Accurate detection of SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibody (nAb) is critical for assessing the immunity levels after virus infection or vaccination. As fast, cost-effective alternatives to viral infection-based assays, competitive binding (CB) assays were developed to quantitate nAb by monitoring the ability of sera to inhibit the binding of viral spike (S) protein to the angiotensin converting enzyme

This paper explores the current process and practice of contingency planning in humanitarian organisations. It sets out the key terms and concepts relating to contingency planning, explores the contingency planning process, explains the main models used by humanitarian organisations and presents a new concept of the process that enables a more dynamic approach than previous frameworks.The paper al

East Africa experiences chronic food insecurity, with levels varying from year-to-year across the region. Given that much can be done to prevent this level of suffering before it happens, humanitarian agencies monitor early indicators of food insecurity to trigger early action. Forecasts of total seasonal rainfall are one tool used to monitor and anticipate food security outcomes. Factors beyond r

Forecast-based early action (FbA) initiatives are diverse, with very different approaches to the timing of decisions and actions, and to the types of forecast, monitoring data and delivery mechanisms used. They are also increasingly of interest to donors and humanitarian agencies as they consider how to reduce the growing humanitarian burden and reconsider how aid is spent. FbA programming uses fo

Sedimentary molybdenum (Mo) and uranium (U) enrichments are widely used to reconstruct changes in bottom water oxygen conditions in aquatic environments. Until now, most studies using Mo and U have focused on restricted suboxic-euxinic basins and continental margin oxygen minimum zones (OMZs), leaving mildly reducing and oxic (but eutrophic) coastal depositional environments vastly understudied. C

Mitochondrial quality control prevents accumulation of intramitochondrial-derived reactive oxygen species (mtROS), thereby protecting cells against DNA damage, genome instability, and programmed cell death. However, underlying mechanisms are incompletely understood, particularly in fungal species. Here, we show that Cryptococcus neoformans heat shock factor 3 (CnHsf3) exhibits an atypical function

• Semiarid regions control a large fraction of the interannual variability in the global terrestrial CO2 sink and of atmospheric CO2 growth rate. • Semiarid ecosystems are characterized by recurring disturbances that alter the regional C budgets. As disturbances are expected to become more frequent or intense in the future, quantifying their contribution to semiarid C balance is crucial. • We revi

Background: Contact allergy can manifest in a variety of ways clinically. Systemic contact allergy may occasionally present with pain in muscles and joints. Fibromyalgia is a chronic rheumatic disease characterized by pain and with virtually unknown aetiology. Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the contact allergy rates to the sensitizers in a baseline series and compare with cor

We might describe the philosophical issue of human freedom and moral responsibility as an existential metaphysical problem. Problems of this kind are not just a matter of theoretical interest and curiosity: They address issues that we care about and that affect us. They are, more specifically, relevant to the significance and value that we attach to our lives and the way that we lead them. Accordi

Packaging can play a key role in reducing food waste and enabling resource efficient logistics operations. This paper offers insights into why this potential is not fully adopted by companies in food supply chains by exploring adoption barriers for sustainable packaging practices in ten companies in South Africa and Sweden. The paper develops an analytical framework from theory and applies it to t

In this study, the effects of nanosecond plasma discharges on the combustion characteristics of ammonia are investigated over a wide range of mixture properties and plasma settings. The results reveal that the impacts of the plasma on ammonia combustion change non-monotonically by altering the reduced electric field value. Within the studied range of the reduced electric field, i.e., 100–700 Td, i

This Swedish-language investigation concerns the usefulness of the Swedish property tax, introduced in 1862, as a source for studying wealth inequality in the agrarian sector. A one percent sample of all taxpayers in rural areas, following the original taxation lists archived at the National Archives in Stockholm, has been made for four counties in three years: 1870, 1900, 1920. The counties are M

Research in sustainability transitions increasingly acknowledges that the structural characteristics of socio-technical systems differ. However, little attention has been paid to the specific transition dynamics that can result from this structural variation. In response, this paper develops a framework for studying transition dynamics that takes the structural characteristics of socio-technical s

BACKGROUND Anaesthesiology represents a rapidly evolving medical specialty in global healthcare, currently covering advanced peri-operative, pre-hospital and in-hospital critical emergency management (CREM), intensive care medicine (ICM) and pain management. The aim of the European Society of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care (ESAIC) is to develop and promote a coordinated interdisciplinary and m

This thesis concerns the investigation of direct and inverse resonance results for the Love and the Rayleigh operators, which arise from decoupling the three-dimensional elastic wave equation in the semiclassical limit in the half-space. Direct resonance results in terms of the asymptotic distribution of resonances in the complex plane are obtained for the Love and the Rayleigh operators. An inver

Through interviews, many documents and secondary data, this dissertation investigates how fifty-four women activists participated in the public sphere in Egypt from the outbreak of the 2011 uprising to the re-emergence of the authoritarian regime in 2014. The women activists studied in the dissertation took part in various counter-publics of social movements, opposition political parties, and civi