To Valerie – By Valerie : A Reading of the Belonging of the Narrative Positions in The Faculty of Dreams by Sara Stridsberg

The following master’s thesis consists of an analysis of the narrative positions in the novel The Faculty of Dreams of Sara Stridsberg, a literary fantasy written about the life of the writer and radical feminist Valerie Solanas. Through my thesis I argue that the implicit author, the narratological position of the narrator, and the character called “The Narrator”, all three belong to, and constitute, the fictional character Valerie. In order to conduct this analysis I use narratological theory, with Shlomith Rimmon-Kenan and Mieke Bal as primary theorists, along with theory concerning spatiality and temporality. The analysis is backed up with metafictional theory as well as research into physical and mental reactions caused by trauma, conducted by Bessel van der Kolk. The analysis is sectioned into four parts, with every part focusing on a specific topic: “The Narrator’s” dialogues with Valerie, the novels five different sections (“Land of Bambi”, “The Oceans”, “The Laboratory Park”, “The Factory” and “Love Valerie”), the presence of the cursive fragments and finally the alphabetical lists which appear at different occasions in the novel. The novel acts as a reclamation of power as Valerie recovers her stolen voice, giving herself the opportunity of narrating her own life. The fictional character Valerie salvages her autonomy and receives her rectification by rewriting conversations which have taken place in court rooms, psychiatric hospitals and between different people in her life. She is no longer an external spectator of her own life. Instead she is the one in charge. The narratological levels have collapsed. Only Valarie remains

Calcium Homeostasis in Patients with Graves' Disease

Patients with Graves´ Disease (GD) have a higher risk of developing more severe and prolonged hypocalcaemia after total thyroidectomy (TT) than patients who undergo surgery for benign atoxic goitre. Since TT is the most effective treatment for GD, it is crucial to identify mechanisms for postoperative hypocalcaemia. The aim of this thesis was to study the mechanisms of calcium metabolism in patients with GD. It is safe to operate on GD patients with TT. Results in Paper I showed fewer recurrences and equal complication rates compared to patients who underwent subtotal thyroidectomy (ST). The transient lowering of PTH seen in the hypocalcaemic patients was fully restored one month after surgery (Papers II and V). The calcium-sensing receptor (CaSR) is crucial for maintaining plasma calcium, and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the gene may alter the sensing function. Thus, we analysed SNPs in CaSR in GD patients (Paper II) and showed that they had a more left-shifted calcium-PTH set-point compared to controls, implicating higher sensitivity. This is also supported by the results in the group of postoperatively hypocalcaemic patients. They already had lower plasma calcium preoperatively (Papers II, IV and V) and lacked the T/G G/A G/C, a haplotype shown in Paper III to have a close relationship to higher p-calcium levels. Moreover, a lack of the T allele in rs1801725 was seen in the group of patients needing permanent treatment with calcium and vitamin D, i.e. > 12 months, (paper V). Patients who became hypocalcaemic (p-calcium < 2.00 mmol/L) on day one postoperatively, had lower preoperative levels of thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) and higher levels of  T3, this was also applied to the patient groups requiring temporary or permanent postoperative treatment (Papers II and V). In addition, hypocalcaemic patients treated for less than six months with anti-thyroid drugs had higher levels of bone metabolism markers CTX and P1NP than normocalcaemic patients (Paper V). In conclusion, the postoperative period of hypocalcaemia seen in patients with GD is a complex medical condition, caused by a combination of surgical trauma, different SNPs in CaSR, and high bone metabolism related to preoperative thyroid metabolism

Development of dementia in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) patients with focus on B-vitamins

