This article contains both multiple hypergeometric functions and corresponding q-analogues. First we present integral expressions for multiple hypergeometric functions over the unit hypercube and over triangles in higher dimensions. Then we extend these integrals to the q-case by using the q-real number R-boxed plus q. The q-binomial theorem, the q-beta integral and their generalizations to higher dimensions are used in the proofs. Also confluent forms with the Euler q-exponential function are proved. Reduction formulas for Kampe de Feriet functions are proved by using Euler integrals, Beta integrals and hypergeometric transformations. Finally, Euler integral representations for Horn functions and q-Euler integral representations of q-Kampe de Feriet functions are proved.

Background: Cardiac positron emission tomography (PET) offers non-invasive assessment of perfusion and left ventricular (LV) function from a single dynamic scan. However, no prior assessment of mitral regurgitation severity by PET has been presented. Application of indicator dilution techniques and gated image analyses to PET data enables calculation of forward stroke volume and total LV stroke volume. We aimed to evaluate a combination of these methods for measurement of regurgitant volume (RegVol) and fraction (RegF) using dynamic 15O-water and 11C-acetate PET in comparison to cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR).

Results: Twenty-one patients with severe primary mitral valve regurgitation underwent same-day dynamic PET examinations (O-15-water and C-11-acetate) and CMR. PET data were reconstructed into dynamic series with short time frames during the first pass, gated O-15-water blood pool images, and gated C-11-acetate myocardial uptake images. PET-based RegVol and RegF correlated strongly with CMR (RegVol: O-15-water r = 0.94, C-11-acetate r = 0.91 and RegF: O-15-water r = 0.88, C-11-acetate r = 0.84, p < 0.001). A systematic underestimation (bias) was found for PET (RegVol: O-15-water - 11 +/- 13 mL, p = 0.002, C-11-acetate - 28 +/- 16 mL, p < 0.001 and RegF: O-15-water - 4 +/- 6%, p = 0.01, C-11-acetate - 10 +/- 7%, p < 0.001). PET measurements in patients were compared to healthy volunteers (n = 18). Mean RegVol and RegF was significantly lower in healthy volunteers compared to patients for both tracers. The accuracy of diagnosing moderately elevated regurgitant volume (> 30mL) was 95% for O-15-water and 92% for C-11-acetate.

Conclusions: LV regurgitation severity quantified using cardiac PET correlated with CMR and showed high accuracy for discriminating patients from healthy volunteers.

Background: Mistreatment of individuals due to their body size or weight stigma has been described as a source of stress and as a deterrent for engagement in the healthcare system. Efforts to reduce weight stigma have included curricular interventions to reduce weight bias among future healthcare professionals. However, few studies have examined students' observations of weight stigma and subsequent socialization to healthcare environmental norms.

Aims: The purpose of this study is to evaluate observed weight stigma among prelicensure nursing students and recent graduates during clinical rotations and its effect on the perceived ability to provide respectful care to people in larger bodies. Materials and

Methods: A cross-sectional, descriptive study was conducted from February to March 2023. Participants answered questions related to personal weight bias (Fat Phobia Scale), observations of weight stigma, and perceived ability to provide respectful care.

Results: Ninety-one participants completed the survey, of whom half (n n = 48) held a high level of weight bias. A quarter of participants (n n = 23) reported that they engaged in weight stigma behaviors and a quarter (n n = 24) of participants observed weight stigma behaviors from two or more healthcare professional roles. Almost one-third (n n = 10) of participants who observed weight stigma behaviors perceived that it impacted their ability to provide respectful care to patients in larger bodies.

Conclusions: These findings describe that weight stigma enacted by multiple healthcare professional roles is observed by nursing students during clinical rotations and is perceived to impact their ability to provide respectful care. Efforts to improve healthcare professionals' sensitivity to the effects of weight bias and weight stigma should include addressing the role of socialized norms on weight bias among future healthcare professionals.

We study the boundary behavior of solutions to fractional Laplacian. As the first result, the isolation of the first eigenvalue of the fractional Lane-Emden equation is proved in the bounded open sets with Wiener regular boundary. Then, a generalized Hopf's lemma and a global boundary Harnack inequality are proved for the fractional Laplacian. (c) 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Aim: To explore associations between root filled teeth, primary and secondary apical periodontitis, and levels of inflammatory markers in blood from patients with a first myocardial infarction and matched controls.

Methodology: Between May 2010 and February 2014, 805 patients with a first myocardial infarction and 805 controls, matched for sex, age, and postal code area, were recruited to the multicentre case-control study PAROKRANK (periodontitis and its relation to coronary artery disease). All participants underwent a physical and oral examination, as well as blood sampling. Using panoramic radiography, root filled teeth, primary apical periodontitis, and secondary apical periodontitis were assessed by three independent observers. Blood samples were analysed with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method for the following inflammatory markers: interleukin-1β (IL-1β), IL-2, IL-6, IL-8, IL-12p70, tumour necrosis factor-α, and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP). Additionally, white blood cell count and plasma-fibrinogen were analysed. Associations between endodontic variables and the levels of inflammatory markers were statistically analysed with Mann-Whitney U-test and Spearman correlation, adjusted for confounding effects of baseline factors (sex, age, myocardial infarction, current smoking, diabetes, family history of cardiovascular disease, education, marital status, and periodontal disease).

Results: Mean age of the cohort was 62 years, and 81% were males. Root fillings were present in 8.4% of the 39 978 examined teeth and were associated with higher levels of hsCRP, fibrinogen, and leukocyte count, but lower levels of IL-2 and IL-12p70. After adjusting for confounders, root filled teeth remained associated with higher levels of fibrinogen, but lower levels of IL-1β, IL-2, IL-6, and IL-12p70. Primary apical periodontitis was found in 1.2% of non-root filled teeth and associated with higher levels of IL-8 (correlation 0.06, p = .025). Secondary apical periodontitis was found in 29.6% of root filled teeth but did not relate to the levels of any of the inflammatory markers.

Conclusions: This study supports the notion that inflammation at the periapex is more than a local process and that systemic influences cannot be disregarded. Whether the observed alterations in plasma levels of inflammatory markers have any dismal effects on systemic health is presently unknown but, considering the present results, in demand of further investigation.

Surface tension is an essential parameter that defines many aspects of materials processing. In particular, at high temperatures, surface tension data of metals is missing. Due to the challenges during high temperature measurements, mainly extrapolated or theoretical data are available. Therefore, an adaption of the falling oscillating droplet method is suggested to derive surface tension values of liquid steel surfaces. A spherical droplet was pre-positioned on plastic foil to be melted by a laser beam. During falling, high-speed imaging could record the oscillations and related frequency spectra were derived. Based on extracted characteristic frequencies, surface tension values were obtained comparing different theoretical models and adaptions to impacts of gravity, asphericity and viscosity of the material. The method was shown to give reasonable values of surface tension when accounting for gravity impacts.

The rubber hand illusion is a well-known experiment that allows manipulation of one's own body experience. The original questionnaire gauges both the illusion experience and unforeseen experiences acting as control statements. In particular, two statements pertain to the referral of touch originating from the rubber hand (RoT), and one concerns the feeling of ownership of the rubber hand (SoO). Despite its prominence, the rubber hand illusion questionnaire has not undergone thorough examination of its psychometric properties. The literature reveals a tendency to use RoT and SoO statements interchangeably. In this study, we employed Exploratory Graph Analysis to explore the item structure and compared the correlation between SoO and RoT items in various conditions. While SoO and RoT are closely linked, our findings suggest potential separation. SoO and RoT statements consistently correlate, yet hints emerge that RoT might represent a distinct facet of the illusion. Correlations diminish beyond the perihand space, indicating a nuanced relationship. Additionally, moderate relationships between control statements and those measuring the illusion suggest that even control statements are modulated by the illusion experience. This study underscores the need for further exploration into the psychometric properties of body illusion questionnaires, prompting reflections on the interpretation in light of these results.

