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Background: The health care costs of kidney transplantation and dialysis are generally unknown. This study estimates the Swedish health care costs of kidney transplantation and dialysis over 10 years from a health care perspective.Method: A before–after design was used, in which the patients served as their own controls. Health care costs the year before transplantation were assumed to continue in

A novel approach to the synthesis of Mn-doped InSb nanowires is demonstrated in this work. We first report on the preparation of InSb nanowires without high temperature treatment. Indium nanowires are grown by glance angle deposition and then coated with a layer of Sb. Single crystalline InSb nanowires are obtained by annealing In/Sb nanostructures at 200 °C. Triple-layer In/Mn/Sb nanostructures a

Signatures of Majorana-fermion bound states in one-dimensional topological-insulator (TI) nanowires with proximity-effect-induced superconductivity are studied. The phase diagram and energy spectra are calculated for single-TI nanowires, and it is shown that the nanowires can be in the topologically invariant phases of winding numbers W=0,±1, and ±2, corresponding to the cases with zero, one, and

Nanowires hold great promise as tools for probing and interacting with various molecular and biological systems. Their unique geometrical properties (typically <100 nm in diameter and a few micrometers in length) enable minimally invasive interactions with living cells, so that electrical signals or forces can be monitored. All such experiments require in situ high-resolution imaging to provide co

Semiconductor nanowires show a great deal of promise for applications in a widerange of important fields, including photovoltaics, biomedicine, and informationtechnology. Developing these exciting applications is strongly dependent onunderstanding the fundamental properties of nanowires, such as their opticalresonances and absorption spectra. In this thesis we explore optical absorption spectra of

Gallium nitride based light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are presently fundamentally transforming the lighting industry, but limitations in the materials and fabrication methods of LEDs introduce substantial challenges to their future development. Among the remaining key bottlenecks of GaN LEDs are the resistive losses and current crowding that strongly increase the heat generation at high powers. In th

Improving our understanding of biological motors, both to fully comprehend their activities in vital processes, and to exploit their impressive abilities for use in bionanotechnology, is highly desirable. One means of understanding these systems is through the production of synthetic molecular motors. We demonstrate the use of orthogonal coiled-coil dimers (including both parallel and antiparallel

The mechanical and electrical response of acoustophoretic microfluidic devices attached to an ac-voltage-driven piezoelectric transducer is studied by means of numerical simulations. The governing equations are formulated in a variational framework that, introducing Lagrangian and Hamiltonian densities, is used to derive the weak form for the finite-element discretization of the equations and to c

Optical mapping (OM) has been used in microbiology for the past 20 years, initially as a technique to facilitate DNA sequence-based studies; however, with decreases in DNA sequencing costs and increases in sequence output from automated sequencing platforms, OM has grown into an important auxiliary tool for genome assembly and comparison. Currently, there are a number of new and exciting applicati

Precarious employment has been associated with poor mental health. Moreover, increasing labour market precariousness may cause individuals to feel ‘locked-in’, in non-desired workplaces or occupations, out of fear of not finding a new employment. This could be experienced as a ‘loss of control’, with similar negative health consequences. It is plausible that the extent to which being in a non-desi

Purpose: In response to the need for hearing aids in low-income countries, an approach to provide hearing aids through trained community workers was developed. This study compares the effectiveness of the community-based approach with that of a centre-based approach. Methods: One hundred and forty adolescents (56% girls; 12–18 years; mean: 15 years) from eleven sub-districts participated in a clus

Zn-Sb compounds (e.g., ZnSb, β-Zn13Sb10) are known to have intriguing thermoelectric properties, but studies of the Zn3Sb2 composition are largely absent. In this work, α-Zn3Sb2 was synthesized and studied via temperature-dependent synchrotron powder diffraction. The α-Zn3Sb2 phase undergoes a phase transformation to the β form at 425 °C, which is stable until melting at 590 °C. Rapid quenching wa

The impact of different drying techniques and storage conditions on the formation of carboxymethyl lysine (CML) as an advanced glycation end product (AGE) was investigated in various pilot-scale produced skim milk powders (SMP). CML, an indicator of advanced stages of the Maillard reaction, was analyzed by isotope dilution ESI-LC-MS/MS after drying and at intervals during storage for 200 days. The

Background Improving knowledge of obstetric danger signs and promoting birth preparedness practices are strategies aimed at enhancing utilization of skilled care in low-income countries. The aim was to explore the association between knowledge of obstetric danger signs and birth preparedness among recently delivered women in south-western Uganda. Methods The study included 764 recently delivered

In this thesis we present friction studies on InAs nanowires pushed laterally across surfaces by an AFM tip. The contact length in the direction of movement is of the order of a few tens of nanometers, and is thus comparable to that found in existing point-contact studies, but perpendicular to the motion the wire can be several microns in length. We are therefore able to investigate friction in th