144 research outputs found
LEGAL EMPOWERMENT THROUGH LEGAL AID. EXAMINING HOW LEGAL AID PROMOTES LEGAL EMPOWERMENT FOR VULNERABLE WOMEN IN UGANDA
The paper explored current approaches to legal aid and weather they effectively incorporate legal empowerment strategies for vulnerable women in Uganda. The conception and application of legal empowerment of the poor was analyzed from a capabilities perspective informed by âdevelopment as freedomâ focusing on women. The study presented an investigation on how one can bring together the theoretical insights of legal empowerment with a study of current practices and perceptions of legal aid and legal empowerment in advancing womenâs access to justice. By doing so it contributed to the broader discussion on the role of law and development in empowering disadvantaged and vulnerable people, as well as expanding their freedoms, as the link between legal empowerment and access to justice remains significantly unexplored within the capabilities approach. In particular the paper assessed legal aid from the perspective of rights awareness and rights enablement, key components of legal empowerment. Through the capabilities approach it uncovered that legal aid service provisioning plays a significant role in promoting legal empowerment and enhancing womenâs capabilities to access justice. However at times they are treating symptoms in the legal sphere with limited reflection on how enhanced capabilities in access justice can create tradeoffs in other spheres
A Novel Model-Free Data Analysis Technique Based on Clustering in a Mutual Information Space: Application to Resting-State fMRI
Non-parametric data-driven analysis techniques can be used to study datasets with few assumptions about the data and underlying experiment. Variations of independent component analysis (ICA) have been the methods mostly used on fMRI data, e.g., in finding resting-state networks thought to reflect the connectivity of the brain. Here we present a novel data analysis technique and demonstrate it on resting-state fMRI data. It is a generic method with few underlying assumptions about the data. The results are built from the statistical relations between all input voxels, resulting in a whole-brain analysis on a voxel level. It has good scalability properties and the parallel implementation is capable of handling large datasets and databases. From the mutual information between the activities of the voxels over time, a distance matrix is created for all voxels in the input space. Multidimensional scaling is used to put the voxels in a lower-dimensional space reflecting the dependency relations based on the distance matrix. By performing clustering in this space we can find the strong statistical regularities in the data, which for the resting-state data turns out to be the resting-state networks. The decomposition is performed in the last step of the algorithm and is computationally simple. This opens up for rapid analysis and visualization of the data on different spatial levels, as well as automatically finding a suitable number of decomposition components
Optimal forestry based on analysis with PlanVis
An optimal economic forestry is something many probably striving for. Itâs however difficult to achieve since the subjective judgments and emotions characterize the forestry planning. For optimal care requires powerful analysis with an optimizing forestry planning system. PlanWise is such a system, it has been used in this study to create a number of different management options for a property in VĂ€stra Götaland.
The aim of the study was to establish four strategic plans for property where various goals and constraints into account to see how different choices affect the net present value, net revenue, harvesting levels and nature conservation. The options will be helpful for the owner to formulate a goal and create its own strategic plan for the property.
The results show that the maximum value is obtained by applying no restrictions on logging. If restrictions are introduced to regeneration felling they must not vary by more than ± 10 % between two consecutive periods. Then more even flow of net revenue can be achieved. The revenue forgone will be only 1.27 % of the current value.
If restrictions to achieve higher biodiversity in the form of more allocation and higher conservation both present value and net revenue will decrease. An increase of 5 % free allocation reduces the value by 5.5 % in comparison with the highest net present value.
A PlanWise simulation was based on a local interest organization views with the desire to increase the share consideration and allocation. PlanWise shows that the present value decreases by 23 % due to the reduced volume of merchantable timber falling out.
The simulations do not include the ecological and social value created by increased share allocation and consideration
Contracts between co-owners of farm enterprises : are they complete, and do they have to?
