To navigate and memorize urban landscapes : mental map of Malmö

Kevin Lynch menar att en god stad är lätt att minnas och att det med lätthet går att föreställa sig hur stadens olika delar hänger ihop. Denna uppsats behandlar förståelsen för hur stadsrum navigeras, minns och återberättas. Våra tidigare erfarenheter och individuella egenskaper påverkar hur vi uppfattar staden. Genom våra sinnen och insamlad information läser vi av stadselement i form av utmärkande landmärken, platsers identitet, kontraster, rörelseflöden, upprepade strukturer och naturliga landformer. Vi dras dit människor rör sig, mönster hjälper oss att sortera information och speciell utformning lägger vi lätt på minnet. Kopplats till vår lokaliseringsförmåga är olika typer av nervceller i hjärnan som tillsammans bygger upp en mental karta. Hur vi kan återberätta vår inre karta testas i en undersökning där malmöbor fick rita sin egen bild av staden. Resultatet visade att det som visualiserades störst och med mest detaljrikedom var platser med positiv betydelse, större landmärken, enhetliga områden och ett förenklat vägnät med noder. Informationen kan ge en viktig bild av de boendes användning av staden eller mindre delområden så som parker och torg. Insamlingen och sammanställningen av medborgares mentala kartor är dock tidskrävande. Vid insamling av större mängder data är det fördelaktigt om informationen är i samma skala och har en specifik geografisk plats.Kevin Lynch believes that a good city is easy to remember and that it is easy to imagine how different parts of the city are connected. This essay deals with our understanding of how urban spaces are navigated, memorized and retold. Our previous experiences and individual characteristics affect our perception of a city. Through our senses and information, we interpretate urban elements in the form of distinctive landmarks, a sense of place, contrasts, movement flows, repeated structures and natural landforms. We are drawn to places where other people move, patterns help us sort information and we easily remember special designs. Linked to our ability to locate ourselves are different types of nerve cells in the brain that together build up a mental map. How we can retell this mental map is tested in a survey where residents of Malmö were asked to draw their own picture of the city. The result showed that what was visualized the biggest and with the most detail was places of positive significance, larger landmarks, uniform districts and a simplified network of roads with nodes. The information can provide an important picture of the residents' use of the city or smaller sub-areas such as parks and squares. However, collecting and compiling mental maps is time consuming. When collecting larger amounts of data, it is advantageous if the information is in the same scale and has a specific geographical location

Unblocking the Bottlenecks and Making the Global Supply Chain Transparent: How Blockchain technology stands to update global trade

The emergence of Distributed Ledger or Blockchain Technology BCT, stands to impact many parts of our society; from revolutionizing healthcare, to safeguarding voting, to keeping our data private. To the same affect, BCT stands to empower the very underpinnings that go into international trade: trust, traceability, accessibility and streamlining processes. As so many times before (e.g. ICT as well as the invention of the shipping container), novel technology lowers the costs and empowers international trade. This time to go from creating global value chains to scrutinizing and optimizing them. The aim of this policy brief is as follows; First, to provide a brief overview of the technology, the use and potential effects on international trade. Second, to provide some guidelines for policy makers on how to prepare for the development of the technology

Trade Impact Assessment of an EU-India Free Trade Agreement

We analyze the effects of potential measures to liberalize trade between the European Union and India using a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model of world trade. Overall, our analysis shows that there are potential gains to be reaped from signing a bilateral FTA between the EU and India. For all scenarios, the FTA is expected to yield positive real income effects for both economies, both in the short- and long-run. The effects are, however, quite small due to the low levels of bilateral trade. In the short run, the real income gains in the EU are expected to range between Û3 and Û4,4 billion (higher for more ambitious liberalization scenarios), which amount to less than 0.1 percent of GDP. In the long run, the effects of an FTA in the EU are much smaller. For the Indian economy, the short-term income effects in absolute measure are similar to those in the EU, but due to differences in the size of economies, the relative effect is bigger in India (ranging from 0.1 to 0.3 percent of GDP). In the long-run, the effects on the Indian economy are expected to be larger.CGE, EU-India Free Trade Area, GTAP

