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Systematic review of salutogenic-oriented lifestyle randomised controlled trials for adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus
No full textObjective: Describe the characteristics (development, intensity, deliverers, setting, strategies) and assess the effect of salutogenic-oriented lifestyle interventions on physical and psychosocial health outcomes in adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Method: PubMed, Scopus and PsycINFO were systematically searched for randomised controlled trials (RCTs) published up to August 2019 that complied with predefined salutogenic criteria: the participant as a whole, the participant’s active involvement and the participant’s individual learning process. Characteristics of the salutogenic-oriented interventions with and without significant results were compared and qualitatively summarised. Results: Twenty-eight RCTs were identified. Salutogenic oriented interventions that significantly improved both physical and psychosocial health were characterized by being based on formative research, culturally targeted, and delivered in 10–20 sessions in group settings, whereas salutogenic oriented interventions that neither improved physical or psychosocial health significantly were characterized by being individually tailored and delivered in less than 10 group sessions in individual settings. Conclusions: This systematic review suggests that salutogenic-oriented lifestyle interventions are effective for physical and psychosocial health in the short term. More research is needed to determine how intervention characteristics moderate (long-term) effectiveness. Practice implications: The results provide a basis for purposefully developing effective salutogenic interventions for adults with T2DM
Characterizing polar mobilities to understand the role of weather, water, ice and climate (WWIC) information
No full textThe Polar Regions are undergoing rapid environmental change while simultaneously witnessing growth and diversification of human activity. These changes call for more responsive, detailed and specialized weather, water, ice and climate (WWIC) information services so that the risks related to human activities can be minimized. Drawn from an extensive literature review this article provides an examination of selected sectors and their uses of WWIC information services in order to offer an initial understanding of diverse environmental forecasting needs. Utilizing a mobilities perspective we provide a characterization of mobility in the Polar Regions to help contextualize current WWIC uses and needs. Using four illustrative case studies of polar mobilities (community activities; cruise tourism; shipping; and government and research operations) the article explores two broad questions: (1) How are mobilities characterized in the Polar Regions? (2) What is known about the role of WWIC information in Polar mobilities? The findings suggest an incongruence between the information provided and the ways in which WWIC information is both used and needed by various sectors. Knowledge gaps are outlined that suggest more efforts are needed to understand the highly complex set of interconnections between WWIC users, providers, mobilities and decision-making across the Polar Regions.</p
Kennisbundel kleine bijenkastkever : Wetenschappelijke achtergrond bij handelingsperspectieven ten behoeve van de uitroeiing en beheersing van de kleine bijenkastkever
Get PDFDe kleine bijenkastkever is een aangifteplichtige parasiet van de westerse honingbij (Apis mellifera spp.). In 2014 is deze kever aangetroffen in Zuid-Italië. Dit document bundelt de kennis die in het kader van het beleidsondersteunend onderzoek en ander onderzoek in de laatste jaren is ontwikkeld. De kennis is geformuleerd ten behoeve van het handelingsperspectief van beleidsmedewerkers en uitvoerders van de NVWA en bijengezondheidscoördinatoren
Adaptive decision-making under conditions of uncertainty: the case of farming in the Volta delta, Ghana
Get PDFFarming in Ghana’s Volta delta is increasingly affected by variability in rainfall conditions and changes in land-use patterns. Under such socio-ecological conditions, little is known about farmers’ decision-making in response to uncertainties in uncertain rainfall conditions. To fill this gap and add to the literature on adaptive decision-making, we addressed the central question: what are the existing patterns of farming decision-making under uncertain rainfall conditions, and which decision-making strategies are adaptive? We developed an adaptive decision-making framework to investigate the behavior of farmers under variable rainfall conditions in Ghana’s Volta delta in the Ada East District. We conducted 5 interviews with agricultural extension agents, 44 in-depth interviews and 4 focus group discussion with farmers. Subsequently, we interviewed a sub-selection of 32 farmers. Findings of the study shows that farmers carry out different decision-making patterns in response to the variable rainfall conditions. We distinguished six strategies: three based on flexibility and three based on robustness. Flexible adaptive decision-making strategies are switching dates for sowing seeds through wait-and-see or delay strategy, muddling through the farming season with the application of various options and alternative irrigation strategies. Robust adaptive decision-making strategies are portfolio strategy of transplanting seedlings in batches, selection of robust (hardy) crops, and intercropping or diversification. Based on how farmers select strategies in response to uncertainty in rainfall conditions, we argue that some decision-making strategies are more adaptive than others. Findings of this study are relevant for the design and implementation of climate related agricultural projects.</p
Rooftop systems for urban agriculture
No full textUrban population growth, consequent competition in land use, climate change and lack of productive resources are some of the problems that are currently making necessary a new form of agriculture free from soil exploitation and able to ensure food security to urban dwellers in the most sustainable way. Rooftop farming is a form of building-base agriculture that may help to address not only global nutritional uncertainty, but also social, environmental and economic issues such as social exclusion, heat island effect, storm water damages and urban poverty. This chapter describes the forms, architecture, design elements and management of rooftop farming, as well as presenting case studies from around the world. Finally, the chapter looks ahead to future research trends in this area
Development of a recurrent neural networks-based calving prediction model using activity and behavioral data
No full textAccurate prediction of calving time in dairy cattle is crucial for dairy herd management to reduce risks like dystocia and pain. Prediction of calving using traditional, manual observation such as observing breeding records and visual cues, however, is a complicated and error-prone task whereby even experts can fail to provide a proper prediction. Moreover, manual prediction does not scale for larger farms and becomes very soon time-consuming, inefficient, and costly. In this context, automated solutions are considered to be promising to provide both better and more efficient predictions, thereby supporting the health of the dairy cows and reducing the unnecessary overhead for farmers. Although the first automated solutions appear to have mainly focused on statistical solutions, currently, machine learning approaches are now increasingly being considered as a feasible and promising approach for accurate prediction of calving. In this context, the objective of this study is to develop machine learning-based prediction models that provide higher performance compared to the existing tools, methods, and techniques. This study shows that the calving of the cattle can be predicted by applying several behaviors of cattle, behavioral monitoring sensors, and machine learning models. Bi-directional Long Short-Term Memory (Bi-LSTM) method has been applied for the prediction of the calving day, and the RusBoosted Tree classifier has been used to predict the remaining 8 h before calving. The experimental results demonstrated that Bi-LSTM provides better performance compared to the LSTM algorithm in terms of classification accuracy, while the RusBoosted Tree algorithm predicts the remaining 8 h accurately before calving. Furthermore, Recurrent Neural Networks provide high performance for the prediction of calving day.</p
Are urban water bodies really cooling?