Inom jordbrukets primÀrproduktion pÄgÄr idag en utveckling, dÀr företagen blir allt större. En stor del av denna expansion sker inom nuvarande företagsstruktur. Ett allt vanligare sÀtt Àr dock att lantbrukare expanderar genom samverkan. Den mest lÄngtgÄende formen av samverkan Àr nÀr lantbrukare bildar gemensamma driftsbolag. Detta innebÀr i mÄnga fall att flera tillgÄngar blir Àgda gemensamt samt att investeringar i varierande grad blir relationsspecifika. För att reglera denna samverkan behöver parterna utforma avtal.
Syftet med uppsatsen Àr att undersöka om de avtal, som tecknas mellan driftsbolagsdelÀgare, Àr kompletta och om de behöver vara det.
För att nÄ detta syfte intervjuas delÀgare till tre driftsbolag. En gemensam nÀmnare för delÀgarna Àr att driftsbolaget har ett stort moment av relationsspecifika investeringar. FrÄgorna formas utifrÄn variabler, som identifieras inom tre teorier.
Arbetets teoretiska ram bestÄr av ÀganderÀtts-, transaktionskostnads- samt "incomplete contract"-teori. Inom ramen för ÀganderÀttsteorin diskuteras det gemensamma Àgandets pÄverkan pÄ avtalens utformning. UtifrÄn transaktionskostnadsteorin analyseras kostnaderna för att upprÀtta avtalen. "Incomplete contract"-teorin ger svar pÄ frÄgan om varför avtal formas, om de inte blir kompletta.
Driftsbolag att intervjua identifieras med hjÀlp av tidskrifter och personer, som har kunskap om omrÄdet. Fallstudierna visar att avtalen inte Àr fullstÀndiga, men erfarenheterna varierar. En orsak till detta Àr att driftsbolagen varit verksamma under olika lÄng tid. I de fall, dÄ tidsaspekten Àr en faktor, har driftsbolagen m.a.o. olika erfarenheter. I nÄgot fall har man fÄtt Àndra och komplettera avtalen, medan det i andra fall verkar finnas behov av förÀndringar eller kompletteringar. Gemensamt för fallföretagen Àr att det funnits en ambition att teckna sÄ kompletta avtal som varit möjligt.
Den teoretiska analysen visar att det mot bakgrund av driftsbolagens karakteristika inte krÀvs att avtalen Àr fullstÀndiga. Parterna mÄste inse att framtida omförhandlingar av avtalen mÄste göras frÄn tid till annan. Noggrant utformade avtal innebÀr dock att de enskilda delÀgarna kÀnner större trygghet.Today we are facing a development within the agriculture primary production where the size
of the firms increases. Part of this expansion takes place within the current firm structure.
Increasingly common is that farmers expand by co-operating with each other. The most farreaching
form of co-operation is when farmers establish a jointly own business operation.
That normally implies that several assets are owned jointly and that investments to a varying
extent becomes relation specific. To regulate this co-operation the parties need to design an
agreement.
The purpose of this essay is to investigate if the agreements that are signed between the part
owners of a farm business co-operative are complete and if the agreements have to be.
To reach this purpose the part owners of three farm business co-operatives are interviewed.
The least denominator for the part owners is that the business co-operative implies a large
element of relation specific investments. The questions are based on variables, identified from
theory.
The essayâs theoretical framework consists of Property Rights Theory, Transaction Costs
Theory and Incomplete Contract Theory. As to Property Rights Theory the joint ownershipsâ
effects on the agreement are discussed. In the Transaction Cost Theory, the costs of
formulating the agreements are analysed. The Incomplete Contract Theory gives the answer to
why agreements are formulated if they are incomplete.
The selection of the business co-operatives to interview is made from mass media and
contacts with people with knowledge in the area. The cases show that the agreements are
incomplete, although the experience varies. One explanation is that the business co-operatives
have not been running for an equally long period of time. In some cases changes have been
conducted, while in other cases there seems to be a need of changes and/or supplements. All
the business co-operatives have an ambition to formulate their agreements as complete as possible.
