1,266 research outputs found
Creative innovation in Spanish construction firms
"This material may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the American Society of Civil Engineers"Small and medium-sized contractors are characterized by organizational structures that are highly focused on control. As a result, employees concentrate on day-to-day activities with little time or motivation to generate creative ideas. Generally, the technological improvements of these companies arise as a result of problem-solving at the construction site. Nevertheless, the actual status quo is changing. In fact, some Spanish public agencies are already considering innovation as an added value in public procurement; thus, large contractors are starting to systemize their innovative efforts. This means that small and medium-sized enterprises must modify their attitudes towards innovation in order to sustain their competitiveness. The implementation of a system that enhances innovation and acquisition of knowledge may be the solution to overcome this disadvantage. The authors analyzed the implementation of an innovation management system in a Spanish construction firm of medium size for nine years. The system builds on a set of processes aimed to generate innovation projects that allow the contractor to document the innovation, not only for internal purposes related to knowledge management, but also for external ones associated with obtaining better results in public tenders. These processes are: (a) technology watch; (b) creativity; (c) planning and executing innovation projects; (d) technology transfer; and (e) protection of results. The last step is the feedback of the entire process through the assessment of the final outcomes. The implementation of the innovation system is ensured within the organization, through training of personnel, participation of stakeholders and encouragement of the innovation culture.The research reported in this paper was partially funded by the Universidad Catolica del Maule (UCM) [Project Mejoramiento de la Calidad y Equidad de la Educacion Superior (MECESUP)-UCM0205], the Spanish Ministry of Infrastructure (Project 2004-36), and the Universitat Politecnica de Valencia (UPV) (Contract UPV-2008-0629). Francisco Vea, Ricardo Lacort, and Manuel Civera are thanked for their help and support throughout the implementation of the system. Dr. Debra Westall is thanked for revising the text.Yepes, V.; Pellicer Armiñana, E.; Fernando Alarcón, L.; Correa Becerra, CL. (2015). Creative innovation in Spanish construction firms. Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice. 141:04015006-1-04015006-10. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)EI.1943-5541.0000251S04015006-104015006-1014
Cold-water corals in the Bay of Biscay - occurrences and distribution in space and time (TransBiscay) - Cruise No. M84/5, May 31 - June 21, 2011, Vigo (Spain) - Brest (France)
The scientific objectives of METEOR cruise M84/5 focused on the measurement
and analysis of the environmental controls of modern and fossil cold-water coral growth
along a transect in the Bay of Biscay. In four working areas we successfully deployed lander
systems and CTD/Roâs to document the physical and hydrochemical characteristics of bottom
water masses and the water column in general. These are used to shed light on potential
linkages to modern cold-water coral growth and distribution. These investigations were
flanked by plankton tows in surface waters. The base for all investigations was a thorough
hydroacoustic survey to characterize potential cold-water coral bearing areas with living
colonies. Based on these maps we deployed all video-guided gear such as the OFOS-video
sled, the TV grab, and the lander systems. Benthic assemblages and sedimentary structures
have been documented and sampled with the OFOS and a box corer. Simultaneously, genetic
samples of the living coral material were taken for additional studies. Furthermore, we have
taken gravity cores to investigate the paleoceanographic conditions as well as the timing of
cold-water coral colonization in the Bay of Biscay. Along with the coring efforts, a detailed
sampling and study of porewater properties was performed. An additional aim of this cruise
was to investigate the influence of boundary exchange processes on the Neodymium isotopy
in bottom waters along the pathway of the Mediterranean Outflow water (MOW) by taking
multiple samples with the CTD/Ro.
