On the Brauer groups of symmetries of abelian Dijkgraaf-Witten theories

Symmetries of three-dimensional topological field theories are naturally defined in terms of invertible topological surface defects. Symmetry groups are thus Brauer-Picard groups. We present a gauge theoretic realization of all symmetries of abelian Dijkgraaf-Witten theories. The symmetry group for a Dijkgraaf-Witten theory with gauge group a finite abelian group $A$, and with vanishing 3-cocycle, is generated by group automorphisms of $A$, by automorphisms of the trivial Chern-Simons 2-gerbe on the stack of $A$-bundles, and by partial e-m dualities. We show that transmission functors naturally extracted from extended topological field theories with surface defects give a physical realization of the bijection between invertible bimodule categories of a fusion category and braided auto-equivalences of its Drinfeld center. The latter provides the labels for bulk Wilson lines; it follows that a symmetry is completely characterized by its action on bulk Wilson lines.Comment: 21 pages, 9 figures. v2: Minor changes, typos corrected and references added. v3: Typos correcte

The use and function of ballads in 'The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes' and its movie adaptation

Denne oppgaven utforsker bruken og funksjonen til ballader i en moderne ungdomsroman, og en sammenligning av romanens bruk av ballader i dens filmatisering. Det siste verket i The Hunger Games serien, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, og dens filmatisering er kildematerialene for denne oppgaven. Den har relevans innen feltet for litteraturstudier, da den involverer to narrative sjangre; romaner og ballader, og innen feltet for adaptasjonsstudier, siden filmatiseringen er gjenstand for sammenligning. Denne oppgaven utforsker hvordan ballader brukes i tre utvalgte sekvenser fra romanen, og deres respektive sekvenser i filmen. Oppgaven vil også utforske hvordan ballader har en viktig funksjon i fortellingen, basert på et teoretisk rammeverk om balladesjangeren, aspekter av intertekstualitet, adaptasjonsteori, og ungdomslitteratur. Gjennom de tre utvalgte sekvensene, som alle inneholder musikalske elementer, er det tydelig at ballader er eksplisitt til stede og nevnt i romanen, og fungerer som en viktig faktor i karakteriseringen av Lucy Gray, ettersom hennes historie hovedsakelig realiseres gjennom ballader. I filmatiseringen derimot, blir ikke begreped ballade nevnt i det hele tatt. Totalt sett er antallet musikalske elementer nesten halvert i filmen sammenlignet med romanen, noe som avslører at ballader får mer oppmerksomhet i romanen. Alle balladene, eller sangene som de kalles, i filmen finnes også i romanen, men de er ofte forkortet eller presentert på en mindre betydningsfull måte. Funnene viser at ballader i romanen brukes til å gi Lucy Gray en arena til å fortelle sin historie. Ballader er knyttet til middelalderen og den romantiske perioden, og deres tilstedeværelse i det fattige og rurale 'District 12' i The Hunger Games’ historieverden kan symbolisere et samfunn knyttet til fortiden, ettersom balladeformen ikke er til stede i hovedstaden som representerer et futuristisk samfunn. Denne polariseringen mellom det nostalgiske samfunnet i 'District 12' og den futuristiske hovedstaden har en viktig funksjon i utviklingen av en dystopisk historieverden. Filmen kan i større grad bruke visuelle effekter for å portrettere den samme symbolske kontrasten, derfor blir det mindre viktig å eksplisitt nevne ballader. Denne oppgaven fokuserer hovedsakelig på tre sekvenser, analyserer dem uavhengig av hverandre slik de presenteres i romanen og i filmen, før deres bruk av musikalske elementer sammenlignes. Denne oppgaven utforsker ikke funksjonen til ballader i den opprinnelige Hunger Games-serien, eller hvordan musikalske elementer ble mottatt av publikum, men en viss overlapp nevnes. Videre forskning kan bringe et nytt perspektiv på sammenflettingen mellom den opprinnelige Hunger Games serien og The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes og deres bruk av musikalske elementer. Denne oppgaven bidrar til det eksisterende kunnskapsgrunnlaget om ungdomsromaner og adaptasjonsteori ved å utforske hvordan en gammel sjanger er vevd sammen med en moderne roman retter mot ungdom.This thesis explores the use and function of ballads in a modern young adult fiction novel, and a comparison of the novel’s use of ballads in its movie adaptation. The Hunger Games’ last installment, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, and its movie adaptation are the source materials for this thesis. It has relevance to the field of literary studies, involving two narrative genres; novels and ballads, and to the field of adaptation studies, as the movie adaptation is the subject of comparison. This thesis explores how ballads are used in three selected sequences from the novel, and their respective sequences in the movie. This thesis will also explore how ballads have an important function in the narrative, drawing from a theoretical framework regarding the ballad genre, aspects of intertextuality, adaptation theory, as well as young adult fiction. Through the three selected sequences, all including musical elements, it is evident that ballads are explicitly present and mentioned in the novel, and work as an important factor in the characterization of Lucy Gray, as her story is mostly realized through ballads. In the movie adaptation, on the other hand, the term ballad is not mentioned at all. In total, the number of musical elements is almost halved in the movie compared to the novel, revealing that ballads are given more attention in the novel. All the ballads, or songs as they are called, in the movie are also found in the novel, but they are sometimes shortened or presented in a less significant way. The findings show that ballads in the novel are used to give Lucy Gray a voice and platform to tell her story. Ballads are related to the Middle Ages and the Romantic period, and their presence in the poor and rural District 12 in the Hunger Games’ storyworld can symbolize a society connected to the past, as the ballad form is not present in the capital city which represents a futuristic society. This polarization between the more nostalgic world of District 12 and the futuristic Capitol has an important function in the developments of a dystopian storyworld. The movie can rely more on visual effects to portray the same symbolic contrast, therefore making the explicit mention of ballads less important. This thesis focuses mainly on three sequences, analyzing them independently as they are presented in the novel and in the movie, before comparing them and their use of musical elements. This thesis does not explore the function of ballads in the original Hunger Games series, or how they were received by the audience, but a certain overlap is mentioned. Further research on this could bring a new perspective on the intertwining between the original series and the prequel regarding their use of musical elements. Overall, this thesis contributes to the existing body of knowledge on young adult fiction and movie adaptation by exploring how an old genre is intertwined and important in a modern fictional novel aimed at young adults