On the background of the business co-operativesâ characteristic, the theoretical analyses show
that the agreements do not have to be complete. The partners rather have to realise that
renegotiation of the agreements must be done in some future. Carefully formulated
agreements do, however, bring a sense of security to the part owners
Choke collar vs harness â a study of its impact on the dog
Under mÄnga Är har mÀnniskan försökt att kontrollera sin hund med hjÀlp av ett koppel fÀst i ett halsband eller i en sele. Hundar har en stark instinkt att dra nÀr de kÀnner tryck, till exempel hundar som drar i kopplet pÄ promenad, vilket Àr problematiskt vid koppeltrÀning. Man kan ta till en del olika hjÀlpmedel för att fÄ hunden att sluta dra, men en del krÀver bÄde mycket kunskap och fÀrdighet för att anvÀndas rÀtt. Ett av dessa hjÀlpmedel Àr helstrypet, ett slags halsband som dras Ät runt hundens hals nÀr hunden drar. Detta Àr framtaget som ett trÀningsredskap nÀr man trÀnar med negativ förstÀrkning. NÀr hunden utför rÀtt beteende slÀpper man pÄ trycket, men vid en promenad dÄ hunden drar slÀpps det aldrig, och blir dÄ istÀllet som en bestraffning.
En sele lÄter en större del av kroppen ta emot trycket om hunden drar. Det finns en mÀngd olika selar, och det Àr viktigt att de sitter rÀtt sÄ trycket fördelas. Man kan anvÀnda sig av sÄ kallade antidragselar, och Àven dessa kommer i olika modeller. En modell kallas för frontkontroll, dÀr kopplet fÀsts i en ring pÄ bröstremmen.
Som tidigare nÀmnts sÄ krÀver helstrypet kunskap för att anvÀndas pÄ rÀtt sÀtt, och Àr ett hjÀlpmedel som kommer med en del konsekvenser. I en studie har man sett problem med ökat ögontryck pÄ hundar som drar med halsband pÄ, medan det med selar inte ökade nÀmnvÀrt. Det har gjorts undersökningar pÄ rygg och nacke hos hundar dÀr man har sett samband mellan nackskador och ryck i kopplet. Men det Àr svÄrt att avgöra om det Àr just detta som orsakat nackskadan, eller om det Àr utav yttre pÄverkan. Vissa antidragselar gÄr ut pÄ att det ska vara obehagligt för hunden att dra, det gÄr nÀmligen remmar under hundens ben som dras Ät nÀr hunden drar, och dessa kan skada den kÀnsliga huden samt underliggande nerver.
Stress Àr av stor betydelse för hunden vÀlfÀrd, och det Àr vÀldigt svÄrt att mÀta stress. I denna studie har jag valt att titta pÄ beteenden, och de beteenden som enligt tidigare studier tyder pÄ en stressad individ Àr till exempel flÄsar, slickar sig runt nosen, skakar kroppen, gÀspar och ökad vokalisering. Det krÀvs dock ytterligare studier inom detta Àmne dÄ det Àr skillnader mellan olika raser och individer hur de hanterar stress, och dÄ ocksÄ vilka beteenden de visar.
I denna studie anvÀndes 15 hundar av olika raser och i olika Älder. Deras Àgare fick innan studien uppskatta pÄ en skala mellan 1-10 hur mycket deras hundar drog, och snittet hamnade pÄ 6,93. Hundarna och dess Àgare filmades dÄ de gick runt i ett ridhus, med en sele av frontkontrollmodell samt ett helstryp i nylon, och dessa filmer analyserades sedan. De beteenden som registrerades var beteenden som kan vara tecken pÄ stress.
Man kunde se en signifikant skillnad i antal visade stressignaler under den tid dÄ hunden och förare var i rörelse i ridhuset, och hundarna drog signifikant mer i kopplet nÀr de var i rörelse och bar stryphalsband. Det Àr svÄrt att sÀga varför det Àr sÄ, och mÄnga olika faktorer spelar roll. Alla hundar bar sele först, och dÄ kan de ha acklimatiserat sig till miljön nÀr det var dags att sÀtta pÄ helstrypet, vilket kan innebÀra att de gick tillbaka till gamla vanor att dra i kopplet. Samtidigt sÄ Àr denna sele utformad sÄ att det ska vara svÄrt för hunden att dra.
