Various examinations of sealant joints show that there are many problems with leakage, even in fairly new buildings. Two main reasons have been that the sealant properties are overrated and that the joint design or workmanship is poor due to lack of knowledge about the basic requirements and the material properties. The failure mechanism of an elastic sealant is described. This serves as a basis

Computer simulations were used to study the effect of a single reinforcement fiber added to a mechanical fibre network. The stresses of the surrounding fibers and inter-fiber bonds increased proportionally to the logarithm of the elastic stiffness of the reinforcement fibre. In the case of fiber failure the breaking stress of the model system increased only little and breaking strain decreased lit

n the current study, we address the underlying mechanism for the selective generation of gut-homing T cells in the gut-associated lymphoid tissues (GALT). We demonstrate that DCs in the GALT are unique in their capacity to establish T cell gut tropism but in vivo only confer this property to T cells in the presence of DC maturational stimuli, including toll-like receptor-dependent and -independent

The level of variation and the mutation rate were investigated in an empirical study of 244 chloroplast microsatellites in 15 accessions of Arabidopsis thaliana. In contrast to SNP variation, microsatellite variation in the chloroplast was found to be common, although less common than microsatellite variation in the nucleus. No microsatellite variation was found in coding regions of the chloroplas

OBJECTIVE. The goal was to examine whether being a victim of bullying was associated with medicine use, taking into account the increased prevalence of physical and psychological symptoms. METHODS. The study population included all students in grades 5, 7, and 9 (mean ages: 11.6, 13.6, and 15.6 years, respectively) in a random sample of schools in Denmark (participation rate: 88.5%; N = 5205). The

A hypothesis regarding the mechanism causing salt frost scaling on Portland cement-bound materials is described. It is assumed that deterioration is due to osmotic micro ice body growth, as has been previously proposed for frost deterioration of moisture-isolated specimens of cement-bound materials. In moisture-isolated specimens, this ice body growth stops when the micro structure is drained to a

In real-time systems potentially unbounded loops and lazy (late) evaluation are often avoided in order to improve predictability. This paper will show that a commonly suggested way to implement semaphores can lead to unnecessary blocking of high-priority tasks. It also presents a scheme with lazy evaluation and (potentially) unbounded loops that gives less blocking of high-priority tasks.

OBJECTIVE: To monitor changes in family physicians' reported practice on hypertension and hypercholesterolaemia. DESIGN: Random samples of physicians were selected for telephone interviews on their practice regarding cut-off levels and pharmacological treatment of hypertension and hypercholesterolaemia, related to a case scenario of a 48-year-old man, in 1989, 1991 and 1993. SETTING: Primary care

Cocaine- and amphetamine-regulated transcript-derived peptides (CARTp) and corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) alter feeding and gastrointestinal function after central administration, and the gastric inhibitory effects are mediated through CRF. We hypothesized that dorsal hindbrain effects of CARTp on gastric emptying are mediated by the vagus nerve and that the dorsal vagal complex (DVC) is a s