Journal Staff

Sammanfattning Begreppet slöseri, av engelskans waste, är en term som i dagsläget saknar en klar och entydig definition inom mjukvaruutveckling. Denna rapport har skrivits vid Kungliga Teniska Högskolan i Stockholm och syftar att klargöra termen slöseri och vad den innebär men hjälp av olika projektledningsverktyg från IT-branchen. Det har framkommit att förtag sällan jobbar med en och endast en projektledningsmetod inom mjukvaruutveckling utan det blandas verktyg från olika metoder. Det är ofta brist på kunskap om valda verktyg och hur de ska användas samt vilka olika verktyg som kompletterar varandra eller ej är kompatibla med varandra. En ökad medvetenhet kring valda modeller och verktyg skulle leda till ökad effektivitet och minskat slöseri. Något som är gemensamt för samtliga agila projektledningsmetoder är en strävan efter att minska mängden slöseri på ett eller annat sätt och öka flödeseffektiviteten. Det är av stor vikt att lägga fokus på rätt slöseri för att åstadkomma största effektivisering då olika slöserier påverkar olika mycket. Det finns ingen uttalad efterfrågan från näringslivet på en definition av termen slöseri utan den engelska termen “waste” används, även på svenska. En potentiell definition för termen slöseri skulle kunna vara - något som är i vägen eller hindrar effektivt arbete med pågående projekt. Denna rapport behandlar endast slöseri ur en projektledares eller produktägares perspektiv inom mjukvaruutveckling, ej drift av IT-system.Abstract The concept of “slöseri”, from the English word waste, is a term that lacks a clear and unambiguous definition. This report has been written at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm and aims to clarify the term “slöseri” and what it means by using various project management tools from the IT-industry. It has emerged that companies rarely work with one and only one project management method in software development, they rather mix tools from different methods. There is often a lack of knowledge about the selected tools and how to use them and which tools that complement each other and which are not compatible with each other. An increased awareness on selected models and tools would lead to increased efficiency and reduced “slöseri”. Something that is common to all agile project management methodologies is a desire to reduce the amount of waste in one way or another and increase flow efficiency. It is very important to focus on the right waste to achieve maximum efficiency du to that different types of waste affects to varying degrees. There is no explicit demand from the business community on a definition of “slöseri” because the term waste is used, even in Swedish. A potential definition for the term waste could be - something that’s in the way or hinder effective work on current projects. This report deals only with waste from a project manager or product owner’s perspective in software development, not the operation of IT-systems

Effect of Size on Electrical Performance

This paper was presented at IEEE International Symposium on Electrical Insulation, June 2006. ©2006 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or to reuse any copyrighted component of this work in other works must be obtained from the IEEE. Digital Object Identifier: 10.1109/ELINSL.2006.1665249The electrical breakdown performance, either unaged or after ageing (laboratory or service), is often used as the basis for qualification of a device, design or material. Many of the features that affect these performance levels have been discussed in other documents; contaminants, propensity for water treeing, insulating and semiconducting materials. However the size of cable tested is rarely discussed. This is somewhat surprising as it has been long recognized that electrical failure is an extreme value (the Weibull distribution is a member of this family) or weakest link process. In extreme value processes the performance of the whole device is determined by the single "weakest link". Thus when more "weak links" are present the chance of failure is consequently higher: the measured performance depends on weak link concentration or size of the device. Additionally at some dimensions the thickness of the dielectric can influence the breakdown mechanism itself; especially if the thermal influences are present. This paper will attempt to discuss a number of these size related issues for both AC & impulse conditions; these will include: 1) the effect of the dielectric volume actual mechanism of failure, 2) prediction of performance on service length cables from short length laboratory tests. This has practical relevance on the selection of appropriate qualification levels which will have direct relevance to service performance, 3) the requirements for cable quality when increasing the size (thickness or length) installed

