Classifying Corruption

Time delays reduces the performance of any controlled system. If neglected in the design phase, the system may even become unstable when using the designed controller. Several power control strategies have been proposed in order to improve the capacity of cellular radio systems, but time delays are usually neglected. Here, it is shown that the problems can be handled by considering the time delays in the design phase in order to choose the appropriate parameter values. Most popular algorithms can be seen as special cases of an integrating controller. This structure is extended first to a proportional integrating (PI)-controller and then further on to a general linear controller of higher orders. Corresponding design procedures are outlined based on techniques, such as pole placement, from the field of automatic control. The PI-controller is a very appealing choice of structure, with better performance compared to an I-controller and less complex than a higher order controller. The benefits are further illuminated by network simulations

Upholding the Dignity and Best Interest of Children: International Law and the Corporal Punishment of Children

When the systems evolved from analog to digital, the performance was improved by the use of power control on the one hand and different modulations and coding schemes on the other. Condensing the available information we are able to propose a new concept of power control. The concept is applicable to real systems, since it uses the available measurements for estimating parameters necessary for the power control. It also supports the use of an adequate quality measure together with a quality specification supplied by the operator. We will use frequency hopping GSM as an example and the resulting control algorithm is ready for implementation in the software in the base stations where the output powers are computed. No modifications are needed in the GSM standard, the mobile terminals, the radio interfaces or in the base station transmitters. Finally we provide simulation results confirming the benefits of using the new concept for power control

Aramid Fiber Rods as Reinforcement in Concrete.

The u se of fiber compos i tes in concrete structures is an alternative to conventional steel remforcement and several structures employing fiber composites have already been built in Japan, Europe and USA. Fiber composites offer high strength, high durability and low weight. Another property is high elastic elongation which is an advantage in structures acting under impact load. Part I of this report deals with the possible use of aramid fiber reinforced plastics as a reinforcing material and part II deals specially with aramid-rods as dampers for impact loads in prestressed concrete beams

Riskanalyser av virkes- och bränsleupplag vid allmänna vägar

Sverige avverkar årligen runt 100 miljoner m³sk, allt detta ska transporteras till industrier och andra uppköpande organisationer. Ca 96 procent av dessa transporter sker på de allmänna vägarna, även utmed dessa vägar ligger det virke- och skogsbränsleupplag. Regler för utformning och placering av dessa vältor är framtagna för att minimera risker för trafikanter. Syftet med denna undersökning var att kontrollera hur Trafikverkets regelverk kring upplag vid allmän väg efterföljs i Jönköpings- och Östergötlands län, samt att få en översikt av de största bristerna i realiteten. En enkät skickades ut i syfte att undersöka vad entreprenörerna själva anser är svårt att klara av vid avlastning av virke samt eventuella brister i regelverket. Uppföljningen av regelverkets efterlevnad har sedan utförts i fält i samarbete med Trafikverket för framtagning av uppdaterade anmälda upplag. Enkäten skickades ut till entreprenörer som har drivning av virke och skogsbränsle som sysselsättning med hjälp av organisationen Skogsentreprenörerna (SE). I resultatet framkommer det att vissa kriterier i regelverket kan vara svåra att efterleva. Det som hade störst andel underkänt var: avståndet mellan välta och vägkant, jämndragen ändyta mot väg samt att många upplag är oanmälda. Enkätresultatet bekräftade att även entreprenörerna själva instämmer i att avstånd mellan välta och vägkant och jämndraghet är svårast att klara av. En slutsats av undersökningen är att anmälning av rundvirke- och bränsleupplag måste förbättras då knappt hälften är anmälda i dagsläget. Resultaten från enkäten angående vad entreprenörerna anser är svårt att efterleva i praktiken stämmer väl överens med hur det faktiskt såg ut i fält.Sweden processes around 100 million cubic meters annually, which will be transported to industries and other purchasing organizations. About 96 percent of this occurs on the public roads, just as there is wood in landings along these roads. Rules for the design and placement of these landings have been developed to minimize the risks for the road users. The purpose of this study was to examine how the Swedish Transport Administration's regulations regarding landings on public roads are followed in the Jönköping and Östergötland counties and to get an overall view over the biggest flaws in the field. A questionnaire was sent out to check what contractors think about the regulations. Follow-up of the regulation’s compliance has been carried out in the field in collaboration with the Swedish Transport Administration. The questionnaire was sent out with the help of the organization Skogsentreprenörerna (SE). The results showed that some aspects are easier to deal with than others. The greatest share of failures found were: the distance between the land and the road edge, the evenness of the end surface towards the road and that many landings are not reported. The survey confirmed that even the workers themselves agree that the distance between landing and road edge and evenness are the most difficult to handle with. One conclusion from the study is that the registration of roundwood and fuel storages must be improved as only barely half are currently registered. The results from the questionnaire regarding what the entrepreneurs think is difficult to fulfil is in accordance with what it looked like in the field