Antenatal corticosteroid exposure : studies on neonatal and long term outcome

Background: Preterm delivery affects six to twelve per cent of all pregnant women each year. Treatment with antenatal corticosteroids (ACS) has contributed greatly to improve outcome after preterm birth. It is administered to women at risk for preterm delivery to reduce the risk of respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) and death of her preterm infant. The protective effect of ACS declines after 7-10 days. Considering that up to 50% of women remain undelivered 7-10 days after ACS administration, and in view of the neonatal benefits, repeat courses of ACS could be considered. However, unresolved concerns about safety still make such treatment regime controversial. Furthermore, it is not clear whether ACS is effective also in extremely preterm gestations. Objective: The overall objective with this thesis was to investigate the impact of repeat courses of ACS in exposed subjects, both on infant size at birth, and on longer term outcomes (study I-III). Another objective was to explore the association between timing of ACS administration and survival in extremely preterm infants (study IV). Methods: All studies in the thesis are cohort studies. In study I-III we used a cohort of about 100 children exposed to various courses of ACS in utero. We evaluated them regarding infant anthropometry at birth (study I), and risk factors for cardiovascular disease (study II) and neuropsychological function (study III) at follow up in adolescence/young adulthood. In study IV we evaluated a national population-based cohort of extremely preterm infants (EXPRESS – Extremely Preterm Infant in Sweden Study) regarding ACS administration-tobirth interval and survival. Results: We found a dose-dependent association between number of ACS-courses and restricted body size at birth (study I). There was no clear correlation between repeat courses of ACS in fetal life and cardiometabolic risk factors at 14-26 years of age (study II). In addition, there was no indication that repeat ACS exposure had an adverse impact on cognitive function or psychological health at follow-up in adolescents and young adults (study III). In study IV we found a significant reduction in mortality among extremely preterm infants after any ACS, with an optimal administration-to-birth interval of 1-7 days. Conclusions: Although exposure to repeat courses of ACS in utero were found to be related to gradually reduced body size at birth (indicating fetal growth restriction), it seems less likely from our findings that there are clinically important and long-standing adverse effects on cardiovascular and neuropsychological health. Another conclusion from this thesis is that ACS effectively reduces the mortality risk in extremely preterm infants and that timing of antenatal corticosteroids is important also in women delivering extremely preterm

Unblocking the Bottlenecks and Making the Global Supply Chain Transparent: How Blockchain Technology Can Update Global Trade

The emergence of Distributed Ledger or Blockchain Technology BCT, stands to impact many parts of our society; from revolutionizing healthcare, to safeguarding voting, to keeping our data private. To the same affect, BCT stands to empower the very underpinnings that go into international trade: trust, traceability, accessibility and streamlining processes. As so many times before (e.g. ICT as well as the invention of the shipping container), novel technology lowers the costs and empowers international trade. This time to go from creating global value chains to scrutinizing and optimizing them. The aim of this policy brief is as follows; First, to provide a brief overview of the technology, the use and potential effects on international trade. Second, to provide some guidelines for policy makers on how to prepare for the development of the technology

Economic Impact of a Potential Free Trade Agreement (FTA) Between the European Union and South Korea

We analyze the effects of potential measures to liberalize trade between the European Union (EU25) and South Korea. Using a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model of world trade that incorporates the GTAP database, we evaluate two scenarios for an EU-Korea free trade agreement (FTA) and compare it to the maximum potential given by a full free trade agreement. We show that a realistic FTA scenario (called ÒPartial 1Ó) yields a total gain for the two economies of 26 percent of the potential in a full FTA. If liberalization of trade in services is taken a step further, as in our more ambitious scenario (called ÒPartial 2Ó), total gains increase to 46 percent of the total potential from a full FTA between EU and Korea. Our results show that both economies stand to gain economically from all analyzed levels of trade liberalization, but the gains are unevenly distributed. Korea will obtain two-thirds of the total gains from an EU-Korea FTA in all scenarios, basically because the Korean economy initially is more protected from international competition than the EU economy, and therefore will benefit more from increased competition.CGE, EU-Korea Free Trade Area, GTAP

