| 1. |
- Winkens, Kerstin, et al.
(författare)
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Early life exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs): A critical review
- 2017
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Ingår i: Emerging Contaminants. - : Elsevier BV. - 2405-6650 .- 2405-6642. ; 3:2, s. 55-68
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Due to the dynamic developmental processes during pregnancy, infancy, childhood and adolescence, exposure to PFASs is hypothesized to have the most pronounced negative effects during this period. In this review we critically evaluate the current state of the science regarding human early life exposure processes (until 18 years of age) to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs). Efficient placental transfer of perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs) results in relatively high prenatal exposure compared with many neutral organic contaminants. The few biomonitoring studies that specifically target infants, toddlers and other children suggest relatively high serum concentrations of perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) in early life with peak concentrations occurring sometime before the child reaches 20 months. This peak in serum concentrations is most likely explained by exposure via breastfeeding, ingestion of house dust and/or specific contact events with consumer products leading to high body weight normalized estimated daily intakes (EDIs). Although children have higher EDIs of PFASs than adults, these are not always reflected by higher serum levels of PFASs in children in cross-sectional biomonitoring studies due to the confounding effect of age and birth cohort, and different exposure histories due to production changes. Longitudinal exposure studies measuring internal and external exposure (for multiple pathways and PFASs) at several time points during early life are strongly encouraged to understand temporal changes in exposure of individual children. A better quantitative understanding of early life exposure processes would help to improve the validity of epidemiological studies and allow informed decisions regarding setting of regulatory thresholds and appropriate mitigation actions.
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| 2. |
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| 3. |
- Falasca, Kajsa, et al.
(författare)
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Where you lead we will follow : A longitudinal study of strategic political communication and inter-party relations in election campaigning
- 2017
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Ingår i: Journal of Public Affairs. - : Wiley. - 1472-3891 .- 1479-1854. ; 17:3
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The ways in which election campaigns are planned, organized, and conducted have changed considerably during recent decades, and political parties constantly employ new ideas and practices in order to communicate as strategically and effectively as possible. The concept of strategic political communication refers to an organization's purposeful management of information and communication to achieve certain political goals. In this article, we focus on the role of the individual political party in developing election campaigning. The empirical material covers the 2002, 2006, and 2010 Swedish national election campaigns and illustrates how political parties lead and follow each other in the development of strategic political communication. By exploring party agency, this article contributes to the understanding of how ideas and practices of strategic political communication emerge and develop over time in election campaigning.
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| 4. |
- Budt, M., et al.
(författare)
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A review on compressed air energy storage : Basic principles, past milestones and recent developments
- 2016
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Ingår i: Applied Energy. - : Elsevier. - 0306-2619 .- 1872-9118. ; 170, s. 250-268
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Over the past decades a variety of different approaches to realize Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) have been undertaken. This article gives an overview of present and past approaches by classifying and comparing CAES processes. This classification and comparison is substantiated by a broad historical background on how CAES has evolved over time from its very beginning until its most recent advancements. A broad review on the variety of CAES concepts and compressed air storage (CAS) options is given, evaluating their individual strengths and weaknesses. The concept of exergy is applied to CAES in order to enhance the fundamental understanding of CAES. Furthermore, the importance of accurate fluid property data for the calculation and design of CAES processes is discussed. In a final outlook upcoming R&D challenges are addressed.
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| 5. |
- Budt, Marcus, et al.
(författare)
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COMPRESSED AIR ENERGY STORAGE - AN OPTION FOR MEDIUM TO LARGE SCALE ELECTRICAL-ENERGY STORAGE
- 2016
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Ingår i: CUE 2015 - APPLIED ENERGY SYMPOSIUM AND SUMMIT 2015. - : Elsevier. ; 88, s. 698-702
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- This contribution presents the theoretical background of compressed air energy storage, examples for large scale application of this technology, chances and obstacles for its future development, and areas of research aiming at the development of commercially viable plants in the medium to large scale range.
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| 6. |
- Joshi, Abhishek, 1985, et al.
