Cykelplanering genom urban form

Detta arbete utforskar hur sammansättningen av olika stadsstrukturer påverkar hur vi cyklar i staden, och studeras genom en fallstudie av Varberg. Eftersom Västkustbanan genom Varberg planeras att grävas ned kommer centralstationen, den största målpunkten i staden, att flyttas 200 meter norrut. Det innebär förändrade resvägar för människorna i staden och därigenom ett behov av nya cykelvägar och en uppdatering av gällande cykelplan. Trafikplanering sker ofta genom komplettering av enstaka stråk och med en begränsad diskussion kring nätverket som helhet. Ett nytt angreppssätt är alltså nödvändigt för cykelplanering. Därför prövas geodesign i detta arbete. Geodesign är en arbetsmetod med syfte att integrera GIS i designarbetet genom en omvänd process där eventuella konsekvenser, beslutsmodeller och utvärderingsmetoder fastställs och diskuteras innan designarbetet och analysen påbörjas. I arbetet görs en analys genom att ett stort antal målpunkter identifieras, från vilka rörelsemönstren till de båda stationerna sedan analyseras. Resvägen bedöms genom såväl längd som uppförsbackar, gatumiljöns kvalité, ljudmiljö och rörelsepsykologi. De båda scenariona jämförs sedan. Resultaten visar hur rörelsemönstren förskjuts norrut. Samtidigt identifieras också höga rörelsekoncentrationer på öppna ytor, i gränszonerna mellan olika tidsepoker i stadsbyggandet och på stråk som orienteras diagonalt mot den rådande strukturen. Resultaten visar också att en organisk struktur i större utsträckning än en rutnätsstruktur styr hur vi rör oss i staden. Slutligen dras slutsatsen att ett ifrågasättande krävs av de rutnät som idag skapas för att stimulera ökat resande med cykel, då resultaten visar att en organisk struktur förenklar ett snabbt resande. Vid sidan av detta visar även studien att större omtanke behöver ges gränserna mellan olika områden, då de har en nyckelroll i utvecklandet av en stads cykelidentitet.This thesis discusses, through a study of the Swedish city Varberg, how urban form determines the movement patterns for cyclists in urban environments. Since Västkustbanan (the railway following the western coast of Sweden) is being relocated to a tunnel, the central station will be moved 200 meters northward. This changes movement patterns which increases the need for new bike routes and an update of the bike plan. Since traffic planning is done through complementary processes, without consideration to the whole, a new design methodology called geodesign is used in this thesis. The method aims at integration GIS in the design process, while simultaneously determining possible consequences, decision models and evaluation before the analysis and the design process is started. After that, an analysis is made based on the simplest route between a large amount of starting points, representing housing and work places, and the central stations. The routes are determined based on length, slope, the attractiveness of the streetscape, soundscape and the psychology of movement. The results are then compared. The analysis shows a shift northward. When studying the paths with high concentrations of movements they often run through open spaces, in the borders between different areas and in streets running diagonally against the governing directions. The results also show that an organic structure steers the patterns to a larger extent than a grid. Finally a conclusion is made, questioning the idea that the grid is a good way of creating bike friendly neighbourhoods, when an organic structure clearly shortens the distances. Furthermore, the study shows that more care is needed for the borders between neighbourhoods, since they help strengthening the culture of biking in swedish cities

A Review of Compensatory Strategies to Mitigate Bias

Experiences of bias and discrimination remain pernicious obstacles for many individuals. Both micro- and macro-level interventions are necessary to eliminate and/or mitigate these negative experiences. This review focuses on micro-level interventions, specifically, five types of compensatory strategies that targets can use to eliminate and/or mitigate the bias and discrimination they experience. In this manuscript, we synthesize the research on humor, avoidance, affiliation, enhancement, and social category label switching strategies; describe identities with which the strategies could be used; and highlight strengths and weaknesses of each of the strategies. Finally, we propose actionable directions for future research for each of the compensatory strategies

