The A&A Experience With Impact Factors

There is a widespread impression that the scientific journal "Astronomy & Astrophysics" (A&A) has a smaller impact, as measured by citations to articles, than some of the other major astronomy journals. This impression was apparently supported - and probably created - by the Journal Citation Report (JCR), which is prepared annually by the Institute of Scientific Information (ISI) Web of Knowledge. The published poor impact factor of A&A was in fact wrong and was due to a serious flaw in the method used by ISI Web of Knowledge to determine it. The resulting damage inflicted upon A&A by the JCR is incalculable.Comment: 4 pages, to be published in A. Heck (ed.) "Organizations and Strategies in Astronomy, Vol. 5" (Kluwer, 2004

The OH-streamer in Sgr A revisited: analysis of hydroxyl absorption within 10 pc from the Galactic centre

We study the structure and kinematics of the OH-streamer and the +80 km/s cloud and their interactions with the circumnuclear disk (CND) and with other molecular clouds in the vicinity of the Galactic centre (GC), and we map OH absorption at about 6" resolution at R $\le$ 10 pc from the GC, with about 9 km/s velocity resolution. The VLA was used to map OH line absorption at the 1665 and 1667 MHz lambda doublet main lines towards the Sagittarius A complex. Strong OH absorption was found in the OH-streamer, the southern streamer (SS), the +20, +50, and +80 km/s molecular clouds, the molecular belt, the CND, the expanding molecular ring (EMR), and the high negative velocity gas (HNVG). The OH-streamer was found to comprise three parts, head, middle, and tail, and to interact with the SS/+20, +80 km/s clouds and the CND. Optical depths and column densities have been calculated for the OH-streamer and the +80 km/s cloud. The OH-streamer, the SS, the +20 and +80 km/s clouds, and the CND are intimately related in position and velocity space. The OH-streamer was found to be a clumpy object stretching in projection from the inner radius of the CND at about 1.8 pc from Sgr A* towards and partly engulfing Sgr A*. As a side result of our data, a possible link between the near side of the EMR and the CND's southwest lobe was found. Additionally, we found OH absorption against all four of the previously known Compact HII Regions A-D, located east of Sgr A East, indicating their close association with the +50 km/s cloud.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophsyics and including maps of the 1665 and 1667 MHz data cubes. These data cubes are available in electronic form at the CDS at http://vizier.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/Vizie

Regional Autonomy and Respect for Human Rights – Indonesia’s Obligation to Ensure that Women are not Discriminated in Local Regulations

