Software engineering is not only about technical solutions. It is to a large extent also concerned with organizational issues, project management and human behaviour. For a discipline like software engineering, empirical methods are crucial, since they allow for incorporating human behaviour into the research approach taken. Empirical methods are common practice in many other disciplines. This cha

While bringing considerable flexibility and extending the horizons of mobile computing, mobile code raises major security issues. Hence, mobile code, such as Java applets, needs to be analyzed before execution. The byte-code verifier checks low-level security properties that ensure that the downloaded code cannot bypass the virtual machine's security mechanisms. One of the statically ensured prope

The influence of shock waves, driven by amplified spontaneous emission (ASE), on laser-accelerated proton beams is investigated. A local deformation, produced by a cold shock wave launched by the ablation pressure of the ASE pedestal, can under oblique laser irradiation significantly direct the proton beam toward the laser axis. This can be understood in the frame of target normal sheath accelerat

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of dose on lesion detection and characterization in breast tomosynthesis (BT), using human breast specimens. Images of 27 lesions in breast specimens were acquired on a BT prototype based on a Mammomat Novation (Siemens) full-field digital mammography (FFDM) system. Two detector modes - binned (2x1 in the scan direction) and full resolution -

A new limonoid, 3,7-dideacetyl-6 alpha-hydroxykhivorin, together with khivorin, 3-deacetylkhivorin, 7-deacetoxy-3-deacetyi-7-oxokhivorin, and 6-deoxydestigloylswietenine acetate have been isolated from,the seeds of Khaya senegatensis. Their structures were established by analysis of the high-field NMR and MS data.

Bruton's tyrosine kinase (Btk) is thought to positively regulate mast cell activation, implying a role in allergic responses. We have compared acute and late phase allergic airway reactions in mice lacking either Btk or interleukin-2-inducible T cell kinase (Itk), another Tec kinase expressed in mast cells. Btk(-/-) mice showed minor protection against allergic symptoms when challenged with allerg

Water-soluble hemicelluloses were extracted from spruce chips by microwave heat-fractionation. The galactoglucomannan (GGM) extraction was evaluated on the basis of weight-average molecular weight (MW), yield and carbohydrate composition of the GGM. The MW was determined by size-exclusion chromatography with column calibration using off-line MALDI-MS analysis, and determination of mannan content i

For a set of rooted, unordered, distinctly leaf-labeled trees, the NP-hard maximum agreement subtree problem (MAST) asks for a tree contained (up to isomorphism. or homeomorphism) in all of the input trees with as many labeled leaves as possible. We study the ordered variants of MAST where the trees are uniformly or non-uniformly ordered. We provide the first known polynomial-time algorithms for t

The H-1 NMR Fast Field Cycling relaxometry was applied to study the molecular dynamics of the human protein HC (alpha(1)-microglobulin), its hydration and aggregation in solution state. The H-1 NMRD data have revealed the complex nature of the water/protein HC system resulting from the co-existence of monomer and dimer forms of the protein in solution as well as the presence of oligosaccharides li

The mechanisms by which gestational infections, blood incompatibility, birth weight, mother's age and other prenatal or neonatal events increase the risk for type 1 diabetes are not understood. Studies so far have been retrospective, and there is a lack of population-based prospective studies. The possibility identifying children at type 1 diabetes risk among first-degree relatives has resulted in

The phylogenetic positions of the 4 clades, Euarchontoglires, Laurasiatheria, Afrotheria, and Xenarthra, have been major issues in the recent discussion of basal relationships among placental mammals. However, despite considerable efforts these relationships, crucial to the understanding of eutherian evolution and biogeography, have remained essentially unresolved. Euarchontoglires and Laurasiathe

The present article describes data from pilot studies with the Swedish versions of the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS) and the Kentucky Inventory of Mindfulness Skills (KIMS). The MAAS and two of the KIMS scales, Act with Awareness and Accept without Judgment, were found to correlate in the predicted direction with measures of well-being and emotional distress. The KIMS scales Observe and

A numerical investigation to determine the velocity and heat transfer characteristics of multiple impinging slot jets in rib-roughened channels in the presence of cross-flow has been carried out. Fluid flow is modeled using an explicit algebraic stress model. A simple eddy diffusivity and a generalized gradient diffusion hypothesis are applied for the modeling of turbulent heat fluxes. The computa

The purpose of this in vitro study was to assess the effect of 17beta-estradiol on hemorheologic parameters, namely on erythrocyte aggregation and deformability and membrane fluidity.Blood samples from 65 women (aged 57 +/- 4 years) undergoing postmenopausal hormone replacement therapy were obtained and were incubated for 5 min in absence and presence of 17beta-estradiol 10(-5) M. The measured par

Starch microparticle is a dosage form suitable for encapsulation of protein drugs. The microparticle characteristics can be influential factors for consecutive sustained drug release from the starch matrix and impact its ability to be coated by poly(D,L-lactide-co-glycolide). In this study, six types of starch microparticles were investigated and characterized. Desired qualities of the microsphere