Doftande trädgårdar för synskadade

Ända sedan antikens Grekland har det varit känt att växternas dofter har en lugnande inverkan på människan. Även en så enkel åtgärd som att se grönska runt omkring oss i vår vardag minskar stressnivån och höjer vårt välmående. Men en synskadad person kan inte se grönskan runt omkring oss och kan således inte i samma utsträckning ta del av det välmående vi upplever. Det här arbetet syftar till att sammanställa teorier som underlättar för synskadade att uppleva en grön miljö, med fokus på doft. Växtligheten ska vara doftande men för att förhöja upplevelsen av trädgården bör även taktila växter och växter som prasslar i vinden användas. Färgstarka växter kan med fördel blandas med de doftande för att förhöja det visuella intrycket och för att inte skapa en doftchock. Utöver att välja rätt växter till rätt plats och dessutom välja doftande växter tillkommer en del aspekter när det gäller platsens fysiska egenskaper för att underlätta för de synskadade. Gångarnas uppbyggnad är viktig och bör vara tydlig och enkel att följa samt anpassad för synskadade med ledsyn likväl som de som helt saknar synförmåga. En person med stort socialt umgänge har bättre hälsa än en person som är isolerad och många synskadade upplever ett social utanförskap på grund av sitt handikapp. Detta i kombination med att de inte får den stressänkande dosen av grönska som vi seende får varje dag skapar ett behov av grönytor designade för synskadade där de både kan umgås och ta del av grönskan på sitt eget vis. Trädgårdarna bör därför utformas så att det finns plats för socialt umgänge, men även för avskildhet för den som vill det.Since ancient Greece it has been known that the fragrance from flowers has a calming effect on humans. Even such a simple thing as to see the verdure around us everyday reduces our stress level and enhances our well-being. But a visually impaired person can not see the verdure around him and can therefore not enhance the well-being in the same extent. The purpose of this essay is to put together theories that support the experience of the verdure for visually impaired people, focusing on fragrance. The vegetation should be fragrant but to enhance the experience of the garden there should also be tactile plants and plants that rustle in the wind. Colourful plants may with advantage be used among the fragrant plants to enhance the visual experience as well as prevent a chock of fragrance. Beside choosing the right plant for the right place and choosing plants for their fragrance there are a few aspects to mind when it comes to the physiography of the site to facilitate for visually impaired people. The structure of the paths is important and should be simple and straight and suit people with low vision as well as those without vision. A person with a lot of social activities has less tendency to feel psychically ill than an isolated person and a lot of visually impaired people experience that they are alone. This, in combination with the fact that they do not get the impact from the verdure around them every day, makes a demand for green spaces designed specially for visually impaired people where they both can socialize and experience the nature in their own way. The gardens should therefore be designed in a way so that there is place for social activity, but also places for privacy for those who want that

Biologiämnets texter : text, språk och lärande i en språkligt heterogen gymnasieklass

This study concerns text, language, and learning in a linguistically heterogeneous upper secondary class in Sweden where students aged 16 to 17 are studying biology. One starting point for the dissertation is the importance of language in all school subjects. Another premise is that language as a resource for learning and communication is a high challenge for students who are studying through their second language. The perspectives adopted in the dissertation are those of language and second-language didactics, and of multimodality. The dissertation is based on field notes, audio recordings, collected texts, and interviews. A major question is the extent to which the students are given the potential for coherent meaning making. Another crucial question is how different student groups succeed in the subject of biology, and their potential to move towards the use of more academic language. In the foreground of the study are text analyses in which the notions of intertextuality and recontextualization are an important foundation for understanding, and where textbook, teaching, and student texts are related to each other. The study shows, among other things, the importance of visualization of taxonomic relations, through which connections within a subject can be made explicit. The results also hint at the potential of different visual representations to bridge the gap between everyday and more scientific modes of expression. Mobility between and within discourses can thus be viewed as multimodal. The dissertation also uses the notion of text activities, which can be compared to the Sydney School`s concept of genre. The findings reveal relatively large differences between different chapters in the biology textbook, with regard to text activities, linguistic features, and the degree of multimodality. Differences thus arise in the degree to which these texts are a challenge to the reader. The findings show, moreover, that different images can be regarded as visual text activities and can thus be analysed on the level of text structure. The discrepancy between different student groups in the class is relatively large. The second-language students rarely achieve high grade levels. Lower grades, in turn, mean that standards are set relatively low for written work, and there is also strong teacher mediation at this level. Higher grade levels, on the other hand, require more advanced text activities and more independent reflexive writing and reading. The latter indicates a need for explicit metadiscursive discussions in the classroom. The results also suggest a need for broader language and text production, especially for second-language students

Stability of Acetylated Wood To Environmental Changes

Acetylated wood is more dimensionally stable and resistant to biological attack than unacetylated wood. In this study, the stability of acetylated wood was tested under various pH, temperature, and moisture conditions. Ground acetylated southern yellow pine and aspen flakes were treated with buffer ranging from 2 to 8 pH, exposed at 24 C, 50 C, or 75 C for different periods, and tested for acetyl content. At 24 C, acetylated wood was more stable at pH 6 than pH 2, 4, or 8. At 50 C and 75 C, acetylated wood was more stable at pH 4 than at the other pH values. The half-life of acetylated wood continuously in contact with a buffered liquid at pH 6 and 24 C was approximately 30 years. For acetylated wood used under normal circumstances, the half-life would be expected to be much longer. Acetylated southern yellow pine and aspen flakes were also (1) kept at 90% relative humidity at 27 C for 6 years or (2) cycled (42-day cycle) between 90 and 30% relative humidity for 5 years. The loss of acetyl was less than 2% in both the constant and cyclic relative humidity tests. The stability of acetylated wood suggests that such wood can be used for products exposed to changes in humidity

Profibrinolytic effect of the epigenetic modifier valproic acid in man.