Department of Interior and the Indian Trust

On Wednesday, December 5, 2001, the web sites of the United States Department of Interior, including all related bureaus, agencies, and organizations, were removed from the World Wide Web, without notice or any information on when would-be-users could expect restored service. The shutdown was a result of that day’s ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Royce C. Lamberth in connection with a long-running civil lawsuit between members of various American Indian tribes and the Department of the Interior. The lawsuit deals with the mismanagement of Indian Trust Monies for over a hundred years by the Department of the Interior, but was brought to the attention of the wider public audience when it caused this widespread interruption of Internet service

On Epistemic Egalitarianism for My P-Zombie Twin: In Defense of the Phenomenal Concept Strategy

One current debate in philosophy of mind concerns the ontological and epistemological nature of phenomenal consciousness. Two major camps dominate this debate: property dualists and physicalists. For property dualists, the existence of an epistemic gap between the physical and the phenomenal—that our knowledge of the physical does not secure our knowledge of the phenomenal—entails an ontological gap, so that the physical and the phenomenal exist as fundamentally distinct domains. For physicalists, the ontological gap does not exist because there is only one ontological type of phenomenal property. In this paper, I will criticize the property dualists’ position. I concentrate on one of the most popular property dualists’ arguments—the conceivability argument. In addition, whilst analyzing the conceivability argument, I hope to draw out an illicit change in the use of ‘epistemic situation,’ thus adding further support to the instability of the conceivability argument. Further, I argue in favour of the conceptual isolation seen between our phenomenal and physical concepts by defending the ‘Phenomenal Concept Strategy’. Conceptual isolation is responsible for our being able to conceive of ‘philosophical zombie twins’, beings that are functionally, physically, and psychologically identical to us and yet which lack phenomenal conscious experiences. The phenomenal concept strategy is designed to provide an explanation of how it is that we can conceive of such beings whilst remaining physicalists and so endorsing an ontological monism. In order for the phenomenal concept strategy to prove fruitful, the physicalist must substantiate that we share an equally good epistemic situation to our philosophical zombie twins. Our philosophical zombie twins assert claims pertaining to their phenomenal conscious experiences in the same manner that you and I do, however, ex hypothesi, we know that they do not possess phenomenal consciousness. I analyze the physicalists’ account of our philosophical zombie twins’ beliefs pertaining to their own phenomenal consciousness and argue for epistemic equality—that our philosophical zombie twins do possess a certain type of consciousness. My thesis has two major goals. First, I hope to weaken the foundation of the property dualists’ argument—the conceivability argument—and second, to force the property dualist to reevaluate the phenomenal concept strategy upon the grounds that it was developed

Glutamine kinetics in critically ill patients

Critical illness, defined as a life-threatening organ failure, entails an extreme stress that results in a pathophysiology of its own. The abnormal metabolism of these patients causes a severe muscle wasting that is poorly understood. One hypothesis is that the muscle is sacrificed to provide the body with key metabolic substrates, such as the amino acid glutamine. Both low and high plasma glutamine concentrations at Intensive Care Unit (ICU) admission are associated with a higher mortality. However, the mechanisms behind these associations are unknown. It has been suggested that there is an increased demand for glutamine in critical illness and that its availability is crucial for proper function of the immune system and the intestine. Hence, several intervention studies on glutamine supplementation in the ICU have been conducted. However, design and included patients varies widely and thus the results are heterogenous and problematic to compare. In order to explore the hypothesis that low plasma glutamine concentration in critical illness represents a shortage that may motivate glutamine supplementation, glutamine kinetics in these patients needs to be characterized. The first step was to establish and validate a bolus injection method to measure glutamine endogenous rate of appearance (endoRa) for studying endogenous glutamine production in the ICU setting. When this method was applied, a positive correlation was detected, where 35% of variability in plasma glutamine concentration could be related to endoRa during critical illness. The second part of the thesis consists of observational studies on plasma glutamine concentrations in connection to outcome and specific diagnoses. In the post ICU period, plasma glutamine concentration was within the reference range and was not related to mortality. In liver failure, regardless of aetiology, severity and course of illness, a high plasma glutamine concentration was a common finding, although most frequent in patients with acute fulminant and acute-on-chronic liver failure. There was a positive correlation between the severity of liver failure and plasma glutamine concentration. Admission hyperglutaminemia (≥930 μmol/L) was an independent predictor for high mortality. A majority of the hyperglutaminemic patients had a liver condition, although hyperglutaminemia was also observed in patients without signs of liver affection. The role of glutamine in critical illness is still not settled. Our observations give no indication that a high plasma glutamine per se is toxic. The finding that low plasma concentrations correlates with a lower endogenous production keeps the possibility open that there is a cohort of critically ill patients with too low glutamine availability, who would benefit from exogenous glutamine supplementation. The ultimate question if plasma glutamine concentration is just a biomarker or if it also gives signal of a deficit and/or an impaired handling of glutamine is still pending. Therefore, glutamine kinetics in critical illness needs to be further clarified

