| 1. |
-
31 recommendations for increased profit - reducing waste
- 2010
-
Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Those companies and organizations that wish to ensure long-term profitability must successively decrease resource use in both product development and in product usage. Primarily, it is waste that must be reduced, i.e. the consumption of resources that do not add to customer value or to the organization. Waste is widespread in all operations. Even in well-functioning processes, more than half of the resource consumption can be classified as waste. One obstacle to waste elimination is that most waste is hidden. Thus, executives, middle management and specialists must prioritize efforts to uncover the waste in their operations.Building and construction activities consist of a complex system of decisions, components, organizations and processes that must be coordinated. There are therefore many explanations as to why waste arises, or does not. Based on a series of discussions with experienced builders, consultants, contractors and materials providers, five main groups of factors that characterize effective operations were found. In this report these factors are illustrated in the form of a “value pyramid”. A holistic view of long-term customer benefits is the apex of the pyramid. Structure, competence, leadership and culture act as the driving forces at each corner of the pyramid’s foundation. Should one of the corners gives way, then the pyramid risks toppling over.With the value pyramid as support, 31 recommendations for what should be done to reduce waste are presented. These are aimed at standardizing the product from an overall perspective (five recommendations), defining and standardizing processes (ten recommendations), developing the organization and its competence (seven recommendations), disciplining management (five recommendations), and driving continuous improvement work (four recommendations). Reducing uncertainties and increasing effective time utilization are the red threads, as the Swedes would say, that run through all the recommendations.Everyone who uses resources has a responsibility to reduce waste. By systematically monitoring one’s own use of time, one can gain insights that will help improve one’s work situation. However, the burden of initiating and driving improvements overall obviously lies with management. How this should be done depends on the nature and purpose of the activities as well as on the organization’s capabilities. It is to manage this progress and achieve profitability that managers are appointed. It is in the interest of all enterprises and organizations to develop the ability and an interest to detect and understand what work/task is value adding what is not. This ability will provide possibilities to develop new competitive advantages and new business concepts.
|
|
| 2. |
-
5 Stora – försök att minska övergödningen
- 2011
-
Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Fem pilotprojektUnder 2010 satsade Naturvårdsverket bland annat på fem större pilotprojekt som ansökt om finansiering från Havsmiljöanslaget. Den gemensamma nämnar en för projekten är att man kommer att genomföra omfattande åtgärder i jordbruksdominerade pilotområden för att ta reda på hur belastningen från jordbruk kan minska ytterligare. Man kommer att mäta och utvärdera nyttan av de genomförda åtgärderna och utveckla metoder och arbetssätt för genomförande där jordbrukare och andra aktörer som påverkar vattenmiljöerna arbetar tillsammans. Resultaten från projekten bedöms kunna ge ett bättre underlag för vidare åtgärdsinsatser för att förbättra miljötillståndet i havet. De fyra första projekten arbetar i mindre avrinningsområden med stor andel jordbruksmark, medan det femte projektet, Slätbaken, innefattar ett större land- och vattenområde.
|
|
| 3. |
|
|
| 4. |
- Aad, G., et al.
(författare)
-
Measurement of the top quark pair production cross section with ATLAS in pp collisions at √s = 7 TeV in dilepton final states
- 2011
-
Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- A measurement is presented of the production cross section of top quark pairs (σ_{\ttbar{}}) in proton-proton (pp) collisions at √s = 7 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. Using a data sample of 35 pb−1, candidate events are selected in the dilepton topology with large missing transverse energy, \met{}, and at least two jets.A baseline analysis employing kinematic properties of the candidate events to separate the signal from background and using data-driven techniques to determine the most important backgrounds, results in a measurement ofσ_{\ttbar{}} = 173 ± 22(stat.)+18 −16(syst.)+8 −7(lum.) pb,where the three uncertainties are from statistics, systematics and integrated luminosity, respectively.We also perform a cross section measurement requiring at least one b-tagged jet and a looser kinematic selection that increases the signal-to-background ratio, yieldingσ_{\ttbar{}} = 171 ± 22(stat.)+21 -16(syst.)+7 −6(lum.) pb.Additional studies are performed to corroborate these measurements; a technique that normalizes the \ttbar{} signal yield to the measured rate of Z decays, a two-dimensional template shape fit using the \met{} vs the number of jets to simultaneously measure the production cross sections of \ttbar{}, WW and Z → ττ final states, and a simultaneous measurement of σ_{\ttbar{}} and the b-tagging efficiency using the distribution of the number of tagged jets in each event.All the measurements are in good agreement with each other and the Standard Model prediction.
|
|
| 5. |
- Aalberg, Carmen, et al.
