Homogeneous alcoholic isotropic solutions (L-2 phases) of "complex salts'' of hexadecyltrimethylammonium neutralized by polyacrylate CTAPA(n) (n = 30 or 6000), in the presence of water were examined at 25 degrees C by means of small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), rheology and NMR self-diffusion measurements for different n-alcohols (octanol, hexanol and butanol) and at varying water contents. The

The purpose of this study is to further understand the relationship between purchasing strategies practiced by less-powerful buyers and their purchasing power. Drawn on the resource dependency theory, a two-way relationship was predicted where power is both a cause and an effect. The theoretical predictions were then explored in a multiple-case study in the context of vaccine procurement for devel

Open Source Software (OSS) created a paradigm shift within the software engineering field prompting further research to understand how mature, industry grade, software can be produced in an online milieu with distributed and lightly managed developers contributing source code in their free time. The OSS has become also a major revenue generator for many commercial organizations, and has found its

HAMLET (Human alphalactalbumin made lethal to tumor cells), a complex between the partially unfolded alphalactalbumin and oleic acid, was discovered by serendipity when anti-adhesive properties of human milk were examined. HAMLET kills tumor cells but not healthy differentiated cells. Native alphalactalbumin (HLA) can be conveted to HAMLET by a two-step process including: 1) calcium ion removal in

Objective: Occupational workload has been associated with an increased risk of osteoarthritis. The objective was to further examine the association between workload and occurrence of osteoarthritis and in particular to study whether heavy workload has similar importance as a causative factor for osteoarthritis of the hip and knee. Methods: In a cohort study, the authors investigated the incidence

A new type of hemispherical electron energy analyzer that permits angle and spin resolved photoelectron spectroscopy has been developed. The analyzer permits standard angle resolved spectra to be recorded with a two-dimensional detector in parallel with spin detection using a mini-Mott polarimeter. General design considerations as well as technical solutions are discussed and test results from the

An acoustic trap with miniaturized integrated transducers (MITs) for applications in non-contact trapping of cells or particles in a microfluidic channel was characterized by measuring the temperature increase and trapping strength. The fluid temperature was measured by the fluorescent response of Rhodamine B in the microchannel. The trapping strength was measured by the area of a trapped particle

In the Brassicaceae plant family, which includes the Arabidopsis and Brassica genera, self-incompatibility (SI) is controlled by genes at the S locus. Using experimental crosses, we studied the pattern of inheritance of S-locus alleles in the wild species Brassica cretica. Four full-sib families were established and unequal segregation of alleles at the SRK SI gene was found in one family. The seg

The incretin - glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) - and the pro-inflammatory cytokine osteopontin are known to have important roles in the regulation of adipose tissue functions. In this work we show that GIP stimulates lipogenesis and osteopontin expression in primary adipocytes. The GIP-induced increase in osteopontin expression was inhibited by the NFAT (the transcription factor

The objective of this study was to explain the contribution of lower extremity muscle activity to gait kinetic and kinematic adaptations for maintaining gait dynamic balance when walking on an inclined icy surface and the biomechanical mechanisms used to counteract slip risk. A two-way factorial experimental design was applied. The two independent variables were the walkway surface (ice and treadm

Background: Therapeutic fluids used in intensive care can have profound effects on coagulation, not only by dilution itself but also by other more complicated interactions. The aim of this in vitro study was to monitor the extent of dilutive coagulopathy induced by the most common therapeutic fluids and to attempt normalization of haemostasis by fibrinogen addition. Methods: 8 patients were re

Detailed understanding of biological systems governing specific mechanisms and pathways is essential in the development of novel disease therapies. Stimulus-secretion coupling in hormone secreting cells is a complex system of pathways that link activation of cellular processes by i.e. nutrients to the release of hormone. Stimulus-secretion coupling in the insulin secreting beta-cell is intensely r

We use three-flavour hard pion Chiral Perturbation Theory (HPChPT) in both the heavy meson and a relativistic formulation to calculate the chiral logarithms m(2) log (m(2)/mu(2)) contributing to the formfactors of the B-(s) -> pi, K, eta and D-(s) -> pi, K, eta transitions at momentum transfer q(2) away from the endpoint q(max)(2) = (m(B) - m(M))(2). We compare our results with CLEO D -> pi and D

Understanding the relationships between climate and carbon exchange by terrestrial ecosystems is critical to predict future levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide because of the potential accelerating effects of positive climate-carbon cycle feedbacks. However, directly observed relationships between climate and terrestrial CO2 exchange with the atmosphere across biomes and continents are lacking. H

There has been extensive research about single link multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) channels, both simulated and measured, but only a few studies have targeted multilink analysis with measured channel data. Hence, in this presented report, the authors analyse the influence of spatial separation of user terminals and the human shadowing effect on the MIMO capacity and on the signal-to-interfe

Cationic liposome-DNA (CL-DNA) complexes, are regarded as promising materials for safe and efficient delivery of genes for therapeutical applications. In order to be used in vivo, these complexes may be coated with a hydrophilic polymer (e.g. polyethylene-glycol, PEG) that provides steric stabilization towards adhesion of proteins and removal by the immune system. In this work we study the influen

Direct electron transfer reactions of Bacillus halodurans bacterial multicopper oxidase on bare spectrographic graphite, as well as bare and thiol-modified gold electrodes were studied using cyclic voltammetry, potentiometry, amperometry, and spectroelectrochemistry. The redox potential of the T1 site of the enzyme was measured using mediatorless redox titration and found to be 325 mV +/- 10 mV vs

Theoretical investigations of the hyperfine quenching of the two metastable levels 1s(2)2s(2)2p(6)3s3p P-3(0) and P-3(2) have been performed along the magnesium-like iso-electronic sequence ranging from Z = 12 to Z = 31. It is shown that the lifetime of the latter level is sensitive to hyperfine quenching in the beginning of the sequence, but that this sensitivity decreases going to higher Z. It i

The sub-cell-fix (SCF) method proposed by Russo and Smereka(3) computes the distance function of the cells adjacent to the zero level-set without disturbing the original zero level-set. A modified sub-cell-fix scheme independent of local curvature is developed in this paper, which makes use of a combination of the points adjacent to zero level-set surfaces and preserves the interface in a second-o