Do Sticky Prices Make Sense?

Dynamic stochastic general equilibrium models with sticky prices are prominent in recent research on macroeconomic ‡uctuations. A main argument for these models is that they have solid microfoundations. But staggered prices and wages are imposed exogenously. How plausible are sticky prices and wages in these models? We show that, in a standard model, staggered wage and price setting implies implausibly large reshu ing of production and labor supply on the microeconomic level. Furthermore, rationality is violated because households sometimes end up with negative markups. Substantial “menu costs ” are needed in order to rationalize the assumed behavior. We present an alternative model with deep habits, e ¢ ciency wages, and ranking, which can generate a high degree of persistence without the above mentioned problems.

A response to Steve Fuller: the differences between social democracy and neoliberalism

In a recent EUROPP article, Steve Fuller argued that social democracy and neoliberalism may have more in common than we think. In a response to Fuller's article, Johan Söderberg writes that if it appears there are no important distinctions to be made between neoliberalism and social democracy, then this is only because of a tendency to look through the analytical lenses of the former, according to which there can be no alternatives

Robust design of aero engine structures: Transferring form error data when mapping out design spaces for new turbine components

In aerospace modeling and simulation, nominal geometries are norm. However, it has been shown that form error, or irregular deviations in geometry, aggravates thermal stresses, which in turn reduces product life. While form error can be measured on manufactured products using 3D laser scanners, a simulation infrastructure is needed to analyze its effects on aerodynamic, structural and thermal performance. Moreover, in early product development phases, before manufacturing has begun, form error data is not available. This paper describes a method for including form error data in mainstream simulation activities. The suggested method works by creating parametric CAD-models to accommodate form error. There are two main benefits of this method. Firstly, it enables proactive robustness simulations where substantial design changes can be tested and evaluated. Secondly, it enables the mapping of data from previous products onto new designs, which means that robustness analyses can be performed in earlier design phases. To demonstrate this capability, a case study shows how a robust optimization scheme using genetic algorithms can improve product robustness to form error. The results show that form error have effects of the same order of magnitude as key design parameter changes. This finding underlines the importance of performing form error analyses in exploratory early design phases

Skattning av trädhöjd med hjälp av en ytmodell för laserdata

Laser scanning of forests has recently become a bit of a revolutionary tool in forestry. It is a smooth and cost-effective tool while it is usable over very large areas. The information extracted from the laser scanning provides a good overview of the property but is also a good basis for decision making of future forestry measures and how these are to be carried out. The purpose of the study was to find out the surface model measurement accuracy at stock level. To be able to use surface model as a basis for decision making of forest measures, it is necessary to ensure the material's measurement accuracy, current overestimation / underestimation at the stock level. The study was conducted on thinned spruce dominant stocks in Skåne with an age range of 20-80 years. The sample surfaces were randomized into the stocks whose size was at least two hectares. Within the test areas, all strains were clawed and the height was measured on every other tree within each two centimeter class. The results from the field study were then compared to the results of the laser scanning, where it could be seen that the laser scanning height model underestimates the height of the stock with an average height of 3,15 meters (16%). The underestimation cannot be tied to the population's number or height, however, the surface model shows a greater underestimation in the areas containing large openings. One theory to this result is that more laser points take directly on the ground and thus hit high undergrowth vegetation, protruding branches etc. in this areas whit more openings, which in turn lowers the surface models average height

A content validated questionnaire for assessment of self reported venous blood sampling practices

BACKGROUND: Venous blood sampling is a common procedure in health care. It is strictly regulated by national and international guidelines. Deviations from guidelines due to human mistakes can cause patient harm. Validated questionnaires for health care personnel can be used to assess preventable "near misses"--i.e. potential errors and nonconformities during venous blood sampling practices that could transform into adverse events. However, no validated questionnaire that assesses nonconformities in venous blood sampling has previously been presented. The aim was to test a recently developed questionnaire in self reported venous blood sampling practices for validity and reliability. FINDINGS: We developed a questionnaire to assess deviations from best practices during venous blood sampling. The questionnaire contained questions about patient identification, test request management, test tube labeling, test tube handling, information search procedures and frequencies of error reporting. For content validity, the questionnaire was confirmed by experts on questionnaires and venous blood sampling. For reliability, test-retest statistics were used on the questionnaire answered twice. The final venous blood sampling questionnaire included 19 questions out of which 9 had in total 34 underlying items. It was found to have content validity. The test-retest analysis demonstrated that the items were generally stable. In total, 82% of the items fulfilled the reliability acceptance criteria. CONCLUSIONS: The questionnaire could be used for assessment of "near miss" practices that could jeopardize patient safety and gives several benefits instead of assessing rare adverse events only. The higher frequencies of "near miss" practices allows for quantitative analysis of the effect of corrective interventions and to benchmark preanalytical quality not only at the laboratory/hospital level but also at the health care unit/hospital ward

