Yrkesstolthetens komponenter hos anställda på Försäkringskassan Dalarna

Syftet med föreliggande undersökning var att identifiera faktorer som bidrog till känslan av "yrkesstolthet" hos anställda vid Försäkringskassan Dalarna inkluderande personalens tillfredsställelse med yrkesrollen. Sammanlagt 163 personer, 123 kvinnor och 40 män, från 25 till 66 år (X= 49,8 år) deltog i undersökningen. Denna genomfördes med hjälp av General Nordic Questionnaire for Psychological and Social Factors at Work (QPS Nordic) inkluderande 123 frågor samt 9 frågor gällande yrkesrollen. Frågorna besvarades väsentligen med hjälp av en 5-gradig skala av Likert-typ. Huvudresultatet uträknades med hjälp av Cronbachs Alpha, Principal Component Analysis och multipel regressionsanalys. Det konstaterades att beroendevariabeln "yrkesstolthets" variation förklarades till 62,7% av oberoende-variablerna "interaktionsintelligens" "yrkesrealism", "arbetstillfredsställelse" och "arbetsengagemang". Även kön, ålder, utbildning och yrkeserfarenhet hade betydelse.

Computerized identification of motor complications in Parkinson's disease

Objective: To investigate whether spirography-based objective measures are able to effectively characterize the severity of unwanted symptom states (Off and dyskinesia) and discriminate them from motor state of healthy elderly subjects. Background: Sixty-five patients with advanced Parkinson’s disease (PD) and 10 healthy elderly (HE) subjects performed repeated assessments of spirography, using a touch screen telemetry device in their home environments. On inclusion, the patients were either treated with levodopa-carbidopa intestinal gel or were candidates for switching to this treatment. On each test occasion, the subjects were asked trace a pre-drawn Archimedes spiral shown on the screen, using an ergonomic pen stylus. The test was repeated three times and was performed using dominant hand. A clinician used a web interface which animated the spiral drawings, allowing him to observe different kinematic features, like accelerations and spatial changes, during the drawing process and to rate different motor impairments. Initially, the motor impairments of drawing speed, irregularity and hesitation were rated on a 0 (normal) to 4 (extremely severe) scales followed by marking the momentary motor state of the patient into 2 categories that is Off and Dyskinesia. A sample of spirals drawn by HE subjects was randomly selected and used in subsequent analysis. Methods: The raw spiral data, consisting of stylus position and timestamp, were processed using time series analysis techniques like discrete wavelet transform, approximate entropy and dynamic time warping in order to extract 13 quantitative measures for representing meaningful motor impairment information. A principal component analysis (PCA) was used to reduce the dimensions of the quantitative measures into 4 principal components (PC). In order to classify the motor states into 3 categories that is Off, HE and dyskinesia, a logistic regression model was used as a classifier to map the 4 PCs to the corresponding clinically assigned motor state categories. A stratified 10-fold cross-validation (also known as rotation estimation) was applied to assess the generalization ability of the logistic regression classifier to future independent data sets. To investigate mean differences of the 4 PCs across the three categories, a one-way ANOVA test followed by Tukey multiple comparisons was used. Results: The agreements between computed and clinician ratings were very good with a weighted area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) coefficient of 0.91. The mean PC scores were different across the three motor state categories, only at different levels. The first 2 PCs were good at discriminating between the motor states whereas the PC3 was good at discriminating between HE subjects and PD patients. The mean scores of PC4 showed a trend across the three states but without significant differences. The Spearman’s rank correlations between the first 2 PCs and clinically assessed motor impairments were as follows: drawing speed (PC1, 0.34; PC2, 0.83), irregularity (PC1, 0.17; PC2, 0.17), and hesitation (PC1, 0.27; PC2, 0.77). Conclusions: These findings suggest that spirography-based objective measures are valid measures of spatial- and time-dependent deficits and can be used to distinguish drug-related motor dysfunctions between Off and dyskinesia in PD. These measures can be potentially useful during clinical evaluation of individualized drug-related complications such as over- and under-medications thus maximizing the amount of time the patients spend in the On state.

