Vegetationstyper för restytor i urban miljö

Sedan 1900-talets folkhem och miljonprogram i Sverige har klippt gräsmatta blivit standardlösningen för de restytor som bildas när byggnader och infrastruktur planeras fram. Restytor syftar här till de ytor i urbana miljöer som saknar tydligt syfte eller användningsområde. För uppsatsen har just en sådan yta valts ut att ligga till grund för en jämförelse av andra möjliga vegetationstyper än klippt gräsmatta, nämligen äng och naturalistisk plantering. Med hänsyn till de klimatutmaningar vi står inför; där vi bör minska användningen av fossila bränslen som diesel, minska mängden bevattning som krävs och även bevara den biologiska mångfalden bör vegetationstyper som varken är beroende av dieseldrivna skötselredskap eller återkommande bevattning övervägas. Vidare har kommuner ett ansvar att förvalta invånarnas skattemedel och göra ekonomiska val för anläggning och drift av utemiljön. Uppsatsen ger en historisk återblick i de olika vegetationstypernas roll i urbana sammanhang, samt en inblick i deras möjligheter att främja den biologiska mångfalden. Olika anläggningsmetoder och potentiella skötselinsatser summeras och bildar underlaget för en jämförande kalkyl av anläggnings- och skötselkostnader över en 10-årsperiod. Resultatet visade att gräsytan har en lägre totalkostnad men även lägst möjlighet till biologisk mångfald. Den naturalistiska planteringen har en markant högre anläggningskostnad men visar att man, med insiktsfulla växtval och projektering kan minska den återkommande driftkostnaden till lägre än den för både gräs- och ängsyta. Resultatet och diskussionen mynnar ut i att på rätt plats, med rätt förutsättningar, är de naturalistiska planteringarna ett bra val för de urbana restytorna.Since the residential and housing reforms Folkhemmet and Miljonprogrammet during the 20th century in Sweden, cut lawns have become the standard solution for the spare spaces that are left unused then when buildings and infrastructure are laid out. Spare spaces refer in this essay to those areas in urban environments that lack a clear purpose or area of use. For the essay, one such area has been selected as the basis for a comparison of other possible vegetation types than cut lawn, namely meadow and naturalistic planting. Considering the climate challenges we face, where we should reduce the use of fossil fuels such as diesel, reduce the amount of irrigation required and also preserve biodiversity, vegetation types that are neither dependent on diesel-powered maintenance tools nor requiring continued irrigation should be considered. Furthermore, municipalities have a responsibility to manage the residents' tax funds and make good financial choices for the planting and maintenance of urban outdoor spaces. The essay provides a historical review of the role of the different types of vegetation in urban context, as well as an insight into their opportunities to promote biological diversity. Different construction methods and potential maintenance efforts are summed up and form the basis for a comparative calculation of construction and maintenance costs over a 10-year period. The result showed that the cut lawn has a lower total cost but also the lowest opportunity for biological diversity. The naturalistic planting has a considerably higher construction cost, but shows that; with insightful plant selection and planning, the recurring maintenance cost can be reduced to less than that for both a cut lawn and meadow areas. The analysis and the discussion conclude that; in the right place, considering the right conditions, the naturalistic plantings can be a good choice for the urban spare spaces

