Purpose – The two-fold purpose of this paper is identifying areas of difficulty in managing the needs of end-users in the course of the design and delivery of construction projects and suggesting possible solutions. Design/methodology/approach – The focus of the paper is the interaction between three principal parties: end-users, project leader (a selected end-user) and facility planner (a facil

In electromyographic (EMG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies, muscle and brain activity was compared during low levels of tooth clenching using a novel biting device to control bite force. A total of 21 healthy subjects performed motor tasks, comprising tooth clenching at 5, 10 and 20N. During all measurements, subjects kept the novel bite device between the anterior teeth d

Nitric oxide (NO) was described to inhibit the proliferation of neural stem cells. Some evidence suggests that NO, under certain conditions, can also promote cell proliferation, although the mechanisms responsible for a potential proliferative effect of NO in neural stem cells have remained unaddressed. In this work, we investigated and characterized the proliferative effect of NO in cell cultures

This case study investigates the role of social-psychological variables in the general public's intention to support conservation of five local biotopes. A questionnaire survey of 245 people was carried out in Kristianstad Municipality, Sweden. In hierarchical regression analyses, public intention to support conservation was partly predicted by attitude toward biodiversity conservation and by pers

Background: Epidemiologic data and animal models suggest that, despite the predominant role of human papillomavirus infection, sex steroid hormones are also involved in the etiology of invasive cervical carcinoma (ICC). Methods: Ninety-nine ICC cases, 121 cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 3 (CIN3) cases and 2 control women matched with each case for center, age, menopausal status and blood

Background. For Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), the International Prognostic Index is the major tool for prognostication and considers an age above 60 years as a risk factor. However, there are several indications that increasing age is associated with more biological complexity, resulting in differences in DLBCL biology depending on age. Methods. We conducted a registry-based retrospective

BACKGROUND: Treatment of idiopathic membranous nephropathy with nephrotic syndrome is still controversial. There is currently little known about the clinical use of renal biomarkers which may explain contradictory results obtained from clinical trials. In order to assess whether IgG-uria can predict the outcome in membranous nephropathy, we examined the value of baseline EF-IgG in predicting remis

The visual behaviour of consumers buying (or searching for) products in a supermarket was measured and used to analyse the stages of their decision process. Traditionally metrics used to trace decision-making processes are difficult to use in natural environments that often contain many options and unstructured information. Unlike previous attempts in this direction (i.e. Russo & Leclerc, 1994

This paper is the fourth in a series discussing experiences in applying the Strategic Systemic Thinking (SST) framework. The framework was originally proposed for the purpose of supporting contextual analysis into complex problem spaces as part of information systems analysis. Previous papers have dealt with an application supporting strategic development of work in an academic university departme

Diabetes is increasing worldwide and hence the risk developing complications where retinopathy is the theme of this study. The aim of the study was to evaluate the presence of (vascular) retinopathy in subjects with the pre-diabetes stage, impaired fasting glucose (IFG), and the development of retinopathy in these subjects during five years. In the second part of the study diabetes patients with d

Background: Enhancement of enzymatic digestibility by some supplementations could reduce enzyme loading and cost, which is still too high to realize economical production of lignocellulosic biofuels. A recent study indicates that yeast hydrolysates (YH) have improved the efficiency of cellulases on digestibility of furfural residues (FR). In the current work, the components of YH were separated by

Reaction of Mn(II) with phenoxyalkanoic acids and di-2-pyridyl ketone oxime (Hpko) leads to neutral tetranuclear complexes of the general formula Mn-4(O)(pko)(4)(phenoxyalkanoato)(4) (phenoxyalkanoic acids: H-mcpa = 2-methyl-4-chloro-phenoxy-acetic acid, H-2,4,5-T = 2,4.5-trichloro-phenoxy-acetic acid or H3,4-D = 3,4-dichloro-phenoxy-acetic acid). The compounds were synthesized by adding di2-pyrid

Rare-earth ions in dielectric crystals are interesting candidates for storing quantum states of photons. A limiting factor on the optical density and thus the conversion efficiency is the distortion introduced in the crystal by doping elements of one type into a crystal matrix of another type. Here we investigate the system Pr3+:La-2(WO4)(3), where the similarity of the ionic radii of Pr and La mi

This review encompasses the most important advances in liver functions and hepatotoxicity and analyzes which mechanisms can be studied in vitro. In a complex architecture of nested, zonated lobules, the liver consists of approximately 80 % hepatocytes and 20 % non-parenchymal cells, the latter being involved in a secondary phase that may dramatically aggravate the initial damage. Hepatotoxicity, a

Impaired olfaction is an early pre-motor symptom of Parkinson's disease. The neuropathology underlying olfactory dysfunction in Parkinson's disease is unknown, however α-synuclein accumulation/aggregation and altered neurogenesis might play a role. We characterized olfactory deficits in a transgenic mouse model of Parkinson's disease expressing human wild-type α-synuclein under the control of the

This paper analyzes the role of initialization when testing for a unit root in panel data, an issue that has received surprisingly little attention in the literature. In fact, most studies assume that the initial value is either zero or bounded. As a response to this, the current paper considers a model in which the initialization is in the past, which is shown to have several distinctive features

We demonstrate high-resolution tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy (TDLAS) of water vapor confined in nanoporous alumina. Strong multiple light scattering results in long photon pathlengths (1 m through a 6 mm sample). We report on strong line broadening due to frequent wall collisions (gas-surface interactions). For the water vapor line at 935.685 nm, the HWHM of confined molecules are ab

Background 3-Hydroxypropionic acid (3HP) and acrylic acid (AA) are industrially important platform- and secondary chemical, respectively. Their production from renewable resources by environment-friendly processes is desirable. In the present study, both chemicals were almost quantitatively produced from biodiesel-derived glycerol by an integrated process involving microbial and chemical catalysis