En studie om rehabilitering - en skamgörande process

The purpose of this essay is using theories about labeling and social bonds to study whether a measure of rehabilitation for the psychically disabled contributes to a return to a normal status as not-labeled. Partly we examine whether the activities organized by the regulation-ruled authorities during the work of rehabilitation lead to shame or pride, and partly how these activities are organized regarding the processes that lead to the emotions pride or shame among the participants. Method: qualitative semi-structured face-to-face interviews with professional rehabilitation-actors at the Public Employment Office (PEO), the Social Insurance Office (SIO), the Social Service (SOS), the Psychiatry and the Division of Labour Market (AME).Conclusions: the Psychiatry clients are treated with respect, may participate, and communication is characterized by attunement, therefore strong social bonds can be built. On the contrary, among the other examined activities, we found many elements that arouse shame. Since these are more ruled by regulations, the result is engulfment and demands on conformity, because the compromise-possibilities are almost non-existent. Psychically disabled persons are met by prejudice, ignorance, disrespect and a non-solidarity-language. To get help, the individual has to accept a label in form of a diagnosis, and this labeling leads to a negative self-image. Furthermore the psychically disabled persons are falling between two chairs because of a weak cooperation between the rehabilitation-actors. Bimodal alienation and triangulation contributes to the difficulties in cooperation.Result: the social bonds are not strong enough to achieve a rehabilitation-effect. Even if the treatment from each administrator is important, we find the explanation-level primarily in laws, rules and government, because the structure rules the rehabilitation-measures, with shame as a consequence. Since we found elements of shame institutionalized in the way of working at PEO, SIO, SOS and AME, it means that social bonds can never reach a level good enough for achieving pride and normalization from a deviance or labeled identity.

LASER-TESTING RIG : Measurement System for evaluation of Shape of concentrating reflector for solar collector Absolicon X10

This Thesis project is a part of the all-round automation of production of concentrating solar PV/T systems Absolicon X10. ABSOLICON Solar Concentrator AB has been invented and started production of the prospective solar concentrated system Absolicon X10. The aims of this Thesis project are designing, assembling, calibrating and putting in operation the automatic measurement system intended to evaluate the shape of concentrating parabolic reflectors.On the basis of the requirements of the company administration and needs of real production process the operation conditions for the Laser testing rig were formulated. The basic concept to use laser radiation was defined.At the first step, the complex design of the whole system was made and division on the parts was defined. After the preliminary conducted simulations the function and operation conditions of the all parts were formulated.At the next steps, the detailed design of all the parts was conducted. Most components were ordered from respective companies. Some of the mechanical components were made in the workshop of the company. All parts of the Laser-testing rig were assembled and tested. Software part, which controls the Laser-testing rig work, was created on the LabVIEW basis. To tune and test software part the special simulator was designed and assembled.When all parts were assembled in the complete system, the Laser-testing rig was tested, calibrated and tuned.In the workshop of Absolicon AB, the trial measurements were conducted and Laser-testing rig was installed in the production line at the plant in Soleftea.

Universal Experimental Measurement System «Sun-Walker» : Automotive measurement system for the evaluation of the solar irradiation distribution for the tests of the solar concentrated systems.

This Thesis project is a part of the research conducted in Solar industry. ABSOLICON Solar Concentrator AB has invented and started production of the prospective solar concentrated system Absolicon X10. The aims of this Thesis project are designing, assembling, calibrating and putting in operation the automatic measurement system intended to evaluate distribution of density of solar radiation in the focal line of the concentrated parabolic reflectors and to measure radiation from the artificial source of light being a calibration-testing tool.On the basis of the requirements of the company’s administration and needs of designing the concentrated reflectors the operation conditions for the Sun-Walker were formulated. As the first step, the complex design of the whole system was made and division on the parts was specified. After the preliminary conducted simulation of the functions and operation conditions of the all parts were formulated.As the next steps, the detailed design of all the parts was made. Most components were ordered from respective companies. Some of the mechanical components were made in the workshop of the company. All parts of the Sun-Walker were assembled and tested. The software part, which controls the Sun-Walker work and conducts measurements of solar irradiation, was created on the LabVIEW basis. To tune and test the software part, the special simulator was designed and assembled.When all parts were assembled in the complete system, the Sun-Walker was tested, calibrated and tuned.

