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A Catalog of First-Order Electroweak Phase Transitions in the Standard Model Effective Field Theory [Elektronisk resurs]
No full textWe use modern dimensionally-reduced effective field theory methods, with careful attention to scale hierarchies, to analyze and catalog the types of first-order electroweak phase transitions that are possible in the Standard Model Effective Field Theory (SMEFT). Our calculations lay the necessary groundwork to perform gauge invariant, properly resummed perturbative expansions, and therefore address many of the theoretical problems with phase transition calculations.We find three types of configurations of the scalar potential that allow for a first-order phase transition, namely tree-level barriers, radiative barriers, or radiative symmetry breaking through the Coleman-Weinberg mechanism. We also find versions of these with significant supercooling.We perform a global likelihood scan over the Wilson coefficients of SMEFT operators involving only the Higgs field, to identify parameter regions that exhibit these first-order phase transitions and are consistent with experimental and theoretical constraints.We comment on the possibilities for electroweak baryogenesis within the SMEFT, and roughly estimate if the gravitational wave spectra generated by the phase transitions are detectable.</p
Management of patients with advanced prostate cancer. Report from the 2024 advanced prostate cancer consensus conference (APCCC) [Elektronisk resurs]
No full textBackground and objective: Innovations have improved outcomes in advanced prostate cancer (PC). Nonetheless, we continue to lack high-level evidence on a variety of topics that greatly impact daily practice. The 2024 Advanced Prostate Cancer Consensus Conference (APCCC) surveyed experts on key questions in clinical management in order to supplement evidence-based guidelines. Here we present voting results for questions from APCCC 2024.Methods: Before the conference, a panel of 120 international PC experts used a modified Delphi process to develop 183 multiple-choice consensus questions on eight different topics. Before the conference, these questions were administered via a web-based survey to the voting panel members (“panellists”).Key findings and limitations: Consensus was a priori defined as ≥75% agreement, with strong consensus defined as ≥90% agreement. The voting results show varying degrees of consensus, as discussed in this article and detailed in the Supplementary material. These findings do not include a formal literature review or meta-analysis.Conclusions and clinical implications: The voting results can help physicians and patients navigate controversial areas of clinical management for which high-level evidence is scant or conflicting. The findings can also help funders and policymakers in prioritising areas for future research. Diagnostic and treatment decisions should always be individualised on the basis of patient and cancer characteristics, and should incorporate current and emerging clinical evidence, guidelines, and logistic and economic factors. Enrolment in clinical trials is always strongly encouraged. Importantly, APCCC 2024 once again identified important gaps (areas of nonconsensus) that merit evaluation in specifically designed trials.</p
Exploring purchase intention in metaverse retailing [Elektronisk resurs] : insights from an automotive platform
No full textAs an integration of cutting-edge digital technologies, the metaverse is set to revolutionize online retailing. This study employed a well-established metaverse automotive retailing platform in China to explore the paths influencing consumers' purchase intention when shopping in the metaverse. We adopted structural equation modeling to analyze the data obtained from 348 respondents who were planning to shop for a new car in the metaverse in China. The findings showed that the perceived social presence of others positively influences consumers’ purchase intention, as mediated by their metaverse identification. Moreover, consumer stickiness and the accompaniment of friends were found to positively moderate the effect of perceived social presence on metaverse identification in metaverse retailing. Likewise, product type positively moderated the effect of metaverse identification on purchase intention. Specifically, when consumers intended to purchase environmentally-friendly (vs. unfriendly) vehicles, a stronger positive impact of metaverse identification on purchase intention was observed. The results provide valuable insight for metaverse retailers.</p
Skin feature point tracking using deep feature encodings [Elektronisk resurs]
No full textFacial feature tracking is a key component of imaging ballistocardiography (BCG) where accurate quantification of the displacement of facial keypoints is needed for good heart rate estimation. Skin feature tracking enables video-based quantification of motor degradation in Parkinson’s disease. While traditional computer vision algorithms like Scale Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT), Speeded-Up Robust Features (SURF), and Lucas-Kanade method (LK) have been benchmarks due to their efficiency and accuracy, they often struggle with challenges like affine transformations and changes in illumination. In response, we propose a pipeline for feature tracking, that applies a convolutional stacked autoencoder to identify the most similar crop in an image to a reference crop containing the feature of interest. The autoencoder learns to represent image crops into deep feature encodings specific to the object category it is trained upon. We train the autoencoder on facial images and validate its ability to track skin features in general using manually labelled face and hand videos of small and large motion recorded in our lab. Our evaluation protocol is comprehensive, including quantification of errors in human annotation. The tracking errors of distinctive skin features (moles) are so small that we cannot exclude the fact that they stem from the manual labelling based on a χ2-test. With a mean error of 0.6–3.3 pixels, our method outperformed the other methods in all but one scenario. More importantly, our method was the only one that did not diverge. We also compare our method with the latest state-of-the-art transformer for feature matching by Google—Omnimotion. Our results indicate that our method is superior at tracking different skin features under large motion conditions and that it creates better feature descriptors for tracking, matching, and image registration compared to both traditional algorithms and the latest Omnimotion.</p
Before banks : the making of credit and debt in preindustrial France
No full textThis innovative work delves into the world of ordinary early modern women and men and their relationship with credit and debt. Elise Dermineur focuses on the rural seigneuries of Delle and Florimont in the south of Alsace, where rich archival documents allow for a fine cross-analysis of credit transactions and the reconstruction of credit networks from c.1650 to 1790. She examines the various credit instruments at ordinary people's disposal, the role of women in credit markets, and the social, legal, and economic experiences of indebtedness. The book's distinctive focus on peer-to-peer lending sheds light on how and why pre-industrial interpersonal exchanges featured flexibility, diversity, fairness, solidarity and reciprocity, and room for negotiation and renegotiation. Before Banks also offers insight into factors informing our present financial system and suggests that we can learn from the past to create a fairer society and economy.</p
