Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Constructive feedback'

Although academic writing skills are central in the core content of the Swedish nationalcurriculum for English, Swedish upper-secondary school pupils struggle withcomposing academic texts. Both international and national research have formulatedseveral models for effectively constructing ESL (English as a second language)academic writing modules. However, these models in the school are often notimplemented or misinterpreted in the Swedish school. Therefore, to find a best practiceexample that can be implemented in the English upper-secondary classroom, this studyinvestigates the research-based design of a beginner ESL academic writing course atMalmö University with focus on constructive alignment and instructor feedback. Thedata included three data sets: i) lectures and other course materials, ii) ten studentpapers across three drafts, 30 draft submissions in total, and iii) instructor feedback onthe first two drafts. All data was subjected to different types of content analysis. Afeedback classification system synthesized from previous research was specificallydeveloped for the data analysis of instructor feedback. The main findings were that theacademic writing course investigated was in-fact constructively aligned providing thestudents with qualitative academic writing instruction; therefore, it may arguably serveas a model for academic writing interventions also in the school. Furthermore, themulti-dimensional feedback classification system developed for this study may guideeducators’ reflection over their feedback practices.

How can we learn from our mistakes if we’re unaware they exist? Past research has proposed that teachers’ preconceptions guide interactions with their students. Consequently, we believe negative stereotypes might lead evaluators to provide biased feedback to stigmatized students, particularly when they are giving this feedback directly to the students. The present research sought to distinguish whether non-stigmatized evaluators over-represent positive feedback or under-represent negative feedback on minority writing. We also explored the role of prejudice and motivations to control it, and a desire to protect stigmatized students as possible predictors of these biases. Across two studies, participants highlighted instances of good/bad writing in essays purportedly written by a White or a minority student (Study 1: Aboriginal; Study 2: Black). Results showed that although participants provided equivalent gestalt evaluations and positive feedback to both authors, they provided less negative feedback overall to a minority student author (Study 2). Furthermore, this feedback withholding bias was strongest among evaluators who were externally but not internally motivated to control their biases (Studies 1 & 2). Participants with these motivations also provided inflated global appraisals of minority student writing in an effort to maintain consistency after withholding negative feedback. These findings suggest that stigmatized students might sometimes fail to receive the criticism necessary to identify areas needing improvement, particularly when evaluators are concerned about appearing prejudiced. Implications for minority student motivation, learning and performance will be discussed. Potential future directions are suggested for reducing the feedback withholding bias via practical interventions.

Process skills such as problem solving, critical thinking, information processing, teamwork, and communication are important for student success in their coursework and eventually the workplace, but these skills are not always explicitly taught or assessed in undergraduate courses. These skills should be assessed in order to identify areas for student improvement and because assessment practices can provide clear goals to students. However, my analysis of the current literature suggests that instructors do not have the tools necessary to effectively assess and provide feedback on these skills, particularly in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) undergraduate courses. To meet this need of assessing and providing feedback to students, rubrics and other instructional resources have been developed to assess process skills as part of the Enhancing Learning by Improving Process Skills in STEM (ELIPSS) Project. Surveys and interview data indicated that the rubrics were practical for instructors to use to provide feedback to students, represented all relevant aspects of the skills, measured the processes that students used when completing tasks, and could be reliably used by multiple raters. During rubric development, the resources were propagated to the STEM instructor community, and the effectiveness of the propagation methods were examined. The highest rates of adoption resulted from hearing about the rubrics from a colleague or attending a presentation about the rubrics. Additionally, running the ELIPSS workshops and creating the ELIPSS website that people found from searching the internet each led to moderate adoption rates. These results support the idea that a multifaceted propagation strategy may be most effective for researchers who are developing assessment tools. When studying the ways in which STEM instructors were implementing the ELIPSS rubrics, it was found that the instructors each developed different strategies that suited their intended learning outcomes and instructional environments by assessing and providing feedback to students in a variety of ways. Instructors with different class sizes, course levels, online course management systems, and access to teaching assistants all adapted the rubric implementation strategy to fit their unique classroom environments. Multiple instructors reported that they were better able to articulate professional skill expectations to their students through the use of the rubrics. Additionally, they were more aware of how their students interacted with one another in groups after using the interaction rubrics. These results indicate that ELIPSS rubrics can encourage more reflective practice in undergraduate instructors by providing them with more information about their students that can be used to modify their teaching methods. Further work was done to examine how students developed process skills in a first-year chemistry laboratory course. Students in a first-year chemistry laboratory course used the ELIPSS rubrics to assess their own process skills, and they were also assessed by a teaching assistant. Additionally, students reported their understanding of process skills and their perceived improvements over the course of the semester. The results suggest that students understand interpersonal process skills such as teamwork and communication better than they understand cognitive process skills such as critical thinking and information processing. While the evidence further suggests that students improved their process skills, and students reported that they improved their process skills, the students showed inconsistent abilities to self-assess and provide justification for their assessment using rubrics.

Der vorliegende Beitrag beleuchtet als Teil eines Blended-Learning Ansatzes vorrangig den Einsatz von Live-Umfragen (ARS – Audience Responce Systems) im Vorlesungsrahmen. Gerade naturwissenschaftlich geprägte Studiengänge (hier die Fachrichtung Physik) sind häufig durch Frontalunterricht geprägt. Das maßgebliche Ziel des Projektes war es, das Format durch gezielte Einbindung der Studierenden aufzulockern und die Diskussionskultur in der Lehrveranstaltung zu stärken. Einhergehend mit der Aktivierung erhalten die Lernenden eine unmittelbare Rückmeldung zu ihrem Wissensstand und die/ der Lehrende ein Feedback zu möglichen Wissenslücken. Die Live-Umfragen fanden über die Online- Plattform invote.de in Form von Single-Choice-Fragen statt. Erweitert wurde dieser Ansatz, indem diese Inhalte ebenfalls für eine asynchrone Wissensvermittlung im Lernmanagement-System (LMS) Moodle implementiert und mit Feedback flankiert wurden. Dies führte im Vergleich zu früheren Iterationen der Lehrveranstaltung zu einem höheren Aktivitätslevel des Plenums und fachlich fundierten Diskussionen. In Evaluationen zum Ende des Semesters sowie in persönlichen Gesprächen mit den Studierenden, wurde der Einsatz der Fragen in synchroner sowie asynchroner Form explizit als Zugewinn für die Qualität der Lehrveranstaltung herausgestellt.

Proseminar- und Seminarmodule für Studierende bilden das wissenschaftliche Arbeiten oftmals nicht umfassend ab. Zudem besteht die Herausforderung, dass Studierende heterogene Wissensstände aufweisen, häufig geringes Interesse an ihren Seminarthemen zeigen und gelernte Inhalte nach Abschluss eines Seminars meist nicht mehr präsent sind. Daher war es das Ziel des hochschulübergreifenden Projektes KoSemKo, Studierenden mit dem Schwerpunkt Marketing die Möglichkeit zu geben, interessante Ergebnisse, die sie im Rahmen ihrer Seminararbeiten selbst entwickeln, in einer professionellen Konferenz- Atmosphäre zu präsentieren. Studierende sammeln dadurch nicht nur Erfahrung im wissenschaftlichen Schreiben, sondern schlüpfen gleichzeitig bei der Durchführung eines Peer-Reviews in die Rolle der Gutachter_innen und auf der Konferenz in die Rollen der Vortragenden und Teilnehmer_innen. Durch das Einnehmen dieser verschiedenen Perspektiven setzen sich die Studierenden kritisch und tiefer greifend mit ihren Themen auseinander. Dadurch wird zudem die Motivation gesteigert und gleichzeitig die inhaltliche sowie wissenschaftlich/methodische Komponente der Proseminar- und Seminararbeiten verbessert. Ein im Rahmen des Projektes entwickeltes Online-Lernmodul zum wissenschaftlichen Arbeiten unterstützt den Lernprozess der Studierenden und dient im Nachgang der Verstetigung des Gelernten. Das Projekt wurde von der Fachgruppe Marketing der Westsächsischen Hochschule Zwickau sowie der Professur Marketing und Internationaler Handel der Technischen Universität Bergakademie Freiberg realisiert.

Defining the difference between successful and mediocre leaders is a quest that has attracted many renowned scholars, drawing vast amounts of research effort. Yet while there are excellent theoretical explanations of what leaders should do: exhibit transformational behaviours, demonstrate authenticity, build productive relationships with followers and so on; there is still a scarcity of empirically-based research advising practicing leaders how to do these things. This study seeks to provide guidance about the fine-grained processes that effective leaders use on a daily basis to undertake the core process of all leadership activity; influencing followers. Using a grounded research approach, this study employs qualitative methods to capture the detail of effective leader behaviour and the micro-level influence processes that leaders use to create effective follower outcomes. Conducted in the health services industry with medical and allied health leaders, the study sought to answer the question: What influence methods might effective, contemporary leaders be using? The study builds on existing influence research, seeking to extend and update the typology of 11 influence tactics originally developed by Yukl and others, and which has been static since the late 1990s. Eight new influence tactics were identified, offering practicing leaders a powerful suite of potential strategies and representing a significant contribution to the field. Further research is recommended to confirm the identified influence constructs and test the generalisability of these findings to broader leader populations in health organisations and other knowledge-based organisations.

This project examines user-generated health narratives through corpus analysis of 246 reviews posted on Midwestern Hospital’s Yelp page. Understanding how different stakeholders act and interact within online health communities models a shift in new conceptions of health, and provides evidence of health ecologies’ ability to determine patient perceptions of care. Documents produced by users in these health communities represent health narratives comprised of a user’s health experience, that user’s treatment perceptions, and the community’s perceptions of the user’s experience. Author uses corpus methods to interpret user trace data and rhetorical moves embedded in health narratives. Findings suggest that users who interact with the Yelp community produce different health narratives than less engaged users. Understanding how different stakeholders act and interact within online health communities models a shift in new conceptions of health, and provides evidence of health ecologies’ ability to determine patient perceptions of care.

Detta examensarbete har utförts i samarbete med företaget Erfator Projektledning AB och syftar till att belysa och undersöka hur erfarenhetsåterföringen mellan olika aktörer fungerar inom byggbranschen idag. Arbetet bygger främst på ett dussintal kvalitativa intervjuer och faktainsamling som har inhämtats via facklitteratur i form av böcker och från internet. Respondenterna har representerat sju olika arbetsroller för att författarna ska få en god informationsgrund. Arbetet har visat att många företag har tydliga och fungerande system för den interna erfarenhetsåterföringen. Men att den externa erfarenhetsåterföringen är bristfällig och det är något som saknas av de flesta aktörerna inom byggbranschen. Att belysa hur erfarenhetsåterföringen fungerar idag har varit i förgrunden och lösningar till problemet har legat i bakgrunden av arbetet med denna rapport.  Som avslutning i rapporten har författarna rekommenderat olika förslag på hur man skulle kunna arbeta för en förbättring på problemet.
The degree project report has been carried out in cooperation with the company Erfator and aims to highlight and examine how the experience feedback between the different actors working in the construction industry looks today. The degree project is mainly based on dozen qualitative interviews. Other facts have been obtained through the literature in the form of books and from the Internet. To get a good information base the respondents represented six different job roles. The studies have showed that many companies have clear and effective system of internal experience feedback. But the external experience feedback is deficient and is lacking from a lot of actors in the construction industry. To illustrate how the experience feedback work today has been the main focus of the report. In conclusion, the report authors recommended a number of different suggestions how to work for the improvement of the problem.