Automatic and objective assessment of alternating tapping performance in Parkinson’s disease

This paper presents the development and evaluation of a method for enabling quantitative and automatic scoring of alternating tapping performance of patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD). Ten healthy elderly subjects and 95 patients in different clinical stages of PD have utilized a touch-pad handheld computer to perform alternate tapping tests in their home environments. First, a neurologist used a web-based system to visually assess impairments in four tapping dimensions (‘speed’, ‘accuracy’, ‘fatigue’ and ‘arrhythmia’) and a global tapping severity (GTS). Second, tapping signals were processed with time series analysis and statistical methods to derive 24 quantitative parameters. Third, principal component analysis was used to reduce the dimensions of these parameters and to obtain scores for the four dimensions. Finally, a logistic regression classifier was trained using a 10-fold stratified cross-validation to map the reduced parameters to the corresponding visually assessed GTS scores. Results showed that the computed scores correlated well to visually assessed scores and were significantly different across Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale scores of upper limb motor performance. In addition, they had good internal consistency, had good ability to discriminate between healthy elderly and patients in different disease stages, had good sensitivity to treatment interventions and could reflect the natural disease progression over time. In conclusion, the automatic method can be useful to objectively assess the tapping performance of PD patients and can be included in telemedicine tools for remote monitoring of tapping.

Observations of metal concentrations in tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus)in reservoirs of South Sri Lanka

Samples of the muscle and liver of tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus) obtained from the five reservoirs in four catchments in southern Sri Lanka in 1998 were analyzed for 16 elements: As, Ca, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Na, Ni, Pb, Sr, and Zn by inductively coupled plasma emission spectrophotometry, and Hg by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. The concentrations of Cr, Ni, and Pb were below the detection limits of the instrumental techniques employed in all samples. The elements As, Ca, Co, Cu, Fe, Hg, K, Mg, Mn, Na, Sr, and Zn were detected in the muscle and liver tissue, with Cd detected in some liver samples. There were no statistically significant differences between the individual concentrations of any of the metals and the site from which the tilapia were collected (P>0.05). Furthermore, no statistically significant correlations were found between total length of fish and metal concentration. No elements were found at concentrations of toxicological concern. However, a principal component analysis suggests that the populations of tilapia in the reservoirs may be exposed to different regimes of metals, possibly associated with different catchment land-use patterns.

Culture-specific variation in the flavor profile of soymilks

A modified quantitative descriptive analysis (QDA) method was used to determine sensory profiles of 8 soymilk products: 3 manufactured in Australia, 3 manufactured in Singapore, 1 manufactured in Malaysia, and 1 manufactured in Hong Kong. A panel (n= 7) was selected, trained in descriptive profiling of soymilk, and developed a soymilk language that was used to evaluate the flavor attributes of the soymilk products. A repeated-measure ANOVA showed highly reproducible panel performance, and significant differences in soymilk attributes among all soymilks. A principal component analysis (PCA) revealed 2 main groupings among the soymilks that corresponded to cultural origin: Australia and Asia (Singapore and Hong Kong/Malaysia). Products from Australia were significantly stronger in milky, astringent, salty notes and pale in color, while products from Asia were significantly stronger in beany, cooked beans, sweet, and pandan notes (P < 0.05). In addition, the Asian soymilks could be separated into 2 subgroups, with Singaporean soymilks having deeper color, greater viscosity, and less green flavor than Hong Kong/Malaysia soymilks. Australian produced soymilk is bovine-milk-like compared with Asian soymilk, presumably due to bovine milk being the primary source of milk in Australia. We conclude that culture-specific flavor preferences are a determining factor in flavor profiles of soymilks from geographically distinct regions.

Sustainability indicators: is there consensus among stakeholders?

Measuring regional sustainability must include local approaches, as sustainability will be determined by what the community values and the relative importance of these values will depend on community expectations, which vary. One of the biggest challenges for introducing strategies for sustainability is that multiple stakeholders are involved and they have differing objectives. This paper reports on a study conducted in the south-west region of Victoria, Australia, which investigated the level of consensus among stakeholders involved in determining indicators for measuring the region's progress toward sustainability. Principal Component Analysis was used to determine if there was a difference between stakeholder groups when it came to selecting appropriate indicators. The organisations demonstrated a high degree of consensus about which indicators were important. These findings suggest that although organisations have different aims and strategic goals, their views on what should be measured to determine progress toward sustainability are indeed similar.

