| 1. |
- Adrian-Martinez, S., et al.
(författare)
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A first search for coincident gravitational waves and high energy neutrinos using LIGO, Virgo and ANTARES data from 2007
- 2013
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Ingår i: Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics. - : IOP Publishing. - 1475-7516. ; :6
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present the results of the first search for gravitational wave bursts associated with high energy neutrinos. Together, these messengers could reveal new, hidden sources that are not observed by conventional photon astronomy, particularly at high energy. Our search uses neutrinos detected by the underwater neutrino telescope ANTARES in its 5 line configuration during the period January - September 2007, which coincided with the fifth and first science runs of LIGO and Virgo, respectively. The LIGO-Virgo data were analysed for candidate gravitational-wave signals coincident in time and direction with the neutrino events. No significant coincident events were observed. We place limits on the density of joint high energy neutrino - gravitational wave emission events in the local universe, and compare them with densities of merger and core-collapse events.
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| 2. |
- Ageron, M., et al.
(författare)
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ANTARES : The first undersea neutrino telescope
- 2011
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Ingår i: Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A. - : Elsevier. - 0168-9002 .- 1872-9576. ; 656:1, s. 11-38
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The ANTARES Neutrino Telescope was completed in May 2008 and is the first operational Neutrino Telescope in the Mediterranean Sea. The main purpose of the detector is to perform neutrino astronomy and the apparatus also offers facilities for marine and Earth sciences. This paper describes the design, the construction and the installation of the telescope in the deep sea, offshore from Toulon in France. An illustration of the detector performance is given. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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| 3. |
- Peters, W., et al.
(författare)
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Seven years of recent European net terrestrial carbon dioxide exchange constrained by atmospheric observations
- 2010
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Ingår i: Global Change Biology. - : Wiley. - 1354-1013 .- 1365-2486. ; 16:4, s. 1317-1337
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present an estimate of net ecosystem exchange (NEE) of CO2 in Europe for the years 2001-2007. It is derived with a data assimilation that uses a large set of atmospheric CO2 mole fraction observations (similar to 70 000) to guide relatively simple descriptions of terrestrial and oceanic net exchange, while fossil fuel and fire emissions are prescribed. Weekly terrestrial sources and sinks are optimized (i.e., a flux inversion) for a set of 18 large ecosystems across Europe in which prescribed climate, weather, and surface characteristics introduce finer scale gradients. We find that the terrestrial biosphere in Europe absorbed a net average of -165 Tg C yr-1 over the period considered. This uptake is predominantly in non-EU countries, and is found in the northern coniferous (-94 Tg C yr-1) and mixed forests (-30 Tg C yr-1) as well as the forest/field complexes of eastern Europe (-85 Tg C yr-1). An optimistic uncertainty estimate derived using three biosphere models suggests the uptake to be in a range of -122 to -258 Tg C yr-1, while a more conservative estimate derived from the a-posteriori covariance estimates is -165 +/- 437 Tg C yr-1. Note, however, that uncertainties are hard to estimate given the nature of the system and are likely to be significantly larger than this. Interannual variability in NEE includes a reduction in uptake due to the 2003 drought followed by 3 years of more than average uptake. The largest anomaly of NEE occurred in 2005 concurrent with increased seasonal cycles of observed CO2. We speculate these changes to result from the strong negative phase of the North Atlantic Oscillation in 2005 that lead to favorable summer growth conditions, and altered horizontal and vertical mixing in the atmosphere. All our results are available through http://www.carbontracker.eu.
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| 4. |
- Feldmann, M., et al.
