Dampness in buildings has been linked to adverse health effects, but the specific causative agents are unknown. Mycotoxins are secondary metabolites produced by molds and toxic to higher vertebrates. In this study, mass spectrometry was used to demonstrate the presence of mycotoxins predominantly produced by Aspergillus spp. and Stachybotrys spp. in buildings with either ongoing dampness or a hist

In this paper, a novel data scaling method for pipelined FFT processors is proposed. By using data scaling, the FFT processor can operate on a wide range of input signals without performance loss. Compared to existing block scaling methods, like implementations of Convergent Block Floating Point (CBFP), the memory requirements can be reduced while preserving the SNR. The FFT processor has been syn

Water-soluble poly(acrylic acid) has been covalently labeled with a fluorescent hydrophobic chromophore, naphthalene (Np), randomly attached onto the polymer backbone with an amount of 3 mol %. The polymer, which is a new type of hydrophobically modified polymer denoted PAAMeNp-34, was investigated using steady-state fluorescence spectroscopy in aqueous solutions of different pH and in methanol. T

Current-voltage curves of molecular single-electron tunneling transistors are simulated based on a modified theory of single electronics that accounts for the discreteness of the energy spectrum of the molecule. The simulation was performed including effects of energy relaxation of the electrons in the molecule for two limiting cases of fast and slow relaxation, and for both equidistant and random

The lifetime broadening and molecular field splitting of the sodium dimer 2p core level is studied by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and by Auger electron spectroscopy. The lifetime of the Na 2p core hole has been determined to be 15 +/- 8 fs, much shorter than what has previously been reported for solid sodium. The molecular field splitting of this core level has been determined to be 42 +/- 10

BACKGROUND: The plasma level of endothelin-1 is locally increased during cooling but the net vasoconstrictor effect will be dependent on temperature effects on the vascular smooth muscle reactivity in response to the polypeptide. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of cooling on the vascular smooth muscle response to endothelin-1 in human and rat veins. METHODS: Registration of vas

Mechanistic evidence linking chromosomal aberration (CA) to early stages of cancer has been recently supported by the results of epidemiological studies that associated CA frequency in peripheral lymphocytes of healthy individuals to future cancer incidence. To overcome the limitations of single studies and to evaluate the strength of this association, a pooled analysis was carried out. The pooled

The objective of this simulation study is to investigate whether the likelihood ratio (LR) test can pick the optimal lag order in the vector autoregressive model when the most applied information criteria (i.e. vector Schwarz-Bayesian, SBC and vector Hannan-Quinn, HQC) suggest two different lag orders. This lag-choosing procedure has been suggested by Hatemi-J (1999). The results based on the Mont

A coupled carbon and water flux model (BIOME2) captures the broad-scale environmental controls on the natural distribution of vegetation structural and phenological types in Australia. Model input consists of latitude, soil type, and mean monthly climate (temperature, precipitation, and sunshine hours) data on a 1/10 degrees grid. Model output consists of foliage projective cover (FPC) for the qua

Tanner GA, Rippe C, Shao Y, Evan AP, Williams JC, Jr. Glomerular permeability to macromolecules in the Necturus kidney. Am J Physiol Renal Physiol 296: F1269-F1278, 2009. First published April 1, 2009; doi: 10.1152/ajprenal.00371.2007.-Many aspects of the glomerular filtration of macromolecules remain controversial, including the location of the major filtration barrier, the effects of electrical

In this study the Delphi technique has been used to develop a core curriculum for education of the biomedical scientist. The rapid development in biomedicine and the corresponding changes in methodology in biomedical laboratories demand careful planning of the education of biomedical scientists. The Delphi technique uses an anonymous panel of experts for suggestions and assessments aiming at conse

OBJECTIVES: This study compares questionnaire-assessed exposure data on work postures and movements with direct technical measurements. METHODS: Inclinometers and goniometers were used to make full workday measurements of 41 office workers and 41 cleaners, stratified for such factors as musculoskeletal complaints. The subjects answered a questionnaire on work postures of the head, back, and upper

To enhance performance of digital signal processing tasks while keeping the flexibility of programmable solutions is a clear motivation for coprocessors implemented as reconfigurable hardware blocks. This paper investigates the applicability of such coprocessors targeting digital signal processing multi-media applications, initially in the field of speech and audio. A tightly coupled coprocessor a

The existence and nature of indirect genetic benefits to mate choice remain contentious. Major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genes, which play a vital role in determining pathogen resistance in vertebrates, may be the link between mate choice and the genetic inheritance of vigour in offspring. Studies have shown that MHC-dependent mate choice can occur in mammal and fish species, but little wor

Deconvolution of optically collected axisymmetric flame data is equivalent to solving an ill-posed problem subject to severe error amplification. Tikhonov regularization has recently been shown to be well suited for stabilizing this deconvolution, although the success of this method hinges on choosing a suitable regularization parameter. Incorporating a parameter selection scheme transforms this t