Objective pilling evaluation of wool fabrics

An objective pilling evaluation method based on the multi-scale two-dimensional dual-tree complex wavelet transform and linear discriminant function of Bayes' Rule was developed. The surface fuzz and pills are identified from the high-frequency noise, fabric textures, fabric surface unevenness, and illuminative variation of a pilled fabric image by the two-dimensional dual-tree complex wavelet decomposition and reconstruction. The energies of the reconstructed subimages in six spatial orientations (±15º, ±45º, ±75º) are calculated as the elements of the pilling feature vector, whose dimension is reduced by principal component analysis. A linear discriminant function of Bayes' Rule was used as a classifier to establish classification rules among the five pilling grades. A new pilled sample with the same physical construction can then be automatically assigned to one of the five pilling grades by the classification rules. A general evaluation of the proposed method was conducted using the SM50 woven, non-woven, and SM54 knitted standard pilling test image sets. The results suggest that the new method can successfully establish classification rules among the five pilling grade groups for each of the three standard pilling test image sets and should be applicable to practical objective pilling evaluation.

Evaluation of the robustness of predictive yield models based on catchment characteristics using GIS for reservoir fisheries in Sri Lanka

Land-use patterns in the catchment areas of Sri Lankan reservoirs, which were quantified using Geographical Information Systems (GIS), were used to develop quantitative models for yield prediction. The validity of these models was evaluated through the application to five reservoirs that were not used in the development of the models, and by comparing with the actual fish yield data of these reservoirs collected by an independent body. The robustness of the predictive models developed was tested by principal component analysis (PCA) on limnological characteristics, land-use patterns of the catchments and fish yields. The predicted fish yields in five Sri Lankan reservoirs, using the empirical models based on the ratios of forest cover and/or shrub cover to reservoir capacity or reservoir area were in close agreement with the observed fish yields. The scores of PCA ordination of productivity-related limnological parameters and those of land-use patterns were linearly related to fish yields. The relationship between the PCA scores of limnological characteristics and land-use types had the appropriate algebraic form, which substantiates the influence of the limnological factors and land-use types on reservoir fish yields. It is suggested that the relatively high predictive power of the models developed on the basis of GIS methodologies can be used for more accurate assessment of reservoir fisheries. The study supports the importance and the need for an integrated management strategy for the whole watershed to enhance fish yields.

Limnology and culture-based fisheries in non-perennial reservoirs in Sri Lanka

This study was carried out to investigate the possibility of using the limnological characteristics of non-perennial reservoirs in Sri Lanka for the future management of culture-based fisheries. Forty-five reservoirs were randomly selected to study their limnology, out of which 32 were stocked with fish fingerlings of Chinese and Indian carps, tilapia and freshwater prawn at stocking densities ranging from 218–4372 fingerlings ha−1. Of these, 23 reservoirs were harvested at the end of the culture period (6–10 months). Thirteen limnological parameters were measured during the water retention period of each of the 45 reservoirs between November 2001 and January 2004. The mean values of the limnological parameters were used to ordinate the reservoirs through principal component analysis. Ordination showed a productivity gradient among reservoirs where Secchi disc depth, total phosphorus, chlorophyll-a, inorganic turbidity and organic turbidity were identified as key factors. The total fish yield of culture-based fisheries was positively correlated to the scores of the first principal component axis. This study reveals that it is possible to classify non-perennial reservoirs in Sri Lanka based on the above limnological parameters in order to develop culture-based fisheries and that they could be applicable in comparable water bodies elsewhere in the tropics.

An assessment tool for sub-catchment to catchment scale indicators of sustainability - a case study in south west Victoria, Australia

The research reported in this paper represents an attempt to produce a practical, indicator-based sustainability assessment tool incorporating all these elements is based on relationships between indicators determined considering spatial influences. Through the use of an existing sustainability indicator set and data currently available, relationships will be determined using Arcview Geographic Information Systems (GIS), correlation analysis and Principal Component Analysis (PCA). Indicator interactions will be identified at two spatial scales and compared to determine impacts of changing spatial scale. Further PCA and multiple regression analyses will then be used to reduce the complexity of the indicator set. These findings will be incorporated into a practical indicator-based assessment tool through the adoption of the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) combined with GIS techniques that will then be validated. Once validated the tool can be used to aid in guiding planning and decision-making regarding sustainable development in the Glenelg Hopkins catchment, Victoria; while also moving towards producing a standard set of procedures for assessing sustainability.

