Search Results (286)
Diversity of viruses infecting tomato and weed plants in agroecosystems
Viruses, satellite viruses, viroids, virusoids, and satellite nucleic acids (herewith, referred to collectively or in part as ‘viruses’) comprise the virosphere and are perhaps the most diverse and abundant, yet still under-sampled, microbes on Earth. They are primarily regarded as pathogens or parasites of their eukaryotic or prokaryotic hosts. In …
Quantitative imaging of cisplatin in tumour samples by laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry
Medicine relies on imaging techniques such as ultrasound, magnetic resonance, computed tomography and histopathological image analysis because they provide valuable data needed for the diagnosis and treatment of diseases and injuries. Laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) is often used in research and for the advanced diagnosis and …
Speciation of ruthenium-based candidate drugs for cancer treatment and copper as a potential biomarker for cancer diagnosis in human serum
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), cancer represents the second leading cause of mortality, with almost 10 million deaths in 2020. A broad spectra of cancer treatments are being developed, among them are metal-based drugs. Consistent with the available data, platinum (Pt)-based chemotherapeutics are still widely used to treat …
Mechanisms and Effect of Deep Cryogenic Treatment on Steel Properties
Deep cryogenic treatment (DCT) is a type of cryogenic treatment, during which a material is subjected to temperatures below −160 °C. When a metallic material is modified with DCT, changes occur down to the nanoscopic level. DCT induces microstructural changes such as grain size refinement, formation of new grains, movement …
The role of cystatin C in inflammatory response
Innate immune system acts as the first line of defence to protect the host against pathogens. The regulation of immune system and inflammatory response is crucial since dysregulated or sustained inflammation leads to pathological conditions, septic shock and tissue damage. Macrophages are innate immune cells that sense pathogens with pattern …
Examining the relationship between managers' commitment to safety, edarship style, and their role in safety important actions in safety critical organisations
Managers’ commitment to safety has been recognised as a focal concept that can play an important role as organisations strive to improve safety performance and prevent major accidents (Flin, 2003; Flin & Yule, 2004). When management is committed to safety, this shows employees that safety is an important value to …
Protection of biomedical alloys by thin films of alumina and hafnia prepared by atomic layer deposition
One of the most commonly used metal materials for the manufacture of biomedical implants are stainless steel and titanium-based alloys. Due to the specific conditions and complex environment in the human body, different strategies have been employed to protect them and improve their functionality in vivo. In this thesis, a …
Synergistic action of organic inhibitors to mitigate corrosion of aluminium, copper and aluminium-copper alloy in chloride solution
The inhibitory action of organic compounds, 2-mercaptobenzimidazole (MBI), octylphosphonic acid (OPA) and their binary combinations was studied on aluminium, copper and aluminium alloy (AA) 2024 in chloride environments by ex-situ conventional electrochemical methods and surface-analytical techniques. In addition, the influence of pre-treatment of the metal surface and the choice of …
Combining neural and symbolic representations in natural language processing
The thesis addresses a novel representation learning framework, combining neural and symbolic text representations, and demonstrates its utility for tackling diverse natural language processing problems. The proposed approach, avoiding the deficiencies of purely symbolic and purely neural methods, can be applied for the generation of efficient text representations. Its usefulness …
User experience evaluation of novel air quality sensing technologies for citizen engagement in environmental health studies
The use of low-cost sensing technologies increasingly used in participatory environmental health studies brings both opportunities and challenges. While previous research mostly focused on technical aspects, this thesis brings participants to the foreground and articulates their experiences. It aims to evaluate if low-cost sensing technologies are fitfor- purpose in environmental …