The new data and samples of this METEOR cruise will provide the framework to
investigate the timing of cold-water coral colonization in the Bay of Biscay, as well as its
interplay with the ambient hydrography and geochemistry. This successful cruise has
provided the basis to investigate the scientific aims of this expedition in great detail
Modelo para la innovaciĂłn sistemĂĄtica en empresas constructoras
Los motivos que impulsan a las empresas constructoras a innovar, asĂ como los procedimientos que utilizan, no han sido suficientemente explorados hasta el momento en la literatura sobre gestiĂłn de la construcciĂłn. Este artĂculo describe los cĂłmos y por quĂ©s que respaldan el impulso innovador en una empresa constructora. El mĂ©todo de investigaciĂłn se fundamenta en la validaciĂłn de un modelo desarrollado mediante un estudio de caso; Ă©ste se centra en una empresa constructora de tamaño medio que implementĂł y certificĂł un sistema de gestiĂłn de la innovaciĂłn, segĂșn lo establecido en la norma española UNE 166002. Los estudios desarrollados por los autores durante cinco años generaron un conjunto de 18 proposiciones que definen un modelo explicativo de la gestiĂłn de la innovaciĂłn. Este artĂculo reporta la validaciĂłn externa del modelo por medio de un conjunto de entrevistas, cuyos resultados corroboran plenamente 15 de las proposiciones planteadas. Los principales inductores de innovaciĂłn en las empresas constructoras son los problemas tĂ©cnicos que aparecen en obra, los requerimientos de los clientes y la alta direcciĂłn de la empresa. Las oportunidades de innovaciĂłn se identifican como resultado del examen de los procesos internos de la empresa, de las obras y del entorno. Identificar, desarrollar y transferir una soluciĂłn innovadora requiere la implantaciĂłn de la vigilancia tecnolĂłgica y de la gestiĂłn del conocimiento en la organizaciĂłn. Finalmente, la investigaciĂłn concluye que el principal beneficio de la gestiĂłn de la innovaciĂłn es el incremento de la capacidad tĂ©cnica de la empresa, mientras que las dos principales barreras para la innovaciĂłn son la priorizaciĂłn de los procesos productivos y la falta de apoyo de los dirigentes de la empresa.Eugenio Pellicer; Yepes Piqueras, V.; Correa Becerra, CL.; Alarcon, L. (2014). Modelo para la innovaciĂłn sistemĂĄtica en empresas constructoras. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management. 140(4):40140011-40140018. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862.0000468S4014001140140018140
Global Kidney Exchange Should Expand Wisely.
We read with great interest and appreciation the careful consideration and analysis by Ambagtsheer et al. of the most critical ethical objections to Global Kidney Exchange (GKE). Ambagtsheer et al. conclude that implementation of GKE is a means to increase access to transplantation ethically and effectively
Differential limit on the extremely-high-energy cosmic neutrino flux in the presence of astrophysical background from nine years of IceCube data
We report a quasi-differential upper limit on the extremely-high-energy (EHE)
neutrino flux above GeV based on an analysis of nine years of
IceCube data. The astrophysical neutrino flux measured by IceCube extends to
PeV energies, and it is a background flux when searching for an independent
signal flux at higher energies, such as the cosmogenic neutrino signal. We have
developed a new method to place robust limits on the EHE neutrino flux in the
presence of an astrophysical background, whose spectrum has yet to be
understood with high precision at PeV energies. A distinct event with a
deposited energy above GeV was found in the new two-year sample, in
addition to the one event previously found in the seven-year EHE neutrino
search. These two events represent a neutrino flux that is incompatible with
predictions for a cosmogenic neutrino flux and are considered to be an
astrophysical background in the current study. The obtained limit is the most
stringent to date in the energy range between and GeV. This result constrains neutrino models predicting a three-flavor
neutrino flux of $E_\nu^2\phi_{\nu_e+\nu_\mu+\nu_\tau}\simeq2\times 10^{-8}\
{\rm GeV}/{\rm cm}^2\ \sec\ {\rm sr}10^9\ {\rm GeV}$. A significant part
of the parameter-space for EHE neutrino production scenarios assuming a
proton-dominated composition of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays is excluded.Comment: The version accepted for publication in Physical Review
Association between Selected Oral Pathogens and Gastric Precancerous Lesions
We examined whether colonization of selected oral pathogens is associated with gastric precancerous lesions in a cross-sectional study. A total of 119 participants were included, of which 37 were cases of chronic atrophic gastritis, intestinal metaplasia, or dysplasia. An oral examination was performed to measure periodontal indices. Plaque and saliva samples were tested with real-time quantitative PCR for DNA levels of pathogens related to periodontal disease (Porphyromonas gingivalis, Tannerella forsythensis, Treponema denticola, Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans) and dental caries (Streptococcus mutans and S. sobrinus). There were no consistent associations between DNA levels of selected bacterial species and gastric precancerous lesions, although an elevated but non-significant odds ratio (OR) for gastric precancerous lesions was observed in relation to increasing