The computer support of diagnostics of circle crystallizers

This paper is focused on computer aided technological processes of continuous steel casting devices. The paper characterized the fundamental aspects of creating computer aided control process of continuous steel casting operations. There is in detail described software system AMKO (Algorithm Modelling conicities). The importance of software AMKO consists in extending the usability of copper enclosure in the case of its weariness and the possibility of its further use. Using this software to create graphical model of the wear, which shows the conicity of the studied mold along all its lengths and specifies the possibility of its further use in various compositions sequences. Such modelling and prediction is possible with usage of cybernetic modelling principles and methods known as soft-computing

Kombinace kvalitativních metod při výzkumu tacitních znalostí manažerů

Tacitní znalosti jsou považovány za významnou součást profesních kompetencí, za skrytý potenciál subjektu, který se projevuje při řešení sociálních situací. Závažným problémem je, jak proces utváření tacitních znalostí v profesních, zejména sociálních situacích probíhá.Autoři informují o kombinaci kvalitativních metod při výzkumu tacitních znalostí manažerů. Využili při něm polostrukturovaný rozhovor, metodu dotazníkovou a metodu ohniskové skupiny. Referují o výsledcích první etapy výzkumu a poukazují na možnosti aplikace dalších metod: situační Wagnerův test (dotazník), projektivní techniky a metodu tzv. stimulovaného vybavování profesních situací zaznamenaných na videozáznamu

Graphene etching on SiC grains as a path to interstellar polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons formation.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons as well as other organic molecules appear among the most abundant observed species in interstellar space and are key molecules to understanding the prebiotic roots of life. However, their existence and abundance in space remain a puzzle. Here we present a new top-down route to form polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in large quantities in space. We show that aromatic species can be efficiently formed on the graphitized surface of the abundant silicon carbide stardust on exposure to atomic hydrogen under pressure and temperature conditions analogous to those of the interstellar medium. To this aim, we mimic the circumstellar environment using ultra-high vacuum chambers and investigate the SiC surface by in situ advanced characterization techniques combined with first-principles molecular dynamics calculations. These results suggest that top-down routes are crucial to astrochemistry to explain the abundance of organic species and to uncover the origin of unidentified infrared emission features from advanced observations. © 2014 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved

Biomarkers for Monitoring Pre-Analytical Quality Variation of mRNA in Blood Samples

Abstract There is an increasing need for proper quality control tools in the pre-analytical phase of the molecular diagnostic workflow. The aim of the present study was to identify biomarkers for monitoring pre-analytical mRNA quality variations in two different types of blood collection tubes, K 2 EDTA (EDTA) tubes and PAXgene Blood RNA Tubes (PAXgene tubes). These tubes are extensively used both in the diagnostic setting as well as for research biobank samples. Blood specimens collected in the two different blood collection tubes were stored for varying times at different temperatures, and microarray analysis was performed on resultant extracted RNA. A large set of potential mRNA quality biomarkers for monitoring postphlebotomy gene expression changes and mRNA degradation in blood was identified. qPCR assays for the potential biomarkers and a set of relevant reference genes were generated and used to pre-validate a sub-set of the selected biomarkers. The assay precision of the potential qPCR based biomarkers was determined, and a final validation of the selected quality biomarkers using the developed qPCR assays and blood samples from 60 healthy additional subjects was performed. In total, four mRNA quality biomarkers (USP32, LMNA, FOSB, TNRFSF10C) were successfully validated. We suggest here the use of these blood mRNA quality biomarkers for validating an experimental pre-analytical workflow. These biomarkers were further evaluated in the 2 nd ring trial of the SPIDIA-RNA Program which demonstrated that these biomarkers can be used as quality control tools for mRNA analyses from blood samples

The energy gap of intermediate-valent SmB6 studied by point-contact spectroscopy

We have investigated the intermediate valence narrow-gap semiconductor SmB6 at low temperatures using both conventional spear-anvil type point contacts as well as mechanically controllable break junctions. The zero-bias conductance varied between less than 0.01 mikrosiemens and up to 1 mS. The position of the spectral anomalies, which are related to the different activation energies and band gaps of SmB6, did not depend on the the contact size. Two different regimes of charge transport could be distinguished: Contacts with large zero - bias conductance are in the diffusive Maxwell regime. They had spectra with only small non-linearities. Contacts with small zero - bias conductance are in the tunnelling regime. They had larger anomalies, but still indicating a finite 45 % residual quasiparticle density of states at the Fermi level at low temperatures of T = 0.1 K. The density of states derived from the tunelling spectra can be decomposed into two energy-dependent parts with Eg = 21 meV and Ed = 4.5 meV wide gaps, respectively.Comment: 9 pages incl. 13 figure

