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The construction sector provides the direct means to the development and expansion of economic activities, but is at the same time a major consumer of physical and natural resources and a polluter of the environment. Over the last decades, the environmental impact of construction activities has grown dramatically due to the increase in the world population and greater industrial and human activity

MASTER (MAnaging Speeds of Traffic on European Roads) aims to provide re-commendations for speed management strategies and policies and develop guidelines for the development of innovative speed management tools. This document reviews the relevant literature and various Advanced Transport Telematics (ATT) and traditional (non-ATT) methods of reducing driver speed are evaluated. It is concluded tha

Protein kinase C (PKC), a multi-gene family of enzymes, plays key roles in the pathways of signal transduction, growth control and tumorigenesis. Variations in the intracellular localization of the individual isoforms are thought to be an important mechanism for the isoform-specific regulation of enzyme activity and substrate specificity. To provide a dynamic method of analyzing the localization o

The Van (forest) Gujjars, surviving as forest pastoralists in the central part of the Indian Himalaya, are a people who, due to their nomadic lifestyle, have since colonial rule found themselves at the margin of Indian society. This paper will look at the relationship between the Van Gujjars and their forest base in a historical perspective from colonial rule to 'conservation of nature' and the 'r

Goblet cells produce mainly MUC5AC, but also MUC5B and some MUC2 in apparently 'irritated' airways. MUC513 dominates in the submucosal glands although a little MUC5AC and MUC7 are usually present. MUC4 originates from the ciliated cells. After separation into a gel and a sol phase, lysozyme and lactoferrin are enriched in the salivary gel phase suggesting that mucus may act as a matrix for 'protec

Intracellular lipid-binding proteins contain a large binding cavity filled with water molecules. The role played by these water molecules in ligand binding is not well understood, but their energetic and dynamic properties must be important for protein function. Here, we use the magnetic relaxation dispersion (MRD) of the water 17O resonance to investigate the water molecules in the binding cavity

A supported liquid membrane (SLM) method for the speciation of chromium has been developed. The method is based on selective extraction and enrichment of anionic Cr(VI) and cationic Cr(III) species in two serially connected SLM units. Methyltricaprylammonium chloride (Aliquat) and di-(2-ethylhexyl) phosphoric acid (DEHPA), respectively were used as the selective extractants in the membrane liquid.

Context: T-3 action in neurons is essential for brain development. Recent evidence indicates that monocarboxylate transporter 8 (MCT8) is important for neuronal T-3 uptake. Hemizygous mutations have been identified in the X-linked MCT8 gene in boys with severe psychomotor retardation and elevated serum T-3 levels. Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the functional consequences

The crystal structure of superoxide dismutase (SOD) from the hyper thermophile Sulfolobus solfataricus has been determined at 2.3 Å resolution by molecular replacement and refined to a crystallographic R-factor of 16.8 % (Rfree 19.8 %). The crystals belong to the space group C2 (a = 76.3 Å, b = 124.3 Å,c = 60.3 Å, β = 128.8°) with two identical monomers in the asymmetric unit. The monomer has a mo

The reactions between three sphalerite samples and ethyl- and n-decylxanthate ions have been studied in aqueous and acetone solutions. Qualitative analysis of the species present on the sphalerite surfaces before and after treatment with these ions have been performed by means of diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy. Atomic absorption spectrophotometry has been used to deter

It is commonly assumed that soil-N-15-labelling provides reliable estimates of N-2 fixation in trees by matching N-2-fixing and non-N-2-fixing tree pairs. As root system is a key parameter in determining suitability of the tree pairs, we compared root architecture of Acacia cyanophylla Lindl. and Casuarina glauca Sieber ex. Spreng. (two N-2-fixing trees) with Eucalyptus camaldulensis Dehn. and Cer

Provitamin D2, vitamin D2 and vitamin D3 were identified in the thallus of a lichen species, Cladina arbuscula (Wallr.) Hale and W.L. Culb. The identification of vitamin D3 was supported by: (1) co-chromatography in both reverse and straight phase HPLC (high performance liquid chromatography), (2) ultraviolet absorption spectrum, and (3) molecular ion peaks demonstrated by ESI (electrospray ionisa

Alpha-1 microglobulin (alpha(1)m), a lipocalin, is an evolutionarily conserved immunomodulatory plasma protein. In all species studied, alpha(1)m is synthesized by hepatocytes and catabolized in the renal proximal tubular cells. alpha(1)m deficiency has not been reported in any species, suggesting that its absence is lethal and indicating an important physiological role for this protein To clarify

Goodpasture's syndrome is an autoimmune disease characterized by pulmonary hemorrhage, glomerulonephritis, and antiglomerular basement membrane (GBM) antibodies. We have studied a rat model with chimeric proteins (CPs) consisting of portions of the nephritogenic non-collagenous domain of alpha3 type IV collagen (alpha3(IV)NC1) and non-nephritogenic alpha1(IV)NC1. CPs with aminoterminal alpha3 that

Ground-based FTIR measurements have been performed in the Arctic summer in July 1993 and June 1994 at 79 degrees N to study the zenith column densities of several trace gases in the undisturbed Arctic summer atmosphere. Zenith column densities of H2O, N2O, HNO3, NO2, NO, ClONO2, ClO, HCl, HF, COF2, OCS, SF6, HCN, CH4, C2H6, C2H2, CO, O-3, CFC-12, CFC-22, and CO2 were retrieved by line-by-line calc

The effect of long-term ethanol exposure on muscarinic receptors was investigated in human neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cells. Exposure to 100 mM ethanol for 4 days enhanced both peak and steady-state levels of carbachol-stimulated inositol 1,4,5-bisphosphate increase. An ethanol concentration of 50 mM was sufficient for an enhancement of this event. The carbachol-stimulated decrease in [3H]inositol-labe

Information on soil mineralogy is essential for weathering rate calculations. Quantitative mineralogical analyses are expensive and time-consuming, and thus indirect methods of determining the mineralogical composition are important, for example estimating the composition based on the elemental content in till (total concentrations), or based on information about the underlying bedrock. The minera