Ein Dichterbildnis des 2. Jhs. v. Chr.

Trots att flera forskningsrapporter har visat på de ekonomiska vinsterna med jämställda arbetsplatser är den kvinnliga underrepresentationen på högre poster inom näringslivet fortfarande påtaglig. En av förklaringarna till denna ojämställdhet har tillskrivits den manliga överordningen i samhället som hindrar kvinnor från att ta sig in i den absoluta maktsfären. Flera jämställdhetsstudier visar att kvinnor inte tillåts ingå i ”old-boy-network” och att manliga ideal präglar bilden av hur en bra chef ska vara och agera. Bristande tillgång på informella nätverk anses vara en av förklaringarna till att kvinnor har svårare att lyckas i karriären. Könsordningen har ansetts vara den enskilt starkaste kraften som påverkar hur individer agerar och inordnar sig inom en organisation. Genom att studera två företag som använder sig av uttalat meritokratiska karriärmodeller vill vi undersöka hur könsordningen påverkar inom organisationerna. Resultatet av studien visar att tillgången på informella nätverk är mindre i en svag könsordning där prestation ligger till grund för befordran. I takt med att individen avancerar ökar betydelsen av informella nätverk och könsordningen stärks i takt med att individen närmar sig toppen av hierarkin. Organisationer kan till viss del påverka vilken makt könsordningen tilldelas inom organisationen genom att aktivt arbeta för att formalisera informella aktiviteter.Recent studies have proven that a mixed working force produces better economic results for companies then does a single gendered working force. Even so, the majority of top-level positions in today’s business are held by men. Women are said to have great difficulties entering the “old-boy-networks” on the hierarchical top and leadership qualities are still strongly connected to manly attributes. Women’s inability to enter and build informal social network structures is mentioned as one of the biggest reasons when trying to explain the lack of women on top positions. The gender order in the organisations, which separates women from men, are said to be the single strongest force to influence the life of the organisation. This study focuses one how meritocratic career models influences the gender order within the organisation and if formalized career models minimize the importance informal networks. The result of the study shows that the need for informal networks in order to advance in the organisational hierarchy is of less importance in an organisation with a weak gender order were achievements and results are the only variables considered when aspiring for promotion. The importance of informal networks strengthens as the individual clime up the hierarchical career path and the study indicates that evaluation gets less formal closer to the top positions and that homosocial desire plays a significant role when aspiring for top positions

Trees and shrubs in agri-environmental schemes : the impact of environmental subsidies on biodiversity

De jordbrukare som har naturbetesmark kan söka miljöstöd. För att beviljas miljöstöd för naturbetesmark finns det en regel som begränsar den maximalt tillåtna mängden buskar och träd. Det finns två nivåer för miljöstöd där den högre nivån idag inte har en maxgräns medan den lägre nivån har en begränsning på sextio träd per hektar. Sedan reglerna infördes 2008 har en stor mängd träd och buskar avverkats vilket har lett till kritik från både myndigheter och jordbrukare då begränsningen anses tillåta för få träd och buskar. Jordbruksverket samt aktörer genom Naturvårdsverket hävdar att fler träd än nödvändigt avverkades efter att reglerna infördes och anledningen tros vara att jordbrukarna ville säkra sitt fortsatta miljöstöd. Det är dock oklart hur betesmarkers biologiska mångfald påverkas av mängden träd och buskar. Jag utförde en litteraturstudie baserat på femton vetenskapliga artiklar för att förstå hur den biologiska mångfalden påverkas av träd och buskar. Dels undersökte jag hur stor del av de studerade arterna och artgrupperna som gynnas av träd eller buskar för att sedan undersöka hur olika mängder träd och buskar påverkar den biologiska mångfalden. Resultatet går emot den kritik som framförts då resultatet visar på att dagens regler möjligen tillåter för stor mängd träd och buskar. En majoritet av artiklarna visade på att den biologiska mångfalden gynnas av träd och buskar, dock att den biologiska mångfalden missgynnas av hög träd- och busktäthet. Eftersom studien är utförd på enskilda betesmarker går det inte att uttala sig vilken effekt olika mängden träd och buskar har på den biologiska mångfalden på landskapsnivå.The farmers who are maintaining agri-environmental schemes can get an economical subsidies. To get the subsidies there is a restriction of the maximum amount of trees and bushes. The subsidy consists of two levels, where the higher level no longer has a maximum amount of allowed trees and shrubs and where the lower level’s limit is set to sixty trees per hectare. Since the rules were introduced a large number of trees and shrubs been cut. The rules have been critiqued from the government agencies and farmers, who both claimed that the regulation that limits the abundance of trees and shrubs are set too low. It has been suggested that a larger amount of trees and shrubs than necessary was cut as anxious farmer wanted to secure continued support. Still, it is not clear how the biodiversity within agri-environmental schemes are affected by the amount of trees and shrub present. In order to investigate the environmental support’s impact on biodiversity I conducted a literature study. The impact of trees and shrubs on species and groups of species was investigated. Also the effect of the amount of trees and shrubs of biodiversity was examined. The result contradicts the expressed critique since the result indicated that the rules for the environmental support are allowing a too many trees and shrubs. A majority of the articles shows that the biodiversity is favored by trees and shrubs, but that the biodiversity is disfavored by a big amount of trees and shrubs. It is not clear what effect different amount of trees and shrubs have on the biodiversity of a landscape level since the studies only examines single pastures

