Popular Abstract in Swedish I många utvecklingsländer i tropiska klimat leder den snabba urbaniseringen till många problem, bl a försämrad termisk komfort i utemiljön. Detta har negativa följder för människors hälsa och välbefinnande och påverkar sociala och kommersiella aktiviteter utomhus negativt. Följaktligen är det mycket viktigt att åstadkomma komfortabla mikroklimat i urban miljö. Den huvuIn many developing tropical countries, rapid urban growth leads to several problems, including increased thermal stress. This has negative consequences for people's health and well-being, and affects social and commercial outdoor activities negatively. Consequently, the creation of thermally comfortable microclimates in urban environments is highly important. The main aim of this thesis is to dee

Dark-grown tigrina-d(12) mutants of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) accumulate abnormally high amounts of the chlorophyll intermediate protochlorophyllide. In light dark cycles this leads to necrotic segments of the seedling leaves and lethality due to photodynamic damage by the excessive protochlorophyllide accumulated in the dark period. Upon inhibition of the early chlorophyll biosynthetic enzyme,

The use of bio-fuels is becoming more important because of the environmental benefits associated with these fuels. Deactivation of SCR catalysts applied in bio-fuel plants is a major problem due to the high potassium content of bio-fuels and therefore, great potential lies in finding regeneration processes that can be used commercially. Exposing the catalyst surface to sulphate groups generated by

Background: Polymorphisms in and around the CTLA-4 gene have previously been associated to TiD and AITD in several populations. One such single nucleotide polymorphism ( SNP), CT60, has been reported to affect the expression level ratio of the soluble ( sCTLA- 4) to full length CTLA- 4 ( flCTLA- 4) isoforms. The aims of our study were to replicate the association previously published by Ueda et al

This thesis is about Turbo codes - codes constructed via parallel concatenation of two recursive convolutional encoders linked by an interleaver. The focus of the work is on the understanding and design of Turbo codes. This includes thorough investigation of central components that influence Turbo code performances, such as the constituent encoders and the interleaver, as well as the procedure of

Emergence of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) populations that switch or broaden coreceptor usage from CCR5 to CXCR4 is intimately coupled to CD4(+) cell depletion and disease progression toward AIDS. To better understand the molecular mechanisms involved in the coreceptor switch, we determined the nucleotide sequences of 253 V1 to V3 env clones from 27 sequential HIV-1 subtype B isolat

Objectives: It has been well established that male erectile dysfunction is frequently associated with vascular diseases. The normal function of cavernous arteries is considered a prerequisite to maintain sufficient blood flow to the trabecular spaces in order to enable penile erection. Contractility of cavernous arteries is regulated by the peripheral autonomic nervous system and endogenous factor

A diagnosis/antibiotic prescribing study was performed in 5 counties in Sweden for 1 week in November 2000. As part of this study, the characteristics and clinical management of patients with upper respiratory tract infections ( n = 2899) in primary care were analyzed. Almost half of the patients were aged < 15 y and one-fifth of the patients consulted out of hours. Of all patients seeking primary

This study applies Closed-Loop Combustion Control (CLCC) using Fast Thermal Management (FTM) on a multi-cylinder Variable Compression Ratio (VCR) engine together with load control, to achieve a favorable combustion phasing and load at all times. Step changes of set points for combustion phasing, Compression Ratio (CR), and load together with ramps of engine speed with either constant load, i.e., l

In the work presented in the thesis laser diagnostics was employed primarily in the investigation of engines, but was also used to study soot in flames. Quantitative measurements were performed for visualizing both in-cylinder soot formation and DME sprays in a combustion vessel. The DME sprays inside a diesel truck engine were also qualitatively investigated. The combustion process in the HCCI en

Seven of eight women who had given birth to infants with early onset or intrauterine infection caused by group B streptococci remained carriers of the same serotype of group B streptococci up to 38 months after their pregnancy. In contrast, only 34 of 88 group B streptococci carriers who had given birth to healthy infants harbored the same serotype at the 34 months' follow-up (P = .009). Among the

Human cystatin C, a protein with amyloidogenic properties and a potent inhibitor of papain-like mammalian proteases, has been produced in its full-length form by recombinant techniques and crystallized in two polymorphic forms: cubic and tetragonal. A selenomethionyl derivative of the protein, obtained by Escherichia coli expression and with complete Met→Se-Met substitution confirmed by mass spect

Defocus changes the visual contrast sensitivity function, thereby creating a complex curve with local dips and peaks. Since underwater vision in humans is severely defocused, we used optical theory and the phenomenon of spurious resolution to predict how well humans can see in this environment. The values obtained correspond well with experimental measurements of underwater human acuity from earli

Background: The aim of this study was to provide normative data of bone mineral density (BMD; g/cm(2)) of the forearm and the calcaneus, evaluated by peripheral dual X ray absorbtiometry (DXA), in children aged 6 to 7 years of age and to evaluate the association with anthropometrics and sex. Materials and methods: 368 boys and 326 girls with a mean age of 6.7 +/- 0.4 years participated. BMD was me

Seed bank is a plant life history strategy against the unpredictability of the biotic and the abiotic environment. We simulated competition between a seed banking and a non-banking morph of an annual plant. A constant fraction of the banker morph seeds was allocated to the seed bank, where they had a constant mortality and germination rate. All surviving seeds of the non-banker morph germinated in