Consistency tests for Planck and WMAP in the low multipole domain

Recently, full sky maps from Planck have been made publicly available. In this paper, we do consistency tests for the three Planck CMB sky maps. We assume that the difference between two maps represents the contributions from systematics, noise, foregrounds and other sources, and that a precise representation of the Cosmic Microwave Background should be uncorrelated with it. We investigate the cross correlation in pixel space between the difference maps and the various Planck maps and find no significant correlations, in comparison to 10000 random Gaussian simulated maps. Additionally we investigate the difference map between the WMAP ILC 9 year map and the ILC 7 year map. We perform cross correlations between this difference map, and the ILC9 and ILC7, and find significant correlations only for the ILC9, at more than the 99.99% level. Likewise, a comparison between the Planck NILC map and the WMAP ILC9 map, shows a strong correlation for the ILC9 map with the difference map, also at more than the 99.99% level. Thus the ILC9 appears to be more contaminated than the ILC7, which should be taken into consideration when using WMAP maps for cosmological analyses.Comment: 9 pages, 19 figures, submitted to JCA

Simulation as a Pedagogical Method for Developing Pre-Service Teachers’ Suitability – A Collaborative Pilot Study

In Norway, 28 higher education programmes continuously assess the suitability of their students. Suitability assessment is a stamp of quality in higher education, and an assurance that the students are qualified for professional practice. The definition for the assessment is stated by national regulations, in which consist of eight criteria related to the students’ abilities and willingness to practice a future professional role.publishedVersio

innovative Public Organic food Procurement for Youth (iPOPY). Lessons learned from implementing organic into European school meals – policy implications.

The introduction of organic food offers new dimensions to school meals, and schools offer new dimensions to organic food – when tackled properly. In this paper we present findings from the iPOPY research project that is funded by the ERA-Net, CORE-Organic-I funding body network. It is based on studies of school food policies in Denmark, Finland, Italy and Norway. The embedded food traditions and cultures have had different attention in these countries, why also food related consumption, institutions and markets are quite heterogeneous and dynamic. Whereas school food services are relatively widely embedded in the school systems in Finland and Italy, the Danish and Norwegian school food is predominantly defined by the packed lunch brought from home when it comes to organic food the pattern is different. To analyse the strategies used in these countries we have selected a number of cases where in-depth studies have been conducted. The concept of embedding has been used in these studies and it has been informed by policy and actor network theories. The results of this analysis show a complexity in implementing organic food in existing school food aims, in embedding school food policies and in comprising also aims and policies for organic food purchasing in these. The variety amongst the analysed countries in strategies and success is identified, covering both structural and stakeholder related findings. A major finding is pointing at the challenge of “multi-embedding” processes when including organic food in school meal procurement

Design and pilot testing of a dietary assessment methodology for children at school

Nutrition's impact on an individual's health and sustainable consumption of food are issues that have long been on both the public and political agenda but are often viewed as two separate debates. This is surprising since many innovation projects in food service systems are concerned with both healthy eating and sustainable consumption (organic food). The relationship between them forms the background in this study. Evidence has shown that caterers serving organic food tend to also serve healthier meals than their non-organic counterparts but, so far, no studies have been carried out in school food environments. The aim of this report was to investigate and develop appropriate methods for studying the link between healthy eating practices and organic food procurement policies using Danish public elementary schools as a setting. Based on relevant scientific literature, the Danish Dietary Recommendations, and inspired by other successful studies, a self-administered questionnaire investigating children‟s eating habits was designed. After testing by an Expert Evaluation Panel and Think Aloud Interviews adjustments were integrated. Conclusion: If special attention is given to literacy skills and cognitive development, children in Danish 6th grade classes can be used as respondents in studies of the relation between food procurement policies and eating practice

Studies towards a total synthesis of manzamine A

Manzamine A has been isolated from various Okinawa Sponges of the genus Haliclona and was first characterised by Higa and co-workers in 1986. The unusual and synthetically challenging structure consists of a pentacyclic core containing an array of 5-, 6-, 8-, and 13-membered rings with a pendant -carboline unit. The complex structure of manzamine A combined with its biological activities has made it a highly attractive synthetic target. The synthetic endeavors in the Clark group to develop a novel approach towards the total synthesis of manzamine A (i) with the main focus on the synthesis of the ABC ring fragment as advanced intermediates will be disclosed. In the first synthetic approach towards the total synthesis of manzamnine A (i), bicyclic enone iii was constructed from amine ii and served as a model system to validate the proposed intermolecular Diels-Alder reaction. Despite several attempts utilising various dienes, the Diels-Alder adduct was not obtained and an alternative bicyclic system was investigated. After accomplishing the synthesis of the simple AB fragment v from propargylamine (iv), the Diels- Alder reaction was yet again investigated. Due to the failure of the Diels-Alder reaction, this route towards the total synthesis of manzamine A (i) was abandoned. The second approach introduces the conjugate addition reaction towards the total synthesis of manzamine A (i). Instead of the Diels-Alder approach, 1,4 addition to enone v was explored. Initial attempts to perform the 1,4-addition reaction and subsequent aldol condensation reaction afforded the dehydrated aldol condensation products vii via silyl enol ether vi. Additional investigations to prevent the dehydration reaction taking place proved unsuccessful. Thereafter, various methods for the introduction of a substituent in the position to the ketone were investigated. These included alkylation using chloromethyl phenylsulfide, halogenation using NBS or NCS, Rubottom oxidation using DMDO, direct amination using manganese(V) complexes, azidation using sodium azide and CAN as well as aziridination using PhI=NTs. A number of adducts viii-x were succesfully prepared. Finally, the last part of the thesis describes the efforts towards the synthesis of a model system resembling the CD ring-system. The macrocyles xiii and xiv were easily synthesised from dienes xi and xii, although the RCM of diene xi gave rise to isolation problems

Editorial: Female Hormones: Effect on Musculoskeletal Adaptation and Injury Risk

Peer Reviewe

Studies on the antioxidative activity of red pigments in Italian-type dry-cured ham

Aqueous phosphate buffer extracts and acetone/water extracts of pigments from Parma ham were assessed as antioxidants by (1) electron spin resonance spectroscopy using a spin probing technique to evaluate their efficiencies as scavengers of free radicals, and (2) by electrochemical measurement of oxygen depletion rate in an aqueous methyl linoleate emulsion to evaluate their efficiencies as chain-breaking antioxidant, and using both methods, compared with the effect of apomyoglobin and nitrosylmyoglobin. Aqueous phosphate extracts and acetone/water extracts of Parma ham pigment both scavenged a semi-stable nitroxide radical (Fremy's salt), and both extracts reduced the rate of oxygen consumption for lipid peroxidation (initiated by metmyoglobin) very efficiently. For apomyoglobin no antioxidative capacity was observed, and the heme moiety of the pigment(s) of Parma ham were concluded to have antioxidative properties. The more lipophilic pigment, as extracted by acetone/water, had the most significant effect, and its ability to inhibit lipid oxidation was further tested in a model food system based on cooked pork. The lipid oxidation was increasingly inhibited by increasing additions from 0.12 ppm to 0.24 ppm Parma ham pigment, and the pigment protected a-tocopherol against degradation in a concentration dependent manner