An alternative climate change levy scheme for manufacturing industries

The threat of global wanning from an enhanced greenhouse effect caused by increased levels of greenhouse gases in the earth's upper atmosphere, could be one of the biggest concerns for international governments for the foreseeable future. The threat has led to the commitment of most developed countries, with the notable exception of the USA, to reduce their emissions of these gases in an attempt to stabilise atmospheric concentrations. Under an agreement reached at a United Nations Conference on Climate Change held in 1997 in Kyoto, Japan, (the Kyoto Protocol), the United Kingdom government has pledged to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 8% below 1990 levels for 2008-2012, and additionally committed to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide by 20 per cent below 1990 levels by 2010. As the combustion of fossil fuels is the greatest source of CO2 emissions, reducing their use is an important step for meeting the targets. To encourage lower energy use by business, a climate change levy is being applied to business energy. The levy will increase industry's energy costs but to mitigate its adverse competitive effects in energy intensive sectors, a levy discount scheme is available. However, since in its existing form, many firms do not qualify, the scheme will be costly to administer, many firms have not taken up the discount, and it will be burdensome for those that have. Like many of the energy intensive industries, the aluminium casting sector is under severe global competitive pressure and needs to reduce specific energy consumption to meet its sector target. This must be achieved without increasing production costs. The aims of the research was to find the specific energy consumption of aluminium casting processes and identify the scope for energy saving. In order to achieve these aims, the research investigated the aluminium casting sector of the foundry industry through the use of structured interviews with foundry managers, a questionnaire, and case studies. The data from these sources was then used as the basis for the construction of an alternative incremental levy scheme. Building and running a model using the research data with various levy rates and modes of application then tested this alternative strategy. As a result, it was possible to draw three major conclusions. First, that the sector could meet its energy reduction targets set by the government. Second, an incrementally applied levy, (without reduced National Insurance contributions as now), could drive energy efficiency without raising costs. Third, an incremental levy would encourage energy efficiency in all business sectors

The use of biolistic inoculation of cassava mosaic begomoviruses in screening cassava cultivars from Ghana for resistance/susceptibility to cassava mosaic disease

The resistance/susceptibility of 5 cassava cultivars from Ghana to infectious clones of two cassava mosaic viruses (ACMV-[CM] and EACMV/ACMV-[CM]) was investigated in this study. Plantlets ofcassava cultivars were obtained using nodal cuttings initiated from tissue culture. These cassava cultivars were challenged with both DNA A and B components of the infectious clones named above using particle gun bombardment. The cassava cultivars showed varying degrees of susceptibility/resistance to the two infectious clones used. All symptoms of Cassava Mosaic Disease (CMD) observed were systemic in nature. Generally, all cassava cultivars used in this study exhibited varying degrees of recovery from virus infection. This report demonstrates the ability of using biolistic technology to screen cassava cultivars for tolerance/resistance and that it may be used to recommend resistant cultivars to the farming community

Performance measures in three rounds of the English bowel cancer screening pilot

OBJECTIVES: To compare performance measures across all three rounds of the English bowel cancer screening faecal occult blood test pilot and their relation to social deprivation and ethnicity. METHODS: In each round in three primary care trusts, data for a restricted population of over 48 500 aged 60–69 years were analysed. Individual-based data included postcode linked to area-based data on the Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) 2004, and ethnicity. Outcomes were the rates of screening and colonoscopy uptake, positivity and detection of neoplasia (adenomas or bowel cancer) and bowel cancer, and the positive predictive values (PPVs) of a positive test for neoplasia and bowel cancer. Sensitivity was calculated by the proportional incidence method using data on interval cancers identified from cancer registrations. RESULTS: The overall uptake rate was 61.8%, 57.0% and 58.7% in the first, second and third rounds, respectively. Although the PPV for cancer decreased over the course of the three rounds (10.9% in the 1st round, 6.5% in 3rd round), the PPV for all neoplasia remained relatively constant (42.6% in 1st round, 36.9% in 3rd round). Deprivation and non-white ethnic background (principally Indian subcontinent in the pilot region) were associated with low screening and colonoscopy uptake rates, and this changed little over the three screening rounds. Uptake was lower in men, although differences in uptake between men and women decreased over time. Non-participation in previous rounds was a strong predictor of low uptake. CONCLUSIONS: Performance measures are commensurate with expectations in a screening programme reaching its third round of screening, but a substantial ongoing effort is needed, particularly to address the effects of deprivation and ethnicity in relation to uptake

