Purpose: To evaluate the use of the GoBack-catheter (Upstream Peripheral Technologies) in complex revascularizations in lower limb arteries. Materials and Methods: In this retrospective single-center study, the results of the first 100 consecutive patients including 101 limb-revascularizations, performed between May 2018 and July 2020 with the study device, were analyzed. In all cases, guidewire-crossing failed, and all lesions were chronic total occlusions (CTO), either de novo, reocclusions, or in-stent reocclusions. Successful crossing was defined as passing the CTO using the study device. Patency at discharge and after 30 days was defined as less than 50% restenosis on duplex sonography, without target lesion revascularization. Results: Median lesion length was 24 cm and 38 patients (37.6%) had a calcium grading according to the peripheral arterial calcium scoring system (PACSS) of 4 or 5. In 20.8% of patients, an occluded stent was treated. CTOs involved the femoropopliteal segment in 91.1%, iliac arteries in 5.9%, and tibial arteries in 7.9%. The GoBackcatheter was employed for entering into or crossing through parts or the full length of a CTO or an occluded stent as well as for re-entering into the true lumen after subintimal crossing. The device was used via contralateral and ipsilateral antegrade as well as retrograde access with an overall technical success rate of 92.1%. In 3 patients minor bleeding occurred at the crossing or re-entry site, which were managed conservatively. Thirty-day adverse limb events comprised minor amputations in 4 patients (4.0%), 1 major amputation (1.0%), and reocclusions in 7 limbs (6.9%). Conclusion: The new GoBack-catheter offers versatile endovascular applicability for complex CTO recanalization in a broad range of peripheral vascular interventions with a high technical success and low complication rate.

