86 research outputs found
United Nations Territorial Administration and the Development of the Charter
Get PDFThe competition in sports equipment and sports fashion today is fierce. And as e-commerce grows, the competing players has to remain accessible and usable regard-less of the device their customers visit the website on. Stadium is Swedens biggest player on the market and puts a lot of effort on their online activity. Something Stadium found interesting was the possibility of introducing elements that would increase the conversion rates directly into the product menu. This study explores the possibility to find a responsive solution for the product menu at Stadiumsâ e-commerce website which could contribute to increased conversion rates. The study is built upon an experiment and the foundations of the experiment is based upon a market analysis of used design patterns for product navigation in the domain of sport resellers. Added to that, theories of usability and sales aspects, Stadiums own point of view, and known design patterns, have all contributed to the birth of a responsive product navigation concept. What started as sketches first evolved into three high fidelity design solutions (one for desktop devices, one for tablet devices, and one for smartphone devices) and then into working prototypes. The prototypes were tested by multiple users, following a set of tasks. The results was then compared with the same tasks conducted at Stadiums current website. The theories we have found clearly indicate that a good user experience greatly affects the potential for higher conversion rates and also increase the possibility of a higher customer loyalty towards the brand. Stadiumsâ philosophy is focused on the product range and to show the products as the hero of the brand. The user testing conducted showed that the design solutions made by us didnât meet the standard of the current Stadium product navigation. The statistics from the tests is spraw-ling and the lack of completness within the prototype shined through. Despite the sprawling results, the study concludes in a design solution that can act as a starting point for further investigations to find the best possible solution
Hydrate Formation in Small Bore Dead Legs in Subsea Processing Systems
Get PDFNatural gas hydrates, a crystalline compound forming at high pressures and low temperatures,
pose flow assurance issues in natural gas processing systems. Small bore dead legs, piping
containing stagnant process fluid, are prone to blocking by hydrate formation. This thesis aims
to provide design guidelines and best practices for small bore dead leg design in natural gas
subsea processing systems as well as providing a method for predicting hydrate thickness using
computational fluid dynamics (CFD). An experiment which measured the final thickness of
a hydrate in controlled conditions is recreated in CFD using three different approaches. One
approach, volume of fluid (VOF) melting-solidification, shows promise with similar results to
the experiment but with varying accuracy. Recommendations for future work on steady-state
hydrate modelling in CFD are given. The small bore dead leg designs are evaluated from
a conservative standpoint using CFD with the aim to provide general guidelines for a wide
range of use cases in terms of process fluid composition, operating conditions and dead leg bore
size. Design guidelines are given for common small bore dead leg functions, namely hydrocarbon
displacement and mono-ethylene glycol injection. Guidelines for maximum and minimum small
bore dead leg lengths are given for simple design geometries, such as straight pieces of piping.
More geometrically complex designs are evaluated with respect to hydrate blocking from a
thermal point of view. The guidelines and evaluated designs provide constraints and pre-verified
solutions for future small bore dead leg designs regarding hydrate blocking mitigation
Tick-Tock Goes the Biological Clock: Challenges Facing Elite Scandinavian Mother-Athletes
Get PDFAuthor's accepted version (postprint).This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Human Kinetics Journals in
Elsevier in Women in Sport & Physical Activity Journal on 21/8/2023.Available online: https://doi.org/10.1123/wspaj.2022-0094Challenges facing mother-athletes (MAs) have aroused research and media attention in recent years, with an increasing number of sportswomen attempting to successfully combine pregnancy and motherhood with an elite athletic career. The aims of this study were to explore how MA-specific challenges manifest in elite cross-country skiing in Scandinavia and to better understand how female athletes balance their priorities as they initiate, maintain, and/or discontinue their role as a MA. Qualitative data were collected through semistructured interviews with 13 female cross-country skiers from Norway and Sweden. Thematic analyses revealed four MA-specific challenges facing the athletes: (a) Biological clock versus peak performance, (b) Maintaining fitness versus training safely, (c) Receiving support versus facing deselection, and (d) Balancing competing MA demands. Many of the athletes felt pressured into prioritizing either motherhood or athletic excellence, particularly in their early to mid-30s when the window of opportunity for building a family was considered limited. Further, maintaining fitness and training safely during pregnancy were perceived as a challenge, as was balancing the MA role after childbirth. In many cases, athletes felt uncertain about whether they would receive support from their team or federation. Moreover, there were expectations of incompatibility surrounding the MA role. More research and educational efforts to promote MA-specific knowledge, as well as developing structured processes and providing policies to support female athletes, are identified as vital future steps. These measures may prolong athletic careers and enhance well-being for elite female athletes.acceptedVersio
Finding the optimal balance: father-athlete challenges facing elite Nordic skiers
Get PDFBackground: In the last decade, a growing body of research has focused on the
many aspects and challenges of combining parenthood with elite sport.
Although the number of father-athletes is significantly higher than the number
of mother-athletes, few studies to date have focused on male athletesâ
experiences in a parenting context.
