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Complex I is the mitochondrial enzyme complex that oxidizes NADH produced in the citric acid cycle and reduces quinone in the membrane, coupled to proton pumping out of the mitochondrial matrix, creating a membrane potential. This process generates about 40% of the energy used by living organisms. High-resolution structures of complex I recently became available, but the molecular mechanism behind
The free volume in polymers is coupled to several important physical properties, such as density, viscosity and gas diffusivity. The physical properties of polymers close to a solid surface have been shown to be significantly perturbed as compared to their bulk state. The behavior of polymers close to surfaces comes into play within the field of polymer composites, where the properties of the inte
Dyes are commercially indispensable and the expanding industry offers a complete palette of colors. Azo dyes constitute the largest chemical class of synthetic dyes because of their versatility, low price, and ease of production. These dyes may, however, pose health risk to humans due to formation of mutagenic/carcinogenic aromatic amines upon reductive cleavage of their azo groups (-N=N-). Theref
Diffusion MRI is widely used to study brain structure in vivo. While this technique is often applied to investigations of brain connectivity, it can also be used to infer specific information about the tissue microstructure; for example, to estimate the axon diameter. In the present work, the role of tissue microstructure and water exchange in biophysical models employed in diffusion MRI was inves
The aim of the present work was to gain better understanding of the mechanisms controlling heat and mass transfer during thermal processing of beefburgers. The effects of different factors such as the chemical composition and comminution of the meat raw material, the pan temperature and the meat patty diameter on the characteristics of heat and mass transfer were studied. The evolution of the char
While much of semi-arid Africa is still sparsely populated with unused land, there are everywhere pockets of high and increasing population density in attractive locations. Small-scale farmers can respond to beginning land-scarcity in a number of ways. Through migration, through diversification of livelihoods, or through changes in their farming system. Which solution is chosen, depends not only o
Why do some children in the developing world choose to stay out of school? Is it mainly because poverty leaves them with no options or because schooling seems to offer them few benefits? The answers to these questions have profound policy implications. An empirical input into this discussion is the extent to which schooling can actually be perceived as a profitable option in various countries and,
In this thesis a graphical language for sequential control is presented and its application to batch control is examined and discussed. The name of the language is Grafchart. Its main feature is that it makes it possible to express complicated control problems in a compact and intuitive manner.Grafchart exists in two versions; a basic version and a high-level version. The basic version was availab
In studies concerning the youngest children, the toddlers, the gender perspective is often missing. One aim of the study was, therefore, to investigate the interaction between children and preschool teachers in day care centres in a gender and a contextual perspective. Another aim was to investigate the inner representations of the preschool teachers concerning children and gender. A third aim was
This thesis investigates structure-acoustic systems by use of finite element analysis. The systems studied here are limited to those that consist of an enclosed acoustic fluid cavity, which is coupled to a flexible structure and/or a porous sound absorbing material domain. This type of analysis is applicable to a wide range of engineering problems, for example, studying the interior noise in a ve
The significance of physical capital is often mentioned in general terms in economic history literature. In this study the amount of physical capital is calculated and its significance for industrial growth is analysed for the period 1870-1930. The largest and most important part of this thesis consists of constructions of capital stocks for industry as a whole and on the branch level. These cons
This study is built around the following research question: "How do student nurses conceptions regarding their future profession change during their training in the three year nursing programme?" The study is longitudinal in character and consists of qualitative interviews conducted with eighteen students belonging to the same nursing class. The students were interviewed on four occasions during
Viruses have developed several strategies to evade the complement system, a part of the immune system. The fourth open reading frame of the human virus Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) encodes a type 1 transmembrane protein. This contains four complement control protein domains (CCP domains), and is thus structurally similar to human complement inhibitors. We named it KSHV complement
Road profiles are studied from a vehicle fatigue point of view. A wide range of roads have been measured: from smooth motorways to very rough gravel roads. It is observed that the road profiles consist of irregular sections, which makes the stationary Gaussian model unsuitable (Paper A). In Paper B, a method for automatic identification of such irregularities is presented. It is verified that the
This volume is a new edition with a parallel English translation of eight Greek stories related to Daniel of Sketis: 1) Abba Daniel from Sketis; 2) Abba Mark the Fool; 3) The blind man; 4AB) A holy and chaste young woman; 5) The woman who pretended to be a drunkard; 6) Eulogios the Stone-cutter; 7) Andronikos the Money-dealer and his wife Athanasia; 8) Anastasia Patrikia. The stories deal with se
Substandard and falsified (SF) medical products are a major danger to public health. They affect every region of the world, and have been identified in all major therapeutic categories. Studies from medicine, pharmacology, law and public health dominate this research area with a focus on the supply side. However, the spread of SF medical products cannot be fully understood without information abou
Even if practitioners want to adopt new manufacturing technologies, there is a lack of comprehensive tools to support their decisions, regarding both cost and sustainability. This paper reviews and compares the practical use of Life Cycle Costing (LCC) with a performance part costing (PPC) model, chosen based upon the criteria of providing in-depth analysis capabilities and the prospect of integraIn today’s business environment, the trend towards more product variety and customization is unbroken. Due to this development, the need of agile and reconfigurable production systems emerged to cope with various products and product families. To design and optimize production systems as well as to choose the optimal product matches, product analysis methods are needed. Indeed, most of the known m
The aim of this thesis project has been to create miniaturized analytical tools that improve sample preparation for the very rapidly growing field of proteomics research. The presented miniaturized analytical tools provide novel and generic analytical solutions, which are highly adaptable for analysis of various low abundant biomolecules. The adaptability and generality of the analytical technolog
This discourse is constituted by two separate reprots, where the first one offers an elementary deduction of the leading order term asymptotics for the Titchmarsh-Weyl M-function corresponding to a vector-valued Sturm-Liouville equation of the form -(PU')'+QU=zu, xin[0,b), with P^{-1},W,Q being hermitean with locally integrable entries; and under some additional conditions on P^{-1} and W. In the