Beta-adrenergic antagonist tolerance in amyloid cardiomyopathy

Background: Beta-adrenergic antagonists or blockers (BB) are a cornerstone of cardiac therapy for multiple indications. However, BB are considered relatively contraindicated in amyloid cardiomyopathy due to poor tolerance. This intolerance is hypothesized to be due to concomitant neuropathy and significant restrictive cardiomyopathy. This study analyzes the incidence and characteristics of BB tolerance in patients with amyloid cardiomyopathy. Methods: Through a single-center retrospective chart review, patients with amyloid cardiomyopathy, confirmed by endomyocardial biopsy or technetium-99 pyrophosphate scan, were identified and clinical data was collected. Statistical methods included Chi-square test and two sample Results: Of 135 cardiac amyloidosis patients, 27 patients (20.0%) had no BB use, 56 patients (41.5%) were current BB users, and 52 patients (38.5%) were prior BB users. The most frequent indications for BB use were heart failure, hypertension, coronary artery disease, and arrhythmia. The most common reason for stopping BB therapy was hypotension (62.8%) followed by fatigue, bradycardia, and orthostasis. Neurologic symptoms at the initial BB prescription or most recent evaluation were not significantly different between current and prior BB users. Their cardiovascular profiles were similar by ejection fraction, wall thickness, troponin I, and brain natriuretic peptide. There was no association for BB discontinuation based on amyloid subtype, sex, or race. Conclusion: The majority of patients with amyloid cardiomyopathy were prescribed BB, and over half of these patients still tolerated BB therapy. Current and prior BB users had similar profiles from a cardiovascular and neurologic perspective, with no association identified to predict BB discontinuation

Genetic variability of Wheat dwarf virus

Wheat dwarf virus (WDV; family Geminiviridae, genus Mastrevirus) is a single-stranded DNA virus transmitted by the leafhopper Psammotettix alienus and it periodically causes severe damage to winter wheat in Sweden. WDV is also present in large parts of Europe. Two strains of WDV are known, the wheat strain and the barley strain. To get better understanding of the genetic diversity of WDV in Sweden and compare to the situation in the rest of the world, several isolates from wheat, triticale, wild grasses and the insect vector were collected and partially sequenced. All isolates collected in Sweden were shown to belong to the wheat strain of WDV. From Turkey and Hungary, two barley strain isolates were collected and complete genome sequences were determined. WDV infection in wild grasses was shown to occur only sporadically in Swedish grasslands, even in samples collected adjacent to heavily infected winter wheat fields. This indicates that wild grasses are not important as a primary source of WDV for the insect vector. Infected grasses might instead act as virus reservoirs, enabling WDV to prevail without winter wheat. The diversity of the Swedish wheat strain isolates and available international isolates was shown to be low. In phylogenetic analyses, no clear grouping could be seen according to geographical origin or host. The partial sequences of barley strain isolates grouped into three distinct clades: one Central-European clade with isolates from Germany, Hungary and Czech Republic, one clade with isolates from Spain and one clade with the Turkish isolates. For future studies on the host specificity determinants of the two WDV strains, infectious clones, transmissible by Agrobacterium tumefaciens, were constructed. The infectious clone of the barley strain was constructed from the Hungarian isolate WDV-Bar[HU]. The clone WDV-Bar[HU] was shown to infect barley, oat and rye. The biological activity of the barley infectious clone was further confirmed by insect transmission and typical WDV particles were visualised by electron microscopy. An infectious clone was also constructed for a Swedish wheat strain isolate and was confirmed to be able to infect wheat. PCR-based techniques were developed for rapid detection of WDV and Oat sterile dwarf virus in their respective insect vectors. The methods will be useful when trying to predict the risk of virus infection in cereal fields

”Jag lägger ut en liten del av mig själv i händerna” : En kvalitativ intervjustudie av upplevd meningsfullhet vid handarbete

Studiens syfte är att inom ramen för livsåskådningsvetenskapen undersöka om handarbete upplevs som en meningsfull aktivitet. Detta har undersökts via kvalitativa intervjuer baserade på fenomenologisk grund. Fem personer deltog som informanter och intervjuerna var semistrukturerade. Resultatet delades upp tematiskt utifrån innehållet i deltagarnas svar och visade att handarbete upplevs som meningsfullt av samtliga deltagare, men att vad som utgjorde meningsfullhet skiljer sig åt mellan deltagarna. De teman som resultatet delats upp i fick rubrikerna ”Den skapande processen och slutprodukten”, ”Att ge till sig själv och andra” samt ”Avslappning”. Deltagarnas svar kopplades i studiens analys samman med välbefinnande som en viktig aspekt i upplevelsen av meningsfullhet vid handarbete, vilket också är  studiens slutsats.  

