New vegetation in barren areas offers possibilities for sequestering carbon in the soil. Arid and semi-arid areas (ASAs) are candidates for new vegetation. The possibility of agriculture in ASAs is ...reviewed, revealing the potential for cultivation by covering the surface with a layer of organic fibres. This layer collects more water from humidity in the air than does the uncovered mineral surface, and creates a humid environment that promotes microbial life. One possibility is to use large amounts of organic fibres for soil enhancement in ASAs. In the context of the European Commission Waste Framework Directive, the possibility of using textile waste from Sweden is explored. The costs for using Swedish textile waste are high, but possible gains are the sale of agricultural products and increased land prices as well as environmental mitigation. The findings suggest that field research on such agriculture in ASAs should start as soon as possible.
The thermal conversion of biomass fuel mixes in fluidized beds can cause agglomeration. To counteract agglomeration, bed material is gradually exchanged with virgin bed material, and this results in ...increased disposal of used bed material. Furthermore, the bed material exchange represents a costly option, as it involves a cost for virgin bed material, for landfill, and for unplanned downtime of the plant.
This paper presents a novel method for the evaluation of bed material quality: the electronic tongue (ET). Evaluation of bed material quality can contribute toward decreasing the cost of unnecessary exchanges of bed material. The proposed method was tested on bed material sampled on an almost daily basis from a commercial fluidized bed boiler during several months of operation.
A two-electrode ET was used for the evaluation of the bed material quality. The analysis relied on pulsed voltammetry measurements and multivariate data analysis with Principal Component Analysis (PCA). The results suggest that it is possible to follow bed material changes and that the ET, after further development, may be used to optimize the material flows connected to the bed material. Further research is being conducted to optimize the ET’s performance and its application in monitoring bed material.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Abstract One of the traits of ageism is the categorization of the aged into stereotypes. One such concept is that old people participate less socially and are lonely. If the variation among the aged ...is greater than among younger persons, the stereotype is increasingly misrepresenting the aging population. Such variation is rarely studied in properties assessed by ordinal scale measurements. Is the variation in social participation measured on ordinal scale increasing as a function of age? A measurement of ordinal dispersion was used. The data was from the longitudinal-studied random sample of one thousand one hundred and forty-eight 70-year-old persons born on 1901/1902 who lived in Gothenburg, Sweden in 1971. This sample has been referred to as the H70 sample. Seven aspects of social participation were assessed by interviews. In all but one aspects of social participation there was an increase in dispersion by increasing age. This increase in dispersion by increasing age is not in accordance with a stereotype concept of aging. This result points to an increased risk of ageism by increasing age as the dispersion in social participation increases with age in several aspects.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
The aim was to explore experiences of daily occupations among the oldest old. Ten 99-year-old persons were interviewed in their living environment about an ordinary day. The interviews were analysed ...according to the phenomenographic approach. The result showed that participants regarded themselves as competent and that they felt proud because they were involved in daily occupations. Being challenged was experienced as a way of performing difficult tasks, thus being confirmed as a capable person who performs and learns new things. The participants' occupational patterns preserve occupational ability and continuity in life in that they have a rhythm and allow the individuals to predict and handle interruptions. Participants experienced being incapable and being restricted as a result of personal, environmental, and social hindrances. The participants adapted to and reshaped their sense of self, which has been disrupted due to the discrepancy between self, the person's ability, and the real world "outside". Experience of daily occupation is unique, supports the sense of self, builds identities, and describes engagement and creative processes. Individual experience must be recognized as it can mean the difference between success and failure in maintaining meaningful daily occupation.
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DOBA, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VSZLJ
The aim of this study was to assess social disparities in food choices and diet quality in a population of 70-year old Swedes.
Cross-sectional study among participants in the 2000 Gerontological and ...Geriatric Population Studies in Goteborg.
A representative population of men (n=233) and women (n=321) from Goteborg, a city on the south western coast of Sweden.
