The Swedish Conservative Party and the Welfare State. Institutional Change and Adapting Preferences.

The paper argues that the Swedish ‘neo-liberal’ party (Moderaterna) has adapted its policies because of the popularity of the ‘universal’ Swedish welfare state. The party has come to accept that the modern welfare state is irreplaceable. We furthermore argue that the party’s moderate electoral platform in 2006 is earnest. In the “short run” the party can only hope to achieve incremental changes and it recognises this. Simultaneously however, the party in the “long run” wants to gradually change society. Over time the party in its rhetoric and ideological statements has emphasised the short and the long run differently. These differences between the ‘neo-liberal’ 1980s and 2006 should not conceal that the mechanism of welfare popularity largely remains the same. The party’s actual policy proposals tend to suggest incremental changes only in both periods.Swedish conservative party; welfare state; neo-liberal

Myocardial creatine metabolism in experimental infarction and heart failure

The failing heart is characterized by changes in structure, function and metabolism. All these changes are usually defined as pathologic remodelling. An important part of this negative remodelling process is disturbances in the myocardial energy metabolism. It has been demonstrated both in clinical and experimental studies that the failing heart contains low levels of creatine(Cr), phosphocreatine (PCr) and adenosine-triphosphate (ATP). For the heart to be able to function and contract normally, it needs energy in the form of ATP. ATP needs to be transported from sites of energy production to the sites of energy utilization in the myocyte. The Creatine-kinas (CK) system is responsible for this energy transport. Previous studies have shown that Cr depletion results in disturbed energy metabolism, which is associated with decreased PCr content, decreased CK activity and compromised left ventricular dysfunction. But there is still limited knowledge about the role of creatine and myocardial energy metabolism in the diseased heart. It is known that the heart that depends on exogenous lipids for the oxidative production of ATP, and thereby for maintenance of normal cellular energy homeostasis. Recent studies have however, reported that the heart synthesizes and releases its own endogenous apolipoprotein B (apoB). It has been proposed that apoB may be involved in cardioprotection by means of elimination of toxic intracellular lipids. The aim of this thesis were • To investigate whether measures of intensive cardiac care applied to rats with acute myocardial infarction (MI) would reduce mortality in this small animal model. • To investigate in vivo the effects of Cr depletion in rats on left ventricular function and morphology, energy metabolism, catecholamines and incidence of malignant ventricular arrhythmias during acute myocardial infarction. • To investigate in vivo the effects of Cr depletion in mice on left ventricular function and morphology, energy metabolism and myocardial lipids. • To investigate importance of endogenous lipoproteins in the heart for cardiac function, morphology and survival in the settings of acute and chronic myocardial infarction. • To investigate acute and chronic effects of complete heart block (CHB) on cardiac function, morphology and energy metabolism in a rat model. In paper I we show that by applying simple methods like pre-treatment with anti-arrhythmia, prolonged respiratory support, use of isoflurane gas anaesthesia, and treatment of MVA with electrical cardioversion, the mortality in the rat model of acute MI is decreased by ~70 %. In the rat model of Cr depletion we show that lack of myocardial Cr leads to disturbances in metabolism, morphology and function of the heart, similar to those found in HF patients. The animals suffering from CR depletion show increased incidence of arrhythmias and increased mortality in the setting of acute MI. We also showed that Cr depletion in mice leads to similar disturbances as in the rat model. One very interesting new finding was the increased accumulation of triglycerides. The most important finding in the mouse model was that the disturbances in the metabolism, structure and function of the heart are completely reversible upon the normalization of the Cr levels. These findings indicate that Cr metabolism may be an important target for pharmacological interventions in order to increase myocardial efficiency and structural integrity of the failing heart. In paper IV we showed that the over-expression of apolipoprotein B (apoB) in mice increased the survival post-MI, 2-fold. This was associated with improved myocardial function in the apoB mice. It was also determined that the production of endogenous apoB was increased acutely post-ischemia injury, but in long term it decreases to subnormal levels. These findings indicate that the myocardial apoB system may be important in cardioprotection in pathophysiologic settings as myocardial ischemia and HF. CHB in rats lead to early, pronounced and sustained cardiac remodelling with the development of eccentric hypertrophy. Howevere they did not develop left ventricular dysfunction and showed no signs of disturbed energy metabolism. Future studies are needed here to elucidate the mechanism behind the beneficial cardiac remodelling post-CHB