Urban climate in central european cities and global climate change

Urban areas are among those most endangered with the potential global climate changes. The studies concerning the impact of global changes on local climate of cities are of a high significance for the urban inhabitants' health and wellbeing. This paper is the final report of a project (Urban climate in Central European cities and global climate change) with the aim to raise the public awareness on those issues in five Central European cities: Szeged (Hungary), Brno (Czech Republic), Bratislava (Slovakia), Kraków (Poland) and Vienna (Austria). Within the project, complex data concerning local geomorphological features, land use and long-term climatological data were used to perform the climate modelling analyses using the model MUKLIMO_3 provided by the German Weather Service (DWD)

Miocene waterfowl and other birds from central Otago, New Zealand

Copyright © The Natural History Museum 2007Abundant fossil bird bones from the lower Bannockburn Formation, Manuherikia Group, an Early-Middle Miocene lacustrine deposit, 16–19 Ma, from Otago in New Zealand, reveal the “St Bathans Fauna” (new name), a first Tertiary avifauna of land and freshwater birds from New Zealand. At least 23 species of birds are represented by bones, and probable moa, Aves: Dinornithiformes, by eggshell. Anatids dominate the fauna with four genera and five species described as new: a sixth and largest anatid species is represented by just one bone. This is the most diverse Early-Middle Miocene duck fauna known worldwide. Among ducks, two species of dendrochenines are most numerous in the fauna, but a tadornine is common as well. A diving petrel (Pelecanoididae: Pelecanoides) is described, so extending the geological range of this genus worldwide from the Pliocene to the Middle Miocene, at least. The remaining 16 taxa are left undescribed but include: a large species of gull (Laridae); two small waders (Charadriiformes, genus indet.), the size of Charadrius bicinctus and Calidris ruficollis, respectively; a gruiform represented by one specimen similar to Aptornis; abundant rail (Rallidae) bones, including a common flightless rail and a rarer slightly larger taxon, about the size of Gallirallus philippensis; an ?eagle (Accipitridae); a pigeon (Columbidae); three parrots (Psittacidae); an owlet nightjar (Aegothelidae: Aegotheles sp.); a swiftlet (Apodidae: Collocalia sp.); and three passerine taxa, of which the largest is a member of the Cracticidae. The absence of some waterbirds, such as anserines (including swans), grebes (Podicipedidae) and shags (Phalacrocoracidae), among the abundant bones, indicates their probable absence from New Zealand in the Early-Middle Miocene.T. H. Worthy, A. J. D. Tennyson, C. Jones, J. A. McNamara and B. J. Dougla

Mechanism of and Threshold Biomechanical Conditions for Falsetto Voice Onset

The sound source of a voice is produced by the self-excited oscillation of the vocal folds. In modal voice production, a drastic increase in transglottal pressure after vocal fold closure works as a driving force that develops self-excitation. Another type of vocal fold oscillation with less pronounced glottal closure observed in falsetto voice production has been accounted for by the mucosal wave theory. The classical theory assumes a quasi-steady flow, and the expected driving force onto the vocal folds under wavelike motion is derived from the Bernoulli effect. However, wavelike motion is not always observed during falsetto voice production. More importantly, the application of the quasi-steady assumption to a falsetto voice with a fundamental frequency of several hundred hertz is unsupported by experiments. These considerations suggested that the mechanism of falsetto voice onset may be essentially different from that explained by the mucosal wave theory. In this paper, an alternative mechanism is submitted that explains how self-excitation reminiscent of the falsetto voice could be produced independent of the glottal closure and wavelike motion. This new explanation is derived through analytical procedures by employing only general unsteady equations of motion for flow and solids. The analysis demonstrated that a convective acceleration of a flow induced by rapid wall movement functions as a negative damping force, leading to the self-excitation of the vocal folds. The critical subglottal pressure and volume flow are expressed as functions of vocal fold biomechanical properties, geometry, and voice fundamental frequency. The analytically derived conditions are qualitatively and quantitatively reasonable in view of reported measurement data of the thresholds required for falsetto voice onset. Understanding of the voice onset mechanism and the explicit mathematical descriptions of thresholds would be beneficial for the diagnosis and treatment of voice diseases and the development of artificial vocal folds