Serum levels of autoantibodies against C-reactive protein correlate with renal disease activity and response to therapy in lupus nephritis

Introduction Serum levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) seldom reflect disease activity in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). We have previously shown that autoantibodies against neo-epitopes of CRP often occur in SLE, but that this does not explain the modest CRP response seen in flares. However, we have repeatedly found that anti-CRP levels parallel lupus disease activity, with highest levels in patients with renal involvement; thus, we aimed to study anti-CRP in a material of well-characterized lupus nephritis patients. Methods Thirty-eight patients with lupus nephritis were included. Treatment with corticosteroids combined with cyclophosphamide, mycophenolate mofetil or rituximab was started after baseline kidney biopsy. A second biopsy was taken after ≥ 6 months. Serum creatinine, cystatin C, complement, anti-dsDNA, anti-CRP and urinalysis were done on both occasions. Biopsies were evaluated regarding World Health Organisation (WHO) class and indices of activity and chronicity. Renal disease activity was estimated using the British Isles Lupus Assessment Group (BILAG) index. Results At baseline, 34/38 patients had renal BILAG-A; 4/38 had BILAG-B. Baseline biopsies showed WHO class III (n = 8), IV (n = 19), III to IV/V (n = 3) or V (n = 8) nephritis. Seventeen out of 38 patients were anti-CRP-positive at baseline, and six at follow-up. Overall, anti-CRP levels had dropped at follow-up (P < 0.0001) and anti-CRP levels correlated with renal BILAG (r = 0.29, P = 0.012). A positive anti-CRP test at baseline was superior to anti-dsDNA and C1q in predicting poor response to therapy as judged by renal BILAG. Baseline anti-CRP levels correlated with renal biopsy activity (r = 0.33, P = 0.045), but not with chronicity index. Anti-CRP levels were positively correlated with anti-dsDNA (fluorescence-enhanced immunoassay: r = 0.63, P = 0.0003; Crithidia luciliae immunofluorescence microscopy test: r = 0.44, P < 0.0001), and inversely with C3 (r = 0.35, P = 0.007) and C4 (r = 0.29, P = 0.02), but not with C1q (r = 0.14, P = 0.24). No associations with urinary components, creatinine, cystatin C or the glomerular filtration rate were found. Conclusions In the present study, we demonstrate a statistically significant correlation between anti-CRP levels and histopathological activity in lupus nephritis, whereas a baseline positive anti-CRP test predicted poor response to therapy. Our data also confirm previous findings of associations between anti-CRP and disease activity. This indicates that anti-CRP could be helpful to assess disease activity and response to therapy in SLE nephritis, and highlights the hypothesis of a pathogenetic role for anti-CRP antibodies in lupus nephritis.Original Publication:Christopher Sjöwall, Agneta Zickert, Thomas Skogh, Jonas Wetterö and Iva Gunnarsson, Serum levels of autoantibodies against C-reactive protein correlate with renal disease activity and response to therapy in lupus nephritis, 2009, Arthritis Research & Therapy, (11), 6, R188.http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/ar2880Licensee: Biomed Central / BioMed Centralhttp://www.biomedcentral.com

