Brandtekniskt Riskvärdering Bråhögshallen

This report is a fire safety assessment of Bråhögshallen, a multi-sport facility located in Staffanstorp in the south of Sweden. The building consists of one larger and one smaller sports hall, a bowling alley and other smaller facilities used for a variety of different sports. Bråhögshallen was built in 1969, and the regulations regarding fire safety has since changed. The assessments in this report are based on current legislations and recommendations. In the evaluation of the fire safety it is only the occupant safety that is being considered. A risk analysis has been performed to determine the fire scenarios which represents the worst credible cases. This evaluation resulted in three scenarios; one in a storage on the stand in the large hall, one in a storage in the small hall and one in the kitchen in the bowling alley. Computer simulation, calculations and qualitative reasoning lies behind the quantification of available time and time to evacuation. Some of the considered factors regarding safe evacuation during fire exceeds the requirements presented in this report. Therefore a series of suggested measures is proposed to improve the evacuation conditions

Regional Holocene climate and landscape changes recorded in the large subarctic lake Torneträsk, N Fennoscandia

Understanding the response of sensitive Arctic and subarctic landscapes to climate change is essential to determine the risks of ongoing and projected climate warming. However, these responses will not be uniform in terms of timing and magnitude across the landscape because of site-specific differences in ecosystem susceptibility to climate forcing. Here we present a multi-proxy analysis of a sediment record from the 330-km2 lake Torneträsk to assess the sensitivity of the Fennoscandian subarctic landscape to climate change over the past ~ 9500 years. By comparing responses of this large-lake system to past climatic and environmental changes with those in small lakes in its catchment, we assessed when the magnitude of change was sufficient to affect an entire region rather than only specific sub-catchments that may be more sensitive to localized environmental changes such as, e.g., tree-line dynamics. Our results show three periods of regional landscape alteration with distinct change in sediment composition: i) landscape development following deglaciation and through the Holocene Thermal Maximum, ~ 9500–3400 cal yr BP; ii) increased soil erosion during the Little Ice Age (LIA); and iii) rapid change during the past century coincident with ongoing climate change. The gradual landscape development led to successive changes in the lake sediment composition over several millennia, whereas climate cooling during the late Holocene caused a rather abrupt shift occurring within ~ 100 years. However, this shift at the onset of the LIA (~ 750 cal yr BP) occurred > 2000 years later than the first indications for climate cooling recorded in small lakes in the Torneträsk catchment, suggesting that a critical ecosystem threshold was not crossed until the LIA. In contrast, the ongoing response to recent climate change was immediate, emphasizing the unprecedented scale of ongoing climate changes in subarctic Fennoscandia

Reindeer husbandry in peril?—How extractive industries exert multiple pressures on an Arctic pastoral ecosystem

Environmental changes and their consequences on biodiversity are known to have far-reaching effects on the resilience of animal populations and associated livelihoods around the world. To counteract negative demographic and economic effects on pastoralism, knowledge about the historical and current status of the environment is essential. In this study, we show how extractive industries, especially large-scale mining, induced a cascade of land conversions which are affecting animal populations and pastoralists’ adaptive responses in northern Sweden. We examine social–ecological vulnerability in Arctic reindeer husbandry by integrating herders’ knowledge, population statistics for semi-domesticated reindeer Rangifer t. tarandus, public data on socio-economic variables and geospatial tools. We determine that approximately 34% of Laevas reindeer herding community's grazing grounds are functionally unavailable to reindeer at present due to the accumulation of multiple competing land use pressures. Reindeer numbers currently only remain stable due to increased management efforts. Moreover, we identified current hotspots of high cumulative impact and mineral exploration as the spatially dominating land use factor in this area. Our approach and results provide new insights for scientifically robust cumulative impact assessments of anthropogenic stressors by creating a baseline of current developments via a combination of reindeer herder's knowledge with historical data of trends and extents of human activity over the last century

Quantification of protein adducts of hexahydrophthalic anhydride and methylhexahydrophthalic anhydride in human plasma

Hexahydrophthalic anhydride (HHPA) and methylhexahydrophthalic anhydride (MHHPA) are two highly allergenic compounds used in the chemical industry. A method was developed for quantification of protein adducts of HHPA and MHHPA in human plasma. The plasma was dialysed and the anhydrides were hydrolysed from the proteins at mild acidic conditions. The released hexahydrophthalic acid (HHP acid) and methylhexahydrophthalic acid (MHHP acid) were purified by reversed solid phase extraction followed by derivatisation with pentafluorobenzyl bromide. The derivatives were analysed using GC-MS in negative ion chemical ionisation mode with ammonia as moderating gas. As internal standards, deuterium labelled HHP and MHHP acids were used. The detection limits were 0.06 pmol mL(-1) plasma for HHP acid and 0.03 pmol mL(-1) plasma for MHHP acid. The between-day precisions for HHP acid were 18% at 0.3 pmol mL(-1) and 8% at 4 pmol mL(-1). For MHHP acid, the precisions were 13% at 0.3 pmol mL(-1) and 9% at 4 pmol mL(-1). There were strong correlations (r=0.94 for HHPA and 0.99 for MHHPA) between total plasma protein adduct concentrations and serum albumin adduct levels. Workers exposed to time-weighted average air levels of HHPA between < 1 and 340 microg m(-3) and between 2 and 160 microg m(-3) for MHHPA had plasma adduct levels between the detection limits of the methods and 8.40 and 19.0 pmol mL(-1), respectively

Total plasma protein adducts of allergenic hexahydrophthalic and methylhexahydrophthalic anhydrides as biomarkers of long-term exposure

