DFM(A)- aspects for a fixed electrical attenuator design

The goal of this paper is to describe a complete and extensive prototype design of a fixed electrical attenuator. The paper starts by describing the function and by giving some basic information about the attenuators. After a comprehensive description of the component, the facts of reverse engineering are discussed. The method itself is applied to ease manufacturing and design stages of this component. Information about materials and applied manufacturing technologies are also included in this report. By applying some specified DFMA-aspects the final design turned out to be a potential prototype device to be manufactured and for further analyse.

DFM(A)- aspects for a microwave waveguide ring resonator design

In this research manufacturability analysis is made for an E-plane waveguide ring resonator. About the electrical characteristics of the waveguide ring resonator is discussed. Possibilities to utilize concurrent engineering method both for designing and making manufacturability analysis for MW- and RF-components are discussed. For helping to establish the necessary guidelines for easy manufacturing and assembly of the waveguide ring resonator a specialised DFM(A)-questionnaire is generated. The questionnaire gives also new information for collaborative designing approach in MW-/RF- engineering. The advantages and disadvantages of the concurrent engineering design method are evaluated in the research.

DFM(A)- aspects for a horn antenna design

In this paper aspects of design for manufacturability and assembly (DFMA) are applied to the design of coaxially fed standard gain horn antenna for 1.70 - 2.60 GHz. Possibilities to utilize cross-technological approach method is examined. Methods of DFMA for laser processing are covered and practical design guides and methods are developed. Antenna construction for easy manufacturing and specialized performance is shown. Required dimensions and tolerances are discussed and suitable materials for laser processing are selected.

DFM(A)- aspects for an sma connector design

In this research, manufacturability analysis is made for an SMA connector. Analysis and aspects of applying virtual prototyping for an SMA connector design and manufacturing are also investigated. Special questionnaires for the component and machining are made in order to enable necessary information to ensure DFM(A) –aspects of products. The aspects of easy manufacturing for machining the SMA connector are collected. Material selection is discussed, and manufacturing stages of prototype manufacturing are presented. The main focus of this research is on prototype manufacturing, but also aspects considering volume production are discussed. A special purpose SMA connector is designed for printed circuit board edge mounting.

DFM/DFMA(A) – analysis and aspects of applying systematic engineering for a microwave testfixture design

In this paper, manufacturability analysis and collection of design aspects is made for a microwave test-fixture. Aspects of applying systematic design for a microwave test-fixture design and manufacturing are also analysed. Special questionnaires for the component and machining are made in order to enable necessary information to ensure DFM(A) – aspects of the component. The aspects of easy manufacturing for machining the microwave test-fixture are collected. Material selection is discussed and manufacturing stages of prototype manufacturing are presented.

Pathétique Sonata : a study of musical aspects in subjection of aesthetic aims

This study makes an attempt to capture some of the aesthetic ideas prospering in the latter half of the eighteenth century and investigates in what way these are possibly being manifested in different musical aspects in Beethoven's early work, and most specifically in his eight sonata, often referred to as the Pathétique sonata. Beginning the first chapter with an introduction to aesthetic notions in Beethoven's age, the second chapter is mostly concerned with anecdotes regarding the Pathétique sonata. Further the third chapter exhibits possible influences between Cherubini, Beethoven and Wagner, and the last three chapters treat different musical and aesthetic aspects like Beethoven's relation to the C minor tonality, the German Sturm und Drang movement, and finally some parallels that can be found between literature and music.

Simple sugar intake and hepatocellular carcinoma: epidemiological and mechanistic insight

Sugar intake has dramatically increased during the last few decades. Specifically, there has been a clear trend towards higher consumption of fructose and high fructose corn syrup, which are the most common added sugars in processed food, soft drinks and other sweetened beverages. Although still controversial, this rising trend in simple sugar consumption has been positively associated with weight gain and obesity, insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes mellitus and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Interestingly, all of these metabolic alterations have also been related to the development of hepatocellular carcinoma. The purpose of this review is to discuss the evidence coming from epidemiological studies and data from animal models relating the consumption of simple sugars, and specifically fructose, with an increased risk of hepatocellular carcinoma and to gain insight into the putative molecular mechanisms involved.