Improve and optimize search engine : To provide better and relevant content for the customer

This report has conducted a research of comparing a few open source search engines. The research contains two evaluation processes, the first evaluation will evaluate each open source search engine found on today’s market. Points will be given between one to five points depending on how well the open source search engine meets the requirements. The open source search engine with the highest score will then be chosen for implementation. The first evaluation resulted in Elasticsearch being the selected open source search engine and will continue to the implementation phase. The second evaluation will be measuring the system performance and the relevance of the SERP (Search Engine Results Pages). This phase will evaluate the system performance by taking time measurements on how long it takes for the search engines to deliver the SERP. The relevance of the search results will be judge by a group of CSN employers. The group will be giving point be-tween one to five points depending on the relevance of the SERP. It will eval-uate Elasticsearch with the search engine CSN are using today on their web-site (www.csn.se). This phase resulted in Elasticsearch being the better in performance measurements but not in the relevance of the SERP. This was discussed and came to the conclusion that most points were lost because of the first search result Elasticsearch delivered. If this search result was re-moved Elasticsearch could deliver as good results as the old search engine. The survey came to the conclusion that Elasticsearch is recommended for CSN if certain problem areas could be corrected before implementation into their systems.

Jämförelse av Javascript-ramverk : En undersökning på CSN

In this report, a number of different Javascript-frameworks have been compared. The study is conducted at CSN (Centrala studiestödsnämnden). The study consists of two main parts, an evalua- tion through the literature study and an evaluation of the implementa- tion. The first part of the survey has Javascript-frameworks Angular2, Aurelia, Ember, Meteor and React comparisons. Together with CSN, a few criteria have been developed which will then be awarded points between one and five depending on how well a Javascript-framework meets a specific criterion. Five points are given when the Javascript- framework meets the entire criterion, one point is given when it partial- ly meets the criterion. After the first part of the investigation, Angular2 and Aurelia found that they would move on to the implementation phase. The implementation consists of a couple of windows from the existing service "Mina tjänster". In the evaluate implementation measures time for implementation, web browsing time, and number of code rows. From this it was found that Aurelia has less number of code rows than Angular 2. The reading time for Angular 2 is three times longer than Aurelia. In the evaluation of how difficult it is to implement the two frameworks, Angular 2 is considered to be "Average" and Aurelia to "Hard". The Javascript-framework recommended for CSN is Angular 2. This is because much more documentation about Angular 2 is available, and the difficulty is lower for Angular 2. The startup of a project is also much easier in Angular 2, which means that it requires less time to get into the framework.Sammanfattning: I denna rapport har ett par olika Javascript-ramverk jämförts. Studien är utförd på CSN (Centrala studiestödsnämnden). Undersökningen består av två huvuddelar, en utvärdering genom litteraturstudie samt en utvärdering av implementation. I första delen av undersökningen har Javascript-ramverken Angular2, Aurelia, Ember, Meteor och React jämförts. Tillsammans med CSN har ett par kriterier tagits fram som det sedan kommer att delas ut poäng mellan ett till fem beroende på hur väl ett Javascript-ramverk uppfyller ett specifikt kriterium. Fem poäng ges ut då Javascript-ramverket uppfyller hela kriteriet, ett poäng ges ut då det delvis uppfyller kriteriet. Efter första delen av undersökningen kom det fram till att Angular2 och Aurelia skulle gå vidare till implemente- ringsfasen. Implementeringen består utav ett par fönster från den befintliga tjänsten ”Mina tjänster”. I utvärderingen av implementation mäts tid för implementering, inläsningstid för webbapplikationen samt antalet kodrader. Ur detta konstaterades det att Aurelia har mindre antalet kodrader än Angular 2. Inläsning tiden för Angular 2 är tre gånger längre än Aurelia. Men i bedömningen om hur svårt det är att implementera de bägge ramverken bedöms Angular 2 till nivån ”Me- del” och Aurelia till ”Svår”. Det Javascript-ramverk som rekommende- ras till CSN är Angular 2. Detta grundas på att det finns betydligt mycket mer dokumentation om Angular 2, samt att svårighetsgraden är lägre för Angular 2. Uppstarten av ett projekt är även mycket enklare i Angular 2, vilket betyder att det kräver mindre tid för att sätta sig in ramverket

