Managing strategic improvement programs: the XPS program management framework

Multinational corporations are introducing holistic company-specific production systems (XPSs) in order to improve the productivity of their global manufacturing networks. XPSs are multi-plant improvement programs that are coordinated from the corporate headquarters and implemented in all subsidiaries of the firm. However, research and practice show that the implementation of process improvement programs is a challenging task that often ends up unsuccessful despite good intentions and substantial resource investments. In this paper, I investigate how program management theory can help provide deployment guidelines for successful XPS implementation in global firms. I am proposing an XPS program management framework, which has been developed through merging program management theory with descriptions of real-life XPSs. It is suggested that the structured approach found in project-based program management literature can be partly adapted to strategic programs such as the XPS. This paper contributes to program management theory by enhancing our understanding of how strategic programs, such as XPSs, differ from other more project-based types of programs. Secondly, it contributes to the process improvement literature with practical management guidelines for XPS deployment adapted from program management theory.

Prospect for conservation agriculture in Northern and Eastern European countries, lessons of Kassa

SYNOPSIS. In Europe, Conservation agriculture (CA) is less adopted than in the other world adopting regions and, reduced tillage is more used than no-tillage. Use of cover crop is not common. It is currently less researched than it was before the 1990s. One of the main features of CA is the reduction of the production costs which acts as a powerful driving force for the dissemination of CA technologies. In Europe, conversion from conventional agriculture to CA leads to a minor change in yields: ± 10% depending on the countries; and, this is not decisive for farmers as far as CA meets their main expectation: i.e. reduction in costs of fuel, machinery and labour saving. The adoption process responds to a step-by-step strategy and, large sized farms are the main adopters. The increase in competitiveness at the global and at European level brings the general trend of the increase of CA coverage world-wide and the current level of fuel costs together with the trend of the enlargement of the farm size in Europe will probably contribute to the adoption of CA in Europe. The process is likely already ongoing in some European countries; it has to be sustained. (Résumé d'auteur

Situating the intellect : McDowell, Dreyfus, and Merleau-Ponty on mindedness and embodiment

Denne avhandlingen utforsker begrepet om sinn og dets forhold til persepsjon og kropp slik dette forstås i John McDowell, Hubert Dreyfus og Maurice Merleau-Pontys filosofiske prosjekter. McDowells påstand om en gjennomsyrende rolle for begrepslige ferdigheter i menneskelig persepsjon impliserer ifølge Dreyfus en undergraving av rollen våre sinnløse kroppslige ferdigheter spiller som fundament for våre begrepslige aktiviteter. Merleau-Pontys fenomenologi utgjør for Dreyfus et støttepunkt i føringen av denne kritikken. Jeg argumenterer for at Dreyfus’ kritikk av McDowell støtter seg på problematiske antakelser, og videre at støtten han finner hos Merleau-Ponty kun er tilsynelatende. Heller enn at McDowell ”over-intellektualiserer” persepsjon, er det Dreyfus som forutsetter en over-intellektualisert forståelse av intellektet. Dette fører til at Dreyfus er nødt til å anta et filosofisk problematisk skille mellom to ulike nivåer av menneskelig eksistens. En sympatisk lesning av McDowell gir rom for en forståelse av rasjonalitet og begrepslighet som ikke ser ut til å være i konflikt med en anerkjennelse av den uunnværlige rollen kropp og kroppslige ferdigheter spiller i våre liv. Dette ser også ut til å samsvare med Merleau-Pontys tanker om samme tema. Det er i Merleau-Pontys fenomenologi vi finner det mest tilfredsstillende svaret på hvordan menneskesinnet er situert i forhold til vår perseptuelle åpenhet til og kroppslige tilstedeværelse i verden. Det er hovedsakelig to grunner til dette. For det første forholder den seg til kravene fra McDowells konseptualisme ved å gi mening til hvordan den persiperte verden kan begrense våre tanker og påstander om den uten å anta en problematisk filosofisk fundamentalisme. For det andre oppnår den å definitivt situere sin løsning til disse kravene i fenomenet som er den levende menneskekroppen, og på den måten overgå McDowells prosjekt i noen viktige henseende. Det er først ved å fokusere begrepet om tenkelig og språklig mening på den kroppslige gesten at det blir mulig å vise kontinuiteten mellom verdenen vi erfarer, lever og handler i, og verdenen som tenkes og snakkes om