Counteracting incentive sensitization in severe alcohol dependence using deep brain stimulation of the nucleus accumbens: clinical and basic science aspects

The ventral striatum / nucleus accumbens has been implicated in the craving for drugs and alcohol which is a major reason for relapse of addicted people. Craving might be induced by drug-related cues. This suggests that disruption of craving-related neural activity in the nucleus accumbens may significantly reduce craving in alcohol-dependent patients. Here we report on preliminary clinical and neurophysiological evidence in three male patients who were treated with high frequency deep brain stimulation of the nucleus accumbens bilaterally. All three had been alcohol dependent for many years, unable to abstain from drinking, and had experienced repeated relapses prior to the stimulation. After the operation, craving was greatly reduced and all three patients were able to abstain from drinking for extended periods of time. Immediately after the operation but prior to connection of the stimulation electrodes to the stimulator, local field potentials were obtained from the externalized cables in two patients while they performed cognitive tasks addressing action monitoring and incentive salience of drug related cues. LFPs in the action monitoring task provided further evidence for a role of the nucleus accumbens in goal-directed behaviors. Importantly, alcohol related cue stimuli in the incentive salience task modulated LFPs even though these cues were presented outside of the attentional focus. This implies that cue-related craving involves the nucleus accumbens and is highly automatic.

Importance of the lipid peroxidation biomarkers and methodological aspects FOR malondialdehyde quantification

Free radicals induce lipid peroxidation, playing an important role in pathological processes. The injury mediated by free radicals can be measured by conjugated dienes, malondialdehyde, 4-hydroxynonenal, and others. However, malondialdehyde has been pointed out as the main product to evaluate lipid peroxidation. Most assays determine malondialdehyde by its reaction with thiobarbituric acid, which can be measured by indirect (spectrometry) and direct methodologies (chromatography). Though there is some controversy among the methodologies, the selective HPLC-based assays provide a more reliable lipid peroxidation measure. This review describes significant aspects about MDA determination, its importance in pathologies and biological samples treatment.

Las habilidades motrices básicas en educación primaria: aspectos de su desarrollo = Key motor skills in primary education: developmental aspects

The physical education curriculum stresses the importance of improving students’ key motor skills. This idea agrees with the contributions of research into motor development concerning the important role these skills play in child development. In order to facilitate this improvement is essential to know the different basic aspects of how these key motor skills evolve as well as the essential factors related to the characteristics and conditions of educational practice

Ecological and Epidemiological Analyses of Multiple Sclerosis Relapse Rate

The underlying cause of many human autoimmune diseases is unknown, but several environmental factors are implicated in triggering the self-destructive immune reactions. Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a chronic autoimmune disease of the central nervous system, potentially leading to persistent neurological deterioration. The cause of MS is not known, and apart from immunomodulatory treatments there is no cure. In the early phase of the disease, relapsing-remitting MS (RR-MS) is characterized by unpredictable exacerbations of the neurological symptoms called relapses, which can occur at different intervals ranging from 4 weeks to several years. Microbial infections are known to be able to trigger MS relapses, and the patients are instructed to avoid all factors that might increase the risk of infections and to properly use antibiotics as well as to take care of dental hygiene. Among those environmental factors which are known to increase susceptibility to infections, high ambient air inhalable particulate matter levels affect all people within a geographical region. During the period of interest in this thesis, the occurrence of MS relapses could be effectively reduced by injections of interferon, which has immunomodulatory and antiviral properties. In this thesis, ecological and epidemiological analyses were used to study the possible connection between MS relapse occurrence, population level viral infections and air quality factors, as well as the effects of interferon medication. Hospital archive data were collected retrospectively from 1986-2001, a period in time ranging from when interferon medication first became available until just before other disease-modifying MS therapies arrived on the market. The grouped data were studied with logistic regression and intervention analysis, and individual patient data with survival analysis. Interferons proved to be effective in the treatment of MS in this observational study, as the amount of MS exacerbations was lower during interferon use as compared to the time before interferon treatment. A statistically significant temporal relationship between MS relapses and inhalable particular matter (PM₁₀) concentrations was found in this study, which implies that MS patients are affected by the exposure to PM₁₀. Interferon probably protected against the effect of PM₁₀, because a significant increase in the risk of exacerbations was only observed in MS patients without interferon medication following environmental exposure to population level specific viral infections and PM₁₀. Apart from being antiviral, interferon could thus also attenuate the enhancement of immune reactions caused by ambient air PM₁₀. The retrospective approach utilizing carefully constructed hospital records proved to be an economical and reliable source of MS disease information for statistical analyses.