Det behövs vidare forskning inom omrÄdet stress hos hund, samt hur de olika hjÀlpmedel som idag finns pÄ marknaden pÄverkar hunden. Den kunskap som idag finns Àr erfarenheter frÄn mÀnniskor som arbetat med hund, och det finns bara en del vetenskap bakom deras Äsikter. Jag hoppas att detta arbete kan bidra till en diskussion i hundsverige om hur vÄra hundar egentligen mÄr av vÄra uppfinningar, och att hundÀgare tÀnker efter och funderar pÄ vad de utsÀtter sin hund för.For many years man has tried to control their dog by a leash attached to a collar or a harness. Dogs have a strong instinct to pull when they feel pressure, for example, dogs that pull on the leash on the walk, which is problematic during leash training. You can use different tools to get the dog to stop pulling, but some require both knowledge and skill to be used correctly. One of these tools is the choke, a kind of collar that is tightened around the dog's neck when the dog pulls. This is designed as a training tool when training with negative reinforcement. When the dog performs the correct behavior, you release the pressure, but at a walk when the dog pulls it is never released, and instead becomes a punishment.
A harness allows a greater part of the body to take the pressure when the dog pulls. There are a variety of harnesses, and it is important that they fit right so the pressure is correctly distributed. You can use a so-called anti-pull harnesses, and even these come in different models. One model is called front control, where the leash is attached to a ring on the cheststrap.
As mentioned earlier, the choke requires knowledge to be used properly, and is a tool that comes with some consequences. In one study they have seen problems with increased intraocular pressure in dogs that pull with a collar on, but while wearing harnesses it did not increase significantly. There have been studies on the back and neck in dogs where they have seen the connection between neck injury and tug on the leash. But it is difficult to determine whether it is precisely this that caused the neck injury, or if it is out of external influences. Some anti-pull harness are made so it will be uncomfortable for the dog to pull, where straps that goes under the dog's legs that tighten when the dog pulls, and these can damage the delicate skin and underlying nerves.
Stress is of great importance for the welfare of the dog, and it is very difficult to measure stress. In this study, I have chosen to look at behaviors and the behaviors as previous studies indicates a stressed individual are for example, panting, licking around the nose, shake body, yawning, and increased vocalization. However, further studies are needed on this subject since there are differences between breeds and individuals how they handle stress, and then also what signals they show.
In this study 15 dogs of various breeds and at different ages were used. Their owners had before the study estimated on a scale of 1-10 how much their dogs pulled, and the cut ended up at 6.93. The dogs and their owners were recorded as they walked around in a riding stable, with a harness of front control model and a choke made of nylon, and these films were analyzed. The behaviors recorded were signals that could be signs of stress.
You could see a significant difference in the number of displayed signals of stress during the time when the dog and its owner were in motion at the riding stable, and the dogs pulled significantly more on the leash when they were in motion and wore choke collar. It is difficult to say why this is so, and many factors play a role. All dogs wore the harness first, and so they might have been acclimatized to the environment when it was time to put on the choke collar, which may mean that they went back to old habits, to pull on the leash. At the same time, this harness is made so it will be difficult for the dog to pull.
Further research in the area of stress in dogs is needed, and how the various devices currently on the market affect the dog. The knowledge available today is experiences from people who work with dogs, and there is only a little science behind their opinions. I hope that this will contribute to a debate among dogpeople in Sweden about how our dogs really feel by our inventions, and that dog owners think about it and think about what they expose their dog to
Utveckling av ett verktyg för att karaktÀrisera affÀrsmodeller för skogliga entreprenadtjÀnster
The Northern Periphery and Arctic (NPA) region is a part of northern Europe with common characteristics of low population density and low economic diversity, but with an abundance of natural resources. The region covers areas in eight countries, of which this study has focused on Sweden, Finland, Great Britain, and Ireland.
