Statistical Fusion of Multi-aspect Synthetic Aperture Radar Data for Automatic Road Extraction

In this dissertation, a new statistical fusion for automatic road extraction from SAR images taken from different looking angles (i.e. multi-aspect SAR data) was presented. The main input to the fusion is extracted line features. The fusion is carried out on decision-level and is based on Bayesian network theory

CSR - etiskt eller praktiskt? -Ett globaliseringsperspektiv.

Ett nytt globalt system, inte nytt i tiden, dock i omfattning och påverkan, håller på att förändra maktordningen och de politiska relationerna så som vi känner dem. Detta innebär bland annat att ansvarsfördelningen mellan offentliga och privata aktörer blir mer oklar och tar nya former. Begreppet Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) syftar på det etiska ansvar företag bör ta för sin verksamhet, såväl inom den egna organisationen som i det omgivande samhället. Den frågeställning den här uppsatsen söker besvara gäller varför CSR blivit en allt viktigare del av företagens policy? Uppsatsens fokus ligger på globaliseringsteori och slutsatsen blir att förklaringarna till CSR kan delas in i såväl etiska och praktiska, som kosmopolitiska. De etiska förklaringarna hänvisar till en ökad kollektiv medvetenhet om mänskliga rättigheter, medan praktiska förklaringar utgörs av viljan att bibehålla en avreglerad marknad samt behovet av att lösa transnationella problem. De kosmopolitiska förklaringarna syftar på en mer global syn på medborgarskap

Primary Polyomavirus Infection, Not Reactivation, as the Cause of Trichodysplasia Spinulosa in Immunocompromised Patients

Classic human polyomaviruses (JC and BK viruses) become pathogenic when reactivating from latency. For the rare skin disease trichodysplasia spinulosa, we show that manifestations of the causative polyomavirus (TSPyV) occur during primary infection of the immunosuppressed host. High TSPyV loads in blood and cerebrospinal fluid, sometimes coinciding with cerebral lesions and neuroendocrine symptoms, marked the acute phase of trichodysplasia spinulosa, whereas initiation and maturation of TSPyV seroresponses occurred in the convalescent phase. TSPyV genomes lacked the rearrangements typical for reactivating polyomaviruses. These findings demonstrate the clinical importance of primary infection with this rapidly expanding group of human viruses and explain the rarity of some novel polyomavirus-associated diseases.Peer reviewe

New loci for body fat percentage reveal link between adiposity and cardiometabolic disease risk

To increase our understanding of the genetic basis of adiposity and its links to cardiometabolic disease risk, we conducted a genome-wide association meta-analysis of body fat percentage (BF%) in up to 100,716 individuals. Twelve loci reached genome-wide significance (P<5 × 10−8), of which eight were previously associated with increased overall adiposity (BMI, BF%) and four (in or near COBLL1/GRB14, IGF2BP1, PLA2G6, CRTC1) were novel associations with BF%. Seven loci showed a larger effect on BF% than on BMI, suggestive of a primary association with adiposity, while five loci showed larger effects on BMI than on BF%, suggesting association with both fat and lean mass. In particular, the loci more strongly associated with BF% showed distinct cross-phenotype association signatures with a range of cardiometabolic traits revealing new insights in the link between adiposity and disease risk

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

Genome-wide association identifies nine common variants associated with fasting proinsulin levels and provides new insights into the pathophysiology of type 2 diabetes.

