No description available.

We analyse the characteristics of workers who provide work on the basis of a civil or commercial contract, but who are dependent on or integrated into the firm for which they work. We argue that these dependent self-employed lose their rights under labour law, receive less favourable benefits from social security protection and are often beyond trade union representation and collective bargaining. Using data from the British Labour Force Survey we test two hypotheses: (1) Dependent self-employed workers are significantly different from both employees and (independent) self-employed individuals, thus forming a distinct group. (2) Dependent selfemployed workers have lower labour market skills, less labour market attachment and, thus, less autonomy than self-employed workers. The data support our hypothesis that dependent selfemployed workers are a distinct labour market group which differs from both employees and independent self-employed individuals. Men, older workers, those with low education and a low job tenure have greater odds of working in dependent self-employment than their counterparts. Our results suggest that dependent forms of self-employment are used by firms to increase labour flexibility. (author's abstract) / Series: Department of Economics Working Paper Series

Yes / N-acylhomoserine lactone (AHL)-based quorum sensing (QS) is important for the regulation of proteobacterial virulence determinants. Thus, the inhibition of AHL synthases offers non-antibiotics-based therapeutic potentials against QS-mediated bacterial infections. In this work, functional AHL synthases of Pseudomonas aeruginosa LasI and RhlI were heterologously expressed in an AHL-negative Escherichia coli followed by assessments on their AHLs production using AHL biosensors and high resolution liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LCMS). These AHL-producing E. coli served as tools for screening AHL synthase inhibitors. Based on a campaign of screening synthetic molecules and natural products using our approach, three strongest inhibitors namely are salicylic acid, tannic acid and trans-cinnamaldehyde have been identified. LCMS analysis further confirmed tannic acid and trans-cinnemaldehyde efficiently inhibited AHL production by RhlI. We further demonstrated the application of trans-cinnemaldehyde inhibiting Rhl QS system regulated pyocyanin production in P. aeruginosa up to 42.06%. Molecular docking analysis suggested that trans-cinnemaldehyde binds to the LasI and EsaI with known structures mainly interacting with their substrate binding sites. Our data suggested a new class of QS-inhibiting agents from natural products targeting AHL synthase and provided a potential approach for facilitating the discovery of anti-QS signal synthesis as basis of novel anti-infective approach. / University of Malaya High Impact Research (HIR) Grant (UM-MOHE HIR Grant UM.C/625/1/HIR/MOHE/CHAN/14/1, no. H-50001-A000027) given to K.G.C. and National Natural Science Foundation of China (no. 81260481) given to H.W.

O objetivo deste trabalho é descrever como as empresas pesquisadas implementaram seus sistemas da qualidade, procurando identificar as diferenças e semelhanças entre a implementação em pequenas e médias empresas, bem como as diferenças e semelhanças entre a implementação da ISO 9000 e da QS-9000. A partir da pesquisa bibliográfica foram levantados os aspectos mais importantes para a implementação do sistema da qualidade, que depois foram agrupados em categorias e serviram de base para a elaboração do modelo conceitual. Para o estudo múltiplo de caso, oito empresas participaram da pesquisa de campo através de entrevistas semi-estruturadas, sendo que para cada combinação de norma e tamanho haviam duas empresas. Após a descrição dos casos foi feita a análise em profundidade de acordo com as categorias: administração, recursos, gestão de RH, planejamento, apoio técnico, organização e tecnologia existentes antes da implementação e resultados obtidos com a implementação. Os resultados desta pesquisa indicam que tanto para as empresas pequenas como para as médias têm sido utilizadas várias formas para a implementação do sistema da qualidade e as principais diferenças encontradas deveram-se ao tipo de norma aplicada (ISO 9000 ou QS-9000). Finalmente são feitas algumas recomendações práticas para a implementação de sistemas da qualidade. / The purpose of this study is to describe how the companies investigated has been implemented your quality system, to looking for identify the differences and similarity between the implementation in small and medium companies, as well as the differences and similarity between the implementation of the ISO 9000 and the QS-9000. From the bibliografical research were risen the most important aspects for the quality system implementation, after they were clustered in categories and they were used to support for the conceptual model preparation. To the multiple case study, eight companies took part in the field research through semi-structured interviews, being for each standard and size arrangement there were two companies. After the cases description was made the in depth analysis in accordance to the categories: management, resources, HR management, planning, technical support, existent organization and technology before the implementation and the results achieved with the implementation. The results of this research indicate such as small companies such as for the medium have been used many ways to quality system implementation and the main differences was found occured by to the standards used (ISO 9000 or QS-9000). Finally some practical recomendations are made to the quality system implementation.

