High voltage solid-state relay

Hybrid microelectronics relay has characteristics significantly superior to conventional solid state relays. Relay provides 2500 Vdc input to output isolation and operates from high threshold logic signal to switch load of 400 Vdc at 2 mA. Technology should be of interest to manufacturers of discrete components

Successful paediatric HIV treatment in rural primary care in Africa

<p>Objective: Clinical outcomes of HIV-infected children on antiretroviral treatment (ART) in a decentralised, nurse/counsellor-led programme.</p> <p>Design: Clinical cohort.</p> <p>Setting: KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.</p> <p>Patients: HIV-infected children aged <= 15 years on ART, June 2004-2008.</p> <p>Main outcome measures: Survival according to baseline characteristics including age, WHO clinical stage, haemoglobin and CD4%, was assessed in Kaplan-Meier analyses. Hazard ratios for mortality were estimated using Cox proportional hazards regression and changes in laboratory parameters and weight-for-age z scores after 6-12 months' treatment were calculated.</p> <p>Results: 477 HIV-infected children began ART at a median age of 74 months (range 4-180), median CD4 count (CD4%) of 433 cells/mm(3) (17%) and median HIV viral load of log 4.2 copies/ml; 105 (22%) were on treatment for tuberculosis and 317 (76.6%) were WHO stage 3/4. There were significant increases after ART initiation in CD4% (17% vs 22%; p<0.001), haemoglobin (9.9 vs 11.7 g/l; p <= 0.001) and albumin (30 vs 36 g/l; p <= 0.001). 32 (6.7%) children died over 732 child-years of follow-up (43.7 deaths/1000 child-years; 95% CI 32.7 to 58.2), 17 (53.1%) within 90 days of treatment initiation; median age of death was 84 (IQR 10-181) months. Children with baseline haemoglobin <= 8 g/l were more likely to die (adjusted HR 4.5; 95% CI 1.6 to 12.3), as were those aged <18 months compared with >60 months (adjusted HR 3.2; 95% CI 1.2 to 9.1).</p> <p>Conclusions Good clinical outcomes in HIV-infected children on ART are possible in a rural, decentralised service. Few young children are on ART, highlighting the urgent need to identify HIV-exposed infants.</p&gt

Perceptions of physiotherapists towards research: a mixed methods study

OBJECTIVES: To explore the perceptions of physiotherapists towards the use of and participation in research. DESIGN: Concurrent mixed methods research, combining in-depth interviews with three questionnaires (demographics, Edmonton Research Orientation Survey, visual analogue scales for confidence and motivation to participate in research). SETTING: One physiotherapy department in a rehabilitation hospital, consisting of seven specialised areas. PARTICIPANTS: Twenty-five subjects {four men and 21 women, mean age 38 [standard deviation (SD) 11] years} who had been registered as a physiotherapist for a mean period of 15 (SD 10) years participated in this study. They were registered with the New Zealand Board of Physiotherapy, held a current practising certificate, and were working as a physiotherapist or physiotherapy/allied health manager at the hospital. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: The primary outcome measure was in-depth interviews and the secondary outcome measures were the three questionnaires. RESULTS: Physiotherapists were generally positive towards research, but struggled with the concept of research, the available literature and the time to commit to research. Individual confidence and orientation towards research seemed to influence how these barriers were perceived. CONCLUSION: This study showed that physiotherapists struggle to implement research in their daily practice and become involved in research. Changing physiotherapists' conceptions of research, making it more accessible and providing dedicated research time could facilitate increased involvement in the physiotherapy profession

South Dakota Swine Production and Marketing: Recent Trends and Producer Survey Results

This bulletin reports swine production and marketing trends in South Dakota from the late 1950\u27s to 1980 and also reports major findings from a 1980 pork marketing survey completed by nearlv 600 South Dakota swine producers. Subjects covered include statewide and regional production trends, organization of swine production and marketing, producer use of marketing methods and marketing channels, marketing movements and transportation, and producer use of cash markets, forward contracts and futures markets. This report is for producers, lenders, educators, agribusiness people, and others who are interested in pork marketing

