Background: The aim was to determine prevalence and age at seroconversion of thyroid autoimmunity in relation to islet autoantibodies, gender and HLA-DQ genotypes in children with increased risk for type 1 diabetes followed from birth. Methods: In 10-year-old children (n = 1874), blood samples were analysed for autoantibodies against thyroid peroxidase (TPOAb), thyroglobulin (TGAb), glutamic acid

This chapter proposes a novel conceptual framework for understanding how different knowledge bases (analytic, synthetic and symbolic) can be accessed and combined at different territorial scales, looking at which mechanisms can be used to favor positive transformation paths in local productive systems. We apply such framework to the role of combinatorial knowledge for sustainable transformation un

BACKGROUND: Although growing evidence suggests that early-life excess manganese (Mn) impairs neurodevelopment, data on the neurodevelopmental effects of mancozeb, a fungicide containing Mn, and its main metabolite ethylenethiourea (ETU) are limited. OBJECTIVE: We examined whether prenatal mancozeb exposure and excess Mn were associated with neurodevelopment in 355 1-y-old infants living near banan

The continuously growing number of products containing nanoparticles (NPs) makes their presence in the environment inevitable, and given the well-known toxicity of dissolved metals, concerns regarding the toxicity of metal-based NPs have been raised. Whether metal-based NPs present similar or different toxicological effects compared with metal salts is an emerging field. In the present study, rain

Mega-projects are a growing phenomenon worldwide. More and more projects are started and they grow ever bigger in size. At the same time, there is overwhelming evidence that mega-projects tend to run late, overrun in terms of costs and fail to deliver the expected benefits. Paradoxically, more and more money is invested in projects that fail to deliver on their promises.This dissertation analyses

We present an accurate analysis of phase noise in ring oscillators, where each stage in the ring is a CMOS inverter loaded by a capacitance. Closed-form phase noise expressions are obtained in both 1/f2 and 1/f3 offset frequency regions, displaying an excellent agreement with numerical simulations using either ideal Verilog-A MOS models (allowing theoretical predictions to be tested with exactly t

This entry provides a presentation of different leader-follower perspectives. Traditional leadership research has a psychological orientation and focuses on leaders as persons. Leaders are conceptualized as active communicators and subordinates/followers as more or less passive recipients, which implies a monologic, transmission-oriented view of communication. In recent years, there has been a tur

Introduction: The aim was to create readily available algorithms that estimate the individual risk of β-amyloid (Aβ) positivity. Methods: The algorithms were tested in BioFINDER (n = 391, subjective cognitive decline or mild cognitive impairment) and validated in Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (n = 661, subjective cognitive decline or mild cognitive impairment). The examined predictor

Precipitation variability over the Bolivian Altiplano is strongly affected by local climate and temporal variation of large-scale atmospheric flow. Precipitation is the main water source for drinking water and agricultural production. For this reason, a better understanding of precipitation variability and its relation with climate phenomena can provide important information for forecasting of dro

This paper presents a design teaching approach that aims to support students to shift their approach when exploring, prototyping and testing user interactions with physical products. This is conducted in a bottom-up, iterative manner to change the perspective from focusing on the opportunities of user-involvement during the form-giving process, rather than prematurely stressing the design outcome.

Creativity is a wildly debated topic among scholars and practitioners, but one that lacks consensus. Many have tried to define, describe and explain creativity, its purpose, effect and use. Is creativity a personality trait you are born with, or can you learn to become creative? As a design teacher with a teaching practice focused on the skills of creativity, this is a relevant question, because i

Purpose: Using service-based logic as its theoretical lens, this study aims to approach residents’ place satisfaction in a novel way. The purpose is to explore residents’ perception of the place in which they live and to shed new light on their place satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach: The paper is based on explorative qualitative focus group research. Data were collected in two typical mun

Code-based cryptography is one of the main techniques enabling cryptographic primitives in a post-quantum scenario. In particular, the MDPC scheme is a basic scheme from which many other schemes have been derived. These schemes rely on iterative decoding in the decryption process and thus have a certain small probability p of having a decryption (decoding) error.In this paper we show a very fundam

Iron’s abundance and rich coordination chemistry are potentially appealing features for photochemical applications. However, the photoexcitable charge-transfer (CT) states of most Fe complexes are limited by picosecond or sub-picosecond deactivation through low-lying metal centered (MC) states, resulting in inefficient electron transfer reactivity and complete lack of photoluminescence. Here we sh

In the present essay we attempt to reconstruct Newtonian mechanics under the guidance of logical principles and of a constructive approach related to the genetic epistemology of Piaget and García (Psychogenesis and the history of science, Columbia University Press, New York, 1989). Instead of addressing Newton’s equations as a set of axioms, ultimately given by the revelation of a prodigious mind,

Rock cutting and crushing stands for a considerable part of the world use of Cemented Carbide (CC). CC is preferred due to its hardness while maintaining high fracture toughness. However, new cutting tool materials are developed allowing increased efficiency whilst minimizing the use of critical raw material such as tungsten and cobalt. One material showing promising capabilities is Polycrystallin