Operational prediction of forest attributes using standardised harvester data and airborne laser scanning data in Sweden

With cut-to-length harvesters, tree stems are measured and cut into different timber assortments at the time of felling. These measurement data collected from harvested trees can be used for decision-support at different levels of the forest industry chain and also for forest planning when combined with remote sensing data. The aim of this study was to examine the operational application for predicting merchantable stem volume, basal area, basal area-weighted mean tree height, basal area-weighted mean stem diameter and diameter distribution at stand level with airborne laser scanning data and harvester data from final felling operations. The area-based approach using k-MSN estimation was evaluated for six different variants of spatial partitioning. The results were stand level predictions with relative root mean square errors of 11-14%, 10-15%, 3-4% and 6-7% for merchantable stem volume, basal area, basal area-weighted mean tree height and basal area-weighted mean stem diameter, respectively. Predictions of stem diameter distributions resulted in error indices of 0.13-0.14. The results demonstrate that harvester data from cut forests may serve as ground truth to airborne laser scanning data and provide accurate forest estimates at stand level. The predicted diameter distributions could be useful for improving yield estimates and bucking simulations

Genetisk analys av avelsfisk, Lax och havsöring 2017-2018 från svenska kompensationsodlingar

I flera av Sveriges stora älvar sker odling och utsättning av lax och havsöring som kompensation för minskad naturlig reproduktion orsakad av vattenkraften. All kompensationsodlad utsatt fisk ska vara fenklippt, och en mindre andel ska enligt vattendom även vara märkt på annat sätt. Länge har så kallade Carlin-märken använts för storskalig s.k. ”driftsmärkning” av laxungar (smolt). Av olika skäl har dock återrapporteringen av märkt fisk sjunkit, och Carlin-märkena har även visat sig kunna påverka fisken negativt. Som alternativ till yttre märken kan man dra nytta av att all fisk är ”genetiskt märkta” från födseln. Genom DNA-prov från avelsfisk kan man göra diverse uppföljningar av odlingsverksamheten som att identifiera felvandrare och familjegrupper, samt avgöra om avelspar är helsyskon. Med tiden går det även att identifiera den återvändande lekfiskens föräldrar från tidigare års avel. I denna rapport presenteras resultat efter DNA-analys av lax och havsöring från sex respektive fem kompensationsodlingar i Sverige. Målsättningen har varit att lägga grunden för ett ”genetiskt märkningsprogram” för dessa arter. Samtliga odlade stammar uppvisade jämförelsevis hög genetisk variation, vilket kan förklaras av att nya avelsfiskar fångas in till aveln varje år och att ”felvandring” mellan älvar förekommer (dvs. fisken simmar upp i annan älv än där den är född). Inom aveln 2017 och 2018 var det mest älvseget material som användes, men det förekom även en andel felvandrare. Den genetiska likheten var högre mellan fisk från olika år inom samma älv jämfört med andra älvar. Generellt var de odlade stammarna från närliggande älvar mer genetiskt lika, vilket är samma mönster som förekommer bland vilda bestånd av lax och havsöring. Havsöringen från Luleälven var dock genetiskt mest lik den från Dalälven och Ljusnan, trots det geografiska avståndet, vilket sannolikt återspeglar äldre omflyttningar av fisk (och därmed genetiskt material). Ett flertal helsyskongrupper av varierande storlek kunde identifieras bland lekfisken, och i några fall hade helsyskon av slumpen också parats med varandra. Skellefteälven har låtit DNA-analysera sina avelslaxar under flera år; bland avelsfisken 2018 från denna älv gick det därför att identifiera 89 (utav 100) laxar som avkomma till tidigare analyserade föräldrar från aveln 2014

Are Natural Domain Foundation Models Useful for Medical Image Classification?

The deep learning field is converging towards the use of general foundation models that can be easily adapted for diverse tasks. While this paradigm shift has become common practice within the field of natural language processing, progress has been slower in computer vision. In this paper we attempt to address this issue by investigating the transferability of various state-of-the-art foundation models to medical image classification tasks. Specifically, we evaluate the performance of five foundation models, namely SAM, SEEM, DINOv2, BLIP, and OpenCLIP across four well-established medical imaging datasets. We explore different training settings to fully harness the potential of these models. Our study shows mixed results. DINOv2 consistently outperforms the standard practice of ImageNet pretraining. However, other foundation models failed to consistently beat this established baseline indicating limitations in their transferability to medical image classification tasks.Comment: IEEE/CVF Winter Conference on Applications of Computer Vision (WACV 2024