Carbonyl carotenoids are important constituents of the antenna complexes of marine organisms. These carotenoids possess an excited state with a charge-transfer character ( intramolecular charge transfer state, ICT), but many details of the carotenoid to chlorophyll energy transfer mechanisms are as yet poorly understood. Here, we employ femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy to study energy

The potential of measuring temperature and multiple species concentrations (N-2, O-2, CO) by use of combined vibrational coherent anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy (CARS) and pure rotational CARS has been investigated. This was achieved with only one Nd:YAG laser and one dye laser together with a single spectrograph and CCD camera. From measurements in premixed sooting C2H4-air flames it was possible

Decomposition of unpolluted Scots pine needle litter was studied in two heavy-metal-pollution gradients in Sweden; one near a brass mill and the other around a primary smelter. In the latter area locally collected polluted Scots pine needle litter was also incubated. Decomposition rates were strongly influenced by the metal pollution and a decrease in the rate of mass-loss occurred. In the brass-m

The microbial degradation of a number of "4C-labeled, recalcitrant, aromatic pollutants, including trichloroguaiacol and di-, tri-, and pentachlorophenol, was investigated in aquatic model systems in the laboratory. Natural, mixed cultures of microorganisms in the water from a brown-water lake with a high content of humic compounds mineralized all of the tested substances to a higher degree than d

Two items are commensurable in value if and only if one of them is better than the other or if they are equally as good. They are incommensurable if none of these relations obtains. Given incommensurability, not even a purely ordinal measure is available for comparison: We cannot represent the relationship between the items by assigning a number to each that specifies the position of that item in

Planned Extremely Large Telescopes will rely oil availability of large Deformable Mirror in the 2-3m class. Design and construction of such mirrors are challenging and call for powerful simulation tools. We present an evaluation model which is used to study performance of a large deformable mirror for three: actuator topologies. Back sensors topologies are discussed from the point of view of senso

Surface modification of reactive oxide substrates to obtain a less strongly interacting template for dye adsorption may be a way to enhance performance in dye-sensitized solar cells. In this work, we have investigated the electronic and structural properties of 4,4(')-bipyridine (bipy) as modifier adsorbed on the TiO2(110) surface. The modified surface is then coated with iron phthalocyanine (FePc

There is some evidence that birth weight is associated with breast cancer. Whether this association differs between premenopausal and postmenopausal ages is still unclear. The results from this study suggest that higher birth weight is a risk factor for postmenopausal breast cancer (OR 1.06, CI 1.00-1.12, per 100 g), independent of selected early-life and adult factors.

Cellular susceptibility to fusion mediated by murine coronavirus (mouse hepatitis virus, MHV strain A59) was separated into lipid-dependent and lipid-independent mechanisms with the use of subclones and selected mutants of mouse L-2 fibroblasts. Fusion-resistant L-2 cell mutants had similar cholesterol and fatty acid composition as did their fusion-susceptible parent subclone, and were presumably

Parenthood is often considered a major factor behind gender differences in time allocation, especially between paid work and housework. This article investigates the impact of parenthood on men's and women's daily time use in Sweden and how it changed over the 1990s. The analysis is made using time diary data from the Multinational Time Use Survey (MTUS; N = 13,729) and multivariate Tobit regressi

The recent article by de Souza, Lorenzini and Rizzatti J. A. V. de Souza, F. Lorenzini, and M. R. Rizatti, J. Appl. Phys. 104, 034701 2008 in this journal needs corrections and clarifications on several points. The model used by them is not suitable for the study of erythema. © 2009 American Institute of Physics. DOI: 10.1063/1.3124649

Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus) is the most common cause of community-acquired pneumonia, with high morbidity and mortality worldwide. A major feature of pneumococcal pneumonia is an abundant neutrophil infiltration . It was recently shown that activated neutrophils release neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs), which contain antimicrobial proteins bound to a DNA scaffold. NETs provide a h

52 knees scheduled for a total knee arthroplasty were randomised to either a fixed or a mobile polyethylene bearing. The design was identical in all parts. The knee systems used were the Rotaglide Total Knee System (RTK) (R) and the Nuffield Total Knee System (NTK) (R), both from the same manufacturer (Corin Medical Ltd., UK). All knees implanted were uncemented. The patients were followed for 2 y

Human, microsomal, and glutathione-dependent prostaglandin (PG) E synthase-1 (mPGES-1) was expressed with a histidine tag in Escherichia coli. mPGES-1 was purified to apparent homogeneity from Triton X-100-solubilized bacterial extracts by a combination of hydroxyapatite and immobilized metal affinity chromatography. The purified enzyme displayed rapid glutathione-dependent conversion of PGH2 to P

Two patients with haemophilia B and high-responding inhibitor to factor IX were subjected to immune tolerance induction according to the Malmo protocol, including high dosage of factor IX, cyclophosphamide and intravenous gammaglobulin. In one of the patients the treatment was preceded by extracorporeal protein A adsorption. Both patients had previously been subjected to immune tolerance induction

The ERBB2 proto-oncogene was studied in 539 invasive primary breast tumors and was found amplified (2- greater than 30 copies) in 19%. Amplification was correlated to most known risk factors, including; large tumor size, lymph node positivity and many tumor involved nodes, advanced stage, low patient age (less than 40 years), non-diploidy and hypertetraploidy, and most significantly (P less than 0

The merger of the head offices of two public service organizations in Sweden was used to examine differences in the meanings that employees attach to the organizations involved and their expectations of the new merged organization, nine months prior to the merger. A two-stage methodology was used, combining the repertory grid method with a survey questionnaire based on the elicited constructs. Pre

P-mode oscillations in the Sun and stars are excited stochastically byReynolds stress and entropy fluctuations produced by convection in theirouter envelopes. The excitation rate of radial oscillations of starsnear the main sequence from K to F and a subgiant K IV star have beencalculated from numerical simulations of their surface convection zones.P-mode excitation increases with increasing effec

The results presented in this paper are from studies on a laboratory-scale upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor and an anaerobic packed-bed (APB) reactor treating potato leachate at increasing organic loading rates from 1.5 to 7.0 9 COD/ l/day. The hydraulic retention times ranged from 13.2 to 2.8 days for both reactors during the 100 days of the experiment. The maximum organic loading r