Electrophoretic deposition of Ba0.77Ca0.23TiO3 nanopowders

Ba0.77Ca0.23TiO3 (BCT23) nanometric powders, synthesized by the modified Pechini method, were used as precursor to produce thick films (50-130 mu m) employing the electrophoretic deposition (EPD) technique. The BCT23 powder presented a single crystalline phase with an average particle size and a crystallite size of similar to 60 nm and similar to 20 nm, respectively, when calcined at 800 degrees C/2h. BCT23 thick films were deposited on platinum substrates starting from different suspensions prepared by dispersion of the powder into: isopropyl alcohol (IPA) or a mixture of acetylacetone (Acac) and ethanol (EtOH) (1:1, volumetric ratio). A milling process was used to deagglomerate the powders in order to increase the suspension stability and improving the deposition. Dense and crack free thick films with uniform microstructure were obtained after sintering at 1300 degrees C/2 h from Acac+EtOH solution. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Accumulation of (5 ` S)-8,5 `-cyclo-2 `-deoxyadenosine in organs of Cockayne syndrome complementation group B gene knockout mice

Cockayne syndrome (CS) is a human genetic disorder characterized by sensitivity to UV radiation, neurodegeneration, premature aging among other phenotypes. CS complementation group B (CS-B) gene (csb) encodes the CSB protein (CSB) that is involved in base excision repair of a number of oxidatively induced lesions in genomic DNA in vivo. We hypothesized that CSB may also play a role in cellular repair of the DNA helix-distorting tandem lesion (5`S)-8,5`-cyclo-2`-deoxyadenosine (S-cdA). Among many DNA lesions. S-cdA is unique in that it represents a concomitant damage to both the sugar and base moieties of the same nucleoside. Because of the presence of the C8-C5` covalent bond, S-cdA is repaired by nucleotide excision repair unlike most of other oxidatively induced lesions in DNA, which are subject to base excision repair. To test our hypothesis, we isolated genomic DNA from brain, kidney and liver of wild type and csb knockout (csb(-/-)) mice. Animals were not exposed to any exogenous oxidative stress before the experiment. DNA samples were analysed by liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry with isotope-dilution. Statistically greater background levels of S-cdA were observed in all three organs of csb(-/-) mice than in those of wild type mice. These results suggest the in vivo accumulation of S-cdA in genomic DNA due to lack of its repair in csb(-/-) mice. Thus, this study provides, for the first time, the evidence that CSB plays a role in the repair of the DNA helix-distorting tandem lesion S-cdA. Accumulation of unrepaired S-cdA in vivo may contribute to the pathology associated with CS. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Solvent assisted decomposition of the tetrahedral intermediate of the transesterification reaction to biodiesel production. A density functional study

B3LYP/6-31 + G(d) calculations were employed to investigate the mechanism of the transesterification reaction between a model monoglyceride and the methoxide and ethoxide anions. The gas-phase results reveal that both reactions have essentially the same activation energy (5.9 kcal mol(-1)) for decomposition of the key tetrahedral intermediate. Solvent effects were included by means of both microsolvation and the polarizable continuum solvation model CPCM. Both solvent approaches reduce the activation energy, however, only the microsolvation model is able to introduce some differentiation between methanol and ethanol, yielding a lower activation energy for decomposition of the tetrahedral intermediate in the reaction with methanol (1.1 kcal mol(-1)) than for the corresponding reaction with ethanol (2.8 kcal mol(-1)), in line with experimental evidences. Analysis of the individual energy components within the CPCM approach reveals that electrostatic interactions are the main contribution to stabilization of the transition state. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Bildens godkännandeprocessi katalogproduktion : The image approval processin a catalog production

The objective of this thesis has been to investigate the approval process for an image. This investigation has been carriedout at four catalog-producing companies and three companies working with repro or printing. The information wasgathered through interviews and surveys and later used for evaluation. The result of the evaluation has shown that allbusinesses are very good at technical aspects but also that the biggest problem they have is with the communication. Theconclusion is that businesses need a clear construction for the image process. This will minimize the communicationproblems and make the process effective.