Subjectivity, nature, existence: Foundational issues for enactive phenomenology

Sammendrag Denne avhandlingen utforsker og diskuterer grunnleggende spørsmål knyttet til forholdet mellom fenomenologisk filosofi og den «enaktive tilnærmingen» til kognitiv vitenskap, med mål om å avklare, utvikle og fremme enaktiv fenomenologi som prosjekt. Dette prosjektet er basert på tre generelle ideer: 1) at sinnsvitenskapene trenger en fenomenologisk forankring, 2) at den enaktive tilnærmingen i dag er det mest lovende forsøket på å gi sinnsvitenskapene en slik forankring, og 3) at dette forsøket involverer både en naturalisering av fenomenologi og en fenomenologisering av natur-begrepet. Mer spesifikt handler enaktiv fenomenologi om å søke gjensidig opplysende utvekslinger mellom, på den ene siden, fenomenologiske undersøkelser av erfarings- og eksistensstrukturer, og på den andre siden, vitenskapelige studier av sinn og liv – spesielt slike som er informert av teorier om biologisk selvorganisering. Avhandlingen består av to deler. Del en er et innledende essay (kappe) som søker å klargjøre noen av enaktiv fenomenologis overordnede filosofiske forpliktelser gjennom å spore noen av dens historiske røtter. Del to er en samling av fire artikler, som griper inn i hver sin samtidige debatt med relevans for avhandlingens prosjekt. Abstract This thesis explores and discusses foundational issues concerning the relationship between phenomenological philosophy and the enactive approach to cognitive science, with the aim of clarifying, developing, and promoting the project of enactive phenomenology. This project is framed by three general ideas: 1) that the sciences of mind need a phenomenological grounding, 2) that the enactive approach is the currently most promising attempt to provide mind science with such a grounding, and 3) that this attempt involves both a naturalization of phenomenology and a phenomenologization of the concept of nature. More specifically, enactive phenomenology is the project of pursuing mutually illuminative exchanges between, on the one hand, phenomenological investigations of the structures of lived experience and embodied existence and, on the other, scientific accounts of mind and life – in particular those framed by theories of biological self-organization. The thesis consists of two parts. Part one is an introductory essay that seeks to clarify some of enactive phenomenology’s overarching philosophical commitments by tracing some of its historical roots. Part two is a compilation of four articles, each of which intervenes in a different contemporary debate relevant to the dissertation’s project

The Living Transcendental - An Integrationist View of Naturalized Phenomenology

In this article I take on the “Transcendentalist Challenge” to naturalized phenomenology, highlighting how the ontological and methodological commitments of Merleau-Ponty’s philosophy point in the direction of an integration of the transcendental and the scientific, thus making room for a productive exchange between philosophy and psychological science when it comes to understanding consciousness and its place in nature. Discussing various conceptions of naturalized phenomenology, I argue that what I call an “Integrationist View” is required if we are to make sense of the possibility of productive exchange between phenomenology and the sciences. My main argument is that if we conceive of consciousness as a structure of behavior ontologically prior to the distinctions between objectivity and subjectivity and third- and first-person perspectives, we arrive at a view of the transcendental as not essentially separate from the domain of science, but rather as contingent organizational norms of empirical nature that are best illuminated through a dialectical exchange between phenomenological and scientific approaches. I end by showing how Merleau-Ponty’s engagement with the “Schneider case” in an example of such an integration.publishedVersionCopyright © 2020 Netland. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms

