4d partition function on S^1 x S^3 and 2d Yang-Mills with nonzero area

We argue that 6d N=(2,0) theory on S^1 x S^3 x C_2 reduces to the 2d q-deformed Yang-Mills on C_2 at finite area, as a small extension to the result of Gadde, Rastelli, Razamat and Yan. This is done by computing the partition function on S^1 x S^3 of 4d N=2 supersymmetric non-linear sigma model on T^*G_C, which gives the propagator of the 2d Yang-Mills.Comment: 10 pages. v2: additional reference

The Problem of Confounding in Studies of the Effect of Maternal Drug Use on Pregnancy Outcome

In most epidemilogical studies, the problem of confounding adds to the uncertainty in conclusions drawn. This is also true for studies on the effect of maternal drug use on birth defect risks. This paper describes various types of such confounders and discusses methods to identify and adjust for them. Such confounders can be found in maternal characteristics like age, parity, smoking, use of alcohol, and body mass index, subfertility, and previous pregnancies including previous birth of a malformed child, socioeconomy, race/ethnicity, or country of birth. Confounding by concomitant maternal drug use may occur. A geographical or seasonal confounding can exist. In rare instances, infant sex and multiple birth can appear as confounders. The most difficult problem to solve is often confounding by indication. The problem of confounding is less important for congenital malformations than for many other pregnancy outcomes

No-ghost theorem for the fourth-order derivative Pais-Uhlenbeck oscillator model

Contrary to common belief, it is shown that theories whose field equations are higher than second order in derivatives need not be stricken with ghosts. In particular, the prototypical fourth-order derivative Pais-Uhlenbeck oscillator model is shown to be free of states of negative energy or negative norm. When correctly formulated (as a \cP\cT symmetric theory), the theory determines its own Hilbert space and associated positive-definite inner product. In this Hilbert space the model is found to be a fully acceptable quantum-mechanical theory that exhibits unitary time evolution.Comment: revtex4, 4 page

Swedish labour market and the free movement of labour

Ever since Sweden decided to join the EU in 1995 the debate regarding effects of the free movement of labour has been discussed. This discussion intensified when the union were faced with its largest expansion, to date, in 2004. Not only were ten new countries becoming members, and thus allowed to use the right of free movement of labour, but most of these were geographically close to Sweden and at the same time they were significantly poorer. This caused scholars, politicians and trade unions to raise a flag of warning that this would be unfavourable to the Swedish labour market. This study aims to examine how the Swedish labour market actually reacts to immigration from the EU/EES countries. By regressing the effects of percentage EU/EES immigrants in a municipality on average yearly wages and unemployment the effects of the free movement of labour will be assessed. The report concludes that the labour market is not negatively affected by EU/EES immigration, on the contrary it shows positive effect on total and female employment

Underlying mechanisms behind nitrous oxide emissions in oilseed radish, Raphanus sativus var. oleiformis, and Phacelia tanacetifolia

Greenhouse gases are a driving force of climate change and the annual greenhouse gas emissions were higher between 2010-2019 than any other time in human history (Skea et. al. 2022). Cover crops are used to mitigate the effect of climate change, but recent studies indicate that the use of the cover crop oilseed radish results in significantly larger emissions of nitrous oxide (N2O) compared to other cover crops (Dörsch et. al. 2022; Müller Júnior et. al. 2019; Olofsson and Ernfors 2022; Thomas et. al. 2017). Results from Olofsson and Ernfors (2022) study showed that Raphanus sativus var oleiformis (OR) causes significantly higher emission of N2O compared to Phacelia tanacetifolia (PH) even though the quality and quantity were similar. The hypothesis in this study was that the glucosinolates in OR provides a carbon source for denitrifying bacteria, thus causing a significantly higher N2O emission compared to PH. The hypothesis was tested in a laboratory setting during 32 days of gas measurement with plant material of OR and PH incubated with and without added glucose. Surprisingly, aboveground plant material of PH showed highest emissions throughout the study. The result of this study could not confirm the hypothesis since added glucose did not affect the N2O emission. In further studies, it is recommended to increase the number of replicates and optimize the methodology to be able to draw any conclusions

Sustainable alternatives to herbicides containing glyphosate for vegetable cultivation in the open field

