143 research outputs found

    Measuring Corporate Reputation using Sentiment Analysis

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    In recent years, new digital media have become important for social networking and content sharing. Due to their large diffusion, social media platforms have also both increased the strategic importance of managing corporate reputation and rendered this more difficult. Companies are increasingly apprehensive about information and opinions that can spread through online communities rapidly without any control. While social media platforms increase the power of stakeholders, they also represent a large-scale source of information about feelings, opinions and sentiments of people that allow us to measure and monitor reputation through the analysis of user generated content in real-time. In this paper, we show how social media content can be used to measure the online reputation of a company. Furthermore, we present an open platform that uses a sentiment analysis algorithm on twitter traffic to monitor the real time evolution of company reputation

    Species Identification in Malaise Trap Samples by DNA Barcoding Based on NGS Technologies and a Scoring Matrix

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    The German Barcoding initiatives BFB and GBOL have generated a reference library of more than 16,000 metazoan species, which is now ready for applications concerning next generation molecular biodiversity assessments. To streamline the barcoding process, we have developed a meta-barcoding pipeline: We pre-sorted a single malaise trap sample (obtained during one week in August 2014, southern Germany) into 12 arthropod orders and extracted DNA from pooled individuals of each order separately, in order to facilitate DNA extraction and avoid time consuming single specimen selection. Aliquots of each ordinal-level DNA extract were combined to roughly simulate a DNA extract from a non-sorted malaise sample. Each DNA extract was amplified using four primer sets targeting the CO1-5' fragment. The resulting PCR products (150-400bp) were sequenced separately on an Illumina Mi-SEQ platform, resulting in 1.5 million sequences and 5,500 clusters (coverage >10;CD-HIT-EST, 98%). Using a total of 120,000 DNA barcodes of identified, Central European Hymenoptera, Coleoptera, Diptera, and Lepidoptera downloaded from BOLD we established a reference sequence database for a local CUSTOM BLAST. This allowed us to identify 529 Barcode Index Numbers (BINs) from our sequence clusters derived from pooled Malaise trap samples. We introduce a scoring matrix based on the sequence match percentages of each amplicon in order to gain plausibility for each detected BIN, leading to 390 high score BINs in the sorted samples;whereas 268 of these high score BINs (69%) could be identified in the combined sample. The results indicate that a time consuming pre-sorting process will yield approximately 30% more high score BINs compared to the nonsorted sample in our case. These promising results indicate that a fast, efficient and reliable analysis of next generation data from malaise trap samples can be achieved using this pipeline

