The Remote Site Doctrine in Alaska

In recent years, software development has been evolving around an Agile way of working to optimize software development processes. Simultaneously in other industries, the Leanconcept have been adopted and used to make manufacturing and production of services more efficient. Software development companies has now started to realize that in order to become competitive in software delivery they need to optimize the entire end-to-end process and not only improve the development phase. Thus, an increased interest for Lean thinking has appeared in the industry. Applying Lean successfully in a software development context is not an easy task. This since Lean is developed for and by the manufacturing industry its content is also dependent on the characteristics of this context. Thus, it is not applicable to other contexts without being adjusted. Though, literature argues that when the content of Lean is properly adjusted to nature of the relevant context it can contribute with the same benefits as in manufacturing. However, the literature lack in studies on how Lean can be successfully applied in nonmanufacturing contexts. This study aims to contribute to this knowledge gap by adjusting and applying Lean tools in software development context in order to make the end-to-end processmore time- and resource-efficient. This will be made through a case study at a software development department at a Swedish Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Company. This department develops software components that work as building blocks of the product sold to the end customer. More specifically, these components contribute with functionality that enables communications between the nodes in a network. The review of the existing body of knowledge together with an analysis of the company specific problems indicates that the most sufficient tool to apply in this case study Lean implementation is Value Stream Mapping (VSM). Hence, the study focuses on adjusting the Value Stream Mapping framework to this new context in order to visualize the entire value flow and make improvements aligned with Lean. The adjustments of VSM are underpinned by relevant findings from previous research together with an analysis of the differences between manufacturing Lean and software development Lean. The study shows that it is possible to reasonably adapt and benefit from Value Stream Mapping also in the context of an ICT Company. The outcome of the study is an overview of the current value flow at the company and suggestions on how, where and what improvements can be made. Though, all improvement suggestions evolve around the aim of improving the flow efficiency and eliminating waste by improving the communication, standardization, synchronization, resource allocation and developing proper measurements. The conclusion is that Lean is applicable in the particular software development context with some necessary adjustments made to fit the current way of working and value offering. The usage of Lean tools such as Value Stream Mapping is possible, also here adjustments are a must and the VSM shows that the current state is better in providing a base for improvements than the future state map. This since improvements in this context is not always visualized and captured in the future state map, but the future map contribute to a vision for the valuestream to aim towards. Key words: Lean, Agile, Value Stream Map, Software development, Flow, Waste, Managemen

Wheat straw and peat for fuel pellets-organic compounds from combustion

Wood pellets are an environmentally friendly biofuel with no net contribution to global warming. Today, the demand for wood pellets for residential heating is rapidly increasing in Sweden and many other countries. Therefore, alternative raw materials for pellet production, such as wheat straw and peat, are of great interest. Before these new fuels are widely used, it is important to study the emissions to air during combustion. The smoke contains a large number of compounds which, to varying degrees, can affect health and the environment. Specific organic compounds from five sequential combustion stages; initial smouldering, early flaming, late flaming, after-flame smouldering and final glowing, were determined for incomplete combustion of straw and peat/wood pellets on a laboratory scale and compared to those from softwood pellets. The emissions from incomplete combustion reflect the chemical composition of the fuel. During initial smouldering of the studied fuels, methoxyphenols from the lignin of the fuels were released at high concentrations. Relatively high concentrations of 1,6-anhydroglucose and furan-related compounds, originating from the polysaccharides of the fuel, were also found during this stage, especially in peat/wood pellet smoke. During flaming burning, wood pellets burned more efficiently and with even lower emissions than the other fuels. After-flame smouldering of the studied pellets, especially straw pellets, released high concentrations of compounds that are hazardous to health and the environment

Local Short Term Electricity Load Forecasting: Automatic Approaches

Short-Term Load Forecasting (STLF) is a fundamental component in the efficient management of power systems, which has been studied intensively over the past 50 years. The emerging development of smart grid technologies is posing new challenges as well as opportunities to STLF. Load data, collected at higher geographical granularity and frequency through thousands of smart meters, allows us to build a more accurate local load forecasting model, which is essential for local optimization of power load through demand side management. With this paper, we show how several existing approaches for STLF are not applicable on local load forecasting, either because of long training time, unstable optimization process, or sensitivity to hyper-parameters. Accordingly, we select five models suitable for local STFL, which can be trained on different time-series with limited intervention from the user. The experiment, which consists of 40 time-series collected at different locations and aggregation levels, revealed that yearly pattern and temperature information are only useful for high aggregation level STLF. On local STLF task, the modified version of double seasonal Holt-Winter proposed in this paper performs relatively well with only 3 months of training data, compared to more complex methods

