Achieving Sustainability Through Geodata: An Empirical Study of Challenges and Barriers

Master's thesis in Information systems (IS501)Research within data management is often based on the elements of the data lifecycle. Organizations and businesses are also becoming more interested in data lifecycle management to leverage their data streams, compounded by an interest in geographical attributes within the data –referred to as geodata. Geodata provides a richer basis for analysis and is increasingly important within urban planning. Furthermore, the pressure to achieve sustainability goals calls for improving the data lifecycle. The challenge remainsas to what can be improvedwithin the data lifecycle –with geodata as an important input –to achieve sustainability dimensions. Our main contribution through this study is shedding light on challenges withgeodata from an Information Systems (IS) and sustainability perspective. Additionally, the identified challenges are also feedback to data management research and the data lifecycle

Who lives in care homes in Greenland? A nationwide survey of demographics, functional level, medication use and comorbidities

BACKGROUND: Greenland is facing an ageing population, and little is known about the characteristics of the elderly population in Greenland. This study offers both a comparison and a description of the demographics, causes of admission, comorbidities and medication of the residents in care homes in the capital, major and minor towns in four of the five administrative regions of Greenland. METHODS: The study was conducted from 2010 to 2016 as a descriptive questionnaire-based cross-sectional study. Data from eligible residents from eight care homes were collected from the regular care staff. Data were categorised into three groups based on town size for analysis. RESULTS: 244 (100 %) of eligible residents participated in the study. Nearly 100 % were of Greenlandic ethnicity based on parents’ place of birth, and 62 % were women. The median age at admission/study was 69/71 years for men and 77/79 years for women (both p = 0.001). The median Body Mass Index was 25.6 kg/m(2), more than half of the population were previous- or never-smokers and less than ten per cent consumed more than ten drinks of alcohol per week. The most common causes of admission were dementia (25.4 %), stroke (19.3 %) and social causes (11.1 %), while stroke (30.7 %), dementia (29.5 %) and musculoskeletal diseases (25.8 %) were the most common diagnoses at the time of the study. The Barthel Index was used to estimate the residents’ level of independence, and residents in smaller towns were found to have a higher level of independence than residents in the capital. The median number of prescribed medications was five, and more residents in the capital were prescribed more than ten medications than elsewhere in Greenland. CONCLUSIONS: This study is the first to describe care home residents in Greenland. We found a population younger than residents in comparable Danish care homes and that women were older than men at admission. In addition, care home residents in the capital had a lower level of independence and a higher number of prescribed medications, which could relate to differences in morbidity, access to health care services and differences in social circumstances influencing the threshold for care home admission. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12877-021-02442-0

Effect of washed versus unwashed red blood cells on transfusion‐related immune responses in preterm newborns

Objectives. Transfusion with washed packed red blood cells (PRBCs) may be associated with reduced transfusion-related proinflammatory cytokine production. This may be because of alterations in recipient immune responses. Methods. This randomised trial evaluated the effect of transfusion with washed compared with unwashed PRBCs on pro-inflammatory cytokines and endothelial activation in 154 preterm newborns born before 29 weeks’ gestation. Changes in plasma cytokines and measures of endothelial activation in recipient blood were analysed after each of the first three transfusions. Results. By the third transfusion, infants receiving unwashed blood had an increase in IL-17A (P = 0.04) and TNF (P = 0.007), whereas infants receiving washed blood had reductions in IL-17A (P = 0.013), TNF (P = 0.048), IL-6 (P = 0.001), IL-8 (P = 0.037), IL-12 (P = 0.001) and IFN-c (P = 0.001). The magnitude of the post-transfusion increase in cytokines did not change between the first and third transfusions in the unwashed group but decreased in the washed group for IL-12 (P = 0.001), IL-17A (P = 0.01) and TNF (P = 0.03), with the difference between the groups reaching significance by the third transfusion (P < 0.001 for each cytokine). Conclusion. The proinflammatory immune response to transfusion in preterm infants can be modified when PRBCs are washed prior to transfusion. Further studies are required to determine whether the use of washed PRBCs for neonatal transfusion translates into reduced morbidity and mortality.Tara M Crawford, Chad C Andersen, Nicolette A Hodyl, Sarah A Robertson and Michael J Star

Magnetic moment of the (rho) meson in light cone QCD

The magnetic moment $\mu$ of the "rho" meson is studied in QCD light cone sum rules, and it is found that "mu = (2.3 pm 0.5)". A comparison of our result on the magnetic moment of the "rho" meson with the predictions of the other approaches, is presented.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures, LaTeX formatte

Magnetotransport near a quantum critical point in a simple metal

We use geometric considerations to study transport properties, such as the conductivity and Hall coefficient, near the onset of a nesting-driven spin density wave in a simple metal. In particular, motivated by recent experiments on vanadium-doped chromium, we study the variation of transport coefficients with the onset of magnetism within a mean-field treatment of a model that contains nearly nested electron and hole Fermi surfaces. We show that most transport coefficients display a leading dependence that is linear in the energy gap. The coefficient of the linear term, though, can be small. In particular, we find that the Hall conductivity $\sigma_{xy}$ is essentially unchanged, due to electron-hole compensation, as the system goes through the quantum critical point. This conclusion extends a similar observation we made earlier for the case of completely flat Fermi surfaces to the immediate vicinity of the quantum critical point where nesting is present but not perfect.Comment: 11 pages revtex, 4 figure

