Neutron reflectometry on Co-Cr layers

Polarized neutron reflection experiments were performed on a thin in-plane magnetized Co-Cr layer deposited on a quartz substrate. Data taken at a low magnetic field ( 0.1 T) clearly indicate the existence of an initial layer at the substrate side, whereas data at saturation ( 0.7 T) are consistent with a rather homogeneous magnetization

Four stages of making project management flexible: insight, importance, implementation and improvement

Increased project complexity, project dynamics and changes in clients’ requirements are a few examples that suggest the necessity for flexibility in project management in order to deliver successful projects. Despite the fact that literature suggests adding flexibility to project management, there is no existing framework that provides a practical method for adding flexibility into the practice of project management in the construction industry. Therefore, this research is aimed at proposing a practical framework that helps practitioners in embedding project management flexibility into their project management practice. The research question is as follows: how to embed flexibility in the practice of project management in the early project phases? To answer the research question, four sub-questions have been formulated, which have been separately researched. The main question is answered by proposing a flexibility framework. This framework comprises four stages: understanding the current situation, practitioners’ perspectives on flexible project management, choosing enablers to become flexible and applying selected enablers to improve project performance. The framework is validated using the examples given by practitioners from 24 cases. Considering the movements towards flexibility and adaptability concepts, this research fills the gap in literature by providing a practical framework for project management flexibility. Moreover, it provides a step-by-step guideline for practitioners to embed flexibility in practice

Domains in CoCr investigated by neutron depolarization

Polarized neutrons (λ = 0.47 nm) are transmitted through RF and magnetron sputtered CoCr films (0.3-5 μm thick) with the polarization vector in the plane or perpendicular to the plane of the film. In the former case we can deduce from the depolarization the effective height heffof the domains and from the angular dependence of the depolarization the section width δ (which is proportional to the domain width) in the remanent states after perpendicular and after in-plane saturation. As expected, heffappears to be larger after perpendicular saturation and for a film thickness h ∼ 400 nm, heffapproaches h. This is attributed to the disappearance of reversed spike domains in the thinnest films. The lower hefffound in magnetron films with a lower surface/bulk coercivity ratio is also consistent with spike domain theory. The section width δ is found to he proportional to hx with x depending on the preparation or magnetic history of the film between 0.6 and 0.8. For magnetron films δ is ∼ 1.5 as large as in RF films of equal thickness, in qualitative agreement only with the fact that K1is twice as large as for RF films

Inertia of Intrinsic Spin

The state of a particle in space and time is characterized by its mass and spin, which therefore determine the inertial properties of the particle. The coupling of intrinsic spin with rotation is examined and the corresponding inertial effects of intrinsic spin are studied. An experiment to measure directly the spin-rotation coupling via neutron interferometry is analyzed in detail.Comment: 3 pages, 1 figure, contribution to Festschrift honoring Samuel A. Werner; v2: slightly expanded version accepted for publication in Proc. Int. Conf. Neutron Scattering 2005 (scheduled for publication in the regular edition of Physica B, July 2006

Public Perspectives on Project Success – Influenced by National Culture?

AbstractProject success, both the determination and the achievement, is a widely discussed subject. Literature seems to agree on one thing: whether a project is considered a success depends on the perspective taken to judge it. But how the public project manager determines the success of his project is not clearly discussed in literature. In 2013 we conducted a research using Q-methodology to reveal which success criteria are important to Dutch public project managers who are in charge of construction projects. In the follow up research, described in this paper, we will extend the research to several European countries. Within the European Union national governments are the largest initiators and clients of large infrastructure projects, which are put up for tender in an international market. In this international context it is essential for private companies, consultancies or contractors, to better understand their public client, in order to come up with internationally competitive bids, successfully collaborate and complete complex projects. The objective of this follow up research is to expose managerial viewpoints on project success in different European countries. The respondents in the research performed early 2014 are governmental project managers, who are responsible for the execution of an internal assignment and who are the representative of the client to the contractor. The position of the respondents in the government organization is similar to the research already carried out in the Netherlands. Based on the research (Hofstede, 2001) into differences in the national culture of countries variations between these countries can be expected. This paper describes the set-up of the study and hypotheses, based on literature, influences of culture on the perception of project success

Moving goals and governance in megaprojects

Project management is known for its tools and techniques that are used to plan and deliver projects in a controlled context. Megaprojects don't always fit well into this paradigm due to their size, complexity and longevity. Megaprojects often start without precisely defined goals and without a detailed knowledge of how the project will progress or the outcomes will be delivered. We examine the requirements for governance of megaprojects by reviewing the literature and reflecting on practice. We use the analytical model of where, how and what to illustrate different units of analysis (i.e., context, governance and goals) in megaprojects in three countries and to illustrate how goals and governance move. Building upon the governance and performance management literature, the paper contributes to the understanding of moving goals and governance for ensuring performance. We propose a framework for diagnosing goals and we list six systemic errors that result in a misfit