Damned if you do, Damned if you don't – Reduced Climate Impact vs. Sustainable Forests in Sweden

The main objective of this paper is to analyze the potential goal conflict between two of Sweden’s environmental objectives: Sustainable Forests and Reduced Climate Impact – or, more precisely, the conflict between forest conservation and the supply of wood fuel. To accomplish this, we use a forest sector model that includes the suppliers and major users of roundwood. The econometric results, based on a data set that spans 40 years, show that all the own price elasticities have the expected signs. Among the three forestry products, the supply and (long-term) demand of forest fuel seems to be most sensitive to a price change. In a second step, the estimated model is used to simulate the effect of increased forest conservation -- the Sustainable Forest objective -- on the supply of wood fuel. If oil is used as a substitute, Swedish emissions of greenhouse gases will increase by almost 0.92 percent, which indicates a clear conflict with the Reduced Climate Impact objective.Goal conflict; Wood fuels; Forest sector model; Roundwood markets; Forest conservation

Clinical utility and evaluation of radiology in diagnosing sacroiliitis

Background: Radiographic confirmation of diagnosis is important in all diagnostic and classification criteria for spondyloarthropathy. The aim was to evaluate computed tomography (CT) and to compare it to radiography. Methods: A pilot study compared radiography and CT in 40 patients with spondyloarthropathy. A study on 1425 patients examined with CT, 910 of which also with radiography, was reported in four papers. All CT examinations were reviewed and scored by two observers. The original outcomes from the radiography and CT examinations were obtained from the radiology reports. Results: CT had a higher sensitivity for sacroiliitis than radiography, especially in early sacroiliitis. Radiography had a high rate of false negative and false positive outcomes. The observer agreement between two observers in a large material was good, while the observer agreements between each of the observers and the original radiology reports were moderate. Intraobserver agreement for a smaller part of the material for one of the observers was moderate. There was a change in diagnosis in three of 126 patients (2.4%) examined more than once from normal or equivocal to unilateral or bilateral sacroiliitis. Ten normal cases had changed to equivocal (7.9%). In further six patients (4.8%) the diagnosis advanced from unilateral to bilateral sacroiliitis. Four equivocal cases were classified as normal on the second study, and one case of unilateral sacroiliitis was classified as equivocal on the second study. Mainly multiple or large erosions seem to be a valid solitary diagnostic sign. Small solitary or few erosions need supplemental evidence from other inflammatory signs such as sclerosis. Inflammatory sclerosis can frequently be distinguished from degenerative sclerosis, and can sometimes support an early diagnosis, when erosions are not apparent. A practical CT classification for sacroiliitis consisting of no disease, suspect disease, and disease is proposed. Conclusions: The clinical utility of conventional radiography for evaluation of sacroiliitis is low with a high rate of insufficient and false reports, making radiography unsuitable for clinical use or use in population studies. CT is a robust imaging method for suspected sacroiliitis with good observer agreement, with higher rate of detection of sacroiliitis than radiography; also for early changes. There is no use for repeat CT examinations for suspected sacroiliitis. The New York criteria are unsuitable for use with CT and a new grading system for CT of sacroiliitis is proposed

Low-dose computed tomography of the lumbar spine: a phantom study on imaging parameters and image quality

Background: Lumbar spine radiography has limited diagnostic value but low radiation dose compared with computed tomography (CT). The average effective radiation dose from lumbar spine radiography is about 1.1 mSv. Low-dose lumbar spine CT may be an alternative to increase the diagnostic value at low radiation dose, around 1 mSv. Purpose: To determine the optimal settings for low-dose lumbar spine CT simultaneously aiming for the highest diagnostic image quality possible. Material and Methods: An ovine lower thoracic and lumbar spine phantom, with all soft tissues around the vertebrae preserved except the skin, was placed in a 20 L plastic container filled with water. The phantom was scanned repeatedly with various technical settings; different tube potential, reference mAs, and with different convolution filters. Five radiologists evaluated the image quality according to a modification of the European guidelines for multislice computed tomography (MSCT) quality criteria for lumbar spine CT 2004. In a visual comparison the different scans were also ranked subjectively according to perceived image quality. Image noise and contrast were measured. Results: A tube potential of 120 kV with reference mAs 30 and medium or medium smooth convolution filter gave the best image quality at a sub-millisievert dose level, i.e. with an effective dose comparable to that from lumbar spine radiography. Conclusion: Low-dose lumbar spine CT thus opens a possibility to substitute lumbar spine radiography with CT without obvious increase in radiation dose

