Numerous species use different forms of communication in order to successfully interact in their respective environment. This article seeks to elucidate limitations of the classical conduit metaphor by investigating communication from the perspectives of biology and artificial neural networks. First, communication is a biological natural phenomenon, found to be fruitfully grounded in an organism’s

Atherosclerosis is a systemic disease affecting the large arteries caused by the accumulation of lipids in the vessel wall. Cardiovascular disease due to atherosclerosis is today the most common cause of death globally through its end consequences: myocardial infarctions and stroke. The extracellular matrix (ECM) is a network of structural fibrous proteins, proteoglycans and glycoproteins. ECM pro

Background: There is a need for refined risk stratification of sudden cardiac death and prediction of ventricular arrhythmias to correctly identify patients who are expected to benefit the most from implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) therapy. Methods: We conducted a registry-based retrospective observational study on patients with either ischemic (ICMP) or nonischemic dilated cardiomyopa

Desludging is considered a key step in urban sanitation improvement. Nevertheless, in most urban unplanned settlements, desludging is performed in an unhygienic manner, risking public health. This study used a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods to analyse the underlying factors for unhygienic desludging in three urban unplanned settlements of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Factors for u

On August 7, 2020, the number 2 figure in al-Qaeda, Abdullah Ahmad Abdullah (known as Abu Muhammad al-Masri), was gunned down in Tehran. Al-Masri’s very presence in Iran exhibited the close relationship Tehran has with the Sunni terrorist organization, and his slaying shows the weakness of Iranian counterintelligence. The regime’s frustration at this intelligence failure will likely be expressed t

Background: Approximately 50% of all patients undergoing esophagectomy experience complications. This paper estimates the costs due to complications after esophagectomy in a Swedish context. Material and methods: The Swedish National Register for Esophageal and Gastric Cancer (NREV) and the Healthcare Consumption Register in Region Skåne (RSVD) were crossmatched for patients undergoing esophagecto

This study presents the results from a set of 11 large-scale open fire tests performed on flexible polyurethane foam slabs/mattresses. The purpose of the study was to investigate the influence of the ignition location on the fire behaviour of the foam slabs and to generate data on a highly characterised material that could be used for modelling work in the future. A method for obtaining spatially

This work investigated the combustion characteristics of single pulverized biomass-derived char particles. The char particles, in the size range 224-250 μm, were prepared in a drop tube furnace at pyrolysis temperatures of 1273 or 1473 K from four types of biomass particles - wheat straw, grape pomace, kiwi branches and rice husk. Subsequently, the char particles were injected upward into a confin

The use of virtual reality in human behavior in fire research has the advantage of being able to produce results comparable to more traditional laboratory or field experiments. This method relies not only on the technology employed but also on the participants' perception of realism when exposed to a virtual emergency scenario. A virtual scenario can be perceived as realistic based on the way it l

Platelets are the primary cellular mediators of hemostasis and this function firmly acquaints them with a variety of inflammatory processes. For example, platelets can act as circulating sentinels by expressing Toll-like receptors (TLR) that bind pathogens and this allows platelets to effectively kill them or present them to cells of the immune system. Furthermore, activated platelets secrete and

Aims: To observe and report population demography, comorbidities, risk factor levels and risk factor treatment in a sample of individuals treated for type 2 diabetes in primary care in Norway, Sweden and Denmark. Methods: Retrospective observational cohort using extraction of data from electronic medical records linked with national health care registries. Results: Sixty primary care clinics parti

This paper examines the relationship between common owners and firm dividend policy. We find that dividend policies of firms newly added to an investor's portfolio evolve towards the dividend policies of the existing firms in this portfolio. This relationship is neither driven by owners targeting firms forecasted to change their dividend policies, nor by firms with a similar dividend strategy to t

Denna avhandling omfattar en komparativ studie av systemen för domstolsprövning av förvaltningsbeslut enligt svensk, dansk och österrikisk rätt. Framställningen omfattar en rättslig analys av de regler och principer som styr dels när en domstolsprövning av förvaltningsbeslut kan komma till stånd (vilka sakprövningsförutsättningar som gäller), dels vad en sådan prövning omfattar och kan leda till (This thesis contains a comparative study of the systems of judicial review of administrative decisions in Swedish, Danish, and Austrian law. The main aim of the study is to explore how the three legal systems balance certain interests and functions that are related to the phenomenon of judicial review of administrative acts: on the one hand, the principle of effective judicial protection as well a

Several recent national guidelines and reviews conclude that pharmacologic, in addition to mechanical thromboprophylaxis, appears to be safe among TBI patients with stabilized hemorrhagic patterns. Despite this, there are many issues concerning efficiency and safety in severe TBI, especially in patients with coagulopathies.

Warm periods in Earth's history offer opportunities to understand the dynamics of the Earth system under conditions that are similar to those expected in the near future. The Middle Pliocene warm period (MPWP), from 3.3 to 3.0 My B.P, is the most recent time when atmospheric CO2levels were as high as today. However, climate model simulations of the Pliocene underestimate highlatitude warming that

Forest dynamics arise from the interplay of environmental drivers and disturbances with the demographic processes of recruitment, growth, and mortality, subsequently driving biomass and species composition. However, forest disturbances and subsequent recovery are shifting with global changes in climate and land use, altering these dynamics. Changes in environmental drivers, land use, and disturban