Civil infrastructures made of reinforced concrete (RC) play an important role in the economic activities and services of society. However, signs of deterioration and functional deficiency are commonly found in existing RC structures. Thus, there is a great demand for upgrading the capacity and performance of existing concrete structures. Fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) composites have been widely used as externally bonded reinforcement (EBR) for strengthening RC structures since the 1990s. The work of this thesis aimed to investigate robust and efficient FRP-strengthening systems for structural strengthening of existing RC structures with a focus on RC bridge superstructures. Three different strengthening techniques were investigated.

A recently developed technique, namely the stepwise prestressing method, was studied in the current work to eliminate the need for mechanical anchors when using prestressed carbon-FRP (CFRP) plate as EBR for strengthening RC beams. Experiments showed that this method could realise the self-anchorage of prestressed CFRP plates on the surface of concrete beams given prestressing levels of 25-30% (of the CFRP tensile capacity). Despite no installation of mechanical anchors, the self-anchored prestressed plates were demonstrated to be efficient in reducing crack widths and improving the flexural capacity of the strengthened RC beams. At the debonding of the CFRP plates, the utilization ratios were in the range of 81-86% (of the CFRP tensile capacity) indicating significantly improved utilisation of the plates compared with equivalent non-prestressed plates.

A practical modelling strategy was also developed to enable nonlinear FEA of the CFRP-strengthened RC beam. Using the FEA, parametric studies on the self-anchored plates indicated an optimal prestressing level of 40% (specifically for the investigated specimen), above which both load-carrying and deflection capacities of the strengthened beam would decrease due to CFRP debonding before yielding of steel reinforcement.

A hybrid FRP system for strengthening RC beams with a T-shaped cross-section, representing the deck and girder system of RC bridge superstructures, was also investigated. The hybrid system included self-anchored prestressed CFRP plates applied to the soffit of the T-beams and prefabricated glass-FRP (GFRP) panels installed on the top of the T-beam flanges. In the strengthened RC T-beams subjected to bending, the CFRP plate acted as tensile reinforcement and the GFRP panel took most of the compressive force. Flexural tests showed that the applied hybrid FRP strengthening system was robust and efficient in improving the flexural stiffness and capacity. The tests also highlighted substantial residual capacity after the CFRP debonding, as the compressive zone shifted to the GFRP panel and concrete crushing at the top of the T-beam was prevented.

The current work also investigated effective FRP strengthening systems for deteriorated concrete beams with highly corroded steel reinforcement. The system included externally bonded FRP reinforcement on the beam soffit and CFRP U-jackets along the span. Flexural tests showed that the system was efficient in upgrading the flexural capacity of deteriorated concrete beams, despite local corrosion levels of steel reinforcement up to 57% and unrepaired concrete cover with up to 2 mm wide corrosion-induced cracks. The U-jackets effectively suppressed spalling of the concrete cover and thus enabled improved utilisation of the bonded FRP reinforcement on the beam soffits, with a utilisation ratio of CFRP plates up to 64% and even rupture of GFRP laminates.

In summary, the FRP-strengthening systems investigated in the current work were demonstrated to be robust and efficient in strengthening RC members subjected to bending. 

Background and Objectives: It has been seen that jaw opening is associated with neck extension and jaw closing is associated with neck flexion. This natural association between the jaw and neck can be used as a novel approach to treat chronic non-specific neck pain, although the effects of this concept have never been previously evaluated as a treatment strategy. This article intends to study the effects of integrating jaw opening and closing movements along with active neck exercises versus active neck exercises alone in the management of chronic non-specific neck pain.

Materials and Methods: A total of 80 patients, aged 20 to 50, with chronic non-specific neck pain were included in a double-blind randomized controlled trial, conducted at the Sindh Institute of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Karachi, Pakistan from 2018 to 2022. The patients were divided into two groups: Group A patients were assigned jaw movements with active neck exercises, while Group B patients were assigned only active neck exercises. Both groups were assigned isometric strengthening exercises and self-resisted strengthening exercises for cervical spine muscles as a home plan. The study used various outcome measures, including the numerical pain rating scale (NPRS), neck disability index (NDI), neck flexion endurance (NFE), neck extension endurance (NEE), the neck proprioception error (NPE): neck flexion proprioception error (NFPE), neck extension proprioception error (NEPE), neck right rotation proprioception error (NRRPE), and neck left rotation proprioception error (NLRPE), with measurements taken at week 1 and week 6, respectively; the mean differences between the groups were measured using a two-way repeated ANOVA.

Results: The experimental group showed better improvements compared to the control group, NPRS (73%), NDI (57%), NFE (152%), NEE (83%), NFPE (58%), NEPE (65%), NRRPE (65%), and NLRPE (62%), with a significant difference (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Active neck extension and flexion movements combined with jaw opening and closing are more effective in reducing pain and disability, improving neck muscles endurance and normalizing neck proprioception in patients with chronic neck pain.

This study investigates melt flow dynamics in asymmetric T-joint laser welding, particularly with sheets inclined up to 45°. This complex scenario requires filler wire, accessible only from the flat sheet side. High-speed imaging at the top and root captures transient phenomena leading to weld imperfections. Research on stainless-steel involved the impact of first-order welding parameters on the weld quality. This included multi-spot laser welding with two beams. The analysis focused on melt pool dynamics under these challenging conditions. The asymmetric root side’s geometry necessitates proper melt flow to form a favorable root topology, avoiding defects like wavy roots and porosity. Key observations included intermittent keyhole openings, transient melt flow effects, and potential spatter ejection at the bottom. The findings offer a comprehensive understanding of 3D asymmetric melt flow, laying the analytical groundwork for enhancing the weld quality.

The growing recognition of the importance of cultural and creative sectors as sources of creativity and innovation has put emphasis on the development of entrepreneurs within this field. Cultural entrepreneurs are often described as being driven by artistic, rather than entrepreneurial, ambitions, where value creation is based on unique expressions, requiring them to engage in continuous innovation to sustain their activities, as well as facing challenging conditions. However, more understanding is needed on the work of these entrepreneurs and how they deal with challenges. The purpose of this paper is thus to explore the work of cultural entrepreneurs by integrating the current understanding of its challenges and strategies. Through reviewing empirical articles focusing on entrepreneurs in these industries and analyzing how the activities of entrepreneurs are described, we argue that the academic conversation around these entrepreneurs revolves around broad questions: who they are, what they have and where they are. These questions constitute three domains of entrepreneurial activity. We outline the challenges and strategies of cultural entrepreneurs and discuss the dynamics in the interplay between challenges and strategies within and across these domains. In highlighting the interplay between challenges and strategies, we advance the knowledge of entrepreneurship in the cultural and creative sectors and provide avenues for further research.

• Appropriate abiotic stress response is pivotal for plant survival and makes use of multiple signaling molecules and phytohormones to achieve specific and fast molecular adjustments. A multitude of studies has highlighted the role of alternative splicing in response to abiotic stress, including temperature, emphasizing the role of transcriptional regulation for stress response. Here we investigated the role of the core-splicing factor PORCUPINE (PCP) on temperature-dependent root development.
• We used marker lines and transcriptomic analyses to study the expression profiles of meristematic regulators and mitotic markers, and chemical treatments, as well as root hormone profiling to assess the effect of auxin signaling.
• The loss of PCP significantly alters RAM architecture in a temperature-dependent manner. Our results indicate that PCP modulates the expression of central meristematic regulators and is required to maintain appropriate levels of auxin in the RAM.
• We conclude that alternative pre-mRNA splicing is sensitive to moderate temperature fluctuations and contributes to root meristem maintenance, possibly through the regulation of phytohormone homeostasis and meristematic activity.

