Finite dimensional Markovian realizations for stochastic volatility forward rate models

We consider forward rate rate models of HJM type, as well as more general infinite dimensional SDEs, where the volatility/diffusion term is stochastic in the sense of being driven by a separate hidden Markov process. Within this framework we use the previously developed Hilbert space realization theory in order provide general necessary and sufficent conditions for the existence of a finite dimensional Markovian realizations for the stochastic volatility models. We illustrate the theory by analyzing a number of concrete examples.HJM models; stochastic volatility; factor models; forward rates; state space models; Markovian realizations; infinite dimensional SDEs

Wind power distribution across subalpine, boreal, and temperate landscapes

Onshore wind power is increasingly expanding to meet global and national goals to increase renewable, clean, and fossilfree energy production. In many countries and regions, however, historical and current land use is extensive, and the expansion of wind power has to be well-tuned to avoid risking irreversible legacy losses of existing and traditional land uses, landscape values, and cultures. Hence, assessments of the siting premises of current and forecasted expansion of wind power are strongly needed as a basis for sustainable planning. We present a study from alpine to temperate biomes in Sweden, where an ambitious onshore wind power expansion strategy has been put in place and will result in Swedish landscapes that are typified by wind power. We explored the existing legal framework— i.e., the national interest for wind power according to the Swedish Environmental Code—concerning the spatial interaction with other national interests for nature conservation, landscape values, and other land uses, and the land cover, landowner, and formally protected areas distribution within wind power sites and in their proximity. We found that the national interest framework does not provide sufficient guidance for locating wind power to avoid spatial overlap with conflicting interests and values. Furthermore, our analysis revealed that wind power is located mainly in forest-dominated landscapes, and on lands where private forest companies are the dominant owners but where the proportion of public and non-industrial private ownership increases in the near surroundings. Finally, we found that large areas of formally protected areas are within the proximate areas influenced by wind power. As an extensive onshore wind power expansion is already going on, and an even more extensive expansion is projected, the ways forward toward a sustainable wind power expansion calls for integrated landscape planning approaches that are based on comprehensive assessments of existing interests and values

Investigation of Starch Binding Domains for Improvement of Starch degradation

Dansk resume Stivelse er planternes primære energilager og et vigtigt næringsmiddel for pattedyr,svampe og bakterier. Stivelse deponeres i højt organiserede semi-krystallinske stivelseskorn i plastider: kloroplaster i blade (transitorisk stivelse) og amyloplaster i lagerorganer som knolde. Stivelse består udelukkende af α-1,4-bundne glukose enheder, som er organiseret enten som det stort set lineære amylose molekyle eller det forgrenede amylopektin molekyle, der indeholder α-1,6-bindinger. Rod og knold stivelse er karakteriseret ved et højt niveau af kovalent bundet fosfat. Denne stivelsesbundne fosfat har en stor effekt på både stivelsens fysiske egenskaber samt på stivelsesnedbrydning i planterne. Inkludering af fosfatestre påvirker de industrielle egenskaber, og medfører forskellige meget ønskværdige egenskaber. Enzymet der kan inkorporere fosfat grupper i stivelse er en glucan, water dikinase (GWD). GWD kan fosforylere i C-3 og C-6 positionen i glukose enhederne i stivelse, ved en dikinase reaktion der anvender β-fosfat fra ATP. Mutanter i Arabidopsis thaliana GWD1 udviser en stivelses overskud fænotype med en lavere stivelses nedbrydnings rate, hvilket påviser en forbindelse mellem stivelses fosforylering og stivelses nedbrydning. To homologe proteiner er blevet identificeret i Arabidopsis genomet, navngivet AtGWD2 og AtGWD3. Mutationer i AtGWD3 resulterede også i en stivelses overskud fænotype, som set hos AtGWD1, hvilket tyder på AtGWD3 også er involveret i stivelses nedbrydning. AtGWD3 er lokaliseret i kloroplasterne og substrat analyser viste at oprenset AtGWD3 udviser præference for fosforyleret α-glucaner og katalysere udelukkende fosforylering i C-3 positionen i glukose enhederne. Disse resultater tyder på at AtGWD1 og AtGWD3 arbejder sammen i en efterfølgende fosforyleringskaskade, som er nødvendig for nedbrydning af stivelse. Glycosyl hydrolasers nedbrydning af rå stivelse er relativ ineffektiv, da polysacharrid kæderne ofte ikke er blotlagte og tilgængelige for enzymernes aktive site. Mange stivelses nedbrydende enzymer har ekstra bindings sites i det katalytiske domæne eller på separate stivelsesbindings domæner (SBD) som muliggør denne interaktion. SBDer er klassificeret i CAZy databasen i forskellige kulhydrat bindings module (CBM)familier. AtGWD1 og AtGWD2 har et tandem repeat af SBDer som tilhører familie CBM45 og AtGWD3 har et enkelt SBD fra familie CBM20. Alle er N-terminalt lokaliseret. Formålet med dette PhD projekt har været at undersøge og karakterisere GWD3-SBDs biokemiske funktion. GWD3-SBD er blevet udtrykt succesfuldt som et isoleret domæne i E. coli og oprenset. Øget stabilitet af domænet blev opnået efter yderligere aminosyrer blev inddraget i den kodende sekvens. Binding til 5 stivelseskorn var svært at måle, og det skyldes højst sandsynligt konsekvensen af den højt specialiserede rolle som GWD3 spiller i stivelses fosforyleringen. Enzymet er reguleret i kloroplasten og kun meget specialiserede områder på stivelses kornene er egnede for fosforylering i C-3 positionen og det er svært at finde forhold, hvor alle parametre er optimale. Binding til små ligosaccharider, som β-cyclodextrins (β-CD) er blevet bestemt med Surface plasmon resonance og domænet tilhører en gruppe af lav affinitets bindere, denne kategori inkluderer ikke-hydrolyserende enzymer. Den overordnede struktur fundet hos CBM20 er ifølge en homologimodellering bevaret i GWD3-SBD og bindings site 1, som er involveret i initial binding er vel bevaret både i strukturen og på sekvens niveau. Sammenlignet med andre karakteriserede CBM20, så har GWD3-SBD et mindre loop i området omkring bindings site 2. Dette loop er under substrat binding i andre CBM20 meget fleksibelt og dette kan forklare den lavere bindings kapacitet fundet hos GWD3- SBD. Fluorescens mærkning og confocal laser scanning microskopi er blevet anvendt som en metode til at visualisere SBD og hydrolyserende enzymers, f.eks. glucoamylase og α-amylases binding til stivelseskorn. Denne metode blev anvendt sammen med transient ekspression af en yellow-fluorescent protein YFP-GWD3-SBD fusion i tobaksplanter for at verificeres stivelsesbinding

