Library

Notes: Book reviewed:Hugh Wilford. The CIA, the British Left and the Cold War: Calling the Tune? London, Portland, OR: Frank Cass Publishers, 2003. xvi + 328 pp. Illustrations, index. $115.00 (cloth).

Notes: Purpose - This paper analyses the justification of technological choices and options in the context of nuclear energy policy. We argue that "society" increasingly demands a justification with regard to the level of uncertainty and inequality a certain technological choice induces. We aim to demonstrate that policy makers in fact do address these issues, but depending on how they define the problem, this is done in a more explicit (overt) or implicit (covert) way. Design/methodology/approach - First, the changing context with regard to the justification of technological choices is briefly sketched. We draw the attention to the link between the way a certain (energy) policy problem is defined, and the way the framework for political decision-making is set up in response to the problem. In order to clarify this observation, we make use of a scheme derived from policy sciences, mapping out policy problems in two dimensions: the (lack of) certainty concerning the kinds of knowledge a problem may require, and the (lack of) consensus on relevant values (i.e. "the common good", "basic rights", etc.). Each type of policy problem requires a distinct solution strategy. A so-called Type III-error occurs when the wrong problem is solved by employing a strategy which does not apply to the problem at hand. In that case, political theory predicts strategic behavior in order to actively suppress or blur value differences. The Belgian decision to phase out nuclear power is used as a case study to illustrate some of the theoretical implications of the scheme. Findings - Several Type III-errors could be demonstrated in the case of the Belgian phase out. In this case, social learning was severely hampered by different methodological approaches; lack of data; different perceptions of relevant time scales; different framing of the problem; institutional barriers; lack of communication; strategic use of scientific assessments by different stakeholders; and insufficient knowledge of scientific assessments. Originality/value - The paper aims to broaden the debate on energy policy outside the boundaries of institutional decision-making. We conclude with some practical recommendations for future energy policy, regarding problem structuring, defining possible options, goal and strategy formulation and monitoring of choices.

Notes: Zusammenfassung Fassen wir das Resultat aller dieser Untersuchungen zusammen, so bestätigt sich die im Anfang der Arbeit geäußerte Vermutung, daß das Kokain auf den Elastizitätszustand des Froschherzmuskels im entgegengesetzten Sinne wirkt wie die Stoffe der Digitalingruppe. Letztere bewirken schließlich systolischen, erstere diastolischen Herzstillstand. Kokain vermag den systolischen Digitalinstillstand ebenso sicher zu verhindern wie die Digitalinwirkung den diastolischen Kokainstillstand. Die Tatsache, daß das Kokain eine solche Fähigkeit besitzt, ohne daß es die Erregbarkeit und Kontraktilität wesentlich beeinflußt, gibt uns die Möglichkeit, seine Wirksamkeit in dem beschriebenen klinischen Fall zu erklären, in dem es eine Aufhebung der Muskelstarre herbeiführte, ohne die Erregbarkeit und Kontraktilität der erschlafften Teile herabzusetzen. Sie berechtigt uns weiter dazu, jene posttetanische Muskelstarre als eine dem Digitalinstillstand des Froschherzens ähnliche Elastizitätsveränderung aufzufassen, indem beide durch ein den Elastizitätszustand in entgegengesetztem Sinne veränderndes Gift beseitigt werden konnten. Die Frage, inwieweit auch die beim Tetanus auftretende Lokalkontraktur, ferner der Trismus und Opisthotonus als ähnliche Veränderungen aufgefaßt werden können, muß einer späteren Untersuchung vorbehalten bleiben.

Notes: [Auszug] Data providing direct evidence for a causative link between endothelial dysfunction, microvascular disease and diabetic end-organ damage are scarce. Here we show that activated protein C (APC) formation, which is regulated by endothelial thrombomodulin, is reduced in diabetic mice and causally ...

Notes: [Auszug] The largest gene knock-down experiments performed to date have used multiple short interfering/short hairpin (si/sh)RNAs per gene. To overcome this burden for design of a genome-wide siRNA library, we used the Stuttgart Neural Net Simulator to train algorithms on a data set of 2,182 ...

Notes: Beads are a widespread technology for reinforcing sheet metal structures, because they can be applied without any additional manufacturing effort and without significant weight increase. The two main applications of bead technology are to increase the stiffness for static loading conditions and to reduce the noise and vibrations for dynamic loadings. However, it is difficult to design the bead patterns of sheet metal structures due to the direction-controlled reinforcement effect of the beads. A wrong bead pattern layout can even weaken the properties of the structure. In the past, the designs were predominantly determined empirically or by the use of so called bead catalogues. Recently, different optimization approaches for bead patterns were developed, which are based upon classical mathematical programming optimization algorithms together with automatically generated shape basis vectors. However, these approaches usually provide only vague suggestionsfor the designs. One of the most severe difficulty with these approaches is to transfer the optimized results into manufacturable designs. Furthermore, another severe difficulty is that the optimization problem is non-convex, which frequently leads the mathematical programming algorithms into a local optima and thus to sub-optimal solutions. The investigations in this article show an optimization method, which within a few iterations leads to bead structures with excellent reinforcement effects using optimality criteria based approach. Generally, the results can be transferred without large effort into a final design. The new optimization method calculates the distribution of the bending stress tensor and the principal bending stresses based upon the results of a finite element analysis. The bead orientationsare calculated by the trajectories of the principal bending stress with the largest magnitude. The beads are projected on to the mesh of the component using geometric form functions of the desired bead cross section. A local bead ratio of 50% (defined as average area of the beads in relation to total area of the sheet) is used by the algorithm to determine the maximum moment of inertia. The proposed algorithm is numerical implemented in the optimization system TOSCA andavailable for being applied with the following finite element solvers: ABAQUS, ANSYS, I-DEAS, NX Nastran, MSC.Nastran, MSC.Marc and PERMAS. The optimization algorithm is successfully applied to static and dynamic real world problems like car body parts, oil pans and exhaust mufflers. In the present work several academic and industrial examples are presented

Notes: A series of AM60B, die-cast magnesium alloy specimens have been examined using xraytomography at spatial resolutions from 1 – 20μm and further characterized in uniaxial tension.This paper first reports the utility of a critical strain model to link the local area fraction of porosityand the fracture strain. A discussion of the trade-off between predictive accuracy and the spatialresolution of the imaging technique is also presented in order to address the technologicalimplications of these results. In the second half of the paper, serial tomographic imaging is used toillustrate the evolution of damage with increasing uniaxial strain. The implications are discussedwith respect to numerical modeling of the performance of die-cast magnesium components

Notes: Zusammenfassung Die Messung der Magnetorotation in der Nähe isolierter Absorptionsstreifen, ist eine Methode zur Bestimmung der absoluten Zahl der Dispersionselektronen. Diese dient als Maß der Intensität dieser Linien. Die Messungen an den beiden ersten Gliedern der Kaliumhauptserie ergaben für das Verhältnis der Dubletts 2 ∶ 1; für das Intensitätsverhältnis des ersten zum zweiten Gliede 96 ∶ 1.