International benchmarking of electricity distribution utilities.

Benchmarking by means of applying the DEA model is appearing as an interesting alternative for regulators under the new regimes for electricity distributors. A sample of large electricity distribution utilities from Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands for the year 1997 is studied by assuming a common production frontier for all countries. The peers supporting the benchmark frontier are from all countries. New indexes describing cross country connections between peers and their inefficient units are developed, as well as productivity measurements between units from different countries.Electricity utility; benchmarking; efficiency; DEA; Malmquist productivity index

Theoretical analysis of oxygen vacancies in layered sodium cobaltate Na_xCoO_{2-\delta}

Sodium cobaltate with high Na content is a promising thermoelectric material. It has recently been reported that oxygen vacancies can alter the material properties, reducing its figure of merit. However, experimental data concerning the oxygen stoichiometry are contradictory. We therefore studied the formation of oxygen vacancies in Na_xCoO_2 with first principles calculations, focusing on x = 0.75. We show that a very low oxygen vacancy concentration is expected at the temperatures and partial pressures relevant for applications.Comment: 4 page

Jonathan Fjeld Honors Portfolio

Jonathan Fjeld\u27s honors portfolio captured in May 2021

Modelling forest road trafficability with satellite-based soil moisture variables

Recent decades have seen increased temperatures and precipitation in the Nordic countries with long-term projections for reduced frost duration and depth. The consequence of these trends has been a gradual shift of delivery volumes to the frost-free season, requiring more agile management to exploit suitable weather conditions. Bearing capacity and trafficability are dependent on soil moisture state and in this context two satellite missions offer potenially useful information on soil moisture levels; NASA's SMAP (Soil Moisture Active Passive) and ESA's Sentinel-1. The goal of this pilot study was to quantify the performance of such satellite-based soil moisture variables for modeling forest road bearing capacity (e-module) during the frost-free season. The study was based on post-transport registrations of 103 forest road segments on the coastal and interior side of the Scandinavian mountain range. The analysis focused on roads of three types of surface deposits. Weekly SMAP soil moisture values better explained the variation in road e-module than soil water index (SWI) derived from Sentinel-1. Soil Water Index (SWI), however, reflected the weather conditions typical for operations on the respective surface deposit types. Regression analysis using (i) SMAP-based soil dryness index and (ii) its interaction with surface deposit types, together with (iii) the ratio between a combined SMAP_SWI dryness index and segment-specific depth to water (DTW) explained over 70% of the variation in road e-module. The results indicate a future potential to monitor road trafficability over large supply areas on a weekly level, given further refinement of study methods and variables for improved prediction

Holding Your Tongue: The New Language of Silence

Ingmar Bergman’s middle years – from the late 1950s to the early 1970s – were a period of great creativity, but also of irreparable destruction on a private and artistic level. This paper takes stock of a film immediately preceding his great international breakthrough (with Persona in 1966), namely The Silence (1962). Rendering, in Bergman’s own words, ‘God’s silence’, the film also thematises absence, wordlessness, and the void in at least three additional senses: showing a child’s entry into the Symbolic Order, The Silence demonstrates the absence that is constitutive of this passage; giving an account of a specific relation between a master and his apprentice, the film shows a concrete example of the wordlessness at the core of their communication. Moreover, as an attempt to seek out the paternal figure, the film demonstrates the necessary void at the core of the new order – a community governed by silent praise.Trzymając język za zębami: Nowy język CiszyLata „środkowe” Ingmara Bergmana – od końca lat 50. do początku lat 70. XX wieku – były okresem wielkiej kreatywności, ale zarazem nieodwracalnej destrukcji na polu prywatnym i artystycznym. Niniejszy artykuł nawiązuje do filmu bezpośrednio poprzedzającego wielki międzynarodowy przełom artysty (filmem Persona w 1966 roku), a mianowicie do Ciszy (1962). Realizując, według słów Bergmana, „ciszę Bożą”, film ten podejmuje tematykę nieobecności, bezsłowności i pustki w co najmniej trzech dodatkowych znaczeniach: ukazując wejście dziecka do Porządku Symbolicznego, ukazuje nieobecność jako kluczową dla tego fragmentu; relacjonując specyficzną relację mistrza i ucznia, wskazuje na konkretny przykład bezsłowności leżącej u podstaw ich komunikacji; i wreszcie, podejmując próbę poszukiwania ojcowskiej figury, film odsłania konieczną pustkę jako zaczyn nowego porządku: wspólnoty rządzącej się niemą pochwałą

Higher Auslander--Solberg correspondence for exact categories

We introduce the concept of an $n$-minimal Auslander--Gorenstein category and $n$-precluster tilting subcategory. With this, we create an analog of the higher Auslander--Solberg correspondence (arXiv:1608.04179) for exact categories. Our approach is based on the recent generalization of the (higher) Auslander correspondence to exact categories (arXiv:2011.15107, arXiv:2108.13645).Comment: 32 pages, 0 figure

Easily Digestible: Addressing Food Literacy with Short Educational Videos

Food literacy is the knowledge and skills needed to select and prepare food as well as determine food intake. These skills are necessary for a healthy diet, which is a major contributing factor to chronic disease prevention and management. People with diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease can have great benefit from improving diet quality through increasing at-home food preparation and consumption of fruits and vegetables. In partnership with a Food Farmacy pilot program at Hudson Headwaters Health Network in Glens Falls, NY this project sought to use web-based food literacy education for a population of 40 patients with diabetes. Short, simple videos on basic fruit and vegetable preparation were created and published on YouTube. Follow-up interviews with patients were conducted to assess the reach and efficacy of this intervention.https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/fmclerk/1627/thumbnail.jp

Scale Stain: Multi-Resolution Feature Enhancement in Pathology Visualization

Digital whole-slide images of pathological tissue samples have recently become feasible for use within routine diagnostic practice. These gigapixel sized images enable pathologists to perform reviews using computer workstations instead of microscopes. Existing workstations visualize scanned images by providing a zoomable image space that reproduces the capabilities of the microscope. This paper presents a novel visualization approach that enables filtering of the scale-space according to color preference. The visualization method reveals diagnostically important patterns that are otherwise not visible. The paper demonstrates how this approach has been implemented into a fully functional prototype that lets the user navigate the visualization parameter space in real time. The prototype was evaluated for two common clinical tasks with eight pathologists in a within-subjects study. The data reveal that task efficiency increased by 15% using the prototype, with maintained accuracy. By analyzing behavioral strategies, it was possible to conclude that efficiency gain was caused by a reduction of the panning needed to perform systematic search of the images. The prototype system was well received by the pathologists who did not detect any risks that would hinder use in clinical routine

Exploring density-habitat relationships and model transferability for an slpine bird using abundance models

Master i terrestrisk økologi og naturforvaltning - Nord universitet 202