Academic and Behavioral Interventions for Children and Youth with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome or Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders

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Genetic and Metabolic Markers for the Development of Diabetes after Gestational Diabetes Mellitus

The aims of this work were to determine the prevalence of postpartum diabetes among women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) in a prospective study 5 years postpartum; to characterize these women according to insulin secretion, insulin sensitivity, autoimmunity and genetics; and to identify possible markers and predictors for the development of manifest diabetes. The subjects were recruited through a regional screening programme in which oral glucose tolerance tests (OGTTs) are routinely offered to all pregnant women. The prevalence of MODY mutations among women with GDM and a family history of diabetes was found to be 5%. Arabian women were more insulin resistant than Scandinavian women with the same BMI, and showed impaired beta cell compensation for their degree of insulin resistance. GDM might share some genetic features with type 1 diabetes in Scandinavian women. The prevalence of manifest diabetes 5 years after GDM was 30% in our population. Antenatal levels of fasting glucose and HbA1c were identified as biochemical predictors of diabetes following GDM. These are easy to measure, and are relatively cheap, and could help identify women at particularly high risk of developing diabetes postpartum. Counselling regarding future risk of diabetes could then be initiated during pregnancy in high-risk individuals. The rs8050136 variant in the FTO (fat mass and obesity associated) gene was associated with an increased risk of developing postpartum diabetes, probably due to its effect on increasing obesity . Thus, genetic testing may provide a means of identifying pregnant women at high risk of developing postpartum diabetes

From Proletariat to Past Glory: Nationalism\u27s Evolution in Modern China

Despite the rapid success of its growth over the past four decades, the People’s Republic of China is facing new political, economic and societal problems. In these turbulent times of change and upheaval, nationalism has re-emerged as a significant force within China, spearheaded by the new regime under President Xi Jinping. This paper examines how a more offensive-oriented nationalism and several subcategories of nationalism are slowly seeping into the aforementioned aspects of modern China. It argue that unlike the defensive nationalism that China adopted over a century ago, this new wave of offensive nationalism is tied directly to the desire to transform China into a global power reminiscent of the old imperial dynasties

Retrieval of cavity embedded absorption spectrum for quantum memory applications

Inom fältet kvantinformation behandlar man information med hjälp av så kallade kvantmekaniska system, vilket tillför både möjligheter och svårigheter i reella tillämpningar. Ett fundamentalt begrepp är den så kallade kvantbiten, eller qubit som den brukar omnämnas i engelsk litteratur, vilken är den grundläggande komponenten i vilken kvantinformation hanteras, som en direkt analog till biten i en klassisk dator. En klassisk bit har möjligheten att anta värdet ett eller noll, medan en kvantbit dessutom har möjligheten att anta båda dessa värden på en och samma gång i en godtycklig proportion, vilket framstår som obegripligt i förhållande till den klassiska värld som vi upplever. Denna egenskap erbjuder möjligheten att behandla information på ett fundamentallt annorlunda sätt än vad vi är vana vid. Exempel på tillämpningar är kvantdatorer och kvantkryptografi. Kvantdatorer kan utnyttjas för att lösa problem som för klassiska datorer är helt olösbara inom rimlig tid (t.ex. faktorisering av stora tal). Med kvantkryptografins hjälp kan vi dessutom skapa kommunikationskanaler som erbjuder i det närmaste fullständig säkerhet mot intrång vad gäller avlyssning. Denna rapporten har behandlat så kallade optiska kvantminnen, vilka har till syfte att lagra kvantinformation i form av fotoner, dvs. ljuspartiklar. Utförandet består av att en inkommande foton som innehåller en viss kvantbit, absorberas i ett medium och överför kvantinformationen till exciterade elektroner i lagrade joner av typen sällsynta jordartsmetaller. Kvantbiten ska sedan kunna återskapas genom att en ny foton sänds ut från jonerna, med ett identiskt kvantillstånd jämfört med den ursprungliga fotonen. I denna avhandling behandlar vi en viss typ av minnen där de olika specifika jonerna endast absorberar fotoner nära en viss motsvarande frekvens eller energi. På det stora hela ter sig detta i att vi får en fördelning när vi tittar på absorptionen som en funktion av frekvensen, vilket vi benämner som absorptionsspektrumet. Genom olika tekniker är det möjligt att i detalj utforma denna fördelning, vilket är avgörande för hur effektivt det optiska kvantmimmet i slutändan blir. Genom att dessutom omgärda det absorberande mediumet med två delvis genomskinliga speglar, är det möjligt att ytterligare förbättra prestandan på minnet (en kavitet har introducerats). Denna typ är under utveckling i Lund, och har redan i experiment visat hög potential. Detta komplement tillför dock ytterligare problem i den mån att speglarna döljer absorptionsspektrumet för den utsomstående observatören, till följd att vi förlorar kontroll över minnet och därmed inte kan uppnå minnets fulla kapacitet. Denna rapport har därför utvecklat en metod eller algoritm med syftet att lösa detta problem. Lösningen ter sig som så att genom att jämföra det elektriska fältet av en inkommande och reflekterad ljuspuls med hjälp av en algoritm, är det möjligt att indirekt klargöra utseendet på det i kaviteten existerande absorptionsspektrumet. I rapporten utveklades också en simulator med syftet att simulera det elektriska fältet inuti kaviteten, så att den utvecklade metoden kunde testas på den resulterande utdatan. Resultaten kunde bedömas som lovande då avvikelsen mellan det riktiga och det beräknade absorptionsspetrumet kunde sägas vara låg i de fall som undersöktes.One of the important building blocks in the quantum information field, is the so called quantum memory. Processing is usually performed on quantum information in the form of qubits, which is an analogy to the classical bits in a normal computer. A big concern however is the fact that quantum information which is represented by some quantum state of one or several particles, is easily destroyed by outside perturbations. Quantum memories which are intended to hold the quantum information, therefore present a major challenge in the real world implementation. By using rare-earth doped crystals in impedance matched cavities in connection with a scheme based on Atomic Frequency Combs (AFCs), it's possible to create very efficient optical quantum memories. The purpose is to store incoming photons and fully preserve its quantum mechanically described parameters such as phase and polarization. In Lund such hardware is in development, which has already showed promise with some comparatively high recorded efficiencies. However there are still technical hindrances or difficulties which prevents us from fully making use of this technique. One these problems include the fact that since a cavity used, the rest of the storage crystal is put into obscurity, in the sense that we have no way of determining how the absorption spectrum appears inside the cavity. The aim of this thesis is to present a possible solution, in the form of some sort of algorithm which can be applied on measurement data. Such an algorithm has been proposed in this thesis, which uses the reflected and transmitted fields from the cavity, and calculates a hypothetical absorption spectrum in the cavity medium. To determine the efficiency or validity of the method, it was applied on simulated data, originating from both a third-party developed model, and model developed in this thesis. Both of these combine quantum mechanics and Maxwell's equations, to form a set of equations called the Maxwell-Bloch equations

