Our aim in this study was to explore women's responses to reported ad-hoc demands for unauthorized user fees during pregnancy and childbirth in Luanda, Angola. Ten focus group discussions were conducted and data were analysed using grounded theory. Women were found to apply six strategies as they "endeavored to cope with demands for unauthorized user fees" (core category): (i) blowing the whistle,

This dissertation contains a variety of contributions to econometric theory. Broadly speaking, econometrics may be categorized depending on what type of data is being analyzed, the two main categories being time series data and cross sectional data. A third category is panel data, combining cross sectional data observed over time. This is the area at which this dissertation is aimed. Panel data mo

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Objective: To compare the performance of the American College of Rheumatology (ACR), European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR), and simple disease activity index (SDAI) response criteria for rheumatoid arthritis at the individual level in an observational cohort. Methods: 184 outpatients were followed using a structured protocol. For each patient, the responses according to ACR 20% and 50%, EULAR

Recent studies have suggested that sensory nerves may influence insulin secretion and action. The present study investigated the effects of resiniferatoxin (RTX) inactivation of sensory nerves ( desensitization) on oral glucose tolerance, insulin secretion and whole body insulin sensitivity in the glucose intolerant, hyperinsulinemic, and insulin-resistant obese Zucker rat. After RTX treatment (0.

In asexual eukaryotes, the two allelic gene copies at a locus are expected to become highly divergent as a result of the independent accumulation of mutations in the absence of segregation. If sexual reproduction was abandoned millions of generations ago, intra-individual allelic divergences can be significantly larger than in species that reproduce sexually. Owing to the disputed existence of tru

We observe a correspondence between the zero modes of superconformal algebras S'(2,1) and W(4) ([8]) and the Lie superalgebras formed by classical operators appearing in the Kahler and hyper-Kahler geometry.

Several migratory bird species show active cycles of hypertrophy and atrophy of nutritional organs and selected muscle groups. We develop a model for nutritional organs to identify the conditions under which such a pattern of structural change is optimal. Migrants may choose the size of two components of lean mass: a constant component that they carry throughout the entire migration period and a c

1. Roots of emergent macrophytes depend on oxygen transported from aerial parts by diffusion and, in some species, by pressurised ventilation. The aim of this study was to determine if species with pressurised ventilation grow in deeper water in situ than species lacking this ability. 2. Species with pressurised ventilation grew significantly deeper than species lacking pressurised ventilation, an

Lacunar infarcts, small deep infarcts resulting from occlusion of a penetrating artery, account for about a quarter of all ischemic strokes. The view of lacunar infarcts as a benign and rather innocent vascular lesion has been modified during the last years. Although the prognosis is more favourable than other subtypes during the first years, probably due to the small lesion size, in a longer pers

Under de senaste tio åren har en känslig analysmetod för grundämnen utvecklats vid institutionen för kärnfysik vid LTH. Metoden kallas PIXE (Particle Induced X-ray Emisson) och medger att mycket små förekomster (109 – 1012 g) av grundämnen kanbestämmas i små prov. Metoden är snabb. Ett par minuters analys ger en samtidig bestämning av ett stort antal grundämnen. Analysmetoden används nu i ett stor

In the 1980s it became increasingly clear that the European Community market was still segmented by national borders because of non-tariff barriers to trade. A major objective of the Single Market Program in 1992 was to remove these barriers, thereby enforcing intra-union competition. In this paper, a panel of Swedish firm-level data is used to evaluate whether domestic market power has been curta

5-Aminolevulinic acid (ALA) is a common biosynthetic intermediate of both chlorophyll and heme. Glutamyl-tRNAGlu reductase, encoded by the hemA gene, is the initial enzyme of ALA biosynthesis. The presence of several hemA genes provides a possible explanation to the ability of plants to meet the different requirement of chlorophyll and heme using a common biosynthetic pathway. In this work, two ba

The finite element method is applied to solve coupled steady-state fluid flow and heat transfer problems in insulated pipes of district heating networks. The main advantage of the finite element method involved here is the standard discretization and solution technique for both coupling of temperature-dependent physical properties in the thermo-hydraulic flow and for description of the multilayere

Purpose. To evaluate treatment outcome with Zygoma fixtures (Nobel Biocare, Goteborg, Sweden) with regard to fixture survival, patient satisfaction, and function of prosthesis replacement. Materials and Methods: The treatment outcome of 76 patients treated with 145 Zygoma fixtures at 16 centers was evaluated. Patient's and dentist's evaluations of the functional and aesthetic outcome of the treatm

Dewatering properties and sludge structure of anaerobically digested sludge were studied in relation to an increasing operational temperature. Sludge samples were taken from 5 pilot-scale CSTR reactors treating municipal sewage sludge with working volume of 20 L and operating at 33, 35, 37, 39 and 55 degrees C, respectively. The main parameters of interest were capillary suction time (CST), concen