Käsitteellinen tarkastelu asiakaslähtöisyydestä tietojärjestelmien kehittämisessä

Käsitteellisen tarkastelun tavoitteena on etsiä näkökulma, jonka pohjalta asiakaslähtöisyyttä voi analysoida ja hyödyntää myös tietojärjestelmän kehittämistyön osana. Viitteellinen konteksti on tietojärjestelmien kehittäminen sosiaalipalveluissa.Artikkelissa käsitteellistetään asiakaslähtöisyyttä ja sen liittymistä kehittämistoimintaan, erityisesti palvelutoimintaan. Asiakaslähtöisyys ja tietojärjestelmät liitetään palvelukohtaamiseen, jossa organisaation ja työntekijöiden lisäksi huomioidaan myös asiakas palveluiden yhteistuottajana ja -kehittäjänä.Tuloksena on malli, jonka käytännöllinen arvo kehkeytyy uusien näköalojen avaamisena julkisten palvelujen tietojärjestelmien kehittämisessä. The objective of the conceptual review is to understand and analyze customer-driven orientation as a part of information systems development in the context of social services.In this article, I conceptualize customer-driven orientation, and its relationship to development activities of services. Customer-driven orientation and information systems are connected to service encounter, where an organization, employee and customers are co-producer and co-creator of value in services.The practical significance of this conceptual model is to open new prospects for information systems development in public services

The legally binding Charter and the EU’s accession to the ECHR - Consequences of Art 6 TEU for the autonomy of EU law and fundamental rights protection within Europe

