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Understanding construction competitiveness: the initial results of a Delphi survey in Finland, Sweden and the UK

The competitiveness of the construction industry is an important issue for many countries as the industry makes up a substantial part of their GDP – about 8% in the UK. A number of competitiveness studies have been undertaken at company, industry and national levels. However, there has been little focus on sustainable competitiveness and the many factors that are involved. This paper addresses that need by investigating what construction industry experts consider to be the most important factors of construction industry competitiveness. It does so by conducting a Delphi survey among industry experts in Finland, Sweden and the UK. A list of 158 factors was compiled from competitiveness reports by institutions such as World Economic Forum and International Institute of Management Development, as well as from explorative workshops in the countries involved in the study. For each of the countries, experts with different perspectives of the industry, including, consultants, contractors and clients, were asked to select their 30 most influential factors. They then ranked their chosen factors in order of importance for the competitiveness of their construction industry. The findings after the first round of the Delphi process underline the complexity of the term competitiveness and the wide range of factors that are considered important contributors to competitiveness. The results also indicate that what are considered to be the most important factors of competitiveness is likely to differ from one country to another.

Measuring construction industry competitiveness: A holistic approach

The link between competitiveness and sustained prosperity of a nation, industry or firm, is a well established argument and serves as the basis for making policy decisions and directing strategic change. The importance of construction industry competitiveness is currently receiving considerable attention from countries such as Finland, Sweden and the UK. This paper critically reviews the existing measures of competitiveness, challenges productivity and profitability as the dominant measures of construction industry competitiveness and introduces a more holistic set of measures that addresses the needs of investors, employees, clients and overall society. The research also reports upon the application of this more holistic set of measures for measuring competitiveness and presents results for the Swedish construction industry. The paper principally sets out to present the preliminary findings of an ongoing research project, which will eventually compare the competitiveness of the Swedish construction industry with that of Finland and the UK.

Relativistic dispersion effects on SS433 jets

We here investigate the dispersion properties of radiation in the SS433 relativistic jets. We assume that the jet is composed of cold electron-proton plasma immersed in a predominantly parallel magnetic field to the jet axis. We find that for the mildly relativistic source SS433 (for which similar or equal to 79 degrees), the bulk velocity is too small (v similar or equal to 0.26c) to produce significant changes in the dispersion properties of the medium. Nonetheless, in the rarefied outer regions of the jets, where radio emission dominates, even a weak magnetic field has some influence on the dispersion properties and there appear two different electromagnetic branches that are slightly sensitive to the bulk relativistic motion. In the inner, X-ray region, the magnetic field is much stronger, but in this region the high electron density preserves the isotropic character of the local plasma and no branch separation occurs. In the region of the jet where the IR and optical emission dominates, the cold plasma may be also considered isotropic, i.e., neither the magnetic field nor the bulk velocity is able to affect the propagation of the radiation. Finally, we find that the Doppler line displacement in SS433 is affected by plasma dispersion only in a narrow frequency range in the far IR. As a consequence, although the shift (z) modulation due to precession of the SS433 jets is well described by previous work, it has to be corrected by plasma dispersion effects in the far-IR range.

Biomechanical effects of environmental and engineered particles on human airway smooth muscle cells

The past decade has seen significant increases in combustion-generated ambient particles, which contain a nanosized fraction (less than 100 nm), and even greater increases have occurred in engineered nanoparticles (NPs) propelled by the booming nanotechnology industry. Although inhalation of these particulates has become a public health concern, human health effects and mechanisms of action for NPs are not well understood. Focusing on the human airway smooth muscle cell, here we show that the cellular mechanical function is altered by particulate exposure in a manner that is dependent upon particle material, size and dose. We used Alamar Blue assay to measure cell viability and optical magnetic twisting cytometry to measure cell stiffness and agonist-induced contractility. The eight particle species fell into four categories, based on their respective effect on cell viability and on mechanical function. Cell viability was impaired and cell contractility was decreased by (i) zinc oxide (40-100 nm and less than 44 mu m) and copper(II) oxide (less than 50 nm); cell contractility was decreased by (ii) fluorescent polystyrene spheres (40 nm), increased by (iii) welding fumes and unchanged by (iv) diesel exhaust particles, titanium dioxide (25 nm) and copper(II) oxide (less than 5 mu m), although in none of these cases was cell viability impaired. Treatment with hydrogen peroxide up to 500 mu M did not alter viability or cell mechanics, suggesting that the particle effects are unlikely to be mediated by particle-generated reactive oxygen species. Our results highlight the susceptibility of cellular mechanical function to particulate exposures and suggest that direct exposure of the airway smooth muscle cells to particulates may initiate or aggravate respiratory diseases.

