| 41. |
- Frisk, Mikael, et al.
(författare)
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Route optimization as an instrument to improve animal welfare and economics in pre-slaughter logistics
- 2018
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Ingår i: PLOS ONE. - : Public Library of Science. - 1932-6203. ; 13:3
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Each year, more than three million animals are transported from farms to abattoirs in Sweden. Animal transport is related to economic and environmental costs and a negative impact on animal welfare. Time and the number of pick-up stops between farms and abattoirs are two key parameters for animal welfare. Both are highly dependent on efficient and qualitative transportation planning, which may be difficult if done manually. We have examined the benefits of using route optimization in cattle transportation planning. To simulate the effects of various planning time windows and transportation time regulations and number of pick-up stops along each route, we have used data that represent one year of cattle transport. Our optimization model is a development of a model used in forestry transport that solves a general pick-up and delivery vehicle routing problem. The objective is to minimize transportation costs. We have shown that the length of the planning time window has a significant impact on the animal transport time, the total driving time and the total distance driven; these parameters that will not only affect animal welfare but also affect the economy and environment in the pre-slaughter logistic chain. In addition, we have shown that changes in animal transportation regulations, such as minimizing the number of allowed pick-up stops on each route or minimizing animal transportation time, will have positive effects on animal welfare measured in transportation hours and number of pick-up stops. However, this leads to an increase in working time and driven distances, leading to higher transportation costs for the transport and negative environmental impact.
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| 42. |
- Frössling, Jenny, et al.
(författare)
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Application of network analysis parameters in risk-based surveillance - Examples based on cattle trade data and bovine infections in Sweden
- 2012
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Ingår i: Preventive Veterinary Medicine. - : Elsevier. - 0167-5877 .- 1873-1716. ; 105:3, s. 202-208
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Financial resources may limit the number of samples that can be collected and analysed in disease surveillance programmes. When the aim of surveillance is disease detection and identification of case herds, a risk-based approach can increase the sensitivity of the surveillance system. In this paper, the association between two network analysis measures, i.e. ‘in-degree’ and ‘ingoing infection chain’, and signs of infection is investigated. It is shown that based on regression analysis of combined data from a recent cross-sectional study for endemic viral infections and network analysis of animal movements, a positive serological result for bovine coronavirus (BCV) and bovine respiratory syncytial virus (BRSV) is significantly associated with the purchase of animals. For BCV, this association was significant also when accounting for herd size and regional cattle density, but not for BRSV. Examples are given for different approaches to include cattle movement data in risk-based surveillance by selecting herds based on network analysis measures. Results show that compared to completely random sampling these approaches increase the number of detected positives, both for BCV and BRSV in our study population. It is concluded that network measures for the relevant time period based on updated databases of animal movements can provide a simple and straight forward tool for risk-based sampling.
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| 43. |
- Gao, Jingfang, et al.
(författare)
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RAD50/MRE11/NBS1 proteins in relation to tumour development and prognosis in patients with microsatellite stable colorectal cancer
- 2008
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Ingår i: Histology and Histopathology. - : Histology and Histopathology. - 0213-3911 .- 1699-5848. ; 23:12, s. 1495-1502
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- RAD50/MRE11/NBS1 complex is essential for DNA double-strand break repair and for maintaining genomic integrity. In this study, we immunohistochemically examined MRE11, NBS1 and RAD50 expression in primary CRCs (n = 208), the corresponding distant (n= 41) and adjacent normal mucosa ( n= 130), and lymph node metastases ( n= 26), and investigated their clinicopathological significance in colorectal cancers ( CRCs). We found that the intensity and percentage of MRE11 and NBS1 in primary CRCs were positively correlated with each other and with RAD50 (P < 0.0001). Strong expression of MRE11, NBS1 or combined RAD50/MRE11/NBS1 was related to MSS, positive hMLH1 expression, earlier tumour stage (TNM stage I and II) and favourable survival (P < 0.05). A high percentage of MRE11 expression was associated with less local recurrence and high apoptotic activity (P < 0.05). In MSS CRCs, the expression of MRE11 and NBS1 was stronger than that in normal mucosa (P < 0.05), and strong expression of NBS1 in primary tumour was related to favourable survival of patients in TNM stage I and II (univariate analysis: P = 0.03; multivariate analysis: P = 0.07). In MSI CRCs, neither MRE11 nor NBS1 expression showed differences among normal mucosa, primary tumour and metastasis, or among clinicopathological variables. In conclusion, RAD50/MRE11/NBS1 proteins interacted with each other, which had different clinicopathological significance in MSS and MSI CRCs, and further, each component of the complex might have additional roles. NBS1 might be a prognostic factor for patients with MSS tumour in TNM stage I and II.
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| 44. |
- Gillsjö, Catharina, et al.
