82 research outputs found

    Design management: changing roles of the professions

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    This paper sets out to explore how recent changes in procurement in construction have affected the roles that professions play in the design process. It discusses how professions that traditionally took the role of design manager now find themselves participating within previously unforeseen contexts, working in multidisciplinary teams led by contractors and with changed responsibilities at the design stage. Supply chain members who were not previously involved during the early project phases are being engaged at the earliest phases of the project life cycle and even taking leadership roles while designers sometimes work as supply chain partners. A study of design in construction and other sectors shows that in dealing with design management issues it is critical to deepen appreciation for the unique characteristics of design and the design process. The paper argues that contractors and designers taking on design management roles in a dynamic industry seeking to explore best practice and innovative approaches to procurement and in the delivery of projects need to acquire new skills, management education and develop the necessary qualities

    Influence of profilin on sensitisation profiles determined by cutaneous tests and IgE to major allergens in polysensitised patients

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    Background: Profilin sensitisation is considered a diagnostic confounding factor in areas where patients are exposed to multiple pollens. The aim of this study is to assess pollen sensitisation profiles in adults and children and to evaluate, by means of component-resolved diagnosis (CRD) and skin prick testing (SPT), which pollens may be considered as risk factors of profilin sensitisation in order to establish the best diagnostic approach in polysensitised patients. Methods: A total of 231 pollen-allergic patients (adults and children) were included, out of the pollen season, from an area with similar levels of pollen exposure. Allergological diagnosis was performed by SPT and determination of specific IgE (sIgE) to major allergen components (ADVIA-Centaur™). Patients had not received immunotherapy in the last 5 years and had to reside in the area for 5 consecutive years before entering the study. Results: The relation between sensitisation measured by SPT and by sIgE was studied using a model of cases (patients with +sIgE to a specific allergen) and controls (patients with -sIgE to the same allergen). The outcome, in terms of odds-ratios (OR), was statistically significant for Olea (Ole e 1) (p = 0.0005), Salsola (Sal k 1) (p = 0.0118) and Platanus (Pla a 1+ 2) (p = 0.0372). While positivity of SPT to most pollens was statistically associated with a risk of profilin sensitisation, by CRD the association was statistically significant only for Ole e 1 (OR 3.5, CI 95 %, 1.6-7.6, p = 0.0014), and Phl p 5 (OR 11.9, CI 95 %, 4.1-35.2, p < 0.001). When analysing this association using a logistic regression model, Phl p 5 was the only allergen associated with the risk of being sensitised to profilin (p = 0.0023). Conclusions: In patients sensitised to profilin, the concordance between SPT and CRD is much lower than in those not sensitised to profilin. CRD is able to provide refined information about which pollens increase the risk of sensitisation to profilin

    Co-design, evaluation and the Northern Ireland Innovation Lab

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    Around the world there are more than 100 policy labs—multi-disciplinary government teams developing public services and policies using innovation methods to engage citizens and stakeholders. These policy labs use a range of innovation methods and approaches, including co-production, co-creation, co-design, behavioural insights, systems thinking, ethnography, data science, nudge theory and lean processes. Although the methods may vary, one element is consistent: policy labs actively, creatively and collaboratively engage the public and a wide range of stakeholders in jointly developing solutions. The Northern Ireland Public Sector Innovation Lab (iLab) is part of a growing UK and international community of policy labs using co-design to engage with users for value co-creation, aiming to improve public governance by creating a safe space to generate ideas, test prototypes and refine concepts with beneficiaries. Drawing on iLab’s experience, this paper explores three questions: What are the main determinants of effective co-design? What are the unintended consequences of co-design? And what lessons can be learned from iLab and shared with other policy labs

    A Middle Palaeolithic wooden digging stick from Aranbaltza III, Spain

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    Aranbaltza is an archaeological complex formed by at least three open-air sites. Between 2014 and 2015 a test excavation carried out in Aranbaltza III revealed the presence of a sand and clay sedimentary sequence formed in floodplain environments, within which six sedimentary units have been identified. This sequence was formed between 137±50 ka, and includes several archaeological horizons, attesting to the long-term presence of Neanderthal communities in this area. One of these horizons, corresponding with Unit 4, yielded two wooden tools. One of these tools is a beveled pointed tool that was shaped through a complex operational sequence involving branch shaping, bark peeling, twig removal, shaping, polishing, thermal exposition and chopping. A use-wear analysis of the tool shows it to have traces related with digging soil so it has been interpreted as representing a digging stick. This is the first time such a tool has been identified in a European Late Middle Palaeolithic context; it also represents one of the first well-preserved Middle Palaeolithic wooden tool found in southern Europe. This artefact represents one of the few examples available of wooden tool preservation for the European Palaeolithic, allowing us to further explore the role wooden technologies played in Neanderthal communities

    A CUPID Li2100MoO4scintillating bolometer tested in the CROSS underground facility

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    A scintillating bolometer based on a large cubic Li2100MoO4 crystal (45 mm side) and a Ge wafer (scintillation detector) has been operated in the CROSS cryogenic facility at the Canfranc underground laboratory in Spain. The dual-readout detector is a prototype of the technology that will be used in the next-generation 0¿2ß experiment CUPID . The measurements were performed at 18 and 12 mK temperature in a pulse tube dilution refrigerator. This setup utilizes the same technology as the CUORE cryostat that will host CUPID and so represents an accurate estimation of the expected performance. The Li2100MoO4 bolometer shows a high energy resolution of 6 keV FWHM at the 2615 keV ¿ line. The detection of scintillation light for each event triggered by the Li2100MoO4 bolometer allowed for a full separation (~8s) between ¿(ß) and a events above 2 MeV . The Li2100MoO4 crystal also shows a high internal radiopurity with 228Th and 226Ra activities of less than 3 and 8 µBq/kg, respectively. Taking also into account the advantage of a more compact and massive detector array, which can be made of cubic-shaped crystals (compared to the cylindrical ones), this test demonstrates the great potential of cubic Li2100MoO4 scintillating bolometers for high-sensitivity searches for the 100Mo 0¿2ß decay in CROSS and CUPID projects
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