colonization of A. actinomycetemcomitans (ORâ=â1.36 for one standard deviation increase, 95% Confidence Intervalâ=â0.87â2.12), P. gingivalis (ORâ=â1.12, 0.67â1.88) and T. denticola (ORâ=â1.34, 0.83â2.12) measured in plaque. To assess the influence of specific long-term infection, stratified analyses by levels of periodontal indices were conducted. A. actinomycetemcomitans was significantly associated with gastric precancerous lesions (ORâ=â2.51, 1.13â5.56) among those with â„ median of percent tooth sites with PDâ„3 mm, compared with no association among those below the median (ORâ=â0.86, 0.43â1.72). A significantly stronger relationship was observed between the cumulative bacterial burden score of periodontal disease-related pathogens and gastric precancerous lesions among those with higher versus lower levels of periodontal disease indices (p-values for interactions: 0.03â0.06). Among individuals with periodontal disease, high levels of colonization of periodontal pathogens are associated with an increased risk of gastric precancerous lesions
The Fourteenth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: First Spectroscopic Data from the extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey and from the second phase of the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment
The fourth generation of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-IV) has been in
operation since July 2014. This paper describes the second data release from
this phase, and the fourteenth from SDSS overall (making this, Data Release
Fourteen or DR14). This release makes public data taken by SDSS-IV in its first
two years of operation (July 2014-2016). Like all previous SDSS releases, DR14
is cumulative, including the most recent reductions and calibrations of all
data taken by SDSS since the first phase began operations in 2000. New in DR14
is the first public release of data from the extended Baryon Oscillation
Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS); the first data from the second phase of the
Apache Point Observatory (APO) Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE-2),
including stellar parameter estimates from an innovative data driven machine
learning algorithm known as "The Cannon"; and almost twice as many data cubes
from the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at APO (MaNGA) survey as were in the previous
release (N = 2812 in total). This paper describes the location and format of
the publicly available data from SDSS-IV surveys. We provide references to the
important technical papers describing how these data have been taken (both
targeting and observation details) and processed for scientific use. The SDSS
website (www.sdss.org) has been updated for this release, and provides links to
data downloads, as well as tutorials and examples of data use. SDSS-IV is
planning to continue to collect astronomical data until 2020, and will be
followed by SDSS-V.Comment: SDSS-IV collaboration alphabetical author data release paper. DR14
happened on 31st July 2017. 19 pages, 5 figures. Accepted by ApJS on 28th Nov
2017 (this is the "post-print" and "post-proofs" version; minor corrections
only from v1, and most of errors found in proofs corrected
Impact of safety-related dose reductions or discontinuations on sustained virologic response in HCV-infected patients: Results from the GUARD-C Cohort
BACKGROUND:
Despite the introduction of direct-acting antiviral agents for chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, peginterferon alfa/ribavirin remains relevant in many resource-constrained settings. The non-randomized GUARD-C cohort investigated baseline predictors of safety-related dose reductions or discontinuations (sr-RD) and their impact on sustained virologic response (SVR) in patients receiving peginterferon alfa/ribavirin in routine practice.
METHODS:
A total of 3181 HCV-mono-infected treatment-naive patients were assigned to 24 or 48 weeks of peginterferon alfa/ribavirin by their physician. Patients were categorized by time-to-first sr-RD (Week 4/12). Detailed analyses of the impact of sr-RD on SVR24 (HCV RNA <50 IU/mL) were conducted in 951 Caucasian, noncirrhotic genotype (G)1 patients assigned to peginterferon alfa-2a/ribavirin for 48 weeks. The probability of SVR24 was identified by a baseline scoring system (range: 0-9 points) on which scores of 5 to 9 and <5 represent high and low probability of SVR24, respectively.
RESULTS:
SVR24 rates were 46.1% (754/1634), 77.1% (279/362), 68.0% (514/756), and 51.3% (203/396), respectively, in G1, 2, 3, and 4 patients. Overall, 16.9% and 21.8% patients experienced 651 sr-RD for peginterferon alfa and ribavirin, respectively. Among Caucasian noncirrhotic G1 patients: female sex, lower body mass index, pre-existing cardiovascular/pulmonary disease, and low hematological indices were prognostic factors of sr-RD; SVR24 was lower in patients with 651 vs. no sr-RD by Week 4 (37.9% vs. 54.4%; P = 0.0046) and Week 12 (41.7% vs. 55.3%; P = 0.0016); sr-RD by Week 4/12 significantly reduced SVR24 in patients with scores <5 but not 655.
CONCLUSIONS:
In conclusion, sr-RD to peginterferon alfa-2a/ribavirin significantly impacts on SVR24 rates in treatment-naive G1 noncirrhotic Caucasian patients. Baseline characteristics can help select patients with a high probability of SVR24 and a low probability of sr-RD with peginterferon alfa-2a/ribavirin
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