Driftskontroll av kalkdoseringsanlegg i Mandalsvassdraget. Avviksrapport 2010

Driftskontroll av kalkdoseringsanleggene i Mandalsvassdraget gjennomføres for å avdekke effektiviteten til de enkelte anleggene i vassdraget. Avviksrapporten er en sammenfatning av hendelser i rapporteringsperioden. Den foreslår også tiltak for optimalisering av rutiner, installasjoner og kalkingsstrategi. Smeland doseringsanlegg hadde dårligere driftssikkerhet enn normalt. Det etterlyses klare retningslinjer for doseringsregimet ved anlegget. Håverstad-anlegget doserte meget tilfredsstillende. Doseringsbidraget fra Smeland kan være tilstrekkelig for å avhjelpe midlertidig forsuring ved ekstreme vannføringer i vassdraget. Bjelland-anlegget doserte tilfredsstillende for lakseførende strekning i elva til tross for langvarig defekt i radiooverføringene av pH-data. Vannføringsmåleren bør flyttes slik at maksimal vannføring kan registreres. Kartlegging av pH-effektene ved stasjonen nedstrøms anlegget bør gjennomføres. Logåna-anlegget hadde dårligere driftssikkerhet enn normalt. Mange signalfeil oppsto på anlegget. Anlegget var for lang tid stengt av. Tiltak må gjennomføres for å sikre bedre kontinuerlig driftsvakt

Undersøkelse av Østeråbukta, Tvedestrand, i 2012 Vurdering av utvidet båthavn

Undersøkelse av miljøgiftinnholdet i sedimenter fra fem stasjoner i Østeråbukta, Tvedestrand, ble gjennomført i 2012 for å oppdatere tilstandsstatus etter utvidelser av båthavna. Analyseresultatene viste at alle stasjonene ved både det gamle og nye bryggeanlegget i Østeråbukta var meget sterkt forurenset av tributyltinn (TBT) og sterkt forurenset av PAH, kobber og bly. Konsentrasjonen av TBT og PAH hadde økt siden 2004 og kan tyde på fortsatt aktive kilder enten fra land eller gjennom stadig resuspensjon av forurensede sedimenter. Konsentrasjonen av kobber, bly og kvikksølv var litt lavere i 2012 enn i 2004 ved det eldste bryggeanlegget, mens konsentrasjonene hadde økt i ytre del av Østeråbukta. Det konkluderes med at det fortsatt er svært forurensede sedimenter i Østeråbukta og at det synes å være en svak forverring i området.Østerå Eiendom AS og Tvedestrand Motorbåtforenin

Undersøkelser av imposex og intersex i marine snegler i Vikkilen ved Grimstad i perioden 2005-2012

Tributyltinn (TBT) har vært brukt som begroingshindrende tilsetning i skipsmaling siden 1960-tallet. TBT er meget giftig overfor en rekke arter og kan forårsake hormonhermende effekter hos marine snegler i form av kjønnsforstyrrelser. Disse kalles imposex hos nettsnegl og purpursnegl og intersex hos strandsnegl. Sedimentene i Vikkilen ved Grimstad er forurenset med høye TBT-konsentrasjoner. Undersøkelser av intersex hos strandsnegl i 2005 viste klare hormonforstyrrende effekter. Her rapporteres oppfølgende undersøkelser som i tillegg inkluderer imposex hos nettsnegl og purpursnegl fram til 2012. Resultatene viser en entydig bedring av graden av kjønnsforstyrrelse hos både strandsnegl og nettsnegl i perioden 2005 til 2012. Undersøkelsen viste likevel en klart økende kjønnsforstyrrelse innover i kilen og høyest nærmest AS Nymo. Resultatene viser at strandsnegl, som lever på fjellbunn, har raskere forbedring enn nettsnegl, som lever i sedimentet. Det ble ikke funnet tegn til imposex hos purpursnegl i fjordområdet utenfor Vikkilen i 2011. Strandsnegl og nettsnegl bør overvåkes videre for å undersøke hvor mye lengre tid nettsnegl trenger på å bli friskmeldt i forhold til strandsnegl.NIVA og AS Nym

