This study emphasizes the importance of automatic synthetic data generation in data-driven applications, especially in the development of a 3D computer vision system for engineering contexts such as brownfield factory projects, where no data is readily available. Key points: (1) A successful integration of a synthetic data generator with the S3DIS dataset, leading to a significant enhancement in object detection of previous classes and enabling recognition of new ones; (2) A proposal for a CAD-based configurator for efficient and customizable scene reconstruction from LiDAR scanner point clouds.

Iodine deficiency may cause thyroid dysfunction. The iodine intake in a population is measured by urinary iodine concentration (UIC) in spot samples or 24-h urinary iodine excretion (24UIE). 24UIE is considered the gold standard and may be estimated using an equation including UIC, urinary creatinine concentration, sex and age (e24UIE). The aims of this study were to evaluate the preferable timing of UIC when using this equation and assess the variability of UIE. Sixty healthy non-smoking women (n 31) and men (n 29) were included in Gothenburg, Sweden. Twelve urine samples were collected at six fixed times on two separate days. Variability was calculated for UIC, 24UIE, e24UIE, iodine excretion per hour (iHr) and UIC adjusted for creatinine and specific gravity. Median 24UIE was 156 µg/24 h and the median UIC (all spot samples) was 104 µg/l. UIC (P < 0·001), 24UIE (P = 0·001) and e24UIE (P < 0·001) were significantly higher in men. e24UIE was relatively similar to 24UIE. However, when e24UIE was calculated from UIC in the first void, it was about 15 % lower than 24UIE (P < 0·001). iHr was lowest in the morning and highest in the afternoon. Median iHr was higher in men (7·4 v. 5·3 µg/h, P < 0·001). The variability of UIE was higher within individuals than between individuals. This study suggests that most time points for estimation of individual 24UIE are appropriate, but they should preferably not be collected in the first void.

Biases in people’s judgments of time saved by increasing the speed of an activity have been studied mainly with hypothetical scenarios (Svenson, 2008). The present study asked whether the classic time-saving bias persists as a perceptual bias when we control the speed of an activity and assess the perceived time elapsed at different speeds. Specifically, we investigated the time-saving bias in a driving simulator. Each participant was asked to first drive a distance at a given speed and then drive the same distance again at the speed she or he judged necessary to gain exactly three minutes in travel time compared to the first trip. We found that that the time-saving bias applies to active driving and that it affects the choice of driving speed. The drivers’ time-saving judgements show that the perception of the time elapsed while driving does not eliminate the time-saving bias.

Mutual benefit societies evolved as the major provider for sickness, accident and life insurance in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries on both sides of the Atlantic. One of the major problems facing insurers was the risk of adverse selection, i.e. that unhealthy individuals had more incentives than healthy individuals to insure when priced for the average risk. By empirically examining whether longevity among insured individuals in a nationwide mutual health society was different from a matched sample of uninsured individuals, we seek to identify the presence of adverse selection. We find no compelling evidence showing that unhealthy individuals were more likely to insure, or reasons to believe that problems related to adverse selection would have been a major reason for government intervention in the health insurance market in Sweden.

Adult foreign language acquisition is challenging, and the degree of success varies among individuals. Anatomical differences in brain structure prior to training can partly explain why some learn more than others. We followed a sample of conscript interpreters undergoing intense language training to study learning-related changes in white-matter microstructure (FA, MD, RD and AD) and associations between differences in brain structure prior to training with acquired language proficiency. No evidence for changes in white matter microstructure relative to a control group was found. Starting values of RD, AD and MD were positively related to final test scores of language proficiency, corroborating earlier findings in the field and highlighting the need for further study of how initial brain structure influences and interacts with learning outcomes.