The Juridical Status of Privileged Combatants Under the Geneva Protocol of 1977 Concerning International Conflicts

Centralized control and coordination of the connections in a wireless network is not possible in practice. To keep the delay from measure-ment instants to actuating the decisions, distributed control is required. This paper focuses on the uplink (from mobiles to base stations) and dis-cusses distributing the decision of when and when not to transmit data (distributed scheduling) to the mobiles. The scheme, uplink transmission timing, utilizes mobile transmitter power control feedback from the base station receiver to determine whether the channel is favorable or not compared to the average channel condition. Thereby, the battery consumption and disturbing power to other connections are reduced. The algorithm can be described as a feedback control system. Some transient behaviors are analyzed using systems theory, and supported by wireless network simulations of a system with a WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) radio interface as in most 3G systems

Standardization of Environmental Management and Sustainability Reporting

Abstract Title Standardization of Environmental Management and Sustainability Reporting Seminar Date May 29th 2013 Course BUSN68 Degree Project - Accounting and Management Control; BUSN69 Degree Project - Accounting and Auditing, 15 ECTS Authors Johanna Geijer and Linda Sturesson Advisors Per Magnus Andersson and Stefan Yard Keywords Standardization, Environmental Management, Sustainability Reporting, ISO 14001, GRI Purpose The purpose of this thesis is to increase the understanding of why companies choose to standardize environmental management and sustainability reporting instead of using a unique solution. Theoretical Framework The presented theoretical framework of this thesis built on exogenous and endogenous theories consisting of legitimacy theory, stakeholder theory, institutional theory, the resource based view and positive accounting theory. Besides this benefits and implications of standardization will be given account for. Methodology The methodology undertaken is generally based on a qualitative research approach through case studies. A quantitative approach will also be used for the conducted pilot survey and information found in sustainability reports. Complementary to this an expert interview has also been completed. Empirical Foundation The empirical findings imply that the mostly used strategy amongst the investigated corporations is the use of both ISO 14001 and GRI. Such well-established standards also seem to create a foundation for continuous improvements within corporations. Case studies furthermore highlight requirements from customers, investors and owners as an important factor. Conclusions This study indicates that corporations choose to standardize their environmental management and sustainability reporting in search of legitimacy and because of stakeholder demands. Furthermore standards can also become normative making them essential for economic survival. Benefits such as improved comparability and efficiency as well as increased awareness also influence corporations to standardize this area. The study also confirmed that purchase and certification costs of standard deter marginal users to standardize

Owner Perceived Behavior in Cats and the Influence of Husbandry Practices, Housing and Owner Attitudes in Sweden

Simple Summary In this paper, we describe the results from an online survey that targeted cat owners in Sweden. The aim of the study was to investigate how owners perceived the behavior of their cats, and if the cat characteristics could influence the owner attitudes. In this study, we describe the data from 3253 cats and their owners. Less than one in five cat owners reported that they had experienced behavioral problems with their cats. Owners of cats with outdoor access reported experiencing fewer problems. However, we could not find an effect of the length of time a cat was left home alone. If owners had university level knowledge in animal behavior, we could see an effect on the perception of cat behaviors such as cats misbehaving out of spite. Many owners did not believe that cats could be trained to overcome behavior problems, and many owners also thought that cats could manage on their own. These attitudes can in the long run have negative effects on the welfare of cats. This study consisted of an online survey based on a convenience sample among cat owners in Sweden. The aim was to investigate how owner and cat characteristics influenced the perceived behavior of cats, focusing on perceived behavioral or temperamental problems. The relation between owner knowledge, the provided environment, and owner perceived behavior of 3253 pet cats were investigated. Few respondents (18%) reported behavioral or temperamental problems, and consequently 82% perceived no problem whatsoever. Fewer cats with outdoor access were reported to display behavioral or temperamental problems. However, there was no effect of the length of time a cat was left home alone. Having studied animal behavior at university level influenced the perception of some cat behaviors, but not the incidence of reporting perceived problems. Many owners did not believe that it was possible to prevent behavioral problems in cats by training (58.5%), and many owners thought that cats could manage independently on their own (66%). Attitudes like this can cause challenges in the owner-cat interactions. The perception of problems with cats will be influenced by factors relating to husbandry routines such as outdoor access, which in the future could help to implement recommendations for cat husbandry and care