Aim: The aims of the present study were to explore how father-athlete
challenges manifest among elite Nordic skiers in Norway, and to better
understand how male athletes balance their priorities as they initiate, maintain,
and/or discontinue their athletic career as a father-athlete.
Methods: Qualitative data were collected through semi-structured interviews
with 10 world-class male Nordic skiers in Norway (3 athletes without a child, 4
current father-athletes and 3 former father-athletes) and the content was
analyzed using thematic analysis.
Results: Four main stages were identified in the father-athlete transition: (a)
Expecting incompatibility (b) Taking the step, (c), The first blow, and (d) Finding
the optimal balance. Through these stages the informants expected/had
experienced challenges such as performance decline, disturbed sleeping
patterns, fear of sickness and role conflicts. To manage these challenges, the
father-athletes had developed various strategies to balance their dual roles
(e.g., adapting training and competition seasons). Among the benefits, the
father-athletes mentioned that they had become more structured, time
efficient and ruthless with their priorities, enhanced motivation to train and a
better work-life balance.
Conclusion: This study offers valuable insights into father-athlete challenges
that can be used to support career longevity and work-life balance among
male athletes
âMission impossibleâ? How a successful female cross-country skier managed a dual career as a professional athlete and medical student : A case study
Get PDFThe aim of the present case study is to illuminate the factors contributing to the initiation, maintenance and discontinuation of the dual career of a Norwegian world-class athlete and medicine student. We additionally aimed to highlight contextual factors facilitating and impeding the dual career development. The participant Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen was a Norwegian student-athlete in the 2005â2020 period when she concurrently achieved 10 FIS World Championship medals, one Olympic medal, and 43 World Cup podiums in cross-country ski- ing. Day-to-day training diary data, study load and progress, performance, and interviews were analysed. In most years, the participantâs annual training vol- ume was c. 800â900 hrs/year. No significant differences in athletic performance were seen between the years with full-time studies, part-time studies, and study breaks. The participant Jacobsen experienced conflicting schedules and a lack of dual career support from stakeholders as the major challenges. Hence, the present single-case study provides unique data on the process and management of a dual career.publishedVersio
Effects of apples and specific apple components on the cecal environment of conventional rats: role of apple pectin
Get PDF<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Our study was part of the large European project ISAFRUIT aiming to reveal the biological explanations for the epidemiologically well-established health effects of fruits. The objective was to identify effects of apple and apple product consumption on the composition of the cecal microbial community in rats, as well as on a number of cecal parameters, which may be influenced by a changed microbiota.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Principal Component Analysis (PCA) of cecal microbiota profiles obtained by PCR-DGGE targeting bacterial 16S rRNA genes showed an effect of whole apples in a long-term feeding study (14 weeks), while no effects of apple juice, purĂ©e or pomace on microbial composition in cecum were observed. Administration of either 0.33 or 3.3% apple pectin in the diet resulted in considerable changes in the DGGE profiles.</p> <p>A 2-fold increase in the activity of beta-glucuronidase was observed in animals fed with pectin (7% in the diet) for four weeks, as compared to control animals (P < 0.01). Additionally, the level of butyrate measured in these pectin-fed animal was more than double of the corresponding level in control animals (P < 0.01). Sequencing revealed that DGGE bands, which were suppressed in pectin-fed rats, represented Gram-negative anaerobic rods belonging to the phylum <it>Bacteroidetes</it>, whereas bands that became more prominent represented mainly Gram-positive anaerobic rods belonging to the phylum <it>Firmicutes</it>, and specific species belonging to the <it>Clostridium </it>Cluster XIVa.</p> <p>Quantitative real-time PCR confirmed a lower amount of given <it>Bacteroidetes </it>species in the pectin-fed rats as well as in the apple-fed rats in the four-week study (P < 0.05). Additionally, a more than four-fold increase in the amount of <it>Clostridium coccoides </it>(belonging to Cluster XIVa), as well as of genes encoding butyryl-coenzyme A CoA transferase, which is involved in butyrate production, was detected by quantitative PCR in fecal samples from the pectin-fed animals.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our findings show that consumption of apple pectin (7% in the diet) increases the population of butyrate- and ÎČ-glucuronidase producing <it>Clostridiales</it>, and decreases the population of specific species within the <it>Bacteroidetes </it>group in the rat gut. Similar changes were not caused by consumption of whole apples, apple juice, purĂ©e or pomace.</p
Comparing talent development environments of girls and boys in handball and ice hockey in Norway
Get PDFCurrently, there is little research on successful talent development environments (TDEs) focusing on women and girls. In response, the main aim of the present study was to compare TDEs of ageâspecific national teams for girls and boys in the Norwegian context (N = 216: 92 girls and 124 boys). Gender differences were investigated in the two different sports of handball and ice hockey, which in the Norwegian context represent more and less successful sports (handball and ice hockey, respectively). Before investigating gender differences in the two sports, a necessary first step was to investigate the psychometric properties of Norwegian version of the Talent Development Environment Questionnaire (TDEQâ5). Results support the Norwegian TDEQâ5 to be a reliable and valid measure within the Norwegian context. The successful sport of Norwegian handball showed no significant gender differences regarding TDE. The less successful and male dominated sport of Norwegian ice hockey showed girls to score lower on several TDEQ factors compared to boys. Results also showed ice hockey having lower TDEQ scores compared to handball. We argue that handball provide similarly functional TDEs for girls and boys, making gender equality a characteristic feature of a TDE that is successful both in terms of mass participation and international achievements