Laser-induced ablation of drops from a metal wire enables the sequential deposition of voxels, for additive manufacturing. Striving for the goal of controlled, reproducible drop transfer, for this new technique, further trends and phenomena have been studied. Different modes of drop growth along with necking have been observed. Rather reproducible was a growing pending drop underneath the wire tip until separation for a certain size. In contrast, initial transients from the laser-induced recoil pressure can lead to a quick separation of a smaller drop. Initiation of a swinging cycle can also cause drop ablation after one cycle. For too fast wire feeding, the wire underpins the melt for a while in a spoon-like manner. Apart from the drop size, the different modes affect the scatter of the flight trajectory and landing position, as important optimization criteria, for controlled 3D-printing.

Introduction: Sepsis is a growing problem worldwide and associated with high mortality and morbidity. The early and accurate diagnosis and effective supportive therapy are critical for combating mortality. The aim of the study was to compare the kinetics of four biomarkers in plasma in patients admitted to ICU including sepsis and during antibiotics treatment.

Methods: The biomarkers evaluated were HBP (Heparin-binding protein), HNL Dimer (Human Neutrophil Lipocalin), HNL Total and PCT (Procalcitonin). Plasma was obtained at admission to ICU and during follow-up at days 2 and 3. Antibiotic treatment was started or reviewed on admission to ICU. The results were compared to SOFA and KDIGO-scores and to survival. 277 patients admitted to ICU were included of which 30% had sepsis. The other groups were categorized as miscellaneous, other medical and trauma.

Results: The plasma concentrations of all four biomarkers were highly elevated with the highest concentrations in sepsis patients. During the follow-up period HNL Dimer decreased already day 2 and further so day 3 (p<0.00001) in contrast to unchanged concentrations of the other three biomarkers. HNL Total showed the strongest relationships to the clinical scores (p<0.0001) and was by multiples regression analysis independently related to these scores.

Conclusion: Our data supports and confirms our earlier findings of HNL Dimer being a novel and potentially useful clinical tool in antibiotic stewardship in sepsis. HNL Total reflects epithelial cell activity in the body and is an interesting biomarker for the management of organ failure in such patients.

Given the profound influence that technology has on society, shaping our behaviours, conversations, and decisions, it is essential to understand its development and nature. Obtaining a complete understanding of technology requires us to explore both the nature of technology and its historical aspects. This study examines how using supportive images in a virtual reality (VR) learning environment, combined with verbal interactions, supports students aged eight and nine in developing an understanding of the nature of technology.

Data were collected during an ordinary technology teaching activity and the analysis highlighted that these students, through interactions and VR images, demonstrated knowledge of all dimensions of technology, as described by DiGironimo (2011). The analysis of the findings indicated that the students’ knowledge could be categorized, but there seemed to be more complexity in their utterances than DiGironimo’s model could capture. Additionally, I employed a discursive analysis to achieve a deeper comprehension of the students’ perceptions of the history of technology. Here, the findings indicate that VR images can promote students’ interaction related to the history of technology, which often leads to exploratory conversations.

The findings have the potential to support teachers in planning and conducting technology activities in primary schools, where images and verbal interactions could provide decisive support for developing an understanding of the nature of technology, especially the historical dimension of technology.

Entrepreneurship has gained increasing attention as a strategic area for rural development. Addressing environmental, demographic, and gender inequality challenges in rural areas requires contextualizing entrepreneurship. Moreover, applying contextualization as a critical lens provides a deeper understanding of how and why entrepreneurship happens in rural areas. This thesis examines the interplay between entrepreneurship and gender within the rural context and is situated in the growing body of literature expanding the knowledge on entrepreneurship in rural contexts. Thus, the thesis responds to the calls to contextualize rural entrepreneurship (McElwee & Atherton, 2021) and gender in entrepreneurship (Welter, 2011; Baker & Welter, 2020; Welter 2020). The thesis is based on a qualitative study on the life stories of women and men entrepreneurs engaged in their family businesses in the rural province of Småland in southern Sweden. The thesis further contributes with a systematic literature review describing the “state of the art” in rural entrepreneurship as well as the intertwinement between the rural, gender, and entrepreneurship fields. Methodologically, the thesis contributes to the operationalization of a rural proofing concept. To theorize on the intersection of these three, often separately studied, fields (Webster 2017), the thesis illustrates the dyadic influence of the rural context on entrepreneurship and gender relations. The thesis also provides theoretical contributions concerning the interdependence of the rural context, agency, and entrepreneurship, including the implications of this interdependence for policymakers, and practitioners. Contextualizing rural entrepreneurship and gender in entrepreneurship is crucial in the development of policies able to address the needs and capabilities of rural entrepreneurs to explore the impact of different policies on rural enterprise development (Smith & McElwee, 2014). Rural proofing policies that take into account the particularities of the rural milieu, such as gender, ethnicity, and traditions within the rural community, can increase the resilience of rural enterprises in the face of challenges arising from local and global contexts.

Background: The ESE previously published quality guidelines for endodontic treatment in 2006; however, there have been significant changes since not only in clinical endodontics but also in consensus and guideline development processes. In the development of the inaugural S3-level clinical practice guidelines (CPG), a comprehensive systematic and methodologically robust guideline consultation process was followed in order to produce evidence-based recommendations for the management of patients presenting with pulpal and apical disease.

Aim: To develop an S3-level CPG for the treatment of pulpal and apical disease, focusing on diagnosis and the implementation of the treatment approaches required to manage patients presenting with pulpitis and apical periodontitis (AP) with the ultimate goal of preventing tooth loss.

Methods: This S3-level CPG was developed by the ESE, with the assistance of independent methodological guidance provided by the Association of Scientific Medical Societies in Germany and utilizing the GRADE process. A robust, rigorous and transparent process included the analysis of relevant comparative research in 14 specifically commissioned systematic reviews, prior to evaluation of the quality and strength of evidence, the formulation of specific evidence and expert-based recommendations in a structured consensus process with leading endodontic experts and a broad base of external stakeholders.

Results: The S3-level CPG for the treatment of pulpal and apical disease describes in a series of clinical recommendations the effectiveness of diagnosing pulpitis and AP, prior to investigating the effectiveness of endodontic treatments in managing those diseases. Therapeutic strategies include the effectiveness of deep caries management in cases with, and without, spontaneous pain and pulp exposure, vital versus nonvital teeth, the effectiveness of root canal instrumentation, irrigation, dressing, root canal filling materials and adjunct intracanal procedures in the management of AP. Prior to treatment planning, the critical importance of history and case evaluation, aseptic techniques, appropriate training and re-evaluations during and after treatment is stressed.

Conclusion: The first S3-level CPG in endodontics informs clinical practice, health systems, policymakers, other stakeholders and patients on the available and most effective treatments to manage patients with pulpitis and AP in order to preserve teeth over a patient's lifetime, according to the best comparative evidence currently available.

Purpose: This paper aims to add to the theorization of the gender dynamic in rural areas by investigating the motives of women who join their family firm (or their spouse's family firm) and thereby defy the demographic trend of rural flight. The context of this study is the depopulation of rural areas with the closing of basic services and relocation of the younger population, and educated women in particular, to urban areas. Consequently, rural family businesses risk failing to find successors and suffering forced closure or relocation. The empirical site of the study is rural family firms in Sweden, a context characterized by a high level of gender equality in legislation and culture but gender-conservative business structures in rural regions.

Design/methodology/approach: The empirical case in this paper builds on a qualitative study of nine (9) life course narratives of women entrepreneurs in a rural region of Southern Sweden who have returned to rural areas to join their family business. The authors follow the view established by gender scholars that women are active agents in navigating their lives, and their life story narratives offer insight into the considerations that inform their choice to stay or return to rural locations. In Sweden, the setting for the study, gender equality is widely supported by legislation, policy and institutional frameworks and popular understanding of gender relations. In contrast to the gender-progressive policies of Sweden at large, women's entrepreneurship in rural regions of Sweden tends to follow traditional gender hierarchies and face similar constraints as in rural areas of other countries. The juxtaposition of these competing sets of ideals makes Sweden an important and interesting place to study and draw insights from the experiences of women entrepreneurs.

