The Economics of European Eel Management

The European eel stock is endangered. The European Union has, therefore, introduced strict policies to try to reverse the eel’s decline and reduce the threats to its survival. However, the European Union’s eel management policy has been implemented on a ‘one-size-fits-all’ basis, where all the affected countries have been given nearly identical targets, regardless of either the individual country’s costs for reducing damages to eels or its importance for the overall eel stock. In this paper, we draw on data from the different national eel management plans as well as from independent studies to compare the cost of measures to reduce eel mortality imposed in different countries. We compare the overall costs to those that could have been incurred with a union-wide, rather than fragmented, abatement program, and find that such a comprehensive management program would have been substantially cheaper and would have affected poorer member countries less

Alternative outbound transportation moder for sony Ericsson

Purpose: Identify alternative to the current air transportation routes from supply units in Asia to European customers. The authors strive to provide the department of Supply Flow & Logistics with proposals of how they can reduce their costs and environmental effects connected to transportation. The authors also strive to display and evaluate the risk connected to a change in transportation mode. Method: A supply chain is built on many parts that interact, hence, a system approach was chosen by the authors. Since the authors did not have any knowledge of how the operational work related to the topic was conducted at Sony Ericsson, an inductive research methodology have been used. In order to maintain a high degree of credibility to the study triangulation methods were used. All literature used in the thesis has its sources in well known universities or international organizations. To be published through these universities or organizations the content is assumed to have a high level of credibility. Therefore it is believed by the authors that these sources are accurate. Conclusions: The authors have found alternative transportation route that can be used to send goods for Sony Ericsson. Two alternative routes were analyzed. One intermodal route from Hong Kong via Dubai to Europe and the other from Beijing along the Trans-Siberian railroad to Europe. The result from the route via Dubai showed to be more expensive and therefore was not recommended for further analysis. The Trans-Siberian railroad route is a new upcoming route. It was implemented as a co-operation between Schenker DB and Russian Railway. An implementation of this route would expose new risks and challenges. The authors have identified and discussed risks such as delays, material shortage, order cancellations and changes, theft and business adoptions. The increased lead-time is the factor that has the larges affect on the supply chain performance. The cost and environmental calculation for this route showed that reductions can be done on both aspects. The freight cost can be reduced by approximately 50 percent and the environmental by 70 percent. An analysis on historical order data showed that 60 full containers could have been sent during a 9 month period under 2008. In order to send customer orders along the alternative route certain criteria had to be fulfilled. The authors have identified long order lead time and orders size as the most crucial factors for shipping along the route

Comportement d'une goutte de liquide magnetique dans un champ magnetique variable: thèorie et simulation

