Filtyp
In the present work, I study various aspects of Martin Buber's model of how a human being can communicate, in a meaningful way, his or her religious experiences to and with another human being. My method has aspects of both conceptual analysis and phenomenologial description. I focus on the individual partners, their mutual relationships and the religious message. Buber's model is based on the con
Diffusion in bone is needed for bone remodeling and bone healing. Understanding the phenomenon is often important for comprehension bone diseases. Mathematical modeling of the diffusion processes is a required prerequisite in the study of this important physical process in living bone tissue. A proper model is crucial in order to obtain realistic results. An easily accessible method to measure the
Visual conditions are changing in several different ways. Some lakes are getting turbid due to eutrophication or erosion while others are getting browner due to brownification. These two types of visual degradation results in completely different optical properties of lakes. Turbid water scatter light which degrades image quality severely while brown coloured humic water mainly absorb light making
A solar magnetic field is continuously being created in the solar interior. As the field evolves outward through the solar atmosphere and into the enveloping heliosphere, it causes effects on a wide range of temporal and spatial scales. By studying and measuring these magnetic effects we gain extensive knowledge about solar magnetism and it also allows us to model and predict how solar activity is
This dissertation argues for an interpretation of liberty in terms of non-domination rather than non-interference, that non-domination can work as an independent criterion of political legitimacy, and that non-domination includes an approximation of equality in socioeconomic goods. In the first part, four theories of liberty and power – those of Kant, Locke, J. S. Mill and H. Taylor, and Wollstone
This thesis focuses on molecular changes occuring during terminal B cell differentiation as well as on somatic hypermutation and the generation and maintenance of B cell memory. During T cell dependent immune responses the average affinity for the eliciting antigen increases with time. This affinity maturation is generated by somatic hypermutation and selection for B cells carrying a high-affinty
In plants, 14-3-3 proteins are key regulators of primary metabolism and membrane transport. It was previously thought that the 14-3-3 isoforms were not very specific with regard to target proteins, but more recent data suggest that the specificity may be high. Therefore, identification, localization, and characterization of all 14-3-3 isoforms in the model plant Arabidopsis are important. We ident
A gait re-education programme, combining physiotherapy with a psychologically conscious therapeutic approach, was applied to nine unilateral transfemoral amputees, whose amputation was caused by trauma or tumour. The participants trained once a week for a mean 10 months. The median age was 33 years (range 16– 51). They had worn a prosthesis for more than 18 months and had completed conventional re
The new generation of high resolution astronomical instruments such as the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) or the Very Large Telescope (VLT) has renewed the demand for accurate atomic parameters like wavelengths, oscillator strengths and line profiles accompanied by reliable uncertainty estimates. Fourier transform spectroscopy has proven to be a powerful tool when measuring these parameters. In this
Angiotensin II (Ang II) and endothelin-1 (ET-1) induce strong vasoconstriction via activation of receptors on vascular smooth muscle cells. In this thesis, the contractile Ang II and endothelin receptors were examined in endothelium-denuded human coronary arteries and in bypass grafts (the left internal mammary artery and the saphenous vein), with focus on receptor alterations in cardiovascular di
In this thesis, I have investigated conflicts of interest in the facultatively polygynous European starling (Sturnus vulgaris) with a focus on female reproductive strategies. The extent to which males provided parental care was a key issue in understanding the mating system of the starling. The amount of male parental care affected the quality of offspring. Polygynous males did not invest more in
Attosecond science refers to physical processes that occur on the natural timescale of electron motion in atomic and molecular systems. Attosecond time resolution can be obtained experimentally through a process called high-order harmonic generation where sharp attosecond pulses are formed in the time domain. Attosecond pulse trains contain many attosecond pulses with a constant pulse-to-pulse s
Pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic activities of the antidepressants venlafaxine (VEN) and citalopram (CIT) were investigated in the portacaval shunted (PCS) rat, a model of chronic hepatic encephalopathy (HE), and normal/control rats. The levels of VEN in serum and brain were higher in PCS rats than in controls after a single injection and chronic treatment with VEN (10 mg/kg). After reducing th
The Mylonite zone (MZ) is a prominent late-Sveconorwegian lithological terrane boundary in the SW Baltic Shield along which large-scale crustal block movements took place during the Sveconorwegian orogeny. The southern section of the MZ also defines a conspicuous metamorphic break separating upper amphibolite and high-pressure granulite facies rocks in the parautochthonous Eastern Segment (ES), fr
This thesis is about the formation of amylose-lipid complexes, and their properties. Two forms of superstructures can be identified. Complex form I has more randomly distributed helices, while the structure of form II is crystalline and therefore exhibits the typical V-pattern in X-ray diffraction analyses. Form II has higher heat stability, and is produced by heating at a temperature at least suf
Phosphoinositides are of particular interest in signal transduction processes as they can be sequentially phosphorylated and used as precursors for the intracellular messengers inositol trisphosphate (InsP3) and diacylglycerol (DAG) that in turn affects calcium levels and protein kinase cascades, eventually leading to a physiological response. The activity and regulation of PtdIns 4-kinases and Pt
In order to create a heme environment which permits biomimicry of heme-containing plant peroxidases and investigate the role played by the vinyl side chains of the porphyrin ring on the stability and, possibly, catalytic activity of model compounds, a number of new synthetic microperoxidases -– hemin-6(7)-gly-his methyl ester (HGH) and hemin-6(7)-gly-gly-his methyl ester (HGGH) and hemin-6,7-bis(g
Despite the availability of antibiotics and modern health care, infectious diseases continue to cause great suffering and costs. Bacterial surface proteins are important for the interaction between host and pathogen. This thesis gives an overview of the importance of bacterial surface proteins in Gram-positive bacteria, particularly Streptococcus pneumoniae and Streptococcus pyogenes. A novel cont
This thesis describes inter and intramolecular dynamics in porphyrin molecules. To create a basis for understanding the energy and electron transfer processes in photosynthesis, the ultrafast dynamics of monomeric chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b and bacteriochlorophyll a were studied with ultrashort laser pulses. The transient absorption spectra of all three molecules were found to have pronounced co
Regulation of blood flow involves several endogenous substances and mechanisms, and exogenous substances may also affect the blood flow. In the present thesis, human omental blood vessels were investigated in vitro concerning (i) characteristics of 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) receptors; (ii) mediators of substance P (SP)-induced relaxation; (iii) direct and indirect (via effects on sympathetic neur
