Towards goal-based autonomic networking

The ability to quickly deploy and efficiently manage services is critical to the telecommunications industry. Currently, services are designed and managed by different teams with expertise over a wide range of concerns, from high-level business to low level network aspects. Not only is this approach expensive in terms of time and resources, but it also has problems to scale up to new outsourcing and/or multi-vendor models, where subsystems and teams belong to different organizations. We endorse the idea, upheld among others in the autonomic computing community, that the network and system components involved in the provision of a service must be crafted to facilitate their management. Furthermore, they should help bridge the gap between network and business concerns. In this paper, we sketch an approach based on early work on the hierarchical organization of autonomic entities that possibly belong to different organizations. An autonomic entity governs over other autonomic entities by defining their goals. Thus, it is up to each autonomic entity to decide its line of actions in order to fulfill its goals, and the governing entity needs not know about the internals of its subordinates. We illustrate the approach with a simple but still rich example of a telecom service

Factors Affecting Prolonged Working Life for the Older Workforce: the Swedish Case

The aim of this paper is to uncover some of the mechanisms that could make the older workforce willing and able to stay employed. Our focus is on work-related factors that predict the probability of staying in employment despite entitlement to old-age pension. The analyses are based on data from the first and second waves of the Panel Survey of Ageing and the Elderly (PSAE). The focus is on employed persons aged 52–59 years in 2002/2003 and the probability that they were still employed in 2010/2011.The analysis focuses on the work situation for the respondents in 2002–2003. Our analysis shows that physical job demands (negatively) and job satisfaction (positively) have an effect on the probability of staying. However, a counteracting force seems to be a norm to quit related to aging, emphasized by the institutionalized pension system, and the values and preferences connected to life as a pensioner

Improving lean design of production systems by visualization support

The design process of production systems is complex with many different aspects to consider for efficiently developing and installing an effective system. Important success factors during the design process are typically the abilities to identify and manage risks, develop mitigation plans, and conduct timely proactive problem solving. The work reported in this paper is part of research addressing methods for how the design process can be supported by using virtual representations of the factory environments captured with 3D laser scanning. This support is evaluated in an industrial study of one industrialization project in the manufacturing industry. The industrialization project follows the process to design layout, work places, and plan for installation of new equipment to create a production system within a refurbished shop floor area. The area will include CNC machining centers, welding stations, product inspection, product cleaning, and material handling. 3D laser scanning is used to provide an accurate and realistic virtual representation of the current shop floor area. This virtual representation is combined with 3D CAD models of the new machining centers and other equipment to provide a realistic visualization of the planned production system. The research approach and its questions investigate the benefits of combining the lean principles to design and development of production systems using a realistic visualization, which include systematic risk analysis and problem solving as important activities. The result shows that visualization support gave a great advantage to identify the possible risks and problems, which resulted in higher confidence and substantial timesaving in planning and execution of the industrialization project

Roller i utvecklingsprojekt - Rollers betydelse för systemutvecklingsprojekt

Efterhand som informationssystem av olika slag blivit allt mer komplexa har mer specialiserade kunskaper blivit allt viktigare inom systemutvecklingsområdet. Det har blivit omöjligt för en ensam systemutvecklare att tillfullo bemästra alla områden och arbetsmoment. En följd av detta är indelningen i olika roller med tillhörande ansvarsområden. Uppsatsen syftar till att utöka kunskapen angående förekomsten av olika systemutvecklingsroller och deras ansvarsområden. Detta har gjorts genom skapandet av ett ramverk bestående av roller hämtade från litteratur vilka ställts mot fyra kvalitativa intervjuer med verksamma systemutvecklare på två olika konsultföretag. Intervjuerna visade på att roller användes men att de inte nödvändigtvis alltid hade tydliga gränser och ansvarsområden eller att de sågs som olika roller. Det fanns inte heller i de fall som undersökts några formella riktlinjer för att använda sig av roller tillsammans med ansvarsområden

”Sen kommer det till heder och ingen vill ta i det, alla backar” - En kvalitativ studie om socialtjänstens arbete med hedersrelaterat våld mot minderåriga flickor

Honor related violence is a phenomenon that has been noticed to occur in Sweden for the last 15 years. Previous researches indicate a lack of knowledge from social welfare secretaries in these cases and a sense of insecurity how to deal with the problem. It also displays a criticism of the social services family oriented work and their inability to shift focus from the family to the youngster. With that in mind, the purpose of this study was to examine how social welfare secretaries initially work with cases that are characterized of honor related violence. To fulfill our purpose we have used a qualitative method which is based on five semi-structured interviews with social welfare secretaries in two different cities in Sweden. A theory based on power has been used to analyze the data. The study showed that the knowledge was perceived to be unsufficient to help youngsters who are exposed to honor related violence. It appeared that most of the incoming errands concerning honor related violence were reported from school. The study also indicated that the social welfare secretaries was trying to apply a wider youth perspective, though they still felt their work was characterized by an overall family oriented approach. In terms of power, it appeared the youngster as well as the parents have the opportunity to influence the outcome of the errand