Forests constitute a main resource in the region, with potential to create job opportu-nities. In Sweden and Finland, forestry service contractors have struggled with low profitability. Studies show reasons such as insufficient turnover, and shortcomings in business relationships and operational conditions. There are also identified differ-ences in contractorsâ business structures. No studies have however targeted their business model design, which has been shown to provide competitive advantages in other industries. Therefore, this study aimed to adapt, validate and evaluate a business model canvas (BMC) for characterization of forestry service businesses by a three-step approach:
1) Adaptation: Experts in applying BMCs and in forestry services were interviewed targeting suitable adaptations to forestry.
2) Validation: The ability of the adapted canvas to capture variations between contractors and markets was tested by interviewing experts in the focus countries.
3) Evaluation: Outcomes were evaluated to adjust and propose a For-estry BMC (FBMC).
Results revealed many similarities and differences, both within and between markets. Commonly, customer companies have a strong influence on business model design. Key differences were found in details of business model components, which moti-vates the need for a structured tool such as the FBMC to ensure covering of all rele-vant aspects.I norra Europas utkant finns glest befolkade omrÄden med lÄg ekonomisk diversitet men stora naturresurser. Skogsresurserna har stor potential att skapa arbetstillfÀllen och driva pÄ glesbygdsutvecklingen. Europeiska Unionen (EU) har identifierat om-rÄden som uppfyller dessa och nÄgra ytterligare kriterier och kallar dem Northern Periphery and Arctic (NPA) region. NPA-regionen innefattar Ätta lÀnder varav hÀlf-ten av dem Àr EU-medlemslÀnder och utgör studieomrÄde för arbetet: Finland, Irland, Storbritannien och Sverige.
Skogliga entreprenader i bÄde Sverige och Finland har under en lÀngre tid kÀmpat med lÄg lönsamhet, och studier har visat samband mellan lönsamhet och faktorer som kundrelationer, omsÀttning och kundernas erbjudna arbetsförutsÀttningar. Studier har ocksÄ visat skillnader i entreprenadföretagens företagsstruktur. Trots detta har ingen studerat skogsentreprenadens affÀrsmodeller.
Studier inom andra branscher har visat att affÀrsmodellens utformning kan ge företag konkurrensfördelar. Denna studies syfte var dÀrför att anpassa, validera och utvÀrdera ett ramverk för kartlÀggning av affÀrsmodeller för skogliga entreprenadtjÀnster. Detta har gjorts i tre steg:
1) Anpassning: Ramverket anpassades genom intervjuer med sakkun-niga inom anvÀndningen av ramverk för beskrivning av affÀrsmo-deller, samt inom skogliga entreprenadtjÀnster.
2) Validering: Det föreslagna ramverket testades pÄ experter inom skogliga entreprenadtjÀnster pÄ marknaderna i Sverige, Finland, Ir-land och Skottland för att undersöka hur vÀl komponenterna i ram-verket fÄngar variationer i tillÀmpade affÀrsmodeller.
3) UtvÀrdering: Resultatet frÄn valideringen utvÀrderades för att ta fram ett slutgiltigt ramverk för karaktÀrisering av skogliga entreprenadfö-retags affÀrsmodeller.