(författare)
-
Governance patterns and performance of regional strategies in peri-urban areas : comparative analysis of seven cases in Europe and Chine
- 2011
-
Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This report examines how different regional and local governance patterns and specific spatial planning strategies impact on peri-urban land use in Rural Urban regions. It draws from seven regional case studies, presenting a diverse mix of strategies ranging from protecting biodiversity and agricultural land, creating recreation and tourism opportunities to reducing pressure from building and infrastructure development. To study the means of influence or power an analytical framework of ‘policy arrangement’ was employed (Tatenhove et al, 2000): specifying rules of the game, resources, coalitions and discourses. Both government and nongovernment actors such as environmental groups or developers can form coalitions, adopt rules, employ resources and develop discourses to influence policies and developments in urban regions. The analytical and assessment frameworks defined by regional researchers and practitioners helped to organize the case study data and to evaluate both processes and outcomes of governance in peri-urban areas. The outcomes are represented in a summarized way for each strategy and region.The report provides examples of unsustainable developments in peri-urban regions and how certain strategies helped to counteract these, and emphasizes the importance of recognizing peri-urban areas as a policy field in its own right.A sustainable spread of land use over the Rural Urban region requires regional authorities whose jurisdiction covers the Rural Urban region and who have the appropriate mix of policy means of influence and relative power over lower level authorities. Under the current predominant discourse of ‘sustainable’ development largely being equal to economic development, the outcome of sustainability concerns depends on urban areas taking financial responsibility for the inclusion of common good interests such as ecosystem services, cultural heritage and social and environmental justice into the periurban areas. Recommendations for policy makers at different levels conclude the report.
|
|
| 6. |
|
|
| 7. |
- Abadir Guirgis, Georg
(författare)
-
Lärarperspektiv på riskutbildningen för motorcyklister
- 2011
-
Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Over the last decade it has become increasingly popular to ride a motorcycle in Sweden. A mandatory risk education for competence A and A1 was introduced from the 1st of November 2009. Since the education is new, few evaluations have been conducted so far.This study evaluates the risk education for motorcyclists based on the perspective of driving instructors. The goal was to compile the instructors' comments and experiences with respect to the new risk training. An additional objective was to examine the driving instructors' perceived effects of the education on their students' driving behavior. Six semi-structured interviews with driving instructors and an observational study of the education at various driving schools were conducted. In addition, a participant observation study was performed during a further education of 15 driving instructors. The results show that the instructors experience a great need for the new risk training and that the implementation of the training itself has been good. Students have been referring to the risk training, which according to the instructors indicate that the students have embraced the essence of the training. As a result, the students drive more carefully now and think twice in certain situations according to the instructors. This was considered a desirable result.
|
|
| 8. |
- Abbas, Nadeem, 1980-, et al.
(författare)
-
Towards Autonomic Software Product Lines (ASPL) - A Technical Report
- 2011
-
Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This report describes a work in progress to develop Autonomic Software Product Lines (ASPL). The ASPL is a dynamic software product line approach with a novel variability handling mechanism that enables traditional software product lines to adapt themselves at runtime in response to changes in their context, requirements and business goals. The ASPL variability mechanism is composed of three key activities: 1) context-profiling, 2) context-aware composition, and 3) online learning. Context-profiling is an offline activity that prepares a knowledge base for context-aware composition. The context-aware composition uses the knowledge base to derive a new product or adapts an existing product based on a product line's context attributes and goals. The online learning optimizes the knowledge base to remove errors and suboptimal information and to incorporate new knowledge. The three activities together form a simple yet powerful variability handling mechanism that learns and adapts a system at runtime in response to changes in system context and goals. We evaluated the ASPL variability mechanism on three small-scale software product lines and got promising results. The ASPL approach is, however, is yet at an initial stage and require improved development support with more rigorous evaluation.
|
|
| 9. |
|
|
| 10. |
|
|
