<p>the construction of 6 high quality Houses for big families.</p>

the construction of 6 high quality Houses for big families.

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Ingenjörers arbete bygger ofta på teamarbete vilket ställer krav på deras förmåga till samarbete och kommunikation. Medvetenheten om kommunikationens betydelse för ingenjören och dennes arbetsprestation har framkommit i tidigare studier och även motivationens betydelse för förändrat beteende. Syftet med denna undersökning var att undersöka vad som skulle kunna hjälpa ingenjörer inom tillverkningsindustrin att utveckla sitt kommunikativa beteende gentemot sina kollegor. En enkät konstruerades och följdes upp med 4 intervjuer. Studien genomfördes på ett internationellt företag inom tillverkningsindustrin. Deltagarna utgjordes av 44 utvecklingsingenjörer där alla nyligen deltagit i en internutbildning som behandlade ämnet kommunikation. Undersökningen visade att ingenjörerna främst motiverades att göra kommunikativa förändringar som ökade deras arbetskvalitet och effektivitet, men att brist på tid påverkade möjligheterna att vidareutveckla samt införliva nya sätt att kommunicera i det dagliga arbetet. Företagets insatser i form av frigörande av tid, resurser samt tydliga mål framkom som viktiga förutsättningar för en kommunikativ beteendeförändring hos ingenjörerna.

Invertebrates influence primary productivity and nutrient cycling in ecosystems. They are also important links between producer and higher trophic levels. Despite their important role in terrestrial ecosystem function, invertebrates are frequently overlooked in ecological restorations. Thus, the objective of this research was to quantify how belowground macroinvertebrate ecosystem engineers and communities change over time following ecological restoration and examine whether the source of dominant plant species and the composition of non-dominant plant species influence aboveground macroinvertebrates community structure in restored prairie. A chronosequence design (space for time substitution) was used to determine the role of restoration age, plant community, and soil structure on the recovery of two belowground macroinvertebrate ecosystem engineers (Chapter 2). Ants and earthworms were sampled from cultivated fields, grasslands restored for 1-21 years, and native prairie. Earthworm abundance increased with time since cessation of cultivation, concomitant with prairie establishment. The abundance and biomass of ants were more related to the structure of restored plant communities than time since restoration. The dominance of exotic earthworms, and a generalist ant species in these restorations, coupled with their known capacity to alter soil properties and processes, may represent novel conditions for grassland development. The same chronosequence of agricultural fields, restored prairies, and prairies that were never cultivated was used to address the second objective of this research, which was to quantify how the belowground macroinvertebrate community composition changed in response to ecological restoration and whether the communities became representative of undisturbed (“target”) communities. Macroinvertebrate communities in the two remnant prairie sampled were distinct from restorations and continuouslycultivated fields. The macroinvertebrate communities in prairie that had never been cultivated were also distince from each other, indicating a “target” community is hard to define. Belowground macroinvertebrates changed in a trajectory that was not representative of either remnant prairie, but was representative of the an average of both remnant prairies. Thus, if you reconstruct prairie from cultivated soil conditions (“build it”), macroinvertebrates will colonize (“come”), but attaining a community representative of a specific target may require introduction from that target. Colonization of macroinvertebrates in restorations aboveground are most likely to be influenced by aspects of the plant community. A third objective of this research was to quantify whether variation in dominant species (cultivars vs. local ecotypes) and composition of subordinate species (local species pools) influence the composition of aboveground macroinvertebrates. Macronvertebrate abundance, richness, diversity, trophic groups and community composition in late summer did not vary between prairie restored with cultivar and local ecotypes of the dominant grasses. This was observed in two field experiments. The species pool treatment did influence the macroinvertebrate community, as one species pool had slightly higher morphospecies diversity and hymenopterans that the other two species pools. This was likely due to the presence of an ant-tended legume, Chamaecrista facsciculata Michx., in one species pool. Overall, this research demonstrates that time since the cessation of disturbance (cultivatation) and plant communities influence macroinvertebrate communities in restored prairie. Restored prairies in the Midwest are likely to be colonized by exotic earthworms and cosmopolitan ants. More research is needed to reveal how they influence ecosystem functioning.Belowground, macroinvertebrate communities may not represent restoration “targets” and these “targets” may be hard to define if remnants are rare or there is a high degree of spatial variation on the landscape. Variation in plant communities above ground appears to influence the structure of aboveground macroinvertebrate communities more than variation within dominant species. Whether this aboveground variation is reflected is reflected belowground deserves further investigation.

