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Recent studies have revealed effects of various tree species on soil physical and chemical properties. However, effects of various tree species on composition and activity of soil microbiota and the relevant controls remain poorly understood. We evaluated the influence of tree species associated with two different mycorrhizal types, ectomycorrhiza (EcM) and arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM), on growth, b

Dijets are produced in abundance at the Large Hadron Collider as predicted by quantum chromodynamics (QCD). However, several theories beyond the Standard Model of Particle Physics predicts new phenomena, which also result in dijet final states. This thesis presents searches for such new phenomena using different techniques. One approach is to look for jets, that originate from top quarks. We know,

This paper discusses the formation of peers in an anonymous higher education setting using a unique data set of industrial engineering students. For identification, we exploit the random assignment of students into groups and student performance before students met. We compare two different settings for potential peer formation: a voluntary freshman orientation week organized by the students’ unio

In the European Union, the setting of Operational Groups (OG) is supported by the European Innovation Partnership to tackle specific problems and favor innovation in agriculture. They constitute an important aspect of the current Common Agricultural Policy. Increasing or maintaining soil organic carbon (SOC) content under arable farming has been acknowledged as a primary target of European agricul

This paper describes an approach for designing lightweight components produced through additive manufacturing (AM). Lightweight design is often done through topology optimization (TO). However, the process of manually interpreting mesh-based and imprecise results from a TO into a geometry that fulfils all requirements is complex. To aid in this process, this paper suggest an approach based on comb

With the broader industrial application of Additive Manufacturing (AM), designers are facing new challenges in conceptual design for AM. To better understand the problematic, the authors organised a design workshop with six experts in AM. The paper presents the results of the conducted design workshop and discusses the current and future trends in research on the conceptual design for AM.

Heat treatment of sheet steel is commonly performed in the automotive industry to save weight. However, current methods come with drawbacks such as energy usage and expensive tooling. This paper investigates the use of a novel localized heat treatment method and benchmarks three different methods for determining an optimal heat treatment pattern. The results show that the best performing method co

Background: The environment where we humans live provides the fundamental requirements we need to survive – food to eat, water to drink, and air to breathe. The quality of these elements has a major impact on human health, as they can contain substances that are detrimental to health. These we call environmental pollutants. This thesis explores the effects of exposure to air pollutants in particul

Borderline interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) results (near the cut-off level 0.35 IU/ml) occur in QuantiFERON (QFT) assays. We investigated the performance of alternative biomarkers for classification of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) status in pregnant women with borderline QFT IFN-γ responses. Pregnant women (n = 96) were identified from a cohort study in Ethiopia, based on QFT-Plus IFN-γ results (

The averted cumulative lifetime attributable risk (LAR), the residual dose and highest ground deposition of 137Cs complying with a reference dose level of 20 mSv yr-1 to an individual returning after one year to an area contaminated by unfiltered releases of fission products from a nuclear power plant (NPP) were evaluated by applying an existing exposure model designed to compute age- and gender-d

Background Genome-wide association studies have identified >1000 genetic variants cross-sectionally associated with blood pressure variation and prevalent hypertension. These discoveries might aid the early identification of subpopulations at risk of developing hypertension or provide targets for drug development, amongst other applications. The aim of the present study was to analyze the associat

Streams of stars from captured dwarf galaxies and dissolved globular clusters are identifiable through the similarity of their orbital parameters, a fact that remains true long after the streams have dispersed spatially. We calculate the integrals of motion for 31 234 stars, to a distance of 4 kpc from the Sun, which have full and accurate 6D phase space positions in the Gaia DR2 catalogue. We the

RATIONALE: The alarmin S100A9 has been identified as a potential therapeutic target in myocardial infarction. Short-term S100A9 blockade during the inflammatory phase post-myocardial infarction inhibits systemic and cardiac inflammation and improves cardiac function long term. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the impact of S100A9 blockade on postischemic cardiac repair. METHODS AND RESULTS: We assessed card

BACKGROUND: A comprehensive overview of treatments of common fractures is missing, although it would be important for shared decision-making in clinical practice. The aim was to determine benefits and harms of surgical compared to non-surgical treatments for traumatic skeletal fractures. METHODS: We searched Medline, Embase, CINAHL, Web of Science, and CENTRAL until November 2018, for randomized t

Inorganic perovskites display an enticing foreground for their wide range of optoelectronic applications. Recently, supercrystals (SCs) of inorganic perovskite nanocrystals (NCs) have been reported to possess highly ordered structure as well as novel collective optical properties, opening new opportunities for efficient films. Here, we report the large-scale assembly control of spherical, cubic, a

Factor I (FI) is one of the main inhibitors of complement activity, and numerous rare coding variants have been reported in patients with age-related macular degeneration, atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome and C3 glomerulopathy. Since many of these variants are of unknown clinical significance, this study aimed to determine the effect of rare coding variants in the complement factor I (CFI) gene

As the hardest tissue formed by vertebrates, enamel represents nature's engineering masterpiece with complex organizations of fibrous apatite crystals at the nanometer scale. Supramolecular assemblies of enamel matrix proteins (EMPs) play a key role as the structural scaffolds for regulating mineral morphology during enamel development. However, to achieve maximum tissue hardness, most organic con

Acute leukemia refers to a group of aggressive hematological malignancies of myeloid and lymphoid lineages termed acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and acute lymphoid leukemia (ALL) respectively. Acute leukemia is characterized by the presence of underlying genetic aberrations which alter the biology of normal hematopoietic cells resulting in the accumulation of immature abnormally differentiated blast

The foundations of silk spinning, the structure, storage, and activation of silk proteins, remain highly debated. By combining solution small-angle neutron and X-ray scattering (SANS and SAXS) alongside circular dichroism (CD), we reveal a shape anisotropy of the four principal native spider silk feedstocks from Nephila edulis. We show that these proteins behave in solution like elongated semiflex

Oxidative stress is associated with many renal disorders, both acute and chronic, and has also been described to contribute to the disease progression. Therefore, oxidative stress is a potential therapeutic target. The human antioxidant α1-microglobulin (A1M) is a plasma and tissue protein with heme-binding, radical-scavenging and reductase activities. A1M can be internalized by cells, localized t