A Glimpse at a Zoo Practice

All aboard for the safari is a familiar sound heard at Busch Gardens as the tourists board the monorail for an exciting skyrail safari through the Wild Animal Kingdom. From their overhead ride they can view and photograph Africa\u27s rare and vanishing species which roam freely in a replica of the famed African Veldt. There are over four hundred species of mammals in the Wild Animal Kingdom ranging from the smallest specie of antelope to the mighty and powerful elephant

The Gothic Heroine’s Independence and Family Situation: The evolution of the gothic heroines Adeline in The Romance of the Forest (1791) to Bella Swan in the Twilight Saga (2005-2008)

Through close readings of the two gothic stories, I have found both similarities and great differences in the two heroines. Moers sees Radcliffe as one of the pioneers of female gothic, and therefore Adeline can be seen as a model for how a gothic heroine is or should be. I can agree with Moers in that Radcliffe created a mold for the gothic heroine, but that mold is not necessarily as suitable today as it was in 1791 when The Romance of the Forest first was published. In the 1700’s a woman was expected to marry and become a mother, and not until then was she accomplished. Through this sentiment I can see Bella fitting the mold, since she does not reach her full potential until she is married to Edward, turned into a vampire and a mother. In this sense Bella fits the patriarchal and old-fashion mold of gothic heroines. However, I do believe current times calls for a more progressive heroine. Even though Bella stumbles upon misfortunes and in the need of Edwards protection and saving I still consider her as progressive. Bella is decisive and strong willed, and she shows masculine features as well as feminine. At the end of the fourth book, Bella is now a vampire with supernatural abilities of projecting a protective shield over those close to her. She is physically strong and mentally able to overpower the villains on behalf of herself and her family. The final book ends in a big fight between the good side and the bad side, and eventually Bella’s protective shield is what ends up giving the good side the upper hand resulting in them winning and getting their happy ending. In the final chapter Edward retells the final fight and says: “So it was a combination of things there at the end, but what it really boiled down to was … Bella” (2010, p. 688). Moers who is considered a feminist might appreciate Bella’s ability to be the hero who saved them all at the end of the story, rather than the heroine who after many misfortunes happens to get a happy ending because of actions done by male characters. This paper has focused on the evolvement of the gothic heroine by looking at Ann Radcliffe’s heroine from The Romance of the Forest (2009), Adeline, and comparing her to Bella, the heroine of Stephanie Meyers Twilight Saga (2007, 2010). Critics, like Ellen Moers (1976), have seen Radcliffe as the originator of the female gothic and gothic heroines. Typical characterizations of Radcliffe’s heroine, Adeline, is her dependency on others, her involvement in misfortunes, her frequent weeping, and her accomplishment of getting a happy ending after all. Jamie T. Corson (2010) criticizes Moers fascination of Radcliffe’s heroines arguing that the evolution through time requires an evolved gothic heroine as well. Corson contrasts Radcliffe’s heroines with Meyer’s heroine, Bella. Bella is similar to Adeline in the way that they are both dependent on others to some degree, and Bella also finds herself in some unfortunate events and accidents where she is saved by the male protagonist. The difference between Adeline and Bella, however, is remarkable. Bella is more progressive and feminist in her ability to speak her mind and to make decisions contrary to what her ‘protectors’ want her to do. She shows signs of a typical gothic heroine through her dependency and engrossment in Edward, but she is also a strong individual who ends up protecting her family who at the beginning were way more powerful than herself

