The Thesis: texts and machines

This opening chapter focuses on how research knowledge is represented in the dissertation as a textual format. It sets the dissertation in two contexts. Borg discusses its historical formation within the technologies of the pen and the typewriter; Boyd Davis analyses the changes produced by digital technologies, offering counter-arguments to the claim that the predominantly textual thesis is a poor representation of research knowledge. He advances evidence-based arguments, using a synthesis of recent technological developments, for the additional functionality that text has acquired as a result of being digital and being connected via international networks, contrasting this with the relatively poor forms of access available even now using pictures, moving images and other non-textual forms. The chapter argues that the dissertation is inherently contingent, changing and changeable. While supervisors may expect their students to produce a dissertation that resembles the one they wrote themselves, changes both in the available technologies and in the kinds of knowledge the dissertation is expected to represent are having a significant effect on its form as well as its content. Boyd Davis is co-editor of the book in which this chapter is published, which has its origins in an ESRC-funded seminar series, ‘New Forms of Doctorate’ (2008–10), that he co-devised and co-chaired. The work grew out Boyd Davis’s questioning of methods and formats for research knowledge in his introduction to, and editing of, a special issue of Digital Creativity, entitled Creative Evaluation, in 2009. This followed a peer-reviewed symposium on evaluative techniques within creative work supported by the Design Research Society and British Computer Society, which he devised and chaired. Related work on forms of knowledge in interactive media appears in an article with Faiola and Edwards of Indiana University–Purdue University, Indianapolis, for New Media and Society (2010)

The Influence of the Time Equation on Remote Sensing Data Interpretation

The interpretation of optical Earth observation data (remote sensing data from satellites) requires knowledge of the exact geographic position of each pixel as well as the exact local acquisition time. But these parameters are not available in each case. If a satellite has a sun-synchronous orbit, equator crossing time (ECT) can be used to determine the local crossing time (LCT) and its corresponding solar zenith distance. Relation between local equator crossing time (LECT) and LCT is given by orbit geometry. The calculation is based on ECT of satellite. The method of actual ECT determination for different satellites on basis of the two-line-elements (TLE), available for their full lifetime period and with help of orbit prediction package is well known. For land surface temperature (LST) studies mean solar conditions are commonly used in the relation between ECT given in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) and LECT given in hours, thus neglecting the difference between mean and real Sun time (MST, RST). Its difference is described by the equation of time (ET). Of particular importance is the variation of LECT during the year within about ±15 minutes. This is in each case the variation of LECT of a satellite, including satellites with stable orbit as LANDSAT (L8 around 10:05 a.m.) or ENVISAT (around 10:00 a.m.). In case of NOAA satellites the variation of LECT is overlaid by a long-term orbital drift. Ignatov et al. (2004) developed a method to describe the drift-based variation of LECT that can be viewed as a formal mathematical approximation of a periodic function with one or two Fourier terms. But, nevertheless, ET is not included in actual studies of LST. Our paper aims to demonstrate the possible influence of equation of time on simple examples of data interpretation, e.g. NDVI

Editorial for Special Issue: “In Situ Data in the Interplay of Remote Sensing”

[no abstract available

Interpreting Brand Development as Entrepreneurship – The Role of Brand Strategies

Our research has been driven by theapparent lack of rigorous theory within thebranding literature. Theoretical concepts haveseldom been linked to business theory. Thisarticle presents an approach to branding whichlinks branding to different approaches toentrepreneurship and uncovers the essential roleof brand strategies when connecting branding tothe management literature. Strategy andbranding overlap and strategy linkscontemporary branding and entrepreneurshipliterature. There are various approaches toentrepreneurship which is relevant to theanalysis of brand strategies. For the sake ofsimplicity we have divided them into twostrands, the business school approach and theSchumpeter school. Essential to ourunderstanding of brands is the ability of brandsto decrease the transaction cost and reduce theinformation asymmetries between consumersand producers in the market. By relying onbrands the actors in the market can reduce theirsearch and information cost and the total cost ofperforming a market transaction

Androgen receptor-beta mRNA levels in different tissues in breeding and post-breeding male and female sticklebacks, Gasterosteus aculeatus

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Androgens induce male characters by activating androgen receptors (AR). Previous quantitative studies on AR in fishes have been limited to few tissues and/or a single season/reproductive state. The aim of this investigation was to study the possible role of AR-beta expression levels in the control of male traits in the three-spined stickleback. To that end, AR-beta expression levels in major tissues in breeding and post-breeding male and female sticklebacks were examined.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>AR-beta mRNA levels were quantified in ten tissues; eye, liver, axial muscle, heart, brain, intestine, ovary, testis, kidney and pectoral muscle in six breeding and post-breeding males and females using reverse transcription quantitative PCR.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Breeding in contrast to post-breeding males built nests and showed secondary sexual characters (e.g. kidney hypertrophy) and elevated androgen levels. Post-breeding females had lower ovarian weights and testosterone levels than breeding females. AR-beta was expressed in all studied tissues in both sexes and reproductive states with the highest expression in the gonads and in the kidneys. The kidney is an androgen target organ in sticklebacks, from which breeding males produce the protein spiggin, which is used in nest-building. There was also high AR-beta expression in the intestine, an organ that appears to take over hyperosmo-regulation in fresh water when the kidney hypertrophies in mature males and largely loses this function. The only tissue that showed effects of sex or reproductive state on AR-beta mRNA levels was the kidneys, where post-breeding males displayed higher AR-beta mRNA levels than breeding males.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The results indicate that changes in AR-beta mRNA levels play no or little role in changes in androgen dependent traits in the male stickleback.</p

Procurement of Railway Infrastructure Projects – A European Benchmarking Study

This benchmarking study compares how railway investments are procured in five European countries: Sweden, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, and the UK. In total, 19 procurement managers and project managers were interviewed. This study compares the national rail clients’ procurement strategies regarding: delivery system, reward system, contractor selection, and collaboration model. Historically, these clients have used in-house production. The first step towards a gradually increased usage of the market was to outsource the construction activities while keeping the design and development competence in-house. All five countries have mainly used Design-Bid-Build contracts in their initial outsourcing. However, the last few years there is a discernible trend in Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands and the UK towards allocating more design and development responsibilities to contractors (i.e. Design-Build contracts) and increasing the strategic focus on cooperation. The UK and the Netherlands are forerunners in this trend that can be viewed as a third step in the transition towards a market oriented railway sector. Norway and Sweden is in the middle of this transition, whereas Germany has not initiated this change. The transition towards a gradually increased usage of the market has two main dimensions; degree of cooperation and degree of contractor freedom, which differs among the countries. The UK and Sweden focus on increasing both these dimensions, while The Netherlands and Norway mostly focus on increasing the degree of contractor freedom. Germany still limits both dimensions by performing design and development in-house and letting contractors compete for construction work in Design-Bid-Build contracts. Due to historical and cultural reasons, Deutsche Bahn in Germany is very hesitant to engage in collaboration with external suppliers; focusing on competition is considered more appropriate and less controversial

Temperature dependence of GaSb overgrowth of tungsten on GaSb (001) substrates using MOVPE

We demonstrate GaSb overgrowth over tungsten patterns and that selective area epitaxy is achievable in the W/GaSb system. By controlling the facet growth at low temperatures, it is possible to embed a metal grating in a thin layer