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Signifikant Svenska AB supplies an information system called Assert, developed to facilitate the aftermarket sales in the manufacturing and subcontractor domains. The information system offers companies and organizations the possibility to gather their product information in a joint database in order to increase the information availability and distribution. The management of the documents is an important part of the customer need and can be improved in order to also support document maintenance directly in Assert. At the moment, users only have the possibility to add and view documents in the database. By also providing users the possibility to create documents, update document contents, effectively reuse document sections and ease the translation of documents within Assert, the document management will be better facilitated. The purpose of this thesis is to develop a prototype which shows the concept and benefits when providing the possibility to share document contents between several documents. The prototype is developed in C#/WPF and provides a word processor with features to reuse document contents and translation management.

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Dendritic cells (DCs) constitute a large family of immune cells with a dendritic morphology and a critical role in all aspects of an immune response and immune regulation, from immunogenicity to tolerance. One of the important characteristic of DCs is maturation, during which DCs undergo significant changes in their phenotypic and functional properties and change from phagocytic cells to highly efficient antigen presenting cells (APCs). Dendritic cells have recently been at the centre of attention as a promising tool in treatment or control of cancer and infectious diseases. Accordingly, DCs have been generated, matured, and loaded with tumor-associated or microbial antigens ex vivo, to be subsequently used as therapeutic tools or vaccine carriers.<p> Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a hepatotropic virus, which infects the liver in humans and results in a chronic infection in most cases. The persistent infection of the liver eventually results in cirrhosis and/or hepatocellular carcinoma in 15-20 years. Chronic hepatitis C (CHC) has recently become a serious health concern and the leading cause of liver transplantation. The mechanism of persistence of the virus is not clear yet, but as a Th1-type immune response is strongly correlated with elimination of HCV in vivo, it is evident that insufficient cellular immunity is a contributing factor. Non-cytopathic viruses such as HCV may infect immune cells to modify and evade a protective immune response. Dendritic cells, which are the most potent APCs, and uniquely capable of initiating a primary immune response, have been considered as a target for HCV. Inhibition of DC maturation by HCV has been suggested as a potential contributing factor in immune evasion; however, this issue remains controversial as many contradictory results have been reported.<p> To investigate this contention, we initially planned to evaluate the effects of HCV on DCs of CHC patients; however, due to limited access to patients blood, we instead elected to examine the effects of HCV genes products on in vitro generated DCs from healthy volunteers. Specific attention was paid to the generation, maturation, and transfection of DCs in vitro, as variability in procedures might have been responsible for the controversial reports. Viral vectors have generally been used to transfect DCs; however, a vector and HCV genes might have synergistic effects on DC maturation. Thus, our first objective was to develop an efficient non-viral transfection method while retaining high viability of the DCs, as previous efforts in this regard resulted either in low efficiency or in low viability of DCs after transfection. In order to improve the viability of DCs after transfection, we established a new method for fast generation of monocyte-derived DCs (Mo-DCs) in two to three days. By performing a comprehensive study on transfection reagents, electroporation, and nucleofection with DNA or in vitro transcribed (IVT) RNA, we successfully established a new, highly efficient non-viral method for transfection of DCs with long-term viability. This method is based on the use of the X1 program of a nucleofection device with IVT RNA and results in high transfection efficiency of 93%, with 75% viability of DCs 72 h after transfection.<p> Subsequently, we performed a comprehensive study on the effects of different maturation methods on the phenotype, function and gene expression profile of DCs. Three commonly used treatments, TNF-á, LPS and a maturation cocktail (MC) consisting of IL-1â, IL-6, TNF-á, and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) were compared. Our results showed that there is a significant difference in the level of maturity between these treatments, and MC generated more functionally competent mDCs than TNF-á or LPS. In addition, MC induced Th1-promoting changes in the transcriptional profile of mDCs. This observation was important, as the presence of PGE2 in MC was previously challenged based on the potential induction of Th2-biased immune responses. However, our results suggest retaining PGE2 in the cocktail because of the fact that MC generated highly competent and functional mDCs with a Th1-promoting transcriptional profile. Finally, Mo-DCs were transfected with IVT HCV RNAs, individually or in combination. While HCV genes had no inhibitory effect on DC maturation, transfection of DCs with IVT core RNA appeared to result in changes compatible with maturation. To investigate this in more detail, the transcriptional profiles of DCs transfected with IVT core, NS3 or green fluorescent protein (GFP) RNA were examined using a DC-specific membrane array. Of the 288 genes on the array, 46 genes were distinctively up- or down-regulated by transfection with IVT core RNA in comparison to NS3 or GFP RNA treatments, 42 of which are involved in DC maturation. The effects of core on maturation of DCs were further confirmed by a significant increase in surface expression of CD83 and HLA-DR, a reduction of phagocytosis, as well as an increase in proliferation and IFN-ã secretion by T cells in a mixed lymphocyte reaction assay. These results show that HCV core does not have an inhibitory effect on human DC maturation, but could be a target for the immune system.<p> The use of a non-viral method of transfection combined with confirmed transcriptional profiles of DCs in this study may make these results conclusive for in vitro generated DCs from healthy volunteers. However, further investigations are required to confirm the effects on DCs from CHC patients.

