Several studies of meteorites show that a large disruption of an asteroid occurred ca. 470 Ma in our solar system's asteroid belt. As a consequence, a large number of meteorite impacts occurred on Earth during the following few million years. The finding and characterization, for the first time, of planar deformation features in quartz grains from rocks collected at the Middle Ordovician Hummeln s

Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis are chronic inflammatory disorders of the gastrointestinal tract, and are collectively referred to as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). IBD is a major cause of lifetime morbidity, has a severe impact on quality of life of patients (equivalent to that of rheumatoid arthritis, asthma, migraine, or diabetes) and constitutes a substantial economic burden to the h

A common view is that an individual delinquent can be rehabilitated in a “home” in the countryside, away from his or her original urban social ties. An ironic result is new social ties with other juvenile delinquents as they spend a considerable amount of time together at a secluded institution. Drawing on ethnographic studies in residential care institutions, this article discusses two aspects to

The removal of particulate fine fractions by a proper high-temperature cleaning device is a very important issue in the development of the biorefinery concept. Therefore, in this investigation, particles from a 100 kW(th) steam-O-2 blown circulating fluidized-bed (CFB) gasifier were sampled and characterized. The sampling was performed with a specially designed heated dilution probe downstream of

Background: Worldwide, insulin-dependent type 1 diabetes is one of the most frequently diagnosed long-term endocrine disorders found in children and the incidences of this diseased is still increasing. In Sweden the routines are, according to national guidelines, when the child is diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, the child and its family remains at the hospital for about two weeks. There is limited

We present an existence and stability theory for gravity-capillary solitary waves with constant vorticity on the surface of a body of water of finite depth. Exploiting a rotational version of the classical variational principle, we prove the existence of a minimizer of the wave energy H subject to the constraint I = 2 mu, where I is the wave momentum and 0 < mu

It has often been argued that money and modern monetary economies have occasioned a comprehensive rationalisation of society. Money has often been viewed as being socially destructive, while it is said that the modern monetary economy has had inescapable consequences for society, culture, and people’s daily lives. This thesis considers the introduction of computerised systems for handling digital

Background: Inherited BRCA1 and BRCA2 (BRCA1/2) mutations confer elevated breast cancer risk. Knowledge of factors that can improve breast cancer risk assessment in BRCA1/2 mutation carriers may improve personalized cancer prevention strategies. Methods: A cohort of 5,546 BRCA1 and 2,865 BRCA2 mutation carriers was used to evaluate risk of breast cancer associated with BARD1 Cys557Ser. In a second

Arthropod predators and detritivores are among the first colonisers on land surfaces undergoing primary succession. In the absence of higher plants and herbivores, they may either have an allochthonous food source (i.e. of geographically distant origin) or local food source that is sustained by e.g. microorganisms. By studying spiders and collembolans on sites along chronosequences on recently eme

A new species, Ovealmbornia reginae from South Africa, is described, illustrated and compared with related species. A combined phylogenetic data set based on ITS and 28S nrLSU and 12S mtSSU sequences of the genera in the Dufourea clade is provided, (i. e. the genera Dufourea, Jackelixia, Langeottia, Ovealmbornia and Xanthokarrooa). Corrections of GenBank data for the genus Ovealmbornia and a key t

We have prepared and studied a new class of anion conducting membrane materials functionalized with N-spirocyclic quaternary ammonium (QA) cations formed via cyclo-quaternization reactions involving pyrrolidine, piperidine and azepane, respectively. These groups were introduced in pairs, adjoined through fused phenyl rings along poly(arylene ether sulfone) backbones. Despite their bulkiness, the b

Effects of dynamic ultra-high pressure homogenisation (UHPH) on the micro-and macrostructure of whey protein-depleted milk concentrate solutions with different mineral concentrations (5.0, 7.5, 10.0%, w/w), pH (5.8, 6.2, 6.6) and amount of added sodium chloride (0, 1.5, 3.0%, w/w) were investigated. Significantly increased viscosity was observed in samples at pH 5.8 without added NaCl and with UHP

The innate immune system in humans has succeeded in developing numerous mechanisms against the injurious effects of bacteria, along with their toxins as a result of several thousand years of co-evolution. The oral mucosal surface represents such a unique environment, where despite being constantly exposed to microbes and their products, overt infection and damage is a rarity. An important componen

Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) remains one of the most common cancers in the US, with survival dependent on the type and stage of disease. B-cell lymphomas account for similar to 85% of all cases of NHL, and are commonly treated with chemotherapy, or monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) that t arget CD20 antigens on the surface of malignant tumors. The use of mAbs, either as single agents or in combination wi

The role of G alpha i proteins coupled to chemokine receptors in directed migration of immune cells is well understood. In this study we show that the separate class of G alpha q/11 proteins is required for the underlying ability of T cells to migrate both randomly and in a directed chemokine-dependent manner. Interfering with G alpha q or G alpha 11 using dominant negative cDNA constructs or siRN

Using first-principles total energy calculations we have found complex defects induced by N incorporation in GaAsN. The formation energy of the Ga interstitial atom is very significantly decreased due to local effects within the defect complex. The stability of the Ga interstitials is further increased at surfaces. The present results suggest that the energetically favorable Ga interstitial atoms

Adopting the hypothesis about the exact cancellation of vacuum condensates contributions to the ground state energy in particle physics to the leading order in graviton-mediated interactions, we argue that the observable cosmological constant can be dynamically induced by an uncompensated quantum gravity correction to them after the QCD phase transition epoch. To start with, we demonstrate a possi

This work deals with electro-viscoelastic modelling and simulation of dielectric elastomer actuators (DEA), including the case of deformation dependent electromechanical coupling. A large deformation modelling framework is adopted, and specific thermo- dynamically consistent material models are established. The general framework is applied to VHB49 polyacrylic polymers which are commonly used in D