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- Lewis, Jeffrey, et al.
(författare)
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PFAS – A threat for groundwater and drinking water supply in Sweden?
- 2015
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Ingår i: EGU General Assembly 2015. ; 17
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a group of anthropogenic environmental pollutants that are widely distributed in the global environment. They have multiple industrial uses, including water repellents in clothing, paper coatings and firefighting foam. According to a study released by the Environmental Directorate of the OECD, they are persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic to mammalian species (OECD, 2002). In some municipal drinking water wells in Sweden, measured concentrations of PFAS found to be several hundred times higher than the allowed threshold values. This has created a huge public concern and has recently attracted much media attention in Sweden (e.g. Afzelius et al., 2014; Bergman et al., 2014; Lewis et al., 2014). PFAS findings raised questions such as “What can we do to solve the problem?” When it comes to drinking water, there are a number of techniques that can ensure that PFAS levels are reduced to acceptable levels. This may be a costly challenge, but from a technical point of view it is possible. To ensure the safety of drinking water from a public health perspective is obviously a top priority. However, international experience shows that the cost of cleaning up PFAS in groundwater may be significantly higher than continuously treat drinking water in water works. Approximately fifty percent of Sweden’s drinking water comes from groundwater. As a result, there are several ongoing and planned PFAS-related environmental and drinking-water investigations in Sweden. Many aquifers that supply municipal water plants are located in areas of sand and gravel deposits. Such soils have relatively high permeabilities, which permits extraction of large volumes of water. However, the downside to high permeabilities is that they also allow dissolved contaminants as PFAS to spread over large areas. If one disregards the health risks linked to its presence in drinking water, PFAS have an impact on three of Sweden’s national environmental quality objectives, namely, A Non-Toxic Environment, Flourishing Lakes and Streams and Good-Quality Groundwater. Although the survey of PFAS in our groundwater supplies will take time, it is feasible. Much research in the field of hydrogeology and geochemistry remains before a viable and cost-effective groundwater remediation method can be operational. Until then, it is essential that measures are taken to identify the present distribution and magnitude of PFAS in groundwater and prevents its further spread in our most important aquifers. Afzelius, H. et al., 2014. Vågar vi dricka kranvattnet? (Do we dare drinking tap water?), Svenska Dagbladet. Bergman, Å., Hansson, S.O., Hellsten, E., 2014. En miljöskandal av historiska mått (An environmental scandal of historic proportions), Svenska Dagbladet. Lewis, J. et al., 2014. Kartlägg det förorenade dricksvattnet (Survey the contaminated drinking water), Svenska Dagbladet. OECD, 2002. Hazard Assessment of Perfluorooctane Sulfonate (PFOS) and its Salt.
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- Näslund, Hilda, 1989-
(författare)
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Personalising service user engagement : entrepreneurs and membership organisations in the mental health sector
- 2020
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- New modes of social mobilisation are emerging in the mental health sector. Member-based mental health service user organisations (MHSUOs), targeting people with lived experience of mental ill-health and occasionally their relatives, have been active in Sweden since the 1960s. Today, broader developments towards personalisation of politics are visible in the area, exemplified by the phenomenon ‘service user entrepreneurs’ (SUEs). These are individuals with lived experience of mental ill-health, channelling their engagement through businesses they have established and typically using social media to build networks around their causes.The overall aim of this thesis is to contribute to the understanding of service user engagement in the mental health sector, as it is expressed through collective and personalised forms of mobilisation. More specifically, I will examine the expressions of and the dynamic between member-based MHSUOs and network-based SUEs.The thesis consists of four sub-studies: Study I is an international narrative literature review that analyses the role of and challenges facing MHSUOs. Study II is a document study focused on mapping Swedish MHSUOs in relation to their activities and relationships. Through case study methodology, study III examines the communication of SUEs, specifically attending to how they establish authority. Based on interviews with SUEs and representatives of MHSUOs, study IV explores how these groups regard the role of experiential knowledge for their endeavours.In the thesis I discuss how professionalisation and hybridisation processes are seen in Swedish MHSUOs. These organisations engage in advocacy but also educational activities, and provide experiential knowledge as a service to external actors. MHSUOs typically have close collaborations with public authorities. Such collaborations have political potential, by giving service user groups the ability to contribute to policy development. However, there are also associated risks of tokenism and co-optation. Maintaining and investing in more autonomous spaces to meet and develop alternative perspectives, would be a strategy for MHSUOs to protect their independence. I further discuss how the emergence of SUEs is typical of broader trends in social mobilisation towards the use of social media and a focus on personal narratives. The phenomenon SUE distinctively illustrates a broader social surge for publicised accounts of vulnerability that can be capitalised on. The analysis identifies personal narratives, mobilisation of collectives and institutional perspectives as sources of authority drawn upon in the SUEs’ communication.Furthermore, the results show that SUEs and MHSUOs have witnessed increased demand for their experiential knowledge. Experiential knowledge can be articulated through personal narratives of individual experience, but also as a form of knowledge that originates in collectively deliberated experiences. These different articulations have distinct political potential. However, it is important to clarify what kind of experiential knowledge and representativeness that is required in different arenas.
