Elite Sports Training as Model for Future Internet Practices?

This paper reflects on the experience of using ethnographic and experimental research at a high-performance athletic training center as model for drawing conclusion about the future everyday use of ICT and Internet technologies. The research project has consisted of field studies of training session and everyday life at an elite training center where athletes live and train as well as experimental design processes where new internet and media technologies has been explored within elite sports training. While in some aspects the research has been sports specific (such as using advanced video technology to analyze precise movements), in other aspects the training center has seemed like a more intense, extreme and streamlined version of our contemporary technological everyday. The training center has been a laboratory where issues of quantification of self, goal-orientation vs. creativity, and individual vs. community has been displayed in a more clear, isolated and focused way than observations of everyday life can glean. The conclusion is that studying the intense environments of elite athletes can be a fruitful approach to studying the sociology of Information technology. However, this is only the case as long as our societies are dominated by the same values as elite sports such as competitiveness, goal-orientation, specialization and efficiency through technology and discipline

Editorial: EATAW2019: Selected papers from the 10th Conference of the European Association for the Teaching of Academic Writing, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden, July, 2019

https://publications.coventry.ac.uk/index.php/joaw/article/view/71

Dynamic and Post-Dynamic Recrystallization of Haynes 282 below the Secondary Carbide Solvus

Thermomechanical processes, such as forging, are important steps during manufacturing of superalloy components. The microstructural development during processing, which controls the final component properties, is complex and depends on e.g., applied strain, strain rate and temperature. In this study, we investigate the effect of process parameters on the dynamic and post-dynamic recrystallization during hot compression of Ni-base superalloy Haynes 282. Specifically, we address the effect of deformation below the grain boundary carbide solvus temperature. During deformation, discontinuous and continuous dynamic recrystallization was observed at the grain boundaries, and particle-stimulated nucleation occurred at primary carbides. Strain rate was determined to be the governing factor controlling the recrystallization fraction for strain rates up to 0.5 s−1 above which adiabatic heating became the dominating factor. Careful examination of the temperature development during deformation showed that the response of the closed-loop temperature control system to adiabatic heating can have important effects on the interpretation of the observed behavior. During a 90 s post-deformation hold, grain growth and an increasing fraction of twin boundaries significantly changed the deformation-induced microstructure and texture. The microstructure developed during post-dynamic recrystallization was mainly controlled by the temperature and only weakly coupled to the prior deformation step

Impact of 4D channel distribution on the achievable rates in coherent optical communication experiments

We experimentally investigate mutual information and generalized mutual information for coherent optical transmission systems. The impact of the assumed channel distribution on the achievable rate is investigated for distributions in up to four dimensions. Single channel and wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) transmission over transmission links with and without inline dispersion compensation are studied. We show that for conventional WDM systems without inline dispersion compensation, a circularly symmetric complex Gaussian distribution is a good approximation of the channel. For other channels, such as with inline dispersion compensation, this is no longer true and gains in the achievable information rate are obtained by considering more sophisticated four-dimensional (4D) distributions. We also show that for nonlinear channels, gains in the achievable information rate can also be achieved by estimating the mean values of the received constellation in four dimensions. The highest gain for such channels is seen for a 4D correlated Gaussian distribution

Slitage på skogsbilvägar vid virkestransporter

This report discusses questions concerning wear on forest roads. The purpose of the work is to investigate if the wear on the roads will decrease when the speed limit gets lower for the trucks that transport the wood. A normal forest road, class B, was used in the study. In total 5000 m3f timber was transported on the road. Data about the road was measured with a profilograph car before and after the timber transport. Information about mark deep, IRI and texture was collected. The road was split in two parts, one with lower speed restriction than the other. In conclusion there was no large wear difference between the two parts of the road. IRI was a little bit larger on the road where the speed limit was higher. The rut depth was almost the same before and after the test. One further result is that the mega texture was better after completing the transport than before

