Automotive safety and machine learning: Initial results from a study on how to adapt the ISO 26262 safety standard

Machine learning (ML) applications generate a continuous stream of success stories from various domains. ML enables many novel applications, also in safety-critical contexts. However, the functional safety standards such as ISO 26262 did not evolve to cover ML. We conduct an exploratory study on which parts of ISO 26262 represent the most critical gaps between safety engineering and ML development. While this paper only reports the first steps toward a larger research endeavor, we report three adaptations that are critically needed to allow ISO 26262 compliant engineering, and related suggestions on how to evolve the standard

The nitrogen footprint of Swedish food consumption

Food systems are major drivers of environmental and health impacts. While the emissions and other pressures causing these impacts mainly occur in primary agricultural production, the deeper causes and much of the mitigation potential are distributed throughout food systems, including dietary choices and multiple inefficiencies in the whole chain from agricultural production to consumption and waste management. An environmental indicator based on this systems perspective is the nitrogen (N) footprint, defined as the emissions of reactive N due to the consumption of an individual or other entity. Here, we present a method to estimate the N footprint of Swedish food consumption, using a detailed inventory of agricultural production, food and feed processing, food waste, waste management, and wastewater treatment. Limitations of data sources and methods are discussed in detail. The estimated Swedish food N footprint is 12.1 kg N capita(-1) yr(-1), of which 42% is emitted in Swedish production, 38% in production abroad, 1% in consumer waste management, and 19% in wastewater treatment. Animal food products account for 81% of the food N footprint and 70% of the protein intake. Average protein intake exceeds nutritional requirements by about 60%, which suggests that at least 35% reduction of food-related reactive N emissions could be achieved through dietary change. Of the apparent food N consumption (6.9 kg N capita(-1) yr(-1)), about 22% is food waste N (1.5 kg N capita(-1) yr(-1)). We estimate that 76% of food waste N is unavoidable (bones and other parts not commonly eaten). Avoidable food waste is about 7% of the edible food supply, implying that a hypothetical complete elimination of food waste would reduce emissions by about 7%. In summary, we present a detailed method, discuss its limitations, and demonstrate possible uses of the N footprint as a complement to existing territorial and sectoral environmental indicators

The Photovoltaic Crisis and the Demand-side Generation in Spain

The RES-E promotion policy in Spain gave priority to the photovoltaic (henceforth, PV) ground-mounted installations. For years, the coupling of customer-side generation coupled with excess energy exports was never specifically considered. However, some months ago this option was suggested as a way to recover the Spain��s PV sector from the current moratorium on the RES-E policy. A decree draft on on-site generation was issued, its central point being the consideration of electricity exports as delayed consumption rights. But several barriers hinder its entry into force. Unfortunately, Spain could be losing an important opportunity for encouraging PV investments while retail grid parity is being reached. This working paper analyzes the different types of PV demand-side generation from the point of view of consumer-generators and evaluates the economic and technical features of the regulation proposed in Spain and to date still pending

Revisionsbranschens Prispress - En empirisk studie om hur revisorer upplever prispressen och dess inverkan på deras yrkesverksamhet

