Extended Chiral Transformations Including Diquark Fields as Parameters

We introduce extended chiral transformation, which depends both on pseudoscalar and diquark fields as parameters and determine its group structure. Assuming soft symmetry breaking in diquark sector, bosonisation of a quasi-Goldstone $ud$-diquark is performed. In the chiral limit the $ud$-diquark mass is defined by the gluon condensate, $m_{ud}\approx 300 MeV$. The diquark charge radius is $\langle r^2_{ud}\rangle^{1/2}\approx 0.5 fm$.Comment: Latex file, to apear in Phis. Lett.

The monoamine stabilizer (-)-OSU6162 : a potential novel treatment for alcohol use disorders

Alcohol use disorder (AUD) represent a major health problem worldwide. Despite the severe consequences of AUD, only four medications are approved in Sweden for this disease. In addition, the prescription rates are low, partly due to varying clinical efficacy of these medications. Consequently, new, more effective pharmacotherapies are needed. A main problem in the treatment of AUD is the long-lasting vulnerability to relapse. Relapse is typically triggered by: stress, acute exposure to the drug, or drug-associated cues or context. Impaired impulsive control, often seen in AUD individuals, might further contributes to relapse to alcohol drinking. The dopamine (DA) system is one possible treatment target for AUD. Dopamine D2 receptors has been suggested to be involved in mediating alcohol’s reinforcing properties and a decrease in DA release and a reduction in D2 receptors have been found in detoxified AUD patients. This DA down-regulation is hypothesized to induce alcohol craving and contribute to relapse even after a long period of abstinence. In addition to the role of DA in AUD, DA has also been suggested to be involved in impulse behavior. The monoamine stabilizer (-)-OSU6162 (OSU6162) has the ability to stimulate, inhibit, or show no effect on DA-related behaviors depending upon the prevailing dopaminergic tone. In this thesis, we evaluated the potential of OSU6162 as a new treatment for AUD using validated preclinical models of behaviors related to AUD. We have, in this thesis, identified OSU6162 as a potential novel treatment for AUD. Using a battery of animal models, we showed that OSU6162 attenuated voluntary alcohol intake, alcohol withdrawal symptoms (tail stiffness and walking with broad gait), the motivation to seek alcohol, cue/priming-induced reinstatement (relapse) of alcohol seeking, and relapse-like drinking in in rats that had been drinking alcohol for a long period of time. Moreover, we showed that OSU6162 pre-treatment improved motor impulsivity in both alcohol and alcohol-naïve rats. Furthermore, OSU6162 did not induce conditioned place preference in either alcohol-naïve rats or rats that had been drinking alcohol before the experiment, indicating that OSU6162 does not possess any abuse liability on its own. Together these results highlights OSU6162’s potential to prevent relapse triggered by alcohol craving, alcohol related cues, re-exposure to alcohol and or an urge to relieve abstinence symptoms. In addition, the improved impulse control following OSU6162 treatment might help AUD individuals to override a compulsive drug-taking behavior in response to craving and thereby possibly prevent relapse to alcohol drinking. In addition to the global health problems related to alcohol, an opioid addiction epidemic is ongoing in the United State. We therefore decided to examine the potential of OSU6162 to attenuate self-administration of the opioid oxycodone in rats. The results showed that OSU6162 attenuated operant oxycodone self-administration but had no effect on context-induced reinstatement, at least in the dose tested. These preliminary results indicate that OSU612 might have potential to decrease intake of oxycodone, however, further studies are needed to fully evaluate the potential of OSU6162 on oxycodone self-administration and reinstatement. In conclusion, the results in this thesis indicate that OSU6162 may serve as a novel treatment for AUD and provided the necessary rational for a clinical “proof-of-concept” study with OSU6162 in alcohol dependent patients. The clinical study was successfully executed and supported our preclinical findings by showing that OSU6162 attenuated alcohol craving in alcohol dependent patients. Thus, the rapid and fruitful transition of OSU6162 from bench to clinic highlights the importance of the preclinical medication development program used in this thesis work

DEN ANDRA KVINNAN - En kritisk diskursanalys av nyhetsmediernas framställning av återvändande kvinnor från Islamiska staten

