From a historical perspective, personal pronouns in Romance languages display a tendency to undergo changes in syntactic status in a particular order, namely; strong > weak > clitic. This paper discusses the possible reasons behind the final step of this sequence of development, i.e. that from a weak form to clitic status. It will be argued that the external trigger for this kind of diachronic cha

Abstract The all black carrion crow (Corvus corone corone) and the grey and black hooded crow (Corvus corone cornix) meet in a narrow hybrid zone across Europe. To evaluate the degree of genetic differentiation over the hybrid zone, we genotyped crows from the centre and edges of the zone, and from allopatric populations in northern (Scotland-Denmark-Sweden) and southern Europe (western-central no

Abstract in UndeterminedSix to nine years of net ecosystem carbon exchange (NEE) data from forests in Hyytiala in Finland, Soro in Denmark and Norunda in Sweden were used to evaluate the interannual variation in the carbon balance. For half-monthly periods, average NEE was calculated for the night-time data. For the daytime data parameters were extracted for the relationship to photosynthetic acti

Information on the geological origin of raw garnet is a pre-requisite for the better understanding of garnet production and trade in ancient societies. The presented study is a first attempt to determine possible source rocks for the garnets found in the Sloinge excavation in southwest Sweden. It includes analyses of garnets from other excavations in Sweden and Denmark. It is also an attempt to de

Knowledge of moisture storage capacity above the hygroscopic range is essential when calculating moisture, especially when different materials are to be connected. Generally, the storage capacity is represented by water retention curves, in which suction is plotted against the moisture content. In a number of laboratories in Europe and North America, the pressure plate and pressure membrane techni

Detailed investigations of fracture minerals have been carried out in the Simpevarp area, SE Sweden. in order to reveal the low-temperature evolution of the site and to discern different events of deformation, especially in the brittle regime. The study is part of the site characterisation programme for a potential deep-seated repository for spent nuclear fuel. The bedrock in the area is composed

We report spatially and time-resolved measurements of ultrafast carrier dynamics around buried nano-scale Schottky contacts, performed with a novel femtosecond near-field scanning optical microscope. The experimental results are modeled by a self-consistent treatment of the drift-diffusion equation for the carriers and Poisson's equation for the built-in electric field. We show that the built-in f

Soon after coming in contact with its host, the plant pathogenic fungus Bipolaris sorokiniana produces an extracellular material that appears to be important for adhering conidia and germlings to the host surface. To further understand this step of the infection, the adhesion of B. sorokiniana to artificial solid surfaces was examined. On a hydrophobic (polystyrene) surface adhesion occurred in tw

The microbial degradation of a number of "4C-labeled, recalcitrant, aromatic pollutants, including trichloroguaiacol and di-, tri-, and pentachlorophenol, was investigated in aquatic model systems in the laboratory. Natural, mixed cultures of microorganisms in the water from a brown-water lake with a high content of humic compounds mineralized all of the tested substances to a higher degree than d

The dorsal ocelli are commonly considered to be incapable of form vision, primarily due to underfocused dioptrics. We investigate the extent to which this is true of the ocelli of the locust Locusta migratoria. Locust ocelli contain thick lenses with a pronounced concavity on the inner surface, and a deep clear zone separating retina and lens. In agreement with previous research, locust ocellar le

All absolute paleointensity data published in peer-reviewed journals were recently compiled in the GEOMACIA50 database. Based on the information in GEOMAGIA50, we reconstruct variations in the geomagnetic dipole moment over the past 50 kyr, with a focus on the Holocene period. A running-window approach is used to determine the axial dipole moment that provides the optimal least-squares fit to the

Lipid bilayers containing 5% nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA) lipids supported on SiO2 have been used as a template for immobilization of oligohistidine-tagged single-chained antibody fragments (scFvs) directed against cholera toxin. It was demonstrated that histidine-tagged scFvs could be equally efficiently coupled to an NTA-Ni2+-containing lipid bilayer from a purified sample as from an expression s

The molecular interaction of secreted granzyme B-serglycin complexes with target cells remains undefined. Targets exposed to double-labeled granzyme B-serglycin complexes show solely the uptake of granzyme B. An in vitro model demonstrates the exchange of the granzyme from serglycin to immobilized, sulfated glycosaminoglycans. Using a combination of cell binding and internalization assays, granzym

Streptococcus pneumoniae (S. pneumoniae) may cause severe and lethal infections months and years following stem cell transplantation (SCT). In a prospective survey over a 3.5-year period, we assessed the incidence, risk factors and outcome for invasive pneumococcal infection (IPI) following SCT. Fifty-one episodes of IPI were reported: 43 episodes after bone marrow transplantation (BMT) and 8 afte

Objective. Because treatment with tumor necrosis factor (TNF) antagonists may increase the risk of tuberculosis (TB), and because knowledge of the risk of TB in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) not treated with biologics is scarce and of uncertain generalizability to low-risk populations, this study sought to determine the risk of TB among Swedish patients with RA. Methods. Using data from Swedish nation

During the breeding of our major crop plants for high yield and edibility, several desirable traits, including resistance to pest insects, have been lost (Gatehouse et al., 1991). Genetic engineering is now vigorously seeking to reinsert such genes into crop plants, making them toxic or less palatable for herbivorous pests. One class of inhibitors under study are protease/proteinase inhibitors. Th

Dodecin from Halobacterium salinarum is a dodecameric, hollow-spherical protein, which unspecifically adopts flavin molecules. Reduction of flavin dodecin holocomplexes induces dissociation into apododecin and free flavin. Unspecific binding and dissociation upon reduction were used as key properties to construct an electrochemically switchable surface, which was able to bind and release dodecin a

A simple method for the formation of molecular recognition sites in polymer nanofibers was developed. Electrospun nanofibers were prepared from a Solution mixture of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) and polyallylamine in the presence of a template molecule, 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D). The polyamine was used to provide functional groups that interact with the template during the elect