Samarbete mellan lantbruksföretag

Nowadays, cooperation is necessary and this study tries to illuminate the possibilities and problems about cooperation in fiction between 7 small/midsize farms in Skåne. Conventional Farming is done with grain and sugarbeets as specialization. Calculation of machine costs have been done and compared in the study, both for the farms in thorough and the fictitious operation companies. Business ratios as depreciation/ha, interest/ha and maintenance/ha have been calculated. In this essay we present a proposal about how a practical implementation can be done. In the proposal there is an example how the distribution of work can be done. Our study also shows that cooperation gives better opportunities if you want to continue doing conventional farming. The social part also has been treated. Many families are divided both physical and mental because of high charge of work. Cooperation gives possibilities to reduce the individual worktime.Samarbete ligger i tiden. I detta arbete försöker vi belysa möjligheter och problem vad gäller ett fiktivt samarbete mellan 7 små/medelstora lantbruk i Skåne. Gårdarna bedriver konventionell växtodling med inriktning på spannmål och sockerbetor. I fallstudien har beräkning av maskinkostnader gjorts och jämförts, både för de ingående gårdarna och för de fiktiva driftsbolagen. Nyckeltal såsom avskrivning/ha, ränta/ha samt underhåll/ha har beräknats. I arbetet ges förslag på hur ett praktiskt genomförande kan gå till. I detta förslag ingår t.ex. hur arbetsfördelningen kan ske. Vårt examensarbete visar också att samarbete ger bättre möjligheter om du vill fortsätta driva konventionell växtodling. Även den sociala delen har behandlats. Många familjer splittras (både fysiskt och psykiskt) bland annat på grund av för hög arbetsbelastning. I ett samarbete ges stora möjligheter att minska den individuella arbetstiden

Response of marine benthic fauna to thin-layer capping with activated carbon in a large-scale field experiment in the Grenland fjords, Norway

A field experiment with thin-layer capping was conducted in the Grenland fjords, Norway, for remediation in situ of mercury and dioxin-contaminated sediments. Experimental fields at 30 and 95 m depth were capped with (i) powdered activated carbon (AC) mixed with clay (AC+cla`y), (ii) clay, and (iii) crushed limestone. Ecological effects on the benthic community and species-feeding guilds were studied 1 and 14 months after capping, and a total of 158 species were included in the analyses. The results show that clay and limestone had only minor effects on the benthic community, while AC+clay caused severe perturbations. AC+clay reduced the abundance, biomass, and number of species by up to 90% at both 30 and 95 m depth, and few indications of recovery were found during the period of this investigation. The negative effects of AC+clay were observed on a wide range of species with different feeding strategies, although the suspension feeding brittle star Amphiura filiformis was particularly affected. Even though activated carbon is effective in reducing sediment-to-water fluxes of dioxins and other organic pollutants, this study shows that capping with powdered AC can lead to substantial disturbances to the benthic community.publishedVersio

Long-term response of marine benthic fauna to thin-layer capping with powdered activated carbon in the Grenland fjords, Norway

The Grenland fjords in Norway have a long history of contamination by large emissions of dioxins and mercury. As a possible sediment remediation method in situ, thin-layer capping with powdered activated carbon (AC) mixed with clay was applied at two test sites at 30 m and 95 m depth in the Grenland fjords. This study presents long-term effects of the AC treatment on the benthic community structure, i.e. nine years after capping. Capping with AC significantly reduced the number of species, their abundance and biomass at the two test sites, compared to uncapped reference sites. At the more shallow site, the dominant brittle star species Amphiura filiformis disappeared shortly after capping and did not re-establish nine years after capping. At the deeper site, the AC treatment also caused long-lasting negative effects on the benthic community, but some recovery was observed after nine years. Ecological indices used to assess environmental status did not capture the impaired benthic communities caused by the capping. The present study is the first documentation of negative effects of powdered AC on marine benthic communities on a decadal scale. Our results show that the benefits of reduced contaminant bioavailability from capping with AC should be carefully weighed against the cost of long-term detrimental effects on the benthic community. More research is needed to develop a thin-layer capping material that is efficient at sequestering contaminants without being harmful to benthic species.publishedVersio

