Iowa Development of Rubblized Concrete Pavement Base Mills County, Construction Report, HR-315, 1990

The concept of rubblizing existing concrete pavement prior to the placement of an asphaltic cement concrete overlay has been around for several years and, in fact, has been tried successfully in the states of New York, Michigan, and Ohio. With available construction and maintenance dollars usually not meeting the demands of the needed work, much of the necessary rehabilitation of existing Portland cement concrete pavements is not being completed when it would be most beneficial. Research project HR-315, "Iowa Development of Rubblized Concrete", has been undertaken to determine the effects of rubblized concrete pavement base as it affects the cracking pattern and longevity of the ACC overlay.

Development of a cross-European virtual sample repository and HIV resistance database

BACKGROUND: Several European HIV observational data bases have, over the last decade, accumulated a substantial number of resistance test results and developed large sample repositories, There is a need to link these efforts together, We here describe the development of such a novel tool that allows to bind these data bases together in a distributed fashion for which the control and data remains with the cohorts rather than classic data mergers.METHODS: As proof-of-concept we entered two basic queries into the tool: available resistance tests and available samples. We asked for patients still alive after 1998-01-01, and between 180 and 195 cm of height, and how many samples or resistance tests there would be available for these patients, The queries were uploaded with the tool to a central web server from which each participating cohort downloaded the queries with the tool and ran them against their database, The numbers gathered were then submitted back to the server and we could accumulate the number of available samples and resistance tests.RESULTS: We obtained the following results from the cohorts on available samples/resistance test: EuResist: not availableI11,194; EuroSIDA: 20,71611,992; ICONA: 3,751/500; Rega: 302/302; SHCS: 53,78311,485, In total, 78,552 samples and 15,473 resistance tests were available amongst these five cohorts. Once these data items have been identified, it is trivial to generate lists of relevant samples that would be usefuI for ultra deep sequencing in addition to the already available resistance tests, Saon the tool will include small analysis packages that allow each cohort to pull a report on their cohort profile and also survey emerging resistance trends in their own cohort,CONCLUSIONS: We plan on providing this tool to all cohorts within the Collaborative HIV and Anti-HIV Drug Resistance Network (CHAIN) and will provide the tool free of charge to others for any non-commercial use, The potential of this tool is to ease collaborations, that is, in projects requiring data to speed up identification of novel resistance mutations by increasing the number of observations across multiple cohorts instead of awaiting single cohorts or studies to reach the critical number needed to address such issues.

Can resistance to trastuzumab be reversed by endocrine therapy? Combination of trastuzumab and letrozole after resistance to sequential trastuzumab and aromatase inhibitor monotherapies in patients with ER-positive, HER-2 positive, advanced breast cancer: a proof-of-concept trial (SAKK 23/03)

Introduction: Trastuzumab (T) is a cornerstone in the treatment of patients with HER2-overexpressing advanced breast cancer and development of resistance to T is a major therapeutic problem. HER-2 is part of a highly interactive signaling network that may impair efficacy of endocrine therapy. A sequential treatment design was chosen in this trial to ensure complete resistance to single agent therapy before receiving both a non-steroidal aromatase inhibitor (AI) and T. Any kind of clinical activity with combined treatment of AI and T after progression of single agent treatments could indicate restoration of sensitivity as a consequence of cross-talking and networking between both pathways. Methods: Key eligibility criteria included postmenopausal patients (pts.) with advanced, measurable, HER-2 positive (assessed by FISH, ratio (≥2)), HR positive disease and progression on prior treatment with a non-steroidal AI, e.g. letrozole or anastrozole, either in an adjuvant or advanced setting. Pts. received standard dose T monotherapy either weekly or three-weekly in step 1 and upon disease progression, continued T in combination with letrozole in step 2. The primary endpoint was clinical benefit response (CBR: CR, PR or SD for at least 24 weeks (+/- 1 week) according to RECIST) in step 2. Results: Thirteen pts. were enrolled in five centers in Switzerland. In step 1, six pts. (46%) achieved CBR. Median time to progression (TTP) was 161 days (Range: 50 - 627). Based on data collected until the end of May 2010, CBR was observed in seven out of the eleven evaluable pts. (64%) in step 2, including one pt. with partial response. Four of the seven pts. within step 2 that achieved CBR also had CBR in step 1. Seven out of eleven pts. have documented tumor progression during step 2 treatment. Median TTP for all eleven pts. was 184 days (range 61 - 471). Mean time on study treatment (TTP in step 1 plus TTP in step 2) for pts. reaching step 2 was 380 days (range 174 - 864). Adverse events were generally mild. Conclusion: Results of this proof-of-principle trial suggest that complete resistance to both AI and T can be overcome in a proportion of pts. by combined treatment of AI and T, as all pts. served as their own control. Our results appear promising for a new treatment strategy which offers a chemotherapy-free and well-tolerated option for at least a subset of the pts. with HR positive, HER-2 positive breast cancer. Further trials will need to corroborate this finding.