One hour diet history interviews were performed and 35 specific foods and food groups were identified; in addition a diet quality index (DQI) was calculated. Differences in food choices and diet quality scores were tested across educational and socio-economic index categories (SEI).
Men with higher education and SEI had higher diet quality scores than those with lower socio-economic status, while no differences in DQI were noted in women. Further analysis of women based on their husband's occupational group also yielded no differences in diet quality. When studying individual foods, socio-economic differences were observed in women and men.
Selection of food varies by education and occupational status in both sexes although socio-economic disparities in diet quality were observed in men only.
One of the traits of ageism is the categorization of the aged into stereotypes. One such concept is that old people participate less socially and are lonely. If the variation among the aged is ...greater than among younger persons, the stereotype is increasingly misrepresenting the aging population. Such variation is rarely studied in properties assessed by ordinal scale measurements. Is the variation in social participation measured on ordinal scale increasing as a function of age? A measurement of ordinal dispersion was used. The data was from the longitudinal-studied random sample of one thousand one hundred and forty-eight 70-year-old persons born on 1901/1902 who lived in Gothenburg, Sweden in 1971. This sample has been referred to as the H70 sample. Seven aspects of social participation were assessed by interviews. In all but one aspects of social participation there was an increase in dispersion by increasing age. This increase in dispersion by increasing age is not in accordance with a stereotype concept of aging. This result points to an increased risk of ageism by increasing age as the dispersion in social participation increases with age in several aspects.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
The H70 longitudinal study of aging, Göteborg, Sweden is used to empirically test the compression of morbidity theory advanced by
Fries (1980) and Fries and Crapo (1981). We reconceptualize ...compression as postponement of morbidity in the sense of decreasing amounts of illness for increasingly long life spans. Operationally, morbidity is defined as the average number of hospital days in the last year of life. The date of death and the date of 1-year prior to death define the risk period. The linear regression model with age at death, age at death squared, year of birth, and sex are statistically significant with the oldest having the fewest hospital days. The findings offer partial support for the compression of morbidity theory.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
The aim of this study was to identify and evaluate social and medical risk indicators for mortality in an urban elderly population. Altogether 217 subjects (144 women and 73 men, mean age 78 years, ...range 69–96 years of age) participated in an examination 1990/91. Eighty-eight persons (55 women and 33 men) had died, and 129 subjects (89 women and 40 men) were alive January 1, 1999. Several risk indicators were found and those with the highest statistical explanatory power to predict mortality were: tremor, inability for heavy housework, a pathological second heart sound, low triceps skinfold, low diastolic blood pressure and decreased appetite. A multivariate model (MVM) utililizing both social and medical risk indicators, and a clinical model (CM) based on the judgement of a registered nurse identified 49 and 34%, respectively, of those who died during the 8-year period (
n=88). A third risk group, the intervention group, comprising individuals selected by either the MVM or CM models, identified 56% of those who died. The latter procedure could be used to define risk groups for mortality in future intervention studies. The combination of social and medical risk indicators in MVM, and a CM might be used in studies with larger sample sizes in order to increase the knowledge in this field.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
Within a larger study of social network and nutrition, we investigated measurements of nutritional status and health related quality of life.
To relate a well-established questionnaire of nutritional ...status (MNA) to a likewise well-established questionnaire of health related quality of life (SF-36) in community dwelling, free-living and, healthy 70-75 years old persons.
Before an interview, the MNA and SF-36 questionnaires were filled in by 128 participants from a sample of 262 subjects.
The MNA worked well as a measurement in this sample. Many MNA aspects correlated with the SF-36 scales. The correlations between MNA total score and the eight SF-36 scales varied from .27 to .62.
This correlation was partly due to the fact that MNA has questions of health but also to the fact that there is an empirical relation between nutrition and health.
The MNA measurement is applicable to a healthy, free-living elderly population and parts of the MNA can be interpreted as measurements of health related quality of life. Low values of SF-36 could also be used as predictors of risk of malnutrition, although further studies are required to confirm this result.
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