II Workshop on the use of Computed Tomography (CT) in pig carcass classification. Other CT applications: live animals and meat technology, 16-17th April 2009, Monells (Girona), Spain

Es va realitzar el II Workshop en Tomografia Computeritzada (TC) a Monells. El primer dia es va dedicar íntegrament a la utilització del TC en temes de classificació de canals porcines, i el segon dia es va obrir a altres aplicacions del TC, ja sigui en animals vius o en diferents aspectes de qualitat de la carn o els productes carnis. Al workshop hi van assistir 45 persones de 12 països de la UE. The II workshop on the use of Computed Tomography (CT) in pig carcass classification. Other CT applications: live animals and meat technology was held in Monells. The first day it was dedicated to the use of CT in pig carcass classification. The segond day it was open to otehr CT applications, in live animals or in meat and meat products quality. There were 45 assistants of 12 EU countries.

Parasite Genome Projects and the Trypanosoma cruzi Genome Initiative

Since the start of the human genome project, a great number of genome projects on other "model" organism have been initiated, some of them already completed. Several initiatives have also been started on parasite genomes, mainly through support from WHO/TDR, involving North-South and South-South collaborations, and great hopes are vested in that these initiatives will lead to new tools for disease control and prevention, as well as to the establishment of genomic research technology in developing countries. The Trypanosoma cruzi genome project, using the clone CL-Brener as starting point, has made considerable progress through the concerted action of more than 20 laboratories, most of them in the South. A brief overview of the current state of the project is given

Building Capacity in Developing Countries : OER for Food Safety

The Food Safety Knowledge Network (FSKN) was developed through the collaboration of Michigan State University and a professional network of international food industry retailers and manufacturers. The key objective of the FSKN project is to provide technical resources, in a cost effective way, in order to promote food safety in developing countries and for small and less developed companies. FSKN uses a competency based model including a framework, OERs, and assessments. These tools are being used to support face-to-face training, fully online training, and to gauge the learning outcomes of a series of pilot groups which were held in India, Egypt, and China.

Discovering the campus together: a mobile and computer-based learning experience

One of the most relevant difficulties faced by first-year undergraduate students is to settle into the educational environment of universities. This paper presents a case study that proposes a computer-assisted collaborative experience designed to help students in their transition from high school to university. This is done by facilitating their first contact with the campus and its services, the university community, methodologies and activities. The experience combines individual and collaborative activities, conducted in and out of the classroom, structured following the Jigsaw Collaborative Learning Flow Pattern. A specific environment including portable technologies with network and computer applications has been developed to support and facilitate the orchestration of a flow of learning activities into a single integrated learning setting. The result is a Computer-Supported Collaborative Blended Learning scenario, which has been evaluated with first-year university students of the degrees of Software and Audiovisual Engineering within the subject Introduction to Information and Communications Technologies. The findings reveal that the scenario improves significantly students’ interest in their studies and their understanding about the campus and services provided. The environment is also an innovative approach to successfully support the heterogeneous activities conducted by both teachers and students during the scenario. This paper introduces the goals and context of the case study, describes how the technology was employed to conduct the learning scenario, the evaluation methods and the main results of the experience.

Sustainable Development and Concrete Technology, May 2004

For a variety of reasons, the concrete construction industry is not sustainable. First, it consumes huge quantities of virgin materials. Second, the principal binder in concrete is portland cement, the production of which is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions that are implicated in global warming and climate change. Third, many concrete structures suffer from lack of durability which has an adverse effect on the resource productivity of the industry. Because the high-volume fly ash concrete system addresses all three sustainability issues, its adoption will enable the concrete construction industry to become more sustainable. In this paper, a brief review is presented of the theory and construction practice with concrete mixtures containing more than 50% fly ash by mass of the cementitious material. Mechanisms are discussed by which the incorporation of high volume of fly ash in concrete reduces the water demand, improves the workability, minimizes cracking due to thermal and drying shrinkage, and enhances durability to reinforcement corrosion, sulfate attack, and alkali-silica expansion. For countries like China and India, this technology can play an important role in meeting the huge demand for infrastructure in a sustainable manner.

