Film formation from latex dispersions with varying concentrations of sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS) and sodium persulfate (NaPS) was studied with a sorption balance. The drying rate decreased significantly at a critical volume fraction of polymer (pc). Under constant drying conditions the pc varied due to differences in particle stabilization. In SDS containing samples, the droplets wetted larger are

We present a fast and accurate method for real-time determination of the absorption coefficient, the scattering coefficient, and the anisotropy factor of thin turbid samples by using simple continuous-wave noncoherent light sources. The three optical properties are extracted from recordings of angularly resolved transmittance in addition to spatially resolved diffuse reflectance and transmittance.

Silicon microchips with immobilized antibodies were used to develop microfluidic enzyme immunoassays using chemiluminescence detection and horseradish peroxidase (HRP) as the enzyme label. Polyclonal anti-atrazine antibodies were coupled to the silicon microchip surface with an overall dimension of 13.1 x 3.2 mm, comprising 42 porous flow channels of 235-mum depth and 25-mum width. Different immob

The division operation is essential in many digital signal processing algorithms. For a hardware implementation, the requirements and constraints on the divider circuit differ significantly with different applications. Therefore, it is not possible to design one divider component having optimal performance and cost for all target applications. Instead, the presented divider has a modular architect

In this article experimental and numerical studies of internal frost resistance of self-compacting and normal concrete, with and without fibres, are outlined. For this purpose self-compacting concrete with low water-cement ratio was studied, with varying amounts of filler, crystalline or sedimentary, different pouring pressures and different mixing procedure with two ages at the start of testing.

• Here, cyanobiont selectivity of epiphytic lichen species was examined in an old growth forest area in Finland. • Samples of the eight lichen species were collected from the same aspen (Populus tremula) and adjacent aspens in the same stand. The cyanobionts of these samples were compared with free and symbiotic Nostoc obtained from other habitats and geographic regions. • Our results, based on

To establish the structure of ferric ions in strongly alkaline (pH > 13) environments, aqueous NaOH solutions supersaturated with respect to Fe(III) and the solid ferric-hydroxo complex salts precipitating from them have been characterized with a variety of experimental techniques. From UV measurements, in solutions of pH > 13, only one kind of Fe(III)-hydroxo complex species was found to be prese

There is a need for efficient methods for estimating trends in spatio-temporal Earth Observation data. A suitable model for such data is a space-varying regression model, where the regression coefficients for the spatial locations are dependent. A second order intrinsic Gaussian Markov Random Field prior is used to specify the spatial covariance structure. Model parameters are estimated using the

The aim of this study was to develop a quantitative method to assess viable tumour based on post-operative 201Tl single photon emission tomography (SPET). We studied 15 patients with histologically defined highly malignant gliomas in the post-operative phase before initiation of adjuvant treatment. A 201Tl index was calculated in two ways: maximal counts versus mean counts within a region of inter

The transcriptional events that control T cell tolerance are still poorly understood. To investigate why tolerant T cells fail to produce interleukin (IL)-2, we analyzed the regulation of NFkappaB-mediated transcription in CD4(+) T cells after tolerance induction in vivo. We demonstrate that a predominance of p50-p50 homodimers binding to the IL-2 promoter kappaB site in tolerant T cells correlate

This paper investigates the extent to which differences in information costs can explain the equity home bias puzzle. In a model where information costs are higher for the Foreign asset than for the Home asset, we show that---if cost functions are convex and the assets have identical return characteristics---the expected size of the home bias in terms of differences in expected demands is positive

A Latin hypercube sampling method, including a reduction of spurious correlation in input data, is suggested for stochastic finite element analysis. This sampling procedure strongly improves the representation of stochastic design parameters compared to a standard Monte Carlo sampling. As the correlation control requires the number of realizations to be larger than the number of stochastic variabl

A sulfophenylated polysulfone (PSU-sph), carrying 0.8 sulfonic acid units per repeating unit of the polymer, is evaluated as a membrane electrolyte for DMFC applications. The liquid uptake, methanol transport characteristics, electrolyte conductivity, and fuel cell performance are investigated. The methanol transport and DMFC performance results are compared to those of Nafion® 117. The PSU-sph me

Little is known about the spatial connection between soil microbial community composition and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) concentration. A spatially explicit survey at a creosote-contaminated site demonstrated that microbial biomass (total concentration of phospholipid fatty acids [PLFAs]) and microbial community composition (PLFA fingerprints) were spatially autocorrelated, mostly withi

We present energy-resolved cross-correlation measurements of an extreme ultraviolet (XUV) pulse, generated as the fifth harmonic (15.5 eV) of an intense 80 fs laser pulse centered at 400 nm. Spectrally resolving the cross-correlation signal allows us to characterize the time-dependent frequency of the XUV pulse. We find that the fifth harmonic has a small negative chirp in excess of that predicted

Background and Purpose - Priorities in the care of stroke patients are often intuitive. An open and translucent priority-setting procedure would benefit patients, professionals, and decision-makers. Prioritization is an innovative part of the new Swedish national stroke guidelines. Methods - Working groups identified diagnostic procedures, interventions and therapies in stroke care, assessed each

Purpose: In many childhood neoplasms, prognostic subgroups have been defined based on specific chromosome changes. In Wilms' tumor (WT), such subclassification has been hampered by the diverse and relatively unspecific pattern of chromosomal imbalances present in these tumors. Unspecific patterns of cytogenetic imbalances in tumors are often caused by mitotic segregation errors due to short dysfun