Findings: The findings reveal that women who choose to join rural family firms view them primarily in a positive light and see this choice as aligned with their need for professional flexibility and assertiveness, rewarding relationships, and a calm, secure, well-balanced life. Theoretically, the study implies that women choosing to engage in rural family firms seek non-material benefits, such as work–life balance and social support, and may be driven in part by a sense of psychological ownership that extends to the rural community.

Originality/value: The findings provide novel insights on women as active agents in navigating their lives and the intrinsic (e.g. alignment of personal values) and extrinsic (e.g. community support) motives that inform their decisions. The study also raises questions regarding how women perceive themselves as “fitting in” to rural settings and to what extent the sense of security within these settings that the women describe may be contingent upon factors such as their families' embeddedness within the community as well as their conformity to the local social norms.

Purpose: This paper aims to add to the theorization of family dynamics and women’s entrepreneurship by examining women’s influence on decision-making in family businesses. Business decisions in family firms, in particular, are not free from family influence in terms of goals and strategies, and the role of women in decision-making processes is of particular interest. Consequently, the role of women entrepreneurs in family firms and their influence on business development requires a more fine-grained analysis of the family dynamic within the family and the business.

Design/methodology/approach: This study draws on a qualitative study and focuses on the life story narratives of nine women in rural family businesses in rural communities of Småland province in Sweden to empirically examine the decision-making processes. This region is known both for its entrepreneurial culture and traditional gender order. Based on the narrative accounts of women entrepreneurs in family businesses, the data analysis method is thematic, using a Gioia-inspired method.

Findings: The complexity of decision-making in rural family firms is further complicated in part due to a closeness with the rural community. Thus, a typology of three decision-making modes in family firms emerges an informal family-oriented mode, a semistructured family/employee consensus mode and a formal board mode with at least one nonfamily member. Moreover, the advantages, disadvantages and strategies that women use to influence decisions within the respective mode are outlined.

Originality/value: This work contributes to the study of women’s agency and its implications in family business and entrepreneurship in the rural context. The study implies that women’s agency shapes the (rural) entrepreneurship context and, likewise, the (rural) entrepreneurship context influences women’s agency. Hence, the author challenges the view of women as only caregivers and sheds light on the practices and processes behind the scenes of entrepreneurial family businesses.

One of the current challenges of democracy is the increasing complexity of governing and, consequently, increasing civil servant influence at the expense of elected representatives. This is also affected by what politician–civil servant relations look like and by contextual aspects, although knowledge about the extent and impact of this influence is selective. Thus, this paper examines civil servants’ influence in evidently complex and resource-intensive processes by conducting a study of citizen dialogues in two rural Swedish municipalities. Expectedly, traits of this context can be recognised throughout the results. The findings point to the position of the involved civil servants as important to the level of civil servant influence in these processes. They further suggest that process complexity may contribute to amplifying already high civil servant influence. However, they also confirm expectations about civil servants’ dispositions towards political legitimate processes, which appeared to dampen the impact of the skewed influence. I conclude that, with these contextual preconditions, the studied form of process can potentially increase civil servant influence. I also argue that, given the size and form of this study, this highlights the need for further studies in local rural contexts and local politician–civil servant relations. 

Gaps within and between public actors cause inefficient, incomplete, and inequitable public services. A new co-working concept, Samverket, was designed and tested to address these shortcomings in two Swedish regions. This paper investigated qualitatively how public sector employees perceived the conditions for cross-organizational networking, learning, and collaboration when using Samverket and whether they experienced positive outcomes for society. The results show that this co-working concept can innovate public services and highlight which conditions are optimal when designing and using such a workplace for public sector employees. These new findings are relevant to the public sector, practitioners, policymakers, and researchers. 

Lignin is a complex biopolymer whose efficient extraction from biomass is crucial for various applications. Deep eutectic solvents (DES), particularly natural-origin DES (NADES), have emerged as promising systems for lignin fractionation and separation from other biomass components. While ternary DES offer enhanced fractionation performance, the role of each component in these mixtures remains unclear. In this study, the effects of adding tartaric acid (Tart) or citric acid (Cit) to a common binary DES mixture composed of lactic acid (Lact) and choline chloride (ChCl) were investigated for lignin extraction from acacia wood. Ternary Cit-based DES showed superior performance compared to Tart-based DES. Using a combined mixture-process D-Optimal experimental design, the Lact:Cit:ChCl DES composition and extraction temperature were optimized targeting maximum lignin yield and purity. The optimal conditions (i.e., Lact:Cit:ChCl, 0.6:0.3:0.1 molar ratio, 140 °C) resulted in a lignin extraction yield of 99.63 ± 1.24 % and a lignin purity of 91.45 ± 1.03 %. Furthermore, this DES exhibited feasible recyclability and reusability without sacrificing efficiency. 

Many Nordic non-state actors are taking voluntary action to contribute to global efforts to combat climate change, within and beyond their boundaries and value chains. Buying carbon credits from the voluntary carbon markets is one way to support climate change mitigation beyond the value chain. This report summarises key insights from a a series of Nordic capacity building events on best practices for the voluntary carbon market, in line with the results and recommendations of the Nordic Dialogue on Voluntary Compensation. It provides an overview of the latest international and national developments in the field and key issues discussed in the events.

In this article, we investigate traces of a news media logic in the Swedish parliamentary speeches from 1920 to 2019. Drawing on theories of mediatisation, we examine two aspects: the length of the speeches and repeated political slogans. Our analysis is based on a complete corpus of parliamentary records with annotated speeches. Speech length was measured based on word count, and the identification of slogans was based on repeated seven-word segments, filtered to exclude generic phrases. While it is difficult to draw any definitive conclusions about the influence of an external media logic, the speech length has dropped by 50 per cent since 1920. This change relates to new parliamentary procedures, and from the 1980s, with the explicit goal to attract the news media. Short and snappy political slogans have increased significantly since the 1990s. This development reflects previous research stating that sound bites are getting shorter.

This study examines geodesics and plurisubharmonic envelopes within the Cegrell classes on bounded hyperconvex domains in Cn. We establish that solutions possessing comparable singularities to the complex Monge–Ampère equation are identical, affirmatively addressing a longstanding open question raised by Cegrell. This achievement furnishes the most general form of the Bedford–Taylor comparison principle within the Cegrell classes. Building on this foundational result, we explore plurisubharmonic geodesics, broadening the criteria for geodesic connectivity among plurisubharmonic functions with connectable boundary values. Our investigation also delves into the notion of rooftop envelopes, revealing that the rooftop equality condition and the idempotency conjecture are valid under substantially weaker conditions than previously established, a finding made possible by our proven uniqueness result. The paper concludes by discussing the core open problems within the Cegrell classes related to the complex Monge–Ampère equation.

This article aims to problematize knowledge production as merely an academic researcher endeavour by investigating how research can invite preschool-aged children to activate knowledge in situ. Informed by Isabelle Stengers’ theoretical framework, we developed the research methodology of Research prACTivisms through three propositions: activating an ecology of practices, engaging a direct democracy, and emerging situation ethics and values as means for change and transformations in continuous processes and activations. We argue that Research prACTivisms may produce and activate marginalized actors and knowledge in order to produce contemporary and situated political research practices and approaches. 

Background: A team-based, individualised rehabilitation approach may be required to meet the complex needs of people with dementia. This randomised controlled pilot trial evaluated the feasibility of a person-centred multidimensional interdisciplinary rehabilitation programme for community-dwelling older people with dementia and their informal primary caregivers.

