| 1. |
- Berntsson, Thore, 1947, et al.
(författare)
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Towards Sustainabel Oil Refinery - Pre-study for larger co-operation project
- 2008
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In this report, the Chalmers EnergiCentrum (CEC) presents the results of a pre-study commissioned by Preem relating to the effective production of future vehicle fuels.This pre-study was made up of three studies focusing on energy streamlining, the utilisation of waste heat and carbon-dioxide separation and biorefinement relating to the gasification and hydration of vegetable oils. One of the common starting points for these studies was the current situation at the Preem refineries in Göteborg and Lysekil from where the measurement data were obtained and analysed. The report summarises the knowledge situation based on current research in the individual technical fields. The results present some interesting future opportunities for developing the sustainable production of future vehicle fuels. The sections vary, as the areas that have been examined differ and the sections have been written by different people. The reports ends with some joint conclusions and a number of questions which could be included and answered in a more extensive future main study, as part of a developed research partnership between Preem and the Chalmers University of Technology. The preliminary results of this work were analysed with the client at workshops on 1 October and 29 November 2007. The report is written in English combined with an extensive summary in Swedish including a proposal on a future main study. The study was conducted by the Chalmers EnergiCentrum (CEC), in collaboration with a number of researchers in the CEC’s network. They included Thore Berntsson, Jessica Algehed, Erik Hektor and Lennart Persson Elmeroth, all from Heat and Power Technology, Börje Gevert, Chemical and Biological Engineering, Tobias Richards, Forest Products and Chemical Engineering, Filip Johnsson and Anders Lyngfelt, Energy Technology, and Per-Åke Franck and Anders Åsblad, CIT Industriell Energianalys AB. The client, Preem, was represented by Bengt Ahlén, Sören Eriksson, Johan Jervehed, Bertil Karlsson, Gunnar Olsson, Ulf Kuylenstierna, Stefan Nyström, Martin Sjöberg and Thomas Ögren. Tobias Richards was responsible for compiling the report and Bertil Pettersson was the project manager.
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| 2. |
- Schwenke, Jörg, et al.
(författare)
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Single-shot holography using high-order harmonics
- 2008
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Ingår i: Journal of Modern Optics. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0950-0340 .- 1362-3044. ; 55:16, s. 2723-2730
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This work demonstrates single-shot holography with ultrashort XUV pulses. The pulses are generated by high-harmonic generation in an Ar gas cell and focused to produce a strongly divergent reference beam suitable for in-line holography of micrometer size objects. The achieved intensity of the high-order harmonics in the XUV regime is sufficient for single-shot holography with good signal-to-noise ratio. A numerical algorithm is applied to reconstruct real images from the recorded holograms, which also includes an iterative process to reduce the twin-image blurring. Holograms and reconstructed images of microscope tips are presented and a description of the algorithm is given.
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| 3. |
- Anderung, Cecilia, et al.
(författare)
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Fishing for ancient DNA
- 2008
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Ingår i: Forensic Science International: Genetics. - : Elsevier BV. - 1872-4973. ; 2:2, s. 104-107
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The major problems concerning ancient DNA studies are related to the amount of extractable DNA and the precautions needed to avoid contamination. From the very first step of the analyses, the DNA extraction, these problems must be confronted. There are several extraction methods available for DNA in ancient tissue; several of them are complicated and time consuming. and none of the methods have reached an acceptance level such that they are routinely used on a widespread basis. Here we investigate the efficiency of two methods. one based on magnetic separation of the targeted molecules. and one based oil silica binding. The efficiency rate of these two on the material studied seems to be identical. The silica binding method has the benefit of relative simplicity, but the magnetic separation technique also hits advantages. For example, it is possible to reuse the extract several times for different loci, and it is possible to concentrate all extracted DNA from one locus into one PCR.
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| 4. |
- Borg, O. Anders, et al.
(författare)
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A Computational Study on the Lowest Triplet State of Ruthenium Polypyridyl Complexes used in Artificial Photosynthesis
- 2008
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Ingår i: Journal of Physical Chemistry A. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 1089-5639 .- 1520-5215. ; 112:19, s. 4470-4476
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The potential energy surfaces of the first excited triplet state of some ruthenium polypyridyl complexes were investigated by means of density functional theory. Focus was placed on the interaction between the geometrical changes accompanying the photoactivity of these complexes when used as antenna complexes in artificial photosynthesis and dye-sensitized solar cells and the accompanying changes in electronic structure. The loss process (3)MLCT --> (3)MC can be understood by means of ligand-field splitting, traced down to the coordination of the central ruthenium atom.
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| 5. |
- Borg, Sixten, et al.
(författare)
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The cost-effectiveness of treatment with erythropoietin compared to red blood cell transfusions for patients with chemotherapy induced anaemia: a Markov model.
