RELBET 4.0 user's guide

This manual describes the operation and use of RELBET 4.0 implemented on the Hewlett Packard model 9000. The RELBET System is an integrated collection of computer programs which support the analysis and post-flight reconstruction of vehicle to vehicle relative trajectories of two on-orbit free-flying vehicles: the Space Shuttle Orbiter and some other free-flyer. The manual serves both as a reference and as a training guide. Appendices provide experienced users with details and full explanations of program usage. The body of the manual introduces new users to the system by leading them through a step by step example of a typical production. This should equip the new user both to execute a typical production process and to understand the most significant variables in that process

Vortex Motion Noise in Micrometre-Sized Thin Films of the Amorphous Nb0.7Ge0.3 Weak-Pinning Superconductor

We report high-resolution measurements of voltage (V) noise in the mixed state of micrometre-sized thin films of amorphous Nb0.7Ge0.3, which is a good representative of weak-pinning superconductors. There is a remarkable difference between the noise below and above the irreversibility field Birr. Below Birr, in the presence of measurable pinning, the noise at small applied currents resembles shot noise, and in the regime of flux flow at larger currents decreases with increasing voltage due to a progressive ordering of the vortex motion. At magnetic fields B between Birr and the upper critical field Bc2 flux flow is present already at vanishingly small currents. In this regime the noise scales with (1-B/Bc2)^2 V^2 and has a frequency (f) spectrum of 1/f type. We interpret this noise in terms of the properties of strongly driven depinned vortex systems at high vortex density.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, version accepted for publication in PR

Evidence of Vortices on the Insulating Side of the Superconductor-Insulator Transition

The magnetoresistance of ultrathin insulating films of Bi has been studied with magnetic fields applied parallel and perpendicular to the plane of the sample. Deep in the strongly localized regime, the magnetoresistance is negative and independent of field orientation. As film thicknesses increase, the magnetoresistance becomes positive, and a difference between values measured in perpendicular and parallel fields appears, which is a linear function of the magnetic field and is positive. This is not consistent with the quantum interference picture. We suggest that it is due to vortices present on the insulating side of the superconductor-insulator transition.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Phase II Study of Cetuximab in Combination with Docetaxel in Patients with Recurrent and/or Metastatic Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Head and Neck after Platinum-Containing Therapy: A Multicenter Study of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Internistische Onkologie

Background: Cetuximab and docetaxel have single-agent activity in squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN). The efficacy of their combination was evaluated in platinum-pretreated patients with recurrent and/or metastatic SCCHN. Patients and Methods: A total of 84 patients were treated with docetaxel 35 mg/m2 weekly for a maximum of 6 cycles and concomitant cetuximab 250 mg/m2 weekly until disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. The primary endpoint was the objective response rate and secondary endpoints included the response rate in relation to platinum sensitivity, progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS) and toxicity. Results: Nine (11%) patients achieved a partial response and 34 (40%) stable disease, resulting in a disease control rate of 51%. Response to treatment was 49% in previously platinum-sensitive and 50% in previously platinum-resistant disease. The median PFS was 3.1 months and the median OS 6.7 months. The most common grade 3 or 4 adverse events were mucositis (8%), pneumonia (8%), fatigue (8%) and skin reactions (14%). Sepsis occurred in 3 patients. Conclusion: Cetuximab plus docetaxel is an active treatment regimen with moderate toxicity in SCCHN patients. However, no superiority in comparison with monotherapy could be shown. Responsiveness and survival were independent of previous platinum sensitivity

Is caching the key to exclusion in corvids? The case of carrion crows (Corvus corone corone)

