International Production Networks in the Automotive Industry:Drivers and Enablers

The automotive industry was one of the earliest to internationalise, with overseas production by US companies already happening in the early 1900s. However, the arrangement for overseas automotive production at that time was quite different from the idea of international production networks in the contemporary sense. There were few linkages between international locations and overseas operations were designed either as largely self-sufficient, vertically integrated, replications of their domestic factories or as CKD/SKD assembly plants with little local technical content. By comparison, our current understanding of international production networks is that they are dispersed, collaborative, high value adding and centrally coordinated. This paper uses global company case analysis to identify the drivers and enablers that shape the international production networks of two automotive companies, BMW and Volvo Cars. The methodology contrasts with previous network studies of the automotive industry that have concentrated their analysis at the country and regional level. /320191409_International_Production_Networks_in_the_Automotive_Industry_Drivers_and_Enablers [accessed Oct 18 2017]

The Pope\u27s Other Jobs: Judge and Lawgiver

The Pope is universally known as the spiritual leader of the Roman Catholic Church. But it is often forgotten that for much of the papacy\u27s history the Pope was the most important judicial and legislative authority in western Europe. An exhibition at the Yale Law Library, The Pope\u27s Other Jobs: Judge and Lawgiver, illustrates the Pope’s legal responsibilities throughout history using rare books and a medieval manuscript from the Law Library\u27s outstanding collection. Winroth, Anders, and Widener, Michael. The Pope\u27s Other Jobs: Judge and Lawgiver / an exhibition curated by Anders Winroth and Michael Widener. (2015).https://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/itsta/1005/thumbnail.jp

Research Results Improve Learning and Understanding in Master Courses - The use of a manufacturing strategy tool

The analytical STRATEGO-tool has been used in total 48 project groups in master courses at Chalmers University of Technology from spring term of 2015. The project trains the students in applying theoretical tools at real organizations with a specific interest in analyzing their use of operations strategy. This paper presents the outcome from these courses and specifically discusses its usability as a pedagogic tool in different contexts, even though the intention with the tool initially was to constitute a tool for SMEs who wanted to develop their manufacturing strategies

Importance of tread inertia and damping on the tyre/road contact stiffness

Predicting tyre/road interaction processes like roughness excitation, stick-slip, stick-snap, wear and traction requires detailed information about the road surface, the tyre dynamics and the local deformation of the tread at the interface. Aspects of inertia and damping when the tread is locally deformed are often neglected in many existing tyre/road interaction models. The objective of this paper is to study how the dynamic features of the tread affect contact forces and contact stiffness during local deformation. This is done by simulating the detailed contact between an elastic layer and a rough road surface using a previously developed numerical time domain contact model. Road roughness on length scales smaller than the discretisation scale is included by the addition of nonlinear contact springs between each pair of contact elements. The dynamic case, with an elastic layer impulse response extending in time, is compared with the case where the corresponding quasi-static response is used. Results highlight the difficulty of estimating a constant contact stiffness as it increases during the indentation process between the elastic layer and the rough road surface. The stiffness-indentation relation additionally depends on how rapidly the contact develops; a faster process gives a stiffer contact. Material properties like loss factor and density also alter the contact development. This work implies that dynamic properties of the local tread deformation may be of importance when simulating contact details during normal tyre/road interaction conditions. There are however indications that the significant effect of damping could approximately be included as an increased stiffness in a quasi-static tread model

The changes of Beckholmen : a case study of the public access to an island with a cultural heritage industry

Det är idag ovanligt att kulturhistoriska industrimiljöer används till det de ursprungligen byggdes för. Beckholmen i Stockholms inlopp är kulturarvskyddad ö med levande kulturhistorisk och kommersiell varvsverksamhet. Som landskapsarkitekt har man ofta rollen att företräda allmänhetens intressen. Därför utvärderade jag genom en fallstudie hur allmänheten beaktats i de nyligen avbrutna planerna för Beckholmen, som innebar att skapa förutsättningar för varvsindustri, bevara den kulturhistoriska verksamheten och göra det mer tillgängligt för allmänheten. För att förstå och beskriva varför planerna blev som de blev granskade jag planeringsdokument, intervjuade företrädare för varvsverksamheterna, för kulturmiljö- och fartygsbevarande och planhandläggaren på stadsbyggnadskontoret och jag gjorde även en platsanalys. Resultat jag kom fram till var att i planerna motiveras allmänhetens tillgänglighet till Beckholmen av den aktiva varvsverksamheten, som bevarat byggnadsminnet med historisk kontinuitet. Sweco har som beställarens huvudkonsult tagit fram ett illustrationsförslag som ökar allmänhetens tillgänglighet till Beckholmen och det är främst den kulturhistoriska verksamheten som motiverar allmänhetens tillträde. I diskussionen lyfte jag fram att det finns positiva aspekter för både industriverksamheter och allmänhet av att integrera med varandra och att synen på industrier har förändrats mycket de senaste hundra åren och förmodligen kommer fortsätta utvecklas. Landskapsarkitekter kan spela en roll i att hitta nya sätt att utforma industrimiljöer på, med ursprunglig eller ny funktion.It is rare today that industrial environments with a cultural heritage are used in the same way to what they were built for. Beckholmen is an island with a cultural heritage consisting of a docking-facility where both commercial and non-profit wielders are active in building and repairing ships. The island is strategically placed at the inlet of the Baltic sea in Stockholm’s inner city. Landscape architects often get to represent the interests of the public. Therefore I conducted a case study in which I evaluated in what ways the public interests has been taken into account in the recently developed plans. The purpose of the plan was to create opportunities for both the cultural and commercial dockingindustry and to make it more accessible to the public. The case study consisted of a placeanalysis, a document review and interviews with two people representing the dockingindustry, an antiquarian specialized in ships and a city planner from the municipality. The result of the study shows that the plans mainly justified an increased public accessibility with the interest for the active docking-industry, which has preserved the island with a historical continuity. As the client’s main consultant, Sweco developed an illustration proposal that increases the public's access to Beckholmen and it is mainly the cultural activities that justify public access. In the discussion I address the positive aspects for both industrial businesses and the public to integrate with each other and that the view of the industry as culture has much changed in the last century and will probably continue to develop. Landscape architects can play a role in designing industrial environments with original or new function