Syfte och frågeställningar: Syftet med denna studie är att belysa svenska nyhetsmediers kunskapsproduktion kring återvändande kvinnor från IS. Genom detta ämnar studien att bidra till en ökad förståelse för svenska nyhetsmediers skildring av dessa kvinnor. Detta görs genom att besvara studiens frågeställningar; 1. Hur framställs återvändande kvinnor från IS i svenska nyhetsmedier? 2. Vilka diskurser kring återvändande kvinnor från IS framträder i svenska nyhetsmedier? Metod och material: En kvalitativ studie vars empiri består av nyhetsartiklar, krönikor och ledarsidor från fyra svenska tidningar under 2021. Studiens empiri har analyserats genom Faircloughs kritiska diskursanalys. Huvudresultat: Studien visar att de kvinnor som återvänt från IS framställs i svenska nyhetsmedier inom tre identifierade diskurser. Den första är den avvikande kvinnan som på olika sätt framställs utanför traditionella könsnormer. Den andra är kvinnan utan agens vilken framställer en politiskt aktörslös kvinna. Den tredje diskursen, misstänkt - dömd på förhand, framställer kvinnorna som förövare vilka skall undantas från etablerade rättsprinciper

Quark-diquark Systematics of Baryons: Spectral Integral Equations for Systems Composed by Light Quarks

For baryons composed by the light quarks ($q=u,d$) we write spectral integral equation using the notion of two diquarks: (i) axial--vector state, $D^{1}_{1}$, with the spin $S_D=1$ and isospin $I_D=1$ and (ii) scalar one, $D^{0}_{0}$, with the spin $S_D=0$ and isospin $I_D=0$. We present spectral integral equations for the $qD^{0}_{0}$ and $qD^{1}_{1}$ states taking into account quark--diquark confinement interaction.Comment: 13 pages, 2 figure

Customer Information Usage: Improving Supply Chain Performance and Advancing Logistics Services in Construction Projects

This study investigates how continuous improvement of logistics services in a project- based context such as construction can be enhanced by a “priority matrix for service improvements”. Construction services in general, and logistic services in specific, have great impact on efficiency and sustainability (environmental as well as social). Solutions and experience from e.g. manufacturing and retailing that have undergone major transformation through industrialization and, more recently, servitization, to improve the quality and novelty of their offerings, there is a great potential in addressing the complex coordination, inefficient processes, and waste of materials in the project-based context of the construction industry. Whilst improvement initiatives concerning product quality are important inspiration of such transformation, they are based on continuous production processes and become a challenge when this experience is transferred to the project-based, construction industry. As response, this study draws upon the concept of service quality as the basis for improvement initiatives – a concept based on relations between actors that last beyond individual projects

Trivsel i kreativ ungdomsverksamhet : en studie om ungdomars trivsel i det öppna kreativa utrymmet i Pargas inom SKAPA-projektet

Examensarbetet är ett beställningsarbete av Pargas stad och görs inom SKAPAprojektet. Syftet med examensarbetet var att samla ihop information om vad som får ungdomar att trivas i det öppna kreativa utrymmet i Pargas. Som metoder användes en litteraturöversikt för att ta reda på vilka faktorer som påverkar trivseln i ungdomsverksamheter och på basis av den utfördes en kvalitativ undersökning i form av semistrukturerade intervjuer i det kreativa utrymmet. Avgränsningar har gjorts för att examensarbetet inte ska bli för omfattande, och de målgrupperna som läggs fokus på är ungdomar med neuropsykiatriska drag och regnbågsunga. Av intervjusvaren gjordes en induktiv innehållsanalys och efter det jämfördes resultaten från litteraturöversikten och innehållsanalysen. Resultaten visar att faktorer som påverkar trivseln i det kreativa utrymmet är trygg atmosfär, människorelationer, möjlighet att vara kreativ, möjlighet att påverka, fri verksamhet och olika modersmål. Utgående från resultaten från examensarbetet sammanställdes en plansch. Planschen delades med de uppsökande ungdomsarbetarna i Pargas och fungerar som ett verktyg för att marknadsföra det kreativa utrymmet

Sex differences in the effect of chronic delivery of the buprenorphine analogue BU08028 on heroin relapse and choice in a rat model of opioid maintenance