Skoglig planering och ajourhållning med SkogsGIS

Syftet med denna studie var att utvärdera hur effektiviteten och kvaliteten i planeringsarbetet har påverkats av de GIS-stöd som har införts på SCA Skog. De GIS-stöd som omfattas är till viss del det tidigare traktplaneringsverktyget TP, men framförallt har studien fokuserats på det nya och mer omfattande systemet SkogsGIS. Utvärderingen baseras till stor del på en enkätundersökning som visar hur användarna av programvaran anser att deras egen effektivitet och kvalitet har påverkats efter införande av ett allt större GIS-stöd. Utvecklingsmöjligheter och förslag till förbättringar har studerats. En omvärldsanalys har också gjorts för att kunna jämföra SkogsGIS med GIS-system som används på andra skogsföretag. Att utföra ajourhållningsarbetet i SkogsGIS ansåg de flesta av distriktscheferna som positivt. SkogsGIS gav en god överblick och bättre kontroll av alla åtgärder som utförts och kommer att utföras på distriktet. Kvalitén ansågs även ha ökat vad gäller funktionalitet vid planering, arealskattning och återväxtplanering med GIS- och GPS-stöd. Orsaker till det positiva resultatet var dels att uppgifter kunde utföras direkt i fält med GPS vilket ger färre misstag, och dels att GIS ger en bra överblick som annars är svår att uppnå. Kvalitén ansågs även ha ökat vad gäller val av trakter för slutavverkning, gallring, röjning och gödsling. Planering av röjning och gödsling hade underlättats mycket med GIS-stöd. Effektiviteten och enkelheten hade ökat när den långsiktiga planeringen (LSP) hade utförts i SkogsGIS. En generell slutsats är att effektiviteten med GIS och SkogsGIS ansågs ha ökat inom alla arbetsområden men att den hade begränsats vid introduktionen av SkogsGIS på grund av olika svårigheter och problem med den nya programvaran.The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects at SCA Skog on introducing a more comprehensive geographical information system (GIS). The primary objectives are to evaluate the effect on efficiency and quality when the district managers have access to the system as opposed to methods used previously. Secondary objectives are to investigate how the new system is used in practice and compare this to GIS systems in other companies in their sector. The main results show that, on the whole, district managers felt that SkogsGIS has made it easier to keep information up to date, giving a good overview and better control of all operations in their district. The users also felt that using GIS and GPS improved the quality of planning of harvest activities, acreage and regrowth, and lead lead to more well-founded decisions. The feedback was that they could do their tasks directly in the forest with GPS and this resulted in fewer mistakes and better accuracy. They also thought that a good overview is difficult to achieve without a GIS-system and that the use of GIS has improved the choice of stands for various forestry actions. The planning of clearings and fertilizing has been simplified and become more efficient with increased GIS-support, as has the long-term planning (LSP) with SkogsGIS as well. In general we can conclude that the efficiency has improved in all fields with improved GIS- support, however the efficiency reduced during the implementation period of SkogsGIS due to problems with the new program

Challenging norms of crisis communication and preparedness by listening to voices from the (dis)ability movement in Sweden

This paper presents the result of a survey study where representing members of the disability movement in Sweden have shared their experiences of living and acting during the first year of the Covid-19-pandemic. The aim was to identify crisis communication challenges and where additional communication material and methods are needed for supporting people in going from knowledge to taking action for achieving a higher level of crisis preparedness. The paper also includes a brief summary of a literature review of previous international research on disabilities and the Covid-19 pandemic. Three categories of crisis communication challenges were identified displaying a vulnerability in society and pointing towards several important knowledge gaps that ought to be addressed in order to achieve crisis preparedness among all people. The results indicate that there is a need for additional communication materials and methods that can be appropriated to individual needs, and dialogue methods between authorities and people in order to counteract normative assumptions in crisis communication aimed at different target groups

Sustainable Infrastructure Projects: Systemic versus Traditional Delivery Models

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