The Environmental Potential of Hyper-Scale Data Centers: Using Locational Marginal CO2 Emissions to Guide Geographical Load Shifting

Increasing demand for computing has lead to the development of large-scale, highly optimized data centers, which represent large loads in the electric power network. Many major computing and internet companies operate multiple data centers spread geographically across the world. Thus, these companies have a unique ability to shift computing load, and thus electric load, geographically. This paper provides a bottom-up load shifting model which uses data centers\u27 geographic load flexibility to lower CO2 emissions. This model utilizes information about the locational marginal CO2 footprint of the electricity at individual nodes, but does not require direct collaboration with the system operator. We demonstrate how to calculate marginal carbon emissions, and assess the efficacy of our approach compared to a setting where the data centers bid their flexibility into a centralized market. We find that data center load shifting can achieve substantial reductions in CO2 emissions even with modest load shifting

Control unit for heart catheter with three functions

Våren 2015 ble det opprettet et samarbeid mellom intervensjonsavdelingen ved Rikshospitalet og Norges miljø og biovitenskapelige universitet gjennom masteroppgaven til Martine Sletmoen og Øyvind Hodneland. Målet med oppgaven var å se på muligheten for å forbedre dagens eksisterende hjertekateter. Samarbeidet er opprettholdt gjennom flere masteroppgaver på temaet der målet er å produsere et modernisert og forbedret trefunksjons hjertekateter. Martine Sletmoen og Øyvind Hodneland fokuserte i sin gradsoppgave på nøyaktig posisjonering av kateter i det kardiovaskulære systemet og Dharun Sehjpal og Khaled Alamoudi jobbet sammen om å utvikle en 5:1 skala prototype av kateterslangen. I alle de tre oppgavene ble det konkludert med at slangen ville kreve en god styreenhet for å gi brukeren bedre kontroll over distalendens bevegelser, samt sikre pasienten med en nøyaktig posisjonsmarkør. Hovedmålet med denne gradsoppgaven har vært å utrede og utvikle en tilnærmet fullskala mekanisk funksjonsmodell av styreenhet til trefunksjons hjertekateter. En rekke konsepter for hovedform og produktfunksjoner ble diskutert og vurdert ved hjelp av seleksjonsmatriser. Funksjonsmekanismene ble valgt på bakgrunn av de resulterende distalfunksjonene fra tidligere gradsoppgaver, og deretter videreutviklet. Etter seleksjonsprosessen ble de mest aktuelle hovedformene testet fysisk gjennom modellering med trolldeig. Den fysiske testen viste seg å samsvare med den teoretiske seleksjonen og konklusjonen falt på fylt U-profil. Gjennom den fysiske testen ble det også konkludert med at styreenheten burde være høyest under håndflaten og lavest under fingertuppene for å oppnå en naturlig og avslappet posisjon for hånden. Under den fysiske testen ble det bestemt rekkefølge på produktfunksjonene. Rekkefølgen fra brukers perspektiv fra venstre mot høyre; rotasjon, defleksjon og forlengelse. På denne måten er rotasjon og defleksjon tilgjengelige samtidig og kan styres med to fingre. Forlengelsen er kun for justering og trenger derfor ikke være like tilgjengelig. Under utvikling av funksjonsmodellen stod Gulliksen for 3D-modellering av styreenhetens skall og produktfunksjonene, samt kontinuerlig oppdatering og formatering av rapporten. Lindberg hadde ansvaret for produktmekanismene, fysisk konstruksjon av styreenheten og klargjøring av filer for 3D-printing. Utviklingsprosessen resulterte i en funksjonsmodell av en styreenhet tiltrefunksjons hjertekateter. Styreenheten utfører et mekanisk arbeid på vaiere som styrer de tre funksjonene i kateterets distalende. En enkel ergonomitest ble utført som avslutning på prosjektet. Resultatene fra testingen og erfaringer fra utviklingsprosessen utgjør konklusjonen og en rekke anbefalinger for videre arbeid i utviklingen av styreenheten til et trefunksjons hjertekateter. Funksjonsmodellen er den første prototypen i en tenkt utvikling og er kun ment for testing av ergonomisk utforming og design. Det er derfor ikke tatt hensyn til medisinske standarder i valg av materialer. Det er heller ikke gjort noen kostnadsvurderinger.In the spring of 2015 through the mater thesis of Martine Sletmoen and Øyvind Hodneland, a first initiative between the intervention center at Rikshopitalet and NMBU was established. The main objective of their thesis was to identify and examine the possibilities for a precise positioning of catheters in the cardiovascular system. The initiative has been maintained through several master theses regarding the subject of heart catheter where the objective is to develop a modernized and improved heart catheter with three functions. In their thesis, Martine Sletmoen and Øyvind Hodneland focused in their thesis on precise positioning, and Dharun Sehjpal and Khaled Alamoudi worked together on developing a 5:1 scaled prototype of the catheter tube. In all three theses, the discussion concluded with a need for a good control unit to ensure the user control of the movements in the distal end and assure the safety of the patient through a precise positioning. The main objective for this master thesis has been to study and develop an approximate full scale mechanical prototype of a heart catheter with three functions. Several design concepts for both shape and product-function design was discussed and evaluated through selection matrixes. The function-mechanisms were selected based on the resulting distal functions from former theses and then further developed. After the selection process, the most relevant shapes were tested through the use of modeling playdough. The physical test corresponded with the theoretical test selection and confirmed the conclusions in favour of the filled U-form. Through the physical test it was also concluded that the control unit should be higher beneath the hand palm and lower beneath th fingertips to achieve a natural and relaxed position for the hand. During the physical test the decition of the order for the product-functions were made. The final conclusion gave the following order of the product-functions in users perspective from left to right; rotation, deflection and elongation. This way the rotation and deflection will be available simultaneously and can be controlled with two fingers. The elongation function is solely for adjustment and hence does not need to be as accessible. Through the development process of the prototype Gulliksen was responsible for the 3Dmodelling of the shell and the product-functions for the control unit together with formatting the report. Lindberg was responsible for the development and 3D-modelling of the product mechanisms and the physical assembly of the control unit. The development process resulted in a prototype of a control unit for heart catheter with three functions. The control unit operates mechanical work on wires that control three functions in the distal end of the catheter. At the end of the process the prototype was tested with a simple ergonomic test. The testresults and experience gained through this process makes up the conslusion and several recommendations for further work on developing a control unit for heart catheter with three functions. The prototype developed in this master thesis is the very first in a possible development process and is created solely to test ergonomic shapes and design. Because of this, medical standards regarding choice of material has not been considered. Nor has any cost estimations been carried out.submittedVersionM-I