Little empirical work has been conducted on workplace practices in university settings. Meanwhile, the impact of feedback on changing consumption patterns has been mainly studied through individualistic approaches. The academic workplace with its variety of users offers a setting that could provide a range of insights as to how practices form and change under the impact of efficiency interventions and, in turn, how relevant policies could be formed. This research looks at workplace practices related to the regulation of indoor temperature and the use of office equipment. It examines the potential of reducing energy usage in the workplace through a case study on the understanding of and interventions in practices using consumption feedback. A framework based on social practice theory is applied where daily practices are configured by routines, technologies, knowledge and meanings. The research takes place in a UK university building, where the provision of real-time consumption feedback through a display is employed to raise energy awareness. It follows a case study approach featuring three different office typologies and associated user groups: the shared, enclosed administrative office; the PhD open-plan office, and the post-doctoral cellular office. The study begins with an examination of the thermal characteristics and comfort preferences in the case study offices. It then examines how users shape their practices in the workplace. Finally, it observes the impact of feedback through real-time displays on the reduction of energy consumption. A mixed methods approach is employed combining qualitative and quantitative data. Semi- structured interviews and on-site observations are cross-related to environmental conditions monitoring, electricity audits and thermal comfort diaries. Data collection takes place in two phases— (February 2014 and July 2014) —to capture differences in practices between the winter and summer as well as before and after the installation of real-time displays. By exploring the empirical evidence through a practice theory framework, this research shows how social dynamics, the difference between the notion of comfort at home and work, and striving for productivity can prefigure ‘passive’ thermal comfort practices in the workplace. The real-time displays did not trigger change despite the fact electricity audits revealed a savings potential related to high standby use. The inadequacy of building maintenance structures, significant installation delays and the type of projected information were the main factors restricting change. The use of a practice approach advanced the understanding as to why it is so difficult to save energy at work and use feedback as a successful intervention. The combination of qualitative enquiry and energy audits meanwhile indicated the potential source of savings.

Syftet med studien har varit att undersöka om kulturen och arbetet med feedback fungerar på ett tillfredsställande sätt mellantjänstemän inom byggproduktion. Om inte, ge förslag och rekommendationer påutveckling inom området. Genom kvantitativa enkätundersökningar har vi granskat dagsläget av feedbackkulturen på tre pågående byggprojekt i Stockholmsregionen. Vi har även genomfört semi-strukturerade kvalitativa intervjuer med projektens chefer och utifrån det framtagna enkätunderlaget reflekterat över resultatet. Resultaten från enkätundersökningen och intervjuerna har sedan ställts mot rapportens teoretiska referensram och analyserats. Det finns ett behov av mer feedback i de tre projektensom har undersökts. Slutsatserna av resultaten är att bristerna i feedbacksystemet finns inom hur atmosfären upplevs i projekten, vilken typ av feedback som praktiseras och frekvensen mellan feedbackutbytena. Positivtbidragande områden är ledarskap från chefer, resurser som ges av företaget och förtroendet mellan kollegor.
The   purpose of this study was to examine if the culture and the practice of   feedback works in a satisfactory manner between officials within the field of   construction. If not, make suggestions and recommendations on further   development within the area. Through the quantitative survey data, we examined the current situation of the   feedback culture in three ongoing construction projects in the Stockholm region. We also conducted qualitative semi-structured interviews with project managers based on the result from the questionnaire. The results from the questionnaire survey and the interviews were then set ​​against the report's theoretical framework and analyzed. There is a need for more feedback in the three projects that have been investigated. The conclusions that can be drawn from the results are that the shortcomings of the feedback system can be found in the atmosphere experienced on the   projects, the type of feedback that is practiced and the frequency between the exchanges of feedback. Positively contributing areas are the leadership from managers, resources given by the company and the trust between colleagues.

This habilitation introduces the question-learn-test-feedback pattern that resulted from a series of investigations in the domains of software testing and modular software construction. The contributions to these fields are of various natures, but are all fundamentally related through two major assumptions: software construction paradigms have to constantly evolve in order to deal with the increasingly complex requirements that software-intensive systems have to meet; a tester's perspective can support this evolution through the development of effective testing techniques and new empirical knowledge about these paradigms. Abstraction, modularity and separation of concerns have been advocated as key factors for rigorous software engineering for a long time. These principles have been incarnated by various software construction paradigms such as object-oriented programming and design, model-driven development and aspect-oriented modeling. These paradigms evolve in order to deal with the increasing number of heterogeneous requirements, the large number of variations and the need for adaptation that software-intensive systems have to integrate. The work presented here is about the integration of effective testing techniques in these paradigms and how this led us towards a more precise understanding of these paradigms. A major discovery in our work is that we could follow a systematic pattern when investigating these paradigms to integrate error detection capabilities. First, we have to question these paradigms about the new assumptions they introduce on software systems. When answering these questions we can can perform the following actions: learn through rigorous evaluation of hypotheses about these paradigms; test software systems developed in these new paradigms; provide feedback to the paradigms in the form of new construction techniques that improve testability. We capture these four facets for the investigation of software construction paradigms in the question-learn-test-feedback pattern (QLTF). This habilitation reports on investigations in three software construction techniques: object-oriented programming and design, aspect-oriented programming, model transformations. Each investigation is synthesized around the question-learn-test-feedback pattern.

Current attempts to answer the questions of how learning can be nurtured within projects; and, how it can be shared within the supply chain make a conscious stance in support of one of two seemingly conflicting perspectives. These are; a first generation knowledge management systems perspective, or a second generation socialisation perspective. This study shrewdly identifies that to categorically anchor to simply one perspective is fundamentally flawed. It is a strategy which regards each as mutually exclusive and therefore negates the advantages of its opposition. Each perspective is suited to differing needs. A first generation perspective satisfies the desire of organisations to create a tangible representation of their knowledge base. However, purely focusing on this need ignores the requirement of socialisation, which is essential for effective tacit knowledge transfer. This has astutely been identified as causing cycles of disillusionment due to its inevitable inability to perform effective knowledge sharing. In comparison, a purely second generation approach fails to satisfy the desire to produce a tangible resource base, which thus reduces the incentives for organisations to provide vital socialisation opportunities. It has been widely acknowledged that learning within projects is needed to make strides towards continuous improvement. If this is not the case, the industry will continue to repeat flawed practices or continuously reinvent solutions unnecessarily. This is resulting in significant inefficiencies within the industry, reduced quality outputs and supplying reduced value. Furthermore, it is not simply the case that learning within individual phases of the construction lifecycle, or within organisations will realise these benefits. For true efficiency benefits to be realised, knowledge and learning from projects has to be shared throughout the supply chain. This research s contribution has been established through the development of a feedback framework predominantly between construction and design teams throughout a project s lifecycle. The framework provides the capability to transfer lessons to not only individual organisations, but across organisational boundaries also. It seeks to improve internal knowledge management through incorporating critical facets such as live capture, multimedia formats and the ability to network with other knowledge owners/seekers. Accordingly, this project has made a significant theoretical contribution through identifying the ability and need to combine first and second generation knowledge management perspectives.

Identity influences the practice of English language teachers and supervisors, their professional development and their ability to incorporate innovation and change. Talk during post observation feedback meetings provides participants with opportunities to articulate, construct, verify, contest and negotiate identities, processes which often engender issues of face. This study examines the construction and negotiation of identity and face in post observation feedback meetings between in-service English language teachers and supervisors at a tertiary institution in the United Arab Emirates. Within a linguistic ethnography framework, this study combined linguistic microanalysis of audio recorded feedback meetings with ethnographic data gathered from participant researcher knowledge, pre-analysis interviews and post-analysis participant interpretation interviews. Through a detailed, empirical description of situated ‘real life’ institutional talk, this study shows that supervisors construct identities involving authority, power, expertise, knowledge and experience while teachers index identities involving experience, knowledge and reflection. As well as these positive valued identities, other negative, disvalued identities are constructed. Identities are shown to be discursively claimed, verified, contested and negotiated through linguistic actions. This study also shows a link between identity and face. Analysis demonstrates that identity claims verified by an interactional partner can lead to face maintenance or support. However, a contested identity claim can lead to face threat which is usually managed by facework. Face, like identity, is found to be interactionally achieved and endogenous to situated discourse. Teachers and supervisors frequently risk face threat to protect their own identities, to contest their interactional partner’s identities or to achieve the feedback meeting goal i.e. improved teaching. Both identity and face are found to be consequential to feedback talk and therefore influence teacher development, teacher/supervisor relationships and the acceptance of feedback. Analysis highlights the evaluative and conforming nature of feedback in this context which may be hindering opportunities for teacher development.

This dissertation takes a three-article approach in which the literature from public administration, political psychology and sociology is synthesized around student veterans as a new phenomenon in higher education and public policy. By examining student veterans through the Social Construction of Target Populations (SCTP) framework, these articles contribute to the theoretical understanding of how social identity at the group and individual levels impact a target population's understanding of and reaction to a policy that does not always align with the policy-makers' intent. Because the current SCTP literature has focused on how policy-makers construct target populations and the practices they use to mitigate any negative effects of policy feedback, these articles offer a new perspective by applying symbolic interactionism as a method for capturing the two-way interaction between the target population and the policy's intent. The articles focus on the policy feedback mechanism in the SCTP framework to explain why and how policies shape the identities of target populations, and how they in turn, engage in the policy process by first presenting student veterans as a new social concept, then presenting a case study of how an organization that represents student veterans achieved policy change, and finally, interviewing veterans, revealing that their individual interpretation of the policy is not always representative of the student veteran identity as constructed by policy-makers and advocates.
Doctor of Philosophy

