| 1. |
- Smith, Jennifer A, et al.
(författare)
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Genome-wide association study identifies 74 loci associated with educational attainment
- 2016
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Ingår i: Nature (London). - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1476-4687 .- 0028-0836. ; 533:7604, s. 539-542
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Educational attainment is strongly influenced by social and other environmental factors, but genetic factors are estimated to account for at least 20% of the variation across individuals. Here we report the results of a genome-wide association study (GWAS) for educational attainment that extends our earlier discovery sample of 101,069 individuals to 293,723 individuals, and a replication study in an independent sample of 111,349 individuals from the UK Biobank. We identify 74 genome-wide significant loci associated with the number of years of schooling completed. Single-nucleotide polymorphisms associated with educational attainment are disproportionately found in genomic regions regulating gene expression in the fetal brain. Candidate genes are preferentially expressed in neural tissue, especially during the prenatal period, and enriched for biological pathways involved in neural development. Our findings demonstrate that, even for a behavioural phenotype that is mostly environmentally determined, a well-powered GWAS identifies replicable associated genetic variants that suggest biologically relevant pathways. Because educational attainment is measured in large numbers of individuals, it will continue to be useful as a proxy phenotype in efforts to characterize the genetic influences of related phenotypes, including cognition and neuropsychiatric diseases.
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| 2. |
- Gunnarsson, Karl, et al.
(författare)
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Review of the diet specialisation of the Blue-cheeked bee-eater (Merops persicus)
- 2019
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Ingår i: Journal of Ornithology. - : SPRINGER HEIDELBERG. - 2193-7192 .- 2193-7206. ; 160:1, s. 275-279
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Ecological specialisation, e.g. in terms of prey preferences, can have important implications for population biology. Bee-eaters are considered diet specialists; they hunt aerial insects, particularly hymenopterans. However, the Blue-cheeked bee-eater (Merops persicus) has been considered a special case, as it preferentially feeds upon dragonflies (Odonata). Here we review current literature on the diet of the Blue-cheeked bee-eater, and conclude that this species is not as restricted to dragonflies as previously suggested. Instead, populations in different parts of the breeding and wintering ranges seem to specialise on various types of insects (such as wasps, bees, dragonflies, butterflies and mosquitoes).
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| 3. |
- Gunnarsson, Mattias, 1979-
(författare)
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Mobilisera, passivisera eller vinna : har skandinaviska partiers tävlan om röster förändrats?
- 2019
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Denna licentiatuppsats lägger grunden för att undersöka om skandinaviska partiers tävlan om röster har förändrats så som den uttrycks i partiernas valmanifest. Därigenom testas dels om det finns en förändrad partitävlan i Skandinavien, dels om en eventuell förändring i partitävlan drivs av en existerande tävlansstruktur ärvd från 1970-talet, om partiernas tävlan om röster helt eller delvis försvunnit eller om partiernas tävlan snarast handlar om konkurrens om väljarnas rösterInom partiforskningen har den så kallade kartellpartitesen haft ett mycket stort genomslag. I korthet innebär denna att partier snarast försöker passivisera väljare genom att inte erbjuda alternativ vare sig i policy eller ideologi till skillnad från tidigare då partier i första hand försökt mobilisera sina kärnväljare och erbjudit tydliga skillnader i såväl policy som ideologi. Mot dessa två beskrivningar kan även ställas en tredje baserad på ett antagande om skärpt partikonkurrens där det gäller att vinna alltmer rörliga väljare. För att testa dessa tre hypoteser studeras valmanifest från 1970 till 2010 från agrara, konservativa och socialdemokratiska partier i Danmark, Norge och Sverige.Resultatet visar snarast på stark konkurrens inom samtliga partisystem oavsett vilken partifamilj som studeras. Valmanifesten blir tydligare och tendera att mer och mer betona policytävlan, men det finns även en konstant närvaro av värderingar i valmanifesten. Detta talar framförallt mot att tävlans bortdöende, men för att slutgiltigt utvärdera resultaten krävs närmare studier av vilka policys och vilka värderingar som presenteras och om dessa förskjuts eller förändras över tid.
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| 5. |
- Sonesson, Ulf, et al.
(författare)
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Paths to a sustainable food sector: integrated design and LCA of future food supply chains : the case of pork production in Sweden
- 2016
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Ingår i: The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment. - : Springer Ferlag. - 0948-3349 .- 1614-7502. ; 21:5, s. 664-676
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose: To describe a more sustainable food sector, a supply chain approach is needed. Changing a supply chain inevitably means that various attributes of the product and its system will change. This project assumed this challenge and delivered detailed descriptions, life cycle assessment (LCA) evaluations, and consequence assessments of the supply chains of six commodities, i.e., milk, cheese, beef, pork, chicken, and bread, from a Swedish region. This paper presents results for the pork supply chain. Methods: In the project setup, experts on production along supply chains designed three scenarios for environmentally improved systems. These scenarios, i.e., the ecosystem, plant nutrients, and climate scenarios, were intended to address different clusters of environmental goals. The next step was to challenge these scenarios by considering their possible consequences for products and systems from the food safety, sensory quality, animal welfare, consumer appreciation, and (for primary production only) cost perspectives. This led to changes in production system design to prevent negative consequences. The final supply chains were quantified using LCA and were again assessed from the three perspectives. Results and discussion: The scenario design approach worked well, thoroughly and credibly describing the production systems. Assessment of consequences bolstered the credibility and quality of the systems and results. The LCA of pig production and smoked ham identified large potentials for improvement by implementing available knowledge: global warming potential (GWP) could be reduced 21–54 % and marine eutrophication by 14–45 %. The main reason for these improvements was improved productivity (approaching the best producers’ current performance), though dedicated measures were also important, resulting in increased nitrogen efficiency, more varied crop rotations for crop production and better production management, and improved animal health and manure management for animal production. Reduced post-farm wastage contributed as did reduced emissions from fertilizer production. Conclusions: The working approach applied was successful in integrating LCA research with food system production expertise to deliver results relevant to supply chain decision-makers. The consequence assessments brought considerable value to the project, giving its results greater credibility. By introducing constraints in the form of “no negative consequences and no increased costs,” the work was “guided” so that the scenario design avoided being hampered by too many opportunities.
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