This SpringerBrief focuses on the use of egress models to assess the optimal strategy for total evacuation in high-rise buildings. It investigates occupant relocation and evacuation strategies involving the exit stairs, elevators, sky bridges and combinations thereof. Chapters review existing information on this topic and describe case study simulations of a multi-component exit strategy. This rev

Background: Spot pricing is considered as a significant supplement for building a full-fledged market economy for the Cloud ecosystem. However, it seems that both providers and consumers are still hesitating to enter the Cloud spot market. The relevant academic community also has conflicting opinions about Cloud spot pricing in terms of revenue generation. Aim: This work aims to systematically ide

In this paper we derive a very useful formula for the stochastic representation of the product of a singular Wishart matrix with a normal vector. Using this result, the expressions of the density function as well as of the characteristic function are established. Moreover, the derived stochastic representation is used to generate random samples from product which leads to a considerable improvemen

Background Detecting cognitive impairment in medical inpatients is important due to its association with adverse outcomes. Our aim was to study recognition of cognitive impairment and its association with mortality. Methods 200 inpatients aged over 60 years were recruited at the Department of General Internal Medicine at University Hospital MAS in Malmö, Sweden. The MMSE (Mini-Mental State Exami

Den här artikeln fokuserar arbetsmiljöfrågor relaterade till migrantarbete inom den gröna näringen (jordbruket), och då särskilt säsongsarbete. I synnerhet lyfter artikeln fram den diskriminering och psykosociala ohälsa som i hög utsträckning drabbar migranterna. Eftersom det i dagsläget inte finns någon publicerad forskning avseende nutida förhållanden i Sverige så bygger slutsatserna till stor d

Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) are derived from the inner cell mass (ICM) of blastocyst stage embryos, and upon differentiation into embryoid bodies (EBs) they recapitulate the genetic, cellular and morphological events occurring in early embryogenesis. Among several signalling pathways and inductive factors, the fibroblast growth factors (FGFs) and their receptors (FGFRs) have been shown to be impor

A major concern for contemporary organizations is how to gain support of business processes from standardized software package such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. To gain support adoption of such standardized information and communication technologies (ICTs) demands that either the system is adjusted to existing business processes or that business processes are adjusted to the syst

Background: Studies from Sweden have reported association between immigrant status and incidence of cardiovascular diseases. The nature of this relationship is unclear. We investigated the relationship between immigrant status and risk of heart failure (HF) hospitalization in a population-based cohort, and to what extent this is mediated by hypertension and life-style risk factors. We also explore

Many asthmatic patients are unable to quit cigarettes; therefore information is needed on treatment options for smokers. This study evaluates 10 mg/d montelukast and 250 mu g of fluticasone propionate twice daily, each compared with placebo, in patients with self-reported active smoking (unable to quit) and asthma. Methods: Patients (ages 18-55 years, with asthma [>= 1 year], FEV1 of 60% to 90% of

A search for squarks in R-parity violating super-symmetry is performed in e(+/-)p collisions at HERA using the H1 detector. The full data sample taken at a centre-of-mass energy root s = 319 GeV is used for the analysis, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 255 pb(-1) of e(+)p and 183 pb(-1) of e(-)p collision data. The resonant production of squarks via a Yukawa coupling. lambda' is consi

One major concern with adaptive designs, such as the sample size adjustable designs, has been the fear of inflating the type I error rate. In (Stat Med 23:1023-1038, 2004) it is however proven that when observations follow a normal distribution and the interim result show promise, meaning that the conditional power exceeds 50%, type I error rate is protected. This bound and the distributional assu

Background: Ischemic preconditioning has been proposed to involve changes in mitochondrial H+ and K+ fluxes, in particular through activation of uncoupling proteins and ATP-sensitive K+ channels (MitoK(ATP)). The objectives of the present study were to explore how increased H+ and K+ fluxes influence heart mitochondrial physiology with regard to production and scavenging of reactive oxygen species

Cue-conflict experiments were performed to study the compass calibration of one predominantly diurnal migrant, the dunnock (Prunella modularis), and two species of nocturnal passerine migrants, the sedge warbler (Acrocephalus schoenobaenus), and the European robin (Erithacus rubecula) during autumn migration in South Sweden. The birds' orientation was recorded in circular cages under natural clear

Microbial exposure has been indicated as significant in the development of asthma and allergy among children. The aim of the study was to test whether microbial exposure and allergens in the school environment are associated with asthmatic symptoms in pupils. Data on asthmatic symptoms and respiratory infections were collected through a questionnaire survey among 1993 pupils aged 11-15 yr in 10 ra

Using classical design optimization methods for implant-bone studies does not completely guarantee a safety and satisfactory performance, due in part to the randomness of bone properties and loading. Here, the material properties of the different bone layers are considered as uncertain parameters. So their corresponding yield stress values will not be deterministic, that leads to integrate variabl

Brown C, Hasson H, Thyselius V, Almborg A-H. Post-stroke depression and functional independence: a conundrum. Acta Neurol Scand: DOI: 10.1111/j.1600-0404.2011.01595.x. © 2011 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Objectives - People who suffer a stroke are at risk of developing post-stroke depression (PSD). Not only does this lower their quality of life but it also increases their risk of another stroke or d

HIV-1 evolves constantly within an infected individual, due to its mutation-prone viral enzyme, high viral turnover and pressure from the host immune system. Therefore, viruses isolated at different time points from the same individual are never exactly the same and, accordingly, rarely function the same way. However, if we can understand how HIV-1 phenotypically evolves in the newly infected host