Effect of intergranular glass films on the electrical conductivity of 3Y-TZP

The electrical conductivity of 3Y-TZP ceramics containing SiO2 and Al2O3 has been investigated by complex impedance spectroscopy between 500 and 1270 K. At low temperatures, the total electrical conductivity is suppressed by the grain boundary glass films. The equilibrium thickness of intergranular films is 1-2 nm, as derived using the "brick-layer” model and measured by HRTEM. A change in the slope of the conductivity Arrhenius plots occurs at the characteristic temperature Tb at which the macroscopic grain boundary resistivity has the same value as the resistivity of the grains. The temperature dependence of the conductivity is discussed in terms of a series combination of RC element

Reproductive health for refugees by refugees in Guinea III: maternal health

BACKGROUND: Maternal mortality can be particularly high in conflict and chronic emergency settings, partly due to inaccessible maternal care. This paper examines associations of refugee-led health education, formal education, age, and parity on maternal knowledge, attitudes, and practices among reproductive-age women in refugee camps in Guinea. METHODS: Data comes from a 1999 cross-sectional survey of 444 female refugees in 23 camps. Associations of reported maternal health outcomes with exposure to health education (exposed versus unexposed), formal education (none versus some), age (adolescent versus adult), or parity (nulliparous, parous, grand multiparous), were analysed using logistic regression. RESULTS: No significant differences were found in maternal knowledge or attitudes. Virtually all respondents said pregnant women should attend antenatal care and knew the importance of tetanus vaccination. Most recognised abdominal pain (75%) and headaches (24%) as maternal danger signs and recommended facility attendance for danger signs. Most had last delivered at a facility (67%), mainly for safety reasons (99%). Higher odds of facility delivery were found for those exposed to RHG health education (adjusted odds ratio 2.03, 95%CI 1.23-3.01), formally educated (adjusted OR 1.93, 95%CI 1.05-3.92), or grand multipara (adjusted OR 2.13, 95%CI 1.21-3.75). Main reasons for delivering at home were distance to a facility (94%) and privacy (55%). CONCLUSIONS: Refugee-led maternal health education appeared to increase facility delivery for these refugee women. Improved knowledge of danger signs and the importance of skilled birth attendance, while vital, may be less important in chronic emergency settings than improving facility access where quality of care is acceptable

Long-Term Care Reform and the Labor Supply of Household Members Evidence from a Quasi-Experiment

Germany introduced a new mandatory insurance for long-term care in 1995. It replaced a system based on means-tested transfers. The new scheme made it easier for households to draw benefits and to organize informal care. We exploit this reform as a natural experiment and examine its effect on the labor supply of caregivers who live in the same household as the care recipient. We find strong negative results for male labor supply but not for women. We conduct a set of robustness tests and our results prove to be stable

A fast speech data files transmission by ASCII characters in-coding

This note shortly describes the system of a fast transmission of oral data files that are converted into ASCII characters. These files are using lower capacity the transmission capacity of the communication virtual data links

Advanced interfaces for remote users of network multimedia databases

The multimedia databases organisation and management needs various standardisation for simplifying their structure and access methods. They allow integrating different levels and different techniques of programming. The paper describes several aspects of Medical Centre Services organisation that offers various services via Internet standards. Several multimedia systems for training processes have been implemented in this package for network information content development and distribution

DECOMPOSITION KINETICS IN Al-6.8 AT % Zn

La démixtion après trempe de la solution solide binaire Al-6,8 at % Zn a été étudiée par microscopie électronique et diffusion des neutrons aux petits angle. On a suivi la cinétique de formation des zones de Guinier-Preston à diverses températures de vieillissement à l'intérieur de la lacune de miscibilité. Bien que la vitesse de démixtion augmente rapidement avec le taux de sursaturation, une transition spinodale abrupte n'est pas observée. Les résultats sont finalement comparés avec la théorie classique et avec des modèles microscopiques récents.The decomposition after quench of the binary solid solution Al-6.8 at % Zn has been studied by transmission electron microscopy and neutron small angle scattering. The kinetics of formation of the Guinier-Preston zones has been followed at various aging temperatures inside the miscibility gap. Although the rate of decomposition increases rapidly with the degree of supersaturation no sharp spinodal transition is observed. The results are finally compared with the classical theory and with recent microscopic models

The effect of composition and stress on the selection of ϵ→τ\epsilon\to \tau transformation modes in MnAl-C

The $\epsilon\to \tau$ transformation in MnAl-C alloys was studied by metallographic methods and by transmission electron microscopy. The product phase appears in two morphologies. A “flower-like” morphology results from a massive transformation whereas a “plate-like” morphology results from a shear reaction. The shear reaction appears preferentially in alloys with large amounts of Mn and C. Annealing under a suitable uniaxial compressive stress accelerates the operation of the shear mode