Rail Marketing, Jobs and Public Engagement

The chapter briefly explains the marketing mix in a rail context and then discusses marketing strategies to promote rail from two perspectives. Firstly, rail is perceived as a transport service offered to potential users and various marketing tools are used to maximise rail companies’ profit. Secondly rail is seen as a career path and variety of marketing, skills training and public engagement actions are targeting potential talents, already within the industry as well as those beyond the railway sector. The pool of talented individuals includes students, graduates, academics and professionals who are exposed to recruitment and retention activities of the railway sector. Various activities and projects run by the rail industry, targeting audience at school, university, professional and general public’s levels, are presented with their success stories as well as challenges some of the initiatives faced. Also, results of a survey focusing on skills and jobs for rail (and transport sector) of the future are presented and commented on

The role of echocardiography in the diagnosis of fetal and pediatric cardiac tumors

В исторически план развитието на образните методи на изследване при сърдечните тумори позволи преминаването от аутопсионна към прижизнено поставена диагноза. Ехокардиографията е лесно достъпен, неинвазивен и високо информативен диагностичен метод на първи избор.Представени са възможностите на съвременното комплексно ехокардиографско изследване за ранно, включително и пренатално, откриване на туморите на сърцето, придружаващите сърдечни аномалии и извършването на коректна хемодинамична оценка. Включени са и наши собствени наблюдения на пациенти с различни по вид сърдечни тумори, диагностицирани както фетално, така и след раждането.Ехокардиографското изследване е утвърден, бърз, удобен и информативен метод за пре- и постнатално диагностициране на сърдечните тумори в детската възраст, както и за тяхното пре- и постоперативно проследяване.The development of different imaging techniques allows the diagnosis of cardiac tumors to be made before the death of a person, and not as it used to be made - following a post mortem. Echocardiography is easily available, noninvasive and a highly informative diagnostic method of choice.We`re presenting the possibilities of current echocardiography examination for the early, including prenatal, diagnosis of cardiac tumors, concomitant congenital heart diseases and hemodynamic evaluation. In this report we also include the observations of our own patients with different kinds of cardiac tumors, which were diagnosed prenatally and after birth. Echocardiography is an approved, quick, convenient and informative prenatal, and postnatal, diagnostic method for cardiac tumors in childhood, as well as for their preoperative and postoperative follow-up

New Outlook on the Possible Existence of Superheavy Elements in Nature

A consistent interpretation is given to some previously unexplained phenomena seen in nature in terms of the recently discovered long-lived high spin super- and hyper-deformed isomeric states. The Po halos seen in mica are interpreted as due to the existence of such isomeric states in corresponding Po or nearby nuclei which eventually decay by gamma- or beta-decay to the ground states of 210Po, 214Po and 218Po nuclei. The low-energy 4.5 MeV alpha-particle group observed in several minerals is interpreted as due to a very enhanced alpha transition from the third minimum of the potential-energy surface in a superheavy nucleus with atomic number Z=108 (Hs) and atomic mass number around 271 to the corresponding minimum in the daughter.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures, 5 tables. Paper presented at VII Int. School-Seminar on Heavy Ion Physics, May 27 - June 1, 2002, Dubna, Russi

Combustion behaviour of some biodesulphurized coals assessed by TGA/DTA

Thermal analysis, i.e. TGA/DTA is used to study the changes in the combustion behaviour of microbially treated coals. In view of their high sulphur content and industrial significance three samples are under consideration, i.e. one lignite and two subbituminous from different region in Bulgaria. The differences in burning profiles can be related to structural changes resulted from biological treatments. The overall biological treatment generates these changes probably due to the oxidation process. Concerning organic sulphur biodesulphurization there is no change in any drastic mannerof the thermal characteristic parameters. In general, applied biotreatments provoke a complex influence on combustion coal behaviour. From one side a better ignition performance, a minor decrease in higher heating value and diminishing peak temperature of maximum weight loss rate for all biotreated samples are observed. From other side some decrease in the combustibility indicated by an increase in the combustion time and the end of combustion temperature are obvious. Also well determined decrease of self-heating temperature after biotreatments evolves high risk of spontaneous unmanageable coal combustion

Time-of-arrival distribution for arbitrary potentials and Wigner's time-energy uncertainty relation

A realization of the concept of "crossing state" invoked, but not implemented, by Wigner, allows to advance in two important aspects of the time of arrival in quantum mechanics: (i) For free motion, we find that the limitations described by Aharonov et al. in Phys. Rev. A 57, 4130 (1998) for the time-of-arrival uncertainty at low energies for certain mesurement models are in fact already present in the intrinsic time-of-arrival distribution of Kijowski; (ii) We have also found a covariant generalization of this distribution for arbitrary potentials and positions.Comment: 4 pages, revtex, 2 eps figures include

Pair production by boost-invariant fields in comoving coordinates

We derive the pair-production probability in a constant electric field in Rindler coordinates in a quasi-classical approximation. Our result is different from the pair-production probability in an inertial frame (Schwinger formula). In particular, it exhibits non-trivial dependence on rapidity and deviation from Gaussian behavior at small transverse momenta. Our results can be important for analysis of particle production in heavy-ion collisions.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figures. Discussion added and typos fixe

Spline Intersection Improvement

Rendering and simulation software needs many models of reality. Every human has hair and we need to visualize realistic hair. We can model hair with many spline curves. A typical task of the ray tracing method is finding an intersection of spline curves with a ray. We try to find a fast way to calculate the point where the ray intersects the curve