The objective with this essay was to compare the modern epistolary novel Priority by danish author Iselin C. Hermann with the epistolary genre during its heyday in late seventeenth to early nineteenth century. I especially looked at gender: the similarities and differences between the female character in Priority and the female characters during the epistolary novels days of glory. I concluded that Priority has the same structure, characteristics as the heyday epistolary novel and that the female character does not have any typical similarities with its stereotypical female characters. In addition I also came to the conclusion that she is reminiscent to their original model Héloïse and follows the epistolary novels heyday convention when she dies at the end of the novel.

<p>Recently, the study of invertebrate innate immunity has garnered considerable attention after the discovery that mammalian homologues of the <italic>Drosophila melanogaster</italic> </p><p>Toll pathway play a role in mammalian innate immunity. One invertebrate model system that has begun to be intensely studied is the nematode <italic>Caenorhabditis elegans</italic>. Immunity in <italic>C. elegans</italic> has been shown to be inducible in that it responds uniquely to different pathogens. These changes in gene expression require transcription factors in order for certain genes to be transcribed. We utilized an RNA interference screen of potential transcription factors to identify the GATA transcription factor ELT-2 as a possible transcription factor involved in immunity. We then demonstrated that ELT-2 was required for resistance to a wide range of pathogens and was responsible for regulating expression of the C-type lectin <italic>clec-67</italic>, a marker of immunity. </p><p>We also studied another transcription factor known to play a role in C. elegans immune function, the FOXO transcription factor DAF-16. We specifically focused in on the role of DAF-16 in germline-deficient mutants, and we demonstrated that such mutants are resistant to many different pathogens. This led to further investigation of the germline-deficient mutant glp-4, which should also show broad range resistance to pathogens but fails to do so. Through whole genome sequencing, we identified mutations that may be responsible for the glp-4 phenotype. We also demonstrated that DAF-16 was active in glp-4 mutants, leading to us proposing a model where glp-4 plays a role in influencing <italic>C. elegans</italic> immunity besides its involvement in germline development.</p> / Dissertation

The research of Fe-Mn-Al-C K phase

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The method of C-V analysis is a powerful technique to determine the parameter of MOS (metal oxide semiconductor) structure. In this study, we fabricate the MOS structure with rf magnetron sputtering of Ta2O5 on n-ZnSe surface. The n-ZnSe¡¦s with various carrier concentrations have different electrical property. Interfaces of various Ta2O5/ZnSe have different properties, for examples flatband voltage, threshold voltage, the mobile oxide charge density, and the effective oxide charge concentration and etc. We find that the interfaces of the Ta2O5/ZnSe MOS structure have low mobile charges and interface trap charges. Thus Ta2O5/ZnSe MOS structure may be worthy to develop further.

ABSTRACT As MOSFET getting smaller, its silicon dioxide reaches physical limit. To continue its insulation and reasonable interface defects density, now, SiOxNy is the replace material to fill the transition term between SiO2 to high-k material. SiOxNy is made from silicon dioxide and silicon nitride in different scale. Due to the uncompleted of bonding, the device¡¦s reliability is dependent on defects. The discussion about defects will help us to change the growth conditions in process and avoid to produce these defects. We use PL and Raman spectrum to study the defects in SiOxNy and compare them under different process conditions especially on the change of defects. PL result on 6.2 nm film have a peak at 390 nm, and 40 nm film have peak at 535 nm. This mean that under these two process conditions the defect correspond to 3.18 eV is . The defect correspond to 2.37 eV is . In this thesis, we report formulations of how to calculate the parameters of MOS structure, using SiON/p-Si MOS structure as calculated sample. The carrier concentration were calculated and compared with the Hall results. The flat band voltage and threshold voltage were calculated and compared with measured C-V curves.