Why do (don’t) we buy organic food and do we get what we bargain for?

The market of organic foods is expanding in Sweden and for further market development it is important to know more about consumers’ motives for buying organic products, and also the barriers for not buying organic food. To understand consumer behaviour is difficult, and is complicated by the fact that consumers may have perceptions of quality characteristics of organic food products that are not guaranteed by organic certification and labelling. The organic certification regulates the production processes, not the quality of products, nor the environmental effects. EPOK has initiated this popular science know-ledge synthesis to give an overview of existing literature on consumers’ motives and discuss to what extent some of these motives can be supported by scientific evidence, e.g. health and nutritional, environmental or animal welfare motives. The report is as far as possible based on existing international reviews, with specific references to some regional differences, including specific comments for the Swedish context. It provides an overview of some important aspects of the present and future development of the organic market but should not be viewed as an exhaustive review. It is concluded that some of the organic food characteristics behind these motives are well supported in the scientific literature, e.g. benefits for biodiversity and low incidence of pesticide residues in food, while other qualities cannot be considered to be clearly and consistently supported by scientific research. These conclusions set limits for how organic food could be marketed

Predicting Skin Permeability by means of Computational Approaches : Reliability and Caveats in Pharmaceutical Studies

© 2019 American Chemical Society.The skin is the main barrier between the internal body environment and the external one. The characteristics of this barrier and its properties are able to modify and affect drug delivery and chemical toxicity parameters. Therefore, it is not surprising that permeability of many different compounds has been measured through several in vitro and in vivo techniques. Moreover, many different in silico approaches have been used to identify the correlation between the structure of the permeants and their permeability, to reproduce the skin behavior, and to predict the ability of specific chemicals to permeate this barrier. A significant number of issues, like interlaboratory variability, experimental conditions, data set building rationales, and skin site of origin and hydration, still prevent us from obtaining a definitive predictive skin permeability model. This review wants to show the main advances and the principal approaches in computational methods used to predict this property, to enlighten the main issues that have arisen, and to address the challenges to develop in future research.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

The Effect of High Maternal Milk Production During Pregnancy on Neonatal Health and Metabolism

The efficiency of the dairy industry relies heavily on the production of healthy calves. However, dairy operations experience high rates of calf mortality due to digestive and respiratory issues. One factor that could predispose calves to disease is the effects of maternal programming caused by high maternal milk production during pregnancy. We hypothesized that calves born to high producing dams will exhibit increased oxidative stress as well as increased circulating triglyceride and total cholesterol concentrations. Cows (n = 17) that produced ≥ 14,865 kg of milk during their lactations were classified as high producers. Alternately, cows (n = 18) that produced ≤ 10,069 kg of milk during their lactation were classified as low producers. At parturition, blood samples from the corresponding calves were collected within 24 hrs of birth (n = 5 to 13 per group per gender). Calves born to low and high producing dams will be referred to as LOW and HIGH respectively. Total serum triglycerides (TG) and total cholesterol (TC) were analyzed at the University of Missouri Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory. Oxidative stress was measured using a plasma protein carbonyl assay (Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO). Data were analyzed in SAS using maternal milk production as a covariate. Differences were considered statistically significant when P ≤ 0.05 and a tendency when P \u3e 0.05 ≤ 0.10. No effect of maternal milk production by gender was observed for circulating TC concentrations or plasma protein carbonyl concentrations when comparing LOW calves with HIGH calves for the gender by treatment interaction (P ≥ 0.42). However, LOW female calves had greater circulating TG concentrations (34.23 ± 1.65 mg/dL) when compared with LOW male calves (18.24 ± 2.37 mg/dL; P \u3c 0.01), HIGH male (21.98 ± 2.06 mg/dL; P = 0.08) and HIGH female calves (19.57 ± 3.36 mg/dL; P = 0.06). In newborn calves, the small intestine has a vital role in facilitating passive transfer as well as nutrient absorption. If disrupted, this could impact calf health and metabolism. In conclusion, efficiency of TG absorption appears to be gender dependent. Additionally, these data suggest that LOW female calves are absorbing more lipid from colostrum than HIGH female calves which could aid in maintaining energy balance. A future study will evaluate histological changes in the gastrointestinal tract of calf neonates born to HIGH and LOW producing dams to better understand changes to lipid absorption and passive transfer

Compliance and Control: The Hidden Curriculum of Social-Emotional Learning

In this paper, we seek to critically address the enactment and impact of social-emotional learning (SEL) curriculum and implementation in early childhood and elementary (PK-5th) classrooms. Specifically, we argue that SEL, as frequently operationalized, is a dehumanizing process that seeks to assimilate non-dominant children into dominant ways of being while concurrently seeking to enforce compliance and normalize children to oppressive structures. SEL is often seen as a “nice” form of classroom management, perfect for a field dominated by “nice” white women who see their work as apolitical and neutral rather than political and rooted in the maintenance of white supremacy (Galman et al., 2010). As such, it makes sense that PK-5 contexts, deeply rooted in a “Just be Kind” sense of morality as opposed to one rooted in justice and student empowerment (Turner, 2019), turn to SEL programs as “fixers” of student behavior. But SEL programs are often anything but “nice.” Despite presenting as humanizing and kind, the focus on compliance makes it inherently dehumanizing

