Magnetization measurements on Li2Pd3B superconductor

Magnetization in DC magnetic fields and at different temperatures have been measured on the Li2Pd3B compound. This material was recently found to show superconductivity at 7-8K. Critical fields Hc1(0) and Hc2(0) have been determined to be 135Oe and 4T, respectively. Critical current density, scaling of the pinning force within the Kramer model and the irreversibility field data are presented. Several superconductivity parameters were deduced: x(csi)=9.1 nm, l(lamda)=194nm and k=21. The material resembles other boride superconductors from the investigated points of view.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figure

Development and application of a Japanese model of the WHO fracture risk assessment tool (FRAX™)

SUMMARY: The present study estimated the 10-year probability using the Japanese version of WHO fracture risk assessment tool (FRAX) in order to determine fracture probabilities that correspond to intervention thresholds currently used in Japan and to resolve some issues for its use in Japan. INTRODUCTION: The objective of the present study was to evaluate a Japanese version of the WHO fracture risk assessment (FRAX) tool to compute 10-year probabilities of osteoporotic fracture in Japanese men and women. Since lumbar spine bone mineral density (BMD) is used preferentially as a site for assessment, and densitometers use Japanese reference data, a second aim was to investigate the suitability and impact of this practice in Japan. METHODS: Fracture probabilities were computed from published data on the fracture and death hazards in Japan. Probabilities took account of age, sex, the presence of clinical risk factors and femoral neck BMD. Fracture probabilities were determined that were equivalent to intervention thresholds currently used in Japan. The difference between T-scores derived from international reference data and that using Japanese-specific normal ranges was estimated from published sources. The gradient of risk of BMD for fracture in Japan was compared to that for BMD at the lumbar spine in the Hiroshima cohort. RESULTS: The 10-year probabilities of a major osteoporosis-related fracture that corresponded to current intervention thresholds ranged from approximately 5% at the age of 50 years to more than 20% at the age of 80 years. The use of femoral neck BMD predicts fracture as well as or better than BMD tests at the lumbar spine. There were small differences in T-scores between those used for the model and those derived from a Japanese reference population. CONCLUSIONS: The FRAX mark tool has been used to determine possible thresholds for therapeutic intervention, based on equivalence of risk with current guidelines. The approach will need to be supported by appropriate health economic analyses. Femoral neck BMD is suitable for the prediction of fracture risk among Japanese. However, when applying the FRAX model to Japan, T-scores and Z-scores should be converted to those derived from the international reference

Evaluation of Current Training and Change Communica-tion Services in Supply Chain Network

This Bachelor’s thesis concentrates on evaluation of the success of current training services, communication and training materials provided by the functions appointed to those tasks. Also clarification of the additional training needs was one of the aims of this thesis. The thesis concentrated specifically on vocational trainings provided by employer to the employees of UPM Paper Supply chain functions. The thesis is built with the traditional model. First section consists of theories on Human Resources Development, Learning and Training. Latter part concentrates on the empirical observations and results as well as interpretation of the results of the survey conducted to the employees of the target company. Thus the study was conducted with a quantitative method. The survey included altogether 27 questions and was created with Qualtrics survey tool. It was sent out to 523 employees of which 245 started the survey and 192 completed the survey. All answers were included in the results and the final response rate was 37 percent. The results of the survey show that mostly employees were quite satisfied with the training possibilities and the trainings conducted in the target company. However there were some variation by location and function. There was a clear need to improve the trainings and communication towards supply teams and communication of system releases to the smaller sales offices. More practical and hands-on training was requested by most functions and locations. Also training material and work instructions although already currently available for all are not well known and cannot be found by a big amount of employees. These should thus be advertised more to the bigger audience. Also many of the respondents claimed that they would actually value training videos as part of training material and this is currently not available in the target company’s supply chain functions. Improvement ideas are presented at the end of the study

Complex transition metal hydrides incorporating ionic hydrogen: Synthesis and characterization of Na2Mg2FeH8 and Na2Mg2RuH8

A new class of quaternary complex transition metal hydrides (Na2Mg2TH8 (T = Fe, Ru)) have been synthesized and their structures determined by combined synchrotron radiation X-ray and powder neutron diffraction. The compounds can be considered as a link between ionic and complex hydrides in terms of incorporating independently coordinated ionic and covalent hydrogen. These novel isostructural complex transition metal hydrides crystallize in the orthorhombic space group Pbam, where the octahedral complex hydride anion is surrounded by a cubic array of four Mg2+ and four Na+ cations, forming distinct two-dimensional layers. An intriguing feature of these materials is the distorted octahedral coordination of the isolated H− anions by four Na+ and two Mg2+ cations, which form layers between the transition metal containing layers. The vibrational modes of the H− anions and complex hydride anion are independently observed for the first time in a quaternary complex transition metal hydride system by Raman and IR spectroscopy

Superconductivity in a new layered triangular-lattice system Li2IrSi2

We report on the crystal structure and superconducting properties of a novel iridium-silicide, namely Li2IrSi2. It has a Ag2NiO2-type structure (space group R-3m) with the lattice parameters a = 4.028 30(6) Å and c = 13.161 80(15) Å. The crystal structure comprises IrSi2 and double Li layers stacked alternately along the c-axis. The IrSi2 layer includes a two-dimensional Ir equilateral-triangular lattice. Electrical resistivity and static magnetic measurements revealed that Li2IrSi2 is a type-II superconductor with critical temperature (Tc) of 3.3 K. We estimated the following superconducting parameters: lower critical field Hc1(0) ~ 42 Oe, upper critical field Hc2(0) ~ 1.7 kOe, penetration depth λ0 ~ 265 nm, coherence length ξ0 ~ 44 nm, and Ginzburg–Landau parameter κGL ~ 6.02. The specific-heat data suggested that superconductivity in Li2IrSi2 could be attributed to weak-coupling Cooper pairs