Unique Determination of the Shape of a Scattering Screen from a Passive Measurement

We consider the problem of fixed frequency acoustic scattering from a sound-soft flat screen. More precisely, the obstacle is restricted to a two-dimensional plane and interacting with an arbitrary incident wave, it scatters acoustic waves to three-dimensional space. The model is particularly relevant in the study and design of reflecting sonars and antennas, cases where one cannot assume that the incident wave is a plane wave. Our main result is that given the plane where the screen is located, the far-field pattern produced by any single arbitrary incident wave determines the exact shape of the screen, as long as it is not antisymmetric with respect to the plane. This holds even for screens whose shape is an arbitrary simply connected smooth domain. This is in contrast to earlier work where the incident wave had to be a plane wave, or more recent work where only polygonal scatterers are determined.Peer reviewe

User Needs for Electronic Document Management in Public Administration: A Study of Two Cases

Development of new practices for managing documents in their electronic form in public administration requires extensive knowledge about the domain, its processes, documents, and the needs of both organisations and individual people. The paper introduces two cases where the needs concerning electronic document management are studied. The first case concerns the creation of the state budget in Finland, and the second one concerns the Finnish participation in EU legislative work. In both of the cases the study revealed many needs related to different aspects of electronic document management: documents, information technology, and work with documents. The study is part of the research related to SGML standardisation in the Finnish Parliament and ministries

Contemporary Issues of Enterprise Content Management: The Case of Statoil

The concept of Enterprise Content Management (ECM) represents integrated enterprise-wide management of the life cycles of all forms of recorded information content and their metadata, organized according to corporate taxonomies, and supported by appropriate technological and administrative infrastructures. Based on a case study of a Norwegian oil company (Statoil) we identify a wide range of issues related to management of content, infrastructure and change. The ECM perspective is found to integrate and extend the existing research areas of information resource management and document management, as well as “the repository model” of knowledge management. ECM may thus deserve further attention beyond the current market hype as a potential area of IS research

IT investment evaluation: why hasn ’t it become an organization routine?

In this study we attempt to understand why formal evaluations of IT investment projects have not yet become an organizational routine. Using survey data gathered from business and IT managers in Sweden, we tested the research hypotheses about the factors influencing the attitudes and behaviour of managers towards using formal evaluation methods based on the theory of planned behaviour. We found that the intent to use formal evaluation methods in an organization is determined by the attitudes of the managers towards the formal methods, the common beliefs of the organization about the formal methods, and the perceived ability to perform formal evaluations. Interestingly, we found that the attitudes toward formal methods are determined mostly by the perceived usefulness of the methods and not by the perceived ease of use of these methods, suggesting that the decision to use formal methods is most likely based on rational analyses rather than individual preferences. We also found that awareness and selfefficacy contribute to the use of formal methods via influences on organizational beliefs and perceived ability to perform evaluation tasks. These findings provide some interesting managerial implications for advocating the use of formal methods in organizations

Replacing Animal-Based Proteins with Plant-Based Proteins Changes the Composition of a Whole Nordic Diet-A Randomised Clinical Trial in Healthy Finnish Adults

Increased consumption of plant-based foods and decreased consumption of animal-based foods is recommended for healthy diets and sustainable food production. We investigated the effects of partial replacement of dietary animal proteins with plant-based ones on intake of energy-yielding nutrients, fibre, and plasma lipoproteins. This 12-week randomised clinical intervention comprised 107 women and 29 men (20-69 years) in three diet groups with different dietary protein compositions ("ANIMAL": Animal 70%/plant 30%; "50/50": Animal 50%/plant 50%; "PLANT": Animal 30%/plant 70%; all: Protein intake 17 E%). Nutrient intakes were assessed by 4-day food records. Saturated fat intake (E%) was lower and polyunsaturated fatty acid intake (E%) higher in the PLANT and 50/50 groups compared to the ANIMAL group (p 0.05). Replacing animal protein with plant protein sources in the diet led to an increased fibre intake and improved dietary fat quality as well as blood lipoprotein profile. Flexitarian diets could provide healthy and more sustainable alternatives for the current, predominantly animal-based diets.Peer reviewe

Novel Zero-Heat-Flux Deep Body Temperature Measurement in Lower Extremity Vascular and Cardiac Surgery