From nodal liquid to nodal Mottness in a frustrated Hubbard model

We investigate the physics of frustrated 3-leg Hubbard ladders in the band limit, when hopping across the ladder's rungs (t$_{\perp}$) is of the same order as hopping along them (t) much greater than the onsite Coulomb repulsion (U). We show that this model exhibits a striking electron-hole asymmetry close to half-filling: the hole-doped system at low temperatures develops a Resonating Valence Bond (RVB)-like d-wave gap (pseudogap close to ($\pi$,0)) coinciding with gapless nodal excitations (nodal liquid); in contrast, the electron-doped system is seen to develop a Mott gap at the nodes, whilst retaining a metallic character of its majority Fermi surface. At lower temperatures in the electron-doped case, d-wave superconducting correlations -- here, coexisting with gapped nodal excitations -- are already seen to arise. Upon further doping the hole-doped case, the RVB-like state yields to d-wave superconductivity. Such physics is reminiscent of that exhibited by the high temperature cuprate superconductors--notably electron-hole asymmetry as noted by Angle Resolved PhotoEmission Spectroscopy (ARPES) and the resistivity exponents observed. This toy model also reinforces the importance of a more thorough experimental investigation of the known 3-leg ladder cuprate systems, and may have some bearing on low dimensional organic superconductors.Comment: 26 pages, 16 figure

Constraints on possible phase transitions above the nuclear saturation density

We compare different models for hadronic and quark phases of cold baryon-rich matter in an attempt to find a deconfinement phase transition between them. For the hadronic phase we consider Walecka-type mean-field models which describe well the nuclear saturation properties. We also use the variational chain model which takes into account correlation effects. For the quark phase we consider the MIT bag model, the Nambu-Jona-Lasinio and the massive quasiparticle models. By comparing pressure as a function of baryon chemical potential we find that crossings of hadronic and quark branches are possible only in some exceptional cases while for most realistic parameter sets these branches do not cross at all. Moreover, the chiral phase transition, often discussed within the framework of QCD motivated models, lies in the region where the quark phases are unstable with respect to the hadronic phase. We discuss possible physical consequences of these findings.Comment: 28 pages, 18 PostScript figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Magnetic Oscillations in Dense Cold Quark Matter with Four-Fermion Interactions

The phase structures of Nambu-Jona-Lasinio models with one or two flavours have been investigated at non-zero values of $\mu$ and $H$, where $H$ is an external magnetic field and $\mu$ is the chemical potential. In the phase portraits of both models there arise infinitely many massless chirally symmetric phases, as well as massive ones with spontaneously broken chiral invariance, reflecting the existence of infinitely many Landau levels. Phase transitions of first and second orders and a lot of tricritical points have been shown to exist in phase diagrams. In the massless case, such a phase structure leads unavoidably to the standard van Alphen-de Haas magnetic oscillations of some thermodynamical quantities, including magnetization, pressure and particle density. In the massive case we have found an oscillating behaviour not only for thermodynamical quantities, but also for a dynamical quantity as the quark mass. Besides, in this case we have non-standard, i.e. non-periodic, magnetic oscillations, since the frequency of oscillations is an $H$-dependent quantity.Comment: latex, 29 pages, 8 figure

Blood profile of proteins and steroid hormones predicts weight change after weight loss with interactions of dietary protein level and glycemic index

Weight regain after weight loss is common. In the Diogenes dietary intervention study, high protein and low glycemic index (GI) diet improved weight maintenance. OBJECTIVE: To identify blood predictors for weight change after weight loss following the dietary intervention within the Diogenes study. DESIGN: Blood samples were collected at baseline and after 8-week low caloric diet-induced weight loss from 48 women who continued to lose weight and 48 women who regained weight during subsequent 6-month dietary intervention period with 4 diets varying in protein and GI levels. Thirty-one proteins and 3 steroid hormones were measured. RESULTS: Angiotensin I converting enzyme (ACE) was the most important predictor. Its greater reduction during the 8-week weight loss was related to continued weight loss during the subsequent 6 months, identified by both Logistic Regression and Random Forests analyses. The prediction power of ACE was influenced by immunoproteins, particularly fibrinogen. Leptin, luteinizing hormone and some immunoproteins showed interactions with dietary protein level, while interleukin 8 showed interaction with GI level on the prediction of weight maintenance. A predictor panel of 15 variables enabled an optimal classification by Random Forests with an error rate of 24±1%. A logistic regression model with independent variables from 9 blood analytes had a prediction accuracy of 92%. CONCLUSIONS: A selected panel of blood proteins/steroids can predict the weight change after weight loss. ACE may play an important role in weight maintenance. The interactions of blood factors with dietary components are important for personalized dietary advice after weight loss