Ungulate use of an at-grade fauna passage and roadside animal detection system: A pilot study from Southern Sweden

Wildlife-vehicle collisions (WVC) cost millions of euros each year in loss of life and damages. Wildlife crossing structures and fencing are commonly implemented mitigation strategies to reduce WVC and increase landscape connectivity for wildlife. Typically, crossing structures are over- or under-pass structures that allow animals to safely cross the road, while separating them from the road and traffic. An alternative strategy could be an at-grade fauna passage coupled with a Roadside Animal Detection System (RADS). At-grade fauna passages are designated locations where a gap in fencing allows animals to cross over the road, while RADS alert drivers of animals at the upcoming passage, so that they can adjust their driving behaviour accordingly and avoid collisions. In this pilot study, we investigated the use of one at-grade fauna passage by roe deer (Capreolus capreolus), red deer (Cervus elaphus) and wild boar (Sus scrofa) in southern Sweden, and compared changes in the number of WVCs before, during and after the construction of the passage. We collected a total of 326 wildlife crossings from 722 individuals over 1 year of monitoring (24 January 2020-24 January 2021). We found that crossing events tended to be dominated by the time animals spent in the roadside verge from which they approached the at-grade fauna passage, particularly for roe deer that spent a lot of time browsing in the roadside verge during dusk. We also found that animals spent longer in the passage if vehicles were present. In our 1 year of surveys, we only recorded three accidents, and when comparing the annual collision statistics before, during, and after construction of the at-grade fauna passage, we demonstrated an overall reduction in collisions by 66%. While our pilot only evaluates a single site, it does provide promising preliminary results that suggest that at-grade fauna passages can help in efforts to reduce collisions, while maintaining connectivity over medium-sized roads for large ungulates

Geomorphology and surficial geology of the Femmilsjøen area, northern Spitsbergen

Climate change is amplified in the Arctic, and establishing baseline data for its current character is important. Here we present a map of the geomorphology of the Femmilsjøen area, Spitsbergen, northern Svalbard. The regional physiography is characterised by a low-relief, high elevation mountain plateau, its high-relief steep slopes, and low-relief coastal lowlands. The results indicate that glaciers were most likely warm-based and erosive in the low terrain, whereas there are signatures of colder, less erosive ice on the plateaus during the Late Weichselian. Our study highlights the ongoing glacial and periglacial morphological processes in an area of hard and weathering-resistant bedrock, situated in northern Svalbard

Brandteknisk riskvärdering av Västralid äldreboende i Olofström

This report is a fire safety evaluation of Västralid nursing home in Olofström. The object consist of three connected housing bodies, first built in the 1970’s. At first, the buildings were used as regular apartments, but they were converted into nursing apartments for elderly people in the 1990’s. In the report, an analysis of fire scenarios are compared to egress scenarios to evaluate the personal safety in case of a fire. The results are that today, egress takes substantially more time than the time it takes for the conditions to become critical. The conclusion is that the fire protection is poor in the perspective of personal safety. A specific risk observed in the buildings is substandard fire compartmentation, since the ventilation system and elevator shaft break through the fire compartments. The means of egress are limited because the escape routes in many cases are blocked and not adapted for the facility. To achieve a satisfying personal fire safety a number of measures are proposed. It is important that all of the measures are undertaken as a whole, and not individually. If all of the measures are undertaken the fire safety is deemed satisfactory

A CMOS Compatible Silicon-on-Insulator Polarization Rotator Based on Symmetry Breaking of the Waveguide Cross Section