Hydrodynamic effects relevant for free-falling lifeboats in wave conditions

A free- falling lifeboat is a last resort evacuation system, installed on many rigid and floating offshore structures. The diving process of a free-falling lifeboat is a complex matter, as the external forces varies through the process. The diving process is essentially divided into six different phases. These are the launching phase, free-falling phase, water entry phase, submerged phase, water exit phase and the sail away phase. The launching and free-falling phase determines the initial conditions at the point of impact, typically this will be impact velocity, water entry angle and angular rotations. As the body enters the water, it will be subjected to slamming forces. The pitch motion initially turns from clockwise to counter clockwise rotation, leading to larger slamming forces on the aft part. Eventually the aft part crosses the water surface and there will be an air cavity formation. The gravity will press the two newly formed free surfaces together and the unavoidable collapse leads to a large pressure on the body, in its direction of motion. This is due to the pressure from the water on the newly formed air bubble, entrapped on the very aft part. The body reaches its maximum submergence and then it starts the ascent phase, driven by the buoyancy. In the case of a positive surge motion and a counter clockwise rotation, the body will get this additional contribution in the ascent. The body eventually exits the water, where it gets a certain pop-up height, this height depends on the exit velocity and angle. As the body re-enters the water surface it can be subjected to a second slamming, and its magnitude is dependent on the pop-up height and the rotation after the water exit. It is favourable that the body sail as far as possible away from the evacuation scene. And this distance is dependent on the other phases. A simplified free-falling lifeboat geometry were chosen for the simulations. The body is a semi-ellipsoid with length 10 m, and largest diameter 3 m. The simulations are run in the commercial software Star-CCM+. The simulations are computational expensive, and most of the simulations has been simulated on the high-performance computer, Vilje. A convergence check was preformed to investigate the quality of the solution and a suitable mesh size has been chosen with respect to satisfactory global behaviour and computational time. A simulation has been preformed in calm water conditions. The result and behaviour of the body is reasonable compared to theory. The body is subjected to large deaccelerations and counter clockwise pitch accelerations in the water entry phase. The formation of an air cavity and its collapse is clearly visual in VOF-scenes and as a large peak in the body-fixed acceleration plot. The body exits bow first, gets some air time, and is subjected to a small second slamming as it re-enters the water surface. A parameter investigation has been preformed where the impact velocity, water entry angle and centre of gravity in z-direction has been changed with ±5 m/s, ±5° and ±0.2 m, repectivly. The results showed that changing the velocity gave largest effect in the behaviour of the body, but the highest water entry angle gave the largest submergence which is an important parameter as it gives the highest hydrostatical pressure. Changing the centre of gravity showed to have relative small effects. The lifeboat will most likely be used in a storm-conditions. Eighteen different cases has been simulated, with four different wave phases in three different headings. Three of these has been tested for two additional steepnesses. The waves are modelled as regular linear waves. The results shows that the behaviour of the body is greatly affected when waves are included in the simulation. The wave forces contribute in form of Froude-Krylov forces, diffraction forces and additional drag forces. Some of the largest accelerations in the water entry phase are found when the body dives in the wave phase where the fluid velocity is acting upwards. Large accelerations in the water entry phase are also observed when the fluid velocity is acting in the same global x- direction as the body. This creates a large counter clockwise pitch velocity which increases the slamming load on the aft part. The second slamming is dependent on the water exit, where the exit velocity, water exit angle, wave phase and heading are decisive. The effect of decreasing the steepness was in general smaller accelerations in the water entry phase. The particle velocities are reduced as they are proportional to the wave amplitude. However, the second slamming is dependent on the water exit and the body rotation, and the CAR values shows that there can be large stresses on the passengers also in the case of small steepnesses. Uncertainties connected with the simulations are the segregated flow and its weakness in term of predicting impulse forces like slamming, and how this manifests further in the solution. There has also been detected some unreal large velocities at the aft corner, leading to uncertainties on how these will affect the solution. Some errors in the interpolation between the cells in the overset mesh will be present as the overset mesh does not have a uniform cell size

Developing Embedded Control System Platform using Atmel AVR32 Processor: Using Rapid Prototyping with Matlab Real-Time Workshop

AVR32 is a new processor architecture made by Atmel Norway, and in this thesis it has been used to make a control system platform. The hardware used in this platform is the STK1000, an AVR32 development board and an I/O-card. The I/O-card were developed as a part of the thesis. Software for the platform consists of I/O-card firmware, Linux device driver for the I/O-card and user mode drivers. The platform supports usage of Matlab Real-Time Workshop as a rapid prototyping tool, that generates code from graphical visualization of mathematical models. S-functions were created so Matlab Real-Time Workshop can control the I/O-card. The control system platform is documented in an user manual. This manual describes how to install development tools for the platform on a Linux or Windows computer, and how to use the it

