Russell's hypersurface from a geometric point of view

We give a new proof of Makar-Limanov's theorem, which states that Russell's hypersurface is not isomorphic to affine three space.Comment: 6 page

The decomposition group of a line in the plane

We show that the decomposition group of a line $L$ in the plane, i.e. the subgroup of plane birational transformations that send $L$ to itself birationally, is generated by its elements of degree 1 and one element of degree 2, and that it does not decompose as a non-trivial amalgamated product.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figure

The group of Cremona transformations generated by linear maps and the standard involution

This article studies the group generated by automorphisms of the projective space of dimension $n$ and by the standard birational involution of degree $n$. Every element of this group only contracts rational hypersurfaces, but in odd dimension, there are simple elements having this property which do not belong to the group. Geometric properties of the elements of the group are given, as well as a description of its intersection with monomial transformations

Is income inequality an important health status determinant in the OECD

The proposed adverse impact of income inequality on health has long been an important topic in health economics. A negative correlation between inequality and health has been found in several empirical studies but the issues regarding causality and causes are yet to be resolved. The widespread theory that the effects on health goes via disinvestment in social capital and trust is heavily researched and highly debated. Many studies have found strong correlation between population health and income inequality using state level US data. Inconsistent results have been found using country-level data on mortality rates and income inequality in Europe or OECD. Using cross-sectional data it seems like the correlation is dependent on the countries/states chosen. The ambiguity of the results has led some researchers to disregard inequality as irrelevant when dealing with population health. Others have intensified their search for new evidence. In this study I exploit the fact that yearly estimates of the GINI-coefficient from 2004 and forth are available in the OECD database. It allows for the use of panel data regression with country-specific fixed effects to investigate whether the weak simple correlation observed between income inequality and population health in the OECD could be caused by identification problems. I find strong and significant results indicating that income inequality should indeed be accounted for when dealing with population health in OECD. The link between income inequality and health has important policy implications

Borel subgroups of the plane Cremona group

It is well known that all Borel subgroups of a linear algebraic group are conjugate. This result also holds for the automorphism group ${{\mathrm{Aut}}} (\mathbb A^2)$ of the affine plane \cite{BerestEshmatovEshmatov2016} (see also \cite{FurterPoloni2018}). In this paper, we describe all Borel subgroups of the complex Cremona group ${{\rm Bir}({\mathbb P}^2)}$ up to conjugation, proving in particular that they are not necessarily conjugate. More precisely, we prove that ${{\rm Bir}({\mathbb P}^2)}$ admits Borel subgroups of any rank $r \in \{ 0,1,2 \}$ and that all Borel subgroups of rank $r \in \{ 1,2 \}$ are conjugate. In rank $0$, there is a $1-1$ correspondence between conjugacy classes of Borel subgroups of rank $0$ and hyperelliptic curves of genus $g \geq 1$. Hence, the conjugacy class of a rank $0$ Borel subgroup admits two invariants: a discrete one, the genus $g$, and a continuous one, corresponding to the coarse moduli space of hyperelliptic curves of genus $g$. This latter space is of dimension $2g-1$.Comment: 43 pages, to appear in J. Reine Angew. Mat

Effects of the Intervention “Reflective STRENGTH-Giving Dialogues” for Older Adults Living with Long-Term Pain: A Pilot Study

Background. Long-term musculoskeletal pain is a major, often undertreated, disabling health problem among an increasing number of older adults. Reflective STRENGTH-giving dialogues (STRENGTH) may be a tool to support older adults living with long-term pain. The main aim of this pilot study was to investigate the immediate and longitudinal effect of the intervention STRENGTH on levels of pain, wellbeing, occurrence of depression symptoms, and sense of coherence (SOC) among community-dwelling older adults suffering from musculoskeletal pain compared to a control group. Methods. The study was semiexperimental with an intervention group and a control group. The effect of a single STRENGTH intervention was reported on the Numeric Rating Scale (NRS) regarding pain and wellbeing. To evaluate the longitudinal effect of STRENGTH, using the Brief Pain Inventory-Short Form (BPI-SF), the Geriatric Depression Scale-20 (GDS-20), SOC-13 at baseline (T1), and six months after the intervention/no intervention (T2), a total of 30 older adults, aged 72 to 97 years (Mdn 86 years), were included consecutively and fulfilled the intervention series (n = 18) or untreated controls (n = 12). Results. The intervention with STRENGTH decreases pain (NRS 6 Mdn versus NRS 4 Mdn, p \u3c 0.001) and increases wellbeing (NRS 7 Mdn versus NRS 8 Mdn, p \u3c 0.001). After a six-month study period with STRENGTH, no longitudinal effect difference was found compared to baseline. Compared to the control group, there was an increasing trend between decreased pain level and increased SOC level for STRENGTH intervention. Conclusions. This pilot study supports STRENGTH’s effect as a pain-alleviating model that provides a decrease in pain levels and an increase of wellbeing in older adults with long-term pain. STRENGTH dialogues could be a useful intervention to provide individually holistic care in older adults living with long-term pain

