Biomass burning impacts vegetation dynamics, biogeochemical cycling, atmospheric chemistry, and climate, with sometimes deleterious socio-economic impacts. Under future climate projections it is often expected that the risk of wildfires will increase. Our ability to predict the magnitude and geographic pattern of future fire impacts rests on our ability to model fire regimes, using either well-fou

Melanocortin therapy by using adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) or non-steroidogenic melanocortin peptides attenuates proteinuria and glomerular injury in experimental glomerular diseases and induces remission of nephrotic syndrome in patients with diverse glomerulopathies, even those resistant to steroids. The underlying mechanism remains elusive, but the role of melanocortin 1 receptor (MC1R) h

This thesis covers four different topics related to the physics analysis in the ATLAS experiment that uses proton-proton collisions data provided by the Large Hadron Collider. The first topic is focused on the numerical simulation of the Transition Radiation Tracker which is one of the ATLAS tracking detectors. The implementation of the alternative Argon based gas mixtures used in the drift tubes

Objective: Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) decrease life expectancy for affected patients. The aim was to describe the perceptions of received information regarding diagnosis, treatment and management, as well as social support and coping perceived by patients with PAH or CTEPH. Methods: A descriptive, national cohort survey that incl

Objectives: This study sought to test the hypothesis that a vectorcardiographic parameter, the QRS vector magnitude (QRSVm), can risk stratify those patients at risk for sustained spontaneous ventricular arrhythmias (VAs) or ventricular arrhythmia inducibility (VAI) in a large cohort of patients with tetralogy of Fallot (TOF). Background: Patients with TOF have an increased risk of VAs, but predic

We present measurements of atmospheric insect fauna intercepted by a static lidar transect over arable and pastoral land over one day. We observe nearly a quarter million of events which are calibrated to optical cross section. Biomass spectra are derived from the size distribution and presented against space and time. We discuss detection limits and instrument biasing, and we relate the insect ob

Many countries have established disaster risk management (DRM) systems to reduce disaster risks and improve societal safety. Risk assessment in the DRM system is not only an important tool to identify potential risks, but also promotes DRM through conversations among stakeholders from different functional sectors and administrative levels. The municipal risk assessment, produced at the lowest admi

Background: Coronary heart disease (CHD) risk inversely associates with levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C). The protective effect of HDL is thought to depend on its functionality, such as its ability to induce cholesterol efflux. Materials and methods: We compared plasma cholesterol efflux capacity between male familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH) patients with and without CHD r

Socio-economic inequalities are remarkable in contemporary developed countries and continue to grow. The sources of these phenomena are not understood, and there is no agreement as to when in an individual’s life they originate, from early childhood to adulthood. The literature showing that health in infancy may be an important factor in later-life health and income trajectories is expanding, but

The problem of the orbital stabilization of the forced periodic motions of a non-linear all-wheel drive mechanical system is considered within the framework of a model that is widely used in problems of the planning of the motions and feedback design for industrial robotic manipulators. The basic result is the explicit indication of one of the possible redundant sets of coordinates tranverse to th