Clock Synchronization between Observational Units in the Arctic Tundra

The arctic tundra is one of the ecosystems that is most affected by climate changes. The effects of these changes on the wildlife in the arctic are therefore critical to monitor. To monitor the changes, small computing devices with sensors and cameras, known as Observational Units, can be used. Using a cluster network of interconnected observational units, so that data can be reported from the most distant nodes to a homebase, introduces problems as the node’s local clocks tend to skew away from each other based on the environment they are in. This thesis aims to address the problem of clock synchronization in cluster networks that are disconnected from constant power and the internet. This thesis describes how we designed, built, and tested a prototype software solution for an interconnected Wireless Sensor Network using observational units built for arctic climates. We designed and built a two-phased system where the nodes dynamically join a network and synchronize their duty cycling and clocks with each other, creating a synchronized cluster of nodes that allows for data to be propagated, where any of the nodes can become sink nodes if they have a connection to a homebase. The nodes use a built-in clock synchronization operation to achieve synchronized clocks across the cluster network. The prototype system can perform the operations as planned. However, the results show that the system scales poorly when introducing new sinks to the network while running in the operational phase, as the paths shared scales exponentially, in contrast to when a sink is introduced in the starting phase of the system, where the transmissions grow linearly with a degree based on the number of nodes in the network. The time synchronization experiments also showed that the network is able to remain synchronized, although transmission number is a concern when the network does not have any sink nodes

Long-term effects of clear-cut forestry on beetle species richness and abundance in Norwegian boreal forests

For the last approximately 70 years, clear-cutting has been the common method in Scandinavian forestry. Since more than half of the Scandinavian species live in the forest, this intensive forestry method has caused concern about its effects on biodiversity. Since the early clear-cut forests now have reached the later logging class, it is possible to investigate how this forestry method impacts the ecological environment on a long-term basis. A large portion of the beetle (Coleoptera) species are saproxylic and thus dependent on deadwood, which is one of the ecological factors that have been altered by forestry. This study aims to investigate whether beetle biodiversity differs between older clear-cut forests and old near-natural forests. A total of 17 970 individuals of beetles, represented by 445 species, were collected using window traps in ten site pairs of clear-cut forests and near-natural forests in Southeastern Norway. The volume and diameter of lying deadwood in each study plot were measured. From this, the variation in the number of beetle species and individuals between the two forest types was compared to see if logging history affects the beetle biodiversity. Correspondingly, the patterns of saproxylic species, different feeding guilds and red-listed species were analyzed as well. Beetle biodiversity was also examined in relation to the volumes of deadwood available. The near-natural and clear-cut forests differed in relation to deadwood as near-natural plots always had higher volumes, even though there was a large variation between sites. In addition, there were clearly more large diameter logs of deadwood in near-natural forests. Surprisingly, forest type did not affect overall species richness or abundance to a large extent, but more saproxylic individuals were caught in near-natural plots. Deadwood, on the other hand, had more of an effect on beetle biodiversity, as higher deadwood volumes led to a higher total species richness, and large diameter deadwood was of special importance for saproxylic beetles. Detritivores also increased in both species richness and abundance with higher deadwood volumes. Even though the type of forest did not show many significant differences besides deadwood volumes, this study shows that ecological factors available in the forest stands are of importance for beetle diversity, and thus that availability of deadwood resources needs to be assessed in forest management

Unsupervised Learning of Motion Patterns for Object Classification in Aquaculture

In recent years, computer vision has been used in increasing amounts in aqua culture and will be essential for the development of automated solutions for fish farming. In this thesis we study the possibility of using unsupervised learning based on motion patterns to classify main groups of objects in a fish farm. The main focus will be separating fish from feed. The approach is based on the hypothesis that fish and feed have distinct motion patterns that are suitable to use as classification criteria. The approach is based on optical flow by using KLT-tracking to estimate motion in the image. Similar motion patterns are grouped together using cluster analysis. Mean shift and DBSCAN were chosen as the algorithms to be used in the experiments, based on a preliminary analysis of the motion data. Mean shift is centroid based, while DBSCAN is density based which gives a useful combination of differing properties to compare. Further, the effect of adding object sizes to the clustering was studied. Object sizes were estimated by using image segmentation. The segmentation algorithm is based on edge detection, using a Sobel operator to create gradient images that can be used as basis for finding contours of objects. Results showed that classifying fish and feed based on motion patterns is plausible under certain conditions. There are some requirements for the camera position that improves the classification. For instance the clustering performance increases when numerous objects is visible in the image. Accurately selecting clustering parameters are also necessary to avoid cluster merging. In cases where several clusters are merged together, all valuable information about the objects are lost. The effect of adding object sizes to the clustering proved to be as expected. It resulted in improved separability of the motion patterns, although the segmentation accuracy required, made the proposed approach not robust enough to calculate the object sizes automatically. The main issues were incomplete contours because of too low contrast towards the background and overlapping objects. As a cause of the inaccurate segmentation, the number of data samples were too small to draw any conclusions, although the tendencies are that by using a better suited segmentation algorithm, a more consistent classification can be obtained