Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is a major cause of increased morbidity and mortality. The aim of this study was to investigate hospital admission rates among individuals with symptoms of chronic bronchitis and among those with airflow limitation corresponding to GOLD stages 1-4. Method: Between 1974 and 1992, 22 044 middle-aged individuals participated in a health screening, which included

Background and purpose The role of synovitis and high fluid pressure in the loosening process after total hip arthroplasty has gained increasing attention. We investigated the correlation between head size, polyethylene wear, and capsular distention. Patients and methods We analyzed 39 unrevised, radiographically stable hips that had been operated with 28 or 32 mm femoral heads 10 years earlier be

Detailed echolocation behavior studies on free-swimming dolphins require a measurement system that incorporates multiple hydrophones (often >16). However, the high data flow rate of previous systems has limited their usefulness since only minute long recordings have been manageable. To address this problem, this report describes a 47-channel burst-mode recording hydrophone system that enables high

Transport through nanosystems is treated within the second-order von Neumann approach. This approach bridges the gap between rate equations which neglect level broadening and cotunneling, and the transmission formalism, which is essentially based on the single-particle picture thereby treating many-particle interactions oil an approximate level. Here we provide an alternative presentation of the m

The observed almost complete dominance of prolate over oblate deformations in the ground states of deformed even-even nuclei is related to the splitting of high center dot "surface" orbits in the Nilsson diagram: on the oblate side the occurrence of numerous strongly avoided crossings which reduce the fanning out of the low Lambda orbits, while on the prolate side the same interactions increase th

Objectives The aims of the study were to temporally and externally validate the diagnostic performance of two logistic regression models containing clinical and ultrasound variables in order to estimate the risk of malignancy in adnexal masses, and to compare the results with the subjective interpretation of ultrasound findings carried out by an experienced ultrasound examiner ('subjective assessm

Background: Proteolytic Clostridium botulinum is the causative agent of botulism, a severe neuroparalytic illness. Given the severity of botulism, surprisingly little is known of the population structure, biology, phylogeny or evolution of C. botulinum. The recent determination of the genome sequence of C. botulinum has allowed comparative genomic indexing using a DNA microarray. Results: Whole ge

The Gibbard–Satterthwaite (GS) theorem is generalized in three ways: First, it is proved that the theorem is still valid when individual preferences belong to a convenient class of partial preferences; second, it is shown that every non-dictatorial surjective social choice function (SCF) is not only manipulable, but it can be manipulated in such a way that some individual obtains either his best o

We report on In0.53Ga0.47As n-channel multiple-gate field-effect transistors (MuGFETs or FinFETs) with a novel method of selectively regrown lateral (parallel to substrate) nanowires as channels. The device exhibits a minimum subthreshold slope of 85 mV/decade and drain-induced barrier lowering of 88 mV/V at V-DS = 0.05 V and L-G = 200 nm. At V-DS = 0.5 V, (gm), (max) = 1.67 mS/mu m is achieved (L

We present a new method for real-time render- ing of multiple recursions of reflections and refractions. The method uses the strengths of real-time ray tracing for objects close to the camera, by storing them in a per-frame constructed bounding volume hierarchy (BVH). For objects further from the camera, rasterization is used to create G-buffers which store an image-based representation of the sce

This paper proposes an alternative perspective on service quality management (SQM) based on the ecosystem of complex and dynamic service environments. First, the ways in which systems thinking and core principles of Quality Management evolved are analysed in order to understand the past, present and the future. Then, by analysing the theories, models and applications of SQM systems and business ec

The joint distribution of X and N, where N has a geometric distribution and X is the sum of N IID exponential variables (independent of N), is infinitely divisible. This leads to a bivariate Levy process {(X(t), N(t)), t >= 0}, whose coordinates are correlated negative binomial and gamma processes. We derive basic properties of this process, including its covariance structure, representations, and

Hydrocarbon autoignition has long been an area of intense fundamental chemical interest, and is a key technological process for emerging clean and efficient combustion strategies. Carbon-centered radicals containing an -OOH group, commonly denoted (center dot)QOOH radicals, are produced by isomerization of the alkylperoxy radicals that are formed in the first stages of oxidation. These (center dot

The article departs from an overarching research question: How does young people's engagement in different Internet spaces affect the development of their public orientation during adolescence? It analyses longitudinal panel data in order to explore how young people's public orientation develops during a phase in life (13–20) which is critical for political socialization. Data are derived from thr

Terrestrial ecosystems currently sequester about one third of anthropogenic CO 2 emissions each year, an important ecosystem service that dampens climate change. The future fate of this net uptake of CO 2 by land based ecosystems is highly uncertain. Most ecosystem models used to predict the future terrestrial carbon cycle share a common architecture, whereby carbon that enters the system as net p

This article considers the challenges faced by digital evidence specialists when collaborating with other specialists and agencies in other jurisdictions when investigating cyber crime. The opportunities, operational environment and modus operandi of a cyber criminal are considered, with a view to developing the skills and procedural support that investigators might usefully consider in order to r

In the days before the term “high-grade undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma” came into use, one of the most common sarcoma diagnoses was “malignant fibrous histiocytoma,” and before that, in an era before immunohistochemistry, “fibrosarcoma” was used to describe most sarcomas. “Spindle cell” is a descriptive phrase that denotes the cellular shape of many of the sarcomas encountered in the adult p

Background. Sunlight exposure and fair skin are major determinants of human vitamin D production, but they are also risk factors for cutaneous malignant melanoma (MM). There is epidemiological evidence that all-cause mortality is related to low vitamin D levels. Methods. We assessed the avoidance of sun exposure as a risk factor for all-cause mortality for 29 518 Swedish women in a prospective 20-