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Plant species effects on microbial communities are attributed to changes in microbial community composition and biomass, and may depend on plant species specific differences in the quality of resources (carbon) inputs. We examined the idea that plant-soil feedbacks can be explained by a chance effect, which is the probability of a highly productive or keystone plant species is present in the commu

Life-history theory predicts that the trade-off between parasite defense and other costly traits such as reproduction may be most evident when resources are scarce. The strength of selection that parasites inflict on their host may therefore vary across environmental conditions. Collared flycatchers (Ficedula albicollis) breeding on the Swedish island Öland experience a seasonal decline in their p

The general population is exposed to cadmium from food and smoking. Cadmium is a widely spread toxic pollutant that seems to be associated with cardiovascular diseases, although little is known if it contributes to the occurrence of atherosclerotic plaques and the process whereby plaques become vulnerable and are prone to rupture. We tested the hypotheses that cadmium exposure is associated not on

Chondroadherin, a leucine rich repeat extracellular matrix protein with functions in cell to matrix interactions, binds cells via their α2β1 integrin as well as via cell surface proteoglycans, providing for different sets of signals to the cell. Additionally, the protein acts as an anchor to the matrix by binding tightly to collagens type I and II as well as type VI. We generated mice with inactiv

This paper reviews the evidence for an association between atypical subtrochanteric fractures and long-term bisphosphonate use. Clinical case reports/reviews and case-control studies report this association, but retrospective phase III trial analyses show no increased risk. Bisphosphonate use may be associated with atypical subtrochanteric fractures, but the case is yet unproven. A Working Group o

Background: Covered biliary metal stents have been developed to prevent tumor ingrowth. Previous comparative studies are limited and often include few patients. Objective: To compare differences in stent patency, patient survival, and complication rates between covered and uncovered nitinol stents in patients with malignant biliary obstruction. Design: Randomized, multicenter trial conducted betwe

Popular Abstract in English More than 50% of road accident fatality victims in Malaysia are motorcyclists, numbering more than 4,000 fatalities per year. The aim of this thesis was to investigate motorcyclists’ road safety problems in general in Malaysia, and narrow down the focus to the most salient road infrastructure related risk factors. After identifying access points on primary roads as haza

Popular Abstract in Swedish Genom observationer och experiment kan man konstruera modeller för att beskriva otaliga fenomen och aspekter av det universum vi lever i. Den huvudsakliga ingrediensen i en dylik modell är ofta en partiell differentialekvation. Sådana ekvationer kan beskriva så vitt skilda fenomen som t.ex. hur galaxer bildas, hur luftflöden transporteras i atmosfären, hur kemikalier reThis thesis is based on five papers, which all analyse different aspects of splitting schemes when applied to nonlinear parabolic problems. These numerical methods are frequently used when a problem has a natural decomposition into two or more parts, as the computational cost may then be significantly decreased compared to other methods. There are two prominent themes in the thesis; the first co

Effective dopamine (DA) neuron differentiation from neural precursor cells (NPCs) is prerequisite for precursor/stem cell-based therapy of Parkinson's disease (PD). Nurr1, an orphan nuclear receptor, has been reported as a transcription factor that can drive DA neuron differentiation from non-dopaminergic NPCs in vitro. However, Nurr1 alone neither induces full neuronal maturation nor expression o

Background and purpose MRI is the modality of choice when diagnosing spinal stenosis but it also shows that stenosis is prevalent in asymptomatic subjects over 60. The relationship between preoperative health-related quality of life, functional status, leg and back pain, and the objectively measured dural sac area in single and multilevel stenosis is unknown. We assessed this relationship in a pro

In the study reported here we examined the short-term effects (1-3 years) of slash retention (SR) and the long-term effects (13-15 years) of wood-ash application (A) on fine roots and mycorrhizae in a 40-year-old Norway spruce forest in southwest Sweden. Soil cores were used to obtain estimates of the biomass (g m(-2)) of roots in three diameter classes (< 0.5, 0.5-1 and 1-2 mm), root length densi

We extend a newly introduced framework for the simulation of shape memory alloys undergoing martensite-austenite phase-transformations by allowing for the evolution of individual plastic deformations in each phase considered. The goal is to obtain a generalised model which will facilitate the reflection of the characteristic macroscopic behaviour of SMA as well as TRIP steels. Particularly, we sho

In the Formox-process, methanol is converted to formaldehyde via partial oxidation on a heterogeneous iron-molybdate catalyst. To an extent, the formed formaldehyde (FA) is over-oxidized into carbon monoxide (CO) which cannot be recycled into FA. As CO affects the environment negatively and decreases the process economy, internal attempts have previously been made to decrease the CO formation of t

The growing proportion of green energy in the electricity grids brings with it a growing need of grid stabilizing resources to counteract the inherent intermittency of renewable energy resources. This is where the grid scale energy storages come in handy. They efficiently offset the intermittencies of solar, wind etc. resources by energy arbitrage and peak shifting. This thesis looks into the econ

Neural networks are effective for solving many complex human-level tasks, one type of neural network often used in imaging tasks is the convolutional neural network (CNN). They can effectively solve problems in areas like image recognition, object detection, and classification tasks. Using a CNN for one of these tasks requires a huge computational cost relative to what a typical algorithm would ha

Contemporary English as a foreign language (EFL) classrooms in upper secondary schools in Sweden make frequent use of receptive media such as movies and television to facilitate language learning. The more interactive medium of video games is seldom used for the same purpose, despite previous research indicating that the added layer of interactivity can bring benefits such as improvements to vocab