[EN] A polarization rotator in silicon-on-insulator technology based on breaking the symmetry of the waveguide cross section is reported. The 25-mu m-long device is designed to be integrated with standard grating couplers without the need for extra fabrication steps. Hence, fabrication is carried out by a 2-etch-step complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor compatible process using 193-nm deep ultraviolet lithography. A polarization conversion efficiency of more than -0.85 dB with insertion losses ranging from -1 to -2.5 dB over a wavelength range of 30 nm is demonstrated. © 1989-2012 IEEEThis work was supported by the European Commission under Project HELIOS (pHotonics Electronics functional Integration on CMOS), FP7-224312, TEC2008-06333 SINADEC and PROMETEO-2010-087 R&D Excellency Program (NANOMET).Aamer, M.; Gutiérrez Campo, AM.; Brimont, ACJ.; Vermeulen, D.; Roelkens, G.; Fedeli, J.; Håkansson, OA.... (2012). A CMOS Compatible Silicon-on-Insulator Polarization Rotator Based on Symmetry Breaking of the Waveguide Cross Section. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters. 24(22):2031-2034. https://doi.org/10.1109/LPT.2012.2218593S20312034242

10 Gbit/s error-free DPSK modulation using a push-pull dual-drive silicon modulator

[EN] We experimentally demonstrate a high-speed differential phase shift keying (DPSK) modulation using a silicon push-pull operated dual-drive Mach Zehnder modulator (MZM) based on carrier depletion. 5 Gbit/s and 10 Gbit/s error-free modulation is demonstrated by demodulating the generated DPSK modulated signal using a demodulation circuit based on a polarization delay interferometer through the use of a differential group delay (DGD). Furthermore, the potential for higher DPSK modulation speeds up to 20 Gbit/s is also demonstrated. The obtained results validate the potential to achieve higher order modulation formats, such as quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK), by arranging the MZM in a nested configuration. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Financial supports from HELIOS (Photonics Electronics Functional Integration on CMOS) FP7-224312 and Generalitat Valenciana under PROMETEO-2010-087 R&D Excellency Program (NANOMET) are acknowledged. M. Aamer and P. Sanchis thank Dr. Javier Herrera for his useful help. D.J. Thomson, F.Y. Gardes and G.T. Reed are supported by funding received from the UK EPSRC funding body under the grant “UK Silicon Photonics”.Aamer, M.; Thomson, DJ.; Gutiérrez Campo, AM.; Brimont, ACJ.; Gardes, FY.; Reed, GT.; Fedeli, JM.... (2013). 10 Gbit/s error-free DPSK modulation using a push-pull dual-drive silicon modulator. Optics Communications. 304:107-110. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.optcom.2013.04.051S10711030

Silicon Differential Receiver With Zero-Biased Balanced Detection for Access Networks

[EN] We present an optimized differential receiver in silicon with a minimized footprint and balanced zero-biased Ge photodiodes. The receiver integrates a delay-line with a 2 ¿ 4 multimode interferometer 90° hybrid and two balanced photodiodes for differential quadrature phase-shift keying demodulation. Two receivers are tested, for 10 and 20 Gb/s operation, and well opened eye-diagrams and symbol constellations are obtained with error vector magnitude values as low as 12.5% and 19.57%, respectively. The results confirm the potential of integrated silicon receivers to become key building blocks for future passive optical access networks based on advanced modulation formats. © 1989-2012 IEEE.This work was supported in part by the European Community’s Seventh Framework Program under Grant 224312 HELIOS.Aamer, M.; Sotiropoulos, N.; Brimont, ACJ.; Fedeli, J.; Marris-Morini, D.; Cassan, E.; Vivien, L.... (2013). Silicon Differential Receiver With Zero-Biased Balanced Detection for Access Networks. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters. 25(13):1207-1210. https://doi.org/10.1109/LPT.2013.2262931S12071210251

Scientific principles for the identification of endocrine-disrupting chemicals: a consensus statement

