| 1. |
- Hjälm, Anna, 1977-
(författare)
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A family landscape : On the geographical distances between elderly parents and adult children in Sweden
- 2011
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- With a background in the ageing of the population and the new challenges facing individuals, families and the welfare state, the aim of this thesis is to analyse the changing family landscape and the geographical distances between elderly parents and adult children. The thesis consists of four empirical studies derived from three different sources of data: In the first paper (Paper I), historical population data is combined with modern register data for two Swedish regions. In the second and third papers, individual-level register data covering the entire Swedish population serves as the empirical starting point. The fourth paper leaves the registers aside and builds upon interviews. Paper I provides an introduction and historical background to the question of intergenerational geographical proximity and distance. The paper analyses intergenerational distances and seeks to compare and discuss the significance of the variations. It is shown that concerning extreme proximity a great decrease has occurred over 200 years, however when it comes to having kin within reach the decrease is less dramatic, and that now, just as then, a majority of elderly parents have an adult child within reach. The article concludes that even though geographical distances between generations vary over time and space, no clear linear trend towards intergenerational geographical separation can be established. In Paper II we analyse some features and trends in intergenerational distances in Sweden. We find that 10% of all elderly parents have at least one child living very close and that a majority, 85%, have an adult child within reach. The study shows no clear trend towards increasing intergenerational separation, but suggests that periods of intense societal restructuring, such urbanisation, can lead to spells of increased intergenerational separation on an aggregated level. Paper III investigates whether, and to what extent, elderly parents and adult children move close to each other. We find that even though the older generation makes up a smaller share of the moves made, when they do move they are more likely to move closer to an adult child. Further, having more than one relative at a destination adds to the attraction, and that older elderly are less likely to move close to a child than younger elderly. One interpretation is that young-old parents serve as a resource for their adult children, while older elderly are more influenced by the need for welfare state based assistance. The last paper, IV, returns to the elderly parents living very close to an adult child. In interviews with 14 elderly the aim of the paper is to gain new understanding about the interaction between intergenerational proximity, assistance and the meaning of being close. Some of the issues raised in the paper relate to migration histories, reciprocity and independence.
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| 2. |
- Pontén, Emma, 1970-
(författare)
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Neonatal Exposure to Anaesthesia and Adjuvants : Acute Effects on Cerebral Apoptosis and Neuroproteins, and Late Behavioural Aberrations in Mice
- 2012
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- During a finite developmental phase – the brain growth spurt – the brain grows and matures at an accelerated rate. During this period the brain is more sensitive to harmful substances such as ethanol and environmental toxins than before or after. This period extends from the last trimester to the second year in humans and occurs postnatally in the mice used for these studies.The aims of this thesis were; to investigate common anaesthetics ability to promote acute apoptosis and late persistant behavioural aberrations measured with spontaneous behaviour in a novel home environment, learning in a radial arm maze and anxiety-like behaviour in an elevated plus maze, to measure alterations in BDNF, CaMKII, GAP-43, synaptophysin and tau after anaesthesia exposure, to evaluate clonidine as a potentially protecting agent and examine if theophylline, a chemically unrelated compound, causes similar effects as anaesthetics.Some of the results are: combinations of anaesthetics acting on the GABAA receptor (propofol or pentothal) and NMDA receptor (ketamine) exhibit more apoptosis and behavioural alterations than single anaesthetics. Ketamine, but not propofol, alters the content of CaMKII and GAP-43 proteins important in brain development. Propofol exposure alters the content of BDNF (brain derived neurotrophic factor) in hippocampus, frontal and parietal cortex. Neonatal propofol exposure leads to less sensitiveness to diazepam in adult age as measured with induced spontaneous behaviour and an elevated plus maze. Clonidine, an alpha2 adrenergic agonist does not cause any aberrations and appears to prevent apoptosis and behavioural alterations after ketamine. Theophylline, used as apnoea treatment in neonates, also increases apoptosis and alters normal behaviour.Thus, alterations both in neuronal survival, function and protein expression is apparent after neonatal exposure to anaesthetics. This is also shown in studies of Rhesus monkeys. However, it is still difficult to assess how these findings should extrapolate to humans. Epidemiological studies give conflicting results.Insufficient anaesthesia is not a solution as pain and stress cause even more pronounced problems. Minimizing anaesthetic exposure, delaying procedures until after the sensitive phase and finding protective agents, such as clonidine, are possible strategies. Evaluation of other substances that infants are exposed to is needed.