Recently, two corvid species, food-caching ravens and non-caching jackdaws, have been tested in an exclusion performance (EP) task. While the ravens chose by exclusion, the jackdaws did not. Thus, foraging behaviour may affect EP abilities. To investigate this possibility, another food-caching corvid species, the carrion crow (Corvus corone corone), was tested in the same exclusion task. We hid food under one of two cups and subsequently lifted either both cups, or the baited or the un-baited cup. The crows were significantly above chance when both cups were lifted or when only the baited cup was lifted. When the empty cup was lifted, we found considerable inter-individual variation, with some birds having a significant preference for the un-baited but manipulated cup. In a follow-up task, we always provided the birds with the full information about the food location, but manipulated in which order they saw the hiding or the removal of food. Interestingly, they strongly preferred the cup which was manipulated last, even if it did not contain any food. Therefore, we repeated the first experiment but controlled for the movement of the cups. In this case, more crows found the food reliably in the un-baited condition. We conclude that carrion crows are able to choose by exclusion, but local enhancement has a strong influence on their performance and may overshadow potential inferential abilities. However, these findings support the hypothesis that caching might be a key to exclusion in corvids

Sensory Communication

Contains table of contents for Section 2, an introduction and reports on twelve research projects.National Institutes of Health Grant 5 R01 DC00117National Institutes of Health Contract 2 P01 DC00361National Institutes of Health Grant 5 R01 DC00126National Institutes of Health Grant R01-DC00270U.S. Air Force - Office of Scientific Research Contract AFOSR-90-0200National Institutes of Health Grant R29-DC00625U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research Grant N00014-88-K-0604U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research Grant N00014-91-J-1454U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research Grant N00014-92-J-1814U.S. Navy - Naval Training Systems Center Contract N61339-93-M-1213U.S. Navy - Naval Training Systems Center Contract N61339-93-C-0055U.S. Navy - Naval Training Systems Center Contract N61339-93-C-0083U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research Grant N00014-92-J-4005U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research Grant N00014-93-1-119

Simplistic vs. Complex Organization: Markets, Hierarchies, and Networks in an 'Organizational Triangle'

Transaction cost economics explains organizations in a simplistic ‘market-vs.-hierarchy’ dichotomy. In this view, complex real-world coordination forms are simply considered ‘hybrids’ of those ‘pure’ and ideal forms, thus being located on a one-dimensional ‘line’ between them. This ‘organizational dichotomy’ is mainly based on relative marginal transaction costs, relative lengths of value-added chains, and ‘rational choice’ of coordination form. The present paper, in contrast, argues that pure ‘market’ and ‘hierarchy’, even including their potential hybrids, are a theoretically untenable and empirically void set. Coordination forms, it is argued, have to be conceptualized in a fundamentally different way. A relevant ‘organizational space’ must reflect the dimensions of a complex world such as dilemma-prone direct interdependence, resulting in strong strategic uncertainty, mutual externalities, collectivities, and subsequent emergent process. This, in turn, will lead either to (1) informally institutionalized, problem-solving cooperation (the instrumental dimension of the institution) or (2) mutual blockage, lock-in on an inferior path, or power- and status-based market and hierarchy failure (the ceremonial dimension of the institution). This paper establishes emergent instrumental institutionalized cooperation as a genuine organizational dimension which generates a third ‘attractor’ besides ‘market’ and ‘hierarchy’, i.e., informal network. In this way, an ‘organizational triangle’ can be generated which may serve as a more relevant heuristic device for empirical organizational research. Its ideal corners and some ideal hybrids on its edges (such as ideal clusters and ideal hub&spoke networks) still remain empirically void, but its inner space becomes empirically relevant and accessible. The ‘Organizational Triangle’ is tentatively applied (besides casual reference to corporate behavior that has lead to the current financial meltdown), by way of a set of criteria for instrumental problem-solving and a simple formal algorithm, to the cases of the supplier network of ‘DaimlerChrysler US International’ at Tuscaloosa, AL, the open-source network Linux, and the web-platforms Wikipedia and ‘Open-Source Car’. It is considered to properly reflect what is generally theorized in evolutionary-institutional economics of organizations and the firm and might offer some insight for the coming industrial reconstructions of the car and other industries