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| 2. |
- Alinaitwe, Henry, et al.
(författare)
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Innovation Barriers and Enablers that Affect Productivity in Uganda Building Industry
- 2007
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Ingår i: Journal of Construction in Developing Countries. - Penang : Penerbit Universiti Sains Malaysia / Universiti Sains Malaysia Press. - 1823-6499 .- 2180-4222. ; 12:1, s. 59-75
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Abstract: The construction industry has of recent been blamed for lack of innovation. Lack of innovation in the industry is believed to be responsible for the decreasing or stagnant levels of productivity in comparison with other industries. This paper reviews the major barriers and enables to innovation in general. Propositions were made about the factors that affect innovation in the construction industry which were then formulated into a questionnaire. A survey was made on building contractors in Uganda, a developing country, targeting those with financial strength, large in size, and with high capacity to carry out big projects. The identified factors were then ranked and correlated. The level of training in science, engineering and technical education, and the level of research and development at the industry level are looked at as the greatest innovation enablers in building that will drive forward labour productivity. The size of the domestic market and the level of security are the worst innovation barriers that lead to low productivity in the building industry in Uganda. Contractors, policy makers and the government should address the identified factors in order to improve productivity.
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| 3. |
- Amirahmadi, S. F., et al.
(författare)
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Arthritogenic anti-type II collagen antibodies are pathogenic for cartilage-derived chondrocytes independent of inflammatory cells
- 2005
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Ingår i: Arthritis and Rheumatism. - : Wiley. - 0004-3591 .- 1529-0131. ; 52:6, s. 1897-1906
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- OBJECTIVE: Some monoclonal antibodies (mAb) to type II collagen (CII) are arthritogenic upon passive transfer to mice. We undertook this study to investigate whether such mAb are pathogenic in the absence of mediators of inflammation. METHODS: The arthritogenic mAb CIIC1 and M2139, and the nonarthritogenic mAb CIIF4, each reactive with a distinct and well-defined conformational epitope on CII, were compared with control mAb GAD6. Bovine chondrocytes were cultured with one of the mAb, and on days 3, 6, and 9, antibody binding by chondrocytes and newly synthesized extracellular matrix (ECM) was examined by immunofluorescence, morphologic effects were studied by electron microscopy, and synthesis of matrix components was determined by metabolic labeling with (3)H-proline for collagen and (35)S-sulfate for proteoglycans. RESULTS: All 3 mAb to CII bound to the matrix. CIIC1 and M2139 adversely affected the cultures, whereas CIIF4 did not. CIIC1 caused disorganization of CII fibrils in the ECM without affecting chondrocyte morphology, and increased matrix synthesis. M2139 caused thickening and aggregation of CII fibrils in the ECM and abnormal chondrocyte morphology but matrix synthesis was unaffected. CONCLUSION: The unique arthritogenic capacity of particular anti-CII mAb upon passive transfer could be explained by their adverse, albeit differing, effects in primary cultures of chondrocytes. Such effects occur independent of inflammation mediators and are related to the epitope specificity of the mAb. Interference with the structural integrity of CII could precede, and even initiate, the inflammatory expression of disease.
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| 4. |
- Andersen, Naja Steen, et al.
(författare)
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Processes affecting genetic structure and conservation: a case study of wild and cultivated Brassica rapa
- 2009
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Ingår i: Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution. - Dordrecht : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0925-9864 .- 1573-5109. ; 56:2, s. 189-200
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- When planning optimal conservation strategies for wild and cultivated types of a plant species, a number of influencing biological and environmental factors should be considered from the outset. In the present study Brassica rapa was used to illustrate this: to develop Scandinavian conservation strategies for wild and cultivated B. rapa, DNA-marker analysis was performed on 15 cultivated and 17 wild accessions of B. rapa plus 8 accessions of the cross compatible B. napus. The B. rapa cultivars were bred in Sweden and Finland in 1944-1997 and the wild B. rapa material was collected from Denmark, Sweden and United Kingdom. The B. napus accessions were bred within the last 20 years in the Scandinavian countries. Results were based on scoring of 131 polymorphic ISSR markers in the total plant material. A Bayesian Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) approach implemented in NewHybrids demonstrated a clear distinction of B. rapa and B. napus individuals except for three individuals that seemed to be backcrosses. The backcrossed hybrids descended from two Swedish populations, one wild and one escaped. The overall pattern of genetic variation and structure in B. rapa showed that cultivated and wild B. rapa accessions formed two almost separated clusters. Geographical origin and breeding history of cultivars were reflected in these genetic relationships. In addition, wild populations from Denmark and Sweden seemed to be closely related, except for a Swedish population, which seemingly was an escaped cultivar. The study point to that many processes, e.g. spontaneous introgression, naturalisation, breeding and agricultural practise affected the genetic structure of wild and cultivated B. rapa populations.
