Biogas plant management decision support – a temperature and time-dependent dynamic methane emission model for digestate storages

The aim was to develop a temperature and time-dependent model that can calculate the methane production in an anaerobic digester and its subsequent digestate storage tank under realistic and variable conditions. With a daily resolution, the model was applied to a Swedish dairy farm under two different climatic conditions. The most influential parameters were hydraulic retention time and the substrate specific first order reaction rates in the digester, which have a big influence on the residual biogas potential, and hence the potential methane production in the digestate storage. The management of the storage can have a large impact on the emissions from the storage due to its temperature dependence. The model can be used to support plant design and operation of anaerobic digesters and storages, but further research is needed to determine first-order reaction rates and the relationship between the ambient and digestate temperatures at different times of the year

The Challenges of Social Infrastructure for Urban Planning

This editorial addresses social infrastructure in relation to urban planning and localisation, drawing together the themes in this thematic issue on “Localizing Social Infrastructures: Welfare, Equity, and Community.” Having contextualised social infrastructure, we present each of the 12 contributions by theme: (a) the social consequences of the localisation of social infrastructure for individuals, (b) the preconditions for localising social infrastructure in the urban landscape, and (c) the social consequences for the long-term social sustainability of the wider community. We conclude with the openings for future research, such as the need to continue researching localisation (for example, the ways localisations of social infrastructure support, maintain, or hinder inclusion and community-building, and which benefits would come out of using localisation as a strategic planning tool); second, funding (the funding of non-commercial social infrastructure and who would take on the responsibility); and third, situated knowledge (the knowledge needed by planners, architects, social service officials, decision makers, and the like to address and safeguard the importance of social infrastructure in urban development and regeneration processes)

Osaamiskartoitus osana henkilöstön kehittämistä. Case St1 Oy.

Tämä Pro Gradu tutkielma on tehty toimeksiantona St1 Oy:lle. Olen selvittänyt mahdollisuutta hyödyntää heidän käyttämiään tehtäväkuvauslomakkeita osaamiskartoituksessa. St1 Oy:ssä on takana yrityskauppa ja fuusio, ja uudessa yrityksessä ryhdyttiin uudistamaan myös henkilöstön kehittämis- ja palkitsemiskäytäntöjä. Osaamiskartoitus oli yksi mielenkiintoinen osa-alue henkilöstön kehittämisessä. Tehtäväkuvauslomakkeissa kartoitetut tehtävän edellyttämät tiedolliset ja taidolliset valmiudet vaikuttivat potentiaalisilta kartoittamiskohteilta. Osaamiskartoituksen haasteita ovat osaamisen ja tiedon määritteleminen ja kartoituksen ammattimainen toteuttaminen ja seuranta yrityksessä. Osaamiskartoitus on yksi osa kokonaisvaltaista henkilöstön kehittämistä. Sitä voidaan käyttää tukemaan työntekijöiden kehittämistä sekä yrityksessä piilevän osaamispotentiaalin tunnistamista, jos yritys näkee sen tarkoituksenmukaiseksi. Osaamiskartoituksen tulee olla osa strategista henkilöstön kehittämistä, johon kaikkien yrityksen toimijoiden tulee sitoutua. Sitoutuminen ja kehittämissuunnitelmien liittäminen strategiaan lähtee yrityksen johdosta, joka antaa tietoa ja toimii yhteistyössä henkilöstöhallinnon ammattilaisten ja keskijohdon kanssa. Henkilöstöhallinto toimii koordinaattorina ja linkkinä eri ryhmien välillä. Esimiehen tehtävänä on toteuttaa keskustelut ja kartoitukset ja hän saa tarvittaessa tukea henkilöstöhallinnosta. Esimiehellä on tieto työntekijän arjesta ja hänen tulee käyttää esimiesvaltaansa perustellusti. Kehittämistoimet ja osaamisen kartoittaminen vaikuttaa työntekijän motivaatioon, tietojen ja taitojen kehittymiseen sekä hänen urakehitykseensä. Yritys hyötyy tyytyväisistä ja osaavista työntekijöistä. Osaamiskartoitus antaa mahdollisuuden kartoittaa henkilöstön nykyinen osaaminen, kehittämiskohteet sekä piilevän potentiaalin

C-reactive protein, established risk factors and social inequalities in cardiovascular disease – the significance of absolute versus relative measures of disease

