| 1. |
- Baloch, Ramen Munir, et al.
(författare)
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Indoor air pollution, physical and comfort parameters related to schoolchildren's health : Data from the European SINPHONIE study
- 2020
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Ingår i: Science of the Total Environment. - : ELSEVIER. - 0048-9697 .- 1879-1026. ; 739
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Substantial knowledge is available on the association of the indoor school environment and its effect among schoolchildren. In the same context, the SINPHONIE (School indoor pollution and health: Observatory network in Europe) conducted a study to collect data and determine the distribution of several indoor air pollutants (IAPs), physical and thermal parameters and their association with eye, skin, upper-, lower respiratory and systemic disorder symptoms during the previous three months. Finally, data from 115 schools in 54 European cities from 23 countries were collected and included 5175 schoolchildren using a harmonized and standardized protocol. The association between exposures and the health outcomes were examined using logistic regression models on the environmental stressors assessed in classroom while adjusting for several confounding factors; a VOC (volatile organic compound) score defined as the sum of the number of pollutants to which the children were highly exposed (concentration > median of the distribution) in classroom was also introduced to evaluate the mul tiexposu re - outcome association. Schoolchildren while adjusting for several confounding factors. Schoolchildren exposed to above or equal median concentration of PM2.5, benzene, limonene, ozone and radon were at significantly higher odds of suffering from upper, lower airways, eye and systemic disorders. Increased odds were also observed for any symptom (sick school syndrome) among schoolchildren exposed to concentrations of limonene and ozone above median values. Furthermore, the risks for upper and lower airways and systemic disorders significantly increased with the VOCs score. Results also showed that increased ventilation rate was significantly associated with decreased odds of suffering from eye and skin disorders whereas similar association was observed between temperature and upper airways symptoms. The present study provides evidence that exposure to IAPs in schools is associated with various health problems in children. Further investigations are needed to confirm our findings. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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| 2. |
- Charatsidou, Elina, et al.
(författare)
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Proton irradiation-induced cracking and microstructural defects in UN and (U,Zr)N composite fuels
- 2024
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Ingår i: Journal of Materiomics. - : Elsevier. - 2352-8478 .- 2352-8486. ; 10:4, s. 906-918
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Proton irradiation with a primary ion energy of 2 MeV was used to simulate radiation damage in UN and (U,Zr)N fuel pellets. The pellets, nominally at room temperature, were irradiated to peak levels of 0.1, 1, 10 dpa and 100.0 dpa resulting in a peak hydrogen concentration of at most 90 at. %. Microstructure and mechanical properties of the samples were investigated and compared before and after irradiation. The irradiation induced an increase in hardness, whereas a decrease in Young’s modulus was observed for both samples. Microstructural characterization revealed irradiation-induced cracking, initiated in the bulk of the material, where the peak damage was deposited, propagating towards the surface. Additionally, transmission electron microscopy was used to study irradiation defects. Dislocation loops and fringes were identified and observed to increase in density with increasing dose levels. The high density of irradiation defects and hydrogen implanted are proposed as the main cause of swelling and consequent sample cracking, leading simultaneously to increased hardening and a decrease in Young's modulus.
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| 3. |
- Dévai, Gergely, et al.
(författare)
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Efficient Code Generation from the High-level Domain-specific Language Feldspar for DSPs
- 2010
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Ingår i: ODES-8: 8th Workshop on Optimizations for DSP and Embedded Systems, workshop associated with IEEE/ACM International Symposium on Code Generation and Optimization (CGO).
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Software for digital signal processors (DSPs) is traditionally highly hardware-dependent and hence porting it to new processors usually requires significant design effort. In this paper we present Feldspar (Functional Embedded Language for DSP and Parallelism), an embedded, high-level, domain-specific language for DSP algorithm design and the compilation techniques we developed for generating C code from specifications written in Feldspar. While Feldspar allows description of algorithms on specification level, we show that with the right set of abstractions and transformations this high level, functional specification can be transformed into C code that is comparable or better than reference, hand-crafted C language implementations. The Feldspar compiler is highly modular and plugin-based, hence future hardware-specific plugins will enable automatic generation of efficient, hardware-specific code. This approach enables the encapsulation of knowledge of hardware completely in the compiler and thus allows description of algorithms in completely hardware-independent, portable manner.
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| 4. |
- El Jamal, Ghada, et al.
(författare)
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A scalable, resource-efficient process for synthesis of self-supporting germanium nanomembranes
- 2024
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Ingår i: Materials Science in Semiconductor Processing. - : Elsevier. - 1369-8001 .- 1873-4081. ; 172
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The design of self-supporting membranes is gaining high interest in a broad range of applications, from nanodevices, optoelectronics, sensing, separation, and catalysis. In this report, we demonstrate a synthesis pathway for high quality ultrathin self-supporting germanium membranes using a highly scalable and resource-efficient process. We discuss the process flow, the compatibility between the materials and the processing chemicals, the important details for achieving the pure membranes and potential anomalies related to the etching process. Comprehensive characterization using SEM, EDX, TEM and nuclear microprobe analysis is employed for revealing the physical and structural properties of the synthesized membranes. The outcome of the fabrication process is large-area Ge nanomembranes with extremely flat and clean surfaces.