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to evaluate the applicability of total plasma protein adducts (TPPA) of 2 sensitizing low-molecular-weight allergens, hexahydrophthalic anhydride (HHPA) and methylhexahydrophthalic anhydride (MHHPA), as biomarkers of long-term exposure. METHODS: Urine samples from occupationally exposed workers were analyzed for the levels of urinary metabolites of HHPA and MHHPA, and the levels were used as the index of exposure. In addition, blood samples were obtained from the same persons, and the levels of TPPA were determined. Reversed solid phase extraction, derivatization using pentafluorobenzyl bromide, and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis in the negative ion chemical ionization mode were used to quantify the exposure. To assess the suitability of TPPA as a biomarker of exposure to the anhydrides, the TPPA levels were correlated to urinary metabolite levels and hemoglobin (Hb) adducts. The toxicokinetics of TPPA were also studied to determine the elimination half-time of the adducts. RESULTS: The levels of TPPA correlated exceptionally well with the metabolite levels in the urine sampled repeatedly, giving r=0.97 for HHPA and r=0.92 for MHHPA. The TPPA of HHPA correlated highly with the Hb adducts with r=0.86. There were also good correlations between single urinary determinations and the TPPA levels (r(s)=0.71 and 0.81, respectively, for HHPA and MHHPA). The in vivo decay of TPPA gave an elimination half-time of 22 days for HHPA and 24 days for MHHPA. CONCLUSIONS: TPPA levels of HHPA and MHHPA are excellent biomarkers of long-term exposure to anhydrides

Swedish Academy Dictionary - SAOB (ELEXIS)

Svenska Akademiens ordbok. The Swedish Academy Dictionary, a historical Dictionary. The first part published in 1883, and in 2019 Words up to and including "VÄVNAD" were finished. It covers the period from 1521 to present

Investigating the link between transport sustainability and the representation of women in Swedish local committees

There are large discrepancies in the transport sector along gender lines in travel patterns and means of transportation used, but also in attitudes and norms among citizens, planners and decision-makers, with women generally more positive towards measures involving the lowering CO2 emissions. At the same time, the number of women involved in transport-related decisions is low. This is a problem for gender equality but possibly also for sustainability. A careful review of previous studies indicated a lack of analyses on the subject based on quantitative data at the local level. We investigated a possible link between women's presence in local policymaking and more sustainable transport policies, and whether it is possible to capture such an effect. The main contribution of this paper is a methodological approach in which, besides generating unique data on representation in municipalities (confirming men's dominance, specifically in transport policymaking), possibilities for quantitatively measuring gender and the level of sustainability in transport planning are discussed and tested. Challenges in collecting relevant data and analyzing possible covariances in the data set are discussed and presented as well as suggestions for further investigations into the possible link between gender and sustainable transport performance

Masculinities and femininities in sustainable transport policy : a focus on Swedish municipalities

Gender identities are relevant for sustainable transport. By analyzing the synergies between gender inequality (as a problem), and lack of sustainability (another problem), there is a potential to create an understanding of how these problems are linked. Our aim is to better understand how gendered norms find expression in transport policy and planning. Taking a starting point in gender studies we advance four ideal types on masculine and feminine norms and relate them to sustainability in transport. We advance a methodology for studying gender norms in relation to sustainability in terms of how they are expressed in the text. We contribute to a deeper understanding of transportation related to men and masculinity studies, and advance work by masculinity scholars to include sustainability in transportation issues. Through text analysis, we demonstrate empirically how four Swedish municipalities have developed their (sustainable) transport policies 2014–2018. Our results indicate that the level of sustainability, in plans and strategies, are related to the presence of diverse masculine and feminine norms rather than male and female bodies

Serum albumins are the major site for in vivo formation of hapten-carrier protein adducts in plasma from humans and guinea-pigs exposed to type-1 allergy inducing hexahydrophthalic anhydride

BACKGROUND: Organic acid anhydrides (OAAs) are highly allergenic compounds used in the chemical industry. The OAAs probably act as haptens but the proteins that form conjugates with OAAs in vivo are still unknown. Conjugates between the anhydrides and serum albumins (SAs) have routinely been used when testing for OAA-specific antibodies. However, the use of SA as the carrier-protein in these tests has never been evaluated. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to identify major and also immunologically relevant protein conjugates of a particularly sensitizing OAA, hexahydrophthalic anhydride (HHPA), in plasma. METHODS: Plasma was obtained from a HHPA-exposed worker, from a guinea-pig (GP) exposed to HHPA in an exposure chamber for 2 weeks (8 h/day, 5 days/week) and from a GP exposed once, nose-only, to tritium-labelled HHPA for 8 h. The plasma was fractionated using ion exchange chromatography and gel filtration. These fractions and also aliquots of unfractioned plasma were hydrolysed, derivatized and analysed for anhydride adduct content using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Further, plasma from the tritium labelled HHPA-exposed GP was separated by SDS gel electrophoresis and analysed by autoradiography. In addition, immunologically relevant proteins were identified through specific IgE and IgG immunoblottings using sera from exposed workers. RESULTS: For humans > 85% and for GPs > 74% of the HHPA-adducts coeluted with SA in plasma. Autoradiography of GP-plasma shows a single 66 kDa protein that binds HHPA. IgE immunoblotting shows a major 66 kDa and a minor 28 kDa protein which could be inhibited by HHPA-SA conjugate. IgG immunoblotting showed a major 66 kDa protein and several minor protein bands. CONCLUSION: This study shows SA to be the major protein in plasma that forms adducts in vivo with HHPA. The results also show that in an in vitro synthesized HHPA plasma protein conjugate, HHPA-specific IgE and IgG antibodies bind preferably to the SA