Sustainable restorative environments : consideration of social, ecological and economic sustainability provides more ecosystem services

Den här studien belyser hur man kan planera för växtval i restorativa miljöer (platser som främjar återhämtning) på ett sätt som bidrar till social, ekologisk samt ekonomisk hållbarhet. En fallstudie i Hälsoträdgården i Kristianstad och Fyra Årstiders park i Sölvesborg med restorativa kvaliteter samt en litteraturstudie har gjorts och erfarenheterna från detta utmynnar i en checklista, med några av de aspekter och frågeställningar man kan ha i åtanke då man planerar för restorativa miljöer. Förutom FN:s hållbarhetsmål är de kulturella, stödjande, försörjande samt reglerande ekosystemtjänsterna något som är viktigt då man planerar planteringar för framtiden. Studien tydliggör att med hållbara val i en naturlik plantering med träd, buskar och perenner, kan både restorativa kvaliteter och ekosystemtjänster nås. I urbana ekosystem kan en artrik biotop skapas som ger bättre stadsklimat och en attraktivare miljö.This study illuminates how to plan for plant selection in restorative environments (places that promote recovery) in a way that contributes to social, ecological and economic sustainability. A case study in The Health Garden in Kristianstad and Four Seasons Park in Sölvesborg with restorative qualities and a literature study have been carried out, resulting in a checklist with some of the aspects and problems to keep in mind when planning for restorative environments. In addition to the UN's sustainability goals, the cultural, supporting, supplying and regulating ecosystem services are important when planning plantations for the future. The result of the study shows that using sustainable choices in a natural planting with trees, shrubs and perennials, both restorative qualities and ecosystem services can be reached. Species rich biotopes can be created in urban ecosystems that provides a better urban climate and a more attractive environment

Characteristics of Everyday Leisure Trips by Car in Sweden – Implications for Sustainability Measures

In search for measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transport, insights into the characteristics of all sorts of trips and specifically trips by car are needed. This paper focuses on everyday leisure trips for social and recreational purposes. Travel behaviour for these purposes is analysed considering individual and household factors as well as properties of the trip, based on Swedish national travel survey data. The analysis reveals that everyday leisure trips are often of joint character and that the average distance travelled per person and day increases with, for example, income, cohabitation, children in the household and residence in rural areas. The result also shows that the studied characteristics vary between studied trip purposes, influencing the sustainability potential of a reduction in car use and suggested measures. For instance, the largest share of passenger mileage comes from social trips, whereas trips for exercise and outdoor life have the largest share of car trips below 5 km. Several characteristics indicate difficulties in transferring trips by car to, for example, bicycle or public transport due to convenience, economy, start times, company etc. The study indicates that there is a need to take a broader view of the effective potential

Postprandial lipid responses to an alpha-linolenic acid-rich oil, olive oil and butter in women: A randomized crossover trial

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Postprandial lipaemia varies with gender and the composition of dietary fat due to the partitioning of fatty acids between beta-oxidation and incorporation into triacylglycerols (TAGs). Increasing evidence highlights the importance of postprandial measurements to evaluate atherogenic risk. Postprandial effects of alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) in women are poorly characterized. We therefore studied the postprandial lipid response of women to an ALA-rich oil in comparison with olive oil and butter, and characterized the fatty acid composition of total lipids, TAGs, and non-esterified fatty acids (NEFAs) in plasma.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A randomized crossover design (n = 19) was used to compare the postprandial effects of 3 meals containing 35 g fat. Blood samples were collected at regular intervals for 7 h. Statistical analysis was carried out with ANOVA (significant difference = P < 0.05).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>No significant difference was seen in incremental area under the curve (iAUC) plasma-TAG between the meals. ALA and oleic acid levels were significantly increased in plasma after ALA-rich oil and olive oil meals, respectively. Palmitic acid was significantly increased in plasma-TAG after the butter meal. The ratios of 18:2 n-6 to18:3 n-3 in plasma-TAGs, three and seven hours after the ALA-rich oil meal, were 1.5 and 2.4, respectively. The corresponding values after the olive oil meal were: 13.8 and 16.9; and after the butter meal: 9.0 and 11.6.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The postprandial p-TAG and NEFA response in healthy pre-menopausal women was not significantly different after the intake of an ALA-rich oil, olive oil and butter. The ALA-rich oil significantly affected different plasma lipid fractions and improved the ratio of n-6 to n-3 fatty acids several hours postprandially.</p

Moving Usability Testing onto the Web

Abstract: In order to remotely obtain detailed usability data by tracking user behaviors within a given web site, a server-based usability testing environment has been created. Web pages are annotated in such a way that arbitrary user actions (such as "mouse over link" or "click back button") can be selected for logging. In addition, the system allows the experiment designer to interleave interactive questions into the usability evaluation, which for instance could be triggered by a particular sequence of actions. The system works in conjunction with clustering and visualization algorithms that can be applied to the resulting log file data. A first version of the system has been used successfully to carry out a web usability evaluation

