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Surface deterioration of concrete occurs at the waterline of many hydraulic structures in contact with soft water in cold regions. Progressive disintegration of the surface leads to exposure of the coarse aggregate and ultimately of the reinforcing steel. Mechanical, physical and chemical processes could cause deterioration of concrete at the waterline. The objective of this study was to investiga
Background A survey of the understory bryophytes in the Nectandra Cloud Forest Preserve yielded 1083 specimens distributed among 55 families, represented by 74 genera of mosses, 75 genera of liverworts and 3 of hornworts. We studied and analyzed the bryophytic distribution on six types of substrates: 1) corticolous, 2) epiphyllous, 3) saxicolous, 4) terricolous, 5) aquatic and 6) lignicolous. The
Background: When discontinuation in COPD randomized controlled trials (RCTs) is unevenly distributed between treatments (differential dropout), the capacity to demonstrate treatment effects may be reduced. We investigated the impact of the time of differential dropout on exacerbation outcomes in RCTs, in relation to study duration and COPD severity. Methods: A post hoc analysis of 2,345 patients f
Oceans dominate emissions of dimethyl sulfide (DMS), the major natural sulfur source. DMS is important for the formation of non-sea salt sulfate (nss-SO42−) aerosols and secondary particulate matter over oceans and thus, significantly influence global climate. The mechanism of DMS oxidation has accordingly been investigated in several different model studies in the past. However, these studies had
The development of transparent accounting is often theoretically linked with the development of financial markets. In this paper we argue that such an understanding of transparent accounting does not necessarily consider the temporality of the historical context where transparent accounting is invented. To illustrate this argument we empirically investigate the raise of transparent accounting in S
The specific way the Athenians set up their democracy presents both theoretical and empirical challenges. Decisions were taken by majority vote in the Assembly. To keep politicians in line, the Athenians first used ostracism, which however was replaced by the graphe paranomon around 415 BCE. The latter provided that anybody who had made a proposal in the Assembly could be accused of having made an
The modified nucleoside 2-methylthio-N-6-isopentenyl adenosine (ms(2)i(6)A) is present in position 37 (adjacent to and 3' of the anticodon) of tRNAs that read codons beginning with U except tRNA(I,V)(Ser) in Escherichia coli, In Salmonella typhimurium , 2-methylthio-N-6-(cis-hydroxy)isopentenyl adenosine (ms(2)io(6)A; also referred to as 2-methylthio cis-ribozeatin) is found in tRNA, most likely i
Context. Determination of absolute parallaxes by means of a scanning astrometric satellite such as Hipparcos or Gaia relies on the short-term stability of the so-called basic angle between the two viewing directions. Uncalibrated variations of the basic angle may produce systematic errors in the computed parallaxes. Aims. We examine the coupling between a global parallax shift and specific variati
Measurements of the electroweak production of a W boson in association with two jets at high dijet invariant mass are performed using s= 7 and 8 TeV proton–proton collision data produced by the Large Hadron Collider, corresponding respectively to 4.7 and 20.2 fb- 1 of integrated luminosity collected by the ATLAS detector. The measurements are sensitive to the production of a W boson via a triple-g
New nanoarchitectures can be built from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) by exploiting the capability of some metal surfaces for inducing cyclodehydrogenation reactions. This bottom-up approach allows the formation of nanostructures with a different dimensionality from the same precursor as a consequence of the diffusion and coupling of the PAHs adsorbed on the surface. In this work we pres
Solvent effects on the decomposition of formic acid over a Co(111) surface were studied via density functional theory calculations combined with a continuum implicit solvation model. The solvents used here were water, methanol, and acetone. The adsorption energies of key intermediates, the activation barriers and the rate and equilibrium constants of various elementary reactions in vacuum and in t
In the present study, the daily dose in terms of particle surface area received by citizens living in five cities in Western countries, characterized by different lifestyle, culture, climate and built-up environment, was evaluated and compared. For this purpose, the exposure to sub-micron particle concentration levels of the population living in Barcelona (Spain), Cassino (Italy), Guilford (United
Background Postural asymmetries with seating problems are common in adults with cerebral palsy. Aims To analyse the prevalence of asymmetrical limited hip flexion (<90°) in adults with CP, and to evaluate the association between asymmetrical limited hip flexion and postural asymmetries in the sitting position. Methods and procedures Cross-sectional data of 714 adults with CP, 16–73 years, GMFCS le
The risk of both predation and food level has been shown to affect phenotypic development of organisms. However, these two factors also influence animal behavior that in turn may influence phenotypic development. Hence, it might be difficult to disentangle the behavioral effect from the predator or resource-level effects. This is because the presence of predators and high resource levels usually r
The present review reports on the influence of alcohol drinking and alcohol use disorders on psychiatric disorders and suicidal behaviour. The base of the study was previous reviews of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism publication Alcohol and Health in 1993 and by Helgason in 1996. Using a defined search strategy in Medline, another 42 articles from 1994 to 1996 were included
The aim of this paper is to contribute to an actantial approach to building type studies through a study of the visitor centre and its role in contemporary spatial production. The article takes its empirical departure in the (from a Swedish perspective) intense urbanization of the Scania region, in the southern part of Sweden. Looking at building types in terms of actants implies that different se
This study examines intellectual arguments present in the public debate on the difficult history of the Polish-Ukrainian borderlands. It focuses primarily on discourses put forth by the Ukrainian (first and foremost, West Ukrainian) party of the dispute. As subordinated to the nation-centric historical accounts, but an increasingly important theme opened for multiple uses, the historical diversity
Manual selection of finger trabecular bone texture regions on hand X-ray images is time-consuming, tedious, and observer-dependent. Therefore, we developed an automated method for the region selection. The method selects square trabecular bone regions of interest above and below the second to fifth distal and proximal interphalangeal joints. Two regions are selected per joint (16 regions per hand)
Cadmium (Cd) pollution poses a risk to human health for its accumulation in soil and crops, but this can be alleviated by calcium (Ca) addition. However, its mechanism remains unclear yet. In this study, Arabidopsis thaliana was used to explore the alleviating effects of Ca on Cd toxicity and its specific function during uptake, upward-translocation, and distribution of Cd. Supplementing plants wi
Recent experiments have suggested that high energy charge carriers can have a significant effect on the operation of group III nitride (III-N) light-emitting diodes (LEDs), possibly playing an important role in the efficiency droop. As hot carriers are not accounted for by device simulation tools based on drift-diffusion (DD) and quasiequilibrium conditions, more advanced tools are needed. Here, f
