When the coronavirus spread globally in early 2020, many governments issued national lock downs of schools, institutions, and businesses. As the epidemic turned into a pandemic, the health crisis also became a societal crisis, and many universities and research foundations issued COVID-19 grants to study the societal implications of the crisis. In this article, we discuss sociological research dur

The article examines how dwellers in Kenya’s informal settlements engage in continuous tinkering of a particular grassroots infrastructure: local currencies. The article argues that the malleability of these grassroots infrastructures enables grassroots networks to actively and creatively engage in reclaiming and reorganizing money, a critical infrastructure. The argument is built in three steps.

Circular economy (CE) has gained attention in the real estate and construction policy, practice, and research in the past few years. This study explores how two neighboring Nordic countries and EU member states, Sweden and Finland, are transitioning toward circularity in the real estate and construction industry context. The aim is reached through a review of CE policies on the national and indust

ObjectivesTo develop an in-house matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) library for improved identification of species and subspecies of the Streptococcus bovis/Streptococcus equinus-complex (SBSEC).Methods236 SBSEC isolates from blood stream infections and culture collections, determined by whole genome sequencing to subspecies level, were grow

Bacterial extracellular vesicles (EVs) contain numerous active substances that mediate bacterial interactions with their host and with other microbes. Best defined are the EVs from Gram-negative bacteria that have been shown to deliver virulence factors, modulate the immune responses, mediate antibiotic resistance, and also inhibit competitive microbes. Due to the complex cell wall structures of G

Accurate visualization and understanding of liquid breakups and dynamics of liquid jets, sheets, blobs and ligaments is important for a wide range of spray applications. Here, temporally resolved 3D measurements are necessary to obtain the complete characterization these processes. The currently available 3D imaging techniques are usually based on time-averaged data and do not have the capability

Droplets generated by talking and coughing play a major role in the spreading of COVID-19. Thus, there is a need for accurate measurements of the physical properties of exhaled droplets just at the exit of the mouth, including their number and velocity. Several challenges are associated with imaging coughed droplets. First, large variation of droplet size will translate to a large range of signal

Background & Aims: Earlier studies have provided varying risk estimates for lymphoma in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), but often have been limited by detection biases (especially during the first year of follow-up evaluation), misclassification, and small sample size; and rarely reflect modern-day management of IBD. Methods: We performed a binational register-based cohort stud

Analysis of structures subjected to moving loads is presented. In particular, structural effects due to structure-vehicle interaction are studied. The basic equations of the structure-vehicle system are derived by means of continuum mechanics, the finite element method and multibody dynamics.In order to consider the interaction between structure and vehicle in a straightforward way, a special stru

A constitutive model for concrete is formulated. Tensile fracture is described using a smeared crack approach where the fracrure energy is considered and the shear stiffneess in the cracked region is gradually reduced as crackling develops. Environmentally induced strain due to variation of moisture and temperature is taken into account and may be made dependent on the stress state. Creep is model

We report on the physical-point RBC/UKQCD calculation of the leading isospin-breaking corrections to light-meson leptonic decays. This is highly relevant for future precision tests in the flavour physics sector, in particular the first-row unitarity of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix containing the elements Vus and Vud. The simulations were performed using Domain-Wall fermions for 2 + 1 flavo

Program analysis tools, from simple static semantic analysis by a compiler, to complex dynamic analyses of data flow and security, have become commonplace in modern day programming. Many of the simpler analyses, such as the afore- mentioned compiler checking or linters designed to enforce code style, may even go unnoticed or unconsidered by most users, ubiquitous as they are. Despite this, and des

This thesis is concerned with the finite element analysis of the small-amplitude coupled vibration problem of an acoustic fluid enclosed in a flexible and/or rigid container structure. The governing equations for linear elastic solids and inviscid acoustic fluids are derived by a continuum mechanics approach. Modified equations for an acoustic fluid interpenetrating a rigid incompressible porous m

The brain needs sufficient oxygen in order to function normally. This is achieved by a large vascular capillary network ensuring that oxygen supply meets the changing demand of the brain tissue, especially in situations of hypoxia. Brain capillaries are formed by endothelial cells and perivascular pericytes, whereby pericytes in the brain have a particularly high 1:1 ratio to endothelial cells. Pe

Den ekonomiska och sociala ojämlikheten har ökat väsentligt i Sverige under de senaste decennierna. Detta innebär stora utmaningar för socialtjänsten som möter de grupper som drabbats hårdast av denna utveckling. För att klara dessa utmaningar behöver socialtjänsten utveckla nya strategier som möjliggör hållbara sociala lösningar. I detta arbete kan social mobilisering bli ett viktigt redskap. I k

Regimen i Iran missbrukar diplomatisk infrastruktur i operationer som underminerar internationell säkerhet. Sverige bör noggrant övervaka aktiviteterna vid Irans ambassad på Lidingö och överväga att stänga den helt och hållet. Det skriver Arvin Khoshnood, Irankännare och statsvetare samt Ardavan Khoshnood, docent Lunds universitet.The regime in Iran is abusing diplomatic infrastructure in operations that undermine international security. Sweden should closely monitor the activities at Iran's embassy in Lidingö and consider shutting it down entirely. This is written by Arvin Khoshnood, an Iran expert and political scientist, and Ardavan Khoshnood, an associate professor at Lund University.

Abstract: In order to mimic physical characteristics of solid fat, ethylcellulose (EC) was used as an oleogelator in ice creams made with high oleic sunflower oil (HOSO). The aim was to improve structure of ice cream made with fully liquid vegetable oil by inhibiting droplet coalescence and to enable a colloidal fat network by making the oil droplets solid-like. Two different methods for incorpora

In studies recruited on a voluntary basis, lack of representativity may impair the ability to generalize findings to the target population. Previous studies, primarily based on surveys, have suggested that generalizability may be improved by exploiting data on individuals who agreed to participate only after receiving one or several reminders, as such individuals may be more similar to non-partici