Is communication evolving?

Oppgaven handler om utfordringene i informasjonsflyten mellom ledelsen og produkusjonen i et høy variasjon - lavt volum miljø. Hvor det ble utforsket på hvordan en digital tilnærming av Lean prinsippet kan forbedre informasjons flyten. Det ble utført en case studie gjennom en norsk produksjons bedrift som faller under miljøet høy variajson - lavt volum

Passive mechanical features of single fibers from human muscle biopsies – effects of storage

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of storage of human muscle biopsies on passive mechanical properties.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Stress-strain analysis accompanied by laser diffraction assisted sarcomere length measurement was performed on single muscle fibres from fresh samples and compared with single fibres from stored samples (-20°C, 4 weeks) with the same origin as the corresponding fresh sample. Basic morphological analysis, including cross sectional area (CSA) measurement, fibre diameter measurement, fibre occupancy calculation and overall morphology evaluation was done.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Statistical analysis of tangent values in stress-strain curves, corresponding to the elastic modulus of single muscle fibres, did not differ when comparing fresh and stored samples from the same type of muscle. Regardless of the preparation procedure, no significant differences were found, neither in fibre diameter nor the relation between muscle fibres and extra-cellular matrix measured under light microscopy.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We conclude that muscle fibre structure and mechanics are relatively insensitive to the storage procedures used and that the different preparations are interchangeable without affecting passive mechanical properties. This provides a mobility of the method when harvesting muscle biopsies away from the laboratory.</p

Calculation of antenna radiation center using angular momentum

An algorithm to compute the Radiation center of an antenna based on the Spherical wave expansion is introduced. The method is based on the angular momentum vector that is uniquely defined for any antenna far field pattern. The radiation center is defined as the unique point where the magnitude of the angular momentum is minimized with respect to translations of the far field. This corresponds to minimizing the phase variations in the antenna far field pattern. In addition the Current distribution axis can be determined, corresponding to minimization of the vertical component of angular momentum

Herbivores effect on coral reefs : relationships between sea urchins, coral health and algae cover

Coral reefs are vital to marine ecology. The population dynamic on coral reefs are complex and sensitive to natural and anthropogenic changes. Various factors can affect the population dynamic and inflict change. Coral bleaching is threatening coral reefs worldwide and is a hot topic in today’s climate challenges. The main cause is increasing water temperatures. A bleached coral has higher mortality and is more likely to be covered in macro algae which reduces its chances to recover. The herbivores facilitate the competition between algae and corals through grazing. Thus, the herbivorous taxa may be crucial for the ability of reefs to recover after disturbance. This field study was done in north-west Madagascar, in the water channel between the two islands Nosy Be and Nosy Komba. The aim of this study is to better understand the role that herbivorous sea urchins and algae coverage has on the reef status. This will facilitate to understand the ecological processes in the reef system. Through diving surveys, data was collected to study the interactions between coral health, algae coverage and sea urchins. The main research questions are 1) how prevalent coral bleaching is in the surveyed areas, 2) if reef status and algae coverage is correlated in the area and 3) if the numbers of grazing sea urchins are related to reef status and algae cover. Along an 80 meter transect the benthic composition and number of sea urchins within 2.5 meter from the line was noted. For each survey, a new place was randomly chosen in the channel to get a broader understanding of the area between the islands Nosy Be and Nosy Komba. The results were used for statistical analysis in R. The results show no significant correlations between coral health, algae coverage and sea urchins. There are weak trends, which can be supported by earlier research in this field. These weak trends are that herbivores have a negative influence on algae cover and algae cover has a negative influence on healthy corals. On the area studied coral bleaching was 0.01% out of the total amount of coral, which was lower than expected. Degraded corals and algae cover were widespread in the surveyed area. One conclusion is that over-fishing of herbivorous fish can be one reason for the degradation rather than coral bleaching. Another conclusion is that the sampling number in this study is too small to get significant results. Improvements of the method used is needed to get a higher quality data suitable for statistical analysis.Korallrev är av stor betydelse för marina ekosystem. Populationsdynamiken i korallrev är komplex och känslig för naturliga och antropogena förändringar. Olika faktorer kan påverka populationsdynamiken och orsaka förändringar. Korallblekning är ett hett ämne i dagens klimatdebatt och ett hot världen över. Den största orsaken till korallblekning är stigande vattentemperatur. En blekt korall har högre dödlighet och blir lättare täckt av makroalger vilket minskar chansen för korallen att överleva. Herbivorfiskar och invertebrater underlättar för korallerna i konkurrensen mot makroalger då de betar på makroalgerna. Därför kan herbivortaxan vara betydelsefull för revens chans att återhämta sig från störningar. Denna fältstudie utfördes i nordvästra Madagaskar, i havskanalen mellan öarna Nosy Be och Nosy Komba. Målet med denna studie är att få en ökad förståelse för hur herbivorer och algutbredning påverkar korallrevets status. Dessa resultat skulle göra det enklare att förstå de ekologiska processerna i korallrevet. Data samlades in under vattnet med dykutrustning och användes för att undersöka interaktioner mellan korallrevets status, algutbredning och antal havsborrar. De frågeställningar som denna studie fokuserade på var 1) i vilken grad är det undersökta området påverkat av korallblekning, 2) om korallrevets status och algutbredning är korrelerat i området och 3) om antalet havsborrar är korrelerat med revets status och algutbredning. Längsmed en 80 meter lina studerades havsbotten och antal havsborrar. För varje tillfälle då data samlades in valdes en ny plats ut att studera för att få en bredare överblick över området mellan öarna Nosy Be och Nosy Komba. Datan analyserades statistiskt i R. Resultaten visar inga signifikanta korrelationer mellan korallrevets status, algutbredning och havsborrar. Det förekommer vissa svaga trender, vilka kan styrkas av tidigare publicerat material. Dessa svaga trender är att havsborrar har en negativ effekt på algutbredning och att algutbredning har en negativ effekt på korallrevets status. I det studerade området är 0.01% av korallerna blekta, vilket var lägre än förväntat. Dålig korallstatus och algutbredning var brett förekommande i det undersökta området. En slutsats är att herbivorfiskar har fiskats till låga bestånd, vilket lett till ökad mängd makroalger kan vara en anledning till att korallrevets låga status snarare än korallblekning. En annan slutsats är att antalet prov är för få i denna studie för att få några signifikanta resultat. Metoden som används behövs även förbättras för att få data av högre kvalitet, bättre lämpat för statistisk analys