Objective: The aim of this study was to compare deep body temperature obtained using a novel noninvasive continuous zero-heat-flux temperature measurement system with core temperatures obtained using conventional methods. Design: A prospective, observational study. Setting: Operating room of a university hospital. Participants: The study comprised 15 patients undergoing vascular surgery of the lower extremities and 15 patients undergoing cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass. Interventions: Zero-heat-flux thermometry on the forehead and standard core temperature measurements. Measurements and Main Results: Body temperature was measured using a new thermometry system (SpotOn; 3M, St. Paul, MN) on the forehead and with conventional methods in the esophagus during vascular surgery (n = 15), and in the nasopharynx and pulmonary artery during cardiac surgery (n = 15). The agreement between SpotOn and the conventional methods was assessed using the Bland-Altman random-effects approach for repeated measures. The mean difference between SpotOn and the was +0.08 degrees C (95% limit of agreement-0.25 to +0.40 degrees C). During cardiac surgery, during off CPB, the mean difference between SpotOn and the pulmonary arterial temperature was-0.05 degrees C (95% limits of agreement-0.56 to +0.47 degrees C). Throughout cardiac surgery (on and off CPB), the mean difference between SpotOn and the nasopharyngeal temperature was-0.12 degrees C (95% limits of agreement-0.94 to +0.71 degrees C). Poor agreement between the SpotOn and nasopharyngeal temperatures was detected in hypothermia below approximately 32 degrees C. Conclusions: According to this preliminary study, the deep body temperature measured using the zero-heat-flux system was in good agreement with standard core temperatures during lower extremity vascular and cardiac surgery. However, agreement was questionable during hypothermia below 32 degrees C. (C) 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Peer reviewe

Replacing dietary animal-source proteins with plant-source proteins changes dietary intake and status of vitamins and minerals in healthy adults : a 12-week randomized controlled trial

Purpose A shift towards more plant-based diets promotes both health and sustainability. However, controlled trials addressing the nutritional effects of replacing animal proteins with plant proteins are lacking. We examined the effects of partly replacing animal proteins with plant proteins on critical vitamin and mineral intake and statuses in healthy adults using a whole-diet approach. Methods Volunteers aged 20-69 years (107 female, 29 male) were randomly allocated into one of three 12-week intervention groups with different dietary protein compositions: ANIMAL: 70% animal-source protein/30% plant-source protein; 50/50: 50% animal/50% plant; PLANT: 30% animal/70% plant; all with designed protein intake of 17 E%. We analysed vitamin B-12, iodine, iron, folate, and zinc intakes from 4-day food records, haemoglobin, ferritin, transferrin receptor, folate, and holotranscobalamin II from fasting blood samples, and iodine from 24-h urine. Results At the end point, vitamin B-12 intake and status were lower in PLANT than in 50/50 or ANIMAL groups (PPeer reviewe

The renal blood flow reserve in healthy humans and patients with atherosclerotic renovascular disease measured by positron emission tomography using [O-15]H2O

Background: Microvascular function plays an important role in ARVD (atherosclerotic renovascular disease). RFR (renal flow reserve), the capacity of renal vasculature to dilate, is known to reflect renal microvascular function. In this pilot study, we assessed PET (positron emission tomography)-based RFR values of healthy persons and renal artery stenosis patients.Seventeen patients with ARVD and eight healthy subjects were included in the study. Intravenous enalapril 1 mg was used as a vasodilatant, and the maximum response (blood pressure and RFR) to it was measured at 40 min. Renal perfusion was measured by means of oxygen-15-labeled water PET. RFR was calculated as a difference of stress flow and basal flow and was expressed as percent [(stress blood flow - basal blood flow)/basal blood flow] x 100%.Results: RFR of the healthy was 22%. RFR of the stenosed kidneys of bilateral stenosis patients (27%) was higher than that of the stenosed kidneys of unilateral stenosis patients (15%). RFR of the contralateral kidneys of unilateral stenosis patients was 21%. There was no difference of statistical significance between RFR values of ARVD subgroups or between ARVD subgroups and the healthy. In the stenosed kidneys of unilateral ARVD patients, stenosis grade of the renal artery correlated negatively with basal (p = 0.04) and stress flow (p = 0.02). Dispersion of RFR values was high.Conclusions: This study is the first to report [O-15]H2O PET-based RFR values of healthy subjects and ARVD patients in humans. The difference between RFR values of ARVD patients and the healthy did not reach statistical significance perhaps because of high dispersion of RFR values. [O-15]H2O PET is a valuable non-invasive and quantitative method to evaluate renal blood flow though high dispersion makes imaging challenging. Larger studies are needed to get more information about [O-15]H2O PET method in evaluation of renal blood flow