<p>This study re-examines whether a new instrument, Child Problematic Traits Inventory, can assess core traits of psychopathy in children. A sample of 309, 3-5 year olds, (mean age 4 ), were recruited from 3 medium sized Swedish communities. Results show that items from the test load in three dimensions: Grandiose/Deceitful, Callous/Unemotional and Impulsivity, Need for stimulation. They are related to symptoms of Conduct- and Oppositional Defiant Disorder, fearlessness, proactive- and relational aggression. The study presents evidence that psychopathic like traits can be meaningfully studied in young children and that the Child Problematic Traits Inventory is a valid instrument for assessing these traits. Future longitudinal research is needed to see whether this construct is stable and predictive for future psychopathic disorder.</p> / <p>Studien replikerar om ett nytt instrument, Child Problematic Traits Inventory, kan mäta grundläggande psykopatiska personlighetsdrag hos barn, 3-5 år. Försökspersonerna bestod av 309, 3-5 åringar (medelålder 4) från tre medelstora svenska kommuner. Resultat visar att frågor från Child Problematic Traits Inventory laddar och formar tre dimensioner, en Grandiose/Decieteful en Callous/Unemotional och en Impulsivity/Need for Stimulation. Dessa tre dimensioner är relaterade till symptom av trotssyndrom, uppförandestörning, oräddhet samt proaktiv och relationell aggression. Studien visar att psykopatiliknande drag kan bli meningsfullt studerande i barn och att Child Problematic Traits Inventory är ett bra instrument för att mäta detta. Framtida longitudinell forskning är nödvändig för att undersöka om psykopati liknande personlighetsdrag är stabila över tid samt predicerar psykopati.</p>

<p>When individuals access services online they are often required to disclose excessive amounts of personally identifiable information, with little to no transparency on how the information is used. One of the goals of the EU research project PrimeLife is to help people regain control of their private sphere in today's networked world. As part of PrimeLife a software prototype, named the PRIME Core, is being developed that contains a number of different privacy enhancing technologies. This thesis describes the implementation and integration of a privacy-friendly secure logging module into the PRIME Core. The logging module's purpose is to provide transparency logging to the PRIME Core, giving individuals access to a detailed log of how their disclosed personally identifiable information is used, in a secure and privacy friendly manner.</p><p>The thesis resulted in a privacy-friendly secure logging module being implemented into the PRIME Core. The client for the logging module still lacks features to be suitable for use by the Data Track. Further research is needed to make the implementation mitigate the risks posed by memory and disk forensics.</p>

<p>Kärnkompetens kan ses som en av de mest centrala delarna av ett företag och insikt i detta är vad som bidrar till tillväxt, dominans och mästerskap. Vi likställer i denna uppsats kärnkompetens med överlägsen förmåga eller överlägset kunnande. I detta arbete försöker vi utreda vad som är Apotekets kärnkompetens. Med hänsyn till vad som definieras som Apotekets kärnkompetenser undersöker vi dessa närmare för att kunna prognostisera effekterna av den stundande omregleringen.Vi har genom att granska Apoteket och genomfört intervjuer på ledningsnivå identifierat tre möjliga kärnkompetenser:</p><p>•    Den farmaceutiska kompetensen i kundmötet</p><p>•    Kompetensen bakom kvalitetssäkringen av Apotekets egna varumärken</p><p>•    Apotekets varumärke</p><p>Slutligen diskuterar vi vilka effekter omregleringen kommer att ha på de tre kärnkompetenserna som vi identifierat. Vi kan konstatera att den farmaceutiska kompetensen i kundmötet troligtvis inte kommer att uppfylla de kriterier som våra valda teorier ställer på begreppet kärnkompetens. Kompetensen bakom kvalitetssäkringen av Apotekets egna varumärken samt Apotekets varumärke kommer förmodligen även efter omregleringen att kunna klassas som kärnkompetenser.</p>

Atom transfer radical polymerisation (ATRP) technique was used to synthesize poly(methacrylic acid-block-methyl methacrylate) (P(MAA₁₀₂-b-MMA₁₀)) copolymer in order to study the aggregation behavior in aqueous solution over the course of neutralization. A combination of static and dynamic light scattering (SLS, DLS) and potentiometric titration techniques were used to investigate the size and shape of the micelle at various degrees of neutralization. The hydrodynamic radius (Rh) determined from dynamic light scattering increases from ~26nm (for unneutralized) to ~42nm (for completely neutralized sample). Both potentiometric and laser light scattering studies indicate the formation of a core shell micelle. The weighted average molecular weights of the polymer and micelle are 1.18x10⁴ and 2.25 x 10⁵ g/mol respectively, which suggests that the aggregation number of the micelle is ~20. / Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA)

