The Physical Context of Creativity

Creative processes are complex and consist of sub‐processes, e.g. value creation, scaffolding, imagination and materialization. Creativity takes place in a physical context, i.e. in a confined space. Such space restricts and enables the free flow of sensory experiences and proximity of other people. The confinements may make certain sensory experiences available, e.g. vision of source material, sight and sound (including noise). This framing allows certain cognitive processes and restricts others. This may induce emotions that, in turn, facilitate or reduce the enhancement of creativity. Physical space affects the well‐being of people, the channels of information, the availability of knowledge tools and sets the stage for coherence and continuity, which may contribute to competitive advantages.     

Prolonged release Matrix Pellets Prepared by Melt Pelletization I. Process Variables

A melt pelletization process was investigated in an 8 litre laboratory scale high shear mixer using a formulation with paracetamol, glyceryl monostearate 40-50, and microcrystalline wax. The effects of jacket temperature, product temperature during massing, product load, massing time and impeller speed were investigated by means of factorially designed experiments. The maximum yield of pellets in the range of 500-1400μm was found to approx. 90%. For process conditions preventing deposition of moist mass, the process was found to be reproducible. Impeller speed and massing time were found to be important process variables. Remarkably low in vitro drug release rates were observed in USP-dissolution tests.     

Mechanical properties of moist agglomerates in relation to granulation mechanisms part I. Deformability of moist,densified agglomerates

The mechanical properties of moist samples of fine, polydisperse powders are investigated by measuring the tensile strength by a diametrical compression test and the stress—strain relationship of samples exposed to uniaxial compression. The strengths determined by the two methods correlate well. The strength of moist samples compressed to porosities comparable to the level of intragranular porosities achieved by granulation in high-speed mixers is shown to be influenced significantly by particle interactions in addition to mobile liquid bondings. For a particular material the strength is controlled mainly by porosity and liquid saturation. It is shown that the effect of a growing liquid saturation is to reduce particle interactions and thus to facilitate densification during granulation. The deformability of moist samples, which is dependent on strength and deformation behaviour, is assessed for lactose and dicalcium phosphate.     

Mechanisms of cell damage and enzyme release

Release of intracellular enzymes to the extracellular space is a marker of cell damage in various diseases, e.g. liver, heart and muscle diseases. In the normal state the plasma membrane is impermeable to enzymes, and enzyme release, therefore, indicates a severe change of the membrane integrity. This review deals with the present knowledge about cellular changes leading to enzyme release, which may be caused either by energy depletion, e.g. in ischemia or shock, or by a direct membrane damage as caused by various toxins and inflammatory products. Inhibition of the energy metabolism results in ATP depletion leading to fluxes of Na+, K+ and Cl- down their gradients across the membrane and swelling of the cell. Subsequently Ca2+ leak into the cell activating phospholipases and the formation of eicosanoids, affecting the cytoskeleton and, perhaps, activating the formation of oxidants. The exact "point of no return" is not known but an uncontrolled Ca2+ activity in the cell probably has an important role in initiating the irreversible changes. The result of these reactions and probably other unknown reactions as well is damage to the membrane. This is evident morphologically at first by the formation of blebs that appears in the reversible phase, and later on by rupturing of the membrane, a sign of irreversible damage. A very small part of the enzyme release may occur in the reversible phase when blebs detach with resealing of the membrane, but the substantial part of enzyme release occurs as a result of irreversible cell damage when ATP has decreased to a low level and a serious disruption of the membrane integrity has taken place. All the secondary affections of the membrane during energy depletion may also occur as a primary direct membrane damage that more or less may affect the energy metabolism secondarily. The cell damage and enzyme release after some types of direct membrane damage is almost independent of the cellular energy metabolism whereas other types of direct membrane damage are counteracted by the cell by energy consuming reactions and, therefore, the final cell damage is a concerted action of the direct membrane damage and the energy depletion. This also means that a direct membrane damage may be more severe for the cell in energy depleted states than in the normal state. As in energy dependent cell damage the substantial part of enzyme release after a direct membrane damage is due to irreversible cellular changes. It appears that although the knowledge of the molecular basis of cell damage and enzyme release has grown there are still many questions to be answered about these complex processes.     

Exploiting equivalence reduction and the sweep-line method for detecting terminal states

State-space exploration is one of the main approaches to computer-aided verification and analysis of finite-state systems. It is used to reason about a wide range of properties during the design phase of a system, including system deadlocks. Unfortunately, state-space exploration needs to handle huge state spaces for most practical systems. Several state-space reduction methods have been developed to tackle this problem. In this paper, we develop algorithms for combining two of these methods: state equivalence class reduction and the sweep-line. The algorithms allow deadlocks to be detected by recording terminal states of the system on-the-fly during state-space exploration. We derive expressions for the complexity of the algorithms and demonstrate their usefulness with an industrial case study. Our results show that the combined method achieves at least a six-fold reduction of the state space for interesting parameter values compared with either method used in isolation while still proving the desired system property of the terminal states. The runtime performance of the combined method is almost the same as that of the equivalence class method over the chosen parameter range. Moreover, the improvement in space reduction increases with increased parameter values.     

Analyzing the relationship between car generation and severity of motor-vehicle crashes in Denmark

While the number of fatalities on Danish roads has decreased in the last 40 years, research has not investigated the contribution of legislation changes, enforcement measures, technological enhancements, infrastructural improvements and human factors to this reduction. In the context of a Danish car market with remarkably high registration tax that causes potential buyers to hold longer onto old cars, the relationship between technological enhancements of vehicles and severity of crashes requires particular attention.     

Sources and dynamics of semivolatile organic compounds in a single‐family residence in northern California

Semivolatile organic compounds (SVOCs) emitted from building materials, consumer products, and occupant activities alter the composition of air in residences where people spend most of their time. Exposures to specific SVOCs potentially pose risks to human health. However, little is known about the chemical complexity, total burden, and dynamic behavior of SVOCs in residential environments. Furthermore, little is known about the influence of human occupancy on the emissions and fates of SVOCs in residential air. Here, we present the first‐ever hourly measurements of airborne SVOCs in a residence during normal occupancy. We employ state‐of‐the‐art semivolatile thermal‐desorption aerosol gas chromatography (SV‐TAG). Indoor air is shown consistently to contain much higher levels of SVOCs than outdoors, in terms of both abundance and chemical complexity. Time‐series data are characterized by temperature‐dependent elevated background levels for a broad suite of chemicals, underlining the importance of continuous emissions from static indoor sources. Substantial increases in SVOC concentrations were associated with episodic occupant activities, especially cooking and cleaning. The number of occupants within the residence showed little influence on the total airborne SVOC concentration. Enhanced ventilation was effective in reducing SVOCs in indoor air, but only temporarily; SVOCs recovered to previous levels within hours.