Managing information technology in the nineties

Business, not technology leaders should manage the change of Information Technology (IT) from a self-contained business support unit of the sixties to a distributed strategic business function of the nineties. Top management should recognize that a good business plan can only be developed and executed through the partnership between the business unit managers and the managers of the financial, the personnel, and the IT resource units. The technical problems associated with the management of IT may again be the easier part of the total management challenge.     

Induction of Oxidative Stress and Antioxidative Mechanisms in Arabidopsis thaliana after Uranium Exposure at pH 7.5

To evaluate the environmental impact of uranium (U) contamination, it is important to investigate the effects of U at ecologically relevant conditions. Since U speciation, and hence its toxicity, strongly depends on environmental pH, the present study aimed to investigate dose-dependent effects of U at pH 7.5. Arabidopsis thaliana plants (Mouse-ear Cress) were exposed for three days to different U concentrations at pH 7.5. In the roots, the increased capacities of ascorbate peroxidase and glutathione reductase indicate an important role for the ascorbate-glutathione cycle during U-induced stress. However, a significant decrease in the ascorbate redox state was observed after exposure to 75 and 100 µM U, indicating that those roots are severely stressed. In accordance with the roots, the ascorbate-glutathione cycle plays an important role in the antioxidative defence systems in A. thaliana leaves exposed to U at pH 7.5 as the ascorbate and glutathione biosynthesis were upregulated. In addition, small inductions of enzymes of the antioxidative defence system were observed at lower U concentrations to counteract the U-induced stress. However, at higher U concentrations it seems that the antioxidative defence system of the leaves collapses as reductions in enzyme activities and gene expression levels were observed.     

Sorption and manganese-induced oxidative coupling of hydroxylated aromatic compounds by natural geosorbents

The sorption/desorption equilibria and solvent extractabilities of phenol, o-cresol, and p-chlorophenol with respect to natural sorbents having different types of soil organic matter were investigated. Parallel tests in systems amended with birnessite (delta-MnO2), a solid-phase oxidative coupling catalyst, were also conducted. Sorption/desorption isotherms and solvent extraction data reveal that the relative isotherm linearities, desorption hysteresis, and extractabilities of these compounds are related to the geochemical nature of the sorbent organic matter and to the existence of system conditions that promote oxidative coupling reactions. When suitable coupling catalysts are present, soils containing primarily diagenetically "young" and highly amorphous organic matter (e.g., humic materials) are more likely to retain those solutes than are those containing primarily diagenetically "old" and more condensed organic matter (e.g., kerogens). The sorption/desorption properties of the solutes were significantly altered in the presence of birnessite as a result of both cross-coupling reactions with reactive soil organic matter components and self-coupling reactions with each other to form polymeric species. Under appropriate conditions, mineral-catalyzed oxidative coupling may exert a dominant influence on the sorption and transport of hydroxylated aromatic compounds in soil and sediment systems.     

Predicting source-code complexity at the design stage

It is shown how metrics can be used to gauge the quality of source code by evaluating its design specifications before coding, thus shortening the development life cycle. The predictive abilities of several types of metrics, all quantitative, are evaluated, and statistics that can be used to adapt them to a particular project are provided. The study data consist of programs written by students, but, because the programs are large, the professor did not provide the specifications, and the test data were not provided, it is believed that the programs are sufficiently realistic for the approach presented to be generally valid.<>     

Study of microsegregation buildup during solidification of spheroidal graphite cast iron

This work presents an attempt to describe the complex relationship between the development of the solidification microstructures and buildup of microsegregation in spheroidal graphite (SG) cast irons by coupling an experimental investigation and a modeling approach. Experimental characterization of microsegregation in cast iron was made by means of point counting microanalysis along a grid. With this method, the differences of silicon distribution in alloys solidified in the stable system, the metastable system, or in both systems were clearly evidenced. The distribution of manganese in alloy solidified in the stable system was also investigated. It has been, in particular, observed that alloys solidified in the stable (respectively, metastable) system present significant negative (respectively, positive) segregation of silicon, and that alloys solidified in both systems are much less segregated. The solidification path of these alloys has been conveniently reproduced by means of predictions made with a physical model accounting for the nature of the alloy, either hypoeutectic or hypereutectic, and for the sensitivity to temperature and composition of the partition coefficient of alloying elements.     

Synergistic Bathochromic and Hyperchromic Shifts of Anthocyanin Spectra Observed Following Complexation with Iron Salts and Chondroitin Sulfate

Grape anthocyanins are not traditionally used on complexation studies, as the main compounds lack a catechol group. In this study, concomitant metal complexation (Fe²⁺ and/or Fe³⁺) and co-pigmentation with chondroitin sulfate (CHS) were shown to synergistically affect the color spectra of grape anthocyanins at varying pHs. In general, the addition of iron salts resulted in small reductions in maximum absorbance at pH 3 and a bathochromic shift at pH 4 and 5. On the other hand, CHS resulted in hypochromic shifts at pH 3 and 4. When combined, these compounds broadened the peak at higher wavelengths associated with blue color, and resulted in significantly higher (p?<?0.05) area under the curve at these wavelengths even at pH 3. Interestingly, this synergistic effect seemed to work only at low pH. All observed effects were achieved using low concentrations of metals and CHS. The results should interest those aiming to achieve anthocyanin color modulation through metal complexation at modest loadings.     

On the line geometry of rigid-body inertia

In this work, several classical ideas concerning the geometry of the inertia of a rigid body are revisited. This is done using a modern approach to screw theory. A screw, or more precisely a twist, is viewed as an element of the Lie algebra to the group of proper rigid-body displacements. Various moments of inertia, about lines, planes and points are considered as geometrical objects resulting from least-squares problems. This allows relations between the various inertias to be found quite simply. A brief review of classical line geometry is given; this includes an outline of the theory of the linear line complex and a brief introduction to quadratic line complexes. These are related to the geometry of the inertia of an arbitrary rigid body. Several classical problems concerning the mechanics of rigid bodies subject to impulsive wrenches are reviewed. We are able to correct a small error in Ball’s seminal treatise. The notion of spatial percussion axes is introduced, and these are used to solve a problem concerning the diagonalisation of the mass matrix of a two-joint robot.