Resource-based approach to new product development at the intersection of industries. Two case studies in telecommunications

Työn tavoitteena on selvittää mitkä ovat tärkeimmät aineettomat resurssit, joita tarvitaan teollisuuksien risteyskohdassa tapahtuvassa tuotekehityksessä. Teollisuuksien risteyskohdissa syntyvät tuotteet ovat usein radikaaleja, mikä tekee tuotteista mielenkiintoisia, paljon liiketoimintapotentiaalia tarjoavia. Tämä tutkimus lähestyy tuotekehitystä resurssipohjaisesta näkökulmasta. Myös tietämyspohjaista ja suhdepohjaista näkemystä hyödynnetään korostamaan keskittymistä aineettomiin resursseihin. Tutkimuksessa rakennetaan viitekehys, jossa tutkitaan eri resurssikategorioita. Valitut kategoriat ovat teknologiset, markkinointi-, johtamiseen ja hallinnointiin liittyvät ja suhdepohjaiset resurssit. Empiirisessä osassa tutkitaan kahta uutta tuotekonseptia, jotka ovat syntyneet teollisuuksien risteyskohdissa. Empiirisen osan tavoitteena on määritellä tutkimuksen kohteena olevia alustavia tuotekonsepteja tarkemmin ja selvittää millaisia resursseja näiden toteuttamiseen tarvitaan. Myös tarvittavien resurssien nykytila selvitetään ja pohditaan tulisiko puuttuvia resursseja kehittää yrityksen sisällä vai hankkia ne ulkopuolelta. Tutkimus toteutettiin asiantuntijahaastatteluin. Kahden tapaustutkimuksen perusteella näyttäisi siltä, että suhdepohjaiset resurssit ovat erittäin tärkeitä teollisuuksien risteyskohdissa tapahtuvassa tuotekehityksessä. Myös teknologiset resurssit ovat tärkeitä. Markkinointiresurssien tärkeys riippuu lopullisesta tuotekonseptista, kun taas johtamiseen ja kehittämiseen liittyvät resurssit ovat tärkeitänäiden konseptien luomisessa.

Product Platform Development from the Product Lines' Perspective: Case of Switching Platform

In the era of fast product development and customized product requirements, the concept of product platform has proven its power in practice. The product platform approach has enabledcompanies to increase the speed of product introductions while simultaneously benefit from efficiency and effectiveness in the development and production activities. The product platforms are technological bases, which can be used to develop several derivative products, and hence, the differentiation can be pushed closer to the product introduction. The product platform development has some specific features, which differ somewhat from the product development of single products. The time horizon is longer, since the product platform¿slife cycle is longer than individual product's. The long time-horizon also proposes higher market risks and the use of new technologies increases the technological risks involved. The end-customer interface might be far away, but there is not a lack of needs aimed at the product platforms ¿ in fact, the product platform development is very much balancing between the varying needs set to it by thederivative products. This dissertation concentrated on product platform development from the internal product lines' perspective of a singlecase. Altogether six product platform development factors were identified: 'Strategic and business fit of product platform', 'Project communication and deliverables', 'Cooperation with product platform development', 'Innovativeness of product platform architecture and features', 'Reliability and quality of product platform', and 'Promised schedules and final product platform meeting the needs'. From the six factors, three were found to influence quite strongly the overall satisfaction, namely 'Strategic and business fit of product platform', 'Reliability and quality of product platform', and 'Promised schedules and final product platform meeting the needs'. Hence, these three factors might be the ones a new product platform development unit should concentrate first in order to satisfy their closest customers, the product lines. The 'Project communication and deliverables' and 'Innovativeness of product platform architecture and features' were weaker contributors to the overall satisfaction. Overall, the factors explained quite well the satisfaction of the product lines with product platform development. Along the research, several interesting aspects about the very basic nature of the product platform development were found. The long time horizon of the product platform development caused challenges in the area of strategic fIT - a conflict between the short-term requirements and long term needs. The fact that a product platform was used as basis of several derivative products resulted into varying needs, and hence the match with the needs and the strategies. The opinions, that the releases of the larger product lines were given higher priorities, give an interesting contribution to the strategy theory of powerand politics. The varying needs of the product lines, the strengths of them as well as large number of concurrent releases set requirements to prioritization. Hence, the research showed the complicated nature of the product platform development in the case unIT - the very basic nature of the product platform development might be its strength (gaining efficiency and effectiveness in product development and product launches) but also the biggest challenge (developing products to meet several needs). As a single case study, the results of this research are not directly generalizable to all the product platform development activities. Instead, the research serves best as a starting point for additional research as well as gives some insights about the factors and challengesof one product development unit.

