Knowledge Accessibility and Regional Economic Growth

This paper analyzes the role of knowledge accessibility in re¬gional economic growth. The research question is the following: can the variation in knowledge accessibility between regions in a given period explain the variation in their growth performance in subsequent periods? As knowledge measures, we use company R&D, university R&D and patents. A main assumption in the paper is that knowledge accessibilities as a measure of knowledge potentials transform into potential knowledge flows. Our regression results indicate that the intra-municipal and intra-regional knowledge accessibilities of municipalities are significant and capable of ex¬plaining a significant share of the variation in growth of value added per employee between Swedish municipalities. However, the inter-regional knowledge accessibility of municipalities turned out to be insignificant. This is interpreted as a clear indication of spatial dependence in the sense that the knowledge resources in a given municipality tend to have a positive effect on the growth of another municipality, conditional on that the municipalities belongs to the same functional region. Thus, the results of the analysis indicate that knowledge flows transcend municipal borders, but that they tend to be bounded within functional regions. Also, the analysis shows that there is no remaining spatial correlation among the residuals of the spatial units (municipalities) when using accessibility measures in the model, which confirms that the spatial dependence is captured by the accessibility variables.

Hydroxyl, water, ammonia, carbon monoxide and neutral carbon towards the Sgr A complex

We observed OH, H$_2$O, HN$_3$, C$^{18}$O, and C$_I$ towards the +50 km/s cloud (M-0.02-0.07), the CND and the +20 km/s (M-0.13-0.08) cloud in the Sgr A complex with the VLA, Odin and SEST. Strong OH absorption, H$_2$O emission and absorption lines were seen at all three positions. Strong C$^{18}$O emissions were seen towards the +50 and +20 km/s clouds. The CND is rich in H$_2$O and OH, and these abundances are considerably higher than in the surrounding clouds, indicating that shocks, star formation and clump collisions prevail in those objects. A comparison with the literature reveals that it is likely that PDR chemistry including grain surface reactions, and perhaps also the influences of shocks has led to the observed abundances of the observed molecular species studied here. In the redward high-velocity line wings of both the +50 and +20 km/s clouds and the CND, the very high H$_2$O abundances are suggested to be caused by the combined action of shock desorption from icy grain mantles and high-temperature, gas-phase shock chemistry. Only three of the molecules are briefly discussed here. For OH and H$_2$O three of the nine observed positions are shown, while a map of the C$^{18}$O emission is provided. An extensive paper was recently published with Open Access (Karlsson et al. 2013; http://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/pdf/2013/06/aa20471-12.pdf ).Comment: Proc. of a Conf. on IAU Symposium No.303: The Galactic Center: Feeding and Feedback in a Normal Galactic Nucleus 2013, Santa Fe, NM (USA

Automatic filtering of outliers in RR intervals before analysis of heart rate variability in Holter recordings: a comparison with carefully edited data

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Undetected arrhythmic beats seriously affect the power spectrum of the heart rate variability (HRV). Therefore, the series of RR intervals are normally carefully edited before HRV is analysed, but this is a time consuming procedure when 24-hours recordings are analysed. Alternatively, different methods can be used for automatic removal of arrhythmic beats and artefacts. This study compared common frequency domain indices of HRV when determined from manually edited and automatically filtered RR intervals.</p> <p>Methods and Results</p> <p>Twenty-four hours Holter recordings were available from 140 healthy subjects of age 1-75 years. An experienced technician carefully edited all recordings. Automatic filtering was performed using a recursive procedure where RR intervals were removed if they differed from the mean of the surrounding RR intervals with more than a predetermined limit (ranging from 10% to 50%). The filtering algorithm was evaluated by replacing 1% of the beats with synthesised ectopic beats. Power spectral analysis was performed before and after filtering of both the original edited data and the noisy data set. The results from the analysis using the noisy data were used to define an age-based filtering threshold. The age-based filtration was evaluated with completely unedited data, generated by removing all annotations from the series of RR intervals, and then comparing the resulting HRV indices with those obtained using edited data. The results showed equivalent results after age-based filtration of both the edited and unedited data sets, where the differences in HRV indices obtained by different preprocessing methods were small compared to the mean values within each age group.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The study showed that it might not be necessary to perform the time-consuming careful editing of all detected heartbeats before HRV is analysed in Holter recordings.</p> <p>In most subjects, it is sufficient to perform the regular editing needed for valid arrhythmia analyses, and then remove undetected ectopic beats and artefacts by age-based filtration of the series of RR intervals, particularly in subjects older than 30 years.</p

