Protecting the Spending Power

When product development is becoming more and more complex, development costs rising and shorter development times are demanded, it is becoming obvious that a good customer understanding is essential. Previous research has showed that those companies that wish to develop radically new products must work actively with the identification of their customers‘ hidden needs. The goal of this master thesis project has been to determine how an industrial product development company should proceed with the investigation of hidden customer needs. The purpose of the paper has been to evaluate existing processes, frameworks, and methods and then propose an optimal solution for the case company. The methodology for this master thesis has been a case study at Xylem where interviews with employees have been conducted in parallel with an examination of existing literature within the field. Xylem is an industrial product development company that develops water pumps for many different applications. Apart from interviews a workshop and field tests have been conducted to get a better picture of the case company‘s situation and to verify the proposed methods. The result was a proposed process in five steps, well integrated in Xylem‘s existing process for business development, together with methods which, taken from literature, have been developed especially for the identification of hidden customer needs. The proposal is based on barriers and constraints found in the empirical study. Many of the barriers were also identified in literature which led to the conclusion that similar companies will face many of the same problems. The result of the field tests showed that the proposed methods were successful according to the employees conducting them. They were perceived to be a good tool for Xylem to identify their customers‘ hidden needs and increase the innovative capability, thus increasing the chance of developing successful radically new products. Keywords: hidden customer needs, customer oriented innovation, voice of the customer, radical product developmentNär produktutveckling blir alltmer komplex och utvecklingskostnaderna ökar samtidigt som kortare utvecklingstider efterfrågas blir det alltmer påtagligt att en god kundförståelse är extremt viktig. Tidigare forskning har visat på att företag som vill utveckla radikalt nya produkter bör arbeta aktivt med att identifiera sina kunders outtalade behov. Detta examensarbete har haft för avsikt att undersöka hur ett produktutvecklande industriföretag bör arbeta med identifieringen av outtalade kundbehov. Syftet med arbetet har varit att utvärdera befintliga processer, metoder och verktyg för att sedan föreslå en optimal lösning för fallföretaget. Metodiken för detta examensarbete har varit en fallstudie på Xylem där intervjuer av personal på fallföretaget har genomförts parallellt med att befintlig litteratur inom området har undersökts. Xylem är ett industriellt produktutvecklingsföretag som tillverkar pumpar för bl.a. vattentransport. Utöver intervjuer har en workshop samt fälttester utförts för att få en bättre bild av Xylems situation samt att testa de föreslagna metoderna. Resultatet var en föreslagen process i fem steg, väl integrerad i Xylems befintliga affärsutvecklingsprocess, med tillhörande metoder, vilka hämtade ur litteraturen har tagits fram speciellt för att identifiera outtalade kundbehov. Förslaget har baserats på barriärer och begränsningar som identifierades i den empiriska undersökningen. Många av de barriärerna identifierades också i litteraturen vilket ledde till slutsatsen att företag av den här typen står inför liknande problem. Resultatet av fälttesterna visade på att de föreslagna metoderna föll väl ut hos utövarna och uppfattades som användbara för Xylem i deras mål att bli bättre på att identifiera outtalade kundbehov och på så sätt öka deras innovativa förmåga och därmed chansen att utveckla framgångsrika radikalt nya produkter. Nyckelord: outtalade kundbehov, kundorienterad innovation, voice of the customer, radikal produktutvecklin

Validation of an automated method to quantify stress-induced ischemia and infarction in rest-stress myocardial perfusion SPECT.

Myocardial perfusion SPECT (MPS) is one of the frequently used methods for quantification of perfusion defects in patients with known or suspected coronary artery disease. This article describes open access software for automated quantification in MPS of stress-induced ischemia and infarction and provides phantom and in vivo validation

Locked nucleic acid (LNA) mediated improvements in siRNA stability and functionality

