Erythroblast- and erythrocyte-bound antibodies in alpha and beta thalassaemia syndromes

Thirty-five Thai patients with various alpha-thalassaemia (alpha-thal 1/alpha-thal 2, alpha-thal 1/HbCS, HbCS/HbCS) and beta-thalassaemia (beta-thal/HbE, severe and mild form, HbE/HbE) syndromes were examined for the presence of immunoglobulins and C3d on o-tolidine positive erythroblasts in the bone marrow, and for the amounts of IgG of some specificities bound to circulating erythrocytes. In mild, but not in severe beta-thal/HbE and in alpha-thalassaemia, the percentages of Ig-positive erythroblasts were significantly higher than in controls and correlated well with the percentage of IgG-positive erythroblasts. By contrast, the percentages of IgM and C3d positive erythroblasts were low and similar in thalassaemic and control marrows. A substantial proportion of thalassaemic patients showed more erythrocyte-bound IgG than controls, but statistically significant elevations were seen only in severe beta-thal/HbE. Within a particular syndrome erythrocyte-bound IgG was more abundant in splenectomized than non-splenectomized subjects. It showed specificity for spectrin in some beta-thalassaemic patients and for band 3 protein in several individuals with alpha- or beta-thalassaemia. The results suggest that IgG antibodies play a role in the haemolysis of thalassaemia and that they are likely to be involved in the ineffective erythropoiesis in at least some of the syndromes studied.     

Finite element/finite difference propagation algorithm for integrated optical device

A propagation algorithm based on finite elements and a finite difference discretisation of the scalar wave equation is investigated as an alternative to the beam propagation method. The new approach overcomes the assumption of low contrast media in the BPM and allows the propagation of arbitrary input fields in strongly guiding structures.<>     

Energy access and transition to cleaner cooking fuels and technologies in Sri Lanka: Issues and policy limitations

Easy energy access is a trigger for human, social, and economic development. A research project was undertaken in Sri Lanka to broaden the understanding of human dimension of energy access and technologies. A questionnaire survey, covering 2269 households, gathered data on socio-economic contexts and issues influencing a transition towards clean cooking facilities. The findings reveal that the transition is impeded by four factors: the lack of motivation and the pressure for switching over to cleaner facilities, the lack of modern energy technology options, the financial risks, and the lack of financing and other support. The paper describes the delicate two-way interrelation between women earning wages and the transitions to cleaner cooking fuels and technologies. The findings suggest the need for a policy framework involving the stakeholders, financing and standardised technologies. To make a change it is proposed to introduce a national, integrated policy incorporating financing and energy governance.     

Ultra-high-density phase-change storage and memory

Phase-change storage is widely used in optical information technologies (DVD, CD-ROM and so on), and recently it has also been considered for non-volatile memory applications. This work reports advances in thermal data recording of phase-change materials. Specifically, we show erasable thermal phase-change recording at a storage density of 3.3 Tb inch(-2), which is three orders of magnitude denser than that currently achievable with commercial optical storage technologies. We demonstrate the concept of a thin-film nanoheater to realize ultra-small heat spots with dimensions of less than 50 nm. Finally, we show in a proof-of-concept demonstration that an individual thin-film heater can write, erase and read the phase of these storage materials at competitive speeds. This work provides important stepping stones for a very-high-density storage or memory technology based on phase-change materials.     

Steam as an alternative fluid for air in spun-like texturing: effect of core-yarn draw and core-yarn heat setting on texturing performance

The objectives of this research work were to investigate the use of high-pressure steam in order to replace air in the production of spun-like textured yarns and to investigate the effect of core-yarn draw ratio and core-yarn heat setting on texturing performance. An existing air jet texturing machine was modified to supply either air or steam to the texturing nozzle. Using an identical nozzle, both air-jet and steam-jet textured yarns were manufactured. Results show that the core-yarn and textured yarn tension increase and the loop instability decreases when the core-yarn draw ratio is increased. Therefore, it can be predicted that the core-yarn draw ratio has influence on the performance of both air jet and steam jet texturing. Boiling water shrinkage of core-yarn as well as air-jet and steam-jet textured yarn increases when the core-yarn draw ratio was increased. However, steam-jet textured yarn has lower boiling water shrinkage than both core-yarn and air-jet textured yarn. Core-yarn heat setting does not have influence on core-yarn and textured yarn tension in the air jet texturing. In steam jet texturing, core-yarn heat setting reduces core-yarn and textured yarn tension. Therefore, it can be predicted that core-yarn heat setting is important for steam jet texturing.     