Differences in phasic development rate amongst wheat cultivars independent of responses to photoperiod and vernalization. A viewpoint of the intrinsic earliness hypothesis

Differences amongst wheat cultivars in the rate of reproductive development are largely dependent on differences in their sensitivity to photoperiod and vernalization. However, when these responses are accounted for, by growing vernalized seedlings under long photoperiods, cultivars can still differ markedly in time to ear emergence. Control of rate of development by this ‘third factor’ has been poorly understood and is variously referred to as intrinsic earliness, earliness in the narrow sense, basic vegetative period, earliness per se, and basic development rate. Certain assumptions are made in the concept of intrinsic earliness. They are that differences in intrinsic earliness (i) are independent of the responses of the cultivars to photoperiod and vernalization, (ii) apply only to the length of the vegetative period up to floral initiation (as suggested by several authors), (iii) are maintained under different temperatures, measured either in days or degree days. As a consequence of this, the ranking of cultivars (from intrinsically early to intrinsically late) must be maintained at different temperatures. This paper, by the re-analysis of published data, examines the extent to which these assumptions can be supported. Although it is shown that intrinsic earliness operates independently of photoperiod and vernalization responses, the other assumptions were not supported. The differences amongst genotypes in time to ear emergence, grown under above-optimum vernalization and photoperiod (that is when the response to these factors is saturated), were not exclusively due to parallel differences in the length of the vegetative phase, and the length of the reproductive phase was independent of that of the vegetative phase. Thus, it would be possible to change the relative allocation of time to vegetative and reproductive periods with no change in the full period to ear emergence. The differences in intrinsic earliness between cultivars were modified by the temperature regime under which they were grown, i.e. the difference between cultivars (both considering the full phase to ear emergence or some sub-phases) was not a constant amount of time or thermal time at different temperatures. In addition, in some instances genotypes changed their ranking for ‘intrinsic earliness’ depending on the temperature regime. This was interpreted to mean that while all genotypes are sensitive to temperature they differ amongst themselves in the extent of that sensitivity. Therefore, ‘intrinsic earliness’ should not be considered as a static genotypic characteristic, but the result of the interaction between the genotype and temperature. Intrinsic earliness is therefore likely to be related to temperature sensitivity. Some implications of these conclusions for plant breeding and crop simulation modelling are discussed.

Ramp-up Predictability - Designing and Prototyping Ramp-up Predictability concept for new product creation

