Desludging is considered a key step in urban sanitation improvement. Nevertheless, in most urban unplanned settlements, desludging is performed in an unhygienic manner, risking public health. This study used a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods to analyse the underlying factors for unhygienic desludging in three urban unplanned settlements of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Factors for u

In this paper we study the convex envelopes of a new class of functions. Using this approach, we are able to unify two important classes of regularizers from unbiased non-convex formulations and weighted nuclear norm penalties. This opens up for possibilities of combining the best of both worlds, and to leverage each method’s contribution to cases where simply enforcing one of the regularizers are

För att mildra förlusten av biologisk mångfald i jordbruksmarker, inklusive dess pollinatörer, har många ansträngningar ägnats åt att bevara naturbetesmarker och slåtterängar. Dock är redan förlorade naturbetesmarker och slåtterängar svåra att återställa och kostsamma att hantera för ökade fördelar för biologisk mångfald. Dessutom är idag många marker som tidigare användes till slåtterängar nu betTo mitigate loss of farmland biodiversity, including insect pollinators, much effort has been spent on preserving semi-natural grasslands. However, already lost grasslands are difficult to restore and costly to manage for increased benefits to biodiversity. Previously often mowed semi-natural grasslands are today mostly managed by grazing, resulting in a lack of critical floral resources for many

Osmoderma eremita is a species of beetle that inhabits hollows in ancient trees, which is a habitat that has decreased significantly during the last century. In southeastern Sweden, we studied the metapopulation dynamics of this beetle over a 25 year period, using capture-mark-recapture. The metapopulation size had been rather stable over time, but in most of the individual trees there had been a

Abstract: Annual cycle events may be interlinked, influence following annual cycle stages, and may alter performance of individuals. Such links, called carry-over effects, can explain individual variation in timing or reproductive success in migratory species. Identifying the key links affecting fitness may reveal the mechanisms of species population dynamics but the current evidence for the stron

We report a new design of an acoustophoretic trapping device with greatly increased capacity and throughput, compared to current commercial systems. Acoustic trapping enables nanoparticle and exosome enrichment without the need for ultracentrifugation. The commercial acoustic trapping technology, AcouTrap (AcouSort AB), typically operates at flow rates < 50 μl/min which limits processing of larger

This article presents a political and legal analysis of the emergency brake in criminal law in Articles 82(3) and 83(3) TFEU. It suggests that the emergency brake offers a powerful discretionary prerogative for Member States seeking to protect the integrity of their criminal justice systems. This strong legal shield for Member States in the form of a ‘quasi-veto’ is contrasted with a tendency to d

INTRODUCTION: Renal ETK/BMX activity is reduced in preeclampsia. Systemic RAS has been studied in preeclampsia; the renal RAS has not. None of the proteins in either pathway have previously been located in renal tissue from human pregnancy.OBJECTIVES: To determine renal expression and distribution of proteins involved in the ETK/BMX and RAS pathways in normal and preeclamptic pregnancy.METHODS: Li

INTRODUCTION: Vascular endothelial growth factors (VEGF's) are essential to angiogenesis and play a central role in the pathophysiology of preeclampsia. Specifically, antagonists of VEGFR2 cause a preeclampsia-like syndrome, in humans and rats[1]. ETK/BMX is a receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) which induces VEGF expression and forms a complex with VEGFR2, whereby VEGF and TNF can induce a reciprocal

Fluid anomalies were often considered as possible precursors before earthquakes. However, fluid properties at the surface can change for a variety of reasons, including environmental changes near the surface, the response of the superficial fluid system to loads associated with the mechanical nucleation of earthquake fractures, or as a result of transients in fluid flow from the depths. A key prob

This thesis consists of four papers that broadly concerns two dierent topics. The rsttopic is so-called barycentric Markov processes. By a barycentric Markov process wemean a process that consists of a point/particle system evolving in (discrete) time,whose evolution depends in some way on the mean value of the current points in thesystem. In common for the three rst papers which are on this topicThis thesis consists of four papers that broadly concerns two dierent topics. The rsttopic is so-called barycentric Markov processes. By a barycentric Markov process wemean a process that consists of a point/particle system evolving in (discrete) time,whose evolution depends in some way on the mean value of the current points in thesystem. In common for the three rst papers which are on this topic

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) is offered to an increasing number of breast cancer (BC) patients, and comprehensive monitoring of treatment response is of utmost importance. Several imaging modalities are available to follow tumor response, although likely to provide different clinical information. We aimed to examine the association between early radiological response by three conventional imagi

Background: The textile dye mix (TDM) 6.6% pet. contains Disperse Blue (DB) 35, Disperse Yellow 3, Disperse Orange (DO) 1 and 3, Disperse Red 1 and 17, and DB 106 and 124. The most frequent allergen in TDM-positive patients is DO 3. Around 85% of p-phenylenediamine (PPD)-allergic dermatitis patients have shown positive patch test reactions to DO 3. There has been a discussion to exclude DO 3 from

Data presented during the first two decades of this millennium has shed valuable light on how the intraocular pressure (IOP) is linked to glaucomatous progression. Large prospective controlled trials have confirmed that there is a correlation between the change in intraocular pressure (IOP) and the risk for visual field progression. The magnitude of the effect, as indicated by these studies, is a

The success of an evidence-based intervention depends on precise and accurate evaluation of available data and information. Here, the use of robust methods for evidence evaluation is important. Epidemiology, in its conventional form, relies on statistics and mathematics to draw inferences on disease dynamics in affected populations. Interestingly, most of the data used tend to have spatial aspects