Impact of adrenaline and metabolic stress on exercise-induced intracellular signaling and PGC-1α mRNA response in human skeletal muscle

This study tested the hypothesis that elevated plasma adrenaline or metabolic stress enhances exercise‐induced PGC‐1α mRNA and intracellular signaling in human muscle. Trained (VO (2)‐max: 53.8 ± 1.8 mL min(−1) kg(−1)) male subjects completed four different exercise protocols (work load of the legs was matched): C – cycling at 171 ± 6 W for 60 min (control); A – cycling at 171 ± 6 W for 60 min, with addition of intermittent arm exercise (98 ± 4 W). DS – cycling at 171 ± 6 W interspersed by 30 sec sprints (513 ± 19 W) every 10 min (distributed sprints); and CS – cycling at 171 ± 6 W for 40 min followed by 20 min of six 30 sec sprints (clustered sprints). Sprints were followed by 3:24 min:sec at 111 ± 4 W. A biopsy was obtained from m. vastus lateralis at rest and immediately, and 2 and 5 h after exercise. Muscle PGC‐1α mRNA content was elevated (P < 0.05) three‐ to sixfold 2 h after exercise relative to rest in C, A, and DS, with no differences between protocols. AMPK and p38 phosphorylation was higher (P < 0.05) immediately after exercise than at rest in all protocols, and 1.3‐ to 2‐fold higher (P < 0.05) in CS than in the other protocols. CREB phosphorylation was higher (P < 0.05) 2 and 5 h after exercise than at rest in all protocols, and higher (P < 0.05) in DS than CS 2 h after exercise. This suggests that neither plasma adrenaline nor muscle metabolic stress determines the magnitude of PGC‐1α mRNA response in human muscle. Furthermore, higher exercise‐induced changes in AMPK, p38, and CREB phosphorylation are not associated with differences in the PGC‐1α mRNA response

Surface strength of materials to the method of friction

Influenza A virus (IAV) has its natural reservoir in wild waterfowl, and emerging human IAVs often contain gene segments from avian viruses. The active drug metabolite of oseltamivir (oseltamivir carboxylate [OC]), stockpiled as Tamiflu for influenza pandemic preparedness, is not removed by conventional sewage treatment and has been detected in river water. There, it may exert evolutionary pressure on avian IAV in waterfowl, resulting in the development of resistant viral variants. A resistant avian IAV can circulate among wild birds only if resistance does not restrict viral fitness and if the resistant virus can persist without continuous drug pressure. In this in vivo mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) study, we tested whether an OC-resistant avian IAV (H1N1) strain with an H274Y mutation in the neuraminidase (NA-H274Y) could retain resistance while drug pressure was gradually removed. Successively infected mallards were exposed to decreasing levels of OC, and fecal samples were analyzed for the neuraminidase sequence and phenotypic resistance. No reversion to wild-type virus was observed during the experiment, which included 17 days of viral transmission among 10 ducks exposed to OC concentrations below resistance induction levels. We conclude that resistance in avian IAV that is induced by exposure of the natural host to OC can persist in the absence of the drug. Thus, there is a risk that human-pathogenic IAVs that evolve from IAVs circulating among wild birds may contain resistance mutations. An oseltamivir-resistant pandemic IAV would pose a substantial public health threat. Therefore, our observations underscore the need for prudent oseltamivir use, upgraded sewage treatment, and surveillance for resistant IAVs in wild birds