Capacity development —an integral part of development cooperation in general and for disaster risk reduction (DRR) in particular—has had limited success so far. This article investigates capacity development challenges and opportunities from the viewpoint of the staff of progressive governmental donor agencies. Data were obtained from 26 semi-structured interviews with informants from seven donor

Polyphenolic compounds in bark are resources of great interest to produce renewable chemicals and several different technologies are available or under early development for the extraction of these types of compounds. Since critical environmental effects of a product are often set during the design phase, it is important to use life cycle assessment (LCA) to identify the steps resulting in the lar

I Arktis er en klimakjempe i ferd med å våkne sakte, men sikkert fra sin lange dvale: Permafrosten – grunn som kan ha vært frosset i tusenvis av år – begynner flere steder å tine på grunn av de sterkt økende temperaturene (Box m.fl. 2019). Dette kan gjøre klimaproblemet enda verre enn det allerede er, fordi det kan føre til store utslipp av drivhusgasser som CO2 og metan (CH4). Når det skjer, varmSammendragI Arktis er en klimakjempe i ferd med å våkne sakte, men sikkert fra sin lange dvale: Permafrosten – grunn som kan ha vært frosset i tusenvis av år – begynner flere steder å tine på grunn av de sterkt økende temperaturene (Box m.fl. 2019). Dette kan gjøre klimaproblemet enda verre enn det allerede er, fordi det kan føre til store utslipp av drivhusgasser som CO2 og metan (CH4). Når det s

Neutrophils are highly abundant in synovial fluid of rheumatic inflamed joints. In oligoarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), synovial fluid neutrophils have impaired effector functions and altered phenotype. We hypothesized that these alterations might impact the immunoregulatory interplay between neutrophils and T cells. In this study we analyzed the suppressive effect of neutrophils, i

In recent years, the manipulation of Fano resonances in the time domain has unlocked deep insights into a broad spectrum of systems' coherent dynamics. Here, inelastic scattering of light with coherent acoustic phonons is harnessed to achieve complex Fano resonances. The sudden change of phonon momentum during reflection leads to a transition from anti-Stokes to Stokes light scattering, producing

With polystyrene nanoparticles being widely used in various applications, there is a great need for deeper knowledge on the safety, fate and biological effects of these particles on both individual living organisms and the whole ecosystems. Due to this, there is a growing interest in performing ecotoxicological studies using model plastic nanoparticles, and consequently it generates an increasing

This chapter contributes with new knowledge about the cultural history of media scandals. It focusses two Swedish sex related scandals; the first took place in the 1890’s and the other in 2010-11, both with kings at their center. The aim of the chapter is to understand how oral, folkloristic media as gossip and rumor, are intertwined with traditional, established journalism when scandals evolve. A

Articular cartilage is a dense extracellular matrix-rich tissue that degrades following chronic mechanical stress, resulting in osteoarthritis (OA). The tissue has low intrinsic repair especially in aged and osteoarthritic joints. Here, we describe three pro-regenerative factors; fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2), connective tissue growth factor, bound to transforming growth factor-beta (CTGF-TGFβ

Objectives: In this exploratory study, we used discovery proteomics to follow the release of proteins from bovine knee articular cartilage in response to mechanical injury and cytokine treatment. We also studied the effect of the glucocorticoid Dexamethasone (Dex) on these responses.Design: Bovine cartilage explants were treated with either cytokines alone (10 ng/ml TNFα, 20 ng/ml IL-6, 100 ng/ml

Unlike highly regenerative animals, such as axolotls, humans are believed to be unable to counteract cumulative damage, such as repetitive joint use and injury that lead to the breakdown of cartilage and the development of osteoarthritis. Turnover of insoluble collagen has been suggested to be very limited in human adult cartilage. The goal of this study was to explore protein turnover in articula

Background: The use of placebo comparisons for randomised trials assessing the efficacy of surgical interventions is increasingly being considered. However, a placebo control is a complex type of comparison group in the surgical setting and, although powerful, presents many challenges. Objectives: To provide a summary of knowledge on placebo controls in surgical trials and to summarise any recomme

BACKGROUND: Lymph node metastasis is the single most important prognostic risk factor for recurrence in patients with colon cancer who have undergone curative surgery. The routine method for detecting disseminated tumor cells in lymph nodes is microscopic examination of one or a few hematoxylin and eosin-stained tissue sections by a trained pathologist. This method, however, is insensitive mainly

A sustainability index (SI) is a benchmark for guiding the activities of municipal water and wastewater (W and WS) utilities toward sustainability. The SI has been used in Sweden since 2014 as an internal benchmark management tool facilitating the strategic work of organizations. This study assesses how the SI was applied in practice by eight utilities (Orgs 1–8) from 2015 to 2019. The study was p

The variabilities in rainfall and temperature in a catchment affect water availability and sustainability. This study assessed the variabilities in rainfall and temperature (1981–2015) and river flow (1998–2015) in the Sipi sub-catchment on annual and seasonal scales. Observed daily rainfall and temperature data for Buginyanya and Kapchorwa weather stations were obtained from the Uganda National M

Background: Children diagnosed with right ventricle outflow tract (RVOT) anomalies require surgical repair early in life, reoperations and lifelong follow-up. The aim is to comprehensively describe their health related quality of life (HRQoL) and to assess the agreement in this regard between children and parents. Methods and Results: Child- and parent-reported HRQoL was assessed in 97 children ag

Organizations grow and excel with knowledge sharing; on the other hand, knowledge hiding is a negative behavior that impedes innovation, growth, problem solving, and timely correct decision making in organizations. It becomes more critical in the case of teaching hospitals, where, besides patient care, medical students are taught and trained. We assume that negative emotions lead employees to hide

Eunuchs and members of the transgender community are yet to be recognized as an effective human resource and this diversity in the workforce is still invisible. A tiny portion of the transgender community is employed, and they are tagged as purple collar employees. It is generally claimed that coworkers do not accept members of the transgender community in the workplace and are not willing to work

The presence of hazardous materials hinders the circular economy in construction and demolition waste management. However, traditional environmental investigations are costly and time-consuming, and thus lead to limited adoption. To deal with these challenges, the study investigated the possibility of employing registered records as input data to achieve in situ hazardous building materials manage