Policies based upon Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) aim to reduce the environmental impacts of products across their entire life cycle. The intent is to induce design changes in products and thus reduce impacts at source. This, by provision of incentives to producers through an extension of responsibility. Since the early 1990s, a number of countries have incorporated the concept of EPR int

The influence of the factor V Leiden mutation on the development of neovascular complications in central retinal vein occlusion was studied. The presence of the mutation was found to enhance the risk of developing neovascular complications almost threefold compared to in patients without the mutation. Optic nerve head swelling, which recently has been presented as an indicator of good prognosis i

Ethanol produced from renewable resources can be used to replace fossil fuels such as gasoline and diesel. This thesis deals with the development of the enzymatic process used for ethanol production from softwood. A techno-economic tool, based on Aspen Plus and Icarus Process Evaluator, was developed in which the whole process, from raw material to ethanol, was studied and critical process paramet

Microemulsions are thermodynamically stable, transparent solutions of water, oil and amphiphile(s). It is possible to incorporate large amounts of oil in microemulsions, which makes them interesting for use as a drug delivery vehicle for water insoluble drugs. A prerequisite for pharmaceutical use, however, is a low toxicity of the composition. The aim of this thesis has thus been to characterize

The aim of this thesis is to analyse the status of new stained glass from 1851-1955. The point of departure is that, despite stained glass having been part of the ?uvre of many well-known artists, it is often not included in the general history of art. One primary methodological approach is to examine the issue of status emerging from notions of the media-specific qualities of stained glass. The

daptive responsive environments that encourage interaction for children with severe disabilities offer a distinct potential for play and learning in rehabilitation. Physical training and therapy for these children is often enduring, tedious, and boring through repetition - and this is often the case for both the child and the facilitator/therapist. Despite this, little is yet known about how the u

Isocyanates may cause occupational asthma, rhinitis, and hypersensitivity pneumonitis. However, the mechanisms behind initiation of the disorders and the relations between exposure and effect are insufficiently elucidated. Means to biomonitor exposure and risk would be valuable. A case, exposed to heated polyurethane, displayed metabolites of 4,4'-dipheylmethane diisocyanate in blood and urine, an

The aim of this work was to quantify limitations of and uncertainties in commonly used dosimetric techniques for relative absorbed dose determination in degraded electron beams, such as those encountered in intraoperative radiation therapy (IORT) and small-electron-field radiotherapy. Three different detector types were investigated with regard to measurements of output factors and relative absorb

Traditional off-line programming is not enough in order to use the full potential of virtual models and simulation system in industrial robot applications. The interface between off-line programming system and the robot controller is today restricted to program transfer. In this way a large amount of information is lost since typical robot programming languages is rather limited. If the virtual m

The link between population mobility and environmental change is fundamental for our understanding of how future global environmental changes will affect our societies, and also how the increased mobility will change our role in the Earth system. Climate change has been predicted as a major cause of human migration, both voluntary and forced, through for example increased storm and drought frequen

Women ask for less salary than men in negotiations. Sex differences in negotiating performance have recently been explained as stereotype threat effects. Stereotype threat theory states that the performance of negatively stereotyped group-members can suffer in contexts where the negative stereotype is salient. Women are stereo¬typed as bad negotiators, compared to men, and previous research has sh

The Lund string fagmentation model was reformulated as a process along the boundary curve of the string called the directrix, in order to treat multigluon strings according to the Lund model area law. It was found that the hadrons in the final state could be collected into several groups, in such a way that the energy-momenta of the hadrons in a group lie in a plane in the Minkowski space within s

In the business-to-business (B2B) setting much attention has been given to how e-business tools can be used to assist firms in purchasing. Considering the increasing pressure on suppliers to use B2B e-business, this thesis turns its attention to the supplier situation by taking a closer look at how collaborative uses of B2B e-business are of value to suppliers. This book differs from much of the

Using experiments it is rather easy to measure things on the macroscopic length scale, while it is much harder to measure something in the microscopic world like molecular structure. The opposite is true in theoretical chemistry. It is today rather easy to calculate a bond distance or a coordination number, but it is not possible to perform a calculation aiming at the description of macroscopic ph

This study explores the role of transcriptional regulation important in the development of L-DOPA-induced dyskinesia in a rat model of Parkinson’s disease. In patients with Parkinson’s disease, dyskinesia is one of the most difficult complications of the DA-replacement therapy by L-DOPA. The underlying mechanisms are still unknown, but a role of abnormal striatal plasticity has been proposed. The

Urinary tract infections (UTI) are among the most common infections in man. Despite their prevalence, information on the molecular mechanisms defects that explain the increased susceptibility to disease are lacking. This study focused on mucosal inflammation and the molecular mechanisms by which uropathogenic Escherichia coli activate this response. P fimbriae are expressed by most E. coli strain

In railway traffic the low friction between wheel and rail causes long braking distances, normally much longer than the sight distance of the driver, i.e. if the driver starts the braking when a problem on the track is discovered, it might be too late to brake the train. Therefore, safe railway traffic can not only rely on the driver. It is necessary to have a signalling or even an automatic surve

This thesis pertains to the models for studying sparking in chemically inert gases. The models are derived from the basic principles and framework in continuum mechanics. The processes taking place in a spark to flame transition can be segregated into physical and chemical processes. This study is focused on physical processes. The plasma is regarded as a single-substance material. One and two-dim

The main purpose of this thesis is to examine the impact of social change on Chinese intergenerational relations in contemporary Singapore. Within only three decades, Singapore has turned into a wealthy and sophisticated metropolis with a highly educated labor force. The massive transformation, however, has been accompanied by the emergence of a deep and complex generation gap. Apart from the leap

The Grammar of The Hype digital information technology -IT- in retelling as myth its experienced reality and in scientific analysis or the IT-hype in the years prior to and at the turn of the millennium waiting for the next hype and the next, and“next”... This is the title of my thesis and it focuses rather on a particular “hype” than deals with the so-called information society as such. What is