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| 5. |
- Andersson, Svante, et al.
(författare)
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Born Globals' foreign market channel strategies
- 2006
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Ingår i: International Journal of Globalisation and Small Business. - Olney : InderScience Publishers. - 1479-3059 .- 1479-3067. ; 1:4, s. 356-373
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Foreign entry mode choices are decisions of paramount importance for the long-term survival and growth of companies that are in a process of rapid international expansion. In this paper we seek to understand the foreign market channel strategies of Born Globals. We examine whether these companies develop a similar strategy regarding foreign entry mode choices and whether their market channel strategies differ from contemporary theories treating this problem. A comparative case study conducted on four companies meeting the criteria of Born Globals suggests that they do not show a common foreign entry mode. Instead, the companies seem to have very different market channel strategies even if they all have internationalised very rapidly. These findings are discussed against the current range of theoretical models that seek to explain the companies' foreign entry mode choice. We conclude the paper with some implications and suggestions for future research.
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| 6. |
- Asker-Árnason, Lena, et al.
(författare)
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Process and product in writing : A methodological contribution to the assessment of written narratives in 8-12 year old Swedish children using ScriptLog
- 2008
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Ingår i: Logopedics Phoniatrics Vocology. - Oslo : Scandinavian University Press. - 1401-5439 .- 1651-2022. ; 33:3, s. 143-152
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Twenty-seven children, with typical language development (TLD), 8-10 years old and 10-12 years old, were assessed with keystroke-logging in order to investigate their narrative writing. Measures of the writing process and the written product were used. One purpose was to explore how children produce written narratives in on-line production, and to relate the writing process to the written product. The results showed that those children who produced the final text faster, also wrote stories that comprised of more words. In the group of older children, children with better narrative ability used less pause time than those with worse ability, and the girls were faster writers than the boys. We believe that keystroke-logging gives valuable information for the assessment of young children's writing and that it is a potentially valid assessment tool for children from about 10 years of age.
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| 7. |
- Attema, Joanne, et al.
(författare)
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Hematopoietic stem cell ageing is uncoupled from p16 INK4A-mediated senescence
- 2009
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Ingår i: Oncogene. - : Nature Publishing Group. - 0950-9232 .- 1476-5594. ; 28:22, s. 2238-2243
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Somatic stem cells are ultimately responsible for mediating appropriate organ homeostasis and have therefore been proposed to represent a cellular origin of the ageing process-a state often characterized by inappropriate homeostasis. Specifically, it has been suggested that ageing stem cells might succumb to replicative senescence by a mechanism involving the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p16(INK4A). Here, we tested multiple functional and molecular parameters indicative of p16(INK4A) activity in primary aged murine hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). We found no evidence that replicative senescence accompanies stem cell ageing in vivo, and in line with p16(INK4A) being a critical determinant of such processes, most aged HSCs (>99%) failed to express p16(INK4A) at the mRNA level. Moreover, whereas loss of epigenetically guided repression of the INK4A/ARF locus accompanied replicative senescent murine embryonic fibroblasts, such repression was maintained in aged stem cells. Taken together, these studies indicate that increased senescence as mediated by the p16(INK4A) tumor suppressor has only a minor function as an intrinsic regulator of steady-state HSC ageing in vivo.
