A Case Study of the Architecture Business Cycle for an In-Vehicle Software Architecture

This paper presents the theoretical and practical benefits from a case study using a the Architecture Business Cycle to understand the management of software architecture at an automotive manufacturer. The study was done to prepare for architectural changes driven by new technology and in the automotive business environment. Our results show that the architecture business cycle worked well in defining the theoretical context for the study after some modifications; the architecture had to be precisely defined in the interview situation to gain more useful data rather than broad generalisations. Further contributions of the study were a deeper understanding of role of the architecture and it's position among other artefacts in the organisation, and an increased focus on architectural issues in management meetings. The study also indirectly affected a subsequent re-organisation

New genetic loci link adipose and insulin biology to body fat distribution.

Body fat distribution is a heritable trait and a well-established predictor of adverse metabolic outcomes, independent of overall adiposity. To increase our understanding of the genetic basis of body fat distribution and its molecular links to cardiometabolic traits, here we conduct genome-wide association meta-analyses of traits related to waist and hip circumferences in up to 224,459 individuals. We identify 49 loci (33 new) associated with waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for body mass index (BMI), and an additional 19 loci newly associated with related waist and hip circumference measures (P < 5 × 10(-8)). In total, 20 of the 49 waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for BMI loci show significant sexual dimorphism, 19 of which display a stronger effect in women. The identified loci were enriched for genes expressed in adipose tissue and for putative regulatory elements in adipocytes. Pathway analyses implicated adipogenesis, angiogenesis, transcriptional regulation and insulin resistance as processes affecting fat distribution, providing insight into potential pathophysiological mechanisms

The Ecology of Mosquito Borne Viruses

The ecology of a mosquito borne virus involves a consideration of the growth of the virus within the vertebrate and arthropod hosts, the reaction of these hosts to the presence of the virus, and the vertebrate-arthropod associations which are necessary for the dissemination and maintenance of the virus. Little is known of the physiological properties of a particular host and virus which permit multiplication of the virus. In this review stress will be laid u pon studies which attempt to discover the mechanisms in nature which maintain these viruses. The first section will relate to the geographical distribution and time of occurrence of the viruses as indicated by clinical disease in human beings and domestic animals, antibody surveys among various animal species, and attempts at isolation of viruses from arthropods and other animals. Section two deals with transmission and viremia studies with suspected vectors and vertebrate hosts and virus cycles in the laboratory. Section three is concerned with field observations attempting to demonstrate that suspected vectors and their vertebrate hosts occur in sufficient numbers and are so associated that a virus cycle is possible. Section four deals with the problem of maintenance of virus during prolonged cold or dry periods. Section five pertains to serological relationships of interest from the standpoint of virus evolution. Some of the newly described viruses are described in section six

The Impact of Digital Healthcare - A study that examines the effects of digital healthcare services on performance in primary healthcare in Sweden

This paper examines what effect digital healthcare has on primary healthcare in Sweden. Using aggregated register data from Jönköping county council and datasets, from väntetider and from hälsokollen a difference- in difference (DiD) analysis is conducted. The main result of this paper shows that digital healthcare has a statistically significant effect on accessibility in primary healthcare regarding in-patient visits. Results on the estimated effects on accessibility regarding phone call to a primary care center were not statistically significant. Since the results are mixed for our two outcome variables, phone and visits there is reason to believe that there is not enough evidence to conclude whether the effect is positive or negative. This paper has nevertheless contributed to the research field by adding a strategy to measure the effect of digital healthcare

On optimal tax rates and shifts in the peak of the Laffer curve - An empirical study of Swedish municipalities during the years from 2000 to 2017.

