In spectra obtained from foil-excited and laser-produced plasmas, we have identified 70 new lines as belonging to the spectra of fluorine-like scandium and vanadium ions, Sc XIII and V XV The new lines in the wavelength region from 70 to 600 Angstrom represent 2p(4)3s-3p, 3p-3d and 3d-4f transition arrays. The spectra have been interpreted with the aid of theoretical calculations, and the consiste

Environmental processes have been modelled for decades. However. the need for integrated assessment and modeling (IAM) has,town as the extent and severity of environmental problems in the 21st Century worsens. The scale of IAM is not restricted to the global level as in climate change models, but includes local and regional models of environmental problems. This paper discusses various definitions

Wind erosion causes severe damage on sandy soils in agricultural areas of north-west Europe. The weather conditions during erosion events are the result of the general atmospheric circulation and are key components in the erosion process. Principal component analysis (PCA) in combination with a non-hierarchical cluster analysis was conducted on de-seasonalized daily mean-sea-level pressure (MSLP)

Infectious agents may be involved in atherothrombogenesis. The potential pathogenic pathway, however, remains unclear. We investigated the association between various infectious agents and lipoproteins known to have an atherogenic effect, We recruited 470 healthy blood donors and 238 patients with angiographically proven coronary heart disease (CHD), aged 40 to 68 years. Seropositivity to Chlamydi

Aqueous mixtures of gamma-cyclodextrin (gamma-CD) and the thermosensitive cationic diblock copolymer poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)-b-poly(3-acrylamidopropyl)trimethylammonium chloride (PNIPAAM(24)-b-PAMPTAM(+)(9)) or the PNIPAAM homopolymer PNIPAAM(47) have been investigated using various experimental methods. Solid g-CD-polymer inclusion complexes (pseudopolyrotaxanes) form at ambient temperatures

Changes in the structure and function of the small airways (

The topic of this thesis is adaptive CPU resource management for multicore platforms. The work was done as a part of the resource manager component of the adaptive resource management framework implemented in the European ACTORS project. The framework dynamically allocates CPU resources for the applications. The key element of the framework is the resource manager that combines feedforward and fee

In recent decades, many marine populations have experienced major declines in abundance, but we still know little about where management interventions may help protect the highest levels of marine biodiversity. We used modeled spatial distribution data for nearly 12,500 species to quantify global patterns of species richness and two measures of endemism. By combining these data with spatial inform

Live-cell imaging of biological processes at the single cell level has been instrumental to our current understanding of the subcellular organization of bacterial cells. However, the application of time-lapse microscopy to study the cell biological processes underpinning development in the sporulating filamentous bacteria Streptomyces has been hampered by technical difficulties. Here we present a

This paper investigated how different types of automation affect tactical driving behavior, depending on trust in the system. Previous research indicates that drivers wait for automation to act, delegating the monitoring of traffic situations. This would be especially true for those who have more trust in automation. Behavioral and gaze data from 30 participants driving an advanced simulator were

In this paper we analyze the problem of adaptivity for numerical methods for solving ODEs, both IVPs and BVPs, with a view to generating optimal grids for local error control. The grids are generated by introducing an auxiliary independent variable au and finding a grid deformation map, t=Theta(au), that maps an equidistant grid au_j to a non-equidistant grid in the original independent variable,

Kinetic anomalies in protein folding can result from changes of the kinetic ground states (D, I, and N), changes of the protein folding transition state, or both. The 102-residue protein U1A has a symmetrically curved chevron plot which seems to result mainly from changes of the transition state. At low concentrations of denaturant the transition state occurs early in the folding reaction, whereas

The terminase motors of bacteriophages have been shown to be among the strongest active machines in the biomolecular world, being able to package several tens of kilobase pairs of viral genome into a capsid within minutes. Yet, these motors are hindered at the end of the packaging process by the progressive buildup of a force-resisting packaging associated with already packaged DNA. In this experi

Time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) calculations have been used to investigate low-energy singlet and triplet excited state potential energy surfaces (PES) of two prototype Ru-II-bistridentate complexes: [Ru-II(tpy)(2)](2+) (tpy is 2,2':6',2 ''-terpyridine) and [Ru-II(dqp)(2)](2+) (dqp is 2,6-di(quinolin-8-yl)pyridine). Solvent effects were considered using a self-consistent reaction

Background: Several anticancer agents including paclitaxel have an inhibitory effect on angiogenesis. Aims: To compare the overall response rate and time to progression with changes in circulating angiogenic factors during palliative treatment with weekly paclitaxel. Material and methods: Patients with metastatic BC, ECOG 0-2, received weekly paclitaxel, concomitant with trastuzumab if HER2+ BC (n

Utilising simple acid-base titration chemistry, a new family of Linear-b-Amphiphilic Comb (L-b-AC) ionic supramolecules [Soft Matter 2013, 9, 1540-1555] featuring multi-tail side-chains have been synthesized and examined by synchrotron SAXS. To three different parent diblock copolymers of poly(styrene)-b-poly( methacrylic acid) PS-b-PMAA multi-tail ammonium side-chains of (C8)(2)-, (C8)(4) -or (C1

Nephrotic syndrome, characterized by massive proteinuria, is caused by a large group of diseases including membranous nephropathy (MN) and focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS). Although the underlying mechanisms are beginning to unravel, therapy is unspecific and far from efficient. It has been suggested that adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) has beneficial effects in patients with MN and po

INTRODUCTION: Sperm chromatin integrity assessment has been suggested as a fertility predictor. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between the results of sperm chromatin structure assay (SCSA) and the outcome of IVF, ICSI and intrauterine insemination (IUI). METHODS: A total of 306 consecutive couples undergoing assisted reproduction were included. IUI was performed in 131, IVF