A deletion in GDF7 is associated with a heritable forebrain commissural malformation concurrent with ventriculomegaly and interhemispheric cysts in cats
Get PDFPublisher Copyright: © 2020 by the authors.An inherited neurologic syndrome in a family of mixed-breed Oriental cats has been characterized as forebrain commissural malformation, concurrent with ventriculomegaly and interhemispheric cysts. However, the genetic basis for this autosomal recessive syndrome in cats is unknown. Forty-three cats were genotyped on the Illumina Infinium Feline 63K iSelect DNA Array and used for analyses. Genome-wide association studies, including a sib-transmission disequilibrium test and a case-control association analysis, and homozygosity mapping, identified a critical region on cat chromosome A3. Short-read whole genome sequencing was completed for a cat trio segregating with the syndrome. A homozygous 7 bp deletion in growth differentiation factor 7 (GDF7) (c.221_227delGCCGCGC [p.Arg74Profs]) was identified in affected cats, by comparison to the 99 Lives Cat variant dataset, validated using Sanger sequencing and genotyped by fragment analyses. This variant was not identified in 192 unaffected cats in the 99 Lives dataset. The variant segregated concordantly in an extended pedigree. In mice, GDF7 mRNA is expressed within the roof plate when commissural axons initiate ventrally-directed growth. This finding emphasized the importance of GDF7 in the neurodevelopmental process in the mammalian brain. A genetic test can be developed for use by cat breeders to eradicate this variant.Peer reviewe
Werewolf, there wolf : Variants in hairless associated with hypotrichia and roaning in the lykoi cat breed
Get PDFPublisher Copyright: © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.A variety of cat breeds have been developed via novelty selection on aesthetic, dermatological traits, such as coat colors and fur types. A recently developed breed, the lykoi (a.k.a. werewolf cat), was bred from cats with a sparse hair coat with roaning, implying full color and all white hairs. The lykoi phenotype is a form of hypotrichia, presenting as a significant reduction in the average numbers of follicles per hair follicle group as compared to domestic shorthair cats, a mild to severe perifollicular to mural lymphocytic infiltration in 77% of observed hair follicle groups, and the follicles are often miniaturized, dilated, and dysplastic. Whole genome sequencing was conducted on a single lykoi cat that was a cross between two independently ascertained lineages. Comparison to the 99 Lives dataset of 194 nonâlykoi cats suggested two variants in the cat homolog for Hairless (HR) (HR lysine demethylase and nuclear receptor corepressor) as candidate causal gene variants. The lykoi cat was a compound heterozygote for two loss of function variants in HR, an exon 3 c.1255_1256dupGT (chrB1:36040783), which should produce a stop codon at amino acid 420 (p.Gln420Serfs*100) and, an exon 18 c.3389insGACA (chrB1:36051555), which should produce a stop codon at amino acid position 1130 (p.Ser1130Argfs*29). Ascertainment of 14 additional cats from founder lineages from Canada, France and different areas of the USA identified four additional loss of function HR variants likely causing the highly similar phenotypic hair coat across the diverse cats. The novel variants in HR for cat hypotrichia can now be established between minor differences in the phenotypic presentations.Peer reviewe
Epigenome-wide meta-analysis of blood DNA methylation in newborns and children identifies numerous loci related to gestational age
Get PDFBackground Preterm birth and shorter duration of pregnancy are associated with increased morbidity in neonatal and later life. As the epigenome is known to have an important role during fetal development, we investigated associations between gestational age and blood DNA methylation in children. Methods We performed meta-analysis of Illumina's HumanMethylation450-array associations between gestational age and cord blood DNA methylation in 3648 newborns from 17 cohorts without common pregnancy complications, induced delivery or caesarean section. We also explored associations of gestational age with DNA methylation measured at 4-18 years in additional pediatric cohorts. Follow-up analyses of DNA methylation and gene expression correlations were performed in cord blood. DNA methylation profiles were also explored in tissues relevant for gestational age health effects: fetal brain and lung. Results We identified 8899 CpGs in cord blood that were associated with gestational age (range 27-42 weeks), at Bonferroni significance, P <1.06 x 10(- 7), of which 3343 were novel. These were annotated to 4966 genes. After restricting findings to at least three significant adjacent CpGs, we identified 1276 CpGs annotated to 325 genes. Results were generally consistent when analyses were restricted to term births. Cord blood findings tended not to persist into childhood and adolescence. Pathway analyses identified enrichment for biological processes critical to embryonic development. Follow-up of identified genes showed correlations between gestational age and DNA methylation levels in fetal brain and lung tissue, as well as correlation with expression levels. Conclusions We identified numerous CpGs differentially methylated in relation to gestational age at birth that appear to reflect fetal developmental processes across tissues. These findings may contribute to understanding mechanisms linking gestational age to health effects.Peer reviewe
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