In the beginning of the 1990s, the Tunisian Ministry of Agriculture launched an ambitious program for constructing small hillside reservoirs in the northern and-central region of the country. At present, more than 720 reservoirs have been created. They consist of small compacted earth dams supplied with a, horizontal overflow weir. Due to lack of hydrological data and the area's extreme floods, ho

Ultrafast lasers are finding many applications in medicine and biology. Pulses from such systems can be used directly or after non-linear modification. Direct utilisation includes time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy and imaging. Such studies can be performed for tissue diagnosis in the field of malignant diseases as well as in the cardiovascular sector. Two-photon induced fluorescence provides

A systematic assessment of radiotherapy for cancer was conducted by The Swedish Council on Technology Assessment in Health Care (SBU) in 2001. The assessment included a review of radiotherapy techniques in current use in Sweden. The following conclusions were drawn: Radiotherapy demands adequate knowledge of diagnostic methods, anatomy, cancer biology and of the physical and biological properties

The adsorption of modified polyacrylamides (PAM) at the silica surface has been studied by ellipsometry. To study the influence of the type of modification of the polyacrylamide on the adsorption behaviour, we have used cationic, anionic and hydrophobically modified polyacrylamides with varying charge density and degree of hydrophobisation. The adsorbed amount and adsorbed layer thickness were obt

Policy proposals for the management of water resources need to take into account two emerging themes: public involvement in the development of resource use policy and water management on a catchment level. The CATCH-model, a decision support system for catchment-based water management, builds on the use of ‘discourse and deliberation’ within stakeholder groups to define relevant socio-economic par

Background and aim of the study: The study aim was to analyze the relationship between patient-prosthesis mismatch (PPM) and in-hospital complications and mortality after aortic valve replacement (AVR). Methods: AVR was performed in 1,819 patients between January 1996 and July 2006. Follow up investigations were performed after a mean of 4.3 years (range: 0 days to 10.6 years). Univariate and mult

During a 16-year period, 49 children were treated for Wilms' tumor (WT); 7 were bilateral, 5 synchronous and 2 metachronous. The age at primary diagnosis was 6 months to 5 years (mean 2.4 years). All but 1 child received preoperative chemotherapy with tumor reduction. Unilateral nephrectomy was performed in 2 metachronous cases. In 3 synchronous WTs, the tumor was enucleated in 5 kidneys and a hem

Activated protein C (APC) is a serine proteinase that regulates blood coagulation. In plasma it is inhibited mainly by the protein C inhibitor (PCI). The plasma concentrations of APC-PCI complex is increased in hypercoagulative states such as deep venous thrombosis. Formation of the APC-PCI complex induces a drastic conformational change in PCI that exposes new epitopes (neoepitopes) on the molecu

Due to the scarcity of reliable antibodies, RBC typing for Doa and Dob is notoriously difficult. Inaccurate typing can place patients at risk for hemolytic transfusion reactions. The molecular basis of the DOA/DOB polymorphism is associated with three nucleotide changes:378 C>T, 624 T>C,and 793 A>G of DO. While the 378 C>T and 624 T>C are silent mutations, the 793A>G polymorphism in codon 265 enco

Nanoparticles were used as a pseudostationary phase in capillary electrochromatography (CEC) electrospray ionisation-mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) for separation of both neutral analytes by a reversed phase mechanism, as well as for cationic analytes by a cation exchange mechanism. Nanoparticles suspended in electrolyte, were injected as a plug prior to the sample using a partial filling technique (P

This paper outlines a four step effort estimation study and focuses on the first and second step. The four steps are formulated to successively introduce a more formal effort experience base. The objective of the study is to evaluate the needed formalism to improve effort estimation and to study different approaches to record and reuse experiences from effort planning in software projects. In the

The tars from an air-blown pressurized bubbling fluidized bed 90 kW (thermal) pilot biomass gasifier and also from an 18 MW IGCC demonstration plant were analyzed. The accuracy of the sampling method and its advantage/disadvantage was compared with other methods.

Dietary fiber and flavonoids, important components in berries, are suggested to improve metabolic health. This study investigates whether soluble and insoluble fractions isolated from bilberry, black currant, and raspberry affect the formation of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), uptake and excretion of flavonoids, and levels of cholesterol differently. Cecal SCFA pools were higher in rats fed the

Interactions between metals and natural organic matter (NOM) are of great environmental importance and one of the key factors influencing hydrolysis, solubility, and speciation of the metals. However, studying geochemically relevant metals like Al, Fe, and Cu is sometimes associated with analytical problems; for example Fe and Cu are both redox active. Gallium (Ga) is a non-redox active metal that

Vortices are found in a fermion system with repulsive dipole-dipole interactions, trapped by a rotating quasi-two-dimensional harmonic oscillator potential. Such systems have much in common with electrons in quantum dots, where rotation is induced via an external magnetic field. In contrast to the Coulomb interactions between electrons, the (externally tunable) anisotropy of the dipole-dipole inte