When host species colonize new areas, the parasite assemblage infecting the hosts might change, with some parasite species being lost and others newly acquired. These changes would likely lead to novel selective forces on both host and its parasites. We investigated the avian blood parasites in the passerine bird community on the mid-Atlantic island of Sao Miguel, Azores, a bird community originat

The ever expanding market of ultra portable electronic products is compelling the designer to invest major efforts in the development of small and low energy electronic devices. The driving force and benefactors of such devices are (but not limited to) e-health system, sensor network applications, security systems, environmental applications, and home automation systems. These markets have launche

In this study, a three-phase hollow fiber liquid-phase microextraction (HF-LPME) method combined with liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry was developed for direct determination of four non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (ketoprofen, naproxen, diclofenac and ibuprofen) in sewage sludge. The drugs were extracted from non-spiked and spiked slurry samples with different amounts of sludge into a

In object-oriented programs, the relationship of an object to many objects is usually implemented using indirection through a collection. This is in contrast to a relationship to one object, which is usually implemented directly. However, using collections for relationships to many objects does not only mean that accessing the related objects always requires accessing the collection first, it also

The boreal forest carbon balance is predicted to be particularly sensitive to climate change. Carbon balance estimates of these biomes stem mainly from eddy-covariance measurements of net ecosystem exchange (NEE). However, a full net ecosystem carbon balance (NECB) must include the lateral carbon export (LCE) through discharge. We show that annual LCE at a boreal forest site ranged from 4 to 28%,

The overall aim of this thesis was to explore loneliness by identifying associated factors and predictors for loneliness among older people. This research was also undertaken to examine the association between loneliness and healthcare consumption. In addition, the reserach explored the experience of loneliness and evaluated the effects on loneliness, symptoms of depression and life satisfaction o

The nomenclature of Gallowayella, Golubkovaea, Oxneria, and some species of Gyalolechia, Leproplaca, and Rusavskia in the Teloschistaceae is corrected and commented. Rusavskia ectaniza is a new combination. Also the earlier invalidly published combinations Gyalolechia bassiae, Leproplaca chrysodeta, and Rusavskia aspera are validated.

This article examines the explosion of artistic production in the Arab world during the so-called Arab Spring. Focusing on music, poetry, theatre, and graffiti and related visual arts, I explore how these do-it-yourself scenes represent, at least potentially, a return of the aura to the production of culture at the edge of social and political transformation. At the same time, the struggle to reta

Background: Testosterone has been attributed importance for various aspects of behaviour. The aim of our study was to investigate the potential influence of 2 functional polymorphisms in the amino terminal of the androgen receptor on personality traits in men. Methods: We assessed and genotyped 141 men born in 1944 recruited from the general population. We used 2 different instruments: the Karolin

In this study, numerical simulations are conducted to investigate the effects of dimple positions on the endwall heat transfer and friction factor in a pin fin wedge duct. The dimple diameter is the same as the pin fin diameter, while the ratio between dimple depth and dimple diameter is 0.2. Three different dimple positions are investigated (i.e., directly upstream of the pin fins, in a staggered

Rare Earth Elements are in growing demand globally. This paper presents a case study of applied mathematical modeling and multi objective optimization to optimize the separation of heavy Rare Earth Elements, Terbium-Lutetium, by means of preparative solid phase extraction chromatography, which means that an extraction ligand, HDEHP, is immobilized on a C18 silica phase, and nitric acid is used as

The effect of soil moisture on bacterial growth was investigated, and the effects of rewetting were compared with glucose addition because both treatments increase substrate availability. Bacterial growth was estimated as thymidine and leucine incorporation, and was compared with respiration. Low growth rates were found in air-dried soil, increasing rapidly to high stable values in moist soils. Re

We present the results of isotope-geochronological study of metasedimentary rocks of the Bolshecheremshanskaya Formation of the Volgo-Uralian segment of the East European Craton carried out to identify their protoliths. 16 samples of high-alumina gneisses from well cores were studied using the Sm-Nd isotope method and T-Nd(DM) model ages. Accessory zircons were selected from rocks with the most an

Omnivory is common in many food webs. Omnivores in different habitats can potentially change their feeding behaviour and alter their trophic position and role according to habitat conditions. Here we examine the trophic level and diet of the omnivorous signal crayfish (Pacifastacus leniusculus) in gradients of trophic status and lake size, both of which have been previously suggested to affect tro

A numerical approach for moisture transport in porous materials like concrete is presented. The model considers mass balance equations for the vapour phase and the water phase in the material together with constitutive equations for the mass flows and for the exchange of mass between the two phases. History-dependent sorption behaviour is introduced by considering scanning curves between the bound

The widespread use of artificial nestboxes has led to significant advances in our knowledge of the ecology, behaviour and physiology of cavity nesting birds, especially small passerines Nestboxes have made it easier to perform routine monitoring and experimental manipulation of eggs or nestlings, and also repeatedly to capture, identify and manipulate the parents However, when comparing results ac

We study some properties of random walks perturbed at extrema, which are generalizations of the walks considered, e.g., by Davis (1999) and Tth (1996). This process can also be viewed as a version of an excited random walk, recently studied by many authors. We obtain several properties related to the range of the process with infinite memory and prove the strong law, the central limit theorem, and

Objective Congenital heart block may develop in the fetuses of Ro/SSA-positive and La/SSB-positive mothers. Recurrence rates of only 10-20% despite persisting maternal antibodies indicate that additional factors are critical for the establishment of heart block. The authors investigated the influence of other maternal and fetal factors on heart block development in a Swedish population-based cohor