Mindre virksomheders udbytte og strategiske orientering mod e-business: Et komparativt studie af UK og DK

Nærværende artikel belyser, hvorledes mindre og mellemstore danske og engelske virksomheder vurderer deres nuværende udbytte af deres e-business indsats, deres forventninger, og hvorledes de generelt prioriterer e-business i forhold til andre strategiske indsatsområder. Fra brancheorganisationer og regeringerne i både UK og DK er der megen fokus på at stimulere udbredelsen af e-business til at omfatte mindre og mellemstore virksomheder, men undersøgelsen her indikerer, at virksomhedernes – og ledernes – strategiske fokus slet ikke er rettet mod e-business, men mod generelle ledelsesmæssige områder. Endvidere omfatter ledelsens fokus ikke områder som udvikling af nye forretningsprocesser, innovationer eller produktudvikling – og slet ikke på e-business. Resultaterne fra et survey i England og Danmark med svar fra 140 danske og 256 engelske SME’s antyder også, at de virksomheder – i begge lande – som har udviklet kompetencer med hensyn til E-business, kun har opnået beskedne fremgange og mindre besparelser, og at de endnu mangler at høste besparelser med hensyn til både tid og omkostninger i forhold til de interne processer, og vi diskuterer om de manglende oplevede fordele i praksis står i modsætning til lærebøgernes, e-business forskernes, konsulenternes og regeringernes postulerende visionære drømme – og er forklaringen på den langsomme udbredelse til SME’s

Evidence for Cyclical Fractional Crystallization, Recharge, and Assimilation in Basalts of the Kimama Drill Core, Central Snake River Plain, Idaho: 5.5-Million-Years of Petrogenesis in a Mid-crustal Sill Complex

Basalts erupted in the Snake River Plain of central Idaho and sampled in the Kimama drill core link eruptive processes to the construction of mafic intrusions over 5.5 Ma. Cyclic variations in basalt composition reveal temporal chemical heterogeneity related to fractional crystallization and the assimilation of previously-intruded mafic sills. A range of compositional types are identified within 1,912 m of continuous drill core: Snake River olivine tholeiite (SROT), low K SROT, high Fe-Ti, and evolved and high K-Fe lavas similar to those erupted at Craters of the Moon National Monument. Detailed lithologic and geophysical logs document 432 flow units comprising 183 distinct lava flows and 78 flow groups. Each lava flow represents a single eruptive episode, while flow groups document chemically and temporally related flows that formed over extended periods of time. Temporal chemical variation demonstrates the importance of source heterogeneity and magma processing in basalt petrogenesis. Low-K SROT and high Fe-Ti basalts are genetically related to SROT as, respectively, hydrothermally-altered and fractionated daughters. Cyclic variations in the chemical composition of Kimama flow groups are apparent as 21 upward fractionation cycles, six recharge cycles, eight recharge-fractionation cycles, and five fractionation-recharge cycles. We propose that most Kimama basalt flows represent typical fractionation and recharge patterns, consistent with the repeated influx of primitive SROT parental magmas and extensive fractional crystallization coupled with varying degrees of assimilation of gabbroic to ferrodioritic sills at shallow to intermediate depths over short durations. Trace element models show that parental SROT basalts were generated by 5–10% partial melting of enriched mantle at shallow depths above the garnet-spinel lherzolite transition. The distinctive evolved and high K-Fe lavas are rare. Found at four depths, 319, 1045, 1,078, and 1,189 m, evolved and high K-Fe flows are compositionally unrelated to SROT magmas and represent highly fractionated basalt, probably accompanied by crustal assimilation. These evolved lavas may be sourced from the Craters of the Moon/Great Rift system to the northeast. The Kimama drill core is the longest record of geochemical variation in the central Snake River Plain and reinforces the concept of magma processing in a layered complex

Samspil mellem virksomheder og forskning gennem aktionsforskning: vidensproduktion i mode 2

Fra flere sider efterspørges mere forskning, øget udbytte af de anvendte ressourcer til forskning og øget samarbejde mellem videnscentre (højere læreranstalter m.v.) og virksomheder. Samtidigt er der en erkendelse af, at viden også skabes i tæt interaktion mellem forskning og virksomheder og ikke kun i lukkede universitære forskningsmiljøer, og vidensproduktion i Mode 2 fremhæves som et alternativt perspektiv på vidensgenerering. Aktionsforskning tilbyder sig her som en mulig løsning på nogle af disse udfordringer. Artiklen redegør for baggrunden for aktionsforskning og forskellige former for aktionsforskning og diskuterer de udfordringer og muligheder denne metode giver set i forhold til positivistisk vidensproduktion. Endelig illustreres metoden fra et konkret samarbejdsprojekt med en virksomhed, og erfaringerne herfra diskuteres og perspektiveres