Järnvägen har möjliggjort boende och arbete på olika orter, genom tågpendling, samt intresset för godstransporter på järnvägen ökar. För att upprätthålla en god status på järnvägen behövs mycket pengar, samtidigt som dess tillgänglighet påverkar många människor. Detta gör det än mer angeläget med en robust järnvägsanläggning, med hög tillgänglighet samt en god punktlighet för både person- och godståg. Ett bättre planerat underhåll möjliggör en längre användbar livstid för samtliga komponenter i järnvägsanläggningen. Som anläggningsdel förorsakar spårväxlar den högsta kostnaden i en banöverbyggnad, med korsningar som ett av de mest frekventa komponentbytena. Idag är den användbara livstiden på fasta mangankorsningar för låg, ca 100 MBrt, då den förväntas vara mellan 100–500 MBrt. Detta ligger till grund för arbetet där syftet är att undersöka hur det förbyggande underhållet av fasta korsningar i spårväxlar bättre kan planeras, utföras och följas upp för att förlänga dess användbara livstid. Vidare är målet med examensarbetet att genom en nulägesanalys, som innefattar dagens erfarenheter, förslag till förbättrade arbetsmetoder och morgondagens informationsinhämtning, fastställa vilken information som kommer att krävas för att på ett bättre sätt planera underhållet, samt att fastställa vilka underhållsåtgärder som är nödvändiga för det förebyggande underhållet av fasta korsningar i spårväxlar. Baserat på detta utformas en underhållsplan med tillhörande LCC för fasta korsningar i spårväxlar. Vidare ska samtliga underhållsåtgärder i underhållsplanen vara planeringsbara minst 3 månader i förväg, och det är önskvärt att underhållsplanen ska sträcka sig 36 månader framåt. Initialt utförs en nulägesanalys och arbetet fortsätter med förslag på förbättrade arbetsmetoder. Båda i avseende hur och när underhåll utförs på fasta mangankorsningar idag ute i anläggningen. Avslutningsvis presenteras en underhållsplan med intervall samt de resurser som krävs för de underhållsåtgärder som ska utföras. Dessa åtgärder är byte av korsning, inslipning, slipning, påsvets, spårriktning/stoppning, shimsning av moträl, byte av korkgummi samt ballastrening. Tillhörande till underhållsplanen utformas en kalkyl för livscykelkostnad, LCC, där arbete efter nuläge samt arbete efter underhållsplan jämförs. Resultatet från arbetet visar att samtliga entreprenörer anser att brist på tid i spår är en starkt bidragande faktor till att fasta korsningar byts. Detta tillsammans med att rätt förebyggande underhållsåtgärder som inslipning och förebyggande slipning för att upprätthålla profil, samt kontroll av spårläge och åtgärd vid behov inte görs. Vidare utför entreprenören ingen uppföljning av utförda underhållsåtgärder, utan beslut om underhållsåtgärder baseras till stor del på säkerhets- och underhållsbesiktningar. Detta medför att de arbetar mest avhjälpande, med åtgärd av besiktningsanmärkning. Dock för växelrevision och systematiskt växelunderhåll är erfarenhet, god lokalkännedom och god kännedom om anläggningen den avsevärt största informationskällan för entreprenören idag. Infrastrukturägaren utför även en viss leveransuppföljning, dock inte i tillräcklig utsträckning för att säkerställa att de får det som beställts. Registrering av samtliga förebyggande underhållsåtgärder bör förbättra och förenkla infrastrukturägarens uppföljning. Vidare för att möjliggöra en mer strategisk underhållsplanering behövs metoder för tillståndsbaserat underhåll tas fram, i syfte att få en bättre uppfattning om degradering av profilen för en fast mangankorsning. Till detta krävs automatiska maskinella mätningar, vilket gör mätningar reproducerbara och mätdata går att trenda. Slutligen den bristfälliga återrapporteringen av förebyggande underhållsåtgärder i kombination med entreprenörens hemlighållande av exakt underhållskostnad, resulterar i att underhållskostnaden för korsningar inte kan redovisas på en aggregerad och individuell nivå. / The railroad has made it possible for housing and work at various locations, by rail lanes, and the interest in rail freight transport is increasing. To maintain good status on the railroad, a lot of money is needed, while its availability affects many people. This makes it even more important with a robust railway facility, with high availability and good punctuality for both passenger and freight trains. Better planned maintenance enables longer useful life for all components of the railway facility. As part of the plant do railway S&C cause the highest cost in a track superstructure, with crossings as the most frequent component changes. Today, the useful life of fixed manganese crossings is too low, about 100 MBrt, since the expectancy is between 100 -500 MBrt. This is the basis for the work, where the purpose is to investigate how the preventive maintenance of fixed crossings in S&C can be better planned, performed and followed up to extend its useful life. Furthermore, the aim of the thesis work is to determine, through a current situation analysis, which includes current experiences, proposals for improved working methods and tomorrow's information gathering, which information will be required to better plan maintenance, and to determine which maintenance measures are necessary for the preventive maintenance of fixed crossings in S&C. Based on this, a maintenance plan with associated LCC is designed for fixed crossings in S&C. Furthermore, all maintenance measures in the maintenance plan must be planned at least 3 months in advance, and it is desirable that the maintenance plan should extend 36 months ahead. Initially, a zero-position analysis is performed, and work continues with suggestions for improved working methods. Both in terms of how and when maintenance is carried out on fixed crossings today outside in the railway facility. Finally, a maintenance plan is presented with intervals and the resources required for the maintenance actions to be performed. These actions include change of crossing, grinding in, grinding, welding, track direction/padding, shimming guardrail, changing of corkrubber and ballast cleaning. Compliance with the maintenance plan is a life cycle cost calculation, LCC, comparing work according to zero-position and work according to maintenance plan. The results from the work show that all entrepreneurs believe that lack of time in the track is a strong contributing factor to changing fixed crossings. This, along with proper preventive maintenance measures such as grinding in and preventive grinding to maintain profile, as well as verify track position and action when needed are not done. In addition, the contractor does not perform any follow-up on performed maintenance work, maintenance decisions are based largely on safety and maintenance inspections. This means that they work most correctively, with the action of inspection note. However, for exchange audit and systematic gear maintenance, experience, good local knowledge and good knowledge of the plant is the most important source of information for the entrepreneur today. The infrastructure owner also performs a certain delivery follow-up, but not sufficiently to ensure that they get what is ordered. Registration of all preventive maintenance measures should improve and simplify the infrastructure owner's follow-up. In addition, to enable more strategic maintenance planning, condition-based maintenance methods are required, with a view to gaining a better perception of degradation of the profile of a fixed manganese crossing. In addition, automatic machine measurements are required, which makes measurements reproducible and measurement data can be trend. Finally, the inadequate reporting of preventive maintenance measures in combination with the contractor's secrecy of exact maintenance costs, results in the maintenance cost for crossings not being reported at an aggregated and individual level.