Medhörning i studio

I denna uppsats undersöker jag hur musikerns prestation påverkas av medhörningen. Jag har inriktat mig på sångare och sånginspelning i studio. I undersökningen har jag använt mig av tre informanter som fick sjunga till fem olika mixar i medhörningen. Jag analyserade sedan deras intonering, rytmisering och sångstyrka. Resultaten av undersökningen blev att intoneringen till viss del påverkas av medhörningen, rytmiseringen och sångstyrkan påverkas i hög grad av medhörningen.

Malnutritionsproblem vid cancersjukdom : En litteraturstudie

Det primära syftet med denna litteraturstudie var att beskriva hur cancerrelaterad malnutrition uppkom och hur kroppen påverkades. Vidare syftade studien till att beskriva hur patienterna upplevde nutritionsproblemen och dess konsekvenser. Studien syftade även till att beskriva hur patienternas livskvalitet påverkades av nutritionsproblemen, samt vilka åtgärder sjukvårdspersonalen kunde vidta för att förbättra nutritionen hos patienter med cancer. Artikelsökningen har skett via databaserna Elin@Dalarna, Blackwell Synergy och EBSCO Host. Sökorden som användes var cancer, healthcare, nutrition, malnutrition, nurse, nursing, quality of life och experiences. Resultatet visade att malnutrition ökade risken för komplikationer. Många av patienterna avled på grund av malnutrition och inte av cancern i sig. Malnutrition orsakades av att patienten inte kunde äta på grund av både cancern och dess behandling. Patienterna tyckte det var omöjligt att både äta, dricka och till och med svälja sin egen saliv på grund av rädsla för outhärdlig smärta. Konsekvensen av detta var att de inte hade styrka eller energi till att göra någonting. Nutritionsproblem ledde även till en känsla av brist på gemenskap och en försämrad livskvalitet. Nutritionsintaget var den viktigaste faktorn till en bra livskvalitet. Genom att ta nutritionsstatus tidigt och med jämna mellanrum följa upp nutritionsstatus på patienten så kunde sjuksköterskan motarbeta malnutrition.

An Upgrade of Network Traffic Recognition System for SIP/VoIP Traffic Recognition

The purpose of this project is to update the tool of Network Traffic Recognition System (NTRS) which is proprietary software of Ericsson AB and Tsinghua University, and to implement the updated tool to finish SIP/VoIP traffic recognition. Basing on the original NTRS, I analyze the traffic recognition principal of NTRS, and redesign the structure and module of the tool according to characteristics of SIP/VoIP traffic, and then finally I program to achieve the upgrade. After the final test with our SIP data trace files in the updated system, a satisfactory result is derived. The result presents that our updated system holds a rate of recognition on a confident level in the SIP session recognition as well as the VoIP call recognition. In the comparison with the software of Wireshark, our updated system has a result which is extremely close to Wireshark’s output, and the working time is much less than Wireshark. In the aspect of practicability, the memory overflow problem is avoided, and the updated system can output the specific information of SIP/VoIP traffic recognition, such as SIP type, SIP state, VoIP state, etc. The upgrade fulfills the demand of this project.

Analysis of EnterpriseVoIP Traffic from aWire line IMS System

With the rapid development of telecommunication industry, the IP multimedia Subsystem (IMS) could very well be the panacea for most telecom operators. It is originally defined as the core network for 3G mobile systems by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), the more recent development is merging between fixed line network and wireless networkd This report researchs the characteristic of the IMS data and proposes an IMS characterization analysis. We captured the IMS traffic data with 10 tousands users for about 41 hours. By analyzing the characteristics of the IMS, we know that the most important application in the IMS is VoIP call. Then we use the tool designed by Tsinghua University & Ericsson Company to recognize the data, and the results we got can be used to build the traffic models. From the results of the traffic models, I will get some reasons and conclusion. The traffic model gives out the types of session and types of VoIP call. I bring into a concept—busy hour. This concept is very important because it can help us to know which period is the peak of the VoIP call. The busy hour is from 10:00 to 11:00 in the morning. I also bring into another concept—connection ratio. This concept is significant because it can evaluate whether the VoIP call is good when it use IMS network. By comparing the traffic model with other one’s models, we found the different results from them, both the accuracy and the busy hour. From the contract, we got the advantages of our traffic models.

