Fuel ethanol can be produced from lignocellulosic materials to replace gasoline and diesel. A crucial step in the production process is the hydrolysis (saccharification) of the material, which can be achieved with dilute acid at high temperature. Unfortunately, sugar is degraded under these severe conditions, and the sugar yield is generally low. This thesis deals with countercurrent operation, wh

A short or otherwise suboptimal neck precludes the use of endovascular repair in 30% to 50% of patients with abdominal aortic aneurysms. Stent-graft fixation in an unsuitable neck carries the risk of technical failure owing to development of a proximal endoleak or stent-graft migration. Furthermore, in some patients, the neck dilates postoperatively. Endovascular healing with tissue incorporation

We aimed to assess whether prey organisms with limited large-scale dispersal abilities are locally adapted to prevailing predator regimes by studying how chemical cues from predatory fish affected the behavior of Gammarus pulex (Amphipoda) from ponds with and without fish. We also examined, in the laboratory, the F1 generation from each pond by incubating them with or without cues from predatory f

Objectives To determine the ability of Bishop score and sonographic cervical length to predict time to spontaneous onset of labor and time to delivery in prolonged pregnancy. Methods Ninety-seven women underwent transvaginal ultrasound examination and palpation of the cervix at 291-296 days' gestation according to ultrasound fetometry at 12-20 weeks' gestation. Sonographic cervical length and Bis

Circadian variations of hexobarbital oxidation rate in rat liver and the relationship to serum corticosterone levels were determined in 324 animals subjected to different lighting regimen and feeding schedules.--Rats maintained under standard light/dark conditions and with free access to food showed a significant circadian hexobarbital oxidase rhythmicity. Inversion of the light/dark cycle and tim

Previous fracture is a well-documented risk factor for future fracture. The aim of this study was to quantify this risk on an international basis and to explore the relationship of this risk with age, sex, and bone mineral density (BMD). We studied 15259 men and 44902 women from 11 cohorts comprising EVOS/EPOS, OFELY, CaMos, Rochester, Sheffield, Rotterdam, Kuopio, DOES, Hiroshima, and two cohorts

The aquaporin PM28A is one of the major integral proteins in spinach leaf plasma membranes. Phosphorylation/dephosphorylation of Ser274 at the C-terminus and of Ser115 in the first cytoplasmic loop has been shown to regulate the water channel activity of PM28A when expressed in Xenopus oocytes. To understand the mechanisms of the phosphorylation-mediated gating of the channel the structure of PM28

This study tests the hypothesis that Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIRS) of lake sediments can be used to infer past changes in tree-line position and total organic carbon (TOC) content of lake water. A training set of 100 lakes from northern Sweden spanning a broad altitudinal and TOC gradient from 0.7 to 14.9 mg/l was used to assess whether vegetation zones and TOC can be modelled fr

During the last two decades, a rapid progress has been made in the development of analytical methods for a fire engineering design of load bearing and separating structures and structural members. Consequently, more and more countries are now permitting a classification of structural members with respect to fire to be formulated analytically as an alternative to the internationally prevalent metho

A previously presented robust and fast diagnostic NOx model was modified into a predictive model. This was done by using simple yet physically based models for fuel injection, ignition delay, premixed heat release rate and diffusion combustion heat release rate. The model can be used both for traditional high-temperature combustion and for high-EGR, low-temperature combustion. It was possible

Background: Several studies have shown a higher mortality rate in patients with osteoporosis-related fractures of the hip and vertebrae. Method: In 1999, we did a long-term follow-up case-control mortality study of 253 patients, mean age 72 years, who had sustained a fracture of the surgical neck of the humerus in 1987. Results: We found a higher mortality in fracture patients giving at end point