Experience-based improvement using various modelling techniques is an important issue in software engineering. Many approaches have been proposed and applied in both industry and academia, e.g., case studies, pilot projects, controlled experiments, assessments, expert opinion polls, experience bases, goal-oriented measurement, process modelling, statistical modelling, data mining, and simulation.

The temperature in a concrete bridge is affected by complex interactions of climatic factors. Varying concrete temperature will give rise to movements in the longitudinal as well as the transverse directions. Inspections of certain box girder bridges have shown cracks in only the thin vertical walls, which may be an indication of a geometrical influence. A sequence of climate input data deemed as

A fully three-dimensional calculation method has been farther developed to simulate and analyze internal reforming and its effects on various processes in a thick anode duct. In this study, the composite duct consists of a porous anode, the flow duct and solid current connector. Momentum and heat transport together with gas species equations have been solved by coupled source terms and variable th

The following article reports result from an extensive study with 25 blind users from Italy and Sweden performed during the summer 2001. The tasks reported here test recognition of geometrical objects, recognition of VRML objects, mathematical surfaces and navigation in a traffic environment. The outcome of these tests show that blind users are able to handle also quite complex objects and environ

When a child has special communication needs, his or her entire family is affected. This position paper deals with “Xings” (crossings or just xings): active and reactive multisensory media, designed to be communicative on their own terms, challenging existing everyday communication patterns and augmenting family communication. The common shortcomings of oral and written language are no longer crit

Wildfires are a major driver of ecosystem development and contributor to carbon emissions in boreal forests. We analyzed the contribution of fires of different fire size classes to the total burned area and suggest a novel fire characteristic, the characteristic fire size, i.e., the fire size class with the highest contribution to the burned area, its relation to bioclimatic conditions, and intra-

Aims To investigate whether a systematic approach to unexplained syncopal attacks based on the European Society of Cardiology guidelines would improve the diagnostic and therapeutic outcomes. Methods and results Patients presenting with transient loss of consciousness to the Emergency Department of Skåne University Hospital in Malmö were registered by triage staff. Those with established cardiac,

Vacuum-assisted wound closure (VAC®) therapy is considered to be superior to conventional dressings in the treatment of peri-vascular groin infections after vascular surgery at our department. Therefore, we wanted to perform an early interim analysis of clinical outcome in these seriously ill patients at risk for amputation and death. Patients were randomised to either VAC® (n = 5) or Sorbalgon® (

Studies on the influence of alcohol consumption on lung function have shown conflicting results. Self-reported alcohol consumption may be inaccurate. This study used both a validated alcohol questionnaire and a blood marker of heavy alcohol consumption, and examined potential associations with different lung physiological variables.

Structural failure and collapse of thoracic stent grafts may cause fatal complications that are easily overlooked on follow-up imaging. A young man with multiple injuries from a motorcycle crash was treated with endografting for an aortic transection. The clinical course was initially satisfactory but deteriorated one week after the injury and the patient died two weeks later. Autopsy and retrospe

Well-organised PLB gives rise to a X-ray diffraction pattern overlaid by a scattering pattern arising from individual tubules within less wellorganised regions of the lattice. TEM and SAXS measurements were used to characterise the structural changes in PLB subjected to perturbation by freeze-thaw, exposure to pH 6.5, or resuspension in high-salt media. Comparison of SAXS patterns measured, before

Several studies have found that the homocysteine plasma level is associated with cardiovascular disease. The authors previously described a relationship between concentrations of fibrinogen and other inflammation-sensitive plasma proteins, namely, alpha1-antitrypsin, ceruloplasmin, haptoglobin, and orosomucoid (alpha1-acid glucoprotein) and the incidence of myocardial infarction (MI). Whether leve