Resultaten visade skillnader i entreprenadföretagens affÀrsmodeller, bÄde inom och mellan marknaderna. Skillnaderna Äterfinns ofta i detaljerna, varför ett strukturerat och heltÀckande verktyg krÀvs för att fÄnga dessa. Vidare pekar studien pÄ att kund-företagen har en stor inverkan pÄ entreprenörernas affÀrsmodeller
Mono-Camera 3D Multi-Object Tracking Using Deep Learning Detections and PMBM Filtering
Monocular cameras are one of the most commonly used sensors in the automotive
industry for autonomous vehicles. One major drawback using a monocular camera
is that it only makes observations in the two dimensional image plane and can
not directly measure the distance to objects. In this paper, we aim at filling
this gap by developing a multi-object tracking algorithm that takes an image as
input and produces trajectories of detected objects in a world coordinate
system. We solve this by using a deep neural network trained to detect and
estimate the distance to objects from a single input image. The detections from
a sequence of images are fed in to a state-of-the art Poisson multi-Bernoulli
mixture tracking filter. The combination of the learned detector and the PMBM
filter results in an algorithm that achieves 3D tracking using only mono-camera
images as input. The performance of the algorithm is evaluated both in 3D world
coordinates, and 2D image coordinates, using the publicly available KITTI
object tracking dataset. The algorithm shows the ability to accurately track
objects, correctly handle data associations, even when there is a big overlap
of the objects in the image, and is one of the top performing algorithms on the
KITTI object tracking benchmark. Furthermore, the algorithm is efficient,
running on average close to 20 frames per second.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, for associated videos, see https://goo.gl/Aoydg
Fertilization in young stands : a study of practical application
I en omstÀllning till ett hÄllbart biobaserat samhÀlle kommer efterfrÄgan pÄ biomaterial och förnyelsebara rÄvaror öka ytterligare. För att möta den ökande efterfrÄgan samtidigt som vi bevarar biodiversiteten behöver produktionen i svenska skogar öka. I detta arbete har praktiska försök med behovsanpassad gödsling (BAG) i unga granbestÄnd utvÀrderats. Försöken Àr anlagda av Enheten för skoglig fÀltforskning vid SLU i samarbete med Södra skogsÀgarna och Sveaskog. Försöken Àr anlagda i Tranemo respektive Toftaholm (Ljungbytrakten), med syftet att testa huruvida det Àr praktiskt möjligt att bedriva behovsanpassad gödsling i större skala och erhÄlla samma höga tillvÀxt som uppnÄtts tidigare i mindre, grundlÀggande försök. BestÄnden Àr gödslade med fullgödselgiva vartannat Är med start vid ca tre meters höjd och har reviderats fem och elva Är efter behandlingsstart. Variablerna som studerades var höjd, diameter samt volym. Analysen visade pÄ ökad tillvÀxt med avseende pÄ alla tre variabler i de gödslade ytorna jÀmfört de ogödslade, i storleksordningen 15 % ökad höjdtillvÀxt, 25 % ökad diametertillvÀxt samt 100 % ökad volymtillvÀxt. Vi jÀmförde tillvÀxtresultaten i de praktiskt tillÀmpade försöken med tidigare försök gjorda i mindre skala och uppnÄr liknande resultat. För bolag med stora skogsinnehav Àr egen skog den sÀkraste och billigaste rÄvaran att leverera till industrin, dÀr intensivodling med gödsling Àr ett sÀtt att öka mÀngden virke i den egna skogen.In a transition to a greener society, the demand for biomaterials and renewable raw materials will increase. To meet the growing demand while preserving biodiversity, production in Swedish forests needs to increase. We have evaluated the practical nutrient optimization in forest young stands established at the Department of Forest field research at SLU in collaboration with forest owners Södra and Sveaskog. The trials are located in Tranemo and Toftaholm. Goal being to test whether it is practically possible to conduct nutrient optimization on a large scale and achieve results similar to those previously achieved in smaller scale. The stands are fertilized with a fullrange fertilizer dose every other year, with the beginning at about three meters standhight, and has been revised five and eleven years after started treatment. The variables studied were height, diameter and volume. The analysis showed increased growth in terms of all three variables in the fertilized plots compared to the unfertilised, in the range of 15% increased height growth, 25% increased diameter growth and 100% increase in volume growth. We compared the experiments with previous studies done on a smaller scale and achieves similar results. For companies with large forest holdings ones own forests are the safest and cheapest raw materials supply for the industry, intensive farming with fertilization is a way to increase the amount of timber in there own forests
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