A case study is presented that evaluates the impact of partial automation strategies on productivity and ergonomics. A company partly automated its assembly and transportation functions while moving from a parallel-batch to a serial line-based production system. Data obtained from company records and key informants were combined with detailed video analysis, biomechanical modelling data and field

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the risk for vascular morbidity or death and retinopathy in relation to urinary albumin concentration. To that end, we performed a 5-year follow-up study of all type 2 diabetic patients attending the outpatient-clinic. A total of 444 (98.4%) out of 451 adult patients initially studied were evaluated for the degree of retinopathy and levels of HbA1c bloo

The influence of gender, age, residential area, and socioeconomic status on the blood and serum levels of 13 trace elements was studied in boys and girls living in two Swedish cities with different socioeconomic and environmental characters. The same groups of adolescents were sampled twice, at ages 15 (n = 372) and 17 (n = 294) years. All the investigated factors were shown to be of importance. A

The effects of heavy-metal-containing sewage sludge on the soil microbial community were studied in two agricultural soils of different textures, which had been contaminated separately with three predominantly single metals (Cu, Zn, and Ni) at two different levels more than 20 years ago. We compared three community-based microbiological measurements, namely, phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) analysis

Birds on migration alternate between consuming fuel stores during flights and accumulating fuel stores during stopovers. The optimal timing and length of flights and stopovers for successful migration depend heavily on the extra metabolic power input (fuel use) required to carry the fuel stores during flight(1,2). The effect of large fuel loads on metabolic power input has never been empirically d

Gene expression for glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) family ligands and receptors was analyzed with in situ hybridization after two focal ischemic insults of different severities. Focal ischemia was induced in rats by either 30 min or 2 h of middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO), causing damage to the striatum only, or involving also the parietal cortex, respectively. We found

The problem studied in this paper is how to distribute computingresources over a set of realtime control loops in order to optimizethe total control performance. Two subproblems are investigated: howthe control performance depends on the sampling interval, and how arecursive resource allocation optimization routine can be designed.Linear quadratic cost functions are used as performance indicators.

Population synchrony over various geographical scales is known from a large number of taxa. Three main hypotheses have been put forward as explanations to this phenomenon. First, correlated environmental disturbances (so called Moran effect). Moran showed that at least for linear models, the population synchrony would exactly match that of the corresponding environment. Second, the migration, or d

Large eddy simulations of a three-dimensional turbulent thermal plume in an open environment have been carried out using a self-developed parallel computational fluid dynamics code SMAFS (smoke movement and flame spread) to study the thermal plume's dynamics including its puffing, self-preserving and air entrainment. In the simulation, the sub-grid stress was modeled using both the standard Smagor

Background and Purpose: To prospectively assess the feasibility and efficacy of a hypofractionated accelerated radiotherapy regimen (72 Gy in 24 daily fractions, 3Gy per fraction) in patients (pts) with non-resectable non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Material and Methods: We included 25 Ins with a histologically or cytologically proven NSCLC, with KPS greater than or equal to 70 and less than o

The objectives of this study are to develop and demonstrate an approach to improve emergency response capability by strengthening individual and organisational learning from the evaluations of specific emergency responses. An approach was developed based on theories of individual and organisational learning. It was applied to evaluations of three instances of emergency response in the city of Malm

Amorphous drug nanosuspensions are prone to particle growth due to Ostwald ripening. By incorporating a second component of extremely low aqueous solubility, Ostwald ripening can be inhibited. These studies indicate that to inhibit ripening, the drug/inhibitor mixture (in the particles) must form a single phase. The drug/inhibitor mixture can be characterized by the interaction parameter chi using

An initial-boundary value problem to a system of nonlinear partial differential equations, which consists of a hyperbolic and a parabolic part, is taken into consideration. The problem is discretised by a compact finite difference method. An approximation of the numerical solution is constructed, at which the difference scheme is linearised. Nonlinear convergence is proved using the stability of t