The efficient valorization of lignin is crucial if we are to replace current petroleum-based feedstock and establish more sustainable and competitive lignocellulosic biorefineries. Pulp and paper mills and second-generation biorefineries produce large quantities of low-value technical lignin as a by-product, which is often combusted on-site for energy recovery. This Review focuses on the conversio

We report on experimental measurements of energy transfer efficiencies in a GeV-class laser wakefield accelerator. Both the transfer of energy from the laser to the plasma wakefield and from the plasma to the accelerated electron beam was diagnosed by simultaneous measurement of the deceleration of laser photons and the acceleration of electrons as a function of plasma length. The extraction effic

The transition from a healthy to a persistent severe pain state following otherwise successful elective surgery is a feared complication. Groin hernia repair, previously considered minor surgery, is a standard surgical procedure annually performed on 2,000 individuals per one million residents. A trajectory into persistent severe pain is, unfortunately, seen in 2-4%, severely impeding physical and

Background: The TREatment of ATopic eczema (TREAT) Registry Taskforce is a collaborative international network of registries collecting data of atopic eczema (AE) patients receiving systemic and phototherapy with the common goal to provide long-term real-world data on the effectiveness, safety and cost-effectiveness of therapies. A core dataset, consisting of domains and domain items with correspo

This article reports on an investigation of audit independence in the context of local public audit in Sweden. The article focuses on the influence of two different sets of interests. The results show that there is a risk that the way the results of the audit process are communicated and disseminated in an organization is influenced by political, as well as market, interests. The article reveals t

Crop production security is an essential guarantee for the prosperity of country and the well-being of people. In the context of frequent occurrence of extreme weather events, how to comprehensively evaluate the risk of multiple hazards and quantitatively describe spatial differences will be one of the significant topics in agricultural disaster mitigation. In this study, based on the gridded mete

Scene and object information reach the entorhinal-hippocampal circuitry in partly segregated cortical processing streams. Converging evidence suggests that such information-specific streams organize the cortical – entorhinal interaction and the circuitry’s inner communication along the transversal axis of hippocampal subiculum and CA1. Here, we leveraged ultra-high field functional imaging and adv

Mixed models for repeated measures (MMRMs) are ubiquitous when analyzing outcomes of clinical trials. However, the linearity of the fixed-effect structure in these models largely restrict their use to estimating treatment effects that are defined as linear combinations of effects on the outcome scale. In some situations, alternative quantifications of treatment effects may be more appropriate. In

Aims/hypothesis: Using a targeted proteomics approach, we aimed to identify and validate circulating proteins associated with impaired glucose metabolism (IGM) and type 2 diabetes in a Black South African cohort. In addition, we assessed sex-specific associations between the validated proteins and pathophysiological pathways of type 2 diabetes. Methods: This cross-sectional study included Black So

The streaming instability is a promising mechanism to induce the formation of planetesimals. Nonetheless, this process has been found in previous studies to require either a dust-to-gas surface density ratio or a dust size that is enhanced compared to observed values. Employing two-dimensional global simulations of protoplanetary disks, we show that the vertical shear instability and the streaming

Background: Contemporary data on stroke epidemiology and the availability of national stroke clinical registries are important for providing evidence to improve practice and support policy decisions. Aims: To update the most current incidence, case-fatality, and mortality rates on stroke and identify national stroke clinical registries worldwide. Methods: We searched multiple databases (based on o

Background: Understanding the micro-­evolutionary response of populations to demographic declines is a major goal in evolutionary and conservation biology. In small populations, genetic drift can lead to an accumulation of deleterious mutations, which will increase the risk of extinction. However, demographic recovery can still occur after extreme declines, suggesting that natural selection may pu

Perovskite oxides are promising oxygen carrier materials to produce O2/CO2 gas for oxyfuel combustion application. In this study, PrBaCo2O5+δ double perovskite oxide was prepared by the EDTA sol-gel method and first applied as oxygen carrier for oxygen production. The oxygen adsorption/desorption performance of PrBaCo2O5+δ perovskite was carrried out in a fixed-bed set-up. The operating factors of

BACKGROUND: A history of preeclampsia is associated with increased risk of coronary artery disease and experimental evidence suggests that a history of preeclampsia also increases the risk of restenosis. However, the extent to which a history of preeclampsia is associated with risk of restenosis after percutaneous coronary intervention in women is unknown. METHODS AND RESULTS: We included 6065 par

Background: Depression is a risk factor for type 2 diabetes (T2D) and cardiovascular disease (CVD). The aims were to explore the prevalence of depression, anxiety, antidepressant use, obesity, Hemoglobin A1c > 64 mmol/mol, life-style factors, pre-existing CVD, in patients with newly diagnosed T2D; to explore associations with depression; and to compare with Swedish general population data. Methods

Background: In 2018, nearly 90% of the global children living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) were in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Compared to the adult population, antiretroviral therapy (ART) coverage among children was limited. However, adherence remained a problem among children though they had limited access to ART. This study was conducted to identify the risk factors of non-adher

To date, understanding and empirical investigation of the internationalisation processes of university spin-outs (USOs) have been limited. Few studies have explored the role of the specific characteristics of their core technology, in particular their innovativeness, as a determinant of their early internationalisation. This is also an issue which is under-explored within the general international

The study of students' use of representations is one of the main topics of physics education research and is guided by the overarching field of semiotics. In this paper we compare two semiotic frameworks, one coming from didactics of mathematics and one from physics education research; the theory of registers of semiotic representations and social semiotics, using the networking of theories method