Willigness to pay for long-term care coverage: the role of private information and self-insurance

Both public and private insurance for long-term care is undeveloped in some European countries such as in Spain and empirical evidence is still limited. This paper aims at exmining the determinants of the demand for Long Term Care (LTC) coverage in Spain using contingent valuation techniques. Our findings indicate that only one-fifth of the population is willing to pay to assure coverage decisions are significantly affected by private information asymmetry and housing tenure in giving rise to self-insurance reduces the probability of insurance being hypothetically purchased.

Contribution of livestock to food production in developing countries

Selostus: Kotieläintuotannon osuus kehitysmaiden ruoantuotannosta

Willigness to pay for long-term care coverage: the role of private information and self-insurance

Both public and private insurance for long-term care is undeveloped in some European countries such as in Spain and empirical evidence is still limited. This paper aims at exmining the determinants of the demand for Long Term Care (LTC) coverage in Spain using contingent valuation techniques. Our findings indicate that only one-fifth of the population is willing to pay to assure coverage decisions are significantly affected by private information asymmetry and housing tenure in giving rise to self-insurance reduces the probability of insurance being hypothetically purchased.

The cost effectiveness of pharmacological smoking cessation therapies in developing countries: a case study in the Seychelles

OBJECTIVE: To examine the incremental cost effectiveness of the five first line pharmacological smoking cessation therapies in the Seychelles and other developing countries. DESIGN: A Markov chain cohort simulation. SUBJECTS: Two simulated cohorts of smokers: (1) a reference cohort given physician counselling only; (2) a treatment cohort given counselling plus cessation therapy. INTERVENTION: Addition of each of the five pharmacological cessation therapies to physician provided smoking cessation counselling. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Cost per life-year saved (LYS) associated with the five pharmacotherapies. Effectiveness expressed as odds ratios for quitting associated with pharmacotherapies. Costs based on the additional physician time required and retail prices of the medications. RESULTS: Based on prices for currently available generic medications on the global market, the incremental cost per LYS for a 45 year old in the Seychelles was 599 US dollars for gum and 227 dollars for bupropion. Assuming US treatment prices as a conservative estimate, the incremental cost per LYS was significantly higher, though still favourable in comparison to other common medical interventions: 3712 dollars for nicotine gum, 1982 dollars for nicotine patch, 4597 dollars for nicotine spray, 4291 dollars for nicotine inhaler, and 1324 dollars for bupropion. Cost per LYS increased significantly upon application of higher discount rates, which may be used to reflect relatively high opportunity costs for health expenditures in developing countries with highly constrained resources and high overall mortality. CONCLUSION: Pharmacological cessation therapy can be highly cost effective as compared to other common medical interventions in low mortality, middle income countries, particularly if medications can be procured at low prices.

Wind turbine for developing countries

Aquest treball avarca des de reunions amb personal de qualitat d’una fàbrica decremalleres fins a la proposta d’un prototip d’una màquina que solucionés els seusproblemes concrets de producció. Pel camí s’ha fet recerca envers de solucionsprèvies que fossin factibles a realitzar en uns pocs mesos i amb els medis limitatsdels que es desponiaLes solucions, tant de mètodes d’assaig i observació com de disseny són un reflexclar de procés d’enginyeria en l’àmbit industrial espanyol. Els medis escassegen,però amb temps (tampoc gaire) i enginy es troben formes de satisfer lesnecessitats. Al cap i a la fi és el que s’espera de nosaltres com a enginyers.

Outsourcing and Offshore Software Development in Africa

Globalization of software today is making many companies in the industrialized nations to outsource their work to low-wage countries. This thesis aims at obtaining an initial general overview of offshore software development in Africa. It seeks to explore the state of offshore software outsourcing in Africa with a focus on the factors contributing to the successes and challenges of offshore software development practicesin Africa. The thesis made use of electronic questionnaires and voice interviews to collect the data. Identified African vendors were interviewed, and the data was analyzed qualitatively. The study found that theAfrican software outsourcing industry is still at its infancy. It is expected that the industry will grow. However, a lot needs to be done, and African governments are called upon to actively implement supportive infrastructures that will promote the growth of the local and export software industries. Further research is recommended to cover the wide context ofthe topic.