Bakgrund: Aktieindex används världen över som placeringsalternativ, jämförelsemått inom portföljförvaltning och som underlag för portföljoptimering. Forskare har under senare tid ifrågasatt index viktade efter börsvärdet och alternativa viktningsmetoder för index har framtagits som substitut till det kapitalviktade indexet och prestationsjämförelser har gjorts. Studier har främst gjorts i USA och denna studie ämnar göra en liknande undersökning på den svenska marknaden.  Syfte: Syftet med vår studie är att undersöka alternativa viktningsmetoder på det svenska aktieindexet OMXS30 och dess historiska prestation under åren 1995-2011 i förhållande till det traditionellt kapitalviktade OMXS30. Syftet är vidare att analysera de alternativt viktade indexen som grund för portföljoptimering enligt Single-Index Model.  Genomförande: Fem alternativt viktade index konstrueras i studien där viktningen grundas på fundamentala värden, Sharpekvoter, standardavvikelse, likaviktning och handelsvolym och jämförs prestationsmässigt mot OMXS30. Indexen används sedan vid portföljoptimering enligt SIM där aktiers och portföljers karakteristika analyseras. Indexens prognostisering av betavärden utvärderas i studien för att urskilja om något index är mer träffsäkert gällande aktiens beta för nästkommande period.  Slutsats: Ett flertal av de konstruerade alternativa indexen genererar signifikant högre avkastning till lägre risk i den nedgångsperiod som analyserats varför dessa kan ses som en mer lönsam investering. Tendenser till högre avkastning för den totala perioden finns även om signifikanta skillnader inte föreligger. De alternativa indexen har föranlett skilda allokeringsbeslut vid portföljoptimeringen vilket har gett stora utslag i portföljernas förväntade prestation såväl som faktisk prestation efter optimeringen genomförts. Background: Stock market indexes are widely used as investment strategies and as a benchmark when portfolios are being constructed and evaluated. Researchers have recently questioned the capital weighted index in favor of other available weighting schemes. By comparing alternative weighted indexes to the traditionally capital weighted index one has been made aware of the significantly lower risk adjusted performance for the capital weighted index.  Aim: Our aim is to investigate in alternative weighting schemes used on the Swedish index OMXS30 and evaluate the historical performance of these alternative indexes in comparison to the traditionally capital weighted index during the period 1995-2011. Furthermore, our objective is to analyze the effects alternative weighting schemes have on portfolio optimization through Single-Index Model.  Completion: To fulfill the purpose of this thesis, five alternative weighting schemes have been applied on the Swedish index OMXS30. The weights have been calculated on fundamental measures, Sharpe ratios, standard deviation, equally weighted and trade volume and they have been compared to the traditionally cap-weighted index. Furthermore, the constructed indexes will be used to optimize portfolios with Single Index Model to compare the portfolios characteristics when different indexes have been used.  Results/Findings: The majority of the alternative weighted indexes generate significantly higher returns in one of our analyzed periods and this was during a market recession. For the total analyzed period no statistical differences among the indexes could be determined even though differences in total return are made clear. The indexes had a big effect on the portfolio optimization in terms of different share allocation.

Design, Synthesis and Inhibitory Activity of Photoswitchable RET Kinase Inhibitors.

REarranged during Transfection (RET) is a transmembrane receptor tyrosine kinase required for normal development and maintenance of neurons of the central and peripheral nervous systems. Deregulation of RET and hyperactivity of the RET kinase is intimately connected to several types of human cancers, most notably thyroid cancers, making it an attractive therapeutic target for small-molecule kinase inhibitors. Novel approaches, allowing external control of the activity of RET, would be key additions to the signal transduction toolbox. In this work, photoswitchable RET kinase inhibitors based on azo-functionalized pyrazolopyrimidines were developed, enabling photonic control of RET activity. The most promising compound displays excellent switching properties and stability with good inhibitory effect towards RET in cell-free as well as live-cell assays and a significant difference in inhibitory activity between its two photoisomeric forms. As the first reported photoswitchable small-molecule kinase inhibitor, we consider the herein presented effector to be a significant step forward in the development of tools for kinase signal transduction studies with spatiotemporal control over inhibitor concentration in situ

A Caged Ret Kinase Inhibitor and its Effect on Motoneuron Development in Zebrafish Embryos

Proto-oncogene tyrosine-protein kinase receptor RET is implicated in the development and maintenance of neurons of the central and peripheral nervous systems. Attaching activity-compromising photocleavable groups (caging) to inhibitors could allow for external spatiotemporally controlled inhibition using light, potentially providing novel information on how these kinase receptors are involved in cellular processes. Here, caged RET inhibitors were obtained from 3-substituted pyrazolopyrimidine-based compounds by attaching photolabile groups to the exocyclic amino function. The most promising compound displayed excellent inhibitory effect in cell-free, as well as live-cell assays upon decaging. Furthermore, inhibition could be efficiently activated with light in vivo in zebrafish embryos and was shown to effect motoneuron development

Alkohol, varför? : En studie om alkoholens funktion för grupptillhörighet och normer