This thesis analyses and discusses some of the substantial changes brought about for the field of fundamental rights by virtue of the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty 1 December 2009; Art. 6(1) to the Treaty on European Union (TEU), according to which the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (CFREU) “shall have the same legal value as the Treaties” and Art. 6(2) TEU according to which “The Union shall accede to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.” (ECHR) The focus of this thesis is the effects of these changes for the level of protection of fundamental rights within Europe and the autonomy of the EU legal order. In order to estimate how the level of protection of fundamental rights and the autonomy of EU law have been affected by the Charter’s legal status, it is necessary to analyse the general provisions governing the interpretation and application of the Charter (Art. 51-53 CFREU). The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has in the recent cases Melloni, Åkerberg Fransson and Toshiba Corporation to a certain extent clarified Art. 51-53 CFREU. It appears that the CJEU has interpreted Art. 51 on the Charter’s field of application extensively. By contrast, it has interpreted Art. 52(3) on the relationship between the Charter and the ECHR a partially autonomously in relation to the principle of ne bis in idem. It is unclear how to interpret Art. 53 CFREU but it is certain that it does not allow any deviation from the principle of supremacy. In my view, the CJEU should not have interpreted Art. 51 as extensively as it did in Åkerberg Fransson because of the quite clear phrasing of the provision - that the Charter shall only apply when Member States are implementing EU law. As far as I am concerned, it was reasonable of the Court to choose a partially autonomous interpretation of Art. 52(3) and not interfere with the non-consensus among the Member States in relation to the ne bis in idem principle as enshrined in ECHR, as it would involve the risk of rendering the Charter dependent on an international agreement. It is unsurprising that the CJEU did not accept an interpretation of Art. 53 that allows deviation from the principle of supremacy of EU law over national law. In my view, this approach is justified, as disturbance of this well-established principle would endanger the autonomy of EU law and prevent it from applying uniformly throughout the Union. In my opinion, the fact that the Charter has become legally binding enhances the level of protection of fundamental rights in Europe. By review of the Charter’s content, it is clear that it draws upon various fundamental rights instruments and contains several rights that are not enshrined in the ECHR. The negotiation process on the EU’s accession to the ECHR started in March 2010 and the last Draft agreement from June 2011 was finalized in April 2013. The task of integrating the two judiciaries has been difficult. The fact that an external court will be able to review EU measures causes issues for the autonomy of the EU legal order. For this reason, Protocol No. 8 relating to Art. 6(2) requires that the Draft agreement “shall make provision for preserving the specific characteristics of the Union and Union law”. By review of the case law and opinions of the CJEU, it appears that the “specific characteristics” relates to the autonomy of EU law. Moreover, this protocol stipulates that nothing in the Draft agreement shall affect Art. 344 to the Treaty on on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), according to which national courts are prevented from submitting any case concerning EU law to an external court. The requirement relating to Art. 344 TFEU addresses the need to preserve to the key functions and the autonomy of the CJEU. The final version of the Draft agreement contains a number of mechanisms that seek to strike the balance between preserving the specific characteristics of EU and EU law without compromising the autonomy of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) or the level of protection of fundamental rights. The prior involvement mechanism allows the ECtHR to ask the CJEU for a preliminary ruling in so far an alleged violation of the ECHR concerns EU law. The co-respondent mechanism allows the EU and its Member State(s) to be co-respondents in proceedings where a EU institution has adopted a EU measure, that a Member State has implemented, which is alleged of violating ECHR. The provision on Inter-Party complaints will amend the current provision on Inter-State complaints in Art. 33 ECHR to include the EU and its Member State(s). I am of the opinion that these mechanisms together strike the desired balance of preserving the autonomy of EU law, the CJEU’s and the ECtHR’s key functions. For instance, the prior involvement mechanism preserves an essential feature of EU law. The mechanism appears to mirror the preliminary ruling procedure, according to which Member States can refer cases to the CJEU insofar they contain EU law, which preserves the CJEU’s function of being the only court that can declare EU measures to be invalid. The mechanisms have also managed to place the EU on equal footing with the other Contracting Parties. For example, they have included the EU and its Member State in proceedings under Art. 33 ECHR. The co-respondent mechanism is an appropriate solution on how to integrate the EU in proceedings where an alleged violation of the ECHR has its origin in EU law. It allows the issuing institution, as well as the implementing Member State, to be co-respondents to the proceedings. It succeeds in doing so without requiring the ECtHR to interpret EU law in a binding manner, decide the Member States obligations under EU law or decide where the alleged violation took place. To conclude, accession of the EU to the ECHR will preserve the autonomy of EU law as well as the central functions of the CJEU and the ECtHR, because of these mechanisms and because of the fact that the ECtHR is of subsidiary character. Moreover, accession will lead to an enhancement of the level of protection of fundamental rights within Europe as two obvious judicial gaps will