Acceptance of Nordic snack bars in children aged 8–11 years

Background: A health promoting diet is suggested to be tailored to regional circumstances to preserve the cultural diversity in eating habits, as well as contribute to more environmentally friendly eating. It may influence consumer acceptance, however, if the components of the diet differs considerably from their habitual food. Objective: This study aimed to investigate whether snack bars composed of Nordic ingredients were accepted by 8–11 year-old Danish (n=134) and Swedish (n=109) children.Design: A seven-point hedonic scale was used to measure the children's acceptance of five snack bars that varied in their composition of whole grains, berries and nuts. A preference rank ordering of the five bars was also performed. Results: The results showed that samples that were rated highest in liking and were most preferred in both countries were a kamut/pumpkin bar and an oat/cranberry bar. The sample with the lowest rating that was also least preferred was a pumpernickel/sea buckthorn bar. Flavour was the most important determinant of overall liking followed by texture, odour and appearance. Conclusions: Children's acceptances and preferences were highly influenced by the sensory characteristics of the bars, mainly flavour. In agreement with earlier studies, the novel food ingredients seemed to influence children's preferences. The Nordic snack bars may have a potential to be a snack option for Danish and Swedish school children, but repeated exposures to the products are recommended to increase children's acceptance

Ideagrams: A digital tool for observing ideation processes

Purpose – The paper reports on an ongoing research project of TU Dresden Laboratory of Knowledge Architecture aiming the investigations of the traceability and visualization of upcoming ideas and topics within discussions. Communication and conversation analysis – to explore knowledge processes communication and interaction analyses emerged as a central scientific approach. Hereby knowledge creation and Knowledge Transfer are understood as collective and co-creative effort. Corresponding analysis tools and methods have been developed for the communication- and knowledge creation processes digital media extensively (Faraj et al 2011). However, research focusing on direct and immediate conversation, and not only based on digital media, rarely exists. Development requirements – The existing tools for the analysis of digital communication data are yet not widely applied in the domain of spoken discussions. Whereas communication processes in the digital domain create their data automatically, the data from natural settings have to be extracted laboriously (Tonfoni 2004). Since there are no effective methods on data recording of voice communication yet existing, there are no strong and evident methods on computer aided conversation tracking and analysing existing too. The Ideagram tool tries to overcome this shortcoming. Approach – A prototype of a transcription, visualization and analysis tool was designed, which is able to capture discussions by keywords and analyse them in real-time. The results are presented in several forms: histograms, semantic networks and mixtures between both. These visualizations allow identifying topic and concept dynamics, heuristic paths and creative moments. Central features of the discussion like knowledge communication, orientation for innovation and speech efficiency can be understood and designed. In the different figures - Ideagram - of spoken discussions the logged content is visualised. The program prototype counts the occurrence of the logged words. These can be marked within a chronological re-presentation graph and shows at what time which issue was discussed. By “peaks” and “valley’s” it is obviously visible where the talk was most or least active. The prototype tool allows analysing the used phrases according to their frequency and their appearance during the captured conversation. Practical implications & Value – In contrast of conventional protocol and transcription techniques this kind of knowledge mining allows a greater information bandwidth and a more efficient access on core topics, thematic conflicts, idea generation etc. Experiences in very different settings created a very rich data set and allows to state that the application in business and science seems to very useful according to recording, analysing and deepening of spoken discussions. Hence, the Ideagram is still a prototype version and need further investigation and development

Enhanced science-stakeholder communication to improve ecosystem model performances for climate change impact assessments

In recent years, climate impact assessments of relevance to the agricultural and forestry sectors have received considerable attention. Current ecosystem models commonly capture the effect of a warmer climate on biomass production, but they rarely sufficiently capture potential losses caused by pests, pathogens and extreme weather events. In addition, alternative management regimes may not be integrated in the models. A way to improve the quality of climate impact assessments is to increase the science-stakeholder collaboration, and in a two-way dialog link empirical experience and impact modelling with policy and strategies for sustainable management. In this paper we give a brief overview of different ecosystem modelling methods, discuss how to include ecological and management aspects, and highlight the importance of science-stakeholder communication. By this, we hope to stimulate a discussion among the science-stakeholder communities on how to quantify the potential for climate change adaptation by improving the realism in the models

Capturing of organic carbon and nitrogen in eelgrass sediments of southern Scandinavia