Low species diversity in the Arctic promotes strong food-web linkages, as changes in abundance of one species may influence many others. Using harvest records, I determined Arctic fox populations are declining in their southern distributional range due to shallower snow potentially limiting density of lemmings, their primary prey, which live and breed beneath snow. Additionally, warm fall and spring temperatures are shortening access to alternative prey, seals on sea ice. Arctic foxes also influence other species through non-trophic interactions, as lemming winter nests were found on 70% of fox dens examined. I determined warmer subnivean temperatures promoted by accumulation of thick snow leeward of tall vegetation on dens attracted lemmings to these dens. Furthermore, lemming reproduction was higher dens compared to traditional lemming habitat. This research highlights the impact of climatic variables on Arctic predator-prey interactions and the importance of understanding impacts of trophic and non-trophic interactions on species demographics. / February 2017

This thesis explores the research gaps identified from a systematic literature review on the topic of mass personalisation, an emerging field of the enquiry. This research examines the strategic considerations Companies make when pursuing mass personalisation, using a case study methodology and semi structured interviews. This thesis contributes to the theoretical boundary of mass customisation (MC) and mass personalisation (MPer) positioning the contingent supply chain components from Cooper et al. (1997) and Lampel et al. (1996) in a synthesised framework. This research also contributes a taxonomy of the literature and a conceptual model. Practical contributions include the understanding of strategic supply chain management and mass personalisation, through an empirical case study of four organisation. Large corporations with infrastructure that already support MC do indeed make different strategic considerations relating to the technical competency of the workforce, product architecture, and acquisition of advanced manufacturing technology when their stated aim is personalisation. The research finds that the pursuit of personalisation is markedly different from the individualisation promised by mass customisation. Large organisations that are seeking to personalise products from a mass customisation background, retain the economies of scale associated with MC. These Companies leverage their infrastructure for personalised products, however, this does not have to be the case, and in fact, the organisation's size before pursuing MPer and their product complexity are critical factors for the organisation's reliance on MC economies of scale. Typically these companies are the first foray into MPer and are considered risky ventures. The research concluded that mass personalisation, distinct from the individualisation found in MC literature, is in its infancy and as such may look very different in the near-future. The conclusions of this thesis support the possibility for further empirical validation of the role organisation size and current product variety play in the type of MPer pursued.

This study focused on the culture of engineering education, a culture which has been characterised internationally as reflecting masculine attitudes, values and norms of behaviour, thereby reinforcing the current under-representation of women. The goal of the study was to define the dimensions of the culture and the associated processes of enculturation, highlighting the interaction of these with gender. Following a review of relevant literature, research questions were formulated. These were addressed through an interpretive case study undertaken at a multidisciplinary School of Engineering in a New Zealand university. The study used predominantly ethnographic methods of data collection. To guide the analysis, a model was developed based on Schein's (1985) theoretical framework. The first level of the model involved the identification of observable manifestations of the culture (grouped as Artefacts, Practices and Behaviours). At the second level, shared values and cultural norms were induced from the observable manifestations. At the third level, the essence of the engineering education culture was distilled from these values and norms, in the form of seven cultural dimensions. At each level of the analysis the explicit and tacit processes of enculturation, especially in relation to gender, were considered. This research exposed the masculinity of the basic beliefs and assumptions at the core of the disciplinary culture, revealing the source of enduring cultural norms and their manifestations in behaviours and practices. Diverse forms of masculinity were evident, especially within sub-disciplinary subcultures, but all were constructed in opposition to perceptions of femininity. Participants in the study (whether male, female, students or staff) perceived women in engineering as different, not only to men, but to other women. / The women students appeared to construct for themselves a dual identity. They selectively incorporated in this identity both stereotypically masculine and stereotypically feminine qualities, in accordance with their perceptions of simultaneously "doing woman" and "doing engineer". The theoretical significance of this study lies in its provision of an accessible framework for cultural analysis by engineering educators and equity advocates. The framework facilitates exposure of the source of observable behaviours and practices in the unconsciously held beliefs and assumptions at the core of the culture of an institution or discipline. The practical significance lies in its potential to provide a base for developing strategies for cultural change advantageous to the participation of women. The findings of this thesis strongly suggest that such strategies must focus on disrupting the current dualities in language and discourse which implicitly construct women as different, deficient and therefore disadvantaged in engineering education. In particular strategies need to expose behaviours and practices to critical reflection by staff and students, making explicit the values and assumptions which underpin them. Further, while maintaining those features which are the strength of engineering education, there is a need to also include and value ways of knowing and learning styles from outside the current disciplinary and gendered boundaries.

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