Time-resolved x-ray emission from laser-produced plasmas with timing fiducial

High-temperature plasmas were produced by focusing 1·05 μm, 100 psec laser pulses onto Al layer targets at a mean irradiation of 3·1013 Watt/cm2. By means of simultaneous measurements of the thermal x-ray emission and the frequency-quadrupled laser pulse we observe a 20 ± 15 psec delay of the x-ray peak relative to the peak of the incident laser pulse. In addition, modulations on the trailing edge of the driving pulse appear strongly enhanced in the x-ray signatur

Mounting technique for pressure transducers minimizes measurement interferences

Miniaturized transducers are fabricated from commercially available four-arm semiconductor gages; transducers are connected as bridge circuit and mounted on internal face of small diaphragm. Jacket made of conductive plastic may be needed to avoid buildup or static charges

Heritage branding orientation: The case of Ach. Brito and the dynamics between corporate and product heritage brands

The notion of heritage branding orientation is introduced and explicated. Heritage branding orientation is designated as embracing both product and corporate brands and differs from corporate heritage brand orientation which has an explicit corporate focus. Empirical insights are drawn from an in-depth and longitudinal case study of Ach. Brito, a celebrated Portuguese manufacturer of soaps and toiletries. This study shows how, by the pursuance of a strategy derived from a heritage branding orientation Ach. Brito – after a prolonged period of decline – achieved a dramatic strategic turnaround. The findings reveal how institutional heritage can be a strategic resource via its adoption and activation at both the product and corporate levels. Moreover, the study showed how the bi-lateral interplay between product and corporate brand levels can be mutually reinforcing. In instrumental terms, the study shows how heritage can be activated and articulated in different ways. For instance, it can re-position both product and/or corporate brands; it can be meaningfully informed by product brand heritage and shape corporate heritage; and can be of strategic importance to both medium-sized and small enterprises

Conservative management of significant epidural haematomas in children

Objective: A significant epidural haematoma (EDH) is generally treated by craniotomy and evacuation. This is a report of conservative management following an EDH on computerized tomography (CT) in a paediatric population. The authors examined whether conservative treatment of radiologically significant EDH is a successful and safe therapeutic option. Methods: Retrospective data were collected from charts of patients with conservatively treated EDH in the Department of Surgery of the University Children's Hospital Zurich between September 1993 and January 2004. Included were patients without focal neurological deficits, with a Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) of 15 and an initial CT demonstrating an EDH with a minimal thickness of 1cm. Mild clinical symptoms of raised intracranial pressure such as headache, nausea or vomiting were treated symptomatically. Follow-up included a standardized interview, a neuropaediatric examination and CT. Results: Thirteen children with EDH had successful conservative management. Only one 12-year-old female patient with a delayed diagnosed frontal EDH required surgical intervention 24h after admission and 5 days after the accident. Clinical follow-up showed patients without neurological deficits, a Glasgow Outcome Scale of 5 and no post-traumatic sequelae over an average of 4 4/12 years (range 4 months to 10 4/12 years). Follow-up CT showed complete resolution of the EDH within 2 to 3 months. Conclusions: Our results demonstrate that significant EDH can be treated non-operatively in neurologically normal children. We recommend that such treatment be performed in specialised paediatric centres under adequate neurological observation since prompt emergency operation in case of neurological deterioration should be provide

The negotiating strategies determining coitus in stable heterosexual relationships

Heterosexual behaviour is a complex subject and one which is aggravated by confounding variables. Few studies have investigated the way in which one variable, namely coitus, is initiated and negotiated in stable marital relationships. As the HIV/AIDS pandemic spreads in sub-Saharan Africa, the subject of marital coitus becomes of increasing concern. This study tests a methodology of semi-structured interviews and diary-keeping techniques to investigate how the activity is initiated and negotiated. A research team monitored the study and evaluated the research techniques. The study concluded that the HIV/AIDS pandemic is affecting the initiation and negotiation of coitus between marital partners and that the partners wish to renegotiate the relationship, but the mechanisms for renegotiation are not at present available

Plasma evolution in laser-irradiated hollow microcylinders

Hollow microcylinder targets, 200-300 μm in diameter, have been internally irradiated at up to 5 · 1014 W/cm2 with Nd:glass laser pulses directed through an axial entrance slit. The plasma evolution in the interior of the cavities was diagnosed with a pinhole imaging X-ray streak camera and a Nomarski-type interferometer. Plasma collision near the center of the cylinder is observed about 300 ps after the irradiating laser pulse. The experimental results are confirmed by a one-dimensional Eulerian fluid cod

Demographic drivers of decline and recovery in an Afro-Palaearctic migratory bird population

Across Europe, rapid population declines are ongoing in many Afro-Palaearctic migratory bird species, but the development of appropriate conservation actions across such large migratory ranges is severely constrained by lack of understanding of the demographic drivers of these declines. By constructing regional integrated population models (IPMs) for one of the suite of migratory species that is declining in the south-east of Britain but increasing in the north-west, we show that, while annual population growth rates in both regions vary with adult survival, the divergent regional trajectories are primarily a consequence of differences in productivity. Between 1994 and 2012, annual survival and productivity rates ranged over similar levels in both regions, but high productivity rates were rarer in the declining south-east population and never coincided with high survival rates. By contrast, population growth in the north-west was fuelled by several years in which higher productivity coincided with high survival rates. Simulated population trajectories suggest that realistic improvements in productivity could have reversed the decline (i.e. recovery of the population index to ≥ 1) in the south-east. Consequently, actions to improve productivity on European breeding grounds are likely to be a more fruitful and achievable means of reversing migrant declines than actions to improve survival on breeding, passage or sub-Saharan wintering grounds