Magnetic specific heat and magnetoresistance of URhSi

Specific heat of a single crystalline URhSi was measured by a relaxation method in a temperature range 0.3–25 K in magnetic fields up to 8 T applied along the two of the principal axes. The low-temperature specific heat exponentially decays with magnetic field. The decay is much faster in fields applied along the easy magnetization direction (the c-axis) than for the hard axis (the a-axis) case. A strong upturn in c_p/T versus T below 0.6 K that disappears with application of magnetic field is observed suggesting possible magnetic or superconducting phase transition at lower temperatures. The electrical resistivity in the vicinity of the ferromagnetic phase temperature is found to be reduced by more than 50% upon application of magnetic field of 8 T applied along the c-axis. URhSi represent an itinerant ferromagnetic system with influence of spin fluctuations.     

The complications of trauma and their associated costs in a level I trauma center

OBJECTIVES: To estimate the expected costs for acute trauma care, to quantify the costs associated with the development of complications in injury victims, and to determine the deficit incurred by patients in whom complications develop. DESIGN: A retrospective, cohort design. SETTING: A referral trauma center. PATIENTS: A total of 12,088 patients admitted to a single regional trauma center during a period of 5 years. INTERVENTIONS: This is an observational study, and no interventions specific to this study are included in the design. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: (1) The expected costs for injury victims based on readily available clinical data. (2) The costs associated with the most important complications of trauma. (3) The effect of complications on inadequate reimbursement for trauma care. RESULTS: The expected costs were estimated using a linear model incorporating demographic variables and measures of injury severity. The expected costs averaged $14,567, and the observed costs averaged $15,032. Six complications were important predictors of cost. These included adult respiratory distress syndrome, acute kidney failure, sepsis, pneumonia, decubitus ulceration, and wound infections. For 1201 individuals with these complications, the predicted costs averaged $23,266 and the observed costs averaged $47,457. The mean excess costs for a single complication ranged from $6669 to $18,052. Multiple complications led to greater increases in excess cost, averaging $110,007 for the 62 patients with 3 or more complications. Costs exceeded reimbursement to a much greater degree in those in whom any of the 6 complications developed. CONCLUSION: Expected hospital costs can be estimated using admission clinical data. Each of 6 complications was associated with enormous increases in costs, indicating their importance as a cause of avoidable expenditures in injury victims and identifying situations in which reimbursement may not be adequate.     

Zertifizierungskriterien für das Datenschutzgütesiegel EuroPriSe

Qualitativ hochwertige Zertifizierungskriterien sind eine fundamentale Voraussetzung für den Erfolg und die Reputation eines Gütesiegels. Dies gilt auch und gerade für das zurzeit im Rahmen des Projekts EuroPriSe (European Privacy Seal) konzipierte und erprobte europ?ische Datenschutzgütesiegel. Der Beitrag beschreibt, wie bei der Entwicklung der EuroPriSe-Kriterien vorgegangen worden ist, und stellt die einschl?gigen Zertifizierungskriterien in einem überblick vor.     

Signal processing in an optical polarization diversity receiver for560-Mbit/s ASK heterodyne detection

Polarization diversity is an alternative technique for coherent receivers to prevent loss to signal due to variations in the states of polarization (SOP) of the received signal field. It is shown experimentally and theoretically that there is no significant power penalty difference between a receiver with optimally adjusted gains and receivers with linear envelope detection and square-law detection. Experimentally, two amplitude-shift keying (ASK) heterodyne polarization diversity receivers with envelope detectors were demonstrated at 560 Mb/s, one using linear rectifiers, the other using square-law rectifiers. In both cases, the receiver sensitivity of -35 dBm at BER=10 ^-9 was degraded by less than 1 dB as the received signal SOP was varied, in agreement with theory     

The genes for butanol and acetone formation in Clostridium acetobutylicum ATCC 824 reside on a large plasmid whose loss leads to degeneration of the strain

Degeneration is the process whereby Clostridium acetobutylicum ATCC 824 loses the capacity to produce acetone and butanol after repeated vegetative transfers or in continuous culture. Two degenerate mutants (M5 and DG1) of C. acetobutylicum ATCC 824 do not contain the four genes (ctfA, ctfB, adc, and aad) for acetone and butanol formation. Strain ATCC 824 contains a 210-kb plasmid (pSOL1) which is absent in M5 and DG1. pSOL1 carries the four acetone and butanol formation genes. A restriction map of pSOL1 was constructed by using ApaI, SmaI, SstII, and NarI digestions. M5 and DG1 could be complemented for acetone and butanol formation by expressing the corresponding genes (ctfA, ctfB, and adc for acetone; aad for butanol) on the plasmid. Degeneration of this strain thus appears to be the result of pSOL1 loss.     

Structural studies of ribosomal proteins

Crystal and solution structures of fourteen ribosomal proteins from thermophilic bacteria have been determined during the last decade. This paper reviews structural studies of ribosomal proteins from Thermus thermophilus carried out at the Institute of Protein Research (Pushchino, Russia) in collaboration with the University of Lund (Lund, Sweden) and the Center of Structural Biochemistry (Karolinska Institute, Huddinge, Sweden). New experimental data on the crystal structure of the ribosomal protein L30 from T. thermophilus are also included.