Developing Dynamic Outsourcing - Bringing continuous added value to the ABB Full Service partnership

Executive summary This master thesis was originally based on a specific assignment given to the authors from ABB Full Service, a unit specializing in providing maintenance outsourcing: “How can ABB Full Service expand its offering of providing fundamental maintenance by seamlessly incorporating the business concept with competencies and solutions from other ABB divisions?” The academic issue was developed throughout the thesis, resulting in the following formulation: “From an organizational perspective; how can service providers bring continuous added value to intra-organizational outsourcing partnerships?” Many of the key findings of this thesis are reflected in the issue. The term intra-organizational outsourcing is a proposed addition to the terminology in the academic discourse on outsourcing. The definition of the term is: • Where an organization outsources a business process interlinked with the physical operations, requiring the service provider to take over a preexisting unit and its employees. This is an accurate description of the form of outsourcing that ABB Full Service is engaged in. The authors note that this kind of outsourcing relationship is not sufficiently described in the current theoretical landscape, justifying the addition and definition of a new term. A subset of intra-organizational outsourcing is also added; dynamic outsourcing. This term that is central to this thesis. It describes what ABB Full Service should aim for in their client partnerships. Dynamic outsourcing is defined as: - Where the service provider provides a continuous stream of extended services by incorporating resources and solutions from a broad array of expertise areas through the intra-organizational outsourcing partnership, ensuring a permanent value differential thus eliminating the risk of backsourcing. Insights and propositions in the thesis concern how to achieve dynamic outsourcing. Solutions are provided through two main themes; competence development and nurturingthe client relationship. Competence development for achieving dynamic outsourcing Service providers that work with intra-organizational outsourcing must be prepared to handle the cultural integration of the transferred personnel into the service organization. Properly handled, fast benefits can be achieved but it is also important to realize that the complete integrating process takes both time and effort. For an organization to achieve dynamic outsourcing, focus on the management of the organization’s knowledge and competencies is imperative. Expertise and experience needs to be developed and transferred between personnel and units within the organization, and knowledge must also be injected from external sources. By working with these aspects of the organization, service providers can improve the quality and cost effectiveness of their offering and maintain a necessary value differential to show clients the benefits of remaining in the partnership. A key insight is that educational initiatives aimed at relationship building, communication, trust, commitment, and shared benefits is more important than technical competence development in achieving a higher level of service quality. All hierarchical levels of the organization must be involved in these processes, laterally as well as vertically. Vertical learning initiatives are knowledge sharing between different hierarchical levels. These initiatives are mainly targeted at down-streams benefits, where more experienced and competent staff shares insights with personnel on a lower hierarchical level. However it is noteworthy that important information is relayed upwards in the hierarchy as well through such initiatives; this can be information such as improvement suggestions and identification of potential problem areas. Lateral learning initiatives should be formed between different client sites, exchanging knowledge between staff on all levels, from site manageme

Feed rations for dairy cows : on organic dairy farms with high rate of self-sufficiency

