Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease, where joints are attacked by the own immune system, leading to chronic inflammation and destruction of bone and cartilage. Inflammation is a complex process, controlled by many different substances. One of them is adenosine, which has anti-inflammatory properties. In this project, three polymorphisms in different genes, involved in synthesis and signaling of adenosine, were genotyped for 188 patients with RA and 362 controls without RA. The results shows that for the polymorphism in A2a, a gene coding for an adenosine receptor, there was no significant difference in genotype distribution between the groups.

Completed durability testing of gearshift gaiters at Kongsberg Automotive in Mullsjö, is sometimes leading to discussions regarding whether or not a gaiter is supposed to be a pass or a fail. That is because the current pass/fail-criterion are a bit vague. A durability test takes around 4-5 weeks to complete which is a long time if the tested material does not pass the test and a new material has to be tested instead. Stricter pass/fail-criterions and a faster testing method for the materials are therefore desired.In order to develop a durable pass/fail criteria, seven already judged gaiters were chosen. Every one of the gaiters was put through detailed analysis, after which there were a new assessment of the gaiters.

Erythropoiesis is a complex and carefully controlled process which is mainly regulated by erythropoietin. Using flow cytometry cells in a blood sample can be analyzed one by one. ADVIA 2120 using flow cytometry for analysis of red blood cells (RBC) and reticulocytes. Red blood cell distribution width (RDW) is a component of the RBC method. RDW indicates size variation on erythrocytes and is measured as a percentage of the mean cell volume (MCV). By measuring the RDW anemia can be divided into makrocytic, microcytic or normocytic. Reticulocytes refract light more strongly than red blood cells because they contain some cellular debris. The number of reticulocytes in the peripheral blood reflects erythropoiesis in the bone marrow. The purpose of this project was that by approved methods to establish reference ranges for the parameters, RDW and reticulocyte counts.The individuals who participated in the study, n=124, were considered healthy and had varying ethnicity. Reference subjects had not donated blood the last six months and participation in the study was voluntary.The statistic evaluation includes examination of distribution, and reference ranges for both men and women were established using the 2.5:t and 97.5:t percentiles. The calculated reference interval for RDW was between 12.0 ? 14.3% and the calculated reference interval for reticulocytes was between 38.0 ? 112.8 x109 cells/L. The results showed a significant difference between males and females for the parameter reticulocytes was seen. The difference indicates that different reference ranges should be established for men and women (p<0,0001). No significant difference between males and females were seen for RDW (p=0,74) indicating that the same reference ranges can be used for both men and women. .

Unhealthiness is not just a damaged back or asbestos. The fact that mental ill-health seems to increase in our society is well known. Statistics from Arbetsmiljöverket proves a fourfold increase of work-related disorders since 1997. These are primarily caused by organizational and social factors, 60% are considered caused by stress and a heavy workload. Sick leave due work related fatigue and depressions are scarily common today.

This essay aims to examine and compare Swedish and Norwegian social work with children. It is a comparative study between two social welfare offices, in districts with similar population and problems, one located in Stockholm and one in Oslo. The main questions were; how is the work organized and carried out, what type of help and assistance is available and what kind of discretion and powers do the social workers have. In our essay we used qualitative methods mostly based on interviews, vignette questionnaires and documents, but also written research. In our analysis we used modern organisation theory and street level bureaucracy to seek explanations.The two welfare offices have similarities and differences.

UN is a non-governmental organization which should promote gender equality within the organization. It is an organization which is based on human rights and claims that in order to solve the problem of poverty, famine and development we need to promote women?s status. In Sweden there is a strong tradition of gender balanced representation at the governmental level and this perspective raise the question if there is a spill-over effect to the civil society as in the case of a non-governmental organization. This makes it interesting to look at if a non-governmental organization which is not under state control work for gender equality within their own organization.

The purpose of this paper was to investigate how teachers work to lead and motivate high-performing students, and how these students were defined. The method used was qualitative, more specifically an interview, which was then analyzed with a thematic analysis. Six teachers participated in the survey, and what emerged was that high-performing students were often ambitious, structured and social students. High performing students were also characterized by the fact that they needed challenges, attention and positive feedback on their performances, otherwise they ran a risk of not performing. Structure was also important for the teachers themselves, that they had a goal when teaching and a way of achieving that goal.

AbstractAs a developer of database-driven applications you will be faced with difficult choices, when it comes to choosing database, server and programming language. For the result to be satisfactory it requires the different techniques to interact well with each other and also fulfill performance expectations. This is even more important when the application is deployed to the cloud and the response time plays a major role.This paper evaluates different databases and their performance. To test the databases there was an application made in the server script language PHP or Hypertext Preprocessor and it was deployed to Windows Azure cloud platform. The test applications task is to call and load databases by controlled requests which creates, reads, updates and deletes data in an relatively large extent.The results shows that locale databases or databases in the same data center as the server generates the fastest response.

