Many local governments have embraced sustainability as an overarching performance goal, and they increasingly generate performance information to track, govern and communicate their progress in sustainable development. Local governments face multiple overlapping and sometimes conflicting institutional logics, but very little research has examined how these logics influence performance management.

Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide, with approximately ten million people dying from the disease each year. In most cases, cancer metastasizes to distant organs and develops resistance to therapy, highlighting the need for novel biomarkers for early detection. This thesis investigates the role of lipid metabolism changes, particularly involving cholesterol and related lipid species, as e

Time-resolved photoluminescence is a validated method for tracking the photoexcited carrier dynamics in luminescent materials. This technique probes the photoluminescence decays upon a periodic excitation by short laser pulses. Herein, we show that this approach cannot directly detect hidden photoexcitations with much slower dynamics than the photoluminescence decay. We demonstrate a new method ba

An enigma for human languages is that children learn to understand words in their mother tongue extremely fast. The cognitive sciences have not been able to fully understand the mechanisms behind this highly efficient learning process. In order to provide at least a partial answer to this problem, I have developed a cognitive model of the semantics of natural language in terms of conceptual spaces

Objective: To present the rates of intra- and postoperative complications and conversions in a large cohort of unselected vNOTES hysterectomies, performed by surgeons with different levels of expertise. Design: International register-based cohort study. Setting: Hysterectomies in the iNOTESs registry, 2015 to January 2024, performed by 201 surgeons from multiple countries. Population: 4565 patient

Food consumption accounts for a third of global greenhouse gas emissions in developed countries, with the hospitality industry, including restaurants, playing a significant role. While behavioural interventions show promise in promoting climate-friendly food choices, their implementation in hospitality operations poses significant challenges. This study integrates the operational perspectives of m

This work investigates the interaction between cultural norms and neighborhood characteristics, in the context of the gender gap in math. Using high-quality Swedish administrative data, I estimate the effect of mothers’ country-of-origin gender norms on the gender gap in math among second-generation immigrant siblings and exploit a refugee placement policy to obtain random variation in regional ch

Background: Neural crest cells (NCCs) are migratory embryonic stem cells that give rise to a diverse set of cell types. Here we describe the dynamic distribution of NCCs in developing embryos of the common wall lizard Podarcis muralis inferred from 10 markers. Our aim is to provide insights into the NCC development of lacertid lizards and to infer evolutionary modifications by comparisons to other

Dust storms have been an increasing concern in the Middle East. Severe drought events and human activities, particularly water and land management, have led to emerging dust sources in the last few decades. This study combines spatio-temporal maps of land susceptibility to dust storm incidence with agricultural land use change data to examine the link between farming patterns and dust storm genera

Background: Despite the proven efficacy of telestroke in improving clinical outcomes by providing access to specialized expertise and allowing rapid expert hyperacute stroke management and decision-making, detailed operational evidence is scarce, especially for less developed or lower income regions. Aim: We aimed to map the global telestroke landscape and characterize existing networks. Methods:

Recently, work conducted by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre demonstrated that Ireland had the highest prevalence of loneliness of all European countries. Given the range of adverse physical and psychological consequences associated with loneliness, it is vital to ask why Ireland is experiencing such high prevalence. Here, we discuss potential contributing factors, including: Irelan

The design and construction of a pulsed thin septum for the LNLS UVX injection system are presented. The injection system uses two septa and three kickers to inject the 120 MeV electron beam from the Linac into the storage ring. The present system uses two d.c. septa. A pulsed thin septum is under construction in order to reduce the septum wall thickness from the present 5.5 mm to 1.5 mm, thus imp

Living costs have been increasing at an unprecedented rate compared to average trends over the last decade due to increasing uncertainty from various global events, including the COVID-19 pandemic and geopolitical tensions. Previous research indicates that people prioritize essential consumption over leisure and tourism activities during high cost-of-living crises. However, prior studies have over

The Brazilian National Synchrotron Light Laboratory, LNLS, operates a synchrotron light source consisting of a 1.37 GeV electron storage ring and a 120 MeV injector. A summary of the commissioning and operation performance of the vacuum system for the linear accelerator (LINAC), transport line, RF system and storage ring is presented. The performance of the subsystems is described including the ph

The Brazilian National Synchrotron Light Laboratory, LNLS, operates a 1.37 GeV electron storage ring with a 120 MeV injector Linac. Commissioning of the storage ring at low energy started on May 1996 and now, an year later, we can store 120 mA at 120 MeV and ramp more than 75 mA to 1.37 GeV. A summary of the latest commissioning results and a description of the present operational performance of t

Food loss and waste represent a significant global issue, posing a threat to food sustainability on a worldwide scale. Approximately one-third of the food produced for human consumption is wasted, resulting in substantial environmental impact and economic loss. However, the growing awareness among consumers and the development of emerging technologies driven by the 4th Industrial Revolution (Indus

Background: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) often presents with neuropsychiatric (NP) involvement, including cognitive impairment and depression. Past magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) research in SLE patients showed smaller hippocampal volumes but did not investigate other medial temporal lobe (MTL) regions. Our study aims to compare MTL subregional volumes in SLE patients to healthy individual