Indonesia has ratified the crucial international human rights treaties obligating states to eliminate discrimination against women – the CEDAW, the ICCPR and the ICESCR. Yet discrimination against women exists in Indonesia, especially fuelled by local regulations able to arise due to the country’s strong regional autonomy. Enacted either at province, regency or city level, these regulations contradict not only the human right treaties, but also Indonesia’s Constitution and national law. Numerous national institutions, mechanisms and processes exist to prevent enactment of, or amend or annul, such discriminatory local regulations. Despite this, however, their numbers are steadily growing. This thesis was conducted with the main aim of investigating if Indonesia can be considered to fulfill its international human rights obligation to ensure that women are not discriminated, taking into consideration that discriminatory local Indonesian regulations exist and assessing if the measures taken to prevent, amend or annul them are sufficiently adequate. This was accomplished through interviewing representatives from Indonesian Ministries and National Commissions plus an international human rights NGO, as well as translating Indonesian law text (a two-month research trip to the country’s capital of Jakarta was partially funded by a Minor Field Study scholarship from the Swedish government agency Sida). Additional sources were textbooks, reports, news articles and, especially, official documents from the international treaty committees. The thesis found that Indonesia does not live up to its international obligations – a conclusion reached through three separate assessments: whether or not Indonesia fulfills 1) its obligation to enact national law that prohibits discrimination of women in general (yes); 2) its obligation to prevent the enactment of local regulations that discriminate against women (no, despite the many existing possibilities for doing so); and 3) its obligation to amend and annul local regulations that discriminate against women (no, despite the many existing possibilities for doing so). The thesis also synthesized thoughts presented to the author concerning a second research question: why local regulations that discriminate against women exist in Indonesia (lack of knowledge about human rights, cultural reasons, religious reasons, ineffective institutions and processes for amendment/annulment, and political interests) and what Indonesia can do to address this problem (most importantly increased and intelligently designed education in human rights for all members of society).Indonesien har ratificerat de viktiga internationella mänskliga rättigheter-traktaten som ålägger stater att eliminera diskriminering av kvinnor – CEDAW, ICCPR och ICESCR. Ändå existerar omfattande diskriminering av kvinnor i landet, underblåst särskilt av lokala regleringar som tillkommit genom den starka regionala autonomin. Dessa regleringar, antagna på provins-, region- eller stadsnivå, bryter inte bara mot nämnda traktat utan också mot landets grundlag och nationella lagstiftning. Flertalet institutioner, mekanismer och processer finns för att förhindra, ändra eller upphäva dessa lokala regleringar, men trots detta växer de ständigt i antal. Denna uppsats primära syfte var att undersöka om Indonesien kan sägas uppfylla sitt internationella åtagande att inte diskriminera kvinnor, särskilt utifrån utgångspunkten att lokala Indonesiska regleringar som diskriminerar kvinnor existerar, samt att utvärdera ifall tagna åtgärder för att förhindra, ändra eller upphäva dessa regleringar är tillräckliga. Detta åstadkoms genom att intervjua representanter från indonesiska ministerier och nationella kommissioner, plus en internationell NGO verksam inom området mänskliga rättigheter, samt genom att översätta indonesisk lagtext (en två månader lång forskningsresa till huvudstaden Jakarta behjälptes av en Minor Field Study-stipendium från Sida). Övriga källor utgjordes av textböcker, rapporter, nyhetsartiklar och, framförallt, officiella dokument från kommittéerna för de internationella traktaten om de mänskliga rättigheterna. Uppsatsen fann att Indonesien inte lever upp till sitt internationella åtagande – en slutsats nådd genom tre separata utvärderingar: 1) ifall Indonesien uppfyller sitt åtagande om att anta nationell lagstiftning som förbjuder diskriminering av kvinnor i allmänhet (ja); 2) ifall Indonesien uppfyller sitt åtagande att förhindra antagandet av lokala regleringar som diskriminerar kvinnor (nej); och 3) ifall Indonesien uppfyller sitt åtagande att ändra och upphäva lokala regleringar som diskriminerar kvinnor (nej). Uppsatsen syntetiserade också tankar framförda till författaren angående en andra forskningsfråga: varför lokala regleringar som diskriminerar kvinnor existerar i Indonesien (bristande kunskaper om mänskliga rättigheter, kulturella skäl, religiösa skäl, ineffektiva institutioner och processer för förhindrande/förändring/upphävning, och politiska intressen) och vad landet kan göra för att adressera detta problem (viktigast är utökad och intelligent utformad utbildning inom mänskliga rättigheter för alla medborgare)

Preoperative localisation of parathyroid adenoma in primary hyperparathyroidism using 99mTc-sestamibi SPECT/CT : an evolving scanning protocol

