<p>The main questions concerning energy technologies today are their economical and environmental impacts. These entities are (at the present) assessed on the basis that operations proceed as newly installed/designed systems, during an assumed working life period. While this is the common way of perceiving energy systems, performance-over-time will change as an effect of (e.g. material) degradation and not solely of different operation scenarios. How and to what extent, is the question that needs assessing in order to evaluate if these changes will jeopardise the intended system performance requirement. In turn, this pro-active assessment and analysis is in line with today’s performance based directives, laws, regulations and concepts; of which the working life is an essential part.</p><p>The main context of the thesis, is a contribution to the Research and Development (R&D) topic on life performance of energy technologies, with papers on a literature review and case study on two system parts: <i>solar collector and ground heat exchanger (borehole)</i>; within the energy technology area of combined solar energy technologies/systems utilised in buildings. The thesis specifically presents a general description of requirements on constructed works and their material, components and systems. It also gives an insight to the energy technology R&D and engineering sector, regarding durability and service life assessment methodologies; and also to the durability of constructed works sector, regarding the needs for assessing material degradation in relation to system performance. The case studies presented in the thesis, show how durability of energy technologies may be sought-after, as well as specific knowledge and useful tools, methodologies and test setups for assessing long-term performance of combined solar energy technologies (in this case a solar-assisted heat pump system utilising a building integrated Unglazed Solar Collector and energy storage).</p><p>The utilisation of solar collectors and heat pumps (primarily for space and domestic tap water heating) has rapidly increased in Sweden during the last decades. Sweden has today the largest heat pump market in Europe. During recent years, there has also been an increased interest in heating systems that combine heat pumps with solar collectors (glazed and unglazed) and energy storages; with the aim of attaining a system that provides higher energy and greater economical performances than individual solar collector or heat pump systems. If these systems are to be successful they must be economically feasible; placing emphasis on the cost, durability and performance of the system.</p><p>The main issue on life performance of energy technologies is how and to what extent, performance reduction in individual materials and components influences the overall system performance; as the essence of energy system sustainability is system performance.</p>

Clinical trials investigating autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) have historically excluded elderly patients due to the risk of treatment-related morbidity related to the administration of high dose chemotherapy. While the availability of this procedure continues to expand, the elderly still represent a population for which the role of ASCT needs to be fully defined. 201 patients who underwent autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) for Non Hodgkins lymphoma (NHL) at a single institution following BEAM conditioning between January 1, 2000 and December 31, 2007 were retrospectively identified from the Yale University School of Medicine Bone Marrow Transplant Database. 67 patients were older than 60 years at the time of transplantation (median age 65, range 60 75) and were compared to a matched group of 134 patients transplanted during the same time period. These groups were extremely well-matched for all demographics such as gender, NHL histology, performance status, and comorbidities. Most patients had advanced stage disease at diagnosis and were transplanted at first or second remission. Diffuse large B-cell and mantle cell lymphoma were the most common subtypes but other subtypes were represented. The elderly group experienced significantly more serious toxicities within the first 100 days (63%) when compared to the control group (42%). However, there were no statistical differences (p<0.0001) between the groups regarding specific organ system toxicities. The 1-year non-relapse mortality (3%) was not significantly different when compared to the younger cohort (1%). At a median follow-up of 31 months the median overall survival is 85 months in the elderly group and at a median follow up of 33 months in the younger group the median overall survival has not yet been reached. The overall survival at 3 years is 74% and 75% respectively (p=0.91). The disease-free survival at 3 years is 48% in the elderly group compared to 58% in the control group (p=0.66). By univariate analysis, age >60 years (RR 3.1, 95% CI 1.7 5.7, p=0.004) was the only factor predictive of developing a serious toxicity from ASCT within the first 100 days. HCT-CI score (RR 2, 95% CI 1 4, p=0.043) was the only factor associated with significantly worse overall survival. Autologous stem cell transplantation can be safely performed in selected patients older than 60 years with chemosensitive NHL. Although elderly patients appear more likely to develop acute toxicities, the outcomes are similar to that of younger patients with respect to non-relapse mortality, disease-free survival, and overall survival.

Thesis--School of Advanced Airpower Studies, Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., 1995-96. / Title from title screen (viewed Oct. 28, 2003). "March 1998." Includes bibliographical references.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Karolinska institutet, 2010. / Härtill 5 uppsatser.

Thesis (M.S.)--West Virginia University, 2003. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains xii, 121 p. : ill. (some col.). Vita. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 117-119).

Thesis (M.S. in Operations Research)--Naval Postgraduate School, June 2003. / Thesis advisor(s): W. Matthew Carlyle, Donovan Phillips. Includes bibliographical references (p. 67). Also available online.