Ribosome Depurination Assay for Ribosome Inactivating Protein Purification

Ribosomeinactivating proteins(RIPs)are a general category of proteins withribosome-specific N-gly-cosidic activity[1].By definition,all RIPs inhibit protein synthesis during translation of the protein.In ad-dition,some RIPs display ribonuclease,DNAse,DNA …     

A framework for designing the enterprise-wide e-commerce portal for evolving organizations

The number of organizations offering e-commerce solutions is growing exponentially each year. Without a doubt, e-commerce will no longer be a choice for organizations rather it will be a competitive necessity to ensure business prosperity. Integral to the success of e-commerce is having good e-commerce software that can enable organizations to offer online products and services as well as integrate their business processes and supply chains within and with their collaborators or partners in a perfect, seamless manner. One of the main obstacles for adoption of e-commerce faced by many organizations; however, has been the lack of such proper integrated e-commerce software. There have been few ready-made software solutions offered by vendors, which can be customized for organizations’ business models and processes, and these solutions are based on “piece meal” approaches and thus lack much of the enterprise capabilities organizations need to adopt. In this paper, we suggest a framework for developing an enterprise-wide integrated e-commerce portal for evolving organizations. Such a framework will help any organization to design a distributed, extensible, cross-platform, collaborative and integrated e-commerce portal. Sushil K. Sharma is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Information Systems and Operations Management at Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana. Prior to joining the faculty at Ball State, Dr. Sharma held the Associate Professor position at the Indian Institute of Management in Lucknow (India) and Visiting Research Associate Professor at the Department of Management Science at the University of Waterloo, Canada. He is of two text books (Programming in C, and Understanding Unix), and Co-editor of four edited books. Dr. Sharma has published more than 100 refereed research papers in many peer-reviewed national and international journals and conference proceedings. His contributions have appeared in journals such as; International Journal of Information Management, International Journal of Healthcare Technology and Management (IJHTM), Electronic Government Journal, Journal of Electronic Commerce in Organizations (JECO), Journal of Global Information Technology Management (JGITM), The Journal of Computer Information Systems (CIS), Journal of Logistics Information Management (JLIM), and International Journal of Management. He currently serves as an Associate Editor for International Journal of Cases on Electronic Commerce (IJCEC) and is on Editorial board for the International Journal of Electronic Finance (IJEF) and the Journal of Electronic Commerce in Organizations (JECO). In the past, he has also been a guest editor for special issue of Global Journal of Flexible Systems Management and Journal of Global Information Technology Management (JGITM). Dr. Sharma’s primary teaching and research interests are in e-commerce, computer and network security, ERP Systems, database management systems, and knowledge management. Jatinder (Jeet) N. D. Gupta is currently Eminent Scholar of Management of Technology, Professor of Management Information Systems, Industrial and Systems Engineering and Engineering Management at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville, Alabama. Most recently, he was Professor of Management, Information and Communication Sciences, and Industry and Technology at Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana. He holds a PhD in Industrial Engineering (with specialization in Production Management and Information Systems) from Texas Tech University. Co-author of a textbook in Operations Research, Dr. Gupta serves on the editorial boards of several national and international journals. Recipient of the Outstanding Faculty and Outstanding Researcher awards from Ball State University, he has published numerous papers in such journals as Journal of Management Information Systems, International Journal of Information Management, Operations Research, INFORMS Journal of Computing, Annals of Operations Research, and Mathematics of Operations Research. More recently, he served as a co-editor of several special issues including the Neural Networks in Business of Computers and Operations Research and books that included Decision Making Support Systems: Achievements and Challenges for the New Decade and Creating Knowledge-based Healthcare Organizations published by Idea Group Publishing. He is also the coeditor of the book: Managing E-Business published by Heidelberg Press, Heidelberg, Australia. His current research interests include e-Commerce, Supply Chain Management, Information and Decision Technologies, Scheduling, Planning and Control, Organizational Learning and Effectiveness, Systems Education, Knowledge Management, Information Security, and Enterprise Integration. Dr. Gupta has held elected and appointed positions in several academic and professional societies including the Association for Information Systems, Production and Operations Management Society (POMS), the Decision Sciences Institute (DSI), and the Information Resources Management Association (IRMA). Nilmini Wickramasinghe, PhD, MBA, GradDipMgtSt, BSc. Amus.A (piano) Amus.A(violin): Currently, Dr Wickramasinghe is an associate professor and the associate director of the Center for the Management of Medical Technologies at Stuart Graduate School of Business, Illinois Institute of Technology. Her teaching interests cover the areas of knowledge management as well as e-commerce and m-commerce, IT for competitive advantage, organizational impacts of technology and healthcare issues. In addition, Dr Wickramasinghe teaches and presents regularly in many universities in Europe and Australiasia. She is currently carrying out research and is well published having written numerous book chapters, refereed journal articles and some books in the areas of management of technology, in the field of healthcare as well as focusing on IS issues especially as they relate to knowledge work and e-business. Dr Wickramasinghe is honored to be able to represent the United States of America for the Health Care Technology Management (HCTM) Association (URL http://www.hctm.net/events/2005/conference_2005.html).     

SAW attenuation measurement in the acoustic microscope

A direct method for measuring surface-acoustic-wave attenuation using the scanning acoustic microscope is presented. The use of an annular lens excludes the longitudinal wave component from a normal V(z) measurement, and so an interference-free measurement of surface-wave attenuation alone is possible. Simple corrections compensate for both absorption in the coupling fluid as well as variations in the critical angle.