Psychiatric evaluation in accordance with the transsexualism regulation. An experience-based plea for guidelines and against arbitrary bias

Today patients want to change their Christian names not so much for social support but in order to obtain sex change operations. For this reason among others we caution against casual and careless evaluations and plead for conscientiousness and thoroughness. The spectrum of 16 evaluation cases in the year 1995 is presented. Following this and looking for guiding principles, the most important aspects are discussed: the dilatable frame of the written law, the examiner's diagnostic process, the duty of being well informed, reconstruction of development as the first goal of examination, real-life self-testing and therapy, the obligation to report one's own findings, change of Christian name and indication of operation, evaluation for gender changing, problems of the judge-expert relationship and of future development.     

Prozesse mit hoher Plasmastromdichte und unterschiedlichen Verdampfungsquellen

The hot filament supported high current discharge can be used with various process steps. During the heating cycle, intense electron bombardment provides a soft and efficient energy source. In triode etching the high plasma density improves the throwing power and reduces the arcing problem on oxide inclusions from preceding grinding steps. For the coating cycle the high current density can be fitted into different deposition processes. Activated reactive ion plating is done with a high voltage electron beam gun. But one can also combine the high current density plasma with a magnetron to produce a high plasma density on the substrate and solve the problems of reactivity of this vapor source. Alternatively the high current density plasma can also be used to drive a CVD-reaction. Several of these processes can be combined to hybrid deposition technologies. A few examples of coating realisations and performance in the different processes will be given.     

High-speed InGaP/GaAs HBTs with a strained InxGa1-xAs base

A self-aligned InGaP/GaAs heterojunction bipolar transistor with a compositionally graded In_xGa_1-xAs base has been demonstrated with f_T=83 GHz and f_max=197 GHz. To our knowledge, these results are the highest reported for both parameters in InGaP/GaAs HBT's. The graded base, which improves electron transport through the base, results in a DC current gain and a cutoff frequency which are 100% and 20% higher, respectively, than that achieved by an identical device with a nongraded base. The high f_max results from a heavily doped base, self-aligned base contacts, and a self-aligned collector etch. These results demonstrate the applicability of InGaP/GaAs HBT's in high-speed microwave applications     

Influence of catalyst type on the curing process and network structure of alkyd coatings

Recent studies have shown that cobalt catalysts, used for curing of alkyd coatings, are potentially carcinogenic, and hence replacement by new environmental friendly catalysts is needed. The influence of different metal based catalysts on the oxidation process has been studied extensively in model systems, consisting of unsaturated oils. However, these results may not be representative for real coatings, since in these systems the oxygen diffusion is much lower than in model systems and therefore may have a large effect on the curing. In this paper, we will show how the curing of an alkyd coating depends on the type of catalyst (cobalt or manganese based). The curing process is studied using a high spatial resolution nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) setup. The final network structure and cross-link density are found to be correlated with the catalyst used, i.e. a cobalt based catalyst and two manganese based catalysts. The difference in final network structure is investigated by NMR T₂ relaxation analysis and the glass transition temperature T_g measured using a differential scanning calorimeter (DSC). In case of the cobalt based catalyst a cross-linking front was observed and a high cross-link density was found, compared to the manganese based catalysts, in which case no sharp cross-linking front was observed. To interpret the observed NMR profiles in more detail, simulations based on a reaction-diffusion model were performed. From the results of these simulations estimates were obtained for the reaction constants and the diffusion of oxygen for the different catalysts.     

Monitored high-dose azathioprine treatment reduces acute rejection episodes after renal transplantation

A novel complex mutation consisting of a small deletion/insertion (3958del5ins4) was found in the breast cancer-1 gene (BRCA-1) in three unrelated French breast and/or ovarian cancer families. These mutations occurred at the same nucleotide position of the 3' end of exon 11. The wild-type sequence, CTCAG, was deleted and replaced by AGGC in the three families. The consequence is the generation of a stop codon, TAG, resulting in a truncated protein. We propose two different mechanisms to explain the generation of this complex mutation: (i) the simultaneous occurrence of a deletion and an insertion in a stem-loop structure and (ii) the abortive integration of a human transposable element (Tigger 1) that deleted 5 nucleotides and inserted a 4-nucleotide "scar", corresponding to the 5' extremity of the transposon.     

On the implication problem for cardinality constraints and functional dependencies

In database design, integrity constraints are used to express database semantics. They specify the way by that the elements of a database are associated to each other. The implication problem asks whether a given set of constraints entails further constraints. In this paper, we study the finite implication problem for cardinality constraints. Our main result is a complete characterization of closed sets of cardinality constraints. Similar results are obtained for constraint sets containing cardinality constraints, but also key and functional dependencies. Moreover, we construct Armstrong databases for these constraint sets, which are of special interest for example-based deduction in database design.     

Microscopy under pressure--an optical chamber system for fluorescence microscopic analysis of living cells under high hydrostatic pressure

High hydrostatic pressure (HHP) becomes more and more interesting for life science research, since it can be employed to inactivate various cells. To directly monitor "cells under pressure," the development of an optical high-pressure chamber is required. Therefore, an optical pressure chamber that can be used for up to 300 MPa was constructed. This chamber has already been described as a tool for in situ observation of dynamic changes of microscopic structures in bright field as well as phase contrast. In combination with an inverted microscope, we obtained brilliant microscopic color pictures with an optical resolution more than 0.56 microm. Here, we demonstrate the capabilities of the HHP cell, in combination with epifluorescence microscopy. Using a nonadherent human B-cell line (Raji, ATCC CCL 86), stained with the fluorescent dyes propidium iodide, Hoechst 33342, or dihexyloxacarbocyanine iodide, we were able to show that the system is suitable to perform fluorescence microscopic analyses, with pressures up to 300 MPa, with viable mammalian cells.