Journal Staff

The usage of 3D-modeling is expanding rapidly. Modeling from aerial imagery has become very popular due to its increasing number of both civilian and mili- tary applications like urban planning, navigation and target acquisition. This master thesis project was carried out at Vricon Systems at SAAB. The Vricon system produces high resolution geospatial 3D data based on aerial imagery from manned aircrafts, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and satellites. The aim of this work was to investigate to what degree superpixel segmentation and supervised learning can be applied to a terrain classification problem using imagery and digital surface models (dsm). The aim was also to investigate how the height information from the digital surface model may contribute compared to the information from the grayscale values. The goal was to identify buildings, trees and ground. Another task was to evaluate existing methods, and compare results. The approach for solving the stated goal was divided into several parts. The first part was to segment the image using superpixel segmentation, after that features were extracted. Then the classifiers were created and trained and finally the classifiers were evaluated. The classification method that obtained the best results in this thesis had approx- imately 90 % correctly labeled superpixels. The result was equal, if not better, compared to other solutions available on the market.

The Hidden Costs of Health Care Cost-Cutting: Toward a Postneoliberal Health-Reform Agenda

This project is a study of the wastescape - a network of waste - of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack in Odisha, India.  The study incorporates key locations, e.g. landfills, urban wastelands and waste warehouses; major actors in the formal and informal waste sector; and flows of waste through economic and social systems. Drawing from the studies, multiple interventions within the wastescape are proposed for improvement of the economic, ecologic and social situation. An important aspect of the project is the development of an approach for how to, as architects, work with big, complex, contingent networks; how to map and understand such a system; and how to determine where to intervene. To improve the existing wastescape, interventions must consciously and holistically address multiple scales; levels of formal-informal; and phases within the waste cycle. The study includes a vast amount of possible interventions. Some of the interventions are further detailed to show feasibility; impact on the wastescape; and synergies with other interventions within the wastescape.Projektet “Wastescape of Bhubaneswar & Cuttack” är en studie av ett nätverk av skräpflöden genom Bhubaneswar och Cuttack i Odisha, Indien. Studien inkorporerar viktiga platser, t.ex. deponier, urbana ödemarker och lokaler för skräphandel; stora aktörer i den formella och informella skräpsektorn; och flöden av skräp genom ekonomiska och sociala system. Utifrån dessa studier, ett flertal interventioner i “the wastescape” föreslås för att förbättra den ekonomiska, ekologiska och sociala situationen. En viktig aspekt av arbetet är utvecklingen av ett sätt att, som arkitekt, arbeta med storskaliga, komplexa och inter-beroende nätverk; hur sådana system kan kartläggas och förstås; samt hur det går att avgöra vart och hur interventioner passar in i “the wastescape”. För att förbättra “the wastescape”, interventioner måste medvetet och holistiskt adressera multipla skalor; nivåer av formell-informell; och faser i skräpets kretslopp. Studien innehåller ett stort nummer av möjliga interventioner. Några av dessa interventioner är ytterligare detaljerade för att visa på genomförbarhet; påverkan på “the wastescape”; och synergier gentemot andra interventioner i “the wastescape”

Retrieval-induced forgetting of emotional traits and its effect on implicit attitudes

Memory is fundamental for multitudinous cognitive functions. The function of current interest is retrieval and the effect it has on the accessibility of stored information. Besides facilitating recall of previously retrieved items, retrieval may also inhibit information that is associated to the same cue as the retrieved items. This study examines the effect of retrieval practice on person memory for neutral and emotional traits. The study also investigates if forgetting a person's traits changes the implicit attitude towards that person. The results showed retrieval-induced forgetting for negative traits but not for neutral and positive traits. When the recall performance was assessed with focus on emotional accuracy rather than on the recall of specific words, the forgetting effect for negative traits diminished, suggesting that the general concepts of good and bad were not as susceptible to retrieval inhibition as the specific traits. Further, retrieval-induced forgetting of negative traits did not lead to changes in implicit attitudes, thus, suggesting that implicit attitudes are not dependent of the explicit accessibility of information that they were originally based on

Value at Risk on the Swedish stock market

Abstract Managing and quantifying market risks has become key today for investors, financial institutions, regulators and other parties. This master thesis investigates several models that estimate the financial risk measure Value at Risk (VaR) with the objective to find the best model for the Swedish stock market. Using 1-day forecasted VaR at 95% and 99% level the following VaR models are compared: Basic Historical Simulation (HS), age weighted HS (AWHS), volatility weighted HS (VWHS) using a GARCH model, Normal VaR and t-distributed VaR. The study is performed on the Swedish stock exchange data OMXS and on the single stock series Boliden for the years 2005-2013. Running a backtest of the models it is found that the VWHS, where the volatility is modelled with a GARCH(1, 1) model, estimates 1-day 95% and 99% VaR most accurately on the Swedish stock market and is therefore preferred to the other models

