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The present thesis concerns methods and knowledge that are useful when analysing the risks and vulnerabilities of complex systems in a societal emergency management context. Operational definitions of vulnerability and emergency response capabilities are suggested and two methods for analysing the vulnerability of critical infrastructure networks, based on the suggested definition, are presented.
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
Aim: To identify maternal prenatal and postnatal smoking as risk factors for psychosocial behaviour problems in Swedish preschool children. Methods: This prospective, longitudinal population study compared mothers' self-reported smoking during pregnancy and when the child was 3 mo old with behaviour problems according to Achenbach's Child Behavior Checklist at 3 y ( 1428 children) and 5.5 y of age
There are several approaches to using nonstiff implicit linear multistep methods for solving certain classes of semi-explicit index 2 DAEs. Using β-blocked discretizations (Arevalo et al., 1996) Adams-Moulton methods up to order 4 and difference corrected BDF (Soderlind, 1989) methods up to order 7 can be stabilized. As no extra matrix computations are required, this approach is an alternative to
Neuroblastoma is a childhood tumor derived from precursor or immature cells of the sympathetic nervous system. Neuroblastomas show a tremendous clinical heterogeneity, encompassing truly benign as well as extremely aggressive forms. In vivo as well as in vitro data have shown that the degree of sympathetic neuronal tumor cell differentiation influences patient outcome. Unraveling mechanisms govern
Antibody response to Campylobacter jejuni/coli (CJC) was investigated, using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, ELISA. With a mixture of lipopolysaccharide from two CJC strains as antigen in ELISA, all 24 tested rabbit anti-CJC sera showed high antibody levels. However, only 70% of sera from patients with Campylobacter enteritis demonstrated an antibody response against the combined LPS antigen
The clinical importance of asymptomatic proximal and distal deep vein thrombosis (DVT) remains uncertain and controversial. The aim of this retrospective, post-hoc analysis was to examine mortality and risk factors for development of proximal DVT in hospitalized patients with acute medical illness who were recruited into a randomized, prospective clinical trial of thromboprophylaxis with daltepari
Animistic or 'relational' ontologies encountered in non-Western (i.e. premodern) settings pose a challenge to Western (i.e. modern) knowledge production, as they violate fundamentalassumptions of Cartesian science. Naturalscientists who have tried seriously to incorporate subject-subject relations into their intellectual practice (e.g. Uexküll, Bateson) have inexorably been relegated to the margin
A miniaturized on-column digestion system constructed for the sequential analysis of semi-purified protein analytes is presented. By utilizing fused silica capillary (diameter 150 mu m) packed with a zone of trypsin-modified Eupergit C beads and a second zone of reversed-phase C18 material, a linear column set-up was constructed. The protein analytes (pmol amounts) were first digested in the 600 n
Vascular smooth muscle phenotype is regulated by environmental factors, such as mechanical forces, which exert effects on signaling to differentiation and growth. We used the mouse portal vein in organ culture to investigate stretch-dependent activation of Akt, extracellular regulated protein kinase (ERK) and focal adhesion kinase (FAK), which have been suggested to be involved in the regulation o
A number of optically pure 1,3-diols have been synthesized and used as catalysts in the asymmetric addition of diethylzinc to aromatic aldehydes. Enantiomeric excesses of up to 92% of (R)-1-phenylpropan-1-ol were obtained with anisylbicyclo[2.2.2] octanediol (14) as a catalyst. Using 2-picolylbicyclo[ 2.2.2] ocatanediol (16) as the catalyst resulted in a reversal of the stereoselectivity, yielding
A new type of two-color four-wave mixing spectroscopy is theoretically and experimentally demonstrated. By employing a non-resonant pumping and resonant probing scheme, OH radicals are detected in a laminar, atmospheric pressure methane/air flame as a proof-of-principle experiment. Two 532 nm laser beams from a multi-mode Nd:YAG laser are utilized to create an electrostrictive grating in the flame
Clinical applications of blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) depend heavily on robust paradigms, imaging methods and analysis procedures. In this work, as a means to optimize and perform quality assurance of the entire imaging and analysis chain, a phantom that provides a well known and reproducible signal change similar to a block type fMRI experiment