Endocrine disruption is a specific form of toxicity, where natural and/or anthropogenic chemicals, known as "endocrine disruptors" (EDs), trigger adverse health effects by disrupting the endogenous hormone system. There is need to harmonize guidance on the regulation of EDs, but this has been hampered by what appeared as a lack of consensus among scientists. This publication provides summary information about a consensus reached by a group of world-leading scientists that can serve as the basis for the development of ED criteria in relevant EU legislation. Twenty-three international scientists from different disciplines discussed principles and open questions on ED identification as outlined in a draft consensus paper at an expert meeting hosted by the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) in Berlin, Germany on 11-12 April 2016. Participants reached a consensus regarding scientific principles for the identification of EDs. The paper discusses the consensus reached on background, definition of an ED and related concepts, sources of uncertainty, scientific principles important for ED identification, and research needs. It highlights the difficulty in retrospectively reconstructing ED exposure, insufficient range of validated test systems for EDs, and some issues impacting on the evaluation of the risk from EDs, such as non-monotonic dose-response and thresholds, modes of action, and exposure assessment. This report provides the consensus statement on EDs agreed among all participating scientists. The meeting facilitated a productive debate and reduced a number of differences in views. It is expected that the consensus reached will serve as an important basis for the development of regulatory ED criteria

Impact of COVID-19 Lockdown in Eating Disorders: A Multicentre Collaborative International Study

Background. The COVID-19 lockdown has had a significant impact on mental health. Patients with eating disorders (ED) have been particularly vulnerable. Aims. (1) To explore changes in eating-related symptoms and general psychopathology during lockdown in patients with an ED from various European and Asian countries; and (2) to assess differences related to diagnostic ED subtypes, age, and geography. Methods. The sample comprised 829 participants, diagnosed with an ED according to DSM-5 criteria from specialized ED units in Europe and Asia. Participants were assessed using the COVID-19 Isolation Scale (CIES). Results. Patients with binge eating disorder (BED) experienced the highest impact on weight and ED symptoms in comparison with other ED subtypes during lockdown, whereas individuals with other specified feeding and eating disorders (OFSED) had greater deterioration in general psychological functioning than subjects with other ED subtypes. Finally, Asian and younger individuals appeared to be more resilient. Conclusions. The psychopathological changes in ED patients during the COVID-19 lockdown varied by cultural context and individual variation in age and ED diagnosis. Clinical services may need to target preventive measures and adapt therapeutic approaches for the most vulnerable patients

Fast and efficient QTL mapper for thousands of molecular phenotypes

In order to discover quantitative trait loci, multi-dimensional genomic datasets combining DNA-seq and ChiP-/RNA-seq require methods that rapidly correlate tens of thousands of molecular phenotypes with millions of genetic variants while appropriately controlling for multiple testing

Germline HOXB13 mutations p.G84E and p.R217C do not confer an increased breast cancer risk

In breast cancer, high levels of homeobox protein Hox-B13 (HOXB13) have been associated with disease progression of ER-positive breast cancer patients and resistance to tamoxifen treatment. Since HOXB13 p.G84E is a prostate cancer risk allele, we evaluated the association between HOXB13 germline mutations and breast cancer risk in a previous study consisting of 3,270 familial non-BRCA1/2 breast cancer cases and 2,327 controls from the Netherlands. Although both recurrent HOXB13 mutations p.G84E and p.R217C were not associated with breast cancer risk, the risk estimation for p.R217C was not very precise. To provide more conclusive evidence regarding the role of HOXB13 in breast cancer susceptibility, we here evaluated the association between HOXB13 mutations and increased breast cancer risk within 81 studies of the international Breast Cancer Association Consortium containing 68,521 invasive breast cancer patients and 54,865 controls. Both HOXB13 p.G84E and p.R217C did not associate with the development of breast cancer in European women, neither in the overall analysis (OR = 1.035, 95% CI = 0.859-1.246, P = 0.718 and OR = 0.798, 95% CI = 0.482-1.322, P = 0.381 respectively), nor in specific high-risk subgroups or breast cancer subtypes. Thus, although involved in breast cancer progression, HOXB13 is not a material breast cancer susceptibility gene.Peer reviewe