Internal Oxidation of a Fe-Cr Binary Alloy at 700-900 degrees C: The Role of Hydrogen and Water Vapor

Internal oxidation of Fe-2.25Cr has been studied in Fe/FeO Rhines pack (RP) and H-2/H2O gas mixtures at 700-900 degrees C. A novel exposure technique allowing RP experiments in dual atmosphere conditions was developed. No measurable effect of hydrogen on lattice oxygen permeability in ferrite could be detected: neither in single nor in dual atmosphere conditions. The H-2/H2O atmosphere was found to induce stronger oxidation attack at alloy grain boundaries resulting in a morphology similar to intergranular stress corrosion cracking often reported in nuclear technology. The intergranular oxidation attack was demonstrated to be independent of the dual atmosphere effect, i.e., hydrogen dissolved in the alloy

Effect of Hydrogen on the Internal Oxidation of a Pd–Cr Alloy in Dual-Atmosphere Conditions

The effect of hydrogen on oxygen permeability has been studied in a diluted Pd–Cr alloy in dual- and single- atmosphere conditions between 600 and 950\ua0\ub0C. The 0.3\ua0mm thick Pd–1.5Cr foil was exposed in dry and humid air as well as in dual-atmosphere conditions, with one sample surface being exposed to air and one to hydrogen, as encountered in solid oxide fuel cells. At all temperatures, Cr oxidized internally forming internal oxidation zones which were measured in metallographic cross sections. Below 800\ua0\ub0C, an external layer of PdO formed on the surface decreasing the internal oxidation kinetics. No measurable effect of hydrogen on the internal oxidation of Cr in Pd has been detected

Operationsteamets följsamhet av WHO:s checklista för säker kirurgi - en kvantitativ observationsstudie

WHO gav år 2008 ut en checklista för säkrare kirurgi och ökad patientsäkerhet. Efter att checklistan infördes internationellt har antalet komplikationer och dödsfall reducerats (Socialstyrelsen, u.å). I Sverige idag finns bristande kunskap om hur den totala följsamheten ser ut sedan checklistan infördes. Syftet med studien var att beskriva och jämföra operationsteamets följsamhet av momenten ”Time-out” och ”Avslutning” i WHO:s checklista för säker kirurgi på två olika operationsenheter. Metoden utgick från en kvantitativ ansats och var en strukturerad observationsstudie som genomfördes med hjälp av ett observationsschema. Totalt genomfördes 20 observationer. Resultatet visade på en medelgod följsamheten av momentet “Time-out” med en median på 8 av 14 poäng och en låg följsamhet av momentet “Avslutning” med en median på 2 av 8 poäng. Konklusion: Tydligare rutiner samt utbildning och kontinuerlig uppföljning behövs för att öka följsamheten av checklistan

Reflektion kring mötet med anhöriga vid dödsfall - en jämförande studie bland specialistsjuksköterskor inom prehospital- och intensivvård.