Get PDFSmall urban water bodies, like ponds or canals, are often assumed to cool their surroundings during hot periods, when water bodies remain cooler than air during daytime. However, during the night they may be warmer. Sufficient fetch is required for thermal effects to reach a height of 1–2 m, relevant for humans. In the ‘Really cooling water bodies in cities’ (REALCOOL) project thermal effects of typical Dutch urban water bodies were explored, using ENVI-met 4.1.3. This model version enables users to specify intensity of turbulent mixing and light absorption of the water, offering improved water temperature simulations. Local thermal effects near individual water bodies were assessed as differences in air temperature and Physiological Equivalent Temperature (PET). The simulations suggest that local thermal effects of small water bodies can be considered negligible in design practice. Afternoon air temperatures in surrounding spaces were reduced by typically 0.2 °C and the maximum cooling effect was 0.6 °C. Typical PET reduction was 0.6 °C, with a maximum of 1.9 °C. Night-time warming effects are even smaller. However, the immediate surroundings of small water bodies can become cooler by means of shading from trees, fountains or water mists, and natural ventilation. Such interventions induce favorable changes in daytime PET.</p
Influence of agricultural organic inputs and their aging on the transport of ferrihydrite nanoparticles: From enhancement to inhibition
No full textOrganic matter effectively regulates nanoparticles transport. However, little is known about the effect of agricultural organic inputs on the transport of ferrihydrite nanoparticles (FHNPs) during aging. In this study, columns were filled with sand mixed with varying proportions of pristine, water-processing, or alkali-processing biochar or swine manure and used to simulate the release of organic matter and changes in surface roughness of sand grains during field aging. The influence of these factors on FHNPs transport was investigated using column experiments. The dissolved organic matter (DOM) (0.008–24.8 mg L−1) released from agricultural organic inputs decreased the zeta potential of the FHNPs from 30.8 mV to 14.6–-48.9 mV and further caused electrostatic repulsion, osmotic repulsion, and elastic-steric repulsion between FHNPs and mixed sand, thus enhancing FHNPs transport. Ferrihydrite nanoparticles transport increased with increasing content of biochar and swine manure due to the increased amount of DOM. However, with the presence of organic inputs, surface roughness up to a certain degree (the increase in specific surface area up to 4.6 m2) became the dominant inhibition factor affecting FHNPs transport. After DOM release, agricultural organic inputs decreased the enhancement of FHNPs transport; with the increase input, their rougher surface gradually increased inhibition of FHNPs transport. The strongest FHNPs retention in the alkali-processing biochar (0.2–10%) or swine manure (1–2%) mixed sand columns indicated that fully aged agricultural organic inputs strongly inhibited FHNPs transport. Our findings provided novel insights into the critical influence of agricultural organic inputs and their aging on FHNPs transport, which changed gradually from enhancement to inhibition gradually.</p
A salivary metabolite signature that reflects gingival host-microbe interactions: instability predicts gingivitis susceptibility
Get PDFSeveral proteins and peptides in saliva were shown to stimulate gingival wound repair, but the role of salivary metabolites in this process remains unexplored. In vitro gingival re-epithelialization kinetics were determined using unstimulated saliva samples from healthy individuals collected during an experimental gingivitis study. Elastic net regression with stability selection identified a specific metabolite signature in a training dataset that was associated with the observed re-epithelialization kinetics and enabled its prediction for all saliva samples obtained in the clinical study. This signature encompassed ten metabolites, including plasmalogens, diacylglycerol and amino acid derivatives, which reflect enhanced host-microbe interactions. This association is in agreement with the positive correlation of the metabolite signature with the individual’s gingival bleeding index. Remarkably, intra-individual signature-variation over time was associated with elevated risk for gingivitis development. Unravelling how these metabolites stimulate wound repair could provide novel avenues towards therapeutic approaches in patients with impaired wound healing capacity.</p
Multistep Fractionation of Microalgal Biomolecules Using Selective Aqueous Two-Phase Systems
Get PDFWe aim to develop liquid-liquid extraction processes for the fractionation of microalgal components (proteins, pigments, lipids, and carbohydrates). The partitioning behavior of microalgal pigments and proteins in aqueous two-phase systems (ATPS) composed of the polymer polypropylene glycol with molecular weight 400 (PPG 400) + various cholinium based-ionic liquids was studied. A process for fractionation of multiple components from disrupted Neochloris oleoabundans was developed and evaluated. Results show that cholinium dihydrogen phosphate (Ch DHp) allows the fractionation of pigments in the PPG 400-rich phase and proteins in the Ch DHp-rich phase with high selectivity. It was demonstrated that a multiproduct approach can fractionate free glucose, and proteins in the ionic liquid-rich phase, pigments in the polymer-rich phase, while starch and lipids are recovered at the interface.</p