A simple method to enhance ion generation with femtosecond ultraintense lasers is demonstrated experimentally by defocusing laser beams on target surface. When the laser is optimally defocused, we find that the population of medium and low energy protons from ultra-thin foils is increased significantly while the proton cutoff energy is almost unchanged. In this way, the total proton yield can be e

Recent research shows that adult speakers of verb- vs. satellite-framed languages (Talmy, 2000) express motion events in language-specific ways as reflected not only in speech (Slobin 2004) but also in gestures (Duncan 2005; Kita & McNeill 1992; Özyurek 2003). Although such findings suggest crosslinguistic differences in event representations, little is still known about their implications for

Randomised control trials (RCTs) do not always reflect real-life outcomes for glucose-lowering drugs. In this work we compared RCT and real-life data on the efficacy of the dipeptidyl peptidase-IV (DPP-4) inhibitor vildagliptin or sulfonylureas when added to metformin.

Purpose As pediatric medulloblastoma (MB) is a relatively rare disease, it is important to extract the maximum information from trials and cohort studies. Here, a framework was developed for modeling tumor control with multiple modes of failure and time-to-progression for standard-risk MB, using published pattern of failure data. Methods and Materials Outcome data for standard-risk MB published af

Croplands are vital ecosystems for human well-being and provide important ecosystem services such as crop yields, retention of nitrogen and carbon storage. On large (regional to global)-scale levels, assessment of how these different services will vary in space and time, especially in response to cropland management, are scarce. We explore cropland management alternatives and the effect these can

This article takes its point of departure in the assumption that values shape planning practices and that alternatively one can reconstruct such values from the way planning interventions are argued and evaluated. We contend that planners' discourses involve implicit value commitments that are observable in their representations of public space and implicated in the results of public-space plannin

The aim of the study was to explore what types of incivility temporary agency workers might experience or witness. A total of 162 temporary agency workers (97 women and 65 men) from three unions and three temporary work agencies completed an online questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of a one-item question, with an open-ended response format, regarding what types of incivility temporary age

Critical infrastructure systems must be both robust and resilient in order to ensure the functioning of society. To improve the performance of such systems, we often use risk and vulnerability analysis to find and address system weaknesses. A critical component of such analyses is the ability to accurately determine the negative consequences of various types of failures in the system. Numerous mat

Understanding farmer behaviour is needed for local agricultural systems to produce food sustainably while facing multiple pressures. We synthesize existing literature to identify three fundamental questions that correspond to three distinct areas of knowledge necessary to understand farmer behaviour: 1) decision-making model; 2) cross-scale and cross-level pressures; and 3) temporal dynamics. We u

The nocturnal migration of many passerines starts after sunset and reaches peak intensity during the dark hours of the night. Birds destined for high Arctic breeding grounds encounter a special situation, as they will experience continuous daylight when reaching the high latitudes during the final part of spring migration. How does this affect the pattern of nocturnal migration? We consider three

An impulse-oscillation model (IOM) was used for a time description of catalytic acts in the reactions of catalytic decomposition of formic acid on oxide catalysts. The results of computation using the model show that for the dehydrogenation reaction the most important modes are the OCO bending in bidentate adsorbed formate ion and OH stretching on the catalyst surface while for the dehydration the

We discuss meson-meson scattering at next-to-next-to-leading order in the chiral expansion for QCD-like theories with general n degenerate flavours for the cases with a complex, real and pseudo-real representation. i.e. with global symmetry and breaking pattern SU(n)(L) x SU(n)(R) -> SU(n)(V), SU(2n) -> SO(2n) and SU(2n) -> Sp(2n). We obtain fully analytical expressions for all these cases. We dis

Here we evaluated the performance of a large set of serum biomarkers for the prediction of rapid progression of chronic kidney disease (CKD) in patients with type 2 diabetes. We used a case-control design nested within a prospective cohort of patients with baseline eGFR 30-60 ml/min per 1.73 m(2). Within a 3.5-year period of Go-DARTS study patients, 154 had over a 40% eGFR decline and 153 controls

Contagious yawning is a well-documented phenomenon in humans and has recently attracted much attention from developmental and comparative sciences. The function, development and underlying mechanisms of the phenomenon, however, remain largely unclear. Contagious yawning has been demonstrated in dogs and several non-human primate species, and theoretically and empirically associated with empathy in