The Constitutional Politics Heller Launched

Antibiotic resistance in bacteria causing disease is an ever growing threat to the world. Recently, environmental bacteria have become established as important both as sources of antibiotic resistance genes and in disseminating resistance genes. Low levels of antibiotics and other pharmaceuticals are regularly released into water environments via wastewater, and the concern is that such environmental contamination may serve to create hotspots for antibiotic resistance gene selection and dissemination. In this study, microcosms were created from water and sediments gathered from a lake in Sweden only lightly affected by human activities. The microcosms were exposed to a mixture of antibiotics of varying environmentally relevant concentrations (i.e., concentrations commonly encountered in wastewaters) in order to investigate the effect of low levels of antibiotics on antibiotic resistance gene abundances and dynamics in a previously uncontaminated environment. Antibiotic concentrations were measured using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Abundances of seven antibiotic resistance genes and the class 1 integron integrase gene, intL1, were quantified using real-time PCR. Resistance genes sulI and ermB were quantified in the microcosm sediments with mean abundances 5 and 15 gene copies/10(6) 16S rRNA gene copies, respectively. Class 1 integrons were determined in the sediments with a mean concentration of 3.86x10(4) copies/10(6) 16S rRNA gene copies. The antibiotic treatment had no observable effect on antibiotic resistance gene or integron abundances

“Think horizontally, act vertically” : the centenary (1916–2016) of pollen analysis and the legacy of Lennart von Post

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Titanium, Sinusitis, and the Yellow Nail Syndrome

Yellow nail syndrome is characterized by nail changes, respiratory disorders, and lymphedema. In a yellow nail patient with a skeletal titanium implant and with gold in her teeth, we found high levels of titanium in nail clippings. This study aims to examine the possible role of titanium in the genesis of the yellow nail syndrome. Nail clippings from patients with one or more features of the yellow nail syndrome were analyzed by energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence. Titanium was regularly found in finger nails in patients but not in control subjects. Visible nail changes were present in only half of the patients. Sinusitis with postnasal drip and cough was the most common complaint. The dominant source of titanium ions was titanium implants in the teeth or elsewhere. The titanium ions were released through the galvanic action of dental gold or amalgam or through the oxidative action of fluorides. In other patients the titanium was derived from titanium dioxide in drugs and confectionary. Stopping galvanic release of titanium ions or canceling exposure to titanium dioxide led to recovery. In one patient with a titanium implant, the symptoms recurred after renewed exposure to titanium. Yellow nail syndrome is caused by titaniu

Scientific drilling projects in ancient lakes: integrating geological and biological histories

Sedimentary sequences in ancient or long-lived lakes can reach several thousands of meters in thickness and often provide an unrivalled perspective of the lake's regional climatic, environmental, and biological history. Over the last few years, deep drilling projects in ancient lakes became increasingly multi- and interdisciplinary, as, among others, seismological, sedimentological, biogeochemical, climatic, environmental, paleontological, and evolutionary information can be obtained from sediment cores. However, these multi- and interdisciplinary projects pose several challenges. The scientists involved typically approach problems from different scientific perspectives and backgrounds, and setting up the program requires clear communication and the alignment of interests. One of the most challenging tasks, besides the actual drilling operation, is to link diverse datasets with varying resolution, data quality, and age uncertainties to answer interdisciplinary questions synthetically and coherently. These problems are especially relevant when secondary data, i.e., datasets obtained independently of the drilling operation, are incorporated in analyses. Nonetheless, the inclusion of secondary information, such as isotopic data from fossils found in outcrops or genetic data from extant species, may help to achieve synthetic answers. Recent technological and methodological advances in paleolimnology are likely to increase the possibilities of integrating secondary information, e.g., through molecular dating of molecular phylogenies. Some of the new approaches have started to revolutionize scientific drilling in ancient lakes, but at the same time, they also add a new layer of complexity to the generation and analysis of sediment core data. The enhanced opportunities presented by new scientific approaches to study the paleolimnological history of these lakes, therefore, come at the expense of higher logistic, communication, and analytical efforts. Here we review types of data that can be obtained in ancient lake drilling projects and the analytical approaches that can be applied to empirically and statistically link diverse datasets for creating an integrative perspective on geological and biological data. In doing so, we highlight strengths and potential weaknesses of new methods and analyses, and provide recommendations for future interdisciplinary deep drilling projects