(författare)
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Older Adults Ways of Dealing With Daily Life While Living With Long-Term Musculoskeletal Pain at Home
- 2012
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Ingår i: Journal of Applied Gerontology. - : SAGE Publications (UK and US). - 0733-4648 .- 1552-4523. ; 31:5, s. 685-705
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Long-term musculoskeletal pain is a global health problem among older adults. Yet little is known about how these older adults actually deal with daily life. This studys aim is to describe the ways these older adults dealt with daily life at home. Phenomenography is used to collect and analyze data from semistructured interviews with 19 older adults and to identify the range in which they dealt with daily life. Findings consist of an outcome space that encompassed four categories: ignore, struggle, adjust, and resign. The different ways older adults dealt with daily life when living with long-term pain at home strengthen the importance of individualized plans of care in the home and a holistic perspective. Findings contribute to enhanced understanding of a common health problem among older adults that can be used to promote quality of care and improve the quality of life of older adults.
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| 45. |
- Gnosa, Sebastian, et al.
(författare)
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Expression of AEG-1 mRNA and protein in colorectal cancer patients and colon cancer cell lines
- 2012
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Ingår i: Journal of Translational Medicine. - : BioMed Central. - 1479-5876 .- 1479-5876. ; 10:109
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Astrocyte elevated gene 1 (AEG-1), an important oncogene, has been shown to be overexpressed in several types of cancers. In colorectal cancer (CRC), the protein level of AEG-1 is up-regulated in tumour tissue compared to normal mucosa, showing prognostic significance. Since little is known about the transcriptional level of AEG-1 expression and its biological pathway in CRC the aim of the present study was to examine the relationship of AEG-1 mRNA expression, the protein level and clinicopathological variables as well as its biology pathway in CRC. less thanbrgreater than less thanbrgreater thanMaterial and methods: The mRNA expression of AEG-1 was analysed by qPCR in fresh frozen patient samples including 156 primary tumours, along with the corresponding normal mucosa, and in five colon cancer cell lines, SW480, SW620, KM12C, KM12SM and KM12L4a. AEG-1 protein expression was investigated by immunohistochemistry in paraffin-embedded materials from 74 distant normal mucosa, 107 adjacent mucosa, 158 primary tumour, 35 lymph node metastasis and 9 liver metastasis samples. In addition, the AEG-1 protein expression was elucidated in the cell lines by Western blot. less thanbrgreater than less thanbrgreater thanResults: The lymph node metastatic cell line SW620 had a significantly higher AEG-1 mRNA (0.27 +/- 0.02) expression compared to the primary tumour cell line SW480 (0.17 +/- 0.04, p = 0.026). AEG-1 expression at the mRNA level and/or the protein level was significantly up-regulated gradually from normal mucosa to primary CRC, and then to lymph node metastasis and finally to liver metastasis (p andlt; 0.05). There were significant associations of AEG-1 mRNA expression with tumour location (p = 0.047), as well as mRNA and protein expression with the tumour stage (p andlt; 0.03). Furthermore AEG-1 protein expression was positively related to biological variables including NF-kappa B, p73, Rad50 and apoptosis (p andlt; 0.05). less thanbrgreater than less thanbrgreater thanConclusion: AEG-1 is up-regulated, at the mRNA and the protein level, during CRC development and aggressiveness, and is related to tumour location and stage. It may play its role in CRC through the NF-kappa B signaling pathway.
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| 46. |
- Grindal, Mats, et al.
(författare)
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An Evaluation of Combination Strategies for Test Case Selection
- 2006
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Ingår i: Empirical Software Engineering. - : Springer. - 1382-3256 .- 1573-7616. ; 11:4, s. 583-611
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper presents results from a comparative evaluation of five combination strategies. Combination strategies are test case selection methods that combine “interesting” values of the input parameters of a test subject to form test cases. This research comparatively evaluated five combination strategies; the All Combination strategy (AC), the Each Choice strategy (EC), the Base Choice strategy (BC), Orthogonal Arrays (OA) and the algorithm from the Automatic Efficient Test Generator (AETG). AC satisfies n-wise coverage, EC and BC satisfy 1-wise coverage, and OA and AETG satisfy pair-wise coverage. The All Combinations strategy was used as a “gold standard” strategy; it subsumes the others but is usually too expensive for practical use. The others were used in an experiment that used five programs seeded with 128 faults. The combination strategies were evaluated with respect to the number of test cases, the number of faults found, failure size, and number of decisions covered. The strategy that requires the least number of tests, Each Choice, found the smallest number of faults. Although the Base Choice strategy requires fewer test cases than Orthogonal Arrays and AETG, it found as many faults. Analysis also shows some properties of the combination strategies that appear significant. The two most important results are that the Each Choice strategy is unpredictable in terms of which faults will be revealed, possibly indicating that faults are found by chance, and that the Base Choice and the pair-wise combination strategies to some extent target different types of faults.
