Introduktion til Radoje Domanovics “Vodja”

Numret rundes af med den serbiske forfatter Radoje Domanovics fabel “Vodja”,der, som Uffe Andersen i sin introduktion gør opmærksom på, er beklagelig aktuel for situationen i Serbien i dag

Concepts for a multi-criteria sustainability assessment of a new more biobased economy in rural production landscapes

This study presents a new approach to model the biophysical potentials for increased biomass harvest in Denmark, and a multi-criteria sustainability assessment of the socio-economic and environmental effects of different scenarios for such increased production and new biobased economy in rural landscapes. Thereby the results serve as input to the ongoing productivism – post-productivism debate related to rural spaces in Europe. Empirical results from a case study of large scale conversion to biorefenery technologies, aiming to increase the total Danish harvest of biomass by 10 million tonnes via the conversion to new types of crop production and land management, is used as an example, and will be related to the common conceptual model presented by the workshop convenors, and a so called “Traffic-light” multi-criteria sustainability assessment scheme introduced and exemplified in the present paper. The aim is to contextualize how the problems in relation to the concrete scenario results can be considered with the landscape as the meeting basis, and used as input for a discussion of innovative models for future farming systems, landscape research and management

Determining actuator requirements for cyclic varying pitch propeller for ships

In marine applications, a cyclic varying pitch (CVP) propeller is a propeller in which the propeller blade can be cyclic-pitched. This cyclic pitching of the propeller blades is used to adapt to the local flow conditions in the non-uniform wake field that the propeller operates in, behind the ship hull. This has the potential to improve the performance of the propulsion system relative to a propeller which has fixed pitch for each revolution. The potential performance improvements include increasing the propulsion efficiency and reducing the cavitation, pressure pulses, vibrations and noise problems. However, the CVP propeller is not on the market today, and several challenges have to be addressed before the CVP propeller may be realized. One of these challenges is how to design the individual cyclic pitch mechanism for the propeller. However, before the cyclic pitch mechanism can be designed, it is necessary to know the requirements for it, such as the required pitching power and torque. The focus of the current paper is therefore to present a model for the propeller, by which it is possible to determine the loads acting on the CVP propeller blades during the cyclic pitching, and hence the actuator force/torque and power requirements. To illustrate the usefulness of the model, an example is presented, in which the loads on a CVP propeller are determined, together with the requirements for the individual cyclic pitch mechanism. The efficiency results presented are, however, not representative of the efficiency improvement that may be obtained, as neither the propeller nor the pitch trajectory has been optimised. The results do, however, serve to show the benefit and validity of the model

Predictive minds in Ouija board sessions

Andersen M, Nielbo KL, Schjoedt U, Pfeiffer T, Roepstorff A, Sørensen J. Predictive minds in Ouija board sessions. Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences. 2018;18(3):577-588.Ouija board sessions are illustrious examples of how subjective feelings of control the Sense of Agency (SoA) - can be manipulated in real life settings. We present findings from a field experiment at a paranormal conference, where Ouija enthusiasts were equipped with eye trackers while using the Ouija board. Our results show that participants have a significantly lower probability at visually predicting letters in a Ouija board session compared to a condition in which they are instructed to deliberately spell out words with the Ouija board planchette. Our results also show that Ouija board believers report lower SoA compared to sceptic participants. These results support previous research which claim that low sense of agency is caused by a combination of retrospective inference and an inhibition of predictive processes. Our results show that users in Ouija board sessions become increasingly better at predicting letters as responses unfold over time, and that meaningful responses from the Ouija board can only be accounted for when considering interactions that goes on at the participant pair level. These results suggest that meaningful responses from the Ouija board may be an emergent property of interacting and predicting minds that increasingly impose structure on initially random events in Ouija sessions

Træer i svinefolde

Producer svinekød og træbiomasse på samme areal

Circulating Tumor DNA Monitoring Reveals Molecular Progression before Radiologic Progression in a Real-life Cohort of Patients with Advanced Non-small Cell Lung Cancer