I dagens upphandlingar av projekt konkurrerar byggföretag både om att bygga billigt men också om att bygga snabbt. Därför är god byggbarhet viktigt för en effektiv planering. För att utföra ett byggprojekt gäller det att alla delar i ett projekt samverkar. Alla människor i ett projekt sitter på erfarenheter som kan hjälpa för att undvika att misstag upprepas. Erfarenheter och kunskap är informationhållare som bör spridas mellan alla aktörer i ett projekt för en god byggbarhet och planering. Att utvärdera vad som går bra men också mindre bra är viktigt för förbättringsarbete av arbetsmoment och processer. Arbetets studie är att granska följande delar på några projekt hos Skanska Sverige Hus Stockholm. • Granska hur erfarenhetsåterföring används för att förbättra byggbarhet och planering inom kommersiell byggproduktion. • Granska hur organisatoriskt lärande och erfarenhetsåterföring sker mellan strategisk nivå till operationell nivå. • Granska hur olika former för organisatoriskt lärande mellan projekt kan utvecklas för god byggbarhet och planering. Fokus ligger på yrkesarbetarna, grunden i ett byggföretaget, som ofta inte sitter i beslutsfattande positioner. Studien lyfter i vilka faktorer som främjas av organisatoriskt lärande och vad det innebär med kunskap både som individ och som en organisation. Med hjälp av erfarenheter kan en organisation växa. En organisation är uppbyggt av sina anställda och deras erfarenheter bör ses som en resurs. Byggbarhet beskrivs vara det element som kan effektiviserar projekt och kan förändras i tidigt skede genom att få in erfarenheter om fungerande eller inte fungerande arbetsmoment eller byggnadsmaterial. De personer som sitter på denna kunskap är dem som praktiskt arbetar med det varje dag, det vill säga yrkesarbetarna. I dagsläget är det ofta projektledningens olika medlemmar som tar beslut på egen hand, utan en praktisk kunskap. Detta framkommer i både observationerna och intervjuerna. Projektledningen har en begränsad praktisk kunskap och yrkesarbetarna känner ett utanförskap. Yrkesarbetarna har åsikter men de vet inte vem de ska vända sig till. I vissa fall antar yrkesarbetarna att ingen bryr sig om deras åsikter ändå. Det är en tråkig inställning som tyder att det organisatoriska lärandet inte märks av i organisationens grund. Däremot säger organisationens mål och visioner att arbete för att dela erfarenheter är viktigt. Detta arbete mot organisationens mål sker till största del bara på strategisk nivå och har inte nått till yrkesarbetarna på operationell nivå. Resultates grundstenar i detta arbete är att börja prata och lyssna på varandra. För att förstå varandra behövs information och erfarenheter spridas mellan alla anställda i organisationen. Studien visar att det behövs strukturella medel för spridning av information, dokumentation och implementering. Det måste visas från organisationens strategiska sida att all kunskap är lika värd och alla bör känna att deras erfarenhet är viktig. I dagsläget har den operationella nivån svårt att veta hur den kan påverka och resultaten visar tydligt att YA har liten påverkan i beslut för bättre byggbarhet och planering

Thesis advisor: Vidya Madhavan
Three projects have been undertaken during the design and the construction of a scanning tunneling microscope. The first project focuses on a method of testing the movement of piezoelectric ceramics by means of a modified Michelson interferometer. These tests determine the magnitude and the direction of motion on the scale of a few angstroms. These piezos are then used in moving the tip of the STM. The second project concerned the design of a surface analysis chamber to be used for thin film depositions. This chamber will operate at UHV levels and will produce samples to be examined by the STM. The final project dealt with the construction and testing of a feedback loop to be used in the e-beam heater during thin film depositions. This box monitors the current between the sample and the source modifying the voltage across the filament to ensure the current between the two remains constant, ensuring a constant deposition rate
Thesis (BS) — Boston College, 2004
Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences
Discipline: Physics
Discipline: College Honors Program

Byggbranschen har blivit kritiserad för att vara en bransch där tidspress och underprioriterad syn på lärande varit ett hinder för erfarenhetsåterföring. Rapportens syfte är att objektivt studera erfarenhetsåterföring inom Midroc Entreprenad för att om möjligt utläsa huruvida önskad, kontra faktisk erfarenhetsåterföring sker idag samt ge förbättringsförlag. För att göra detta har en teoretisk grund lagts med utgångspunkt i litterära studier inom kunskapsöverföring, lärande och erfarenhetsåterföring. Analys är underbyggd i intervjuer och enkätundersökning utförda på Midroc Entreprenad. Det finns få direktiv för hur erfarenhetsåterföring bör genomföras bara att det ska göras efter avslutat projekt, vilket efterföljs. De lärdomar som diskuteras vid avslut förmedlas till stor del muntligt, därav har förslag till dokumentation och annan distribuering lagts fram. Eftersom byggprojekt fortlöper under långa tidsperioder bör mindre utvärderingar äga rum under entreprenaden för att tillvarata lärdomar som annars glöms bort. Denna feedback bör ges när den är aktuell, därav orimligt att ge korrekt sådan i senare skede. En vilja att påverka erfarenhetsåterföringen finns, men hinns inte riktigt med. Merparten av de anställda upplever en öppenhet inom organisationen och känner samhörighet med sina medarbetare. Detta stämmer väl överens med det som organisationen eftersträvar och är en förutsättning för lyckad erfarenhetsåterföring.
The construction industry has been criticised of being a trade where time pressure and a deprioritised view of learning is an obstacle for experience feedback. The purpose of this thesis is to present an objective survey of the experience feedback within Midroc Entreprenad to verify whether the experience feedback wanted is equal to the actual and to provide suggestion for improvement. To enable this, a theoretical study has been done on knowledge forwarding, learning and experience feedback. Interviews and questionnaire on Midroc Entreprenad have been used for the analysis of this thesis. There are few directives for the process of experience feedback on the company, only that it is to be done at the end of a project, which is fulfilled. The lessons learned that are discussed are mainly orally transferred, therefore a proposition for documenting and distributing these has been presented. There should be several evaluations during a building project due to its severe duration in time, to reduce the risk of lessons learned being forgotten. This feedback should be given instantaneously and proper feedback is therefore unreasonable to give at a later stage. There is a will to influence to the experience feedback, but time is not enough. A majority of the employees experience openness and belonging within the organisation. This concurs with what the organisation aims at and is a prerequisite to sustain successful experience feedback.

This thesis is a small scale qualitative study of the ways in which 151 and 3rd year undergraduates studying in a post 1992 British university and a group of academic staff from the same university construct the idea of good feedback on written work. The research was carried out using semi-structured interviews with individual participants which were audio recorded, transcribed and then analysed using NVivo 9. An extensive literature review was conducted which located the origins of feedback in behavioural psychology and systems engineering as well as in the field of cybernetics and second order cybernetics with its links to constructivist theories of learning. The work of Foucault is drawn on to provide an analytical framework which focuses on the themes of discourse, power, identity and emotion and these themes are tracked through the comments of the staff and student participants. What emerges from the data analysis is that whilst both staff and students have well established discourses relating to feedback there is significant divergence in relation to the themes of power and identity, which the staff attach considerable significance to and identity and emotions which the students see as important. The contrasting emphasis which the thematic analysis highlights are discussed in detail firstly in relation to the student perspectives and then that of the staff before a synthesis of both perspectives is provided. It is proposed that the solution to the problems inherent in such divergent views on feedback as those identified amongst the student and staff participants, lies in a greater use of dialogic forms of feedback in which knowledge and learning in relation to feedback is co-constructed by staff and students

Cooperation presents a major challenge for evolutionary theory: how can competition favor a trait that imposes a cost on the individual expressing it while benefitting another? This challenge has been answered by theory that emphasizes the importance of assortment between individuals that tend to cooperate and those who tend to behave selfishly, or `cheat'. Microbial cooperation remains puzzling, given the generally high genetic and taxonomic diversity of most microbial communities. Many microbial populations rely on shared, beneficial extracellular products for an array of functions in nature. However, when these lineages are maintained in liquid cultures, many are invaded and outcompeted by spontaneous `cheater' mutants that forego investments in these products while benefitting from those produced by neighbors. The apparent evolutionary instability of microbial investments in extracellular products in well-mixed laboratory cultures finds a natural parallel in the phenomenon of toxic microalgal blooms. These extremely dense populations of often free-living microalgae destroy populations of competing microalgae and grazing zooplankton that normally control population densities. Bloom populations of planktonic microalgae are unstructured, and seem ill suited for the evolution of cooperation. In this thesis, I have established a new theoretical framework for understanding the evolution of microbial external goods. This framework highlights the importance of cell-level structure in the distribution of these external products, as well as genetic structuring in populations. This perspective informed an investigation into the social niche of a biofilm-dwelling regulatory mutant of the important biocontrol strain Pseudomonas chlororaphis. In the highly self-structured environment of a bacterial biofilm, a surprising mutualistic association between this mutant and the wild type emerged, underscoring the importance of microbial ecology in understanding the evolution of niche construction. Extending these lessons to the evolutionary problem of exotoxins in free-swimming microalgae yields the novel possibility that fluctuations in density of toxic strains shift a cell-level functioning exotoxin into a true public good that may be exploited by cheaters. I show that exotoxicity can serve cell-level functions in Prymnesium parvum. Despite these cell-level benefits, the existence of nontoxic lineages within toxic blooms hints at a complex interaction between rapid evolutionary and ecological changes in toxic blooms.

In this doctoral dissertation, the author presents the theoretical foundation, the analysis and design of analog and RF circuits, the chip level implementation, and the experimental validation pertaining to a new radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC) power amplifier (PA) architecture that is intended for wireless portable transceivers.
A method called Gated Envelope Feedback is proposed to allow the automatic hardware reconfiguration of a stand-alone RFIC PA in multiple states for power efficiency improvement purposes. The method uses self-operating and fully integrated circuitry comprising RF power detection, switching and sequential logic, and RF envelope feedback in conjunction with a hardware gating function for triggering and activating current reduction mechanisms as a function of the transmitted RF power level. Because of the critical role that RFIC PA components occupy in modern wireless transceivers, and given the major impact that these components have on the overall RF performances and energy consumption in wireless transceivers, very significant benefits stem from the underlying innovations.
The method has been validated through the successful design of a 1.88GHz COMA RFIC PA with automatic hardware reconfiguration capability, using an industry renowned state-of-the-art GaAs HBT semiconductor process developed and owned by Skyworks Solutions, Inc., USA. The circuit techniques that have enabled the successful and full on-chip embodiment of the technique are analyzed in details. The IC implementation is discussed, and experimental results showing significant current reduction upon automatic hardware reconfiguration, gain regulation performances, and compliance with the stringent linearity requirements for COMA transmission demonstrate that the gated envelope feedback method is a viable and promising approach to automatic hardware reconfiguration of RFIC PA's for current reduction purposes. Moreover, in regard to on-chip integration of advanced PA control functions, it is demonstrated that the method is better positioning GaAs HBT technologies, which are known to offer very competitive RF performances but inherently have limited integration capabilities.
Finally, an analytical approach for the evaluation of inter-modulation distortion (IMD) in envelope feedback architectures is introduced, and the proposed design equations and methodology for IMD analysis may prove very helpful for theoretical analyses, for simulation tasks, and for experimental work.