Menopaussin yhteys suun alueen terveyteen

Tämän syventävien opintojen opinnäytetyön aiheena on menopaussin yhteys suun alueen terveyteen. Tutkimuksen tarkoituksena on koostaa aiheeseen liittyvää kirjallisuutta viimeisen kymmenen vuoden ajalta. Menopaussiin liittyviä systeemisiä oireita diagnosoidaan ja hoidetaan aktiivisesti, mutta suun alueen muutokset, oireet ja sairaudet jäävät usein vähemmälle huomiolle. Suun alueen oireilu saattaa kuitenkin heikentää vaihdevuosi-ikäisen naisen elämänlaatua. Tutkimukseen valittu tutkimusmenetelmä on systemoitu kirjallisuuskatsaus, joka on ala-muoto systemaattisesta kirjallisuuskatsauksesta. Tutkimusprosessi on pyritty esittelemään selkeästi tehden toiston mahdolliseksi. Kirjallisuuskatsaukseen valikoitui 16 vertaisarvioitua tutkimusartikkelia Pubmed-tietokannasta. Ne olivat tutkimusasetelmaltaan havainnoivia tutkimuksia. Kohderyhmänä niissä olivat postmenopausaaliset naiset eli menopaussin ohittaneet naiset, joiden viimeisistä kuukautisista oli kulunut vähintään 12 kuukautta. Tutkimusta aiheesta on melko vähän ja laatu on vaihtelevaa. Tutkimuksessa havaittiin, että menopaussi on yhteydessä syljen määrän vähenemiseen ja siten myös syljen pH:n alenemiseen. Syljen määrän väheneminen altistaa kariekselle ja parodontiitille. Menopaussi on mahdollisesti yhteydessä parodontiumin terveydentilan heikkenemiseen. Mahdollinen yhteys on myös menopaussin ja kserostomian eli subjektiivisen kuivan suun tunteen, makuaistimusten muuttumisen, purentaelimistön toimintahäiriöiden, alveoliluun muutosten sekä suupoltteen välillä, mutta tulokset jäivät vielä ristiriitaisiksi näiden aihealueiden kohdalla. Menopaussia ja suun alueen terveyttä koskevaa tutkimusta tarvitaan lisää. Yhteyksiä tulisi selvittää tarkemmin esimerkiksi seurantatutkimuksin ja hormonimäärityksin. Hormonikorvaushoitoa ja suun terveyttä koskevaa tutkimusta tulisi tulevaisuudessa toteuttaa satunnaistetulla ja kontrolloidulla tutkimusasetelmalla, sillä se olisi hyödyllistä katsauksen aiheen ja vakavista suun alueen oireista kärsivien vaihdevuosi-ikäisten naisten hoidon kannalta

Područje znanosti u susretu s dječjim pitanjima

Ingela Elfström i Bodil Halvars-Franzén istražuju važnost slušanja te odnose u učenju o znanosti

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

The Comparison of Environmental Effects on Michelson and Fabry-Perot Interferometers Utilized for the Displacement Measurement

The optical structure of general commercial interferometers, e.g., the Michelson interferometers, is based on a non-common optical path. Such interferometers suffer from environmental effects because of the different phase changes induced in different optical paths and consequently the measurement precision will be significantly influenced by tiny variations of the environmental conditions. Fabry-Perot interferometers, which feature common optical paths, are insensitive to environmental disturbances. That would be advantageous for precision displacement measurements under ordinary environmental conditions. To verify and analyze this influence, displacement measurements with the two types of interferometers, i.e., a self-fabricated Fabry-Perot interferometer and a commercial Michelson interferometer, have been performed and compared under various environmental disturbance scenarios. Under several test conditions, the self-fabricated Fabry-Perot interferometer was obviously less sensitive to environmental disturbances than a commercial Michelson interferometer. Experimental results have shown that induced errors from environmental disturbances in a Fabry-Perot interferometer are one fifth of those in a Michelson interferometer. This has proved that an interferometer with the common optical path structure will be much more independent of environmental disturbances than those with a non-common optical path structure. It would be beneficial for the solution of interferometers utilized for precision displacement measurements in ordinary measurement environments

Impact of livestock guardian dogs on livestock predation in rural Mongolia

Much like subsistence farmers the world over, Mongolian herders depend directly on their herds for food, materials, and income. Consequently, any loss of livestock through predation from wild carnivores (including wolves, foxes, snow leopards, and birds of prey) is a major challenge. With a lack of non-lethal mitigation methods currently available to them, herders in Mongolia frequently manage conflict with predators with retaliatory hunting, negatively impacting populations of wild predators. Livestock guardian dogs (LGDs) are an increasingly popular non-lethal means worldwide for discouraging livestock predation. However, empirical evaluations of the efficacy of using LGDs in contemporary landscapes are rare throughout Asia. Evaluating these human–wildlife conflict prevention strategies are especially important in areas used to produce globally traded commodities, such as cashmere in the case of Mongolia. We implemented longitudinal structured interview-based surveys to evaluate the use and effectiveness of LGDs as a conflict mitigation strategy for semi-nomadic herders in three locations across Mongolia. Sixteen herders in Nomgon, Ömnögovi, Undur-Ulaan, Arkhangai, Khustain Nuruu National Park area, and Gorkhi Terelj National Park area were surveyed between 2015 and 2019, throughout the process of receiving and training LGDs. Our analysis suggested herders experienced a significant reduction in the annual losses of livestock to predation after receiving LGDs (Wilcoxon signed-rank test, Z = −3.329, p = .001, n = 16), including when accounting for background predation rates. Consequently, we consider LGDs likely to be a viable method for livestock protection alongside the conservation of predators in Mongolia, and potentially elsewhere in Asia. We finish by exploring important considerations should this approach be used more intensively throughout the country and beyond

