Filetype
This thesis deals with two topics in wireless communications: interference between frequency-hopping (FH) networks, and multiuser diversity. The work on FH treats a system where FH is used to provide simultaneous access to the channel for multiple uncoordinated wireless networks. This is achieved by performing frequency hops on a packet-by-packet basis, and letting the sequence of hopping frequen
This dissertation seeks to explore historical changes in the lifeworld of the Mi’kmaq Indians of Eastern Canada. The Mi’kmaq culture hero Kluskap here serves as a key persona in discussing issues such as traditions, changing conceptions of land, and human-environmental relations. In order not to depict Mi’kmaq culture as timeless, two important periods in its history are examined. The first study
This thesis consists of three theoretical essays on Bargaining and Social Choice. The first essay addresses the problem of retaining the uniqueness of equilibrium when extending the Rubinstein model to accommodate more than two players. We achieve a unique subgame perfect equilibrium in a bargaining model with three players by assuming that the players make demands in a clockwise order and practic
This thesis is interdisciplinary between Mathematical Statistics, Genetics, and Medicine. It mainly consists of topics in mathematical modelling of the correlation of inheritance of genes and disease in a family, a method called linkage analysis. It is organized as follows. First, a short introduction with the relevant background is given and then four papers are included. The first paper discuss
One of the most important aspects of the marriage legislation in medieval canon law is the doctrine of free choice. According to this doctrine, established by pope Alexander III in the second half of the twelfth century, the validity of a marriage depended solely on the freely given consent of the parties. Neither family nor witnesses, not even the presence of a priest were necessary to form a val
The main contribution of this thesis is approximation algorithms for several computational geometry problems. The underlying structure for most of the problems studied is a geometric network. A geometric network is, in its abstract form, a set of vertices, pairwise connected with an edge, such that the weight of this connecting edge is the Euclidean distance between the pair of points connected. S
This study challenges the prevailing assumption that the expansion of cultivated land areas and increasing number of livestock in the agro-pastoral regions of northern China have aggravated the process of land degradation since the start of the rural reforms in 1978. Land-use and productivity trends in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (IMAR), with special attention to the Keerqin steppe region
In this thesis the role of cartilage proteins and their potential as antigen and availability to the immune system in arthritis were investigated. Six papers are included; where four present new animal models for Rheumatoid arthritis (RA), one shows how genetic disorders in cartilage may affect arthritis and the last how posttranslational modification of collagen type II (CII) affects tolerance. P
Physician and patient do not meet as equals in the consultation. It is the responsibility of the physician to actively work for better communication in order to provide equitable health care for all individuals. Immigrant patients are a vulnerable group, shown in studies all over the world to have less access to care, fewer opportunities for health, and poorer health compared to majority populatio
Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is the most common form of epilepsy among adult patients, and the most problematic one as seizures cannot be controlled by currently available drugs in 30 % of patients. Gene therapy based on overexpression of endogenous anti-epileptic agents such as the neuropeptide galanin and the glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) represents a promising new approach
Evangelium Cyrillicum Gothoburgense, ECG, a tetraevangel treasured in Göteborg University Library, has been studied from several aspects. A codicological study showed that the MS bears signs of earlier restoration and that some leaves are missing at the beginning and at the end. The watermark is a "boar", and the date of ECG is believed to be 1605-1625 on the basis of an identical watermark in ano
This thesis is based upon four original papers in which human dendritic cells (DCs) and B cells have been analyzed in terms of how they influence the character of adaptive immune responses. DCs isolated from human tonsils were found to possess a capacity to directly regulate proliferation, isotype switching, and antibody production in B cells. DC-produced cytokines, including IL-13, were identifie
A network of perivascular nerve fibres was demonstrated in coronary arteries and veins from guinea-pig and man. Nerve fibres displaying immunoreactivity to neuropeptide Y (NPY) had a distribution pattern similar to those containing immunoreactivity to tyrosine hydroxylase. Immunoreactivity to substance P and calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) occurred in the same varicose nerve fibres, which w
The aim of this dissertation is to address a paradox: government control and social freedom on China's Internet are growing simultaneously. The study, which is based on fieldwork conducted between 2002 and 2006, and 48 interviews, seeks answers to the following two questions: 1. How can Internet use contribute to an unlocking of the public sphere, making it more independent from party-state contro
In order to produce fuel ethanol from lignocellulose, it is necessary to hydrolyse the sugar-containing constituents hemicellulose and cellulose. During acid hydrolysis, a number of compounds are formed or liberated in addition to the fermentable monomeric sugars. Several of these compounds might act as inhibitors during the fermentation of the sugars to ethanol. Thus, in order to obtain high etha
The fundamental question in this work concerns the ideal relation between asceticism and society in a 5th c. writing (C.E.), the Philotheos Historia (PH), written in elaborate Greek by the learned bishop of Cyrrhus, Theodoret. This collection of saints’ stories tells about the lives of a number of ascetics who lived in the Eastern part of the Roman Empire, many of them close to Antioch. As these n
Plasticity induced damage evolution is considered using a thermodynamical approach. Different postulates on how to include the effects of damage in the constitutive equations have been studied. The results reveal that a mapping, similar to that of the stress, of both the kinematic and isotropic hardening variables is to be preferred. The undesired property that, irrespectively of the postulate emp
New measurements of the elements Ba, Fe, Ga, In and Ru are reported. The analysis of barium contains new wavelengths, improved energy level values and new values of the ionization limit in both Ba I and Ba II. Oscillator strengths and radiative lifetimes in Fe II, as a part of the FERRUM project, are reported. The gallium analysis includes new wavelengths, ab initio calculated oscillator st
Three main themes are outlined in this thesis: Polyelectrolytes/DNA : In a living cell, DNA molecules have a compact conformation in order to fit in, while in a test tube they will take on an expanded cylindrical shape, due to the negative phosphate groups along the DNA molecule. With the help of computer simulations it has been shown that like-charged monomers of a poly- electrolyte can attract
Background: Restenosis is the most frequently occurring adverse event after percutaneous intravascular treatment of atherosclerotic lesions, which limits long-term patency of the intervention. Objective: The aim of the study was to evaluate if minimizing vascular injury during treatment by insertion of self-expanding stents or modifying the reparative mechanisms by local drug delivery can reduce r