    Lunds kommuns klimatpolitiska rÄd : Rapport 2021

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    Lunds kommuns klimatpolitiska rĂ„d (RĂ„det) bildades hösten 2018 med uppdrag att utvĂ€rdera hur Lunds kommuns samlade politik Ă€r förenlig med de klimatmĂ„l som antagits av kommunfullmĂ€ktige. RĂ„det, som bestĂ„r av forskare frĂ„n Lunds universitet (LU) och SLU Alnarp, har sammantaget en bred tvĂ€r- och mĂ„ngvetenskaplig kompetens och en gedigen erfarenhet av samverkan med olika samhĂ€llsaktörer.Samarbetet mellan Lunds kommun och akademin har sedan lĂ€nge stimulerat utvecklingen i Lund och utgör en viktig kĂ€lla till nytĂ€nkande och problemlösning.RĂ„det uppskattar förtroendet att utvĂ€rdera kommunens klimatarbete men uttrycker samtidigt en ödmjukhet inför komplexiteten i detta arbete. RĂ„dets ambition Ă€r att strĂ€va efter att vara kritiskt granskande men ocksĂ„ konstruktiv och lösningsorienterad för att kunna bidra till utvecklingen av det lokala klimatarbetet.RĂ„det presenterar Ă„rligen en rapport i vilken Lunds kommuns klimatarbete granskas. Detta Ă€r RĂ„dets tredje rapport i vilken RĂ„det valt att fokusera pĂ„ Lunds kommuns förslag till nya klimatmĂ„l i miljömĂ„lsprogrammet LundaEko. Denna granskningkompletteras med en uppföljning av de klimatmĂ„l som antagits i den tidigare versionen av LundaEko (LundaEko II 2014-2020) inom omrĂ„dena Minstamöjliga klimatpĂ„verkan och Klimatanpassning. RĂ„det har i sin granskning utgĂ„tt frĂ„n tillgĂ€ngliga planer, dokument, redovisningar och data. Detta material har kompletterats med samtal med ansvariga tjĂ€nstepersoner. Under arbetets gĂ„ng har RĂ„det Ă€ven fört dialog med Ungdomspolitiken i Lund, som pĂ„ egen hand granskat LundaEko ur ett ungdomsperspektiv.Under 2020 har mandatet för nĂ„gra rĂ„dsledamöter löpt ut – Lena Hiselius (LU), Anna Peterson (SLU Alnarp), Markku Rummukainen (LU) och Catharina Sternudd (LU) – och de har avtackats för sina insatser under de inledande tvĂ„ Ă„ren. Samtidigt har nya ledamöter tillkommit – Cecilia Akselsson (LU), Susanne Arvidsson (LU), Anders Larsson (SLU Alnarp) och Lars J Nilsson (LU) – som tillsammans med övriga ledamöter har deltagit i den granskning som presenteras i denna rapport

    Lichens from the Vadstena Monastery churchyard – the burial place of Eric Acharius

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    A list of 120 taxa observed at the Vadstena Monastery churchyard includes some rare species and a few lichenicolous fungi. Lecanora semipallida is reported from the province Östergötland [Ostrogothia] for the first time

    The influence of calcium and magnesium in drinking water and diet on cardiovascular risk factors in individuals living in hard and soft water areas with differences in cardiovascular mortality

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    BACKGROUND: The role of water hardness as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease has been widely investigated and evaluated as regards regional differences in cardiovascular disease. This study was performed to evaluate the relation between calcium and magnesium in drinking water and diet and risk factors for cardiovascular disease in individuals living in hard and soft water areas with considerable differences in cardiovascular mortality. METHODS: A random sample of 207 individuals living in two municipalities characterised by differences in cardiovascular mortality and water hardness was invited for an examination including a questionnaire about health, social and living conditions and diet. Intake of magnesium and calcium was calculated from the diet questionnaire with special consideration to the use of local water. Household water samples were delivered by each individual and were analysed for magnesium and calcium. RESULTS: In the total sample, there were positive correlations between the calcium content in household water and systolic blood pressure (SBP) and negative correlations with s-cholesterol and s-LDL-cholesterol. No correlation was seen with magnesium content in household water to any of the risk factors. Calcium content in diet showed no correlation to cardiovascular risk factors. Magnesium in diet was positively correlated to diastolic blood pressure (DBP). In regression analyses controlled for age and sex 18.5% of the variation in SBP was explained by the variation in BMI, HbA1c and calcium content in water. Some 27.9% of the variation in s-cholesterol could be explained by the variation in s-triglycerides (TG), and calcium content in water. CONCLUSIONS: This study of individuals living in soft and hard water areas showed significant correlations between the content of calcium in water and major cardiovascular risk factors. This was not found for magnesium in water or calcium or magnesium in diet. Regression analyses indicated that calcium content in water could be a factor in the complexity of relationships and importance of cardiovascular risk factors. From these results it is not possible to conclude any definite causal relation and further research is needed

    Endoscopic third ventriculostomy for adults with hydrocephalus : creating a prognostic model for success: protocol for a retrospective multicentre study (Nordic ETV)

