Energy Sales & Care: IT-Lösung für den Energievertrieb — Das Zusammenspiel von Handel und Vertrieb in der Energieversorgung

October 1, 2001 is approaching Austria’s power supplying companies with giant strides. From that time on these companies have to meet the general conditions of the EIWOG 2000 as well as they have to fulfil the directive of the internal market of the European Union and further published statute basics from the regulator. An increased readiness for changing regarding household customers is not predictable, however, it is foreseeable that one or another power customer will switch to an alternative provider. This and further facts caused by the liberalization process lead to the situation, that on one hand there are completely new and on the other hand changed conventional business processes for the power suppliers. Traditional methods and equipment will not suffice anymore. Therefore it is necessary, that energy supply companies and offerers of IT-solutions create the appropriate solution, which is adapted for the particular power supplying company. Energy Sales & Care, a modularly constructed and always expandable product for tomorrow’s power supplier can cover this shortage in a responsible way.     

Diminished self-conscious emotional responding in frontotemporal lobar degeneration patients.

Frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) is a neurodegenerative disease that dramatically alters social and emotional behavior. Recent work has suggested that self-conscious emotions (e.g., embarrassment) may be particularly vulnerable to disruption in this disease. Self-conscious emotions require the ability to monitor the self in relation to others. These abilities are thought to be subserved by brain regions (e.g., medial prefrontal, anterior cingulate, and insula) that are particularly vulnerable to damage in FTLD. This study examined emotional responding (expressive behavior, peripheral physiology, and subjective experience) in 24 FTLD patients and 16 cognitively normal control participants using a karaoke task known to elicit self-conscious emotion reliably and a nonemotional control task (isometric handgrip). Results indicated that FTLD patients showed diminished self-conscious emotional behavior (embarrassment and amusement) and diminished physiological responding while watching themselves singing. No differences were found between patients and controls in the nonemotional control task. These findings offer evidence of marked disruption of self-conscious emotional responding in FTLD. Diminished self-conscious emotional responding likely contributes significantly to social inappropriateness and other behavioral abnormalities in FTLD. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Human umbilical cord blood stem cells: rational for use as a neuroprotectant in ischemic brain disease

The use of stem cells for reparative medicine was first proposed more than three decades ago. Hematopoietic stem cells from bone marrow, peripheral blood and human umbilical cord blood (CB) have gained major use for treatment of hematological indications. CB, however, is also a source of cells capable of differentiating into various non-hematopoietic cell types, including neural cells. Several animal model reports have shown that CB cells may be used for treatment of neurological injuries. This review summarizes the information available on the origin of CB-derived neuronal cells and the mechanisms proposed to explain their action. The potential use of stem/progenitor cells for treatment of ischemic brain injuries is discussed. Issues that remain to be resolved at the present stage of preclinical trials are addressed.     

A GIS based component-oriented integrated system for estimation, visualization and analysis of road traffic air pollution

Road traffic is a dominant source of air pollution. Therefore it is necessary to provide decision-makers with up-to-date emission information in an easily understandable form. To achieve this goal we have integrated existing emission calculation software with a graphical user interface, which includes a GIS (geographical information system) component. The paper first gives a summary of the basic road traffic emission model and then focuses on the design and implementation of the computer application with the emphasis on the used component and GIS technology. The integrated emission evaluation system offers entirely new ways of using the emission model and gives additional visualization and analysis possibilities.     

Deriving an upper bound on the average operation time of a wireless sensor network

One of the main challenges in implementing wireless sensor networks (WSN) is to minimize power consumption in order to maximize network lifetime. To accomplish this, we derive an upper bound on the average network lifetime. The upper bound was derived for a code division multiple access (CDMA) communication system. The communication procedure that consumes most of the energy is transmission. But, it is possible to reduce energy consumption by increasing the antenna gain of the base station which collects information from the sensors. However, a problem that arises is that the spot size of high gain antenna is smaller than low gain antenna and as a result the base station provides only partial coverage to the network, which is obviously an undesirable situation. Therefore we propose to shape the base-station antenna gain in such a way that maximizes network lifetime, by taking advantage of the spatial nonuniformity distribution of the sensors on the ground.     

Fabry-Perot optical intensity modulator at 1.3 mu m in silicon

A new type of all-silicon surface-normal optical intensity modulator at 1.3 mu m is reported. It can be easily butt-coupled with a cleaved single-mode fiber. The device utilizes free-carrier effects in silicon to achieve phase modulation and a built-in Fabry-Perot cavity to convert the phase modulation into intensity modulation. A 10% modulation depth with a driving current density as low as 6*10/sup 3/ A/cm/sup 2/ was demonstrated. Because it can be easily coupled with single-mode fiber, and at the same time it is compatible with silicon technology, this device can provide an interface between silicon electronic circuitry and fiber optics in applications such as the fiber-to-home return link where system cost is a deciding figure.<>     

Cystic craniopharyngioma: long-term results after intracavitary irradiation with stereotactically applied colloidal beta-emitting radioactive sources

OBJECTIVE: Long-term follow-up data were analyzed to assess the value of intracavitary irradiation with stereotactically applied beta-emitting radioisotopes for the treatment of craniopharyngioma cysts. METHODS: Sixty-two of 70 consecutive patients with predominantly cystic craniopharyngiomas were selected for retrospective analysis. Beta-Emitting isotopes were injected intracystically using a computed tomography-guided and computer-assisted three-dimensional stereotactic treatment planning and application system (cumulative dose to the inner surface of the cyst wall, 200 Gy). RESULTS: The tumor response rate gained with yttrium-90-labeled silicate (66 of 78 cysts) or phosphorous-32-labeled chromic phosphate (8 of 78 cysts) was 79.5%. Four cysts treated with rhenium-186-labeled sulfate did not respond. Mean survival after intracavitary irradiation was 9.0 +/- 0.9 years (median follow-up, 11.9 yr). In patients with solitary cysts, the mean survival was 12.5 +/- 1.4 years (actuarial 5- and 10-yr survival rates, 80 and 64%, respectively). Six months postoperatively, visual deficits (38 of 62 patients) had improved in 23 patients and were stable in 15 patients. The side effects that occurred 6 to 12 months after treatment with yttrium-90 were complete blindness (three patients), worsening of visual field cuts (one patient), third nerve palsy (one patient), and diabetes insipidus and/or panhypopituitarism (three patients). CONCLUSIONS: Intracavitary irradiation using yttrium-90 or phosphorous-32 is highly effective in the treatment of cystic craniopharyngiomas. If applied as initial treatment in patients with solitary cysts, it is the only required therapy over a long period.