Improvement of Routine Test Process of High Voltage Power Capacitors

The capacitor test process at ABB Capacitors in Ludvika must be improved to meet future demands for high voltage products. To find a solution to how to improve the test process, an investigation was performed to establish which parts of the process are used and how they operate. Several parts which can improves the process were identified. One of them was selected to be improved in correlation with the subject, mechanical engineering. Four concepts were generated and decision matrixes were used to systematically select the best concept. By improving the process several benefits has been added to the process. More units are able to be tested and lead time is reduced. As the lead time is reduced the cost for each unit is reduced, workers will work less hours for the same amount of tested units, future work to further improve the process is also identified. The selected concept was concept 1, the sway stop concept. This concept is used to reduce the sway of the capacitors as they have entered the test facility, the box. By improving this part of the test process a time saving of 20 seconds per unit can be achieved, equivalent to 7% time reduction. This can be compared to an additional 1400 units each year.

An investigation of worn work roll materials used in the finishing stands of the hot strip mill for steel rolling

The surface failure characteristics of different work roll materials, i.e. High Speed Steel, High Chromium Iron and Indefinite Chill Iron, used in the finishing stands of a hot strip mill have been investigated using stereo microscopy, 3D optical profilometry, scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The results show that the surface failure mechanisms of work rolls for hot rolling are very complex, involving plastic deformation, abrasive wear, adhesive wear, mechanical and thermal induced cracking, material transfer and oxidation. Despite the differences in chemical composition and microstructure, the tribological response of the different work roll materials was found to be strongly dependent on the material microstructure and especially the presence and distribution of microstructural constituents, such as the different carbide phases and graphite (in the case of Indefinite Chill Iron). Cracking and chipping of the work roll surfaces, both having a negative impact on work roll wear, are strongly influenced by the presence of carbides, carbide networks and graphite in the work roll surface. Consequently, the amount of carbide forming elements as well as the manufacturing process must be controlled in order to obtain an optimised microstructure and a predictable wear rate.

Experimental and computational investigation of the roll forming process

One of the first questions to consider when designing a new roll forming line is the number of forming steps required to produce a profile. The number depends on material properties, the cross-section geometry and tolerance requirements, but the tool designer also wants to minimize the number of forming steps in order to reduce the investment costs for the customer. There are several computer aided engineering systems on the market that can assist the tool designing process. These include more or less simple formulas to predict deformation during forming as well as the number of forming steps. In recent years it has also become possible to use finite element analysis for the design of roll forming processes. The objective of the work presented in this thesis was to answer the following question: How should the roll forming process be designed for complex geometries and/or high strength steels? The work approach included both literature studies as well as experimental and modelling work. The experimental part gave direct insight into the process and was also used to develop and validate models of the process. Starting with simple geometries and standard steels the work progressed to more complex profiles of variable depth and width, made of high strength steels. The results obtained are published in seven papers appended to this thesis. In the first study (see paper 1) a finite element model for investigating the roll forming of a U-profile was built. It was used to investigate the effect on longitudinal peak membrane strain and deformation length when yield strength increases, see paper 2 and 3. The simulations showed that the peak strain decreases whereas the deformation length increases when the yield strength increases. The studies described in paper 4 and 5 measured roll load, roll torque, springback and strain history during the U-profile forming process. The measurement results were used to validate the finite element model in paper 1. The results presented in paper 6 shows that the formability of stainless steel (e.g. AISI 301), that in the cold rolled condition has a large martensite fraction, can be substantially increased by heating the bending zone. The heated area will then become austenitic and ductile before the roll forming. Thanks to the phenomenon of strain induced martensite formation, the steel will regain the martensite content and its strength during the subsequent plastic straining. Finally, a new tooling concept for profiles with variable cross-sections is presented in paper 7. The overall conclusions of the present work are that today, it is possible to successfully develop profiles of complex geometries (3D roll forming) in high strength steels and that finite element simulation can be a useful tool in the design of the roll forming process.