(författare)
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Economic and durable design of composite bridges with integral abutments
- 2010
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Rapport (refereegranskat)abstract
- In the design and construction of bridges, questions of sustainability, maintenance and durability are becoming more and more important for European road administrations, in addition to safety and serviceability issues. Therefore integral abutment bridges are becoming highly attractive to designers, constructors and road administrations, as they tend to be less expensive to build, easier to maintain and more economical to own over their life time. Bearings and joints are main sources of maintenance costs during a lifetime. These costs vanish because the bridges are joint- and bearing-free. However, this very advantage complicates the design compared to conventional bridges in some crucial respects. Combined with the fact that most European countries have only limited experience with integral bridges to date, this leads to a reluctance of road administrations to use this bridge type. Thus the main objective of the project is to experimentally and theoretically investigate the behaviour of critical points of integral abutment bridges. Regarding the soil-structure interaction, recommendations are elaborated based on monitoring results as well as previous research and monitoring campaigns. Conventional HP piles and sheet piles are investigated as a foundation. Furthermore a hinged HP connection is developed to decrease the stresses in the pile system. An investigation of the design and construction of the slab to pavement approach is also carried out to avoid major damages to the structure. Finally the most important information is condensed into the essential features in form of a 'Design guide for composite bridges with integral abutments'
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| 5. |
- Flynn, Katherine M., et al.
(författare)
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Ideal skills for European food scientists and technologists : Identifying the most desired knowledge, skills and competencies
- 2013
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Ingår i: Innovative Food Science & Emerging Technologies. - : Elsevier BV. - 1466-8564 .- 1878-5522. ; 18, s. 246-255
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Training food scientists and technologists (FSTs) to have appropriate skills begins with identification of those skills most desired by employers. Between March 2010 and August 2011, 16 workshops in 16 countries had 315 local FST employers contribute ideas of skills desired in their FSTs. Attendees provided as many skills as possible and these descriptive data were quantifed and then analysed with multiple contingency tables and chi squared testing. Of the 3348 skill ideas provided, the most desired skill overall was Communicating, which was identified 13% of the time. Separate analysis of the 792 food sector skills indicated Product Development, at 28%, as the most desired. Geographical region, employment area and FST level of responsibility all significantly influenced the top 3 choices of overall skills and of food sector skills, indicating that most desired skills in the food industry are not uniform. These results should contribute to the improvement of FST training and thus benefit the European food industry. Industrial relevance: The data presented here suggest that improvements in FST training, particularly the acquisition of 'soft skills', will improve Europe's food workforce as these are the skills employers most desire. These data further suggest that geographical region significantly influences those skills most desired by industrial employers. Differences in desired skills at different levels of FST responsibility further suggest that continual FST training i.e., continual professional development, will contribute to improved FST performance. Overall, this study presents data which can improve FST performance and thus contribute to increased innovation and competitiveness of the food and drink industry.
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| 6. |
- Fransen, J., et al.
(författare)
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Clinical prediction of 5-year survival in systemic sclerosis: validation of a simple prognostic model in EUSTAR centres
- 2011
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Ingår i: Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases. - : BMJ. - 1468-2060 .- 0003-4967. ; 70:10, s. 1788-1792
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Objective Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is associated with a significant reduction in life expectancy. A simple prognostic model to predict 5-year survival in SSc was developed in 1999 in 280 patients, but it has not been validated in other patients. The predictions of a prognostic model are usually less accurate in other patients, especially from other centres or countries. A study was undertaken to validate the prognostic model to predict 5-year survival in SSc in other centres throughout Europe. Methods A European multicentre cohort of patients with SSc diagnosed before 2002 was established. Patients with SSc according to the preliminary American College of Rheumatology classification criteria were eligible for the study when they were followed for at least 5 years or shorter if they died. The primary outcome was 5-year survival after diagnosis of SSc. The predefined prognostic model uses the following baseline variables: age, gender, presence of urine protein, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and carbon monoxide diffusing capacity (DLCO). Results Data were available for 1049 patients, 119 (11%) of whom died within 5 years after diagnosis. Of the patients, 85% were female, the mean (SD) age at diagnosis was 50 (14) years and 30% were classified as having diffuse cutaneous SSc. The prognostic model with age (OR 1.03), male gender (OR 1.93), urine protein (OR 2.29), elevated ESR (1.89) and low DLCO (OR 1.94) had an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.78. Death occurred in 12 (2.2%) of 509 patients with no risk factors, 45 (13%) of 349 patients with one risk factor, 55 (33%) of 168 patients with two risk factors and 7 (30%) of 23 patients with three risk factors. Conclusion A simple prognostic model using three disease factors to predict 5-year survival at diagnosis in SSc showed reasonable performance upon validation in a European multicentre study.
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| 7. |
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| 8. |
- Steinthorsdottir, Margret, et al.