Methods: Participants with dementia were randomised to an intervention group (n = 31, mean age (SD) 78.4 (6.0) years) or usual care (n = 30, mean age 79.0 (7.1)). The rehabilitation programme consisted of a 20-week rehabilitation period containing assessments and interventions based on each individual’s goals, and group-based physical exercise plus social interaction twice a week for 16 weeks at a rehabilitation unit. After 5 and 14 months, the interdisciplinary team followed up participants over two four-week periods. For both groups, dates of deaths and decision to move to nursing home over three years, as well as interventions for the relevant periods, were collected. Blinded assessors measured physical functions, physical activity, activities of daily living, cognitive functions, nutritional status, and neuropsychiatric symptoms at baseline and at 5, 12, 24, and 36 months.

Results: Participants in the intervention group received a mean of 70.7 (20.1) interventions during the 20-week rehabilitation period, delivered by all ten team professions. The corresponding figures for the control group were 5.8 (5.9). In the intervention group, all but one participated in rehabilitation planning, including goal setting, and attendance in the exercise and social interaction groups was 74.8%. None of the adverse events (n = 19) led to any manifest injury or disease. Cox proportional hazard regression showed a non-significant lower relative risk (HR = 0.620, 95% CI 0.27–1.44) in favour of the intervention for moving to nursing home or mortality during the 36-month follow-up period. Linear mixed-effect models showed non-significant but potentially clinically meaningful between-group differences in gait, physical activity, and neuropsychological symptoms in favour of the intervention.

Conclusions: The rehabilitation programme seems feasible among community-dwelling older people with dementia. The overall results merit proceeding to a future definitive randomised controlled trial, exploring effects and cost-effectiveness. One could consider to conduct the programme earlier in the course of dementia, adding cognitive training and a control attention activity.

Trial registration: The study protocol, ISRCTN59155421, was registered online 4/11/2015.

E-mobility is pivotal in enabling sustainable and technologically advanced urban environments. In line with this, Sweden's electric vehicle fleet is rapidly expanding, thereby increasing the power necessary for charging electric vehicles. If not properly managed and controlled, this increase in power can potentially threaten grid stability and exacerbate grid congestion. 

The primary aim of this thesis was to assess and investigate the potential of a next-generation parking facility at a multifunctional building to be an active part of the city’s distribution grid. The research was guided by the question of to what capacity smart control of a parking facility with a technical system could assist and alter the load demand to generate benefits for both the building and the city’s distribution grid.

This was investigated at Dansmästaren, the first multifunctional building in Uppsala, Sweden. An experimental setup with an electric vehicle charging station and an energy management system was developed at the Ångström laboratory to test and verify control strategies before their implementation at the multifunctional building's parking facility. Thereafter, a second energy management system was developed and implemented at Dansmästaren with the purpose of monitoring and controlling the electric vehicle charging at the parking facility.

The findings of the included papers were divided into two categories. The charging of the electric vehicles can either be assisted by the parking facility's technical system or altered by including the electric vehicle charging in the control for the technical system. Both categories show that a parking facility with a technical system in a multifunctional building can help reduce local grid demand while also providing local benefits for the building.

While the contribution of a single multifunctional building may appear negligible from a grid perspective, the cumulative effect becomes substantial when applied across multiple buildings. Thus, the parking facility at Dansmästaren has the potential to play an active role in the city’s distribution grid through smart charging and the utilization of an energy management system.

This work proposes an application of unsupervised deep learning (DL) on 2-D images containing VI diagrams of measured railway pantograph quantities to find patterns in operating conditions (OCs) and waveform distortion. Measurement data consist of pantograph voltage and current measurements from a Swiss 15 kV 16.7 Hz commercial locomotive and a French 2x25 kV 50 Hz test-dedicated locomotive, containing more than 4000 records of 5-cycle snippets for each system. The variational autoencoder (VAE), followed by feature clustering, finds patterns in the input data. Each cluster captures patterns from the VI diagrams, which contain information from current and voltage waveshapes and sub-second variations. The time-domain admittance allows inference about the rolling stock (RS) operation and the waveform distortion spectra, including harmonics and supraharmonics characteristics from both RS and traction supply. The VAE successfully performs data embedding using only 16 channels in the latent space. The effectiveness of the method is quantified by means of the mean square reconstruction error (never larger than 1.5% and equal to 0.31% and 0.33% on average for the Swiss and French case, respectively). The t-SNE visualization confirms that overlapping of clusters is negligible, with a percentage of “misplaced” cluster points of 2.18% and 2.50%, again for the Swiss and French case, respectively. The computation time for the VAE prediction could be brought to some tens of ms representing a performance reference for future implementations. The proposed VI diagram assessment covers emissions for different OCs, rapid changes in power supply conditions, and background distortion caused by other trains on the same line, including line and impedance changes due to the moving load. In this perspective physical justification is found by domain knowledge integration for the identified clusters. A concluding discussion regarding advantages, limitations, and potential improvements or diversification is also included.

Hot stamping is a forming process widely used in the manufacturing of structural components in automobiles. It is a versatile process that enables the fabrication of complex-shaped components with high strength. It also facilitates the manufacturing of components that incorporate high-strength sections and high-ductility sections, by controlling the cooling rate. The process is versatile in terms of the microstructures and mechanical properties that can be obtained. This versatility, however, puts high demands on the materials pertaining their stability, wear resistance, costs, etc. This study has focused on understanding the effect of temperature on the tribological response of different tool materials when these are exposed to high temperatures. The results show that friction significantly stabilises with increased temperature for most tool steels. One tool steel behaves more unstably at high temperature, and this is attributed to the presence of Cr7C3, MoO3, and VO and severe wear on the workpiece material. The most severe wear on the workpiece is caused by a partially melted interdiffusion layer, which facilitates the detachment of the Al-Si coating and subsequent transfer onto the tool; this effect is maximised at the highest temperatures of the workpiece. An important finding is that friction and material transfer severity decrease as the workpiece temperature decreases, and friction is stabilised as tool temperature increases without minimising wear or the average friction coefficient.

Background: Complementary and alternativemedicine (CAM) is widely used by patients with cancer. Research indicates that the use of CAM is more prevalent in rural areas compared to urban areas. There is currently a lack of information regarding the scope and specifics of CAM use among patients in Sweden, particularly in rural areas. The aim of this study was to estimate the extent and characteristics of CAM use among cancer patients in the rural areas of Region Gävleborg.

Methods: A total of 631 questionnaires were sent out, and 376 of those were returned, corresponding to a response rate of 59.6%. Oncology patients received questionnaires at their initial appointment for curative care at Gävle Hospital's Department of Oncology. When enrolling in palliative outpatient care in their homes, palliative patients were sought out. Standard descriptive statistics were used to present the characteristics of the respondents. To determine odds ratios and potential factors (age, gender, diagnosis, and education) affecting CAM use after cancer diagnosis, a multivariable logistic model was constructed.

Results: Based on clinical observations, the authors' hypothesis that CAM use is particularly common in small towns in the Hälsingland region was verified in this study. This was particularly pronounced among younger people and residents of small towns in the province of Halsingland. The higher level of CAM use appears to apply to both men and women.

Conclusions: CAM appears to be used more frequently by patients residing in rural areas. It is crucial that care providers enquire about all of the patient's health-seeking activities. Further research is needed on the usage of CAM in rural areas and the potential cultural influences contributing to CAM use. From a sociological standpoint, it is crucial to draw attention to the fact that CAM use may be more prevalent in certain rural areas, particularly in centralized societies where it is more difficult to access healthcare in remote regions.