Development of an hydrophobic fluoro-silica surface for studying homotypic cancer cell aggregation–disaggregation as a single dynamic process in vitro

Under normal conditions the detachment of anchorage-dependant cells from their extracellular matrix typically induces programmed cell death which is mediated through a pathway referred to as anoikis. However, a resistance to anoikis in cancer enables the migration of cells from the primary tumour and the establishment of aggressive metastatic disease. Although cancer cell aggregation is known to be an important mechanism within anoikis resistance, research into the underlying mechanisms that govern this process remain problematic as commercially available tissue culture material can only sustain 2D monolayer or 3D aggregate/spheroid cultures. This necessitates the development of a system that can accommodate for cancer cell aggregation–disaggregation as a single dynamic process, without the disruption of passaging cells between alternate substrates. This study describes a procedure for modifying tissue culture polystyrene (TCP) to produce a fluoro-silica (FS) surface which preferentially promotes the deposition of a distinct profile of proteins/factors from serum which mediate the transient aggregation of human breast cancer cell lines. This modified surface therefore provides an experimental platform for better understanding cancer cell aggregation–disaggregation events in vitro, and their influence on the establishment of metastatic disease in patients with cancer

Integration between lidar- and camera-based situational awareness and control barrier functions for an autonomous surface vehicle

Utviklingen av autonome overlatefarkoster har de siste årene sett betydelig fremgang, og ideen om et hel-autonomt skip er i ferd med å bli en virkelighet. En av de mest kritiske aspektene for å gjøre autonome skip suksessfulle, ligger i evnen til å forsikre sikkerhet. For å trygt kunne operere, må et autonomt skip kunne oppfatte, tolke og tilpasset seg omgivelsene sine til en hver tid. Dette defineres som et fartøys situasjonsforståelse (SF). SF i fremkomstmidler oppnås hovedsakelig gjennom kombinasjonen av forskjellige sensorer. For autonome skip, vil elektro-optiske sensorer som kamera og lidar være gode kandidater. Denne avhandlingen tar for seg implementasjonen, og, i ettertid, integrasjonen av et lidar- og kamera-basert SF system sammen med kontroll barriere funksjoner (CBFer) for å oppnå trygg bevegelseskontroll av det autonome fartøyet CS Saucer (CSS). CSS er et modellskala overflate fartøy som operer i Marine Kybernetikk laboratoriet (MC lab) ved NTNU. Den ble valgt som eksperimentell platform grunnet fartøyet modularitet i nyttelast, som gjør integrasjon av nye sensorer enkelt. CSS hadde også behov for en oppgradering av kontrollsystemet sitt. Dette omfattet erstatting av gammel maskinvare og implementasjon av en programvare arkitektur basert på Python of Robot Operating System. SF systemet inkorporerer det konvolusjonelt nevrale nettverket SSDMobilscan for å visuelt gjenkjenne skip i fartøyets nærhet. En projeksjonsmodell for lidaren og kameraet er så blitt avledet, og sensorene geometrisk kalibrert for å oppnå en transformasjon mellom koordinat-systemene. Punktene fra lidaren blir så projektert over på det visuelle gjenkjenningen, og lagt til i en liste med gyldige punkter dersom de er innenfor gjenkjenningens avgrensningsboks. Denne listen er så sent videre til grupperings algoritmen k-means som identifiserer et midtpunkt for hver gruppe i listen. Dette midtpunktet tilsvarer posisjonen til hindringen, og er transformert til NED-rammen. Dette systemet er så integrert med et manøvrerings kontrollsystem. Systemet tar i bruk CBFer i veilednings modulen for å garantere kollisjonsfrie baner for skipet. Kontrolleren følger et cascade-backstepping design, og frakobler posisjons-kontroll fra gir kontroll. Dersom SF-systemt gjenkjenner hindringer i omgivelsene, vil veiledningsmodulen generere nye trygge baner om CBFene fastslår at den nåværende banen er utrygg. Alle metoder har blitt tested gjennom simulasjoner og fysiske eksperimenter i MC labben. SF systemet virket til å være effektivt og klarte å gjenkjenne hindringer i omgivelsene, samt nøyaktig gjengi posisjonen deres, innenfor en feilmargin. Systemet var dessverre sensitivt ovenfor feilprojeksjoner som et resultat av dårlig kalibrering. Gjennkjenningsavstanden til Mobilescan var også begrenset til 3 meter, grunnet lav oppløsning i bilder og trening av nettverket. Manøvreringssystemet som en helhet derimot, fungerte tilfredstillende og genererte trygge baner for skipet med opp til to hindringer tilstede. Fartøyet klarte også å følge banene til en akseptabel grad.The development of fully autonomous surface vessels (ASVs) has seen significant progress in recent years and is at the cusp of becoming an actuality. One of the most critical aspects in making ASVs a success is safety assurance. In order to operate safely, the vessel must be able to perceive, understand and adapt to the environment around it. This is known as situational awareness (SA). Typically, SA is achieved by combining the measurements from several sensors. For an ASV, electro-optical sensors such as camera and lidar are good candidates to enable environmental perception. This thesis considers the implementation, and subsequent integration, of a lidar- and camera-based SA-system with control barrier functions (CBF) for safe motion control, using the CS Saucer (CSS) as the experimental platform. The CSS is a model-scale vessel operating in the marine cybernetics laboratory at the NTNU. It was chosen for the project due to its modularity in payload configurations, making sensor integration easy. Additionally, the vessel required a control system upgrade. This included replacing hardware and implementing a new control software architecture based on Python and ROS. The SA system incorporates the convolutional neural network(CNN) SSDMobilescan to achieve visual detections of ships around the vessel. Then a projection model for the camera and lidar was derived, and the sensors were geometrically calibrated to obtain a rigid body transformation between the coordinate frames. Lidar points are projected onto any visual detections and added to a list of valid points if located within the detected bounding box. This list is then parsed to the clustering algorithm k-means, which computes a center point for each cluster present. This center point corresponds to the obstacle position and is converted to the NED-frame using the derived rigid body transformations. Secondly, a maneuvering control system was integrated with the SA system. The system employs CBFs in the guidance layer to ensure collision-free path following. The controller utilized followed a cascade backstepping design that decoupled heading control from positional control. If the SA system detects any environmental obstacle, the guidance module will generate safe reference values if the current path is deemed unsafe. All methods were tested through simulations and physical experiments in the MC lab. The SA system proved effective, detecting and accurately estimating the position of obstacles within a certain margin of error. It was, however, sensitive to false point projections due to subpar calibrations. The CNN was also found to have a limited detection range of 3m due to environment and model training. The motion control system as a whole performed satisfactorily, generating safe path signals in the presence of up to two obstacles and following the path to an acceptable degree