Texture recognition by using GLCM and various aggregation functions

We discuss the problem of texture recognition based on the grey level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM). We performed a number of numerical experiments to establish whether the accuracy of classification is optimal when GLCM entries are aggregated into standard metrics like contrast, dissimilarity, homogeneity, entropy, etc., and compared these metrics to several alternative aggregation methods.We conclude that k nearest neighbors classification based on raw GLCM entries typically works better than classification based on the standard metrics for noiseless data, that metrics based on principal component analysis inprove classification, and that a simple change from the arithmetic to quadratic mean in calculating the standard metrics also improves classification.

Ultraviolet plumage colors predict mate preferences in starlings

Avian plumage has long been used to test theories of sexual selection, with humans assessing the colors, However, many birds see in the ultraviolet (<400 nm), to which humans are blind, Consequently, it is important to know whether natural variation in UV reflectance from plumage functions in sexual signaling, We show that female starlings rank males differently when UV wavelengths are present or absent, Principal component analysis of approximate to 1300 reflectance spectra (300-700 nm) taken from sexually dimorphic plumage regions of males predicted preference under the UV+ treatment. Under UV- conditions, females ranked males in a different and nonrandom order, but plumage reflectance in the human visible spectrum did not predict choice, Natural variation in UV reflectance is thus important in avian mate assessment, and the prevailing light environment can have profound effects on observed mating preferences.

Retrospective application of remote sensing to the Tasmanian lakeland

This thesis describes the research undertaken for a degree of Master of Science in a retrospective study of airborne remotely sensed data registered in 1990 and 1993, and field captured data of aquatic humus concentrations for ~ 45 lakes in Tasmania. The aim was to investigate and describe the relationship between the remotely sensed data and the field data and to test the hypothesis that the remotely sensed data would establish further evidence of a limnological corridor of change running north-west to south- east. The airborne remotely sensed data consisted of data captured by the CSIRO Ocean Colour Scanner (OCS) and a newly developed Canadian scanner, a compact airborne spectrographic imager (CASI). The thesis investigates the relationship between the two kinds of data sources. The remotely sensed data was collected with the OCS scanner in 1990 (during one day) and with both the OCS and the CASI in 1993 (during three days). The OCS scanner registers data in 9 wavelength bands between 380 nm and 960 nm with a 10-20 nm bandwidth, and the CASI in 288 wavelength bands between 379.57 nm and 893.5 nm (ie. spectral mode) with a spectral resolution of 2.5 nm. The remotely sensed data were extracted from the original tapes with the help of the CSIRO and supplied software and digital sample areas (band value means) for each lake were subsequently extracted for data manipulation and statistical analysis. Field data was captured concurrently with the remotely sensed data in 1993 by lake hopping using a light aircraft with floats. The field data used for analysis with the remotely sensed data were the laboratory determined g440 values from the 1993 water samples collated with g440 values determined from earlier years. No spectro-radiometric data of the lakes, data of incoming irradiance or ancillary climatic data were captured during the remote sensing missions. The sections of the background chapter in the thesis provide a background to the research both in regards to remote sensing of water quality and the relationship between remotely sensed spectral data and water quality parameters, as well as a description of the Tasmanian lakes flown. The lakes were divided into four groups based on results from previous studies and optical parameters, especially aquatic humus concentrations as measured from field captured data. The four groups consist of the ‘green” clear water lakes mostly situated on the Central Plateau, the ‘brown” highly dystrophic lakes in western Tasmania, the ‘corridor” lakes situated along a corridor of change lying approximately between the two lines denoting the Jurassic edge and 1200 mm isohyet, and the ‘eastern, turbid” lakes make up the fourth group. The analytical part of the research work was mostly concerned with manipulating and analysing the CASI data because of its higher spectral resolution. The research explores methods to apply corrections to this data to reduce the disturbing effects of varying illumination and atmospheric conditions. Three different methods were attempted. In the first method two different standardisation formulas are applied to the data as well as ‘day correction” factors calculated from data from one of the lakes, Lake Rolleston, which had data captured for all three days of the remote sensing operations. The standardisation formulas were also applied to the OCS data. In second method an attempt to reduce the effects of the atmosphere was performed using spectro-radiometric captured in 1988 for one of the lakes flown, Great Lake. All the lake sample data were time normalised using general irradiance data obtained from the University of Tasmania and the sky portion as calculated from Great Lake upwelling irradiance data was then subtracted. The last method involved using two different band ratios to eliminate atmospheric effects. Statistical analysis was applied to the data resulting from the three methods to try to describe the relationship between the remotely sensed data and the field captured data. Discriminant analysis, cluster analysis and factor analysis using principal component analysis (pea) were applied to the remotely sensed data and the field data. The factor scores resulting from the pca were regressed against the field collated data of g440 as were the values resulting from last method. The results from the statistical analysis of the data from the first method show that the lakes group well (100%) against the predetermined groups using discriminant analysis applied to the remotely sensed CASI data. Most variance in the data are contained in the first factor resulting from pca regardless of data manipulation method. Regression of the factor scores against g440 field data show a strong non- linear relationship and a one-sided linear regression test is therefore considered an inappropriate analysis method to describe the dataset relationships. The research has shown that with the available data, correction and analysis methods, and within the scope of the Masters study, it was not possible to establish the relationships between the remotely sensed data and the field measured parameters as hoped. The main reason for this was the failure to retrieve remotely sensed lake signatures adequately corrected for atmospheric noise for comparison with the field data. This in turn is a result of the lack of detailed ancillary information needed to apply available established methods for noise reduction - to apply these methods we require field spectroradiometric measurements and environmental information of the varying conditions both within the study area and within the time frame of capture of the remotely sensed data.

