| 1. |
- Andersson, Anna K, 1971, et al.
(författare)
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The impact of climate change on winter road maintenance and traffic accidents in West Midlands, UK
- 2011
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Ingår i: Accident Analysis & Prevention. - 0001-4575. ; 43:1, s. 284-289
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Winter weather can be a significant cause of road traffic accidents. This paper uses UKCIP climate change scenarios and a temporal analogue to investigate the relationship between temperature and severe road accidents in the West Midlands, UK. This approach also allows quantification of the changes in the severity of the winter season over the next century in the region. It is demonstrated that the predicted reduction in the number of frost days should in turn reduce the number of road accidents caused due to slipperiness by approximately 50%. However, the paper concludes by warning against complacency in winter maintenance regimes. A warmer climate may result in budget cuts for highway maintenance which in turn may well reverse declining accident trends.
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| 2. |
- Andersson, Anna K, 1971
(författare)
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Winter Road Conditions and Traffic Accidents in Sweden and UK - Present and Future Climate Scenarios
- 2010
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis investigates the distribution of slippery roads in Sweden and the UK for the present climate and how this may be affected by climate change for the rest of the century. It also addresses future scenarios for traffic accidents and winter road maintenance. The purpose of this thesis is to get a better understanding of winter road conditions and relationships to motor vehicle accidents. A variety of scales are studied in this thesis ranging from nationwide studies in Sweden to smaller scale case studies in Sweden and the UK. The Swedish Road Weather Information System (RWIS) is one of the most extensive in the world with a total of 720 outstations. Air and road surface temperatures are measured at each outstation along with relative humidity, precipitation and wind. In this thesis four different types of slipperiness are considered: Slippery conditions due to moderate hoarfrost (HR1), severe hoarfrost (HR2), road icing (HT) and rain or sleet on a cold road (HN). These four slipperiness types can be combined to form a winter index (WI). However, other types of precipitation are studied where appropriate. Four papers are included in this thesis. The first aims of these papers include an analysis of the geographical distribution of different slipperiness types in Sweden and how these different types of slipperiness relate to traffic accidents. Further on the impact of climate change on road surface temperatures is also considered and in particular, what impact a changing climate would have on the number of traffic accidents, both in the Gothenburg area, Sweden and West Midlands, UK. In Sweden, the frequency of occasions with road slipperiness increases towards the north, with the exception for the slipperiness type road icing (HT), which actually decrease towards the north. When a mild winter was compared to a winter with a temperature marginally warmer than the baseline winter (1961-1990), slippery roads caused more accidents in the mild winter where as snow was the cause of most accidents in the colder winter. Climate change scenarios show that the number of days with temperatures below zero degrees will gradually decrease over the next century. By the 2080s (2070-2100), there will be a 22% reduction of the number of days in the Gothenburg area (Sweden) and a 48% reduction in the Birmingham area (UK). By using derived statistical relationships with traffic accidents, this translates to a theoretical reduction in the number of accidents occurring when the temperature is below zero degrees by 20% respectively 43%. Winter maintenance costs are likely to be reduced by at least 15% in the Gothenburg area until the 2080s. This can be compared with a decline of 38% per annum in the Birmingham area. There may be a disadvantage with a warming climate at least when considering accidents. Since the temperature is rising the number of days with temperatures above zero degrees increases quite rapidly until 2080s. If the ratio between accidents and number of days at each degree will remain unchanged there will be an increase in the number of traffic accidents with as much as 88% at temperatures above zero degrees. Despite this great increase, the total amount of accidents will only increase by 2%.
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| 3. |
- Movérare-Skrtic, Sofia, et al.
(författare)
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The estrogen receptor antagonist ICI 182,780 can act both as an agonist and an inverse agonist when estrogen receptor α AF-2 is modified.
- 2014
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. - : Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. - 1091-6490. ; 111:3, s. 1180-1185
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The bone-sparing effect of estrogen is primarily mediated via estrogen receptor (ER) α, which stimulates target gene transcription through two activation functions (AFs), AF-1 in the N-terminal and AF-2 in the ligand-binding domain. It was recently demonstrated that the ER antagonist ICI 182,780 (ICI) acts as an ER agonist in uterus of mice with mutations in the ERα AF-2. To evaluate the estrogen-like effects of ICI in different tissues, ovariectomized wild-type mice and mice with mutations in the ERα AF-2 (ERαAF-2(0)) were treated with ICI, estradiol, or vehicle for 3 wk. Estradiol increased the trabecular and cortical bone mass as well as the uterine weight, whereas it reduced fat mass, thymus weight, and the growth plate height in wild-type but not in ERαAF-2(0) mice. Although ICI had no effect in wild-type mice, it exerted tissue-specific effects in ERαAF-2(0) mice. It acted as an ERα agonist on trabecular bone mass and uterine weight, whereas no effect was seen on cortical bone mass, fat mass, or thymus weight. Surprisingly, a pronounced inverse agonistic activity was seen on the growth plate height, resulting in enhanced longitudinal bone growth. In conclusion, ICI uses ERα AF-1 in a tissue-dependent manner in mice lacking ERαAF-2, resulting in no effect, agonistic activity, or inverse agonistic activity. We propose that ERα lacking AF-2 is constitutively active in the absence of ligand in the growth plate, enabling ICI to act as an inverse agonist.
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