Decarbonization costs for the Swedish heavy-duty road fleet: Circular economy insights on electric truck batteries
No full textThis study analyzes decarbonization costs for the Swedish heavy-duty road fleet under five scenarios, one taken from the EUCalc model as a reference scenario and four others driven by interviews: a high-speed transition with 100% battery electric vehicles (BEVs) across all distances; a high-speed transition with BEVs taking 100% of the market in local and regional distances and 40% in long distances, with the remaining 60% being fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) by 2050; a low-speed transition with BEVs market share increasing by 15% every five years, starting at 10% from 2025 for local and 2030 for regional and long distances; and a low-speed transition similar to the previous scenario, but with 60% of the electrified long-distance fleet to be FCVs. The system's expenses are then calculated through numerical modeling. The study links research on the costs of sustainability transition to a circular economy by analyzing the effect of charging range and temperature on battery degradation for BEVs and their impact on the batteries' valorization. In full electrification scenarios, despite lower operating expenses, the system incurs a higher total cost because of higher investment expenses. Charging–discharging pattern and temperature impact the remaining capacity, and therefore salvage value, of end-of-life batteries
Validation of the European visual field standards for driving: A driving simulator-based study [Elektronisk resurs]
No full textPurposeTo determine whether we could establish evidence-based pass/fail criteria for perimetry in the context of the European visual field standards for driving.MethodsThis two-centre, cross-sectional study included participants with binocular visual field loss that had led to revocation of a group-1 driving licence. The participants underwent cognitive and binocular visual testing, including the European Driving Test (EDT), a perimetry algorithm that adheres to the European visual field standards. We used a high-fidelity driving simulator to compare the driving ability of these participants with healthy controls. Two driving instructors classified each driving test as passed or failed. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis and area under the curve (AUC) determined the ability of perimetry to discriminate between passed and failed driving tests.ResultsThe study included 70 participants with visual field loss and 37 controls. A non-significantly higher proportion of controls passed the driving test (75% vs. 63%; p = 0.22). In ROC analysis, contrast sensitivity performed best (AUC of 0.73), followed by NEI VFQ-25 (AUC of 0.64). Peripheral visual field (AUC of 0.56) and central visual field (AUC of 0.47) performed weaker. Combining the central and peripheral visual field, and their interaction, increased AUC to 0.63.ConclusionPerimetry was a poor predictor of simulator-based driving test result, and we could not establish appropriate pass/fail criteria for the European visual field standards. Because perimetry is not an accurate diagnostic tool for fitness to drive, a practical driving assessment should be performed in case of doubt.</p
Intrusion Tolerance as a Two-Level Game
No full textWe formulate intrusion tolerance for a system with service replicas as a two-level game: a local game models intrusion recovery and a global game models replication control. For both games, we prove the existence of equilibria and show that the best responses have a threshold structure, which enables efficient computation of strategies. State-of-the-art intrusion-tolerant systems can be understood as instantiations of our game with heuristic control strategies. Our analysis shows the conditions under which such heuristics can be significantly improved through game-theoretic reasoning. This reasoning allows us to derive the optimal control strategies and evaluate them against 10 types of network intrusions on a testbed. The testbed results demonstrate that our game-theoretic strategies can significantly improve service availability and reduce the operational cost of state-of-the-art intrusion-tolerant systems. In addition, our game strategies can ensure any chosen level of service availability and time-to-recovery, bridging the gap between theoretical and operational performance.</p
The Queer Turn : Gender as Performance
No full textThis milestone chapter explores the impact of performance theories on feminist thought and practices, establishing a productive alliance between performing arts and gender theories. Using gender theorist Judith Butler’s early work (1988–1993) as a framework, the chapter examines the entwining of feminist and queer theories with performance and performativity, highlighting gender as a performative act. Gender is seen as something performed, with the term performative encompassing both action and theatrical enactment. The chapter directs its focus towards two interrelated phenomena: the notion of gender as performance, and the performative character of gender in relation to theatricality and drag. The chapter also explores the intersection between the concept of the performative, derived from the idea of gender as performance, and philosopher J.L. Austin’s theories of utterance as performative. Additionally, it looks into how the performance of gender, particularly drag, exemplifies the concept of being performative. The chapter raises questions about whether drag can truly challenge fixed gender identities and create space for a queer futurity that embraces fluidity, diversity, and inclusion beyond gender norms. </p
Morality boundary work in the making of the needle and syringe exchange program in Stockholm
No full textBackground. Drug policy is prone to build on rationales based on different moralities rather than evidence. Less is known about how moralities influence drug policy implementation in practice. The aim was to analyze expressions of moralities among local policy-makers, professionals, and drug users in the context of the Stockholm needle and syringe exchange program (NSP).Methods. Using political documentation from Stockholm (2003–2016), focus group (12 NSP staff), and 32 drug user interviews, moralities concerning drug policy and harm reduction were analyzed based on moral foundations theory and boundary work.Results. Three main moral dilemmas were identified concerning the subjects, aims, and orientation of drug policy: whether drug users are worthy of inclusion to society; if the general public should be prioritized or the health of drug users, and the orientation of practices as based on control or autonomy. Policy debate was driven by virtues such as purity and authority, whereas staff and drug users valued care, fairness and liberty.Conclusions. The prohibitionist and abstinence-oriented Swedish drug policy has created social boundaries on the practice-level. Hence, users’ perspectives, and those who care about them, should be extensively involved in political discussions to foster a more moral and humane drug policy.</p