Os métodos de avaliação do processo de projeto podem ser considerados fatores importantes para o sucesso do empreendimento e da organização, pois, por meio deles, torna-se possível medir o desempenho do processo e identificar seus pontos críticos, além de garantir subsídios à tomada de decisões fundamentadas. Dessa maneira, a avaliação do processo de projeto pode ser considerada uma das maneiras de conduzir as organizações a níveis mais elevados de competitividade,por meio da melhoria da eficiência do processo de desenvolvimento de projeto,melhor atendimento às necessidades dos clientes e melhoria contínua dos processos, serviços e produtos. As empresas, inclusive as de projeto de arquitetura,devem realizar avaliações e retroalimentações sistemáticas de seus processos. O principal objetivo desta pesquisa é identificar e discutir a eficiência e eficácia dos métodos empregados na avaliação do processo de projeto de arquitetura sob a ótica da gestão da qualidade, observando as interfaces entre todos os agentes participantes desse processo. Para alcançar os objetivos propostos foram realizadas pesquisas bibliográfica e documental sobre o tema, além de pesquisa de campo, que contemplou a realização de estudos de caso em quatro empresas de projeto de arquitetura e quatro empresas contratantes desse tipo de projeto, todas atuantes na região metropolitana de São Paulo. Como resultado, foi elaborada uma proposta inicial que consiste em uma lista de questões consideradas importantes para o desenvolvimento do processo de projeto de arquitetura com eficiência e qualidade, bem como as possíveis formas de avaliação que poderiam ser realizadas pelas empresas de arquitetura e seus clientes. Foi possível identificar e discutir a eficiência e a eficácia dos métodos e mecanismos de avaliação realmente propostos pelas empresas, a retroalimentação de informações como subsídio para a tomada de ações de melhoria e a contribuição dos resultados das avaliações e retroalimentações para o aumento de desempenho do processo de projeto.
The design process evaluation methods are important factors both to project and organization success. Through the evaluation methods it is possible to measure the performance of processes, to identify their critical points and bottlenecks, and besides to guarantee a better decision-making. Thus, the evaluation methods of design process can be considered a way to lead organizations to a high competitive level through the improvement of design process efficiency by means of a better meeting of clients needs and the continuous improvement of processes, services, and products. The design firms, including architectural design offices, have to evaluate and feedback their processes in a systematic way. The main objective of this work is to identify and discuss the efficiency and effectiveness of methods used in the evaluation of the architectural design process based on quality management concepts, and the relationships between designers and the other stakeholders involved in. Firstly, in order to develop this research, a literature review and documental studies were carried out. Then, a field research at São Paulo city was conducted throughout four case studies in architectural design firms and four case studies involving their clients. As result, it was elaborated an initial proposal including a list of the main points of the architectural design process that should be evaluated, as well as some possible evaluation methods that the design firms and their clients can use. It was possible to identify and discuss the efficiency and effectiveness of evaluation methods actually proposed, the information feedback and their contribution to increase the design process performance.

Syfte: Platsbyggd byggnadsproduktion är en komplicerad process. En tillfällig fabrik, med nya materialupplag och nytt arbetsplatsområde upprättas vid varje enskilt projekt, vilket komplicerar processen ytterligare. Materialhanteringen utgör en stor besparingsmöjlighet i byggnadsprojekt och 40 % av tiden som förloras på en byggarbetsplats kan tillskrivas materialhantering. För att få bukt med slöseri kopplat till materialhantering krävs en väl bearbetad logistikplanering, fungerande kommunikation samt kunskapsbeaktning från tidigare genomförda projekt. Studiens mål är därför att identifiera förbättringsåtgärder gällande användning av materialrutor och gångstråk, samt skapa en kommunikationsmodell för arbetsplatsdispositionsplanen (APD-planen) som stödjer erfarenhetsåterföring. Metod: Studien har utfört fallstudier på två projekt inom NCC:s organisation. Kvalitativ datainsamling i form av litteraturstudie, intervjuer, dokumentanalys och observation har använts. Semistrukturerade intervjuer har utförts och innefattar sju respondenter med olika befattningar inom byggbranschen. Resultat: Studien har tagit fram faktorer som bör beaktas vid planeringen av materialrutor och gångstråk. Vidare visar resultatet att det krävs resurser och strukturerade processer för att erfarenhetsåterföring i byggnadsprojekt skall fungera. För att lyckas med användningen av materialrutor och gångstråk krävs god kommunikation av APD-planen. I studien har även en kommunikationsmodell av APDplanen som stödjer erfarenhetsåterföring tagits fram. Konsekvenser: Det är under inköps- och leveransplaneringen som förutsättningarna för materialrutor och gångstråk sätts, därför bör APD-planen vara mer i fokus under detta skede. En förutsättning för att användningen av materialrutor och gångstråk skall fungera är att det finns resurser som stödjer platsledningen vid planering och utförandet. Genom att använda sig av logistikresurser inom organisationen underlättas planering och hantering av material på byggarbetsplatsen och insamlade erfarenheter kan förmedlas mellan projekt. Ute i produktionen bör det finnas en ansvarig godsmottagare som är extra insatt i APD-planen och materialrutor, genom kontinuerlig kommunikation med platsledning och logistikresurs. Begränsningar: Eftersom arbetet endast omfattar studie av två byggnadsprojekt finns det en begränsning i vilka faktorer och resonemang som lyfts fram. Även om resultatet grundas från två byggnadsprojekt är de grundläggande processerna och händelseförloppen vid uppförande av byggnader likartade och resultatet kan därför tillämpas på liknande byggnadsprojekt.
Purpose: On-site construction is a complicated process. A temporary factory, with new zones for materials and workplace area must be established for each new project, which complicates the process further. Material management stands for a big saving opportunity in building projects and 40 % of the time lost on a construction site can be attributed to material management.  To overcome this waste connected to material management a well-processed logistics planning, god communication as well as experience feedback from previous projects is required. The aim for this thesis is therefore to identify improvement measure regarding the use of material-dedicated buffer zones and walking paths, and as well as create a model of communication that supports experience feedback. Method The thesis is a case study on two projects within the organization of NCC.  A qualitative data collection with literature review, interviews, document analysis and observation has been conducted. Semi-structured interviews have been conducted and includes seven respondents with different position within the construction industry. Findings: The thesis has produced factors that should be taken into consideration when material zones and walking paths are planned. The result shows that resources and structured processes are required if experience feedback should work during the construction project. To succeed with the use of material-dedicated buffer zones and walking paths, good communication of the construction site plan is needed. Furthermore, the thesis has resulted in a model of communication that supports experience feedback.   Implications: It’s during the purchase and delivery planning that the conditions for the material-dedicated buffer zones and walking paths are set, therefore the construction site planning should be involved more in this phase. A prerequisite for using dedicated material zones and walking paths are resources which supports the construction management with planning and performance. By using logistic resources within the organization facilitates planning and management of material at the construction site, enables that collected experience can be conveyed between projects. In the production there should be a responsible receiver of material deliveries, who is extra briefed in the constructions site plan and the material-dedicated buffer zones through continuous communication with the construction management and logistic resource. Limitations: Since the thesis only includes two building projects, there is a limitation of the factors and arguments that are treated. Although the result is based on two building projects the fundamental processes and course of events are similar and can therefore be applied on other building projects.

Erfarenhetsåterföring (EF) leder till flera fördelar som ökat resultat och nöjdare kunder. Det traditionella byggandet saknar en metod och modell för erfarenhetsåterföring. Det industriella byggandet har kommit längre i arbetet med erfarenhetsåterföring men generellt finns det utrymme för en bättre erfarenhetsåterföring inom byggbranschen. Inom tillverkningsindustrin arbetas det framgångsrikt med erfarenhetsåterföring genom ständiga förbättringar och Lean. Studiens syfte var att undersöka hur industriella byggare och tillverkningsindustrin arbetar med erfarenhetsåterföring och hur det kan implementeras hos en traditionell byggentreprenör. Genom frågan vad som skapar en bra erfarenhetsåterföring var målet att utforma en modell för implementering av erfarenhetsåterföring hos målföretaget Contractor. För att få inblick har en litteraturstudie genomförts, samt intervjuer med branschföretag.  Studien visar att de industriella byggarna arbetar med dagliga möten och det finns en eller flera personer med ansvar för erfarenhetsåterföringen. Inom tillverkningsindustrin använder de inte begreppet erfarenhetsåterföring även fast syftet och målet är detsamma som hos byggsektorn; att förbättra och nå ett högre resultat. Därför kan begreppet erfarenhetsåterföring användas i båda branscher men tillverkningsindustrin arbetar mer systematiskt. De har en starkare kultur och ser ett större värde i arbetet eftersom det är högre prioriterat. Det som visat sig skapa en bra erfarenhetsåterföring är först och främst när företagsledningen har en tydlig strategi kopplat till erfarenhetsåterföring. Det ska finnas en person som driver arbetet med erfarenhetsåterföring, en koordinator som skapar ett dragande efter erfarenheter. Strukturering av arbetet sker genom kontinuerlig användning av pulsmöten där avvikelser, förbättringar och planering diskuteras. Motiverade medarbetade behövs för att lyfta avvikelser och erfarenheter, där feedback och insyn i resultatet är viktigt för motivationen att rapportera. Avslutningsvis kan implementeringen av EF-modellen ske i ett pilotprojekt där arbetssätt med pulsmöten testas i en mindre skala för att sedan utvärderas och testas igen, för att sedermera fastställas. Det fastställda arbetssättet kan sedan spridas till fler arbetslag och till sist hela organisationen, där efterfrågande ledarskap fortsatt är viktigt. Det måste ständigt arbetas med frågan kring erfarenhetsåterföring, annars är den inte viktig.
Experience feedback leads to several benefits such as increased results and more satisfied customers. Traditional construction lacks a method and model for experience feedback. Industrial construction has come a long way in the work with experience feedback, but in general there is room for a better experience feedback in the construction industry. In the manufacturing industry, they work successfully with experience feedback through continuous improvement and Lean.  The purpose of the study was to investigate how industrial builders and the manufacturing industry work with experience feedback and how it can be implemented with a traditional construction company. Through the question of what creates a good experience feedback, the goal was to design a model for implementing experience feedback at the target company Contractor. To gain insight, a literature study was conducted, as well as interviews with industry companies. The study shows that the industrial builders work with daily meetings and there is one or more people responsible for the feedback of experience. In the manufacturing industry, they do not use the concept of experience feedback even though the purpose and goal are the same as in the construction sector; to improve and achieve a higher result. Therefore, the concept of experience feedback can be used in both industries, but the manufacturing industry works more systematically. They have a stronger culture and see a greater value in the work because it is a higher priority.  What has been shown to create a good experience feedback is first and foremost when the company management has a clear strategy linked to experience feedback. There must be a person who drives the work with experience feedback, a coordinator who creates a desire for experience. Structuring of the work takes place through continuous use of pulse meetings where deviations, improvements and planning are discussed. Motivated employees are needed to highlight deviations and experiences, where feedback and transparency in the results is important for the motivation to report. Finally, the implementation of the EF model can take place in a pilot project where working methods with pulse meetings are tested on a smaller scale and then evaluated and tested again, to be determined later. The established way of working can then be spread to more work teams and finally the entire organization, where in-demand leadership remains important. The issue of experience feedback must be constantly worked on, otherwise it is not important.