Bakgrund: Närstående till patienter som är akut eller kritiskt sjuka ställs inför många olika situationer att hantera. Undersökningar visar att anhöriga kan ha behov av att få vara tillsammans och stötta varandra. Som sjuksköterska både inom ambulans- och intensivvård möter man människor i sorg och kris. Många av dessa sjuksköterskor upplever detta stressfullt samt att de känner att de har dålig utbildning när det gäller att stödja anhöriga i sorg och kris. Syfte: Syftet var att jämföra hur specialistsjuksköterskor inom prehospital- samt intensivvård beskriver mötet med anhöriga vid dödsfall. Metod: Den valda metoden för studien var en enkätstudie (n=103) med kvantitativ ansats med deskriptiv inriktning. Resultat: Överlag upplevdes mötet med anhöriga vid dödsfall bra och stämingen på arbetet var god och gav utrymme för samtal med både anhöriga och kollegor. Något som saknades var klara riktlinjer och pm samt utbildning i hantering av anhöriga. Ingen statistisk signifikans fanns mellan studiegrupperna. Slutsats: Vidare forskning i ämnet att möta anhöriga vid dödsfall behövs för att utröna om det är så att intensivvård-och ambulanssjuksköterskor saknar tillräckligt med utbildning i ämnet

Management challenges for future digitalization of healthcare services

eHealth is considered a solution to current challenges in healthcare. However, its use is not very well developed, and its potential has been little exploited. There are many reasons for the limited diffusion of eHealth. Knowledge, opportunities for training and collaborative activities are examples of factors that influence diffusion. Managerial responsibility is decisive in transforming healthcare. This paper aims at exploring middle management strategies that can facilitate workplace learning when introducing eHealth and new ways of providing healthcare. Introduction of eHealth will imply new and innovative working processes, where both employees and managers need to be aware that their work will change fundamentally, from routine work to work that involves learning, skills development and continuous changes in work practice. This study takes a qualitative approach by analysing data collected through focus group interviews. The findings indicate a necessity for a shift towards learning-oriented leadership and adaptive management that emphasizes employee involvement and opportunities for learning. Helping employees make sense of the complexities associated with continuously changing work practices is another identified middle management strategy. Scenario planning and backcasting stand out as suitable tools for sensemaking in complex organizations and as techniques that can promote workplace learning.publishedVersio

Participatory comprehensive planning to handle competing land-use priorities in the sparsely populated rural context

Rural areas supply the planet's natural resources while simultaneously harbor refuges for most of the world's remaining biodiversity and intact, resilient ecosystems. Since traditional extractive activities must increasingly co-exist with non-exploitative activities such as tourism and conservation, sustainable land use planning is essential for managing trade-offs between incompatible interests in rural areas. With "communicative planning" being promoted since decades, participation is considered crucial for reconciling different planning interests. However, the implementation of participation remains patchy and uneven, not least in sparsely populated regions with low capacity where participation could be a game-changer. Here, we consider municipal comprehensive planning as an existing arena to explore participatory planning approaches potentially capable of simultaneously managing competing land uses and promoting sustainable development in sparsely populated rural contexts. Collaborative work between researchers and public managers resulted in the co-development of an approach based on qualitative village- and interest-based focus groups that facilitated the formulation, negotiation, and legitimization of concrete and detailed local guidelines that prioritize between different land uses. Consequently, the resulting comprehensive plan draft was more readily adopted than the output of a traditional planning process. We found that citizens in sparsely populated municipalities seem willing to actively contribute to rural development processes if they have significant influence

Readiness and planning for more wind power: municipalities as key actors implementing national strategies

In the global context of rapidly developing wind-power technology, local governments have to balance local interests with larger scale targets when implementing national and international strategies. An implication of a new Swedish national strategy for wind-power development is considerable intrusion into natural resource-rich northern landscapes, where municipalities already strive to manage diverse surface demanding and legally valued land-use interests. Municipalities will thus play a key role in wind-power development. Results of our survey suggest that most municipalities have functioning wind-power plans, linked to their municipal comprehensive planning (MCP). However, so far, relatively few wind-power farms have been established, and municipalities have rarely used their right to veto, suggesting that most have not yet experienced significant problems linked to wind-power development. The municipalities rely on their right to veto, and only a third highlighted planning as a tool for handling the increasing demand for wind-power developments. Legislative changes regarding the right to veto and the status of MCP could affect local self-government considerably. Wind-power development could have major consequences for local landscapes and governments, and a municipal-wide policy regarding future wind-power development and MCP as a mediating tool must be secured to balance local interests with national ambitions