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Den här uppsatsen undersöker vilka aspekter som är viktiga för att skapa en röd tråd i genreöverskridande musik. Med en mångsidig musikalisk bakgrund och ett intresse för att skapa musik inom ett flertal olika genrer kände jag ett behov att hitta gemensamma nämnare i min musikproduktion. Målet var att identifiera de element som krävs för att uppnå enhetlighet i genreöverskridande musik samtidigt som den kreativa friheten bibehålls. Processen gick ut på att experimentera med olika genrer och produktionstekniker. Jag valde att skapa en gemensam ljudbild med hjälp av ljudval, mix och produktionsteknik för att på så vis uppnå en röd tråd i projektet. Genom att producera en analog ljudbild, kännetecknad av retro och varma egenskaper som påminner om musiken från 1970-talet till 1990-talet, strävade jag efter att sammanföra de varierande musikaliska elementen i de olika låtarna. Det innebar också att avgränsa arbetet till vissa specifika genrer såsom hip-hop, soul, RnB, pop, house, techno, indie, rock och garage. Låtarna kunde dessutom bestå av fusioner av dessa genrer.  Det här arbetet presenterar de kreativa processer som tillämpades, de resultat som uppnåddes, och de reflektioner som gjordes. Den ger insikter i hur jag balanserar friheten att utforska olika musikgenrer med behovet att uppnå en enhetlig musikalisk estetik. / This thesis explores the challenge of creating a cohesive collection of music that spans multiple genres. With a diverse background and interest in various music genres, I felt the need to seek a common thread in my music production. The goal was to find the elements necessary for achieving coherence in genre-crossing music while maintaining creative freedom. The process involved experimentation with different genres and production techniques. I focused on using analog sound emulations to establish a warm, retro sound throughout the project. It also involved selecting specific genres such as hip-hop, soul, RnB, pop, house, techno, indie, rock, and garage, and creating a collection of tracks that could include fusions of these genres. By maintaining an analog sound aesthetic, characterized by retro and warm qualities reminiscent of music from the 1970s to the 1990s, I aimed to unify the diverse musical elements. This thesis presents my journey, the creative processes that were applied, the outcomes that were achieved, and reflections on the experience. It offers insights into balancing the freedom to explore various musical genres with the necessity of a unified musical aesthetic.

Forest roads and stream crossings can be important sources of sediment in forested watersheds. The purpose of this research was to compare trapped sediment and forestry best management practice (BMP) effectiveness from haul road stream crossing approaches and ditches. The three studies in this dissertation provide a quantitative assessment of sediment production and potential sediment delivery from forest haul roads in the Virginia Piedmont and Ridge and Valley regions. Sediment production rates were measured and modeled to evaluate and compare road and ditch segments near stream crossings with various ranges of road attributes, BMPs, and management objectives. Sediment mass delivered to traps from 37 haul road stream crossing approaches ranged from <0.1 to 2.7 Mg for the one year collection. Collectively, five approaches accounted for 82% of the total sediment mass trapped. Approaches were categorized into Low, Standard, and High road quality rankings according to road attributes. Seventy-one percent (5 of 7) of Low ranked approaches delivered sediment to traps at rates greater than 11.2 Mg ha-1 yr-1. Nearly 90% of Standard or High road quality approaches generated less than 0.1 Mg of sediment over one year. Among approaches with less than 0.1 Mg of trapped sediment, road gradients ranged from 1% to 13%, bare soil ranged from 2% to 94%, and distances to nearest water control structures ranged from 8.2 to 427.0 m. Such a wide spectrum of road attributes with relatively low levels of trapped sediment indicate that contemporary BMPs can mitigate problematic road attributes and reduce erosion and sediment delivery. Three erosion models, USLE-forest, RUSLE2, and WEPP were compared to trapped sediment data from the 37 forest haul road stream crossing approaches in the first study. The second study assessed model performance from five variations of the three erosion models that have been used in previous forest operations research, USLE-roadway, USLE-soil survey, RUSLE2, WEPP-default, and WEPP-modified. The results suggest that these soil erosion models could estimate erosion and sediment delivery within 5 Mg ha-1 yr-1 for most approaches with erosion rates less than 11.2 Mg ha-1 yr-1, while model estimates varied widely for approaches that eroded above 11.2 Mg ha-1 yr-1. Based on the results from the 12 evaluations of model performance, the modified version of WEPP consistently performed better compared to all other model variations tested. However, results from the study suggest that additional field evaluations and improvement of soil erosion models are needed for stream crossings. The soil erosion models evaluated are not an adequate surrogate for informing policy decisions. The third study evaluated sediment control effectiveness of four commonly recommended ditch BMPs on forest haul road stream crossing approaches. Sixty ditch segments near stream crossings were reconstructed and four ditch BMP treatments were tested. Ditch treatments were bare (Bare), grass seed with lime fertilizer (Seed), grass seed with lime fertilizer and erosion control mat (Mat), rock check dams (Dam), and completely rocked (Rock). Mat treatments had significantly lower erosion rates than Bare and Dam, while Rock and Seed produced intermediate levels. Findings of this study suggest Mat, Seed, and Rock ditch BMPs were effective at reducing erosion, but Mat was most effective directly following construction because Mat provided immediate soil protection measures. Any BMPs that reduce bare soil can provide reduction in erosion and even natural site condition, including litterfall and invasive vegetation can provide erosion control. However, ditch BMPs cannot mitigate inadequate water control structures. Overall, forest roads and stream crossings have the potential to be major contributors of sediment in forested watersheds when roads are not designed well or when BMPs are not properly implemented. Forestry BMPs reduce stormwater runoff velocity and volume from forest roads, but can have varying levels of effectiveness due to site-specific conditions. Operational field studies provide valuable information regarding erosion and sediment delivery rates, which helps guide BMP recommendations and subsequently enhances water quality protection. / Ph. D.