Att bedöma hur mycket resurser man ska lägga på ett uppdrag är inte alltid lätt. Det finns åtskilliga metoder att på ett kvalificerat sätt ställa upp ett anbud och en prognos på vad uppdraget kommer att kosta, en av dessa metoder är erfarenhetsåterkoppling. Med hjälp av erfarenhetsåterkoppling finns det möjlighet att lokalisera nyckeltal som är utslagsgivande för anbudsprocessen. Dessa nyckeltal är givande att känna till innan anbudet läggs fram för att veta om uppdraget är lönsamt i den nuvarande formen eller behöver justeras. För entreprenörer finns det hjälpmedel som till exempel ÅF:s lilla prisbok, men för konsulter så saknas till viss del hjälpmedel. En del konsulter jobbar med individuell erfarenhetsåterkoppling men det krävs ofta några år i branschen för att skapa sig den erfarenhet som behövs. Dessutom har företagets övriga medarbetare sällan möjlighet att ta del av denna information på ett smidigt sätt. Syftet med examensarbetet var därför att sammanställa en erfarenhetsbank av tidigare färdigställda uppdrag och utveckla nyckeltal som kan användas till framtida anbudsförfrågningar. De frågeställningar som tagits fram för detta examensarbete var: · Vilka nyckeltal är relevanta för kommande anbud? · Finns det korrelation och samband mellan dessa nyckeltal samt hur påverkas nyckeltalen av parametrarna? · Vilken typ av uppdrag ger störst marginal, utifrån projekteringsfas, objekttyp, teknisk komplexitet och huruvida det var en om- eller nybyggnad? Examensarbetet behandlar erfarenhetsåterkoppling från ett konsultperspektiv inom projekteringsskedet i byggprocessen. De resultat som framtagits har gjorts med hjälp av Tyréns interna ekonomisystem och en enkätundersökning där uppdragsansvariga fick svara på frågor om sina uppdrag. Undersökningen resulterade i ett antal samband som visar på hur parametrar som objekttyp, teknisk komplexitet och bruttoarea påverkar uppdragets totala tid, marginal, mm. Dessutom utvecklades ett anbudsvektyg som kan användas som en indikation för kommande anbud. De slutsatser som kunnat göras i examensarbetet är bland annat att parametern tekniska komplexitet har en stor inverkan på tre av fyra nyckeltal marginal, total tid och TPR. För ekonomisk marginal hade varken objekttyper eller projekteringsfas lika stor inverkan på det den slutliga marginalen. Det visade sig även att om- och nybyggnation hade stor inverkan på de fyra nyckeltalen TPR, marginal, total tid och TPm2.
Determining how much time and resources ought to be committed on a certain project is not an easy task. There are several of different methods that can be used achieve a solid approximation for a tender, and one of these is by using experience feedback. It is possible, through the use of experience feedback, to construct key ratios based on previously completed project. These key ratios could then be of significant help in upcoming tender process. For estimating the construction cost, builders can use tools such as ÅF:s lilla prisbok. But these types of tools are not as common practice for the consultants planning the construction. This leads us to the purpose of this thesis, which is to collect and set up a database of previously completed projects and from this database develop key ratios that can be used in upcoming tenders. The questions posed by this report was: · Which key ratios are most relevant for upcoming tenders? · Are there any correlations and connections between these key ratios and how are these key ratios affected by the parameters? · Which type of project generates the greatest financial margin, based on design phase, the type of object that was designed, technical complexity and whether the project is a new construction or a reconstruction. This thesis looks at experience feedback from the perspective of a consultant firm working with the planning of buildings and infrastructure. All the results were collected through the use of Tyréns internal economy system as well as a survey were project leaders had to answer questions about the project that they had been in charge of. This investigation resulted in a number of correlations and connections that showed how certain parameters such as technical complexity affected the project total time, profit and so on. A tender approximation tool was created based on data gathered from previously finished projects. Finally, the conclusions that were drawn in this report was, among other things, that the level of technical complexity has a significant effect on three of the four key ratios analysed in this report. These three key ratios were financial margin, total time and time per design plan. The financial margin was not affected by neither the type of object that were designed nor the phase of the design process. The report also concludes that all four key ratios were considerably affected by whether the project is a new construction or a reconstruction.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Electrical and Computer Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2006.
Leach, William M., Committee Member ; Sills, James A., Committee Member ; Kenney, J. Stevenson, Committee Chair ; Zhou, G. Tong, Committee Co-Chair ; Fenney, Robert K., Committee Member.

Då litteraturen och forskningen är begränsad inom ämnet kundnytta i partneringprojekt, väcktes intresset att genomföra en empirisk studie om ämnet. Det har inte visat sig vara lämpligt att genomföra detta mot en specifik fråga eller ett problem då den befintliga informationen behandlar teori och tillämpningar av partnering, inte kundnytta. Med hänsyn till ovanstående problematik syftar denna uppsats till att beskriva hur olika parter, kopplade till partneringverksamhet i Sverige, upplever vilka arbetssätt och faktorer som maximerar kundnyttan i ett partneringprojekt. En kvalitativ metod där sex personer intervjuades, kopplade till partneringverksamhet i Sverige. Intervjuerna är semistrukturerade och anpassade till varje enskilt intervjuobjekt. De viktigaste slutsatserna som besvarar syftet är:  Förstå kundens affär  Välj ersättningsform baserat på grundlagt tillit och projekttyp  Alla parters samlade kunskaper ger rätt förutsättningar för beställaren att fatta rätt beslut  Avsaknad av gemensamma välutvecklade digitala hjälpmedel  Ta beslut i rätt tid  Referensytor och egenslutkontroller istället för besiktningsman
The literature and research is limited in the subject costumer value in partnering projects. This contributed to the interest to perform an empirical study on the topic. It has not been shown to be appropriate to implement this on a specific issue or problem, when the available information deals with the theory and applications of partnering, not customer value. Given the above problem this papers purpose is to describe how the various contractors and clients, associated with partnering activities in Sweden, experiencing the work and factors that maximize customer value in a partnering project. A qualitative method where six people were interviewed, related to partnering activities in Sweden. The interviews are semi-structured and adapted to each interviewee. The most important conclusions that answer the purpose are:  Understand the customers business  Choose a form of compensation based on founded trust and project type  All parties combined knowledge provides the right conditions for the customer to make the right decision  Lack of common well-developed digital tools  Make decisions at the right time  Reference Surfaces and own final checks instead third party inspector

This diploma thesis is dedicated to communication in construction industry. The theoretical part is focused on definition of the terms like management, manager, communication and feedback. The aim of this thesis is to find out which ways of communication are construction companies using for sharing information. Diploma thesis find out if the employees have possibility to express their opinions. The thesis is dedicated to communication with construction workers and communication problems with them. Hypothesis are mentioned firstly, then they have been verified by questionnaire and interview. The result of this thesis is verification of hypothesis, that the face-to-face meeting is still most popular way of communication in construction companies. The employees receives all necessary information in sufficient amount at right time. Informal communication is the most common. Communication with construction workers is very specific. At the end I mentioned recommendation to improving communication in construction companies.

Bridge and gantry cranes are crucially important elements in the industrial complex; they are used in many areas such as shipping, building construction, steel mills, and nuclear facilities, just to name a few. These types of systems tend to be highly flexible in nature, generally responding to commanded motion with oscillations of the payload and hook. The response of these systems to external disturbances, such as wind, is also oscillatory in nature. Often, the oscillations of the hook and payload have undesirable consequences. For instance, precise manipulation of payloads is difficult when cable sway is present. Oscillation of the hook can also present a safety hazard. For these reasons, the ability to successfully negate these detrimental dynamics can result in improved positioning, quicker settling time, and improved safety. This thesis addresses the dynamic properties of bridge and gantry cranes in an effort to develop a control scheme that enables strides to be made in these areas of positioning, efficiency, and safety. The fundamental advancement arising from this thesis is the development of a control scheme that enables precise positioning of the payload while motion and disturbance-induced oscillations are eliminated. A command generation technique uniquely suited for reducing oscillation in low-frequency flexible systems is examined and utilized in the control. The control scheme is implemented on a 10-ton bridge crane for validation purposes.

Many buildings in Sweden have some kind of moisture problem and the reason for this can in a lot of cases be attributed to the production phase. A suggested measure by Boverket is to increase feedback to reduce errors in the production phase. This study will therefore contribute to the experience feedback by describing the process of moisture safety during the production phase at Skanska’s construction of Alster’s preschool. The starting point for this study is a moisture survey carried out on Alster’s preschool. The result from the moisture survey suggests that the work with moisture safety has been successful during the construction of Alster’s preschool. The aim of this study is therefore to make Alster’s preschool into an object of reference regarding moisture safety during the production phase. The method involved a theoretical study of building components and materials used in the construction of Alster’s preschool and the moisture aspects that must be taken into account. The method also involved an examination of Skanska’s documents from the construction of Alster’s preschool, supplemented with verbal conversations with Skanska employees. The result describes the process of moisture safety during the production phase at Alster’s preschool. The description includes how the construction was built, material management, examinations that were carried out and the anomalies that occurred. One conclusion that was drawn regarding the applicability of Alster’s preschool as an object of reference is that some similarities should coincide with the new building. Similarities such as supporting structures of wood, meet the passive house standard, one floor construction, and that the building is constructed in a similar climate. Another conclusion that was drawn is that the work with moisture safety in the production phase always should strive to keep building moisture levels below critical numbers. A measure taken in the disposal to make this possible was to achieve a favorable climate regarding moisture in the building. But it is important to consider the required air tightness in the construction before the heating process starts in the building.