The phase evolution of reactive radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtered Cr0.28Zr0.10O0.61 coatings has been studied by in situ synchrotron X-ray diffraction during annealing under air atmosphere and vacuum. The annealing in vacuum shows t-ZrO2 formation starting at ∼750–800 °C, followed by decomposition of the α-Cr2O3 structure in conjunction with bcc-Cr formation, starting at ∼950 °C. The resulting coating after annealing to 1140 °C is a mixture of t-ZrO2, m-ZrO2, and bcc-Cr. The air-annealed sample shows t-ZrO2 formation starting at ∼750 °C. The resulting coating after annealing to 975 °C is a mixture of t-ZrO2 and α-Cr2O3 (with dissolved Zr). The microstructure coarsened slightly during annealing, but the mechanical properties are maintained, with no detectable bcc-Cr formation. A larger t-ZrO2 fraction compared with α-Cr2O3 is observed in the vacuum-annealed coating compared with the air-annealed coating at 975 °C. The results indicate that the studied pseudo-binary oxide is more stable in air atmosphere than in vacuum.

Multilayered thin films of Al/Cu/Fe have been prepared by magnetron sputtering and annealed into quasicrystalline and approximant phases on Al2O3 and Si substrates, respectively. The nanomechanical and nanotribological properties, such as hardness, elastic modulus, friction, and toughness, have been measured using a triboindenter and analytical methods. The approximant phase was proved to be slightly harder than the quasicrystalline phase with a hardness of about 15.6 GPa, and with a similar elastic modulus of about 258 GPa. These values however decreased rapidly with an increasing amount of Si in the approximant. The indentation toughness of the approximant, <0.1 MPa/m½, was however inferior to that of the quasicrystals with 1.5 MPa/m½. Friction coefficients were measured in a range of 0.10–0.14 for both the quasicrystalline and approximant thin films.

The Genetics of Sexuality and Aggression (GSA) project was launched at the Abo Akademi University in Turku, Finland in 2005 and has so far undertaken two major population-based data collections involving twins and siblings of twins. To date, it consists of about 14,000 individuals (including 1,147 informative monozygotic twin pairs, 1,042 informative same-sex dizygotic twin pairs, 741 informative opposite-sex dizygotic twin pairs). Participants have been recruited through the Central Population Registry of Finland and were 18–49 years of age at the time of the data collections. Saliva samples for DNA genotyping (n = 4,278) and testosterone analyses (n = 1,168) were collected in 2006. The primary focus of the data collections has been on sexuality (both sexual functioning and sexual behavior) and aggressive behavior. This paper provides an overview of the data collections as well as an outline of the phenotypes and biological data assembled within the project. A detailed overview of publications can be found at the project's Web site: http://www.cebg.fi/.

Ti–Si–C–N thin films were deposited onto WC-Co substrates by industrial scale arc evaporation from Ti3SiC2 compound cathodes in N2 gas. Microstructure and hardness were found to be highly dependent on the wide range of film compositions attained, comprising up to 12 at.% Si and 16 at.% C. Nonreactive deposition yielded films consisting of understoichiometric TiCx, Ti, and silicide phases with high (27 GPa) hardness. At a nitrogen pressure of 0.25–0.5 Pa, below that required for N saturation, superhard, 45–50 GPa, (Ti,Si)(C,N) films with a nanocrystalline feathered structure were formed. Films grown above 2 Pa displayed crystalline phases of more pronounced nitride character, but with C and Si segregated to grain boundaries to form weak grain boundary phases. In abundance of N, the combined presence of Si and C disturbs cubic phase growth severely and compromises the mechanical strength of the films.

