| 1. |
- Axelsson, Karl, 1976-
(author)
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The Sublime : Precursors and British Eighteenth-Century Conceptions
- 2007
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- This dissertation studies the attraction of the sublime in British criticism during the eighteenth century, with particular emphasis on the arguments that served as precursors to the interest in the experience of the sublime. The first part explores Samuel H. Monk’s standard work on the British eighteenth-century sublime, along with more recent studies. In order to expand the contextual features of Monk’s established account, and to be able to connect the sublime with the impact of the criticism of intellectual literature during the second half of the seventeenth century, this study needs to begin by considering the arguments put forth by Longinus in his treatise Peri Hupsous, a work that exerted considerable influence on eighteenth-century critics. Thus, the second part addresses the relevance of the arguments made by Longinus, who reflected on the significance of the concentrated exercise of the imagination and drew attention to the inner carriage required to bring about the experience of the sublime. The third part, then, demonstrates the importance assigned by critics of the sublime to the intense exercise of the imagination. However, to fully understand the attraction of the Longinian sublime, this demonstration also needs to take into account the attention given to the exercise of the imagination in criticism of intellectual literature during the second half of the seventeenth century. Finally, I illustrate the relevance of including such criticism in the interpretation of the attraction of the sublime during the eighteenth century by considering Thomas Hobbes’ claims on the subject of the imagination.
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| 2. |
- Jormfeldt, Henrika
(author)
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Dimensions of Health among Patients in Mental Health Services
- 2007
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Empirical studies focusing on the subjective experience of health among patients in contact with the mental health services are rare and most questionnaires are based on a medical model that emphasizes objectively observed disease-oriented health indicators. In studies I and II perceptions of the concept of health among patients and nurses in mental health services were explored and described using a phenomenographic approach. The perceptions and description categories that emerged from these studies were transformed into a number of items forming a questionnaire intended to measure subjectively experienced health among patients in mental health services. In study III, a randomly selected sample was used to test the psychometric properties of the new Health Questionnaire. A factor analysis revealed three factors labelled Autonomy, Social Involvement and Comprehensibility. The purpose of study IV was to examine the construct validity of the Health Questionnaire. The hypothesis was that subjectively experienced health would be positively associated to self-esteem, empowerment and quality of life, and negatively associated to psychiatric symptoms, perceived stigmatization experiences and perceived attitudes of devaluation and discrimination. This hypothesis was mainly confirmed insofar that overall health was positively correlated to self-esteem, empowerment and quality of life and negatively correlated to symptoms, attitudes of devaluation and discrimination and rejection experiences. The results of this thesis show that health is more than just an absence of disease and support a focus on health promotion interventions in mental health care.
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| 3. |
- Svensson, Marie, 1972-
(author)
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The temperature-limited fed-batch technique for control of Escherichia coli cultures
- 2006
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The objective of this study was to investigate the physiology and productivity in Escherichia colicultures with emphasis on the temperature-limited fed-batch (TLFB) culture. The TLFB techniquecontrols the oxygen consumption rate of the growing culture by a gradually declining temperaturefrom 37-35 °C down to 20-18 °C. The temperature regulated the DOT around a set-point (30 % airsat.), and all nutrients were in excess. Glucose was fed into the culture continuously, however, highacetate formation was avoided by keeping the glucose at a low, yet excessive, concentration. Thebiomass productivity was approximately the same in TLFB as in glucose-limited fed-batch (GLFB)cultures, since the specific growth rate and the oxygen consumption rate are limited by the oxygentransfer capacity of the reactor in both techniques.High concentrations of endotoxins were found in the medium of E. coli fed-batch cultures at lowspecific growth rates (below 0.1 h-1) and severe glucose limitation. In this thesis the TLFB techniquewas found to suppress the endotoxin release even at low specific growth rates. The repressed release of endotoxins in TLFB cultures was due to the high availability of glucose and not to the low growthrate or the lower temperature. The conclusion was drawn from comparing with the GLFB technique performed at 20 °C, which resulted in high endotoxin release.Extensive release of