Diplomityön tavoitteena on tutkia ja kehittää menetelmä tuotekehitysprojektin ajalliselle ennustamiselle tuotteen siirtyessä tuotekehityksestä massatuotantoon. Ajallisen ennustamisen merkitys korostuu mitä lähemmäksi uuden tuotteen massatuotannon aloittaminen (ramp-up) tulee, koska strategiset päätökset koskien mm. uusia tuotantolinjoja, materiaalien- ja komponenttien tilaamisia sekä vahvistus asiakastoimitusten aloittamista täytyy tehdä jo paljon aikaisemmin.Työ aloitetaan tutkimalla rinnakkaista insinöörityötä (concurrent engineering) sekä suoritusten mittaamista (performance measurement), joiden sisältämistä ajattelumalleista, työkaluista ja tekniikoista hahmottuivat ajallisen ennustettavuuden onnistumisen edellytykset. Näitä olivat suunnitellun tuotteen ja tuotekehitysprosessin laatu sekä resurssien ja tiimien kompetenssit. Toisaalta ajalliseen ennustettavuuteen vaikuttavat myös projektien riippuvuudet ulkoisista toimittajista ja heidän aikatauluistaan.Teoreettisena viitekehyksenä käytetään Bradford L. Goldense:n luomaa mallia tuotekehityksen proaktiiviseksi mittaamiseksi sekä sovelletaan W. Edward Deming:in jatkuvan parantamisen silmukkaa. Työssä kehitetään Ramp-up Predictability konsepti, joka koostuu keskipitkän ja pitkän aikavälin ennustamisesta. Työhön ei kuulunut mallin käyttöönotto ja seuranta.Toimenpide ehdotuksena esitetään lisätutkimusta mittareiden keskinäisestä korrelaatioista ja niiden luotettavuudesta sekä mallien tarjoamista mahdollisuuksista muille tulosyksiköille.

Portable Application User Interface Development in Symbian OS

Symbian OS on käyttöjärjestelmä edistyneille matkapuhelimille. Symbiania käyttävistä laitteista on monia muunnoksia. Joitakin käytetään näppäimistön avulla ja toisia kynällä. Näytön mittasuhteet ja muut ominaisuudet vaihtelevat huomattavasti älypuhelimista kommunikaattoreihin. Tämän seurauksena Symbianin eri laiteperheiden viitemallien käyttöliittymäosat ovat sovelluskehittäjän kannalta melko erilaisia. Esimerkiksi kaikki käyttöliittymäkomponentit eivät ole saatavilla kaikissa laiteperheissä. Perinteisesti sovellusten käyttöliittymät on kirjoitettu erikseen kullekin laiteperheelle, mikä pidentää kehitysaikaa. Tämä työ esittelee Symbianin käyttöliittymäarkkitehtuurin, siirrettävyyden käsitteen ja tekniikoita sovellusten suunnitteluun ja toteutukseen, joilla saavutetaan parempi siirrettävyys Symbian-ympäristössä. Työssä suunnitellaan ja toteutetaan AppTest-nimisen testaustyökalun käyttöliittymä siten, että sovellus on helposti siirrettävissä eri laiteperheisiin.

Internationalization of Experience Pro concept

Diplomityö on tehty STTF:lle (Software Technology Transfer Finland), joka pyrkii kansainvälisille markkinoille Experience Pro -tuotekonseptillaan. Kansainvälistyminen on haasteellinen prosessi pk-yritykselle, ja haastetta haluttiin lähestyä strategisella suunnittelulla. Työn tavoitteena oli teoriatiedon ja löydettyjen kansainvälistymisesimerkkien avulla tuottaa STTF:lle kansainvälistymissuunnitelma strategiaan pohjautuen.Kaksi merkittävintä strategista valintaa STTF:n kansainvälistymisessä olivat kohdemaiden ja operaatiomuodon valinnat. Päätökset tehtiin strategisten analyysien perusteella. Analyysien avulla määritettiin myös yrityksen kilpailuedut. Löydettyjä vahvuuksia pyrittiin hyödyntämään myöhemmin kansainvälistymisen osastrategioita rakennettaessa. Tavoitteiden asettaminen ja markkinointi-mix:n kehittäminen olivat keskeisimmät osat markkinoinnin osastrategiassa. Jakelukanavan merkitystä korostettiin STTF:n kansainvälistymisessä ja yhteistyölle pyrittiin luomaan hyvät edellytykset. Strategia konkretisoitiin luomalla operatiiviset suunnitelmat markkinoinnin tukimateriaalien tuottamiseksi ja yhteistyökumppanien etsimiseksi. Markkinatutkimuksen perusteella potentiaaliset kohdemaat Experience Pro -konseptille olivat Australia, Hollanti, Irlanti, Iso-Britannia, Norja, Ruotsi, Saksa ja Tanska. STTF:llä on muutama sopiva vaihtoehtoinen operaatiomuoto valittavanaan riippuen kohdemaasta. Suomen maine vakaana, korkean teknologian maana voidaan nähdä maaetuna STTF:lle ja muita vahvuuksia ovat STTF:n teknologinen osaaminen, tuotteeseen liittyvät palvelut ja henkilökohtaiset kontaktit. SWOT-analyysi paljasti STTF:n heikkouksia voitettaviksi.Tulevaisuudessa STTF voi jatkaa kansainvälistymistään suunnitelman mukaisesti. Tavoitteiden saavuttaminen vaatii sitoutumista, aktiivista yhteistyökumppanien etsimistä ja jatkuvaa prosessien kehittämistä vastaamaan kansainvälisten markkinoiden vaatimuksia.

