Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common form of arthritis and often causes pain and functional impairment. Despite its high burden on society, knowledge about the occurrence of OA and its associated mortality is sparse. The epidemiology of OA is difficult to determine due to the patients’ fluctuating symptoms and challenges in detecting and defining the radiographic disease. The specific aims of th

The submonolayer adsorption of Na, K, Rb, and Cs on the Al(111) surface at 100 K and at room temperature is investigated by high resolution core level spectroscopy and low energy electron diffraction. It is found that the first alkali atoms on the surface adsorb at surface defects. At higher coverages, up to approximately one third of the maximum submonolayer coverage, alkali atoms adsorbed at def

The essay aims to set out some principles along which church buildings can be investigated as ecclesiological statements. It begins by considering the symbolic nature of all buildings and the general difficulties involved in interpreting them. Then it tackles the more specific difficulties involved in reading churches as ecclesiological statements. The last question considered is why not all churc

We present a widely scalable, high temperature post-growth annealing method for converting ultra-thin films of TiO2 grown by atomic layer deposition to topographically microstructured titanium silicide (TiSi). The photoemission electron microscopy results reveal that the transformation from TiO2 to TiSi at 950 °C proceeds via island formation. Inside the islands, TiO2 reduction and Si diffusion pl

We are developing a tabletop apparatus for time-resolved X-ray absorption spectroscopy. Short X-ray pulses are generated by focusing a pulsed 800 nm laser onto a water jet target. X-rays that pass through a sample of interest are detected using energy-resolving superconducting microcalorimeter detectors. We have successfully observed EXAFS features from iron tris(bipyridine) in a water solution. W

Recent advances in information technologies and an increased environmental awareness have altered the prerequisites for successful logistics. For companies operating on a global market, inventory control of distribution systems is often an essential part of their logistics planning. In this context, the research objective of this thesis is: To develop exact methods for stochastic inventory control

A new subspecies of Anthanassa drusilla, ssp rioverde, is described from Minas Gerais, Southeastern Brazil. This new subspecies is isolated from all odier known subspecies of A. drusilla by at least 2000 km, and its closest taxon based on wing pattern is Anthanassa drusilla higginsi, from Cerro Neblina, Venezuela. To our knowledge, the species is endemic to the region of Pogos de Caldas Plateau (M