Careers of Managers, Comparison between ICT and Paper Business Sectors

The purpose of this study is to increase understanding of how the managers build their early career in information and communication technology industry (ICT business sector) and pulp- and paper industry (paper business sector). The focus of the study is to explore the importance differing a business sectors have in influencing managerial careers. Business sectors can affect careers in several ways.Sectors have different history and traditions. Also the age structure of ICT personnel differs from the age structure of personnel in the paper industry. Managers in the ICT and paper sector are technically educated but in different disciplines. Differences exist also in ways of recruiting and developing commitment inpersonnel. The target group of this research, middle management engineering personnel, work in Finnish ICT and paper companies. Research data were gathered in April-December 2002 in South-Karelia by interviewing 30 managers and six directors working in three Finnish ICT companies and in three paper companies. The research issue is approached on two levels: the individual level and the organizational level. The managers related their career stories in focused interviews. Directors, representing the organizations, described the generalities of the business sector and gave background information on company policies, human relationshippractices, as well as career and human resource development. Results of the study contribute to research discussions of career, life-span reasoning, socialization and commitment. Career is conceived as a series of positions including everykind of hierarchical mobility and all kinds of positions in work. A manager's career develops in interaction with the organization and it can be seen as involving a socializing process in an organization as a consequence of experiences andchanges in positions. This research contributes to the understanding of the nature of career in the context of two business sectors. Universal career theories,for the most part, do not perceive the importance of business sector in determining career experience. This study concentrates on describing and understanding early careers in two different business areas, elements committing managers to particular business sectors and the actions of companies in that particular sector. While career research began in the middle of 1950s, the theoretical basis of career research seems to be quite fragmented still. However, a dichotomy is consistently presented between traditional, hierarchical career research and boundaryless career thinking. In this research we examine how these old and new career concepts are evidence in the ICT and paper sectors. Careers are changing from formal, hierarchy-based structures to more fluid arrangements. The new boundaryless career concept captures territory from old career thinking. Mobility between employers, networks, and changing hierarchical structures in organizations, as well as personal and family reasons are theorized to bring changes to careers patterns in the future. However, the pace of this change in careers will vary between the ICT and paper business sectors. Findings of this research indicate that business sector has an effect on how managerial careers develop. The environment where career is developed differs between ICT and paper sectors. Careers begin differently in the two environments and the speed of career progression is distinct. ICT careers are built within the business sector whereas paper careers are made inside one company. Also recruiting and socialization practices differ from one sector to the other.

Development of Managerial Reporting for a Pulp and Paper Technology Supplier

Työn tavoitteena oli yritysjohdon käyttämän sisäisen raportin kehittäminen vastaamaan paremmin johdon tarpeita. Teoriaosuuden tarkoituksena oli selvittää kirjallisuuden avulla sisäisen raportin käyttöä johdon työkaluna, hyvän raportin vaatimuksia ja yleisiä raportoinnin periaatteita. Empiirinen osuus toteutettiin haastatteluiden avulla ja analysoimalla case-yrityksen sisäisiä raportteja. Empiirisen osan tavoitteena oli selvittää aiemman raportin ongelmat, löytää ratkaisut näihin ongelmiin ja laatia uusi raportointimalli, joka palvelee paremmin raportin käyttäjiä.Teoriaosuuden perusteella voidaan päätellä, että raportoinnin kehittämiseen vaikuttaa eniten raportin käyttötarkoitus ja henkilöt, joiden työväline raportti tulee olemaan. Raportin kehittäminen on jatkuva prosessi, sillä raportin tulee mukautua liiketoiminta- ja organisaatiomuutoksiin.Työn empiirisessä osassa esitetty uusi raportointimalli palvelee case-yritystä monella eri tasolla. Se tukee johdon työskentelyä ja tarjoaa yritystasolla välineen kustannusten parempaan hallintaan ja seurantaan.

Social Networks for learning : wikis, blogs and tagging in education

Fast developments in information and communications technologies and changes in the behaviour of learners demand educational institutions to continuously evaluate their pedagogical approaches to the learning and teaching process, both in face-to-face and virtual classrooms.