A laboratory study was executed to investigate the effect of surfactants to enhance sorption of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) contaminants in loess soil. Phenanthrene and naphthalene were chosen as organic contaminant indicators in loess soil modi. fied by the cation surfactant hexadecyltrimethylammonium (HDTMA) bromide. The kinetic behavior of sorption during transport in natural and modi

Organic dementia is dominated by primary degenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD). FTD is a distinct clinical syndrome with behavioural, personality, emotional and language disturbances preceding the cognitive decline. This clinical presentation is distinctly different from that of AD which is characterized by early cognitive changes, such as memory

Allergic rhinitis is an inflammatory nasal disorder in which a range of different cells participates. A variety of approaches has been used to monitor nasal inflammation objectively to investigate disease processes and to evaluate the effect of therapeutic intervention. These approaches include nasal lavage, nasal cytology, and nasal biopsy, together with the more recently established measurement

In this paper we analyze the performance of three low-complexity channel estimators, based on the discrete Fourier transform (DFT), for orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) systems. Estimators of this type have been analyzed for discrete-time channels, and we extend this analysis to continuous-time channels. We present analytical expressions for their mean-squared error (MSE) and eval

In this study, macroscopic and spectroscopic data were combined to develop a surface complexation model that describes the acid-base properties of Bacillus subtilis. The bacteria were freeze-dried and then resuspended in 0.1 M NaCl ionic medium. Macroscopic measurements included potentiometric acid-base titrations and electrophoretic mobility measurements. In addition, ATR-FTIR spectra of wet past

Water balances for a re-vegetated xerophyte shrub (Caragana korshinskii) area were compared to that of a bare surface area by using auto-weighing type lysimeters during the 1990-1995 growing seasons at the southeast Tengger Desert, Shapotou, China. The six-year experiment displayed how major daily water balance components might vary for a bare and a re-vegetated sand dune area. Evapotranspiration

The relative strength of different types of directional selection has seldom been compared directly in natural populations. A recent meta-analysis of phenotypic selection studies in natural populations suggested that directional sexual selection may be stronger in magnitude than directional natural selection, although this pattern may have partly been confounded by the different time scales over w

Traditional measures for improved traffic safety need to be complemented by modern technologies in the struggle to reduce the consequences of traffic accidents all over the world. This thesis introduces the Loyal Speed Adaptation (LSA) function based on recent developments in the area of Intelligent Transport Sys-tems to support the vehicle drivers in not using inappropriate or excessive speeds, w

OBJECTIVES: To study the prevalence of symptoms from the eyes and the upper and lower respiratory tract, lung function, and immunological sensitisation towards isocyanates in pipelayers exposed to thermal degradation products from methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI)-based polyurethane (PUR). MATERIAL AND METHODS: 50 presently active and 113 formerly active pipelayers were examined. Also, 65 unex

Cystatins regulate tumour-associated cysteine proteases, however, their role in tumour progression is not clear yet. To assess their relevance in the progression of nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) the protein level, cysteine protease activity (CPI) and localization of type I (stefins A and B) and type H (C, E/M and F) cystatins were defined in tumours and control lung counterparts from 165 patie

We tested the hypothesis that populations in small habitat fragments remaining in agricultural landscapes are maintained by repeated immigration, using three grassland butterflies (Aphantopus hyperantus, Coenonympha pamphilus and Maniola jurtina). Transect counts in 12 matched sets of semi-natural pastures, and linear habitat elements proximate and isolated from the pastures showed that population

The sand-steppe is a vegetation type mainly found in the southern Baltic region on calcareous sand dominated by vascular plants such as Koeleria glauca, Dianthus arenarius ssp. arenarius and Astragalus arenarius. Eighty-eight plots representing most sand-steppe sites in Scania, southernmost Sweden, were analyzed with respect to bryophytes, pH and exchangeable phosphate in the topsoil. The most com

We assessed the prevalence of families with both type 1 and type 2 diabetes in Finland; and we studied, in patients with type 2 diabetes, the association between a family history of type 1 diabetes, glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) antibodies (GADab), and type 1 diabetes-associated human leukocyte antigen (HLA) DQB1-genotypes. Further, in mixed type 1/type 2 diabetes families, we investigated whe