(författare)
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BENNETTITALEAN LEAF CUTICLE FRAGMENTS (HERE ANOMOZAMITES AND PTEROPHYLLUM) CAN BE USED INTERCHANGEABLY IN STOMATAL FREQUENCY-BASED PALAEO-CO(2) RECONSTRUCTIONS
- 2011
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Ingår i: Palaeontology. - : Wiley. - 0031-0239 .- 1475-4983. ; 54, s. 867-882
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Bennettites are an abundant and frequently well-preserved component of many Mesozoic fossil floras, often playing an important ecological role in flood plain vegetation communities. During a recent study focusing on stomatal indices of Triassic-Jurassic fossil plants, it became evident that the leaf fragments of two bennettite genera Anomozamites Schimper (1870) emend. Harris (1969) and Pterophyllum Brongniart (1825) display a significant overlap of leaf shape as well as cuticular characters. Owing to the preference of recognition of single taxa (ideally species) for the stomatal method, we use a database of 70 leaf fragments of Anomozamites and Pterophyllum compressions from five isotaphonomic Late Triassic sedimentary beds of Astartekloft in East Greenland to test whether leaf and cuticle fragments of the two genera can be separated using a range of quantitative and qualitative morphological and statistical analyses. None of the observed characters - including stomatal frequencies could be applied to separate the fragments of the two genera into well-defined groups. Our results therefore indicate that fragmented material and dispersed cuticles cannot be utilized to distinguish between Anomozamites or Pterophyllum at the genus level, but that instead these cuticle fragments may be used interchangeably as stomatal proxies. Classification of fossil leaves into either of these genera is thus only possible given adequate preservation of macro-morphology and is not possible based solely on cuticle morphology. We suggest that this large inter- and intra-generic morphological variation in both leaf and cuticle traits within Anomozamites and Pterophyllum may be related to the bennettites' role as understory plants, experiencing a range of micro-environmental conditions, perhaps depending mainly on sun exposure. Based on the results obtained in this study, we conclude that Anomozamites and Pterophyllum cuticle fragments can be employed interchangeably in palaeo [CO(2)] reconstructions based on the stomatal method, thus potentially annexing a plethora of bennettitalean fossil plant material as CO(2) proxies, including dispersed cuticles.
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| 9. |
- van Bon, L., et al.
(författare)
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Distinct evolution of TLR-mediated dendritic cell cytokine secretion in patients with limited and diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis
- 2010
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Ingår i: Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases. - : BMJ. - 1468-2060 .- 0003-4967. ; 69:8, s. 1539-1547
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is an autoimmune disease and accumulating evidence suggests a role for Toll-like receptor (TLR)-mediated activation of dendritic cells (DCs). Objective To map TLR-mediated cytokine responses of DCs from patients with SSc. Methods 45 patients with SSc were included. Patients were stratified as having diffuse cutaneous SSc (dSSc) or limited cutaneous SSc (lSSc) according to the extent of skin involvement, and further divided into those with late (> 3 years) or early disease (< 2 years). DCs were stimulated with ligands for TLR2, TLR3, TLR4, TLR7/8 or combinations. Plasma samples were collected from patients with SSc (n = 167) and measured for interleukin 6 (IL-6), tumour necrosis factor a (TNF alpha), IL-12, IL-10 and interferon gamma. Results Stimulation of DC subsets from patients with early lSSc and dSSc with ligands for TLR2, TLR3 or TLR4 resulted in higher secretion of IL-6 and TNF alpha compared with those having late disease or healthy controls. Remarkably, the production of IL-12 was lower upon stimulation with TLR ligands in most patients with SSc, whereas the secretion of IL-10 was very high in patients with the dSSc phenotype, particularly in those having early dSSc. The combination of various TLR ligands led to reduced cytokine secretion in all patients with SSc. Circulating levels of these cytokines further underscored the presence of differences between various SSc phenotypes. Discussion The altered TLR-mediated activation of DCs may be responsible for Th2 skewed T-cell activation in SSc that may be orchestrated by fibrogenic T-cell cytokines, such as IL-4 and IL-13. DC targeting could thus offer new avenues for therapeutic intervention.
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