Syfte: Studiens syfte är att bidra med ökad förståelse för i vilken utsträckning svenska revisorer upplever en prispress och hur deras yrkesverksamhet påverkas av en eventuell prispress. Metod: Studien har genomförts med en kombination av kvalitativ och kvantitativ metod med en abduktiv ansats. Teoretiskt perspektiv: Den teoretiska referensramen har skapats med utgångspunkt i agentteorin. Vidare har teorier och tidigare empiriska studier använts för att förklara revisorns omgivning, samt hur revisorn upplever och påverkas av revisionsbranschens prispress. Empiri: Studiens empiri är sex djupintervjuer från auktoriserade revisorer och partners som analyserats för att mynna ut i en enkätundersökning som är utförd på alla godkända och auktoriserade revisorer i FARs medlemsregister. Slutsats: Förekomsten av prispress är påtaglig bland revisorer i hela Sverige. Prispressen medför att revisioner utförs utan nödvändig kvalitet och den orsakar underrapportering av tid bland revisorer. Ytterligare visar studien att revisorer i viss utsträckning upplever att prispressen resulterar i olika typer av press vid utövandet av sin yrkesverksamhet: från klienter, från revisionsbyrån, och att utföra revisioner utan tillräcklig kompetens.Purpose: The study's purpose is to bring a greater understanding of the extent to which Swedish auditörs experience fee pressure and how their work is affected by it. Methodology: The study was conducted using a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods with an abductive approach. Theoretical perspective: The theoretical framework has been created on the basis of the Agency theory. Furthermore, previous theories and empirical studies have been used to explain the auditor Environment as well as how auditörs experience fee pressure and how they are influenced by it in the audit industry. Empirical Foundation: The empirical Foundation is six in-depth interviews with accountants and partners. The material has been analysed and led to a survey that was conducted on all approved and certified public accountants in FARs membership directory. Conclusions: The existence of fee pressure is certain among accountants in Sweden. The fee pressure leads to audits carried out without the necessary quality and also causes under-reporting of time among auditörs. In addition, the study shows that accountants, to some extent, perceive that the fee pressure results in various kinds of pressures in the exercise of their professional activites: from clients, from the audit frim and to perform audits without sufficient expertise

Revisionsbranschens prispress – En empirisk studie om hur revisorer upplever prispress och dess inverkan på deras yrkesverksamhet.

Syfte: Studiens syfte är att bidra med ökad förståelse för i vilken utsträckning svenska revisorer upplever en prispress och hur Deras yrkesverksamhet påverkas av en eventuell prispress. Metod: Studien har genomförts med en kombination av kvalitativ och kvantitativ metod med en abduktiv ansats. Teoretiskt perspektiv: Den teoretiska referensramen har skapats med utgångspunkt i agentteorin. Vidare har teorier och tidigare empiriska studier använts för att förklara revisorns omgivning, samt hur revisorn upplever och påverkas av revisionsbranschens prispress. Empiri: Studiens empiri är sex djupintervjuer från auktoriserade revisorer och partners som analyserats för att mynna ut i en enkätundersökning som är utförd på alla godkända och auktoriserade revisorer I FARs medlemsregister. Slutsats: Förekomsten av prispress är påtaglig bland revisorer i hela Sverige. Prispressen medför att revisioner utförs utan nödvändig kvalitet och den orsakar underrapportering av tid bland revisorer. Ytterligare visar studien att revisorer i viss utsträckning upplever att prispressen resulterar i olika typer av press vid utövandet av sin yrkesverksamhet: från klienter, från revisionsbyrån, och att utföra revisioner utan tillräcklig kompetens

Värdering av förvaltningsfastigheter till verkligt värde - En explorativ studie om den externa värderarens roll

