Wafering insight provided by the ODE method

The orientation-dependent etching method of slicing was investigated to see if it could be used to form more slices from high quality silicon crystals than can be achieved by mechanical slicing methods. Orientation-dependent slicing uses preferential etching down narrow slots in a silicon slab on form slices. The method has several possible advantages including high slicing yield (sq m/kg), plane parallel, thin slices, ready for processing and the chance of high throughput and low costs. There are limitations in the need for simple crystals, and in restricted depth of slicing

Developing change management skills: a resource for health care professionals and managers

Developing Change Management Skills is the first of the NHS Service Delivery and Organisation (SDO) Programmes resources aimed primarily at development. Five realistically complex case studies, made up of factual incidents woven into a fictional whole, provide the settings that allow readers to reason on behalf of characters within them. In the process they learn about: 1) The strengths and limitations of different change management approaches in different situations 2) How to group the approaches together to increase their usefulness 3) The importance of applying them rigorously, perceptively and creatively 4) How different results arise when they are used by people with different world views. The cases reflect the range of organisations within the NHS, being set in primary care, mental health and acute services trusts, as well as a strategic health authority. Key players within them include an individual team member, a service leader, and executive and non-executive board members. Readers are encouraged to take opportunities to apply the tools before comparing their thinking with that of the authors. In doing so they will develop skills they can apply within their own settings. It will be of interest to anyone in the NHS trying to initiate change, whether they hold formal leadership positions or not. It will also be of interest to developers and trainers

Silicon solar cells for space use: Present performance and trends

A technology assessment of present performance levels and current fabrication methods and designs is presented

A STUDY OF FACTOR B OF THE EARLY SCHOOL PERSONALITY QUESTIONNAIRE(ESPQ) AS A VALID MEASURE OF GENERAL MENTAL ABILITY

This study investigated the validity of the general ability factor, Factor B of the Early School Personality Questionnaire(ESPQ), in two ways. First, validity coefficients for Factor B were obtained by computing product-moment correlation coefficients between the ESPQ Factor B raw scores of 40 developmentally disabled subjects and their raw scores on the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R). Second, the Kruskal-Wallis rank sums test and a distribution-free multiple comparisons test were employed to determine if there were significant differences among the mean ESPQ Factor B raw scores of subjects designated as mentally retarded, learning disabled, or normal. Specifically, it was tested if there were significant differences between the mean ESPQ Factor B raw scores of (1) the mentally retarded subjects and the learning disabled subjects, (2) the mentally retarded subjects and the normal subjects, and (3) the learning disabled and the normal subjects. In the first case, all of the validity coefficients obtained for Factor B of the ESPQ were significant at the .001 level with the exception of the validity coefficient obtained from the correlation of the ESPQ Factor B raw scores with the raw scores of the WISC-R Coding subtest. It was concluded that the ESPQ Factor B raw scores, to a degree, measured the general mental ability of the developmentally disabled subjects much like the raw scores of the WISC-R measured the general mental ability of the developmentally disabled subjects employed in the study. In the second case, the results indicated that there were significant differences at the .001 level among the mean ESPQ Factor B raw scores of the mentally retarded, learning disabled, and normal subjects. The mean ESPQ Factor B raw scores of the learning disabled subjects and the normal subjects were found to be significantly higher than the mean ESPQ Factor B raw scores of the mentally retarded subjects, and (2) the mean ESPQ Factor B raw scores of the learning disabled subjects and the normal subjects did not significantly differ. Respectively, it was concluded that (1) the learning disabled and normal subjects were higher than the mentally retarded subjects in mean level of general mental ability as measured by the ESPQ Factor B raw scores, and (2) the learning disabled subjects and the normal subjects were about equivalent in mean level of general mental ability as measured by the ESPQ Factor B raw scores. The latter finding was interpreted as agreeing with a generally accepted criterion for diagnosing learning disabilities in that learning disabled children are generally differentiated from normal children on the basis of specific differences in basis Psychological processes rather than on the basis of differ-ences in general mental ability. It was concluded that the ESPQ Factor B raw scores apparently were not an accurate measure of those specific aspects of psychological processes which differentiated the learning disabled child from the normal child in the study. The general findings of the study suggested that the ESPQ Factor B raw scores, to a good degree, were a valid measure of the general mental ability of the subjects employed in the study since (1) the validity coefficients obtained for Factor B were generally substantial with the sample of developmentally disabled subjects employed, and (2) significant differences in mean ESPQ Factor B raw scores were measured among the subjects designated as mentally retarded, learning disabled, or normal