(författare)
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Investigations of Particle-Initiated Insulation Breakdowns in Bearings
- 2019
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Ingår i: Journal of Renewable Energy. - : Hindawi Limited. - 2314-4386 .- 2314-4394. ; 2019
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Early failures in bearings of wind turbine drivetrains have increased after introduction of power electronic switches, which leads to shaft voltages and bearing currents. In presence of voltage, a rupture of bearing insulation could occur due to several plausible electro-physical mechanisms viz., asperities, electric breakdowns, particles, etc. The flow of high amperage current through the bearing during a breakdown mechanism could lead to early failures. Our aim is to understand the electrical behaviour of a bearing and elaborate by an equivalent electric circuit model, emphasizing on particle-initiated breakdowns. In presence of a shaft voltage, the particles form a path of low resistance through the bearing and results in flow of shaft or bearing currents, which could cause pre-mature failure of the bearing. Particles such as Arizona Test Dust (ATD), carbon black, aluminium powder and fine iron powder were mixed in lubricant at particle concentrations ranging between 7.5 mg/L and 150 mg/L. The breakdown characteristics of electrical insulation of the bearing during a given test is quantified as time of conduction, which is expressed as a percentage of the time the bearing is in the conducting state during a test. An investigation of time of conduction for different lubricant samples was conducted along with studying the effects of start and stops of the rotating shaft. The electrical conductive nature of the particle played no role in breakdown of bearing voltage. At a fixed concentration of 150 mg/L, the insulation breakdown events were highest in lubricant with ATD, followed by iron powder, aluminium power and carbon black particles. The time of conduction increases up to 24 times for the same test lubricant, as the particle concentration was increased from 7.5 mg/L to 150 mg/L. The current activity reduced to almost half in the test after stopping the shaft rotation. The resistance of bearing during insulation breakdown events is highest for aluminium powder, followed by fine iron powder, carbon black and ATD.
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| 9. |
- Bonev, Petyo, et al.
(författare)
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Implicit yardstick competition between heating monopolies in urban areas : Theory and evidence from Sweden
- 2022
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Ingår i: Energy Economics. - Amsterdam : Elsevier. - 0140-9883 .- 1873-6181. ; 109
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article examines a novel regulatory mechanism in a setting with multiple local monopolists. The mechanism rests upon the behavioral assumption that customers form opinions about prices by comparing them with prices set by nearby monopolies and that this comparison influences their behavior. In this way, an “implicit yardstick competition” emerges among monopolists although they do not operate in the same markets. We test this mechanism using a unique dataset of unregulated district heating monopolists in Sweden. We find a large effect of neighbors’ prices, which indicates that the implicit yardstick competition has a considerable disciplining effect on monopolies’ pricing behavior. © 2022 The Author(s)
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| 10. |
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| 11. |
- Ek, Ulla, et al.
(författare)
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An audit of teenagers who had not succeeded in elementary school : a retrospective case review
- 2012
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Ingår i: Clinical Audit. - : Dovepress. - 1179-2760. ; 4, s. 1-7
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Objective: The aim was to perform a retrospective case review of pupils who had not succeeded in elementary school, in order to analyze barriers at individual and system levels. Methods: Forty-five pupils, aged 16–20 years, who had not qualified for senior high school, were consecutively assessed within the school health unit to determine their cognitive function, school history, measures taken, previous assessments, and diagnoses given. Results: School health records revealed early problems with learning, reading, mathematics, and attention, but very few students had received an appropriate diagnosis. Our review and assessment when all the data had been compiled demonstrated that the vast majority (96%) of participants had clear developmental problems. Attention problems or full attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder dominated. About half of the students reported extensive truancy. Mean intelligence quotient in the study group was 83.9, about 1 standard deviation below the mean. Fluid intelligence was significantly superior to crystallized intelligence. Conclusion: Screening and identification are needed throughout the school years of children who present symptoms that could interfere with their academic achievement. Intervention needs to be based on skilled assessment, with consideration given to each individual's broad panorama of cognitive deficits and assets, as well as concomitant social adversities that may underlie their school failure. Since there can be a significant negative impact of limited educational opportunities on future socioeconomic outcomes, the question of who is at risk is important both for affected individuals and more generally for public health. Limitations: The study group was small and may not have been fully representative. In spite of limited confidence about generalizing from the results, the findings call for reflection.
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| 12. |
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| 13. |
- Lu, Yue, et al.