Transition metal multilayers are prime candidates for high reflectivity soft x-ray multilayer mirrors. In particular, Cr/Sc multilayers in the amorphous state have proven to give the highest reflectivity in the water window. We have investigated the influence of impurities N and O as residual gas elements on the growth, structure, and optical performance of Cr/Sc multilayers deposited in high vacuum conditions by a dual cathode direct current magnetron sputter deposition. Multilayer structures with the modulation periods in the range of 0.9–4.5 nm and Cr layer to bilayer thickness ratios in the range of 0.17–0.83 were deposited with an intentionally raised base pressure (pB), ranging from 2 × 10−7 to 2 × 10−5 Torr. Compositional depth profiles were obtained by elastic recoil detection analysis and Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy, while the structural investigations of the multilayers were carried out using hard x-ray reflectivity and transmission electron microscopy. By investigating stacked multilayers, i.e., several multilayers with different designs of the modulation periods, stacked on top of each other in the samples, we have been able to conclude that both N and O are incorporated preferentially in the interior of the Sc layers. At pB ≤ 2 × 10−6 Torr, typically <3 at.% of N and <1.5 at.% of O was found, which did not influence the amorphous nanostructure of the layers. Multilayers deposited with a high pB ∼2 × 10−5 Torr, a N content as high as ∼37 at.% was measured by elastic recoil detection analysis. These multilayers mainly consist of understoichiometric face-centered cubic CrNx/ScNy nanocrystalline layers, which could be grown as thin at 0.3 nm and is explained by a stabilizing effect on the ScNy layers during growth. It is also shown that by adding a background pressure of as little as 5 × 10−6 Torr of pure N2 the soft x-ray reflectivity (λ = 3.11 nm) can be enhanced by more than 100% by N incorporation into the multilayer structures, whereas pure O2 at the same background pressure had no effect.

The standard hyperbolic methods used to solve the compressible Euler equations are not effective in the limit of incompressible flow. The sound waves dominate the system and it becomes poorly conditioned for numerical solution. For steady flow governed by the incompressible Euler equations, artificial compressibility is a technique that removes the troublesome sound waves. It leads to a hyperbolic system of equations that we solve by finite-volume differences centred in space, and explicit multistage time-stepping. The stability of this novel system is analysed, its allowable discontinuities are described, and appropriate far-field and solid-wall boundary conditions are introduced. Results are presented for both two- and three-dimensional flows, including vorticity shed from a delta wing. Whether vorticity is produced or not depends very strongly on the body geometry, the accuracy of the solution method, and the transient discontinuities that evolve in the flow field. The results are analysed for the total-pressure losses in the flow fields, and for the diffusion of the vortex sheets.

Inviscid transonic flows containing either strong shock waves or complex vortex structure call for the Euler equations as a realistic model. We present here a computational procedure, termed WINGA2, for solving the Euler equations for transonic flow around aircraft upon a 0–0 mesh generated by transfinite interpolation. An explicit time-marching finite-volume technique solves the flow equations and features a non-reflecting far-field boundary condition and an internal mechanism for temporal damping together with a model for artificial viscosity. The method's convergence to a steady state is studied, and results computed on the CYBER 205 vector processor are presented. The Euler equation model is found to predict the existence of a tip vortex created by flow separating from the downstream region of the tip of the ONERA M6 wing where the radius of curvature approaches zero.

Background: Early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is critical for adequate treatment and care. Recently it has been shown that functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) can be important in preclinical detection of AD. The purpose of this study was to examine possible differences in memory-related brain activation between persons with high versus low risk for AD. This was achieved by combining a validated neurocognitive screening battery (the 7-minutes test) with memory assessment and fMRI. Methods: One hundred two healthy community-living persons with subjective memory complaints were recruited through advertisement and tested with the 7-minutes test. Based on their test performance they were classified as having either high (n = 8) or low risk (n = 94) for AD. Six high-risk individuals and six age-, sex-, and education-matched low-risk individuals were investigated with fMRI while engaged in episodic memory tasks. Results: The high-risk individuals performed worse than low-risk individuals on tests of episodic memory. Patterns of brain activity during episodic encoding and retrieval showed significant gourp differences (p < .05 corrected). During both encoding and retrieval, the low-risk persons showed increased activity relative to a baseline condition in prefrontal brain regions that previously have been implicated in episodic memory. By contrast, the high-risk persons did not significantly activate any prefrontal regions, but instead showed increased activity in visual occipito-temporal regions. Conclusion: Patterns of prefrontal brain activity related to episodic memory differ between persons with high versus low risk for AD, and lowered prefrontal activity may predict subsequent disease.