The protective effect of most currently available vaccines is dependent on high-affinity antibodies and long lived B cell memory, which develop within organized structures of secondary lymphoid organs called germinal centers (GCs). GC formation is supported by T follicular helper (Tfh) cells, a subset of CD4+ T cells that develop in parallel to other effector T cells and specifically localizes to

Since the Ukraine conflict began in 2014, there has been an increased awareness of the threat to EU interests posed by Russia. In early 2015, the EEAS created the East StratCom Team to respond by promoting the EU’s soft power, strengthen media resilience, and catalogue disinformation. This article categorizes several examples of Russian disinformation in order to conceptualize the conduct of digit

In this thesis I focus on soundpainting-mediated musical experiences. Proposed in the mid seventies by the American musician Walter Thompson (b. 1952), soundpainting is a conventionalized artistic practice designed to create artistic works in real time. Thompson’s definition of soundpainting as a sign language is central to the present artistic inquiry, based on different moments of artistic pract

OBJECTIVE: To determine prevalence and intensity of pain after stroke, focusing on patients' perspectives. METHODS: During a one year period, 416 first-ever stroke patients were included in the population based Lund Stroke Register. After 4 and 16 months (median), 297 patients (98% of survivors) were followed up. Worst pain intensity during the previous 48 hours was assessed on a visual analo

Body temperature (Tb) is a valuable parameter when assessing the physiological state of animals, but its widespread measurement is often constrained by methods that are invasive or require frequent recapture of animals. Alternatives based on automated remote sensing of peripheral Tb show promise, but little is known about their strengths and limitations. We measured peripheral Tb in great tits Par

This thesis is consists of two parts, applying concepts from automatic control to different application areas.The first part of this thesis concerns the development of an optimization-based algorithm, determining the size of insulin and glucose doses for patients suffering from Diabetes Mellitus and treated with multiple insulin injections. Diabetes Mellitus is a chronic disease characterized by eThis thesis consists of two parts, applying concepts from automatic control to different application areas.The first part of this thesis concerns the development of an optimization-based algorithm, determining the size of insulin and glucose doses for patients suffering from Diabetes Mellitus and treated with multiple insulin injections. Diabetes Mellitus is a chronic disease characterized by elev

Several severe fires in structural elements, or so-called “structural fires”, have occurred in Sweden in recent years. In order to study this phenomenon, a dozen of real fires in structural elements have been studied in this report. The first objective in the report has been to define the term “structural fires”. The second objective was to describe how these severe fires start and developed. The

Methods for determination of indoor noise and vibrations from urban rail bound transport are presented in this work. Both measurement methods and empirical prediction methods are described. The data and results are taken from field measurements of noise and vibrations from the trams and metro trains of Oslo.The methods applied should be universally adaptable. The general approach is to use empiric

In this work we present the quasi-steady state simulation of a regenerative organic Rankine cycle (ORC) integrated in a passenger vessel, over a standard round trip. The study case is the M/S Birka Stockholm cruise ship, which covers a daily route between Stockholm (Sweden) and Mariehamn (Finland). Experimental data of the exhaust gas temperatures, engine loads, and electricity demand on board wer

Compound lean implemented on stator of an industrial steam turbine stage in order to reduce secondary losses are discussed. Baseline stator is a prismatic vane with aspect ratio of unity. Compound lean stator blade is designed by shearing the airfoil sections in tangential direction. Modifications are analyzed numerically using commercial code CFX. Three blade rows i.e. one complete stage with a d

Vortexing methods implemented on an industrial steam turbine vane in order to reduce secondary losses are discussed. Three vortexing methods presented are prismatic blade design, inverse vortex and parabolic forced vortex. Baseline industrial vane considered for study is a prismatic blade design. Modifications are analysed numerically using commercial code CFX. Modified vanes along with baseline r

BACKGROUND: DOTAP/cholesterol-based lipoplexes are successfully used for delivery of plasmid DNA in vivo especially to the lungs, although low systemic stability and circulation have been reported. To achieve the aim of discovering the best method for systemic delivery of DNA to disseminated tumors we evaluated the potential of formulating DOTAP/cholesterol lipoplexes with a polyethylene glycol (P

BACKGROUND: Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) can restore commensal microbiomes and prevent infections. Arguably, nasal administrations of LAB may therefore be beneficial in chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS). Previous studies have examined effects of topical/nasal LAB in children with secretory otitis media, but little is as yet known about their effects on the human nasal airway. The aim of this pilot study

TLR ligands are present on both commensal and pathogenic microbes. Intestinal epithelial cells (IECs) have been observed to be largely unresponsive to TLR ligands. This observation has partly been explained by the fact that TLR expression on IECs is sparse. The discovery of the Toll-like receptors finally identified the innate immune receptors that were responsible for many of the innate immune fu

Today we have different location based services available in a mobile phone or mobile station (MS). These services include: direction finding to nearby ATMs, locating favorite food restaurants, or finding any target destination. Similarly, we see different applications of the positioning and navigation systems in firefighting or other rescue operations. The common factor in almost all of the locat

Future mobile platforms will contain an increased amount of wireless technologies. As technologies mature it will be necessary to find synergies between them. This could be in the form of reusing hardware blocks and algorithms. By using Fast Fourier Transforms (FFT/IFFT) and performing channel cancellation/equalization in frequency domain for wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) will pro

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of a Buddhist meditation intervention on empathy, perceived stress, mindfulness, self-compassion, and of particular interest, the dispositional tendency to feel empathic concern rather than personal distress when perceiving another as in need, termed altruistic orientation. Participants were randomly assigned to an intervention group (n = 20