Taiwan's competitiveness in the global arena has often been attributed to the country's dynamic small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). In the most recent decade, the Taiwanese government has increased support to innovative SMEs, and with the emergence of new fields such as biotechnology, companies with highly innovation-driven agendas are surfacing. The innovation focus provides not only new o

Cutaneous Human Papillomavirus (HPV) types have been associated with non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC), including a previous nested case-control study using HPV serology with bacterially derived fusion proteins with the major HPV capsid protein L1 (GST-L1). However, HPV serology using conformationally intact pseudovirions has been shown to correlate better with natural infection. Prospective studies

The more we know about the catastrophic implications of climate change, the more fossil fuels are burnt in the world. How did we get caught up in this mess? This thesis returns to a crucial moment in the emergence of the fossil economy: the rise of steam-power. With the adoption of the steam-engine, fossil energy was first coupled to a process of self-sustaining growth, the new prime mover using c

Decision making for incompetent patients is a much-discussed topic in bioethics. According to one influential decision making standard, the substituted judgment standard, a surrogate decision maker ought to make the decision that the incompetent patient would have made, had he or she been competent. Empirical research has been conducted in order to find out whether surrogate decision makers are su

Osteoporosis is a severe condition in postmenopausal women and a common cause of fracture. Osteoporosis is a complex disease with a strong genetic impact, but susceptibility is determined by many genes with modest effects and environmental factors. Only a handful of genes consistently associated with osteoporosis have been identified so far. Inflammation affects bone metabolism by interfering with

A fully integrated digital phase-locked loop (PLL) used as a clock multiplying circuit is designed. The PLL is made from standard cells found in almost any commercial standard cell library and therefore portable between processes in netlist format. Using a 0.35 μm standard complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor CMOS process and a 3.0 V supply voltage, the PLL is designed for a locking range of 17

INTRODUCTION: Parathyroid hormone (PTH) is a key regulator of calcium metabolism. Parathyroid hormone-like hormone (PTHrP) contributes to skeletal development through regulation of chondrocyte proliferation and differentiation during early bone growth. Both PTH and PTHrP act through the same receptor (PTHR1). A second receptor, PTHR2, has been identified although its function is comparatively unkn

Chronically implanted microelectrodes are an invaluable tool for neuroscientific research, allowing long term recordings in awake and behaving animals. It is known that all such electrodes will evoke a tissue reaction affected by its' size, shape, surface structure, fixation mode and implantation method. However, the possible correlation between tissue reactions and the number of implanted electro

Popular Abstract in Swedish Denna avhandling handlar om optisk spektroskopi, d.v.s. att med hjälp av ljus best ̈mma fysiska och kemiska egenskaper hos ett prov. När ljus interagerar med atomer och molekyler absorberas endast ljus av vissa våglängder (färger). Exakt vilka färger som absorberas är unikt för varje sorts atom eller molekyl och utgör alltså ett sorts ”fingeravtryck”. Genom att noggranOptical spectroscopy is a versatile and powerful tool to probe translucent materials. In this work, the focus is on characterization of strongly scattering (turbid) materials by means of time-of-flight spectroscopy (TOFS). Instrumentation and modelling aspects of TOFS were investigated and improved, enabling significantly more accurate spectroscopic measurements. It was shown that the commonly us

This study illustrates how Swedish manufacturing industries are managing issues that pertain to how their business activities and operations impact the external environment. This is a follow-up study of Arnfalk and Thidell ’s study Environmental Management in Swedish Manufacturing Industries? Facts or Fiction?(1991). The 1998 study was based on telephone interviews with company representatives fro