Suspended solids moderate the degradation and sorption of waste water-derived pharmaceuticals in estuarine waters.

This study focuses on the fate of pharmaceuticals discharged into an estuarine environment, particularly into the Turbidity Maximum Zone (TMZ). Batch experiments were set up to investigate the factors regulating the degradation of 53 selected pharmaceuticals. Treated effluents from Bordeaux city (France) were mixed with water from the estuarine Garonne River during 4weeks under 6 characterized conditions in order to assess the influence of suspended particulates, sterilization, untreated wastewater input and dilution on the degradation kinetics. Of the 53 pharmaceuticals monitored, 43 were quantified at the initial time. Only 7 exhibited a persistent behavior (e.g. carbamazepine, meprobamate) while biotic degradation was shown to be the main attenuation process for 38 molecules (e.g. abacavir, ibuprofen highly degradable). Degradation was significantly enhanced by increasing concentrations of suspended solids. A persistence index based on the half-lives of the compounds has been calculated for each of the 43 pharmaceuticals to provide a practical estimate of their relative stability. The stability of pharmaceuticals in estuarine environments is likely to be highly variable and attenuated primarily by changes in suspended solid concentration

Stämplad och/eller en känsla av Befrielse. Fyra vuxnas livsberättelser om deras upplevelser av specialpedagogiskt stöd

Syfte: Syftet med studien är att få kunskap om och i så fall hur några vuxnas livsvärldar kan ha blivit formade av det specialpedagogiska stöd de fått någon gång under deras skolgång. Med ut-gångspunkt i vilka erfarenheter de bär med sig och vilken betydelse det specialpedagogiska stödet har haft för individen kan konsekvenser av de specialpedagogiska åtgärderna syn-liggöras. Teori: För att kunna förstå deltagarnas livsberättelser utifrån ett specialpedagogiskt och ett individu-ellt perspektiv beskrivs teorier inom den specialpedagogiska forskningen och om identitetsut-veckling. Forskningsansats och Metod: En fenomenologisk livsvärldsansats har valts för att förstå de vuxnas erfarenheter av special-pedagogiskt stöd och hur det kan ha format deras livsvärldar idag. Livsvärldsstudien handlar om att studera fenomenet med sensibilitet, följsamhet och öppenhet för att förstå människors vara-i-världen (Berndtsson, 2001). Studien bygger på fyra halvstrukturerade livsvärldsinter-vjuer med fyra vuxna, tre män och en kvinna, som någon gång fått specialpedagogiskt stöd under sin skolgång. Intervjuerna har analyserats och tolkats enligt hermeneutiken, där förförs-tåelsen samt en växling mellan delarna och helheten är centrala (Ödman, 2007). Resultat: Deltagarnas erfarenheter av det specialpedagogiska stödet är av olikartad karaktär, vilka är indelade i fyra teman; Utsatt/Stämplad, Sviken, Kluven och Befrielse. Utsatt/Stämplad innebär att respondenterna känt sig utpekade till följd av det specialpedagogiska stödet. Sviken hand-lar framför allt om att det specialpedagogiska stödet uteblev. Temat Kluven innefattar att del-tagarens upplevelser av stödet har inneburit positiva och negativa erfarenheter samtidigt. Det sista temat Befrielse visar att det specialpedagogiska stödet har varit avgörande för att öka deltagarens självkänsla och utvecklingsmöjligheter. Deltagarnas livsberättelser visar att det specialpedagogiska stödet på något sätt har bidragit till att forma deras livsvärldar fram till idag. I diskussionen problematiseras specialpedagogikens dilemma, vad som kan ha förstärkt deltagarnas upplevelser av stödet och specialpedagogens förhållningssätt till eleven

Fish on drugs : behaviour modifying contaminants in aquatic ecosystems

Contamination of surface waters is a worldwide problem. One group of emerging contaminants that reach aquatic ecosystems via sewage treatment plant effluents and agricultural run-offs is pharmaceuticals. Impacts of pharmaceuticals on the behaviour of aquatic organisms can have important ecological and evolutionary consequences because behaviour is directly linked to fitness. The aim of my doctoral thesis was to increase our understanding of the fate and effects of behaviour modifying drugs in aquatic ecosystems. While studying an aquatic ecosystem spiked with pharmaceuticals, I found that the benthic species at the bottom of the food chain were the main receivers (highest bioaccumulation factor; BAF) while fish at the top of the food web had the lowest uptake of the studied drugs. Interestingly, the BAF of the anxiolytic pharmaceutical oxazepam, increased in fish (perch; Perca fluviatilis) over the study period, suggesting that this drug can be transferred between trophic levels in food webs. To assess whether oxazepam could affect growth and survival in perch, I exposed perch populations to oxazepam for 2-months in a replicated pond experiment. In this study, I tested the hypothesis that oxazepam exposed perch would grow faster but also suffer from increased predation. Oxazepam has been shown previously to induce ‘anti-anxiety’ behaviours that improve foraging but may also make individuals more exposed to predators. In contrast, I found no statistically significant increase in growth and mortality in the exposed perch. However, the study revealed that the natural predator of perch (pike; Esox lucius) became less effective at catching prey when exposed to oxazepam. This exposure effect on predation efficiency likely contributed to the absence of predation effects in the exposed ponds. In two following laboratory studies I investigated effects of behaviour modifying drugs (oxazepam and a growth hormone, 17β-trenbolone) in combination with additional stressors (temperature and predator cues). Drug and temperature interactions were found for 17β-trenbolone, where water temperature interacted with treatment to induce changes in predator escape behaviour, boldness, and exploration in mosquitofish (Gambusia holbrooki). However, in the other study, we found that oxazepam, temperature, and predator cue all affected perch ‘anti-anxiety’ behaviours, but independently. I conclude that pharmaceuticals can alter ecologically important behaviours in fish, and that at least some, can accumulate in aquatic food webs. It seems that in situ effects of behaviour modifying drugs in aquatic ecosystems depend on both species-specific responses and abiotic interactions. As such, it is far from straightforward to predict net ecosystem effects based on experiments conducted using single species and static conditions. Future studies should assess the effects of pharmaceuticals in aquatic ecosystems under more complex conditions for us to gain a better understanding of what consequences behaviour modifying drugs have in the environment