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| 3. |
- Svensson, Emma M, 1979-
(författare)
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Detecting Sex and Selection in Ancient Cattle Remains Using Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms
- 2010
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- All contemporary taurine cattle originated some 10,000 years ago when their wild ancestor, the aurochs, was domesticated in the Near East. Although the aurochs was widespread also in Europe, there is no evidence for a local domestication. The aurochs has been extinct since 1627 and therefore little is known about its biology. Following domestication, cattle were selected for traits of interest to humans. All modern cattle breeds were developed in the 19th century and the only sources of information about prehistoric breeding practices, and breeds, come from a few ancient Roman Empire and medieval European written accounts. The aim for this thesis was to investigate the effects early selection may have had on the cattle genome and to investigate genetic variation in European aurochs. Using second-generation sequencing and coalescent simulation analyses of aurochs Y chromosomal DNA, I estimated effective population size to between 20,000-80,000 aurochs bulls, indicating that a large population was present when domestic cattle entered Europe. A Y chromosomal SNP revealed that the two male lineages present in modern cattle were also present in European aurochs, and that the frequency of these lineages in domestic cattle fluctuated over time. This indicates that cattle were mobile and that bottlenecks, possibly due to selective breeding, occurred. I used nuclear SNPs to trace genetic variation in North European cattle through time and show that when genetics is combined with archaeology and osteology, even small but notable changes in the use of cattle can be detected. There has been a significant decrease in genetic variation over time, with the most dramatic changes associated with the formation of breeds during the 19th century.
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| 4. |
- Wikberg, Emma, 1982-
(författare)
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Non-abelian quantum Hall states and fractional charges in one dimension
- 2013
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The fractional quantum Hall effect has, since its discovery around 30 years ago, been a vivid field of research—both experimentally and theoretically. In this thesis we investigate certain non-abelian quantum Hall states by mapping the two-dimensional system onto a thin torus, where the problem becomes effectively one-dimensional and hopping is suppressed, meaning that the classical electrostatic interaction dominates. The approach assists with a simplified view of ground states and their degeneracies, as well as of the nature of the fractionally charged, minimal excitations of the corresponding quantum Hall states. Similar models are also relevant for cold atoms trapped in one-dimensional optical lattices, where interaction parameters are available for tuning, which opens up for realizing interesting lattice states in controllable environments. The diverse applicability of the one-dimensional electrostatic lattice hamiltonian motivates the exploration of the systems and models treated in this work.In the absence of hopping or tunneling, the low-energy behavior of the one-dimensional lattice system is ultimately dependent on the nature of the electrostatic interaction present. For ordinary interactions such as Coulomb, the ground state at particle filling fraction ν= p/q has a well-known q-fold center-of-mass degeneracy and the elementary excitations are domain walls of fractional charge e* = ±e/q. These appear in abelian quantum Hall systems and are known since earlier. In this work, we show how other types of interaction give rise to increased ground state degeneracies and, as a result, to the emergence of split fractional charges recognized from non- abelian quantum Hall systems.
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| 5. |
- Wulf, Matilda Torstensson, 1985-
(författare)
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Kärlekens paradis : Konflikten mellan kärlek och konst i Henrik och Märta Tikkanens litterära dialog
- 2021
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Märta Tikkanen claims that if she had not started writing she and husband Henrik would have lived happily ever after. They had the best of intentions. Still, the utopia of a lover’s paradise, where two authors could live out their life together in a home filled with happiness, intellectual discussions and children, turned into a lifelong struggle. When conflicts started to arise, they turned to writing and through their books a unique dialogue about love, life and the impossible choice between self-realisation and fulfilling the needs of loved ones emerges. In this thesis I follow the Tikkanens' literary dialogue from the publication of Märta Tikkanen’s first novel in 1970 to 2004, when she published a memoir over Henrik and their relationship as a way to mark the 20th anniversary of his passing. My empirical material mainly consists of books written by either Märta or Henrik Tikkanen about their life together. I focus on something I call the conflict between love and art, which, I argue, is the driving force in the books. This conflict is a result a collision of the discourse of love and the discourse of art, something that becomes apparent when themes and motives in works by the Tikkanens are analysed as part of a wider literary, cultural and social context. I also explore the medialisation of the conflict by analysing the Tikkanens' presence in the press. I build on feministic studies in the literary and cultural fields to discuss the gendered conditions of writing and hegemonical love. My aim is to show that the inequalities in work-life are entangled with the hegemonical heterosexual love system. When love is portrayed as a dichotomy between nurturing and self-sacrificing "female" love and grandiose, ecstatic "male" love, as it is in the Tikkanens' dialogical books, there is a ricochet effect that expands to all aspects of life and society. Through the lens of the Tikkanens these mechanisms are made visible and relatable.
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