OBJECTIVE: Proinsulin is a precursor of mature insulin and C-peptide. Higher circulating proinsulin levels are associated with impaired β-cell function, raised glucose levels, insulin resistance, and type 2 diabetes (T2D). Studies of the insulin processing pathway could provide new insights about T2D pathophysiology. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: We have conducted a meta-analysis of genome-wide association tests of ∼2.5 million genotyped or imputed single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and fasting proinsulin levels in 10,701 nondiabetic adults of European ancestry, with follow-up of 23 loci in up to 16,378 individuals, using additive genetic models adjusted for age, sex, fasting insulin, and study-specific covariates. RESULTS: Nine SNPs at eight loci were associated with proinsulin levels (P < 5 × 10(-8)). Two loci (LARP6 and SGSM2) have not been previously related to metabolic traits, one (MADD) has been associated with fasting glucose, one (PCSK1) has been implicated in obesity, and four (TCF7L2, SLC30A8, VPS13C/C2CD4A/B, and ARAP1, formerly CENTD2) increase T2D risk. The proinsulin-raising allele of ARAP1 was associated with a lower fasting glucose (P = 1.7 × 10(-4)), improved β-cell function (P = 1.1 × 10(-5)), and lower risk of T2D (odds ratio 0.88; P = 7.8 × 10(-6)). Notably, PCSK1 encodes the protein prohormone convertase 1/3, the first enzyme in the insulin processing pathway. A genotype score composed of the nine proinsulin-raising alleles was not associated with coronary disease in two large case-control datasets. CONCLUSIONS: We have identified nine genetic variants associated with fasting proinsulin. Our findings illuminate the biology underlying glucose homeostasis and T2D development in humans and argue against a direct role of proinsulin in coronary artery disease pathogenesis

New loci for body fat percentage reveal link between adiposity and cardiometabolic disease risk

To increase our understanding of the genetic basis of adiposity and its links to cardiometabolic disease risk, we conducted a genome-wide association meta-analysis of body fat percentage (BF%) in up to 100,716 individuals. Twelve loci reached genome-wide significance (P <5 x 10(-8)), of which eight were previously associated with increased overall adiposity (BMI, BF%) and four (in or near COBLL1/GRB14, IGF2BP1, PLA2G6, CRTC1) were novel associations with BF%. Seven loci showed a larger effect on BF% than on BMI, suggestive of a primary association with adiposity, while five loci showed larger effects on BMI than on BF%, suggesting association with both fat and lean mass. In particular, the loci more strongly associated with BF% showed distinct cross-phenotype association signatures with a range of cardiometabolic traits revealing new insights in the link between adiposity and disease risk.Peer reviewe

Legokomposition: Vi bygger musik

In relation to children’s musical understanding it becomes meaningful to create material and environments fit for exploring, composing and playing with notes. The aim of the study is to examine and analyse a legocomposing project, set in a pre-school environment through an intra- active perspective. The intra-active perspective, musicking, music related agency and the building blocks of music become this studies theoretical resources. The project was conducted during the course of four weeks, with thirteen five-year-olds. The content that appears in intra-activity between agents revolves around the building blocks of music and the relationship between note value and pulse. Learning through music becomes primary, when the children explore, problematize and create meaning through their musical process. The children become different in themselves through intra-activity with Lego, they become legocomposers, music researchers and soundpainters. In this way Lego can be understood as a performative agent. The empirical material, which was generated by video observations, can be divided into two themes. One where the children in intra-activity compose with Lego and one where the process starts in music and then translates into Lego. The result show that the pre-school teacher acts front-player more often when the process starts in music

Nyanlända i utbildning : Faktorer som påverkar ensamkommande flyktingbarns möjligheter att lyckas i skolan

Varje år kommer barn som flyr konflikter i sitt hemland till Sverige. Dessa barn har, enligt FN:s konvention om barnets rättigheter (1989), samma rätt till utbildning som andra barn. Forskningsbaserad kunskap om hur lärare och andra verksamma i skolan kan arbeta och organisera arbetet med nyanlända barn och elever är därför viktig. I forskningsöversikten har man studerat vilka faktorer som fungerar för ensamkommande flyktingbarns möjligheter att lyckas i skolan. Forskningsöversikten ger fördjupad kunskap om olika faktorer som kan öka barnens möjligheter att lyckas i skolan, så kallade resiliensfaktorer. Forskarna undersöker även olika riskfaktorer, vilka i stället kan ha en negativ inverkan på skolgången. Resiliens är ett begrepp som används i rapporten för att beskriva barnens förmåga att hantera kriser och motgångar. De ensamkommande nyanlända elevernas situation är komplex, vilket i forskningsöversikten beskrivs utifrån ekologisk systemteori. Individanpassning och stöttande vuxna är två resiliensfaktorer som är framträdande genom hela forskningsöversikten