Filtyp
Ritual creativity may seem like a contradiction in terms, yet the religious landscape in contemporary Euro-America is permeate with experimentation of ritual forms, different modalities of action, imagination and play as routes to authenticity. The present study examines different settings in Europe involved in such ritual creativity, which would commonly be classified as postmodern spirituality,
Heart disease results from the loss of cardiomyocytes following myocardial damage and is a leading cause of death worldwide. Stimulating the endogenous regeneration of cardiomyocytes or isolating them from in vitro culture is an attractive therapeutic strategy. In paper I, the focus is on the cellular growth patterns of murine cardiomyocytes under steady-state conditions. The turnover of cardiomyo
Land degradation is commonly perceived to be severe in many parts of semi arid China. The transition towards market economy since the 1978 reforms, have set marginal dry lands under added pressure in the form of increased livestock numbers and expanding cultivation on erosive soils. To evaluate land degradation since the reforms, this study focuses on mapping and analysing the biological productio
The overiding aim of this study is to promote an increace in the knowledge regarding school children´s learning and meaning construction, whereby teachers attempt to exceed traditional ways of learning by combining asthetics and rationality as an integration of the learning process. The aim is to describe and interpret that which occurs in discussions between teachers and the children, when the ch
The spectra of highly charged tungsten ions have been investigated using x-ray and extreme ultraviolet spectroscopy. These heavy ions are of interest in relativistic atomic structure theory, where high-precision wavelength measurements benchmark theoretical approaches, and in magnetic fusion research, where the ions may serve to diagnose high-temperature plasmas. The work details spectroscopic in
Huntington’s disease (HD) is a fatal, hereditary disease for which there is no cure. It is caused by a mutation in a gene called huntingtin. HD is a so-called neurodegenerative disease, where there is a loss of neurons in areas of the brain that control body movements. This results in uncontrolled dance-like movements (chorea). Traditionally, research on HD has focused round the brain and what is
Cytochromes function in electron transfer reactions, e.g. in respiratory systems, and contain haem as a prosthetic group. Cytochromes of the c-type differ from other cytochromes in that haem is covalently attached, via thioether linkages, to two cysteine residues in a conserved sequence motif in the protein, Cys-Xaa-Yaa-Cys-His. The functional location of c-type cytochromes in bacteria is on the o
In this thesis the tensile strength, deformation, damage resistance and tear propagation for flexible composites are analysed. There are two essential requirements common to all flexible composites; namely, high tearing strength and good matrix-to-fabric adhesion. The interaction of fabric and matrix is complex. The most critical variables are those of yarn and fabric structure, the mechanical pro
Cultural semiotics studies encounters between cultures. Notions such as Culture, Extra-culture and Non-culture were developed in the 1970s by the Tartu school and were used in their studies of Russian culture and its relation to Western Europe, with special focus on Peter the Great's attempt to Westernize Russia in the eighteenth century. The aim of this dissertation in cultural semiotics is to fu
In this thesis temperature induced vesicle formation in both a block copolymer system and nonionic surfactant system have been investigated. The block copolymer is a triblock copolymer of poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) and poly(propylene oxide) (PPO), PEO-PPO-PEO, with the average molecular composition of EO5PO68EO5 and the commercial trade name Pluronic L121 (papers I, II). In the L121 system the for
The use of polymers and composite materials based on polymer matrix systems increases. With this raise the demands on recycling of both post-consumer and in house based material increase. The demands on the recycling process also increase. The reason is that the process more often has to be a part of the conventional production line. In order to incorporate such a process in a production line tech
Food hoarding is a widespread behavior among a large number of animals, and it exists in several different varieties, all of them used by the animals as a method of having a steady supply of food during periods of low food abundance such as the winter. This thesis concentrates mainly on two aspects of scatter food hoarding behavior, using small birds as study and model animals. Scatter hoarding is
Abstract Hot springs in Iceland can serve as sources of thermophilic, xylanolytic bacteria secreting very thermostable xylanolytic enzymes. The aerobic, thermophilic bacteria Rhodothermus marinus secretes multiple xylanases and xylosidases. One of the xylanases was purified to electrophoretic homogeneity and was characterized. The N-terminal sequence showed no homology with other xylanases. The p
The causes of autoimmune diseases are largely unknown today, but there is evidence supporting a substantial complex genetic influence on many of these diseases as well as environmental factors and chance. In this thesis I have tried to get one step closer to the genetic causes of two autoimmune diseases through their induced counterparts in mice, namely rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and multiple scler
With the challenges Africa faces with respect to the predicted warming due to climate change, the continents role in the global carbon cycle has been increasingly recognized. Earth observing satellites have played a significant role in the study of vegetation, particularly in Africa where climate stations are sparse. Satellite data can provide the means to map plant primary production for monitori
Structure activity relationship studies of synthetic flavone derivatives have been utilized to refine and evaluate a pharmacophore model of the benzodiazepine binding site of the GABAA receptors, originally developed by Zhang et al. (Drug Des. Discovery 1995, 12, 193-248). In addition to the previously proposed pharmacophore elements, two steric repulsive regions have been added to the model and t
Phase diagrams of mixed alkylglucoside surfactants, n-nonyl-b-D-glucopyranoside and n-decyl-b-D-glucopyranoside (C9G1 and C10G1) have been examined for the purpose of determining the microstructure surrounding a closed-loop miscibiliyt gap. There are large deuterium isotope effects on the phase diagram. NMR-self diffusion, cryoTEM and TRFQ experiments show the presence of long interconnect network
Friction Stir Welding (FSW) is a modern welding process that joins materials by frictional heat, generated by a rotating tool. Unlike other welding processes, the material never melts, which is beneficial for the weld properties. FSW is already widely adopted in several industries but the applications are limited to simple geometries like straight lines or circular welds, mostly in aluminium. The
The aims of the thesis were to investigate the prevalence of the upper extremity musculoskeletal disorders in female milkers in relation to other occupational groups; to clarify the relationship between disorders and work environment, psychosocial and life style factors; to compare in a prospective study, pain, ache and discomfort reported by a questionnaire with clinical symptoms and sign; to exa
