Filetype
Culture of dispersed smooth muscle cells is known to cause rapid modulation from the contractile to the synthetic cellular phenotype. However, organ culture of smooth muscle tissue, with maintained extracellular matrix and cell-cell contacts, may facilitate maintenance of the contractile phenotype. To test the influence of culture conditions, structural, functional, and biochemical properties of r
Popular Abstract in Swedish Ett av de viktigaste målen för astronomin är att förstå var vi kommer ifrån. Det är naturligtvis många steg som skall förstås, och vart och ett av dessa steg i människans för-förhistoria är komplicerat, så man skall inte förvänta sig att en enskild doktorsavhandling behandlar mer än ett litet hörn av ett av dessa steg. Mitt bidrag gäller förståelsen av hur vår egen galIn order to understand the formation and evolution of the Galaxy it is imperative to know when different components formed. This means at the most basic level that we need to know the ages of stars. The present work demonstrates the many problems inherent in determining the ages of stars through comparison with stellar evolutionary models. Furthermore, solutions to some of these problems are prese
Popular Abstract in Swedish Provtagning av vätskan mellan utbyteskärl och celler i läderhuden (dermis), den så kallade interstitialvätskan (IF), kan vara ett intressant alternativ eller komplement till blodprovstagning när det gäller bestämning av såväl kroppsegna substanser som läkemedel. Inom klinisk medicin finns ett behov för att undvika smärtsamma stick i samband med provtagning, till exempelDermal interstitial fluid (IF) was extracted serially and painlessly by brief suction for as long as 6 days. The erosion was otherwise kept occluded, Sample volumes exceded those required for measuring a wide range of biological substances. Epidermal regeneration was rapid. Glucose concentrations in IF and plasma, measured in diabetic and non-diabetic subjects for as long as 6 days were closely c
The Baltic Sea Region is rapidly becoming one of the world’s more competitive regions. The region is capitalising on its strengths and making the most of its diversity to stimulate innovation, build a strong pool of skilled labour and foster entrepreneurship. A deep spirit of co-operation and integration has led the Baltic Sea countries to set up ambitious governance frameworks to pursue economic
Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have made rapid progress in the last years and in fields, such as computer vision, they are considered state-of-the-art. However, CNNs are very computationally intensive. This makes them challenging to use in embedded devices such as smartphones, security cameras and cars. This thesis investigates different neural network compression techniques to see which wi
Context. Intensity interferometry was invented and used by R.Hanbury Brown and R.Q.Twiss in the 1960's to measure stellar angular diameters. Its main advantage over conventional interferometry is that it enables very long baselines and is insensitive to poor seeing. However, because it requires very large light collectors, it was never pursued further. The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) is a
Virtual worlds are online communities in which individuals are able to interact with each other in real time. Growing rapidly since 1996, the population of these virtual worlds has become several millions. The advent and prosperity of virtual worlds reveal challenges worth exploring on business, society, politics, communication, education, technology, ethics, etc. The focus of this study is one of
The aim of this study was to investigate how development have affected access to sustainable livelihood capitals and how the perceived access to these capitals have changed in the past decades in Dravuwalu, a coastal society in Fiji. A case-study was conducted in the village of Drawuvalu. Data was gathered through semi-structured interviews and observations. The composition of livelihoods at the t
With increasing demands on consumer products, attempts have been made to integrate all aspects of the product by the use of Cross-Functional Teams (CFTs) in product development work. However, research has shown that this integration often fails to reach its full potential. Considering the interdisciplinary interaction between industrial designers and engineering designers in CFTs, barriers p
Banks are normally heavily indebted with equity levels of 5-10 percent of total assets or even lower. The assets consist mainly of short-term and long-term loans, funded by deposits which can be withdrawn at short notice. In order to avoid excessive withdrawals, which is called a bank run, deposit insurance systems, guaranteed by the state, are generally in operation. The financial sector is chara
The Kathmandu Valley in Nepal is facing a water quantity and quality crisis due to rapid urbanization and haphazard water and wastewater planning and management. Annually, groundwater extractions in the Kathmandu Valley exceed capture, resulting in groundwater table declines. Streams are often important sources of recharge to (or destination of discharges from) aquifers. However, stream-aquifer in
Vocal tract elongation, which uniformly lowers vocal tract resonances (formant frequencies) in animal vocalizations, has evolved independently in several vertebrate groups as a means for vocalizers to exaggerate their apparent body size. Here, we propose that smaller speech-like articulatory movements that alter only individual formants can serve a similar yet less energetically costly size-exagge
Temperature is one of the key abiotic factors during the life of plants, especially in the Arctic region which is currently experiencing rapid climate change. We evaluated plant traits and environmental variables determining leaf temperature in tundra shrubs and volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions with field measurements on deciduous tundra shrubs, Salix myrsinites and Betula nana, and everg
Increasing the application of machine learning algorithms in engine development has the potential to reduce the number of experimental runs and the computation cost of computational fluid dynamics simulations. The objective of this study is to assess if such a statistical modelling approach can predict engine efficiency and emissions at any given condition for an already calibrated spark ignition
After World War II and prior to the financial deregulation of the 1980s, monetary policy in Sweden as well as in other western European countries rested chiefly on a system of far- reaching non-market-oriented controls of credit flows and interest rates. How was monetary policy conducted in such an environment of financial repression, where the central bank was unable to rely on traditional moneta
Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA), characterized by recurrent periods of upper airway obstruction and intermittent hypoxaemia, is prevalent in patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD), and is therefore important to consider in the prevention and management of CVD. Observational studies indicate that OSA is a risk factor for incident hypertension, poorly controlled blood pressure, stroke, myocardial
Raised blood pressure (BP) is the leading cause of preventable death in the world. Yet, its global prevalence is increasing, and it remains poorly detected, treated, and controlled in both high- and low-resource settings. From the perspective of members of the International Society of Hypertension based in all regions, we reflect on the past, present, and future of hypertension care, highlighting
The diverse application of unmanned aerial vehicles has rapidly progressed during the last decade and is currently being implemented for medical deliveries in multiple developing countries. Thus far, medical drone delivery systems have successfully been established on a national scale in Ghana and Rwanda by the American company Zipline, currently playing a leading role within the field. The conduc
We have a limited amount of greenhouse gases left to emit, our global carbon budget, if we are to divert the worst effects of the climate crisis. This study aimed to map how municipalities implement carbon-budgeting in their efforts to fulfil the Paris agreement, and investigate why the instrument is not more frequently used. A survey among Swedish municipalities was carried out, in two stages. A
The average life expectancy for large companies on the fortune 500 list has declined rapidly since the 1950s. One major reason is the growing competition from new actors on the market. Innovation has become one of the most important competencies for companies to get ahead of the competition. The growing demand for companies to be innovative and at the same time operate their core business have dee
