Traditionally, diagnosis of male infertility has relied upon microscopic assessment of semen. The normality criteria set by the World Health Organization (WHO) in regard to sperm concentration, motility and morphology are, however, poor predictors of fertility. In about half of the involuntarily childless couples the causes are solely or partly male related. In 60-75% of cases the aetiology of red

The aryl alkyl alcohol simple acid ester derivatives (AAASAE) group of fragrance ingredients was critically evaluated for safety following a complete literature search of the pertinent data. For high end users, calculated maximum skin exposures vary widely from 0.01% to 4.17%. AAASAE exhibit a common route of primary metabolism by carboxylesterases resulting in the formation of the simple acid and

The present work focuses on the numerical simulation of diffusive flames in a confined high-swirl burner. Navier-Stokes equations expressed for a time-dependent, compressible, and three-dimensional flow with finite-rate kinetics are solved for lean methane/air mixtures. A simplified mechanism is used to model the combustion. Non-reactive and reactive cases are contrasted for a swirl number of 0.95

Background: Little is known about the relationships of circulating levels of biomarkers of cartilage degradation with biomechanical outcomes relevant to knee osteoarthritis (OA) or biomarker changes following non-pharmacological interventions. The objectives of this exploratory, pilot study were to: 1) examine relationships between biomarkers of articular cartilage degradation and synthesis with m

This paper describes a measurement of the flavour composition of dijet events produced in pp collisions at root s = 7 TeV using the ATLAS detector. The measurement uses the full 2010 data sample, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 39 pb(-1). Six possible combinations of light, charm and bottom jets are identified in the dijet events, where the jet flavour is defined by the presence of bo

Objectives: To describe the contribution of highly processed foods to total diet, nutrient intakes and patterns among 27 redefined centres in the 10 countries participating in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC). Methods: Single 24-hour dietary recalls were collected from 36 034 individuals (aged 35-74 years) using a standardized computerized interview programme

This paper considers robust stability analysis of a large network of interconnected uncertain systems. To avoid analyzing the entire network as a single large, lumped system, we model the network interconnections with integral quadratic constraints. This approach yields a sparse linear matrix inequal- ity which can be decomposed into a set of smaller, coupled linear matrix inequalities. This allow

Early detection of neonatal illness is an important step towards improving newborn survival. Every year an estimated 3.07 million children die during their first month of life and about one-third of these deaths occur during the first 24 hours. Ninety-eight percent of all neonatal deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries like Uganda. Inadequate progress has been made globally to reduce the

The inverse spectral problem for Schrödinger operators on finite compact metric graphs is investigated. The relations between the spectral asymptotics and geometric properties of the underlying graph are studied. It is proven that the Euler characteristic of the graph can be calculated from the spectrum of the Schrödinger operator in the case of essentially bounded real potentials and standard bou

We theoretically investigate electronic transport through a junction where a quantum dot (QD) is tunnel coupled on both sides to semiconductor nanowires with strong spin-orbit interaction and proximity-induced superconductivity. The results are presented as stability diagrams, i.e., the differential conductance as a function of the bias voltage applied across the junction and the gate voltage used

One of the specific predictions of a new strongly coupled dynamics at a TeV scale is the existence of stable vector-like technibaryon states so that the lightest neutral one could serve as a Dark Matter candidate. We study the latter hypothesis in the QCD-type technicolor with SU (3)(TC) confined group and one SU (2)(W) doublet of vector-like techniquarks consistent with electroweak precision cons

In this thesis, the main male characters in three of the plays written by Federico García Lorca are analysed with the aim of seeing the role they play in the frustration of desire. After two chapters dedicated to a review of published critical studies on Lorca and to certain theoretical considerations, Chapter Three examines desire drawing on Ubersfeld's actancial model and observes that these mal

How can revealing the past at historic sites benefit our society? This question has been discussed recurrently over the years within heritage studies and heritage practices; the suggested answers are many. This text analyses what has been remembered and forgotten in an urban development process, when the previously industrial area of Lomma Eternit in south Sweden was turned into a luxury residenti

A spinel-type catalyst of the composition Fe(2.50(1-z/3))V(0.20(1-z/3))Mo(0.30(1-z/3))square(z)O(4), where z is the number of cation vacancies (El), was prepared under reducing atmosphere. From the reduced sample a number of preoxidized samples were made by TPO treatment of the reduced material to different end temperatures ranging from 150 to 450 degrees C. XRD shows that the spinel-type structur

The generation of mathematical models of biological processes, the simulation of these processes under different conditions, and the comparison and integration of multiple data sets are explicit goals of systems biology that require the knowledge of the absolute quantity of the system's components. To date, systematic estimates of cellular protein concentrations have been exceptionally scarce. Her