Proprioception plays a crucial role in motor coordination and self-perception. Muscle spindles are the principal receptors for proprioception. They are believed to encode muscle stretch and signal limb position and velocity. Here, we applied percutaneous pressure to a small area of extensor muscles at the forearm while recording spindle afferent responses, skeletal muscle activity, and hand kinematics. Three levels of sustained pressure were applied on the spindle-bearing muscle when the hand was relaxed and immobile ("isometric" condition) and when the participant's hand moved rhythmically at the wrist. As hypothesized to occur due to compression of the spindle capsule, we show that muscle pressure is an "adequate" stimulus for human spindles in isometric conditions and that pressure enhances spindle responses during stretch. Interestingly, release of sustained pressure in isometric conditions lowered spindle firing below baseline rates. Our findings urge a re-evaluation of muscle proprioception in sensorimotor function and various neuromuscular pathologies.

A necessary condition for the generation of Geomagnetically Induced Currents (GICs) that can pose hazards for technological infrastructure is the occurrence of large, rapid changes in the magnetic field at the surface of the Earth. We investigate the causes of such (Formula presented.) events or “spikes” observed by SuperMAG at auroral latitudes, by comparing with the time-series of different types of geomagnetic activity for the duration of 2010. Spikes are found to occur predominantly in the pre-midnight and dawn sectors. We find that pre-midnight spikes are associated with substorm onsets. Dawn sector spikes are not directly associated with substorms, but with auroral activity occurring within the westward electrojet region. Azimuthally-spaced auroral features drift sunwards, producing Ps6 (10–20 min period) magnetic perturbations on the ground. The magnitude of (Formula presented.) is determined by the flow speed in the convection return flow region, which in turn is related to the strength of solar wind-magnetospheric coupling. Pre-midnight and dawn sector spikes can occur at the same time, as strong coupling favors both substorms and westward electrojet activity; however, the mechanisms that create them seem somewhat independent. The dawn auroral features share some characteristics with omega bands, but can also appear as north-south aligned auroral streamers. We suggest that these two phenomena share a single underlying cause. The associated fluctuations in the westward electrojet produce quasi-periodic negative excursions in the AL index, which can be mis-identified as recurrent substorm intensifications.

Background: Transportation noise has been linked with cardiometabolic outcomes, yet whether it is a risk factor for atrial fibrillation (AF) remains inconclusive. We aimed to assess whether transportation noise was associated with AF in a large, pooled Nordic cohort.

Methods: We pooled data from 11 Nordic cohorts, totaling 161,115 participants. Based on address history from five years before baseline until end of follow-up, road, railway, and aircraft noise was estimated at a residential level. Incident AF was ascertained via linkage to nationwide patient registries. Cox proportional hazards models were utilized to estimate associations between running 5-year time-weighted mean transportation noise (Lden) and AF after adjusting for sociodemographics, lifestyle, and air pollution.

Findings: We identified 18,939 incident AF cases over a median follow-up of 19.6 years. Road traffic noise was associated with AF, with a hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) of 1.02 (1.00–1.04) per 10-dB of 5-year mean time-weighted exposure, which changed to 1.03 (1.01–1.06) when implementing a 53-dB cut-off. In effect modification analyses, the association for road traffic noise and AF appeared strongest in women and overweight and obese participants. Compared to exposures ≤40 dB, aircraft noise of 40.1–50 and > 50 dB were associated with HRs of 1.04 (0.93–1.16) and 1.12 (0.98–1.27), respectively. Railway noise was not associated with AF. We found a HR of 1.19 (1.02–1.40) among people exposed to noise from road (≥45 dB), railway (>40 dB), and aircraft (>40 dB) combined.

Interpretation: Road traffic noise, and possibly aircraft noise, may be associated with elevated risk of AF. Funding: NordForsk.

We use optical-optical double-resonance spectroscopy with a continuous wave (CW) pump and a cavity-enhanced frequency comb probe to measure the energy levels of methane in the upper part of the triacontad polyad (P6) with higher rotational quantum numbers than previously assigned. A high-power CW optical parametric oscillator, tunable around 3000 cm-1, is consecutively locked to the P(7, A2), Q(7, A2), R(7, A2), and Q(6, F2) transitions in the ν3 band, and a comb covering the 5800-6100 cm-1 range probes sub-Doppler ladder-type transitions from the pumped levels with J' = 6 to 8, respectively. We report 118 probe transitions in the 3ν3 ← ν3 spectral range with uncertainties down to 300 kHz (1 × 10-5 cm-1), reaching 84 unique final states in the 9070-9370 cm-1 range with rotational quantum numbers J between 5 and 9. We assign these states using combination differences and by comparison with theoretical predictions from a new ab initio-based effective Hamiltonian and dipole moment operator. This is the first line-by-line experimental verification of theoretical predictions for these hot-band transitions, and we find a better agreement of transition wavenumbers with the new calculations compared to the TheoReTS/HITEMP and ExoMol databases. We also compare the relative intensities and find an overall good agreement with all three sets of predictions. Finally, we report the wavenumbers of 27 transitions in the 2ν3 spectral range, observed as V-type transitions from the ground state, and compare them to the new Hamiltonian, HITRAN2020, ExoMol, and the WKMLC line lists.

AI systems, like self-driving cars, healthcare robots, or Autonomous Weapon Systems, already play an increasingly important role in our lives and will do so to an even greater extent in the near future. This raises a fundamental philosophical question: who is morally responsible when such systems cause unjustified harm? In the paper, we argue for the admittedly surprising claim that some of these systems can themselves be morally responsible for their conduct in an important and everyday sense of the term—the attributability sense. More specifically, relying on work by Nomy Arpaly and Timothy Schroeder (In Praise of Desire, OUP 2014), we propose that the behavior of these systems can manifest their ‘quality of will’ and thus be regarded as something they can be blameworthy for. We develop this position in detail, justify some of its crucial presuppositions, and defend it against potential objections.

Background: Efficacy of inhaled therapy such as Nitric Oxide (iNO) during mechanical ventilation may depend on airway patency. We hypothesized that airway closure and lung collapse, countered by positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP), influence iNO efficacy. This could support the role of an adequate PEEP titration for inhalation therapy. The main aim of this study was to assess the effect of iNO with PEEP set above or below the airway opening pressure (AOP) generated by airway closure, on hemodynamics and gas exchange in swine models of acute respiratory distress syndrome. Fourteen pigs randomly underwent either bilateral or asymmetrical two-hit model of lung injury. Airway closure and lung collapse were measured with electrical impedance tomography as well as ventilation/perfusion ratio (V/Q). After AOP detection, the effect of iNO (10ppm) was studied with PEEP set randomly above or below regional AOP. Respiratory mechanics, hemodynamics, and gas-exchange were recorded.

Results: All pigs presented airway closure (AOP > 0.5cmH2O) after injury. In bilateral injury, iNO was associated with an improved mean pulmonary pressure from 49 +/- 8 to 42 +/- 7mmHg; (p = 0.003), and ventilation/perfusion matching, caused by a reduction in pixels with low V/Q and shunt from 16%[IQR:13-19] to 9%[IQR:4-12] (p = 0.03) only at PEEP set above AOP. iNO had no effect on hemodynamics or gas exchange for PEEP below AOP (low V/Q 25%[IQR:16-30] to 23%[IQR:14-27]; p = 0.68). In asymmetrical injury, iNO improved pulmonary hemodynamics and ventilation/perfusion matching independently from the PEEP set. iNO was associated with improved oxygenation in all cases.

Conclusions: In an animal model of bilateral lung injury, PEEP level relative to AOP markedly influences iNO efficacy on pulmonary hemodynamics and ventilation/perfusion match, independently of oxygenation.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine how rural entrepreneurship is discussed by analyzing articles in the leading journals of the two main research fields, entrepreneurship studies, and rural studies, through the concept of rural proofing.

Design/methodology/approach: The systematic literature review centers on the two main fields where rural entrepreneurship is studied and covers papers in nine leading journals in entrepreneurship studies and two leading journals in rural studies, between the years 1989 and 2020. In total, 97 papers were reviewed and we utilize and operationalize the rural proofing concept based on Fahmy et al.'s (2004) 3 characteristics of rural: remoteness, accessibility, and rural locale and sense of place. The authors take stock of the dimensions of rural proofing addressed within each of the research fields to find similarities and differences; that is, if articles are rural proofed (or not) when discussing rural entrepreneurship.