Processes controlling the vertical aerosol distribution in marine stratocumulus regions - a sensitivity study using the climate model NorESM1-M

The vertical distribution of aerosols plays an important role in determining the effective radiative forcing from aerosol–radiation and aerosol–cloud interactions. Here, a number of processes controlling the vertical distribution of aerosol in five subtropical marine stratocumulus regions in the climate model NorESM1-M are investigated, with a focus on the total aerosol extinction. A comparison with satellite lidar data (CALIOP, Cloud–Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization) shows that the model underestimates aerosol extinction throughout the troposphere, especially elevated aerosol layers in the two regions where they are seen in observations. It is found that the shape of the vertical aerosol distribution is largely determined by the aerosol emission and removal processes in the model, primarily through the injection height, emitted particle size, and wet scavenging. In addition, the representation of vertical transport related to shallow convection and entrainment is found to be important, whereas alterations in aerosol optical properties and cloud microphysics parameterizations have smaller effects on the vertical aerosol extinction distribution. However, none of the alterations made are sufficient for reproducing the observed vertical distribution of aerosol extinction, neither in magnitude nor in shape. Interpolating the vertical levels of CALIOP to the corresponding model levels leads to better agreement in the boundary layer and highlights the importance of the vertical resolution

Tvångsparning och valpens tidiga utveckling

Detta examensarbete är en litteraturstudie, som är baserad på både äldre och nyare vetenskaplig litteratur, samt populär facklitteratur. Syftet med detta examensarbete är att åskådliggöra två problemområden inom den svenska kennelverksamheten/hundaveln. Tvångsparningar av tikar är ett stort djurskyddsproblem som strider mot svensk djurskyddslagstiftning. Trots att denna metod medför lidande hos tiken används den flitigt hos verksamma kennelägare, samt hos avelsdjursägare. I facklitteratur, som privatpersoner kan komma i kontakt med, illustreras detta övergrepp i detalj, fast då under namnet parningshjälp. Denna s.k. parningshjälp, anses av dessa författare, vara nödvändig, för att inte hundarna under parningsakten ska skada varandra eller tröttas ut. Denna metod påminner om den s.k. våldtäkten mellan hundar som observerats i studier av herrelösa hundar i Indien. Det finns alltid minst ett skäl till att tiken inte accepterar den utvalda hanhunden och att tvinga henne till parning, trots hennes ovilja, leder det till fysiskt och psykiskt lidande. Fysiologiska hinder kan vara orsaken till att tiken inte vill genomföra en parning, såsom slidkatarr, förträngningar eller ryggproblem. Varje tik har vidare en egen preferens om tilltänkta fadern till hennes avkomma. Denna preferens är till för att tiken ska undvika inavel i populationen, samt att hon ska välja den hanhunden med de mest fördelaktiga generna till avkomman. Kennelägaren ansvarar för valpens tidigaste utveckling, som är oerhört viktig för hundens vidare förutsättningar som vuxen. Den prenatala perioden, dvs. tiden före födseln, kan påverka valpen negativt om tiken är stressad under dräktigheten. Valpens viktigaste period, socialiseringsperioden, innefattar socialisering till människan, men även artprägling och miljöträning. Under denna period läggs grunden till hur valpen och senare hunden kommer att fungera i sitt sociala umgänge med människan. Vidare lär sig valpen, genom artprägling, hundens arttypiska språk, samt hur den ska umgås med andra hundar. Om valpens behov inte blir tillfredställda, samt om felaktig eller otillräcklig socialisering sker, leder detta till att hunden senare i livet kan utveckla rädsla eller aggressivt beteende gentemot människor eller andra hundar. Avlivning av friska hundar, med denna typ av beteendeproblem, är vanligt förekommande och ska ses som ett djurskyddsproblem. Om istället resurser läggs på träning och/eller medicinering för återanpassning är möjligheten stor att dessa hundar kan fungera utmärkt i människans sociala samhälle.This examination report is a literature review, which is based on both earlier and more recent published scientific literature and also notification. The purpose of this examination report is to focus on two problem areas in Swedish dog breeding. Forced copulation in dogs is a large animal welfare problem which is against the Swedish animal welfare legislation. Even though this method causes the bitch suffering, it is a common way to breed dogs. In notification for the private person encroachment shows in detail, but then under a different name, “assisted mating”. The writers of these books mean that this method is necessary, or else the dogs might get hurt or get unnecessarily exhausted. This method has similarities to raping observed in studies on abandoned dogs in India. There is always a reason for the bitch not accepting the selected male and by forcing her to mate the bitch suffers both physically and mentally. Physiological reasons like vagina-catarrh, narrowing or backproblem may be the reason why a bitch refuses to mate. Every single bitch has her own preference of the perfect father for her offspring. This preference is a strategy to avoid inbreeding and to choose the genetically most preferable male/ father. The dog breeder is responsible for the pups’ early development, this is very important for the dogs prerequisites as an adult. If the bitch is stressed during her pregnancy the offspring may be negatively affected. The pups’ most important period is the socialization period, which includes the socialization to the human being and the species stamping and environment training. During this period the puppy’s adulthood function in its social relation to the human is founded. The pup also learns through the species specific language normal and adaptive dog to dog social behaviour. If the pups’ needs are not fulfilled or if maladjusted or no socialization occurres, this will lead to aggressive/ frightened behaviour towards humans or other dogs. Putting healthy dogs to sleep, due to this type of behaviour problem, is common and should bee seen as an animal welfare problem. If resources are put on training and/or medicifacation to rehabilitation of these dogs, they have the possibility to function well as pet dogs