β-delayed neutron emission from r-process nuclei along the N=82 shell closure

The rapid-neutron capture process (r -process) is thought to be responsible for the production of around half the elements heavier than iron. Despite first being proposed almost six decades ago, the astrophysical site of the r-process remains an open question. The multi-messenger observation of gravitational waves originating from a binary neutron star merger (GW170817) and its electromagnetic counterpart provided evidence indicating that a possible r-process had occurred, providing a possible answer to this question. The accurate modelling of the nucleosynthesis processes taking place in such mergers requires precise nuclear input data, including nuclear masses, β-decay half-lives, and β-delayed neutron emission probabilities. A challenge here is that for the exotic neutron-rich nuclei that are of importance to the r-process, relatively few values are known experimentally. There is, therefore, high demand for experimental measurements along the r-process path which can be used as inputs in r-process calculations. In addition to being used as inputs in nucleosynthesis calculations, experimentally measured values act as reference points for the development of theoretical models in regions far from stability. This thesis presents the first measurement of the β-delayed neutron emission probabilities of 21 neutron-rich isotopes and improves upon the precision of a further four. In addition to this, measurements of the half-lives of 31 neutron-rich isotopes are presented. These neutron-rich isotopes are located along the N = 82 shell closure, a region that has been highlighted as being important in the production of the r-process A = 130 peak. These values, therefore, represent a significant contribution to the experimental data available for use in r-process calculations. The measurements were carried out at the Radioactive Ion Beam Factory in Japan, where the β-decays of neutron-rich ions were measured using the Advanced Implantation Detector Array in coincidence with their β-delayed neutrons that were measured using the BRIKEN neutron counter array

Simulating and Optimizing: Military Manpower Modeling and Mountain Range Options

In this dissertation we employ two different optimization methodologies, dynamic programming and linear programming, and stochastic simulation. The first two essays are drawn from military manpower modeling and the last is an application in finance. First, we investigate two different models to explore the military manpower system. The first model describes the optimal retirement behavior for an Army officer from any point in their career. We address the optimal retirement policies for Army officers, incorporating the current retirement system, pay tables, and Army promotion opportunities. We find that the optimal policy for taste-neutral Lieutenant Colonels is to retire at 20 years. We demonstrate the value and importance of promotion signals regarding the promotion distribution to Colonel. Signaling an increased promotion opportunity from 50% to 75% for the most competitive officers switches their optimal policy at twenty years to continuing to serve and competing for promotion to Colonel. The second essay explores the attainability and sustainability of Army force profiles. We propose a new network structure that incorporates both rank and years in grade to combine cohort, rank, and specialty modeling without falling into the common pitfalls of small cell size and uncontrollable end effects. This is the first implementation of specialty modeling in a manpower model for U.S. Army officers. Previous specialty models of the U.S. Army manpower system have isolated accession planning for Second Lieutenants and the Career Field Designation process for Majors, but this is the first integration of rank and specialty modeling over the entire officer's career and development of an optimal force profile. The last application is drawn from financial engineering and explores several exotic derivatives that are collectively known Mountain Range options, employing Monte Carlo simulation to price these options and developing gradient estimates to study the sensitivities to underlying parameters, known as "the Greeks". We find that IPA and LR/SF methods are efficient methods of gradient estimation for Mountain Range products at a considerably reduced computation cost compared with the commonly used finite difference methods

Categorization of indoor places using the Kinect sensor

The categorization of places in indoor environments is an important capability for service robots working and interacting with humans. In this paper we present a method to categorize different areas in indoor environments using a mobile robot equipped with a Kinect camera. Our approach transforms depth and grey scale images taken at each place into histograms of local binary patterns (LBPs) whose dimensionality is further reduced following a uniform criterion. The histograms are then combined into a single feature vector which is categorized using a supervised method. In this work we compare the performance of support vector machines and random forests as supervised classifiers. Finally, we apply our technique to distinguish five different place categories: corridors, laboratories, offices, kitchens, and study rooms. Experimental results show that we can categorize these places with high accuracy using our approach