<p>This thesis aims at implementing methods for factorisation of large numbers. Seeing that there is no deterministic algorithm for finding the prime factors of a given number, the task proves rather difficult. Luckily, there have been developed some effective probabilistic methods since the invention of the computer so that it is now possible to factor numbers having about 200 decimal digits. This however consumes a large amount of resources and therefore, virtually all new factorisations are achieved using the combined power of many computers in a distributed system. </p><p>The nature of the distributed system can vary. The original goal of the thesis was to develop a client/server system that allows clients to carry out a portion of the overall computations and submit the result to the server. </p><p>Methods for factorisation discussed for implementation in the thesis are: the quadratic sieve, the number field sieve and the elliptic curve method. Actually implemented was only a variant of the quadratic sieve: the multiple polynomial quadratic sieve (MPQS).</p>

Die Preise von österreichischen Weinen am heimischen Markt weisen große beobachtbare Differenzen auf. Diese Arbeit präsentiert ein Modell, welches die Einflussfaktoren auf die Preise von Premium-Flaschenweinen identifizieren und quantifizieren soll. Hedonische Preisanalysen haben sich zur Beantwortung solcher Fragestellungen bewährt, wie eine Vielzahl von Arbeiten zu verschiedenen nationalen Märkten in der aktuell verfügbaren Literatur zu diesem Themenkomplex zeigt. Eine solche hedonische Preisanalyse wird in dieser Arbeit erstmals für den heimischen Markt durchgeführt. Die Basis dafür bildet ein umfassender und über mehrere Jahre hinweg eigens erhobener Datensatz. Es wird versucht, die bestehende Preisvarianz von mehr als 7.000 Weinen mithilfe der feststellbaren sensorischen Qualität der Weine und der Reputation der die Weine produzierenden Weingüter, sowie anderer Faktoren, wie beispielsweise Herkunft, Weinstil, Rebsorte oder Betriebsgröße, zu erklären. Im Zuge dessen wird in einem zweistufigen Modell zuerst die Reputation der knapp 500 betrachteten Weingüter mittels der in der Vergangenheit angebotenen durchschnittlichen Qualität der Produzenten modelliert. Es zeigt sich, dass diese Art der Reputationsmodellierung valide Ergebnisse liefert. Im darauf aufbauenden Preismodell kann nachfolgend bewiesen werden, dass neben anderen Faktoren der Preis der Weine vor Allem von deren Qualität sowie von der Reputation der Weingüter bestimmt wird. (Autorenref.)

This study examines and compares farmers' succession plans and actual succession behaviour and finds that the farm operator's age and regional variables influence both. We also find a discrepancy between intention and actual behaviour which is significantly related to the farm operator's age. Whereas the likelihood of planned succession is overestimated significantly for younger farm operators, the opposite is observed once the farm operator's age exceeds 65 years. Therefore, stated plans have only a negligible value in predicting the observed behaviour and farm operator's statements on the timing of succession may not provide enough information on the grounds of designing structural policies in agriculture. (author's abstract) / Series: Discussion Papers SFB International Tax Coordination

No description available.

<p>This report is a part of the education at the School of Engineering, Jönköping. The content of the report is based on work conducted at Huskvarna Prototyper AB (HPAB). The task of the report is to find out what reasonable quality demands would be for a short run manufacturer and what short run manufactures should do to satisfy the demands.</p><p>The car manufacturing industry is currently setting high quality demands through QS 9000, Production Part Approval Process (PPAP), on their suppliers. They have to show that they have reliable processes and no quality failures on supplied parts. Statistical process control (SPC) methods are used to comply with the demands set. SPC helps the suppliers to secure that their products are shifting within a small interval. Suppliers can with the help of control charts with a upper control limit and a lower control limit see if their process needs adjustment.</p><p>The car manufacturing industry demands that their suppliers have stable processes. In order to show that the processes are stable a Cpk value is used. It has to be greater than 1.33 to assure a stable process.</p><p>HPAB has got problems with a component called Scuff Plate (a part of Volvo XC 90) which has got its standards set by the car manufacturing industry. The authors of this paper have measured the Cpk value at four different occasions with the help of the measurement program, Rektron. The value on observation 1, was 0.15 but has increased to 1.34, on observation 4, thanks to adjustments made.</p><p>The autors have produced an instruction manual for dealing with future short and long run production.</p> / <p>Denna rapport är en del i en högskoleingenjörsutbildning vid Tekniska Högskolan i Jönköping. Arbetet är utfört på Huskvarna Prototyper AB (HPAB). Uppgiften var att ta reda på vilka kvalitetskrav som är rimliga att ställa på småserietillverkare och vad småserietillverkarna kan göra för att uppfylla kraven.</p><p>Bilindustrin ställer i dag höga krav på sina underleverantörer. De ska kunna visa att de har dugliga processer och på de detaljer de levererar ska det inte finnas några kvalitetsbrister. För att säkerställa hög kvalité jobbar många företag med statistiska metoder där man med hög säkerhet kan visa att ens måttvariation skiftar inom ett litet intervall.</p><p>Statistisk processstyrning (SPS) är ett hjälpmedel för att säkerhetsställa god kvalité. Genom regelbundna mätningar får man fram värden som man för in i ett styrdiagram. Med hjälp av detta styrdiagram, som består av en övre och en undre styrgräns, kan man avläsa när processen måste justeras.</p><p>Bilindustrin kräver att deras underleverantörer har stabila processer. Detta kan man visa genom att ta fram ett korrigeradat maskinduglighetsvärde, Cpk. QS 9000 med dess Production Part Approval Process (PPAP), är den standard som har tagits fram av bilindustrin kräver att processerna ska ha ett Cpk som är större än 1,33 för att processen ska vara godkänd.</p><p>HPAB har problem med detaljen Scuff Plate som är en detalj till Volvo XC90. Vid fyra olika tillfällen har maskinduglighetstest utförst på HPAB:s quintusspress. I rapporten kan man följa hur Cpk-värdet vid första observationen på 0,15 har ökat till 1,34 vid det fjärde testet. Att Cpk-värdet har ökat beror på att man ändrat inställningar mellan de olika observationstillfällena.</p><p>Författarna har tagit fram en mall för hur HPAB, som mestadels tillverkar små volymer, ska hantera de krav som bilindustrin ställer vid både långa och korta serier.</p>