Abstract Purpose: Contractors usage of inspection data for the purpose of experience feedback in order to improve the production processes is unusual. The usual procedure with the usage of inspection protocols is to use them as a tool for correcting building errors discovered at the time of the inspection. This report highlights the opportunities and challenges regarding a computer aided inspection process by studying what different people in the industry think about these issues. The aim of the study is to present a proposal on the structure of a program that handles inspection data in the purpose of experience feedback and statistics. The structure shows an example on how the information from inspection statements can be sorted. Method: The authors conducted a case study of a company that works with offsite construction. The data collection was performed through semi structured interviews at the company the study focuses on and also on another company in the same industry. To be able to conduct the interviews in a satisfying way the authors conducted a document analysis of previous inspection protocols as well as a literature study through which the authors became acquainted with the current research frontier. Findings: The data collection with following analysis, among other findings, resulted in that a digital inspection process would make the categorization of errors standardised which in turn would lead to better usage of the information provided from inspections. It was also found that companies within the industry wants to use a digital tool for experience feedback. Especially for, but not limited to, the ability to get statistics over what areas in the business that need improvement. The result most closely related to the aim of the study is the points the authors believe should be included in a specification for a digital tool, for managing inspection protocols and using them for experience feedback. These points are: minimal changes by hand, easy to navigate, the ability to keep statistics over inspection findings and the possibility to adapt the structure of the digital to the specific company or inspector. Implications: The core of the problem that the report intends to investigate is the weaknesses in how industrial contractors use the information from inspections. The result indicate that a digital tool may be part of the solution. With such a tool developed, with above mentioned points in mind, many of the reoccurring errors found through inspections would be made visible through the easy access of statistics. In this way companies that uses a tool like this would have an easier time to introduce changes in their operations to minimize errors. Limitations: The report is limited by the fact that it only targets companies that is working with offsite construction in an industrialized fashion and therefore only is privileged by their views of the issues. The inspectors, whom also would be affected by such a tool, is not included in this study. Keywords: ICT, experience feedback, offsite construction, inspection process, requirements engineering. Content is described in Swedish below.
Sammanfattning Syfte: Att industriella byggföretag använder sig av besiktningsprotokoll för erfarenhetsåterföring med syfte att förbättra produktionsprocessen är ovanligt. Det vanliga förfarandet handlar närmast om att använda protokollen enbart som åtgärdslistor för de fel som uppdagas vid besiktningstillfället. Denna rapport belyser möjligheter och utmaningar med en datorstödd besiktningsprocess genom att utreda vad olika personer i den industriella modulbyggbranschen tycker i dessa frågor. Arbetets mål är att presentera ett förslag på struktur för ett program som hanterar besiktningsanmärkningar för erfarenhetsåterföring. Strukturen ska visa hur informationen från besiktningsutlåtandena kan sorteras. Metod: Rapportförfattarna har utfört en fallstudie på ett företag inom industriellt modulbyggande. Datainsamlingen skedde genom semi-strukturerade intervjuer på företaget fallstudien fokuserar på och på ett annat företag i samma bransch. För att genomföra intervjuerna på ett bra sätt genomfördes en dokumentanalys av slut-besiktningsprotokoll från tidigare färdigställda projekt och det gjordes en litteratur-studie där rapportförfattarna bekantade sig med den nuvarande forskningsfronten i ämnet. Resultat: Sammantaget resulterade datainsamlingen, och analysen av denna, bland annat i att en digitaliserad besiktningsprocess hade kunnat göra kategoriseringen av fel standardiserad och att man då i högre grad kan utnyttja informationen i besiktnings-protokollen. Det visar sig också att de industriella byggföretagen i branschen vill använda sig av ett digitalt verktyg för erfarenhetsåterföring, framförallt men inte enbart för att få statistik över vilka områden i verksamheten som behöver förbättras. Det resultat som närmast svarar mot målet är de punkter som rapportförfattarna anser bör ingå i en kravspecifikation för ett digitalt verktyg för hantering av besiktningsprotokoll och erfarenhetsåterföring från dessa. Punkterna som rapportförfattarna kommer fram till är: minimal handpåläggning, lättnavigerat, möjlighet att föra statistik över besiktningsanmärkningar samt möjlighet att anpassa strukturen av det digitala verktyget utefter krav hos det specifika företaget eller besiktningsmannen. Konsekvenser: Kärnan i problemet som rapporten ämnar utreda är brister i hur industriella byggföretag i dagsläget använder sig av informationen i slut-besiktningsprotokoll. Rapportens resultat indikerar att ett digitalt verktyg kan vara en del i lösningen på problemet. Med ett sådant verktyg utvecklat efter ovan nämnda punkter som grund skulle många återkommande fel som idag upptäcks på slutbesiktningar synliggöras genom lättillgänglig statistik. På så sätt kan företag som använder ett sådant verktyg lättare införa förändringar i verksamheten för att minimera fel. Begränsningar: Rapporten begränsas i den mening att den endast riktar sig mot företag inom industriellt modulbyggande och då enbart deras åsikter i frågorna. Besiktningsmännen som också skulle påverkas av ett sådant verktyg ingår ej i studien. Nyckelord: ICT, erfarenhetsåterföring, industriellt byggande, besiktningsprocessen, requirements engineering.

The transportation system is vital to the nation’s economic growth and stability, as it provides mobility for commuters while supporting the United States’ ability to compete in an increasingly competitive global economy. State Transportation Agencies across the country continue to face many challenges to repair and enhance highway infrastructure to meet the rapid increasing transportation needs. One of these challenges is maintaining an adequate and efficient agency staff. In order to effectively plan for future staffing levels, State Transportation Agencies need a method for forecasting long term staffing requirements. However, current methods in use cannot function without well-defined projects and therefore making long term forecasts is difficult. This dissertation seeks to develop a dynamic model which captures the feedback mechanisms within the system that determines highway staffing requirements. The system dynamics modeling methodology was used to build the forecasting model. The formal model was based on dynamic hypotheses derived from literature review and interviews with transportation experts. Both qualitative and quantitative data from literature, federal and state database were used to support the values and equations in the model. The model integrates State Transportation Agencies’ strategic plans, funding situations and workforce management strategies while determining future workforce requirements, and will hopefully fill the absence of long-term staffing level forecasting tools at State Transportation Agencies. By performing sensitivity simulations and statistical screening on possible drivers of the system behavior, the dynamic impacts of desired highway pavement performance level, availability of road fund and bridge fund on the required numbers of Engineers and Technicians throughout a 25-year simulation period were closely examined. Staffing strategies such as recruiting options (in-house vs. consultants) and hiring levels (entry level vs. senior level) were tested. Finally the model was calibrated using input data specific to Kentucky to simulate an expected retirement wave and search for solutions to address temporary staffing shortage.

Inom varje projektorganisation finns det olika individer som ska skapa en produkt av hög kvalitet enligt kundens krav och förväntningar. För att bedriva projekten på ett effektivt sätt med ett bra samarbete har partnering vuxit fram. För att lyckas skapa ett bra samarbete gäller det att motivera och engagera alla inblandade till att arbeta åt samma mål. Beteendet ändras dock inte automatiskt hos människor bara för att de arbetar i ett partnering-projekt. Kontinuerligt arbete krävs för att motivera och engagera individer under hela projektets gång. I den här studien kommer partnering hänvisas till ett arbetssätt för att uppnå samarbete, motivation och engagemang. Skapar projekten en arbetsmiljö som gör att anställda presterar på sin högsta nivå kan det leda till att produktionen blir effektivare. För att yrkesarbetarna ska prestera på sin högsta nivå är det viktigt att motivera och engagera dem under produktionen. Examensarbetets syfte var att undersöka hur yrkesarbetarna motiverades och engagerades och vad i partnering som kunde bidra med att skapa detta hos yrkesarbetarna. Studien har utförts med hjälp av informanter från Skanska, Hus Göteborg. Faktorer som gjorde att yrkesarbetarna blev motiverade var att de hade kul på jobbet och bra kollegor runt sig i arbetet. Det var också motiverande att vara delaktig och involverad i att skapa produkter med hög kvalitet. Många av informanterna menade att kundens mål och visioner var viktigt för att få möjlighet att skapa en produkt som når upp till förväntningarna. Genom att yrkesarbetarna får fokusera på mål och visioner samt vara med och sätta upp dem kan mer motivation och engagemang skapas. Partnering kan i teorin bidra till att skapa motivation och engagemang men det är upp till varje projektorganisation hur organisationen väljer att implementera samarbetsformen partnering i projektet. I resultatet kan inte något specifikt urskiljas kring vad det är i partnering som motiverar yrkesarbetarna. Det som motiverar yrkesarbetarna kan göras i alla projekt och det är upp till projektorganisationen men också varje anställd att skapa förutsättningar till att skapa en motiverande arbetsmiljö där de anställda upplever tillfredställelse och trivsel.

Trends toward increased integration and miniaturization of optical system components have created pressure to consolidate widely disparate analog and digital functions onto fewer and fewer chips with a goal of eventually built into a single mixed-signal chip. Yet, because of those performance requirements, the frontend circuit has traditionally used III-V compound semiconductor technologies, but the low-level of integration with other digital ICs limits the sustainability of such end products for short-distance applications. On the other hand, their CMOS counter parts, despite having such advantages as low power consumption, high yield that lowers the cost of fabrication, and a higher degree of integration, have not performed well enough to survive in such a noisy environment without sacrificing other important attributes. In this research, a high-speed CMOS preamplifier was designed and fabricated through TSMC 0.18/spl mu/m mixed-signal non-epi CMOS technology, and a 20/spl mu/m diameter InGaAs thin-film Inverted-MSM photodetector with a responsivity of 0.15A/W at a wavelength of 1550/spl mu/m was post-integrated onto the circuit. The circuit has a overall transimpedance gain of 60dB/spl Omega/, and bit-error-rate data and eye-diagram measurement results taken as high as 10Gbit/s are reported in this dissertation.

Arbetet har gjorts i samarbete med Vattenfall Vattenkraft AB under våren 2019. Vattenfall äger och driver anläggningar för produktion av el, däribland genom vattenkraft. Syftet har varit att få inblick i arbetsprocessen vid projektarbete på dammar. Detta har i huvudsak skett genom uppföljning av projekt utförda på dammarna Damm A och Damm B. Uppföljningen har gjorts genom intervjuer med personer ansvariga för projekten. De två dammarna har valts som objekt för denna undersökning eftersom skadorna varit likartade men lösts på olika sätt. Rapporten har som mål att bidra till Vattenfall Vattenkrafts arbete med att förbättra sin projektstyrning och erfarenhetsåterföring inom projekt för att i förlängningen skapa bättre förutsättningar för att effektivt genomföra dammsäkerhetsrelaterade projekt med hög kvalitét. Efter samtal och intervjuer i samband med uppföljning på de två anläggningarna kan det konstateras att arbetet med underhållsarbeten på aktuella anläggningar fungerat väl trots att projekten varit brådskande, men att det finns utrymme för förbättring av erfarenhetsåterföring.
This project has been carried out together with Vattenfall Vattenkraft during the spring of 2019. Vattenfall owns and runs plants for production of electricity, one of which is hydro power plants. The main purpose of this report has been to understand the working process for projects on dams. Two projects on the dams A and B have been followed up by conducting interviews with people involved with the projects. The two dams has been chosen for this follow up because their respective damage has been of a similar nature, but the methods used to solve them differ. The report aims to contribute to Vattenfall Vattenkraft ́s work towards improving its experience feedback and by extension achieve the highest possible quality on projects connected to dam safety. After interviews and conversations in conjunction with the site visits on the dams it can be stated that both projects worked well although the damages was urgent, however the report shows that the experience feedback could be improved.

