Project Management in Sweden and Ethiopia - Potential improvements in Project Management methods

The purpose of the study is to identify which successful methods of project management in Swedish projects that are appropriate to implement in the Ethiopian operations, and vice versa, to increase the efficiency and minimize the risks in construction projects. Subordinate objectives of the study are to: - Identify success factors in project management for studied projects. - Identify potential improvements in project management for studied projects. - Match success factors against potential improvements to identify suitable areas for benchmarking. - Evaluate identified improvements, based on priority of which improvements that are most suitable to start with

A European Perspective

The aim of this paper is to create a European perspective on the history of thought in operations management and to analyze driving and determining factors shaping different schools of thought. An attempt to describe the European contributions to operations management’s history of thought will by necessity be heavily influenced by the authors of the description. Even if the description can be based on facts, in the form of publications, individuals, and organizations, there is a need to interpret and reflect on the facts. The view presented here is produced by a researcher holding a professorship in Industrial production and with a background in executive development and consulting, together with his research assistant holding a Ph.D. with special studies of production system change and implementation. Part of the database is, however, distinct and real and has not really been accessed by anyone else. The database consists of twelve years of experience of assessing thousands of abstracts and manuscripts from all over Europe submitted to the European Institute for Advanced Studies in Management (EIASM)

Bottom-up and top-down effects of browning and warming on shallow lake food webs

Productivity and trophic structure of aquatic ecosystems result from a complex interplay of19 bottom-up and top-down forces that operate across benthic and pelagic food web compartments.20 Projected global changes urge the question how this interplay will be affected by browning21 (increasing input of terrestrial dissolved organic matter), nutrient enrichment and warming. We22 explored this with a process-based model of a shallow lake food web consisting of benthic and23 pelagic components (abiotic resources, primary producers, grazers, carnivores), and compared24 model expectations with the results of a browning and warming experiment in nutrient-poor25 ponds harboring a boreal lake community. Under low nutrient conditions, the model makes three26 major predictions. (1) Browning reduces light and increases nutrient supply; this decreases27 benthic and increases pelagic production, gradually shifting productivity from the benthic to the28 pelagic habitat. (2) Because of active habitat choice, fish exert top-down control on grazers and29 benefit primary producers primarily in the more productive of the two habitats. (3) Warming30 relaxes top-down control of grazers by fish and decreases primary producer biomass, but effects31 of warming are generally small compared to effects of browning and nutrient supply.32 Experimental results were consistent with most model predictions for browning: light penetration,33 benthic algal production, and zoobenthos biomass decreased, and pelagic nutrients and pelagic34 algal production increased with browning. Also consistent with expectations, warming had35 negative effects on benthic and pelagic algal biomass and weak effects on algal production and36 zoobenthos and zooplankton biomass. Inconsistent with expectations, browning had no effect on37 zooplankton and warming effects on fish depended on browning. The model is applicable also to38 nutrient-rich systems, and we propose that it is a useful tool for the exploration of the39 consequences of different climate change scenarios for productivity and food web dynamics in40 shallow lakes, the worldwide most common lake type.Fil: Rivera Vasconcelos, Francisco. Umea University. Department of Ecology and Environmental Science; SueciaFil: Diehl, Sebastian. Umea University. Department of Ecology and Environmental Science; SueciaFil: Rodriguez, Patricia Laura. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Austral de Investigaciones Científicas; ArgentinaFil: Hedström, Per. Umea University. Department of Ecology and Environmental Science; SueciaFil: Karlsson, Jan. Umea University. Department of Ecology and Environmental Science; SueciaFil: Byström, Pär. Umea University. Department of Ecology and Environmental Science; Sueci

Mapping the urban subsoil using ground penetrating radar – challenges and potentials for archaeological prospection

Introduction Over the course of centuries city centres have been continuously changing, developing and adapting to the requirements of society, architectural planning and advancing technology. Urbanisation increases the pressure on cities and towns, causing their expansion and demanding the exploitation of the limited space in their centres. This exploitation is endangering cultural heritage in the urban subsoil, posing a challenge for archaeological prospection to contribute to the preservat..

GPR prospection at Borgholm castle, Öland, Sweden

South of the town of Borgholm on the island of Öland, Borgholm castle is located in a barren landscape on a limestone plateau offering great views over Kalmar Sound. It is a well known historical building in Sweden, reflecting various different building styles. The first castle was built in the 12th century and contained a circular defense tower. In 1572-1589 it was converted into an impressive Renaissance castle, which was heavily damaged during the Kalmar war of 1611-1613. Several years lat..