The Reemergence of Celebrity Imagery in Twenty-First Century Art

The frequent reappearance of artistic celebrity imagery and portraits is something to which I have paid particular attention in the last five years of having studied art and art history, and from having worked intimately with contemporary works of art in the commercial art sector. The artist who I was particularly taken with who has for years been relying on found images of celebrities as source material for his art is Sam McKinniss, and my fascination with him is what led me to pursue this study. Observing the trajectory of McKinniss’ career, as well as having interest in depicting the images of celebrities in my own artistic endeavors brought me to the question of whether artworks featuring celebrities is something which has had a consistent timeline over the history of contemporary art, or whether such subject matter has had particular momentums. Documenting and analyzing a historical survey of how artists have captured the likenesses of celebrities over the course of contemporary art led me to discover that artists have for decades been influencing the next generations to paint celebrities. With movements such as fashion photography carrying influence into Pop Art, and both movements having ties to the high society portrait of the early twentieth century, celebrity imagery is something that has been highly saturated and become even more so with the introduction of the Internet and Social Media. The depiction of celebrities in works of art have followed parallel trends with the way that the public have treated celebrities for centuries, with reportages in the press and the rise of the paparazzi and tabloid media causing celebrities to become central to the day to day lives of many people around the world

Chimney emissions from small-scale burning of pellets and fuelwood - examples referring to different combustion appliances

Most wood boilers used for residential heating today are old-fashioned and emit large quantities of organic compounds. The installation of a pellet burner and a change to wood pellets as fuel normally decreases the emissions remarkably. In this study, the emissions from different equipment for burning of wood and pellets are compared. The organic fraction of smoke from traditional wood burning is to a great extent composed of methoxyphenols, with antioxidant effects. Methoxyphenols were also identified in smoke from pellet stoves. A fuelwood boiler or a furnace with an inserted pellet burner is heated to a higher combustion temperature, decreasing the total amount of organic compounds in the smoke. Above 800 °C, methoxyphenols are thermally decomposed and carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic compounds (PACs) are formed. The combustion-formed aromatic hydrocarbon benzene is present in smoke from all kinds of burning, but the proportion relative to primary organic compounds increases with increasing combustion temperature. In smoke from an environmentally labelled wood boiler and from some pellet burning devices, the levels of PAC and benzene were found to be low. Evidently, the combustion was nearly complete. Although the change from wood to pellets significantly decreases the emissions, considerable differences exist between various combinations of pellet burners and boiler furnaces

Low emissions from wood burning in an ecolabelled residential boiler

Emissions of organic compounds from wood burning in a modern ecolabelled residential boiler (30 kW) were studied. Smoke was collected in the chimney outlet at different times during the burning cycle for subsequent analysis by gas chromatography. The studied ecolabelled wood boiler had high combustion efficiency, and the flaming phase emissions were very low. The greenhouse gas methane (CH4) was determined in low concentrations of about a few mg m−3 and was the major volatile hydrocarbon emitted. The CH4 emission factor was calculated to 0.04 g kg−1 dry fuel. Benzene, in the range 0.1-1 mg m−3, was the predominant aromatic compound emitted. Other major aromatic compounds were methylbenzene, dimethylbenzenes and ethenylbenzene. The concentrations of the studied polycyclic aromatic compounds were generally low, except for naphthalene, which was the third most prominent aromatic compound. However, the total emissions of these health and environmentally hazardous compounds were low. The already low emissions of most of the organic compounds decreased further towards the end of the burning cycle, although the concentration of carbon monoxide (CO) increased. This indicates that large CO emissions are not necessarily linked to large emissions of organic compounds. Relative to benzene, the concentrations of many of the aromatic compounds studied were higher in the glowing combustion phase, than in the flaming combustion phase. The total environmental and health impact of the studied emissions from the ecolabelled boiler is considered to be low. This wood boiler can be recommended as an environmentally sound residential heating alternative

Динамика физического развития и физической подготовленности студентов ВГМУ основного медицинского отделения в процессе обучения на 1-4 курсах

GOALS OF WORK: Staff members in palliative home care play an important role in supporting bereaved family members. The aim of this study was to explore staff members' perspectives on providing such support. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Staff members in six units responded (n = 120; response rate 58%) to a postal questionnaire with Likert-type and open-ended questions. The responses were analyzed using statistics and manifest content analysis. MAIN RESULTS: None of the respondents stated that bereavement follow-up was "most often difficult," 23% "most often rather difficult," 52.5% "most often rather easy," and 12.5% "most often easy." Apart from a tendency for age to be linked to perceived difficulty, there were no apparent patterns. Bereavement follow-up was a positive opportunity to support the family member's coping with their bereavement and to get feedback on the palliative care provided. Critical aspects concerned the question of whose needs actually were being met at bereavement follow-up, i.e., the staff members' needs for getting feedback on the care provided versus the risk of burdening the family members' by reminding them of the deceased's dying trajectory. Aspects that negatively influenced the staff members' experiences were complex and related, e.g., to the family member's dissatisfaction with the care provided, to the staff member's perceived lack of competence, and to the staff member's relationship to the family member. CONCLUSIONS: Bereavement follow-up was perceived as a rewarding conclusion to the relationship with the family member. The findings suggest that meaning-based coping might be an appropriate framework when understanding staff members' experiences with providing bereavement follow-up.The original publication is available at www.springerlink.com: Anna Milberg, Gudrun Appelquist, Eva Hagelin, Maria Jakobsson, Eva-Carin Olsson, Maria Olsson and Maria Friedrichsen, "A rewarding conclusion of the relationship": staff members' perspectives on providing bereavement follow-up, 2011, Supportive Care in Cancer, (19), 1, 37-48. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00520-009-0786-0 Copyright: Springer International http://www.springerlink.com

Social support as a moderator in the relationship between intrusive thoughts and anxiety among Spanish-speaking Latinas with breast cancer.