Comparison of serum pools and oral fluid samples for detection of porcine circovirus type 2 by quantitative real-time PCR in finisher pigs

Abstract Background Porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) diagnostics in live pigs often involves pooled serum and/or oral fluid samples for group-level determination of viral load by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). The purpose of the study was to compare the PCV2 viral load determined by qPCR of paired samples at the pen level of pools of sera (SP) from 4 to 5 pigs and the collective oral fluid (OF) from around 30 pigs corresponding to one rope put in the same pen. Pigs in pens of 2 finishing herds were sampled by cross-sectional (Herd 1) and cross-sectional with follow-up (Herd 2) study designs. In Herd 1, 50 sample pairs consisting of SP from 4 to 5 pigs and OF from around 23 pigs were collected. In Herd 2, 65 sample pairs consisting of 4 (SP) and around 30 (OF) pigs were collected 4 times at 3-week intervals. Results A higher proportion of PCV2-positive pens (86% vs. 80% and 100% vs. 91%) and higher viral loads (mean difference: 2.10 and 1.83 log(10) PCV2 copies per ml) were found in OF versus SP in both herds. The OF cut-off value corresponding to a positive SP (>3 log(10) PCV2 copies per ml) was estimated to 6.5 and 7.36 log(10) PCV2 copies per ml for Herds 1 and 2, respectively. Significant correlations between SP and OF results were found in Herd 1 (rho = 0.69) and the first sampling in Herd 2 (rho = 0.39), but not for the subsequent consecutive 3 samplings in Herd 2. Conclusions The proportion and viral loads of PCV2 positive pens were higher in collective OF (including up to 30 pigs) compared to SP (including 4–5 pigs) of the same pens. Also, OF seemed to detect the PCV2 infection earlier with OF values just below 6.5 (Herd 1) and 7.36 (Herd 2) log(10) being associated with a negative SP for the same pen. Nevertheless, a statistically significant correlation between SP and OF could not be found for all sampling time points, probably due to a high within-pen variation in individual pig viral load becoming very evident in SP of only four or five pigs. Consequently, the results imply that OF is well suited for detecting presence of PCV2 but less so for determining the specific viral load of pigs in a pen

Acute leukaemoid reaction following cardiac surgery

Chronic myelomonocytic leukaemia is an atypical myeloproliferative disorder with a natural history of progression to acute myeloid leukaemia, a complex and poorly understood response by the bone marrow to stress. Cardiac surgery activates many inflammatory cascades and may precipitate a systemic inflammatory response syndrome. We present a case of undiagnosed chronic myelomonocytic leukaemia who developed rapidly fatal multi-organ dysfunction following cardiac surgery due to an acute leukaemoid reaction

Self-trapping and stable localized modes in nonlinear photonic crystals

We predict the existence of stable nonlinear localized modes near the band edge of a two-dimensional reduced-symmetry photonic crystal with a Kerr nonlinearity. Employing the technique based on the Green function, we reveal a physical mechanism of the mode stabilization associated with the effective nonlinear dispersion and long-range interaction in the photonic crystals.Comment: 4 pages (RevTex) with 5 figures (EPS

Silicon Nanowire Sensors Enable Diagnosis of Patients via Exhaled Breath

Two of the biggest challenges in medicine today are the need to detect diseases in a noninvasive manner and to differentiate between patients using a single diagnostic tool. The current study targets these two challenges by developing a molecularly modified silicon nanowire field effect transistor (SiNW FET) and showing its use in the detection and classification of many disease breathprints (lung cancer, gastric cancer, asthma, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease). The fabricated SiNW FETs are characterized and optimized based on a training set that correlate their sensitivity and selectivity toward volatile organic compounds (VOCs) linked with the various disease breathprints. The best sensors obtained in the training set are then examined under real-world clinical conditions, using breath samples from 374 subjects. Analysis of the clinical samples show that the optimized SiNW FETs can detect and discriminate between almost all binary comparisons of the diseases under examination with >80% accuracy. Overall, this approach has the potential to support detection of many diseases in a direct harmless way, which can reassure patients and prevent numerous unpleasant investigations