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The widespread use of relative scales in socioepidemiological studies has recently been criticized. The criticism is based mainly on the fact that the importance of different risk factors in explaining social inequalities in cardiovascular disease (CVD) varies, depending on which scale is used to measure social inequalities. The present study examines the importance of established risk factors, as opposed to low-grade inflammation, in explaining socioeconomic differences in the incidence of CVD, using both relative and absolute scales.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We obtained information on socioeconomic position (SEP), established risk factors (smoking, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia), and low-grade inflammation as measured by high-sensitive (hs) C-reactive protein (CRP) levels, in 4,268 Swedish men and women who participated in the Malmö Diet and Cancer Study (MDCS). Data on first cardiovascular events, i.e., stroke or coronary event (CE), was collected from regional and national registers. Social inequalities were measured in relative terms, i.e., as ratios between incidence rates in groups with lower and higher SEP, and also in absolute terms, i.e., as the absolute difference in incidence rates in groups with lower and higher SEP.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Those with low SEP had a higher risk of future CVD. Adjustment for risk factors resulted in a rather small reduction in the relative socioeconomic gradient, namely 8% for CRP (≥ 3 mg/L) and 21% for established risk factors taken together. However, there was a reduction of 18% in the absolute socioeconomic gradient when looking at subjects with CRP-levels < 3 mg/L, and of 69% when looking at a low-risk population with no smoking, hypertension, or hyperlipidemia.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>C-reactive protein and established risk factors all contribute to socioeconomic differences in CVD. However, conclusions on the importance of "modern" risk factors (here, CRP), as opposed to established risk factors, in the association between SEP and CVD depend on the scale on which social inequalities are measured. The one-sided use of the relative scale, without including a background of absolute levels of disease, and of what causes disease, can consequently prevent efforts to reduce established risk factors by giving priority to research and preventive programs looking in new directions.</p

A healthy city for all? Social services roles in collaborative urban development

There is broad consensus among policymakers about the urgency of developing healthy, inclusive, and socially sustainable cities. In the Swedish context, social services are considered to have knowledge that needs to be integrated into the broader urban development processes in order to accomplish such ends. This article aims to better understand the ways in which social service officials collaborate in urban development processes for developing the social dimensions of healthy cities. We draw from neo-institutional theories, which set out actors (e.g., social service officials) as acting according to a logic of appropriateness, which means that actors do what they see as appropriate for themselves in a specific type of situation. Based on semi-structured interviews with social services officials in 10 Swedish municipalities on their experiences of collaboration in the development of housing and living environments for people with psychiatric disabilities, we identified that they act based on (a) a pragmatic rule of conduct through the role of the problem solver, (b) a bureaucratic rule of conduct through the role of the knowledge provider, and (c) activist rule of conduct through the role of the advocator. In these roles, they have little authority in the development processes, and are unable to set the agenda for the social dimensions of healthy cities but act as the moral consciousness by looking out for everyone’s right to equal living conditions in urban development

Photocoagulation of human retinal pigment epithelial cells in vitro: evaluation of necrosis, apoptosis, cell migration, cell proliferation and expression of tissue repairing and cytoprotective genes.

Sight-threatening diabetic retinopathy has been treated with photocoagulation for decades but the mechanisms behind the beneficial clinical effects are poorly understood. One target of irradiation and a potential player in this process is the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE). Here we establish an in vitro model for photocoagulation of human RPE cells

High glucose enhances store-operated calcium entry by upregulating ORAI/STIM via calcineurin-NFAT signalling

© 2014, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg. Abstract: ORAI and stromal interaction molecule (STIM) are store-operated channel molecules that play essential roles in human physiology through a coupling mechanism of internal Ca 2+ store to Ca 2+ influx. However, the roles of ORAI and STIM in vascular endothelial cells under diabetic conditions remain unknown. Here, we investigated expression and signalling pathways of ORAI and STIM regulated by high glucose or hyperglycaemia using in vitro cell models, in vivo diabetic mice and tissues from patients. We found that ORAI1-3 and STIM1-2 were ubiquitously expressed in human vasculatures. Their expression was upregulated by chronic treatment with high glucose (HG, 25 mM d-glucose), which was accompanied by enhanced store-operated Ca 2+ influx in vascular endothelial cells. The increased expression was also observed in the aortae from genetically modified Akita diabetic mice (C57BL/6-Ins2 Akita /J) and streptozocin-induced diabetic mice, and aortae from diabetic patients. HG-induced upregulation of ORAI and STIM genes was prevented by the calcineurin inhibitor cyclosporin A and NFATc3 siRNA. Additionally, in vivo treatment with the nuclear factor of activated T cells (NFAT) inhibitor A-285222 prevented the gene upregulation in Akita mice. However, HG had no direct effects on ORAI1-3 currents and the channel activation process through cytosolic STIM1 movement in the cells co-expressing STIM1-EYFP/ORAIs. We concluded that upregulation of STIM/ORAI through Ca 2+ -calcineurin-NFAT pathway is a novel mechanism causing abnormal Ca 2+ homeostasis and endothelial dysfunction under hyperglycaemia. Key message: ORAI1-3 and STIM1-2 are ubiquitously expressed in vasculatures and upregulated by high glucose.Increased expression is confirmed in Akita (Ins2 Akita /J) and STZ diabetic mice and patients.Upregulation mechanism is mediated by Ca 2+ /calcineurin/NFATc3 signalling.High glucose has no direct effects on ORAI1-3 channel activity and channel activation process

New and interesting records of lichens from Pältsan (Mt Bealccan) in northernmost Sweden

Austroplaca subtiroliensis, Gyalidea lecideopsis, Phacographa protoparmeliae, Placynthium pulvinatum and Solorina octospora are reported new to Sweden. Several other rare or rarely collected lichens are also reported: Absconditella annexa, Arthrorhaphis vacillans, Farnoldia micropsis, Gyalidea polyspora, Ionaspis ventosa, Lecanora lecanoricola, L. leptacinella, Lecidea commaculans, Pachyascus lapponicus, Placidiopsis pseudocinerea, Schadonia fecunda, Scytinium aquale and Thelocarpon sphaerosporum