A highly-contiguous genome assembly of the Eurasian spruce bark beetle, Ips typographus, provides insight into a major forest pest

Conifer-feeding bark beetles are important herbivores and decomposers in forest ecosystems. These species complete their life cycle in nutritionally poor substrates and some can kill enormous numbers of trees during population outbreaks. The Eurasian spruce bark beetle (Ips typographus) can destroy >100 million m(3) of spruce in a single year. We report a 236.8 Mb I. typographus genome assembly using PacBio long-read sequencing. The final phased assembly has a contig N-50 of 6.65 Mb in 272 contigs and is predicted to contain 23,923 protein-coding genes. We reveal expanded gene families associated with plant cell wall degradation, including pectinases, aspartyl proteases, and glycosyl hydrolases. This genome sequence from the genus Ips provides timely resources to address questions about the evolutionary biology of the true weevils (Curculionidae), one of the most species-rich animal families. In forests of today, increasingly stressed by global warming, this draft genome may assist in developing pest control strategies to mitigate outbreaks.Daniel Powell et al. present a high-quality genome assembly of the Eurasian spruce bark beetle, Ips typographus, which is known to cause substantial damage to European forests. Their results provide an important resource for investigation of the underlying physiology of this pest species and limit future threats to European forests

Binary classification of spoken words with passive elastic metastructures

Many electronic devices spend most of their time waiting for a wake-up event: pacemakers waiting for an anomalous heartbeat, security systems on alert to detect an intruder, smartphones listening for the user to say a wake-up phrase. These devices continuously convert physical signals into electrical currents that are then analyzed on a digital computer -- leading to power consumption even when no event is taking place. Solving this problem requires the ability to passively distinguish relevant from irrelevant events (e.g. tell a wake-up phrase from a regular conversation). Here, we experimentally demonstrate an elastic metastructure, consisting of a network of coupled silicon resonators, that passively discriminates between pairs of spoken words -- solving the wake-up problem for scenarios where only two classes of events are possible. This passive speech recognition is demonstrated on a dataset from speakers with significant gender and accent diversity. The geometry of the metastructure is determined during the design process, in which the network of resonators ('mechanical neurones') learns to selectively respond to spoken words. Training is facilitated by a machine learning model that reduces the number of computationally expensive three-dimensional elastic wave simulations. By embedding event detection in the structural dynamics, mechanical neural networks thus enable novel classes of always-on smart devices with no standby power consumption.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figure

Evidence of a causal and modifiable relationship between kidney function and circulating trimethylamine N-oxide

The host-microbiota co-metabolite trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) is linked to increased cardiovascular risk but how its circulating levels are regulated remains unclear. We applied "explainable" machine learning, univariate, multivariate and mediation analyses of fasting plasma TMAO concentration and a multitude of phenotypes in 1,741 adult Europeans of the MetaCardis study. Here we show that next to age, kidney function is the primary variable predicting circulating TMAO, with microbiota composition and diet playing minor, albeit significant, roles. Mediation analysis suggests a causal relationship between TMAO and kidney function that we corroborate in preclinical models where TMAO exposure increases kidney scarring. Consistent with our findings, patients receiving glucose-lowering drugs with reno-protective properties have significantly lower circulating TMAO when compared to propensity-score matched control individuals. Our analyses uncover a bidirectional relationship between kidney function and TMAO that can potentially be modified by reno-protective anti-diabetic drugs and suggest a clinically actionable intervention for decreasing TMAO-associated excess cardiovascular risk

Imidazole propionate is increased in diabetes and associated with dietary patterns and altered microbial ecology

Microbiota-host-diet interactions contribute to the development of metabolic diseases. Imidazole propionate is a novel microbially produced metabolite from histidine, which impairs glucose metabolism. Here, we show that subjects with prediabetes and diabetes in the MetaCardis cohort from three European countries have elevated serum imidazole propionate levels. Furthermore, imidazole propionate levels were increased in subjects with low bacterial gene richness and Bacteroides 2 enterotype, which have previously been associated with obesity. The Bacteroides 2 enterotype was also associated with increased abundance of the genes involved in imidazole propionate biosynthesis from dietary histidine. Since patients and controls did not differ in their histidine dietary intake, the elevated levels of imidazole propionate in type 2 diabetes likely reflects altered microbial metabolism of histidine, rather than histidine intake per se. Thus the microbiota may contribute to type 2 diabetes by generating imidazole propionate that can modulate host inflammation and metabolism

Gridlocked: Sociomaterial configurations of sustainable energy transitions in Swedish solar energy communities

