| 1. |
- Lindqvist, Christina, et al.
(author)
-
Transmission of Stress-Induced Learning Impairment and Associated Brain Gene Expression from Parents to Offspring in Chickens
- 2007
-
In: PLOS ONE. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 2:4, s. e364-
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: Stress influences many aspects of animal behaviour and is a major factor driving populations to adapt to changing living conditions, such as during domestication. Stress can affect offspring through non-genetic mechanisms, but recent research indicates that inherited epigenetic modifications of the genome could possibly also be involved. Methodology/Principal Findings: Red junglefowl (RJF, ancestors of modern chickens) and domesticated White Leghorn (WL) chickens were raised in a stressful environment (unpredictable light-dark rhythm) and control animals in similar pens, but on a 12/12 h light-dark rhythm. WL in both treatments had poorer spatial learning ability than RJF, and in both populations, stress caused a reduced ability to solve a spatial learning task. Offspring of stressed WL, but not RJF, raised without parental contact, had a reduced spatial learning ability compared to offspring of non-stressed animals in a similar test as that used for their parents. Offspring of stressed WL were also more competitive and grew faster than offspring of non-stressed parents. Using a whole-genome cDNA microarray, we found that in WL, the same changes in hypothalamic gene expression profile caused by stress in the parents were also found in the offspring. In offspring of stressed WL, at least 31 genes were up- or down-regulated in the hypothalamus and pituitary compared to offspring of non-stressed parents. Conclusions/ Significance: Our results suggest that, in WL the gene expression response to stress, as well as some behavioural stress responses, were transmitted across generations. The ability to transmit epigenetic information and behaviour modifications between generations may therefore have been favoured by domestication. The mechanisms involved remain to be investigated; epigenetic modifications could either have been inherited or acquired de novo in the specific egg environment. In both cases, this would offer a novel explanation to rapid evolutionary adaptation of a population.
|
|
| 2. |
- Olofsson, Niclas, et al.
(author)
-
Violence Against Young Men and Women: A Vital Health Issue
- 2009
-
In: The Open Public Health Journal. - : Bentham Science Publishers Ltd.. - 1874-9445. ; 2, s. 1-6
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Objectives: Violence is regarded as a major health issue in an increasing amount of literature and is known as an important factor in women's ill health. Little however is known about violence against young men and women and its impact on their health. The principal aim of this study was to analyze health outcomes and health care utilization as reported among men and women aged 18-25 exposed and not exposed to physical and/or emotional violence. Study design: A cross-sectional national health survey in Sweden. Methods: Postal questionnaires were sent to nearly 3,000 men and women. Three questions were used to ask about violence. Sociodemographic characteristics for those exposed to violence during the past 12 months were analyzed and compared to those not exposed. Crude and adjusted odds ratios were calculated for health outcomes and medical care utilization. Results: Increased odds ratios were found for most health outcomes, and health care utilization for those exposed to violence compared to non-exposed. After adjusting for socioeconomic factors, smoking, and use of alcohol and cannabis, most variables were principally unchanged for women but considerably lower for men. Socioeconomic factors, smoking, and the use of drugs were all correlated to victimization. Conclusions: A strong association between those exposed to violence and physical and mental ill health was demonstrated also after adjusting for possible confounders, specifically for women. It is time to include questions about violence in public health questionnaires aimed at young people, but also to start asking about it more frequently in health care settings.
|
|
| 3. |
- Amcoff, Mirjam, et al.
