Immunological self-tolerance is a state of the whole organism where deleterious responses are either avoided or regulated. Breaking of immunological tolerance will lead to autoimmune disease or chronic inflammatory conditions. T cell maturation in the thymus generates a peripheral T cell pool with an enormous TCR repertoire, from which specific T cells are selected and activated upon encounters wi

This thesis addresses solving elliptic partial differential equation using integral equation methods, with emphasis on accuracy, speed and stability. Of particular interest are such equations on non-smooth domains, and several different elliptic problems such as electrostatic and elastostatic ones are treated and solved in this setting.

Rare-earth ions doped into a transparent crystal can have optically excited states with coherence times of milliseconds and hyperfine levels with coherence times of hours when cooled down to liquid helium temperatures. This makes them attractive for developing quantum computing hardware. A quantum transistor can be implemented in a rare-earth-ion-doped crystal by utilizing a dipole blockade effe

Many species associated with old trees are threatened, as this habitat has decreased severely in Europe during the last 200 years. In old oaks, hollows with wood mould often form in the trunks and these harbour a specialized fauna mainly consisting of beetles, flies and pseudoscorpions. This thesis contains the first quantitative examination of the habitat requirements and population ecology of sp

In the work presented in this thesis, different laser-based techniques were employed for measurements in different combustion devices. Laser-based techniques enable non-intrusive and in-situ measurements to be carried out, in which high spatial and temporal resolution can be obtained. Different parameters related to combustion research can be visualized, such as species concentrations, temperature

Computer generated imagery is vital to the entertainment industry in the production of games and films, for example. It is also increasingly important for visualization in design, architecture, engineering, and medicine, to name a few. Improvements to rendering techniques come from a combination of improved algorithms and more powerful hardware. Typically, hardware developments introduce new chall

In light of autobiographical theory, this study deals with the critics' reception of Simone de Beauvoir's La Force des choses when the book was first published in 1963 in France. The three main parts examine the critical comments on the genre, the final controversial words expressing the author's disappointment, and the evaluation of her style. For the latter, Morten Nøjgaard's theory of literary

One objective of attosecond science is to study electron dynamics in atoms and molecular systems on their natural time scale. This can be done using attosecond light pulses. Attosecond pulses are produced in a process called high-order harmonic generation, in which a short, intense laser pulse interacts with atoms or molecules in a highly nonlinear process, leading to the generation of high-order

A consistent theme throughout this thesis is quasilinear partial differential equations (PDEs) appearing in one-dimensional models of sedimentation for solid-liquid separation of suspensions. We mainly focus on continuous sedimentation in so-called clarifier-thickeners (CTs), which are found in mineral processing and wastewater treatment. In addition to complications with shocks and non-unique sol

ABSTRACT Telomerase activity is a potential molecular marker for cancer and primitive cells in regenerative tissues. The most commonly used method to measure telomerase activity in cells is the telomerase reverse amplification protocol (TRAP) assay, where the protein extracts derived from homogenized cells are analysed. In this thesis we focused on developing a method where telomerase activity co

Malaria and tuberculosis are two of the most deadly infectious diseases that exist. Both diseases predominantly affect the most vunerable parts of society. Additionally the treatment of both diseases are complicated by growing and spreading resistance against the drugs used to treat them. Chloroquine was once described as a wonder drug for its combination of efficacy, low price and tolerable side

Osteotomy is used for correction of the altered load on the gonarthrotic knee joint. It can be performed above or below the knee. Clinical results depend on the correction after bone healing. By tibial closed wedge osteotomy (HTO), the deformity is corrected peroperatively in contrast to tibial hemicallotasis osteotomy (HCO) where the correction is performed after surgery. Comparing the two method

The Affects Towards And Perceptions Of The Self And Significant Others in Hemophiliacs and Diabetics The studies in this dissertation investigated the feelings towards and ways of perceiving the self and significant others in twenty-seven patients with hemophilia between the ages of 16-39 to discern how their perceptual-affect states are organized. Secondly, the relationship between bleeds and aff

This study has involved investigation of number of populations of the damselfly Ischnura elegans over several years, looking at frequency changes over time, morphological differences between the sexes and the morphs, differences in growth rate and development time, differences in fecundity between the morphs, and genetic differentiation between populations. I. elegans is a small annual damselfly w

The Rare Earth Elements are a group of metals, that are of growing technical and economical importance. Current separation techniques can be detrimental to the environment, and a clean technology for separation has been devised, based on analytical chromatography of the REEs. The thesis presents column preparation and impregnation to give desired properties of the separation system, experimental a

This thesis focuses on i) the effect of packing on the molecular geometry ii) packing arrangements of neutral Pd(II) and Pt(II) complexes iii) the trans influence in Pt(II) complexes iv) the differences in bonding in corresponding Pd(II) and Pt(II) complexes and v) the geometry of Pd(II) complexes with potential catalytic properties. Detailed three-dimensional structural information at the atomic

Organic carbon and bacteria have a high variability at different scales in the soil, and organic carbon may be a limiting factor for growth of soil bacteria. Thus, it can be expected that these co-vary at different scales in the soil. In this thesis, I have studied the spatial interaction between soil bacteria and natural and contaminant (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, PAH) organic carbon. The o

Molar mass and molar mass distribution of polymers are parameters of fundamental importance as they influence the performance of the polymer in applications. Polysaccharide derivatives are a class of polymers that have attracted significant scientific and commercial interest as they can be manufactured from a wide range of abundant sources in nature and thereby often are both cheap and biocompatib

Inhalation of air-borne microorganisms and components thereof can cause illnesses and diseases. However, lack of specific and sensitive methods for exposure assessment can pose problems in predicting health outcomes. Characterization of microbial load from indoor environments using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and/or tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MSMS) as well as various bioassays (

A number of homo- and heterodinuclear complexes have been synthesized as structural and functional models for the the active sites of phosphoesterases and soluble methane monooxygenases. The complexes are based on four new dinucleating ligands containing a central, potentially bridging, phenolate moiety. The hydrolytic activity of the complexes was examined by exploring the ability of the complexe