Machine Learning Algorithms in Heavy Process Manufacturing

In a global economy, manufacturers mainly compete with cost efficiency of production, as the price of raw materials are similar worldwide. Heavy industry has two big issues to deal with. On the one hand there is lots of data which needs to be analyzed in an effective manner, and on the other hand making big improvements via investments in cooperate structure or new machinery is neither economically nor physically viable. Machine learning offers a promising way for manufacturers to address both these problems as they are in an excellent position to employ learning techniques with their massive resource of historical production data. However, choosing modelling a strategy in this setting is far from trivial and this is the objective of this article. The article investigates characteristics of the most popular classifiers used in industry today. Support Vector Machines, Multilayer Perceptron, Decision Trees, Random Forests, and the meta-algorithms Bagging and Boosting are mainly investigated in this work. Lessons from real-world implementations of these learners are also provided together with future directions when different learners are expected to perform well. The importance of feature selection and relevant selection methods in an industrial setting are further investigated. Performance metrics have also been discussed for the sake of completion.

Geoprocessing journey-to-work data : delineating commuting regions in Dalarna, Sweden

Delineation of commuting regions has always been based on statistical units, often municipalities or wards. However, using these units has certain disadvantages as their land areas differ considerably. Much information is lost in the larger spatial base units and distortions in self-containment values, the main criterion in rule-based delineation procedures, occur. Alternatively, one can start from relatively small standard size units such as hexagons. In this way, much greater detail in spatial patterns is obtained. In this paper, regions are built by means of intrazonal maximization (Intramax) on the basis of hexagons. The use of geoprocessing tools, specifically developed for the processing ofcommuting data, speeds up processing time considerably. The results of the Intramax analysis are evaluated with travel-to-work area constraints, and comparisons are made with commuting fields, accessibility to employment, commuting flow density and network commuting flow size. From selected steps in the regionalization process, a hierarchy of nested commuting regions emerges, revealing the complexity of commuting patterns.

Process evaluation of a knowledge translation intervention using facilitation of local stakeholder groups to improve neonatal survival in the Quang Ninh province, Vietnam

BACKGROUND: Annually, 2.8 million neonatal deaths occur worldwide, despite the fact that three-quarters of them could be prevented if available evidence-based interventions were used. Facilitation of community groups has been recognized as a promising method to translate knowledge into practice. In northern Vietnam, the Neonatal Health - Knowledge Into Practice trial evaluated facilitation of community groups (2008-2011) and succeeded in reducing the neonatal mortality rate (adjusted odds ratio, 0.51; 95 % confidence interval 0.30-0.89). The aim of this paper is to report on the process (implementation and mechanism of impact) of this intervention. METHODS: Process data were excerpted from diary information from meetings with facilitators and intervention groups, and from supervisor records of monthly meetings with facilitators. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. An evaluation including attributes and skills of facilitators (e.g., group management, communication, and commitment) was performed at the end of the intervention using a six-item instrument. Odds ratios were analyzed, adjusted for cluster randomization using general linear mixed models. RESULTS: To ensure eight active facilitators over 3 years, 11 Women's Union representatives were recruited and trained. Of the 44 intervention groups, composed of health staff and commune stakeholders, 43 completed their activities until the end of the study. In total, 95 % (n = 1508) of the intended monthly meetings with an intervention group and a facilitator were conducted. The overall attendance of intervention group members was 86 %. The groups identified 32 unique problems and implemented 39 unique actions. The identified problems targeted health issues concerning both women and neonates. Actions implemented were mainly communication activities. Communes supported by a group with a facilitator who was rated high on attributes and skills (n = 27) had lower odds of neonatal mortality (odds ratio, 0.37; 95 % confidence interval, 0.19-0.73) than control communes (n = 46). CONCLUSIONS: This evaluation identified several factors that might have influenced the outcomes of the trial: continuity of intervention groups' work, adequate attributes and skills of facilitators, and targeting problems along a continuum of care. Such factors are important to consider in scaling-up efforts.

Automating the product derivation process of multi-agent systems product lines

Agent-oriented software engineering and software product lines are two promising software engineering techniques. Recent research work has been exploring their integration, namely multi-agent systems product lines (MAS-PLs), to promote reuse and variability management in the context of complex software systems. However, current product derivation approaches do not provide specific mechanisms to deal with MAS-PLs. This is essential because they typically encompass several concerns (e.g., trust, coordination, transaction, state persistence) that are constructed on the basis of heterogeneous technologies (e.g., object-oriented frameworks and platforms). In this paper, we propose the use of multi-level models to support the configuration knowledge specification and automatic product derivation of MAS-PLs. Our approach provides an agent-specific architecture model that uses abstractions and instantiation rules that are relevant to this application domain. In order to evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed approach, we have implemented it as an extension of an existing product derivation tool, called GenArch. The approach has also been evaluated through the automatic instantiation of two MAS-PLs, demonstrating its potential and benefits to product derivation and configuration knowledge specification.