Cookability of 24 pea accessions-determining factors and potential predictors of cooking quality

BACKGROUND: Cooking time and cooking evenness are two critical quantities when determining the cooking quality (termed cookability) of pulses. Deciphering which factors contribute to pulse cookability is important for breeding new cultivars, and the identification of potential cookability predictors can facilitate breeding efforts. Seeds from 24 morphologically diverse pea accessions were tested to identify contributing factors and potential predictors of the observed cookability using a Mattson cooker. Size- and weight-based measures were recorded, and seed-coat hardness was obtained with a penetrometer. Content of protein, starch (amylose and amylopectin), and phytate was also determined.RESULTS: Distinct differences were found between wrinkled and non-wrinkled seeds in terms of water-absorption capacity, seed-coat hardness, and plunger-perforation speed. Potential predictive indicators of cooking time and cooking evenness were seed-coat hardness (r = 0.49 and r = 0.38), relative area gained (r = -0.59 and r = -0.8), and percentage of swelled seeds after soaking (r = -0.49 and r = -0.58), but only for non-wrinkled seeds. Surprisingly, the coefficients of variation for the profile area of both dry and swelled seeds appeared to be potential cookability predictors of all pea types (correlation coefficients around r = 0.5 and supported by principal component analysis). However, no strong correlation was observed between cookability and protein, starch, or phytate levels.CONCLUSION: Using three types of instruments together with chemical components enabled the identification of novel cookability predictors for both cooking time and cooking evenness in pea. This study unveils the diverse quantitative aspects influencing cookability in pea. Considering both cooking time and cooking evenness, as well as seed-coat hardness, underscores the multifaceted nature of pulse cookability and offers important insights for future breeding strategies to enhance pea cultivars. (c) 2023 The Authors. Journal of The Science of Food and Agriculture published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry

COVID-19 Modeling Outcome versus Reality in Sweden

It has been very difficult to predict the development of the COVID-19 pandemic based on mathematical models for the spread of infectious diseases, and due to major non-pharmacological interventions (NPIs), it is still unclear to what extent the models would have fit reality in a "do nothing" scenario. To shed light on this question, the case of Sweden during the time frame from autumn 2020 to spring 2021 is particularly interesting, since the NPIs were relatively minor and only marginally updated. We found that state of the art models are significantly overestimating the spread, unless we assume that social interactions significantly decrease continuously throughout the time frame, in a way that does not correlate well with Google-mobility data nor updates to the NPIs or public holidays. This leads to the question of whether modern SEIR-type mathematical models are unsuitable for modeling the spread of SARS-CoV-2 in the human population, or whether some particular feature of SARS-CoV-2 dampened the spread. We show that, by assuming a certain level of pre-immunity to SARS-CoV-2, we obtain an almost perfect data-fit, and discuss what factors could cause pre-immunity in the mathematical models. In this scenario, a form of herd-immunity under the given restrictions was reached twice (first against the Wuhan-strain and then against the alpha-strain), and the ultimate decline in cases was due to depletion of susceptibles rather than the vaccination campaign

Reduced administered activity, reduced acquisition time, and preserved image quality for the new CZT camera.

