Entry into force of the UN Watercourses Convention: why should it matter?

The United Nations Watercourses Convention entered into force on 17 August 2014, following a long and complex journey that dates back to 1970 when the UN referred the matter to its legal arm, the International Law Commission. This article follows the Convention through that long and turbulent road, examines its main provisions and analyses the reasons for the delay of its entry into force. It concludes by answering the question of why entry into force of the Convention should indeed matter.     

探讨加强质量监督管理提高电网安全水平

电网的安全水平主要取决于其使用产品的质量是否过关。如果产品的质量较好，则能建造出优质的电网，电网的安全水平便会随之提高。因此，应加强对产品质量的监督管理，从而提高电网的安全水平。我们可建立质量监督管理系统，及时抽检出质量不过关的产品，从而消除电网运行过程中潜在的安全隐患。     

气管上段腺样囊性癌的临床病理

目的　探讨气管上段腺样囊性癌的临床病理特征及诊断和鉴别诊断要点。方法　收集2000年1月至2014年2月在北京协和医院确诊的4例气管上段腺样囊性癌病例，通过光镜、免疫组织化学及组织化学染色分析其临床病理特征、免疫组织化学特点、诊断及鉴别诊断要点。结果　4例气管上段腺样囊性癌患者中，男1例，女3例，平均年龄47岁(38~57岁）；既往均无腺样囊性癌病史，1例患者既往有结节性甲状腺肿手术史。镜下检查4例均为筛状/管状型腺样囊性癌，3例累及甲状腺组织，3例累及神经组织，未见淋巴结受累。免疫组织化学染色示4例P16、CD117、BCL2、P63、SMA均阳性，Ki67指数平均8%，TTF1和P53均阴性；4例中基底膜样物胶原Ⅳ阳性；组织化学染色示AB/PAS阳性。术后均接受总剂量为48~56 Gy的放疗，随访6~120个月，平均72.5个月，1例术后96个月复发，3例随访期间无复发及转移。结论　气管上段腺样囊性癌是罕见的原发于气管的低度恶性肿瘤，肿瘤生长缓慢，就诊时多数已侵及甲状腺组织，需要与原发于甲状腺的恶性肿瘤相鉴别，特别是在甲状腺穿刺及术中冰冻检查时。结合电子喉气管镜下表现、典型的形态学及免疫组织化学和组织化学染色有助于准确诊断。手术难以切除干净，术后放疗对延缓疾病复发有一定帮助。     

减少手术创伤始终是妇科肿瘤手术快速康复的决定性因素

减少手术创伤始终是快速康复的决定性因素,这一点在目前的加速康复外科研究尤其是复杂手术,如妇科肿瘤手术中尚未得到充分重视。尊重学习曲线、全面规划手术方案、总结失利经验、开展前瞻性研究是解决此问题的主要方案。本文着重讨论妇科肿瘤手术创伤对术后加速康复的影响及可能的改进措施。     

Why do small business butcher shops fail to fully implement HACCP?

This study aims to assess the degree of HACCP implementation in small business butcher shops and understand which factors most influence butchers' intention to fully implement it, through the application of the Theory of Planned Behaviour. One hundred and one butchers managing or owning small butcher's responded to the interview regarding their Attitudes, Subjective Norm, Perceived Behavioural Control, Personal Norm, and Knowledge with regard to their Intention to fully implement a HACCP system in their shops. Before the interviews, a certified veterinarian visited all the shops. Visits included an inspection of the establishments using the Official Portuguese Control Plan checklist for meat retailers. Conformance level measured past performance regarding food safety practices. Based on past performance, butchers were divided into “high performers” and “low performers”. “High performers” yielded high values of Attitude and Intention towards the Behaviour. For these, Attitude and Personal Norm emerge as predictors of the Intention to fully implement a HACCP system. For “low performers”, Personal Norm was the strongest predictor of Intention, with results pointing to the need for an intervention from the authorities to promote increased conformance to food safety practices. For both groups, neither Social Norm nor Perceived Behavioural Control acted as significant predictors of Intention.     

Development and validation of a micro-fin tubes evaporator model using R134a and R1234yf as working fluids

This paper presents a model of shell and tube evaporator with micro-fin tubes using R1234yf and R134a. The model developed for this evaporator uses the ε-NTU method to predict the evaporating pressure, the refrigerant outlet enthalpy and the outlet temperature of the secondary fluid. The model accuracy is evaluated using different two-phase flow boiling correlations for micro-fin tubes and comparing predicted and experimental data. The experimental tests were carried out for a wide range of operating conditions using R134a and R1234yf as working fluids. The predicted parameter with maximum deviations, between the predicted and experimental data, is the evaporating pressure. The correlation of Akhavan– Behabadi et al. was used to predict flow boiling heat transfer, with an error on cooling capacity prediction below 5%. Simulations, carried out with this validated model, show that the overall heat transfer coefficient of R1234yf has a maximum decrease of 10% compared with R134a.     

A self‐scalable load injection service

Load testing of applications is an important and costly activity for software provider companies. Classical solutions are very difficult to set up statically, and their cost is prohibitive in terms of both human and hardware resources. Virtualized cloud computing platforms provide new opportunities for stressing an application's scalability, by providing a large range of flexible and less expensive (pay‐per‐use model) computation units. On the basis of these advantages, load testing solutions could be provided on demand in the cloud. This paper describes a Benchmark‐as‐a‐Service solution that automatically scales the load injection platform and facilitates its setup according to load profiles. Our approach is based on: (i) virtualization of the benchmarking platform to create self‐scaling injectors; (ii) online calibration to characterize the injector's capacity and impact on the benched application; and (iii) a provisioning solution to appropriately scale the load injection platform ahead of time. We also report experiments on a benchmark illustrating the benefits of this system in terms of cost and resource reductions. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.