THE ROLE OF NANOMATERIALS IN COSMETICS: NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL LEGISLATIVE ASPECTS

Nanotechnology is currently one of the fastest growing scientific fields. The products of this science have become part of our everyday lives. However, to date, regulatory agencies have not yet established a single definition for nanomaterials and nanotechnology. Therefore, each country has its own definitions and legislation to control products containing nanomaterials. Being relatively new materials, there are no long-term studies showing their impact on human health and the environment. Consequently, countries control the amount of nanomaterials present in cosmetics, allowing the end consumer to choose which cosmetic to use, by choosing products with or without nanomaterials. Therefore, the primary objective of this study was to identify the most used nanomaterials in cosmetics and verify whether these formulations are in accordance with the laws in force in the United States, the European Union and Brazil, thereby determining if the cosmetics on the market are in line with the existing laws in these three economic powers. This study is unique and will contribute to furthering the discussion on existing laws pertinent to the use of nanotechnology in cosmetics.

Quantitative analysis of two important epidemiological features of the common bean: Phaeoisariopsis griseola pathosystem

This work quantifies two important epidemiological features of the bean (Phaseolus vulgaris)/Phaeoisariopsis griseola pathosystem. The first is the effect of the number of nights of leaf wetness on infection efficiency. Infection efficiency was below 10% when inoculated leaflets were exposed to less than two nights of leaf wetness. Optimum infection efficiencies were obtained after three to four nights of leaf wetness, at about 50%. Further nights of leaf wetness did not increase the infection efficiency. The second feature quantified is the relative rate of leaflet defoliation for varying levels of angular leaf spot severity. It increased with disease severity according to a logarithm-like curve, and a relative rate of 0.23 day-1 was estimated for a severity of 18%. The implications of these results on the disease epidemiology are discussed.

Cultural aspects of globalizing university-industry knowledge interaction in China

Previous studies of the local involvement of multinational corporation (MNC) subsidiaries focus on host-country firms and local business partners such as suppliers and customers. The role of host-country universities in the same context of innovation networks is neglected. Furthermore, there are many organizational culture- and knowledge-related differences between universities and companies, and this is likely to pose additional challenges for successful collaboration. Early university-industry (U-I) studies have primarily been limited within a national boundary, being concerned with a single level of culture (i.e., at an organizational level) and one-way knowledge transfer from university to industry. Research on more dynamic knowledge interaction in multinational settings is lacking. This is particularly true in the business context of China. In today’s globalizing and rapidly changing organizations, addressing cultural differences and clashes is an everyday reality, and inter-cultural U-I collaboration is becoming a key asset for gaining global competitiveness. This study deals with Finnish MNC subsidiaries’ research collaboration with Chinese universities. It aims to explore the essence of such U-I collaboration and knowledge interaction, uncovering the deep functioning mechanisms of culture underlying effective collaborative knowledge creation and innovation. The study reviews critically different bodies of literature including knowledge management theories and studies, U-I collaboration and knowledge interaction, and cross-cultural research in terms of organizational knowledge generation and utilization. It adopts a case study strategy with qualitative research methods, and data is collected through in-depth interviews and participant observation. The study presents the following major findings: 1. In the light of a comprehensive analysis of U-I collaboration, an effective matching strategy is proposed, in the assumption that good alignment of knowledge interaction strategies and approaches with their corresponding knowledge type, capability development and research task may greatly enhance the effectiveness of cross-cultural U-I collaboration and knowledge interaction. 2. It is proposed that in the Chinese MNC context more dynamic types of knowledge interaction like knowledge co-creation should be of key concern particularly when dealing simultaneously with multi-disciplinary applied research of human factors and technologies. U-I knowledge interaction, otherwise, pays attention only to the study of one-way technology and knowledge transfer. 3. It is posited that the influence of culture on collaborative knowledge interaction can be studied in a valuable way when knowledge-related variables are simultaneously taken into account. A systematic analysis of the role of knowledge in cross-cultural knowledge interaction could best be approached from multi-aspects of knowledge including not only nature, characteristics and types of knowledge but also the process of knowledge (e.g., intensifications of knowledge interaction). 4. The study demonstrates the significant role of aspects of the host-country culture (e.g., Chinese guanxi) in U-I collaboration and knowledge interaction. This is evident, for instance, in issues related to interpersonal relationships and trust, true interest and the relatedness of the research, mutual commitment and learning, communication intensity and interaction, and awareness of cultural and knowledge-related differences between collaboration partners. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are suggested and discussed.