Wireless Applications Evaluation and Development Process: Case -Paper Industry Logistics

Sähköisen liiketoiminnan ja mobiliteetin konvergenssi yhdessä teknologisen innovaation kiihtyvän vauhdin kanssa ovat saaneet aikaan kiinnostusta langattomia liiketoimintaratkaisuja kohtaan. Tämän diplomityön tavoitteena oli tutkia sähköisen liiketoiminnan langattomien sovellusten arviointi- ja kehitysprosessia. Työ keskittyy tarkastelemaan paperiteollisuuden toimitusketjun langatonta seurantaa. Tutkimuksessa esitetään langattoman sähköisen liiketoiminnan määritelmä, kuvaillaan langattomuuden eri sovellusalueita ja sovellusten arviointi- ja kehitysprosessin strategisia sekä teknologisia ulottuvuuksia. Työ luo viitekehyksen, jonka avulla tarkastella langattomien teknologioiden merkitystä logistiikassa. Tutkimuksen merkittävin tulos on prosessimalli sovellusten arvioimiseksi ja kehittämiseksi. Mallilla kehitetty langaton sovellus osoittautui tarkastelussa hyödylliseksi toimitusketjun hallinnassa.

Can the administration be trusted? An analysis of the concept of trust, applied to the public sector

In the first part of this paper, we present the various academic debates and, where applicable, questions that remain open in the literature, particularly regarding the nature of trust, the distinction between trust and trustworthiness, its role in specific relationships and its relationship to control. We then propose a way of demarcating and operationalizing the concepts of trust and trustworthiness. In the second part, on the basis of the conceptual clarifications we present, we put forward a number of "anchor points" regarding how trust is apprehended in the public sector with regard to the various relations hips that can be studied. Schematically, we distinguish between two types of relations hips in the conceptual approach to trust: on one hand, the trust that citizens, or third parties, place in the State or in various public sector authorities or entities, and on the other hand, trust within the State or the public sector, between its various authorities, entities, and actors. While studies have traditionally focused on citizens' trust in their institutions, the findings, limitations and problems observed in public - sector coordination following the reforms associated with New Public Management have also elicited growing interest in the study of trust in the relationships between the various actors within the public sector. Both the theoretical debates we present and our propositions have been extracted and adapted from an empirical comparative study of coordination between various Swiss public - service organizations and their politico - administrative authority. Using the analysis model developed for this specific relationship, between various actors within the public service, and in the light of theoretical elements on which development of this model was based, we propose some avenues for further study - questions that remain open - regarding the consideration and understanding of citizens' trust in the public sector.