(författare)
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Assessment of trace-differences in timing analysis for Complex Real-Time Embedded Systems
- 2011
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Ingår i: SIES 2011 - 6th IEEE International Symposium on Industrial Embedded Systems, Conference Proceedings. - 9781612848204 ; , s. 284-293
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this paper, we look at identifying temporal differences between different versions of Complex Real-Time Embedded Systems (CRTES) by using timing traces representing response times and executiontimes of tasks. In particular, we are interested in being able to reason about whether a particular change to CRTES will impact on their temporal performance, which is difficult to answer due to the complicatedtiming behavior such CRTES have. To be specific, we first propose a sampling mechanism to eliminate dependencies existing in tasks' response time and execution time data in the traces taken from CRTES, which makes any statistical inference in probability theory and statistics realistic. Next, we use a mature statistical method, i.e., the non-parametric two-sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, to assess the possible temporal differences between different versions of CRTES by using timing traces. Moreover, we introduce a method of reducing the number of samples used in the analysis, while keeping the accuracy ofanalysis results. This is not trivial, as collecting a large amount of samples in terms of executing real systems is often costly. Our evaluation using simulation models describing an industrial robotic controlsystem with complicated tasks' timing behavior, indicates that the proposed method can successfully identify temporal differences between different versions of CRTES, if there is any. Furthermore, our proposed method outperforms the other statistical methods, e.g., bootstrap and permutation tests, that are often widely used in contexts, in terms of bearing on the accuracy of results when other methods have failed.
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| 14. |
- Shover, Neal, et al.
(författare)
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Choosing White-Collar Crime
- 2013
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Ingår i: The Oxford Handbook of Criminological Theory. - New York : Oxford University Press. ; , s. 475-493
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In Western countries such as the United States, crime is viewed as chosen behavior. This assumption emerged as the dominant theoretical underpinning of crime control policy-making in the decades encompassing the dawn of the twenty-first century. Routine activity theory is a good example of how contemporary criminological scholars have been drawn to choice models of criminal behavior. The notion of crime as choice also underlies many, if not most, contemporary interpretations of white-collar crime. For instance, theoretical explanations in which the causal importance of variation in criminal opportunities is stressed are based on choice models. Crime-as-choice theory overlaps but is not coextensive with rational choice theory; it differs mainly from the latter by not incorporating an assumption a priori that criminal choices are rational. This article applies the concepts and logic of crime-as-choice theory to explain variation in white-collar crime.
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| 15. |
- Shovlin, CL, et al.
(författare)
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Mutational and phenotypic characterization of hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia
- 2020
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Ingår i: Blood. - : American Society of Hematology. - 1528-0020 .- 0006-4971. ; 136:17, s. 1907-1918
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT) is an autosomal dominant vascular dysplasia. Care delivery for HHT patients is impeded by the need for laborious, repeated phenotyping and gaps in knowledge regarding the relationships between causal DNA variants in ENG, ACVRL1, SMAD4 and GDF2, and clinical manifestations. To address this, we analyzed DNA samples from 183 previously uncharacterized, unrelated HHT and suspected HHT cases using the ThromboGenomics high-throughput sequencing platform. We identified 127 rare variants across 168 heterozygous genotypes. Applying modified American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics Guidelines, 106 variants were classified as pathogenic/likely pathogenic and 21 as nonpathogenic (variant of uncertain significance/benign). Unlike the protein products of ACVRL1 and SMAD4, the extracellular ENG amino acids are not strongly conserved. Our inferences of the functional consequences of causal variants in ENG were therefore informed by the crystal structure of endoglin. We then compared the accuracy of predictions of the causal gene blinded to the genetic data using 2 approaches: subjective clinical predictions and statistical predictions based on 8 Human Phenotype Ontology terms. Both approaches had some predictive power, but they were insufficiently accurate to be used clinically, without genetic testing. The distributions of red cell indices differed by causal gene but not sufficiently for clinical use in isolation from genetic data. We conclude that parallel sequencing of the 4 known HHT genes, multidisciplinary team review of variant calls in the context of detailed clinical information, and statistical and structural modeling improve the prognostication and treatment of HHT.
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| 16. |
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| 17. |
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| 18. |
- Damaschke, Peter, 1963
(författare)
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Two short notes on the on-line traveling salesman: handling times and lookahead
- 2002
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Ingår i: Theoretical Computer Science. - 0304-3975. ; 289:1, s. 845-852
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We study extensions of the on-line travelling salesman problem. Our results are: The optimal competitive ratio 2 for arbitrary metric spaces also holds in the case of nonzero handling times. The optimal competitive ratio 3/2 on the half-line cannot be improved by randomization, but there is a 4/3-competitive algorithm under the assumption that the server is notified when the last request has been released. This ratio is also optimal.