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    Introduction Endoscopic third ventriculostomy (ETV) is becoming an increasingly widespread treatment for hydrocephalus, but research is primarily based on paediatric populations. In 2009, Kulkarni et al created the ETV Success score to predict the outcome of ETV in children. The purpose of this study is to create a prognostic model to predict the success of ETV for adult patients with hydrocephalus. The ability to predict who will benefit from an ETV will allow better primary patient selection both for EN and shunting. This would reduce additional second procedures due to primary treatment failure. A success score specific for adults could also be used as a communication tool to provide better information and guidance to patients. Methods and analysis The study will adhere to the Transparent Reporting of a multivariable prediction model for Individual Prognosis Or Diagnosis reporting guidelines and conducted as a retrospective chart review of all patients >= 18 years of age treated with EN at the participating centres between 1 January 2010 and 31 December 2018. Data collection is conducted locally in a standardised database. Univariate analysis will be used to identify several strong predictors to be included in a multivariate logistic regression model. The model will be validated using K-fold cross validation. Discrimination will be assessed using area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) and calibration with calibration belt plots. Ethics and dissemination The study is approved by appropriate ethics or patient safety boards in all participating countries.Peer reviewe

    Priority setting in primary health care - dilemmas and opportunities: a focus group study

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    <p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Swedish health care authorities use three key criteria to produce national guidelines for local priority setting: severity of the health condition, expected patient benefit, and cost-effectiveness of medical intervention. Priority setting in primary health care (PHC) has significant implications for health costs and outcomes in the health care system. Nevertheless, these guidelines have been implemented to a very limited degree in PHC. The objective of the study was to qualitatively assess how general practitioners (GPs) and nurses perceive the application of the three key priority-setting criteria.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Focus groups were held with GPs and nurses at primary health care centres, where the staff had a short period of experience in using the criteria for prioritising in their daily work.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The staff found the three key priority-setting criteria (severity, patient benefit, and cost-effectiveness) to be valuable for priority setting in PHC. However, when the criteria were applied in PHC, three additional dimensions were identified: 1) viewpoint (medical or patient's), 2) timeframe (now or later), and 3) evidence level (group or individual).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The three key priority-setting criteria were useful. Considering the three additional dimensions might enhance implementation of national guidelines in PHC and is probably a prerequisite for the criteria to be useful in priority setting for individual patients.</p

    Feasibility to use whole-genome sequencing as a sole diagnostic method to detect genomic aberrations in pediatric B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia

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    IntroductionThe suitability of whole-genome sequencing (WGS) as the sole method to detect clinically relevant genomic aberrations in B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) was investigated with the aim of replacing current diagnostic methods.MethodsFor this purpose, we assessed the analytical performance of 150 bp paired-end WGS (90x leukemia/30x germline). A set of 88 retrospective B-cell ALL samples were selected to represent established ALL subgroups as well as ALL lacking stratifying markers by standard-of-care (SoC), so-called B-other ALL.ResultsBoth the analysis of paired leukemia/germline (L/N)(n=64) as well as leukemia-only (L-only)(n=88) detected all types of aberrations mandatory in the current ALLTogether trial protocol, i.e., aneuploidies, structural variants, and focal copy-number aberrations. Moreover, comparison to SoC revealed 100% concordance and that all patients had been assigned to the correct genetic subgroup using both approaches. Notably, WGS could allocate 35 out of 39 B-other ALL samples to one of the emerging genetic subgroups considered in the most recent classifications of ALL. We further investigated the impact of high (90x; n=58) vs low (30x; n=30) coverage on the diagnostic yield and observed an equally perfect concordance with SoC; low coverage detected all relevant lesions.DiscussionThe filtration of the WGS findings with a short list of genes recurrently rearranged in ALL was instrumental to extract the clinically relevant information efficiently. Nonetheless, the detection of DUX4 rearrangements required an additional customized analysis, due to multiple copies of this gene embedded in the highly repetitive D4Z4 region. We conclude that the diagnostic performance of WGS as the standalone method was remarkable and allowed detection of all clinically relevant genomic events in the diagnostic setting of B-cell ALL
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