Effektivare traktordemonstrationer

The background to this paper is the fact that many products are demonstrated to show the consumer value of the product. This is generally the fact when it comes to agricultural products, such as tractors. The growing number of models makes this even more import for the retailer to perform a demonstration that really catches the interest of a prospect customer. One problem is that these demonstrations are expensive and many small retailers have difficulties to afford demonstrations of every model. Together with Åhmans Traktorcentrum AB a market investigation was conducted. The company has its primary sales area in the region of Östergötland and north part of Småland. Åhmans Traktorcentrum AB is a John Deere dealer. The owner of the company is Leif Åhman together with Claes-Göran Åhman and employs 25 employees. Leif Åhman and his son Magnus have been my contact at the company. During the season of 2004 the company launched a heavy campaign to demonstrate the whole product program of John Deere tractors in Europe. The purpose of this demonstration was to conduct a market survey. Åhmans Traktorcentrum AB had the intention to get feed-back from the experience of summer 2004. In particular the interest was in what manager of agricultural companies based their decisions on. Before I started my investigation all questions and experience of 2004 were discussed together with Leif and Magnus Åhman. We tried to formulate relevant questions. 50 agricultural companies were interviewed over the telephone and by doing it this way the frequency of answer could be kept at a high level. Another advantage was that I could discuss the answer and a clear picture of the answer. With the help of this inquiry it was possible to produce a document that could tell what each farmer valued and thought was important to him and his company. Hopefully the result of this paper will help retailer to make their demonstrations a better tool to increase sales and do a more efficient demonstration of available products. Results from the research are to have more efficient tractor demonstrations to each prospects.Bakgrunden är att det är mycket vanligt att de produkter som skall säljas demonstreras och speciellt gäller detta vid en traktorförsäljning. Många olika typer och varianter har tillämpats. Med fler fabrikat och ett ökat antal traktor modeller har detta blivit allt mer viktigt för de återförsäljare som saluför produkterna på marknaden. Men traktordemonstrationerna har också blivit höga kostnader för säljföretagen, många mindre säljföretag har svårt att hålla demonstration på varje enskild modell. I samarbete med Åhmans traktorcentrum AB, med försäljningsområdet i Östergötland och nordöstra Småland har en marknadsundersökning genomförts. Företaget är auktoriserad återförsäljare för John Deere. och har 25 anställda. Det ägs av Leif Åhman och Claes-Göran Åhman. Leif Åhman och Magnus Åhman är mina kontaktpersoner på Åhmans traktorcentrum AB. Säsongen 2004 satsade företaget på en mycket omfattande traktordemonstration. Syftet var att en marknadsundersökning skulle genomföras. Från Åhmans traktorcentrum AB fanns det intresse för att undersökningen skulle uppfölja satsningen 2004 och beröra traktordemonstrationer så att företaget kunde få inblick i hur beslutfattarna i lantbruksföretag tycker/tänker och agerar. Innan arbetet med undersökningen startade diskuterade jag med Leif och Magnus om deras satsning 2004 samt deras tidigare erfarenheter. Även frågornas formulering diskuterades och på så sätt kunde jag vara mer förberedd samt ställa mer relevanta frågor. Jag intervjuade femtio lantbruksföretag och eftersom jag valde den metoden blev min svarsfrekvens hög. Telefonintervjuerna gjorde även att jag lättare kunde diskutera frågorna och få tydliga svar från lantbruksföretagen. Tack vare svaren jag fick kunde ett dokument framställas och sparas, med hjälp av detta kan man urskilja ur varje enskild fråga se hur lantbruksföretagen har tänkt/tyckt och agerat vid traktor demonstrationer, traktorköp och traktorbyte. Med dessa data som grund kan Åhmans traktorcentrum AB lättare välja strategier som leder till effektiviserade framtida traktor demonstrationer och försäljning. Resultatet av undersökningen är att traktordemonstrationer kan effektiviseras genom att anpassa dem till respektive målgrupp

Plasma concentration of neurofilament light chain protein decreases after switching from tenofovir disoproxil fumarate to tenofovir alafenamide fumarate

