BASEL IV : How will a transition to the internal ratings based approach affect Sparebanken Sør’s capital allocation, considering new requirements?

Master's thesis Business Administration BE501 - University of Agder 2017Konfidensiell til / confidential until 01-07-202

Dynamics of the echolocation beam during prey pursuit in aerial hawking bats

In the evolutionary arms race between prey and predator, measures and countermeasures continuously evolve to increase survival on both sides. Bats and moths are prime examples. When exposed to intense ultrasound, eared moths perform dramatic escape behaviors. Vespertilionid and rhinolophid bats broaden their echolocation beam in the final stage of pursuit, presumably as a countermeasure to keep evading moths within their "acoustic field of view." In this study, we investigated if dynamic beam broadening is a general property of echolocation when catching moving prey. We recorded three species of emballonurid bats, Saccopteryx bilineata, Saccopteryx leptura, and Rhynchonycteris naso, catching airborne insects in the field. The study shows that S. bilineata and S. leptura maintain a constant beam shape during the entire prey pursuit, whereas R. naso broadens the beam by lowering the peak call frequency from 100 kHz during search and approach to 67 kHz in the buzz. Surprisingly, both Saccopteryx bats emit calls with very high energy throughout the pursuit, up to 60 times more than R. naso and Myotis daubentonii (a similar sized vespertilionid), providing them with as much, or more, peripheral "vision" than the vespertilionids, but ensonifying objects far ahead suggesting more clutter. Thus, beam broadening is not a fundamental property of the echolocation system. However, based on the results, we hypothesize that increased peripheral detection is crucial to all aerial hawking bats in the final stages of prey pursuit and speculate that beam broadening is a feature characterizing more advanced echolocation

TextDescriptives: A Python package for calculating a large variety of metrics from text

TextDescriptives is a Python package for calculating a large variety of metrics from text. It is built on top of spaCy and can be easily integrated into existing workflows. The package has already been used for analysing the linguistic stability of clinical texts, creating features for predicting neuropsychiatric conditions, and analysing linguistic goals of primary school students. This paper describes the package and its features.Comment: 3 pages, 0 figures. Submitted to Journal of Open Source Softwar

Composition and structure of Pd nanoclusters in SiOx_x thin film

The nucleation, distribution, composition and structure of Pd nanocrystals in SiO$_2$ multilayers containing Ge, Si, and Pd are studied using High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy (HRTEM) and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), before and after heat treatment. The Pd nanocrystals in the as deposited sample seem to be capped by a layer of PdO$_x$. A 1-2 eV shift in binding energy was found for the Pd-3d XPS peak, due to initial state Pd to O charge transfer in this layer. The heat treatment results in a decomposition of PdO and Pd into pure Pd nanocrystals and SiO$_2$

Multistrain models predict sequential multidrug treatment strategies to result in less antimicrobial resistance than combination treatment

Background Combination treatment is increasingly used to fight infections caused by bacteria resistant to two or more antimicrobials. While multiple studies have evaluated treatment strategies to minimize the emergence of resistant strains for single antimicrobial treatment, fewer studies have considered combination treatments. The current study modeled bacterial growth in the intestine of pigs after intramuscular combination treatment (i.e. using two antibiotics simultaneously) and sequential treatments (i.e. alternating between two antibiotics) in order to identify the factors that favor the sensitive fraction of the commensal flora. Growth parameters for competing bacterial strains were estimated from the combined in vitro pharmacodynamic effect of two antimicrobials using the relationship between concentration and net bacterial growth rate. Predictions of in vivo bacterial growth were generated by a mathematical model of the competitive growth of multiple strains of Escherichia coli. Results Simulation studies showed that sequential use of tetracycline and ampicillin reduced the level of double resistance, when compared to the combination treatment. The effect of the cycling frequency (how frequently antibiotics are alternated in a sequential treatment) of the two drugs was dependent upon the order in which the two drugs were used. Conclusion Sequential treatment was more effective in preventing the growth of resistant strains when compared to the combination treatment. The cycling frequency did not play a role in suppressing the growth of resistant strains, but the specific order of the two antimicrobials did. Predictions made from the study could be used to redesign multidrug treatment strategies not only for intramuscular treatment in pigs, but also for other dosing routes

Smart Grid challenges - Device Trustworthiness

The Power Grid development brings about technological design changes, resulting in increased connectivity and dependency on IoT devices. The changes offer opportunities to manipulate the IoT hardware as the root of trust. Although terrifying, hardware attacks are considered resource-demanding and rare. Nonetheless, Power Grids are attractive targets for resourceful attackers. As such, the Ukraine attacks boosted Power Grid cybersecurity focus. However, physical assurance and hardware device trustworthiness received less attention. Overhead Line Sensors are utilized in Dynamic Line Rating doctrines for Power Grids. They are potentially essential in the future to optimize conductor ampacity. Conductor optimization is crucial for Power Grids because future throughput volatility demands a high level of grid flexibility. However, there may be challenges to the integrity and availability of the data collected using Overhead Line sensors. We believe that in securing the future Smart Grid, stakeholders need to raise attention to device trustworthiness entailing the hardware layer. That said, integrated into cloud-enhanced digital ecosystems, Overhead Line Sensors can also be manipulated through the network, software, and supply chain to impact their trustworthiness