The last filter - The pike factory in Kovik : a wetland designed to improve the condition of the Balctic Sea and encourage learning and exploration trough experiences

Det här arbetet syftar till att skapa en förbättrande insats för Östersjöns miljö. Genom att begränsa näringsutsläppen till Östersjön och skapa lekmiljöer för kustlevande rovfisk och tillgängliggöra platsen för rekreativa ändamål skapas en dynamisk plats med hög biologisk funktionalitet och höga upplevelsevärden för människan. Genom människans påverkan under många decennier lider havsmiljön i Östersjön av övergödning på grund av bland annat näringsläckage från jordbruk. Övergödningen påverkar det marina livet negativt på många sätt, bland annat skapar det obalans i ekosystemen och syrefattigt vatten (Havs och vattenmyndigheten, 2017a). En studie från bland annat SLU (Östman, Eklöf, Eriksson, Olsson, Moksnes, & Bergström, 2016, s.1) har visat att övergödning påverkar utbredningen av livs- och lekmiljöer för Östersjölevande rovfiskar och att åtgärder för att förbättra rovfiskens livsmiljöer kan bidra till att minska övergödningen. Övergödningen påverkar också möjligheterna och naturupplevelsen för friluftslivet, vilket är en viktig form av rekreation och även en form av lärandeprocess för natur-och samhällskunskap. Arbetet inleds med en översiktsbild av kunskapsläget kring övergödningsproblematiken med kring rovfiskens roll och friluftsupplevelser. Arbetet är därefter indelat i tre delar; förstudie, platsstudie och förslag. I förstudien samlade jag information inför gestaltningen genom litteratur, intervjuer och referensbesök. För att undersöka de specifika förhållandena för gestaltningsområdet gjordes därefter en platsstudie för Koviks mosse. Genom förstudie och platsstudie kunde jag definiera de verktyg jag behövde för att fortsätta med gestaltningen. Processen följde den iterativa arbetsgången där inventering, analys och förslag prövas flera gånger innan resultatet tar sin slutgiltiga form. Även den avslutande diskussionen har omprövats i olika stadier allteftersom arbetet framskridit. Genom att utgå från en stadig forskningsgrund om åtgärder mot övergödningen och dess effekter i Östersjön och med hänsyn till platsens specifika förutsättningar har det här arbetet resulterat i en gestaltning med flera fokus och syften för Koviks mosse på Värmdö. Förstudien och referensstudien syftar till att samla och undersöka information. I den andra delen redogörs för Koviks mosses specifika bakgrund, förutsättningar och möjligheter. Här presenteras förslaget till gestaltning av Koviks Mosse utifrån de två tidigare delarna av arbetet. Gäddfabriken i Koviks mosse och utformningen av dess omgivningar har flera syften: att reducera mängden näring ut till Östersjön, utgöra en lek- och uppväxtsmiljö för kustlevande gäddor och erbjuda besökare en upplevelserik naturmiljö som uppmuntrar till utforskande, insikter och lärande om miljö och samhälle. Den upplevelserika miljön skapas bland annat genom att göra platsen tillgänglig, variationsrik och överblickbar för besökaren. Arbetet visar hur landskapsarkitektur och naturvård kan stärka varandra och hur en upplevelserik naturmiljö kan skapa förutsättningar för lärande. Med hjälp av landskapsarkitektens grundverktyg för att gestalta kan vi skapa något som kan liknas vid en pedagogisk miljö. Arbetet leder till nya frågeställningar kring att utforma miljöer med pedagogiska aspekter.The coastal environments of the Baltic Sea are suffering from the effects of eutrophication, causing increased algea population, which leads to a disruption of the marine ecosystem and decline of natural habitats for several species. Eutrophication also affects cultural ecosystem services that constitutes a platform for learning about historical as well as present societal issues such as science, history and culture. This thesis investigates the connections between land use, biological and cultural ecosystem services and the marine life of the Baltic coastline. My thesis aims to create a design for a coastal wetland that enables: - reducing the outflow of nutrient to the Baltic Sea and to reduce the effects of the eutrophication. - encourage breeding grounds for coastal predator fish like the pike. - form a recreationally rich environment to encourage learning and exploration trough experiences. The site that I have worked with is the coastal wetland of Koviks Mosse at Värmdö east of Stockholm. By combining nature preservation with knowledge of how to design positive experiences for people – I try to create landscape architecture that encourages recreational experiences and learning about the biological functions and cultural heritage of the site. The paper is divided in three parts. In the pre-study I explore through literature, reference projects and interviews, the scientific information to form my proposal and design. Then follows a place-specific study of the project area of Koviks mosse with an inventory of the topography, vegetation, land use and cultural history of the site, and two forms of site analysis. In the third part, I present my proposal of a wetland design, a ”pike factory”, with a design for the area surrounding it, with pedagogical and recreational values. Inspired by parks with industrial aspects, I formed the concept of ”Technature-observatory”, an combined word from technology, nature and observatory. This word guides my design proposal. My proposal explains the exhibitory and pedagogical design approach and then show an overview of the area of Koviks mosse with new entryways, key destinations and look-outs. Then follows illustrations, plans and sections showing the design. The design includes two types of wetlands: a basin for cleaning industrial water from the nearby-reusage station and a semi-permanent pike-factory. These two both help to reduce nutrient outflow by filtering the water trough biological processes. The pike-factory constitutes a breeding ground for coastal pike-communities which in their turn help balancing effects of eutrophication. This thesis shows a site as a fusion of nature preservation, natural exhibitory ideas and landscape architecture. The recreational, exploring and exhibitory ideas of the design showed themselves to be basic tools for designing for people: making the experience safe and accessible, create variation, overviews and opportunities for social interactions

