202 research outputs found
Author: Per Edlund
No full textWeb Services is a technology based on the service-oriented paradigm. The technology uses standards-based protocols and uses an infrastructure already present. Web Services have been described as the solution to a lot of problems in distributed networking. This report shows that Web Services are very well suited to act as a bridge between traditional middleware. A comparison between CORBA and Web Services shows that the techniques have different objectives
Frozen swamp to socio-political hot air : Astrid Väring - conservative author on the Swedish welfare state
No full textThe dissertation takes as its starting-point the dichotomies between origin and modernity, periphery and centre. This is particularly the case in Astrid Väring’s novels Frosten (1926) and Vintermyren (1927), in which the author pays tribute to the homestead and the rural community in contrast to the industrial community, whilst her novels also express an ambivalent attitude towards modernity. Astrid Väring bases her works on a Norrland literary tradition, which often stood in opposition to the central power despite being dependent on it. In this respect, a similarity with postcolonialism is evident. Access to a wealth of archive material, which has not previously been used in literary scholastic research, has resulted in a natural combination of a biographical method and socio-literary reading. When analysing the novels, the same external circumstances that had signifi cance for the author when the work was drafted, for example economic, social and political conditions, have therefore been taken into account. With reference to the novel Katinka (1942), the view of popular literature during the 1940s is dealt with. The pejorative view, prevalent in those days, is compared with a contemporary understanding of it. Today, neither the canon nor popular literature stand out as particularly homogeneous categories. Katinka was written at the start of the Second World War. A comparison is made in the dissertation between Vilhelm Moberg’s Rid i natt! (Ride this Night) (1941) and Katinka in order to ascertain the novels’ attitude towards the offi cial Swedish position of neutrality. In Ride this Night rebellion against the enemy is encouraged, in Katinka a cautious, wait and see attitude is urged. I som här inträden… (1944) is a novel with a purpose. In this novel Astrid Väring directs a harsh attack against the mental health care at Swedish mental hospitals. The dissertation contains a genre discussion concerning the various genres related to the novel with a purpose, for example roman à thèse. It can be concluded that theoretical work concerning the novel with a purpose is rare. But, when the issue pursued in the novel is no longer relevant, the novel with a purpose is often destined to be forgotten. Furthermore, Astrid Väring had the bad luck of falling in the shadow of Sara Lidman’s modernistic West-Bothnian accounts of the 1950s, which contributed to the fact that her entire works quickly fell into oblivion. This dissertation is the fi rst scholastic work on Astrid Väring’s works.digitalisering@um
The Drivers of Citations in Management Science Journals
No full textThe number of citations is becoming an increasingly popular index for measuring the impact of a scholar’s research or the quality of an academic department. One obvious question is: what are the factors that influence the number of citations that a paper receives? This study investigates the number of citations received by papers published in six well-known management science journals. It considers factors that relate to the author(s), the article itself, and the journal. The results show that the strongest factor is the journal itself; but other factors are also significant including the length of the paper, the number of references, the status of the first author’s institution, and the type of paper, especially if it is a review. Overall, this study provides some insights into the determinants of a paper’s impact that may be helpful for particular stakeholders to make important decisions
Evolution of robustness in digital organisms
No full textAbstract We study the evolution of robustness in digital organisms adapting to a high mutation rate. As genomes adjust to the harsh mutational environment, the mean effect of single mutations decreases, up until the point where a sizable fraction (up to 30 % in many cases) of the mutations are neutral. We correlate the changes in robustness along the line of descent to changes in directional epistasis, and find that increased robustness is achieved by moving from antagonistic epistasis between mutations towards codes where mutations are, on average, independent. We interpret this recoding as a breakup of linkage between vital sections of the genome, up to the point where instructions are maximally independent of each other. While such a recoding often requires sacrificing some replication speed, it is the best strategy for withstanding high rates of mutation.
Numerical Investigation of Spinal Neuron Facilitation with Multi-electrode Epidural Stimulation
No full textApproximately 1,275,000 people in the US have a spinal cord injury severe enough to cause some paralysis of the arms and/or legs. Epidural stimulation using implanted multi-electrode stimulating arrays over the lumbosacral spinal cord has recently shown promise in assisting individuals with severe spinal cord injuries to stand, walk, and even facilitate voluntary movement. Both animal model and human studies have shown that sub-threshold facilitation of motor recovery gives the best results. The underlying neural mechanisms by which sub-threshold epidural stimulation leads to motor recovery are incompletely known.
