En medeltida massgrav från Sigtuna, Sverige: Tolkning och diskussion kring ett flertal skelett med spår efter trauma

A medieval mass grave from Sigtuna, Sweden. An interpretation and discussion about several individuals with signs of skeletal trauma By Anna Kjellström During the winter and spring of 1998 an archaeological excavation of a medieval churchyard was carried out close to the ruins of the St Lars church in the centre of Sigtuna, Sweden. Remains of several skeletons were found in what seemed to be a large pit. The pit was 4 by 2.5 metres with a depth of 0.3 metres, but the grave had been disturbed by later interference and was probably larger and deeper in its original state. The bodies seemed to have been thrown on top of each other and no direct efforts to arrange the individual body positions could be observed. During the anthropological analysis at least seventeen individuals were identified, men (10 or 11), women (5), and children (1). The individuals were aged from 8-9 to 60 years. The analysis shows that a majority (9) of the skeletons have cut lesions. The answer to the questions about who these people were, what caused their death and why they had to share the same grave are difficult to establish but some clues do exist. Considering that both sexes in a variety of ages are identified without any signs of healed slice wounds, the interpretation of these individuals as representatives of ordinary citizens who lacked earlier experience in combat is possible. The fact that they were buried in a churchyard close to the walls of the southeast corner implies that time was taken to arrange a grave in holy ground, i.e. they were probably not criminals. Probably they all died at the same occasion, possibly during an attack against the town or its surroundings. The frequency of violence lesions makes the hypothesis of an epidemic or a major accident causing the death of the individuals less likely. The remains of these individuals, probably members of the same community, are suited for a variety of different analyses. For instance, DNA-tests on the skeletons may provide information about family relationships. Analyses of stable isotopes and trace elements are planned to be conducted in the future so that standard values and variations within an absolutely contemporary group can be registered. Hopefully the forensic investigation may yield more information about which weapons were used and whether there is a detectable pattern in the way the wounds are located

Effects on Microbiota Composition after Consumption of Quinoa Beverage Fermented by a Novel Xylose-Metabolizing L. plantarum strain

Demands for novel lactic acid bacteria with potential to be used as probiotics along with healthy fermented plant-based products increase worldwide. In this study, a novel Lactiplantibacillus plantarum P31891 strain with enzymatic capacity to degrade tannins and ferment xylose was used as starter culture for fermentation of a quinoa-based beverage. The probiotic potential of the selected strain was evaluated in healthy volunteers. Twenty participants consumed the beverage for 14 days; microbiota changes in saliva and faecal samples were analyzed by Terminal Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (T-RFLP), Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) and qPCR; and gastrointestinal well-being and digestive symptoms were recorded. The results indicated that the consumption of the beverage with Lactiplantibacillus plantarum P31891 in a probiotic dose (1012 CFU/mL) increased the number of Lactobacillus in the feces but not in saliva. Overall, the bacterial community did not seem to be influenced by the bacterium or by the beverage, as expressed by the diversity indexes, butspecific genera were affected, as reflected in changes in amplicon sequence variants. Consequently, Lactiplantibacillus plantarum P31891 showed potential to be categorized as a probiotic strain in the fermented quinoa-based beverage

Analysis of the Putative Remains of a European Patron Saint–St. Birgitta

Saint Birgitta (Saint Bridget of Sweden) lived between 1303 and 1373 and was designated one of Europe's six patron saints by the Pope in 1999. According to legend, the skulls of St. Birgitta and her daughter Katarina are maintained in a relic shrine in Vadstena abbey, mid Sweden. The origin of the two skulls was assessed first by analysis of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) to confirm a maternal relationship. The results of this analysis displayed several differences between the two individuals, thus supporting an interpretation of the two skulls not being individuals that are maternally related. Because the efficiency of PCR amplification and quantity of DNA suggested a different amount of degradation and possibly a very different age for each of the skulls, an orthogonal procedure, radiocarbon dating, was performed. The radiocarbon dating results suggest an age difference of at least 200 years and neither of the dating results coincides with the period St. Birgitta or her daughter Katarina lived. The relic, thought to originate from St. Birgitta, has an age corresponding to the 13th century (1215–1270 cal AD, 2σ confidence), which is older than expected. Thus, the two different analyses are consistent in questioning the authenticity of either of the human skulls maintained in the Vadstena relic shrine being that of St. Birgitta. Of course there are limitations when interpreting the data of any ancient biological materials and these must be considered for a final decision on the authenticity of the remains