Mellan hästens öga och människans strävan: En dialektisk relation gestaltad i biografiska porträtt

Between the horse’s eye and the human endeavor. A dialectical relationship embodied in biographical portraits   Winroth, AnnCristin   Keywords: horse and human, antropomorfism, biographical portraits of horses, interspecies relationship   Describing horses or other animals in portrait-like fragments or statements is an established practice and a genre that occurs in different kinds of materials and contexts. What does the portrayal of the horse do with the interaction space and with its possibility for agency? This thinking has prompted an investigation of the discourse on horses and discussions about an intergenerational relationship within a life history story. The purpose is to seek to create insight into the animal-human relationship through a close reading of written portraits and descriptions of intertwined biographies within interview material. The article is mainly based on two subject-oriented life history interviews with experienced horse owners, as well as two written portraits of unique horses. Questions addressed in the processing of the material are: How do the informants describe their horse partners? What impact do these interpretations have on the relationship space and to a possible cross-species interaction? How is the significance of the intergenerational relationship expressed in depictions of a shared life course? A central starting point for the understanding of the animal-human relationship is that it is constructivist, in line with contemporary animal studies in humanities and social science research. In the intergenerational space created between a horse and its human, the relationship is considered unique and dialectical. It is negotiated and expressed through socially and culturally expected formats within a very specific context. The phrase The horse’s eye is used in the title as a symbolic and real point of reference that reveals both the horse’s mode and mood, which its human has to take into account. The words Human endeavour refer to the everyday practice that is expressed through the horse owner’s sensual experiences, thoughts, attitudes, training and nursing. Stories reflecting the horse experience refer to both stable and more temporary syntheses within this intergenerational relationship space. The division of roles between horse and human can be perceived as relatively equal or it alternates between different situations, as exemplified in the empirical sections

The contribution of air-pumping to tyre/road noise

It is generally accepted that there are at least two tyre/road noise generation mechanisms commonly referred to as tyre vibrations and air-pumping. While the modelling of tyre vibrations is rather mature, the modelling of air-pumping is still on a basic stage and unsatisfactory in many aspects. Applying the fact that tyre vibrations and air-pumping have different vehicle speed dependency allows for identifying the contribution from each mechanism in field measurements of tyre/road noise. This paper presents an analysis of controlled pass-by measurements and simulations with the tyre/road simulation model at Chalmers. Results show that air-pumping is a major contributor to tyre/road noise. The question arises which physical mechanisms are behind the air-pumping noise observed in measurements and simulations. The analysis indicates that tyre vibrations in the contact may lead to air-pumping noise. This suggestion deviates from generation mechanisms usually assumed in the air-pumping context