Detta är en litteraturstudie som undersöker hållbara alternativa metoder för att kunna ersätta ogräsmedel innehållande glyfosat inom grönsaksodling på friland. Glyfosat är den aktiva substansen i det bredverkande ogräsmedel Roundup som har funnits på marknaden sedan slutet av 70-talet. Det har legat uppe som förslag hos EU-kommissionen att förbjuda användningen av det, pg.a. att det finns delade meningar inom forskningsvärlden ifall det är ett cancerogent ämne eller inte. Europeiska myndigheten för livsmedelssäkerhet (EFSA) anser att glyfosat inte är cancerogent medan Internationella forskningsinstitutet för cancer (IARC) klassificerade det som troligen cancerframkallande. Flera länder i EU vill förbjuda glyfosat och år 2022 kommer ett nytt beslut tas. Glyfosat har ingen selektiv verkan utan dödar all växtlighet vilket gör det till ett väldigt effektivt bekämpningsmedel inom jordbruk och grönsaksodling. Det används inom grönsaksodling på friland i skiftande omfattning i nästan alla kulturer och grödor, inför etablering av en ny kultur eller gröda. Glyfosat har ansetts vara ett relativt säkert bekämpningsmedel då det binder starkt till jordpartiklar samt bryts ner av mikroorganismer. Det påverkar dock den biologiska mångfalden, bl.a. genom att det påverkar honungsbinas kognitiva förmåga negativt. Bekämpningsmedel innehållande glyfosat är effektiva mot de mest besvärliga rotogräsen kvickrot (Elymus repens), åkertistel (Cirsium arvense) och åkermolke (Sonchus arvensis). Grönsaksodling på friland bör vara fritt från rotogräs innan etablering av ny kultur i och med att det är svårt att bekämpa rotogräs efter etablering. Metoder för bekämpning av rotogräs har undersökts inom ekologisk odling. Enligt denna studie visar det sig vara förebyggande metoder såsom växtföljd och vall samt mekanisk jordbearbetning med radhackning och upprepad stubbearbetning. Problematiken kring kemisk ogräsreglering och mekanisk jordbearbetning har diskuterats. Kväve mineraliseras vid mekanisk jordbearbetning vilket ökar risken för kväveutlakning. En studie i Kanada år 2015 undersökte tillämpning av reducerad jordbearbetning tillsammans med integrerad odling men försöket övergavs femte året p.g.a. för mycket rotogräs. Förslag på vidare forskning skulle kunna vara att utveckla nya odlingssystem utan glyfosat genom att undersöka hur den ekologiska odlingen gör för att klara av svårbekämpade ogräs. Vidare vore det intressant i framtiden att utveckla den plöjningsfria odlingen utan användning av glyfosat.This literature study examines sustainable methods to replace herbicides containing glyphosate in vegetable cultivation in the open field. Seeing that the European commission have decided to either ban or legalize the use of glyphosate by the end of 2022, member states like Sweden and others are to investigate the consequences of glyphosate to support this decision. In line with this investigation, this literature study aims to contribute to this decision making. The study also presents alternatives to glyphosate. This literature study provides a background on the usage of glyphosate and its consequences for the environment. The result shows that glyphosate have positive consequences on the efficiency of the agricultural process but negative consequences on the environment, such as decreasing bees’ cognitive ability. Herbicides containing glyphosate is effective against the perennial weeds couch grass (Elymus repens), creeping thistle (Cirsium arvense) and perennial sow thistle (Sonchus arvensis). There should be no perennial weeds in the open field before establishment of the crop since they are hard to control afterwards. Weed control in organic farming have been studied. According to this study organic farming uses prevention methods such as crop rotation and forage but also direct methods such as soil tillage with inter row cultivator and stubble cultivation. For best effect it is also important to have knowledge about the weed’s compensation point. Today Swedish agriculture uses integrated weed management (IWM) to reduce the use of herbicides. The sustainability of chemical weed control and mechanical tillage has been discussed. Nitrogen is mineralized by mechanical tillage which increases the risk of nitrogen leaching. A study in Canada, 2015, investigated the application of reduced tillage along with integrated weed control. But the experiment was abandoned in the fifth year due to too much perennial weeds. Chemical herbicides have many advantages such as safe harvest and the ability to weed control large areas in a short time. However, it has a negative impact on biodiversity and there is a risk of the weed developing herbicide resistance. Suggestions for further research would be to develop a new cultivation system without glyphosate by investigating how organic farming controls perennial weeds. Furthermore, it would be interesting to improve the plow free cultivation without the use of glyphosate

The Archaeologist In-Between

Olov Janse was an archaeologist with a remarkable life. From his birth in Sweden 1892 to his death in the United States 1985, he travelled several times across the world and was present in some of the most important episodes of 20th century world history. His works and networks connected museums and political institutions in Sweden, France, Vietnam and the United States: from the Swedish History Museum, the Museum of Far Easter Antiquities, the French Musée d’antiquites nationales, the Cernuchi museum, and the French research institute EFEO in Hanoi, to UNESCO, the Harvard Peabody Museum, the Smithsonian Institution, and the U.S. Department of State. He left behind artefacts and documents in museum collections and archives across the world. But his name is largely unknown, and his most important contributions – the connection of people and ideas between continents and contexts – have remained invisible in historical accounts of all these institutions. He was, in every sense, an archaeologist in-between. This book follows in the footsteps of Olov Janse and his wife Renée, as they move between continents and contexts, connecting key actors and institutions in social and professional networks across the world. It tells the formidable story of an archaeologist navigating through world politics, from a late 19th century industrial town in Sweden, to early 20th century Parisian museums, to French Indochina and the Philippines in the 1930s, to the formation of UNESCO in 1946, and ending with public diplomacy for the U.S. Department of State at the verge of the Vietnam War

Risk factors for autism and Asperger syndrome Perinatal factors and migration

Using the Swedish Medical Birth Registry (MBR), obstetrical and demographic information was retrieved for 250 children with autism or Asperger syndrome who were born in Malmoe, Sweden, and enrolled at the local Child and Youth Habilitation Center. The reference group consisted of all children born in Malmoe during 1980-2005. Obstetric sub-optimality (prematurity, low Apgar scores, growth restriction, or macrosomia) was positively associated with autism but not with Asperger syndrome. Maternal birth outside the Nordic countries was positively associated with autism (adjusted OR: 2.2; 95% CI: 1.6-3.1) and negatively associated with Asperger syndrome (OR: 0.6; 95% CI: 0.3-0.97). The highest risk estimate for autism was found among children to women who were born in sub-Saharan Africa (OR: 7.3), or in East Asia (OR: 3.4)

The Analytical Contribution of Some Eighth-Order Graphs Containing Vacuum Polarization Insertions to the Muon (G-2) in QED

The contributions to the $g-2$ of the muon from some eighth-order (four-loop) graphs containing one-loop and two-loop vacuum polarization insertions have been evaluated analytically in QED perturbation theory, expanding the results in the ratio of the electron to muon mass ${(m_e / m_\mu)}$. The results agree with the numerical evaluations and the asymptotic analytical results already existing in the literature.Comment: plain TEX, 10 pages + 3 figures (figures are available upon request), DFUB 93-0