Cloud computing - Moving to the cloud

Cloud computing innebär användning av datorresurser som är tillgängliga via ett nätverk, oftast Internet och är ett område som har vuxit fram i snabb takt under de senaste åren. Allt fler företag migrerar hela eller delar av sin verksamhet till molnet. Sogeti i Borlänge har behov av att migrera sina utvecklingsmiljöer till en molntjänst då drift och underhåll av dessa är kostsamma och tidsödande. Som Microsoftpartners vill Sogeti använda Microsoft tjänst för cloud computing, Windows Azure, för detta syfte. Migration till molnet är ett nytt område för Sogeti och de har inga beskrivningar för hur en sådan process går till. Vårt uppdrag var att utveckla ett tillvägagångssätt för migration av en IT-lösning till molnet. En del av uppdraget blev då att kartlägga cloud computing, dess beståndsdelar samt vilka för- och nackdelar som finns, vilket har gjort att vi har fått grundläggande kunskap i ämnet. För att utveckla ett tillvägagångssätt för migration har vi utfört flera migrationer av virtuella maskiner till Windows Azure och utifrån dessa migrationer, litteraturstudier och intervjuer dragit slutsatser som mynnat ut i ett generellt tillvägagångssätt för migration till molnet. Resultatet har visat att det är svårt att göra en generell men samtidigt detaljerad beskrivning över ett tillvägagångssätt för migration, då scenariot ser olika ut beroende på vad som ska migreras och vilken typ av molntjänst som används. Vi har dock utifrån våra erfarenheter från våra migrationer, tillsammans med litteraturstudier, dokumentstudier och intervjuer lyft vår kunskap till en generell nivå. Från denna kunskap har vi sammanställt ett generellt tillvägagångssätt med större fokus på de förberedande aktiviteter som en organisation bör genomföra innan migration. Våra studier har även resulterat i en fördjupad beskrivning av cloud computing. I vår studie har vi inte sett att någon tidigare har beskrivit kritiska framgångsfaktorer i samband med cloud computing. I vårt empiriska arbete har vi dock identifierat tre kritiska framgångsfaktorer för cloud computing och i och med detta täckt upp en del av kunskapsgapet där emellan.

Vuxna individers grad av självtillit till att avstå från sockerhaltiga livsmedel i olika situationer

Syftet med studien var att testa ett nykonstruerat instrument för att beskriva grad av självtillit till att avstå från sockerhaltiga livsmedel i olika situationer. Syftet var även att beskriva vuxna individers intag av sockerhaltiga livsmedel samt att beskriva skillnaden mellan sockerintag och självtillit. Urvalet bestod av 62 patienter som kommit för undersökning eller behandling till privata och folktandvårdskliniker. Data samlades in via enkät. Resultatet visade att 16 (26,2 %) individer åt sockerhaltiga livsmedel minst en gång per dag och 45 (73,8 %) åt sockerhaltiga livsmedel mer sällan än en gång per dag. Det mest förekommande sockerhaltiga livsmedlet var bullar, sockerkaka och andra mjuka kakor, 5 (8,7 %) individer intog dessa typer av livsmedel minst en gång per dag. Det minst förekommande sockerhaltiga livsmedlet var fruktsoppa och kräm, 40 (67,8 %) individer intog aldrig detta livsmedel. Medelvärdet för graden av självtillit till att avstå från sockerhaltiga livsmedel i olika situationer var 6,4 (SD 2,2) av 10 på en 11-gradig Likertskala. En signifikant skillnad kunde ses i graden av självtillit bland de som intog sockerhaltiga livsmedel minst en gång per dag jämfört med de som mer sällan intog sockerhaltiga livsmedel (t=3.036; p=0.004). Instrumentet hade ett Cronbach´s Alpha värde på 0.94, vilket visar en god reliabilitet. Utifrån de resultat som framkommit tycks individer med lägre grad av självtillit inta sockerhaltiga livsmedel oftare än individer med högre grad av självtillit. Instrumentet visade sig användbart.