Determination of the glycoforms of human chorionic gonadotropin b-core fragment by matrix-assisted laser desoption/ionisation time of flight mass spectrometry

Background: Metabolism of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) in the serum and kidney yields the terminal urinary product hCG ß-core fragment (hCGßcf), comprising two disulfide-linked peptides (ß6-ß40 and ß55-ß92) of which one (ß6-ß40) retains truncated N-linked sugars. Hyperglycosylated hCGßcf may indicate choriocarcinoma or Down syndrome, but the glycosylation profile of hCGßcf has not been thoroughly evaluated. Methods: hCGßcf, purified from pregnancy urine, was reduced by "on-target" dithiothreitol (DTT) reduction and analyzed by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). The mass ([M+H]+) of the primary sequence of the glycosylated peptide ß6-ß40 was subtracted from the m/z values of the discrete peaks observed to give the masses of the carbohydrate moieties. Carbohydrate structure was predicted by sequentially subtracting the masses of the monosaccharide residues corresponding to N-linked carbohydrates of the hCG ß-subunit reported in the literature. Results: Mass spectra of hCGßcf revealed a broad triple peak at m/z 8700–11300. After reduction, the triple peak was replaced by a discrete set of peaks between m/z 4156 and 6354. A peak at m/z 4156.8 corresponded to the nonglycosylated peptide (ß55-ß92). The remaining nine peaks indicated that urinary hCGßcf comprises a set of glycoforms smaller and larger than the trimannosyl core. Conclusions: hCGßcf comprises a wider set of glycoforms than reported previously. Peaks of highest mass indicate evidence of hyperglycosylated carbohydrate moieties. The data support previous reports that hCGßcf oligosaccharides lack sialic acid and galactose residues. No indication was found of a ß6-ß40 peptide that was entirely devoid of carbohydrate

Development of high efficiency (14 percent) solar cell array module

Most effort was concentrated on development of procedures to provide large area (3 in. diameter) high efficiency (16.5 percent AM1, 28 C) P+NN+ solar cells. Intensive tests with 3 in. slices gave consistently lower efficiency (13.5 percent). The problems were identified as incomplete formation of and optimum back surface field (BSF), and interaction of the BSF process and the shallow P+ junction. The problem was shown not to be caused by reduced quality of silicon near the edges of the larger slices

Development of High Efficiency (14%) Solar Cell Array Module

High efficiency solar cells required for the low cost modules was developed. The production tooling for the manufacture of the cells and modules was designed. The tooling consisted of: (1) back contact soldering machine; (2) vacuum pickup; (3) antireflective coating tooling; and (4) test fixture

Do the adult daughters of PCOS patients develop PCOS and is this due to an androgenized uterine environment-an online epidemiological survey

Objectives: Several inconsistent studies have investigated whether the uterine environment of androgenized pregnant women is a risk factor for an in-utero developmental imprinted predisposition towards subsequent polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) among their female offspring. These are difficult to compare due to variable parameters and subject selection criteria. Few epidemiological studies have analyzed the incidence of PCOS amongst adult daughters of PCOS affected women previously. Our study aimed to investigate risk factors relating to the development of PCOS in the female offspring of PCOS patients. Methods: We used a questionnaire to collect a mother-to-daughter medical history and relevant information, in order to understand risk factors, which might relate to the presence of PCOS daughters of PCOS patients. Results: Of four hundred and one responses, 131 participants were included in the final analysis. There was no statistical association with the subsequent development of PCOS amongst female offspring of women with PCOS. However, there was a significantly higher prevalence of post-term birth among PCOS mothers. Nevertheless, the major determinant of risk of subsequent incidence of PCOS amongst daughters was a higher BMI, regardless of the mothers BMI. Conclusion: Socio-economic family influences, affecting BMI, may be the reason for any mother to daughter association with PCOS

Registration of retinal images from Public Health by minimising an error between vessels using an affine model with radial distortions

In order to estimate a registration model of eye fundus images made of an affinity and two radial distortions, we introduce an estimation criterion based on an error between the vessels. In [1], we estimated this model by minimising the error between characteristics points. In this paper, the detected vessels are selected using the circle and ellipse equations of the overlap area boundaries deduced from our model. Our method successfully registers 96 % of the 271 pairs in a Public Health dataset acquired mostly with different cameras. This is better than our previous method [1] and better than three other state-of-the-art methods. On a publicly available dataset, ours still better register the images than the reference method