Markanvisningssystemets påverkan på kommunala markförsäljningar

Uppsatsen undersöker markanvisningssystemet i nio kommuner i storstadsregionerna Göteborg, Malmö och Stockholm. Syftet är att genomföra en kartläggning av vilka tilldelningssätt de olika kommunerna använder sig av inför en försäljning av ett markområde samt vilken påverkan det har på pris, transparens och kostnader. Samtidigt studeras byggherrar och kommuners strategier och agerande i de olika tilldelningsförfarandena. Utgångspunkten har varit att ställa de olika tilldelningsförfaranden som används runt om i Sverige mot varandra för att belysa för- och nackdelar, samt deras påverkan på de ovan nämnda faktorerna pris, transparens och kostnader. För att utföra studien har olika anbuds- och tävlingsförfaranden analyserats i kombination med en intervjustudie med utvalda kommuner och byggherrar. Kommunerna Göteborg, Malmö, Mölndal, Nacka, Lund, Stockholm, Sundbyberg, Täby och Uppsala valdes ut som referenskommuner. Urvalet baserades på att kommunerna ligger i eller nära storstadsområden och genomför markanvisningar årligen. Kartläggningen har visat på att valet av tilldelningssätt skiljer sig mellan kommunerna. Den största skillnaden som märkts av är att vissa kommuner helt avstår från att använda förfarande där markanvisningen tilldelas efter betalningsvilja. De stora skillnaderna mellan kommunernas tilldelningssätt för även med sig att byggherrar upplever markanvisningssystemet som otransparent. Här har det också framkommit att överanvändning av direktanvisningar påverkar transparensen negativt. Det kan konstateras att i de fall där ett markanvisningsförfarande med betalningsvilja som avgörande kriterium testats i en kommun för första gången har detta påverkat försäljningspriset markant. Något som tyder på att val av tilldelningssätt påverkar försäljningspriset på kommunal mark. Ortspriset som generellt ligger till grund för värdering av kommunal mark kan förbättras genom användningen av förfaranden med prisbudgivningar. Däremot krävs en noggrann analys av materialet från dessa förfaranden. Buden i markanvisningsförfarande baserade på betalningsviljan påverkas av byggherrars strategier, vilket måste tas i hänsyn till i en analys av budgivningen.This thesis researches the Swedish municipality system for choosing whom will be allowed to buy and develop land owned by the municipality. With focus on the three largest cities, Gothenburg, Malmö and Stockholm, and the region surrounding them. The purpose of the thesis is to survey the methods used by the municipalities to sell land for developing. How the chosen method affects pricing of land, the cost of the transaction and the systems transparency are also researched. The strategies of land developers and municipalities participating in these transactions are also analyzed. The thesis starts with putting the methods used by Swedish municipalities against each other to highlight the pros and cons. To fulfill the purpose of this thesis, data from the procedure of selling municipality owned land have been collected and interviews with chosen municipalities and land developers have been held. The chosen municipalities are following: Gothenburg, Malmö, Mölndal, Nacka, Lund, Stockholm, Sundbyberg, Täby and Uppsala. They were all chosen based on being located in the three largest cities in Sweden or the regions around them and because all of them are selling land frequently. The surveying of the methods that are used showed that there is a big difference between municipalities. The biggest divergence noted is that some municipalities seems to exclude methods that lets the land developers bid on the land. The big difference between the municipalities have also made it harder for land developers to understand why some developers are allowed to buy land and others not. It has also been noted that when a municipality used a method to sell land that let the highest bidder buy, the price of land in that area has been rising. Which indicates that the chosen method to sell land is affecting the pricing of land. The data used by real estate valuers can also be affected by the uses of methods based on bidding. But the data needs to be analyzed with the strategies of land developers in mind

Resolved near-UV hydrogen emission lines at 40-Myr super-Jovian protoplanet Delorme 1 (AB)b: Indications of magnetospheric accretion

We have followed up on our observations of the ~ 40-Myr, and still accreting, PMC Delorme 1 (AB)b. We used high-resolution spectroscopy to characterise the accretion process further by accessing the wealth of emission lines in the near-UV. With VLT/UVES, we obtained R ~ 50000 spectroscopy at 330--452 nm. After separating the emission of the companion from that of the M5 low-mass binary, we performed a detailed emission-line analysis, which included planetary accretion shock modelling. We reaffirm ongoing accretion in Delorme 1 (AB)b and report the first detections in a (super-Jovian) protoplanet of resolved hydrogen line emission in the near-UV (H-gamma, H-delta, H-epsilon, H8 and H9). We tentatively detect H11, H12, He I and Ca II H/K. The analysis strongly favours a planetary accretion shock with a line-luminosity-based accretion rate dMp/dt = 2e-8 MJ/yr. The lines are asymmetric and well described by sums of narrow and broad components with different velocity shifts. Overall line shapes are best explained by a pre-shock velocity v0 = 170+-30 km/s, implying a planetary mass Mp = 13+-5 MJ, and number densities n0 ~ 1e13/cc or n0 ~ 1e11/cc. The higher density implies a small line-emitting area of ~ 1% relative to the planetary surface. This favours magnetospheric accretion, a case potentially strengthened by the presence of blueshifted emission in the asymmetrical profiles.High-resolution spectroscopy offers the opportunity to resolve line profiles, crucial for studying the accretion process in depth. The super-Jovian protoplanet Delorme 1 (AB)b is still accreting at ~ 40 Myr. Thus, Delorme 1 belongs to the growing family of Peter Pan disc systems with protoplanetary and/or circumplanetary disc(s) far beyond the typically assumed disc lifetimes. Further observations of this benchmark companion, and its presumed disc(s), will help answer key questions about the accretion geometry in PMCs.Comment: Published in A&A 669, L12, 11 pages, abbreviated abstrac