Planning of material handling in limited spaces has become more relevant in the construction industry and since material cannot always be delivered at the right time in the right place, a delay in the flow chain is created. Each construction site has unique conditions and thus different solutions.In this thesis, four workplaces at Peab have been visited and inspected. The purpose of the thesis was to explore the problems that arise with the logistics in a limited space and find solutions that can be implemented on future construction projects.The aim of the study was to find the common factors that exist for the workplaces within a small area and find ways of working that can change the planning and execution of logistics.Surveys to professional workers and interviews with site managers and supervisors contributed with information to the report.After compiling the thesis work, the result shows that there are opportunities to change the working method of the work management to increase efficiency and productivity.In the study, it appears that there is a lack of communication in the workplaces as a large number of workers do not know when the next delivery of material takes place. In addition, the professional workers admit that they did not have a great influence over the business. Recommended solutions that were developed in the study were experience feedback and further development of the APD plan.

This study was initiated to examine whether processes of the construction company JM ABare followed and how they can be streamlined, if the targeted goals are reached, and whenand why prescribed routines are abandoned. The study was carried out through onlinequalitative interviews with supervisors at nine examined construction projects, and withofficials within the JM AB organization.The correspondence with employees emphasized the importance of communication,experience feedback, and quality- and process control. Continuous improvement is central atJM AB, and the study shows that proactive work against errors and flaws in production andwarranty assurance can be further strengthened through enhanced communication andexperience feedback.The results suggest that resource- and cost inefficiencies can be reduced through preventiveefforts, emphasis on comprehensibility in the internal quality goals, and a thoroughconsequence analysis in case of late administrative changes in the construction process.Furthermore, the results show the importance of clear communication towards the endcustomer, as well as the value in proactive declaration of expected deviations; this will leadtowards higher CSI, Customer-Service-Index The study is limited to processes and methodsused within JM AB and is primarily focused on the production phase and warrantyassurance.This study resulted in several suggestions for improvement related to customercommunication, centralized internal quality controls, and more efficient internalcommunication and experience feedback. The results also stress the importance of clearlycommunicating JM’s desired quality level to both subcontractors and during procurement.
Studien ämnade att undersöka hur JMs framtagna arbetsprocesser efterföljs och kaneffektiviseras, om uppsatta mål uppnås samt när och varför beskrivna rutiner frångås.Studien genomfördes på distans genom kvalitativa intervjuer med arbetsledare i utvaldaprojekt, samt tjänstemän inom företagets organisation. Vid intervjuer och samtal medanställda betonades vikten av kommunikation, erfarenhetsåterföring, kvalitets- ochprocesstyrning.Ständig förbättring är centralt på JM och i resultaten framgår att det proaktiva arbetet för attmotverka fel och brister i produktion och garantiskedet kan stärkas genom förbättradkommunikation och erfarenhetsåterföring. Genom preventiva insatser och stor vikt påtydlighet kring företagets interna kvalitetskrav samt konsekvensanalys vid ändringar avunderlag i tidiga byggskeden kan resurs- och kostnadskrävande moment minimeras.Resultaten påvisade vikten av god kommunikation gentemot slutkund samt värdet i attproaktivt kommunicera förväntade avvikelser för att på sikt höja NKI, Nöjd-Kund-Index.Studien är avgränsad till JMs processer och arbetsmetoder samt fokuserar främst påprocesser relaterade till produktion och garanti.Studien resulterade i ett flertal förbättringsförslag relaterade till kundkommunikation,centraliserad försyn, samt effektiviserad intern kommunikation och erfarenhetsåterföring,men främst redovisas vikten att i upphandling och till underentreprenörer tydliggöra denhöga kvalitetsnivå JM eftersträvar.

La construction figure parmi les secteurs les plus à risques en matière de santé et de sécurité. La sécurité sociale attribue plus de 14% des accidents recensés en 2018 au secteur du BTP. En plus des risques sur la sécurité, les compagnons sont exposés aux maladies professionnelles. Les troubles musculo-squelettiques (TMS) sont en tête de liste des maladies professionnels les plus fréquentes. Afin de répondre à ces problématiques, les entreprises de construction ont mis en place une politique santé et sécurité afin de préserver la vie de leurs salariés. Cette politique prévoit, entre autres, une amélioration de l'aspect organisationnel du travail, l'adaptation du travail à l'homme et la formation.La formation se déroule selon une méthodologie classique : une formation théorique et une formation pratique. La formation représente des contraintes de coût, de durée et d'organisation. Le contenu doit s'adapter à des profils spécifiques, être répétable et permettre aux formateurs d'évaluer le niveau des stagiaires.Pour les formations aux bons gestes et à la bonne posture afin d'éviter les risques d'apparition de TMS, l'impact d'une formation en réalité virtuelle (RV) est moins pertinent en raison de l'absence de retour haptique.Dans cette thèse, nous proposons une nouvelle méthodologie de formation basée sur une immersion visuelle, une plateforme robotique pour une interaction haptique avec un suivi de mouvement. Cette méthodologie est évaluée pour un sujet particulier : la banche, un outil métier fortement sensible.Nous pensons que cette approche permettrait de mieux engager les compagnons lors des formations sur la banche, d'assurer leur sécurité et la prise de conscience en matière de risques TMS.L'objectif à travers cette méthode, est de permettre au compagnon de comprendre les risques liés à son métier et de le former à éviter les risques, et au formateur de bénéficier d'un outil de suivi et d'accompagnement des compagnons.Afin de valider notre méthodologie, nous avons mené des expérimentations auprès de deux profils de personnes : des novices et des professionnels. Cette expérimentation montre une acceptation de la solution par les compagnons
Construction is one of the sectors most at risk in terms of health and safety. The social security system attributes more than 14% of the accidents recorded in 2018 to the construction sector. In addition to safety risks, construction workers are exposed to occupational diseases. Musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) are at the top of the list of the most frequent occupational diseases. In order to address these issues, construction companies have implemented a health and safety policy to protect the lives of their employees. This policy provides, among other things, for an improvement in the organizational aspect of work, the adaptation of work to people and training.Training is carried out according to a classic methodology: theoretical and practical training. The training represents constraints of cost, duration and organization. The content must be adapted to specific profiles, be repeatable and allow the trainers to assess the level of the trainees.For training on the right gestures and posture to avoid the risk of MSDs, the impact of virtual reality (VR) training is less relevant due to the lack of haptic feedback.In this thesis, we propose a new training methodology based on visual immersion, a robotic platform for haptic interaction with motion tracking. This methodology is evaluated for a particular subject: the formwork panel, a highly sensitive tool.We believe that this approach would allow to better engage the construction workers during training on the formwork, to ensure their safety and awareness of MSD risks.The objective through this method is to enable the construction workers to understand the risks linked to his job and to train him to avoid risks, and to enable the trainer to benefit from a tool for monitoring and supporting the construction workers.In order to validate our methodology, we conducted experiments with two profiles of people: novices and professionals. This experimentation shows an acceptance of the solution by the construction workers

In a MIMO system, a transmitter with perfect knowledge of the underlying channel state information (CSI) can achieve a higher channel capacity compared to transmission without CSI. When reciprocity of the wireless channel does not hold, the identification and utilization of partial CSI at the transmitter are important issues. This thesis is focused on partial CSI acquisition and utilization techniques for MIMO channels. We propose a feedback algorithm for tracking the dominant channel subspaces for MIMO systems in a continuously time-varying environment. We exploit the correlation between channel states of adjacent time instants and quantize the variation of channel states. Specifically, we model a subspace as one point in a Grassmann manifold, treat the variations in principal right singular subspaces of the channel matrices as a piecewise-geodesic process in the Grassmann manifold, and quantize the velocity matrix of the geodesic. We design a complexity-constrained MIMO OFDM system where the transmitter has knowledge of channel correlations. The transmitter is constrained to perform at most one inverse Discrete Fourier Transform per OFDM symbol on the average. We show that in the MISO case, time domain beamforming can be used to do two-dimensional eigen-beamforming. For the MIMO case, we derive design criteria for the transmitter beamforming and receiver combining weighting vectors and show some suboptimal solutions. The feedback channel may have uncertainties such as unexpected delay or error. We consider channel mean feedback with an unknown delay and propose a broadcast approach that is able to adapt to the quality of the feedback. Having considered CSI feedback problems where the receiver tries to convey its attained CSI to the transmitter, we turn to noncoherent coding design for fast fading channels, where the receiver does not have reliable CSI. We propose a data-dependent superimposed training scheme to improve the performance of training based codes. The transmitter is equipped with multiple training sequences and dynamically selects a training sequence for each data sequence to minimize channel estimation error. The set of training sequences are optimized to minimize pairwise error probability between codewords.