be closed; henceforth the ECtHR will be able to scrutinize EU cats and hold the EU responsible for violations of the ECHR.I detta examensarbete analyseras och diskuteras de omfattande förändringar inom rättsområdet grundläggande rättigheter som följt efter att Lissabonfördraget trädde i kraft den 1 december 2009. Arbetet är avgränsat till att beskriva de förändringar som art. 6.1 och art. 6.2 i Fördraget om Europeiska Unionen (FEU) inneburit. Enligt art. 6.1 ska den Europeiska Unionens Stadga om de Grundläggande Rättigheterna (Stadgan) ges “samma rättsliga värde som fördragen” och enligt art 6.2 ska EU ansluta sig till den Europeiska Konventionen om skydd för de mänskliga rättigheterna (EKMR). Arbetets fokus är att diskutera effekterna av art. 6.1 och 6.2 för skyddsnivån av de grundläggande rättigheterna samt dess konsekvenser för EU:s och dess rättsordnings autonomi. För att kunna bedöma hur skyddsnivån och EU:s rättsordnings autonomi påverkas krävs en analys av Stadgans allmänna bestämmelser om tolkning och tillämpning (art. 51-53). De nyligen utkomna rättsfallen Melloni, Åkerberg Fransson och Toshiba Corporation har i viss mån belyst art. 51-53. EU-domstolen tolkade art. 51 om stadgans tillämpningsområde extensivt i Åkerberg Fransson. Art. 52.3 om stadgans förhållande till EKMR verkar däremot ha givits en delvis autonom tolkning i relation till principen om ne bis in idem i Åkerberg Fransson och Toshiba Corporation. Det är oklart hur art. 53 ska tolkas efter genomgång av Melloni, men det är uppenbart att bestämmelsen inte tillåter någon avvikelse från principen om EU-rättens företräde framför nationell rätt. Enligt min mening skulle EU-domstolen inte ansett sig ha jurisdiktion i fallet Åkerberg Fransson på grund av det mycket tydliga ordvalet att stadgan endast ska gälla när medlemsstaterna implementerar EU-rätt. Jag anser att det var klokt av EU-domstolen att välja en delvis autonom tolkning av art. 52.3 och inte lägga sig i bristen av konsensus mellan medlemstaterna i relation till principen om ne bis in idem i EKMR, eftersom det skulle innebära en risk att stadgans bindande kraft skulle bli beroende av ett internationellt avtal. Det var föga förvånande att EU-domstolen inte skulle acceptera en tolkning av art. 53 som tillät avvikelse från principen om EU-rättens företräde framför nationell rätt. Detta är enligt min åsikt helt riktigt, eftersom att rucka på denna väletablerade princip skulle äventyra EU rättens autonomi och förhindra dess uniforma tillämpning i EU. Att Stadgan har blivit rättsligt bindande ökar rättsskyddet i Europa eftersom den innefattar ett antal rättigheter som inte omfattas av EKMR. Förhandlingsprocessen om EU:s ansluting till EKMR började i mars 2010 och det sista Anslutningsavtalet från juni 2011 slutfördes i april 2013. Uppgiften att integrera de två domstolarna har varit svår. Faktumet att en extern domstol kommer att kunna granska EU-rätt innebär uppenbarligen problem för EU:s rättsordnings autonomi. Därför stipulerar Protokoll (8) till FEU att Anslutningsavtalet ska “avspegla nödvändigheten i att bevara unionens och unionsrättens särdrag.” Mot bakgrund av EU-domstolens rättspraxis och beslut framstår det som att dessa ”särdrag” relaterar till EU:s och dess rättsordnings autonomi. Vidare stipulerar protokollet att Anslutningsavtalet inte ska påverka art. 344 i Fördraget om Europeiska Unionens Funktionssätt (FEUF). Enligt denna bestämmelse förbjuds nationella domstolar från att hänföra tvister som rör EU-rätt till en extern domstol. Hänvisningen till art. 344 relaterar till EU-domstolens huvudfunktioner och dess autonomi i relation till Europadomstolen. Den senaste versionen av Anslutningsavtalet innehåller ett antal mekanismer som syftar till att uppnå en balans av att bevara EU:s och EU-rättens särdrag utan att äventyra Europadomstolens själständighet eller skyddsnivån av grundläggande rättigheter i Europa. The prior involvement mechanism möjliggör att Europadomstolen kan be EU-domstolen om ett förhandsavgörande, förutsatt att tvisten omfattar EU-rätt. The co-respondent mechanism möjliggör att EU och dess medlemsstater tillsammans kan vara parter i förhandlingar där en medlemsstat har implementerat ett EU direktiv utfärdat av en EU institution som har anklagats för att bryta mot EKMR. Inter-Party complaints kommer att ändra den nuvarande bestämmelsen om Inter-State complaints i art. 33 EKMR så att bestämmelsen efter anslutning kommer att inkludera EU och dess medlemsstater. Jag anser att de här tre mekanismerna tillsammans uppnår balansen av att bevara EU:s och dess rättsordnings autonomi, EU-domstolens och Europadomstolens centrala funktioner och leder till en ökad skyddsnivå av grundläggande rättigheter inom Europa. Mekanismerna har bevarat viktiga element av EU rätt. The prior involvement mechanism speglar möjligheten för nationella domstolar att begära EU-domstolen om förhandsavgörande såvida tvisten rör tolkningen av EU-rätt vilket gör att EU domstolen förblir den enda domstol som kan förklara EU bestämmelser ogiltiga. Mekanismerna har även givit EU samma skyldigheter som de övriga anslutande parterna. Exempelvis har de inkluderat EU och dess medlemsstater i förfarande under art. 33 ECHR. The co-respondent mechanism är en utmärkt lösning som möjliggör att både EU- institutionen som utfärdat ett direktiv som anklagas för att strida mot EKMR och medlemsstaten som implementerat det kan vara parter i förhandlingar utan att Europadomstolen ska behöva tolka EU bestämmelser på ett bindande sätt, avgöra medlemsstaternas skyldigheter under EU rätt eller bedöma var exakt det påstådda brottet mot konventionen inträffade. Sammanfattningsvis kommer EU:s anslutning till EKMR att delvis på grund av ovan nämnda mekanismer men också eftersom Europadomstolen är av subsidiär karaktär att bevara EU:s och dess rättsordnings autonomi, EU-domstolens och Europadomstolens centrala funktioner. Vidare kommer anslutningen att leda till en förbättring av skyddsnivån för grundläggande rättigheter i Europa eftersom två uppenbara juridiska brister kommer att åtgärdas. Efter anslutning kommer EU bestämmelser att kunna granskas av Europadomstolen och EU kommer att kunna hållas ansvaring för brott mot EKMR

