Mutation in ASIP and MC1R that effects the coat colour in Gotland sheep

Gotlandsfår har avlats för en jämn och klar ull. Ullfärgen varierar mellan vit till svart, men marknaden önskar ull mellan ljusgrå och mörkgrå. Genom studier på gener associerade med ullfärgen blir det lättare att förstå deras roll vid pigmenteringen. Studien gjordes på 88 Gotlandsfår samt 41 avkommor och deras föräldradjur där en tidigare känd mutation i ASIP [recessiv svart allel, g.100_105del (D5)] undersöktes för att se om mutationen har någon påverkan på nyansen av ullfärgen. Resultatet visade inget samband mellan ullfärgens nyans och D5 deletionen hos Gotlandsfår. Studien visade även att det inte fanns något tydligt samband mellan föräldradjurens och avkommans ullfärg, samt avkommans genotyp. 56,8 % av Gotlandsfåren hade den vanliga genotypen med avsaknad av D5, NN, den kunde ses bland alla ullfärger förutom svart. Genotypen ND, som beror på mutationen i ASIP, kunde även den ses hos samtliga ullfärger.The Gotlands sheep have been breed for a consistent and clear coat. The coat colour varies between white and black, but the market prefer a coat between light grey and dark grey. By studying the genes associated with coat colour it will be easier to understand the roll it has in pigmentation. The study was made on 88 Gotland sheep and 41 offspring along with their parents where a previously known mutation in ASIP [recessive black allele, g.100_105del (D5)] where investigated to see if the mutation has any influence on the coat colour. The result showed that there isn´t a significant relationship between the coat colour and whether the Gotland sheep had the D5 mutation or not. The study also showed that there is no significant relationship between the offspring and the parents coat colour, and the offspring’s genotype. 56,8 % of the Gotland sheep had the regular genotype with the absent of D5, NN, it could be seen in all colours except black. The ND genotype, which is due to the mutation in ASIP, could also be seen in all colours

On the analytical engagement of social semiotics and variation theory in physics education research

In this licentiate thesis, I explore how two theoretical frameworks—social semiotics and the variation theory of learning—used in physics education research, can be fruitfully combined to obtain additional analytical tools for analysing student learning in introductory level university physics. Each theoretical framework has on their own, or together with other frameworks, been successfully applied for analysing both individual and collective learning, but the combination of the two has yet not been fully explored. Social semiotics is concerned with the communication, using different semiotic resources (such as spoken and written language, mathematics, diagrams, gestures, and apparatus), between people within a certain discourse. Variation theory suggests that learning can only be successful if a person is able to discern the critical aspects of a phenomenon. This discernment is seen to be dependent on being exposed to purposeful variation within this aspect. In order to study this analytical combination, I made use of two case studies; I studied (1) physics students’ understanding of plus (+) and minus (–) signs in a one-dimensional kinematics contexts; and, (2) students’ collective communication and learning progression in group work activities solving problems in circular motion. In both cases I explored how the concept of ‘relevance structure’ could be used analytically to understanding students’ learning challenges in physics. For the first case study I was able to identify four qualitative different categories of students’ individual relevance structure for of how students ‘read’ and ‘use’ these algebraic signs in this context. Through the analysis connected to the data set used for the second case study I was also able to identify two different approaches to viewing a circular motion problem—a static and dynamic approach—suggested to be the result of students’ ‘enacted relevance structure’, and also empirically show how social semiotics and variation theory could be analytically combined in a powerful way in qualitative analysis. Conclusions that I can draw from the research presented in this thesis is that students’ relevance structure— what they perceive as being relevant—seem to have a high influence on students’ ability to discern disciplinary relevant aspects (DRAs) of the phenomenon which they are studying. I suggest that the relevance structure may act as a ‘filter’ for students to be able to make the appropriate disciplinary discernment even though they experience purposeful variation within a dimension of variation. From the research presented in this licentiate thesis, I have been able to identify and suggest both theoretical and methodological contributions to physics education research and I end this thesis with suggesting implications for teaching and learning, as well as making suggestions for future research

The effect on enclosure use and foraging behaviours of keeping african savannah elephant (Loxodonta africana) and rothschild’s giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis rothschildi) together at Borås Zoo

This study was conducted at Borås Zoo to investigate the effect on enclosure use, foraging behaviours and social interactions of keeping african savannah elephant (Loxodonta Africana) and rothschild’s giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis rothschildi) together in the Savannah enclosure. The two species were observed in three different scenarios: 1) Elephants in the Savannah enclosure without the presence of giraffes, 2) Giraffes in the Savannah enclosure without the presence of elephants, and 3) Elephants and giraffes together in the Savannah enclosure. The observations were conducted using instantaneous registration with one- and five-minute intervals for enclosure use and foraging behaviours, respectively, whilst the social behaviours were recorded only by frequency. The data was then compared to investigate any potential differences in enclosure use and behaviours between the different scenarios. The results indicated that both species were affected by being kept together in the enclosure, both regarding enclosure use and behaviour. This effect could be explained by stress originating in one of the elephants past experiences with giraffes, and the negative social interactions expressed towards the giraffes by the elephants. Lack of sufficient data and an uneven number of observations per scenario makes drawing any general conclusions outside of this specific population difficult. Further research on keeping elephants together with giraffes in one enclosure is therefore needed