Використання вільного програмного забезпечення для вивчення технічних дисциплін майбутніми учителями інформатики

В статті охарактеризовано вільне програмне забезпечення для моделювання комп’ютерних мереж, яке може бути використане для технічної підготовки майбутніх учителів інформатики. Запропоноване імітаційно-моделююче середовище GNS3 дає змогу побудувати комплексні мережеві проекти, перевірити працездатність тієї чи іншої топології, визначити кількість мережевого обладнання для комп’ютерного класу, протестувати роботу віртуальної комп’ютерної мережі

The Hopper language- A Haskell-like language on the Erlang VM

The following report aims to give insight into the design and implementation of a statically typed functional language for the Erlang virtual machine, discussing how such an implementation may be approached and whether it appears to be feasible. The primary goal of the project was to design a grammar specification and implement a compiler for such a language. Over the course of the project a prototype language and a compiler for that language were developed. The project followed an iterative development process with Scrum as a basis. Notable modules of the compiler are the parser generated from a BNF grammar, the type checker implementing a Hindley-Milner type system and the code generator generating Core Erlang source code. The result of the project is Hopper, a basic functional programming language with an accompanying compiler, featuring polymorphic algebraic data types (ADTs), pattern matching and lambdas. The language also has a module system and some integration with Erlang. In conclusion, the project was largely successful in its mission to create a typed functional language on the Erlang VM and has the potential to be developed further

Carbon leakage in the Steel Sector Accounting for Induced Technological Change and Spillover Effects : a Theoretical Analysis

This analysis investigates the relationship between unilateral climate policy and the risk of carbon leakage in the steel sector. A simple analytical macroeconomic model is employed to highlight the various parameters influencing the magnitude of carbon leakage. An extended version of the model allows for assessing the impacts of induced technical change and technological spillover effects on the industry’s carbon leakage. A numerical illustration using sector-specific parameters shows that the leakage rate within the steel sector is 27%. Accounting for induced technological change and spillover effects reveals that higher rates of innovative activity reduce the risk of carbon leakage within the sector. In the presence of technological spillover effects under the assumption that the rate of technological change is 0.8, the carbon leakage rate reduces to 5%. The impact of induced technological change on carbon leakage in the steel industry implies that a global industrial network empowering the expansion of new technologies has the potential to decrease the industry’s overall emissions

Dendritic cell subsets in the intestinal lamina propria: ontogeny and function

The intestinal mucosa is exposed to large amounts of foreign antigen (Ag) derived from commensal bacteria, dietary Ags, and intestinal pathogens. Dendritic cells (DCs) are believed to be involved in the induction of tolerance to harmless Ags and in mounting protective immune responses to pathogens and, as such, to play key roles in regulating intestinal immune homeostasis. The characterization of classical DCs (cDCs) in the intestinal lamina propria has been under intense investigation in recent years but the use of markers (including CD11c, CD11b, MHC class II), which are also expressed by intestinal MΦs, has led to some controversy regarding their definition. Here we review recent studies that help to distinguish cDCs subsets from monocyte-derived cells in the intestinal mucosa. We address the phenotype and ontogeny of these cDC subsets and highlight recent findings indicating that these subsets play distinct roles in the regulation of mucosal immune responses in vivo

Ohmic heating in a food application: quality evaluation of cloudberry jam

New techniques for food processing are areas of interest for the food industry and ohmic heating is an example of a new technique where there are many possible applications in the food area. The aim of this work was to characterize and compare quality aspects of high quality cloudberry jam with 70 weight-% berries produced on one hand by traditional batch processing technique and on the other hand by ohmic heating in a continuous process. Sensory analysis was performed on the two jams by a trained panel. In order to investigate the consumer opinions in different countries a consumer study was performed including 402 consumers from the four countries Sweden, Portugal, Ireland and Slovakia. Rheological properties of the jam were also measured. The results showed that there were no significant differences for any of the sensory attributes between the jam produced by traditional technique and the jam produced by ohmic heating. The results from the consumer study showed that in all four countries, the appearance, odour, flavour, texture, aftertaste and overall quality of both jams were liked to the same extent. However, differences in liking cloudberry jam differed between the participating countries. The Swedish and the Portuguese consumers were in general giving higher scores on the liking of the cloudberry jams than the Slovakian and Irish consumers. There were no differences found between the two jams according to the rheological properties of the samples. The results indicated that it was possible to maintain the same quality of cloudberry jam produced by ohmic heating as of cloudberry jam produced in a traditional way