Coming dissertations at Uppsala university
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Vaginal microbiota composition and function : Its relation to HPV, cervical dysplasia, and reproductive and general health
Link: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-536918
The overall aim of this thesis was to study the vaginal microbiota and its role in both health and pathogenic processes, with a particular focus on HPV infection and the dysplastic progression to cervical cancer.
In paper I, a systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted to assess current findings on the association between the vaginal microbiota and HPV-related disease. It was found that a vaginal microbiota dominated by non-Lactobacilli species or L. iners was associated with HPV infection and dysplasia/cervical cancer, while L. crispatus was associated with healthy women.
Paper II investigated the association between different compositions of the vaginal microbiota and HPV infection in a population of young Swedish women. A strong association was identified between non-lactobacilli dominated vaginal microbiota and HPV infection. This association was observed for both low-risk and high-risk HPV, as well as for infections involving single and multiple HPV types. Bacteria more prevalent among women with HPV infection included BVAB 1, BVAB 2, Sneathia, Prevotella and Megasphaera.
In paper III, the association between different compositions of the vaginal microbiota and cervical dysplasia was explored. The study demonstrated that women with cervical dysplasia had higher microbiota diversity and were more likely to have a non-lactobacilli dominated microbiota. Women with dysplasia exhibited a higher abundance of Gardnerella vaginalis, Aerococcus christensenii, Peptoniphilus lacrimalis and Fannyhessae vaginae, while healthy controls had higher abundance of L. crispatus. Furthermore, differences in functional pathways were found, suggesting a more active role of the vaginal microbiota in the development of cervical dysplasia.
In paper IV, the vaginal microbiota among healthy women was characterised, and health and lifestyle factors that contribute to microbial variations were identified. The study revealed that the most prevalent species in the vaginal microbiota were L. crispatus, followed by L. iners and G. vaginalis. Furthermore, it showed that the main factors influencing microbial composition were age, BMI and having biological children.
In conclusion, the vaginal microbiota of most women consists mainly of lactobacilli species. Both intrinsic factors (e.g. age and BMI) as well as external factors (e.g. infections) contribute to compositional and functional variations of the vaginal microbiota. Further studies are needed to better understand the potential role of the microbiota in both gynaecological health and disease. In addition, more research on the vaginal microbiota and its association with HPV-related disease could prove beneficial for prevention, early detection and treatment.
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Analysis, Forecasting and Optimization of Utility-Scale Hybrid Wind and Solar Power Parks
Link: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-536810
The increasing share of intermittent and non-dispatchable power sources such as wind and solar photovoltaic (PV) power in the electrical energy generation mix pose operational challenges in the electric power system and corresponding markets. Co-locating wind and PV power parks, forming utility-scale hybrid power parks (HPPs), means that the power sources can share grid connection, land, permitting procedures as well as operation and maintenance work. According to the results of the thesis, the power output of co-located wind and PV power parks are generally negatively correlated, which results in a smoothed aggregated power output. The seasonal and diurnal time scales contribute the most to the negative correlation, where wind power parks are likely to be more negatively correlated than any randomly chosen site. The smoothing effect as a result of aggregation is also studied in terms of probabilistic forecasting, which corresponds to estimating the uncertainty of power production predictions by means of a probabilistic distribution. By forecasting co-located wind and PV power production, the probabilistic forecasts can be improved, which is explained by the aggregated time series being smoother and therefore more straightforward to predict. The value of improved forecasts is also realized in the day-ahead market, where sharper and more reliable probabilistic forecasts improve decision making by lowering imbalance costs. Furthermore, when trading energy from HPPs with storage, probabilistic forecasts reduce the energy throughput of the battery and is preferable over a deterministic model when the regulating prices are more difficult to forecast than the spot-prices, and when the battery energy capacity is low. Finally, a techno-economic simulation model to assess and forecast the potential to retrofit existing wind power parks with PV power parks was developed. Retrofitting means that a PV power park is connected behind the same point of interconnection to the electricity grid as an existing wind power park. Results show that the curtailment losses from retrofitting are small (max. 3.5% of PV power generation with over 100% added capacity) due to the complementary characteristics of the power sources. On top of this, the most influential resource-related site characteristics for a profitable investment from retrofitting are, in their order of importance; high PV power capacity factor, low wind power capacity factor, and strong negative correlation between PV and wind power production. By estimating these three variables, a forecast of the expected income from retrofitting at any given site can be estimated using a simple regression model.
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(Dis)Integrating Families : Refugees’ social histories and their encounters with education in Sweden
Link: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-536836
Refugees are often perceived as a homogeneous group and defined by their present conditions; the diversity of their social histories is thus overlooked. (Dis)Integrating Families explores the extent to which the backgrounds of Kurdish refugees from Syria shape their encounters with education in Sweden, as the key vehicle of state-led integration.
The thesis breaks with the mainstream perspective on integration by emphasising refugees as products of their social histories. Family interviews are used to analyse parents’ backgrounds based on their individual, family, and social background, including the Syrian context. The focus is on Kurdish refugee families arriving in Sweden from Syria after the war in 2011 as parents encounter the constraint to further educate themselves and their children. Kurds in diaspora work hard at keeping their past alive, despite lacking a Kurdish education system and the disruption of migration. This particular case provides sociological insight into how individuals’ social histories shape their response to constraints from ‘receiving societies,’ drawing on Abdelmalek Sayad’s holistic view of immigration as determined by emigration in critique of ‘State thought,’ and Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of habitus.
This thesis helps understand how forced migration challenges parents’ former dispositions. While in some respects, class background determines their strategies in Sweden, in others, their social status as refugees blurs the differences related to class and reinforces their national identity, which they relate to their sociopolitical history of oppression and statelessness. Their present status thus challenges family dynamics in terms of generation and gender, thereby highlighting the constraints they face in Sweden. While acknowledging the weight of these constraints on parents, the thesis shows how their engagement with education is shaped by their social histories and how their Kurdish identity becomes a source of unity beyond class.
In contrast to the normative view that integration is the ultimate goal for refugees, this thesis reveals a constant process of negotiation between present and past social ties; between integration and (dis)integration. This suggests that integration in specific domains of social life in Sweden entails the (dis)integration from past identities previously internalised as ways of existing in the world. In summary, the dynamic between integration and (dis)integration can be seen as habitus clivé in the making.