Digitizing work : Organizational Work-Integrated Learning through Technology Mediated Courses in Manufacturing Industry

The manufacturing industry is continuously facing global competition and customer demands which impose the need to knowledge development to manage changes and long-term business goals. Continuous and lifelong learning is often seen as processes that support competence development and learning integrated within work. In this paper we focus on processes of learning within the manufacturing industry and how learning initiatives as technology mediated courses (TMC) can support learning from the workplace learning needs. Is learning initiatives integrated in work considered as means for strategic business goals? Can TMC be an important learning tool for support of knowledge creation? The study is performed through interviews with production managers and human resource managers with eight manufacturing industries in the western part of Sweden. Through the study we try to understand what knowledge the industry needs to evolve and achieve effective production. We also study the readiness for technology mediated learning. Early results show that the industries have interest in learning initiatives such as TMC and are willing to co-produce knowledge together with universities. We present a matrix model that interlinks business goals and the industries current use of technology mediated learning tools. However, the experience of using tools such as web conference systems and learning management systems for learning initiatives is diversified.MERIT - Manufacturing Education and Research with Information Technolog

Comparison between 10,000-year old and contemporary spruce lignin

Wood from white spruce Picea glauca that had been preserved by rapid burial in lake sediments 10,000 years ago, was investigated and compared to a contemporary reference white spruce wood. The 10,000-year old sample appeared to have an intact primary cell wall and middle lamella, whereas the carbohydrate monomer distribution, and microscopic images showed that the secondary wall was at least partially removed, indicating that this structure had been selectively attacked by bacteria. The Klason lignin amount in the aged spruce was found to be 60 percent. The relative lignin monomer content in the aged spruce was 9% lower than that of the reference wood, showing that there were fewer β-O-4' linkages in the aged sample. This finding was supported by SEC analysis of the thioacidolysed samples as a larger proportion of lignin oligomers were observed in the aged spruce than in the reference material. This indicates a somewhat greater number of condensed bonds in the aged spruce than in the reference spruce sample. Quantitative 13C NMR analysis and HSQC techniques applied on milled wood lignins (MWL) revealed no significant structural differences between the aged spruce and the reference