Cognitive Outcome in Adolescents and Young Adults after Repeat Courses of Antenatal Corticosteroids

ObjectiveTo investigate whether repeat courses of antenatal corticosteroids have long-term effects on cognitive and psychological functioning.Study designIn a prospective cohort study, 58 adolescents and young adults (36 males) who had been exposed to 2-9 weekly courses of betamethasone in utero were assessed with neuropsychological tests and behavior self-reports. Unexposed subjects (n = 44, 25 males) matched for age, sex, and gestational age at birth served as a comparison group. In addition, individuals exposed in utero to a single course (n = 25, 14 males) were included for dose-response analysis. Group differences were investigated using multilevel linear modeling.ResultsMean scores obtained in 2 measures of attention and speed were significantly lower in subjects exposed to 2 or more antenatal corticosteroids courses (Symbol Search, P = .009; Digit Span Forward, P = .02), but these were not dose-dependent. Exposure to repeat courses of antenatal corticosteroids was not associated with general deficits in higher cognitive functions, self-reported attention, adaptability, or overall psychological function.ConclusionsAlthough this study indicates that repeat exposure to antenatal corticosteroids may have an impact on aspects of executive functioning, it does not provide support for the prevailing concern that such fetal exposure will have a major adverse impact on cognitive functions and psychological health later in life

Joint Development Initiatives between the Private and Public Sectors in Development Cooperation

The importance of the private sector for economic development is undisputable. Private actors - whether we talk about firms or other organizations - are an essential part of the web that forms a wellfunctioning society. However, the role of the private sector in development cooperation is more disputed, from proponents’ claim that supporting the growth and development of (formal) business is at the heart of what aid should do to antagonists’ view that aid could and should be used better than to increase profits for business. The present report is not about private sector development in partner countries per se. It studies the extent to which actors in the business sector can act as partners in development cooperation to help fulfil the objectives of aid. In the report, Sara Johansson de Silva, Ari Kokko, and Hanna Norberg map out the extent of, and analyse the potential development gains from, the formation of partnerships between public and private actors in Swedish development cooperation. Such partnerships, referred to as Joint Development Initiatives (JDI), are expected to realize mutual gains. Potential gains for public actors include an increase in reach and improved efficiency in delivery; additional (private) financial resources and innovative capacity. Potential gains for private sector actors include the emergence of new firms and markets when prohibitive risk levels are lowered through public involvement; market access and higher turnover for existing firms; and more socially responsible business practices, increasing the sustainability of firms

Measurements of fiducial and differential cross sections for Higgs boson production in the diphoton decay channel at s√=8 TeV with ATLAS

Measurements of fiducial and differential cross sections are presented for Higgs boson production in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of s√=8 TeV. The analysis is performed in the H → γγ decay channel using 20.3 fb−1 of data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. The signal is extracted using a fit to the diphoton invariant mass spectrum assuming that the width of the resonance is much smaller than the experimental resolution. The signal yields are corrected for the effects of detector inefficiency and resolution. The pp → H → γγ fiducial cross section is measured to be 43.2 ±9.4(stat.) − 2.9 + 3.2 (syst.) ±1.2(lumi)fb for a Higgs boson of mass 125.4GeV decaying to two isolated photons that have transverse momentum greater than 35% and 25% of the diphoton invariant mass and each with absolute pseudorapidity less than 2.37. Four additional fiducial cross sections and two cross-section limits are presented in phase space regions that test the theoretical modelling of different Higgs boson production mechanisms, or are sensitive to physics beyond the Standard Model. Differential cross sections are also presented, as a function of variables related to the diphoton kinematics and the jet activity produced in the Higgs boson events. The observed spectra are statistically limited but broadly in line with the theoretical expectations