Therapeutic application of the recently discovered small interfering RNA (siRNA) gene silencing phenomenon will be dependent on improvements in molecule bio-stability, specificity and delivery. To address these issues, we have systematically modified siRNA with the synthetic RNA-like high affinity nucleotide analogue, Locked Nucleic Acid (LNA). Here, we show that incorporation of LNA substantially enhances serum half-life of siRNA's, which is a key requirement for therapeutic use. Moreover, we provide evidence that LNA is compatible with the intracellular siRNA machinery and can be used to reduce undesired, sequence-related off-target effects. LNA-modified siRNAs targeting the emerging disease SARS, show improved efficiency over unmodified siRNA on certain RNA motifs. The results from this study emphasize LNA's promise in converting siRNA from a functional genomics technology to a therapeutic platform

Sekretariatet för selektivt fiske

Under hösten/vintern 2015/2016 genomförde sekretariatet för selektivt fiske,vid institutionen för akvatiska resurser (SLU-Aqua) tillsammans med svenskt yrkesfiske, nio projekt inom ramen för regeringsuppdraget selektivt fiske. Den övergripande målsättningen för alla projekt inom selektivt fiske är att underlätta införandet av den landningsskyldighet som beslutats i och med reformen av EU:s gemensamma fiskeripolitik. Projekten syftade därför till att minska oönskad fångst i svenskt fiske antingen genom att utveckla befintliga fiskemetoder (framförallt inom trålfiske) eller genom att utveckla alternativa fiskemetoder (främst passiva redskap såsom fällor och burar). 1. "Kombinationsrist för utsortering av fisk och små räkor" (HaV Dnr 1718-15) 2. ”Selektivitet anpassad för små räktrålare” (HaV Dnr 1488-16) 3. "Räkburar” (HaV Dnr 1892-15) 4. ”Vidareutveckling av storleksselektiv kräftrist Halland” (HaV Dnr 1717-15) 5. ”Trål för fångst av plattfisk och stor torsk-rist/stormaskig trål” (HaV Dnr 1716-15) 6. "Förbättrad selektivitet i torsktrålar i Östersjön" (HaV Dnr 2384-15) 7. "Utsortering av gråsej i pelagiska trålar" (HaV Dnr 1715-15) 8. "Selektiv laxfälla" (HaV Dnr 1713-15) 9. "Multifunktionsburar" (HaV Dnr 1712-15) Projekten genomfördes genom att förslag togs fram gemensamt av SLU-Aqua och näringen utifrån fiskets uttryckliga behov och idéer. Projektförslagen prioriterades och beslutades av en särskild styrgrupp på Havs- och vattenmyndigheten (HaV), varefter SLU-Aqua upphandlade utförare och agerade projektledare. Vinnande part ansvarade sedan för att anskaffa och utveckla respektive projektidé enligt projektplanen med stöd från sekretariatet. Projekten avslutades genom en vetenskaplig utvärdering där personal från SLUAqua deltog i ett experimentellt fiske där det nyutvecklade redskapets fångstegenskaper dokumenterades och analyserades under kommersiella fiskeförhållanden

ARIA digital anamorphosis : Digital transformation of health and care in airway diseases from research to practice

Digital anamorphosis is used to define a distorted image of health and care that may be viewed correctly using digital tools and strategies. MASK digital anamorphosis represents the process used by MASK to develop the digital transformation of health and care in rhinitis. It strengthens the ARIA change management strategy in the prevention and management of airway disease. The MASK strategy is based on validated digital tools. Using the MASK digital tool and the CARAT online enhanced clinical framework, solutions for practical steps of digital enhancement of care are proposed.Peer reviewe

ARIA digital anamorphosis: Digital transformation of health and care in airway diseases from research to practice

Digital anamorphosis is used to define a distorted image of health and care that may be viewed correctly using digital tools and strategies. MASK digital anamorphosis represents the process used by MASK to develop the digital transformation of health and care in rhinitis. It strengthens the ARIA change management strategy in the prevention and management of airway disease. The MASK strategy is based on validated digital tools. Using the MASK digital tool and the CARAT online enhanced clinical framework, solutions for practical steps of digital enhancement of care are proposed