The ability of seagrass meadows to filter nutrients and capture and store CO2 and nutrients in the form of organic carbon (OC) and nitrogen (N) in their sediments may help to mitigate local eutrophication as well as climate change via meadow restoration and protection. This study assesses OC and N sediment stocks (top 50 cm) and sequestration rates within Danish eelgrass meadows. At four locations, eelgrass-vegetated and nearby unvegetated plots were studied in protected and exposed areas. The average OC and N sediment 50 cm stocks were 2.6 ± 0.3 kg OC m − 2 and 0.23 ± 0.01 kg N m − 2, including vegetated and unvegetated plots. In general, OC and N stocks did not differ significantly between eelgrass meadows and unvegetated sediments. Lack of accumulation of excess 210Pb suggested sediment erosion or low rates of sediment accumulation at most sites. OC accumulation rates ranged from 6 to 134 g m − 2 yr − 1 and N from 0.7 to 14 g m − 2 yr − 1. Generalized additive models showed that ≥ 80 % of the variation in sediment OC and N stocks was explained by sediment grain size, organic matter source, and hydrodynamic exposure. Long cores, dated with 210Pb, showed declining OC and N densities toward present time, suggesting long-term declines in eelgrass OC and N pools. Estimates of potential nation-wide OC and N accumulation in eelgrass sediments show that they could annually capture up to 0.7 % ± 0.5 % of CO2 emissions and 6.9 % ± 5.2 % of the total terrestrial N load

Region-specific drivers cause low organic carbon stocks and sequestration rates in the saltmarsh soils of southern Scandinavia

Saltmarshes are known for their ability to act as effective sinks of organic carbon (OC) and their protection and restoration could potentially slow down the pace of global warming. However, regional estimates of saltmarsh OC storage are often missing, including for the Nordic region. To address this knowledge gap, we assessed OC storage and accumulation rates in 17 saltmarshes distributed along the Danish coasts and investigated the main drivers of soil OC storage. Danish saltmarshes store a median of 10 kg OC m−2 (interquartile range, IQR: 13.5–7.6) in the top meter and sequester 31.5 g OC m−2 yr−1 (IQR: 41.6–15.7). In a global context, these values are comparatively low. Soils with abundant clay (&gt; 20%), older and stable saltmarshes in mesohaline settings, and with low proportion of algal organic material showed higher OC densities, stocks, and accumulation rates. Grazing led to significantly higher OC stocks than neighboring ungrazed locations, likely due to trampling modifying soil abiotic conditions (higher erosion-resistance and higher clay content) that slow carbon decay. Scaling up, Danish saltmarsh soils, comprising about 1% of the country's area, have the potential to yearly capture up to 0.1% of Denmark's annual consumption-based CO2 emissions. Our research expands the baseline data needed to advance blue carbon research and management in the Nordic region while highlighting the need for a more comprehensive approach to saltmarsh management that considers the full range of services of these ecosystems and does not only focus on climate benefits.</p

Deaths Among Adult Patients with Hypopituitarism: Hypocortisolism During Acute Stress, and De Novo Malignant Brain Tumors Contribute to an Increased Mortality.

Context:Patients with hypopituitarism have an increased standardized mortality rate. The basis for this has not been fully clarified.Objective:To investigate in detail the cause of death in a large cohort of patients with hypopituitarism subjected to long-term follow-up.Design and Methods:All-cause and cause-specific mortality in 1286 Swedish patients with hypopituitarism prospectively monitored in KIMS (Pfizer International Metabolic Database) 1995-2009 were compared to general population data in the Swedish National Cause of Death Registry. In addition, events reported in KIMS, medical records, and postmortem reports were reviewed.Main Outcome Measures:Standardized mortality ratios (SMR) were calculated, with stratification for gender, attained age, and calendar year during follow-up.Results:An excess mortality was found, 120 deaths vs 84.3 expected, SMR 1.42 (95% confidence interval: 1.18-1.70). Infections, brain cancer, and sudden death were associated with significantly increased SMRs (6.32, 9.40, and 4.10, respectively). Fifteen patients, all ACTH-deficient, died from infections. Eight of these patients were considered to be in a state of adrenal crisis in connection with death (medical reports and post-mortem examinations). Another 8 patients died from de novo malignant brain tumors, 6 of which had had a benign pituitary lesion at baseline. Six of these 8 subjects had received prior radiation therapy.Conclusion:Two important causes of excess mortality were identified: first, adrenal crisis in response to acute stress and intercurrent illness; second, increased risk of a late appearance of de novo malignant brain tumors in patients who previously received radiotherapy. Both of these causes may be in part preventable by changes in the management of pituitary disease