Filetype
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
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
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
The three parts of this thesis are different examples of utilization of signal dependent basis functions in the estimation procedure. The first part surveys a number of parametric methods applied to estimation of single ERP (P300). The basis functions of the sERP are the damped sinusoids where the frequency and damping factor are estimated from the signal. The algorithms for white noise disturban
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
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
This dissertation deals with periodic structures that are used as free-space electromagnetic filters. Two types of periodic structures are treated, namely the so called frequency selective surface (FSS) and the artificial puck plate (APP) structure. The FSS structure consists of one or several periodic arrays of identical elements embedded in an arbitrary number of dielectric layers. The APP struc
This book presents an exhaustive and systematic investigation of six representatives of three important periods of New Testament interpretation: Martin Luther, John Calvin, Brooke Foss Westcott, Heinrich Julius Holtzmann, Rudolf Bultmann and Raymond E. Brown. They serve as dialogue partners in an investigation of the notion of God in the Fourth Gospel, a topic that has been called “the neglected f
Increased expression of the cell cycle regulatory protein cyclin A1 has previously been detected in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and targeted overexpression of cyclin A1 in a transgenic mouse model initiated AML. The aim of this thesis was to further study the expression and regulation of cyclin A1 in hematopoietic cells. We started with evaluating the subcellular localization of cyc
Proteomic analysis of bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid from smokers at risk of developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and never smokers is described. COPD is currently the world's fourth leading cause of death and its prevalence is increasing. The leading cause of COPD is smoking and an estimated 600 million people in the world suffer from COPD which makes it the world's most co
The business climate of the energy market has been eventful over the last two decades, particularly with the introduction of the deregulated electricity market and promotion of environmental issues. This has subsequently lead to new analysis criteria, influencing both technology requirements and production costs. To be able to manage all the questions that have arisen from this the knowledge of th
Driving patterns, i.e. the speed and acceleration profiles of vehicles affect exhaust emission and fuel consumption considerably. This project was aimed at investigating urban driving patterns by focusing on the following issues: 1) how to measure driving patterns, 2) measures for the description of driving patterns, 3) identification of characteristics of driving patterns that have significant ef
This thesis, which is a compilation of seven papers, concerns the mechanical testing, numerical analysis and constitutive modelling of wood-adhesive bonds in timber engineering. Applications such as finger-joints, glued-laminated timber and glued-in rods are considered. The experimental studies include the testing of the fracture characteristics of wood-adhesive bonds, including both wood-to-wood
A study concerning closure relations pertinent to the design of sorption equipment of absorption heat pumps has been undertaken. Specifically, thermosiphon and vertical falling film arrangements were studied. For the thermosiphon, experimental data on the void fraction, the friction and orifice pressure drops, and the heat transfer coefficient at sub-atmospheric pressures were obtained for vapori
Autoimmune diseases are dependent on multiple genes and unknown environmental factors. Great efforts in the identification of genes conferring susceptibility to autoimmune diseases like Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) and Multiple Sclerosis (MS) have recently been rewarding. A few genes have so far been associated to several autoimmune disorders and the understanding of the role of these genes in the pa
Glass sheets are often used in radon surveys to estimate retrospective radon concentrations, as radon progenies are embedded in the upper surface layer. The implanted activity is influenced by a variety of different environmental conditions. In this work, experimental methods based on etching to determine the depth distribution of recoil-implanted 210Po in glass from radon decay in air were develo
The number of software-based products is increasing, which is why the importance of an efficient software development process is also increasing, from a competitive advantage perspective. For years, software development organizations have been plagued by poor product quality and high development costs. Studies in software process improvement (SPI) have concerned themselves with improving the softw
Crossflow microfiltration is a technique to separate suspended particles (or cells or droplets) from liquids by use of a membrane that is permeable for the liquid but impermeable for the particles. The permeate flow drives particles to the membrane surface, where they may be deposited and form a fouling layer. To limit the growth of this fouling layer a flow is applied tangentially to the membrane
The focus of this thesis is on the most widespread organizational change that the public sector has gone through during the 1990s: the introduction, implementation and continuous use of profit centers. There are three major reasons for studying profit centers. First, profit centers appear to have become a permanent element in the management of local government. Second, profit centers were used dif
This thesis describes different aspects of nanotechnology manufacturing with nanoimprint lithography (NIL), a relatively new nanofabrication tool capable of high resolution and high throughput. Surface structure creation with NIL is based on mechanical deformation of the patterning material. This is radically different from the two main established methods, ultra violet lithography (UVL) and elect