Elimination of HPV-associated oropharyngeal cancers in Nordic countries

Incidence of human papillomavirus (HPV, most notably HPV type 16) associated oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC) among middle-aged (50?69 year-old) males has tripled in four high income Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden) over the last 30 years. In Finland and Sweden, this increase was preceded by an HPV16 epidemic in fertile-aged populations in the 1980?s. The recent implementation of school based prophylactic HPV vaccination in early adolescent boys and girls will gradually decrease the incidence, and eventually eliminate the HPV-associated OPSCCs (especially tonsillar and base of tongue carcinomas) in the Nordic countries. However, beyond the adolescent and young adult birth cohorts vaccinated, there are approximately 50 birth cohorts (born in 1995 or before) that would benefit from screening for HPV-associated OPSCC. This article reviews the need, prerequisites, proof-of-concept trial and prospects of preventing HPVassociated OPSCC in the Nordic countries.Peer reviewe

Potential lives saved in 73 countries by adopting multi-cohort vaccination of 9-14-year-old girls against human papillomavirus.

Up to 2016, low- and middle-income countries mostly introduced routine human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination for just a single age-cohort of girls each year. However, high-income countries have reported large reductions in HPV prevalence following "catch-up" vaccination of multiple age-cohorts in the year of HPV vaccine introduction. We used the mathematical model PRIME to project the incremental impact of vaccinating 10- to 14-year-old girls compared to routine HPV vaccination only in the same year that routine vaccination is expected to be introduced for 9-year-old girls across 73 low- and lower-middle-income countries. Adding multiple age-cohort vaccination could increase the number of cervical cancer deaths averted by vaccine introductions in 2015-2030 by 30-40% or an additional 1.23-1.79 million over the lifetime of the vaccinated cohorts. The number of girls needed to vaccinate to prevent one death is 101 in the most pessimistic scenario, which is only slightly greater than that for routine vaccination of 9-year-old girls (87). These results hold even when assuming that girls who have sexually debuted do not benefit from vaccination. Results suggest that multiple age-cohort vaccination of 9- to 14-year-old girls could accelerate HPV vaccine impact and be cost-effective

Quantifying signal changes in nano-wire based biosensors

In this work, we present a computational methodology for predicting the change in signal (conductance sensitivity) of a nano-BioFET sensor (a sensor based on a biomolecule binding another biomolecule attached to a nano-wire field effect transistor) upon binding its target molecule. The methodology is a combination of the screening model of surface charge sensors in liquids developed by Brandbyge and co-workers [Sørensen et al., Appl. Phys. Lett., 2007, 91, 102105], with the PROPKA method for predicting the pH-dependent charge of proteins and protein-ligand complexes, developed by Jensen and co-workers [Li et al., Proteins: Struct., Funct., Bioinf., 2005, 61, 704-721, Bas et al., Proteins: Struct., Funct., Bioinf., 2008, 73, 765-783]. The predicted change in conductance sensitivity based on this methodology is compared to previously published data on nano-BioFET sensors obtained by other groups. In addition, the conductance sensitivity dependence from various parameters is explored for a standard wire, representative of a typical experimental setup. In general, the experimental data can be reproduced with sufficient accuracy to help interpret them. The method has the potential for even more quantitative predictions when key experimental parameters (such as the charge carrier density of the nano-wire or receptor density on the device surface) can be determined (and reported) more accurately. © 2011 The Royal Society of Chemistry