A Phenomenographic Analysis Of Students’ Experience Of Geological Time

Source at: https://clutejournals.com/index.php/JAESE/article/view/10388Geological time is by many geoscience instructors considered a threshold concept for geoscience students, being a central concept for how we experience geosceince phenomena that takes place on a spatio-temporal scale ranging from micro (e.g. cloud formation) to macro (e.g. plate tectonics). If one wishes to understand geoscience phenomena that goes beyond human perception, one must move from the concrete toward the abstract—from experiencing a phenomenon with one’s senses toward an experience of the phenomenon that is based on an mind construct; we refer to such competency as disciplinary spatio-temporal competency (DSTC). The purpose of this study is to gain an understanding of how first-year students in a geoscience program in Sweden experience and represent the phenomenon of geological time, i.e. to capture their DSTC. Analyazing data from three semi-structured group interviews using a phenomenographic approach revealed how the students express geological time through their language, their gestures, and their visualizations. From the result in this study, including four qualitatively different themes, or categories of description, it is possible to conclude that the students' way of expressing geological time give rise to exciting interpretations and we believe that these expressions can provide information also about how students experience (and learn about) geological time. We report that through students’ illustrations and discussions, students experience geological time as something more than a static one-dimensional straight line. The data analysis shows that students connect geological time with spatio-temporal aspects from various geosientific phenomena, one example of such an dynamic description of geological time is “One simply fills it with more information” indicating that the students experience geological time as two-dimensional (space and time

Generating Weekly Training Plans in the Style of a Professional Swimming Coach Using Genetic Algorithms and Random Trees

Optimal training planning is a combination of art and sci- ence, a time-consuming task that requires expert knowledge. As such, it is often exclusively available to top tier athletes. Many athletes outside the elite do not have access or cannot afford to hire a professional coach to help them create their training plans. In this study, we investigate if it is possible to use the historical training logs of elite swimmers to con- struct detailed weekly training plans similar to how a specific professional coach would have planned. We present a software system based on machine learning and genetic algorithms for generation of detailed weekly training plans based on desired volume, intensity, training frequency, and athlete characteristics. The system schedules training sessions from a library extracted from training plans written by a professional swimming coach. Results show that the proposed system is able to generate highly accurate training plans in terms of training load, types of sessions, and structure, compared to the human coach

Från dömd till klient. En uppsats om NPM's inverkan på kriminalvårdens klientel

Under de senaste årtiondena har den svenska offentliga förvaltningen genomgått omorganiseringar med målet att effektivisera. Dessa omorganiseringar brukar sägas följa en managementtrend i samhället där inspiration hämtas från privata företag, framförallt används New Public Management (NPM) för att beteckna den nya styrmodellen som har haft stor genomslagskraft de senaste decennierna i Sverige. Uppsatsens syfte är att undersöka hur några av NPM’s aspekter styrning, marknadisering och kundorientering har påverkat fokus och synsätt av Kriminalvårdens intagna. Undersökningen är avgränsad till åren 1999-2015 och det material som använts är statliga externa och interna dokument om Kriminalvården. Främst SOU:er och årsredovisningar men även andra relevanta rapporter och liknande har använts för att besvara frågeställningen. Vårt resultat visar att styrning, marknadisering och kundorientering har haft inverkan på vilket synsätt som används samt ett ökat fokus på de intagna ges över tid, främst kundorienteringen kan tydligt utläsas som en tydlig faktor till förändringen

Survival of Campylobacter jejuni in frozen chicken meat and risks associated with handling contaminated chicken in the kitchen

Most Campylobacter infections in humans are sporadic cases, often connected to private households. Chicken meat is believed to be the main source of human exposure to Campylobacter and there are significant risks of cross-contamination when handling Campylobacter-contaminated chicken in the kitchen. One post-harvest pre-ventive measure to reduce Campylobacter concentrations on chicken meat is freezing. This study examined survival of different sequence types of C. jejuni during freezing and risk factors during handling of C. jejuni-contaminated chicken meat in the kitchen. Chicken fillets were artificially contaminated before freezing with two different sequence types of C. jejuni (ST-257 and ST-918), at concentrations in the meat of 4.1 log10 CFU/g (low) and 5.3 log10 CFU/g (high). Risk factors in the kitchen were assessed by swabbing gloves before and after washing, to simulate hands before and after washing. Utensils such as scissors and forceps used for cutting were also sampled, while a cutting board was sampled twice to simulate before and after wiping.The greatest decrease in Campylobacter concentrations in the freezer occurred in the first four days and the decrease then flattened off. After 49 days in the freezer, concentrations on meat contaminated with high and low levels of ST-257 decreased by 2.0 log10 CFU/g and 1.5 log10 CFU/g, respectively, while concentrations on chicken meat contaminated with a high and low level of ST-918 decreased by 1.0 log10 CFU/g and 0.7 log10 CFU/ g, respectively. Campylobacter was isolated from all simulated environmental samples. The highest load in the environment of both sequence types was unwashed gloves and the first sampling of the unwiped cutting board. Transfer from gloves and the cutting board was lower after washing/wiping, but high concentrations (>= 2 log10 CFU/mL rinse fluid) of Campylobacter persisted for all samples contaminated with ST-918 and for 18 of 20 samples contaminated with ST-257.In conclusion, there are differences between Campylobacter sequence types in their ability to withstand freezing stress and Campylobacter remaining on hands after washing and on cutting boards after wiping is a likely source of cross-contamination in the kitchen

Measurement of the inclusive and dijet cross-sections of b-jets in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

The inclusive and dijet production cross-sections have been measured for jets containing b-hadrons (b-jets) in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of sqrt(s) = 7 TeV, using the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The measurements use data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 34 pb^-1. The b-jets are identified using either a lifetime-based method, where secondary decay vertices of b-hadrons in jets are reconstructed using information from the tracking detectors, or a muon-based method where the presence of a muon is used to identify semileptonic decays of b-hadrons inside jets. The inclusive b-jet cross-section is measured as a function of transverse momentum in the range 20 < pT < 400 GeV and rapidity in the range |y| < 2.1. The bbbar-dijet cross-section is measured as a function of the dijet invariant mass in the range 110 < m_jj < 760 GeV, the azimuthal angle difference between the two jets and the angular variable chi in two dijet mass regions. The results are compared with next-to-leading-order QCD predictions. Good agreement is observed between the measured cross-sections and the predictions obtained using POWHEG + Pythia. MC@NLO + Herwig shows good agreement with the measured bbbar-dijet cross-section. However, it does not reproduce the measured inclusive cross-section well, particularly for central b-jets with large transverse momenta.Comment: 10 pages plus author list (21 pages total), 8 figures, 1 table, final version published in European Physical Journal

Jet energy measurement with the ATLAS detector in proton-proton collisions at root s=7 TeV

The jet energy scale and its systematic uncertainty are determined for jets measured with the ATLAS detector at the LHC in proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of √s = 7TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 38 pb-1. Jets are reconstructed with the anti-kt algorithm with distance parameters R=0. 4 or R=0. 6. Jet energy and angle corrections are determined from Monte Carlo simulations to calibrate jets with transverse momenta pT≥20 GeV and pseudorapidities {pipe}η{pipe}<4. 5. The jet energy systematic uncertainty is estimated using the single isolated hadron response measured in situ and in test-beams, exploiting the transverse momentum balance between central and forward jets in events with dijet topologies and studying systematic variations in Monte Carlo simulations. The jet energy uncertainty is less than 2. 5 % in the central calorimeter region ({pipe}η{pipe}<0. 8) for jets with 60≤pT<800 GeV, and is maximally 14 % for pT<30 GeV in the most forward region 3. 2≤{pipe}η{pipe}<4. 5. The jet energy is validated for jet transverse momenta up to 1 TeV to the level of a few percent using several in situ techniques by comparing a well-known reference such as the recoiling photon pT, the sum of the transverse momenta of tracks associated to the jet, or a system of low-pT jets recoiling against a high-pT jet. More sophisticated jet calibration schemes are presented based on calorimeter cell energy density weighting or hadronic properties of jets, aiming for an improved jet energy resolution and a reduced flavour dependence of the jet response. The systematic uncertainty of the jet energy determined from a combination of in situ techniques is consistent with the one derived from single hadron response measurements over a wide kinematic range. The nominal corrections and uncertainties are derived for isolated jets in an inclusive sample of high-pT jets. Special cases such as event topologies with close-by jets, or selections of samples with an enhanced content of jets originating from light quarks, heavy quarks or gluons are also discussed and the corresponding uncertainties are determined. © 2013 CERN for the benefit of the ATLAS collaboration

Measurement of the cross-section of high transverse momentum vector bosons reconstructed as single jets and studies of jet substructure in pp collisions at √s = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This paper presents a measurement of the cross-section for high transverse momentum W and Z bosons produced in pp collisions and decaying to all-hadronic final states. The data used in the analysis were recorded by the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider at a centre-of-mass energy of √s = 7 TeV;{\rm Te}{\rm V}$and correspond to an integrated luminosity of$4.6\;{\rm f}{{{\rm b}}^{-1}}$. The measurement is performed by reconstructing the boosted W or Z bosons in single jets. The reconstructed jet mass is used to identify the W and Z bosons, and a jet substructure method based on energy cluster information in the jet centre-of-mass frame is used to suppress the large multi-jet background. The cross-section for events with a hadronically decaying W or Z boson, with transverse momentum${{p}_{{\rm T}}}\gt 320\;{\rm Ge}{\rm V}$and pseudorapidity$|\eta |\lt 1.9$, is measured to be${{\sigma }_{W+Z}}=8.5\pm 1.7$ pb and is compared to next-to-leading-order calculations. The selected events are further used to study jet grooming techniques