New perspectives on evolutionary medicine: the relevance of microevolution for human health and disease

Evolutionary medicine (EM) is a growing field focusing on the evolutionary basis of human diseases and their changes through time. To date, the majority of EM studies have used pure theories of hominin macroevolution to explain the present-day state of human health. Here, we propose a different approach by addressing more empirical and health-oriented research concerning past, current and future microevolutionary changes of human structure, functions and pathologies. Studying generation-to-generation changes of human morphology that occurred in historical times, and still occur in present-day populations under the forces of evolution, helps to explain medical conditions and warns clinicians that their current practices may influence future humans. Also, analyzing historic tissue specimens such as mummies is crucial in order to address the molecular evolution of pathogens, of the human genome, and their coadaptations.Frank Jakobus Rühli and Maciej Henneber

Construction, assembly and tests of the ATLAS electromagnetic barrel calorimeter

The construction and assembly of the two half barrels of the ATLAS central electromagnetic calorimeter and their insertion into the barrel cryostat are described. The results of the qualification tests of the calorimeter before installation in the LHC ATLAS pit are given

Production of Xi_c^0 and Xi_b in Z decays and lifetime measurement of Xi_b

The charmed strange baryon Xi_c^0 was searched for in the decay channel Xi_c^0 -> Xi- pi+, and the beauty strange baryon Xi_b in the inclusive channel Xi_b -> Xi- l- anti-nu X, using the 3.5 million hadronic Z events collected by the DELPHI experiment in the years 1992--1995. The Xi- was reconstructed through the decay Xi- -> Lambda pi-, using a constrained fit method for cascade decays. An iterative discriminant analysis was used for the Xi_c^0 and Xi_b selection. The production rates were measured to be f_{Xi_c^0} x BR(Xi_c^0 -> Xi- pi+)= (4.7 +/- 1.4 (stat.) +/- 1.1 (syst.))10^{-4} per hadronic Z decay, and BR(b -> Xi_b) x BR(Xi_b -> Xi- l- X)= (3.0 +/- 1.0 (stat.) +/- 0.3 (syst.))10^{-4} for each lepton species (electron or muon). The lifetime of the Xi_b baryon was measured to be tau_{Xi_b} = 1.45{^{+0.55}_{-0.43}} (stat.) +/- 0.13 (syst.) ps. A combination with the previous DELPHI lifetime measurement gives tau_{Xi_b} = 1.48{^{+0.40}_{-0.31}} (stat.) +/- 0.12 (syst.) ps.Comment: 21 pages, 9 figures, Accepted by Eur. Phys. J.

Performance of the ATLAS electromagnetic calorimeter end-cap module 0

The construction and beam test results of the ATLAS electromagnetic end-cap calorimeter pre-production module 0 are presented. The stochastic term of the energy resolution is between 10% GeV^1/2 and 12.5% GeV^1/2 over the full pseudorapidity range. Position and angular resolutions are found to be in agreement with simulation. A global constant term of 0.6% is obtained in the pseudorapidity range 2.5 eta 3.2 (inner wheel)

Organisational design considerations for performance through responsibility and accountability

Organisational performance, and how this performance can be influenced, continue to be primary concerns for managers. Although many motivational and performance related theories are presented by literature, the role and importance of responsibility and accountability as concepts within the organisation and in performance theory have been neglected, to the point that authors clearly highlight the need for further research in this regard (Mero, Guidice, & Werner, 2014; Greenwood & Miller, 2010). This research developed a speculative model which integrates organisational design theory with responsibility and accountability theory. The aim of the speculative model is to enhance managers understanding of how responsibility and accountability fit into the organisation and how an organisation can be designed to strengthen these concepts to the extent that performance can be positively influenced. The study also presented guiding principles as examples of the practical implication inferred from the results of the study and the speculative model developed. The qualitative research was conducted at an engineering firm in South Africa. Fifteen in-depth interviews were conducted with employees in positions at different levels (organisational level, group level and individual level) of the organisation. These interviews enabled the researcher to explore mechanisms related to responsibility and accountability and inductively develop the speculative model. It was found that the various links that determine how strong responsibility and accountability are present in a specific context could successfully be linked to different design components within the organisation, highlighting a specific area of focus within the organisation when a specific link of responsibility or accountability needs to be addressed.Mini Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2015.ms2016Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS)MBAUnrestricte

Polytektische Strukturierungsverfahren. Laterale und vertikale Feinstrukturierungen von III/V-Schichtsystemen

Available from TIB Hannover: F96B1700+a / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekSIGLEBundesministerium fuer Bildung, Wissenschaft, Forschung und Technologie, Bonn (Germany)DEGerman

Translocation stress and faecal glucocorticoid metabolite levels in free-ranging African savanna elephants

There are local populations of African elephants (Loxodonta africana) which have increased to levels where they are implicated in altering vegetation types. The local reduction of elephant numbers for wildlife management objectives can involve contraception, killing excess animals, or translocation to alternative habitats. The effects these management decisions can have on the physiological stress response of free-ranging African savanna elephants are still not fully understood. We examined the effect of translocation on faecal glucocorticoid metabolite levels of an African elephant family group, which was translocated within the Kruger National Park, South Africa. We found that translocation resulted in a significant increase in faecal glucocorticoid metabolite levels (up to 646 ng/g wet weight) compared to (1) pre-translocation levels in this group, (2) post-translocation levels in this group, and (3) levels measured in undisturbed 'control' groups in the area. However, the faecal glucocorticoid metabolite levels had returned to <100 ng/g by the time the translocated animals had navigated their way back to their previous home range, covering 300 km in 23 days

Mushroom shaped gates defined by e-beam lithography down to 80 nm gate lengths and fabrication of pseudomorphic HEMTs with a dry-etched gate recess.

Sub 0.1 Mym mushroom shaped gates (T-gates) have been realized with a three layer resist technique using e- beam exposure. The exposure was carried out on a Philips EPBG-3 system operating at 50 kV. The resist system and writing strategy was investigated. Test exposures on SiN capped GaAs wafers with ohmic contacts having the same topography as active devices were carried out. Using this T-gate lithography pseudomorphic AlGaAs/InGaAs/GaAs HEMTs were fabricated. These devices have transit frequencies of 120 GHz