BMI and mortality in patients with new-onset type 2 diabetes: a comparison with age- and sex-matched control subjects from the general population

Objective: Type 2 diabetes is strongly associated with obesity, but the mortality risk related to elevated body weight in people with type 2 diabetes compared with people without diabetes has not been established. Research Design and Methods: We prospectively assessed short- and long-term mortality in people with type 2 diabetes with a recorded diabetes duration ≤5 years identified from the Swedish National Diabetes Registry between 1998 and 2012 and five age- and sex-matched control subjects per study participant from the general population. Results: Over a median follow-up of 5.5 years, there were 17,546 deaths among 149,345 patients with type 2 diabetes (mean age 59.6 years [40% women]) and 68,429 deaths among 743,907 matched control subjects. Short-term all-cause mortality risk (≤5 years) displayed a U-shaped relationship with BMI, with hazard ratios (HRs) ranging from 0.81 (95% CI 0.75-0.88) among patients with diabetes and BMI 30 to &lt;35 kg/m2 to 1.37 (95% CI 1.11-1.71) with BMI ≥40 kg/m2 compared with control subjects after multiple adjustments. Long-term, all weight categories showed increased mortality, with a nadir at BMI 25 to &lt;30 kg/m2 and a stepwise increase up to HR 2.00 (95% CI 1.58-2.54) among patients with BMI ≥40 kg/m2, that was more pronounced in patients &lt;65 years old. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that the apparent paradoxical findings in other studies in this area may have been affected by reverse causality. Long-term, overweight (BMI 25 to &lt;30 kg/m2) patients with type 2 diabetes had low excess mortality risk compared with control subjects, whereas risk in those with BMI ≥40 kg/m2 was substantially increased

Hands-on approach during breastfeeding support in a neonatal intensive care unit: a qualitative study of Swedish mothers' experiences

BACKGROUND: Assisting mothers to breastfeed is not easy when babies experience difficulties. In a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), nurses often help mothers by using hands-on-breast without their permission. Little is known about how mothers feel about this unusual body touching. To gain more knowledge from mothers who lived through this experience, this hands-on practice was studied in a NICU in Sweden. METHODS: Between January and June 2001, in-depth interviews were conducted with ten mothers of preterm or sick term infants and all of them experienced the hands-on approach. In this research, Radnitzky's seven principles of hermeneutic interpretation were applied in order to interpret the meaning of mothers' responses. This article presents results related to the period of initiation of breastfeeding. This qualitative study was based on a combination of the models of Gustafsson, Orem, and Aarts' Marte Meo. RESULTS: Five main themes were identified: Insult to integrity, Manipulating the baby, Understanding and adjustment, Breasts as objects, Alternatives to this practice. Hands-on help in the breastfeeding situation was experienced as unpleasant and the women experienced their breasts as objectified. The mothers accepted the hands-on help given by nursing staff, even though they considered it unpleasant. Most mothers expressed a need for assistance when starting breastfeeding, but could not suggest any alternative to hands-on help such as demonstrating with an artificial breast and a doll. CONCLUSION: The study provides information about how mothers experience unexpected hands-on help with breastfeeding in a NICU, which has not been described previously. Since most mothers in this study regarded this behavior as unpleasant and not helpful mostly because it was unexpected and unexplained, it would be important to either explain beforehand to mothers what type of physical approach could be attempted on their body or better, to avoid this type of approach completely

Unraveling the complexity to observe associations between welfare indicators and hair cortisol concentration in dairy calves

Using levels of the stress hormone cortisol as an indicator for welfare is a common, but debated practice. In this observational study, hair cortisol concentration (HCC) of samples from 196 dairy calves from 7 to 302 days of age collected from 12 Swedish farms was determined using a commercially available ELISA. An assessment of animal welfare, assessed using animal-based indicators, was performed on the day of sampling. First, methodological factors with the potential to impact HCC and the effect of age were analyzed using generalized additive models. This revealed a significant peak in hair cortisol in young calves (around 50 days of age) and an association between fecal contamination of hair samples and the level of cortisol extracted. Second, associations between welfare indicators and HCC were explored using cluster analysis and regularized regression. The results show a complex pattern, possibly related to different coping styles of the calves, and indicators of poor welfare were associated with both increased and decreased hair cortisol levels. High cortisol levels were associated with potential indicators of competition, while low cortisol levels were associated with the signs of poor health or a poor environment. When running the regularized regression analysis without the contaminated hair samples and with the contaminated samples (including a contamination score), the results did not change, indicating that it may be possible to use a contamination score to correct for contamination