Toward ICT-enabled Co-production for Effective Crisis and Emergency Response

In contemporary society, public services struggle to maintain a high quality of service if the authority responsible for the service delivery experiences resource deficit and increased uncertainties and vulnerabilities. This thesis explores how information and communication technology (ICT) can enable new types of network collaborations – co-production – between government (municipalities) and citizens, for a more effective crisis and emergency response. This is explored in the light of digitalization and taking an end-user perspective.  The thesis’s first objective is to describe the transformation toward ICT-enabled co-production. The second objective is to identify opportunities and challenges involved in ICT-enabled co-production. The thesis’s method includes two case studies supported by various theories and approaches: network collaboration (including co-production), sociotechnical systems, and end-user involvement. The data collection is conducted using semi-structured interviews, focus groups, user participation techniques, and document reviews. The intended audience is practitioners (local government and national agencies) and researchers within crisis and emergency response, information systems (IS), and public administration research disciplines and domains (e.g. co-production).  The description of the transformation toward ICT-enabled coproduction in crisis and emergency response is a result in its own right. Here, the citizen volunteers become involved in the actual delivery of the response, despite non-specific competence and non-organizational affiliation. In relation to the transformation toward co-production, the thesis concludes that digitalization facilitates end-user involvement in the ICT development process and increases their influence. If open systems as mobile technologies are used, end-users can adapt the technology on their own and add technologies, without the support of the formal developer or local government. The thesis also identifies opportunities and challenges of ICT-enabled co-production. Examples of opportunities include citizen volunteers having a high degree of engagement, being an effective complement to professional responders, and increasing perceived safety in the community. This informal structure of co-production enabled by ICT minimizes the need for local governments to spend resources on managing collaboration. Examples of challenges include the lack of organizational affiliation of volunteers (e.g. integration of citizen volunteers, i.e. end-users with non-organizational affiliation in the technology of the ICT system) and aspects of formal and social control (regulation, and moral and privacy issues).  The thesis’s contributions include enriched knowledge of essential aspects to consider when developing ICT-enabled co-production with an end-user perspective, and an understanding of the transformation of the application domain over time and the implications of ICT-enabled coproduction. This makes it easier to comprehend and develop contemporary and future co-productions.  The thesis is perceived to have high originality and value since it studies time periods in which local government, technology, and crisis and emergency response have undergone dramatic changes, and explores one of the first Swedish empirical initiatives involving citizen volunteers as responders. Avhandlingen undersöker hur informations- och kommunikationsteknik (IKT) kan möjliggöra nya typer av nätverkssamverkan – co-production – mellan offentliga aktörer (kommuner i detta fall) och frivilliga civila medborgare för att på så sätt få en mer effektiv hantering av kriser och olyckor. Detta görs med bakgrund av minskade resurser i offentlig service, ökad digitalisering, och med fokus på slutanvändare som inte tillhör en formell organisation. Avhandlingen beskriver förändringen till IKT-möjliggjord co-production där frivilliga medborgare larmas ut trots avsaknad av specifik kompetens för uppdraget och organisatorisk tillhörighet. Avhandlingen identifierar även möjligheter och utmaningar när kommuner co-producerar med frivilliga medborgare. Möjligheter inkluderar t ex högt engagemang från frivilliga medborgare och att de är ett effektivt komplement till de professionella aktörerna. Utmaningar innefattar t ex svårigheter med IKT integration av slutanvändare utan organisatorisk tillhörighet, samt legala och etiska oklarheter. Avhandlingen bidrar med kunskap om viktiga aspekter att beakta när IKT-möjliggjord co-production utvecklas, för att på så sätt underlätta förståelse och utveckling av framtida co-productions. Avhandlingen har hög originalitet och värde då den undersöker två tidsperioder där lokal offentlig sektor, digital teknik och hantering av kriser och olyckor har genomgått dramatiska förändringar, samt undersöker ett av de första svenska initiativen där civila medborgare larmas ut som första insatspersoner.