The purpose of this study was to examine how alcohol is used as a function to create group membership and how alcohol is used to relate to norms in a student culture. The study examines students on Växjö Linnéuniversitet. Regardless if students consume alcohol or not they somehow have to relate to it – to use alcohol or to actively refuse. We have used 346 surveys for this quantitative study. The students have answered questions that we have constructed to investigate the terms of group membership, norms and deviation. The survey is partly questions to create categorization to identify factors like: sex, marital status, accommodation, delis and the frequency of consuming alcohol. This categories where used to relate to the terms of group membership, norms and deviation. Group membership and norms were defined with under concepts. In the presentation of the result the categories were used to distinguish any differences between the questions that concern the terms group membership and norms. The results were also compared with previously studies made on college students in USA and Australia. According to this study there is a large group of students who uses alcohol for practical and social function. The perceived function of alcohol increases depending on the frequency of alcohol use. Marital status, accommodation and delis are factors which affect the perceived function of alcohol. Depending on how frequently the students drank a bigger amount of alcohol the expectations of other people in their circle changed

Effektivisering vid användandet av totalentreprenad inom järnväg

Trafikverkets beslut om ett ökat användande av totalentreprenader och myndighetens egen utveckling mot en ren beställarroll har inneburit förändringar för branschen. En för branschen obeprövad entreprenadform har snabbt introducerats på marknaden och medfört möjligheter men även problem. Rapporten behandlar de största och mest betydande skillnaderna i förfrågningsunderlaget och allmänna bestämmelser mellan totalentreprenad och utförandeentreprenad. I en studie belyser vi även hur parternas inställning är till totalentreprenad och var effektivisering av entreprenadformen behövs för att bättre anpassas till en styrd järnvägsbransch. Efter litteraturstudier bildades en uppfattning om hur totalentreprenad fungerar och vilka för- och nackdelar som finns med totalentreprenad jämfört med utförandeentreprenad. Genom intervjuer av personer med erfarenhet av totalentreprenader kunde vi ta del av branschens syn på entreprenadformen. För att förstå svårigheterna med funktionsbeskrivningar har rapporten även innefattat praktisk upprättande av funktionsbeskrivningar. Järnvägsbranschens regelverk och rutiner är i dagsläget inte anpassade för ett effektivt användande av totalentreprenad. En viktig del är utvecklingen av funktionskrav vid uppförandet av funktionsbeskrivningar vid järnvägsprojekt. Vidare är framtagandet av kontrollmetoder som blir praxis för branschen av det yttersta avgörande för användandet av funktioner ska fungera. Kontrollmetoder som inte bara kontrollerar funktioner efter entreprenadtiden utan under hela järnvägens livslängd. Detta för att ge förvaltaren en bättre uppfattning om investeringarnas värde

An All-Photonic Molecule-Based Parity Generator/Checker for Error Detection in Data Transmission

The function of a parity generator/checker, which is an essential operation for detecting errors in data transmission, has been realized with multiphotochromic switches by taking advantage of a neuron-like fluorescence response and reversible light-induced transformations between the implicated isomers

A Lateral Flow Protein Microarray for Rapid and Sensitive Antibody Assays

Protein microarrays are useful tools for highly multiplexed determination of presence or levels of clinically relevant biomarkers in human tissues and biofluids. However, such tools have thus far been restricted to laboratory environments. Here, we present a novel 384-plexed easy to use lateral flow protein microarray device capable of sensitive (<30 ng/mL) determination of antigen-specific antibodies in ten minutes of total assay time. Results were developed with gold nanobeads and could be recorded by a cell-phone camera or table top scanner. Excellent accuracy with an area under curve (AUC of 98% was achieved in comparison with an established glass microarray assay for 26 antigen-specific antibodies. We propose that the presented framework could find use in convenient and cost-efficient quality control of antibody production, as well as in providing a platform for multiplexed affinity-based assays in low-resource or mobile settings