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A concise assessment is made of the scientific and technical programme of the 7th IAWQ Workshop on Instrumentation, Control and Automation of Water and Wastewater Treatment and Transport Systems. Although progress has been made in certain areas, others are identified as crucial targets for further research and development.

OBJECTIVE. We re-evaluated a cohort of patients referred for reflux symptoms and objectively diagnosed with pathological reflux, with the purpose of clarifying the course of conservatively treated gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). MATERIAL AND METHODS. All consecutive patients with GERD diagnosed between 1984 and 1988 showing pathologic 24-h pH-metry in the interval 3.8-10% and without any p

BACKGROUND: Persistent organic pollutants (POPs), such as PCBs, DDT and dioxins have in several cross-sectional studies shown strong associations with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Reversed causality can however not be excluded. The aim of this case-control study was to evaluate whether POPs concentration is a risk factor for type 2 diabetes. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: A case-control study was pe

A syndrome of community acquired liver abscess caused by highly virulent hypermucoviscous, rmpA positive Klebsiella pneumoniae strains occurs with high incidence in Asia. We here report a case complicated by metastatic infection, to our knowledge, the first one described in Northern Europe. This and other recently reported cases indicate the emergence of this severe syndrome outside of Asia.

The golden egg bug (Phyllomorpha laciniata (Villers)) is a phytophagous insectwith an unusual reproductive system. Females use the bodies of conspecifics,bothmales and females, as oviposition substrates. In addition, a varying fractionof the eggs is laid on the food plant. Egg carrying on conspecifics increases offspring survival. Predators and, especially, hymenopteran parasitoids are the main ca

Activation of the complement system and resulting opsonisation with C3b are key events of the innate immune defense against infections. However, a wide variety of bacterial pathogens subvert complement attack by binding host complement inhibitors such as C4b-binding protein, factor H and vitronectin, which results in diminished opsonophagocytosis and killing of bacteria by lysis. Another widely us

While research on the design of heterogeneous concurrent systems has a long and rich history, a unified design methodology and tool support has not emerged so far, and thus the creation of such systems remains a difficult, time-consuming and error-prone process. The absence of principled support for system evaluation and optimization at high abstraction levels makes the quality of the resulting im

The purpose of this thesis is to obtain microlocal analogues of results by L. Hörmander about inclusion relations between the ranges of first order differential operators with smooth coefficients which fail to be locally solvable. Using similar techniques, we shall study the properties of the range of classical pseudo-differential operators of principal type which fail to satisfy condition (ψ).

Natural radiative lifetimes of 20 levels (energy range between 20 000 35 000 cm(-1)) in Cd II and 5 levels (energy range between 43 000-49 000 cm(-1)) in Gd III have been measured using time-resolved laser-induced fluorescence III a laser-produced plasma.

OBJECTIVE: To study the influence of gestational age on lactate concentration in arterial and venous umbilical cord blood at birth and to define gestational age-specific reference values for lactate in vigorous newborns. DESIGN: Population-based comparative. SETTING: University hospitals. SAMPLE: Vigorous newborns with validated umbilical cord blood samples. MATERIAL AND METHODS: From 2000 to 2004

Abstract The identification of patients carrying extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL)-producing bacteria is important, since these patients are at risk of receiving inappropriate empirical therapy if they become infected. The purpose of this study was to investigate the occurrence of ESBL-producing bacteria in patients with travellers' diarrhoea. Patients with travellers' diarrhoea (N = 242) ha

Constrained by national tests and the mathematics curriculum, teachers have problems finding time for exploratory and hands-on mathematical activities, especially so in classes with a reduced pace of progression, for example because of a large proportion of second-language learners. Could the leisure-time center, where time is not earmarked, provide such opportunities? The conclusion of this thesi

In this paper, we discuss common features found in what we term trade languages. Some languages change their grammatical shape dramatically after intense contacts with other languages. Pidgin and creole languages are often discussed in terms of contacts, but trade languages are slightly different from them on the following points: trade languages are normally formed with mutually intelligible lang

Immunotherapy of malignant primary brain tumors holds the potential to improve the dismal prognosis after current clinical therapy. Although immunotherapy of experimental gliomas has been demonstrated to have the capacity to cure intracerebral tumors no convincing effects of immunotherapy have been shown in clinical trials. One reason for this could be that some of the models used do not display f

Background: In diagnosing acute pulmonary embolism (PE) in azotemic patients, scintigraphy and magnetic resonance imaging are frequently inconclusive or not available in many hospitals. Computed tomography is readily available, but relatively high doses (30-50 g I) of potentially nephrotoxic iodine contrast media (CM) are used. Purpose: To report on the diagnostic quality and possible contrast-ind