Mobile asynchronous communication: Exploring the potential for converged applications

Trends in technological development show that devices of personal communication and information management are converging and penetrating to new user segments. Therefore, it is a question of interest how the convergence of applications should be managed. This article explores the current use of email and SMS, focussing on the differences in the ways they are used and understood among their users. It is argued that, since the systems are different and have been in use for some time, established practices in using them as well as systems applied to understanding them are different. Based on analysis of interview data, it is conluded that this is the case, and that the future converged systems should not be considered as replacements of the current ones, but rather that the systems need to supplement each other. For example, the need for a quick and dirty instant asynchronous media such as SMS seems to remain, and therefore it cannot be replaced simply by implementing email to mobile phones. The need for email and SMS seems to be different, and thus the development should be towards a better understanding of these needs rather than simple technological convergence.     

Two Moldy Day-care Centers: a Follow-up Study of Respiratory Symptoms and Infections

Abstract The aim was to study the respiratory symptoms among children exposed to indoor air molds in a day-care environment in Finland. Two day-care centers with a mold problem and two reference day-care centers were included in the study and the health data of the children were collected with a follow-up study of two periods. A total of 229 children 3-7 years old attended the day-care centers. During the first follow-up period, the children in the two day-care centers with mold problems had a significantly increased risk of sore throat, purulent and non-purulent nasal discharge, nasal congestion, hoarseness and common cold. During the second follow-up period, a significantly increased risk of purulent nasal discharge, nasal congestion, hoarseness and cough was observed. Upper respiratory tract symptoms, at least once during the study period, were more prevalent among the children attending mold-problem day-care centers. The mold-exposed children had such symptoms repeatedly or the symptoms were prolonged. In conclusion, in the mold-problem day-care centers, overall morbidity for respiratory symptoms and for common cold increased in comparison with the reference day-care centers.     

The use of ERS-1 SAR data in snow melt monitoring

ERS-1 SAR data, airborne data and in situ snow data were acquired for the Sodankyla test site in northern Finland for the winters of 1991-1992 and 1992-1993. The test area consists of sparsely forested areas (pine, mixed forests, and mires) and open areas (bogs, lakes, clear-cut areas, and urban area). A set of multitemporal ERS-1 SAR images covering the two winters have been analyzed and the results have been compared with in situ surveys and a digital land-use map. The results indicate that even in the presence of forest canopies (1) wet snow can be distinguished from other soil/snow conditions (dry snow and bare ground), and (2) snow melt maps can be derived from SAR images. Snow-melt maps indicate areas fully covered with wet snow, partly melted areas and snow-free areas     

Reference intervals for serum thyrotropin, free thyroxine and free triiodothyronine in healthy adults in Finland, measured by an immunoautomate based on time-resolved fluorescence (AutoDELFIA)

We have established reference intervals for healthy adults of serum thyrotropin, free thyroxine and free triiodothyronine using the AutoDELFIA (Wallac, Finland) automatic measuring device. The determination of reference intervals in a proper manner is costly, and many laboratories adopt reference ranges from the literature rather than determining them alone. This is the first report on reference values in thyroidology where this automatic system based on time-resolved fluorescence has been used. The reference intervals for thyrotropin, free thyroxine and free triiodothyronine were 0.6-4.3 mIU/l, 9.6-17.1 pmol/l and 4.3-7.5 pmol/l, respectively.     

Energy balance and operation equations of a copper flash smelting furnance based on the superposition principle

The energy balance of a copper flash smelting furnace is investigated by forming equations to describe heat balances in both the reaction shaft and in the settler. A new concept of characteristic parameters is introduced so as to improve the consistency of the construction of heat balances and operation equations. The characteristic parameters include the efficient heat, the demand for oxygen or the oxygen coefficient, and the specific amounts of gases generated. These parameters are characteristic for each feed material and can be calculated so that they follow the superposition principle. Based on these characteristic parameters, correlations are established between the feed rate of the concentrate and process parameters such as the matte grade, the level of oxygen enrichment of the process air and the rate of emission of the process gases. The generation of process gases is considered from the point of view of the improvement of the control of the process and the development of the sensor technology for this purpose.     

The hypothalamus-pituitary-gonad axis and testicular function in male patients after treatment for haematological malignancies

In this study including 26 patients with dyslipoproteinemia classified IIa, we evaluated biochemical and clinical safety of Nomegestrol acetate (Lutenyl) used for its antigonadotrophin property. It was administered alone, during 3 cycles at the dose of 5 mg/d for 21 days by cycle and then it was associated (at the same sequence and dose), without any wash out, for the next 6 cycles, with a 17 beta estradiol patch (Estraderm TTS 50), 50 micrograms/d from the 11th to the 21st day of each cycle. Nomegestrol acetate, alone, had no significant effect on glycemia, antithrombin III, triglycerides, total cholesterol, apoprotein A1, and LpA1 values compared to those at baseline but apoprotein B and Lp (a) values tended to decrease slightly. Serum progesterone levels were collapsed, and FSH values were low. Weight and blood pressure remained constant. Adding 17 beta estradiol enabled to significantly decrease and normalize the apoprotein B values after the first 3 cycles compared to the baseline values, then these values remained constant during the next 3 cycles. There was no effect on the other parameters (except for a significant increase in plasmatic estradiol values) on the antigonadotrophin property of Nomegestrol acetate, nor on weight and blood pressure which remained constant. Moreover, we observed an important decrease in the rate of amenorrheic cycles compared to those with Nomegestrol acetate alone.     