UK consumer reactions to organic certification logos

Purpose - This paper considers the question of whether UK consumers recognise and trust organic certification logos and whether the presence of these logos on a product increases consumer willingness to pay for that product. Methodology/approach - To ascertain the reaction of UK consumers to organic certification logos commonly used in the UK, this study makes use of three methods: focus groups, a consumer survey and a willingness to pay experiment (choice experiment). Findings - These three approaches reveal that UK consumers associate certain benefits with organic foods but are generally unaware of how the industry is regulated. With regards to trust of the logo, the standards they think underlie the logo and the inspection system that they think is associated with the logo, UK consumers rate the Soil Association and Organic Farmers and Growers logos more highly than the EU logo or products labelled with just the word “organic”. They appear willing to pay a premium for the additional assurance that these two logos provide, suggesting that where they are recognised, certification logos are valued. Originality – To the authors’ knowledge, no previous studies exist on whether UK consumers recognise and trust different organic certification logos. These findings show that where such logos are recognised they can help to give some assurance to the UK consumer and this is reflected in a willingness to pay a premium for foods labelled with the Soil Association and Organic Farmers and Growers certification logos as opposed to no logo or the (less well known) EU logo

On Critical Exponents and the Renormalization of the Coupling Constant in Growth Models with Surface Diffusion

It is shown by the method of renormalized field theory that in contrast to a statement based on a mathematically ill-defined invariance transformation and found in most of the recent publications on growth models with surface diffusion, the coupling constant of these models renormalizes nontrivially. This implies that the widely accepted supposedly exact scaling exponents are to be corrected. A two-loop calculation shows that the corrections are small and these exponents seem to be very good approximations.Comment: 4 pages, revtex, 2 postscript figures, to appear in Phys.Rev.Let

Heat transfer to two-phase air/water mixtures flowing in small tubes with inlet disequilibrium

The cooling of gas turbine components was the subject of considerable research. The problem is difficult because the available coolant, compressor bleed air, is itself quite hot and has relatively poor thermophysical properties for a coolant. Injecting liquid water to evaporatively cool the air prior to its contact with the hot components was proposed and studied, particularly as a method of cooling for contingency power applications. Injection of a small quantity of cold liquid water into a relatively hot coolant air stream such that evaporation of the liquid is still in process when the coolant contacts the hot component was studied. No approach was found whereby heat transfer characteristics could be confidently predicted for such a case based solely on prior studies. It was not clear whether disequilibrium between phases at the inlet to the hot component section would improve cooling relative to that obtained where equilibrium was established prior to contact with the hot surface

The Machiavellian Influence Manifested in Christopher Marlowe\u27s Tamburlaine the Great and The Jew of Malta

The concepts developed by Niccolo Machiavelli and presented in The Prince exerted a profound influence on the dramatists of the Elizabethan age. However, before they were incorporated into Elizabethan dramas, these ideas were perverted and disparaged by Innocent Gentillet, Gabriel Harvey, Father Parsons, and others. The result of this perversion is that Machiavelli\u27s original ideas are barely recognizable, at times, in the Elizabethan interpretations, of those ideas. The key ideas of Machiavelli are these: the ruled majority of the people are passive, weak, mutable, inconsistent, simple, and ungrateful, so they can be easily subjected and controlled by the Prince; the Prince is noble, ambitious, determined, superior to the ruled, and invincible; war is paramount over all other things; religion is a mere prop of the state used to keep subjects under control; and the use of both fraud and force will guarantee successful conquering. In summary, Machiavelli believed that the only successful government is based on power politics in which the Prince uses love and fear to force the peasant to obey his will. The perverted ideas upon which the Elizabethan villain-hero is based reflect the vilification of Machiavelli\u27s ideas. His political cynicism is applied to all personal and political affairs; virtù becomes opposed to moral virtue; selfish motives replace the goal of common good through the unification of the Italian state. The result is a black and corrupt fiend who is superior to all others, violent, cruel, deceiving and dissembling, and incredibly ambitious. Christopher Marlowe used these concepts to develop the main characters of Tamburlaine in Tamburlaine the Great, Parts I and II, and Barabas in The Famous Tragedy of the Rich Jew of Malta. Tamburlaine evidences the Machiavellian traits of virtù, ambition, and violence while Barabas evinces the villainy, selfish ambition, and deception of a stereotyped Machiavell. By melding the two characters, a completely Machiavellian figure is formed. The careers of both villain-heroes follow the Machiavellian pattern of life: they achieve great power and success through the use of force and fraud, then they are plummeted to destruction by the Fate which they believed that they controlled. Both are forced to learn that Fortune cannot be controlled by any man, not even by a superman or a conquering hero