Inom den ekologiska mjölkproduktionen finns det krav på att hälften av fodret ska komma från den egna gården. En hög självförsörjning av foder ger i många fall även en bättre ekonomi. I Sverige ökar den ekologiska produktionen medan trenden är att självförsörjningsgraden av foder på gårdarna minskar. För att täcka behovet köps importerade fodermedel in, främst proteinfoder innehållande ekologiska sojabönor. Anledningen till importen är att den högmjölkande kon kräver mycket vomstabilt protein, vilket många av de hemmaproducerade proteinfodermedlen har en mindre andel av jämfört med sojabönan. Syftet med arbetet har varit att finna foderstater med hög andel hemmaproducerat foder som klarar att näringsförsörja den högavkastande kon. Målet har varit att jämföra olika foderstater för att finna den optimala foderstaten. Fokus har legat på proteinförsörjningen hos gårdar med hög självförsörjning. En ekologisk mjölkko måste ha ett grovfoderintag på minst 60 %. Under de tre första månaderna i laktationen får andelen sänkas till 50 %. Detta är en begränsning som man måste ta hänsyn till vid foderstatsberäkningar. Ett högkvalitativt vallfoder är alltid grunden i utfodringen. Det är främst under tidig laktation som kravet på proteinkvalitet och andelen vomstabilt protein är högt. Lupin och rapskaka är exempel på fodermedel med bra proteinkvalitet. Åkerböna och ärtor har lite sämre kvalitet men lämpar sig väl till lågavkastande kor. I undersökningen ingår sju gårdar med en självförsörjningsgrad på 87 – 100 %. Utifrån dessa gårdars nuvarande utfodring har foderstater beräknats i programmet Typfoder 5.0. Fem foderstatskontroller valdes ut för att visa på proteinförsörjningen. Foderstaternas värden jämfördes sedan med varandra utifrån rekommendationer. Resultatet av undersökningen visar att det är få foderstater som klarar näringsförsörjningen av de högmjölkande korna. I de högsta avkastningsnivåerna (40 kg ECM) är variationerna större mellan gårdarna och det är några få gårdar som sticker ut. För de lågmjölkande korna klarar de flesta gårdarna rekommendationerna och flera av dem har även ett proteinöverskott. Den av gårdarna som utfodrar med majsensilage har den mest optimala foderstaten för de högmjölkande korna. Gården är helt självförsörjande på proteinfoder och använder rybskaka, åkerböna och ärtor som proteintillskott.Organic dairy production encompasses values of sustainable use of resources. Therefore, there are rules which restrict the import of feeds to the farm, implying a sustainable use of farm feed crop production and promoting recirculation of nutrients. The current requirement within the organic dairy production is that half of the feed shall come from the farm. Additionally, a high self-sufficiency rate of feeds often gives the farmer a better economy. The organic production in Sweden is increasing, but the trend is that the feed self-sufficiency rate on the farms decreases. The bought in feeds to the farms are mostly protein concentrates. These concentrates contains by-pass proteins in high proportions as high-yielding dairy cow have greater needs of this than lower producing cows. The aim for this study has been to explore rations with high proportion of on farm produced feed that is capable to meet the requirements of the high-yielding dairy cow and to find the most optimal feed ration. The study has focused on the protein supply in the rations on farms with high rates of self-sufficiency. The minimum roughage intake of an organic dairy cow is at least 60%. This may be reduced to 50% during the first three months of the lactation. This is a limitation that must be taken into account when the ration is calculated. High-quality forage is the basis of the feeding. The need for high quality protein is particularly high during early lactation. Feeds with high quality protein are lupine beans (Lupinus luteus) and rapeseed (Brassica napus) cake. The protein quality of horse beans (Vicia Faba) and peas (Pisum sativum) makes them suitable for low-yielding cows. The study included seven farms with a self-sufficiency rate of 87 - 100%. Based on feed analysis of used feeds from these farms, rations were calculated using the programme Typfoder 5.0. Five control parameters were selected to demonstrate the protein supply. The different diets were then compared and analysed by use of the recommendations. The result of the survey showed that few rations meet the nutrient demands of the high yielding cows. There are large variations between the farms and there are few farms that stick out. Most of the farms meet the demands of the low yielding cows and several rations also give a surplus of protein. The most optimal ration for high yielding cows was found at a farm that had corn silage in the ration. That farm was completely selfsufficient of protein and used turnip rape (Brassica rape) cake, horse beans (Vicia Faba) and peas (Pisum sativum) as a protein supplement

Aktivitet, läggnings- och resningsbeteenden, tillväxt samt renlighet hos kvigor i liggbås respektive djupströbäddsbox