Implicações dos processos de aprendizagem para acumulação de competências tecnológicas: reflexões sobre a experiência da Cyanamid Indústria Química em Resende, RJ

Esta dissertação examina o relacionamento entre os processos subjacentes de aprendizagem e acumulação de competências tecnológicas na Cyanamid Indústria Química, maiS especificamente em sua fábrica localizada no município de ResendelRJ. Este estudo trata do período entre 1990 e 1999. E enfocou a acumulação de competências para três funções tecnológicas: investimentos, processos e organização da produção e equipamentos. Os quatro processos de aprendizagem: aquisição externa e interna, socialização e codificação de conhecimento são examinados à luz de quatro características chaves: variedade, intensidade, funcionamento e interação. Para esta análise foram utilizadas estruturas existentes na literatura de empresas em industrialização e literatura de empresas de tecnologia de fronteira. A conclusão desta dissertação sugere que os processos de aprendizagem contribuíram substancialmente para acumulação de competências tecnológicas na empresa em estudo. Quanto maior à importância destes processos de aprendizagem e de suas quatro características chaves: variedade, intensidade, funcionamento e interação, maior será a capacidade e velocidade de acumulação de competências tecnológicas. Este trabalho também sugere que esta acumulação foi influenciada por outros fatores externos e internos como: políticas governamentais e comportamento da liderança, apenas para citar alguns. Estes fatores externos e internos estão alem do escopo desta dissertação. Esta conclusão não é diferente de estudos anteriores, mas concentra-se em refletir sobre um estudo aplicado a uma indústria ainda não examinada pela literatura existente de empresas em industrialização. Em especial, sobre uma experiência individual, localizada no interior do estado do Rio de Janeiro.

A formação da identidade numa perspectiva educacional

Este trabalho procura elucidar alguns conceitos teóricos de identidade, como é entendida por diferentes autores, como nós a interpretamos e como o processo educacional influencia o desenvolvimento da identidade dos adolescentes. Para isso recorremos ao fenômeno da identificação, aos conflitos intra-psíquicos, particularmente no período da adolescência, e aos vínculos de integração espacial, temporal e social. Consideramos a identidade estruturada por três níveis fundamentais: pelas estruturas mais desenvolvidas da personalidade, caracterizada pela relação interpessoal, baseada nos mecanismos de projeção e introjeção; pelos mecanismos de identificação projetiva-introjetiva e pela persistência da fusão ou estrutura sincicial primitiva que caracteriza a sociabilidade sincrética. Partimos da concepção de identificação como a forma mais primitiva de ligação afetiva. Tomamos a conquista da identidade corporal e sexual como a base das demais identidades parciais. A formação da identidade como um todo, que pressupõe uma crise na adolescência, baseia-se na problemática mais específica da formação de uma identidade sexual. Enquanto a identificação se opera através de introjeções, a identidade resulta da oposição de identificações anteriores. O processo é dialético. Somos de opinião que a identidade é formada por processos eminentemente sociais. Uma vez formada, é mantida, modificada ou mesmo remodelada pelas relações sociais. Nossa preocupação centralizou-se no processo de formação de identidade, considerado em estreita relação çom a família, a escola e a sociedade e em contínua interaçao professor-aluno, ensino-aprendizagem. Tentamos detectar as influências da educação sistematizadas no processo de formação da identidade e em especial visualizar o papel do professor no referido processo, através de pesquisa de campo. Para isso elaboramos um questionário composto de duas partes. A primeira contendo dados de identificação do aluno, da família e da escola. A segunda, composta de 40 perguntas consideradas, inferencialmente, como indicadores dos vínculos de integração espacial, temporal e social. Os sujeitos de nossa pesquisa constituiram-se de 176 alunos, na faixa etária de 14 anos, masculinos e femininos, de 5ª e 8ª series, do ensino de 1º grau das escolas da rede estadual de Divinopolis, M.G., em 1978. A análise dos dados obtidos evidenciou o desenvolvimento de nossos sujeitos em termos de identificação com os grupos primários, predominando a dependência em nível infantil.

