Formal Equivalence Between Partitioned and Partition-Free Quenches in Quantum Transport

In this paper, we review the partitioned and partition-free approaches to the calculation of the time-dependent response of a molecular junction to the switch-on of an arbitrary time-dependent bias. Using the nonequilibrium Green’s function formalism on different time contours, we derive a formal equivalence between these two approaches. This clarifies a recent result of Odashima and Lewenkopf (Phys Rev B 95:104301, 2017), which is valid for a static bias and single-level molecular structure, and extends it to arbitrary time-dependent biases and arbitrarily large molecular structures.     

Project management by results

A result-oriented approach to project management is described on the assumption that national requirements and the administration of the company are the most significant components of the project environment. A method is described of identifying certain key results and their corresponding objectives from the goals given by the environment, and their distribution between organization units and responsible persons. This approach is very useful, particularly in modern society where the expectations of the environment are becoming increasingly stringent.     

Bactericidal effects of bioactive glasses on clinically important aerobic bacteria

Bioactive glasses (BAGs) have been studied for decades for clinical use, and they have found many dental and orthopedic applications. BAGs have also been shown to have an antibacterial effect e.g., on some oral microorganisms. In this extensive work we show that six powdered BAGs and two sol-gel derived materials have a clear antibacterial effect on 29 clinically important bacterial species. We also incorporated a rapid and accurate flow cytometric (FCM) method to calculate and standardize the numbers of viable bacteria inoculated in the suspensions used in the tests for antibacterial activity. In all materials tested growth inhibition could be demonstrated, although the concentration and time needed for the effect varied depending on the BAG. The most effective glass was S53P4, which had a clear growth-inhibitory effect on all pathogens tested. The sol-gel derived materials CaPSiO and CaPSiO II also showed a strong antibacterial effect. In summary, BAGs were found to clearly inhibit the growth of a wide selection of bacterial species causing e.g., infections on the surfaces of prostheses in the body after implantation.     

Dissolution of uraninite in acid solutions

The purpose of this work was to assess the oxidative dissolution of uranium from a uraninite-containing rock in acid sulfate solutions under test conditions relevant to uranium leach mines and acid mine waters. Uranium dissolution in acidified mineral salts solution was slow and the predominant carbonate mineral (rhodochrosite) in the rock sample continued to consume acid. Bacterial inoculation (Thiobacillus ferrooxidans) and additional Fe²⁺ or S⁰ were tested in efforts to enhance the dissolution. Addition of Fe enhanced the solubilization of uranium, whereas S-addition had little incremental effect on the dissolution with and without bacterial inoculation. © 1998 Society of Chemical Industry     

Structure and properties of AIMgSi1 alloy tailored for semi-solid forming

Thixoforming requires semi-solid slurries, which contain a high volume fraction of non-dendritic solid phase with special grain morphology. Volume fraction, geometry and connectivity of the solid -phase has to be kept within narrow limits. The paper illustrates the development of a new aluminium based wrought alloy AIMgSi1 alloy, adapted with barium, characterised by a microstructure which exhibits a low sensitivity towards fluctuations in process parameters resulting in improved mechanical properties of the alloy. The rheological behaviour of the new alloy by means of backward extrusion experiments is described, and an overview of the static and dynamic strength properties is given that can be achieved when the alloy is processed by means of the New Rheocasting process.     

Mechanism of Inhibition of Corrosion of Steel in the Presence of Sulfate-Reducing Bacteria

We consider the electrochemical and microbiological aspects of microbe-induced corrosion of low-carbon steels caused by sulfate-reducing bacteria and its inhibition by organic surfactants. We propose relations that take into account the influence of the main products of the vital activity of sulfate-reducing bacteria (H₂S and HS^–) on the cathodic and anodic reactions of the corrosion process. The evaluation of the adsorption properties of organic surfactants and analysis of their influence on the kinetics of oxidation-reduction reactions enable one to develop high-performance inhibitors of microbe-induced corrosion of steels in aqueous aggressive media containing sulfate-reducing bacteria.     

Comparison of perioperative ketoprofen 2.0 mg kg-1 with 0.5 mg kg-1 i.v. in small children during adenoidectomy

We have investigated if ketoprofen 0.5 mg kg-1 i.v. provided as good analgesia with less adverse effects compared with ketoprofen 2.0 mg kg-1 i.v. in 107 children, aged 1-7 yr, after adenoidectomy, in a randomized, double-blind, parallel group study design. A standard anaesthetic method was used and all children received fentanyl 1 microgram kg-1 i.v. during induction. Children in group 2.0 received ketoprofen 2.0 mg kg-1 and children in group 0.5, 0.5 mg kg-1 i.v. during induction. If the child was in pain, fentanyl 1 microgram kg-1 was given i.v. as rescue analgesia. We found that ketoprofen provided good analgesia and only 49% of children required fentanyl in the post-anaesthesia care unit. There were no differences between the groups in the number of fentanyl doses, pain scores or frequency of adverse reactions. No serious adverse reactions occurred.     

Tool Support for Estimating the Memory Usage of Mobile Phone Software

We present and discuss a tool that can estimate the worst-case memory usage of interacting software components. The tool applies formal analysis based on Coloured Petri nets (CPN). For a given set of interaction scenarios, the tool calculates a state space of a CPN model and finds a path, which corresponds to a worst-case memory usage interleaving of the events in the scenarios. To hide the formal analysis from the users of the tool, IBM Rational Rose is used as front-end to specify scenarios as annotated UML sequence diagrams, and Microsoft Excel is used as back-end to present the analysis results.     

Detection of interferences in an additive manufacturing process: an experimental study integrating methods of feature selection and machine learning

Additive manufacturing becomes a more and more important technology for production, mainly driven by the ability to realise extremely complex structures using multiple materials but without assembly or excessive waste. Nevertheless, like any high-precision technology additive manufacturing responds to interferences during the manufacturing process. These interferences – like vibrations – might lead to deviations in product quality, becoming manifest for instance in a reduced lifetime of a product or application issues. This study targets the issue of detecting such interferences during a manufacturing process in an exemplary experimental setup. Collection of data using current sensor technology directly on a 3D-printer enables a quantitative detection of interferences. The evaluation provides insights into the effectiveness of the realised application-oriented setup, the effort required for equipping a manufacturing system with sensors, and the effort for acquisition and processing the data. These insights are of practical utility for organisations dealing with additive manufacturing: the chosen approach for detecting interferences shows promising results, reaching interference detection rates of up to 100% depending on the applied data processing configuration.