Findings: The classification of articles across the three dimensions of rural proofing shows that the field of rural entrepreneurship is being addressed mainly in the dimensions of remoteness and accessibility, while few authors in rural studies journals give priority to the rural locale and sense of place dimension. The results of the authors' review reveal that out of a total of 97 articles on rural entrepreneurship, 56 articles address at least one dimension of rural proofing and 41 articles do not address any dimension. Among the 41 articles not rural proofed, rurality is not problematized when discussing rural entrepreneurship. Instead, the authors focus on specific topics such as social capital, community entrepreneurship/networks, entrepreneurs'/farmers' identity, illegality in rural areas, and institutional framework. The number of non-rural-proofed articles in entrepreneurship journals is almost double that in rural studies journals. This means that authors in entrepreneurship journals do not problematize rurality to the same extent as authors in rural studies journals when addressing rural entrepreneurship.

Research limitations/implications: The authors emphasize the need for increased cross-fertilization between the fields of entrepreneurship and rural studies as an avenue to develop the entrepreneurship field in the direction towards rural proofing. A close collaboration with academia and policymakers is essential to promote interdisciplinary research in order to make a distinctive contribution to rural development. Scholars in either of the two fields will benefit from our review and identification of similarities and differences in the research. The review is one step towards promoting a closer dialog between the two fields.

Originality/value: Previous reviews have focused mainly on what rural entrepreneurship entails (e.g. what topics are discussed) rather than how rural entrepreneurship is discussed. This paper centers on the differences and similarities of the two main fields and provides an in-depth qualitative analysis of how rural entrepreneurship is discussed by utilizing the rural proofing concept.

The importance of marine resources for the Neolithic hunter-fisher-gathers of the Pitted Ware Culture of Gotland, Sweden, is well documented through zooarchaeological analyses and diet studies of human remains. Terrestrial areas were important for living and supplementing the diet but the extent of the terrestrial territories and regions of land use for different groups is largely unknown. The presence of euryhaline species in recovered zooarchaeological assemblages indicates that freshwater fishing or fishing in the brackish estuaries of the Baltic Sea was part of the subsistence practises. To explore if the inland freshwaters of Gotland were used and, if exploited, where they were located, 18 teeth from euryhaline fish from the Pitted Ware Culture site Ajvide on Gotland were selected. The Sr-87/Sr-86 isotope ratios in the fish teeth were analysed using laser ablation-multi collector-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry and correlated with an updated bioavailable baseline of Gotlandic water sources. Through this approach, the habitational origin of the fish was shown to primarily stem from at least six freshwater sources located in the west-central area of Gotland, in close relation to the site, with a few individuals originating from within the Baltic Sea. The study highlights the significance of ichthyoarchaeological analysis in understanding the territorial practice of past foraging societies and recommends further studies on euryhaline species to expand our knowledge of fish habitat, human resource utilization and land use.

During the meiosis of many eukaryote species, crossovers tend to occur within narrow regions called recombination hotspots. In plants, it is generally thought that gene regulatory sequences, especially promoters and 5 ' to 3 ' untranslated regions, are enriched in hotspots, but this has been characterized in a handful of species only. We also lack a clear description of fine-scale variation in recombination rates within genic regions and little is known about hotspot position and intensity in plants. To address this question, we constructed fine-scale recombination maps from genetic polymorphism data and inferred recombination hotspots in 11 plant species. We detected gradients of recombination in genic regions in most species, yet gradients varied in intensity and shape depending on specific hotspot locations and gene structure. To further characterize recombination gradients, we decomposed them according to gene structure by rank and number of exons. We generalized the previously observed pattern that recombination hotspots are organized around the boundaries of coding sequences, especially 5 ' promoters. However, our results also provided new insight into the relative importance of the 3 ' end of genes in some species and the possible location of hotspots away from genic regions in some species. Variation among species seemed driven more by hotspot location among and within genes than by differences in size or intensity among species. Our results shed light on the variation in recombination rates at a very fine scale, revealing the diversity and complexity of genic recombination gradients emerging from the interaction between hotspot location and gene structure.

This workbook originates from the insights and learnings of our work in the field of design for sustainable systemic societal transformation.

More and more organisations are striving to transform their current practices into new ones, that embrace complexity and open-endedness. These new practices do not rush into defining confined (and potentially misleading) problems in the name of efficiency, productivity, and competitiveness. They rather take time to engage in transformation processes, that start by forming collaborations around specific systemic societal challenges. Redefining these challenges into missions that are tackled by a partnership, which evolves in time.

Framing challenges as societal proves to be the first, important hurdle to overcome. Mainstream practices tend to identify and reduce problems to localised interventions that can be solved linearly, by specialised field knowledge.

A problem is defined and a technologically driven, incremental innovation is applied to solve that problem. Haraway refers to these kind of attitude as looking for technofixes, which she unapologetically identifies as comic. This bitter humour stems from the awareness that those attempts are dangerously ignoring the necessity to acknowledge the systemic nature of human acts: from the complex life-cycle of products and services that we realise, to the behaviours that we elicit in direct and indirect receivers of such products, services, systems and policies. A shift is urgent: from extractive approaches to regenerative ones, where materials, value and energies are not extracted, but where regenerative practices are established instead.

The resemblance between fallopian tube cells and serous borderline ovarian tumors (BOTs) suggests a potential origin link, with salpingitis proposed as a contributing factor in the pathogenesis of BOT. This study aimed to explore the potential association between pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) and the risk of developing BOT. A national population-based case–control study in Sweden included women with BOT between 1999 and 2020 and 10 matched controls. Data from nationwide registers were analyzed using conditional logistic regression, adjusting for age, residential district, educational level and parity. Among 4782 cases and 45,167 controls, 2.0% of cases and 1.3% of controls had a history of PID. Previous PID was associated with an increased risk of BOT overall (aOR, 1.48; 95% CI, 1.19–1.85). Significant association was observed with serous tumors (aOR, 1.76; 95% CI, 1.36–2.29), while not with mucinous tumors (aOR, 0.95; 95% CI, 0.60–1.49). A dose–response relationship between number of PID episodes and serous BOT risk was noted (Ptrend <.001). This study demonstrates that PID is associated with increased risk of serous BOT, with a dose response relationship. The study highlights the potential serious implications of upper reproductive tract infections and inflammation. This underscores the need for further investigation of biological mechanisms and possible impact of PID on serous BOT development.

Decades of social science stress the vital role of trust in a robust democracy, and scholars have explored the origins of trust, highlighting the dynamic interaction between institutional trust and generalised social trust. While the literature exhibits uncertainties regarding the causal direction between these various forms of trust, it generally suggests that trust in institutions spills over to trust in people in general. This article examines a neglected aspect of trust studies – the relationship between local institutional trust and community trust. Drawing on a two-wave panel study from Sweden, the results indicate bidirectional relationships between the two forms of trust over time. In so doing, this study contributes to the prior research by showing that in a local context, where daily interactions take place between community members and representatives of local institutions, the relationship between trust in neighbours and trust in local institutions appears to be more complex and interdependent.

The salt cavern compressed air energy storage (CAES) reservoir undergoes periodic cyclic gas injection and production, which induce coupled fatigue-creep effects on the surrounding rock during operation. In this work, a new constitutive model was developed for salt rocks, and it uses the traditional Norton model to describe the hardening degree with state variables. The fatigue-creep mechanical properties were investigated, the model was validated, and the model parameters were analyzed using triaxial continuous and interval fatigue tests. The findings were as followed: (1) Increasing the time interval will result in a higher residual strain and a shorter fatigue life; the confining pressures increases the compressive strength of salt rock. (2) The model only needs to adjust two parameters to accurately fit the fatigue-creep deformations behavior of salt rock, and it effectively characterizes the relationship between deformation and stress routes. (3) In the model, parameters m and k play a role through state variables. Parameter m affects the magnitude of the overall deformation and the length of the deceleration stage. Parameter k controls the bending of the curve, and has a more sensitive influence on the model. (4) Compared with that of the continuous fatigue model, the floating range of parameters m and k in the interval fatigue model is less than 10%. The model can adapt to the influence of time interval on rock deformation and more accurately predict the deformations of the salt rock surrounding the salt cavern reservoir.