To access publisher's full text version of this article, please click on the hyperlink in Additional Links field or click on the hyperlink at the top of the page marked Files. This article is open access.The aim of the study was to test if pharmacological intervention by valproic acid (VPA) treatment can modulate the fibrinolytic system in man, by means of increased acute release capacity of tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA) as well as an altered t-PA/Plasminogen activator inhibitor -1 (PAI-1) balance. Recent data from in vitro research demonstrate that the fibrinolytic system is epigenetically regulated mainly by histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors. HDAC inhibitors, including VPA markedly upregulate t-PA gene expression in vitro.The trial had a cross-over design where healthy men (n = 10), were treated with VPA (Ergenyl Retard) 500 mg depot tablets twice daily for 2 weeks. Capacity for stimulated t-PA release was assessed in the perfused-forearm model using intra-brachial Substance P infusion and venous occlusion plethysmography. Each subject was investigated twice, untreated and after VPA treatment, with 5 weeks wash-out in-between. VPA treatment resulted in considerably decreased levels of circulating PAI-1 antigen from 22.2 (4.6) to 10.8 (2.1) ng/ml (p<0.05). It slightly decreased the levels of circulating venous t-PA antigen (p<0.05), and the t-PA:PAI-1 antigen ratio increased (p<0.01). Substance P infusion resulted in an increase in forearm blood flow (FBF) on both occasions (p<0.0001 for both). The acute t-PA release in response to Substance P was not affected by VPA (p = ns).Valproic acid treatment lowers plasma PAI-1 antigen levels and changes the fibrinolytic balance measured as t-PA/PAI-1 ratio in a profibrinolytic direction. This may in part explain the reduction in incidence of myocardial infarctions by VPA treatment observed in recent pharmacoepidemiological studies.The EU Clinical Trials Register 2009-011723-31.Swedish Heart-Lung Foundation Swedish Research Council Emelle Foundatio

О причине возникновения неоднородности структуры экструзионных полимерных листов

Тез. докл. VII Междунар. науч.-техн. конф. (науч. чтения, посвящ. П. О. Сухому), Гомель, 23–24 окт. 2008 г

Prirodna trajnost drva izloženoga iznad zemlje – pregled istraživanja

Besides its inherent resistance against degrading organisms, the durability of timber is influenced by design details and climatic conditions, making it difficult to treat wood durability as an absolute value. Durability classification is, therefore, based on comparing performance indicators between the timber in question and a reference timber. These relative values are grouped and related to durability classes, which can refer to a high range of service-lives. The insufficient comparability of such durability records has turned out to be a key challenge for service-life prediction. This paper reviewed literature data, based on service-life measures, not masked by a durability classification. It focused on natural durability of timber tested in the field above-ground. Additionally, results from ongoing aboveground durability studies in Europe and Australia are presented and have been used for further analysis. In total, 163 durability recordings from 31 different test sites worldwide based on ten different test methods have been considered for calculation of resistance factors. The datasets were heterogeneous in quality and quantity; the resulting resistance factors suffered from high variation. In conclusion, an open platform for scientific exchange is needed to increase the amount of available service-life related data.Osim otpornosti drva prema štetnim organizmima, na prirodnu trajnost drva utječe i dizajn detalja na proizvodima od drva te klimatski uvjeti, pa je teško razmatrati svojstvo trajnosti drva kao apsolutnu vrijednost. Stoga je klasifikacija trajnosti drva utemeljena na usporedbi pokazatelja izgleda drva, čija se trajnost određuje prema izgledu referentne drvne građe. Te su relativne vrijednosti grupirane i povezane s klasama trajnosti, što se može odnositi na veliki raspon životnog vijeka drvnih proizvoda. Nedovoljna usporedivost takvih zapisa trajnosti pokazala se kao ključni izazov za predviđanje životnog vijeka drvnih proizvoda. U radu se daje pregled literaturnih podataka utemeljenih na životnom vijeku drvnih proizvoda koji nisu maskirani klasifikacijom trajnosti. Naglasak je na prirodnoj trajnosti drva ispitanoj pri izloženosti drva iznad zemlje. Osim toga, prezentirani su rezultati aktualnih istraživanja prirodne trajnosti drva iznad zemlje u Europi i Australiji te su iskorišteni za daljnju analizu. U obzir za izračun faktora otpornosti uzeta su ukupno 163 podatka o trajnosti drva dobivena s 31 različitoga ispitnog mjesta u svijetu na temelju deset različitih metoda ispitivanja uzeti. Skupovi podataka su heterogeni s obzirom na kvalitetu i količinu, što je rezultiralo velikom varijacijom čimbenika otpornosti. Zaključno, potrebna je otvorena platforma za znanstvene razmjene kako bi se povećala količina dostupnih podataka o životnom vijeku proizvoda