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| 47. |
- Grindal, Mats, et al.
(författare)
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Combination Testing Strategies : A Survey
- 2005
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Ingår i: Software Testing, Verification, and Reliability. - : Wiley. - 0960-0833 .- 1099-1689. ; 15:3, s. 167-199
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Combination strategies are test case selection methods that identify test cases by combining values of the different test object input parameters based on some combinatorial strategy. This survey presents 16 different combination strategies, covering more than 40 papers that focus on one or several combination strategies. This collection represents most of the existing work performed on combination strategies. This survey describes the basic algorithms used by the combination strategies. Some properties of combination strategies, including coverage criteria and theoretical bounds on the size of test suites, are also included in this description. This survey paper also includes a subsumption hierarchy that attempts to relate the various coverage criteria associated with the identified combination strategies.
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| 48. |
- Grindal, Mats
(författare)
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Handling Combinatorial Explosion in Software Testing
- 2007
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In this thesis, the overall conclusion is that combination strategies, (i.e., test case selection methods that manage the combinatorial explosion of possible things to test), can improve the software testing in most organizations. The research underlying this thesis emphasizes relevance by working in close relationship with industry.Input parameter models of test objects play a crucial role for combination strategies. These models consist of parameters with corresponding parameter values and represent the input space and possibly other properties, such as state, of the test object. Test case selection is then defined as the selection of combinations of parameter values from these models.This research describes a complete test process, adapted to combination strategies. Guidelines and step-by-step descriptions of the activities in process are included in the presentation. In particular, selection of suitable combination strategies, input parameter modeling and handling of conflicts in the input parameter models are addressed. It is also shown that several of the steps in the test process can be automated.The test process is validated through a set of experiments and case studies involving industrial testers as well as actual test problems as they occur in industry. In conjunction with the validation of the test process, aspects of applicability of the combination strategy test process (e.g., usability, scalability and performance) are studied. Identification and discussion of barriers for the introduction of the combination strategy test process in industrial projects are also included.This research also presents a comprehensive survey of existing combination strategies, complete with classifications and descriptions of their different properties. Further, this thesis contains a survey of the testing maturity of twelve software-producing organizations. The data indicate low test maturity in most of the investigated organizations. Test managers are often aware of this but have trouble improving. Combination strategies are suitable improvement enablers, due to their low introduction costs.
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| 49. |
- Grindal, Mats, et al.
(författare)
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Input Parameter Modeling for Combination Strategies
- 2007
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the IASTED International Conference on Software Engineering (SE2007), Feb 13-15, Innsbruck, Austria. - : ACTA Press. - 9780889866416 - 9780889866430 ; , s. 255-260
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Combination strategies are test methods that generate test cases based on input parameter models. This paper suggests a structured modeling method used to translate requirements expressed in a general format into an input parameter model suitable for combination strategies.This paper also describes results from two initial experiments exploring the efficiency and effectiveness of the modeling method. These results indicate that the resulting models may contain enough information to detect the vast majority of faults in the system under test. Further, results indicate that the modeling method is simple enough to use in practical testing.
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| 50. |
- Gånedahl, Hanna, et al.
(författare)
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Work-site wellness programmes in Sweden : a cross-sectional study of physical activity, self-efficacy, and health
- 2015
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Ingår i: Public Health. - : Elsevier. - 0033-3506 .- 1476-5616. ; 129:5, s. 525-530
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In Sweden, a work-site wellness programme implies reimbursing some of the expenses for health-promoting activities. Although work-site wellness programmes are readily available in Sweden, a large number of employees elect not to participate.OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to investigate the association of physical activity, self-reported general health assessment and self-efficacy with participation in a work-site wellness programme.STUDY DESIGN: A cross-sectional study design was used.METHODS: An online questionnaire was distributed to employees of a manufacturing company with 2500 employees in southwest Sweden.RESULTS: Those who took advantage of the work-site wellness programme assessed their general health as better and had higher assessment of physical activity. The study showed that being enlisted also implies a higher level of physical activity and general health; however, the effect sizes of these correlations were small. Self-efficacy, i.e. perceived behavioural control, was not associated with participation in the work-site wellness programme. However, self-efficacy was correlated with both general health assessment and physical activity. A regression analysis to determine explanatory contributions to the general health assessment score showed no significant contribution from participation in a work-site wellness programme, but was instead explained by perceived behavioural control and physical activity.CONCLUSIONS: Given the small effect size of the difference in physical activity between participators and non-participators in the work-site wellness programme, it is probable that only a small proportion of participators changed their health-promoting activities as a result of the work-site wellness programme.
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