The roots of "Western European societal evolution". A concept of Europe by Jenő Szűcs

Jenő Szűcs wrote his essay entitled Sketch on the three regions of Europe in the early 1980s in Hungary. During these years, a historically well-argued opinion emphasising a substantial difference between Central European and Eastern European societies was warmly received in various circles of the political opposition. In a wider European perspective Szűcs used the old “liberty topos” which claims that the history of Europe is no other than the fulfillment of liberty. In his Sketch, Szűcs does not only concentrate on questions concerning the Middle Ages in Western Europe. Yet it is this stream of thought which brought a new perspective to explaining European history. His picture of the Middle Ages represents well that there is a way to integrate all typical Western motifs of post-war self-definition into a single theory. Mainly, the “liberty motif”, as a sign of “Europeanism” – in the interpretation of Bibó’s concept, Anglo-saxon Marxists and Weber’s social theory –, developed from medieval concepts of state and society and from an analysis of economic and social structures. Szűcs’s historical aspect was a typical intellectual product of the 1980s: this was the time when a few Central European historians started to outline non-Marxist aspects of social theory and categories of modernisation theories, but concealing them with Marxist terminology

BRAVO economic study of LANDSAT follow-on

The LANDSAT Follow-On satellite consists of two major systems: the instrument module and the Multi-Mission Modular Spacecraft (MMS). The instrument module contains the thematic mapper and the five-band multispectral scanner instruments. The instrument module also includes the solar array, the tracking and data relay satellite (TDRS) antenna, and the wideband data module. The MMS contains the modularized and standardized power, propulsion, attitude control, and command and data handling subsystems. The Shuttle will be supporting the LANDSAT Follow-On system. The LANDSAT Follow-On Project plans two Delta 3910 launches. The first is scheduled for 1981; the second Delta launch will occur as needed to keep one satellite operational on orbit. The second satellite will be ready six months after the first. It could be launched any time after that. Shuttle support of the system could begin in early 1983 but would be scheduled to start after the second Delta launch

3D Electromagnetic Diffusion Models for Reverberant Environments

Diffusion equation based modeling has been proposed for mapping the reverberant component of the electromagnetic field in enclosures at high frequencies. Preliminary evaluation of the electromagnetic diffusion model using a dimensional reduction approach showed promising results compared to measurements. Here we develop a full three-dimensional diffusion model of the experimental canonical test cases considered in the preliminary evaluation and obtain finite element method solutions. The results are compared to those of the two-dimensional models. We find that the two- and three-dimensional models are generally in excellent agreement for the pseudo two-dimensional test-cases considered. Some deviations between the two- and three-dimensional models are observed due to the fact the point source must be effectively represented by a line source in the reduced model. The three-dimensional model is still highly efficient compared to other applicable techniques, offering the prospect of a radical reduction in the resources required for simulating reverberant fields in electrically large structures

Efficiency of broadband four-wave mixing wavelength conversion using semiconductor traveling-wave amplifiers

We present a theoretical analysis and experimental measurements of broadband optical wavelength conversion by four-wave mixing in semiconductor traveling-wave amplifiers. In the theoretical analysis, we obtain an analytical expression for the conversion efficiency. In the experiments, both up and down-conversion efficiencies are measured as a function of wavelength shift for shifts up to 27 nm. The experimental data are well explained by the theoretical calculation. The observed higher conversion efficiency for wavelength down-conversion is believed to be caused by phase interferences that exist between various mechanisms contributing to the four-wave mixing process

Terahertz four-wave mixing spectroscopy for study of ultrafast dynamics in a semiconductor optical amplifier

Ultrafast dynamics in a 1.5-µm tensile-strained quantum-well optical amplifier has been studied by highly nondegenerate four-wave mixing at detuning frequencies up to 1.7 THz. Frequency response data indicate the presence of two ultrafast physical processes with characteristic relaxation lifetimes of 650 fs and <100 fs. The longer time constant is believed to be associated with the dynamic carrier heating effect. This is in agreement with previous time-domain pump-probe measurements using ultrashort optical pulses

The history of the CATH structural classification of protein domains

This article presents a historical review of the protein structure classification database CATH. Together with the SCOP database, CATH remains comprehensive and reasonably up-to-date with the now more than 100,000 protein structures in the PDB. We review the expansion of the CATH and SCOP resources to capture predicted domain structures in the genome sequence data and to provide information on the likely functions of proteins mediated by their constituent domains. The establishment of comprehensive function annotation resources has also meant that domain families can be functionally annotated allowing insights into functional divergence and evolution within protein families

Highly nondegenerate four-wave mixing and gain nonlinearity in a strained multiple-quantum-well optical amplifier

Highly nondegenerate four-wave mixing was investigated in a 1.5 µm compressively strained multi-quantum-well semiconductor traveling-wave optical amplifier at detuning frequencies up to 600 GHz. A gain nonlinearity with a characteristic relaxation time of 650 fs was determined from the data, and the nonlinear gain coefficient was estimated to be 4.3×10^–23 m^3. Dynamic carrier heating is believed to be the major source of nonlinear gain in this device at the wavelengths investigated

What's the evidence that NICE guidance has been implemented? Results from a national evaluation using time series analysis, audit of patients' notes, and interviews

OBJECTIVES: To assess the extent and pattern of implementation of guidance issued by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE). DESIGN: Interrupted time series analysis, review of case notes, survey, and interviews. SETTING: Acute and primary care trusts in England and Wales. PARTICIPANTS: All primary care prescribing, hospital pharmacies; a random sample of 20 acute trusts, 17 mental health trusts, and 21 primary care trusts; and senior clinicians and managers from five acute trusts. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Rates of prescribing and use of procedures and medical devices relative to evidence based guidance. RESULTS: 6308 usable patient audit forms were returned. Implementation of NICE guidance varied by trust and by topic. Prescribing of some taxanes for cancer (P <0.002) and orlistat for obesity (P <0.001) significantly increased in line with guidance. Prescribing of drugs for Alzheimer’s disease and prophylactic extraction of wisdom teeth showed trends consistent with, but not obviously a consequence of, the guidance. Prescribing practice often did not accord with the details of the guidance. No change was apparent in the use of hearing aids, hip prostheses, implantable cardioverter defibrillators, laparoscopic hernia repair, and laparoscopic colorectal cancer surgery after NICE guidance had been issued. CONCLUSIONS: Implementation of NICE guidance has been variable. Guidance seems more likely to be adopted when there is strong professional support, a stable and convincing evidence base, and no increased or unfunded costs, in organisations that have established good systems for tracking guidance implementation and where the professionals involved are not isolated. Guidance needs to be clear and reflect the clinical context