Delivering "less but better" meat in practice-a case study of a farm in agroecological transition

Eating "less but better" meat can be a strategy to guide meat consumption in Western or high-income countries towards sustainability, but what "better" means depends on the perspective. Multiple studies and reports suggest that agroecological farming systems could contribute to a broad range of sustainability benefits, but few studies have examined the implications for people and nature following trade-offs between sustainability priorities at the farm level. Therefore, this study explored the effects on a broad range of sustainability themes following agroecological transition on a case farm in east-central Sweden. We applied a novel mixed-methods approach, combining the indicator-based SMART-Farm tool with additional quantitative and qualitative analysis of the farm's climate impact, contribution to global food security, economic performance, and working conditions. The results showed improvements for aspects within environmental, social, economic, and governance-related sustainability dimensions, with corroborating results across methods. The case farm thus served as an example of transition to a more sustainable production system, but as expected, there were both trade-offs and synergies between sustainability aspects. Negative effects were found for economic aspects at the farm and societal level. For this case, one may conclude that "better" meat production both supports and depends on, a more sustainable farm; but that "better" meat and a more sustainable farm cannot be viewed in isolation from the wider food system. Also, "better" can be described by several states along a transition pathway. Key contributions of the study are threefold, a) articulation of the links between agroecology and the concept "less but better," b) empirically demonstrating synergies and trade-offs in striving for more sustainable meat production, and c) a novel methodological approach for sustainability assessment

Electroosmotic dewatering of cellulose nanocrystals

One of the main challenges for industrial production of cellulose nanocrystals is the high energy demand during the dewatering of dilute aqueous suspensions. It is addressed in this study by utilising electroosmotic dewatering to increase the solid content of suspensions of cellulose nanocrystals. The solid content was increased from 2.3 up to 15.3\ua0wt%, i.e. removal of more than 85% of all the water present in the system, at a much lower energy demand than that of thermal drying. Increasing the strength of the electric field increased not only the dewatering rate but also the specific energy demand of the dewatering operation: the electric field strength used in potential industrial applications is thus a trade-off between the rate of dewatering and the energy demand. Additionally, it was fo und that high local current intensity had the potential of degrading cellulose nanocrystals in contact with the anode. The maximum strength of the electric field applied should therefore be limited depending on the equipment design and the suspension conditions

Some strategic national initiatives for the Swedish education in the geodata field

This paper describes national cooperation in Sweden launched by its universities and authorities, aimed at improving geodata education. These initiatives have been focused upon providing common access to geodata, the production of teaching materials in Swedish and organizing annual meetings for teachers. We argue that this type of cooperation is vital to providing high quality education for a poorly recognized subject in a country with a relatively small population

Some strategic national initiatives for the Swedish education in the geodata field

Ponencias, comunicaciones y pósters presentados en el 17th AGILE Conference on Geographic Information Science "Connecting a Digital Europe through Location and Place", celebrado en la Universitat Jaume I del 3 al 6 de junio de 2014.This paper describes national cooperation in Sweden launched by its universities and authorities, aimed at improving geodata education. These initiatives have been focused upon providing common access to geodata, the production of teaching materials in Swedish and organizing annual meetings for teachers. We argue that this type of cooperation is vital to providing high quality education for a poorly recognized subject in a country with a relatively small population

Uracil–DNA glycosylases SMUG1 and UNG2 coordinate the initial steps of base excision repair by distinct mechanisms

DNA glycosylases UNG and SMUG1 excise uracil from DNA and belong to the same protein superfamily. Vertebrates contain both SMUG1 and UNG, but their distinct roles in base excision repair (BER) of deaminated cytosine (U:G) are still not fully defined. Here we have examined the ability of human SMUG1 and UNG2 (nuclear UNG) to initiate and coordinate repair of U:G mismatches. When expressed in Escherichia coli cells, human UNG2 initiates complete repair of deaminated cytosine, while SMUG1 inhibits cell proliferation. In vitro, we show that SMUG1 binds tightly to AP-sites and inhibits AP-site cleavage by AP-endonucleases. Furthermore, a specific motif important for the AP-site product binding has been identified. Mutations in this motif increase catalytic turnover due to reduced product binding. In contrast, the highly efficient UNG2 lacks product-binding capacity and stimulates AP-site cleavage by APE1, facilitating the two first steps in BER. In summary, this work reveals that SMUG1 and UNG2 coordinate the initial steps of BER by distinct mechanisms. UNG2 is apparently adapted to rapid and highly coordinated repair of uracil (U:G and U:A) in replicating DNA, while the less efficient SMUG1 may be more important in repair of deaminated cytosine (U:G) in non-replicating chromatin

