X-ray emission spectroscopy (XES) is a powerful element-selective tool to analyze the oxidation states of atoms in complex compounds, determine their electronic configuration, and identify unknown compounds in challenging environments. Until now the low efficiency of wavelength-dispersive X-ray spectrometer technology has limited the use of XES, especially in combination with weaker laboratory X-r

Bile duct injury is an important unsolved problem of laparoscopic cholecystectomy, occurring with unacceptable frequency even in the hands of experienced surgeons. This suggests that a systemic predisposition to the injury is intrinsic to cholecystectomy and indicates that an analysis of the psychology and heuristics of surgical decision-making in relation to duct identification may be a guide to

Many species of Dytiscus diving beetles exhibit intrasexual dimorphism, e. g., the elytra is smooth in some females and grooved in others. However, the expression of the grooves and whether they are a product of heredity or the environment remain unknown. One Japanese species, Dytiscus sharpi sharpi Wehncke, 1875, also shows female dimorphism, with grooved and smooth morphs, while D. sharpi validu

We design of an efficient channel shortener for nonlinear satellite channels. When the memory of the channel is too large to be taken into account by a full complexity detector, excellent performance can be achieved by properly filtering the received signal followed by a reduced-state detector. This letter derives closed-form expressions for the front-end filter and the target response of the redu

Placidiopsis custnani (A. Massal.) Körb., last recorded from the Nordic countries almost 160 years ago, is reported from the island of Gotland as new to Sweden. Its taxonomy and ecology are described from the new locality, and a key is provided for the former members of the genus Catapyrenium growing on soil, mosses or bark in the Nordic countries.

Aim We explored regional variations in the surgical management of patients with Dupuytren's contracture (DC) in 12 European countries using a surgeon survey and patient chart review. Methods Twelve countries participated: Denmark, Finland, Sweden (Nordic region); Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland (East); France, Germany, the Netherlands, UK (West); Italy, Spain (Mediterranean). For the survey, a ran

The effects of nitrogen (N) fertilization (0-150 kg N ha(-1) year(-1) since 1865) and pH (3.3-7.4) on fungal and bacterial growth, biomass and phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) composition were investigated in grassland soils from the 'Park Grass Experiment', Rothamsted Research, UK. Bacterial growth decreased and fungal growth increased with lower pH, resulting in a 50-fold increase in the relative

This paper aims to provide a critical and systematic review of the societal costs of air pollutionrelated ill health (CAP), to explore methodological issues that may be important when assessing or comparing CAP across countries and to suggest ways in which future CAP studies can be made more useful for policy analysis. The methodology includes a systematic search based on the major electronic data

Background: Mechanical ventilatory support seriously affects speaking and communication, and earlier studies show that many ventilator-supported patients experience difficulties and frustration with their speech and voice production. Since there is a growing number of individuals who require mechanical ventilatory support and there is a paucity of studies that examine ventilator-supported communic

The biodegradability of the azo dye Remazol Red RR (100 mg/l) was evaluated using unadapted activated sludge and the experiment confirmed the recalcitrance of the dye. Using a combination of photocatalysis and an aerobic biological step, the biodegradability was improved significantly and complete removal of both colour and COD were achieved. Furthermore, TiO(2) was successfully immobilised on bor

Experimental results on the acceleration of protons and carbon ions from ultra-thin polymer foils at intensities of up to 6x10(19)Wcm(-2) are presented revealing quasi-monoenergetic spectral characteristics for different ion species at the same time. For carbon ions and protons, a linear correlation between the cutoff energy and the peak energy is observed when the laser intensity is increased. Pa

This paper analyses biofuels from agricultural crops in northern Europe regarding area and energy efficiency, greenhouse gases and eutrophication. The overall findings are that direct land use changes have a significant impact on GHG balances and eutrophication for all biofuels, the choice of calculation methods when by-products are included affecting the performance of food crop-based biofuels co

Many nocturnal insects depend on vision for daily life and have evolved different strategies to improve their visual capabilities in dim light. Neural summation of visual signals is one strategy to improve visual performance, and this is likely to be especially important for insects with apposition compound eyes. Here we develop a model to determine the optimum spatiotemporal sampling of natural s

Three-dimensional direct numerical simulation with detailed chemical kinetics of lean premixed CH4/air and H-2/air flames at high Karlovitz numbers (Ka similar to 1800) is carried out. It is found that the high intensity turbulence along with differential diffusion result in a much more rapid transport of H radicals from the reaction zone to the low temperature unburned mixtures (similar to 500 K)

Women are stereotypically perceived as worse negotiators than men, which may make them ask for less salary than men when under stereotype threat (Kray et al., 2001). However, the mechanisms of stereotype threat are not yet properly understood. The current study investigated whether stereotype threat effects in salary negotiations can be explained by motivational factors. A total of 116 business st

We establish equality between the essential spectrum of the Schrödinger operator with magnetic field in the exterior of a compact arbitrary dimensional domain and that of the operator defined in all the space, and discuss applications of this equality.

The best results after a nerve injury with a defect are achieved by a nerve reconstruction procedure using autologous nerve grafts. However, limitations include insufficient amount of suitable donor material and donor site morbidity. The aim of the present thesis was to study alternative nerve grafts, i.e. allo- and xenografts, in rats and mice. Cellular grafts will evoke a rejection in the hos

A first comparison has been made between the pulse-shape discrimination characteristics of a novel He-4-based pressurized scintillation detector and a NE-213 liquicl-scintillator reference detector using an Am/Be mixed-field neutron and gamma-ray source and a high-resolution scintillation-pulse digitizer. In particular, the capabilities of the two fast neutron detectors to discriminate between neu

Compact arrays such as multiple antennas on a mobile terminal suffer from low efficiency and high correlation between antenna signals. In the present paper, a simple and rigorous procedure for decoupling two closely coupled antennas with a parasitic scatterer is proposed. The parasitic scatterer, which can be an additional antenna, acts as a shield between two active antenna elements. In contrast