Incentives vs. Nonpartisanship: The Prosecutorial Dilemma in an Adversary System

The limiting factor in the uplink of all CDMA cellular systems is the relation between uplink noise rise and intended coverage. In link budgets, noise rise is usually simply handled as a constant contribution to the background noise in logarithmic scale, often referred to as interference margin. In practice, however, it is not constant. We model the uplink noise rise as a lognormal distribution, and investigate the impact to link budgets. Simulations and numerical calculations show that the uplink noise rise variance does not critically affect the uplink capacity and coverage. System feasibility and its relation to the uplink load is also discussed. It is shown that approximative load expressions provides an upper bound on the uplink load and therefore they can be used to imply system feasibility. Furthermore, the uplink load expressions provide accurate approximations of the load given that the load is within the practical limits given by the link budgets

A retrospective analysis of the clinical impact of 939 chest radiographs using the medical records.

Objective. Between one-third and half of all radiology examinations worldwide are probably chest studies. The aim of the current study was to retrospectively evaluate the clinical influence of chest radiography. Methods. In a tertiary referral hospital, 939 consecutive daytime chest radiography examinations were evaluated. The outcome was classified as normal, incidental, or pathologic. The referring physician's reaction to radiologic outcome was classified as highly expected, moderately expected, or unexpected. The influence on the patients' treatment was divided into four groups from major to no influence. Results. In all, 71.6% of the studies had a highly expected outcome. Moderately expected or unexpected outcomes were noted in 36.6% of 500 pathologic examinations. Unexpected outcome was noted in 11.6% of all studies. The radiologic outcome influenced treatment in 65.4% of patients where pathology was demonstrated. Patients with normal or incidental findings had treatment influenced in 1/3 of the cases. Unexpected findings influenced treatment more than moderately expected findings. When radiological findings were highly expected, treatment was influenced in less than half of the cases. Surprisingly few chest radiology examinations were commented upon in the medical records

The Due-on-Sale Controversy: Beneficial Effects of the Garn-St. Germain Depository Institution Act of 1982

Radio resource management (RRM) in cellular radio system is an example of automatic control. The system performance may be increased by introducing decentralization, shorter delays and increased adaptation to local demands. However, it is hard to guarantee system stability without being, too conservative while using decentralized resource management. In this paper, two algorithms that both guarantee system stability and use local resource control are proposed for the uplink (mobile to base station). While one of the algorithms uses only local decisions, the other uses a central node to coordinate resources among different local nodes. In the chosen design approach, a feasible solution to the optimization problems corresponds to a stable system. Therefore, the algorithms will never assign resources that lead to an unstable system. Simulations indicate that the proposed algorithms also provide high capacity at any given uplink load level

Assessing Scrubbing Techniques for Xilinx SRAM-based FPGAs in Space Applications

SRAM-based FPGAs are becoming increasingly attractive for use in space applications due to their reconfigurability and signal processing capabilities, as well as their increasing speed and capacity. Traditional SRAM-based FPGAs, however, are highly sensitive to the ionizing radiation environment in space, making them prone to radiation-induced memory upsets. In this paper, we evaluate and compare scrubbing techniques for Xilinx SRAM-based FPGAs with respect to radiation-induced single event upsets. A test framework using an exchangeable payload is developed for this purpose and run on a Xilinx Virtex-5 FPGA. We show that recent SRAM-based FPGAs can constitute a cost-efficient alternative to radiation-hardened or antifuse FPGAs for non-critical space application such as satellite instruments