Suspeição e impedimento nos processos objetivos de controle de constitucionalidade concentrado

O Brasil adota o sistema hibrido de controle de constitucionalidade, englobando tanto a modalidade difusa como a concentrada. O objeto do trabalho é o controle concentrado, que se caracteriza por um processo objetivo onde inexistem partes em sentido formal e conflito de interesses subjetivos. Aprioristicamente, a objetividade dá a entender que institutos que dizem respeito à subjetividade do julgador, como o impedimento e a suspeição, não seriam aplicáveis. O posicionamento do Supremo Tribunal Federal se aproxima desta concepção, aceitando hipóteses muito restritas de aplicação do impedimento e rechaçando a incidência da suspeição. Esta posição reclama urgente revisão por parte da Corte pelas razões expostas e estudos de julgados apresentados no trabalho.

Como são julgados os juízes? Uma análise do controle disciplinar do Conselho Nacional de Justiça (2005-2013)

Uma das principais modificações introduzidas pela Reforma do Judiciário (Emenda Constitucional 45/2004) foi a criação do Conselho Nacional de Justiça (CNJ). Dentre suas competências constitucionais, a do controle dos deveres funcionais dos magistrados por meio dos Processos Administrativos Sancionadores foi bastante questionada, chegando a ser objeto de controle concentrado de constitucionalidade pelo Supremo Tribunal Federal (STF). A composição do Conselho foi também alvo de reiteradas críticas, pois considerável parte dos conselheiros (6 dos 15, representando 40% do total) é composta por membros não oriundos da magistratura – vindos do Ministério Público, da Advocacia, além dos Juristas indicados pelo Congresso Nacional -, os conselheiros não-juízes. O Poder Judiciário, historicamente hermético e corporativista, passava a ser controlado por um órgão novo, um Conselho de Justiça que não contava apenas com conselheiros juízes entre seus membros. O presente trabalho estudou o CNJ a partir desses dois pontos mais controversos, com enfoque no controle disciplinar exercido pelo órgão sobre a magistratura nacional. Conselhos de Justiça, em especial em sua feição disciplinar, devem lidar com e existente tensão entre controle (ou accountability) e independência judicial. Observamos a atuação do Conselho Nacional de Justiça em vista dessa constante tensão ao longo de sua historia: por meio de uma análise que percorreu um período que vai da instalação do CNJ, em 2005, até o final do ano de 2013. Identificamos, com isso, as estratégias de legitimação institucional utilizadas para o exercício da competência disciplinar, analisamos as normas jurídicas surgidas nesse período, bem como descrevemos qual o perfil dos atores que ocuparam as cadeiras do colegiado enquanto conselheiros. Como resultado dessa observação, importante destacar que o Conselho Nacional de Justiça jogou luz sobre um Poder historicamente fechado, mas que ainda apresenta problemas de transparência. A dificuldade de localizar dados sobre matérias mais sensíveis (processos administrativos sancionadores) e as ausências de envio de informações quando solicitadas foram marcantes na pesquisa. Sobre o comportamento do órgão, mobilizamos a variável do profissionalismo (com especial enfoque na origem de carreira) para interpretar esse processo. Esperávamos um Conselho com duas características: corporativista e pouco harmônico. As análises empíricas quantitativas, que compuseram um retrato de todos os Processos Administrativos Sancionadores julgados até o final de 2013 pelo CNJ, mostraram um cenário inverso: um colegiado não corporativista e coeso. Mesmo em vista dessas características globais, identificamos que existem importantes diferenças no comportamento decisório e, quando elas estão presentes, o elemento da carreira é influente.

Invariant tests in an instrumental variables model with unknown data generating process

In this work we focus on tests for the parameter of an endogenous variable in a weakly identi ed instrumental variable regressionmodel. We propose a new unbiasedness restriction for weighted average power (WAP) tests introduced by Moreira and Moreira (2013). This new boundary condition is motivated by the score e ciency under strong identi cation. It allows reducing computational costs of WAP tests by replacing the strongly unbiased condition. This latter restriction imposes, under the null hypothesis, the test to be uncorrelated to a given statistic with dimension given by the number of instruments. The new proposed boundary condition only imposes the test to be uncorrelated to a linear combination of the statistic. WAP tests under both restrictions to perform similarly numerically. We apply the di erent tests discussed to an empirical example. Using data from Yogo (2004), we assess the e ect of weak instruments on the estimation of the elasticity of inter-temporal substitution of a CCAPM model.