Purpose. The overall purpose was to study whether and how persons with blindness detect warning surfaces with a long white cane in a real pedestrian environment after following a natural guidance surface to the warning surfaces. Of particular interest was the importance of kerb, depth, and structure of the warning surfaces. Method. A concurrently mixed methods approach, with a combination of obser

Nanotechnology gives us materials with enhanced or completely new properties. At the same time, inhalation of manufactured nano-objects has been related to an array of adverse biological effects. We characterized particle emissions, which occurred during maintenance of common metal nanoparticle generators and contrasted the properties of the emitted particles with those originally produced by the

Fuel cells are promising for future energy systems, because they are energy efficient and able to use renewable fuels. A fully coupled computational fluid dynamics (CFD) approach based on the finite element method, in two-dimensions, is developed to describe a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC). Governing equations for, gas-phase species, heat momentum, ion and electron transport are implemented and cou

PURPOSE: To explore oxidative stress and the radical scavenger α(1)-microglobulin (A1M) in the vitreous body of human eyes with primary rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD). METHODS: Levels of carbonyl groups, a marker of oxidative stress, and A1M were measured by ELISA and RIA in 14 vitreous samples derived from patients suffering from RRD, and compared with 14 samples from macula hole (MH

Objective:To examine the relationship between high-risk human leukocyte antigen (HLA) genotypes for type 1 diabetes and birth size in combination with prenatal characteristics in different countries.Study Design:Four high-risk HLA genotypes were enrolled in the Environmental determinants of Diabetes in the Young study newborn babies from the general population in Finland, Germany, Sweden and the U

Antimicrobial peptides are important effector molecules of the innate immune system. Here, we describe that peptides derived from the heparin-binding disulfide-constrained loop region of human ß-amyloid precursor protein are antimicrobial. The peptides investigated were linear and cyclic forms of NWCKRGRKQCKTHPH (NWC15) as well as the cyclic form comprising the C-terminal hydrophobic amino acid ex

This article provides 12-month prevalence rates of youth exposure to websites which encourage self-harm or suicide and examines whether such exposure is related to thoughts of self-harm and thoughts of suicide in the past 30 days. Data were collected via telephone from a nationally representative survey of 1560 Internet-using youth, ages 10-17 residing in the United States. One percent (95% CI: 0.

Abstract in UndeterminedI Ryssland har familj och familjevärderingar sedan mitten på 2000-talet kommit att bli centrala för en allmän ideologisk svängning mot konservativa värderingar och patriotism. Symptomatisk för denna tendens är den så kallade Föräldrarörelsen, en växande och starkt nationalistisk gräsrotsmobilisering med syfte att försvara föregivet traditionella ryska familjevärderingar mot

Highly controlled particle-assisted growth of semiconductor nanowires has been performed for many years, and a number of novel nanowire-based devices have been demonstrated. Full control of the epitaxial growth is required to optimize the performance of devices, and gold seed particles are known to provide the most controlled growth. Successful nanowire growth from gold particles generated and dep

Objective: to determine the number of ultrasound scans received by Iranian mothers during pregnancy and the relationship between scanning and background factors, and to describe the mothers' expectations and experiences of ultrasound scanning. Design: descriptive survey. Setting: a hospital related to the Social Security Organisation of Urmia City in Iran. Participants: over a six-month period, al

The differential cross section for the production of direct photons in p + p collisions at root s = 200 GeV at midrapidity was measured in the PHENIX detector at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. Inclusive direct photons were measured in the transverse momentum range from 5: 5-25 GeV/c, extending the range beyond previous measurements. Event structure was studied with an isolation criterion. Ne

The mechanical forces acting onsmooth muscle cells in the vascular wall are known to regulate processes such as vascular remodeling and contractile differentiation. However, investigations to elucidate the underlying mechanisms of mechanotransduction in smooth muscle have been hampered by technical limitations associated with mechanical studies on pressurized small arteries, due primarily to the s

This paper presents a search for a new heavy particle produced in association with a top or antitop quark. Two models in which the new heavy particle is a color singlet or a color triplet are considered, decaying, respectively, to (t)over-barq or tq, leading to a resonance within the t(t)over-bar + jets signature. The full 2011 ATLAS pp collision data set from the LHC (4.7 fb(-1)) is used to searc

Using quantum dot fluorescence imaging, we investigated the interference of surface plasmon beams in branched silver nanowire structures. Depending on the phases and polarizations of the incident light, interferences of plasmon beams modulate the plasmon propagation in the branched structures and the output light intensity in the distal ends. The interference visibility is strongly dependent on th

Time-resolved dual-broadband picosecond pure rotational CARS has been applied to measure self-broadened S-branch N-2-N-2 Raman linewidths in the temperature range 294-1466 K. The coherence decays were detected directly in the time domain by following the J-dependent CARS signal decay as a function of probe delay. The rotational Raman N-2-N-2 linewidths were derived from these time-dependent decays

The aim of this paper is to make it credible that there are feminist reasons for being a republican about freedom. In focus is Quentin Skinner’s conception of republican, or “neo-Roman”, freedom. Republican theory in history has not excelled in making poverty, gender hierarchy, and racism within the republic into main sources of concern. So can there be a radical republican theory of liberty fit f