Pharmacological distribution diagrams: a tool for de novo drug design

BACKGROUND: There is no empirical data available on attitudes concerning AIDS and habits towards HIV infected patients of physicians in general or private practice. In this study results of a self-evaluation are presented. METHODS: 178 physicians working with out-patients in different medical fields were randomly selected for a cross sectional study and interviewed using a standardised questionnaire. RESULTS: 89% think that they are sufficiently informed about AIDS (in the USA 20%). They regarded the risk of infection to be lower than the Anglo-American physicians. They believed there is a lack of interchange of information between colleagues regarding the degree of infectiousness of referred patients. A third of the physicians fear that other patients will go elsewhere if they find out that their physician is treating AIDS patients. 54% would hold special clinic sessions for HIV-patients outside the normal schedule for practice times. 89% believed that HIV patients were partly to blame for their illness. CONCLUSIONS: Although the physicians recognise the problem of HIV-infection, they partly deny the real necessities and facts. A reason for this could be the emotions underlying the general attitude to everything pertaining to HIV-disease. Attitudes to HIV-disease and the dealing with it in daily practice must be considered on the basis of individual emotional motives.     

Cut off frequency and transit time analysis of lightly doped drain (LDD) MOSFETs

Analytical model for the transconductance, cut off frequency, transit time and fringing capacitance of LDD MOSFETs is presented with a simple approach. The analysis is carried out considering the LDD device as a conventional MOSFET with a series resistance [Z.-H. Liu et al., Threshold voltage model for submicrometer MOSFETs. IEEE Trans Electron Devices 1993; ED-40: 86–94] and a simple closed form expressions for cut off frequency and transit time is obtained. The total gate capacitance, i.e. the geometric and fringing capacitance, is calculated for both LDD and non-LDD devices and lower fringing capacitance is reported in LDD devices. Lower cut-off frequencies and higher transit time are reported in LDD devices for the same channel length.     

The effect of surface roughness on the radiative properties ofpatterned silicon wafers

The radiative properties of patterned silicon wafers have a major impact on the two critical issues in rapid thermal processing (RTP), namely wafer temperature uniformity and wafer temperature measurement. The surface topography variation of the die area caused by patterning and the roughness of the wafer backside can have a significant effect on the radiative properties, but these effects are not well characterized. We report measurements of room temperature reflectance of a memory die, logic die, and various multilayered wafer backsides. The surface roughness of the die areas and wafer backsides is characterized using atomic force microscopy (AFM). These data are subsequently used to assess the effectiveness of thin film optics in providing approximations for the radiative properties of patterned wafers for RTP applications     

Probing the early stages of polymerization of ethylene on a model chromium/silica catalyst by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy

The nature of the interaction of monomer, and the early stages of growth of oligomers of ethylene on a rather more uniform surface of Cr/SiO₂ catalyst than hitherto studied has been investigated by differenceFTIR spectroscopy using C₂D₄ and C₂H₄ as reactants both with and without subsequent treatment of the catalyst with CO andTHF. The active catalyst was prepared by reaction of vapour phase CrO₂Cl₂ with the vicinal hydroxyls of the silica surface. Three distinct kinds of methylene groups were detected. Arguments are given for assigning the peaks at 2935 and 2860 cm^–1 to CH₂ groups directly bound to the active site and those at 2920 and 2850 to CH₂s in the growing chain well removed from the Cr. The peaks at 2160 and 2165 cm^–1 are attributed to CD₂ groups hydrogen bonded to surface hydroxyls.     

Middle cerebral artery main stem thrombosis in two siblings with familial thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura

Idiopathic thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) is frequently complicated by microinfarcts in cerebral cortex and subcortical white matter. We describe two sisters who suffered massive hemispheric infarction due to thrombosis of the middle cerebral artery main stem during exacerbations of TTP. Acute TTP may be associated with intraluminal thrombosis of large-diameter arteries in addition to arterioles and capillaries.     

The use of force modulation microscopy to investigate block copolymer morphology

Force modulation microscopy (FMM) is used to characterize the external surface and internal fracture surface morphologies of three different block copolymer samples. A roll-cast poly(styrene-butadiene-styrene) triblock copolymer film, spin-coated poly(styrene-b-methyl methacrylate) thin films, and an ultrathin poly(styrene-b-hexyl isocyanate) rod-coil block copolymer film were investigated. For each sample, height and elasticity images were obtained for the same areas allowing direct comparison. The elasticity images obtained using force modulation microscopy were independent of surface roughness and found to exhibit better contrast and spatial resolution of the respective block copolymer domains than the height images. The lateral resolution of the elasticity images was sufficient to show microphase separated domains having length scales as small as about 10 nm. The poly(styrene-b-methyl methacrylate) samples demonstrate that FMM can even be successfully used to study block copolymers in which both blocks are glassy under the conditions of measurement.     

Software for dynamic reconfigurable order picking systems

This paper describes an approach, conceptual framework, and software architecture for dynamic reconfiguration of the order picking system. The research and development project was sponsored by the Material Handling Research Center (MHRC), a National Science Foundation sponsored Cooperative Industry/University Research Center. The storage configuration is assumed to be an in-the-aisle order picking system in which stockkeeping units (SKUs) can occupy variable capacity storage locations and stock-splitting is allowed among zones (clusters). The product mix may include multiple product families with different life cycles, correlated demand within families and commonality of demand across families.