The strength and fracture behavior of dowel-type connections with stiff dowels loaded perpendicular to grain was studied by nonlinear 3D finite element (FE)-analysis. A cohesive zone model was used to model the perpendicular to grain fracture of the wood, i.e., failure by wood splitting along the grain. The influence of load eccentricity and dowel-to-loaded-edge distance was studied for a plate ty

Aims: The aim of the present study was to examine the association between friendship networks and psychological well-being among 19-year-olds. Methods: The data used was a random sample of Swedish individuals born in 1990 who answered a questionnaire in 2009–2010. Friendship networks were considered in terms of three measures of emotional support. Six statements about the individual’s emotional st

This article reconceptualizes residential care for older persons by introducing a framework developed from a rights-based principle of disability policies, the normalization principle. This principle is part of the social model and states that society should make available for people who have impairments living conditions that are as close as possible to those of “others.” Using the framework on t

Minimally modified low density lipoprotein (mmLDL) is a well-known risk factor for cerebral vascular diseases and upregulation of endothelin type B (ETB) receptors plays key roles in the pathogenesis. The present study was designed to examine if mmLDL upregulated endothelin ETB receptors in basilar artery and its possible intracellular signaling molecular mechanisms. Rat basilar arteries were cult

Purpose: To determine whether early assessment of cerebral white matter degradation can predict late delayed cognitive decline after radiotherapy (RT). Methods and Materials: Ten patients undergoing conformal fractionated brain RT participated in a prospective diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging study. Magnetic resonance imaging studies were acquired before RT, at 3 and 6 weeks during RT,

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

We present the measurements of particle pair yields per trigger particle obtained from di-hadron azimuthal correlations in pp collisions at root s = 0.9, 2.76, and 7TeV recorded with the ALICE detector. The yields are studied as a function of the charged particle multiplicity. Taken together with the single particle yields the pair yields provide information about parton fragmentation at low trans

The European Landscape Convention indicates that assessment of different dimensions that exist in landscapes should be taken into account in planning. In this study, we first investigated ecological, cultural and social values as perceived by the local people in a highway-planning process in Sweden. Next, we explored which factors influenced the local people's participation in the road-planning pr

A study was undertaken to test the affect of chronic exposure to elevated dissolved carbon dioxide on juvenile Atlantic cod. The CO2 treatment concentrations were designated as low (1-2 mg L-1, 1000 mu atm), medium (8 mg L-1, 3500 mu atm) and high (18 mg L-1, 8500 mu atm), and the fish were reared at 10 C and 20% salinity. A marked observation at the end of the 55 day trial was that an increase in

Bats evolved the ability of powered flight more than 50 million years ago. The modern bat is an efficient flyer and recent research on bat flight has revealed many intriguing facts. By using particle image velocimetry to visualize wake vortices, both the magnitude and time-history of aerodynamic forces can be estimated. At most speeds the downstroke generates both lift and thrust, whereas the func

Exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) sweeps were performed on ethanol partially premixed combustion (PPC) to show different emission and efficiency trends as compared with diesel PPC. The sweeps showed that when the EGR rate is increased, the efficiency does not diminish, HC trace is flat, and CO is low even with 45% of EGR. NOx exponentially decreases by increasing EGR while soot levels are nearly zer

Despite a century of research into visual word recognition, basic questions remain unresolved about the functional architecture of the process that maps visual inputs from orthographic analysis onto lexical form and meaning and about the units of analysis in terms of which these processes are conducted. Here we use magnetoencephalography, supported by a masked priming behavioral study, to address

Cerebral arteries subjected to different types of experimental stroke upregulate their expression of certain G-protein-coupled vasoconstrictor receptors, a phenomenon that worsens the ischemic brain damage. Upregulation of contractile endothelin B (ETB) and 5-hydroxytryptamine 1B (5-HT1B) receptors has been demonstrated after subarachnoid hemorrhage and global ischemic stroke, but the situation is

We present preliminary evidence for a novel evolutionary hypothesis, i.e., that animals living on plants high in antimicrobial secondary metabolites could, via drift or selection, evolve weakened immune defenses and an immunological dependence on the antimicrobial properties of their plant substrate and/or the volatile mix in the air surrounding their plant. Animals experience immunological stress

In the field of developmental biology, there is compelling evidence for a network of activity of pluripotency and stem-associated genes comprising of Oct4, Nanog and nestin. During neurogenesis, the choice between enhancement versus suppression of transcriptional modulation of these identified genes determines the balance between self-renewal neural stem cells (NSC) and immature neuronal phenotype

With the expanding armamentarium of noninsulin therapies for type 2 diabetes mellitus, the use of insulin with various oral agents is becoming more common. In this study, we assessed the efficacy and cardiovascular (CV) safety of the dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitor linagliptin as add-on to insulin in patients with type 2 diabetes.

Using a newly developed in vivo model measuring glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) in gut lymphatics in mice, we quantified GLP-1 secretion in vivo after glucose versus fat ingestion with and without concomitant DPP-4 inhibition. The mesenteric lymphatic duct was cannulated in anesthetized C57BL6/J mice and lymph was collected in 30min intervals. Glucose or fat emulsion (Intralipid(R)) (0.03, 0.1 or

In this paper, we report on measurements of bremsstrahlung in laser ion acceleration experiments from ultra-thin, polymer-based target foils. The influence of laser polarization on the generated radiation, the maximum achievable proton energy and the total proton number is investigated. A clear benefit in terms of radiation reduction by the use of circular polarized light can be observed. At the s