Removal of company directors in a climate of corporate collapses

The string of high-profile corporate collapses recently has provided a fresh insight into many important topics and issues in Australian corporations law. Notwithstanding this, one topic that continues to receive inadequate attention both in Australia and in foreign jurisdictions is the statutory removal of  directors. In an earlier article published in this journal, one of the present authors contributed towards addressing this lack of commentary on the topic by highlighting a number of peculiarities with the provisions under the then Corporations Law regulating the removal of directors in public and proprietary companies. Since that time, the CLERP amendments to the Corporations Law (now Corporations Act 2001) in 2000 introduced some interesting changes to the provisions dealing with the removal of directors in public and proprietary companies. In this article, the authors provide an explanation and critical analysis of these changes, and consider the recent Western Australian Supreme Court decision of Allied & Mining Process Ltd v Boldbow Pty Ltd [2002] WASC 195, which deals with some of the issues raised by the authors in relation to the CLERP amendments. According to the authors, whilst some of the peculiarities raised in the earlier article no longer exist post-CLERP, the current removal provisions still raise some important questions of interpretation.

Mad hatter's corporate tea party

This paper aims to provide an insight into the corporate greed and consequent corporate collapses of companies such as HIH, One.Tel and Harris Scarfe in Australia, while concurrently, Enron, WorldCom and other companies were attracting the attention of the accounting profession, the regulators and the general public in the USA. It is argued that the rise in economic rationalism and the related increased materialism of both the public and company directors and managers, fed the corporate excesses that resulted in spectacular corporate collapses, including one of the world’s largest accounting firms. The opportunistic behaviour of directors, and managers and the lack of transparency and integrity in corporations, was compounded by the failure of the corporate watch-dogs, such as auditors and regulators, to protect the public interest. If the history of bad corporate behaviour is not to be repeated, the religion of materialism needs to be recognised and addressed, to ensure any corporate governance reforms proposed for the future will be effective.

Evolution of Pinnipedia lactation strategies: a potential role for α-lactalbumin?

Despite the considerable variation in milk composition found among mammals, a constituent common across all groups is lactose, the main sugar and osmole in most eutherians milk. Exceptions to this are the families Otariidae (fur seals and sea lions) and Odobenidae (walruses), where lactose has not been detected. We investigated the molecular basis for this by cloning α-lactalbumin, the modifier protein of the lactose synthase complex. A mutation was observed which, in addition to preventing lactose production, may enable otariids to maintain lactation despite the extremely long inter-suckling intervals during the mother's time at sea foraging (more than 23 days in some species).

Cyber crime influencing businesses in South Africa

This study shows that cyber crime is a recent addition to the list of crimes that can adversely affec tbusinesses directly or indirectly. This phenomenon was not directly prosecutable in South Africa until the enactment of the ECT Act in July 2002. However this Act also prevents businesses to fully prosecute a hacker due to incompleteness. Any kind of commercially related crime can be duplicated as cyber crime. Therefore very little research appears or has been documented about cyber crime in South African companies before 2003. The motivation to do this study was
that businesses often loose millions in cyber attacks, not necessarily through direct theft but by the loss of service and damage to the image of the company. Most of the companies that were approached for interviews on cyber crime were reluctant to share the fact that they were hacked
or that cyber crime occurred at their company as it violates their security policies and may expose their fragile security platforms.
The purpose of this study was to attempt to get an overall view on how South African businesses are affected by cyber crime in the banking and short term insurance sector of the South African industry and also to determine what legislation exist in this country to protect them.
The case study approach was used to determine the affect of cyber crime on businesses like banks and insurance companies and higher education institutions. Each case was interviewed, monitored and was observed over a period of a year. This study discloses the evaluation of the results of how cyber crime affected the cases, which were part of this study. The banks and higher education institutions felt that they were at an increased risk both externally and internally, which is likely to increase as the migration towards electronic commerce occurs. The insurance industry felt that they are not yet affected by external cyber crime attacks in this country.