(author)
-
Sensory exploitation and plasticity in female mate choice in the swordtail characin
- 2013
-
In: Animal Behaviour. - : Elsevier BV. - 0003-3472 .- 1095-8282. ; 85:5, s. 891-898
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Despite extensive research in the field of sexual selection, the evolutionary origin and maintenance of preferences for sexual ornaments are still debated. Recent studies have pointed out that plasticity in mate choice might be more common than previously thought, but little is still known about the factors that affect such plasticity. The swordtail characin, Corynopoma riisei, is a tropical fish species in which males use a food-mimicking ornament to attract females. We tested whether ecological factors, more specifically prior foraging experience, can affect female preference for male ornaments. For this, we habituated females on a diet consisting of either red-coloured food or standard-coloured green food items and then we tested whether female preferences for artificially red-coloured male ornaments matched their previous foraging experience. We found a strong effect of food treatment: females trained on red food showed a stronger response to males with red-coloured ornaments than females trained on green food. Our results show that ecological variation can generate divergence of female preferences for male ornaments and that the response in preference to environmental change can be rapid if the bias is partly learnt.
|
|
| 4. |
- Darmastuti, Zhafira, et al.
(author)
-
Hierarchical methods to improve the performance of the SiC - FET as SO2 sensors in flue gas desulphurization system
- 2015
-
In: Sensors and actuators. B, Chemical. - : Elsevier. - 0925-4005 .- 1873-3077. ; 206, s. 609-616
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Experiments were performed both in the laboratory and a desulfurization pilot unit in order to improve the SiC-FET sensor performance using two-step data evaluation. In both cases, a porous Pt-gate enhancement type SiC-FET was utilized in a temperature cycled operation (TCO). Liner Discriminant Analysis (LDA) was chosen as the method for multivariate data analysis. Hierarchical methods with two-step LDA worked quite well in the laboratory tests with SO2 concentrations varied from 25-200 ppm. The same data evaluation was also applied to tests in the desulfurization pilot unit, with higher gas flow and a larger SO2 concentration range (up to 5000 ppm). The results from the SO2 quantification showed a significantly improved fit to corresponding reference instrument (FTIR) values.
|
|
| 5. |
- Darmastuti, Zhafira, et al.
(author)
-
SiC based field effect transistor for H2S detection
-
Other publication (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Pt-gate and Ir-gate SiC-FETs were tested as H2S sensors. Both sensors showed good response towards H2S in dry conditions with oxygen present. Ir-gate sensors showed high sensitivity and low drift, which makes them a suitable candidate for leak detection applications. Further testing was performed with Ir-gate sensors for geothermal applications. This involved humid environments and low oxygen concentrations. The sensitivity of the sensors decreased significantly at these conditions. When propene was added to the gas mixture, crosssensitivity was observed in the sensor signal. Further investigation to reveal the surface chemistry using spectroscopic techniques and modelling is needed to improve the selectivity of Ir-gate sensors in humid conditions and oxygen deficient environments.
|
|
| 6. |
- Darmastuti, Zhafira, et al.
(author)
-
SiC based field effect transistor for H2S detection
- 2011
-
In: Proc. IEEE Sensors 2011, Limerick, Ireland, October 28-31. - : IEEE. - 9781424492909 ; , s. 770-773
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Experimental characterization and quantum chemical calculations were performed to evaluate the performance of a SiC based Field Effect Transistors with Pt and Ir gates as H2S sensors. The sensors were tested against various concentrations of H2S gas at the operating temperature between 150 and 350 °C. It was observed that Ir was very sensitive and selective to H2S at 350 °C. This phenomenon was studied further by comparing the reaction energy when H2S is exposed to Pt and Ir with density functional theory (DFT) calculations.
|
|
| 7. |
- Darmastuti, Zhafira, et al.