Vector control of mosquitoes with insecticides is an important tool for preventing the spread of mosquito-borne diseases including malaria, dengue, chikungunya, and Zika. Development of active ingredients for insecticides are urgently needed because existing agents exhibit off-target toxicity and are subject to increasing resistance. We therefore seek to develop noncovalent inhibitors of the validated insecticidal target acetylcholinesterase 1 (AChE1) from mosquitoes. Here we use molecular dynamics simulations to identify structural properties essential for the potency of reversible inhibitors targeting AChE1 from Anopheles gambiae (AgAChE1), the malaria-transmitting mosquito, and for selectivity relative to the vertebrate Mus musculus AChE (mAChE). We show that the collective motions of apo AgAChE1 and mAChE differ, with AgAChE1 exhibiting less dynamic movement. Opening and closing of the gorge, which regulates access to the catalytic triad, is enabled by different mechanisms in the two species, which could be linked to their differing amino acid sequences. Inhibitor binding reduced the overall magnitude of dynamics of AChE. In particular, more potent inhibitors reduced the flexibility of the Ω loop at the entrance of the gorge. The selectivity of inhibitors for AgAChE1 over mAChE derives from the positioning of the α-helix lining the binding gorge. Our findings emphasize the need to consider dynamics when developing inhibitors targeting this enzyme and highlight factors needed to create potent and selective AgAChE1 inhibitors that could serve as active ingredients to combat disease-transmitting mosquitoes.

A phytoestrogen-rich diet has been suggested to reduce tumor proliferation among men with prostate cancer, and the effect may differ between men with different polymorphisms of the estrogen receptor‐beta gene (ERβ). Patients with low- or intermediate-risk prostate cancer scheduled for radical prostatectomy were randomized to an intervention group (n = 71) provided with soybeans and flaxseeds (∼200 mg phytoestrogens/day) to eat until surgery (approximately 6 wk) or to a control group (n = 69). Tumor proliferation was assessed using Ki-67 indexes, prostate-specific antigen (PSA) concentrations were analyzed in blood, and ERβ polymorphism was genotyped in all subjects. The intervention group had a 13% unit lower risk [95% confidence interval (CI): −28%, 1.8%] of a higher Ki-67 index compared to controls, but the effect was most pronounced among TT carriers of ERβ [risk difference (RD) −19%, 95% CI: −45%, 6.8%]. Subjects with genotype TC/CC had a lower risk (RD −29%, 95% CI: −46%, −1.2%) and TT genotype a higher risk (RD 25%, 95% CI: 8.7%, 42%) of increased PSA concentration, comparing the intervention group to controls. In conclusion, a phytoestrogen-rich diet may cause lower tumor proliferation and concentration of PSA in men with prostate cancer with a specific genetic upset of ERβ.

Allopurinol can be used in maintenance therapy (MT) for pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) to mitigate hepatic toxicity in patients with skewed 6-mercaptopurine metabolism. Allopurinol increases the erythrocyte levels of thioguanine nucleotides (e-TGN), which is the proposed main mediator of the antileukemic effect and decreases methyl mercaptopurine (e-MeMP) levels, associated with hepatotoxicity. We investigated the effects of allopurinol in thiopurine methyltransferase (TPMT) wild-type patients without previous clinical signs of skewed 6-mercaptopurine metabolism. Fifty-one patients from Sweden and Finland were enrolled in this prospective before-after trial during ALL MT. Mean e-TGN increased from 280 nmol/mmol hemoglobin (Hb) after 12 weeks of standard MT to 440 after 12 weeks of MT with addition of allopurinol 50 mg/ m(2) (P<0.001). Mean e-MeMP decreased simultaneously from 9,481 nmol/mmol Hb to 2,791 (P<0.001) and mean alanine aminotransferase declined by almost 50%. Primary endpoint, defined as e-TGN >200 nmol/mmol Hb, was reached for 91% of the patients after 12 weeks of allopurinol (week 25) compared to 67% before (week 13) (P<0.001). This level was chosen as the median e-TGN in a previous NOPHO ALL-2008 study was just below 200 nmol/mmol Hb. During weeks on allopurinol a slightly higher proportion of the patients had a white blood cell count within target 1.5-3.0x10(9)/L. Allopurinol did not increase severe adverse events and no life-threatening events were reported. In conclusion, allopurinol add-on treatment is safe and leads to increased e-TGN and reduced e-MeMP also in ALL-patients without previous signs of skewed thiopurine metabolism and is a promising approach to increase antileukemic effect and reduce toxicity.

Importance: The standard adjuvant treatment for patients with ERRB2-positive breast cancer is chemotherapy plus 1 year of trastuzumab. Shorter durations of trastuzumab administration improve cardiac safety, but more information is needed about their effect on survival.

Objective: To compare survival outcomes after 9-week vs 1-year administration of trastuzumab with the same adjuvant chemotherapy.

Design, Setting, and Participants: This post hoc secondary analysis of an open-label, multicenter, noninferiority-design randomized clinical trial included women aged 18 years or older with early ERBB2-positive, axillary node-negative or axillary node-positive breast cancer who were enrolled from January 3, 2008, to December 16, 2014, at 65 centers in 7 European countries. The current exploratory analysis was conducted after achieving the maximum attainable follow-up data when the last patient enrolled had completed the last scheduled visit in December 2022.

Intervention: Chemotherapy consisted of 3 cycles of docetaxel administered at 3-week intervals followed by 3 cycles of fluorouracil, epirubicin, and cyclophosphamide at 3-week intervals. Trastuzumab was administered in both groups for 9 weeks concomitantly with docetaxel. In the 9-week group, no further trastuzumab was administered after chemotherapy, whereas in the 1-year group, trastuzumab was continued after chemotherapy to complete 1 year of administration.

Main Outcomes and Measures: The primary objective was disease-free survival (DFS). Distant DFS and OS were secondary objectives. Survival between groups was compared using the Kaplan-Meier method and log-rank test or univariable Cox proportional hazards regression.

Results: Among the 2174 women analyzed, median age was 56 years (IQR, 48-64 years). The median follow-up time was 8.1 years (IQR, 8.0-8.9 years); 357 DFS events and 176 deaths occurred. Trastuzumab for 9 weeks was associated with shorter DFS compared with trastuzumab for 1 year (hazard ratio [HR], 1.36; 90% CI, 1.14-1.62); 10-year DFS was 80.3% in the 1-year group vs 78.6% in the 9-week group. The 5-year and 10-year OS rates were comparable between the 9-week and 1-year groups (95.0% vs 95.9% and 89.1% vs 88.2%, respectively; HR for all time points, 1.20; 90% CI, 0.94-1.54). In multivariable analyses, 9-week treatment was associated with shorter DFS compared with 1-year treatment (HR for recurrence or death, 1.36; 95% CI, 1.10-1.68; P = .005), but there was no between-group difference in OS (HR, 1.22; 95% CI, 0.90-1.64; P = .20). Only 4 patients (0.2%) died of a cardiac cause. Conclusions and Relevance In this secondary analysis of a randomized clinical trial, 1-year vs 9-week adjuvant trastuzumab was associated with improved DFS among patients with ERRB2-positive breast cancer receiving chemotherapy, but there was no significant difference in OS between the groups. Trial RegistrationClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00593697