Primary hyperparathyroidism (pHPT) is caused by one or more hyperfunctional parathyroid gland causing an inappropriately high release of parathyroid hormone (PTH) in relation to the calcium concentration in the blood. PTH acts on the bones to release more calcium and on the kidneys to reabsorb calcium, causing hypercalcemia. Approximately 75% of the patients are women and median age is 62. The only permanent cure is surgical removal of all pathologic parathyroid glands. To minimise the surgical exploration preoperative imaging localisation methods, have for decades been used and refined to pinpoint the culprit gland(s). The performance data for different imaging modalities used for preoperative localisation of hyperfunctional parathyroid glands are difficult to interpret. There are large numbers of studies on different methods with varying protocols and quality, often with insufficient reporting on important influencing factors such as adenoma weight and frequency of multiglandular disease (MGD). In this thesis we have analysed the performance of dual timepoint 99mTc-sestamibi SPECT/CT for preoperative localisation of PTAs with regards to its individual components: 99mTc-sestamibi SPECT alone [S], nonenhanced CT (native phase) [N], contrast-enhanced CT (arterial- and venous phase), [A] and [V] respectively and in combination [AN], [VN], [SN], [ANS], [VNS] and [SNAV]. Additionally, the impact of the adenoma weight and MGD on PTA localisation was also investigated. In Study I we retrospectively analysed 249 patients examined with nonenhanced 99mTcsestamibi SPECT/CT and found that adding a diagnostic native phase to 99mTc-sestamibi SPECT significantly increased the localisation specificity from 93.5% to 95.9% (p<0.01), but not the sensitivity. In a prospective examination of 192 patients (Study II) we reported that adding an arterial and venous phase to nonenhanced SPECT/CT [SN] significantly increased the localisation sensitivity from 81.1% to 89.9% (p<0.01) without changing the specificity. Using the same cohort, in Study III we showed that adding 99mTc-sestamibi SPECT to different combinations of CT phases increased sensitivity e.g., 80.8% for [AN] as compared to 86.5% for [ANS] (p<0.01). However, the use of both contrast-enhanced phases was found redundant in terms of sensitivity gain, just adding 4 extra mSv. The specificity was 97.9% for both. Although small parathyroid adenomas are known to be a challenge in preoperative localisation, we showed that it could be overcome using [ANS] or [SNAV]. The performance in patients with MGD remained unsatisfactory for all image sets, with a per-patient sensitivity of merely 30-40%. As a way of mitigating the consequences of this, in Study IV we trained a Machine Learning Classifier to recognise cases were preoperative localisation misclassified patients with MDG as single gland disease (SGD). As predictors, we used a set of pHPT related biochemical variables and the measured adenoma weight on patients cured after parathyroidectomy. On test data, the current classifier reached a 72% true positive prediction rate for MGD-patients and a misclassification rate of 6% for SGD-patients. These results call for further exploration before clinical implementation

Hur uppfattar den svenska lantbrukarkåren den digitala utvecklingen inom AI?

Den här uppsatsen ämnar undersöka svenska lantbrukares uppfattning av AI och ny teknik. Dagens lantbruk står inför många utmaningar, bland annat miljöomställningar, en åldrande lantbrukskår och snabb utveckling av teknik. För att bevara svenskt lantbruk konkurrenskraftigt krävs det ny teknik och hjälpmedel att rationalisera verksamheten. De innovationer som utvecklas måste dock ta hänsyn till lantbrukarnas behov för att dessa innovationer ska kunna uppfattas som användbara. För att kunna undersöka uppfattningen kring dessa har ett teoretiskt ramverk bildats. Teknik acceptansmodellen (TAM) appliceras för att se vad för faktorer som påverkar lantbrukarnas benägenhet att använda det. Även legitimitetsteorin används för att undersöka vilka faktorer som påverkar uppfattningen av företagen som står för utvecklingen av AI och andra digitala hjälpmedel. Utöver dessa två teorier kommer även innovativ diffusionsteori bidra till att skapa en förståelse för vilka informationskanaler som påverkar lantbrukarna, samt i vilken mån de olika källornas vikt influerar uppfattningen och beslutsprocessen. De slutsatser som uppsatsen funnit är att de svenska lantbrukarnas uppfattning inför ny teknik är positiv. Uppfattningen är att AI kommer underlätta i det vardagliga arbetet med minskning av löpande kostnader, främst av besparingar av insatsvaror. Även arbetsbördan uppfattas minska genom rationalisering och effektivisering av AI. Ytterligare en slutsats som framkom var benägenheten att implementera ny teknik. Lantbrukarna var positiva till att applicera AI men en ovilja fanns att vara först. Andra slutsatser som togs var att en viktig faktor för uppfattningen var välkända återförsäljare och märken, dessa hade hög legitimitet och även olika roller i beslutsprocessen och uppfattningen.This essay intends to examine Swedish farmers perception of AI and new technologies in the agricultural field. Modern agriculture stands before a plethora of challenges ranging from environmental changes, an aging population of farmers and a rapid development in the field of technology. To preserve Swedish agriculture competitive on a global market there is a need for new technology and tools for the rationalization of farming operations. The innovations currently being developed needs to take into consideration the needs of the farmers to be perceived as useful. To examine the perception of usefulness for new technology a theoretical framework has been constructed. The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) will be applied to determine which factors affects farmers inclination to apply new technology. Furthermore, the legitimacy theory helps to study which elements plays a role in farmers perception and tendency to put their trust in the companies developing AI and new technologies. Besides the two previously mentioned theories Innovation Diffusion Theory will be used to create a picture of which communications channels affects farmers the most, as well as in which extent the different channels influence the perception and decision-making process. The conclusions of the study determined that Swedish farmers perception of AI and new technology is positive. The perception is that AI will simplify everyday work for the farmers by decreasing external costs, primarily in the saving of input materials. Also, the workload is expected to decrease by rationalizing and streamlining using AI. Another conclusion that emerged was the inclination to implement new technologies. The farmers were positive towards applying AI but an animosity towards being an early adopter was present. Other conclusions were that an important factor in the perception of new technology was well known retailers and brands, these actors had a high legitimacy and played different roles in the decision-making process and perception