Orbital-optimized Density Functional Calculations of Molecular Rydberg Excited States with Real Space Grid Representation and Self-Interaction Correction

Density functional calculations of Rydberg excited states up to high energy are carried out for several molecules using an approach where the orbitals are variationally optimized by converging on saddle points on the electronic energy surface within a real space grid representation. Remarkably good agreement with experimental estimates of the excitation energy is obtained using the generalized gradient approximation (GGA) functional of Perdew, Burke and Ernzerhof (PBE) when Perdew-Zunger self-interaction correction is applied in combination with complex-valued orbitals. Even without the correction, the PBE functional gives quite good results despite the fact that corresponding Rydberg virtual orbitals have positive energy in the ground state calculation. Results obtained using the TPSS and r2SCAN meta-GGA functionals are also presented, but they do not provide a systematic improvement over the results from the uncorrected PBE functional. The grid representation combined with the projector augmented-wave approach gives a simpler and better representation of the diffuse Rydberg orbitals than a linear combination of atomic orbitals with commonly used basis sets, the latter leading to an overestimation of the excitation energy due to confinement of the excited states.Comment: 34 pages, 8 figure

Evaluation of a geometry-based knee joint compared to a planar knee joint

peer reviewedToday neuromuscular simulations are used in sev- eral fields, such as diagnostics and planing of surgery, to get a deeper understanding of the musculoskeletal system. Dur- ing the last year, new models and datasets have been pre- sented which can provide us with more in-depth simulations and results. The same kind of development has occurred in the field of studying the human knee joint using complex three dimensional finite element models and simulations. In the field ofmusculoskeletal simulations, no such knee joints can be used. Instead themost common knee joint description is an idealized knee joint with limited accuracy or a planar knee joint which only describes the knee motion in a plane. In this paper, a new knee joint based on both equations and geometry is introduced and compared to a common clinical planar knee joint. The two kinematical models are analyzed using a gait motion, and are evaluated using the muscle ac- tivation and joint reaction forces which are compared to in- vivo measured forces. We show that we are able to predict the lateral, anterior and longitudinal moments, and that we are able to predict better knee and hip joint reaction forces

Overvåking av sjøresipienten for avløp fra Åremma avfallsdeponi ved Rynes i Vefsnfjorden

Søndre Helgeland Miljøverk (SHMIL) har et avfallsdeponi i Åremma med utleding av sigevann til Vefsnfjorden ved Rynes. Her er det gjennomført undersøkelser av miljøgifter i sedimentet i 2003 og 2006 samt undersøkelser av miljøgifter i vannmasser og sedimenter, alger og dyr i fjæra og sammen­setningen av dyrelivet på bløtbunn i 2009/2010. Miljøforholdene ved Rynes er stort sett gode. Vannmassene og sedimentene er noe påvirket av tidligere høye utslipp av PAH til fjorden. Strandsonen er preget av få arter på grunn av den naturlige ferskvannstilførslen til Vefsnfjorden. Det kan ikke påvises noen endring i miljøgiftinnholdet i sedimentene fra 2003 til 2009.Søndre Helgeland Miljøverk IKS (SHMIL

Virtual reality simulation training in stroke thrombectomy centers with limited patient volume—Simulator performance and patient outcome

publishedVersio

Virtual reality simulation training in stroke thrombectomy centers with limited patient volume—Simulator performance and patient outcome

Background Virtual reality simulation training may improve the technical skills of interventional radiologists when establishing endovascular thrombectomy at limited-volume stroke centers. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the technical thrombectomy performance of interventional radiologists improved after a defined virtual reality simulator training period. As part of the quality surveillance of clinical practice, we also assessed patient outcomes and thrombectomy quality indicators at the participating centers. Methods Interventional radiologists and radiology residents from three thrombectomy-capable stroke centers participated in a five months thrombectomy skill-training curriculum on a virtual reality simulator. The simulator automatically registered procedure time, the number of predefined steps that were correctly executed, handling errors, contrast volume, fluoroscopy time, and radiation dose exposure. The design was a before-after study. Two simulated thrombectomy cases were used as pretest and posttest cases, while seven other cases were used for training. Utilizing the Norwegian Stroke Register, we investigated clinical results in thrombectomy during the study period. Results Nineteen interventional radiologists and radiology residents participated in the study. The improvement between pretest and posttest cases was statistically significant for all outcome measures in both simulated cases, except for the contrast volume used in one case. Clinical patient outcomes in all three centers were well within the recommendations from multi-society consensus guidelines. Conclusion Performance on the virtual reality simulator improved after training. Virtual reality simulation may improve the learning curve for interventional radiologists in limited-volume thrombectomy centers. No correlation alleged, the clinical data indicates that the centers studied performed thrombectomy in accordance with guideline-recommended standards.publishedVersio

