During the last decades, fragmentation has become an important issue in ecological research. Habitat fragmentation operates on spatial scales ranging over several magnitudes from patches to landscapes. We focus on small-scale fragmentation effects relevant to animal foraging decision making that could ultimately generate distribution patterns. In a controlled experimental environment, we tested sm

This paper examines the effect of different model assumptions when describing biological nutrient removal (BNR) by the activated sludge models (ASM) 1, 2d & 3. The performance of a nitrogen removal (WWTP1) and a combined nitrogen and phosphorus removal (WWTP2) benchmark wastewater treatment plant was compared for a series of model assumptions. Three different model approaches describing BNR ar

PURPOSE: We determined how serial measurements of prostate specific antigen and alkaline phosphatase can be used to predict survival early in the course of hormone treated metastatic prostate cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study was based on a prospective randomized trial of 915 patients with metastatic prostate carcinoma designed to compare parenteral estrogen (polyestradiol phosphate) vs tot

Abstract in UndeterminedThis paper deals with detection and localization of load coils in the copper access network. The load coil is a legacy device that must be removed before deploying broadband services on twisted-pair transmission lines. The proposed methods do not require dedicated hardware but utilize the already installed transceivers for one-port measurements of the line input impedance.

Regional, national and global cities are disproportionately located on small islands and archipelagos. The spatial turn' within island and urban geography increasingly privileges abstract notions of space, yet the prevalence of big cities on small islands suggests that sensitivity to place-specific spatial factors is necessary if we are to understand both islands and the urban. Whereas previous st

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Fractures can be prevented if osteoporosis is identified and treated. Starting in 2002, we have been using a screening program in which patients between 50 and 75 years of age with a wrist, shoulder, vertebral, or hip fracture are assessed by DEXA of the hip and spine and if osteoporotic or osteopenic, they are encouraged to see a doctor of their own choice. The patients re

Introduction: Moving in very old age is considered to be a major life event and relocation and access to appropriate housing options is a hot topic in the public debate across Europe. For very old people, the decision-making process and aspects influencing relocation is not well studied. Occupational therapy interventions mainly focus on ageing-in-place solutions when aiming for independence and w

Two rotational bands have been identified and characterized in the proton-magic N = Z + 1 nucleus Ni-57. These bands complete the systematics of well-and superdeformed rotational bands in the light nickel isotopes starting from doubly magic Ni-56 to Ni-60. High-spin states in Ni-57 have been produced in the fusion-evaporation reaction Si-28(S-32, 2p1n)Ni-57 and studied with the gamma-ray detection

We have studied the dependence of azimuthal anisotropy nu(2) for inclusive and identified charged hadrons in Au + Au and Cu + Cu collisions on collision energy, species, and centrality. The values of nu(2) as a function of transverse momentum pT and centrality in Au + Au collisions at root s(NN) = 200 and 62.4 GeV are the same within uncertainties. However, in Cu + Cu collisions we observe a decre

We conducted a genome-wide association pooling study for cutaneous melanoma and performed validation in samples totaling 2,019 cases and 2,105 controls. Using pooling, we identified a new melanoma risk locus on chromosome 20 (rs910873 and rs1885120), with replication in two further samples (combined P < 1 x 10(-15)). The per allele odds ratio was 1.75 (1.53, 2.01), with evidence for stronger assoc

Erysipelas is a common and severe infection where the aetiology and optimal management is not well-studied. Here, we investigate the clinical features, bacteriological aetiology, and treatment of erysipelas.

The iterative quasiparticle random-phase approximation (QRPA) method we previously developed [Phys. Rev. C 81, 034312 (2010); 86, 024303 (2012); 86, 014307 (2012)] to accurately calculate properties of individual nuclear states is extended so that it can be applied for nuclei with odd numbers of neutrons and protons. The approach is based on the proton-neutron QRPA (pnQRPA) and uses an iterative n

The Auxiliary Particle Filter is a variant of the common particle filter which attempts to incorporate information from the next measurement to improve the proposal distribution in the update step. This paper studies how this can be done for Mixed Linear/Nonlinear Gaussian models, it builds on a previously suggested method and introduces two new variants which tries to improve the performance by u

Propionicacid production from glycerol was studied using Propionibacterium acidipropionici DSM 4900 cells immobilized on polyethylenimine-treated Poraver (PEI-Poraver) and Luffa (PEI-Luffa), respectively. Using PEI-Luffa, the average productivity, yield and concentration of propionicacid from 40 g.L-1 glycerol were 0.29 g.L-1.h-1, 0.74 mol.mol-1 and 20.09 g.L-1, respectively, after four consecutiv

Chemokines and chemokine receptor-mediated effects are important mediators of the immunological response and cure in human leishmaniasis. However, in addition to their signalling properties for leukocytes, many chemokines have also been shown to act directly as antimicrobial peptides on bacteria and fungi. We screened ten human chemokines (CXCL2, CXCL6, CXCL8, CXCL9, CXCL10, CCL2, CCL3, CCL20, CCL