BACKGROUND: For a 1-day myocardial perfusion SPECT (MPS) the recommendations for administered activity stated in the EANM guidelines results in an effective dose of up to 16 mSv per patient. Recently, a gamma camera system, based on cadmium zinc telluride (CZT) technology, was introduced. This technique has the potential to reduce the effective dose and scan time compared to the conventional NaI gamma camera. The aim of this study was to investigate if the effective dose can be reduced with a preserved image quality using CZT technology in MPS. METHODS: In total, 150 patients were included in the study. All underwent a 1-day (99m)Tc-tetrofosmin stress-rest protocol and were divided into three subgroups (n = 50 in each group) with 4, 3, and 2.5 MBq/kg body weight of administered activity in the stress examination, respectively. The acquisition time was increased in proportion to the decrease in administered activity. All examinations were analyzed for image quality by visual grading on a 4-point scale (1 = poor, 2 = adequate, 3 = good, 4 = excellent), by two expert readers. RESULTS: The total effective dose (stress + rest) decreased from 9.3 to 5.8 mSv comparing 4 to 2.5 MBq/kg body weight. For the patients undergoing stress examination only (35%) the effective dose, administrating 2.5 MBq/kg, was 1.4 mSv. The image acquisition times for 2.5 MBq/kg body weight were 475 and 300 seconds (stress and rest) compared to 900 seconds for each when using conventional MPS. The average image quality was 3.7 ± 0.5, 3.8 ± 0.5, and 3.8 ± 0.4 for the stress images and 3.5 ± 0.6, 3.6 ± 0.6, and 3.5 ± 0.6 for the rest images and showed no statistically significant difference (P = .62) among the 4, 3, and 2.5 MBq/kg groups. CONCLUSIONS: The new CZT technology can be used to considerably decrease the effective dose and acquisition time for MPS with preserved high image quality

Physical Activity and the Association With Self-Reported Impairments, Walking Limitations, Fear of Falling and Incidence of Falls in Persons With Late Effects of Polio.

The purpose of this study was to determine the association between physical activity and self-reported disability in ambulatory persons with mild to moderate late effects of polio (N=81, mean age 67 years). The outcome measures were: Physical Activity and Disability Survey (PADS), a pedometer, Self-reported Impairments in Persons with Late Effects of Polio Scale (SIPP), Walking Impact Scale (Walk-12), Falls Efficacy Scale - International (FES-I) and self-reported incidence of falls. The participants were physically active on average 158 minutes per day and walked 6212 steps daily. Significant associations were found between PADS and Walk-12 (r = -0.31, p < 0.001), and between the number of steps and SIPP, Walk-12 and FES-I (r = -0.22 to -0.32, p < 0.05). Walk-12 and age explained 14% of the variance in PADS and FES-I explained 9% of the variance in number of steps per day. Thus, physical activity was only weakly to moderately associated with self-reported disability

Porosity prediction of calcium phosphate cements based on chemical composition

The porosity of calcium phosphate cements has an impact on several important parameters, such as strength, resorbability and bioactivity. A model to predict the porosity for biomedical cements would hence be a useful tool. At the moment such a model only exists for Portland cements. The aim of this study was to develop and validate a first porosity prediction model for calcium phosphate cements. On the basis of chemical reaction, molar weight and density of components, a volume-based model was developed and validated using calcium phosphate cement as model material. 60 mol% beta-tricalcium phosphate and 40 mol% monocalcium phosphate monohydrate were mixed with deionized water, at different liquid-to-powder ratios. Samples were set for 24 h at 37 degrees C and 100 % relative humidity. Thereafter, samples were dried either under vacuum at room temperature for 24 h or in air at 37 degrees C for 7 days. Porosity and phase composition were determined. It was found that the two drying protocols led to the formation of brushite and monetite, respectively. The model was found to predict well the experimental values and also data reported in the literature for apatite cements, as deduced from the small absolute average residual errors (<2.0 %). In conclusion, a theoretical model for porosity prediction was developed and validated for brushite, monetite and apatite cements. The model gives a good estimate of the final porosity and has the potential to be used as a porosity prediction tool in the biomedical cement field.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft