ABSTRACT Environmental issues steadily receive more and more attention at EU policy level. This c... more ABSTRACT Environmental issues steadily receive more and more attention at EU policy level. This can for example be seen in the Raw Materials Initiative by DG Enterprise and Resource Efficient Europe by DG Environment which goes back to the theme of a sustainable economy as expressed by the Europe 2020 growth strategy. DG Research and Innovation supports related research activities. The Nanotechnology, Materials & Production (NMP) Theme in the FP7 Cooperation scheme has taken stock of this, by for example including aspects such as substitution, life cycle assessment, improved resource efficiency and better performance materials in the NMP calls for proposals. This is done with the aim to achieve a more green economy and fostering more sustainable consumption and production patterns.Research on better performing and sustainable materials will more than ever be a pre-condition to meeting such challenges. Progress will come through the development of intelligent materials that embed and transfer knowledge into products and processes or perform certain tasks, when in use or during manufacturing. Already, some 70 per cent of all technical innovations hinge directly or indirectly on the properties of the materials employed. We have passed from the perception "materials are in the drawer" to the perception "materials are the bottleneck". The next step can be "materials are the solution".At least 60 % of the total proposed Horizon 2020 budget is related to sustainable development, the vast majority of this expenditure contributing to mutually reinforcing climate and environmental objectives. In a resource-scarce Europe, new products must have low material / energy resource needs and high knowledge content. As stated in the Europe 2020 strategy, endorsed by EU leaders: “Europe must promote technologies and production methods that reduce natural resource use, and increase investment in the EU's existing natural assets”.Materials can have a large environmental impact in many of its stages, from sourcing, extraction, processing, auxiliary materials and processes, use and end of life fate. The choice or design of material solutions can thus have a great impact on the technologies in which they are used. Implying that a material could be an integral part of the solution to a problem created by the use of a specific technology. Such solutions could require entirely new materials either to replace a material or be part of a new technology based on better performing materials and eco-designed products.
A surface plasmon resonance (SPR) apparatus was used to investigate blood plasma coagulation in r... more A surface plasmon resonance (SPR) apparatus was used to investigate blood plasma coagulation in real time as a function of thromboplastin and heparin concentrations. The response curves were analyzed by curve fitting to a sigmoid curve equation, followed by extraction of the time constant. Clotting activation by thromboplastin resulted in increased time constant, as compared to spontaneously clotted plasma, in a dose dependent way. Addition of heparin to the thromboplastin-activated plasma counteracted this effect. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) pictures of sensor surfaces dried after completed clotting, revealed differences in fibrin network structures as a function of thromboplastin concentration, and the fiber thickness increased with decreased thromboplastin concentration. The physical reason for the SPR signal observed is ambiguous and is therefore discussed. However, the results summarized in the plots and the fibrin network properties observed by AFM correlate well with present common methods used to analyze blood coagulation.
Proceedings of the SPIE, Volume 3570, p. 107-114 (1999), 1999
A surface plasmon resonance (SPR) apparatus was used to investigate blood plasma coagulation in r... more A surface plasmon resonance (SPR) apparatus was used to investigate blood plasma coagulation in real-time as a function of thromboplastin and heparin concentrations. The physical reason for the SPR signal observed is discussed and 3 different models are proposed. The response curves were analyzed by multivariable curve fitting followed by feature extraction. Interesting parameters of the sigmoid curves were lag time, slope and maximum response. When thromboplastin concentrations were increased, the lag-time decreased and the slope of the curve increased. A prolonged clotting time was followed mostly by increased maximum response, with exception for samples with no or very little thromboplastin added. High heparin concentrations changed the clotting kinetics. As seen from the lag-time vs. slope relation. Atomic force microscopy pictures of sensor surfaces dried after completed clotting, revealed differences in fibrin network structures as a function of thromboplastin concentration, and fiber thickness increased with lower thromboplastin concentration. The results correlate well with present common methods.
