The Circular Economy (CE) gained significant traction in business and academia. While in the building sector issues around energy efficiency are being widely explored, CE is still a relatively new topic. This article reports on three CE pilots in the Dutch building sector and develops a collaboration tool for developing and operating circular buildings and their supply chain collaborations. First,

Using Deterministic Lateral Displacement devices optimized for sensitivity to particle length, we separate subpopulations of bacteria depending on known properties that affect their capability to cause disease (virulence). For the human bacterial pathogen Streptococcus pneumoniae, bacterial chain length and the presence of a capsule are known virulence factors contributing to its ability to cause

Background and objective: Involvement of pulmonary vascular remodelling is a characteristic sign in COPD. Vascular mediators such as vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and prostacyclin may regulate fibroblast activity. The objective was to study the synthesis of VEGF and interactions with prostacyclin and transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1 in lung fibroblasts from patients with COPD and he

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present recent empirical results concerning offshoring and backshoring of manufacturing from and to Sweden, to increase the understanding of manufacturing relocation in an international context. In particular, extent, geographies, type of production, drivers, and benefits of moving manufacturing in both directions are investigated. Design/methodology/appro

The MAX IV 3 GeV storage ring is presently being commissioned and crucial parameters such as machine functions, emittance, and stored current have either already been reached or are approaching their design specifications. Once the baseline performance has been achieved, a campaign will be launched to further improve the brightness and coherence of this storage ring for typical X-ray users. During

Innovation activities in the German business sector showed two opposing trends over the past two decades: While total innovation expenditures grew substantially, the number of firms conducting innovation activities fell sharply. In this paper, we explore the mechanisms behind the declining trend in the share of innovation active firms. Considering both input (R&D activities) and output (introd

The effects of the position of a bluff-body on diffusion flame structures and flame instability characteristics were investigated both experimentally and numerically. The flame pattern diagram and the stability limits of the methane-air diffusion flame were investigated to evaluate the effects caused by the alternation of the position of a bluff-body. A disk-shape bluff-body was mounted 10 mm abov

The base-quenched probe method for detecting single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) relies on real-time PCR and melting-curve approaches. Here, we applied the most common commercial fluorophores including FAM, HEX, CY5, CY3, TET, JOE, Texas Red and ROX for labeling probes to detect multi-mutations simultaneously according to the different fluorescence channels. Accuracy of the method was confirmed

The knowledge area of ambulance nurses’ competence represents a relatively new research area that cannot be regarded as having been fully explored and described by existing research. There is uncertainty regarding the required competence for ambulance nurses as well as the professional role of the ambulance nurse in ambulance care. It is also not clear if the ambulance nurse educational programmes

Objective: To investigate associations between neonatal delivery weight and future risk of maternal type 1 or type 2 diabetes. Methods: Data included in the Swedish Medical Birth Registry and Swedish National Diabetes Registry were merged to include all women born during 1930–1989; patients with pre-existing diabetes or gestational diabetes were excluded. Cox regression analyses were performed to

Narrow resonances decaying into WW, WZ or ZZ boson pairs are searched for in 36.7 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of s=13 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider in 2015 and 2016. The diboson system is reconstructed using pairs of large-radius jets with high transverse momentum and tagged as compatible with the hadronic decay of high-moment

Background: The effectiveness of different procedures in routine surgical practice for hernia repair with respect to chronic postoperative pain and reoperation rates is not clear. Methods: This was prospective cohort study based on a unique combination of patient-reported outcomes and national registry data. Virtually all patients with a groin hernia repair in Sweden between September 2012 and Apr

BACKGROUND: Pituitary tumours are common and easily treated by surgery or medical treatment in most cases. However, a small subset of pituitary tumours does not respond to standard medical treatment and presents with multiple local recurrences (aggressive pituitary tumours) and in rare occasion with metastases (pituitary carcinoma). The present European Society of Endocrinology (ESE) guideline aim

Background & Aims Cholera toxin can act as a modulator of the immune response with anti-inflammatory effects; it reduces development of colon polyps in mouse models of colorectal cancer (CRC). We performed a population-based study to determine whether, in patients with a diagnosis of CRC, subsequent administration of the cholera vaccine (killed Vibrio cholerae O1 whole cells and recombinant ch

Purpose of review Severe asthma is a heterogeneous disease that can be classified into phenotypes and endotypes based upon clinical or biological characteristics. Interleukin (IL)-4 and IL-13 play a key role in type 2 (T2) asthma. This article reviews the signaling pathway of IL-4 and IL-13 and highlights its targeted therapy in severe asthma. Recent findings Several clinical trials of biologics t