This thesis uses computational methods to study the facilitation effect. A neuron is facilitated if a sub-threshold synaptic input can cause a neuronal output under the influence of a stimulating electric field. The analysis in this thesis is based on a computational model of the epidural spinal stimulation process in the rat spinal cord. This model includes a time-domain finite element simulation (using COMSOL®) of the various tissues in the spinal cord with the appropriate anisotropic and frequency-dependent complex relative permittivities. The voltages obtained from the finite element simulations were used as the extracellular voltage in NEURON simulations.
A population of neurons were simulated under a wide variety of conditions. These simulations highlight the effect of neuron orientation, location, and synaptic timing as key parameters which influence facilitation.
This study indicates that regions of the spinal cord that have previously been ignored may be actively involved in motor recovery. These results may also enable the design of specialized epidural electrode arrays and the design of new stimulation protocols.</p
Vogler och pergolesis stabat mater: En väg till historiskt informerad uppförandepraxis
No full textThe author is active as a musician in the field of historically informed performance practice (HIP) which emanated from the 20th century early music movement. Studying of historical sources has a central role, but the problem of how interpretation and selection of source material is affected by art and music ideals of our time, is commonly acknowledged. Georg Joseph Vogler shows in a series of articles in "Betrachtungen der Mannheimer Tonschule" (1778-1781) how Stabat Mater by Pergolesi could, and in his opininon, should be improved. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how this source can be used from the standpoint of a performing musician: How can I use Vogler’s methods in my playing?
The introduction problematizes Vogler’s action in relation to his time, and to ours. What Vogler does corresponds to the ideals of the enlightment, and others also did things similar to this. Today, the use of the word "improvement" is not possible – we can better describe Vogler’s action as an update, as an adaption to a new situation. In order to connect Vogler’s improvements to performance practice and interpretation, the author presents a discussion where the work concept and the role of the musician in the 18th century is problematized: The attitude to a musical work was different, the "work" was more open, more free and less predeterminated, the musician was both composer and performer, the borders between the terms play, compose and improvise are blurred – Vogler’s improvements are an exponent of this. Maybe, by trying to do as Vogler, we could approach that 18th century spirit. Three musical investigations in ensemble form follow, where Vogler’s methods (separated from his goals) in various ways are moved from theory to practice: The pre-study is a simulation worked out as a theatre play, experiment 1 tries out Vogler’s tools without artistical intentions, experiment 2 integrates the tools in a rehearsal with artistical intentions. The music used in the second experiment is from an opera performance that was premiered six months later. The final versions are presented in the following chapter.
The experiments show that it is possible to do as Vogler, and that his methods can be used artistically. As a by-product, the author can formulate a musical material exploring rehearsal method, built on the methods of Vogler. In the end, the histori- cal relevance of the thesis to the HIP musician is discussed. This should above all be described as indirect: the method is a way of approaching music from the 18th century angle described above. The author makes a comparison to theatre, and sees similari- ties in the way of working – the rehearsal method becomes a "theatre method" for musicians, not necessarily locked to a certain genres, style or time. The method can be used solely as a means for investigation but it is also possible to actually go further, eventually ending up with one’s own, new version of the piece. Whether to choose to do that or not, is a different question
”When you have read my letter, pass it on!” A Special Means of Communication by a Calvinist Minister Between the Two World Wars in Transylvania
No full textDezső Bonczidai (1902–1946) was a Calvinist minister in
Kide (Chidea, Romania) between 1928 and 1946. From 1932 to
1935 he wrote regularly – every week or every two weeks – a
hand-written newspaper of eight pages to the members of his
congregation. This newspaper was called A Pastoral Letter.
Such a form of communication was unique in Transylvania and
also in Hungary at that time, because no similar pastoral
activity has been found. The village was very small,
consisting only of two streets, with 388 Calvinist believers;
and although all of the people had daily connections, the
minister chose a new form of communication. The paper
examines this particular activity and the text-corpus in the
contexts of the Transylvanian Calvinist Home Mission and the
status of Hungarians in Transylvania after the Trianon
Peace Treaty. The study analyses the author of the texts, his
motivations, the ways these were realized in practice, and
those settings and expectations in which this mixed genre was
born: a newspaper written in the form of a letter. In
addition it examines the attitude of the villagers
to this new kind of communication, which made its
contribution to the Transylvanian rural writing and reading
culture
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