Interdisciplinary Pain Rehabilitation Programs: Evidence and Clinical Real-World Results

Chronic pain conditions are influenced by and interact with physical, psychological, social, and contextual factors. These conditions are associated with psychological distress, poor health, sick leave, and high socio-economic costs. Therefore, modern clinical practice applies a biopsychosocial (BPS) framework. Interdisciplinary pain rehabilitation programs (IPRPs) for chronic pain distinguish themselves as well-coordinated complex interventions. This chapter describes the contents of such programs. We will briefly review the evidence for IPRPs and discuss problems when evaluating these complex interventions. Furthermore, we will report practice-based results from a large Swedish pain registry—the Swedish Quality Registry for Pain Rehabilitation (SQRP). The SQRP collects data from a relevant special clinical department in Sweden—i.e., real-life outcomes will be depicted. Characteristics of patients that benefit the most from IPRPs will be described and discussed. The indications for IPRPs will also be presented. Finally, we will discuss how to improve rehabilitation for chronic pain patients

Histochemistry of fibres of masseter and temporalis muscles of edentulous monkeys Macaca mulatta

Muscle fibres of the masseter and temporalis muscles of female rhesus monkeys which had been edentulous for 4.5 yr were analysed histochemically. Fibres were classified on the basis of activities of succinic acid dehydrogenase and myofibrillar adenosine triphosphatase. Capillaries were visualized by phosphatase activity. Succinate oxidase activity was determined by differential respirometry of aliquots of whole muscle homogenates. These data were compared to data obtained from the muscles of control adult female animals. Relative to control values, the muscles of edentulous animals had lower oxidative capacity, more fast fatigable (FF) and fewer fast fatigue resistant (FR) and slow fatigue resistant (S) fibres, smaller S fibres and slightly reduced capillarity. These data indicate relative disuse of elevator muscle following removal of teeth.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/23363/1/0000307.pd

Imaging of exocomets with infrared interferometry

Active comets have been detected in several exoplanetary systems, although so far only indirectly, when the dust or gas in the extended coma has transited in front of the stellar disk. The large optical surface and relatively high temperature of an active cometary coma also makes it suitable to study with direct imaging, but the angular separation is generally too small to be reachable with present-day facilities. However, future imaging facilities with the ability to detect terrestrial planets in the habitable zones of nearby systems will also be sensitive to exocomets in such systems. Here we examine several aspects of exocomet imaging, particularly in the context of the Large Interferometer for Exoplanets (LIFE), which is a proposed space mission for infrared imaging and spectroscopy through nulling interferometry. We study what capabilities LIFE would have for acquiring imaging and spectroscopy of exocomets, based on simulations of the LIFE performance as well as statistical properties of exocomets that have recently been deduced from transit surveys. We find that for systems with extreme cometary activities such as beta Pictoris, sufficiently bright comets may be so abundant that they overcrowd the LIFE inner field of view. More nearby and moderately active systems such as epsilon Eridani or Fomalhaut may turn out to be optimal targets. If the exocomets have strong silicate emission features, such as in comet Hale-Bopp, it may become possible to study the mineralogy of individual exocometary bodies. We also discuss the possibility of exocomets as false positives for planets, with recent deep imaging of alpha Centauri as one hypothetical example. Such contaminants could be common, primarily among young debris disk stars, but should be rare among the main sequence population. We discuss strategies to mitigate the risk of any such false positives.Comment: 17 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in A&

Correlations between EMG jaw muscle activity and facial morphology in complete denture wearers

In a sample of fifteen partially edentulous subjects assigned for immediate complete denture treatment, a correlation analysis was performed between pre-extraction facial morphology determined from lateral cephalograms, and EMG activity of the anterior temporal and masseter muscles in maximal clench and tapping of teeth. Marked correlations observed between vertical and sagittal jaw relations and mean voltages of the jaw-closing muscles indicated strong biting activity in subjects with a square facial type. No significant associations were observed between biting strength and the age of the subjects. Correlations between facial morphological changes and changes in EMG biting activity after denture insertion and during 1 year of denture wear indicated that the anterior temporal muscles were extremely sensitive to sagittal changes in anterior occlusion. The masseter muscles were less sensitive, but responded in some instances to changes in vertical jaw relationship.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/73816/1/j.1365-2842.1983.tb00105.x.pd