Bibliometric analysis of the evolution of biochar research trends and scientific production

Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy - Biochar has caught great attention over the last decade, yielding a large number of publications in a broad range of disciplines. This scientometric...     

Transforming the Danish Film Field Via ‘Professionalization’, Penetration and Integration

Using a qualitative case study of the transformations of the infrastructure of the Danish film field by the Danish Film Institute and its CEO, three basic questions about entrepreneurial agency are raised. The first deals with the relationship between the institutional environment and the personal backgrounds of entrepreneurial actors. The study finds that certain actors can be seen as possessing extreme or unique levels of legitimacy resulting in being rewarded with tremendous resources and opportunities for strategic action. The second question has to do with how, and what sort of role transformations can take place from a structurally central, but static position in a field. Here ‘intermediary entrepreneurialism’ was used to penetrate and integrate the field in such a way as to turn a structurally fixed position from a weak to a strong nexus. The third question deals with how transformations can be effected by an organization that straddles three prominent institutional fields and logics – the state, market and artistic expression. Here, the key role of the term ‘professionalization’ is emphasized, arguing that this term proved evocative and compelling in each institutional field. The case also adds to our understanding of institutional and transformation processes in creative industries by focusing on two less‐studied contexts – the role and strategies of centrally placed actors in initiating and leading transformational activities, and the role that entrepreneurial ‘bureaucrats’ can play in transforming creative industries.     

Surgery for asymptomatic carotid stenosis: a study of three patient subgroups

Increasing evidence suggests that non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) differ in gastrotoxicity. This study aimed to compare the effects of a short-acting NSAID, tiaprofenic acid, with indomethacin on experimental gastric ulcer healing in a rat model. Similar anti-inflammatory and prostaglandin-inhibitory doses of indomethacin (1 mg/kg) and tiaprofenic acid (2 mg/kg) were administered to rats with acetic acid-induced ulcers. After 2 weeks treatment, rats were killed and ulcer size determined. In addition, histological sections of ulcers were assessed for ulcer contraction and mucosal regeneration. The degree of inhibition of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) synthesis was 72% at 2 h after tiaprofenic acid and 64% at 2 h after indomethacin administration, respectively. Rats treated with indomethacin for 2 weeks had significantly larger ulcers, both macroscopically and microscopically, than controls. Rats treated with tiaprofenic acid for 2 weeks had ulcers of a similar size to those of controls. Indomethacin-treated ulcers showed a failure in mucosal regeneration. Tiaprofenic acid-treated ulcers had significantly more regeneration than indomethacin-treated ulcers. We conclude that tiaprofenic acid inhibits mucosal prostaglandin levels but does not inhibit experimental gastric ulcer healing. These findings suggest that inhibition of PGE2 synthesis is not the only factor in generating gastrotoxicity and that a shift to low gastrotoxic NSAID may be clinically worthwhile.     

Extraligamentous lumbar intervertebral disk displacement

The preoperative assessment of sciatica secondary to a herniated intervertebral disk has been radically changed over recent years due to the development of percutaneous treatment techniques which now offer an alternative to surgery. After recalling the terminology used for the position of a herniated lumbar disk in relation to the posterior common vertebral ligament (subligamentous or transligamentous hernia) and to describe whether or not the hernia is detached from the original disk (excluded or non-excluded hernia), the authors review the current state of the art of imaging for each type of herniated lumbar intervertebral disk.     

Environmental-aware virtual data center network

Cloud computing services have recently become a ubiquitous service delivery model, covering a wide range of applications from personal file sharing to being an enterprise data warehouse. Building green data center networks providing cloud computing services is an emerging trend in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry, because of Global Warming and the potential GHG emissions resulting from cloud services. As one of the first worldwide initiatives provisioning ICT services entirely based on renewable energy such as solar, wind and hydroelectricity across Canada and around the world, the GreenStar Network (GSN) was developed to dynamically transport user services to be processed in data centers built in proximity to green energy sources, reducing Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions of ICT equipments. Regarding the current approach, which focuses mainly in reducing energy consumption at the micro-level through energy efficiency improvements, the overall energy consumption will eventually increase due to the growing demand from new services and users, resulting in an increase in GHG emissions. Based on the cooperation between Mantychore FP7 and the GSN, our approach is, therefore, much broader and more appropriate because it focuses on GHG emission reductions at the macro-level. This article presents some outcomes of our implementation of such a network model, which spans multiple green nodes in Canada, Europe and the USA. The network provides cloud computing services based on dynamic provision of network slices through relocation of virtual data centers.     

Anodic film studies on nickel under high rate transpassive dissolution conditions

Coulometry and Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES) were employed to study thickness and composition of anodic films formed on nickel under high rate transpassive dissolution conditions. Nickel anodes were polarized at constant current densities up to 30 A/cm² in alkaline nitrate electrolytes of different nitrate and hydroxyl ion concentration using a flow channel cell with a constant electrolyte flow velocity of 10m/sec. Results show that with increasing current density film thickness goes through a maximum. Nitrogen is detected at the apparent film metal interface in the current region where metal dissolution occurs. No correlation between anodic film thickness and dissolution efficiency is found. The data, together with previous observations, suggest that high rate transpassive dissolution takes place from film free sites.     

Wearable cognitive assistants in a factory setting: a critical review of a promising way of enhancing cognitive performance and well-being

Cognition, Technology & Work - Rapid technological innovations are constantly influencing the complexification and automatization of the work lines pushing human operators to use diverse...     

Inter-MAC Green Path Selection for Heterogeneous Networks

Gigabit home networks represent a key technology to make the Future Internet success a reality. Consumers will require networks to be simple to install, without the need of any new wire and with green consideration. To make this network ubiquitous, seamless and robust, a technology independent MAC layer will ensure its global control and provide connectivities to any number of devices the user wishes to connect to it in any room. In order to make this vision comes true, substantial progress is required in the fields of protocol design and in systems architectures. For this goal, we introduce a new convergence layer denoted inter-MAC, which provides a common infrastructure to the home network, Among the inter-MAC functionalities, we focused the interest on the path selection mechanism including the green aspect. To improve quality of service, reduce energy consumption and radiofrequency devices number, we define a new path selection protocol based on several metrics. We present some preliminary results obtained on an experimental test bed.