Reduction in building permit fees : -A study of its effects

The introduction of a ten-week time limit in processing building permits, that came in legislation introduced in 2011, has sins its addition been under constant discussion. Mainly due to the fact that big variations in the time needed to get permits has become a reality over the country and that the ten-week limit is not held sufficiently. To address this problem, the government of Sweden came with a proposition. A reduction on building permits fees would be introduced. The idea was that fees were to be reduced by 20% for every week the handling exceeded the ten-week time limit. From the 1 of january 2019, the law is in effect.  How can this potentially effect the building committees economically and what will the results be for applicants and the municipality? That’s what this report seeks to find answers to.  The report has calculated the fees on a referents year (2018), using statistics from Umeå county’s board of construction. This has given a god estimate on the possible size of the reductions if the working methods don’t change. During the work with the report two key people in Umeå county’s organization has been available for questions and information, they work as town architect and administrator.          The result shows that the reductions can turn out to be an economical problem for the board of construction mainly because they use fees to finance their organization. In Umeå county, the fees stand for 93% of all revenues. If the referents year 2018 would be subdued to reductions on permit fees, it would have cost over 12% of total profits by revenues during that year. This makes it very likely that short processing times from now on will be a priority, otherwise reductions can be a severe economic threat. An Increase in stress for people working with permits seems also already to have been an effect. Different ways to make the process faster and more effective has also been discussed, for example the meeting routines for the board of constriction. For the applicants the view is brighter, mainly because it can have to effects: ether the processing time becomes faster or they will get a reduction in price. However, one possible negative is detected that can become a reality. The law states that if there is special circumstances the process time can be prolonged by ten more weeks. This could be used as a loophole to avoid reductions in a non-ethical way. This could mean that certain permits will have longer processing times in the future.                           

Peripheral airway function in asthma and cystic fibrosis. Measurements using inert gas washout methods

It is increasingly recognised that asthma and cystic fibrosis (CF) frequently involves the peripheral airways. Characteristic features of abnormal peripheral airway function are uneven ventilation distribution and increased gas trapping. The overall purpose of the work presented in this thesis was to set up methods based on washout of inert gases, and use them to assess peripheral airway engagement in infants, children and adults with asthma or CF.An SF6 multiple-breath washout (MBW) technique and a modified SF6 and He single-breath washout (SBW) method were used to study peripheral airway involvement in asthma and CF. The feasibility of measuring trapped gas using the MBW technique in conjunction with passive lung inflations in infants was investigated. The volume of trapped gas in infants with CF and controls was assessed by comparing functional residual capacity as measured by MBW and by plethysmography. Subjects with CF and controls underwent MBW and the SF6/He SBW test, and new analytical approaches to analysis were used to determine contributions to ventilation inhomogeneity from the conductive and the intra-acinar airways. Adults with a history of asthma and hyperreactive asthmatic children were studied using SF6/He SBW tests at rest, after challenge and again after bronchodilator therapy to investigate involvement of airways in the acinar region.Both gas trapping and uneven ventilation distribution could be measured with good precision in infants using the MBW in combination with plethysmography or with the MBW technique only. Infants with CF had significant gas trapping when compared to control infants, who, contrary to previous findings, did not have significant amounts of trapped gas. Asthmatic children and adults who reacted with marked airway obstruction to airway challenge showed increased overall ventilation inhomogeneity, and findings suggested that airways as far peripherally as close to the acinar entrance participated in this overall airway response. In addition, there was evidence that structural or functional peripheral airway abnormalities at rest are important determinants of the severity of the response to challenge. Patients with CF had marked inhomogeneity of overall ventilation distribution as measured by the MBW and SBW tests. Abnormal ventilation distribution was found in both the conductive and the intra-acinar airways, and there was evidence that abnormalities extended at least into the proximal portion of the acinus.Summary and conclusion: Peripheral airway involvement can be assessed in a patient-friendly manner in infants, children and adults with airway disease using the MBW. New analytical approaches to analysis of the MBW and the SBW in subjects with CF and asthma demonstrate that both conditions commonly involve the peripheral airways, at least as far as the proximal portion of the acinus. Peripheral airway involvement is generally more pronounced in children with CF than in those with asthma and appears to be related to clinical disease severity. The methods described may prove valuable when evaluating treatments targeted at the peripheral airways