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- de Boer, Hugo J.
(författare)
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Snake Gourds, Parasites and Mother Roasting : Medicinal plants, plant repellents, and Trichosanthes (Cucurbitaceae) in Lao PDR
- 2012
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Background. Traditional plant use was studied in Lao PDR. Research focused on medicinal plant use by the Brou, Saek and Kry ethnic groups, traditional plant repellents against parasitic arthropods and leeches, and the phylogeny and biogeography of the medicinally-important snake gourd genus (Trichosanthes, Cucurbitaceae). Methods. The ethnobiology research used a combination of structured interviews, village surveys, botanical collecting, hydro-distillation, GC-MS analysis, literature studies, and laboratory experiments. The plant systematics research used a combination of morphological studies, molecular biology laboratory work, and phylogenetic, dating and biogeographical analysis. Results. Informants reported the use of close to 100 species to repel arthropods and leeches, many of which have constituents with documented efficacy. Brou, Saek and Kry informants use over 75 plant species for women’s healthcare, mainly during the postpartum period for steam sauna, steam bath, hotbed, mother roasting, medicinal decoctions and infusions, and postpartum diet. A molecular phylogeny of Trichosanthes and Gymnopetalum using a broad sampling of ~60% of their species and 4756 nucleotides of nuclear and plastid DNA shows that Gymnopetalum is nested within Trichosanthes. Fossil-calibrated Bayesian molecular dating of the Trichosanthes phylogeny reveals an early Oligocene origin of the genus, and many of the extant sections originating and diversifying during the Miocene. Biogeographical analysis shows a likely East or South Asian origin of Trichosanthes, with lineages diversifying and spreading throughout Australasia from the early Pliocene to the Pleistocene. Discussion. Traditional plant use in Lao PDR is common and widespread. The presence among the repellent species of economical alternatives to costly synthetic repellents is tenable, and the subject of ongoing studies. Postpartum traditions and medicinal plant use are essential parts of childbirth and postpartum recovery in these ethnic groups, and many other groups in Lao PDR. Efforts to improve maternal healthcare and reduce maternal and infant mortality need to integrate these traditions with modern notions of healthcare to achieve wider adoption. Documenting all possible uses of commonly used medicinal plant species shows that similarity in use between these ethnic groups is relatively low considering that they share, and have shared for many generations, the same environment and resources. A lack of effective cures leads to a process of continuous innovation, where effective cures are shared between cultures, but remedies of only cultural importance, or those under evaluation are culture-specific. The Trichosanthes phylogeny implies the merging of Gymnopetalum into Trichosanthes, and this is done using available names or new combinations. A synopsis of Trichosanthes, the new combinations, and a revision of the species in Australia, are made and presented. Conclusions. Traditional plant use is widespread in Lao PDR, and of significance to many people as a source of primary healthcare and inexpensive repellents. The important medicinal plant genus Trichosanthes includes Gymnopetalum, and has a complex biogeographic history with multiple colonization events of Australasia.
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| 4. |
- Staveley, Thomas, 1982-
(författare)
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Fish in the coastal seascape : exploring ecological processes and connectivity for conservation of temperate fish communities
- 2019
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The need to understand patterns and processes in the marine environment has never been so profound as today, particularly as anthropogenic pressures upon coastal regions are drastically affecting habitats and species across a vast range. One approach to further understand these patterns and processes is through the use of seascape ecology methods. Pertinently, fish are ideal candidates to use in many seascape ecological studies due to their mobility and potential to connect a multitude of patches and habitats throughout their life cycle. They also serve as fundamental components in coastal food webs and are of economic benefit. This thesis strives to answer how fish assemblages are affected by ecological and environmental patterns and changes in temperate seascapes throughout the Swedish Skagerrak and the Baltic Sea. Initially, the spatial arrangement of benthic habitat patches in coastal Skagerrak was investigated in relation to the fish community inhabiting seagrass meadows. Seascape structure and complexity was shown to create optimal or sub-optimal areas for certain parts of the fish community. For instance, simpler seascapes (e.g. less habitat patches and edges) were found to have a higher density of juvenile fish, while wrasse densities were related to more complex seascapes. This offers insights into the consequences of spatial patterning in the marine environment and possible effects of habitat loss in the ecosystem (paper I). Through surveying fish assemblages in common, shallow-water habitats, the more structurally complex habitats, i.e. seagrass and macroalgae, were found to harbour a greater fish abundance compared to the less complex unvegetated soft bottoms. However, all three habitats were deemed important for their role in supporting juvenile fish species, thus suggesting that embayments in this environment might function as seascape nurseries (paper II). The importance of connectivity of a marine predator was discovered using acoustic telemetry and network analysis. This study demonstrated that sea surface temperature was of major importance for Atlantic cod movement dynamics within a fjord system as well as revealing the significance of localised connectivity at varying spatial and temporal scales (paper III). Finally, spatial pattern relationships and fish assemblages were explored in Baltic seagrass meadows. Fish assemblages were dominated by meso-predators (i.e. three-spined stickleback) both during summer and autumn, with a noticeable lack of larger piscivorous species throughout both seasons. Correlative analysis showed that fish densities were influenced by seagrass habitat structure (negatively), area of bare sediment (negatively) and habitat patch diversity (positively) (paper IV). This thesis has lifted a central role in addressing important seascape ecology questions and tools in the temperate marine environment. Specifically, it highlights the importance of analysing patterns and processes at multiple scales to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the relationships between fish and their environments, which is relevant for marine spatial planning and conservation.