Interleukin-5-producing CD4+ T cells play a pivotal role in aeroallergen-induced eosinophilia, bronchial hyperreactivity, and lung damage in mice

Although activated CD4+ T cells have been implicated in the pathogenesis of asthma, the direct contribution of this leukocyte to the induction of aeroallergen-induced bronchial hyperreactivity and lung damage is unknown. In the present investigation, we have used a model of allergic airways inflammation, which displays certain phenotypic characteristics of late-phase asthmatic responses, together with interleukin-5-deficient (IL-5-/- ) mice and donor antigen-specific CD4+ TH2-type cells to obtain unequivocal evidence for a role of this T lymphocyte in the pathophysiology of allergic airways inflammation. Antigen-primed CD4+ T cells and CD4- cells (CD4+-depleted population) were purified from the spleens of ovalbumin (OVA)-sensitized wild-type mice and adoptively transferred to OVA-sensitized and nonsensitized IL-5-/- mice. In vitro stimulation of the purified cell populations with OVA resulted in the secretion of IL-4 and IL-5, but not interferon-gamma, from the CD4+ T cells, indicating that they were of the TH2 type. In contrast, interferon-gamma, but not IL-4 and IL-5, was produced by the CD4- T cells. The CD4+ TH2-type cells (but not the CD4 cells) reconstituted aeroallergen (OVA)-induced blood and airways eosinophilia, lung damage, and airways hyperreactivity to 1-methacholine in IL-5-/- mice. The reconstitution did not require prior sensitization of the mice, but it did not occur if they were aerosolized with saline instead of OVA. The circulating levels of OVA-specific -IgE and -IgG1 were not significantly altered by the adoptive transfer of either cell population. These investigations establish that IL-5-secreting CD4+ TH2-type cells play a pivotal role in generating blood and airways eosinophilia and in the subsequent development of bronchial hyperreactivity and lung damage that occurs in response to aeroallergens.     

Early integration of safety to the mechatronic system design process by the functional failure identification and propagation framework

The research goal of this paper is to introduce a risk analysis methodology that can be applied at the early concept design phase, whose purpose is to identify fault propagation paths that cross disciplinary boundaries, and determine the combined impact of several faults in software-based automation subsystems, electric subsystems and mechanical subsystems. Specifically, the Functional Failure Identification and Propagation (FFIP) analysis framework is proposed to perform a simulation-based analysis of functional failure propagation. The focus is on risk assessment, the earliest activities of the safety process, in which hazards are identified and safety requirements are derived. It is argued that current risk assessment methods are not sufficient for concurrent integration of the safety process to the design process of a complex mechatronic system. In order to facilitate the integration of risk assessment to such systems at the earliest design stages, the design is expressed with syntax and semantics that is able to describe the propagation of failures throughout the system and especially across the boundaries of the mechatronic domains. A boiling water nuclear reactor (limited to the reactor core and steam outlets) is used as a case study. The results demonstrate the capability to handle several fault propagation paths in one scenario for hazard identification at the early, functional, design stage. Specifically, it is shown that FFIP is able to identify fault propagation paths that cross disciplinary boundaries, and which in turn is able to determine the combined impact of several faults in software-based automation subsystems, electric subsystems and mechanical subsystems. The impact is expressed in degradation or loss of safety related functions.     

Tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) in patients who have asbestosis and develop cancer

OBJECTIVES: Concentrations of tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) were assayed by radioimmunoassay in serum samples collected between 1981 and 1987 from 111 patients with asbestosis who were at a high risk of cancer. Follow up of these patients until 1993 showed that 38 had developed cancer (27 lung, three mesotheliomas, and eight diverse malignancies). RESULTS: The mean serum concentrations of TNF-alpha given in fmol/100 microliters serum in all the cases with cancer (14.1) and the cases with lung cancer (13.6) were significantly higher (P < 0.05) than the mean concentrations in the exposed controls (10.5). A positive increase was considered to be any value that was > 2 SDs above the mean of the exposed controls. 22% (six of 27) of the cases with lung cancer were positive compared with 4% (three of 73) of the exposed controls, a significant difference (P < 0.001). The serum concentrations of TNF-alpha correlated moderately with cancer (r = 0.3), lung cancer (r = 0.3), and Neu oncoproteins and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) (r = 0.3, 0.5 respectively). Also, there was a significant correlation between development of cancer and severity or progression of asbestosis. There was no correlation between the concentrations of TNF-alpha and severity or progression of asbestosis. CONCLUSIONS: These results showed high concentrations of TNF-alpha in the patients who had cancer. TNF-alpha may offer an auxiliary method in early diagnosis of cancers related to asbestosis.