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Increased understanding of the pumping mechanics of the heart are of great importance to develop diagnostics, treatment and prognostics for cardiovascular diseases. Blood flow in the heart is connected to its anatomy and function, and may therefore be a sensitive marker of cardiac health and disease. Therefore, the aim of this thesis is to develop and validate methods for quantification and visual
Laser based diagnostic tools have had an exploding impact on fundamental as well as applied research in a number of disciplines, such as biomedicine, physical chemistry etc over the last decades. Whereas fundamental research often investigate phenomena in extreme conditions, applied research aims at performing in-situ measurements, in order to understand the many aspects and entangled phenomena th
This thesis is divided into two parts. Part I analyzes the information rate of single antenna, single carrier linear modulation systems. The information rate of a system is the maximum number of bits that can be transmitted during a channel usage, and is achieved by Gaussian symbols. It depends on the underlying pulse shape in a linear modulated signal and also the signaling rate, the rate at whic
Modern communication systems strive to achieve reliable and efficient information transmission and storage with affordable complexity. Hence, efficient low-complexity channel codes providing low probabilities for erroneous receptions are needed. Interpreting codes as graphs and graphs as codes opens new perspectives for constructing such channel codes. Low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes are one
The purpose of this dissertation is to explore the role of visibility in the production and contestation of belonging to political communities. On the basis of an empirical enquiry of Russian media during the 2010s, a theoretical conceptualization of the relation between visibility and belonging is suggested, starting in the idea that what becomes visible to publics and how, and what is rendered i
During moisture uptake in polymers, the diffusion of the water molecules is believed to occur via unoccupied voids. These voids are called free volume cavities and their sizes are continuously altered when the moisture content in the polymer is enhanced. Not only the free volume cavity sizes, but also other polymer properties such as the degree of crystallinity, are changed as a consequence of moi
Understanding of the growth of fatigue cracks is of utmost importance since such growth often has a profound influence on the life of components subjected to cyclic loading. Thus, reliable fatigue life models enable a more efficient use of materials and improve the performance and efficiency in many applications. This thesis deals with the growth of fatigue cracks subjected to high load amplitude
The xanthophyll cycle involves the light-dependent and reversible conversion of violaxanthin to zeaxanthin. The enzyme, violaxanthin de-epoxidase (VDE) catalyses the conversion of violaxanthin to zeaxanthin, via the intermediate antheraxanthin. VDE is a membrane-hosted enzyme during its activity. Low lumenal pH, violaxanthin, ascorbate and monogalactosyldiacylglycerol are required for activity. Th
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
This thesis concerns agreement with collective nouns in American, British and Australian English. It is based on material from newspaper corpora and spoken corpora. The findings suggest that dialectal, stylistic, diachronic, syntactic and semantic factors interact in the selection of singular and plural agreement. It was shown that there are differences between regional varieties, between speech a
Chronic diabetic foot ulcers are a source of major concern for both patients and health care systems. Oxygen deficiency plays a major role in the pathogenesis of these ulcers. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) has been proposed as a medical treatment for diabetic foot ulcers, but the clinical utility has not been established. Hyperbaric Oxygen in Diabetic patients with chronic Foot Ulcer (HODFU) st
The aim of this thesis was to develop a non-invasive method to quantify the size of a shunt through a patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) by ultrasound and to test its usability in clinical settings. There is no consensus regarding the optimal management strategy for a PDA in premature infants. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) are the first treatment of choice. The use of NSAIDs, especiall
Osteoarthritis (OA) is a common chronic disease and one of the major global causes for functional disabilities. The disease is characterized by loss and degradation of cartilage, commonly affecting the knees and hips. Delayed gadolinium-enhanced MRI of cartilage (dGEMRIC) is a previously presented method for identification of early OA using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). By quantifying the T1 p
Modern spectroscopic techniques, such as nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and Raman spectroscopy, rely heavily on statistical signal processing systems for decision making and information extraction. The first part of this thesis introduces novel robust algorithms for detection, estimation, and classification of signals obtained through these spectroscopic tech
This dissertation is a study of metaphors of emotion in rebétiko song texts. Rebétiko is a major popular-music style of modern Greece, consisting mostly of melancholic songs full of sorrow, disappointment, and misfortune, as well as passion and romance, but also of cheerful songs of revelry and a carefree attitude to life. Rebétiko as a music style developed in the Greek-speaking world and its dia
This thesis explores the relationship between the position, function and semantics of the German particle "also" (?so?). Traditionally, "also" is classified as a conjunctional adverb because it can fill the position in front of the finite verb in the German clause, the so-called "Vorfeld" (?pre-field?). In this position, it has a meaning similar to that of a conjunction but a distribution similar
How well can we explain natural occurrences of cognitive behaviours given the theoretical frameworks available to us today? The thesis explores what has to be assumed in cognitive theory in order to provide such an explanation, in contrast to being able to predict behaviour under controlled circumstances. The behaviours considered are all of the type described as involving higher level cognition