The organized and controlled form of collecting consumption taxes and toll from the import and export trade goes back to the 17th century in Sweden. The customs administration and procedure were regulated by royal announcements, and the majority of the documents found in the customs archives represent thus records stipulated by such notifications. The customs archives can be used for research on several levels; the announcements reflect currents within both the domestic and foreign politics, while the account lists for financial statistics portray the extent of the trade. The various lists of compilation can be further used to follow for instance the development of different units of measurement, the expansion of tax rates, the value of trade goods or the changes in monetary units or systems. The diaries, architectural plans of the customs offices and maps of the toll areas place the customs officials and their work within the local scenery.The thesis focuses on archives deriving from customs located at harbors and on the Swedish-Norwegian border in the county of Dalarna.

This study investigates the individual usage of the Dublin Core metadata format in three Swedish Subject Based Information Gateways, SAFARI, Svenska miljönätet and Svesök. The authors also present the reader with an overview of the metadata concept and explains in particular the Dublin Core Element Set. The approach to the study is investigation of Dublin Core application from the viewpoint of three major issues, user friendliness, interoperability and quality control. The study includes an in-depth comparison of the three different metadata templates, as well as interviews with people in charge of the metadata production at the respective SBIGs and users of the respective SBIGs« templates. The study shows that the three SBIGs are more similar than they are different.

The subject of this master level thesis in historical osteology, is a study of waste management in the medieval town of Lund. The aims of the study is achieved through looking at the taphonomic aspects of bonefragments from the quarter Blekhagen. The study is divided in two separate sections, one that is a litterature study of what is known about waste management, and another one that contains a taphonomic and spatial analysis. Through examination of the taphonomic variables weathering, average weight and trampling and a spatial analysis, I am able to deduce that there are signs of controlled waste management in the material. It is not possible to draw any general conclusions about waste management in the medieval town however.

A company reconstruction is an alternative procedure, for companies in payment difficulty, to receivership. Those in any kind of relationship with the ailing company ends up in a dif- ficult situation at a company reconstruction, as in any case when someone is in financial difficulties. Not only is there a risk for the providers not to get paid, the costumers are also at risk if the reconstruction company does not fulfil their agreement. These kinds of rela- tionships are controlled by a contractual relationship. Therefore the regulation has to con- tain how to deal with these contracts when the ailing company no longer can fulfil its obli- gations of the contract.

This report describes a final thesis done during the spring of 2008 as part of the bachelor degree in computer engineering degree at the School of Engineering in Jönköping.The client is working in the consulting business and is involved in, amongst others, work regarding information security. Within this field they perform so called Threat, Risk and Vulnerability assessments. Today these assessments are done by a predefined method, but many details are controlled by the person documenting the project. A wish was made that the implementation was standardized, it should also ease the task of estimating the need for time and money. The solution for this seems to be a software tool.

Får finns i stora delar av världen och i helt olika miljöer. För att klara av att leva väl under så vitt skilda levnadsförhållanden har flera hundra olika raser utvecklats, vilka skiljer sig bland annat vad beträffar ull, storlek o fettdeponering. I Sverige ökar produktionen av lamm året runt, vilket innebär att lamning sker även under de kallaste vintermånaderna. Detta skulle kunna innebära problem då lammen kan ha svårt att hålla sin kroppstemperatur vilket påverkar överlevnaden. Insatser som kan göras för att förbättra lammens chanser är att utfodra tackan väl, klippa tackan några veckor före lamningen, se till att tackan slickar sitt lamm torrt och försäkra sig om att lammet har god tillgång på mjölk.

The following essay is a study about how migrant workers and immigration policies were discussed from Livsmedelsarbetareförbundets union press, Mål och Medel, to the members of the union between the years 1960-1973. To find this out I set these questions: What sort of information appear in Mål och Medel concerning migrant workers and immigrant policies, and how does this change over time? How does Mål och Medel present the immigrant workers opinions? The method for the study is based on analyzing articles, interviews and others texts found in Livsmedelsarbetareförbundets union press, Mål och Medel, and what they want to inform the members of the union about. The study?s results have found that during the early parts of the 1960s immigrant workers were not included in the union press at all. Towards the late 1960s the immigrants were discussed, but in a manner which implied that immigrants are naturally exploited and therefore must the immigration be controlled better. It also discussed immigrants had some sort of ?adaptation problem? to the Swedish norm.