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Rainfall characteristics of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, are studied in space and time; on a large scale, 550 km2, and long term scale to find out the monsoon influence, and on urban basin scale, 23 km2, to determine dynamic properties of rainfalls and spatial correlations, and on a point scale to determine the probabilities of very high rain intensities. The importance of spatial and temporal variabi
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
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
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
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
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
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
The phase behaviour and gelation of the anionic polysaccharide kappa-carrageenan (KC) in different salt solutions was studied. The specific site binding of certain anions and certain cations to the KC helix was used as a means of controlling the interactions. In the presence of a binding anion (I-) the charge density of the helix increases and the aggregation of helices, and thereby the gelation,
Tissue remodeling is observed in several physiological conditions such as embryogenesis, senescence, wound healing and pregnancy, as well as in several pathological conditions such as fibrosis and tumorgenesis. Fibroblasts play a key role in this tissue remodeling due to their capability of altering the turnover of the extracellular matrix. During the remodeling process, the fibroblasts are believ
Movement and dispersal are important determinants of the spatial distribution and persistence of animal populations in a heterogeneous environment. I studied the small-scale movement pattern of a soil-living insect, Protaphorura armata (Collembola) by using a video-equipment. I added chemical cues, food and conspecifics to their environment and evaluated the effects of external cues on the movemen
Adopting a phenomenological, sensemaking-based approach, this dissertation reviews and critiques a variety of theories proposed as explanations of corporate “greening” and the evolution of corporate environmental management (CEM), and then presents and analyzes an organization study to explore in greater depth how sensemaking can be used for research in this context. As its object, the ethnograph
The legislative limits for NOX emissions in the exhaust gas from heavy-duty diesel engines will be decreased in the European Union from today 3.5 g/kWh (Euro IV) to 2.0 g/kWh in 2008 (Euro V). In the USA and Japan a similar trend can be seen. Accordingly, the development of an exhaust aftertreatment system for heavy-duty trucks seems unavoidable. In this work, an 11 l diesel engine rig has been bu
The intention of this work was to establish alternative purification methods to obtain highly purified caveolae from various tissues. In order to isolate caveolae, sufficiently pure plasma membranes are needed. A method is presented for the isolation of plasma membranes from lung tissue using a combination of conventional polyethylene glycol/dextran two-phase partitioning and affinity partitioning
Helicobacter pylori is a gastric pathogen which cause chronic type B gastritis and peptic ulcer disease. H. pylori produces virulence factors such as urease, vacuolating cytotoxin VacA, cag pathogenicity island-associated proteins, flagella and adhesins. These proteins interact with several host cell molecules such as sialylated cell surface glycoproteins, some of glycolipids and mucins. Glycosami
Artificial, amfiphilic, and biomimetic receptors soluble in water were synthesized via attaching polar amino acids to hydrophobic back-bones possessing a surface suitable for hydrophobic interactions. The hydrophobic back-bones chosen in this thesis were anthracene and dibenzobarrelene structures. A route to an efficient synthesis of a dibenzobarrelene backbone with two sets of orthogonal reactivi
In fantasy literature, the setting is as important to the story as are characters and plot; but although many fantasy scholars have pointed this out, there is very little criticism that explores the role of the setting in fantasy. The aim of this study is to use a topofocal (place-focused) perspective to examine four aspects of the fantasy setting, including the way in which settings function in t
In this thesis, electron transport in mesoscopic semiconductor nanostructures, in particular so-called electron billiards or quantum dots, is studied. The thesis can be divided into two areas: the linear response regime of transport, and the nonlinear response regime of transport. The classical and quantum mechanical electron dynamics are studied for triangular and square-shaped electron billiard
This study is based on dialogic readings of two of John Cowper Powys´s major novels, A Glastonbury Romance and Porius. The aim of this thesis is to demonstrate the interrelationship in the examined texts between the chain of narrative displacements and the frequent changes of voice and genre. Powys´s cornucopian writing with its wide employment of characteristics from various genres
The root vole (Microtus oeconomus) is a rodent with Holarctic distribution. In fact, it is the only Microtus vole found in both Eurasia and North America. Phylogeographic analyses of the root vole from across its distribution range were performed using mitochondrial and Y chromosome DNA sequences. Mitochondrial cytochrome b gene data demonstrate that the root vole is divided i