(author)
-
SiC-FET based SO2 sensor for power plant emission applications
- 2014
-
In: Sensors and actuators. B, Chemical. - : Elsevier. - 0925-4005 .- 1873-3077. ; 194, s. 511-520
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Thermal power plants produce SO2 during combustion of fuel containing sulfur. One way to decrease the SO2 emission from power plants is to introduce a sensor as part of the control system of the desulphurization unit. In this study, SiC-FET sensors were studied as one alternative sensor to replace the expensive FTIR (Fourier Transform Infrared) instrument or the inconvenient wet chemical methods. The gas response for the SiC-FET sensors comes from the interaction between the test gas and the catalytic gate metal, which changes the electrical characteristics of the devices. The performance of the sensors depends on the ability of the test gas to be adsorbed, decomposed, and desorbed at the sensor surface. The feature of SO2, that it is difficult to desorb from the catalyst surface, makes it known as catalyst poison. It is difficult to quantify the SO2 with static operation, even at the optimum operation temperature of the sensor due to low response levels and saturation already at low concentration of SO2. The challenge of SO2 desorption can be reduced by introducing dynamic operation in a designed temperature cycle operation (TCO). The intermittent exposure to high temperature can help to desorb SO2. Simultaneously, additional features extracted from the sensor data can be used to reduce the influence of sensor drift. The TCO operation, together with pattern recognition, may also reduce the baseline and response variation due to changing concentration of background gases (4-10% O-2 and 0-70% RH), and thus it may improve the overall sensor performance. In addition to the laboratory experiment, testing in the desulphurization pilot unit was performed. Desulphurization pilot unit has less controlled environment compared to the laboratory conditions. Therefore, the risk of influence from the changing concentration of background gas is higher. In this study, linear discriminant analysis (LDA) and partial least square (PLS) were employed as pattern recognition methods. It was demonstrated that using LDA quantification of SO2 into several groups of concentrations up to 2000 ppm was possible. Additionally, PLS analysis indicated a good agreement between the predicted value from the model and the SO2 concentration from the reference instrument of the pilot plant.
|
|
| 8. |
- Darmastuti, Zhafira
(author)
-
SiC-FET Gas Sensors Developed for Control of the Flue Gas Desulfurization System in Power Plants Experimental and Modeling : Experimental and Modeling
- 2014
-
Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Electricity and power generation is an essential part of our life. However, powergeneration activities also create by-products (such as sulphur oxides, nitrogen oxides,carbon monoxide, etc), which can be dangerous when released to the atmosphere.Sensors, as part of the control system, play very vital role for the fluegas cleaning processes in power plants. This thesis concerns the development ofSilicon Carbide Field Effect Transistor (SiC-FET) gas sensors as sensors for sulfurcontaining gases (SO2 and H2S) used as part of the environmental control systemin power plants. The works includes sensor deposition and assembly, sensinglayer characterization, operation mode development, performance testing of thesensors in a gas mixing rig in the laboratory and field test in a desulfurization pilotunit, and both experimental and theoretical studies on the detection mechanismof the sensors.The sensor response to SO2 was very small and saturated quickly. SO2 is a verystable gas and therefore reaction with other species requires a large energy input.SO2 mostly reacts with the catalyst through physisorption, which results in lowresponse level. Another problem was that once it finally reacted with oxygen andadsorbed on the surface of the catalyst in form of a sulfate compound, it is desorbedwith difficulty. Therefore, the sensor signal saturated after a certain timeof exposure to SO2. Different gate materials were tested in static operation (Pt,Ir, Au), but the saturation phenomena occurred in all three cases. Dynamic sensoroperation using temperature cycling and multivariate data analysis could mitigatethis problem. Pt-gate sensors were operated at several different temperatures in acyclic fashion. One of the applied temperatures was chosen to be very high for ashort time to serve as cleaning step. This method was also termed the virtual multisensor method because the data generated could represent the data from multiplesensors in static operation at different temperatures. Then, several features of thesignal, such as mean value and slope, were extracted and processed with multivariatedata analysis. Linear Discrimination Analysis (LDA) was chosen since itiiiallows controlled data analysis. It was shown that it was possible to