First results from NA60 on low mass muon pair production in In-In collisions at 158 GeV/nucleon

The NA60 experiment at the CERN SPS studies dimuon production in proton-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus collisions. The combined information from a novel vertex telescope made of radiation-tolerant silicon pixel detectors and from the muon spectrometer previously used in NA50 allows for a precise measurement of the muon vertex and a much improved dimuon mass resolution. We report on first results from the data taken for Indium-Indium collisions at 158 AGeV/nucleon in 2003, concentrating on a subsample of about 370 000 muon pairs in the mass range $<1.2$ GeV/$c^{2}$. The light vector mesons $\omega$ and $\phi$ are completely resolved, with a mass resolution of about 23 MeV/$c^{2}$ at the $\phi$. The transverse momentum spectra of the $\phi$ are measured over the continuous range $0<p_{\rm T}<2.5$ GeV/c; the inverse slope parameter of the spectra is found to increase with centrality, with an average value of $T=252\pm3$ MeV.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures. Plenary talk, SQM2004 conference, Cape Town, South Africa 15-20 September, 2004. To be published in Journal of Physics G: Nuclear and Particle Physic

Exploring correlations between sex steroids and fatty acids and their potential roles in the induced maturation of the male European eel

[EN] The present study was undertaken to evaluate the correlations between the fatty acids in the liver and testis and the plasma levels of the hormonal steroids used during eel spermatogenesis, in order to clarify the physiological roles fatty acids play in the spermatogenetic process. The stages of testis development (S1-S5) were assessed by histological observations in order to classify the different phases of hormonally-induced spermatogenesis and evaluate the possible relationships between the hormones and fatty acids in each stage. The highest plasma levels of 17 beta-estradiol (E2), testosterone (T) and 11-ketotestosterone (11KT) were found in S1, when spermatogonial proliferation occurs. A correlation was found between 17 alpha-20 beta-dihydroxy-4-pregnen-3- one (DHP) levels and some fatty acids during the proliferation and growing phases (S1-2), suggesting that DHP might modulate lipid metabolism in the liver during early spermatogenesis. The DHP levels increased significantly during the growing phase (S2) and remained at high levels throughout the subsequent development stages (S3-S5). Similar to results found in mammals, our results show that in the eel there are regulatory mechanisms, including eicosapentaenoic acid (20:5-n3, EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (22:6-n3, DHA), which act as modulators in the synthesis of androgens, particularly during the final phase of sperm maturation. Our results suggest that the fact that EPA, ARA and DHA concentrations in the eel testis remain constant/stable during spermiation could be related to the subsequent union of the spermatozoa and the egg. The findings from this research provide new insights for further studies about the possible effect of steroids on desaturase activity and highlight the importance of the effect of lipid metabolism during male eel spermatogenesis. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Funded by the European Community's 7th Framework Programme under the Theme 2 "Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, and Biotechnology", grant agreement no. 245257 (PRO-EEL). D. S. P. had a contract co-financed by MICINN and UPV (PTA2011-4948-I) and received a Shortterm Scientific Mission grant from COST Office (Food and Agriculture COST Action FA1205: AQUAGAMETE) to carry out the steroids analyses in Norway.Baeza Ariño, R.; Peñaranda, D.; Vilchez Olivencia, MC.; Tveiten, H.; Pérez Igualada, LM.; Asturiano Nemesio, JF. (2015). Exploring correlations between sex steroids and fatty acids and their potential roles in the induced maturation of the male European eel. Aquaculture. 435:328-335. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aquaculture.2014.10.016S32833543