This report presents an empirical study of the average Laffer curve of Swedish municipalities, with a focus on determining whether the position of the peak of the curve has shifted or, put differently, whether the optimal value of the average municipal tax rate has changed over time. A regression model based on the Laffer curve relationship between tax revenue and tax rates and including several control variables is proposed. The results from several regressions for different time periods between the years 2000 and 2017 are presented, and they contain some evidence suggesting that the position of the peak of the average Laffer curve of Swedish municipalities moved during the period from 2000 to 2017

A Data Acquisition Front End For Silicon Strip Detectors

Tässä työssä toteutettiin tiedonkeruujärjestelmä piimikronauhailmaisimien LHC kokeisiin tähtäävään kehitystyöhön. Piimikronauhailmaisimien toiminta kuvataan työssä Iyhyesti korostaen LHC kokeessa ilmeneviä erityiskysymyksiä. Myös detektorien lukuelektroniikkaa käsitellään lyhyesti. LHC kokeisiin ehdotettuja lukupiirivaihtoehtoja vertaillaan lähinnä tiedonkeruujärjestelmän näkökulmasta. Lisäksi käydään läpi piidetektoreiden reaaliaikaiseen signaalinkäsittelyyn soveltuvia algoritmeja. Huomioiden detektorien ja lukuelektroniikan asettamat vaatimukset suunniteltiin tiedonkeruujärjestelmän etupää. Järjestelmän väyläratkaisuksi valittiin VMEbus. Järjestelmä koostuu VME prosessorimodulista ja vartavasten suunnitelluista ROxi tiedonkeruukorteista. ROxi kortille on integroitu nopea rinnakkainen digitaalisen signaalin käsittelyjärjestelmä ja kahdeksalta analogikanavalta näytteistävä 10 bittinen 40 Näytettä/s A/D-muunnin. Monipuolinen ohjelmoitava porttimatriisipiiri liittää kortin ajoitus-, liipaisu- ja kontrollijärjestelmiin. Käsitelty tieto siiretään eteenpäin joko kuituoptisen linkin tai VME väylän yli. Järjestelmää käytettiin pii-detektoreista muodostetun hiukkasteleskoopin tiedonkeruuseen H2 koealueella CERN:ssä

Being Australian teaching Australian

In this paper we want to focus on two main aspects of our experience in the United States. The teaching of Australian (and New Zealand) subject material in an exclusive US institution, and the crossover between teacher and person in the practice of this teaching. In particular we wish to highlight the challenges and rewards of teaching Australian studies outside of Australia, and explore the experiences of less senior academic staff who undertake this task

Interplay of strain, polarization and magnetic ordering in complex oxides from first principles

We study mechanisms of structural and magnetic phase transitions in crystalline oxides from first principles. The focus is on epitaxial stabilization in perovskites and on magnetoelastic coupling and frustration in spinels. These materials and phenomena are of great interest for basic science and have important roles to play in the design and discovery of new functional materials. The effects of epitaxial strain on the structure of the perovskite oxide CaTiO3 are investigated. Particular attention is paid to the stabilization of a ferroelectric phase related to the polar instability found in previous first-principles studies of calcium titanate in the ideal cubic perovskite structure. At 1.5% strain, we find an epitaxial orientation transition between the ab-ePbnm phase, favoured for compressive strains, and the c-ePbnm phase. For larger tensile strains, a polar instability, which was hidden in the equilibrium bulk structure, develops in the c-ePbnm phase and an epitaxial-strain-induced ferroelectric phase is obtained with polarization along a [110] direction with respect to the primitive perovskite lattice vectors of the square substrate. A ferroelectric rhombohedral R3c phase, with a different combination of octahedral rotations, is also found to be competitive in energy for large tensile strains, and might be observable under the application of additional perturbations, such as a small degree of cation substitution. We present an ongoing project to construct a first-principles effective Hamiltonian to investigate the transition from the high-temperature cubic phase to a low-temperature low-symmetry phase observed in the spinel structure oxides CdCr2O4 and ZnCr2O4. The local modes included in the expansion are the chromium displacements, distortions of the cadmium- or zinc-centred tetrahedra, and the homogeneous strain. The magnetostructural coupling of these degrees of freedom to the spins of the chromium ions is included in the effective Hamiltonian parametrization and first-principles determination using a symmetry analysis. The role of the magnetostructural coupling in the phase transition is analysed and discussed.Ph.D.Includes abstractVitaIncludes bibliographical referencesby Carl-Johan Eklun