Clinical recurrent events after incident stroke or transient ischemic attack

Ischemic stroke survivors are at high risk of experiencing new or re-expressed focal neurological symptoms. This may be due to a recurrent stroke or due to other medical conditions, known as stroke mimics. Long-term outcomes after ischemic stroke are scarcely studied. In addition, distinguishing recurrent stroke from stroke mimics is challenging. Admissions with stroke mimics are resource-consuming and may be troublesome for the patients. Knowledge on recurrence, its associated factors, mortality and stroke mimics after ischemic stroke is of value in clinical decision-making. The present study investigated incidence, predictors and impact of recurrent stroke in a hospital-based ischemic stroke population. In addition, we investigated the burden of stroke mimics after ischemic stroke. This thesis is based on a hospital-based cohort of patients registered in the Norwegian Stroke Research Registry (NORSTROKE) at the stroke unit at the Department of Neurology, Haukeland University Hospital. A total of 1874 surviving patients who were admitted with ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA) between July 1, 2007, and December 31, 2013 were followed for new hospital admissions with recurrent ischemic stroke/TIA or stroke mimics. The 30-day recurrence rate was 1.8%. Patients with large artery atherosclerosis and stroke of other etiology had increased risk of 30-day recurrence. The long-term recurrence rates were modest, being 5.4% and 11.3% at 1 and 5 years respectively. Hypertension, prior symptomatic stroke, chronic infarcts on MRI and increasing age were independently associated with long-term recurrence. Recurrence more than doubled the all-cause mortality. Stroke mimics were more common than recurrence after ischemic stroke or TIA. Stroke mimics were multi-etiological and unspecific diagnoses were most frequent directly after index stroke