The realization that the extraction and combustion of fossil fuels is having serious effects on the environment and the climate, together with the ever-growing need for fuels, has led to the development of the concept of the biorefinery. Biorefineries are refineries in which fossil resources, such as oil, are replaced by renewable biomaterials to produce biofuels and biochemicals. Non-edible bioma

Mineral evolution is concerned with the timing of mineral occurrences, such as the earliest reported occurrences in the geologic record. Minerals containing essential Li have not been reported from rocks older than ca. 3000 Ma, thus the lithian tourmaline (fluor-elbaite) and mica (lepidolite) assemblage from a pegmatite near Zishineni associated with the ca. 3000 Ma Sinceni Pluton presents unusual

Konsten att flyga har uppstått fyra gånger under evolutionens gång: hos fåglarna, fladdermössen, insekterna och de nu utdöda flygödlorna. En av dessa grupper – insekterna – har varit otroligt framgångsrik: insekter står för ungefär 80% av världens arter. Troligtvis har förmågan att flyga bidragit till deras framgång. Men trots att det finns många fördelar med att kunna flyga – man kan till exempel fly frAerodynamic theory states that the power required to fly is related to flight speed with a ∪-shaped curve. This has been shown in vertebrates, but insects have been proposed to have a flat, or J-shaped power curve. This means that hovering – flying at zero speed – is energy-efficient, which would explain why it is a relatively common flight mode in insects. In this thesis I show that some insects do, in

Reciprocal ST depression, PR depression in the chest leads and terminal QRS distortion may improve detection of true STEMI. Convex STE is more common in ischemic than in non-ischemic patients, but the majority of STEMI patients present without convex STE.

Atelectasis formation can be reduced by positive endexpiratory pressure (PEEP), but resulting increases in intrathoracic pressure could affect circulation. We have earlier demonstrated that increased tidal volumes with larger apparatus dead space improves oxygenation and sevoflurane uptake. In the present study, we hypothesize that isocapnic ventilation with increased tidal volumes increases oxyge

4 Sammanfattning Vår infrastruktur kommer att påverkas av klimatförändringar, både nu och i framtiden. För att kunna säkerställa infrastrukturens funktion och uppfylla de säkerhetskrav som finns kommer det därför att krävas investeringar i anpassningsåtgärder. Men åtgärder bör inte tas på utifrån bristfällig kunskap, det är därför väsentligt att i förväg kartlägga vilka typer av påverkan som kan f

The current work aims at investigating the detailed spatial structure of the thin plasma column of a gliding arc (GA) discharge extended in N2-CH4 gas mixtures, using visualization techniques. The GA discharge was operated at up to 5 atm in a high-pressure vessel with extensive optical access. The results show that the emission intensity from the plasma column increased tenfold with the addition o

The interaction of bacterial pathogens with their hosts' innate immune systems can be extremely complex and is often difficult to disentangle experimentally. Using mouse models of bacterial infections, several laboratories have successfully applied genetic approaches to identify novel host genes required for innate immune defense. In addition, a variety of creative bacterial genetic schemes have b

Inflammasomes are cytosolic multiprotein complexes that sense microbial infection and trigger cytokine production and cell death. However, the molecular components of inflammasomes and what they sense remain poorly defined. Here we demonstrate that 35 amino acids of the carboxyl terminus of flagellin triggered inflammasome activation in the absence of bacterial contaminants or secretion systems. T

The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 has been a turning point in the World history that left a unique footprint on the Northern Eurasian ecosystems. Conducting large scale mapping of environmental change and separating between naturogenic and anthropogenic drivers is a difficult endeavor in such highly complex systems. In this research a piece-wise linear regression method was used for breakpo