Fostering exploration and exploitation behavior in management teams to enhance organizational performance: the LearnOvation leadership development program

This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http:// creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcodePurpose – The purpose of this paper is to assess the impact and effectiveness of the LearnOvation leadership development program in the welfare services sector in Sweden. Design/methodology/approach – LearnOvation was based on ambidexterity theory for the program content and the research study design. A mixed-method design was applied, using questionnaires among staff (n 5 523) and written evaluations with the management teams (n 5 60). Findings – Quantitative analysis of the questionnaires indicated little change in managers’ and staffs’ innovation behaviors, though employee exploration behaviors were strongly and positively correlated with their innovation behaviors. Qualitative leader-written evaluations reported increased understanding of innovation management and the use of exploration and exploitation activities to involve staff in the implementation of creative ideas within the organization. Practical implications – The authors argue that innovating is about creating a fertile ground for exploration and exploitation processes of learning that support staff’s willingness to meet goals, as well as their capability to explore new ideas and experiment in new ways of working. Leadership development activities that engage the entire management team can build the necessary capacity and power to lead innovation processes in highly structured welfare services and free the employees’ innovativeness, potentially leading to improved services and employee satisfaction. Originality/value – With the goal of enhancing the innovation capacity in daily practice, this study adds to the scarcity of research in welfare services on how to actually support management’s work on leading successful implementation of creative ideas.publishedVersio

Is Markerless More or Less? Comparing a Smartphone Computer Vision Method for Equine Lameness Assessment to Multi-Camera Motion Capture

Lameness, an alteration of the gait due to pain or dysfunction of the locomotor system, is the most common disease symptom in horses. Yet, it is difficult for veterinarians to correctly assess by visual inspection. Objective tools that can aid clinical decision making and provide early disease detection through sensitive lameness measurements are needed. In this study, we describe how an AI-powered measurement tool on a smartphone can detect lameness in horses without the need to mount equipment on the horse. We compare it to a state-of-the-art multi-camera motion capture system by simultaneous, synchronised recordings from both systems. The mean difference between the systems' output of lameness metrics was below 2.2 mm. Therefore, we conclude that the smartphone measurement tool can detect lameness at relevant levels with easy-of-use for the veterinarian. Computer vision is a subcategory of artificial intelligence focused on extraction of information from images and video. It provides a compelling new means for objective orthopaedic gait assessment in horses using accessible hardware, such as a smartphone, for markerless motion analysis. This study aimed to explore the lameness assessment capacity of a smartphone single camera (SC) markerless computer vision application by comparing measurements of the vertical motion of the head and pelvis to an optical motion capture multi-camera (MC) system using skin attached reflective markers. Twenty-five horses were recorded with a smartphone (60 Hz) and a 13 camera MC-system (200 Hz) while trotting two times back and forth on a 30 m runway. The smartphone video was processed using artificial neural networks detecting the horse's direction, action and motion of body segments. After filtering, the vertical displacement curves from the head and pelvis were synchronised between systems using cross-correlation. This rendered 655 and 404 matching stride segmented curves for the head and pelvis respectively. From the stride segmented vertical displacement signals, differences between the two minima (MinDiff) and the two maxima (MaxDiff) respectively per stride were compared between the systems. Trial mean difference between systems was 2.2 mm (range 0.0-8.7 mm) for head and 2.2 mm (range 0.0-6.5 mm) for pelvis. Within-trial standard deviations ranged between 3.1-28.1 mm for MC and between 3.6-26.2 mm for SC. The ease of use and good agreement with MC indicate that the SC application is a promising tool for detecting clinically relevant levels of asymmetry in horses, enabling frequent and convenient gait monitoring over time

Going deeper than tracking: a survey of computer-vision based recognition of animal pain and emotions

Advances in animal motion tracking and pose recognition have been a game changer in the study of animal behavior. Recently, an increasing number of works go ‘deeper’ than tracking, and address automated recognition of animals’ internal states such as emotions and pain with the aim of improving animal welfare, making this a timely moment for a systematization of the field. This paper provides a comprehensive survey of computer vision-based research on recognition of pain and emotional states in animals, addressing both facial and bodily behavior analysis. We summarize the efforts that have been presented so far within this topic—classifying them across different dimensions, highlight challenges and research gaps, and provide best practice recommendations for advancing the field, and some future directions for research

Genomic and strontium isotope variation reveal immigration patterns in a Viking Age town