quantify SO2with a 2-step LDA. The background was identified in the first step and SO2 wasquantified in the second step. Pt sensors in dynamic operation and 2-step LDAevaluation has also demonstrated promising results for SO2 measurement in thelaboratory as well as in a desulfurization pilot unit. For a commercial sensor, algorithmhave to be developed to enable on-line measurement in real time.It was observed that Ir-gate sensors at 350oC were very sensitive to H2S. The responseobtained by Ir sensors to H2S was almost five times larger than that of Ptsensors, which might be due to the higher oxygen coverage of Ir. Moreover, Irsensors were also more stable with less drift during the operation as a result ofhigher thermal stability. However, the recovery time for Ir sensors was very long,due to the high desorption energy. Overall, the Ir sensors performed well whentested for a leak detection application (presence of oxygen and dry environment).The geothermal application, where heat is extracted from the earth, requires thesensor to be operated in humid condition in the absence (or very low concentration)of oxygen, and this poses a problem. Temperature cycle operation and smartdata evaluation might also be an option for future development.Along with the sensor performance testing, a study on the detection mechanismwas also performed for SO2 sensor, both experimentally and theoretically. The experimentincluded the study of the species formed on the surface of the catalystwith DRIFT (diffuse reflectance infrared frourier transform) spectroscopy and theanalysis of the residual gas with mass spectroscopy. Explanatory investigation ofthe surface reactions was performed using quantum-chemical calculations. Theoreticalcalculations of the infrared (IR) vibration spectra was employed to supportthe identification of peaks in the DRIFT measurement. Based on the study on theresidual gas analysis and quantum-chemical calculations, a reaction mechanismfor the SO2 molecule adsorption on the sensor surface was suggested.
|
|
| 9. |
- Darmastuti, Zhafira
(author)
-
SiCFET gassensors : theory, developent, and applications to flue gas cleaning processes in power plants
- 2012
-
Licentiate thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Environmental and health concerns lead to stricter regulations on power plant emission. Sensors play an important role, not only as part of the process control to ensure that the effluent stays under the regulated values, but also to increase the pollution removal efficiency and to decrease the reagent consumption.Previous studies, on the use of SiC based Field Effect Transistors (FET) as NH3 sensors in Tekniska Verken power plants and as CO sensors for the control of the domestic boilers, have shown promising results. Moreover, these sensors can withstand high temperature operation and are considerably cheaper than most conventional sensors used in power plants. The price of the sensors enable the installation of multiple sensors in one flue gas duct section, which lead to better monitoring of the flue gas uniformity. Based on that argument, this study is performed to determine whether it is possible to expand the possible application of SiC-FET sensors for the detection of other pollutants emitted by power plants. This thesis reports the characterization and performance testing of SiC-FET sensors towards other selected air pollutants: H2S, methanol as a product of CO2 hydrogenation, and SO2.The study is performed by I-V characterization of the sensors toward the test gas in different background gases and studies of the detection mechanism. Detection mechanism studies include DRIFT spectroscopy, mass spectroscopy, and theoretical study of the surface reaction with Density Functional Theory (DFT).Ir-gate SiC-FET sensors at 350oC show a very high sensitivity to H2S. The large response reduces the possibility of cross-sensitivity from other gases. Pt-gate sensors offer very fast response with decent response magnitude at 200oC for methanol. The presence of oxygen improves the response to methanol, which is favorable for the leak detection application. Besides oxygen, the influence of hydrogen, propene, and water vapor is also observed in the experiment with methanol. The detection mechanism and different sensing behavior of Pt and Ir gates are illustrated with model reaction mechanisms on the surface of the metals. Sensor characterization has been performed for SO2 with several catalytic metal gates: Pt, Ir, Cu, and Au. The results suggest that a single sensor with any of Pt, Ir, Cu, and Au gates is able to detect the presence of SO2 in the air or nitrogen background. However, they are unable to measure different SO2 concentration. Moreover, the response level to SO2 is so small, that it will probably disappear if there is any other gas present in the mixture.
|
|
| 10. |
-
EUROSLA Yearbook 12 (2012)
- 2012
-
In: EUROSLA Yearbook. - Amsterdam : John Benjamins Publishing Company. - 1568-1491.
-
Editorial collection (peer-reviewed)
|
|