The key aspects of innovation-oriented regional industrial and economic policy

Integration processes taking place in the economy, the new requirements to enhance the effectiveness of production during international competition as well as the need to ensure the social conditions lead to the development and implementation of innovation-oriented regional industrial and economic policy, which in its turn, requires adopting substantial organizational and economic recommendations

A database of single scattering properties for hydrometeors at microwave and sub-millimetre frequencies

Remote sensing observations of hydrometeors (ice or liquid water particles) at microwave and sub-millimetre wavelengths provide important input to numerical weather forecasting through data assimilation and give insight to cloud processes that are relevant for climate prediction. The utilization of such measurements requires information on the single scattering properties (SSP), i.e., knowledge on how single hydrometeors scatter, absorb, and emit radiation. However, SSP are dependant on the particle orientation, shape, and size which in the case of ice hydrometeors are highly variable in nature. Furthermore, simulating the SSP of hydrometeors is challenging and computationally costly. These are the main challenges that this thesis aims to address. In the first study of this thesis, a new publicly available SSP database for randomly oriented ice hydrometeors was developed. In terms of covered frequencies, temperatures, sizes, and particle models it is the most extensive to date. Particle models include aggregates that were generated using a semi-realistic, stochastic aggregation simulator. The next study utilised the simulator for a more detailed investigation on the dependence of SSP upon aggregate characteristics. For instance, the size and aspect ratio of the constituent crystals were found to have a significant impact on the extinction and back-scattering cross-sections of the aggregates. The third study analysed the ability of the SSP database to reproduce a combination of real passive and active satellite observations, by the GPM (Global Precipitation Measurements) Microwave Imager (GMI) and the CloudSat Cloud Profiling Radar, in radiative transfer (RT) simulations. While the tested particle models could accurately reproduce the real observations, it was difficult to find a particle model that performed better than the others. However, complementary simulations show promise with respect to the upcoming Ice Cloud Imager. In the fourth study, SSP of ice particles that have a preference towards horizontal orientation were calculated and applied to passive RT simulations at 166 GHz. The characteristic polarization signals present in GMI observations of clouds were successfully reproduced by RT simulations. The final study provides SSP of non-spheroidal rain drops, accounting for the effect of aerodynamic pressure upon the drop shape. It was found that this effect can have a small, but non-negligible, impact on passive and active microwave observations