The stability of beams of laser wakefield accelerated electrons in dielectric capillary tubes is experimentally investigated. These beams are found to be more stable in charge and pointing than the corresponding beams of electrons accelerated in a gas jet. Electron beams with an average charge of 43 pC and a standard deviation of 14% are generated. The fluctuations in charge are partly correlated

Popular Abstract in Swedish Kroniska ländryggsbesvär är en ekonomisk belastning för sjukvården och samhället i stort, och ger framför allt ett personligt lidande för den drabbade. Nästan alla (75-80 %) kommer att ha åtminstone en episod med ryggbesvär någon gång under sin livstid. Hälften av dessa kommer att ha utstrålande bensmärtor och ofta är besvären ett symtom på ischias (nervrotspåverkan). MRadicular pain is in the majority of cases caused by a disc herniation with a coexisting inflammation. It is characterized by positive neural tension tests, such as the Slump test, and by decreased range of motion (ROM) in the straight leg raising test (SLR) and lumbar flexion (Fingertip-to-floor test[FTF]). This may suggest that improvement in ROM correlates to reduction of self-reported disabili

Temperate calcareous grasslands are characterized by high levels of species richness at small spatial scales. Nevertheless, many species from a habitat-specific regional species pool may be absent from local communities and represent the dark diversity' of these sites. Here we investigate dry calcareous grasslands in northern Europe to determine what proportion of the habitat-specific species pool

Objective. To analyse the management of muscle-invasive bladder cancer in a population-based national register, and specifically to investigate the role of curative therapy (i.e. cystectomy or radiotherapy) in relation to patient, tumour and hospital characteristics. Material and methods. The Swedish Bladder Cancer Register covers more than 90% of all patients in the country who have been diagnose

This dissertation deals with antique warfare in general and late Roman warfare in particular. The overall aim is to discuss the concept of strategy in the archaeological and historical reconstruction, based on Edward N. Luttwak’s groundbreaking work The Grand Strategy of the Roman Empire (1976). Luttwak’s influence on various provincial Roman research fields cannot be underestimated, but the book

Aerobic granular sludge has a number of advantages over conventional activated sludge flocs, such as cohesive and strong matrix, fast settling characteristic, high biomass retention and ability to withstand high organic loadings, all aspects leading towards a compact reactor system. Still there are very few studies on the strength of aerobic granules. A procedure that has been used previously for

Uncultivated field margins are one of the most frequent non-crop habitat types in contemporary, highintensity agricultural landscapes and may therefore be important for the persistence of many farmland species. Managing field margins in a way that preserves, and preferably enhances, their value for biodiversity is therefore important. In the present study, we evaluate how the flora of uncultivated

Anthropogenic activities lead to changes in characteristics of aquatic ecosystems, including alteration of turbidity and addition of invasive species. In this study, we tested how changes in turbidity and the recent invasion of an aquatic macrophyte, Egeria densa, may have changed the predation pressure by introduced largemouth bass on juvenile striped bass and delta smelt, two species that have s

Background and purpose. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the performance of gantry angle optimisation (GAO) compared to equidistant beam geometry for two inverse treatment planning systems (TPSs) by utilising the information obtained from a range of treatment plans. Material and methods. The comparison was based on treatment plans generated for four different head and neck (H&N) cance

This thesis describes functional studies of the human protein alpha-1-microglobulin (A1M), with the aim of exploring its usefulness as a therapeutic agent in diseases where oxidative stress is a prominent feature. A1M is a 26 kDa plasma and tissue protein with reductase activity and radical- and heme-binding antioxidative functions. The research focus in this thesis has been to study the in vivo p

We study the limiting behaviour of a generalized Polya urn, motivated by adaptive data-dependent allocation designs, which are used in Phase III clinical trials in order to allocate a larger number of patients to the better treatment. We establish rigorous limiting results for the model, including the Central Limit Theorem, thus providing the theoretical background for using the odds ratio-based a

Because of the emergence of strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis resistant to first-line antituberculosis agents, one of the second-line drugs, p-aminosalicylate (PAS), has regained importance in the treatment of tuberculosis. The mode of action of PAS, however, remains controversial as to whether it inhibits mycobactin or folate biosynthesis. To unravel this, we have studied the effect of PAS on

Two types of main-chain type polybenzoxazines with amide and benzoxazine groups as repeating units in the main chain, termed as poly(amide-benzoxazine), have been synthesized. They have been prepared by polycondensation reaction of primary amine-bifunctional benzoxazine with adipoyl and isophthaloyl dichloride using dimethylacetamide as solvent. Additionally, a model reaction is designed from the

In the study of insect neuroanatomy, three-dimensional (3D) reconstructions of neurons and neuropils have become a standard technique. As images have to be obtained from whole-mount brain preparations, pigmentation on the brain surface poses a serious challenge to imaging. In insects, this is a major problematic in the first visual neuropil of the optic lobe, the lamina, which is obstructed by the

Biochars are highly variable in nutrient composition and availability, which are determined by types of feedstock and pyrolysis conditions. The aim of this research was to (a) study the bioavailability of phosphorus (P) in biochars using different feedstocks and pyrolysis conditions; (b) develop a robust chemical method for biochar P availability measurements. In the present study, (a) chemical

Cooling methods are strongly needed for the turbine blade tips to ensure a long durability and safe operation. Improving the internal convective cooling is therefore required to increase the blade tip life. A common way to cool the tip is to use serpentine passages with 180-deg turns under the blade tip cap. In this paper, enhanced heat transfer of a blade tip cap has been investigated numerically