FuSSI-Net: Fusion of Spatio-temporal Skeletons for Intention Prediction Network

Pedestrian intention recognition is very important to develop robust and safe autonomous driving (AD) and advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) functionalities for urban driving. In this work, we develop an end-to-end pedestrian intention framework that performs well on day- and night- time scenarios. Our framework relies on objection detection bounding boxes combined with skeletal features of human pose. We study early, late, and combined (early and late) fusion mechanisms to exploit the skeletal features and reduce false positives as well to improve the intention prediction performance. The early fusion mechanism results in AP of 0.89 and precision/recall of 0.79/0.89 for pedestrian intention classification. Furthermore, we propose three new metrics to properly evaluate the pedestrian intention systems. Under these new evaluation metrics for the intention prediction, the proposed end-to-end network offers accurate pedestrian intention up to half a second ahead of the actual risky maneuver.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figures, 5 tables, IEEE Asilomar SS

Improvement of feedback processes

Itiscrucialforacompanytokeeptheirestablishedcustomerssatisfiedsinceittakes alotmoreresourcestogainnewcustomersthankeepingtheold. Thepurposeofthis thesis is therefore to study how a manufacturing company with exclusive products handles the feedback today and how the feedback process can be improved to create knowledge for future product and service offerings when the customer segment is changing. The feedback can be gathered and used by working with Customer Relationship Management (CRM), which aims to create products and services that satisfy the customers. It is especially useful when the customer segment is changing and the company has to understand who their new customers are and if they have different needs and demands. With today’s digitalization, customers have new ways to contact the company and expect to get answers quickly, for example on social media. Social CRM integrates social media with a company’s CRM initiative and gather data information from social media platforms. This thesis has investigated a company which has expanded its customer base and therefore was in need of standardized processes to gather, analyze and use the customer feedback. To make an improvement suggestion, the existing informal processes for handling feedback needed to be mapped. This was made by internal and external interviews with the company and its retailers and customers. The project resulted in two processes, one that supports the proactive work and aimstocollectthecustomers’needsanddemandsbeforetheproductisfinishedand to understand the Voice of Customer. There is also a process which supports the reactive work, that aims to collect feedback after the product is released to receive the feedback from the customers when they have used the product. This is a way to understand pros and cons with the existing products and try to make the customers satisfied. With both the proactive and the reactive ways of working, products and service offerings for the customers can be developed to satisfy the customers and support loyalty to the brand

Exploring the genetics of irritable bowel syndrome: A GWA study in the general population and replication in multinational case-control cohorts

OBJECTIVE: IBS shows genetic predisposition, but adequately powered gene-hunting efforts have been scarce so far. We sought to identify true IBS genetic risk factors by means of genome-wide association (GWA) and independent replication studies. DESIGN: We conducted a GWA study (GWAS) of IBS in a general population sample of 11\u2005326 Swedish twins. IBS cases (N=534) and asymptomatic controls (N=4932) were identified based on questionnaire data. Suggestive association signals were followed-up in 3511 individuals from six case-control cohorts. We sought genotype-gene expression correlations through single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)-expression quantitative trait loci interactions testing, and performed in silico prediction of gene function. We compared candidate gene expression by real-time qPCR in rectal mucosal biopsies of patients with IBS and controls. RESULTS: One locus at 7p22.1, which includes the genes KDELR2 (KDEL endoplasmic reticulum protein retention receptor 2) and GRID2IP (glutamate receptor, ionotropic, delta 2 (Grid2) interacting protein), showed consistent IBS risk effects in the index GWAS and all replication cohorts and reached p=9.31 710(-6) in a meta-analysis of all datasets. Several SNPs in this region are associated with cis effects on KDELR2 expression, and a trend for increased mucosal KDLER2 mRNA expression was observed in IBS cases compared with controls. CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrate that general population-based studies combined with analyses of patient cohorts provide good opportunities for gene discovery in IBS. The 7p22.1 and other risk signals detected in this study constitute a good starting platform for hypothesis testing in future functional investigations. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions

Exploring the Impact of ESG Scores on Stock Risk and Returns: A Comparative Study on the Nordic Countries' Stock Markets

This study investigates environmental, social, and governance (ESG) scores' relationship to the risk and return of stocks in the Nordic countries. Data on Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Finland stock markets is from Refinitiv Eikon, and factor model data from Kenneth’s French library, between the time period 2015 to 2022. To investigate return we regress seven portfolios (one long-short portfolio) using CAPM, Fama-French three-factor model, Carhart’s four-factor model, and Fama-French five-factor model. The risk was analyzed using standard deviation, portfolio beta, and VaR. Our findings are (i) a high ESG score does not yield higher returns (ii) a high ESG score leads to lower total risk (iii) ratings in each subcategory Environmental, Social, and Governance are positively related to stock return. Investors should bear in mind the implications of our findings when making investment decisions in ESG stocks on the Nordic market.publishedVersio

Optically Switchable NIR Photoluminescence of PbS Semiconducting Nanocrystals using Diarylethene Photoswitches