Background Because tenofovir alafenamide (TAF) leads to significantly lower plasma tenofovir concentrations than tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) and is a stronger substrate for P-glycoprotein (P-gp) than TDF, TAF could lead to decreased central nervous system (CNS) tenofovir exposure than TDF. We aimed to determine if switching from TDF to TAF increases the risk of neuronal injury, by quantifying plasma levels of neurofilament light protein (NfL), a sensitive marker of neuronal injury in HIV CNS infection. Methods Plasma NfL concentration was measured at baseline, week 24, and week 84 in stored plasma samples from 416 participants (272 switching to elvitegravir (E)/cobicistat (C)/emtricitabine (F)/TAF and 144 continuing E/C/F/TDF) enrolled in the randomized, active-controlled, multicenter, open-label, noninferiority Gilead GS-US-292-0109 trial. Results While plasma NfL levels in both groups were within the normal range, we found a small but significant decrease in the E/C/F/TAF arm after 84 weeks from a geometric mean of 9.3 to 8.8 pg/mL (5.4% decline, 95% CI 2.0-8.4, p = 0.002). This change was significantly different (p = 0.001) from that of the E/C/F/TDF arm, in which plasma NfL concentration changed from 9.7 pg/mL at baseline to 10.2 pg/mL at week 84 (5.8% increase, 95% CI -0.8-12.9, p = 0.085). This increase is in line with what could be expected in normal ageing. Plasma NfL concentrations significantly correlated with age. No correlation was found between plasma NfL and serum creatinine. Conclusions We found no biomarker evidence of CNS injury when switching from TDF to TAF. It is unclear whether the small decrease in plasma NfL found after switch to TAF is of any clinical relevance, particularly with plasma NfL levels in both arms remaining within the limits found in HIV-negative controls. These results indicate that switching from TDF to TAF appears safe with regard to neuronal injury

Cerebrospinal fluid levels of glial marker YKL-40 strongly associated with axonal injury in HIV infection

Background: HIV-1 infects the central nervous system (CNS) shortly after transmission. This leads to a chronic intrathecal immune activation. YKL-40, a biomarker that mainly reflects activation of astroglial cells, has not been thoroughly investigated in relation to HIV. The objective of our study was to characterize cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) YKL-40 in chronic HIV infection, with and without antiretroviral treatment (ART). Methods: YKL-40, neopterin, and the axonal marker neurofilament light protein (NFL) were analyzed with ELISA in archived CSF samples from 120 HIV-infected individuals (85 untreated neuroasymptomatic patients, 7 with HIVassociated dementia, and 28 on effective ART) and 39 HIV-negative controls. Results: CSF YKL-40 was significantly higher in patients with HIV-associated dementia compared to all other groups. It was also higher in untreated neuroasymptomatic individuals with CD4 cell count < 350 compared to controls. Significant correlations were found between CSF YKL-40 and age (r = 0.38, p < 0.001), CD4 (r = − 0.36, p < 0. 001), plasma HIV RNA (r = 0.35, p < 0.001), CSF HIV RNA (r = 0.35, p < 0.001), CSF neopterin (r = 0.40, p < 0.001), albumin ratio (r = 0.44, p < 0.001), and CSF NFL (r = 0.71, p < 0.001). Age, CD4 cell count, albumin ratio, and CSF HIV RNA were found as independent predictors of CSF YKL-40 concentrations in multivariable analysis. In addition, CSF YKL-40 was revealed as a strong independent predictor of CSF NFL together with age, CSF neopterin, and CD4 cell count. Conclusions: CSF YKL-40 is a promising biomarker candidate for understanding the pathogenesis of HIV in the CNS. The strong correlation between CSF YKL-40 and NFL suggests a pathogenic association between astroglial activation and axonal injury, and implies its utility in assessing the prognostic value of YKL-40

The power of ignoring waste - a systematic charachterisation of what has been left unregulated

Waste is an inescapable product of economic activity. As we now face a world economy, the waste problem is also increasingly an international one and needs to be handled as such. This thesis investigates what type of economic processes that have received attention from the international community for their role in waste creation, but focuses primarily what type of processes that have been ignored. Consumption, exports of goods and processes involving non-hazardous waste are found to have been systematically ignored. The main theme in the analysis is the imbalanced regulation created by ignoring certain waste problems whilst pushing for economic growth and liberalisation. The analysis also raises concerns about the exposed situation of developing countries. The major novelty in the thesis is the combination of two previously separated fields of social theory; industrial ecology and neo-gramscian analysis of power