Perturbation drives changing metapopulation dynamics in a top marine predator

Funding: O.E.G. was supported by the Marine Alliance for Science and Technology for Scotland, funded by the Scottish Funding Council (grant no. HR09011). E.L.C. was supported by a Newton Fellowship (Royal Society of London), Marie Curie Fellowship (EU Horizon2020) and a Rutherford Discovery Fellowship (Royal Society of New Zealand). A.J.H. and D.J.F.R. were supportedby NERC (grant no. SMRU 10/001).Metapopulation theory assumes a balance between local decays/extinctions and local growth/new colonisations. Here we investigate whether recent population declines across part of the UK harbour seal range represent normal metapopulation dynamics or are indicative of perturbations potentially threatening the metapopulation viability, using 20 years of population trends, location tracking data (n = 380), and UK-wide, multi-generational population genetic data (n = 269). First, we use microsatellite data to show that two genetic groups previously identified are distinct metapopulations: northern and southern. Then, we characterize the northern metapopulation dynamics in two different periods, before and after the start of regional declines (pre-/peri-perturbation). We identify source-sink dynamics across the northern metapopulation, with two putative source populations apparently supporting three likely sink populations, and a recent metapopulation-wide disruption of migration coincident with the perturbation. The northern metapopulation appears to be in decay, highlighting that changes in local populations can lead to radical alterations in the overall metapopulation's persistence and dynamics.PostprintPeer reviewe

Evisceración abdominal postraumática en un niño

Introducción: Se considera un paciente politraumatizado aquel que presenta dos o más lesiones, de las que al menos una puede comprometer su vida o vaya a originar secuelas invalidantes. Una conducta inicial adecuada puede reducir la mortalidad de pacientes como el que se presenta, pues la atención inicial debe ser ordenada y sistemática; siempre se deben identificar y tratar con prioridad, las lesiones que comprometen la vida del paciente. Objetivo: Presentar un caso, que por su interés y singularidad en el mecanismo de acción, expone la secuencia de actuación que se llevó a cabo por cirujanos generales, fuera de un servicio de cirugía pediátrica. Caso clínico: Se reporta el caso de un paciente masculino de 6 años de edad, que acude al cuerpo de guardia politraumatizado y presenta una avulsión músculo cutánea abdominal con evisceración intestinal, al sufrir caída en movimiento con traumatismo abdominal penetrante con biela de pedal de una bicicleta. A pesar de no contar en la institución de atención, con servicio de cirugía pediátrica, se impuso la cirugía de emergencia por las condiciones del paciente. Conclusiones : Luego de laparotomía inicial con reconstrucción de la pared abdominal y cierre primario con puntos de seguridad, el paciente evolucionó de forma estable. Fue remitido para un servicio de terapia intensiva pediátrica, donde y evolucionó sin complicaciones, hasta su egreso

A Systematic Review of the Efficacy of Bioactive Compounds in Cardiovascular Disease: Phenolic Compounds

The prevalence of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) is rising and is the prime cause of death in all developed countries. Bioactive compounds (BAC) can have a role in CVD prevention and treatment. The aim of this work was to examine the scientific evidence supporting phenolic BAC efficacy in CVD prevention and treatment by a systematic review. Databases utilized were Medline, LILACS and EMBASE, and all randomized controlled trials (RCTs) with prospective, parallel or crossover designs in humans in which the effects of BAC were compared with that of placebo/control were included. Vascular homeostasis, blood pressure, endothelial function, oxidative stress and inflammatory biomarkers were considered as primary outcomes. Cohort, ecological or case-control studies were not included. We selected 72 articles and verified their quality based on the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network, establishing diverse quality levels of scientific evidence according to two features: the design and bias risk of a study. Moreover, a grade of recommendation was included, depending on evidence strength of antecedents. Evidence shows that certain polyphenols, such as flavonols can be helpful in decreasing CVD risk factors. However, further rigorous evidence is necessary to support the BAC effect on CVD prevention and treatment

CP violation in realistic String Models with family universal anomalous U(1)

The characteristic property of the Z2XZ2 orbifold compactification is the cyclic permutation symmetry between the three twisted sectors. We discuss how this property, which is retained in a class of realistic free fermionic string models, may be instrumental in enabling fermion mass hierarchy while ensuring sfermion mass degeneracy, irrespective of the dominant source of supersymmetry breaking. The cyclic symmetry is reflected in some models in the existence of a family universal anomalous U(1)_A. We analyze the FCNC and CP violation effects in a model with a dominant U(1)_A SUSY breaking. In this theories, new sources of FC are always suppressed with respect to the average sfermion masses. We make a phenomenological analysis of these effects and find that in most of the cases they are in qualitative agreement with the phenomenological limits. The most sensitive low-energy observables to these new FC sources are the $\epsilon_K$ parameter, measuring indirect CP violation in neutral kaon mixing and EDMs. These observables set important constraints on the structure of the sfermion mass matrices, but do not require a large fine-tuning of the initial parameters and can be satisfied in most realistic constructions.Comment: 20 pages. Standard LaTeX. Version to appear in NP