The effect of short-duration sub-maximal cycling on balance in single-limb stance in patients with anterior cruciate ligament injury: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: It has previously been shown that an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury may lead to impaired postural control, and that the ability to maintain postural control is decreased by fatigue in healthy subjects. To our knowledge, no studies have reported the effect of fatigue on postural control in subjects with ACL injury. This study was aimed at examining the effect of fatigue on balance in single-limb stance in subjects with ACL injury, and to compare the effects, and the ability to maintain balance, with that of a control group of uninjured subjects. METHODS: Thirty-six patients with unilateral, non-operated, non-acute ACL injury, and 24 uninjured subjects were examined with stabilometry before (pre-exercise) and immediately after (post-exercise) short-duration, sub-maximal cycling. In addition, the post-exercise measurements were compared, to evaluate the instantaneous ability to maintain balance and any possible recovery. The amplitude and average speed of center of pressure movements were registered in the frontal and sagittal planes. The paired t-test was used for the intra-group comparisons, and the independent t-test for the inter-group comparisons, with Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons. RESULTS: No differences were found in the effects of exercise between the patients and the controls. Analysis of the post-exercise measurements revealed greater effects or a tendency towards greater effects on the injured leg than in the control group. The average speed was lower among the patients than in the control group. CONCLUSIONS: The results of the present study showed no differences in the effects of exercise between the patients and the controls. However, the patients seemed to react differently regarding ability to maintain balance in single-limb stance directly after exercise than the control group. The lower average speed among the patients may be an expression of different neuromuscular adaptive strategies than in uninjured subjects

Hauling contractors' attitudes to organizational change

There are two groups of haulage contractors in roundwood transport , those who are contracted direct by the transport buyer and those who are connected to a freight company which in its turn is contracted by the transport buyer. Today the roundwood haulage is dominated by contractors with one to two lorries. The effort of coordinating transportation for a transport buyer is dependent on how many communication contacts that must be managed (how many individual haulage contractors the transport buyer has to work with). A structural change in the sector that leads to a decrease in the number of haulage contractors but an increase in the capacity of each contractor, makes it possible for a transport buyer to coordinate transports with fewer communication contacts. The reason why a company reaches a certain size can be explained by the number of contracts it makes and manages. Establishing each transactions costs money, a fact that ultimately determines the possibility for the company to continue expanding. Small companies can therefore strengthen their position on the market through cooperation and pooling of capacity. Today there are many IT-solutions available that can help to enable such a development. The purpose of this study is to identify the owners, of timber haulage companies, attitude to be contracted direct to a transport buyer or to be contracted to a freight company. And the attitudes to structural changes. The results can be summarized as follows: A structural change in the haulage sector towards fewer contacts per transport buyer is possible. The haulage companies won´t become more competitive by investments in additional capacity but rather through cooperation with other companies. New IT-solutions improve the conditions for cooperation between haulage contractors and will play an important role in the future development.Det finns två grupper av åkeriägare, de som är kontrakterade direkt av befraktaren samt de som är anslutna till en transportorganisation som i sin tur anlitas av befraktaren. Idag domineras åkeribranschen av åkerier med 1-2 lastbilar. Hur många enskilda åkerier en befraktare måste koordinera står i relation till hur mycket tid som måste läggas på planering. En förändring av åkerinäringen som innebär att antalet åkerier blir färre men större innebär att en mer rationell transportledning kan erhållas. Varför ett åkeri är av en viss storlek kan förklaras med hur många transaktioner åkeriet måste upprätta och övervaka. Att genomföra transaktioner kostar pengar vilket påverkar möjligheten att expandera. Genom samverkan kan små enskilda företag stärka sin position på marknaden. Det finns idag flera IT-tekniska verktyg som överbryggar de problem som kan finnas i ett storskaligt samarbete. Studien syftar till att kartlägga skogsåkeriägares inställning till att arbeta obundet eller organiserat samt inställningen till organisationsförändringar. Resultaten kan sammanfattas enligt följande: En förändring av åkerinäringen, som innebär att antalet kontakter varje befraktare måste hålla sig med kommer att bli färre, är tämligen trolig. Åkerierna kommer inte att bli konkurrenskraftigare genom ny investeringar i lastbilar, utan snarare genom ökat samarbete med andra åkerier. Nya IT-tekniska lösningar ökar förutsättningarna för utökat samarbete mellan åkerierna och kommer att vara en viktig de