Polynomials involving the floor function

Some identities are presented that generalize the formula x^3 = 3x floor(x floor(x)) - 3 floor(x) floor(x floor(x)) + floor(x)^3 + 3 frac(x) frac(x floor(x)) + frac(x)^3 to a representation of the product x_0x_1 ... x_{n-1}

Sensorless Control of Induction Motors Using an Extended Kalman Filter and Linear Quadratic Tracking

Master's thesis Renewable Energy ENE500 - University of Agder 2017Conventional sensorless controls for induction motors require two PID regulators and precise gain turning. This thesis presents a sensorless control for induction motors using an extended Kalman filter (EKF) and linear quadratic tracking (LQT). The proposed method requires only a single controller and no physical velocity senso

Decoding: An interpretive look into the intricacies of primary school pupils´ recourse to code switching

2021-09-03T16:34:40

Pilgrimage to a Greek Island Shrine

In modern Greece, the festival dedicated to the ‘Dormition’ of the Panagia (‘the All-Holy One’), who is the Virgin Mary, is celebrated on 15 August. On Tinos, in the island group of the Cyclades in the Aegean Sea, this fertility- and healing-festival dedicated to the Dormition of the Panagia is particularly important due to several reasons. The Church of the Panagia, Euangelistria (‘the Annunciation’), owes its fame to a miraculous holy icon (image) of the Annunciation, which was unearthed in a field in 1823. Since then, the miracles worked by this icon have made Tinos a centre of Pan-Orthodox worship, and pilgrimages are particularly made to this greatest shrine of Greek Orthodoxy during the Dormition. The Dormition of the Panagia is also an important ideological manifestation for the ‘new Greek nation-state of 1821’, as demonstrated through several ceremonies during the festival, particularly the procession when the icon is carried from the church to the harbour. The festival is also a significant occasion to study gendered spheres, as well as the relationship between various Greek population groups. This article is based on several periods of fieldwork, carried out from 1990 to the present, involving research into the festival dedicated to the Dormition of the Panagia on Tinos, and it explores some of the main elements of this festival, within a current socio-economic and political framework

Protein phosphatase 2A and cryptochrome in plant development

Master's thesis in Biological chemistryProtein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) is a serine/threonine-specific phosphatase that regulates diverse signaling events in plants. PP2A consist of three subunits, a catalytic subunit (C), a scaffolding subunit (A), and a regulatory subunit (B). The catalytic subunit C occurs in association with the scaffolding subunit A to make the core enzyme. The A subunit works as a scaffold and is essential for recruiting the regulatory subunit B to form the ABC trimer. Previous studies have shown that a PP2A mutant behaves like a CRY (Cryptochrome) overexpressor/strong signaling mutant with respect to blue light and hypocotyl length. This led to the hypothesis that B´α is part of a PP2A complex that dephosphorylates CRY1. Increased phosphorylation of CRY1 will in theory result in more efficient or longer lasting repression of COP1 (Constitutively photomorphogenic 1), which again gives higher levels of CO (Constans). CO directly binds to and activates FT (Flowering locus T) which is an activator of flowering. Hypocotyl length of B´α mutants was compared to WT (Wild type) by sowing seeds in ½ MS (Murashige-Skoog) media and exposing them to blue light. Shorter hypocotyls of the B´α mutant in blue light were confirmed in 8 out of 9 experiments. The flowering phenotype of B´α mutants were investigated by comparing them to WT in 8 h, 12 h, and 16 h day lengths. The flowering experiments with the B´α mutants revealed a “weak” phenotype of early flowering in both short and long days. Though the B´α mutants showed earlier flowering in all experiments, statistical significance was only observed in 12 h and 16 h light when compared to WT. The possible protein-protein interaction between B´α and CRY1 were analyzed by bimolecular fluorescence complementation (BiFC) assay. B´α and CRY1 were tagged with N- or C-terminal fragments of the fluorescent protein Venus and transiently expressed in Arabidopsis mesophyll protoplasts. Fluorescent signals were observed both in combinations of CRY1/ B´α and “empty” vectors, and thereby questioning the specificity of the BiFC assay. However fluorescent signals showing dots/speckles were observed in the combination of CRY1/ B´α and not in control experiments, which indicates protein-protein interaction between CRY1 and B´α. The flowering and hypocotyl experiments indicate that B´α is involved in the dephosphorylation of CRY1, hence strengthening the working hypothesis. However, more experiments should be done in the future before any firm conclusions are drawn

Phenotypic characterization and ploidy level determination of perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) gene bank accessions and cultivars

Perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) is the most grown perennial grass species all over the world, because of the rapid regrowth and good nutritional composition. Winter survival is challenging when growing perennial ryegrass in the northern and eastern parts of the Nordic/Baltic region. Several Nordic and Baltic universities and breeding companies are collaborating in a pre-breeding project for perennial ryegrass, to develop germplasm that can meet the coming climate changes and increase utilization of perennial ryegrass in this region. The benefits of pre-breeding are the possibility to increase the genetic variation by intercrossing of diverse genetic material. Phenotypical studies of single plants are common for obtaining knowledge about the variation of the material before making crosses. In this study, we investigated 389 populations of perennial ryegrass from different places in Europe, consisting of both collected material from gene banks, landraces, breeding lines and cultivars. The populations were phenotyped in four single plants experiments in different Nordic locations for the traits winter survival, resistance to crown rust, plant height, heading date and regrowth after 1st cut. Flow cytometry was used to determine ploidy for all populations. This resulted in 306 diploid, 76 tetraploid and 5 populations which were mixtures of diploids and tetraploids. This information is crucial for utilization of genotypes in further crosses since diploid and tetraploid plants must be crossed separately. The study also deals with comparisons of populations with different ploidy and accession types for these traits. Passport data for 64 populations were improved by converting collection site to coordinates including altitude for 54 populations. Information about ploidy are important for updating the passport information. Nineteen of the populations had a different ploidy level compared to the origin specified in the passport from the gene banks. Winter survival is essential for growing perennials. By investigating G x E interactions for different years and locations, winter survival of tetraploid Baltic breeding lines and diploid ecotypes from Eastern Europe were identified as phenotypically stable with god winter survival. Tetraploid populations may appear to have a better de-hardening and re-hardening capacity with fluctuating temperatures during the winter.Flerårig raigras (Lolium perenne L.) er velkjent for rask vekst og god fôrkvalitet, og er den mest dyrkede flerårige grasarten i verden. Ved dyrking av flerårig raigras i nordlige strøk er vinterherdighet en utfordring. Nordiske og baltiske universiteter og foredlingsbedrifter har gått sammen om et «pre-breedingprosjekt» i flerårig raigras for å forbedre de egenskapene som trengs for å møte kommende endringer i klimaet og økt dyrking av raigras i denne regionen. Fordelen ved «pre-breeding» er muligheten til å utvide den genetiske variasjonen ved samkrysning av genetisk materiale med høy diversitet. For å vite noe om variasjonen i materialet før en samkryssning, er det vanlig å studere enkelplanter av ulike populasjoner i forsøk. I denne studien er det sett på 389 populasjoner av flerårig raigras fra ulike steder i Europa bestående av innsamlet materiale, landraser, foredlingslinjer og markedssorter. Populasjonene ble fenotypet i fire enkeltplante-forsøk ved ulike lokasjoner i Norden for egenskapene vinteroverlevelse, rustresistens, høyde, skytetidspunkt og gjenvekst etter første slått.submittedVersionM-P

Negation in English : compared to Norwegian

Masteroppgave i engelsk- Universitetet i Agder 201

An Optimization Model for Short-Term Routing and Scheduling of Offshore Wind Maintenance

Maintenance costs constitute a significant portion of the total costs for offshore wind investments. Consequently, a substantial amount of research aims to mitigate these costs. Studies targeting short-term decision-making primarily concentrate on finding the most cost-effective routes for the maintenance vessels while scheduling as many maintenance tasks as possible. This thesis suggests an alternative approach where all maintenance tasks are considered optional. Instead of minimizing costs, the optimization model we propose maximizes expected profit. The motivation is to establish a more dynamic relationship between short-term decision-making and long-term strategy. We formulate the problem of selecting routes for maintenance vessels as an integer linear program. Further, we use a mixed integer linear programming sub-problem to generate routes via a column generation algorithm. We have developed several instances for testing the model, which we make available for subsequent research. Our proposed model provides optimal solutions for some of the problem instances where the sub-problem can be solved with exact methods. We also present a meta-heuristic for the sub-problem, capable of finding good solutions to problem instances considering up to 60 maintenance tasks. Lastly, we find that the column generation method outperforms a more straightforward solution algorithm.Masteroppgave i energiENERGI399I5MAMN-ENE

Forhandlingsmakt i legemiddelmarkedet : en empirisk analyse av grossistenes forhandlede innkjøpspriser

Grossistleddet i det norske legemiddelmarkedet domineres i dag av tre aktører som betjener hele markedet. Disse er vertikalt integrert med hver sin apotekkjede. Grossistenes forhandlingsmakt påvirker hvilke priser man vil observere i markedet, og er derfor av samfunnsøkonomisk betydning da Staten finansierer store deler av legemiddelutgiftene. Utredningens problemstilling er: ”Hvilke faktorer er avgjørende for grossistenes oppstrøms forhandlingsmakt i legemiddelmarkedet.” Vår tilnærming til problemstillingen er å analysere grossistenes innkjøpspriser (GIP) for originalprodukter før og etter generika introduseres i markedet. Dette fordi grossistenes forhandlingsstyrke endres fra den ene perioden til den andre. I patentperioden har grossisten ingen alternativ til originalprodusenten. Når generika introduseres får grossisten en utsideopsjon som styrker dens forhandlingsposisjon. Forhandlingen mellom grossist og produsent modelleres teoretisk som en Nash-forhandling. Deretter analyseres forhandlede innkjøpspriser empirisk. I regresjonsanalysen benyttes en fast effekt modell. Dette gjør det mulig å kontrollere for uobserverbare faktorer som også kan påvirke prisen for originalproduktet. Vi finner at grossistene forhandler seg fram til innkjøpspriser for originalprodukter som er betydelig lavere når generika er tilgjengelig. Av flere grunner har generika samme funksjon i legemiddelmarkedet som egne merkevarer har i dagligvarebransjen. Med utgangspunkt i Inderst og Mazzarottos (2008) rammeverk om kjøpermakt tyder funnene på at særlig to faktorer er avgjørende for grossistenes oppstrøms forhandlingsmakt: Kontraktsavhengighet og bruk av egen merkevare