ABSTRACT Environmental issues steadily receive more and more attention at EU policy level. This c... more ABSTRACT Environmental issues steadily receive more and more attention at EU policy level. This can for example be seen in the Raw Materials Initiative by DG Enterprise and Resource Efficient Europe by DG Environment which goes back to the theme of a sustainable economy as expressed by the Europe 2020 growth strategy. DG Research and Innovation supports related research activities. The Nanotechnology, Materials & Production (NMP) Theme in the FP7 Cooperation scheme has taken stock of this, by for example including aspects such as substitution, life cycle assessment, improved resource efficiency and better performance materials in the NMP calls for proposals. This is done with the aim to achieve a more green economy and fostering more sustainable consumption and production patterns.Research on better performing and sustainable materials will more than ever be a pre-condition to meeting such challenges. Progress will come through the development of intelligent materials that embed and transfer knowledge into products and processes or perform certain tasks, when in use or during manufacturing. Already, some 70 per cent of all technical innovations hinge directly or indirectly on the properties of the materials employed. We have passed from the perception "materials are in the drawer" to the perception "materials are the bottleneck". The next step can be "materials are the solution".At least 60 % of the total proposed Horizon 2020 budget is related to sustainable development, the vast majority of this expenditure contributing to mutually reinforcing climate and environmental objectives. In a resource-scarce Europe, new products must have low material / energy resource needs and high knowledge content. As stated in the Europe 2020 strategy, endorsed by EU leaders: “Europe must promote technologies and production methods that reduce natural resource use, and increase investment in the EU's existing natural assets”.Materials can have a large environmental impact in many of its stages, from sourcing, extraction, processing, auxiliary materials and processes, use and end of life fate. The choice or design of material solutions can thus have a great impact on the technologies in which they are used. Implying that a material could be an integral part of the solution to a problem created by the use of a specific technology. Such solutions could require entirely new materials either to replace a material or be part of a new technology based on better performing materials and eco-designed products.
A surface plasmon resonance (SPR) apparatus was used to investigate blood plasma coagulation in r... more A surface plasmon resonance (SPR) apparatus was used to investigate blood plasma coagulation in real time as a function of thromboplastin and heparin concentrations. The response curves were analyzed by curve fitting to a sigmoid curve equation, followed by extraction of the time constant. Clotting activation by thromboplastin resulted in increased time constant, as compared to spontaneously clotted plasma, in a dose dependent way. Addition of heparin to the thromboplastin-activated plasma counteracted this effect. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) pictures of sensor surfaces dried after completed clotting, revealed differences in fibrin network structures as a function of thromboplastin concentration, and the fiber thickness increased with decreased thromboplastin concentration. The physical reason for the SPR signal observed is ambiguous and is therefore discussed. However, the results summarized in the plots and the fibrin network properties observed by AFM correlate well with present common methods used to analyze blood coagulation.
Proceedings of the SPIE, Volume 3570, p. 107-114 (1999), 1999
A surface plasmon resonance (SPR) apparatus was used to investigate blood plasma coagulation in r... more A surface plasmon resonance (SPR) apparatus was used to investigate blood plasma coagulation in real-time as a function of thromboplastin and heparin concentrations. The physical reason for the SPR signal observed is discussed and 3 different models are proposed. The response curves were analyzed by multivariable curve fitting followed by feature extraction. Interesting parameters of the sigmoid curves were lag time, slope and maximum response. When thromboplastin concentrations were increased, the lag-time decreased and the slope of the curve increased. A prolonged clotting time was followed mostly by increased maximum response, with exception for samples with no or very little thromboplastin added. High heparin concentrations changed the clotting kinetics. As seen from the lag-time vs. slope relation. Atomic force microscopy pictures of sensor surfaces dried after completed clotting, revealed differences in fibrin network structures as a function of thromboplastin concentration, and fiber thickness increased with lower thromboplastin concentration. The results correlate well with present common methods.
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Papers by Johan Benesch