Person-centred care compared with standardized care for patients undergoing total hip arthroplasty—a quasi-experimental study

BACKGROUND: A common approach to decrease length of stay has been to standardize patient care, for example, by implementing clinical care pathways or creating fast-track organizations. In a recent national report, it was found that Sweden’s healthcare system often fails to anticipate and respond to patients as individuals with particular needs, values and preferences. We compared a standardized care approach to one of person-centred care for patients undergoing total hip replacement surgery. METHODS: A control group (n =138) was consecutively recruited between 20th September 2010 and 1st March 2011 and an intervention group (n =128) between 12th December 2011 and 12th November 2012, both scheduled for total hip replacement. The primary outcome measures were length of stay and physical function at both discharge and 3 months later. RESULTS: The mean length of stay in the control group was 7 days (SD 5.0) compared to 5.3 days in the intervention group (SD 2.2). Physical functional performance, as assessed using activities of daily living, was similar at baseline for both groups. At discharge, 84% in the control group had regained activities of daily living level A vs. 72% in the intervention group. At 3 months after surgery, 88% in the control group had regained their independence vs. 92.5% in the person-centred care group. CONCLUSIONS: Focusing attention on patients as people and including them as partners in healthcare decision-making can result in shorter length of stay. The present study shows that the patients should be the focus and they should be involved as partners

Purification and characterization of two protein kinases acting on the aquaporin SoPIP2;1

AbstractAquaporins are water channel proteins that facilitate the movement of water and other small solutes across biological membranes. Plants usually have large aquaporin families, providing them with many ways to regulate the water transport. Some aquaporins are regulated post-translationally by phosphorylation. We have previously shown that the water channel activity of SoPIP2;1, an aquaporin in the plasma membrane of spinach leaves, was enhanced by phosphorylation at Ser115 and Ser274. These two serine residues are highly conserved in all plasma membrane aquaporins of the PIP2 subgroup. In this study we have purified and characterized two protein kinases phosphorylating Ser115 and Ser274 in SoPIP2;1. By anion exchange chromatography, the Ser115 kinase was purified from the soluble protein fraction isolated from spinach leaves. The Ca2+-dependent Ser274 kinase was purified by peptide affinity chromatography using plasma membranes isolated from spinach leaves. When characterized, the Ser115 kinase was Mg2+-dependent, Ca2+-independent and had a pH-optimum at 6.5. In accordance with previous studies using the oocyte expression system, site-directed mutagenesis and kinase and phosphatase inhibitors, the phosphorylation of Ser274, but not of Ser115, was increased in the presence of phosphatase inhibitors while kinase inhibitors decreased the phosphorylation of both Ser274 and Ser115. The molecular weight of the Ser274 kinase was approximately 50 kDa. The identification and characterization of these two protein kinases is an important step towards elucidating the signal transduction pathway for gating of the aquaporin SoPIP2;1