A generalized Allwright formula and the vector Riccati equation

A classical formula of Allwright on the general solution of a scalar differential equation is generalized to a system of differential equations by means of the Kronecker product.The Allwright formula is connected with the Riccati equation, and in a similar way the generalized formula is connected with a special type of a differential system called a vector Riccati equation. Moreover,the classical result that a scalar differential equation is a Riccati equation if and only if its general solution is a fractional linear function of the starting value, is also generalized to a differential system.Comment: 23 page

Hydroxyl, water, ammonia, carbon monoxide and neutral carbon towards the Sgr A complex

We observed OH, H$_2$O, HN$_3$, C$^{18}$O, and C$_I$ towards the +50 km/s cloud (M-0.02-0.07), the CND and the +20 km/s (M-0.13-0.08) cloud in the Sgr A complex with the VLA, Odin and SEST. Strong OH absorption, H$_2$O emission and absorption lines were seen at all three positions. Strong C$^{18}$O emissions were seen towards the +50 and +20 km/s clouds. The CND is rich in H$_2$O and OH, and these abundances are considerably higher than in the surrounding clouds, indicating that shocks, star formation and clump collisions prevail in those objects. A comparison with the literature reveals that it is likely that PDR chemistry including grain surface reactions, and perhaps also the influences of shocks has led to the observed abundances of the observed molecular species studied here. In the redward high-velocity line wings of both the +50 and +20 km/s clouds and the CND, the very high H$_2$O abundances are suggested to be caused by the combined action of shock desorption from icy grain mantles and high-temperature, gas-phase shock chemistry. Only three of the molecules are briefly discussed here. For OH and H$_2$O three of the nine observed positions are shown, while a map of the C$^{18}$O emission is provided. An extensive paper was recently published with Open Access (Karlsson et al. 2013; http://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/pdf/2013/06/aa20471-12.pdf ).Comment: Proc. of a Conf. on IAU Symposium No.303: The Galactic Center: Feeding and Feedback in a Normal Galactic Nucleus 2013, Santa Fe, NM (USA

Odin observations of ammonia in the Sgr A +50 km/s Cloud and Circumnuclear Disk

Context. The Odin satellite is now into its sixteenth year of operation, much surpassing its design life of two years. One of the sources which Odin has observed in great detail is the Sgr A Complex in the centre of the Milky Way. Aims. To study the presence of NH3 in the Galactic Centre and spiral arms. Methods. Recently, Odin has made complementary observations of the 572 GHz NH3 line towards the Sgr A +50 km/s Cloud and Circumnuclear Disk (CND). Results. Significant NH3 emission has been observed in both the +50 km/s Cloud and the CND. Clear NH3 absorption has also been detected in many of the spiral arm features along the line of sight from the Sun to the core of our Galaxy. Conclusions. The very large velocity width (80 km/s) of the NH3 emission associated with the shock region in the southwestern part of the CND may suggest a formation/desorption scenario similar to that of gas-phase H2O in shocks/outflows.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, 3 table