A numerical and experimental study has been carried out on the heat transfer and fluid flow in two types of welded plate heat exchangers (PHEs). A new approach providing a proper clearance between two adjacent corrugated plates is proposed to improve the mesh quality around the contact points. The clearance value and the influence on the mesh quality and computational results are carefully studied

Context. The Galactic bulge is an intriguing and significant part of our Galaxy, but it is hard to observe because it is both distant and covered by dust in the disk. Therefore, there are not many high-resolution optical spectra of bulge stars with large wavelength coverage, whose determined abundances can be compared with nearby, similarly analyzed stellar samples. Aims. We aim to determine the d

Quantum chemical calculations for two TiO2 nanoparticle cluster models (rutile–(TiO2)n with n = 20, and anatase–(TiO2)n with n = 92), selected to represent different nanoparticle size regimes, are used to elucidate structural influences on the electronic properties. Structural and electronic properties were obtained using a variety of computational methods and structure optimisation schemes, inclu

The Haemophilus surface fibril (Hsf) is an unusually large trimeric autotransporter adhesin (TAA) expressed by the most virulent strains of H. influenzae. Hsf is known to mediate adhesion between pathogen and host, allowing the establishment of potentially deadly diseases such as epiglottitis, meningitis and pneumonia. While recent research has suggested that this TAA might adopt a novel 'hairpin

Context. Determining elemental abundances of bulge stars can, via chemical evolution modeling, help to understand the formation and evolution of the bulge. Recently there have been claims both for and against the bulge having a different [α/Fe] versus [Fe/H] trend as compared to the local thick disk. This could possibly indicate a faster, or at least different, formation timescale of the bulge as

The world of information is literally at one’s fingertips, allowing access to previously unimaginable amounts of data, thanks to advances in wireless communication. The growing demand for high speed data has necessitated theuse of wider bandwidths, and wireless technologies such as Multiple-InputMultiple-Output (MIMO) have been adopted to increase spectral efficiency.These advanced communication t

Tropical forest productivity is sustained by the cycling of nutrients through decomposing organic matter. Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi play a key role in the nutrition of tropical trees, yet there has been little experimental investigation into the role of AM fungi in nutrient cycling via decomposing organic material in tropical forests. We evaluated the responses of AM fungi in a long-term l

In a sample data system we are essentially restricted to control signals which are constant over the sampling interval. The purpose of this report is to analyze the effect of this restriction. The situation where the admissible control signals are piecewise continuous is used as a reference case and the problem is approached from a variational formulation of the control problem where the object of

Herein we present a chimeric recombinant spider silk protein (spidroin) whose aqueous solubility equals that of native spider silk dope and a spinning device that is based solely on aqueous buffers, shear forces and lowered pH. The process recapitulates the complex molecular mechanisms that dictate native spider silk spinning and is highly efficient; spidroin from one liter of bacterial shake-flas

Background: Homeobox genes are master regulators of cell fate during embryonic development and their expression is altered in cancer. By regulating the balance between cell proliferation and differentiation, they maintain homeostasis of normal tissues. Here, we screened the expression of homeobox genes in mammary stem cells to establish their role in stem cells transformation in breast cancer. Met

BACKGROUND: Activated protein C (APC) inhibits coagulation by degrading activated factor V (FVa) and factor VIII (FVIIIa), protein S (PS) functioning as a cofactor to APC.METHODS: By mutagenesis of the vitamin K-dependent Gla domain of APC, we have recently created an APC variant having enhanced anticoagulant activity due to increased affinity for negatively charged phospholipid membranes. In the

Causal relations between knowledge-intensive business services and regional employment growth. Regional Studies. This paper studies the causal relations between regional employment growth in knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) and overall regional employment growth using German labour-market data for 1999–2012. Adopting a recently developed technique, it uses a structural vector autoregre

The integrated system is subdivided into five systems -- production planning, production supervising, process control, quality control and reporting. This report deals with quality control and presents the system for sampling and testing and the mathematical models used to describe the variations in quality variables. The design of estimators, predictors and interpolators using Kalman’s method is

In this paper, we show how to consistently price cash settled Internal Rate of Return (IRR)-swaptions and derivatives on these contracts. There are several results worth highlighting. First, if we know at what fixed coupon an IRR-swap values to par, we can compute the price of any IRR-swaption in a way consistent with absence of arbitrage. We show that this fixed coupon, denoted the IRR-forward, c

The study analyzed the situational characteristics of 112 incidents where police used firearms to handle high threat situations. Most shooting incidents emanated from usually uneventful tasks, e.g., handling burglaries or disturbances. The assailants were commonly armed with firearms (26%), sharp (27%) or blunt objects (10%). The incidents were regularly short-lasting (in 39% were shots fired ≤3 s

During the 1970s, pornographic magazines that envisioned the Finnish man sovereignly enjoying sexual pleasures in Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union, the Middle East, and the Far East became extremely popular in Finland. In this article it is argued that pornographic magazines functioned as geographical as well as sexual maps; through the medium of magazines, Finnish readers were educated to think o

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICPI), such as ipilimumab [anti-cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen-4 (CTLA-4) antibody] and nivolumab or pembrolizumab [anti-programmed cell death protein-1 (PD-1) antibodies], improve survival in several cancer types. Since inhibition of CTLA-4 or PD-1 leads to non-selective activation of the immune system, immune-related adverse events (irAEs) are frequent. Enterocoliti

Preclinical studies suggest that stem cell therapy (SCT) may improve sensorimotor recovery after stroke. Upper extremity motor impairment (UEMI) is common after stroke, often entailing substantial disability. To evaluate the feasibility of post-stroke UEMI as a target for SCT, we examined a selected sample of stroke patients potentially suitable for SCT, aiming to assess the frequency and recovery