Filetype
Mild diseases and moderate stressors are seemingly harmless and are therefore often assumed to have negligible impact on Darwinian fitness. Here we argue that the effects of “benign” parasites and other moderate stressors may have a greater impact on lifespan and other fitness traits than generally thought. We outline the “accumulating costs” hypothesis which proposes that moderate strains on the
Biobanks are essential infrastructures in current health and biomedical research. Advanced scientific research increasingly relies on processing and correlating large amounts of genetic, clinical and behavioural data. These data are particularly sensitive in nature and the risk for privacy invasion and misuse is high. The EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) developed and increased harmoni
In agro-ecosystems, environmental monitoring is fundamental to detect and survey changes related to land use change and management practices. Butterflies and moths have often been suggested as suitable indicators for monitoring environmental effects on biodiversity in farmlands. Here, we estimated the required sample size and monitoring effort necessary to run a Lepidoptera survey in European farm
Partially premixed combustion using gasoline-like fuels on compression ignition engines shows great potentials to break the soot-nitrogen oxides trade off and reduce both emissions simultaneously. By simply adjusting the dilution strategies and injection events, the control of partially premixed combustion is relatively easier compared to other low-temperature combustion concepts. However despite
Extending beyond previous research biases towards large cities or analyses based largely on one type of urban agriculture (UA) (such as market gardening, or home gardening), this research aimed to investigate all forms of UA within two intermediate-sized Ghanaian cities (Techiman and Tamale). Where was being farmed? For whom, and why? The paper considers how findings compare to Ghana's larger citi
Floral scent is an important mediator of plant–pollinator interactions. Multiple recent studies report ample intraspecific scent variation among populations and individuals. Yet, few studies have eastimated effects of phenotypic plasticity on floral scent in response to differing environmental factors. In this study, we investigated the effects of nutrient and water availability on floral scent in
Over the years, electronic waste accumulation has been on a steep rise, parallel with the technological evolution of electrical and electronic equipment. Companies have adopted circular economy approach to overcome the emerging waste issue in the last few decades, where goods can return to manufacturers or remanufacturers. They can be used after certain modifications or remanufacturing processes.
The small body of research on writing and writing processes in the group of deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) children has shown that this group struggles more with writing than their hearing peers. This article aims to explore in what ways the DHH group differs from their peers regarding the written product and the writing processes. Participants are all in the age span 10–12 years old and include:
Sociality in spiders has evolved independently multiple times, resulting in convergently evolved cooperative breeding and prey capture. In all social spiders, prey is captured by only a subset of group members and then shared with other, non-attacking group members. However, spiders' propensity to attack prey may differ among species due to species-specific trade-offs between risks, costs and bene
This article analyzes Buddhist variations of the so called temple oracle (qian divination) that can be traced historically in the form of sets of answers for people seeking counsel about their future. The ritual is commonly known as a habitual practice in popular religious temples today. Three different ritual texts elucidate modes in which the temple oracle has been woven into Buddhist practice:
Diversification of anaerobic digestion into higher value products, namely volatile fatty acids (VFAs), is receiving interest. One of the biggest challenges with this is recovery of the VFAs. Membrane extraction can be used, and a novel process configuration using a non-porous silicone membrane and water for an extractant is proposed here. This process would enable the
Based on artefactual field experiments, we investigate whether finance professionals differ from a sample of the working population in terms of industry-relevant preferences and personality traits. When adjusting for socioeconomic characteristics, we find only few and less marked differences: finance professionals are less risk averse, less trustworthy, show higher levels of psychopathy and are mo
This work has focused on studying the in-cylinder pressure fluctuations caused by rapid HCCI combustion and determine what they consist of. Inhomogeneous autoignition sets up pressure waves traversing the combustion chamber. These pressure waves induce high gas velocities which causes increased heat transfer to the walls or in worst case engine damage. In order to study the pressure fluctuations a
Two-dimensional (2D) spectroscopy has been intensively used to study electronic and vibronic coherences in biological systems and semiconductors. This technique studies coherent as well as incoherent signals that arise from the nonlinear interaction of a sequence of laser pulses. In this paper we present a direct evaluation of the 2D signal based on elementary quantum kinetics in order to compare
Rotational coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) is an established diagnostic technique for thermometry and species concentration measurements of di-atomics and tri-atomics in combustion processes; however, studies on hydrocarbon fuel molecules have been scarce. In this work, we have investigated the diagnostic potential for rotational CARS on ethane with emphasis on concentration measureme
Background: Behavioral testing provides an essential approach in further developing our understanding of brain structure and function. The aim of our study was to outline a more expanded approach to cognition- and anxiety-related behavior in the rabbit. Methods: Twenty-one 70-day old rabbits (13 female, 8 male) were exposed to open field test, dark-light box test and object recognition testing wit
BACKGROUND: Health workers' (HWs') perspectives on the quality of maternal and newborn care (QMNC) are not routinely collected. In this cross-sectional study, we aimed to document HWs' perspectives on QMNC around childbirth in 12 World Health Organization (WHO) European countries.METHODS: HWs involved in maternal/neonatal care for at least one year between March 2020 and March 2023 answered an onl
Introduction: In spite of societal efforts to strengthen women's sexual and reproductive health in Sweden, many women have unmet contraceptive needs and the abortion rate remains high. The aim of this study was to investigate contraceptive use among abortion-seeking women. Material and methods: Swedish-speaking women seeking an induced abortion up to the end of gestational week 12 at seven hospita
