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Post-disaster coordination is an essential aspect to achieve sustainable disaster recovery. However, to date, little attention has been paid to the subject of coordination in disaster recovery in comparison to response coordination. This study is an investigation into the factors affecting coordination for sustainable disaster recovery. It uses the case-study of Eden district Municipality in South
To improve population health, it is important to create environments that support activity, participation and health. One crucial aspect concerns the degree to which the built environment is accessible for all people including those with reduced functional capacity. The overarching objective of this thesis was to explore and further develop methodology for accessibility assessments based on the no
The open and closed forms of ozone and the path connecting them through a transition state, in C-2v symmetry, are explored using the multi-state, multi-configurational second order perturbative method, MS-CASPT2. It is demonstrated that, by using an ANO-L triple-zeta basis set, it is possible to set up an active space able to describe the otherwise troublesome transition state region. Both a conic
The emergence of post-genomic approaches that couple chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assays to high-throughput technique has greatly advanced our ability to investigate epigenetic features associated with normal cell development and disease. Nevertheless, these techniques exhibit some limitations. Firstly, standard protocols usually require millions of cells, thus limiting their application t
Substituting Zn for Cu is known to rapidly quench superconductivity in the doped perovskites but the mechanism behind it is still not clearly understood. Single phase YBa2(Cu1-xZnx)(3)O7-delta (x=0.0 to 0.06) samples were synthesized and characterized using XRD, wet titration, resistivity, and ac susceptibility. Angle-integrated Valence Band Photo emission and Zn K-edge XAFS results clearly show t
We focus on exclusive production of neutral technipion (pi) over tilde (0) in pp collisions at the LHC, i.e. on pp -> pp (pi) over tilde (0) reaction. The dependence of the cross section on parameters of recently proposed vector-like Technicolor model is studied. Characteristic features of the differential distributions are discussed. For not too large technipion masses the diphoton decay channel
BACKGROUND: For a 1-day myocardial perfusion SPECT (MPS) the recommendations for administered activity stated in the EANM guidelines results in an effective dose of up to 16 mSv per patient. Recently, a gamma camera system, based on cadmium zinc telluride (CZT) technology, was introduced. This technique has the potential to reduce the effective dose and scan time compared to the conventional NaI g
The Cone Calorimeter test method has been one of the most used small-scale fire test method for years now and is at present widely spread over the world. In contrast to many other fire test methods, the Cone Calorimeter provides a range of data with sound scientific basis, which allows a wide range of applications. It can be used for modelling and also for enhanced product development. This paper
Background: Observational studies have consistently associated obesity with colorectal cancer risk. Because both traits are genetically determined and share some metabolic biomarkers, we hypothesized that obesity-related polymorphisms could also influence the risk of developing colorectal cancer. Methods: We conducted a comprehensive population-based case-control study in 1,792 German colorectal c
Objective. This study aimed to survey current Swedish practices for performing and handling transrectal ultrasound-guided prostate biopsies. Material and methods. A Swedish Urology Network (SUNe) was organized for the distribution of information, survey studies and research collaborations. A web-based questionnaire was distributed to the members in 2011. Results. In this first SUNe survey, 137 (91
Improving our knowledge of drivers’ behaviour, especially in hazardous situations is a key to understanding why accidents occur and how to improve safety on our roads. Crash surrogate measures have proven to be very useful in traffic safety analysis. As a valid crash surrogate measure shares the same logical chain of events as actual crashes, studying those events increases the opportunities to an
We report our experience with surgery for femoral metastatic lesions, based on 216 patients who underwent a total of 245 operations for femoral metastatic lesions. The median age was 66 (30-94) years, and the most common diagnosis breast cancer, followed by prostate cancer. All patients had pain on weight bearing, 196 had pain at rest, 147 were unable to walk preoperatively, and 148 were confined
The design, construction, and commissioning of the ALICE Time-Projection Chamber (TPC) is described. It is the main device for pattern recognition, tracking, and identification of charged particles in the ALICE experiment at the CERN LHC. The TPC is cylindrical in shape with a volume close to 90 m(3) and is operated in a 0.5T solenoidal magnetic field parallel to its axis. In this paper we describ
Background: Moths have evolved highly successful mating systems, relying on species-specific mixtures of sex pheromone components for long-distance mate communication. Acyl-CoA desaturases are key enzymes in the biosynthesis of these compounds and to a large extent they account for the great diversity of pheromone structures in Lepidoptera. A novel desaturase gene subfamily that displays Delta 11
Community-acquired infections, including respiratory tract infections (RTIs) and urinary tract infections (UTIs), represent a major burden for most healthcare systems, partially due to ineffective or inappropriate antibiotic treatment leading to clinical failure, which often requires alternative antibiotics for cure. Appropriate antimicrobial use not only maximises clinical success in the treatmen
We consider a moving-boundary problem associated with the fluid model for biofilm growth proposed by J. Dockery and I. Klapper, Finger formation in biofilm layers, SIAM J. Appl. Math. 62 (3) (2001) 853–869. Notions of classical, weak, and variational solutions for this problem are introduced. Classical solutions with radial symmetry are constructed, and estimates for their growth given. Using a we
Objectives The aim of this study was to investigate the association between the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) 'pain sensitivity' haplotypes and chronic widespread pain (CWP) in two distinct cohorts. Methods Cases of CWP and controls free of pain were selected from two population-based studies: the Epidemiology of Functional Disorders study (EPIFUND) (UK) and the European Male Ageing Study (E
A number of novel oral anticoagulants that directly target factor Xa or thrombin have been developed in recent years. Rivaroxaban and apixaban (direct factor Xa inhibitors) and dabigatran etexilate (a direct thrombin inhibitor) have shown considerable promise in large-scale, randomised clinical studies for the management of thromboembolic disorders, and have been approved for clinical use in speci
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a widely used tool for studying brain function in vivo. The technique is based on acquiring brain images sensitive to the physiological response following neural activation, and hence, allows brain activity to be examined and documented. In this thesis, methods for fMRI mapping of the primary somatosensory cortex (S1) are optimised and subsequent