Therapeutic approach to idiopathic hypertrophic cardiomyopathy

Идиопатичната хипертрофична кардиомиопатия е рядко срещана в детска възраст с висок потенциален риск от фатален край. Отличителен белег е миокардната хипертрофия при липса на хемодинамична причина. От първия описан случай на експериментално лечение на кърмаче през 1971 г. бета-блокерите имат водеща роля в медикаментозното лечение с вариации в дозовите режими. По последни литературни данни и клинични проучвания употребата на високи дози бета-блокер неоспоримо показва значим процент на преживяемост в дългосрочен план.Представяме клиничен случай на 11-месечно кърмаче, което постъпва в нашата клиника с данни за сърдечна недостатъчност. От проведените образни изследвания - рентгенография на гръден кош и ехокардиография, се установи изразена симетрична хипертрофична необструктивна кардиомиопатия. Започна се медикаментозно лечение с пропранолол в постепенно покачваща се доза до 5 мг / кг / 24 часа. Няколко седмици по-късно при контролно ехокардиографско изследване се установи значително подобрение в диастолната функция на лява камера с известна регресия в хипертрофията на миокарда. Контролираното прилагане на високи дози бета-блокери би могло съществено да подобри прогнозата и дългосрочната преживяемост при пациентите с идиопатична хипертрофична кардиомиопатия.Idiopathic hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is a rare disease in childhood with a high potential of a lethal outcome. The hallmark of the disorder is myocardial hypertrophy that occurs in the absence of an obvious hemodynamic stimulus. Since the first case of an experimental treatment of an infant described in 1971, beta blockers have become one of the leading medication options with variations of the dose regimens. According to the current literature data and clinical trials the use of beta blockers in high doses is consistent with a high percentage of survival.We`re presenting a clinical case of an 11-month old infant, who was admitted to our clinic with symptoms of congestive cardiac failure. The chest radiography and echocardiography results showed a severe symmetric hypertrophic cardiomyopathy without an obstruction in the left ventricular outflow tract. The treatment was started with Propranolol in a titrating dose until reaching the dose of 5mg/kg/24hours. Several weeks later, echocardiography examination showed a significant improvement in the left ventricle diastolic function with some degree of regression of myocardial hypertrophy.The use of high doses of beta blockers together with the monitoring of the clinical state could improve the prognosis and survival in patients with idiopathic hypertrophic cardiomyopathy

PAHs in fly ash from lignite combustion

Η έρευνα περιγράφει τον εντοπισμό και προσδιορισμό πολυκυκλικών αρωματικών υδρογονανθράκων (ΠΑΥ) σε ιπτάμενη τέφρα από την καύση λιγνιτών στο θερμοηλεκτρικό σταθμό Μαρίτσα Ίζτοκ- 2. Προσδιορίζεται συνολική περιεκτικότητα σε ΠΑΥ, ~17 pgr/kgr στερεάς ύλης. Περιγράφεται και η κατανομή των ΠΑ Υ ως προς τον αριθμό αρωματικών δακτυλίων (R). Εχει διαπιστωθεί ότι τα οργανικά εκχυλίσματα περιέχουν τρικυκλικούς/τετρακυκλικούς ΠΑ Υ και αλκυλιωμένα παράγωγα τους. Εχει υπολογιστεί και καρκινογόνο δυναμικό, 0,07385 σχετικά με το βενζοπυρένιο = 1. Μέσω αέριας χρωματογραφίας-φασματομετρίας μάζας και προτύπων δευτερίου προσδιορίστηκαν 17 ΠΑΥ, μερικοί από τους οποίους περιλαμβάνονται στη λίστα της USEPA. Οι τιμές που προσδιορίστηκαν είναι χαμηλότερες από τις οριακές τιμές ΠΑΥ σε έδαφος σύμφωνα με τη βουλγαρική νομοθεσία. Παρ 'όλα αυτά χρειάζεται να υπολογίζεται η περιεκτικότητα σε ΠΑ Υ στην ιπτάμενη τέφρα από την καύση λιγνιτών λόγω της τεράστιας ετήσιας παραγωγής υπολειμμάτων από την καύση ανθράκων.This paper describes state-of the art for isolation and determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in fly ash from lignite combustion in Maritza East Thermal Power Plant, Bulgaria. Total sum of-17 microg/kg solid by-product PAHs was determined. The profile of PAHs distribution according to the number of aromatic rings in the molecule (R) was determined. Organic extracts were mainly composed by PAHs, their alkylated homologues and heteroatom containing counterparts with dominance of three/four cyclic aromatic compounds. Respectively, relative carcinogenic potency values for PAHs compared to Benzofajpyrene with TEFEPA =1 was not high - 0,07385. Seventeen PAHs, some of them in the list of USEPA for priority pollutants with expressed carcinogenic/mutagenic potential, were identified and quantified by mass spectroscopy (GC/MS/MS) and d-PAHs as internal standards. Determined values for contents of PAHs under regulation were lower than their backgrounds in Bulgarian soils. Nevertheless PAHs in combustion fly ash should be monitored because of high solid by-products annual production and problems of reus

On the Wilf-Stanley limit of 4231-avoiding permutations and a conjecture of Arratia

We construct a sequence of finite automata that accept subclasses of the class of 4231-avoiding permutations. We thereby show that the Wilf-Stanley limit for the class of 4231-avoiding permutations is bounded below by 9.35. This bound shows that this class has the largest such limit among all classes of permutations avoiding a single permutation of length 4 and refutes the conjecture that the Wilf-Stanley limit of a class of permutations avoiding a single permutation of length k cannot exceed (k-1)^2.Comment: Submitted to Advances in Applied Mathematic