Supporting School Readiness through Librarian-Child Interactions in Public Library Storytimes: An Analysis of Assessment Scores and Influential Factors

A recent trend in public libraries′ children’s services emphasizes the role of promoting school readiness. In order to gain a deeper understanding of the school readiness efforts present in storytime programs, this study observed and scored 68 public library preschool storytime sessions presented by 35 storytime providers across three states using the CLASS (Classroom Assessment Scoring System) measure. The CLASS evaluates adult-child interactions in learning environments within three domains related to positive outcomes in children’s school readiness: emotional support, classroom organization, and instructional support. Additionally, the study examined whether differences among CLASS scores were influenced by the population density of the library community, the storytime provider’s degree status and educational level, the provider’s prior teaching experience, the provider’s years of experience in children’s services, and the number of children participating in the storytime session. Results revealed that storytime providers score well in the CLASS’s emotional support and classroom organization dimensions but have room for improvement in the content-focused instructional support domain. Of the factors examined, only years of experience in children’s services was found to influence a provider’s CLASS score. These findings suggest that professional development programs should focus on preparing librarians to teach and model school readiness skills during storytime

FUTURE SPACE EXPLORATION: FROM REFERENCE SCENARIO DEFINITION TO KEY TECHNOLOGIES ROADMAPS

The human exploration of multiple deep space destinations (e.g. Cis-lunar, NEAs), in view of the final challenge of sending astronauts to Mars, represents a current and consistent study domain especially in terms of its possible scenarios and mission architectures assessments, as proved by the numerous on-going activities about this topic and moreover by the Global Exploration Roadmap. After exploring and analysing different possible solutions to identify the most flexible path, a detailed characterization of one out of several Design Reference Missions (DRM) represents a necessity in order to evaluate the feasibility and affordability of deep space exploration missions, specifically in terms of enabling technological capabilities. A human expedition to a NEA, milestone of the GER ‘Asteroid Next' scenario, is considered the mission that would offer the largest suite of benefits in terms of scientific return, operational experience and familiarity on human deep space missions, test of technologies and assessment of human factors for future long-duration expeditions (including planetary bodies), evaluation of In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) and, more specifically, opportunity to test asteroid collision avoidance techniques. The study started from the identification and analysis of feasible evolutionary scenarios for Deep Space Exploration. Different destinations were considered as targets, with particular attention to Earth-Moon Lagrangian points, NEA and Mars as an alternative path to a Moon campaign. In the frame of the scenario selected as the preferable one, a DRM to a NEA (reference target) was defined in detail in terms of architecture and mission elements, as well as of the subsystems composing them. Successively, the critical subsystems and the relevant key technologies were investigated in detail, from their status-of-the-art up to an assessment of their development roadmaps. They shall enable the DRM and support the whole scenario. The paper describes the process that was followed within the study and reports the major obtained results, in terms of scenarios and mission analysis. Furthermore the key technologies that were identified are listed and described highlighting the derived roadmaps for their development according to the reference scenario

An Integrated Traverse Planner and Analysis Tool for Planetary Exploration

Future planetary explorations will require surface traverses of unprecedented frequency, length, and duration. As a result, there is need for exploration support tools to maximize productivity, scientific return, and safety. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is currently developing such a system, called the Surface Exploration Traverse Analysis and Navigation Tool (SEXTANT). The goal of this system is twofold: to allow for realistic simulations of traverses in order to assist with hardware design, and to give astronauts an aid that will allow for more autonomy in traverse planning and re-planning. SEXTANT is a MATLAB-based tool that incorporates a lunar elevation model created from data from the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter instrument aboard the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft. To assist in traverse planning, SEXTANT determines the most efficient path across a planetary surface for astronauts or transportation rovers between user-specified Activity Points. The path efficiency is derived from any number of metrics: the traverse distance, traverse time, or the explorer’s energy consumption. The generated path, display of traverse obstacles, and selection of Activity Points are visualized in a 3D mapping interface. After a traverse has been planned, SEXTANT is capable of computing the most efficient path back home, or “walkback”, from any point along the traverse – an important capability for emergency operations. SEXTANT also has the ability to determine shadowed and sunlit areas along a lunar traverse. This data is used to compute the thermal load on suited astronauts and the solar power generation capacity of rovers over the entire traverse. These both relate directly to the explorer’s consumables, which place strict constraints on the traverse. This paper concludes by presenting three example traverses, detailing how SEXTANT can be used to plan and modify paths for both explorer types.Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Donald W. Douglas Fellowship)National Space Biomedical Research Institute (Grant HFP00003