Accurate determination of the bearing capacity of bridges is of high importance for society. Concerns are raised about the actual bearing capacity of bridges due to aging related deterioration, ever increasing traffic loads and conservative design. Proof load testing is often used for evaluations of bridge capacity. However, extensive proof load tests tend to be costly. Further, the risks of damag

Large drop towers let you experience a couple of seconds of nearly free fall before stopping gracefully in magnetic brakes or bouncing a number of times on compressed air, as in the Turbo Drop tower considered in this work, where many complementary representations are used. An accelerometer taken along on the ride captured the forces experienced by the body, and a pressure sensor provided a simult

Introduction: Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and substance use disorder frequently co-occur and tend to have their onset during adolescence. Although research has highlighted the importance of treating these disorders in an integrated fashion, there is a dearth of empirically validated integrated treatment options for adolescents with this comorbidity. This paper describes the study protoco

Background and aims: A vulnerable plaque is an atherosclerotic plaque that is rupture-prone with a higher risk to cause cardiovascular symptoms such as myocardial infarction or stroke. Mimecan or osteoglycin is a small leucine-rich proteoglycan, important for collagen fibrillogenesis, that has been implicated in atherosclerotic disease, yet the role of mimecan in human atherosclerotic disease rema

The present study examines in a quantitative manner the relationship between the attitudes toward gender equality and those toward gender-inclusive language. It also studies how a text written with gender-inclusive language is evaluated and observes what factors can act thereupon. Firstly, statistical analyses show that women have more positive attitudes than men, and that residents in a French-sp

In this paper we present the recent improvements for optically stimulated luminescence dosimetry using ordinary salt (NaCl). It is shown that the dosimetric properties of NaCl may be improved by compressing the salt grains to solid pellets. With a linear dose response in, at least, the region

Hyperbaric oxygen (HBO2) therapy is an adjunct treatment for diabetic foot ulcers. Since plausible mechanisms of action for this treatment include increased angiogenesis and high tissue oxygen concentrations, concerns about deterioration of retinopathy have been raised. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of HBO2 on visual acuity (VA) and retinopathy in patients with chronic diabetic

In this paper, we propose a blind channel deconvolution method based on the Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (LASSO). Using a Toeplitz structured formulation of the received signal, we form an iterative blind deconvolution scheme, alternatively estimating the underwater impulse response, and alternatively the transmitted waveform. The resulting optimizations are convex, and we formu

There is little doubt that genes can spread across unrelated prokaryotes, eukaryotes and even between these domains. It is expected that organisms inhabiting a common niche may exchange their genes even more often due to their physical proximity and similar demands. One such niche is anaerobic or microaerophilic environments in some sediments and intestines of animals. Indeed, enzymes advantageous

It has been suggested that high intake of added sugar and sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) increase the level of circulating inflammatory proteins and that chronic inflammation plays a role in type 2 diabetes (T2D) development. We aim to examine how added sugar and SSB intake associate with 136 measured plasma proteins and C-reactive protein (CRP) in the Malmö Diet and Cancer-Cardiovascular Cohort

Metformin is the first-line pharmacotherapy for managing type 2 diabetes (T2D). However, many patients with T2D do not respond to or tolerate metformin well. Currently, there are no phenotypes that successfully predict glycemic response to, or tolerance of, metformin. We explored whether blood-based epigenetic markers could discriminate metformin response and tolerance by analyzing genome-wide DNA