The Rate Structure

Världen står inför en av de kanske största utmaningarna någonsin, att begränsa mängden växthusgaser i atmosfären till hållbara nivåer. För att uppnå detta måste alla delar av samhället effektivisera och begränsa sin energi och resursanvändning. I detta kandidatexamensarbete har ett av Åsbacka Trädgårds växthus i Söderhamn studerats för att undersöka möjliga investeringar till reduktion av den energianvändning som idag råder. De energireducerande åtgärderna har simulerats med programvaran IDA ICE 4.6 och därefter analyserats och jämförts med varandra. Då anläggningen idag värms med olja är det intressant att ersätta denna med en förnybar energiresurs. Resultatet visar att vid installation av energiväv kan en reduktion av energibehovet göras med upp till 20 procent. Betydande besparingar i uppvärmningskostnad kan ske om energiväven kombineras med uppvärmning från träpellets eller bergvärme, där besparingar mellan 70 000 och 85 000 kronor årligen kan uppnås för den aktuella perioden Åsbacka Trädgård bedriver verksamhet i växthuset. Detta kan jämföras med de 100 000 kronor som driften kostar idag. Av denna anledning rekommenderas installation av energiväv och ett utbyte till förnybar energiresurs. De presenterade investeringarna har valts utifrån produkter som finns tillgängliga på marknaden. Investeringskostnader för de presenterade alternativen har inte beaktats, endast den årliga driftskostnaden för uppvärmning har tagits hänsyn till.

Traducción de canciones. Un estudio de caso: The Winner Takes It All (inglés-castellano)

Treball Final de Grau. Grau en Traducció i Interpretació. Codi: TI0983. Curs acadèmic 2016-2017El presente trabajo consiste en un estudio descriptivo y comparativo entre la versión original en inglés de la canción The Winner Takes It All, presente en la película Mamma Mia!, y su versión en castellano, tomada del musical Mamma Mia! El objetivo de este trabajo es conocer las diferencias y similitudes que hay entre la versión original en inglés de la película y la versión castellana del musical Mamma Mia!, y averiguar cómo se ha realizado la traducción. Por eso, en primer lugar planteamos un marco teórico sobre la traducción audiovisual y la traducción de canciones. Este primer apartado nos sirve de ayuda para después realizar nuestro análisis. Tras el marco teórico, en un segundo apartado analizamos las dos versiones de la canción The Winner Takes It All (inglés-castellano). En este análisis, por una parte se examina los cuatro ritmos poéticos que deberían estar presentes a la hora de traducir una canción (ritmo de cantidad, ritmo de tono, ritmo de intensidad, ritmo de timbre) y, por otra parte, se observa qué elecciones de traducción y técnicas de traducción ha decidido utilizar el traductor para la versión al castellano

The Forest Resources of the Former European USSR

This book, the second in a series, reports the results of a four-year study of the effects of air pollutants, ineffective silviculture practices and other factors on forests in the European sector of the former Soviet Union. The specific objectives of this book are: to gain an impartial view of potential developments of the forest resources in the European sector of the former USSR; to build alternative and consistent scenarios of the future developments; to illustrate the effects of forest decline from air pollutants; to identify meaningful policy options concerning the forest resources in the area; to support future policy decisions concerning the forest resources of the region

Antipyretic, parasitologic, and immunologic effects of combining sulfadoxine/pyrimethamine with chloroquine or paracetamol for treating uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria

Sulfadoxine/pyrimethamine (SP) is increasingly used against malaria in sub-Saharan Africa because of chloroquine resistance. However, chloroquine may have a beneficial antipyretic effect. We therefore compared the combination of SP plus chloroquine, chloroquine alone, SP alone, and SP plus paracetamol in the treatment of uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria in 175 Tanzanian children (1-4 years old) in a randomized trial. Outcome variables were axillary temperatures every six hours, daily parasitemias, and serum levels of IgG antibodies to P. falciparum. Lower mean temperatures (6-48 hours) were achieved with SP plus chloroquine or paracetamol than with SP alone (P \u3c 0.001) or chloroquine alone (P \u3c 0.05). All three SP-treated groups showed high and similar parasite reduction (0-48 hours), whereas treatment with chloroquine alone was much less effective. Levels of IgG antibodies to P. falciparum increased significantly (P \u3c 0.001) and similarly in the four treatment groups between days 0, 2. and 3. Thus, the addition of chloroquine or paracetamol to SP improved the clinical outcome, but did not affect the parasitologic response or antibody production

Relationship between antipyretic effects and cytokine levels in uncomplicated falciparum malaria during different treatment regimes

We have previously shown that both chloroquine and paracetamol (acetaminophen) have antipyretic activity during treatment of acute uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria in children 1-4 years old. Here, we studied if this effect was accompanied by changes in plasma cytokine levels. The 104 children were treated with either chloroquine or sulfadoxine/pyrimethamine (SP) alone, SP + chloroquine or SP + paracetamol for 4 days. Cytokine levels were determined days 0, 2 and 3, body temperature every sixth hour until 72 h and parasitemia once daily for 4 days. At admission, body temperature correlated with levels of IL-10, IFN-γ and IL-6, and parasitemia correlated with IL-10 and IL-6. Except for TNF-α and IL-1β, where no significant effect was found, all cytokine levels (IL-10, IFN-γ, IL-6, IL-12, IL-13, IL-18 and IL-4) decreased up to day 2 (p \u3c 0.05). IL-6 levels continued to fall from days 2 to 3 (p \u3c 0.05), whereas increased levels were found for several cytokines (IL-12, IL-13, IL-18 and IL-1β) (p \u3c 0.05). The antipyretic effects of chloroquine and paracetamol could not be related to any specific changes in the evaluated cytokine production or in Th1/Th2 or inflammatory/anti-inflammatory cytokine ratios. Alternative mechanisms for antipyretic effects and associations between fever and cytokine levels during uncomplicated P. falciparum malaria are therefore discussed. © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Long-term oncological outcomes of a phase II trial of neoadjuvant chemohormonal therapy followed by radical prostatectomy for patients with clinically localised, high-risk prostate cancer.

OBJECTIVE: To determine long-term oncological outcomes of radical prostatectomy (RP) after neoadjuvant chemohormonal therapy (CHT) for clinically localised, high-risk prostate cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In this phase II multicentre trial of patients with high-risk prostate cancer (PSA level \u3e20 ng/mL, Gleason ≥8, or clinical stage ≥T3), androgen-deprivation therapy (goserelin acetate depot) and paclitaxel, carboplatin and estramustine were administered before RP. We report the long-term oncological outcomes of these patients and compared them to a contemporary cohort who met oncological inclusion criteria but received RP only. RESULTS: In all, 34 patients were enrolled and followed for a median of 13.1 years. Within 10 years most patients had biochemical recurrence (BCR-free probability 22%; 95% confidence interval [CI] 10-37%). However, the probability of disease-specific survival at 10 years was 84% (95% CI 66-93%) and overall survival was 78% (95% CI 60-89%). The CHT group had higher-risk features than the comparison group (123 patients), with an almost doubled risk of calculated preoperative 5-year BCR (69% vs 36%, P \u3c 0.01). After adjusting for these imbalances the CHT group had trends toward improvement in BCR (hazard ratio [HR] 0.76, 95% CI 0.43-1.34; P = 0.3) and metastasis-free survival (HR 0.55, 95% CI 0.24-1.29; P = 0.2) although these were not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: Neoadjuvant CHT followed by RP was associated with lower rates of BCR and metastasis compared with the RP-only group; however, these results were not statistically significant. Because this treatment strategy has known harms and unproven benefit, this strategy should only be instituted in the setting of a clinical trial

