In ubiquitous computing, as more and more devices are embedded into the environment, there is a risk that the user loses the understanding of the system. In normal use this is not always a problem, but when breakdowns occur it is crucial that the user understands the system to be able to handle the situation. The concept of palpable computing, introduced by the PalCom project, denotes systems whic

The enzyme 11 beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 2 (11BHSD2) converts cortisol to cortisone in the kidney, thereby protecting the mineralocorticoid receptor from the mineralocorticoid actions of cortisol. The syndrome of Apparent Mineralocorticoid Excess (AME), a rare monogenic form of early onset hypertension with autosomal recessive inheritance, is caused by homozygous or compound heterozygo

The crystallization Process in aqueous solutions of the drug bicalutamide and the effect of the polymer polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) have been studied. Results showed that PVP decreased the crystallization Fate significantly in a system with PVP concentrations as low as 0.01% (w/w), without changing the polymorph formed. The crystal habit was altered already at PVP concentrations as low as 0.001% (w

Volatile anesthetics such as halothane efficiently inhibit nonshivering thermogenesis as well as the cellular manifestation of that phenomenon: norepinephrine-induced respiration in brown adipocytes. To identify the molecular site(s) of action of such anesthetics, we have examined the effect of halothane on the sequential intracellular steps from the interaction of norepinephrine with isolated bro

In order to generalize the fractal/facies concept presented by Lu et al. (2002), a new stochastic fractal model for ln(K) (K = hydraulic conductivity) increment probability density functions (PDFs) is presented that produces non-Gaussian behavior at smaller measurement lags and converges to Gaussian behavior at larger lags, a property that is observed in data sets. The model is based on the classi

ObjectiveTo investigate if caesarean section (CS) increases the risk for childhood asthma and gastroenteritis with reference made to children born with vaginal delivery (VD). MethodsRetrospective study of data from linked Swedish medical service registers - Medical Birth Registry (MBR) and Hospital Discharge Registry (HDR). Data were obtained from women without any background/perinatal morbidity

From a cohort of 113 children, followed prospectively from birth during the first three years of life regarding different aspects of acute otitis media (AOM), two study groups were selected for the present investigation: 13 children with recurrent AOM (rAOM, i.e. at least six episodes of AOM during a 12–month period), and 29 children without any AOM episode. The purpose of this study was to analys

We document the impact of blood parasite infections caused by Hepatozoon sp. on water python (Liasis fuscus) life history traits such as growth rates, condition, reproductive output and survival. Individual snakes maintained similar among-year parasite loads. Hepatozoon infections affected python growth rate, i.e. snakes suffering from high infection levels exhibited significantly slower growth co

This chapter presents a case study from a global company developing a new generation of programmable controllers to replace several existing products. The system needs to incorporate support for a large number of I/O systems, network types, and communication protocols. To leverage its global development resources and the competency of different development centers, the company decided to adopt a c

We present a new implementation of the time-resolved fluorescence anisotropy technique for the analysis of carbon nanoparticles directly in a Bunsen-type propane flame. By exploiting femtosecond laser excitation, UV-visible laser-induced fluorescence and time resolution of the experimental set-up, small soot nanoparticles have been identified within the flame. From the measurement of the decay tim

Objective: Cigarette smoking has been reported as "probable" risk factor for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), a poorly understood disease in terms of aetiology. The extensive longitudinal data of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) were used to evaluate age-specific mortality rates from ALS and the role of cigarette smoking on the risk of dying from ALS. Met

We report on a theoretical study of the electronic structure of silicon nanocrystals with a shape of the regular rhombic dodecahedron, based on a tight-binding method. The energies of the lowest unoccupied state and the highest occupied state have been calculated. We have shown that the six-fold degenerate conduction band minima of the bulk silicon crystal are split into a non-degenerate A(1) stat

A molecular phylogeny of the Lecanora rupicola group is presented, based on ITS sequence analyses. The study includes saxicolous and corticolous members of the Lecanora rupicola group as well as other Lecanora species with pruinose apothecia. A phylogenetic hypothesis for species in Lecanora s. lat. and various other genera in Lecanoraceae, based on an alignment-free distance estimation technique,

Patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA) often present with symptoms that warrant bilateral TKAs. There are potential benefits to operating on both knees on the same day, but the safety of simultaneous bilateral TKAs has been questioned. To evaluate whether there were any differences in 30-day mortality between patients having simultaneous bilateral TKAs and those having staged bilateral TKAs, we an

Structural equilibrium properties of transient networks formed by microemulsion droplets and ABA triblock copolymers in solution have been studied by Monte Carlo simulation. The droplets were represented by soft spheres, and the polymers were represented by junctions connected by harmonic bonds with an angular potential regulating the intrinsic chain stiffness. The interaction parameters were sele

Aim Climate is an important determinant of species distributions. We assess different aspects of risk arising from future climate change by quantifying changes in the spatial distribution of future climatic conditions compared with the recent past. Location Europe. Methods A 10' x 10' resolution gridded data set of five climate variables was used to calculate expected changes to the area, distance

Abstract We investigated the female-produced sex pheromone of the solitary bee Andrena nigroaenea and compared it with floral scent of the sexually deceptive orchid Ophrys sphegodes which is pollinated by Andrena nigroaenea males. We identified physiologically and behaviorally active compounds by gas chromatography with electroantennographic detection, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, and beh

Laser Doppler velocimetry (LDV) measurement and large eddy simulation (LES) were used to study confined isothermal turbulent swirling flows in a model dump combustor. The aim was to gain deeper understanding of the flow and turbulence structures in dump combustors and to examine the capability of LES for prediction of turbulent swirling flows. A refractive index matching technique is used in the L