Background and Purpose: Maintenance treatment with opioid agonists (buprenorphine, methadone) decreases opioid use and relapse. We recently modelled maintenance treatment in rats and found that chronic delivery of buprenorphine or the μ opioid receptor partial agonist TRV130 decreased relapse to oxycodone seeking and taking. Here, we tested the buprenorphine analogue BU08028 on different heroin relapse-related measures and heroin versus food choice. Experimental Approach: For relapse assessment, we trained male and female rats to self-administer heroin (6 h·day−1, 14 days) in Context A and then implanted osmotic minipumps containing BU08028 (0, 0.03 or 0.1 mg·kg−1·d−1). Effects of chronic BU08028 delivery were tested on (1) incubation of heroin-seeking in a non-drug Context B, (2) extinction responding reinforced by heroin-associated discrete cues in Context B, (3) reinstatement of heroin-seeking induced by re-exposure to Context A and (4) re-acquisition of heroin self-administration in Context A. For choice assessment, we tested the effect of chronic BU08028 delivery on heroin versus food choice. Key Results: Chronic BU08028 delivery decreased incubation of heroin seeking. Unexpectedly, BU08028 increased re-acquisition of heroin self-administration selectively in females. Chronic BU08028 had minimal effects on context-induced reinstatement and heroin versus food choice in both sexes. Finally, exploratory post hoc analyses suggest that BU08028 decreased extinction responding selectively in males. Conclusions and Implications: Chronic BU08028 delivery had both beneficial and detrimental, sex-dependent, effects on different triggers of heroin relapse and minimal effects on heroin choice in both sexes. Results suggest that BU08028 would not be an effective opioid maintenance treatment in humans.</p

The global abundance of tree palms

Aim Palms are an iconic, diverse and often abundant component of tropical ecosystems that provide many ecosystem services. Being monocots, tree palms are evolutionarily, morphologically and physiologically distinct from other trees, and these differences have important consequences for ecosystem services (e.g., carbon sequestration and storage) and in terms of responses to climate change. We quantified global patterns of tree palm relative abundance to help improve understanding of tropical forests and reduce uncertainty about these ecosystems under climate change. Location Tropical and subtropical moist forests. Time period Current. Major taxa studied Palms (Arecaceae). Methods We assembled a pantropical dataset of 2,548 forest plots (covering 1,191 ha) and quantified tree palm (i.e., ≥10 cm diameter at breast height) abundance relative to co‐occurring non‐palm trees. We compared the relative abundance of tree palms across biogeographical realms and tested for associations with palaeoclimate stability, current climate, edaphic conditions and metrics of forest structure. Results On average, the relative abundance of tree palms was more than five times larger between Neotropical locations and other biogeographical realms. Tree palms were absent in most locations outside the Neotropics but present in >80% of Neotropical locations. The relative abundance of tree palms was more strongly associated with local conditions (e.g., higher mean annual precipitation, lower soil fertility, shallower water table and lower plot mean wood density) than metrics of long‐term climate stability. Life‐form diversity also influenced the patterns; palm assemblages outside the Neotropics comprise many non‐tree (e.g., climbing) palms. Finally, we show that tree palms can influence estimates of above‐ground biomass, but the magnitude and direction of the effect require additional work. Conclusions Tree palms are not only quintessentially tropical, but they are also overwhelmingly Neotropical. Future work to understand the contributions of tree palms to biomass estimates and carbon cycling will be particularly crucial in Neotropical forests

Consistent patterns of common species across tropical tree communities

Trees structure the Earth’s most biodiverse ecosystem, tropical forests. The vast number of tree species presents a formidable challenge to understanding these forests, including their response to environmental change, as very little is known about most tropical tree species. A focus on the common species may circumvent this challenge. Here we investigate abundance patterns of common tree species using inventory data on 1,003,805 trees with trunk diameters of at least 10 cm across 1,568 locations1,2,3,4,5,6 in closed-canopy, structurally intact old-growth tropical forests in Africa, Amazonia and Southeast Asia. We estimate that 2.2%, 2.2% and 2.3% of species comprise 50% of the tropical trees in these regions, respectively. Extrapolating across all closed-canopy tropical forests, we estimate that just 1,053 species comprise half of Earth’s 800 billion tropical trees with trunk diameters of at least 10 cm. Despite differing biogeographic, climatic and anthropogenic histories7, we find notably consistent patterns of common species and species abundance distributions across the continents. This suggests that fundamental mechanisms of tree community assembly may apply to all tropical forests. Resampling analyses show that the most common species are likely to belong to a manageable list of known species, enabling targeted efforts to understand their ecology. Although they do not detract from the importance of rare species, our results open new opportunities to understand the world’s most diverse forests, including modelling their response to environmental change, by focusing on the common species that constitute the majority of their trees