Purpose: The clinical potential of liquid biopsy in patients with advancedcancer is real-time monitoring for early detection of treatment failure.Our study aimed to investigate the clinical validity of circulating tumorDNA (ctDNA) treatment monitoring in a real-life cohort of patients withadvanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).Experimental Design: Patients with advanced or noncurative locallyadvanced NSCLC were prospectively included in an exploratory study(NCT03512847). Selected cancer-specific mutations were measured inplasma by standard or uniquely designed droplet digital PCR assays beforeevery treatment cycle during first-line treatment until progressive disease(PD). Correlation between an increase in ctDNA (= molecular progres-sion) and radiologic PD was investigated, defined as lead time, and thecorresponding numbers of likely futile treatment cycles were determined.Utility of ctDNA measurements in clarifying the results of nonconclusiveradiologic evaluation scans was evaluated.Results: Cancer-specific mutations and longitudinal plasma sampling werepresent in 132 of 150 patients. ctDNA was detectable in 88 (67%) of132 patients treated by respectively chemotherapy (n = 41), immunotherapy(n = 43), or combination treatment (n = 4). In 66 (90%) of 73 patients ex-periencing PD, a ctDNA increase was observed with a median lead time of1.5 months before radiologic PD. Overall, 119 (33%) of 365 treatment cy-cles were administered after molecular progression. In addition, ctDNAmeasurements could clarify the results in 38 (79%) of 48 nonconclusiveradiologic evaluations.Conclusions: ctDNA monitoring leads to earlier detection of treatmentfailure, and clarifies the majority of nonconclusive radiologic evaluations,giving the potential of sparing patients from likely futile treatments andneedless adverse events.Significance: Treatment monitoring by ctDNA has the clinical potentialto reveal PD before radiologic evaluation and consequently spare patientswith advanced cancer from likely ineffective, costly cancer treatments andadverse events

Novel understanding of ABC transporters ABCB1/MDR/P-glycoprotein, ABCC2/MRP2, and ABCG2/BCRP in colorectal pathophysiology

AIM: To evaluate ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters in colonic pathophysiology as they had recently been related to colorectal cancer (CRC) development. METHODS: Literature search was conducted on PubMed using combinations of the following terms: ABC transporters, ATP binding cassette transporter proteins, inflammatory bowel disease, ulcerative, colitis, Crohns disease, colorectal cancer, colitis, intestinal inflammation, intestinal carcinogenesis, ABCB1/P-glycoprotein (P-gp/CD243/MDR1), ABCC2/multidrug resistance protein 2 (MRP2) and ABCG2/breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP), Abcb1/Mdr1a, abcc2/Mrp2, abcg2/Bcrp, knock-out mice, tight junction, membrane lipid function. RESULTS: Recently, human studies reported that changes in the levels of ABC transporters were early events in the adenoma-carcinoma sequence leading to CRC. A link between ABCB1, high fat diet and gut microbes in relation to colitis was suggested by the animal studies. The finding that colitis was preceded by altered gut bacterial composition suggests that deletion of Abcb1 leads to fundamental changes of host-microbiota interaction. Also, high fat diet increases the frequency and severity of colitis in specific pathogen-free Abcb1 KO mice. The Abcb1 KO mice might thus serve as a model in which diet/environmental factors and microbes may be controlled and investigated in relation to intestinal inflammation. Potential molecular mechanisms include defective transport of inflammatory mediators and/or phospholipid translocation from one side to the other of the cell membrane lipid bilayer by ABC transporters affecting inflammatory response and/or function of tight junctions, phagocytosis and vesicle trafficking. Also, diet and microbes give rise to molecules which are potential substrates for the ABC transporters and which may additionally affect ABC transporter function through nuclear receptors and transcriptional regulation. Another critical role of ABCB1 was suggested by the finding that ABCB1 expression identifies a subpopulation of pro-inflammatory Th17 cells which were resistant to treatment with glucocorticoids. The evidence for the involvement of ABCC2 and ABCG2 in colonic pathophysiology was weak. CONCLUSION: ABCB1, diet, and gut microbes mutually interact in colonic inflammation, a well-known risk factor for CRC. Further insight may be translated into preventive and treatment strategies