endotoxin, accompanied with high concentrations of soluble proteins was foundin a TLFB culture exposed to a higher energy dissipation rate, 16 kW m-3, instead of 2 kW m-3, due toa higher stirrer speed (1000 instead of 500 rpm). The hypothesis that this is a result of mechanicalstress is discussed in context with the common view that cells like E. coli, which are smaller than the Kolmogoroff’s microscale of turbulence, should not be influenced by the turbulence.TLFB cultured cells exhibited more stable cytoplasmic membranes when treated with osmotic shockas compared to the GLFB cultured cells. The concentrations of DNA and soluble proteins in the periplasmic extracts from the TLFB cultured cells were lower than from GLFB cultured cells. Inaddition, the specific productivity of periplasmic β-lactamase was higher in the TLFB cultures,suggesting that this technique could be an alternative for protein production. The solubility of apartially aggregated recombinant protein increased in the TLFB compared to the GLFB cultures.However some time after induction, in spite of the gradually declining temperature, the solublefraction decreased.For obtaining better understanding of the performance of the process and for identifying criticalparameters, a mathematical model was developed based on the growth, energy and overflowmetabolism at non-limiting nutrient conditions. The temperature-dependent maximum specific glucoseand oxygen uptake rates were determined in pH-auxostat cultures for temperatures ranging from 18 to37 °C. A dynamic simulation model of the TLFB technique was developed and the results were compared to experimental data. The simulation program was also used for sensitivity analysis of some physiological and process parameters to study the impact on biomass concentration and temperatureprofiles. An effect on the biomass concentration profile but not on the temperature profile wasobserved when changing the oxygen transfer coefficient. If the maximum specific glucose uptake ratewas altered, or if the glucose concentration was permitted to assume other values, the temperatureprofile but not the biomass concentration profile was influenced. Cell death affected both the biomassconcentration profile and the temperature profile.
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| 4. |
- Svensson, Olof
(author)
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Interactions of Mucins with Biopolymers and Drug Delivery Particles
- 2008
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The main components in the mucous gels apart from water are mucins, which are proteins with high molecular weights and an abundance of negatively charged oligosaccharide side chains. The aim of the investigations was to characterize interactions between mucins and other proteins that are present in the mucous gel, and also between mucins and components used in pharmaceutical formulations. More specifically, the main objectives were (I) to investigate the possibility to assemble multilayer films with mucins and oppositely charged polymers or proteins on solid substrates; (II) to evaluate mucoadhesive proper-ties of drug delivery particles by examination of their interactions with mucins. The construction of multilayer films was performed on silica and hydrophobized silica surfaces by alternate adsorption, and the adsorbed amount and thickness of the films were measured in situ by time resolved ellipsometry. It was demonstrated that films could be assembled using mucins in combination with both chitosan and lactoperoxidase. The build-up was characterized by adsorption and redissolution processes, and the extent of redissolution could be explained by taking the charge densities and concentrations of the components into account. It was also demonstrated that the nature of the substrate can be crucial for the possibilities to assemble multilayer films, and from the results it may be concluded that a high amount of mucin in the first step is important for successful layer-by-layer assembly. Furthermore, it was demonstrated that lactoperoxidase is catalytically active when adsorbed to mucin layers, and it may thereby exert its antimicrobial action. The evaluation of mucoadhesive properties of drug delivery particles was performed with lipid nanoparticles stabilized by a poly(ethylene oxide) based polymer and with particles modified by chitosan. Both types of model particles (unmodified and chitosan modified) were investigated by measuring their adsorption to mucin-coated silica surfaces by ellipsometry. It was shown that the binding of unmodified particles to mucin-coated silica surfaces was weak and pH-dependent. Based on the pH and electrolyte dependence of the adsorption, it was proposed that the interaction is mediated by hydrogen bonding between protonated carboxyl groups in the mucin molecule and oxygen atoms in poly(ethylene oxide). Chitosan modified particles, on the other hand, showed a substantial and strong binding to mucin-coated surfaces, which can probably be attributed to interactions between amino groups in chitosan and negatively charged groups in the mucin layer. The findings from the present investigations are in agreement with previous reports on the interaction of mucins with poly(ethylene oxide) and chitosan. It can therefore be concluded that the methodology applied is useful for evaluating mucoadhesive properties of nanoparticles.
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