Personcentrerad omvårdnad till personer med demenssjukdom

Syfte: Litteraturstudiens syfte var att beskriva åtgärder som kan användas för att ge personcentrerad omvårdnad till personer med demenssjukdom samt beskriva hur beteendemässiga och psykiska symtom vid demens (BPSD) påverkas av personcentrerad omvårdnad. Metod: Litteraturstudien innefattade 17 artiklar med såväl kvalitativ som kvantitativ ansats och söktes i databaserna Cinahl och Pubmed. Resultat: Utbildning i personcentrerad omvårdnad gav omvårdnadspersonalen ökad förståelse för personen och insikt i hur stor påverkan deras egen inställning och attityd hade på personer med demens. Genom att skapa livsberättelser kunde omvårdnadspersonalen möta personens behov och ge en identitet till personen. En personlig miljö ansågs betydelsefull för att minska förvirring och oro hos personer med demens, bidrog till personcentrering och stärkte identiteten hos personen. Personcentrerad omvårdnad kunde minska BPSD, till fördel för personen med demens, närstående och omvårdnadspersonal. Personfokusering istället för objektfokusering samt ökat tålamod reducerade motståndet till omvårdnad och agitation. Konklusion: Resultatet visade att det finns åtgärder för att ge en personcentrerad omvårdnad och att en personcentrerad omvårdnad minskar BPSD.

The effects of Kanban in software development teams : a study of the implementation at Sandvik

In software development organizations there is sometimes a need for change. In order to meet continuously increasing demands from their customers, Sandvik IT Services- SITS, at Sandvik in Sweden, required improving the way they worked with software development. Due to issues like a lot of work in progress and lot of simultaneous tasks for individuals in the teams that caused stress, it was almost impossible to address the question of working with improvements. In order to enable the improvement process Kanban was introduced in the software development teams. Kanban for software development is a change method created by David J. Anderson. The purpose of this thesis is twofold. One part is to assess what effects Kanban has had on the software development teams. The other part is to make a documentation of the Kanban implementation process at SITS. The documentation has been made on the basis of both company internal resources and observations of the Kanban implementation process. The effects of Kanban have been researched with an interview survey to the teams that have gone through the Kick start of the Kanban process. The result of the thesis is also twofold. One part of the result is an extensive documentation of the implementation process of Kanban at SITS. The other part is an assessment of the effects that Kanban has had at SITS. The major effects have been that the teams are experiencing less stress, more focus on quality and better customer collaboration. It is also evident is that it takes time for some effects to evolve when implementing Kanban

Professional and Non-Professional Written Travel Texts – Do They Have Common Features? : A Comparative Investigation on Travel Texts on Trysil, Norway

This study aims to investigate possible distinctions between professional and non-professional written travel texts all treating the same destination: the Norwegian ski resort Trysil. The study will investigate to what extent the different texts correlate with the genre of travel texts, as the travel texts are treated as personal narratives, and how they conform to a given structure for narratives and with guidelines for professional writers. Furthermore, the investigation aims to explore to what extent there are similarities and differences between the texts regarding the given structure. The texts will first be analysed and organized separately by macrorules and a news schema that are constructed specifically for these sorts of texts, in order to reveal their discourse structure, and then compared to each other. As the discourse structure of the different texts is revealed, it is seen that there are certain differences between the two different text types. Finally, seen that the text types differ in their structure, this study will show that despite the fact that journalists write stories, and that non-professional written stories are narratives, they do not share the same structure, and are constructed in different ways.

Linear readout of dynamic phase modulation index in an optical voltage sensor using the new J(1) ... J(3) spectral method

The J(1)...J(3) is a recent optical method for linear readout of dynamic phase modulation index in homodyne interferometers. In this work, the J(1)... J(3) method is applied to measure voltage in an optical voltage sensor. Based on the classical J(1)...J(4) method, the J(1)... J(3) technique shows to be more stable to phase drift and simpler for implementation than the original one. The sensor dynamic range is enhanced. The agreement between theoretical and experimental results, based on 1/f noise, is demonstrated.