Redskap för val av åtgärd och skötselmål i unga täta skogar

I detta projekt har vi använt oss av beståndsdata från två försöksserier i krankorridorgallring (KKG) för att ta fram ett Excelbaserat redskap för val av åtgärd och skötselmål i unga täta skogar. Försöksserierna etablerades under åren 2013-2014. Den första, KKG1 ligger i södra Sverige, KKG2 har lokaler i Västerbotten, Värmland samt Småland, dvs. med en större geografisk spridning. I KKG1-serien var beståndens medelhöjd ca 9 m, i KKG2 studerades bestånd med medelhöjden 5-6 m resp. 8-9 m. I försöken har KKG utförts med olika korridorbredd (1-2 m) och olika metodik beträffande styrning av gallringsuttaget. Gallring i strikta korridorer utan möjlighet att anpassa uttaget har jämförts med mer selektiv KKG-metodik där föraren gjort ett uttag mot låg- respektive höggallring. De olika KKG-behandlingarna har, beroende på beståndshöjd (5-6 m, alt. 8-9 m), jämförts med konventionell röjning eller gallring. Utgångsdata har sedan använts för att simulera tillväxt tio (KKG1) resp. 15 år (KKG2) framåt i tiden. I KKG2-serien gjordes även nuvärdesanalyser (t.o.m. gallringsingreppet). KKG1-serien Jämfört med KKG resulterade konventionell selektiv gallring i lägre stamantal, grundyta och en högre medeldiameter i brösthöjd. Antalet träd kvar efter selektiv gallring avvek tydligt från det önskade ca 1000 st/ha, betydligt fler träd kvar på två lokaler och något färre på en lokal. I genomsnitt var medeldiametern 40-64 % högre efter selektiv gallring än efter de olika KKG behandlingarna. Brösthöjdsdiametern för de grövsta träden efter KKG, motsvarande det antal träd som fanns kvar efter selektiv gallring (D N-Sel), var dock 13,8 – 14,8 cm i medeltal, d.v.s ca 1- 2 cm högre än den genomsnittliga diametern för selektiv gallring. På alla lokaler resulterade den delvis selektiva KKG i högre biomassa- och virkesförråd än övriga behandlingar. Val av korridorbredd hade till synes ingen entydig påverkan på beståndens utveckling. KKG2-serien På samtliga lokaler uppvisade de konventionella skötselåtgärderna en högre medeldiameter i brösthöjd. Oavsett gallringstidpunkt eller gallringsförfarande var medeldiametern i genomsnitt 22-32 % högre 15 år efter konventionell röjning/gallring jämfört med KKG. Storleken på medeldiameter för D N-Sel, var dock oberoende av behandling. Genomgående på alla lokaler var att grundyta, volym och biomassa var högre efter KKG hög- och låggallring (i genomsnitt 44-48 %, 34-42 och 40-49 %) än efter konventionell gallring. En liknande men något mindre påtaglig skillnad kunde skönjas på två av tre lokaler efter KKG vid beståndshöjden 5-6 m. Biomassauttaget efter KKG varierade generellt mellan knappt 10 och 30 ton per hektar. På en försöksyta (Mitt; KKGlåg) var dock uttaget markant högre (ca 50 ton per hektar). Detta hade en tydlig positiv effekt på intäkt och nuvärde. På de andra två lokalerna var dock KKGhög den behandling som genererade det högsta nuvärdet. Av behandlingarna som innefattade biomassauttag genererade det tidiga uttaget (KKGR) det lägsta nuvärdet på två av tre lokaler. För att uppnå lönsamhet vid energigallringar är relationen mellan beståndens struktur (framför allt medelstam och stamtäthet) och aktuellt biomassapris tämligen avgörande. I denna studie var biomassauttaget vid 5-6 m medelhöjd beroende av ett biomassapris över 150 kr/råton för att vara lönsamt medan det vid 8-9 m medelhöjd krävdes cirka 125-150 kr/råton för att uppnå lönsamhet . Ingen signifikant skillnad mellan behandlingar kunde påvisas beträffande total mängd biomassa i kvarvarande bestånd. För det högre beståndet (8-9 m) var medelvärdet högst i KKG Låggallring (29 ton/ha), följt av KKG Höggallring (28 ton/ha) och lägst medelvärde återfanns i konventionell gallring till 2 000 stammar/ha (22 ton/ha). Inte heller i det lägre beståndet (5-6 m) kunde någon signifikant skillnad påvisas mellan KKG och konventionell röjning (ca 29 ton/ha i de två behandlingarna). För de högre bestånden (8-9 m) var total produktion av nyttig biomassa (exkl. röjd biomassa) högst i KKG Låggallring (114 ton/ha), följt av KKG Höggallring (107 ton/ha) och lägst medelvärde återfanns i konventionell gallring till 2 000 stammar/ha (87 ton/ha). För de lägre bestånden var total nyttig produktion i genomsnitt 82 ton/ha i KKG-behandlingen och 66 ton/ha i konventionell röjning. Flera variabler är viktiga att beakta när man planerar uttag i unga, täta skogsbestånd. Det Excelverktyg som presenterats här kan användas som analysverktyg för att kvantifiera inverkan av vissa variabler. Beroende av den övergripande målbilden finns det även andra faktorer som kan vara viktiga för en markägare. De beståndsstrukturer som man lämnar efter sig efter en tidig energigallring öppnar t.ex. möjligheter att producera biomassa, timmer och massaved samt träd med specifika vedegenskaper. I och med att KKG utförs i korridorer kommer diameterspridningen/höjdskiktningen och den vertikala komplexiteten att skilja sig åt jämfört med en konventionell gallring. Heterogenitet och vertikal komplexitet kan vara viktiga faktorer för skapandet av ett brett spektra av ekosystemtjänster och kan vidare medföra en ökad andel lövträd, vilket öppnar möjligheter att bedriva ett skogsbrukande som kan gynna biodiversiteten. Efter utvärdering av möjliga ”nyckelvariabler” bör därför arbetet med att utforma ett enkelt stödverktyg för biomassa/bioenergigallringar fortsätta. Ett sådant arbete skulle eventuellt bland annat kunna komma att omfatta optimering av gallringstidpunkt/er utifrån olika målbilder. Den framtida prisutvecklingen på biomassa kommer troligtvis att ha en stor betydelse för val av bestånd som är lämpliga för KKG-tekniken

