Tawny owls Strix aluco generally roost in cryptic locations during the day. To test the hypothesis that this cryptic behaviour is an effort to avoid mobbers or avian predators, we measured diurnal behaviour and cause-specific mortality of radio-tagged birds. Non-breeding adults (assumed to be well fed individuals, optimising their own survival) roosted in less exposed locations than adults with yo

The literature on simulation models for multi-cylinder paper dryers is surveyed, 20 such models being reviewed. Models for intraweb heat and mass transfer are treated extensively, a separate chapter being devoted to them. In some of the models the specific physical transfer phenomena are modelled in detail, whereas in other models a more macroscopic approach is adopted. Normally the latter approac

In a previous study we have shown that correction of peripheral refractive errors can improve the remaining vision of subjects with large central visual field loss. Measuring peripheral refractive errors with traditional methods is often difficult due to low visual acuity and large aberrations. Therefore a Hartmann-Shack sensor has been designed to measure peripheral wave front aberrations in subj

In some patients Escherichia coli strains establish significant bacteriuria without causing symptoms of urinary tract infection (UTI). These asymptomatic bacteriuria (ABU) strains have been shown to express fewer virulence factors than the uropathogenic E. coli (UPEC) strains that cause severe, symptomatic UTI. Paradoxically, ABU strains carry many typical UPEC virulence genes, however, and the mo

Migratory birds use celestial and geomagnetic directional information to orient on their way between breeding and wintering areas. Cue-conflict experiments involving these two orientation cue systems have shown that directional information can be transferred from one system to the other by calibration. We designed experiments with four species of North American songbirds to: (1) examine whether th

The complex 2,6-bis[(di-t-butylphosphino)methyl]phenyl allyl palladium ((PCPPd)-Pd-tBu-allyl, 3) reacts with CO2 in a very fast insertion reaction to give the corresponding butenoate complex. The reaction is thought to occur via a cyclic six-membered transition state (7), where the gamma-carbon of the allyl group is linked up with the CO2-carbon. A group of related PCP complexes were investigated

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disease linked to the misfolding of Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase (SOD1). ALS-related defects in SOD1 result in a gain of toxic function that coincides with aberrant oligomerization. The structural events triggering oligomerization have remained enigmatic, however, as is the case in other protein-misfolding diseases. Here, we target the criti

The difference between a presumed distribution of flamelet position and a numerically simulated distribution of distance function (a signed distance to flamelet) is investigated. It is shown that even if the distribution of flamelet position is symmetrical and close to Gaussian, the distribution of distance function away from the mean flame position is skewed towards the mean position and the mean

Antibody inhibition and alpha6beta1 ligand binding experiments indicate that the egg integrin alpha6beta1 functions as a receptor for sperm during gamete fusion; yet, eggs null for the alpha6 integrin exhibit normal fertilization. Alternative integrins may be involved in sperm-egg binding and fusion and could compensate for the absence of alpha6beta1. Various beta1 integrins and alphav integrins a

Clonal strains of the dinoflagellate Gymnodinium nolleri Ellegaard and Moestrup were intercrossed to determine if cyst-related traits are genetically regulated and to clarify unknown aspects in the sexuality of this species. The objectives were to determine whether the parental identity influenced the physiological and morphological aspects of the cyst offspring, and to describe and compare nuclea

Large and small interstitial proteoglycans were purified from different bovine tissues, i.e. cartilage, sclera, tendon, aorta, cornea, and bone. The structure of the molecules was compared using the glycerol spraying/rotary shadowing technique for electron microscopy. Large proteoglycans from sclera and tendon have a core protein with a domain structure similar to that previously reported for cart

The structural effect on the metal-to-ligand charge transfer (MLCT) excited-state lifetime has been investigated in bis-tridentate Ru(II)-polypyridyl complexes based on the terpyridine-like ligands [6-(2,2'-bipyridyl)](2-pyridyl)methane (1) and 2-[6-(2,2'-bipyridyl)]-2-(2-pyridyl)propane (2). A homoleptic ([Ru(2)(2)](2+)) and a heteroleptic complex ([Ru(ttpy)(2)](2+)) based on the new ligand 2 hav

UV/TiO2/H2O2, UV/TiO2 and UV/H2O2 were compared as pre-treatment processes for the detoxification of mixtures of 4-chlorophenol (4CP), 2,4-dichlorophenol (DCP), 2,4,6-trichlorophenol (TCP) and pentachlorophenol (PCP) prior to their biological treatment. When each chlorophenol was initially supplied at 50mg l(-1),UV/TiO2/H2O2 treatment supported the highest pollutant removal, COD removal, and dechl

An immunological capacitive biosensor for calpastatin was developed, optimized and applied for the analysis of meat extract samples. Anti-calpastatin antibody was immobilized on a gold electrode modified with a self-assembled monolayer of mercaptoundecanoic acid and Protein A from Staphylococcus aureus, and the obtained immunosensor was inserted as the working electrode in an electrochemical cell

The mechanism underlying ethanol-induced apoptosis in liver cells is not clear. Sphingomyelin (SM) metabolism is a novel signal transduction pathway that has an impact on apoptosis in many cell types. We investigated whether the SM pathway is involved in ethanol-induced apoptosis in the liver. Hep G2 cells were treated with ethanol followed by assaying apoptosis, sphingomyelinase (SMase) activity,

Currently, it is thought that inhalational anesthetics cause anesthesia by binding to ligand-gated ion channels. This is being investigated using four-alpha-helix bundles, small water-soluble analogues of the transmembrane domains of the "natural" receptor proteins. The study presented here specifically investigates how multiple alanine-to-valine substitutions (which each decrease the volume of th

Parallel to the rapid development of clinical MRI, MR spectroscopy (MRS) has, after starting as an analytical tool used in chemistry and physics, evolved to a noninvasive clinical examination. Most common neuroradiological diagnostic indications for MRS are functional inborn errors, neonatal hypoxia, ischaemia, metabolic diseases, white matter and degenerative diseases, epilepsy, inflammation, inf