Local generation of renewable energy in energy communities has long been around, but has recently experienced an upswing. This upswing is partly due to the EU Clean Energy Package (CEP), where energy communities are introduced juridically as formal actors. Within this policy package, various values are attributed to local energy communities, particularly emphasising broadened citizen participation. Also in academic contexts, energy communities are assigned an important role for a just energy transition. Considering this increasing importance and policy prevalence, it is relevant to explore what types of energy communities exist and are emerging in light of the CEP, and which values these correspond with. We do so by exploring how Swedish solar energy communities are configured and what values they foreground, through the analytical lens of problematizations. Exploring how different configurations entail particular problematizations elucidates how certain values are constructed as relevant, possibly to the detriment of other possible values, thus deepening our understanding of solar energy communities' potential contribution to a just energy transition. We discern a pattern in that particular values related to energy system optimisation are foregrounded, rather than other values such as democratisation, indicating the existence of a broader hegemony that shapes configurations of Swedish solar energy communities

Mobiltelefonin, det sjunde massmediet : Mobiltelefonens lämplighet som relationsmarknadsföringskanal.

Den här uppsatsen behandlar mobilmarknadsföring och ämnar svara på frågan om hur lämplig mobiltelefonen egentligen är som relationsmarknadsföringskanal. Vi har funnit de metoder som är vanligast förekommande för att sprida reklambudskap och jämför hur bra de uppfyller kraven för att vara relationsskapande. För att utröna detta har vi intervjuat branschkunniga personer från två av landets största mobiloperatörer samt personer som arbetar på nordiska mobilmarknadsföringsbyråer. För att mäta styrkan hos mobilmarknadsföring som relationsfrämjande marknadskanal har vi genom modeller från relationsmarknadsföringen skapat ett eget ramverk vilket vi applicerat på olika marknadsföringsmetoder via mobiltelefonen. Resultatet av vår studie visar på att mobilmarknadsföring kan användas för att bygga långsiktiga, ömsesidiga och vinstgivande relationer, vid rätt användning. Den metod som uppfyllde kriterierna bäst var applikationer. Övriga metoder som vi undersökte kan till viss del användas som komplement inom ramen för relationsmarknadsföring. Vi belyser även att mobilmarknadsföring verkar på en omogen marknad där tekniska aspekter, kunskapsöverföring och standardiseringar måste byggas ut för att genomslagskraften av mobiltelefonen som hjälpmedel inom relationsmarknadsföring ska bli så stor som möjligt.This thesis is dealing with mobile marketing and the aim is to answer the question: how suitable is the mobile phone as a relationship marketing channel. We have located the methods that are most common to deliver the marketing message and we are comparing them with the criteria’s that we found necessary for creating relationships. In order to determine these methods and criteria’s we’ve been conducting interviews with people working in this business, both Swedish mobile network operators and employees from Nordic mobile marketing firms. We have been using existing models from relationship marketing to create our own framework in order to determine the strength of mobile marketing as a relationship creating market channel. Our study shows that mobile marketing if used in the right way can be used in order to establish long-lasting, mutual and profitable relations. The method that fulfilled most of the criteria’s was application. The other methods that we investigated are more suitable to be used as complement to other tools. Our investigation also shows that the mobile marketing market is immature and technical issues, knowledge transfer and standards have to be established in order to create a breakthrough for the mobile phone as a tool for relationship marketing

Styrkan i OEE som arbetsmetod

The E-department at GETRAG All Wheel Drive in Köping have problems with the efficiency on parts of their production equipment. The equipment with the most significant efficiency problems are four automated multifunctional production cells that produces housing for rear drive units. The major part of the problem is the large amount of small stops that causes the low efficiency. The department already worked with logging of interruptions and efficiency calculations before this project started. However this work was not done to the extent considered necessary for a systematic follow-up of the interruptions. The aim of this paper is to point out a more effective and systematic way to work with logging of interruptions and the follow-up. In addition the equipment were studied with a method for efficiency calculation that – if used properly- is a more powerful and a visually better method than the one used by the company today. As the initial current state analysis of the equipment was made a lack of documented knowledge about the equipment was discovered. In addition the efficiency appeared to be lower than the companies previously presented figures. With the help of new methods for logging of interruptions and a deeper failure analysis the production equipment were studied for ten weeks. These studies showed that the department have big opportunities to a more effective and more profitable production. This can be done by reducing the chronicle interruptions through a more systematic work with continuous improvements. On the basis of the performed studies and the theoretical references a new working method that is based on the commitment of all employees is presented. This method can be used by the E-department to work with continuous improvements in a more systematic way than today.E-verkstaden på GETRAG All Wheel Drive i Köping har effektivitetsproblem i delar av sin utrustning. Störst problem har avdelningen med fyra automatiserade fleroperationsceller som bearbetar ämnen till slutväxelhus. Till största del är det den stora mängden småstopp som ligger till grund för den låga effektiviteten. Avdelningen arbetade redan vid starten av detta examensarbete i viss mån med störningsloggning och effektivitetsberäkningar. Dock utfördes inte detta arbete i den utsträckning och med det djup som krävs för en systematisk uppföljning av störningar. Syftet med detta arbete var att visa på ett effektivare och mer systematiskt sätt att arbeta med störningsloggning och uppföljningsarbete. Dessutom granskades utrustningen med en effektivitetsmätningsmetod som om den används rätt är en mer kraftfull och visuellt bättre metod än den som används av företaget idag. Då en inledande nulägesanalys utfördes på den berörda produktionsutrustningen upptäcktes brister i avdelningens dokumenterade kunskaper kring utrustningen. Dessutom visade sig effektiviteten vara betydligt lägre än de tidigare redovisade resultaten. Med hjälp av nya metoder för störningsloggning och en mer ingående uppföljning av felorsakerna studerades den valda utrustningen i tio veckor. Studierna påvisade att det finns stora möjligheter till effektivare och mer vinstgivande produktion genom att systematiskt arbeta bort de kroniska störningar som finns i produktionsutrustningen. Utifrån studierna som utförts och de teoretiska referenserna presenteras ett arbetssätt baserat på allas delaktighet, som kan användas av E-verkstaden för att på ett systematiskt sätt arbeta med ständiga förbättringar i produktionen