First principle study of intrinsic defects in hexagonal tungsten carbide

The characteristics of intrinsic defects are important for the understanding of self-diffusion processes, mechanical strength, brittleness, and plasticity of tungsten carbide, which present in the divertor of fusion reactors. Here, we use first-principles calculations to investigate the stability of point defects and their complexes in WC. Our calculation results confirm that the formation energies of carbon defects are much lower than that of tungsten defects. The outward relaxations around vacancy are found. Both interstitial carbon and interstitial tungsten atom prefer to occupy the carbon basal plane projection of octahedral interstitial site. The results of isolated carbon defect diffusion show that the carbon vacancy stay for a wide range of temperature because of extremely high diffusion barriers, while carbon interstitial migration is activated at lower temperatures for its considerable lower activation energy. These results provide evidence for the presumption that the 800K stage is attributed by the annealing out of carbon vacancies by long-range migration.Comment: Submitted to Journal of Nuclear Material

Higher IL-10 levels are associated with less effective clearance of Plasmodium falciparum parasites

The implications of high levels of the immune regulatory cytokine IL-10 in Plasmodium falciparum malaria are unclear. IL-10 may down-regulate pro-inflammatory responses and also exacerbate disease by inhibiting anti-parasitic immune functions. To study possible inhibiting effects on parasite clearance, IL-10 plasma levels were determined in 104 Tanzanian children, 1 to 4 years old, with acute uncomplicated P. falciparum malaria, and analysed for association with parasite densities during 3 days of anti-malarial treatment. Higher baseline IL-10 plasma levels were associated with statistically significantly higher parasite densities after 24, 48 and 72 h of treatment. These associations could not be explained by differences in initial parasitaemia, temperature, age, sex or type of treatment. Induction of high IL-10 production might be a direct or indirect mechanism whereby the parasite evades the immune response

Evaluation of the variation in albedo over snow-covered forest in Northern Sweden and Finland

The effect of albedo variability induced by meteorological parameters in snow-covered forested areas at local scale is poorly known. Few meteorological stations measure albedo, even though the effect on albedo caused by land use changes is well known. The boreal forest is mainly comprised of coniferous tree species and represents the largest terrestrial biome which is characterised by long winters with seasonal snow cover. Since boreal forests alter the albedo through snow interception by the canopy, they are subjects of this investigation. This study evaluates the induced effect of meteorological variations and forest metric variations on albedo fluctuations at three different forested sites in the boreal zone during winter season. All study sites belong to the Integrated Carbon Observation System (ICOS) network where meteorological variables are measured from towers on the three individual study sites named Svarberget (SE-Svb), Norunda (SE-Nor) and Hyytiälä (FI-Hyy). SE-Svb and SE-Nor is located in the boreal forest of Sweden while FI-Hyy is located in the boreal forest of Finland. The influences of several meteorological parameters were investigated by use of correlation analysis first and then regression analysis. Forest metrics were derived from Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR) data and further related to mean albedo. The influence of temperature on albedo was seen at every study site investigated in this study. When the temperature is below freezing and the albedo is initially high (0.3), a decrease in albedo to a value of around 0.1 is observed when the temperature increases to above freezing. This relation is ascribed to the temperature influence of snow properties and snow appearance which further is connected to albedo. Apart from this, precipitation was related to albedo but the strength of the relationship was difficult to interpret since the correlation analysis demonstrated both a positive and negative connection to albedo. This could possibly derive from the form of the precipitation, snow or rain, and further be temperature dependent. However, snow depth and increased snow amount were parameters that induced an increase in albedo, although the relationship was not that prominent (varied between insignificant up to correlation coefficient of 0.51 in the correlation analysis). The use of forest structural metrics, canopy density, tree height and Canopy Relief Ratio (CRR), did not show any clear relationship to mean albedo. However, the variable model output from the regression analysis highlights that there is a need for site-specific investigation to better understand local albedo variability in snow-covered forested areas