Search

The aim of this study is to explore how different AFNs contribute to Norwegian organic farmers resilience. This is done by looking into the various food networks a handful of farmers are engaged in. The value-chains are studied to see how the farmers are situated in the value-chains and who controls the different activities. The resource use and economic return is studied and also the potential for growth. AFN stability is discussed using Actor Network Theory. The assertion that AFN value-chains are short is not always true. As this study documents, they may also be long and include intermediaries. For the four farmers in the study, it is clear that the AFNs are contributing to the resilience, giving economic gain and social embeddedness in the form of appreciation and identity. Use of translation mechanism may strengthen the farmer’s position in the networks. For one of the networks, a self-growing community, the translation failed and the community was ended. The work is based on interviews during the late summer and autumn of 2015 with six producers/farmers representing different types of AFNs; Self-growing community, Organic mill, Buyers cooperation, Farm restaurant, CSA and Direct sales in farmers Market and in-farm. M-AE

The isoprostane 8-iso-PGF2α proved to be a valuable marker of conditions associated with oxidative stress in all three clinical studies (I-III). Somewhat surprising, no significant correlation with myocardial reperfusion events was found. Only the duration of severe ischemia correlated positively in patients with AMI undergoing primary PCI (II). Thus the first aim of this thesis was partly fulfilled. A particular finding was that other conditions than myocardial ischemia-reperfusion such as interventional (I) and surgical (III) traumas contributed to an apparent oxidative stress in the patient groups. In parallel, pro- or antioxidant drug effects seemed to have influenced the release pattern of 8-iso-PGF2α, underlining the versatility of this parameter of lipid peroxidation. The second aim of the thesis, to establish a relationship between oxidative stress and myocardial injury, was not fulfilled. Thus the present studies I-III seem to refute the hypothesis of a major ROS-involvement in myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injuries as shown in animal experiments. Another interpretation is that an oxidation-injury relationship was masked in the more complex pathophysiology of a clinical setting. A further implication may be that 8-iso-PGF2α behaved as a passive indicator of successful reperfusion rather than as an active indicator of severe and injury-inducing oxidative stress, reflecting the role as a ROS-imprint and not as an injury marker. The third aim of the thesis, to try out potent antioxidants on a rational basis, did not materialize as the studies went on. However, in the course of time new mechanisms of cardioactive or adjunctive drugs were recognized. Thus both ASA and heparin are two candidates which may have had a major impact on the results in all three studies. Concerning ASA both positive effects of an acute booster dose (II) and negative effects of withdrawal (III) warrant further attention. Although the study is limited by the low numbers of patients, it seems justified to suggest that the lack of success in translating principles of oxidative stress and antioxidant therapy from the experimental to the clinical stage of myocardial ischemia-reperfusion may now have found a more plausible explanation than hitherto proposed. Thus oxidative stress, if present, is a multifactorial process with complex interactions between pro- and antioxidant factors and with largely unrecognized protection by drugs in common use.

Both the local situation in the inner Oslofiord and the political decisions of the countries surrounding the North Sea called for further treatment. Through 1989 and 1990, VEAS put bits and pieces of known technology together to compose a process for nitrogen and phosphorus removal to be installed in the area of the existing sedimentation tanks, only extended in depth. In addition, the process should reduce the amount of sludge considerably. A working hypothesis was presented in 1990 and later named "The VEAS Concept" by prof. H. Odegaard, Techn. Univ. of Trondheim. The status for the development is described in more detail by Sagberg et al. (1995). Figure 1. show the state of the VEAS Concept by end of 1994. Further adjustments has later been made and new will be.Introductory tests were run by VEAS with RBC from Klargester, Mechana and Envirex, with submerged Munthers media, with the Kaldnes moving bed media and with the upflow BIOFOR system from Degremont. After international pre-qualification, call for turn key tenders, which were rejected, and finally licence negotiations, the BIOFOR system was selected for full scale application.