Prenatal exposure to pregabalin, birth outcomes and neurodevelopment - a population-based cohort study in four Nordic countries

Introduction: Pregabalin is an antiepileptic drug frequently prescribed to pregnant women. Risks of adverse birth and postnatal neurodevelopmental outcomes following prenatal exposure to pregabalin are uncertain. Objective: To investigate the association between prenatal exposure to pregabalin and the risks of adverse birth and postnatal neurodevelopmental outcomes. Methods: This study was conducted using population-based registries in Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden (2005–2016). We compared pregabalin exposure against no exposure to antiepileptics and against active comparators lamotrigine and duloxetine. We obtained pooled propensity score-adjusted estimates of association using fixed-effect and Mantel–Haenszel (MH) meta-analyses. Results: The total number of pregabalin-exposed births was 325/666,139 (0.05%) in Denmark, 965/643,088 (0.15%) in Finland, 307/657,451 (0.05%) in Norway, and 1275/1,152,002 (0.11%) in Sweden. The adjusted prevalence ratios (aPRs) with 95% confidence interval (CI) following pregabalin exposure versus no exposure were 1.14 (0.98–1.34) for major congenital malformations and 1.72 (1.02–2.91) for stillbirth, which attenuated to 1.25 (0.74–2.11) in MH meta-analysis. For the remaining birth outcomes, the aPRs were close to or attenuated toward unity in analyses using active comparators. Adjusted hazard ratios (95% CI) contrasting prenatal pregabalin exposure versus no exposure were 1.29 (1.03–1.63) for ADHD and attenuated when using active comparators, 0.98 (0.67–1.42) for autism spectrum disorders, and 1.00 (0.78–1.29) for intellectual disability. Conclusions: Prenatal exposure to pregabalin was not associated with low birth weight, preterm birth, small for gestational age, low Apgar score, microcephaly, autism spectrum disorders, or intellectual disability. On the basis of the upper value of the 95% confidence interval, increased risks greater than 1.8 were unlikely for any major congenital malformation and ADHD. For stillbirth and most groups of specific major congenital malformations, the estimates attenuated in MH meta-analysis.publishedVersio

Study Design and Cohort Comparability in a Study of Major Cardiovascular Events in New Users of Prucalopride Versus Polyethylene Glycol 3350

INTRODUCTION: Given prior safety experience with other 5-HT4 agonists for chronic constipation, an observational, population-based cohort study in five data sources from Germany, Sweden, and the UK was conducted to evaluate the cardiovascular safety of prucalopride. OBJECTIVES: Our objective is to describe the methods and resulting comparability of cohorts in a multi-database, multinational study of prucalopride initiators and polyethylene glycol 3350 (PEG) initiators following a harmonized protocol. METHODS: Prucalopride initiators were matched on age, sex, and index date to PEG initiators (1:5 ratio). Study exposures, cardiovascular risk factors, and other covariates were identified from healthcare utilization codes harmonized across databases. Cardiovascular outcomes were identified using database-specific algorithms based on diagnosis codes. The propensity score (PS) in each database was estimated using logistic regression, with prucalopride versus PEG as the outcome and including clinically relevant variables associated with major adverse cardiovascular events. RESULTS: In total, 12,030 prucalopride initiators and 59,985 PEG initiators were identified. After matching and trimming, cohorts from the UK and Sweden were well-balanced for cardiovascular risk factors and cancer. However, in Germany, PEG initiators remained older and sicker than prucalopride initiators. The prevalence of these characteristics also differed from those in the UK and Sweden. The pooled analyses included only data from the UK and Sweden. CONCLUSIONS: Matching, trimming, and PS stratification yielded comparable cohorts in four of five data sources. Use of these methods could not achieve balance for key covariates within the German cohort, likely due to reimbursement differences in Germany

Cardiovascular Safety of Prucalopride in Patients with Chronic Constipation:A Multinational Population-Based Cohort Study

INTRODUCTION: The serotonin 5-HT4 receptor agonist prucalopride is approved in the European Union for the treatment of chronic constipation. This offered the unique opportunity to include real-world observational data on cardiovascular safety in the new drug application for approval of prucalopride in the USA. METHODS: This observational population-based cohort study (EUPAS9200) conducted in five data sources (three in the UK, one in Sweden, and one in Germany [which was subsequently excluded from the pooled analyses]) aimed to estimate the pooled adjusted incidence rate ratio for major adverse cardiovascular events (defined as hospitalization for non-fatal acute myocardial infarction or stroke, and in-hospital cardiovascular death) in adult initiators of prucalopride compared with initiators of polyethylene glycol 3350 (PEG) following a common protocol. Standardized incidence rates and incidence rate ratios of major adverse cardiovascular events were derived using propensity score stratification. Sensitivity analyses explored the impact of exposure definition, outcome categories, interim cancer, and unmeasured confounding. RESULTS: The pooled analyses included 5715 initiators of prucalopride and 29,372 initiators of PEG. Average duration of use was 175 days for prucalopride and 82 days for PEG. The pooled standardized incidence rate per 1000 person-years (95% confidence interval) of major adverse cardiovascular events was 6.57 (3.90–10.39) for patients initiating prucalopride and 10.24 (6.97–14.13) for PEG. The pooled adjusted incidence rate ratio for major adverse cardiovascular events was 0.64 (95% confidence interval 0.36–1.14). Results remained consistent in various sensitivity analyses. CONCLUSIONS: The pooled incidence rate ratio estimate was consistent with no indication of an increased risk above the pre-specified safety threshold of 3.00 for major adverse cardiovascular events in patients with chronic constipation using prucalopride as compared with PEG