Perceptions of and satisfaction with retirement: A comparison of six European Union countries.

The main aim of this study was to assess perceptions of and satisfaction with retirement among 1,686 recently retired people from 6 European Union countries. The authors compared their responses to a set of questions taken from the Retirement Satisfaction Inventory (F. J. Floyd et al., 1992). The first significant result was that Belgian, British, Finnish, French, and Spanish retirees all expressed very similar assessments of life satisfaction, whereas Portuguese retirees expressed a lower level of satisfaction. The 2nd result was that the major determinants of overall satisfaction in the 6 countries were (a) health and resources and (b) anticipated satisfaction. Finally, the data revealed that cultural background only accounted for a limited amount of variance in overall satisfaction with retirement. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Predominance and characteristics of Burkitt lymphoma among children with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in northeastern Brazil

The purpose of this paper was to define the histologic distribution, clinical features, and treatment response of childhood non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) in northeastern Brazil. We reviewed medical records and histopathologic studies of 98 children treated for NHL from 1980 to 1987 at a major pediatric cancer center in Recife, Brazil. Treatment outcome was evaluated in relation to tumor burden (stage and serum LDH) and type of therapy (LSA2L2 vs other multiagent chemotherapy). There was a striking predominance of the small noncleaved cell (Burkitt) subtype, which occurred in 92 of the 98 children and adolescents diagnosed with NHL. Subsequent analyses focused on these patients. The majority (n = 84) had advanced (stage III/IV) disease at diagnosis. The abdomen was the most common site of disease (84 cases); jaw involvement was rare (three cases). Five-year event-free survival (excluding treatment refusals) was significantly better for patients with limited vs advanced stage disease (75 +/- 14% vs 42 +/- 6%; P < 0.04). Elevated serum LDH (>500 U/l) was associated with a poorer outcome (P = 0.008). The type of chemotherapy did not affect EFS (P = 0.95). Only 39% of patients are long-term survivors, reflecting the high rate of septic deaths (25% of patients) and parental refusal/abandonment of therapy (10%). Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) was detected in tumor cells from eight of the 11 cases studied. In clinical presentation, these cases resemble sporadic Burkitt lymphoma, yet in their apparent responsiveness to LSA2L2 therapy and association with EBV, they do not. Childhood NHL in northeastern Brazil is predominantly of the Burkitt subtype, and is associated with clinical features that appear to distinguish it from the endemic and sporadic forms of this tumor. These cases may represent a third or intermediate subtype of Burkitt lymphoma.     

Electrochemical behaviour of titanium coated stainless steel by r.f. sputtering in synthetic sweat solutions for electrode applications

The r.f. sputtering technique was used to deposit titanium thin films on stainless steel substrates, aiming at the application of the coated samples as skin contact materials for “dry” active electrodes. In this work the electrochemical behaviour of the coated samples was investigated in synthetic sweat solutions and their performance was compared with that of uncoated stainless steel and bulk titanium. The characterisation of the samples was carried out by electrochemical techniques and scanning electron microscopy. The coated samples displayed corrosion resistance values in synthetic sweat solutions much higher than stainless steel samples and of the same order of the values measured for bulk titanium in the same conditions.     

Determination of flexibility factors in curved pipes with end restraints using a semi-analytic formulation

Piping systems are structural sets used in the chemical industry, conventional or nuclear power plants and fluid transport in general-purpose process equipment. They include curved elements built as parts of toroidal thin-walled structures. The mechanical behaviour of such structural assemblies is of leading importance for satisfactory performance and safety standards of the installations. This paper presents a semi-analytic formulation based on Fourier trigonometric series for solving the pure bending problem in curved pipes. A pipe element is considered as a part of a toroidal shell. A displacement formulation pipe element was developed with Fourier series. The solution of this problem is solved from a system of differential equations using mathematical software. To build-up the solution, a simple but efficient deformation model, from a semi-membrane behaviour, was followed here, given the geometry and thin shell assumption. The flexibility factors are compared with the ASME code for some elbow dimensions adopted from ISO 1127. The stress field distribution was also calculated.     

Modeling of sporicidal effect of hydrogen peroxide in the sterilization of low density polyethylene film inoculated with Bacillus subtilis spores

The sporicidal effect of hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) in the sterilization of low density polyethylene film (LDPE) was evaluated using a Central Composite Design (CCD). The effects of contact time (5-19s), bath temperature (23–70 °C) and concentration of H₂O₂ (0–35%) in an immersion bath were investigated. A 16 cm² film surface was evenly inoculated with 100 μL of the test microorganism Bacillus subtilis var. globigii ATCC9372 spores. The effective H₂O₂ sporicidal activity was demonstrated at concentrations from 18 to 35% and in a temperature range from 46 to 70 °C, resulting in 2–7 decimal reductions of B. subtilis spores. A quadratic mathematical model representative of the action of H₂O₂ on the B. subtilis spores was developed as a function of concentration, time and temperature. Test specimens sanitized with 28% H₂O₂ at 60 °C for 8 s showed 4 decimal reductions. In the same sterilization procedure, but extending the time to 16 s, this value increased to 7 decimal reductions, demonstrating the efficiency of H₂O₂ as a function of contact time. The sterilization system tested showed satisfactory performance in the sterilization of LDPE films, being capable of reaching up to 7 decimal reductions of the bacterial spore population.     

Development of a Near Net Shape Processing Method for Rhenium Using Directed Light Fabrication

Directed Light Fabrication (DLF) is a direct metal deposition process that fuses gas delivered powder, in the focal zone of a high powered laser beam to form fully fused near net shaped components. The near net shape processing of rhenium and refractory metals is currently in development and may offer significant cost savings compared with conventional processing. A full y associative 3D design through manufacturing model is presented for the application of DLF for the fabrication of a near net shaped nozzle part. This study describes the ability to move from a parametric 3D model integrated into a manufacturing model, creating a control file which can run on the DLF machine to produce a near net shaped metal component. Examples of DLF deposited rheniurn and iridium show a continuously solidified microstructure in rod and tube shapes. Entrapped porosity indicates the required direction for continued process development. These results demonstrate a new methodology for fabricating complex near net shaped components using rhenium.     

The relationship between advisors and students

Considering the influence of graduation courses on the scientific productivity in Brazil, fifty productive Brazilian scientists working in life sciences were interviewed about their relationship with their advisors and their own experience with their students. Admired by freedom and intellectual qualities, by their love and dedication for science, advisors seem to have had a deep influence on their students. This bond is not free from either an idealized frame or from some complaints and conflicts. Interviewed scientists see in themselves lesser qualities and faults but the same respect for freedom. Some students are thought to be specially important to the interviewed's productivity. Eldest and most productive scientists seem to be intellectually more impressed by their advisors than the other groups. The emotional and sometimes strong and idealized bond between advisor and students lead us to believe that the stated frequencies of conflicts might be underestimated.     

Une nouvelle architecture de gestion de réseaux DiffServ basée sur la technologie de réseau actif et la gestion à base de règles

The objective of this work is to propose an architectural solution to the very complex problem of DiffServ network management and control. Despite the fact that DiffServ offers a scalable QoS provisioning solution, it introduces a high complexity in term of its deployment due to the number of complex configurations to perform in the highly distributed and heterogeneous network environment. The proposed solution aims to take benefit from the scalability and flexibility properties of Active Network technology for distributing the control in large scale as well as the autonomic property of Policy Based Management to automate the distribution of these tasks in the operator network. This solution constitutes an alternative to the client/server approach generally used.