This thesis focused on the importance of low B-vitamins, hyperhomocysteinemia and the development of dementia and Alzheimer´s disease (AD) in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). The relation between vitamin B12 /folate and dementia has been extensively investigated, but the results are inconsistent. The connection of thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) and dementia is also explored in a lot of studies but neither here is a consensus found. The active fraction of vitamin B12, holo-Transcobalamin (holo-TC), is less studied. The first three studies this thesis were using data from the Geriatric Department of Karolinska University Hospital, Huddinge, Stockholm; the first study also from the Geriatric Department of Falun Hospital. In the fourth study survey data was used from the Kungsholmen Project, a longitudinal population-based study on aging and degenerative disorders in Stockholm. In paper I, we compared the serum levels of vitamin B12, folate and homocysteine in 120 persons with MCI, living either single or in a family setting. We found a higher level of serum homocysteine in men living single compared to men living in a family. In paper II, we investigated the association of homocysteine levels and the development of AD in 136 MCI patients over a three-year period. The percentage of persons who converted to AD was 31%. For the women we found that 45% with Hcy levels >16mumol/L converted to AD compared to 21% with Hcy levels 20mumol/L, 50% with Hcy levels 20-17mumol/L and none of those with levels<17mumol/L converted. In paper III, we studied predictive factors for the development of AD over a six-year period in 93 subjects with MCI. The percentage of persons converting to AD was 34%. The most important predictive factors were low TSH levels and hyperhomocysteinemia together with low Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) and age. The importance of Hcy declined with higher age. In paper IV, we investigated the association between total plasma homocysteine (tHcy) and holo-TC and the subsequent development of dementia and AD in 228 persons in a prospective study with a mean follow-up time of 6.7 years. 41% developed dementia of which 31% AD. Subjects with high tHcy (the 4th quartile) had more than twice as high risk of developing AD than persons with low tHcy (the 1st quartile). The 3rd quartile of holo-TC was associated with a reduced risk of AD. In conclusion the results of our studies suggest that hyperhomocysteinemia may be a risk marker for dementia and AD. This finding can only be confirmed in intervention clinical trials showing a prevention of the development of dementia by lowering of homocysteine. It is not possible to rule out the importance of TSH for the development of dementia from our results, and we found no clear association between dementia and holo-TC

To Valerie – By Valerie : A Reading of the Belonging of the Narrative Positions in The Faculty of Dreams by Sara Stridsberg

The following master’s thesis consists of an analysis of the narrative positions in the novel The Faculty of Dreams of Sara Stridsberg, a literary fantasy written about the life of the writer and radical feminist Valerie Solanas. Through my thesis I argue that the implicit author, the narratological position of the narrator, and the character called “The Narrator”, all three belong to, and constitute, the fictional character Valerie. In order to conduct this analysis I use narratological theory, with Shlomith Rimmon-Kenan and Mieke Bal as primary theorists, along with theory concerning spatiality and temporality. The analysis is backed up with metafictional theory as well as research into physical and mental reactions caused by trauma, conducted by Bessel van der Kolk. The analysis is sectioned into four parts, with every part focusing on a specific topic: “The Narrator’s” dialogues with Valerie, the novels five different sections (“Land of Bambi”, “The Oceans”, “The Laboratory Park”, “The Factory” and “Love Valerie”), the presence of the cursive fragments and finally the alphabetical lists which appear at different occasions in the novel. The novel acts as a reclamation of power as Valerie recovers her stolen voice, giving herself the opportunity of narrating her own life. The fictional character Valerie salvages her autonomy and receives her rectification by rewriting conversations which have taken place in court rooms, psychiatric hospitals and between different people in her life. She is no longer an external spectator of her own life. Instead she is the one in charge. The narratological levels have collapsed. Only Valarie remains

Interface for wireless collection of solar data

With the increasing demand for renewable energy, solar cells have become a crucial technology in meeting this need. Optimizing the placement of solar cells is essential and can be achieved by tracking their performance data. This project's goal was to develop an interface for collecting primarily solar cell-related data, although it is versatile enough to handle any type of data. The report details the sensors and components used in the standard interface. The final product is not strictly a transmitter or receiver, but includes a piece of breadboard allowing for the implementation of various circuits. Additionally, the practical aspects of data collection using a Raspberry Pi and database services are discussed. The completed system features transmitter and receiver circuits, which can be expanded into a larger mesh network as needed