This project examines the meaning-making of art through multiple disciplinary lenses: Art Therapy, Art History, Studio Art, Art Education and Anthropology. Disciplines were selected for their inherent ability to enhance an understanding of meaning-making through the art making process and art product. An arts-based methodology was utilized in conjunction with the Outliers and American Vanguard Art exhibition at The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), which featured a juxtaposition of formally trained and self-taught artists. Each of the five researchers selected a piece of art included in the exhibition, rendered the piece, documented the rendering process, and viewed each piece and its accompanying documentation from their respective disciplinary lenses to understand meaning-making of the original artist and their work. Results of this systematic investigation exposed common themes across disciplines that inform meaning-making: Culture, Context, Comparison, Communication, Formal Elements, and Accuracy. Through an understanding of elements that comprise each exposed theme, the discipline of art therapy can expand its theoretical and practical knowledge that currently informs its approaches toward the meaning-making of art. Results of this arts-based investigation imply that continued investigation of adjacent art and culture-centric disciplines can question, corroborate, and supplement existing assumptions about the meaning-making of art process and art product in the discipline of art therapy.

The performance of a mobile satellite communications link is conditioned by the characteristics of the propagation path between a satellite and mobile users. The most important propagation effect in land mobile satellite system is roadside attenuation of the signals due to vegetation or urban structures. System designers should have the most reliable information about the statistics of the propagation channel to build reliable systems that can compensate for bad propagation conditions. In 1998, the Virginia Tech Antenna Group developed a simulator, PROSIM, to simulate a propagation channel in the case of roadside tree attenuation in land mobile satellite systems. This thesis describes some improvements to PROSIM, and the adaptation and validation of PROSIM for Digital Audio Radio Satellite systems operating at S-band frequencies. The performance of the simulator for S-band frequencies was evaluated through a measurement campaign conducted with the XM Radio signals at 2.33 GHz in various propagation environments. Finally, additional results on dual satellite systems and fade correlation are described. / Master of Science

This thesis research explores the patterns of player-character relationships and player-character attachment in Animal Crossing: New Horizons (2020) and Genshin Impact (2020). The purpose of the paper is to fill in the existing gap in the literature concerning the psychological and social mechanisms of attachment that players form with non-customizable game characters. The research explores the nature of player-character attachment in its relation to game mechanics and broader social context, as well as its transformative potential.   The research relies on interdisciplinary mixed-methods methodology, drawing from the fields of psychology and anthropology. The first part of the research employs auto-ethnographic data on the authors' personal relationships with game characters. The second part involves a series of qualitative in-depth interviews with players of Animal Crossing and Genshin Impact. Thematic analysis with the elements of case-study methodology is applied to the interview data. The results of the interview analysis are compared between the two player groups, as well as to the findings of the auto-ethnographic inquiry. The main results of the comparative analysis suggest that players’ perceptions of characters in the studied games can be categorized as character-as-object and character-as-other. Further on, a distinction can be made between two types of attachment that players form with characters-as-others. The first one is player-for-character, focused primarily on a player’s relatedness and empathy towards a character. The second one is character-for-player, where a game character is perceived as a supporting and caring figure that transcends the boundaries of the game. The relationship types are not mutually exclusive, and both of them have been found to have transformative potential.

Floor crossing was an unknown phenomenon in Malawi until the re-emergence of multiparty politics in 1994. Since then the number of MPs crossing the floor in the Malawi National Assembly has steadily increased from around twelve in 1994 to more than sixty in 2005. This practice has continued even today. However, the biggest incident of floor crossing took place in 2005 when the State President, Dr Bingu wa Mutharika, under the United Democratic Front (UDF) decided to abandon the party that sponsored him into office to form his own, the Democratic Progressive Party in February, 2005. Following him were several opposition MPs, a move which sparked a lot of tension in the National Assembly. The purpose of this study was to investigate political factors contributing to this phenomenon, and it was established that, among other factors, institutional weaknesses of political parties and gaps in the Constitution contributed significantly to floor crossing. / Political Science / M.A. (African Politics)