Association between inflammatory bowel disease and sarcoidosis. Report of two cases and review of the literature

BACKGROUND: Common etiopathogenic factors may explain the association of systemic sarcoidosis with inflammatory bowel disease. METHODS: We report two cases of such an association: one of sarcoidosis that developed 2 years after proctocolectomy for ulcerative colitis and one of sarcoidosis and Crohn's colitis. Factors like increased cellular immunity or circulating immunocomplexes or autoantibodies may have a role. Exogenous agents or familiarity may also be involved. CONCLUSIONS: It is postulated that the association between sarcoidosis and inflammatory bowel disease (both ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease) does not occur by chance alone and that the two conditions may share some genetic or immunologic alterations. The two diseases, however, follow an independent clinical course.     

Development of brief scales to monitor clients' constructions of change.

This article describes the development and validation of scales to measure clients' outcome optimism, perceived progress, and self-agency related to change in problems presented in therapy. In Study 1, initial confirmatory and subsequent exploratory factor analyses (N?=?257) identified effort and persistence as an additional unique factor and guided selection of items to measure the 4 constructs. In Study 2, confirmatory factor analysis of the revised scales with a new sample (N?=?93) confirmed the measurement model. Results of convergent and discriminant validity analyses generally were in the predicted directions. The Perceived Progress scale demonstrated criterion validity with changes in dyadic adjustment and family functioning. The Outcome Optimism and Self-Agency scales showed variability in their relationship to the Perceived Progress scale over the first 3 sessions of therapy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Catalysis and kinetics of cyclotrimerization of cyanate ester resin systems

The kinetics of cyclotrimerization and the thermal stability of bisphenol Abased cyanate ester resin systems were determined using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, and thermogravimetry. The bisphenol A dicyanate was cured with 4 phr nonylphenol and with the octoates of zinc and manganese, and cobalt acetylacetonate at concentrations ranging from 0 to 750 ppm metal. An empirical rate law was used to predict the cyanate concentration profiles. The observed reaction rate showed a first-order dependen?e on the initial metal concentration and a second-order dependence on the cyanate concentration in the kinetically controlled regime. For the uncatalyzed systems, the kinetics was described by a second-order autocatalytic model. The thermal stability of the network was found to be dependent on the catalyst concentration for the zinc catalysts. For the samples cured with manganese, no effect of concentration on the thermal stability was observed.     

Optimization of metal-based multilayers for transparent heat mirrors

Multilayer calculations by conventional matrix methods for dielectricum/noble metal/dielectricum systems on glass have been performed. The aim has been to maximize the integrated parameters for solar transmission, T_sol, and transmission of visible light, T_eye We have found that Ag is superior for maximizing the transmittance over the narrow visible wavelength range owing to the low internal absorptance. When solar energy transmission is considered multilayers based on Au are the best choice for metal film thicknesses above 15 nm. For thinner films, Ag is still to be preferred.     

Inventory routing with continuous moves

The typical inventory routing problem deals with the repeated distribution of a single product from a single facility with an unlimited supply to a set of customers that can all be reached with out-and-back trips. Unfortunately, this is not always the reality. We introduce the inventory routing problem with continuous moves to study two important real-life complexities: limited product availabilities at facilities and customers that cannot be served using out-and-back tours. We need to design delivery tours spanning several days, covering huge geographic areas, and involving product pickups at different facilities. We develop an innovative randomized greedy algorithm, which includes linear programming based postprocessing technology, and we demonstrate its effectiveness in an extensive computational study.     

Expert Systems for Construction Project Monitoring

Potential applications of knowledge based expert systems in the area of construction project monitoring and control are described. Originally developed from research in artificial intelligence, these systems are computer programs that can undertake intelligent tasks currently performed by highly skilled people. While some project monitoring can be accomplished by algorithmic procedures, the capability of knowledge based expert systems to deal with illstructured problems and to be extensively modified over time make them desirable for application in this area. Sample applications and heuristic rules in scheduling and inventory control are provided.     

Datenschutz nach BSI-Grundschutz?

Datenschutzmanagement ist eine gesetzlich verankerte Aufgabe, muss sich aber unter Wirtschaftlichkeitsgesichtspunkten in der betrieblichen und zunehmend auch der behördlichen Praxis in andere, bereits etablierte Prozessmanagementstrukturen wie ITIL oder Informationssicherheits-management Systeme (ISMS) einordnen. In diesem Beitrag werden die Möglichkeiten untersucht, die IT-Grundschutz als ein zukünftiges, ISO 27001-kompatibles ISMS bietet. Unter dem Gesichtspunkt der Normierung scheint eine Aktualisierung des Bausteins 3.5 “Datenschutz” dringend.     

Optimal Control for Irreversible Processes in Thermodynamics and Microeconomics

Publications on optimal control of irreversible thermodynamic processes are reviewed. Analogies between irreversible processes in thermodynamics and microeconomics are stated.     

Dispersion Signatures, a Statistically Based, Dynamic, Digital Microwave Radio System Measurement Technique

Outage in digital microwave radio systems during multipath fading is highly correlated with the channel amplitude dispersion. This characteristic is exploited in a new digital microwave radio system measurement technique which yields dispersion signatures. These dispersion signatures can be readily applied to assess the effects of time varying channels on digital radio equipment. Thus, dispersion signatures can be used for in-service monitoring of equipment operation during actual fading. Routine maintenance assessment and laboratory evaluation of digital microwave radio equipment can also be readily carried out. The laboratory evaluation results can be used for system design both with and without diversity.