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Most known starfish species possess a compound eye at the tip of each arm, which, except for the lack of true optics, resembles an arthropod compound eye. Although these compound eyes have been known for about two centuries, no visually guided behaviour has ever been directly associated with their presence. There are indications that they are involved in negative phototaxis but this may also be go

Women in the UK prefer the faces of men with low levels of the stress hormone cortisol, and the relationship is moderated by the sex hormone testosterone. In a Latvian sample, however, women's preferences were not affected by cortisol, and the interaction with testosterone differed from that of the UK. To further explore cross-cultural variation in preferences for facial cues to sex- and stress-ho

Routine monitoring of the quality of stroke care is becoming increasingly important since patient outcomes could be improved with better access to proven treatments. It remains unclear how many countries have established a national registry for monitoring stroke care.

Climate reconstructions from data sensitive to past climates provide estimates of what these climates were like. Comparing these reconstructions with simulations from climate models allows to validate the models used for future climate prediction. It has been shown that for fossil pollen data, gaining estimates by inverting a vegetation model allows inclusion of past changes in carbon dioxide valu

In this paper, a new application of resonant acoustic spectroscopy (RAS) is examined for constructing asphalt concrete mastercurves from seismic testing. The frequency-dependent material properties can be characterized from multiple modes of vibration through the use of RAS. Beam-shaped asphalt specimens are tested at multiple temperatures to determine the resonance frequencies of the specimens. T

Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) in adolescents is a significant problem that needs to be addressed, and in some cases managed, in school settings. The current feasibility study uses screening questionnaires and follow up-interviews on NSSI in a community sample of adolescents (N ¼ 1,052) in Sweden. Both adolescents reporting self-injury (n ¼ 66) and a comparison group (n ¼ 31) were interviewed, and

Recent public debates about sexuality in India and Vietnam have brought the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people sharply into focus. Drawing on legal documents, secondary sources and ethnographic fieldwork conducted in the urban centres of Delhi and Hanoi, this article shows how the efforts of civil society organisations dedicated to the fight for lesbian, gay, bisexual and tran

The use of intravenous artificial oxytocin for augmentation of labour is very common in midwifery care in Sweden. Studies have shown that oxytocin is often administered to women in labour who have no signs of labour dystocia. It was the aim of this study to examine Swedish midwives' views on and experiences of labour augmentation in the context of normal labour. Individual interviews were carried

The ATLAS detector is used to search for excited leptons in the electromagnetic radiative decay channel l* -> l gamma. Results are presented based on the analysis of pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 2.05 fb(-1). No evidence for excited leptons is found, and limits are set on the compositeness scale Lambda as a function of the excited le

An analytical strategy to determine metals in environmental samples contaminated with both organophosphate pesticides and metals is presented. In the first step, parathion and arsenate were determined separately. Inhibition of the enzyme butyrylcholinesterase was quantified employing an enzyme thermistor and also with a CCD camera. Subsequently, parathion mixed with arsenate was measured. A molecu

A seventh-order accurate and extremely stable algorithm for the rapid computation of stress fields inside cracked rectangular domains is presented. The algorithm is seventh-order accurate since it incorporates basis functions, taking the asymptotic shape of the stress fields close to crack tips and corners into account at least up to order six. The algorithm is stable since it is based on a Fredho

This longitudinal paper draws on data from a larger ongoing project and examines how students conceive of their opportunities to influence their study environment and how this may be related to their self-efficacy beliefs and their study motivation. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was used to analyze semi-structured in-depth interviews of 10 students of a Masters Program in Engineer

We assessed the presence/absence and population size of a threatened beetle, Osmoderma eremita, inhabiting hollow oaks (Quercus robur). Population sizes varied widely between trees (10% of the hollow trees hosted two thirds of the individuals), and increased with the volume of wood mould (= loose material of dead wood) and the height of the entrances. Population density (number of adult beetles pe

As part of research into small group homes run by local authorities for those with severe mental illness the characteristics of the social environment was investigated. The ideal and real versions of the Community Oriented Program Environmental Scale (COPES) were administered to residents and staff of small group homes in a county in southern Sweden. Both these groups were also interviewed on thei

The maintenance of plumage color polymorphism in the parasitic jaeger (Stercorarius parasiticus) is still not well understood. Earlier studies indicated that selection may favor pale females and melanic males. If so, females would maximize their fitness, producing pale female and melanic male offspring. We therefore predicted that females might bias their offspring sex ratio toward daughters in pa

Participants in an international conference on the management of haemophilia patients with inhibitors developed a jointly authored summary of the findings and conclusions of the conference. Current knowledge of the genetic and immunologic mechanisms underlying inhibitor development was briefly summarized. Concerning the purported treatment-related risk factors, conference participants commented on