We have discovered that the current protocols to assemble Au nanoparticles based on DNA hybridization do not work well with the small metal nanoparticles (e.g. 5 nm Au, 3.6 nm Pt and 3.2 nm Ru particles). Further investigations revealed the presence of strong interaction between the oligonucleotide backbone and the surface of the small metal nanoparticles. The oligonucleotides in this case are recumbent on the particle surface and are therefore not optimally oriented for hybridization. The nonspecific adsorption of oligonucleotides on small metal nanoparticles must be overcome before DNA hybridization can be accepted as a general assembly method. Two methods have been suggested as possible solutions to this problem. One is based on the use of stabilizer molecules which compete with the oligonucleotides for adsorption on the metal nanoparticle surface. Unfortunately, the reported success of this approach in small Au nanoparticles (using K₂BSPP) and Au films (using 6-mercapto-1-hexanol) could not be extended to the assembly of Pt and Ru nanoparticles by DNA hybridization. The second approach is to simply use larger metal particles. Indeed most reports on the DNA hybridization induced assembly of Au nanoparticles have made use of relatively large particles (>10 nm), hinting at a weaker non-specific interaction between the oligonucleotides and large Au nanoparticles. However, most current methods of nanoparticle synthesis are optimized to produce metal nanoparticles only within a narrow size range. We find that core-shell nanoparticles formed by the seeded growth method may be used to artificially enlarge the size of the metal particles to reduce the nonspecific binding of oligonucleotides. We demonstrate herein a core-shell assisted growth method to assemble Pt and Ru nanoparticles by DNA hybridization. This method involves firstly synthesizing approximately 16 nm core-shell Ag-Pt and 21 nm core-shell Au-Ru nanoparticles from 9.6 nm Ag seeds and 17.2 nm Au seeds respectively by the seed-mediated growth method. The core-shell nanoparticles were then functionalized by complementary thiolated oligonucleotides followed by aging in 0.2 M PBS buffer for 6 hours. The DNA hybridization induced bimetallic assembly of Pt and Ru nanoparticles could then be carried out in 0.3 M PBS buffer for 10 hours. / Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA)

Accurate prediction of Tropical Cyclones (TC) is vital for the protection of life and property in areas that are prone to their destructive forces. While significant improvements have been made in forecasting TC track, intensity remains a challenge. It is hypothesized that accurate TC intensity forecast requires, among other things, an adequate initial description of their inner-core region. Therefore, there must be reliable observations of the inner-core area of the TC and effective data assimilation (DA) methods to ingest these data into the Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) models. However, these requirements are seldom met at the relatively low resolution of operational global prediction models and the lack of routine observations assimilated in the TC inner-core. This study tests the impacts of assimilating inner-core Airborne Doppler Radar (ADR) winds on the initial structure and subsequent intensity forecast of Hurricane Ike (2008). The 4-dimensional variational (4DVar) and the 3-dimensional variational (3DVar) methods are used to perform DA while the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model is used to perform forecasts. It is found that assimilating data helps to initialize a more realistic inner-core structure using both DA methods. Additionally, the resulting short-term and long-term intensity forecasts are more accurate when data is assimilated versus cases when there is no DA. Additionally, it is found that in some cases the impact of DA lasts up to 12 hours longer with 4DVar versus 3DVar. It is shown that this is because the flow-dependent 4DVar method produces more dynamically and balanced analysis increments compared to the static and isotropic increments of 3DVar. However, the impact of using both methods is minimal in the long-range. The analyses show that at longer forecast range the dynamics of hurricane Ike was influenced more by outer environment features than the inner-core winds.

Density functional theory is used to calculate the core excitation spectra of titanium structures. Specifically, the core-hole approximation is used. In this scenario, the excitation energies of core electrons are calculated using the approximation that the core energy level be frozen throughout the relaxation process of the orbitals. This allows a more acurate determination of the resulting X-ray spectra. The method described has been implemented in an NWChem module.