Fetal HLA-G mediated immune tolerance and interferon response in preeclampsia

Background: Fetal immune tolerance is crucial for pregnancy success. We studied the link between preeclampsia, a severe pregnancy disorder with uncertain pathogenesis, and fetal human leukocyte antigen G (HLA-G) and other genes regulating maternal immune responses.Methods: We assessed sex ratios and regulatory HLA-G haplotypes in population cohorts and series of preeclampsia and stillbirth. We studied placental mRNA expression of 136 genes by sequencing and HLA-G and interferon alpha (IFN alpha) protein expression by immunohistochemistry.Findings: We found underrepresentation of males in preeclamptic births, especially those delivered preterm or small for gestational age. Balancing selection at HLA-G associated with the sex ratio, stillbirth, and preeclampsia. We observed downregulation of HLA-G, its receptors, and many other tolerogenic genes, and marked upregulation of IFNA1 in preeclamptic placentas.Interpretation: These findings indicate that an evolutionary trade-off between immune tolerance and protection against infections at the maternal-fetal interface promotes genetic diversity in fetal HLA-G, thereby affecting survival, preeclampsia, and sex ratio. We highlight IFNA1 as a potential mediator of preeclampsia and a target for therapeutic trials. (C) 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.</div

Developmental Coordination Disorder : Kunskapsläge och arbete kring motorisk koordinationsstörning bland lärare i idrott och hälsa och specialpedagoger

Denna studie handlar om en för många okänd diagnos vid namn Developmental CoordinationDisorder (DCD) eller i svenska uttryckt motorisk koordinationsstörning. Syftet är att undersökakunskapsläget kring DCD bland lärare i idrott och hälsa och specialpedagoger samt beskriva arbetetför att skapa en tillgänglig lärmiljö i ämnet idrott och hälsa för dessa elever. Den teoretiskautgångspunkten bottnar i den humanekologiska teoribildningen och närmare bestämt i en modell vidnamn M.A.T.C.H vilken utformats för att i skolan kunna bedriva ett främjande arbete för elever medDCD. M.A.T.C.H fungerar även som ett analysverktyg i tolkningen av empirin. Studien är avkvantitativ och kvalitativ karaktär och metoden som användes för datainsamling är enkät. Enkätenbesvarades av 56 lärare i idrott och hälsa och 60 specialpedagoger. Resultaten visar att knappt hälftenav respondenterna har hört talas om DCD och att 25 % eller färre anser att de har kunskap kring hurDCD påverkar ett barns motorik. Gällande kunskap kring hur undervisningen kan anpassas efter elevermed DCD anser knappt hälften av lärarna och färre än 10 % av specialpedagogerna att de har detta.Vidare visar studien att de flesta lärare gör anpassningar för dessa elever och att dessa framförallthandlar om nivåanpassningar. Gällande specialpedagogernas delaktighet i anpassningarna uppger färreän hälften att de bidragit i detta arbete. Resultatet visar också att färre än hälften av lärarna väljer attkontakta en specialpedagog för handledning i arbetet. Orsakerna till varför många inte gör detförklarar de med att specialpedagogerna ofta har brist på kunskap och tid. Knappt hälften avspecialpedagogerna uppger att de ger handledning till lärarna och beskriver bland annat att det krävsbättre organisatoriska förutsättningar. I resultatdiskussionen förs ett resonemang kring hur ökadkunskap och samverkan kan bidra till att utveckla arbetet för att möta elever med DCD. Slutsatsernaformuleras i begreppen kunskap och samverkan. En ökad kunskap kring DCD samt en närmresamverkan mellan lärare i idrott och hälsa och specialpedagoger kan fördjupa det arbete som redangörs gällande anpassningar samt främja en tidig upptäckt av elever med DCD

See through

Texten är historier om hur arbeten kommit till samt en text om hur jag upplever tid. Introt handlar om att "slappna av", något jag gång på gång brottas med att känna. Två ord som jag tillsammans tycker speglar en bild av dagens samhälle. Där man ska vara så mycket och samtidigt verka avslappnad. Pyttsan. Utställningen är en samling objekt som jag gjort under det senaste året. Jag har varit intresserad av tyg, dels som material men också hur det använts som både nedvärderande och upphöjande i förhållande till makt.

Vad talas det om och vad talas det inte om? : En kvalitativ studie som undersöker framställningar av kön och sexuell läggning i biologiläromedel för årskurs 4-6

An inspection carried out by the Swedish Schools Inspectorate shows that sex and cohabitation education in Swedish schools lack when it comes to content regarding norms and LGBTQ. Statistics from the Swedish Agency for Youth and Civil Society also show that young LGBTQ people suffer to a greater extent from mental illness in comparison with other young people. Since educational materials have a predominant role in teaching, this study aims to investigate the way in which gender and sexual orientation are presented in three digital biology educational materials for grades 4-6. Furthermore, the study aims to analyze which types of presentations are given the most space and thus can be considered to represent norms in the educational materials. This study intends to answer the following questions: In what way is gender and sexual orientation presented in three biology teaching materials for grades 4-6? Which presentations are given the most space and can therefore be considered normative? From an overall queer theoretical perspective but also with help from a number of definitions, an educational material analysis combined with a discourse analysis has been performed on three biology teaching materials for pupils in year 4-6. In the analysis, a number of discourse questions were used as support to be able to select examples from the text which were then categorized into different analysis categories. The results of the study show that gender was most often linked to bodily aspects such as genitals and hormones. The sexes were also mostly divided into the categories woman and man. The three sexual orientations that are included in the Swedish discrimination law were explicitly presented. With the help of the discourse analysis, however, it could be stated that a heteronormative approach permeates the educational materials, mainly in the parts that deal with conception and intercourse. Altogether, man and woman could be interpreted as the normative gender and heterosexuality to be the normative sexuality