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| 8. |
- Bajtner, Estelle, et al.
(författare)
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Chronic development of collagen-induced arthritis is associated with arthritogenic antibodies against specific epitopes on type II collagen
- 2005
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Ingår i: Arthritis Research & Therapy. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1478-6354 .- 1478-6362. ; 7, s. R1148-R1157
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Antibodies against type II collagen (CII) are important in the development of collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) and possibly also in rheumatoid arthritis. We have determined the fine specificity and arthritogenicity of the antibody response to CII in chronic relapsing variants of CIA. Immunization with rat CII in B10.Q or B10.Q(BALB/cxB10.Q)F2 mice induces a chronic relapsing CIA. The antibody response to CII was determined by using triple-helical peptides of the major B cell epitopes. Each individual mouse had a unique epitope-specific response and this epitope predominance shifted distinctly during the course of the disease. In the B10.Q mice the antibodies specific for C1 and U1, and in the B10.Q(BALB/cxB10.Q)F2 mice the antibodies specific for C1, U1 and J1, correlated with the development of chronic arthritis. Injection of monoclonal antibodies against these epitopes induced relapses in chronic arthritic mice. The development of chronic relapsing arthritis, initially induced by CII immunization, is associated with an arthritogenic antibody response to certain CII epitopes.
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| 9. |
- Behrns, Ingrid, 1961, et al.
(författare)
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A comparison between written and spoken narratives in aphasia
- 2009
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Ingår i: Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics. - London : Taylor & Francis. - 0269-9206 .- 1464-5076. ; 23:7, s. 507-528
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The aim of the present study was to explore how a personal narrative told by a group of eight persons with aphasia differed between written and spoken language, and to compare this with findings from 10 participants in a reference group. The stories were analysed through holistic assessments made by 60 participants without experience of aphasia and through measurement of lexical and syntactic variables. The findings showed that the participants with aphasia generally received lower ratings than the reference group, but also that stories written by participants with aphasia were rated as easier to understand, more interesting, and more coherent than the group’s spoken stories. Regression analysis showed that syntax could predict several of the rated variables for the stories told by the participants with aphasia. Results point to the need to include writing training in language rehabilitation in order to increase the ability for persons with aphasia to participate in communicative situations in everyday life.
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| 10. |
- Behrns, Ingrid, 1961, et al.
(författare)
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Aphasia and Computerised Writing Aid Supported Treatment
- 2009
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Ingår i: Aphasiology. - London : Psychology Press. - 0268-7038 .- 1464-5041. ; 23:10, s. 1276-1294
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background:Individuals with aphasia often experience difficulties in writing. Word processors with a spell checker and a grammar checker can compensate for some of the writing difficulties associated with aphasia.Aims:To determine if writing difficulties associated with aphasia may be reduced by the use of a computerised writing aid when training patients.Methods & Procedures:The writing aids used in this study were originally designed specifically for persons with developmental reading and writing difficulties and are based on statistics of frequent misspellings and phonotactic rules. Three participants with aphasia selected one of two offered writing aids. Written production during treatment and evaluation was recorded and analysed by keystroke logging. The study had a single-subject ABA design replicated across three participants. The baseline (A) was established by measuring four dependent variables. During a 9-week intervention phase (B) the dependent variables were measured once a week. A follow-up (A) was done 10 months after the training was finished. The dependent variables were: total number of words in a writing task; proportion of correctly written words; words per minute; proportion of successful edits. The results were analysed both visually and by statistical calculations. Outcomes & Results:All participants experienced a positive improvement in their writing ability. Results showed individual differences; after completed training the first participant made more successful edits, the second wrote more words, had a larger proportion of correctly written words, and made more successful edits. The third participant's results did not show any improvement that could be statistically supported.Conclusions:This study showed that the computerised training facilitated the generating process and made the revision process more efficient for the participants. The results are important in that they indicate possible ways of designing writing treatment. However, they also show the need for careful analyses when evaluating different treatment strategies and in discussing what improved writing ability may be.
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