Thermal resistance assessment in multi-trenched power devices

For the first time the thermal resistance (R_th) of Multi-Trenched (MT) power devices is evaluated and compared with their Deep Trench Isolation flanked (DTI-flanked) and bulk counterparts. The R_th extraction is carried out by adapted test structures based on the four-point heater/sensor method. Additional TCAD simulation supports the experimental stationary values and proves that dynamic heating can limit the MT power devices energy capability.     

Application of fuzzy numerical techniques for product performance analysis in the conceptual and preliminary design stage

Uncertainty and variability modelling tools greatly enhance the value of virtual prototypes at the different design stages of a CAE process. The fuzzy analysis technique is suited to deal with models containing subjective non-deterministic parameters. This technique is finding its way to different disciplines of mechanical engineering. The objective of this paper is to increase the value of this technique in early stages of mechanical design procedures. For this purpose, new numerical procedures are proposed. First, the degree of influence is introduced. This new concept measures the relative effect of highly uncertain design properties on the performance of a design. Next, this paper proposes a new reduced optimisation scheme in order to improve the computational efficiency of the interval analysis, which is at the core of the implementation of the fuzzy technique. The practical applicability of the newly developed procedures is demonstrated on two numerical applications from the automotive industry. The analysed models represent the design at the conceptual stage, and contain parameters with a high and subjective level of uncertainty. The parametrised models are used to demonstrate the value and efficiency of the developed numerical procedures: significant parameters are identified using the degree of influence analysis, the optimal configuration is identified through an interval analysis based on the reduced optimisation scheme, and finally the fuzzy technique is applied as design space exploration tool.     

Back pain and its correlates among workers in family care

This study is based on the empirical fact that among nurses large variations occur not only in clinical competency but also in individual productivity. The article proposes that competency-based targeted staff development programs can improve productivity as well as nursing performance. Research presented here shows that the nurses on units using targeted staff development increased the time spent on professional and direct care and reduced nonprofessional and indirect care tasks in comparison to nurses on the control nursing unit.     

Comparative Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase-Activated Protein Kinase 5

The mitogen-activated protein kinase-activated protein kinase MK5 is a substrate of the mitogen-activated protein kinases p38, ERK3 and ERK4. Cell culture and animal studies have demonstrated that MK5 is involved in tumour suppression and promotion, embryogenesis, anxiety, cell motility and cell cycle regulation. In the present study, homology models of MK5 were used for molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of: (1) MK5 alone; (2) MK5 in complex with an inhibitor; and (3) MK5 in complex with the interaction partner p38α. The calculations showed that the inhibitor occupied the active site and disrupted the intramolecular network of amino acids. However, intramolecular interactions consistent with an inactive protein kinase fold were not formed. MD with p38α showed that not only the p38 docking region, but also amino acids in the activation segment, αH helix, P-loop, regulatory phosphorylation region and the C-terminal of MK5 may be involved in forming a very stable MK5-p38α complex, and that p38α binding decreases the residual fluctuation of the MK5 model. Electrostatic Potential Surface (EPS) calculations of MK5 and p38α showed that electrostatic interactions are important for recognition and binding.     

应用双倍PCR技术快速检测大豆胞囊线虫

描述了一种基于双倍PCR技术,用种特异性引物快速鉴定大一啼胞囊线虫方法。应用两组引物扩增胞囊线虫的rDNA。第一组引物含有2个通用引物D3A和D3B,用于扩增大亚基核糖体基因（28S rDNAgene）的D3扩展区;第二组引物包括大豆胞囊线虫特异性引物GlyF1和一个通用引物rDNA2,用于扩增ITS2区的片断和部分28S基因,用此双倍PCR扩增技术检测了来自中国、俄罗斯、美国和巴西的53个大豆胞囊线虫群体,结果表明,用两组引物进行双倍PCR扩增,所有53个大豆胞囊线虫群体都产生两个明显的片断（181bp and 345 bp）,其中181bp片断是SCN特异性引物GlyF1和rDNA2扩增出大豆胞囊线虫中特异性片断,在所测试的其它胞囊线虫群体,仅仅扩增出345bp的片断,而不能扩增出大豆胞囊线虫的特异性片断,用该项技术能从大豆胞囊经一虫的胞囊或单头二龄幼虫的微量DNA中,扩增出大豆胞囊线虫的特异性片断,该技术的敏感性达到单条二龄幼虫的水平。     

Salomon: Automatic Abstracting of Legal Cases for Effective Access to Court Decisions

The SALOMON project is a contribution to the automatic processing of legal texts. Its aim is to automatically summarise Belgian criminal cases in order to improve access to the large number of existing and future cases. Therefore, techniques are developed for identifying and extracting relevant information from the cases. A broader application of these techniques could considerably simplify the work of the legal profession.A double methodology was used when developing SALOMON: the cases are processed by employing additional knowledge to interpret structural patterns and features on the one hand and by way of occurrence statistics of index terms on the other. As a result, SALOMON performs an initial categorisation and structuring of the cases and subsequently extracts the most relevant text units of the alleged offences and of the opinion of the court. The SALOMON techniques do not themselves solve any legal questions, but they do guide the user effectively towards relevant texts.     

Intelligent Information Extraction from Legal Texts

Presently, we are confronted with an enormous amount of legal documents, which are increasingly recorded in electronic format. There is a need to make the information in legal texts easily and automatically accessible. In this paper we argue that in the legal field, where we are confronted with specific text types, knowledge about discourse structures and the linguistic cues that signal them is very valuable to incorporate in information extraction systems and in text processing systems in general. We also demonstrate the need for adequate formalisms for representing discourse patterns. However, intertextual analysis of texts that describes and explains the properties of text types and genres is underdeveloped in the legal field.