Impact of stresses imposed on macroinvertebrate communities in two suburban streams

The aim of the project was to determine factors which explain the distribution of macroinvertebrates in two Melbourne streams both drastically affected by urbanisation. A detailed description is given of Dandenong Creek, flowing through the south-eastern suburbs, and Darebin Creek, in the northern suburbs, emphasising stream features likely, or known, to influence the drift and benthic fauna. Faunal sampling was carried out in Dandenong Creek from June 1992 until July 1993, and in Darebin Creek from February 1995 until March 1998. Physicochemical parameters were also recorded. The collected data, together with previously existing data, were analysed using multivariate analyses: non-metric multi-dimensional scaling (NMDS); analysis of similarities (ANOSIM); matching biotic and abiotic variables using BIOENV, and principal component analysis (PCA). Various biotic and diversity indices were calculated in an attempt to identify the major factors responsible for the failure of the fauna to recover from previously more seriously degraded water quality. The contribution of drift to the colonisation potential in Dandenong Creek appeared to be impacted by retarding basins, underground barrel-draining and channelization. Results also indicated that increased conductivity adversely affected the fauna in the lower reaches of Dandenong Creek. It was concluded that in Darebin Creek, high nutrient levels, as well as other pollutants, had resulted in low macroinvertebrate diversity in both the drift and benthos. If, as this study suggests, faunal diversity is a valid measure of stream health, the following factors need to be addressed for catchment-wide, stream management: lack of riparian zone vegetation (increasing bank erosion and making the benthic habitat unstable, with greater temperature variability); control of stormwater runoff (flow variability, increased conductivity, nutrient levels, sediment loads, sewage effluent, industrial discharges and heavy metals), and to modify retarding basins to increase stream continuity.

Genetic and environmental influences on variation in balance performance among female twin pairs aged 21-82 years

Genetic and environmental influences on variation in balance performance were measured in 93 monozygous and 83 dizygous female twin pairs aged 21–82 years (mean age, 50.5 years) in Melbourne, Australia, between 1999 and 2003. The authors administered clinical (Lord's Balance Test and Step Test) and laboratory tests of static and dynamic balance from the Chattecx Balance System with and without distractor tasks. The authors conducted factor analysis and estimated genetic and environmental variance components and heritability (defined as additive genetic variance as a proportion of all variance, after adjustment for age) using a multivariate normal model with the statistical package FISHER. Three factors were identified and adjusted for age. Heritability was 46% (standard error (SE), 9) for the "sensory balance tests" factor and 30% (SE, 9) for the "static and dynamic perturbations" factor. For both factors, the remaining variance was attributed to unique environmental effects. There was no evidence that genetic factors influenced variation in the "dynamic weight shift tests" factor, with environmental effects shared by twins accounting for 38% (SE, 7) of variance. Neither genetic nor environmental proportions of variance differed significantly between twin subgroups by age (≤50/>50 years). An age-related decline in performance measures was found across the whole sample. These results imply that balance impairments may have a heritable element.