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| 4. |
- Seibt, Henrik, et al.
(författare)
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Elevated levels of VCA0117 in response to external signals activates type VI secretion in Vibrio cholerae A1552
- 2020
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Ingår i: Environmental Microbiology. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 1462-2912 .- 1462-2920. ; 22:10, s. 4409-4423
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The type VI nanomachine is critical for Vibrio cholerae to establish infections and to thrive in niches co‐occupied by competing bacteria. The genes for the type VI structural proteins are encoded in one large and two small auxiliary gene clusters. VCA0117 (VasH) – a σ54‐transcriptional activator – is strictly required for functionality of the type VI secretion system since it controls production of the structural protein Hcp. While some strains constitutively produce a functional system, others do not and require specific growth conditions of low temperature and high osmolarity for expression of the type VI machinery. Here, we trace integration of these regulatory signals to the promoter activity of the large gene cluster in which many components of the machinery and VCA0117 itself are encoded. Using in vivo and in vitro assays and variants of VCA0117, we show that activation of the σ54‐promoters of the auxiliary gene clusters by elevated VCA0117 levels are all that is required to overcome the need for specialized growth conditions. We propose a model in which signal integration via the large operon promoter directs otherwise restrictive levels of VCA0117 that ultimately dictates a sufficient supply of Hcp for completion of a functional type VI secretion system.
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| 6. |
- Sjöström, Martin, et al.
(författare)
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Reply to V. Nardone et al.
- 2023
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Ingår i: Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. - 1527-7755. ; 41:23, s. 3959-3960
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)
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| 7. |
- Sjöström, Martin
(författare)
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Satellite remote sensing of primary production in semi-arid Africa
- 2012
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- With the challenges Africa faces with respect to the predicted warming due to climate change, the continents role in the global carbon cycle has been increasingly recognized. Earth observing satellites have played a significant role in the study of vegetation, particularly in Africa where climate stations are sparse. Satellite data can provide the means to map plant primary production for monitoring of food and grazing resources and to elucidate the role of African regions in the global carbon cycle. In this thesis, remote sensing based methods for large area estimation of primary production have been evaluated, primarily in semi-arid African ecosystems, by using the light use efficiency concept. Furthermore, the degree to which environmental driving forces account for a satellite observed greening trend in the African Sahel (a semi-arid region located between the Sahara and the more tropical areas to the south) from 1982 to 1998 was investigated by using a dynamic global vegetation model (DGVM). The DGVM simulations re-enforce the hypothesis that the greening as observed by satellites is related to rainfall. Although this suggests that an increase in rainfall is the dominant causative factor of the greening, the analysis was based on aggregated data. Finer observations from the moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) may be used to provide more detailed measures of primary production. An overall relationship was found between eddy covariance gross primary production (GPP, the total amount of carbon assimilated through photosynthesis by plants) and the MODIS enhanced vegetation index (EVI). However, the incorporation of measurements of photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), and a water availability factor to EVI improved relationships with eddy covariance GPP. Site specific relationships to GPP with all of these variables included were found to be explained by peak leaf area index (LAI) and long-term mean annual rainfall. In addition, the MODIS GPP model was evaluated over African sites. This model estimates GPP according to the light use efficiency approach and assumes a fixed maximum rate of carbon assimilated per unit PAR absorbed (epsilon max) for different biomes. MODIS GPP correlated well with eddy covariance GPP for some sites and seasonality was generally well captured. However, GPP was underestimated for the drier sites. The underestimations were concluded to be mainly due to low values of epsilon max but can also be due to the linear interpolation of fraction of absorbed photosynthetically active radiation (FAPAR) across unreliable values. Continued efforts of land surface validation are needed to improve models driven by satellite data over semi-arid ecosystems. To better link estimates of carbon with reflectance properties, installation of radiometric instruments at eddy covariance sites would be beneficial.
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| 10. |
- van Hees, Patrick, et al.
(författare)
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SAFE MULTIBYGG, Slutrapport Riskidentifiering, analys och åtgärdsmetodik för olycksförebyggande arbete för multifunktionella byggnader med avseende på specifika antagonistiska hot
- 2014
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Multifunktionella byggnader karaktäriseras av att flera olika funktioner (verksamheter) finns inom en och samma byggnad. Ofta är några av funktionerna att betrakta som samhällsviktiga. Brandskyddet i sådana byggnader är av största vikt med hänsyn till att ett stort antal personer kan befinna sig i byggnaden samtidigt som en brand skulle kunna orsaka förlust av samhällsviktiga funktioner. Vidare har det i samhället skett en ökning av antagonistiska attacker. I forskningsprojektet SAFE MULTIBYGG har ett helhetsgrepp tagits över den problematik som finns avseende brandskydd och antagonistiska hot i multifunktionella byggnader. Denna rapport utgör en sammanfattande slutrapport för forskningsprojektet och summerar resultaten av ingående arbetspaket. Projektet har finansierats av MSB, Myndigheten för samhällsskydd och beredskap. Projektet inleddes 2011 och avslutades i december 2013
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