- 2008
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Ingår i: Acta oncologica (Stockholm, Sweden). - : Informa UK Limited. - 1651-226X .- 0284-186X. ; 47:6, s. 1009-1017
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BACKGROUND: Anaemia is a common complication of chemotherapy. As anaemia can lead to e.g. fatigue, depression, social isolation and chest pain it diminishes physical capacity and quality of life. It is generally accepted that symptomatic anaemia should be corrected. Treatment options include red blood cell transfusion (RBCT), erythropoietin (EPO) administration or a combination of both. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to carry out a cost-effectiveness analysis of treatment with EPO (epoetin alfa), compared to treatment with RBCT for patients with chemotherapy-induced anaemia in Sweden from a health care perspective. METHOD: A model was developed for estimating incremental costs and QALY gains associated with EPO treatment compared to treatment with RBCTs, based on a model commissioned by the UK National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence and adjusted to reflect Swedish treatment practice. Data regarding patient characteristics, response rates, and RBCT was derived from a Swedish observational study of EPO treatment in cancer patients with chemotherapy related anaemia. Swedish guidelines and unit costs were used throughout the study. A systematic review of EPO for treatment of anaemia associated with cancer was used to estimate QALY gains associated with changes in Hb-concentrations in our model. RESULTS: The model's results validate well to real world data from three major hospitals in Sweden. The cost per QALY gained from administration of EPO was estimated at EUR 24,700 in the base case analysis. Practicing an EPO treatment target Hb-level of 12 g/dl yields a cost per QALY about 40% lower than practicing a Hb-target level of 13 g/dl, which is in agreement with updated recommendations of using a 12 g/dl target. CONCLUSION: The estimated cost per QALY falls well within the range acceptable in Sweden when practicing a Hb-target level of 12 g/dl. The incremental cost of elevating Hb-levels above 13 g/dl is very high in relation to the incremental QALY gain achieved.
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| 6. |
- Bresel, Anders, et al.
(författare)
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GenomeLKPG : A comprehensive proteome sequencedatabase for taxonomy studies
- 2008
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: In order to perform taxonomically unbiased analyses of protein relationships, there is a need ofcomplete proteomes rather than databases with bias towards well characterized protein families. However, nocomprehensive resource of completed proteomes is currently available. Instead, the proteomes need to be down-loaded manually from di®erent servers, all using different filename conventions and fasta header formats. Results: We have developed a semi-automatic algorithm that retrieves complete proteomes from multiple FTP-servers and maps the species-speci¯c sequence entries to the NCBI taxonomy. The compiled data is provided ina sequence database named genomeLKPG. Conclusions: The usefulness of genomeLKPG is proven in several published taxonomical studies.
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| 7. |
- Bresell, Anders, 1978-
(författare)
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Characterization of protein families, sequence patterns, and functional annotations in large data sets
- 2008
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Bioinformatics involves storing, analyzing and making predictions on massive amounts of protein and nucleotide sequence data. The thesis consists of six papers and is focused on proteins. It describes the utilization of bioinformatics techniques to characterize protein families and to detect patterns in gene expression and in polypeptide occurrences. Two protein families were bioinformatically characterized - the membrane associated proteins in eicosanoid and glutathione metabolism (MAPEG) and the Tripartite motif (TRIM) protein families.In the study of the MAPEG super-family, application of different bioinformatic methods made it possible to characterize many new members leading to a doubling of the family size. Furthermore, the MAPEG members were subdivided into families. Remarkably, in six families with previously predominantly mammalian members, fish representatives were also now detected, which dated the origin of these families back to the Cambrium ”species explosion”, thus earlier than previously anticipated. Sequence comparisons made it possible to define diagnostic sequence patterns that can be used in genome annotations. Upon publication of several MAPEG structures, these patterns were confirmed to be part of the active sites.In the TRIM study, the bioinformatic analyses made it possible to subdivide the proteins into three subtypes and to characterize a large number of members. In addition, the analyses showed crucial structural dependencies between the RING and the B-box domains of the TRIM memberRo52. The linker region between the two domains, denoted RBL, is knownto be disease associated. Now, an amphipathic helix was found to be acharacteristic feature of the RBL region, which also was used to divide the family into three subtypes.The ontology annotation treebrowser (OAT) tool was developed to detect functional similarities or common concepts in long lists of proteins or genes, typically generated from proteomics or microarray experiments. OAT was the first annotation browser to include both Gene Ontology (GO) and Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) into the same framework. The complementarity of these two ontologies was demonstrated. OAT was used in the TRIM study to detect differences in functional annotations between the subtypes.In the oligopeptide study, we investigated pentapeptide patterns that were over- or under-represented in the current de facto standard database of protein knowledge and a set of completed genomes, compared to what could be expected from amino acid compositions. We found three predominant categories of patterns: (i) patterns originating from frequently occurring families, e.g. respiratory chain-associated proteins and translation machinery proteins; (ii) proteins with structurally and/or functionally favored patterns; (iii) multicopy species-specific retrotransposons, only found in the genome set. Such patterns may influence amino acid residue based prediction algorithms. These findings in the oligopeptide study were utilized for development of a new method that detects translated introns in unverified protein predictions, which are available in great numbers due to the many completed and ongoing genome projects.A new comprehensive database of protein sequences from completed genomes was developed, denoted genomeLKPG. This database was of central importance in the MAPEG, TRIM and oligopeptide studies. The new sequence database has also been proven useful in several other studies.
