With an increased awareness of the detrimental effects of corruption on development, strategies to fight it are now a top priority in policy circles. Yet, in countries ridden with systemic corruption, few successes have resulted from the investment. On the basis of an interview study conducted in Kenya and Uganda—two arguably typically thoroughly corrupt countries—we argue that part of an explanat

Abstract in UndeterminedA series of six fully aromatic ionomers with precisely sequenced sulfonated sites along the polymer chains have been designed, prepared and characterized as proton-exchange membranes. Two straight-forward and efficient synthetic strategies based on Ullmann ether reactions and a Baeyer-Villiger rearrangement were devised to obtain bisphenol monomers with four or six phenylen

Abstract in UndeterminedThe cepstrum of a random process has proven to be a useful tool in a wide range of applications. The common cepstrum estimator based on the periodogram suffers from large variance, and, to a smaller degree, from bias. The variance can be reduced by smoothing. However, the smoothing may be performed in four different domains: the covariance, the spectral, the log-spectral, a

Glypicans are cell-surface heparan sulfate proteoglycans that regulate developmental signaling pathways by binding growth factors to their heparan sulfate chains. The primary structures of glypican core proteins contain potential N-glycosylation sites, but the importance of N-glycosylation in glypicans has never been investigated in detail. Here, we studied the role of the possible N-glycosylation

We present a comprehensive analysis of autoionization processes in Ne clusters (similar to 5000 atoms) after multiple valence excitations by free electron laser radiation. The evolution from 2-body interatomic Coulombic decay (ICD) to 3-body ICD is demonstrated when changing from surface to bulk Frenkel exciton excitation. Super Coster-Kronig type 2-body ICD is observed at Wannier exciton which qu

A search for flavour-changing neutral current decays of a top quark to an up-type quark (q = u; c) and the Standard Model Higgs boson, where the Higgs boson decays to b (b) over bar, is presented. The analysis searches for top quark pair events in which one top quark decays to W b, with the W boson decaying leptonically, and the other top quark decays to Hq. The search is based on pp collisions at

In two experiments, repeated runs of a continuous recognition task were employed to assess healthy participants' ability to handle interference from irrelevant emotional and neutral memories. Presumably, such interference can be due to salience from either emotional or mnemonic processing. In both experiments, participants made more false alarms to emotional faces that were familiar from preceding

Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) studies of monolayer of metal-free phthalocyanine (H2Pc) adsorbed on Au(111) have shown ordered arrangement of the molecules on the surface. Evaporation of H2Pc onto the Au(111) surface and post annealing of the sample to 670 K results in a densely packed structure of the molecules. The monolayer is characterized by molecules adsorbed with the molecular plane pa

BACKGROUND: Activated protein C (APC) inhibits factor Va (FVa) by cleaving at Arg306, Arg506 and Arg679. Protein S serves as cofactor, in particular for the Arg306 site, and a protein S-mediated relocation of the active site of APC closer to the membrane has been proposed as a mechanism. Recently, it was demonstrated that FVa, which was mutated at all three APC-cleavage sites (FVa-306Q/506Q/679Q),

OBJECTIVES: Non-heart-beating donation (NHBD) has the potential to increase the number of patients treated with lung transplantation. Our study investigated, in a simulated clinical situation in the uncontrolled NHBD setting, whether or not heparin administration after death affects the donor lung function. METHODS: Twelve Swedish domestic pigs underwent ventricular fibrillation and were left unto

Current and recent struggles encountered in the development of the transport biofuels sector indicate a significant change in the perception of biofuels. Instead of a win-win solution, transport biofuels have become a major planning challenge. In fact, biofuels can be labelled a wicked problem. The planning studies literature offers some tools to interpret this change and guide future actions. Fir

Regulatory frameworks within the European Union demand that chemical substances are investigated for their ability to induce sensitization, an adverse health effect caused by the human immune system in response to chemical exposure. A recent ban on the use of animal tests within the cosmetics industry has led to an urgent need for alternative animal-free test methods that can be used for assessmen

To compare structural knee joint changes in obese patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA) that after an intensive weight loss therapy were randomized to continuous dietetic support, a specialized knee exercise program, or 'no attention' for 1 year.

For the first time, we report remote excitation polarization-dependent surface photochemical reaction by plasmonic waveguide. Remote excitation polarization-dependent surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectra indicate a surface photochemical reaction that p-aminothiophenol is converted to p,p'-dimercaptoazobenzene (DMAB) induced by the plasmonic waveguide. Surface plasmon polaritons generat

InP core-shell nanowire pn-junctions doped with Zn and Sn have been investigated in terms of growth morphology and shell carrier concentration. The carrier concentrations were evaluated using spatially resolved Hall effect measurements and show improved homogeneity compared to previous investigations, attributed to the use of Sn as the n-type dopant. Anisotropies in the growth rate of different fa

We use a nested-grid version of the GEOS-Chem chemistry transport model, constrained by isoprene emissions from the Model of Emissions of Gases and Aerosols from Nature (MEGAN), and the Lund-Potsdam-Jena General Ecosystem Simulator (LPJ-GUESS) bottom-up inventories, to evaluate the impact that surface isoprene emissions have on formaldehyde (HCHO) air-mass factors (AMFs) and vertical column densit

Pb2+ complexes can attain several different topologies, depending of the shape of the Pb 6s6p lone pair. In this paper, we study structures with a bisdirected Pb lone pair with quantum mechanics (DFT) and QM/MM calculations. We study small symmetric Pb2+ models to see what factors are needed to get a bisdirected lone pair. Two important mechanisms have been found: First, the repulsion of the lone

ESS will be a premier neutron source facility. Unprecedented neutron beam intensities are ensured by spallation reactions of a 5 MW, 2.0 GeV proton beam impinging on a tungsten target equipped with advanced moderators. The work presented here aims at investigating possibilities for installing an ultra cold neutron (UCN) source at the ESS. One consequence of using the recently proposed flat moderat

Policy-makers apply multiple policy instruments simultaneously in the climate and energy policy field at both EU and Member State levels. This creates interactions between instruments that can be complementary and synergistic but also conflicting. This article focuses on the interactions of climate policy instruments and their impact on biomass use. The objectives are to examine interactions of th

There is a strong genetic predisposition towards abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA), but it is unknown whether persons without AAA but with first-degree relatives who are AAA patients have a generalized dilating diathesis, defect arterial wall mechanics, or increased cardiovascular risk. The aim of the study was to investigate arterial diameters and wall mechanics at multiple arterial sites in these