Electronic structure of two conjugated polymers, PPV and its derivative DIOXA-PPV, are studied by quantum-chemistry methods. Good agreement between the calculations and available experimental data validates the applied methods and enables us to draw conclusions about properties of excitons and polarons in these polymers. In particular, simultaneous use of different correlation plots in atomic site

OBJECTIVE: To examine whether chickenpox in children below 2 years of age is associated with post-infection changes in growth, morbidity or mortality. METHODS: An outbreak of chickenpox was investigated in Guinea-Bissau. An examination, interview and anthropometry were performed 6 months after the epidemic for a group of children and matched controls whose weight had been measured at the time of t

This review assesses the contribution of occupational asbestos exposure to the occurrence of mesothelioma and lung cancer in Europe. Available information on national asbestos consumption, proportions of the population exposed, and exposure levels is summarized. Population-based studies from various European regions on occupational asbestos exposure, mesothelioma, and lung cancer are reviewed. Asb

The effect of incorporating modified clay into a polyamide 6 (PA6) matrix, on the free volume cavity sizes and the thermal and viscoelastic properties of the resulting nanocomposite, was studied with positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry and dynamic mechanical analysis. At low concentrations of clay the fraction of PA6 crystals melting close to 212 degrees

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES: The authors evaluated the coordination of swallowing and respiration in dysphagic patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Video fluoroscopy and respirometry were performed simultaneously during 98 swallows in 33 patients (18 women, 15 men) with a median age of 70 years (interquartile range, 52-78 years). Pharyngeal transit time, deglutition apnea, and the ratio between the two (

Postmenopausal overweight women have an increased risk of breast cancer. The link between obesity and breast cancer could be mediated through hyperinsulinemia. Insulin and insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) stimulate mammary cell proliferation in vitro, and cell proliferation is directly linked to the risk of breast cancer. Our objective was to investigate the relationship between breast cancer

A laboratory experiment was performed to estimate the elemental composition of rhizomorphs of an ectomycorrhizal (EM) fungus growing in a patchy environment. Successive samples of Rhizopogon rhizomorphs, located adjacent to patches with organic matter or patches with acid-washed sand, were taken over a period of 45 d. The mass per unit area was analyzed with scanning transmission ion microscopy (S

It has been proposed that impulse noise and continuous noise affect the inner ear differently and investigations have found impulse noise to be harmful to both the inner hair cells and the outer hair cells. Scanning electron microscopy and non-standard methods for statistical analysis have facilitated the evaluation of different types of morphological changes after exposure to various kinds of noi

Karyotype structures of Scenedesmus acuminatus (Lagerch.) Chod. and Scenedesmus pectinatus Meyen are compared. The karyotype of S. acuminatus (n = 5) is described for the first time. It reveals four large metacentric and one large submeta centric chromosomes (4M + 1SM). The established karyotype differences have been helpful in clarifying the taxonomic position of these two species. The cytologica

Popular Abstract in Swedish Syftet med studien har varit att, genom huvudsakligen kvalitativ beskrivning, studera narrativ sekvens, d v s berättelsen, i exolingvala samtal mellan infödd och icke infödd (svensktalande studenter) talare av franska. Den teoretiska ramen sträcker sig från textlingvistik (Revaz, Adam, Bronckart etc.) till konversationsanalys (Labov, Sacks, Norrick, Laforest, Kerbrat-OrThe aim of this study is to examine, through a mainly qualitative description, the narrative in exolingual conversations in French between non-native speakers (NNS) (Swedish students) and native speakers (NS). The theoretical frame ranges from text linguistics (Revaz, Adam, Bronckart etc.) to conversation analysis (Labov, Sacks, Norrick, Laforest, Kerbrat-Orecchioni, Bres, Norrby etc.). The study

Theories of democracy consider communicative interaction among citizens central, In recent years the idea of deliberative democracy has galvanised elements of political theory with perspectives on communication. This concept emerges to a large extent from the Habermasian trajectory and links currents from theories of civil society and citizenship. It has thus a rather forceful normative dimension.

The discrete-time 'analytic' signal finds numerous applications in a wide range of fields, and call be efficiently implemented using the fast Fourier transform (FFT). A computationally efficient sliding window time-update of the discrete-time 'analytic' signal, not requiring the FFT, is proposed.