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| 8. |
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| 9. |
- Glinec, Yannick, et al.
(författare)
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Evolution of energy spectrum from laser-accelerated protons with a 100 fs intense prepulse
- 2008
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Ingår i: Applied Physics B. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0946-2171 .- 1432-0649. ; 93:2-3, s. 317-321
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A parametric study is reported where a femtosecond prepulse is used to change the target properties before the interaction with a multi-terawatt laser pulse which accelerates protons from a foil target. The proton spectrum as function of the prepulse delay and intensity, up to 1.5 ns and up to 3x106 W/cm2, respectively, shows a global decrease of the maximum proton energy with delay and intensity. However, under appropriate conditions, it is found that the maximum proton energy increases by more than 10% and that the spectral shape changes.
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| 10. |
- Goldin, Stephen, 1948-
(författare)
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Living in the present with the past : mental health of Bosnian refugee children in Sweden
- 2008
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The negative impact of war on child mental health has been repeatedly documented. Still, the majority of children exposed to ethnic and political violence show no signs of clinical disorder. In Western countries of exile, these findings have prompted a variety of attempts to evaluate refugee children, in the hope of identifying and offering support to those children “at risk”. This study critically examines one such attempt. The aims are fourfold: 1. to describe the range and pattern of child trauma-stress exposure and mental health reactions as captured on clinician semi-structured interview; 2. to critically compare clinician assessment with independent parent, child and teacher reports; 3. to identify factors of potential risk or protective import for child mental health; 4. to draw clinical implications: from whom and by what means can children at risk be reasonably identified? The target of our study was the entire population of Bosnian-Serbian-Croatian speaking child refugee families assigned to Umeå and surrounding municipalities during 1994-95. Fifty families, containing 90 children aged one month to 20 years, were included in the study. Assessment occurred in two phases. First, a semi-structured interview was conducted that inquired broadly as to the child’s family background, trauma-stress exposure, emotional-behavioral problems, patterns of family functioning, and future hopes. Second, standardized self-report questionnaires were administered, separately to parent and child, to provide alternative appraisal of the child’s war exposure, mental health symptoms, coping strategies, and social network. Teacher evaluation of child cognitive-social functioning as well as emotional-behavioral problems was also obtained. Clinician semi-structured interview revealed the child’s pre-war period as preponderantly good, and provided richly detailed narratives of child exposure during war and resettlement that clustered into a limited number of type-stories. Independent parent assessment captured the same broad strokes of child war exposure; but both approaches – fixed questionnaire and semi-structured interview – showed specific areas of blindness. Teenage self-report offered a disparate but equally rich account of war exposure, while that of primary school child was significantly less detailed. Nearly half of the study children (48%) were identified on clinician interview with one or more mental health problem “demanding further attention”. Depressiveness was the single most prevalent symptom (31%), followed by posttraumatic reactions (23%) and anxiety-regressiveness (15%). Independent symptom appraisal by parent and primary school child was largely concordant with that of clinician, while teenagers made similar assessment as to who was in distress, but defined the nature of that distress differently. Teacher report stood apart, identifying fewer inward emotional problems and asserting the cognitive-social competence of the vast majority of study children. Trauma-stress exposure during both war and resettlement presented as an unequivocal risk to mental health, but accounted for only part of outcome variance. Additional factors of strong import related broadly to “living in the present”. Parent impairment of daily routines, child dissatisfaction with school and an ongoing quarrelsome relationship presented as risk factors. Protection was associated with parent maintenance of a warm family climate and of concrete physical-emotional caring, child social ties to physically present others, including teacher; and above all, a family sense of hope for the future. Results support the general robustness of our semi-structured approach. Exploring the child’s present well-being in narrative relation to past and future, our assessment captured and gave meaning to the complexity of child exposure and behavior. At the same time, independent parent and child appraisals provided an additional richness to the retelling and evaluation of child experience. Particularly the apartness of teacher report underscores the need to incorporate an outside-world vantage point in the process of risk assessment.
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