During the last decades, there has been concern that the environmental contaminants, such as POPs, may contribute to sex ratio changes in offspring of exposed populations. Accidental exposure to TCDD has been shown to be associated with fewer sons in men who were exposed in adolescence or earlier in life. However, it is not known whether POPs could change the proportion of X- and Y-sperm. A variet

This paper presents DELPHI measurements and interpretations of cross-sections, forward-backward asymmetries, and angular distributions, for the e(+)e(-) -> f (f) over bar process for centre-of-mass energies above the Z resonance, from root s similar to 130-207 GeV at the LEP collider. The measurements are consistent with the predictions of the Standard Model and are used to study a variety of mode

This thesis consists of two parts. The first part is devoted to automatic shape analysis and the second part is devoted to decision support systems in medical imaging. Shape models are widely used in segmentation and shape analysis. The thesis begins with a review of deformable models and the preliminaries of shape modelling. The criteria for Minimum Description Length (MDL) and a new optimization

The high-spin parts of shears bands observed in Pb-198,Pb-199 are described by coupling several valence particles to a deformed rotor core. To give the model enough freedom so that both the proton and the neutron spin vectors can find their preferred direction, the use of five to six valence particles and holes is found to be necessary. Effective parameters characterizing the rotor are deduced fro

Popular Abstract in Swedish Är muslimer så annorlunda jämfört med andra medborgare att de måste leva segregerade och separeras från resten av det svenska samhället? Vad är en muslim och vem skall definiera denna kategori? I den här avhandlingen presenteras huvudaktörerna i diskussionen och deras ideologiska synsätt. Den mångkulturalistiska ideologin är hegemonisk i Sverige när det gäller frågor soAre Muslims so different from other citizens in Sweden, that they have to live in segregation and be separated from the rest of society? What is a Muslim, and who is to define this category? In this thesis, the author presents the main actors in this discussion and their ideological positions. The multiculturalist ideology is hegemonic in Sweden on issues concerned with cultural diversity, and int

Hemmen i den nya verlden(1853-4) is novelist Fredrika Bremer's 3-volume travel diary in letter form, a literary account of her two years' travel in the United States and Cuba. Bremer wove, into the America she "wrote," a number of American authors and their works. Novelist Catharine Sedgwick and poet and socialite Anne C. Lynch exemplified for Bremer the right use of women's moral influence. Crit

The leukotriene B(4) receptor (BLTR) is a seven-transmembrane chemoattractant receptor that is important in pro-inflammatory responses. We have produced the first widely applicable monoclonal antibodies against the human BLTR and confirmed the antibody specificity using flow cytometric analysis of three different cell lines stably expressing the recombinant receptor. The antibodies did not cross-r

A reduction method is proposed for analysing structure-acoustic and poroelastic-acoustic problems within a finite element framework. This includes systems consisting of an acoustic fluid domain coupled to a flexible structural domain and/or a porous sound absorbing material domain. The studied problem is reduced by dividing the system into a number of physical subdomains. A set of basis vectors is

The main part of this dissertation consists of an ethnographic study of three music groups which are part of an urban music movement in Bolivia. I describe the groups Los Masis, Inkallajta and Flor Tani Tani, their experiences and their ideas about music-making. I also summarise their musical activities and give examples of the lyrics in each group's repertoire . My theoretical approach includes

PURPOSE: To evaluate the feasibility of magnetic resonance (MR) perfusion imaging in the human lung to help detect perfusion defects distal to suspected pulmonary embolism. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Seven patients suspected of having pulmonary embolism first underwent ventilation-perfusion lung scintigraphy followed by MR perfusion imaging with rapid acquisition of two sets of dynamic images in the c

Questions: Does intraspecific extension of Bergmann's rule - larger size within a species in cooler areas - hold true for ectotherms in general, and for the common frog (Rana temporaria) in particular? What is the relative importance of genetic and environmental factors (i.e. direct environmental induction) in determining latitudinal patterns of body size variation in common frogs? Methods: We tes

A systematic study of the dissolution of dry, polydisperse polyethylene oxide) (PEO) samples, obtained from mixtures of low-molecular-weight and high-molecular-weight PEO, was made. During the dissolution process, the individual release of the low-and high-molecular-weight fractions was monitored. The highmolecular-weight/low-molecular-weight ratio controls the release rate, and the fraction of hi

High-spin states in 59Cu were populated using the fusion-evaporation reactions 28Si+40Ca at a beam energy of 125 MeV and 36Ar+28Si at a beam energy of 143 MeV. The Gammasphere array in conjunction with ancillary detector systems allowed for the identification of a superdeformed rotational band in 59Cu, which was firmly linked to low-spin yrast states. Using directional correlations of oriented sta

A new technique for treating anion exchangers has been proposed allowing direct capture of the fermentation product, shikimic acid directly from the cell-containing fermentation broth. A layer of hydrophilic polymer, poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) has been physically adsorbed on the anion exchanger followed by a covalent cross-linking of PAA. The PAA layer is penetrable for small molecules despite being

We present further properties of a previously proposed recursive scheme for parametrization of n-by-n unitary matrices. We show that the factors in the recursive formula may be introduced in any desired order. The method is used to study the invariant phases of unitary matrices. The case of four-by-four unitary matrices is investigated in detail. We also address the question of how to construct sy

Abstract is not available

Aims and objectives. The aim was to compare faecal incontinence and related bowel symptoms among men and women and being dependent or not (aged ≥75 years) and furthermore to identify which bowel symptoms predicted help seeking, dependency and low quality of life (QoL). Background. Faecal incontinence (FI) in old age is a common condition and influences daily life to a great extent, although few a