Virtual testing of self-piercing rivet connections

The automotive industry is currently trying to replace the conventional steels to lightweight materials such as aluminum or carbon fiber to meet all stricter emission targets. When using such materials, traditional joining methods, such as spot welds, could be difficult to use. Therefore, more focus has been put on self-piercing rivets (SPR).In whole car models used in crash simulations, substitution models are used to model SPR joints. It is important to calibrate these models for different load cases. Volvo Cars Corporation (VCC) are currently calibrating using time-consuming physical tests where the SPR joint is subjected to loads in different directions. To save time, a way of virtually evaluating the SPR joint strength is therefore sought after. To do this, a method was developed using non-linear FEM in LS-DYNA. The method was then used to perform sensitivity studies concerning friction, sheet thickness and rivet geometry.The method developed can be divided into three parts. The process simulation, where the rivet insertion was simulated. A springback analysis, where the material is allowed to springback, closer resembling the real behaviour. Finally, the three destructive tests, lap-shear, cross-tension and KS2, were built using the geometry and initial values from the springback.For the process simulation, an explicit solution was used. To handle the large deformations present during the event, r-adaptivity was used together with a kill-element-method to describe failure, based on CrachFEM or Gissmo. The following springback analysis was then performed using one implicit step.For the destructive tests, a solid element representation of the SPR joint was created using the geometry and initial values from the springback. A shell-solid hybrid model was used to keep the computational time low.Using the method, a good correlation was found both for the process- and the destructive test simulations when compared to experiments. Furthermore, it could be concluded that friction, sheet thickness and rivet geometry affects the SPR joint strength and characteristics

Varför slutar Young Professionals på Scania? : En kvalitativ studie bland unga akademiker hos Scania gällande drivkrafter, värderingar och behov i arbetslivet.

I den här uppsatsen har vi undersökt vilka värderingar drivkrafter och behov som finns bland fordonstillverkaren Scanias unga akademiker, vilka i undersökningen går under benämningen Young Professionals. Detta i syfte att utröna varför Young Professionals lämnar Scania och vilka faktorer som är avgörande för att skapa ett attraktivare Scania bland denna målgrupp samt att komma fram till lämpliga åtgärder som i största möjliga mån kan förmå dem att stanna inom företaget. Undersökningen bedrevs genom användande av kvalitativa intervjuer och fokusgrupper vilket resulterade i ett antal faktorer framkom som viktiga för denna målgrupp. Dessa faktorer är chefskapet, missnöje med företagets engagemang och tillvaratagande på den enskilde individens driv, motivation och kunskaper samt inre processer som är alldeles för segdragna vilket mynnar ut i frustration hos YP och därigenom leder till motivationstapp.In this thesis we have examined the values, motivation and needs of the vehicle manufacturer Scanias Young Professionals. The aim of the study is to determine why Young Professionals are leaving Scania for other employers and the factors that are decisive for creating a more attractive Scania among the targeted group. We are also recommending suitable actions for keeping them within the company. The study was conducted through in depth interviews as well as in focus groups with four participants from different divisions within the company. These interviews resulted in a number of different factors that were found important for this group. The factors are leadership, dissatisfaction with the company’s commitment and procurement of the individual’s motivation and knowledge as well as internal processes that are to slow and resulting in frustration among the Young Professionals, resulting in less commitment to the company