This report is a part of the education at the School of Engineering, Jönköping. The content of the report is based on work conducted at Huskvarna Prototyper AB (HPAB). The task of the report is to find out what reasonable quality demands would be for a short run manufacturer and what short run manufactures should do to satisfy the demands. The car manufacturing industry is currently setting high quality demands through QS 9000, Production Part Approval Process (PPAP), on their suppliers. They have to show that they have reliable processes and no quality failures on supplied parts. Statistical process control (SPC) methods are used to comply with the demands set. SPC helps the suppliers to secure that their products are shifting within a small interval. Suppliers can with the help of control charts with a upper control limit and a lower control limit see if their process needs adjustment. The car manufacturing industry demands that their suppliers have stable processes. In order to show that the processes are stable a Cpk value is used. It has to be greater than 1.33 to assure a stable process. HPAB has got problems with a component called Scuff Plate (a part of Volvo XC 90) which has got its standards set by the car manufacturing industry. The authors of this paper have measured the Cpk value at four different occasions with the help of the measurement program, Rektron. The value on observation 1, was 0.15 but has increased to 1.34, on observation 4, thanks to adjustments made. The autors have produced an instruction manual for dealing with future short and long run production. / Denna rapport är en del i en högskoleingenjörsutbildning vid Tekniska Högskolan i Jönköping. Arbetet är utfört på Huskvarna Prototyper AB (HPAB). Uppgiften var att ta reda på vilka kvalitetskrav som är rimliga att ställa på småserietillverkare och vad småserietillverkarna kan göra för att uppfylla kraven. Bilindustrin ställer i dag höga krav på sina underleverantörer. De ska kunna visa att de har dugliga processer och på de detaljer de levererar ska det inte finnas några kvalitetsbrister. För att säkerställa hög kvalité jobbar många företag med statistiska metoder där man med hög säkerhet kan visa att ens måttvariation skiftar inom ett litet intervall. Statistisk processstyrning (SPS) är ett hjälpmedel för att säkerhetsställa god kvalité. Genom regelbundna mätningar får man fram värden som man för in i ett styrdiagram. Med hjälp av detta styrdiagram, som består av en övre och en undre styrgräns, kan man avläsa när processen måste justeras. Bilindustrin kräver att deras underleverantörer har stabila processer. Detta kan man visa genom att ta fram ett korrigeradat maskinduglighetsvärde, Cpk. QS 9000 med dess Production Part Approval Process (PPAP), är den standard som har tagits fram av bilindustrin kräver att processerna ska ha ett Cpk som är större än 1,33 för att processen ska vara godkänd. HPAB har problem med detaljen Scuff Plate som är en detalj till Volvo XC90. Vid fyra olika tillfällen har maskinduglighetstest utförst på HPAB:s quintusspress. I rapporten kan man följa hur Cpk-värdet vid första observationen på 0,15 har ökat till 1,34 vid det fjärde testet. Att Cpk-värdet har ökat beror på att man ändrat inställningar mellan de olika observationstillfällena. Författarna har tagit fram en mall för hur HPAB, som mestadels tillverkar små volymer, ska hantera de krav som bilindustrin ställer vid både långa och korta serier.