ObjectiveIntrusive thoughts, defined as unwanted and recurrent thoughts about a stressful experience, are associated with psychological distress in women with breast cancer. This study assessed moderating effects of various social support dimensions on associations between intrusive thoughts and psychological distress among Latina breast cancer survivors.MethodsWe used baseline data from a randomized controlled trial of a stress management intervention delivered to 151 Spanish-speaking Latinas with nonmetastatic breast cancer within 1 year of diagnosis. Intrusive thoughts, four dimensions of social support (emotional/informational, tangible, affectionate, and positive social interaction), and symptoms of anxiety and depression were assessed through in-person interviews. Information on age, time since diagnosis, breast cancer variables, history of depression, and marital status served as covariates. Generalized linear models were used to investigate bivariate and multivariate associations and to explore moderation effects of the four dimensions of social support.ResultsIn bivariate models, intrusive thoughts were associated positively with depression (β = .024, .001) and anxiety (β = .047, P < .001) symptoms. Adjusting for other factors, intrusive thoughts remained associated with depression symptoms (β = .022, .008), regardless of level of social support (for all support dimensions). For anxiety, there were significant interactions of tangible (β = -.013, .034) and affectionate (β = -.022, .005) support with intrusive thoughts. Intrusive thoughts were associated more strongly with anxiety symptoms among women reporting less tangible and affectionate support than those with higher levels of these types of support.ConclusionsTangible and affectionate support have protective effects on anxiety symptoms among Spanish-speaking Latina breast cancer survivors experiencing intrusive thoughts, but not depression symptoms

Pretty Young Host

“Pretty Young Host” is largely inspired by my upbringing in a society that impresses a sense of normalcy, bordering on necessity for women to have children in order to live happily. This societal pressure has led to my fascination with the Western world’s consumption and production of women as “fertile bodies”, including pro-natalist advertising and media that specifically targets women. I was both interested in and horrified by television commercials of life-like baby dolls for young girls, teaching them from a young age to learn how to raise and care for a child, as well as some advertising in recent years that encourages couples in countries like Denmark to have more children as a way of maintaining the country\u27s economy and livelihood. As we today live in a political climate where chaos is constantly swarming around us and affecting our every move, my personal stance against our world’s growing population has reached a point where it is unimaginable for me to even consider raising a family in such a destructive era. The metaphorical clock that is placed on women across the world to produce offspring, and the inherent pressure to make fertility last, is what has driven some of the violence that is visibly present in a few of my pieces. I also felt a need to evoke a kind of protest through the use of slogans dedicated to sending a message that it is okay to either choose or not to choose a traditional family lifestyle, and a video with audio narration that is a summation of my raw emotion towards the subject of fertility. Having begun my project by solely making linoleum prints, my transition into working with fabric and embroidery has opened new ways for me bridge a gap between a medium I have experience with and am passionate about, and media that I have never worked with before. My reason for making prints was not only to follow a path of passion and familiarity, but also to convey a sense of duplication and repetition of my self-portrait as a metaphor for the chaotic overpopulation that I fear the world is headed towards. Fabric and the act of sewing were not art forms that I had any experience with prior to starting this project, but I felt that it was important to bring a unique and handmade quality to my work while simultaneously using textiles, which have for centuries had connotations of female domesticity. Using a palette of light pinks and yellow that are reminiscent of both femininity and nurseries, my work illustrates how I have aspired to move in a direction where my girlhood meets an urgent need to express my inner rage and discomfort at being in possession of a body that, to the capitalist world, is seen as both a product and a producer of future generations that are equally preyed upon in turn. “Pretty Young Host” is thus an exploration into my portrayal of my own body and identity, serving in its entirety as a self-portrait with insight into my personal views regarding what it means to be in possession of a “fertile body”, and the way that I have conveyed my confusion, discomfort, and overall emotional reactions to navigating the world as a woman

Biobränsle från hushållsavfall

Förbränning med utvinning av el och fjärrvärme är det miljömässigt klart bästa alternativet för hushållens källsorterade matavfall. Biogasutvinning är ett sämre alternativ än förbränning, om energiutbytet och de problem som är förknippade med rötresten beaktas. Storskalig kompostering är ohållbar med hänsyn till föroreningsrisker och bör avvecklas för hushållsavfall. Det är tveksamt om småskalig kompostering ger någon miljövinst om miljöanpassad förbränning finns som alternativ. Hushållens källsortering bör ställas om till biobränsleistället för komposterbart avfall. Utsorterat biobränsleavfall kan klara en viktig del av den miljömässigt eftersträvade omställningen till förnyelsebara energikällor