Precisely modulated photoluminescence (PL) with external control is highly demanded in material and biological sciences. However, it is challenging to switch the PL on and off in the NIR region with a high modulation contrast. Here, we demonstrate that reversible on and off switching of the PL in the NIR region can be achieved in a bicomponent system comprised of PbS semiconducting nanocrystals (NCs) and diarylethene (DAE) photoswitches. Photoisomerization of DAE to the ring-closed form upon UV light irradiation causes substantial quenching of the NIR PL of PbS NCs due to efficient triplet energy transfer. The NIR PL fully recovers to an on state upon reversing the photoisomerization of DAE to the ring-open form with green light irradiation. Importantly, fully reversible switching occurs without obvious fatigue, and the high PL on/off ratio (>100) outperforms all previously reported assemblies of NCs and photoswitches

CERTIFICATION REPORT: The certification of Amyloid β1-42 in CSF in ERM®-DA480/IFCC, ERM®-DA481/IFCC and ERM®-DA482/IFCC

This report describes the production of ERM®-DA480/IFCC, ERM®-DA481/IFCC and ERM®-DA482/IFCC, which are human cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) materials certified for the mass concentration of amyloid β1-42 peptide (Aβ1-42). These materials were produced by the European Commission, Joint Research Centre (EC-JRC) in collaboration with the International Federation for Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (IFCC) following ISO Guide 34:2009 and are certified in accordance with ISO Guide 35:2006. The starting material used to prepare ERM-DA480/IFCC, ERM-DA481/IFCC and ERM-DA482/IFCC was human CSF collected from normal pressure hydrocephalus patients by continuous lumbar drainage. After collection, the CSF was aliquoted and frozen at -80 °C. For the preparation of each certified reference material (CRM) a selected number of CSF donations were thawed, pooled, mixed, filled in microvials and stored at (-70 ± 10) °C immediately thereafter. Between unit-homogeneity was quantified and stability during dispatch and storage were assessed in accordance with ISO Guide 35:2006 [ ]. The material was characterised by an interlaboratory comparison of laboratories of demonstrated competence and adhering to ISO/IEC 17025 [ ]. Technically invalid results were removed but no outlier was eliminated on statistical grounds only. Uncertainties of the certified values were calculated in accordance with the Guide to the Expression of Uncertainty in Measurement (GUM) [ ] and include uncertainties related to possible inhomogeneity, instability and characterisation. The materials are intended for the calibration of methods, quality control and/or the assessment of method performance. As with any reference material, they can be used for establishing control charts or validation studies. The CRMs are available in microvials containing at least 0.5 mL of frozen liquid. The minimum amount of sample to be used is 15 µL.JRC.F.6-Reference Material

Virtual Vehicle Kinematics and Compliance Test Rig

Abstract This paper presents a virtual kinematics & compliance (K&C) test rig, also known as a Suspension Parameter Measurement Machine, SPMM. The focus is to explain the requirements and implementation of the rig model is built to be a virtual equivalent to the physical test rig, capable of reading the same input and producing the same output. The virtual test rig is implemented as a Modelica model that is plug compatible with any vehicle model using the standard interface from the Modelica Vehicle Dynamics Library. The operation of the virtual test rig is done from a scripting environment that executes a cosimulation FMU. An example test case is also shown where results from a virtual test is compared with the corresponding run on the physical test rig

Bright continuously-tunable VUV source for ultrafast spectroscopy

Ultrafast electron dynamics drive phenomena such as photochemical reactions, catalysis, and light harvesting. To capture such dynamics in real-time, femtosecond to attosecond light sources are extensively used. However, an exact match between the excitation photon energy and a characteristic resonance is crucial. High-harmonic generation sources are exceptional in terms of pulse duration but limited in spectral tunability in the VUV range. Here, we present a monochromatic femtosecond source continuously tunable around 21 eV photon energy utilizing the second harmonic of an OPCPA laser system to drive high-harmonic generation. The unique tunability of the source is verified in an experiment probing the interatomic Coulombic decay in doped He nanodroplets across the He absorption bands. Moreover, we achieved intensities sufficient for driving non-linear processes using a tight focusing of the VUV beam. We demonstrated it on the observation of collective autoionization of multiply excited pure He nanodroplets.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures, submitted to Nat. Commu

THz streak camera performance for single-shot characterization of XUV pulses with complex temporal structures

The THz-field-driven streak camera has proven to be a powerful diagnostic-technique that enables the shot-to-shot characterization of the duration and the arrival time jitter of free electron laser (FEL) pulses. Here we investigate the performance of three computational approaches capable to determine the duration of FEL pulses with complex temporal structures from single-shot measurements of up to three simultaneously recorded spectra. We use numerically simulated FEL pulses in order to validate the accuracy of the pulse length retrieval in average as well as in a single-shot mode. We discuss requirements for the THz field strength in order to achieve reliable results and compare our numerical study with the analysis of experimental data that were obtained at the FEL in Hamburg - FLASH. © 2020 Optical Society of America under the terms of the OSA Open Access Publishing Agreemen