One major problem in global governance is the specification of decision-making rules for international and regional organisations to coordinate the states of the world. Various organisations use different decision-making rules, and the properties of these rules may be compared systematically in terms of the power index approach. The power index solution concept of N-person games may be employed to

Molecular interaction between host mucosal surfaces and outer membrane components of microbes is crucial in the infection process. The outer membrane of pathogenic Neisseria contains surface molecules such as pili, PilC, and Opa and a monolayer of lipooligosaccharide (LOS), all of which are involved in the interaction with host cells. Pili mediate the initial attachment to human epithelial cells,

Absorption spectra of a series of cyclic conjugated ketones and thioketones have been computed at the multiconfigurational second-order multistate perturbation level of theory, the CASSCF/MS-CASPT2 method. Excitation energies, transition dipole moments, oscillator strengths, and static dipole moments are reported and discussed for excited states with energies lower than approximate to7-8 eV. The m

We have used the x-ray magnetic circular dichroism technique to characterize ultrathin Co films deposited on flat and vicinal Cu(111) single crystal surfaces. All films were prepared and characterized in situ, in ultrahigh vacuum. Similar to other investigators we report a 40% increase of the ratio m(l)/m(s) (orbital to spin moment) of ultrathin Co on both flat and vicinal Cu(111). In addition, an

The concept of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) has rapidly gained in popularity in health policy, and considerable research resources are being allocated to this field. Proponents of DALYs suggest that the measure can be used both as a "gross domestic product of health" and to help in setting priorities in health policy. This study investigates the usefulness of DALYs and contends that DALY

Birds harbouring several malarial parasites are common in the wild, and resolving such multiple infections is important for our understanding of host-parasite relationships. We propose a simple and reasonably accurate method for detecting and resolving multiple infections, based on the analysis of parasite cytochrome b DNA sequences: genetically mixed infections are first identified by double nucl

Objective. The incidence of schizophrenia among Surinamese immigrants to the Netherlands is high. The authors tested Odegaard's hypothesis that this phenomenon is explained by selective migration. Method: The authors imagined that migration from Surinam to the Netherlands subsumed the entire population of Surinam and not solely individuals at risk for schizophrenia, They compared the risk of a fir

A simulation model for convective drying of wet porous materials was developed. For the simulation, we measured the moisture diffusivities within them and applied a modified Dubinin-Astakhov equation to the moisture sorption data for a membrane filter. The simulation results not accounting for internal mass transfer resistance were quite different from the experimental ones. The drying characteris

We present a simple dry release technique which uses a thin fluorocarbon film for efficient removal of plastic microdevices from a mould or a handling substrate by reducing the adhesion between the two. This fluorocarbon film is deposited on the substrate in an advanced Si dry etch device utilising the C4F8 passivation plasma. Micromachined polymer chips made of SU-8 are removed from the handling

Identification of incident myocardial infarction (MI) cases in a defined population using hospital discharge data and mortality data in combination has been suggested. This method of case identification was compared to that of use of MI community registers set up in accordance with principles adopted in a World Health Organization collaborative programme. The comparison comprised data for four Swe

The four major autoantigens (IA-2, IA-2 beta, GAD65 and insulin) of type 1 diabetes are all associated with dense core or synaptic vesicles. This raised the possibility that other secretory vesicle-associated proteins might be targets of the autoimmune response in type 1 diabetes. To test this hypothesis 56 proteins, two-thirds of which are associated with secretory vesicles, were prepared by in v

Patterns of feather wear in birds captured in spring have traditionally been analysed to describe the extent of winter moult in long-distance migrants. However, the interpretation of feather wear may be rendered extremely difficult due to long moult periods, by the progress of the season, and by the existence of complex moult patterns. Here, stable isotope analysis is used to determine the origin

Femtosecond time-resolved two-color four-wave mixing is employed to study the ultrafast excited-state relaxation processes in Ru(tbbpy)(3)(+2). The relaxation processes leading to a long-lived thermalized (MLCT)-M-3-state are found to take place on two distinct time-scales. An ultrafast process, which is attributed to intersystem crossing, rapidly depopulating the initially photoexcited (MLCT)-M-1

Both members of the diploid-tetraploid species pair Anthericum ramosum L. and Anthericum liliago L. occur as geographically disjunct isolates on the margins of their northern range in Scandinavia. Variation in floral morphology was studied in 33 populations of A. ramosum from four geographic regions and 25 populations of A. liliago from seven regions in Scandinavia. Tepal shape was characterized w

Molecularly imprinted nanoparticles were prepared using a simple distillation precipitation polymerization method. In this work, propranolol-imprinted nanoparticles were synthesized using different cross-linkers combined with methacrylic acid (MAA) as a functional monomer in refluxing acetonitrile. Using the new synthetic method, uniform prorpanolol-imprinted nanoparticles were obtained in less th

The novel promoter system IX/AgOTf (X = Cl or Br) has been evaluated in the synthesis of two bislactam analogues of GD3. We have carried out two high-yielding galactosylations in 97% and 98% yield, respectively, using ICl/AgOTf, and four sialylations in 93%, 59%, 40%, and 44% yield, using IBr/AgOTf, The choice of interhalogen (IX) is determined by the donor type used in the glycosylation. We also

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are important in the immune defense against invading pathogens, but they are also key molecules in the regulation of inflammatory reactions. Low levels of ROS production due to a polymorphism in the neutrophil cytosolic factor 1 (Ncf1) gene are associated with autoimmunity and arthritis severity in mouse models induced with adjuvant. We established an adjuvant-free ar