Total Quality Management (TQM) in Hungary

In up-to-date manufacturing, industrial quality has proven to be a key competitive advantage. An active market position and profits are associated with high quality products and services. Like the optical properties of a natural crystal, quality reflects the state of the whole industry, its marketing, research and development, design, production methods, human resources, logistics, costing and pricing, and capital background. All advancement in the productive and commercial capability of a company relates somehow to the quality of the delivered goods. The holistic approach to industrial quality appeals to industrial policymaking and company leadership; quality improvement converted into an authoritative management issue. Active commitment and program implantation by the people at the top usually decides the whole quality image of the company. The outstanding role that quality plays in industry, obliges IIASA to follow closely the developments in international strategies of quality promotion. We highly appreciate the enthusiastic response of Hungarian industry. It has been proved that an advanced knowledge of comprehensive quality management, accumulated in leading industrial countries, is clearly compatible with the socio-economic environment of the Hungarian Republic. Encouraging results achieved so far invite other countries, with at least comparable societal structure, to follow the Hungarian example. IIASA would be pleased to provide an intellectual background for such breakthroughs in the challenging area of total quality movement

On the Redshift Distribution and Physical Properties of ACT-Selected DSFGs

We present multi-wavelength detections of nine candidate gravitationally-lensed dusty starforming galaxies (DSFGs) selected at 218 GHz (1.4 mm) from the ACT equatorial survey. Among the brightest ACT sources, these represent the subset of the total ACT sample lying in Herschel SPIRE fields, and all nine of the 218 GHz detections were found to have bright Herschel counterparts. By fitting their spectral energy distributions (SEDs) with a modified blackbody model with power-law temperature distribution, we find the sample has a median redshift of 4.1 (+ 1.1, -10) (68 percent confidence interval), as expected for 218 GHz selection and an apparent total infrared luminosity of log 10(uL(sub IR)/solar luminosity) = 13.86(+0.33, -0.30), which suggests that they are either strongly lensed sources or unresolved collections of unlensed DSFGs. The effective apparent diameter of the sample is square root of mu d = 4.2 (+ 1.7, -1.0) kpc, further evidence of strong lensing of multiplicity, since the typical diameter of dusty star-forming galaxies is 1.0-2.5 kpc. We emphasize that the effective apparent diameter derives from SED modeling without the assumption of opticaly thin dust (as opposed to image morphology). We find that the sources have substantial optical depth (tau = (4.2+, -1.9) of dust around the peak in the modified blackbody spectrum (lambda obs is less than 500 micrometers), a result that is robust to model choice

A measurement of the millimetre emission and the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect associated with low-frequency radio sources

We present a statistical analysis of the millimetre-wavelength properties of 1.4GHz-selected sources and a detection of the Sunyaev–Zel’dovich (SZ) effect associated with the haloes that host them. We stack data at 148, 218 and 277GHz from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope at the positions of a large sample of radio AGN selected at 1.4GHz. The thermal SZ effect associated with the haloes that host the AGN is detected at the 5σ level through its spectral signature, representing a statistical detection of the SZ effect in some of the lowest mass haloes (average M 200 ≈ 10 13 M. h −1 70 ) studied to date. The relation between the SZ effect and mass (based on weak lensing measurements of radio galaxies) is consistent with that measured by Planck for local bright galaxies. In the context of galaxy evolution models, this study confirms that galaxies with radio AGN also typically support hot gaseous haloes. Adding Herschel observations allows us to show that the SZ signal is not significantly contaminated by dust emission. Finally, we analyse the contribution of radio sources to the angular power spectrum of the cosmic microwave background

Prostanoid receptor EP1 and Cox-2 in injured human nerves and a rat model of nerve injury: a time-course study

BACKGROUND: Recent studies show that inflammatory processes may contribute to neuropathic pain. Cyclooxygenase-2 (Cox-2) is an inducible enzyme responsible for production of prostanoids, which may sensitise sensory neurones via the EP1 receptor. We have recently reported that while macrophages infiltrate injured nerves within days of injury, they express increased Cox-2-immunoreactivity (Cox-2-IR) from 2 to 3 weeks after injury. We have now investigated the time course of EP1 and Cox-2 changes in injured human nerves and dorsal root ganglia (DRG), and the chronic constriction nerve injury (CCI) model in the rat. METHODS: Tissue sections were immunostained with specific antibodies to EP1, Cox-2, CD68 (human macrophage marker) or OX42 (rat microglial marker), and neurofilaments (NF), prior to image analysis, from the following: human brachial plexus nerves (21 to 196 days post-injury), painful neuromas (9 days to 12 years post-injury), avulsion injured DRG, control nerves and DRG, and rat CCI model tissues. EP1 and NF-immunoreactive nerve fibres were quantified by image analysis. RESULTS: EP1:NF ratio was significantly increased in human brachial plexus nerve fibres, both proximal and distal to injury, in comparison with uninjured nerves. Sensory neurones in injured human DRG showed a significant acute increase of EP1-IR intensity. While there was a rapid increase in EP1-fibres and CD-68 positive macrophages, Cox-2 increase was apparent later, but was persistent in human painful neuromas for years. A similar time-course of changes was found in the rat CCI model with the above markers, both in the injured nerves and ipsilateral dorsal spinal cord. CONCLUSION: Different stages of infiltration and activation of macrophages may be observed in the peripheral and central nervous system following peripheral nerve injury. EP1 receptor level increase in sensory neurones, and macrophage infiltration, appears to precede increased Cox-2 expression by macrophages. However, other methods for detecting Cox-2 levels and activity are required. EP1 antagonists may show therapeutic effects in acute and chronic neuropathic pain, in addition to inflammatory pain

Candidate high-z proto-clusters among the Planck compact sources, as revealed by Herschel-SPIRE

By determining the nature of all the Planck compact sources within 808.4 deg2 of large Herschel surveys, we have identified 27 candidate proto-clusters of dusty star forming galaxies (DSFGs) that are at least 3σ overdense in either 250, 350 or 500 μm sources. We find roughly half of all the Planck compact sources are resolved by Herschel into multiple discrete objects, with the other half remaining unresolved by Herschel. We find a significant difference between versions of the Planck catalogues, with earlier releases hosting a larger fraction of candidate proto-clusters and Galactic Cirrus than later releases, which we ascribe to a difference in the filters used in the creation of the three catalogues. We find a surface density of DSFG candidate proto-clusters of (3.3 ± 0.7) × 10−2 sources deg−2, in good agreement with previous similar studies. We find that a Planck colour selection of S857/S545 1. Our candidate proto-clusters are a factor of 5 times brighter at 353 GHz than expected from simulations, even in the most conservative estimates. Further observations are needed to confirm whether these candidate proto-clusters are physical clusters, multiple proto-clusters along the line of sight, or chance alignments of unassociated sources

International collaboration on prevention of shaken baby syndrome - an ongoing project/intervention

Caring for young infants can be stressful. Non-accidental brain or head injury (shaken baby syndrome) is a result of parental stress, and a lack of knowledge of how to respond to a crying infant and the dangers of shaking a child. This article demonstra