Background End-user participation in developing health and social care (HSC) information systems (ISs) can improve usability and adoption, but its effect depends on how input is acted upon. Although many clinicians and social care professionals are willing to participate, they report few meaningful opportunities. Developers’ perspectives remain underexplored; we examined their experiences. Methods In 2024, we conducted a web-based survey in Finland—widely regarded as a forerunner in implementing HSC ISs—among software developers employed by the five largest vendors (n = 266). The questionnaire covered collaboration with end users and client organizations, participation methods, and practices for integrating user perspectives into development. Three researchers thematically analyzed responses to two open-ended questions on reasons for end-user dissatisfaction with HSC IS development. Results Most respondents (81 %) reported collaborating with end users at least to some extent; those in product management more frequently (77 %) than other roles (41–65 %). While 92 % indicated their organization is interested in end-user feedback, only 44 % believed users know how and to whom to provide it. Common participation methods included online portals (74 %), feedback gathered during training (64 %), requirements workshops (58 %), usability testing (55 %), designated clinician representatives for IS development (54 %), and site visits (44 %). Open-ended responses most frequently attributed end-user dissatisfaction to vendor resource prioritization, national requirements overriding usability improvements, insufficient communication about whether and when suggestions will be implemented, technical constraints, and the absence of established collaboration structures. Conclusions HSC IS developers expressed willingness to incorporate end-user needs but perceived constraints from national and organizational priorities that limit usability improvements. To enhance end-user satisfaction, development processes should offer earlier, clearer, and better-targeted opportunities for participation; specify channels and timelines for submitting feedback; explain how input is balanced against competing requirements; and communicate decisions and rationales back to users.
The vehicle scanning method (VSM) is an emerging approach for indirect identification of bridge modal properties. However, its robustness under realistic operational conditions has not been sufficiently validated. This study presents a systematic, multi-level validation of VSM-based mode shape reconstruction through numerical simulations, laboratory-scale experiments, and full-scale field tests. Signal processing is performed using the Hilbert transform (HT) and Wavelet transform (WT), combined with bandpass filtering, to extract mode shapes from both vehicle body and axle response. Parametric simulations identify road roughness and bridge damping as the primary constraints on reconstruction accuracy, while higher vehicle speeds and environmental noise further degrade performance. Conversely, increased vehicle damping modestly facilitates extraction. A key finding is that axle response is comparably more reliable under high-speed or noisy conditions, whereas body response is less affected by road-induced vibrations. Laboratory experiments further reveal practical sensitivities not fully captured in idealized simulations, including motor-induced vibrations and speed variation. Finally, full-scale field tests on a cable-stayed bridge demonstrate high repeatability of the extracted fundamental mode shapes across multiple test runs, supporting the potential of indirect mode shape reconstruction in real-world environments. Overall, WT-based reconstruction generally provides higher accuracy than HT.
Carbon neutrality requires massive, rapid scaling up of clean energy technologies, with economic factors playing a central role in market uptake. We investigate how economic drivers and investment behaviors affect technology growth using a novel, multi-model analytical framework. By combining macro-level cost-driven technology diffusion with micro-level business profitability modeling, this framework captures realistic, investment-centric decision-making. Cost-competitiveness-dependent, varying technology adoption rates realistically reflect market growth and saturation, indicating a declining adoption rate as market share increases. Growth is initially influenced by technical and technoeconomic factors, but shifts toward complex systemic, social, and socioeconomic factors around the inflection point (halfway to saturation). This transition triggers, for instance, when solar PV share reaches around 20% of global electricity. At higher market shares, cost-competitiveness encompasses both basic technology costs and system-level limitations, better captured by the value-adjusted levelized cost of electricity than pure cost. Furthermore, micro-level profitability analysis underlines that sustained scaling up requires adequate business margins and profits. Growth can be accelerated through higher sales margins, reinvesting more profits into investments, reducing the time cash is tied up in sales, etc. Public support speeds up market entry but risks creating unhealthy competition and oversupply if sustained too long. Future technologies benefit from policies supporting a shorter development phase followed by rapid adoption. Finally, insights for future scaling up emphasize low costs, profitability, granularity, modularity, system flexibility, learning and scale effects, and technology-push versus market-pull trade-off. This multitude of factors stresses an integrated, multidisciplinary systems view to accelerate scaling up of clean energy.
Old Corrugated Containerboard (OCC) pulp is an abundant source of recovered lignocellulosic material. However, its morphological and chemical heterogeneity presents challenges for upgrading. This study investigates the integration of fiber fractionation followed by oxygen delignification to increase OCC homogeneity by enhancing cellulose content. The pretreated OCC was dissolved in 1,5-diazabicyclonon-5-enium acetate, or [DBNH][OAc], to assess its potential wet spinnability based on temperature dependence and rheological behavior. Fractionation into short- and long-fiber fractions was accomplished using a Pulmac Masterscreen with fine slots of 381 or 152 & micro;m. Fractionation effectively removed non-cellulosic components, reducing ash, fines, and hemicellulose content, while also enhancing the efficiency of subsequent oxygen delignification. The fractionated OCC samples were oxygen delignified using sodium hydroxide charges of 6 and 8%. The oxygen-delignified OCC long-fiber fraction retained higher intrinsic and cellulose-corrected viscosity and yield while achieving a greater degree of delignification and ash reduction relative to the corresponding short-fiber fraction obtained from the same screen. This remained true for the high-yield OCC sample obtained from fiber fractionation using the larger slotted screen. Increasing the NaOH charge from 6 to 8% reduced pulp intrinsic and cellulose-corrected viscosity sufficiently to produce dopes with negligible filtration complications and a storage-to-loss modulus crossover frequency (omega c) near 65-75 degrees C, within the practical temperature range for wet-spinning [DBNH][OAc] dopes. These results indicate that the combination of mechanical fiber fractionation and oxygen delignification is sufficient to achieve a workable dope for [DBNH][OAc] dissolution and subsequent dry-jet wet spinning of OCC.
Abstract Urbanization and industrialization generate increasing municipal and industrial waste, and converting these wastes into construction aggregates can reduce environmental burdens and conserve natural resources. Municipal solid waste incineration fly ash (MSWIFA), red mud (RM), ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS), and phosphogypsum (PG) were upcycled into high-strength lightweight artificial aggregates under air, seawater, steam, and CO 2 curing at different temperatures and CO 2 concentrations. X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and backscattered election–energy-dispersive spectroscopy (BSE-EDS) analysis show hydration-driven microstructural development dominated by calcium chloroaluminate hydrate, ardealite, and calcium aluminum silicate hydrate gels, while CO 2 curing mainly enhances carbonate crystallinity. Elevated temperature and moisture accelerate early-age hydration, humid curing enhances gel formation, and steam curing or higher CO 2 concentration increases gibbsite. Seawater curing achieves the highest cylinder compressive strength of 30 MPa and shows lower Pb and Zn leaching than air curing. Together, these results demonstrate the feasibility of converting municipal and industrial wastes into high-strength lightweight aggregates.