Rural-Urban Policies : Changing Conceptions of the Human-Environment Relationship

Peer reviewedPostprin

Production of genetically improved silver birch plantations in southern and central Sweden

Investing in planting genetically unproved silver birch (Betula pendula Roth) in Swedish plantations requires understanding how birch stands will develop over their entire rotation. Previous studies have indicated relatively low production of birch compared to Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) and Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.). This could result from using unrepresentative basic data, collected from unimproved, naturally-regenerated birch (Betula spp.) growing on inventory plots often located in coniferous stands. The objective of this study was to develop a basal area development function of improved silver birch and evaluate production over a full rotation period. We used data from 52 experiments including planted silver birch of different genetic breeding levels in southern and central Sweden. The experimental plots were established on fertile forest sites and on former agricultural lands, and were managed with different numbers of thinnings and basal area removal regimes. The model best describing total stand basal area development was a dynamic equation derived from the Korf base model. The analysis of the realized gain trial for birch showed a good stability of the early calculated relative differences in basal area between tested genotypes over time. Thus, the relative difference in basal area might be with cautious used as representation of the realized genetic gain. On average forest sites in southern Sweden, improved and planted silver birch could produce between 6-10.5 m(3) ha(-1) year(-1), while on fertile agriculture land the average productivity might be higher, especially with material coming from the improvement program. The performed analysis provided a first step toward predicting the effects of genetic improvement on total volume production and profitability of silver birch. However, more experiments arc needed to set up the relative differences between different improved material

Motivational valence is determined by striatal melanocortin 4 receptors

It is critical for survival to assign positive or negative valence to salient stimuli in a correct manner. Accordingly, harmful stimuli and internal states characterized by perturbed homeostasis are accompanied by discomfort, unease, and aversion. Aversive signaling causes extensive suffering during chronic diseases, including inflammatory conditions, cancer, and depression. Here, we investigated the role of melanocortin 4 receptors (MC4Rs) in aversive processing using genetically modified mice and a behavioral test in which mice avoid an environment that they have learned to associate with aversive stimuli. In normal mice, robust aversions were induced by systemic inflammation, nausea, pain, and κ opioid receptor- induced dysphoria. In sharp contrast, mice lacking MC4Rs displayed preference or indifference toward the aversive stimuli. The unusual flip from aversion to reward in mice lacking MC4Rs was dopamine dependent and associated with a change from decreased to increased activity of the dopamine system. The responses to aversive stimuli were normalized when MC4Rs were reexpressed on dopamine D1 receptor-expressing cells or in the striatum of mice otherwise lacking MC4Rs. Furthermore, activation of arcuate nucleus proopiomelanocortin neurons projecting to the ventral striatum increased the activity of striatal neurons in an MC4R-dependent manner and elicited aversion. Our findings demonstrate that melanocortin signaling through striatal MC4Rs is critical for assigning negative motivational valence to harmful stimuli