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| 5. |
- Frost, Robert J. W., et al.
(författare)
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Baseline measurements in the assessment of ESS-specific radionuclide uptake by crops cultivated in Southern Sweden
- 2024
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Ingår i: Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms. - 0168-583X. ; 556, s. 1-7
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The European Spallation Source, ESS, is a neutron research facility under construction in Lund, Southern Sweden. The Facility will produce neutrons by spallation, using a powerful linear accelerator to deliver protons to a tungsten target. In addition to the desired neutron production, a long list of radionuclides will be created as by-products of the nuclear reaction inside the target. The Swedish Radiation Safety Authority has established a list of the most relevant radionuclides, in terms of contribution to the effective dose to ESS workers and the general public, should an accidental release of irradiated target material occur. This list includes radionuclides that are not produced by the nuclear energy industry, in particular 178mHf, 182Ta, 187W, 148Gd and 173Lu. Ongoing research efforts aim to determine the best analytical methods to assess these exoticand often difficult-to-measure radionuclides in environmental samples. This work investigates the potential of X-ray fluorescence and time-of-flight elastic Recoil detection analysis for the assessment of soil samples, and the potential of particle induced X-ray emission for the assessment of crop samples. These techniques require only simple sample preparation steps and no chemical extraction, unlike the conventional environmental monitoring methods such as inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry, and show promise as complimentary methodsenabling fast sample throughput. This study focuses on the analysis of uncontaminated soil and crops, to provide baseline data, whilst simultaneously assessing the available measurement capabilities. For the X-ray fluorescence system used in this study, the method detection limit for W in soil was determined to be 0.147 ppth, and Zr which can be correlated with the migration of Hf was clearly measurable.
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| 6. |
- Gangaprasad Rao, Smita, et al.
(författare)
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Low temperature epitaxial growth of Cantor-nitride thin films by magnetic field assisted magnetron sputtering
- 2023
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Ingår i: Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology. A. Vacuum, Surfaces, and Films. - : American Institute of Physics (AIP). - 0734-2101 .- 1520-8559. ; 41:5
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Low-temperature epitaxial growth of multicomponent alloy-based thin films remains an outstanding challenge in materials science and is important for established fundamental properties of these complex materials. Here, Cantor nitride (CrMnFeCoNi)N thin films were epitaxially grown on MgO(100) substrates at low deposition temperature by magnetic-field-assisted dc-magnetron sputtering, a technique where a magnetic field is applied to steer the dense plasma to the substrate thereby influencing the flux of Ar-ions bombarding the film during growth. Without ion bombardment, the film displayed textured growth. As the ion flux was increased, the films exhibited epitaxial growth. The epitaxial relationship between film and substrate was found to be cube on cube (001)film parallel to(001)MgO, [100]film parallel to[100]MgO. The epitaxy was retained up to a thickness of approximately similar to 100 nm after which the growth becomes textured with a 002 out-of-plane orientation. The elastic constants determined by Brillouin inelastic light scattering were found to be C-11 = 320 GPa, C-12 = 125 GPa, and C-44 = 66 GPa, from which the polycrystalline Young's modulus was calculated as 204 GPa and Poisson's ratio = 0.32, whereas available elastic properties still remained very scarce.
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| 7. |
- Gangaprasad Rao, Smita, et al.
(författare)
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Phase formation in CrFeCoNi nitride thin films
- 2023
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Ingår i: Physical Review Materials. - : AMER PHYSICAL SOC. - 2475-9953. ; 7:4
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- As a single-phase alloy, CrFeCoNi is a face centered cubic (fcc) material related to the archetypical highentropy Cantor alloy CrFeCoNiMn. For thin films, CrFeCoNi of approximately equimolar composition tends to assume an fcc structure when grown at room temperature by magnetron sputtering. However, the single-phase solid solution state is typically not achieved for thin films grown at higher temperatures. The same holds true for Cantor alloy-based ceramics (nitrides and oxides), where phase formation is extremely sensitive to process parameters such as the amount of reactive gas. This study combines theoretical and experimental methods to understand the phase formation in nitrogen-containing CrFeCoNi thin films. Density functional theory calculations considering three competing phases (CrN, Fe-Ni and Co) show that the free energy of mixing, Delta G of (CrFeCoNi)(1-x)N-x solid solutions has a maximum at x = 0.20-0.25, and AG becomes lower when x < 0.20 and x > 0.25. Thin films of (CrFeCoNi)1-xNx (0.14 >= x <= 0.41) grown by magnetron sputtering show stabilization of the metallic fcc when x <= 0.22 and the stabilization of the NaCl B1 structure when x > 0.33, consistent with the theoretical prediction. In contrast, films with intermediate amounts of nitrogen (x = 0.22) grown at higher temperatures show segregation into multiple phases of CrN, Fe-Ni-rich and Co. These results offer an explanation for the requirement of kinetically limited growth conditions at low temperature for obtaining single-phase CrFeCoNi Cantor-like nitrogen-containing thin films and are of importance for understanding the phase-formation mechanisms in multicomponent ceramics. The results from the study further aid in making correlations between the observed mechanical properties and the crystal structure of the films.