Codes of ethics in corporate Sweden

Purpose – The purpose of the study is to examine and describe the use of codes of ethics in the top 100 companies operating in the Swedish corporate sector. This paper reports on the responses of those companies that possessed a code of ethics.

Design/methodology/approach – A three-stage research procedure was used. First, a questionnaire was sent to the public relations managers of the top 100 companies operating in the Swedish corporate sector (based on revenue). Companies were asked to answer up to 29 questions and to supply a copy of their code of ethics. The second stage involved content analysis of the codes of ethics supplied by survey respondents. The third stage involved a more detailed follow-up of a smaller group of firms that appeared to be close to best practice. Findings for Stage 1 of the research are reported in this paper. The areas of questioning were: how common are codes of ethics? Who was involved in the development of these codes? What are the reasons for the codes? How are they implemented? Do companies inform internal and external publics of the codes? What are the prescribed benefits of the codes?

Findings – It would appear that business ethics has only recently become a topic of interest in corporate Sweden and that many companies are in the early stages of code development and assimilation into company policies. The incidence of codes in the population (of 100) suggested by this survey (56 per cent) is lower than a US study finding (in 1995) that over 84 per cent of comparable US companies had codes of ethics. It would appear that Sweden today lags behind the US situation of 1995. When one investigates the special measures to support the inculcation of ethical values at the organizational level, there appears to be some shortfall. The supporting measures of ethics committees, ethics training committees, ethics training, ombudsman, an ethical audit and procedures to protect whistleblowers appear to be under-utilized in companies that possess codes. This lack of utilization tends to suggest that companies in Sweden, as yet, either have not developed a high commitment to supporting business ethics in their corporations, or they may have developed other methods to support their codes in their organizations that they view are as beneficial as the traditional methods practised in other western industrial democracies.

Research limitations/implications – This research was limited to internal ethical expectations. The commitment to business ethics is usually explored in terms of internal ethical expectations, but the simultaneous consideration of the external ethical expectations in the marketplace (e.g. among suppliers and customers or other publics) is desirable. A dyadic approach considering a company's internal ethical expectations and the external ethical expectations of a company's business activities may give a more balanced and in-depth approach.

Practical implications – Evidence is now available to show that codes of ethics are well developed in many of Sweden's largest corporations: organizations that, from their responses, appear to see a diverse range of benefits in developing the area of business ethics. Companies are beginning to implement not only a code of ethics, but other complementary initiatives that reinforce the need for the culture of the organization to be ethical. Codes of ethics are perceived by organizations to have assisted them in their dealings in the marketplace and many companies use their ethical values to underpin their strategic planning process. It appears that many companies now see the formalisation of business ethics as an integral part of their commercial practices.

Originality/value – This study is the first one of its kind on codes of ethics in corporate Sweden. It will enable all sectors of Swedish business to benchmark their efforts against the major companies in the Swedish corporate sector.

The information content of directors' trades: empirical analysis of the Australian market

We examine the trading activities of directors in shares of their own companies on the Australian Stock Exchange during the July-December 2005 period. We find that directors of small companies in particular earn abnormal return after both their 'Purchase' and as well as their 'Sale' trade. Directors of these companies have an uncanny ability to time the market by trading when mispricing is greatest, and are able to predict the future performance of their firms in short run. For directors of medium and large companies, we find evidence that 'Sale' trades are the ones which work as loss avoiders. Outsiders recognise to some extent that directors' trades are informative, however they are slow to incorporate the new information into prices, refuting much of the market efficiency literature.