Development a distributed simulation environment on a cluster of workstations

Simulation has traditionally been used for analyzing the behavior of complex real world problems. Even though only some features of the problems are considered, simulation time tends to become quite high even for common simulation problems. Parallel and distributed simulation is a viable technique for accelerating the simulations. The success of parallel simulation depends heavily on the combination of the simulation application, algorithm and message population in the simulation is sufficient, no additional delay is caused by this environment. In this thesis a conservative, parallel simulation algorithm is applied to the simulation of a cellular network application in a distributed workstation environment. This thesis presents a distributed simulation environment, Diworse, which is based on the use of networked workstations. The distributed environment is considered especially hard for conservative simulation algorithms due to the high cost of communication. In this thesis, however, the distributed environment is shown to be a viable alternative if the amount of communication is kept reasonable. Novel ideas of multiple message simulation and channel reduction enable efficient use of this environment for the simulation of a cellular network application. The distribution of the simulation is based on a modification of the well known Chandy-Misra deadlock avoidance algorithm with null messages. The basic Chandy Misra algorithm is modified by using the null message cancellation and multiple message simulation techniques. The modifications reduce the amount of null messages and the time required for their execution, thus reducing the simulation time required. The null message cancellation technique reduces the processing time of null messages as the arriving null message cancels other non processed null messages. The multiple message simulation forms groups of messages as it simulates several messages before it releases the new created messages. If the message population in the simulation is suffiecient, no additional delay is caused by this operation A new technique for considering the simulation application is also presented. The performance is improved by establishing a neighborhood for the simulation elements. The neighborhood concept is based on a channel reduction technique, where the properties of the application exclusively determine which connections are necessary when a certain accuracy for simulation results is required. Distributed simulation is also analyzed in order to find out the effect of the different elements in the implemented simulation environment. This analysis is performed by using critical path analysis. Critical path analysis allows determination of a lower bound for the simulation time. In this thesis critical times are computed for sequential and parallel traces. The analysis based on sequential traces reveals the parallel properties of the application whereas the analysis based on parallel traces reveals the properties of the environment and the distribution.

The Present State and a Development Plan of Cost Accounting in Batch Production of Wind Turbine Gears

The aim of this master’s thesis was to document the present state and to create a development plan for Moventas Wind’s cost accounting. The current cost accounting system was evaluated and most fundamental problems were chosen as areas of focus in development work. The development plan includes both short- and long-term development proposals for problems identified. This report presents two alternative models for product costing. Benchmarking of cost accounting practices and modern cost accounting theories were used in development of cost accounting. It was found that the current cost accounting system functions quite well and the adjustments in unit cost rate calculation have only a minor influence on costs of goods sold. An OEE-based standard cycle concept was also developed and it was found that the implementation of this new system is worthwhile in the long-term.

Bio-based composites from stone groundwood applied to new product development

This paper deals with the product design, engineering, and material selection intended for the manufacturing of an eco-friendly chair. The final product is expected to combine design attributes with technical and legal feasibility with the implementation of new bio-based materials. Considering the industrial design, a range of objectives and trends were determined after setting the market requirements, and the final concept was proposed and modeled. The product geometry, production technology, and legal specifications were the input data for product engineering. The material selection was based on the technical requirements. Polypropylene (PP) composite materials based on coupled-fiberglass, sized-fiberglass, and coupled-stone ground wood reinforcements were prepared and characterized. Final formulations based on these PP composites are proposed and justified

Challenges and Means for the Front End Activities of Software Development

The front end of innovation is regarded as one of the most important steps in building new software products or services, and the most significant benefits in software development can be achieved through improvements in the front end activities. Problems in the front end phase have an impact on customer dissatisfaction with delivered software, and on the effectiveness of the entire software development process. When these processes are improved, the likelihood of delivering high quality software and business success increases. This thesis highlights the challenges and problems related to the early phases of software development, and provides new methods and tools for improving performance in the front end activities of software development. The theoretical framework of this study comprises two fields of research. The first section belongs to the field of innovation management, and especially to the management of the early phases of the innovation process, i.e. the front end of innovation. The second section of the framework is closely linked to the processes of software engineering, especially to the early phases of the software development process, i.e. the practice of requirements engineering. Thus, this study extends the theoretical knowledge and discloses the differences and similarities in these two fields of research. In addition, this study opens up a new strand for academic discussion by connecting these research directions. Several qualitative business research methodologies have been utilized in the individual publications to solve the research questions. The theoretical and managerial contribution of the study can be divided into three areas: 1) processes and concepts, 2) challenges and development needs, and 3) means and methods for the front end activities of software development. First, the study discloses the difference and similarities between the concepts of the front end of innovation and requirements engineering, and proposes a new framework for managing the front end of the software innovation process, bringing business and innovation perspectives into software development. Furthermore, the study discloses managerial perceptions of the similarities and differences in the concept of the front end of innovation between the software industry and the traditional industrial sector. Second, the study highlights the challenges and development needs in the front end phase of software development, especially challenges in communication, such as linguistic problems, ineffective communication channels, a communication gap between users/customers and software developers, and participation of multiple persons in software development. Third, the study proposes new group methods for improving the front end activities of software development, especially customer need assessment, and the elicitation of software requirements.