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| 19. |
- de Vries, Lyssa, et al.
(författare)
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Investigating the development of the autonomic nervous system in infancy through pupillometry
- 2023
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Ingår i: Journal of neural transmission. - : Springer. - 0300-9564 .- 1435-1463. ; 130, s. 723-734
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We aim to investigate early developmental trajectories of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) as indexed by the pupillary light reflex (PLR) in infants with (i.e. preterm birth, feeding difficulties, or siblings of children with autism spectrum disorder) and without (controls) increased likelihood for atypical ANS development. We used eye-tracking to capture the PLR in 216 infants in a longitudinal follow-up study spanning 5 to 24 months of age, and linear mixed models to investigate effects of age and group on three PLR parameters: baseline pupil diameter, latency to constriction and relative constriction amplitude. An increase with age was found in baseline pupil diameter (F(3,273.21) = 13.15, p < 0.001, eta(2)(p) = 0.13), latency to constriction (F(3,326.41) =3.84, p = 0.010,eta(2)(p) = 0.03) and relative constriction amplitude(F(3,282.53) =3.70, p = 0.012,eta(2)(p)= 0.04). Group differences were found for baseline pupil diameter (F(3,235.91) = 9.40, p < 0.001,eta(2)(p) = 0.11), with larger diameter in preterms and siblings than in controls, and for latency to constriction (F(3,237.10) = 3.48, p = 0.017, eta(2)(p) = 0.04), with preterms having a longer latency than controls. The results align with previous evidence, with development over time that could be explained by ANS maturation. To better understand the cause of the group differences, further research in a larger sample is necessary, combining pupillometry with other measures to further validate its value.
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| 20. |
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| 21. |
- Bonetto, V, et al.
(författare)
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Two alternative processing pathways for a preprohormone: a bioactive form of secretin
- 1995
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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. - 0027-8424. ; 92:26, s. 11985-11989
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- An N-terminally 9-residue elongated form of secretin, secretin-(-9 to 27) amide, was isolated from porcine intestinal tissue and characterized. Current knowledge about peptide processing sites does not allow unambiguous prediction of the signal peptide cleavage site in preprosecretin but suggests cleavage in the region of residues -10 to -14 counted upstream from the N terminus of the hormone. However, the structure of the isolated peptide suggests that the cleavage between the signal peptide and the N-terminal propeptide occurs at the C-terminal side of residue -10. Moreover, the isolated peptide demonstrates that secretin can be fully processed C-terminally prior to the final N-terminal cleavage. The results from this report, and those from earlier studies, where C-terminally elongated variants were isolated, show that the processing of the secretin precursor may proceed by one of two alternative pathways, in which either of the two ends is processed first. The bioactivity of the N-terminally extended peptide on exocrine pancreatic secretion was lower than that of secretin, indicating the importance of the finally processed free N terminus of the hormone for interaction with secretin receptors.
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| 22. |
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| 23. |
- Patel, Rickesh N., et al.
(författare)
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Vector navigation in walking bumblebees
- 2022
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Ingår i: Current Biology. - : Elsevier BV. - 0960-9822. ; 32:13, s. 4-2883
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Path integration is a computational strategy that allows an animal to maintain an internal estimate of its position relative to a point of origin. Many species use path integration to navigate back to specific locations, typically their homes, after lengthy and convoluted excursions. Hymenopteran insects are impressive path integrators, directly returning to their hives after hundreds of meters of outward travel. Recent neurobiological insights have established hypotheses for how path integration vectors could be encoded in the brains of bees, but clear ways to test these hypotheses in the laboratory are currently unavailable. Here, we report that the bumblebee, Bombus terrestris, uses path integration while walking over short distances in an indoor arena. They estimate accurate vector distances after displacement and orient by artificial celestial cues. Walking bumblebees also exhibited systematic search patterns when home vectors failed to lead them accurately back to the nest, closely resembling searches performed by other species under natural conditions. We thus provide a robust experimental system to test navigation behavior in the laboratory that reflects most aspects of natural path integration. Importantly, we established this assay in an animal that is both readily available and resilient to invasive manipulations, as we demonstrate with the retention of the homing behavior post-anesthesia and surgery. In the future, our behavioral assay can therefore be combined with current electrophysiological techniques, opening a path toward directly probing the neural basis of the sophisticated vector navigation abilities of bees.
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