Bläck som inte torkar - varför färskvattenavtal inte kommer till stånd

Färskvatten förutspås i framtiden ? till följd av dess ökande knapphet ? ge upphov till många konflikter. Då vatten är en oersättlig resurs för såväl stat som individ är samarbete dock det vanligaste utfallet av knappheten idag. Denna studie ämnar undersöka det ovanligare utfallet (konflikt) och besvara frågeställningen: »varför har inte stabila avtal som reglerar hur vissa internationella vattendrag får nyttjas kommit till stånd?». Genom att komparera två fall, Nilen och Mekongfloden, presenteras svaret och hypotesen: fallspecifika ekonomiska motsättningar i kombination med asymmetri och nollsummeperspektiv ger upphov till unilateralism, som ofta tar sig uttryck i form av dammbyggen och avledning av vatten. Det teoretiska ramverket i uppsatsen utgörs av Peter Wallensteens konflikttriangel, varmed motsättningar, attityder och beteenden kan identifieras och analyseras

Formalising insights from ecological economics in a growth model

This thesis is an attempt to formalise some of the insights of ecological economics in mathematical form. It seeks to develop a model for economic growth in which natural resources are complements to labour and capital in production. The model is centred around the role of entropy in production. The model also separates between the material and the intangible dimensions of production, because they are subject to different dynamics when it comes to natural resources. The results are implications which help explain historic growth and predict future growth. Qualitative development of the intangible dimension is found to be a steady state phenomena while quantitative growth of the material dimension is found to be a transition phenomena

Seminarium F\uf6rbr\ue4nning av biobr\ue4nsle p\ue5 rost

Presentationsunderlag fr\ue5n \ue5rligt \ue5terkommande seminarium om f\uf6rbr\ue4nning av biobr\ue4nsle p\ue5 rost. Medverkande \ue4r forskare fr\ue5n Chalmers och Lunds tekniska h\uf6gskola samt representanter fr\ue5n tillverkare och brukare av rosteldade f\uf6rbr\ue4nningsanl\ue4ggningar

CFD modelling of bed shrinkage and channelling in fixed-bed combustion

Combustion of fixed fuel beds in grate furnaces is common within production of heat and power from solid fuels. Available theoretical and experimental experience provides a solid base of knowledge on how a conversion model of a fuel bed, using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), needs to be structured and solved. Most existing models, however, handle the conversion in one single dimension of constant bed properties; when observing a burning fuel bed in a grate furnace it becomes apparent that the fuel bed is neither homogeneous nor uni-dimensional. In this study, a two-dimensional model of the combustion of fixed fuel beds has been developed for the purpose of studying the influence of heterogeneous fuel-bed properties on the conversion. In the model, the available experience from fuel-bed modelling by means of the sub-models for fixed-bed conversion was structured into a fluid-flow scale and into a fuel-particle scale, in which new formulations describing the shrinkage of the fuel bed on a multi-particle scale was introduced. Both available and new sub-models were introduced into a pre-existing CFD-platform, in which the framework for simulating fluid flow in porous media was used to solve also the conversion related processes acting within the particle scales as well as within the multi-particle scales. The complete model was validated with good correspondence between available measurements of temperature and species concentration in a wood-char combustor. In addition, the modelled shrinkage was found to well describe the observed shrinkage of the fuel bed in a combustion experiment. Results of model simulations by using heterogeneous bed porosity show that a porous passage through the bed risks causing channelling in the fuel bed – a phenomenon common in modern grate furnaces and suspected to cause increased emissions of nitric oxides and unburned carbon compounds. The channelling tendency could, however, to a large extent be reduced by grates of higher flow resistance. The natural porosity increase attributable to the packing of particles onto a wall was shown to concentrate combustion disturbances close to the surface of the grate. Thus, larger changes in the porosity than caused by natural fuel packing against a wall are needed to give rise to channels that emerge through the fuel bed