In recent years, multi-core processors have come to dominate the field in desktop and high performance computing. Graphics processors traditionally used in CAD, video games, and other 3-d applications, have become more programmable and are now suitable for general purpose computing. This thesis explores multi-core processors and GPU performance and limitations in two computational chemistry applications: a memory bound component of ab-initio modeling and a computationally bound Monte Carlo simulation. For the applications presented in this thesis, exploiting multiple processors is done using a variety of tools and languages including OpenMP and MKL. Brook+ and the Compute Abstraction Layer streaming environments are used to accelerate applications on AMD GPUs. This thesis gives qualitative assertions about these languages and tools regarding ease of use and optimization in addition to quantitative analyses of performance. GPUs can yield modest performance improvements with little effort in some applications and even larger speedups with simple optimizations.

<p>Abstract </p><p>The core is the center of gravity in our body. Injuries and overload in the joints, is the most common reason for not be able to work in Sweden today. A god strength capacity in the core is important for secure and effective movements, as well for active athletes, as for non athletes. The increased number of employees, who report in sick today, has been correlated with psychological bad health. New methods to deal with mental and physical health problems among people can indicate to the fact that Yoga in the western world has increased its members, due its spiritual and physical recognition in favor of well being. The purpose with this study was to examine the effect of yoga practice on isometrics muscular strength endurance in the core, and if the mental and physical general health has been effected after 8 weeks of yoga classes twice a week. The method has a quantitative and qualitative approach. Fourteen health female subjects, ranging in age from 32 to 60 years old, were studied. The subjects were evaluated before and after the training program in three test positions for core isometric endurance. There was improvement for all the subjects, in all three tests positions together. The subject’s isometric endurance average improved with 29 %. All subjects reported improvement in physical and mental function after the yogic practices. These findings indicate that regular yoga practice can elicit improvements in isometric endurance in the core, and facilitate mental and physical well being for the subjects.</p>

