Economic and ecological aspects of plasma surface engineering

For new developments such as plasma surface technologies, it is first necessary to prove their scientific possibilities and limits. Therefore it is mainly questions of process understanding and process handling, quality of the substrate and coating as well as its interactions which are considered and discussed.

To use these technologies in industry it is also necessary to consider ecological aspects as well as economic and marketing aspects. For a scientist at first these aspects are not as important.

An overview of different economic aspects of the application of plasma surface technologies is presented by considering the following: investment and running costs of plants; costs of process development for special applications; comparison of different technologies; certainty and reproducibility of the coating technologies; cost and profit balance of coated work pieces; costs of marketing.

Recently, the importance of the ecological aspects of industrial technologies has increased greatly. In most cases these questions are closely linked to the economic aspects. Nearly all ecological problems can be solved and handled, but the costs for this are increasing greatly. Although the laws currently differ in different countries, in future the laws everywhere will become more strict. The main concerns of the application and handling of a plasma assisted process are for example the use or production of toxic media, security of plants for the staff and for the environment, and handling of used coated material.     

Protection of B lymphocyte hybridoma against starvation-induced apoptosis: survival-signal role of some amino acids

Immunofluorescence microscopic observations indicated that a monoclonal antibody, Vmp 18, raised against the peptide 199-208 of murine interleukin 1 alpha, cross-reacted with an antigenic determinant of Drosophila thorax muscles. Immunoelectron microscopic analysis showed that the gold particles were mainly localized in the Z-line which is the attachment site of thin filaments from adjacent sarcomeres. On the contrary, the antibody failed to mark the Z-line in vertebrate skeletal muscle. A Western blot of total protein extract from Drosophila thorax muscles bound a protein of 43 kDa. Our observations suggest that the Vmp 18 antibody could contribute to clarify the composition of the Z-line in insect's flight muscles.     

Predictive equation for acquisition of hepatitis B in hospital workers in a general hospital

A cross-sectional study was performed to obtain risk factors for hepatitis B disease, HBsAg carriers and immunised personnel, among 2470 workers in a general hospital in Madrid, Spain. The data obtained were analyzed with multiple logistic regression to obtain beta coefficients for variables. The results of the analysis show that being a nurse or being regularly exposed to blood are the most important risk factors for hepatitis B acquisition. The length of time working at the same job activity was also a risk factor. The resulting beta coefficients allow the construction for a hepatitis non-immunised, HBsAg carrier and immunised HBV status, which can select subjects for a hepatitis B vaccination program.     

Novel application of radiotracer techniques for corrosion studies of zinc and aluminium in acidic medium

The adsorption of sulphate ions on Zn and Al was studied in 0.5 M NaClO₄ supporting electrolyte at various pH values in the range of pH=2-7 by radiotracer techniques. It was found in both cases that the adsorption of sulphate passes over maximum in the pH range studied.The phenomena observed are interpreted by the assumption that the main component of the overall process is anion adsorption on the protonated oxides/hydroxides formed as a result of corrosion. At low pH values the steady state coverage with respect to these products should be very low owing to their dissolution; consequently the extent of anion adsorption induced must also be very low. At higher pH values where no protonation occurs the adsorption of anions decreases significantly.     

Examination of chemical irritation and textural influence on food preferences in two age cohorts using complex food systems

The changes to the chemical senses of taste and smell that accompany ageing are widely documented, and there has been some evidence that these changes may influence food preferences of the older consumer. However, little is known about the loss of function of the residual senses of texture and chemical irritant perception and how such losses influence food preferences. A consumer panel comprising a young (20–35 years) and an older (>65 years) age cohort was recruited and sensory tests were conducted to determine perceived intensity, preferences and the possibility of cross modal interaction between the sensory modalities of chemical irritation and texture. Liquid, semi-solid and solid food systems were studied to enable comparisons to be drawn. Older consumers were less capable of discriminating between chemical irritation and texture stimuli, indicating loss of sensory function, but there was indication that higher levels of chemical irritation were preferred among older consumers in some texture types.     

Generation of Technology-Independent Retargetable Analog Blocks

This paper introduces a complete methodology for retargeting of analog cells to different sets of specifications. This methodology is technology-independent, thus allowing the migration, from one technology to another, of the circuit under retargeting. Careful integration of the device sizing and layout generation tasks via the incorporation of layout constraints during the sizing process allows to generate fully functional designs in a few minutes. The methodology is illustrated via the retargeting of a fully-differential Miller-compensated two-stage operational amplifier for a new set of specifications and two different technological processes.An erratum to this article can be found at     

A Symbolic Pole/Zero Extraction Methodology Based on Analysis of Circuit Time-Constants

This paper introduces a methodology for symbolic pole/zero extraction based on the formulation of the time-constant matrix of the circuits. This methodology incorporates approximation techniques specifically devoted to achieve an optimum trade-off between accuracy and complexity of the symbolic root expressions. The capability to efficiently handle even large circuits will be demonstrated through several practical circuits.     

Quantum and Classical Correlations of Spatial and Spin Degrees of Freedom in Quantum Rings

A one-dimensional mesoscopic ring with one input and two output leads acts as a spintronic beam splitter. The spatial degree of freedom, i.e., the presence of two different possible output channels, gets intertwined with the spin direction as a consequence of quantum interference and spin-orbit interaction. We investigate this kind of spatial-spin correlation, and show that the output density operator contains no quantum entanglement in the important special case when the device polarizes a perfectly random input spin state. However, the correlations are in general not purely classical, we also present specific input states with maximal spatial-spin entanglement after the ring.