The iBLAD study: patient-reported outcomes in bladder cancer during oncological treatment: a multicenter national randomized controlled trial

Background: Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) are getting widely implemented, but little is known of the impact of applying PROs in specific cancer diagnoses. We report the results of a randomized controlled trial (RCT) of the active use of PROs in patients with locally advanced or metastatic bladder cancer (BC) undergoing medical oncological treatment (MOT) with focus on determining the clinical effects of using PROs during chemo- or immunotherapy compared to standard of care.Methods: We recruited patients from four departments of oncology from 2019 to 2021. Inclusion criteria were locally advanced or metastatic BC, initiating chemo- or immunotherapy. Patients were randomized 1:1 between answering selected PRO-CTCAE questions electronically once weekly with a built-in alert-algorithm instructing patients of how to handle reported symptoms as a supplement to standard of care for handling of side effects (intervention arm (IA)) vs standard procedure for handling of side effects (control arm (CA)). No real-time alerts were sent to the clinic when PROs exceeded threshold values. Clinicians were prompted to view the completed PROs in the IA at each clinical visit. The co-primary clinical endpoints were hospital admissions and treatment completion rate. Secondary endpoints were overall survival (OS), quality of life (EORTC's QLQ-C30 and QLQ-BLM30) and dose reductions.Results: 228 patients with BC were included, 76% were male. 141 (62%) of the patients had metastatic disease. 51% of patients in the IA completed treatment vs. 56% of patients in the CA, OR 0.83 (95% CI 0.47-1.44, p = 0.51). 41% of patients in the IA experienced hospitalization vs. 32% in the CA, OR 1.48 (95% CI 0.83-2.65, p = 0.17). OS was comparable between the two arms (IA: median 22.3mo (95% CI 17.0-NR) vs. CA: median 23.1mo (95% CI 17.7-NR). Patient and clinician compliance was high throughout the study period (80% vs 94%).Conclusions: This RCT did not show an effect of PRO on completion of treatment, hospitalizations or OS for BC patients during MOT despite a high level of patient and clinician compliance. The lack of real-time response to alerts remains the greatest limitation to this study