This thesis presents the work involving two broad aspectswithin the field of nuclear reactor analysis and safety. Theseare: - development of a fully independent reactor dynamics andsafety analysis methodology of the RBMK-1500 core transientaccidents and - experiments on the enhancement of coolabilityof a particulate bed or a melt pool due to heat removal throughthe control rod guide tubes. The first part of the thesis focuses on the development ofthe RBMK-1500 analysis methodology based on the CORETRAN codepackage. The second part investigates the issue of coolabilityduring severe accidents in LWR type reactors: the coolabilityof debris bed and melt pool for in- vessel and ex-vesselconditions. The safety of the RBMK type reactors became an importantarea of research after the Chernobyl accident. Since 1989,efforts to adopt Western codes for the RBMK analysis and safetyassessment are being made. The first chapters of this Thesisdescribe the development of an independent neutron dynamics andsafety analysis methodology for the RBMK-1500 core transientsand accidents. This methodology is based on the codes HELIOSand CORETRAN. The RBMK-1500 neutron cross section library wasgenerated with the HELIOS code. The ARROTTA part of theCORETRAN code performs three dimensional neutron dynamicsanalysis and the VIPRE-02 part of the CORETRAN package performsthe rod bundle thermal hydraulics analysis. The VIPRE-02 codewas supplemented with additional CHF correlations, used inRBMK-type reactor calcula tions. The validation, verificationand assessment of the CORETRAN code model for RBMK-1500 wereperformed and are described in the thesis. The second part of the thesis describes the in- vesselparticulate debris bed and melt pool coolabilityinvestigations. The role of the control rod guide tubes (CRGTs)in enhancing the coolability during a postulated severeaccident in a BWR was investigated experimentally. Thisinvestigation is directed towards the accident managementscheme of retaining the core melt within the BWR lowerhead. The particulate debris bed coolability was also investigatedduring the ex-vessel severe accident situation, having a flowof non-condensable gases through the porous debris bed.Experimental investigations on the dependence of the quenchingtime on the non-condensable gas flow rate were carriedout. The first chapter briefly presents the status ofdevelopments in both the RBMK- 1500 core analysis and thecorium coolability areas. The second chapter describes the generation of the RBMK-1500neutron cross section data library with the HELIOS code. Thecross section library was developed for the whole range of thereactor conditions (i.e. for both cold and hot reactor states).The results of the benchmarking with the WIMS-D4 code andvalidation against the RBMK Critical Facility experiments isalso presented here. The HELIOS generated neutron cross sectiondata library provides a close agreement with the WIMS-D4 coderesults. The validation against the data from the CriticalExperiments shows that the HELIOS generated neutron crosssection library provides excellent predictions for thecriticality, axial and radial power distribution, control rodreactivity worths and coolant reactivity effects, etc. Thereactivity effects of voiding for the system, fuel assembly andadditional absorber channel are underpredicted in thecalculations using the HELIOS code generated neutron crosssections. The underprediction, however, is much less than thatobtained when the WIMS-D4 code generated cross sections areemployed. The third chapter describes the work, performed towards theaccurate prediction, assessment and validation of the CHF andpost-CHF heat transfer for the RBMK- 1500 reactor fuelassemblies employing the VIPRE-02 code. This chapter describesthe experiments, which were used for validating the CHFcorrelations, appropriate for the RBMK-1500 type reactors.These correlations after validation were added to the standardversion of the VIPRE-02 code. The VIPRE-02 calculations werebenchmarked against the RELAP5/MOD3.3 code. It was found thatthese user-coded additional CHF correlations developed for theRBMK type reactors (Osmachkin, RRC KI and Khabenskicorrelations) and implemented into the code by the author,provide a good prediction of the CHF occurrence at the RBMKreactor nominal pressure range (at about 7 MPa). Transition andfilm boiling are also predicted well with the VIPRE-02 code forthis pressure range. It was found, that for the RBMK- 1500reactor applications, EPRI CHF correlation should be used forthe CHF predictions for the lower fuel assemblies of thereactor in the subchannel model of the RBMK-1500 fuel assembly.RRC KI and Bowring CHF correlations may be used for the upperfuel assemblies. For a single-channel model of the RBMK-1500fuel channel, Osmachkin, RRC KI and Bowring correlationsprovide the closest predictions and may be used for the CHFestimation. For the low coolant mass fluxes in the fuelchannel, Khabenski correlation can be applied. The fourth chapter presents the verification of the CORETRANcode for the RBMK-1500 core analysis (HELIOS generated neutroncross section data, coupled CORETRAN 3-D neutron kineticscalculations and VIPRE-02 thermal hydraulic module). The modelwas verified against a number of RBMK-1500 plant data andtransient calculations. The new RBMK-1500 core model wassuccessfully applied in several safety assessment applications.A series of transient calculations, considered within the scopeof the RBMK-type reactor Safety Analysis Report (SAR), wereperformed. Several cases of the transient calculations arepresented in this chapter. The HELIOS/CORETRAN/VIPRE-02 coremodel for the RBMK-1500 is fully functional. The RBMK-1500 CPSlogic, added into the CORETRAN provides an adequate response tothe changes in the reactor parameters. Chapters 5 and 6 describe the experiments and the analysisperformed on the coolability of particulate debris bed and meltpool during a postulated severe accident in the LWR. In theChapter 5, the coolability potential, offered by the presenceof a large number of the Control Rod Guide Tubes (CRGTs) in theBWR lower head is presented. The experimental investigationsfor the enhancement of coolability possible with CRGTs wereperformed on two experimental facilities: POMECO (POrous MEdiumCOolability) and COMECO (COrium MElt COolability). Theinfluence of the coolant supply through the CRGT on the debrisbed dryout heat flux, debris bed and melt pool quenching time,crust growth rate, etc. were examined. The heat removalcapacity offered by the presence of the CRGT was quantifiedwith the experimental data, obtained from the POMECO and COMECOfacilities. It was found that the presence of the CRGTs in thelower head of a BWR offers a substantial potential for heatremoval during a postulated severe accident. Additional 10-20kW of heat were removed from the POMECO and COMECO testsections through the CRGT. This corresponds to the average heatflux on the CRGT wall equal to 100-300 kW/m2. In the Chapter 6 the ex-vessel particulate debris bedcoolability is investigated, considering the non-condensablegases released from the concrete ablation process. Theinfluence of the flow of the non-condensable gases on theprocess of quenching a hot porous debris bed was considered.The POMECO test facility was modified, adding the air supply atthe bottom of the test section, to simulate the noncondensablegas release. The process was investigated for both high and lowporosity debris beds. It was found that for the low porositybed composition the countercurrent flooding limit could beexceeded, which would degrade the quenching process for suchbed compositions. The experimental results were analyzed withseveral CCFL models, available in the literature. Keywords:RBMK, light water reactor, core analysis,transient analysis, reactor dynamics, RIA, ATWS, critical heatflux, post-CHF, severe accidents, particulate debris beds, meltpool coolability, BWR, CRGT, dryout, quenching, CCFL, crustgrowth, solidification, water ingression, heat transfer.