En undersökning av miljödatorns beräkningar på Nybro Energi AB

Arbetets syfte har varit att klargöra hur Nybro Energi ABs miljödator utför sina beräkningar och om beräkningssättet den använder är korrekt. Genom att ha kritiskt analyserat hur miljödatorns beräkningar är strukturerade genomförde vi kontrollberäkningar och kunde med hjälp av DU-teknik skapa en laborationsmall för jämförelseberäkningar och övriga tester. I resultatet finns en jämförelse mellan laborationsmallens och miljödatorns uträknade pannverkningsgrad vid olika tidpunkter. Här framgår även miljödatorns formelstruktur och hur vardera formel hänger samman. Ur resultatet kan slutsatsen fastställas att miljödatorn utför korrekta beräkningar eftersom pannverkningsgraderna stämde överens. Eventuella felkällor så som mätfel gjorde dock att ett säkrare resultat hade uppnåtts om en mer grundlig och genomgående undersökning gjorts, där alla givare och enheter som förser miljödatorn med information kontrollerats. Avslutningsvis ges några förbättringsförslag som Nybro Energi AB kan göra för att säkerställa att miljödatorn utför noggrannare och mer verklighetstrogna beräkningar. The purpose of the paper has been to verify how the environmental datasystem at Nybro Energi AB performs its calculations correctly and if the method is correct. An analysis of how the environmental datasystem's calculations are structured were checked. The calculations for errors and could, with the aid of DU-Teknik, create a template for comparison-calculations and other tests. The results compared the data values between the template and the environmental datasystem's calcualted boiler-efficiency at different intervals. It has also illustrated how each formula is structured for the environmental datasystem and how they are linked together. In conclusion, it can be determined that the environmental datasystem's calculations and the boiler efficiency calculations were consistent. Possible sources of error were measurement error, meaning that more accurate results would have been achieved by a more in-depth and thorough investigation, where all sensors and devices that provide environmental information to the computer could be checked. Finally, there is some improvement proposals for Nybro Energi AB to ensure that the environmental datasystem performs more accurate and realistic estimates

Kayako Saeki and The Grudge : How Historical Traditions Shaped The Female Japanese Ghost

Kayako and The Grudge: How Historical Traditions Shaped The Female Japanese Ghost is an attempt at examining the Japanese historical past, and to unearth the tropes, traditions and legends that laid the foundation for one of the most beloved horror icons of the past thirty years. From the rise of the J-horror genre, where Japanese horror films were first introduced to Western cinema during the late 1990s to the early 2000s, few characters have become as well known or as beloved as Ju-On:s Kayako Saeki. She may not have been the first to cross the sea, that title goes to Ringu:s Sadako Yamamura. Kayako is a tragic figure, living an unfulfilling life and meeting a brutal end – something that is surprisingly common in Japanese ghost stories as a whole. These stories often focus on distressed women, who are bereft of either the things they love, their lives, or both – and after their deaths, these women find themselves using their newfound powers to wreak havoc upon the living through a sudden lust for vengeance. Yet, as the epitome poster girl for a woman scorned, Kayako has given the long lived trope a face – she is the definitive iteration of the Japanese vengeful ghost, but she was not born in a vacuum. Kayako is the final step on a long journey throughout history, one that has been shaped and defined largely by the male perception of the female person. So how do we, as women, reclaim, embrace and see ourselves in such a complex figure? And what exactly, historically, is it that has given birth to this compelling and sympathetic villain who seeks only to satiate her grudge?

Kayako Saeki and The Grudge : How Historical Traditions Shaped The Female Japanese Ghost

Kayako and The Grudge: How Historical Traditions Shaped The Female Japanese Ghost is an attempt at examining the Japanese historical past, and to unearth the tropes, traditions and legends that laid the foundation for one of the most beloved horror icons of the past thirty years. From the rise of the J-horror genre, where Japanese horror films were first introduced to Western cinema during the late 1990s to the early 2000s, few characters have become as well known or as beloved as Ju-On:s Kayako Saeki. She may not have been the first to cross the sea, that title goes to Ringu:s Sadako Yamamura. Kayako is a tragic figure, living an unfulfilling life and meeting a brutal end – something that is surprisingly common in Japanese ghost stories as a whole. These stories often focus on distressed women, who are bereft of either the things they love, their lives, or both – and after their deaths, these women find themselves using their newfound powers to wreak havoc upon the living through a sudden lust for vengeance. Yet, as the epitome poster girl for a woman scorned, Kayako has given the long lived trope a face – she is the definitive iteration of the Japanese vengeful ghost, but she was not born in a vacuum. Kayako is the final step on a long journey throughout history, one that has been shaped and defined largely by the male perception of the female person. So how do we, as women, reclaim, embrace and see ourselves in such a complex figure? And what exactly, historically, is it that has given birth to this compelling and sympathetic villain who seeks only to satiate her grudge?