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Un camp de recerca important dins del paradigma del Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) és la importància en la gestió eficaç de la informació d'esdeveniments generada durant l'activitat de l'aprenentatge col·laboratiu virtual, per a proporcionar coneixement sobre el comportament dels membres del grup. Aquesta visió és especialment pertinent en l'escenari educatiu actual que passa d'un paradigma tradicional - centrat en la figura d'un instructor magistral - a un paradigma emergent que considera els estudiants com actors centrals en el seu procés d'aprenentatge. En aquest nou escenari, els estudiants aprenen, amb l'ajuda de professors, la tecnologia i els altres estudiants, el que potencialment necessitaran per a desenvolupar les seves activitats acadèmiques o professionals futures.
Els principals aspectes a tenir en compte en aquest context són, primer de tot, com dissenyar una plataforma sota el paradigma del CSCL, que es pugui utilitzar en situacions reals d'aprenentatge col·laboratiu complexe i a llarg termini, basades en el model d'aprenentatge de resolució de problemes. I que permet al professor una anàlisi del grup més eficaç així com donar el suport adequat als estudiants quan sigui necessari.
En segon lloc, com extreure coneixement pertinent de la col·laboració per donar consciència i retorn als estudiants a nivell individual i de rendiment del grup, així com per a propòsits d'avaluació.
L'assoliment d'aquests objectius impliquen el disseny d'un model conceptual d'interacció durant l'aprenentatge col·laboratiu que estructuri i classifiqui la informació generada en una aplicació col·laborativa en diferents nivells de descripció. A partir d'aquesta aproximació conceptual, els models computacionals hi donen resposta per a proporcionar una extracció eficaç del coneixement produït per l'individu i per l'activitat del grup, així com la possibilitat d'explotar aquest coneixement com una eina metacognitiva pel suport en temps real i regulat del procés d'aprenentatge col·laboratiu.
A més a més, les necessitats dels entorns CSCL han evolucionat en gran mesura durant els darrers anys d'acord amb uns requisits pedagògics i tecnològics cada cop més exigents. Els entorns d'aprenentatge col·laboratius virtuals ara ja no depenen de grups d'estudiants homogenis, continguts i recursos d'aprenentatge estàtics, ni pedagogies úniques, sinó que exigeixen una forta personalització i un alt grau de flexibilitat. En aquest nou escenari, les organitzacions educatives actuals necessiten estendre's i moure's cap a paradigmes d'ensenyament altament personalitzats, amb immediatesa i constantment, on cada paradigma incorpora el seu propi model pedagògic, el seu propi objectiu d'aprenentatge i incorpora els seus propis recursos educatius específics.
Les demandes de les organitzacions actuals també inclouen la integració efectiva, en termes de cost i temps, de sistemes d'aprenentatge llegats i externs, que pertanyen a altres institucions, departaments i cursos. Aquests sistemes llegats es troben implementats en llenguatges diferents, suportats per plataformes heterogènies i distribuïdes arreu, per anomenar alguns dels problemes més habituals. Tots aquests problemes representen certament un gran repte per la comunitat de recerca actual i futura. Per tant, els propers esforços han d'anar encarats a ajudar a desenvolupadors, recercaires, tecnòlegs i pedagogs a superar aquests exigents requeriments que es troben actualment en el domini del CSCL, així com proporcionar a les organitzacions educatives solucions ràpides i flexibles per a potenciar i millorar el rendiment i resultats de l'aprenentatge col·laboratiu. Aquesta tesi proposa un primer pas per aconseguir aquests objectius.
An important research topic in Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) is to explore the importance of efficient management of event information generated from group activity in collaborative learning practices for its further use in extracting and providing knowledge on interaction behavior.
The essential issue here is first how to design a CSCL platform that can be used for real, long-term, complex collaborative problem solving situations and which enables the instructor to both analyze group interaction effectively and provide an adequate support when needed. Secondly, how to extract relevant knowledge from collaboration in order to provide learners with efficient awareness and feedback as regards individual and group performance and assessment. The achievement of these tasks involve the design of a conceptual framework of collaborative learning interaction that structures and classifies the information generated in a collaborative application at several levels of description. Computational models are then to realize this conceptual approach for an efficient management of the knowledge produced by the individual and group activity as well as the possibility of exploiting this knowledge further as a metacognitive tool for real-time coaching and regulating the collaborative learning process.
In addition, CSCL needs have been evolving over the last years accordingly with more and more demanding pedagogical and technological requirements. On-line collaborative learning environments no longer depend on homogeneous groups, static content and resources, and single pedagogies, but high customization and flexibility are a must in this context. As a result, current educational organizations' needs involve extending and moving to highly customized learning and teaching forms in timely fashion, each incorporating its own pedagogical approach, each targeting a specific learning goal, and each incorporating its specific resources.
These entire issues certainly represent a great challenge for current and future research in this field. Therefore, further efforts need to be made that help developers, technologists and pedagogists overcome the demanding requirements currently found in the CSCL domain as well as provide modern educational organizations with fast, flexible and effective solutions for the enhancement and improvement of the collaborative learning performance and outcomes. This thesis proposes a first step toward these goals.

Índex foliat:
The main contribution in this thesis is the exploration of the importance of an efficient management of information generated from group activity in Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) practices for its further use in extracting and providing knowledge on interaction behavior. To this end, the first step is to investigate a conceptual model for data analysis and management so as to identify the many kinds of indicators that describe collaboration and learning and classify them into high-level potential categories of effective collaboration. Indeed, there are more evident key discourse elements and aspects than those shown by the literature, which play an important role both for promoting student participation and enhancing group and individual performance, such as, the impact and effectiveness of students' contributions, among others, that are explored in this work. By making these elements explicit, the discussion model proposed accomplishes high students' participation rates and contribution quality in a more natural and effective way. This approach goes beyond a mere interaction analysis of asynchronous discussion in the sense that it builds a multi-functional model that fosters knowledge sharing and construction, develops a strong sense of community among students, provides tutors with a powerful tool for students' monitoring, discussion regulation, while it allows for peer facilitation through self, peer and group awareness and assessment.
The results of the research described so far motivates the development of a computational system as the translation from the conceptual model into a computer system that implements the management of the information and knowledge acquired from the group activity, so as to be efficiently fed back to the collaboration. The achievement of a generic, robust, flexible, interoperable, reusable computational model that meets the fundamental functional needs shared by any collaborative learning experience is largely investigated in this thesis. The systematic reuse of this computational model permits a fast adaptation to new learning and teaching requirements, such as learning by discussion, by relying on the most advanced software engineering processes and methodologies from the field of software reuse, and thus important benefits are expected in terms of productivity, quality, and cost.
Therefore, another important contribution is to explore and extend suitable software reuse techniques, such as Generic Programming, so as to allow the computational model to be successfully particularized in as many as situations as possible without losing efficiency in the process. In particular, based on domain analysis techniques, a high-level computational description and formalization of the CSCL domain are identified and modeled. Then, different specific-platform developments that realize the conceptual description are provided. It is also explored a certain level of automation by means of advanced techniques based on Service-Oriented Architectures and Web-services while passing from the conceptual specification to the desired realization, which greatly facilitates the development of CSCL applications using this computational model.
Based on the outcomes of these investigations, this thesis contributes with computational collaborative learning systems, which are capable of managing both qualitative and quantitative information and transforming it into useful knowledge for all the implicated parties in an efficient and clear way. This is achieved by both the specific assessment of each contribution by the tutor who supervises the discussion and by rich statistical information about student's participation. This statistical data is automatically provided by the system; for instance, statistical data sheds light on the students' engagement in the discussion forum or how much interest drew the student's intervention in the form of participation impact, level of passivity, proactivity, reactivity, and so on. The aim is to provide both a deeper understanding of the actual discussion process and a more objective assessment of individual and group activity.
This information is then processed and analyzed by means of a multivariate statistical model in order to extract useful knowledge about the collaboration. The knowledge acquired is communicated back to the members of the learning group and their tutor in appropriate formats, thus providing valuable awareness and feedback of group interaction and performance as well as may help identify and assess the real skills and intentions of participants. The most important benefit expected from the conceptual model for interaction data analysis and management is a great improvement and enhancement of the learning and teaching collaborative experiences.
Finally, the possibilities of using distributed and Grid technology to support real CSCL environments are also extensively explored in this thesis. The results of this investigation lead to conclude that the features provided by these technologies form an ideal context for supporting and meeting demanding requirements of collaborative learning applications. This approach is taken one step further for enhancing the possibilities of the computational model in the CSCL domain and it is successfully adopted on an empirical and application basis. From the results achieved, it is proved the feasibility of distributed technologies to considerably enhance and improve the collaborative learning experience. In particular, the use of Grid computing is successfully applied for the specific purpose of increasing the efficiency of processing a large amount of information from group activity log files.

Samverkan har internationellt uppmärksammats som en lösning på de utmaningar byggindustrin möter. Utmaningar har tidigare belysts som komplexa processer och idag finns en utveckling där projekten är både större och mer komplicerade, vilket kräver en bättre koordinering av resurser. Det har också visats att projektbaserade organisationer har svårt att hantera och överföra kunskap mellan projekt och inom entreprenadorganisationen. Samverkanskonceptet strävar att kombinera aktörers resurser och kunskaper i tidiga skeden av projekt. Detta för att bättre hantera komplexitet, samtidigt som samarbetet leder till bättre affärsrelationer och minskade konflikter mellan projektets olika aktörer. Sedan 2017 har ledningssystem, modeller och kontrakts mallar för samverkan lanserats och anpassats för svenska byggindustrin. Målet med dessa är att främja användandet av samverkan och skapa en enhetlig bild av konceptet i branschen. Denna masteruppsats syfte är att förbättra förutsättningar för entreprenadorganisationers arbete med kunskapsåterföring i och mellan samverkansprojekt. Masteruppsatsen studerar hur utvecklingen och arbetet med samverkansprojekt sker i entreprenadorganisationer och fokuserar på deras erfarenheter, förutsättningar, definitioner av samverkan samt samverkansprojektens roll i deras affärsplaner. Vidare undersöks vilka strukturer och mekanismer för lärande som existerar i entreprenadorganisationer och hur dessa kan bidra till utveckling av samverkansprojekt. Resultatet i studien är baserad på en kvalitativ studie där 15 respondenter intervjuades. Studien visade att de två affärsområdena har strategiskt satsat på samverkan. Trots att samverkan har blivit en stor del av entreprenadorganisationers verksamhet återstår utmaningar vid implementering av samverkan då branschen har olika erfarenhet och förståelse för att driva projekt i samverkan. Dock står det klart att samverkans projekt är en värdefull del av entreprenadorganisationens affärsplaner. Därför strävar entreprenadorganisationer till att upprätta strukturer för kunskapsåterföring i och mellan samverkansprojekt, bland annat genom nätverk, forum för kunskapsutbyte, studiebesök och strategisk samverkan. Trots att strukturer för kunskapsdelning existerar är det svårt att formalisera kunskap och erfarenheter från individer. Studien påvisar att den mest värdefulla kunskapen finns hos individen och att det är individer som i hög gradbidrar till utveckling och förbättring i samverkansprojekt. Därför måste organisationer försöka skapa en god samarbetskultur så att strukturer för kunskapsåterföring och kunskapsdelning fyller sin funktion och motiverar individerna att dela med sig av tidigare erfarenhet och kunskap och kan därmed förbättra och utveckla organisationens samverkansprojekt.
Partnering has internationally been acknowledged as a solution to the challenges that the construction industry faces. The challenges have previously been illustrated as complex processes and a development where projects have become larger and more complicated, which requires efficient coordination or resources. Furthermore, it has been proven that project-based organisations face challenges in managing and sharing knowledge between projects and within the contractor organisation. Partnering as a concept aims to combine stakeholders’ resources and knowledge in early phases of projects to better manage the complexity, in addition this collaboration improves business relations and reduces conflicts between project stakeholders. Since 2017 partnering models, management systems and contract templates have been launched and adapted to the Swedish construction industry, with the purpose to promote the use of partnering and create a common view of the concept within the industry. This Master Thesis aims to improve the prerequisites for contractor organisations work with knowledge feedback in and between partnering projects. The Master Thesis studies the development and work in partnering projects in contractor organisations and focuses on their experience, prerequisites, definitions of partnering and partnering projects role in their business plans. Furthermore, the existing structures and mechanisms for learning in contractor organisations are explored, along with how they can contribute to the development of partnering projects. The result of the study is based on a qualitative study where 15 respondents were interviewed. The study showed that the two business areas have strategically invested in partnering. Although partnering has become a large part of operations in contractor organisations, challenges remain upon implementation of partnering due to differences in experience and understanding of managing partnering projects within the industry. However, it is clear that partnering projects have a valuable role in contractor organisations business plans. Therefore, contractor organisations strive to establish structures for knowledge feedback within and between partnering projects through, amongst other things, networks, knowledge feedback forums, study visits and strategic partnering. Although structures for sharing knowledge exist, it is challenging to formalise individuals' knowledge and experience. This study demonstrates that the most valuable knowledge lies within the individual and that it is the individuals who contribute to the development and improvement in partnering projects. Therefore, organisations should aim to create a good collaboration culture so that the structures for knowledge feedback and sharing fulfil their purpose and motivate individuals to share their past experience and knowledge and therefore improve and develop partnering projects in contractor organisations.