This thesis has two main objectives. The first is to analyse the potential of existing assessment tools and methods to incorporate the different dimensions of sustainability in an assessment. The second is to apply some of these tools in a case study in order to determine how forest sector can better contribute to sustainable development in Estonia. The first aim is addressed in a theoretical sect

Interstitial photodynamic therapy (IPDT) provides a promising means to treat large cancerous tumors and solid organs inside the human body. The treatment outcome is dependent on the distributions of light, photosensitizer, and tissue oxygenation. We present a scheme for reconstructing the spatial distribution of a fluorescent photosensitizer. The reconstruction is based on measurements performed i

Partial migration, in which a fraction of a population migrate and the rest remain resident, occurs in an extensive range of species and can have powerful ecological consequences. The question of what drives differences in individual migratory tendency is a contentious one. It has been shown that the timing of partial migration is based upon a trade-off between seasonal fluctuations in predation r

Background: Sickness absence has represented a growing public health problem in many Western countries over the last decade. In Sweden disorders of the musculoskeletal system cause approximately one third of all sick leave. The Social Insurance Agency (SIA) and the health care system are important actors in handling the sickness absence process. The objective was to study how patients with persona

We investigate the influence of the one-dimensional character of the phonon modes in a catalytically grown GaAs nanowire on the absorption spectrum of an embedded quantum dot, focusing on the on the contribution from the piezoelectric coupling. In general, the reduced dimensionally of the phonons leads to spectral side peaks and a zero-phonon line broadening due to the energetically lowest (acoust

Objectives: Cadmium (Cd) toxicity of the kidney varies between individuals despite similar exposure levels. In humans Cd is mainly bound to metallothioneins (MT), which scavenge its toxic effects. Here we analyzed whether polymorphisms in MT genes MTIA and MT2A influence Cd-related kidney damage. Methods: In a cross-sectional study N = 512 volunteers were selected from three areas in South-Eastern

Denna studie undersöker företags prisvariation mellan olika exportmarknader. Tidigare studier betonar kvalitetsskillnader som en viktig orsak till variationer i exportpriser. Vi utgår i stället från en alternativ förklaringsmodell som baseras på marknadssegmentering och studerar relationen mellan företagens prisvariation och deras markup. Vi använder detaljerad företags- och produktdata för en hel

Popular Abstract in Swedish Bröstcancer är den vanligaste cancerformen i världen bland kvinnor och bara i Sverige insjuknar varje år runt 7000 personer. Vi vet att omkring 10-15% av fallen troligen beror på ärftliga faktorer och det har under senare tid gjorts stora insatser för att klargöra exakt vilka arvsanlag som har betydelse för utveckling av sjukdomen. Under början av 90-talet identifieradeHereditary breast cancer constitutes a considerable fraction of the total number of breast cancer cases occurring each year. Up until recently very few breast cancer predisposing genes were known, but many new common polymorphisms contributing to increased cancer susceptibility are continuously being identified. This thesis has focused on familial breast cancer and identifying as well as investi

Complex health systems make it difficult for older persons (75+) with multi-morbidity to achieve continuity of care. Case management could be one way to address this difficulty. Currently, there is a need to extend the knowledge regarding case management as experienced by those utilising the services, namely older persons (75+) with multi-morbidity. The study aimed to explore older persons' (75+)

Purpose – This paper aims to discuss a new tool for requirements gathering in the Web 2.0 era. It seeks to investigate the features that this kind of tool should have in order to be as widely applicable and useful as possible. Further, it aims to explore the extent to which business requirements for enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems can be collected and discussed collaboratively in a worl

The use of injection and brining as the first step in heavy salting of cod increases weight yields of the products through both salting and rehydration, compared to other pre-salting methods, like brining only and pickling. This is interesting since salt content of the muscle exceeds 20% NaCl, in all procedures. Therefore, the dissimilarities in yield were presumed to depend on the degree of prote

Over the years, much information has been gathered about fires in fire investigation reports and statistics. This information may have been collected nationally by an agency or an insurance company, or locally by the local rescue service. The information thus gathered can be used to learn from these fires and thereby lead to improved fire safety in buildings. This paper describes a method for discover

Abstract in UndeterminedThere has been much interest in group judgment and the so-called 'wisdom of crowds'. In many real world contexts, members of groups not only share a dependence on external sources of information, but they also communicate with one another, thus introducing correlations among their responses that can diminish collective accuracy. This has long been known, but it has-to date-

Elin Åkelius berättar om sitt examensarbete att återinventera sex rödlistade lavarter på bok. Det har visat sig att flera arter har gått tillbaka även under de senaste 20 åren.

We recently reported that HIV-1 infection can be inhibited by innate antimicrobial components of human seminal plasma (SP). Conversely, naturally occurring peptidic fragments from the SP-derived prostatic acid phosphatase ( PAP) have been reported to form amyloid fibrils called "SEVI'' and enhance HIV-1 infection in vitro. In order to understand the biological consequence of this proviral effect,

The consequences of adopting other definitions of the concepts of sum and convergence of a series are discussed in the light of historical and epistemological contexts. We show that some divergent series appearing in the context of renormalization methods cannot be assigned finite values while preserving a minimum of consistency with standard summation, without at the same time obtaining contradic

Objective To develop evidence-based recommendations for the diagnosis of knee osteoarthritis (OA). Methods The multidisciplinary guideline development group, representing 12 European countries, generated 10 key propositions regarding diagnosis using a Delphi consensus approach. For each recommendation, research evidence was searched systematically. Whenever possible, the sensitivity, specificity a

Transient evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAEs) have been analyzed for objective assessment of hearing function and monitoring of the influence of noise exposure and ototoxic drugs. This paper presents a novel application of the Hilbert-Huang transform (HHT) for detection and time-frequency mapping of TEOAEs. Since the HHT does not distinguish between signal and noise, it is combined with ensemble