmutvikling og en teoriavledet modellutvikling og uttesting mot datagrunnlaget som er innhentet
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