Egressibility : Applying the concept of accessibility to the self-evacuation of people with functional limitations

The population is getting increasingly older, and old age is correlated with decreased functional capacity. In society, continuous improvements in accessibility of public environments is apparent. Together, these two factors contribute to the trend that the people that are expected to perform self-evacuation today are more diverse in abilities than ever. Functional capacity refers to the abilities to perform fundamental everyday activities such as seeing, hearing, moving around, etc., while a decrease in functional capacity is referred to as a functional limitation. In the field of accessibility, definitions have been developed to reflect the person-environment interactions that determine whether an environment is accessible or not. That is, accessibility can be investigated by assessing the interaction between the environmental demands and a person’s functional capacity. The focus of this thesis has been the concept of egressibility, here defined as “accessibility to means of evacuation”. The purpose has been to explore ways of identifying issues related to self-evacuation possibilities for people with functional limitations based on the notion of accessibility. This was achieved through two research studies including conceptual and methodological exploration on the topic. The first study was a qualitative interview study to investigate the perspectives on egressibility from older people with functional limitations in Sweden. The second study focused on a methodology implemented into an instrument to measure egressibility by juxtaposing environmental demands and functional limitations. The results from the qualitative study showed that older people may tend to favour self-reliance in mitigating egressibility issues, instead of relying on the physical and social environment to be supportive. The instrument developed in the second study, called the Egress Enabler, displayed promising attributes of validity and reliability during initial testing. However, the Egress Enabler is affected by the current lack of scientific knowledge regarding several aspects on the interaction between environmental demands and functional capacity during egress. Some of these knowledge gaps have already been identified and should be further investigated. The Egress Enabler represents a necessary step towards a comprehensive performance-based evaluation of self-evacuation possibilities for people with functional limitations, highlighting the complex interaction between evacuation and accessibility