Objectives To evaluate the annual direct medical cost of managing adult systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients with active autoantibody positive disease in Europe. Methods A 2-year, retrospective, multicentre, observational study was conducted in five countries (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK). Data included patients' characteristics, disease activity and severity, flare assessments

Because of the importance of human capital, a firm's choice of diversification targets will depend on whether these targets offer opportunities for leveraging existing human resources. We propose to quantify the similarity of different industries' human capital or skill requirements, that is, the industries' skill relatedness, by using information on cross-industry labor flows. Labor flows among i

This review summarizes recent progress in our understanding of aquoeus "complex salts" of ionic surfactants with polymeric counterions. Complex salts are simplified versions of the much-studied mixtures of oppositely charged polyelectrolytes and surfactants, and are also good model systems to study the fundamentals of polyion-mediated forces in colloidal systems. Comparisons are made with conventi

Manufacturing corporations sometimes use corporate-internal procedures to evaluate and monitor the ergonomic status of the workplace. This article describes an industrial case study in the Swedish automotive sector, where an internally developed evaluation procedure was compared with a procedure based on a Swedish national standard provision. It was found that the national standard procedure tende

A secret among staff at nursing homes is that they are often ambivalent about old residents spending so much time watching TV since it is a common cultural perception that it makes the viewer passive. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the importance of reflecting on the TV viewing habits old people bring with them when they move into geriatric care. The findings are based on a study involv

Sex determination is typically classified as either genotypic or environmental. However, this dichotomy obscures the developmental origin and evolutionary modification of determinants of sex, and therefore hinders an understanding of the processes that generates diversity in sex-determining systems. Recent research on reptiles and fish emphasizes that sex determination is a multifactorial regulato

Measurements are presented of production properties and couplings of the recently discovered Higgs boson using the decays into boson pairs, H -> gamma gamma, H -> ZZ* -> 4l and H -> WW* -> l nu l nu. The results are based on the complete pp collision data sample recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider at centre-of-mass energies of root s = 7 TeV and root s = 8 TeV, corre

The meeting industry – an encompassing term for services related to various kinds of professional meetings, from mega-conventions to the ordinary work meetings – is increasingly consolidated and legitimated as a specific sector in the service in-dustry. New professions such as meeting designers, meeting facilitators and meet-ing consultants are emerging, promoting new knowledge in this field. By f

In this article we will discuss the previously proposed quantity nu(dyn) [ C. Pruneau, S. Gavin, and S. Voloshin, Phys.Rev.C 66, 044904 (2002)], as a measure of the number-ratio fluctuations in high-energy particle production. We will show that nu(dyn) has pleasing mathematical properties making it ideal for the purpose. We will demonstrate its relation to two-particle correlations and how this me

Background: Women working in the public human service sector in 'overstrained' situations run the risk of musculoskeletal symptoms and long-term sick leave. In order to maintain the level of health and work ability and strengthen the potential resources for health, it is important that employees gain greater control over decisions and actions affecting their health - a process associated with the

A Path Computation Element (PCE) is a computing device in a network capable of calculating paths. Once a PCE receives a path computation request, the PCE is suppose to provide a response within a reasonable short time. However, computing a feasible path is not a straightforward task, since the computational problem must consider several constraints in a short time. In this paper we propose an algo

Abstract in Norwegian Hensikten med denne rapporten er å få frem kunnskap om hvordan spørsmål om mer effektiv og miljøvennlig energibruk ivaretas ved boligutbygging. Rapporten fokuserer først og fremst på institusjonelle drivkrefter og barrierer knyttet til kommunale planog byggesaksprosesser, og hvordan dette påvirker ulike aktørers praksis. Sentrale spørsmål i studien er følgende: • Hvordan ivar

Organ donation and transplantation activity in the majority of Balkan countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia, Romania and Bulgaria) are lagging far behind international averages. Inadequate financial resources, unclear regional data and lack of governmental infrastructure are some of the issues which should be recognized to draw attention and pr

Abstract in Undetermined This article explores the potential of video activism on YouTube to form a communicative space for deliberation and dissent. It asks how commenting on activist videos can help sustain civic cultures that allow for both antagonism and inclusive political debate.

Fiftythree species are reported new to Norway, and their distribution and biology are commented on. Among the new Norwegian species, Anatella alpina Plassmann, 1977 and Trichonta tristis (Strobl, 1898) are also new to the Nordic region. The total number of species of Mycetophilidae in Norway is thus increased to 575. The majority of the species added forms an extension of the boreal taiga fauna in