Single-centre, triple-blinded, randomised, 1-year, parallel-group, superiority study to compare the effects of Roux-en-Y gastric bypass and sleeve gastrectomy on remission of type 2 diabetes and β-cell function in subjects with morbid obesity: a protocol for the Obesity surgery in Tønsberg (Oseberg) study

publishedVersio

Recombination between Polioviruses and Co-Circulating Coxsackie A Viruses: Role in the Emergence of Pathogenic Vaccine-Derived Polioviruses

Ten outbreaks of poliomyelitis caused by pathogenic circulating vaccine-derived polioviruses (cVDPVs) have recently been reported in different regions of the world. Two of these outbreaks occurred in Madagascar. Most cVDPVs were recombinants of mutated poliovaccine strains and other unidentified enteroviruses of species C. We previously reported that a type 2 cVDPV isolated during an outbreak in Madagascar was co-circulating with coxsackieviruses A17 (CA17) and that sequences in the 3′ half of the cVDPV and CA17 genomes were related. The goal of this study was to investigate whether these CA17 isolates can act as recombination partners of poliovirus and subsequently to evaluate the major effects of recombination events on the phenotype of the recombinants. We first cloned the infectious cDNA of a Madagascar CA17 isolate. We then generated recombinant constructs combining the genetic material of this CA17 isolate with that of the type 2 vaccine strain and that of the type 2 cVDPV. Our results showed that poliovirus/CA17 recombinants are viable. The recombinant in which the 3′ half of the vaccine strain genome had been replaced by that of the CA17 genome yielded larger plaques and was less temperature sensitive than its parental strains. The virus in which the 3′ portion of the cVDPV genome was replaced by the 3′ half of the CA17 genome was almost as neurovirulent as the cVDPV in transgenic mice expressing the poliovirus cellular receptor gene. The co-circulation in children and genetic recombination of viruses, differing in their pathogenicity for humans and in certain other biological properties such as receptor usage, can lead to the generation of pathogenic recombinants, thus constituting an interesting model of viral evolution and emergence

«Disse Børn lider stor Nød» Teori og praksis rundt utsatte barn i Kristiania 1845-1915

I denne oppgaven har jeg sett på hvordan lover og vedtak på statlig og kommunalt nivå som indirekte eller direkte har påvirket Kristiania kommunes pleiebarn i perioden 1845-1915 har utviklet seg. Oppgaven er komparativ og sammenligner lovene som kom i tidsperioden for å stadfeste hvordan lovgivningen rundt utsatte barn har endret seg. Mot slutten av oppgaven gjør jeg i tillegg en komparasjon av lover og vedtaks påvirkning på disse barna sammenlignet med den stadig mer organiserte filantropien rettet mot barn og ugifte mødre. Jeg prøver å finne ut hvordan lovene påvirket utsatte barn eller barn som sto i fare for å bli satt vekk, og i hvilken grad filantropi spilte en rolle i den gradvise forbedringen av barnas levekår. Hvorfor skjedde det en stor revisjon i lovene rundt fattige barn på 1800-tallet? I hvor stor grad hadde filantropi en påvirkning på disse barnas levekår? Og ikke minst, ble barnas levekår forbedret