The impact of human mobility on the northern European urban populations during the Viking and Early Middle Ages and its repercussions in Scandinavia itself are still largely unexplored. Our study of the demographics in the final phase of the Viking era is the first comprehensive multidisciplinary investigation that includes genetics, isotopes, archaeology, and osteology on a larger scale. This early Christian dataset is particularly important as the earlier common pagan burial tradition during the Iron Age was cremation, hindering large-scale DNA analyses. We present genome-wide sequence data from 23 individuals from the 10th to 12th century Swedish town of Sigtuna. The data revealed high genetic diversity among the early urban residents. The observed variation exceeds the genetic diversity in distinct modern-day and Iron Age groups of central and northern Europe. Strontium isotope data suggest mixed local and non-local origin of the townspeople. Our results uncover the social system underlying the urbanization process of the Viking World of which mobility was an intricate part and was comparable between males and females. The inhabitants of Sigtuna were heterogeneous in their genetic affinities, probably reflecting both close and distant connections through an established network, confirming that early urbanization processes in northern Europe were driven by migration

Implementing storm damage in a dynamic vegetation model for regional applications in Sweden

Wind is the dominant agent of damage in forests in Western Europe. Traditional winddamage models calculate a probability for damage or a critical wind speed at which damage occurs. However, in a dynamic vegetation model actual damage to stands and individual trees is needed to get a dynamical progression of the vegetation. We present a prototype for a new approach to modelling forest wind damage at the regional scale, which we incorporate within a dynamic vegetation model. The approach is based on knowledge from both empirical and mechanical models and calculates the damaged fraction of a cohort based on wind load and a sensitivity that depends on the current physical state and history of the cohort in relation to the ecosystem. The modelling concept has been developed, calibrated and evaluated for Swedish conditions but can be applicable to other similar areas with minor modification. Because of the stochastic nature of local wind load and the difficulty of describing the stand-level exposure, the ability to explain observed damage at stand level was low. Regional level variation in damage, which more depends on the wind load, was however explained reasonably well (R2 = 0.43). We suggest that this is a useful concept for evaluating alternatives of forest management under different climate scenarios in the process of adaptation to future storm-damage risks

High Temperature Triggers Latent Variation among Individuals: Oviposition Rate and Probability for Outbreaks

It is anticipated that extreme population events, such as extinctions and outbreaks, will become more frequent as a consequence of climate change. To evaluate the increased probability of such events, it is crucial to understand the mechanisms involved. Variation between individuals in their response to climatic factors is an important consideration, especially if microevolution is expected to change the composition of populations.Here we present data of a willow leaf beetle species, showing high variation among individuals in oviposition rate at a high temperature (20 °C). It is particularly noteworthy that not all individuals responded to changes in temperature; individuals laying few eggs at 20 °C continued to do so when transferred to 12 °C, whereas individuals that laid many eggs at 20 °C reduced their oviposition and laid the same number of eggs as the others when transferred to 12 °C. When transferred back to 20 °C most individuals reverted to their original oviposition rate. Thus, high variation among individuals was only observed at the higher temperature. Using a simple population model and based on regional climate change scenarios we show that the probability of outbreaks increases if there is a realistic increase in the number of warm summers. The probability of outbreaks also increased with increasing heritability of the ability to respond to increased temperature.If climate becomes warmer and there is latent variation among individuals in their temperature response, the probability for outbreaks may increase. However, the likelihood for microevolution to play a role may be low. This conclusion is based on the fact that it has been difficult to show that microevolution affect the probability for extinctions. Our results highlight the urge for cautiousness when predicting the future concerning probabilities for extreme population events

The genetic history of Scandinavia from the Roman Iron Age to the present

The authors acknowledge support from the National Genomics Infrastructure in Stockholm funded by Science for Life Laboratory, the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation and the Swedish Research Council, and SNIC/Uppsala Multidisciplinary Center for Advanced Computational Science for assistance with massively parallel sequencing and access to the UPPMAX computational infrastructure. We used resources from projects SNIC 2022/23-132, SNIC 2022/22-117, SNIC 2022/23-163, SNIC 2022/22-299, and SNIC 2021-2-17. This research was supported by the Swedish Research Council project ID 2019-00849_VR and ATLAS (Riksbankens Jubileumsfond). Part of the modern dataset was supported by a research grant from Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), grant number 16/RC/3948, and co-funded under the European Regional Development Fund and by FutureNeuro industry partners.Peer reviewedPublisher PD