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| 5. |
- Flejmer, Anna M.
(författare)
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Radiation burden from modern radiation therapy techniques including proton therapy for breast cancer treatment - clinical implications
- 2016
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The purpose of this thesis was to study the clinical implications of modern radiotherapy techniques for breast cancer treatment. This was investigated in several individual studies.Study I investigated the implications of using the analytical anisotropic algorithm (AAA) from the perspective of clinical recommendations for breast cancer radiotherapy. Pencil beam convolution plans of 40 breast cancer patients were recalculated with AAA. The latter plans had a significantly worse coverage of the planning target volume (PTV) with the 93% isodose, higher maximum dose in hotspots, higher volumes of the ipsilateral lung receiving doses below 25 Gy and smaller volumes with doses above 25 Gy. AAA also predicted lower doses to the heart.Study II investigated the implications of using the irregular surface compensator (ISC), an electronic compensation algorithm, in comparison to three‐dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3D‐CRT) for breast cancer treatment. Ten breast cancer patients were planned with both techniques. The ISC technique led to better coverage of the clinical target volume of the tumour bed (CTV‐T) and PTV in almost all patients with significant improvement in homogeneity.Study III investigated the feasibility of using scanning pencil beam proton therapy for regional and loco‐regional breast cancer with comparison of ISC photon planning. Ten patients were included in the study, all with dose heterogeneity in the target and/or hotspots in the normal tissues outside the PTV. The proton plans showed comparable or better CTV‐T and PTV coverage, with large reductions in the mean doses to the heart and the ipsilateral lung.Study IV investigated the added value of enhanced inspiration gating (EIG) for proton therapy. Twenty patients were planned on CT datasets acquired during EIG and freebreathing (FB) using photon 3D‐CRT and scanning proton therapy. Proton spot scanning has a high potential to reduce the irradiation of organs‐at‐risk for most patients, beyond what could be achieved with EIG and photon therapy, especially in terms of mean doses to the heart and the left anterior descending artery.Study V investigated the impact of physiological breathing motion during proton radiotherapy for breast cancer. Twelve thoracic patients were planned on CT datasets during breath‐hold at inhalation phase and breath‐hold at exhalation phase. Between inhalation and exhalation phase there were very small differences in dose delivered to the target and cardiovascular structures, with very small clinical implication.The results of these studies showed the potential of various radiotherapy techniques to improve the quality of life for breast cancer patients by limiting the dose burden for normal tissues.
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Ruptured Times : Advances in Visual Environmental Humanities
- 2021
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Samlingsverk (redaktörskap) (refereegranskat)abstract
- This first issue of Annals of Crosscuts includes eleven richly textured films that speak from the growing environmental humanities with strong intent and originality. The films speaks to the theme of "Ruptured Times" and forms a testimony to the integrative ambitions of the environmental humanities. The contributors come from a range of disciplines, schools and practices including artistic research, urban and architectural studies, social movements of the urban south, political ecologies of water, studies of mining legacies, decolonial performance aesthetics, science studies and ethnographies of conservation, toxicity and more-than-human relations. Made in ten countries, at four continents, the films are the final outcomes of a collaborative peer-review process that started in the first half of 2019, screened at the Crosscuts festival in late 2019 and published as a film-based special issue at Zenodo, CERN, in 2021 with a reflection from chief editor Jacob von Heland.
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| 7. |
- Wanner, Bertil
(författare)
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Strategies for Reducing Vibrations during Milling of Thin-walled Components
- 2012
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Factors such as environmental requirements and fuel efficiency have pushed aerospace industry to develop reduced-weight engine designs and thereby light-weight and thin-walled components. As component wall thickness gets thinner and the mechanical structures weaker, the structure becomes more sensitive for vibrations during milling operations. Demands on cost efficiency increase and new ways of improving milling operations must follow.Historically, there have been two “schools” explaining vibrations in milling. One states that the entry angle in which the cutting insert hits the work piece is of greater importance than the exit angle. The other states that the way the cutter leaves the work piece is of greater importance than the cutter entry. In an effort to shed some light over this issue, a substantial amount of experiments were conducted. Evaluations were carried out using different tools, different tool-to-workpiece offset positions, and varying workpiece wall overhang. The resultant force, the force components, and system vibrations have been analyzed.The first part of this work shows the differences in force behavior for three tool-to-workpiece geometries while varying the wall overhang of the workpiece. The second part studies the force behavior during the exit phase for five different tool-to-workpiece offset positions while the overhang is held constant. The workpiece alloy throughout this work is Inconel 718.As a result of the project a spread sheet milling stability prediction model is developed and presented. It is based on available research in chatter theory and predicts the stability for a given set of variable input parameters.
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