Syfte: Studiens ändamål är att utreda de externa värderarnas syfte för användarna av fastighetsbolagens finansiella rapporter. Vi ämnar även undersöka till vilken grad de externa värderarna är oberoende i sina värderingar och analysera den informationsasymmetri som råder i branschen. Metod: Uppsatsen är en kvalitativ intervjustudie av explorativ karaktär och ämnar undersöka externa värderares syfte gentemot fastighetsbolagens intressenter. Data är inhämtad från fastighetsbolagens årsredovisningar och de intervjuer som genomförts. Teoretiskt perspektiv: Vi har redogjort för IAS 40 samt IFRS 13 och de värderingsalternativ som finns att tillgå vid värdering till verkligt värde av förvaltningsfastigheter. Vidare har vi redogjort för vad som krävs för att bli auktoriserad extern värderare. Empiri: I empirin sammanställs intervjuer samt studier av fastighetsbolagens årsredovisningar som sedan granskas och bearbetas i analysen. Resultat: Vår Slutsats är att de externa värderarna enbart fungerar som en kontrollmekanism gentemot företagens intressenter. Vidare anser vi att de auktoriserade externa värderarna generellt sett är oberoende i sitt yrkesutövande. Dock bör intressenterna ställa sig kritiska till den enskilde värderarens oberoende. Ett utökat upplysningskrav mellan de interna- och externa värderarna bör därför införas för att framhäva oberoendet och tydliggöra detta för företagens intressenter. Avslutningsvis är vår uppfattning att de kvalitativa egenskaperna jämförbarhet, begriplighet och relevans har förbättrats på bekostnad av tillförlitligheten vid värdering till verkligt värde.Purpose: The study's purpose is to investigate the external appraisers purpose for the users of real estate companies' financial statements. We also intend to investigate to what extent the external appraisers are independent in their valuations and analyze the information asymmetry that exists in the industry. Methodology: The thesis is a qualitative interview study of a comparative nature and intends to examine the external appraiser's purpose towards property companies' stakeholders. Data is collected from the real estate companies' annual reports and the interviews conducted. Theoretical perspectives: We have explained IAS 40 and IFRS 13 and the valuation options available when measuring the fair value of investment properties. Furthermore, we have described on what it takes to become a qualified external appraiser. Empirical foundation: The empirical data consists of interviews together with studies of real estate companies' annual reports, which are reviewed and processed in the analysis. Conclusions: External appraisers act exclusively as a control mechanism towards corporate stakeholders. Furthermore, we believe that the authorized external appraisers are generally independent in their profession. However, stakeholders should be critical to the individual appraiser’s independence. An expanded disclosure requirement between the internal and external appraisers should be legislated to emphasize the independence and clarify this for corporate stakeholders. Finally, the qualitative characteristics: comparability, transparency and relevance have improved at the expense of reliability of fair value measurements

Cognitive ability in young adulthood predicts risk of early-onset dementia in Finnish men

Objective To test if the Finnish Defence Forces Basic Intellectual Ability Test scores at 20.1 years predicted risk of organic dementia or Alzheimer disease (AD). Methods Dementia was defined as inpatient or outpatient diagnosis of organic dementia or AD risk derived from Hospital Discharge or Causes of Death Registers in 2,785 men from the Helsinki Birth Cohort Study, divided based on age at first diagnosis into early onset (= 65 years). The Finnish Defence Forces Basic Intellectual Ability Test comprises verbal, arithmetic, and visuospatial subtests and a total score (scores transformed into a mean of 100 and SD of 15). We used Cox proportional hazard models and adjusted for age at testing, childhood socioeconomic status, mother's age at delivery, parity, participant's birthweight, education, and stroke or coronary heart disease diagnosis. Results Lower cognitive ability total and verbal ability (hazard ratio [HR] per 1 SD disadvantage > 1.69, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.01-2.63) scores predicted higher early-onset any dementia risk across the statistical models; arithmetic and visuospatial ability scores were similarly associated with early-onset any dementia risk, but these associations weakened after covariate adjustments (HR per 1 SD disadvantage > 1.57, 95% CI 0.96-2.57). All associations were rendered non-significant when we adjusted for participant's education. Cognitive ability did not predict late-onset dementia risk. Conclusion These findings reinforce previous suggestions that lower cognitive ability in early life is a risk factor for early-onset dementia.Peer reviewe

Towards Structured Evaluation of Deep Neural Network Supervisors

Deep Neural Networks (DNN) have improved the quality of several non-safety related products in the past years. However, before DNNs should be deployed to safety-critical applications, their robustness needs to be systematically analyzed. A common challenge for DNNs occurs when input is dissimilar to the training set, which might lead to high confidence predictions despite proper knowledge of the input. Several previous studies have proposed to complement DNNs with a supervisor that detects when inputs are outside the scope of the network. Most of these supervisors, however, are developed and tested for a selected scenario using a specific performance metric. In this work, we emphasize the need to assess and compare the performance of supervisors in a structured way. We present a framework constituted by four datasets organized in six test cases combined with seven evaluation metrics. The test cases provide varying complexity and include data from publicly available sources as well as a novel dataset consisting of images from simulated driving scenarios. The latter we plan to make publicly available. Our framework can be used to support DNN supervisor evaluation, which in turn could be used to motive development, validation, and deployment of DNNs in safety-critical applications.Comment: Preprint of paper accepted for presentation at The First IEEE International Conference on Artificial Intelligence Testing, April 4-9, 2019, San Francisco East Bay, California, US