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The subject of this thesis is plasma protein C4b-binding protein (C4BP). C4BP is an important regulator of the classical pathway of the complement system, a cascade-like system comprised of over 35 proteins, which partakes in the defence against micro-organisms and is involved of clearance of immune-complexes and apoptotic cells. C4BP contains two different types of subunits, seven identical alfa-

Poststernotomy mediastinitis is a devastating complication associated with median sternotomy, which occurs mainly after cardiac surgery. The optimal treatment is still controversial. The aim was to develop, describe and evaluate a surgical procedure consisting of vacuum-assisted closure (VAC) in combination with delayed primary closure in patients with mediastinitis. A porcine sternotomy wound mo

Carex humilis forms rings of densely aggregated ramets in dry grassland vegetation in Central Europe. In the thesis I conclude that ramet demography is important both for analyzing fitness in clonal plants and for understanding how C. humilis rings are formed. I studied the ramet demography of C. humilis from 1993-1998 at the Hexenberg mountain, 300 m.a.s., 60 km east of Vienna, Austria. In total,

Around 1750 a German chemist discovered it to be possible to extract sugar crystals from beet juice. Since then, breeding and improved agricultural practices have increased the concentration of sucrose per root from around 4% to around 18%. Sugar content is still one of the most important characters in sugar beet breeding, but breeders of today are also faced with many more characters, many of a c

Postoperative pain relief with opioids after major non-cardiac surgery may give rise to adverse effects. The fear of dangerous side effects may therefore limit the optimal use of different treatment modalities in surgical wards. Opioids can be administered alone as an intravenous infusion, or in combination with local anaesthetics as an epidural infusion. Both regimes can be tailored with a patien

Coagulase-negative staphyloccoci (CoNS) are the most frequently isolated micro-organisms from infected cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) shunts and temporary ventricular drainage catheters, used in modern neurosurgery. CoNS originate from the skinflora of the patient or the surgeon and gain access to the surface of the implant at the insertion, but the infection can erupt up to a year later or more. Immed

The issue of higher education and its relation to the working life of graduates has been intensely discussed since the beginning of the 1990’s. There have been constant complaints about an alleged mismatch between graduate competence and competence required by potential employers, regardless of field. On the other hand, representatives of higher education have stressed the independent role of univ

As quality and performance demands on today’s products increases, more and more advanced materials are being used during modern production. The problem is however that this in turn place new demands on the machining processes utilized. Even though a significant amount of research has been published on the machining of these materials knowledge is still limited in several crucial areas. A problem w

We are interested in the effect of harvesting on population fluctuations and for that purpose we develop and analyze an age-structured model where recruitment is a stochastic process and the adult segment of the population is harvested. When a constant annual harvest is taken the coefficient of variation of the adult population increases for most parameter values due to the age truncation effect,

Starches and celluloses can be chemically modified in order to affect their physiochemical properties. Modification of these carbohydrate polymers entails derivatising their free hydroxyl groups with functional groups. Which properties are obtained depends on the nature of the functional groups as well as on how they are distributed throughout the polymeric structure of the carbohydrate. Unfortuna

Recruitment and selection of managers is to a large degree characterized by information uncertainty. Managers’ performance is difficult to evaluate, as their responsibility consists of so many different aspects, as they may not always be observed due to need for freedom of action and as their work is affected by factors in their environment, which are outside of their control. Also, selection deci

Most conventional ECG interpretation programs use decision tree logic for interpretation of the ECG. The performance is generally good but can be improved. Artificial neural networks represent a new computer method, which has proved to be of value in pattern recognition and classification tasks. The purpose of the studies in this thesis was to improve the analysis/interpretation of the 12-lead EC

Commonly cooked meat dishes contain heterocyclic amines (HAs) at ng/g levels. HAs are animal carcinogens, form DNA adducts in human tissues, and have been associated with increased risk of cancer in epidemiological studies, and it is thus recommended that human intake be decreased. The aim of this investigation was to find ways of modifying cooking practices to reduce the formation of HAs. Various

Approximately half of all women will sustain a fracture after the age of 50. Fractures may cause long-term disability and excess mortality. Identifying individuals at high risk of sustaining a fracture is important in the development of primary and secondary prevention strategies. In this study, initiated to identify factors associated with a high risk of future fractures, 1 044 women, all 75 yea

In this work, the synthesis and characterisation of new low-valence transition metal carbonyl clusters, and an investigation into their viability to act as catalysts/catalyst precursors in asymmetric synthesis, are described. Carbonyl clusters based on ruthenium and osmium have been tested as (pre)catalysts for asymmetric hydrogenation of alpha-unsaturated carboxylic acids, and cobalt carbonyl clu

In this thesis I present studies concerning genomic diversity and genetic heterogeneity as well as the evolution and maintenance of genetic variation at a specific immune defence gene in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar, L.). I here present data on nucleotide diversity showing that human activities as well as different post-glacial colonisation events have had considerable effects on the genomic diver

This thesis focuses on electrical transport in semiconductor InAs nanowires grown by chemical beam epitaxy. Initially, transport length scales of homogeneous InAs n-type nanowires are characterized by low-temperature magnetoconductance measurements. The measurements show phase-coherent conductivity corrections. By fitting the data, we find the nanowire mean-free path to be 50 nm and the phase-cohe

In this dissertation I will discuss horror film as a genre and study how Hellraiser relates to its themes and problems. First I describe the production of the film and after that I present Clive Barker - his background, authorship, film-making and artwork. Next I study the problems of the genre and the different ways in which this genre is defined. I look at narrative characteristics as well as, f

The purpose for this work has been to develop new robust fuel electrodes for solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC). The aim was to find suitable ceramic materials or composites with promising properties for the use as SOFC anodes. Preferably, the electrode should not contain any metal (or at least a metal should not be a major component) in order to improve the redox properties. The present work focuses o

This thesis is a study of how energy use and air pollution in Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have been affected by the economic transition after 1989. It consists of six articles, which examine three different aspects of these changes. The first group of articles analyses the structure of energy use in the Baltic states (Article I) and Poland Articles II and III) at the outset of transitio