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| 8. |
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| 9. |
- Karakatsanis, A., et al.
(författare)
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Delayed Sentinel Lymph Node Dissection in Patients with a Preoperative Diagnosis of Ductal Cancer In Situ by Preoperative Injection with Superparamagnetic Iron Oxide (SPIO) Nanoparticles: The SentiNot Study
- 2023
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Ingår i: Annals of Surgical Oncology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1068-9265 .- 1534-4681. ; 30:7, s. 4064-4072
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BackgroundDifficulty in preoperatively assessing the risk for occult invasion or surgery that precludes future accurate axillary mapping in patients with ductal cancer in situ (DCIS) account for overutilization of SLND.MethodsProspective, multicenter, cohort study, including women with any DCIS planned for mastectomy or DCIS grade 2 and > 20 mm, any DCIS grade 3, any mass-forming DCIS and any planned surgery. Patients received an interstitial SPIO injection during breast surgery, but no upfront SLND was performed. If invasion was identified on final pathology, delayed SLND (d-SLND) was performed separately with the coadministration of isotope +/- blue dye (BD). Study outcomes were proportion of upfront SLNDs that were avoided, detection rates during d-SLND, and impact on healthcare costs.ResultsIn total, 78.7% of study participants (N = 254, mean age 60 years, mean DCIS size 37.8 mm) avoided upfront SLND. On d-SLND (median 28 days, range 9-46), SPIO outperformed Tc-99 with (98.2% vs. 63.6%, p < 0.001) or without BD (92.7% vs. 50.9%, p < 0.001) and had higher nodal detection rate (86.9% vs. 32.3%, p < 0.001) and with BD (93.9% vs. 41.4%, p < 0.001). Only 27.9% of all SLNs retrieved were concordant for Tc-99 and SPIO. Type of breast procedure (WLE vs. oncoplastic BCT vs. mastectomy) affected these outcomes and accounted for the low performance of Tc-99 (p < 0.001). d-SLND resulted in a 28.1% total cost containment for women with pure DCIS on final pathology (4190 vs. 5828 USD, p < 0.001).ConclusionsMarking the SLN with SPIO may avoid overtreatment and allow for accurate d-SLND in patients with DCIS.
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| 10. |
- Kevei, Eva, et al.
(författare)
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Forward genetic analysis of the circadian clock separates the multiple functions of ZEITLUPE.
- 2006
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Ingår i: Plant Physiology. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0032-0889 .- 1532-2548. ; 140:3, s. 933-45
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The circadian system of Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) includes feedback loops of gene regulation that generate 24-h oscillations. Components of these loops remain to be identified; none of the known components is completely understood, including ZEITLUPE (ZTL), a gene implicated in regulated protein degradation. ztl mutations affect both circadian and developmental responses to red light, possibly through ZTL interaction with PHYTOCHROME B (PHYB). We conducted a large-scale genetic screen that identified additional clock-affecting loci. Other mutants recovered include 11 new ztl alleles encompassing mutations in each of the ZTL protein domains. Each mutation lengthened the circadian period, even in dark-grown seedlings entrained to temperature cycles. A mutation of the LIGHT, OXYGEN, VOLTAGE (LOV)/Period-ARNT-Sim (PAS) domain was unique in retaining wild-type responses to red light both for the circadian period and for control of hypocotyl elongation. This uncoupling of ztl phenotypes indicates that interactions of ZTL protein with multiple factors must be disrupted to generate the full ztl mutant phenotype. Protein interaction assays showed that the ztl mutant phenotypes were not fully explained by impaired interactions with previously described partner proteins Arabidopsis S-phase kinase-related protein 1, TIMING OF CAB EXPRESSION 1, and PHYB. Interaction with PHYB was unaffected by mutation of any ZTL domain. Mutation of the kelch repeat domain affected protein binding at both the LOV/PAS and the F-box domains, indicating that interaction among ZTL domains leads to the strong phenotypes of kelch mutations. Forward genetics continues to provide insight regarding both known and newly discovered components of the circadian system, although current approaches have saturated mutations at some loci.
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