The impact of business outsourcing on corporate real estate in India

Driven by Western companies' requirements for efficiency and effectiveness, a trend towards outsourcing of business activities to India and other low-cost countries commenced in the early 1990s and has continued to grow at a surprisingly fast pace. In a relatively short timeframe India has become a global hub for back-office services, although the effect on the urban cities is yet to be fully comprehended. As American and European companies continue to relocate their information technology services and other back office works to the subcontinent, there has been a considerable flow-on effect on Indian corporate real estate. This paper addresses two key questions. Firstly, the factors important for Western companies' outsourcing of organisational activities to India, and secondly, the effect of business outsourcing on corporate real estate locational requirements in India. A survey of corporate real estate representatives in India and the UK was conducted with the results providing an insight into the present state and possible future direction of outsourcing for India. This research presents a unique insight into the impacts of Western business outsourcing on corporate real estate in India, and presents findings that are useful to both organisations seeking to relocate business activities to India and for property market analysts looking to understand drivers behind this sustained demand for Indian corporate real estate.

The impact of globalisation on building surveying in Europe

This research examined the impact of globalisation on building surveying in Europe. Globalisation has resulted in the emergence of three large trading blocs or a global economy depending on the view one takes. This has impacted on property in two ways, by creating transnational companies who operate in many countries but require branding of their property, and companies who wish to invest in property markets other than their country of origin.

Building Surveyors have professional expertise and knowledge valued in the UK since the 1960 and 1970s but until recently not recognised in Europe, partly due to poor awareness of Building Surveying (BS) expertise, legal constraints, and practises relating to the employment of professionals. This is changing with the establishment of European Surveying associations and the globalisation of the RICS.

The results showed four factors provided the reasons for the globalisation of BS skills. These were that Building Surveyors provided a consistent level of service for their clients. Secondly that English is the language of business. Thirdly, clients perceive Europe as a single trading bloc with a need for technical representation in each investment centre, providing them with a fast, knowledgeable service. Fourthly, clients perceive that UK Building Surveyors know what international, or transnational, investors want.

The finding on the current demand for the BS services in Europe is that though demand is large, few Building Surveyors are located in Europe. Secondly, both investors and occupiers require the services of Building Surveyors, and local companies / individuals are beginning to use their professional services. Finally, there is a diverse range of demand for the many BS skills.

Five key barriers to the practice of BS skills in Europe emerged from the research. Firstly, there was the problem of limited local legal and technical knowledge possessed by outsiders. Secondly, there are legal barriers to practice in some cases. Thirdly, other professionals can, and do, offer the services of the Building Surveyor. Fourthly, there can be cultural differences between ‘values’ and ‘norms’ required in business that constitute barriers. Finally there can be ‘communication’ problems when the Building Surveyor is not located in the country where the service is required.

The emergence of battery electric vehicles : A NZ manufacturing opportunity?

Personal passenger transport faces several challenges in the coming decades: depletion of cheap oil reserves, increasing congestion, localised pollution, the need for reduced carbon emissions and the long term goal of sustainability. One way of solving some of these problems could be to introduce comfortable, energy efficient, battery electric vehicles.

Currently, hybrid vehicles have been presented as a means to reducing the transportation related oil demand. New developments in materials and technologies have made them, cleaner and safer as well as more fuel efficient. However, hybrids will only prolong the use of oil until alternatively fuelled vehicles are developed.

One long term alternative is the battery electric vehicle (BEV). A BEV designed to be light, aerodynamic with high efficiency drive train and latest battery technology would have a performance comparable to a typical internal combustion engine vehicle (ICEV). Recent developments in virtual engineering, rapid prototyping and advanced manufacturing might enable low-cost development of niche market BEV’s designed and built in New Zealand for export markets.

This work examines the collaborative development of a twin seat BEV using new materials and latest technologies by the University of Waikato’s Engineering Department and a group of NZ and foreign companies. The car will be used to research the potential of BEVs and will also compete in the Commuter Class of the World Solar Challenge in 2007.