Abstract This thesis presents the results of an investigation of the influence of ageing on the salt-frost resistance of concrete. The ageing mechanisms investigated were hydration, drying and carbonation. Specimens of ‘micro’-concrete, either with OPC alone as the binder or with silica or slag as part of the binder, were freeze/thaw tested at different ages after casting. Prior to testing, the sp

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) as a cancer treatment modality relies on the simultaneous presence of three components; light, photosensitiser and oxygen. Once excited by the light, the photosensitiser can interact with oxygen, leading to the formation of toxic oxygen species. These reactive substances induce cellular damage within the irradiated tissue volume. PDT has been investigated for treating ma

The goal in this thesis is development of gene therapy for malignant infantile osteopetrosis (IMO), a rare but severe genetic bone disease. The concept of osteopetrosis implies dysfunction or lack of osteoclasts, the bone resorbing cells in our body, resulting in failure of normal bone breakdown. Although involved in bone remodeling, osteoclasts are of hematopoietic origin and may potentially be t

The purpose of group supervision in nursing care is to understand nurses’ experiences from real care settings and to structure these in a professional and personal context. An interventional and longitudinal method of research was chosen in this study of group supervision in nursing care. The overall aim of the present study was to examine and investigate how psychiatric nurses’ professional compe

Although the civil aviation industry has gone through great technological and commercial change in the last decades, basic civil aviation training has not kept pace accordingly. The changes in civil aviation have rarely resulted in research programs in the field of basic training, which has long received minimal attention from the industry. In the research presented in this thesis, methods for und

In this thesis I used allozymes and PCR-RFLP analysis of chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) to investigate geographic differentiation within the widespread Silene dioica (L.) Clairv. (Caryophyllaceae) and the narrowly-distributed S. hifacensis Rouy ex Willk., (a Spanish endemic). In an investigation of allozyme variation in Nordic S. dioica, multivariate analysis of variation at eight polymorphic loci reveal

Macrophages mediate innate immunity through release of cytokines, eicosanoids, reactive oxygen species as well as through phagocytosis and secretion of lysosomal enzymes. Regulation of lysosomal secretion in macrophages differs in several respects from release of specialized granules in other leukocytes. Lysosomal secretion is not dependent upon cytosolic calcium but is instead triggered by lysoso

Tuberculosis (TB) has plagued the humanity for several thousands of years. The bacteria causing TB is mainly spread from person to person as an aerosol transmission. It is estimated that one third of the world’s population is infected with the disease; about 10% of these will develop active TB during their lifetime. In year 2000, 8 million TB-cases were detected, of which 2 million died. Except fo

GABA (γ-aminobutyric acid) is a well-known inhibitory neurotransmitter in the CNS. GABA is also present at high concentrations in the insulin-producing β-cells in the islets of Langerhans, but its function there is less clear. GABA is believed to accumulate in SLMVs (synaptic-like microvesicles). These vesicles are different from the insulin-containing LDCVs (large dense-core vesicles). In this th

Advanced manufacturing technologies and programmable machines such as industrial robots are used to increase productivity and quality for competitiveness on a global market. Development of increasingly flexible manufacturing systems has resulted in an increasing importance of software aspects, both on a system level and for efficient interaction with human operators. Trends toward providing custom

There are two fundamentally different ways by which a metabolite can be transferred between enzymes in metabolic pathways. If the two sequential enzymes cannot form a complex with each other, the metabolite must first be released from the producing enzyme to the reaction medium and then be transported to the consuming enzyme, via the reaction medium, by free diffusion. If the two sequential enzyme

The Baltic Sea is a continental shelf sea that is influenced by both river runoff and marine water. The two water masses are vertically stratified in the Baltic Sea, resulting in a positive, estuarine circulation system, which has undergone changes in the past due to isostatic uplift of the Baltic basin. For researchers to understand past changes in the marine environment of the Baltic Sea, a soun

The research presented in this thesis has focused on methods for improving the legibility and usability of maps in real-time map services. The aim has been threefold: to create methods to increase the cartographic quality of maps in map services, to develop methods to measure the legibility, as perceived by the user, and to evaluate the quality of maps. Map services are becoming increasingly commo

Urinary tract infections (UTI) are among the most common bacterial infections in humans. Symptomatic UTIs may be acute, recurrent or chronic but the most frequent form of UTI is asymptomatic bacteruria (ABU). In ABU, the mucosa remains inert, despite the presence of large bacterial numbers in urine. The difference in disease severity reflects the virulence of the infecting strain and the propensit

The aims of the study were to investigate the applications of digital radiography to musculoskeletal radiology. In the first part of the research, the diagnostic accuracy of digital images as compared to film-screen radiographs was studied and the spatial resolution requirements evaluated. Using computed radiography (CR), the pathological changes included were erosions, soft tissue swelling, peri

Gel dosimetry is a new dosimetry method applied in radiation therapy. Gel dosimeters consist of a radiation sensitive gel, which can integrate absorbed doses from several radiation sources or beams. The dose to the gel can be evaluated by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), a procedure that is the focus of the present thesis. A robust tool for the evaluation of the nonuniformity in MRI has been dev

In this thesis, a new electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) signal from photosystem II is presented. The signal is shown to originate from the S0 oxidation state of the oxygen-evolving complex (OEC). It is a Mn-derived signal displaying clear hyperfine structure, centered at g=2, and is significantly broader than the well-known multiline signal from the S2 state, indicating the presence of MnII in

Predicting the probable survival for a patient can be very challenging for many diseases. In many forms of cancer, the choice of treatment can be directly impacted by the estimated risk for the patient. This thesis explores different methods to predict the patient's survival chances using artificial neural networks (ANN). ANN is a machine learning technique inspired by how neurons in the brain fu

Amphibious vision is accomplished in many animals by special optical and physiological adaptations in the eyes. However, human eyes are considered to be adapted to a life in air since our curved outer cornea – which is used to refract more than two-thirds of the incoming light on land – becomes useless underwater. This thesis produces evidence that Moken children, a population of sea nomads (or se

The nuclear model for three dimensional cranking is extended to include a generalization of the Strutinski renormalization procedure from principal axis cranking to cranking about an tilted axis. A new computer code has been written for realistic, full-scale calculations within the three dimensional cranking model. The code is developed for calculations to produce output of high precision to allow