The aim of this study was to compare activity, lying down and getting up behaviour, weight gain and cleanliness in heifers in cubicles versus on deep-litter. The study was conducted from autumn of 2005 until autumn of 2006 in a commercial organic dairy herd with 340 cows. In 2005 the farm rebuilt half of the young stock accommodation from deep-litter pens to cubicles. The experiment used 150 heifers of the breeds Swedish Red, Swedish Holstein and crossbreeds between these, all born on the farm. The animals were divided into three blocks based on breed and within each block they were sorted after increasing age. The youngest heifer in each block was randomly allocated to one of two groups, cubicle or deep-litter pen. Thereafter every other heifer in the block was allocated to either the cubicle system or the deep-litter system. For the activity study the heifers had a motion sensor attached to the right hind leg for a period of three or four days. The motion sensor recorded percent of every minute when the animal either was active, stood up or lied down. It also recorded number of steps every minute during the observation period. Direct observations of lying down and getting up behaviour were made on two different occasions when interrupted intentions and attempts to lie down were recorded as well as abnormal lying down and getting up behaviour. In the growth study heart girth was measured on two occasions with approximately 7 months in between. The measurements were converted to weight and the daily weight gain was calculated. The cleanliness of nine different body parts were scored as the percentage covered in feces. In the statistic calculations Wilcoxon–Mann-Whitney´s test was used for the non-parametric data and otherwise the two sample t-test. Heifers on deep-litter lied down and got up more often than heifers in cubicles. They had on average twelve lying periods per day compared with nine per day in heifers in cubicles. Heifers on deep-litter also lied down for shorter periods than heifers in cubicles (on average 66 minutes compared to 85 minutes), but the total time spent lying was longer on deep-litter. When observing lying down and getting up behaviour no obvious differences where found between the two housing systems. Heifers in cubicles grew on average 930 g per day which was significantly more (p<0.01) than heifers on deep-litter, which grew on average 830 g per day. Heifers in cubicles were overall cleaner than heifers on deep-litter. From the results of this study it is concluded that if the cubicles are big enough for the larger heifers held in the system, housing in cubicles seems to offer replacement heifers similar welfare as housing in deep-litter system.Syftet med denna studie var att jämföra aktivitet, läggnings- och resningsbeteende, tillväxt och renlighet hos kvigor i liggbås respektive på djupströbädd. Studien pågick under två stallsäsonger, från hösten 2005 till hösten 2006. Försöken gjordes på en privatägd, ekologisk mjölkgård med 340 kor. Under 2005 byggde gården om hälften av sin ungdjursavdelning från djupströbäddsboxar till liggbås. I försöken användes 150 kvigor, födda på gården och av raserna SRB, SLB eller korsningar mellan dessa. Djuren delades in i tre block efter ras och sorterades inom varje block efter stigande ålder. Den yngsta kvigan i vart och ett av blocken lottades till ett av inhysningssystemen (liggbås eller djupströbäddsbox). Sedan fördelades varannan kviga i vardera blocket till endera inhysningssystem. I aktivitetsförsöket hade kvigorna en pedometer på höger bakben i tre alternativt fyra dagar. Under denna tid registrerades andelen av varje minut som djuret uppvisade aktivitet, stod respektive låg. Dessutom registrerades antalet steg under den aktuella minuten. Direktobservationer av läggnings- och resningsbeteende utfördes vid två tillfällen då avbrutna intentioner och försök att lägga sig samt onormala läggningar och resningar registrerades. I tillväxtförsöket mättes djurens bröstomfång vid två tillfällen med ungefär 7 månaders mellanrum. Måtten gjordes om till vikt och den dagliga tillväxten räknades ut. Renligheten hos nio olika kroppsdelar bedömdes som procent besudlad med träck. I de statistiska beräkningarna användes Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney´s test för icke parametriska data och annars användes två grupps t-test. Kvigor på djupströbädd lade och reste sig oftare än kvigor i liggbås. De hade i genomsnitt tolv liggperioder per dygn att jämföra med liggbåskvigornas nio per dygn. Kvigor på djupströbädd låg också i kortare perioder jämfört med kvigor i liggbås (i medeltal 66 minuter jämfört med 85 minuter) men den totala liggtiden var något längre på djupströbädd. Vid observation av läggnings- och resningsbeteende i denna studie påvisades inga tydliga skillnader mellan inhysningssystemen. Kvigor i liggbås växte i genomsnitt 930 gram per dag vilket var signifikant (p<0,01) mer än kvigor på djupströbädd, som växte i genomsnitt 830 gram per dag. Kvigor i liggbås var totalt sett renare än kvigor på djupströbädd. Slutsatsen från denna studie är att under förutsättning att liggbåsen är tillräckligt stora för den viktsklass av äldre kvigor som hålls i systemet tycks ett liggbåssystem ge rekryteringskvigor samma välfärd som ett djupströbäddssystem