This report examined efforts to manage combined sewage overflows and create effective stormwater management plans. To provide background on the issue, a brief history of sewage management was provided, along with the legal history regarding water quality, sewage and CSOs, effects of CSOs and current green infrastructure methods for dealing with CSOs. The report then compared the efforts of three cities--Portland, Oregon; Philadelphia, PA; and Chicago, IL--to improve water quality and manage CSOs and stormwater. From the examination of the efforts of these cities the author derived a list of ten recommended elements for a CSO/stormwater management plan. These recommended elements were then used to evaluate New York City's recently released sustainable stormwater management plan and its prospects for success. / text

Geographical location of Lithuania determines its role as a transit country. This fact obliges to assure an efficient movement of the goods through the territory of Lithuania. One of the directions to evolve transport sector can be the development of combined road-rail transport (CT). The purpose of the dissertation – on the basis of analysis of scientific works and best practical experience in the field of CT to determine means that stipulate development of CT, arrange them according to the particularity of Lithuanian transport sector, and create a model for the development of combined carriages through the territory of Lithuania. In order to reach this purpose, following tasks are accomplished: 1.Determined all combined road-rail transport elements and their importance; 2.Investigated current market of CT in the EU and technological measures that assure development of these carriages; 3.Carried out an investigation of capabilities of Lithuanian transport system stressing an interaction of road and rail transport; 4.Created model which involves linkage of infrastructure of different transport modes in to one network and assures an optimal exploitation of infrastructure by flows of different transport modes. 5.Explained technological factors that influence possibilities to develop combined carriages through the territory of Lithuania.

It is of great importance to acquire methods that has a sustainable solution for treatment and disposal of municipal solid waste (MSW). The volumes are constantly increasing and improper waste management, like open dumping and landfilling, causes environmental impacts such as groundwater contamination and greenhouse gas emissions. The rationalization of developing a sustainable solution implies in an improved way of utilizing waste resources as an energy source with highest possible efficiency. MSW incineration is by far the best available way to dispose the waste. One drawback of conventional MSW incineration plants is that when the energy recovery occurs in the steam power cycle configuration, the reachable efficiency is limited due to steam parameters. The corrosive problem limits the temperature of the superheated steam from the boiler which lowers the efficiency of the system. A suitable and relatively cheap option for improving the efficiency of the steam power cycle is the implementation of a hybrid dual-fuel cycle. This paper aims to assess the integration of an MSW incineration with a high quality fuel conversion device, in this case natural gas (NG) combustion cycle, in a hybrid cycle. The aforementioned hybrid dual-fuel configuration combines a gas turbine topping cycle (TC) and a steam turbine bottoming cycle (BC). The TC utilizes the high quality fuel NG, while the BC uses the lower quality fuel, MSW, and reaches a total power output of 50 MW.  Using a high-quality fuel in cogeneration can prove to be beneficial for improving and enhancing the overall plant profitability and efficiency while eliminating the corrosion problems with conventional MSW firing. The need for few interconnections between the different subunits in a parallel-fueled system allows for a wider range of operation modes and leaves room for service modes of the subunit. The hybrid dual-fuel cycle will be assessed for optimal cycle configuration and evaluated to how it compares to the sum of two separate single-fuel plants with optimal cycle configurations. Investigation of such aspects is a very important issue in order to be able to fully promote an implementation of hybrid combined cycle. The work presented herein also concentrates on investigating scenarios that include a full-load and part-load analysis in both condensing and combined heat and power (CHP) mode of operation. Through simulations and evaluation of obtained data, the results strengthens the fact that the electrical efficiency of hybrid configurations increases at least with 2% in condensing mode and 1,5% in CHP mode, comparing it to the sum of two separate single-fuel units of similar scale. The simulations show increased electrical efficiencies when running the BC in part-load and the TC in full load, with a higher NG to MSW ratio. The results also indicated that it is possible to extract more power output from the cycle by operating in CHP mode, due to more energy being utilized from the input fuel.

Geographical location of Lithuania determines its role as a transit country. This fact obliges to assure an efficient movement of the goods through the territory of Lithuania. One of the directions to evolve transport sector can be the development of combined road-rail transport (CT). The purpose of the dissertation – on the basis of analysis of scientific works and best practical experience in the field of CT to determine means that stipulate development of CT, arrange them according to the particularity of Lithuanian transport sector, and create a model for the development of combined carriages through the territory of Lithuania. In order to reach this purpose, following tasks are accomplished: 1.Determined all combined road-rail transport elements and their importance; 2.Investigated current market of CT in the EU and technological measures that assure development of these carriages; 3.Carried out an investigation of capabilities of Lithuanian transport system stressing an interaction of road and rail transport; 4.Created model which involves linkage of infrastructure of different transport modes in to one network and assures an optimal exploitation of infrastructure by flows of different transport modes. 5.Explained technological factors that influence possibilities to develop combined carriages through the territory of Lithuania.