Preparation and characterization of flexible polyvinylchloride-copper composite films

Flexible PVC films are statically charged due to their low electrical conductivity. This creates fire threat during its handling. Conductive materials are added to films to prevent this. In the present study it was aimed to prepare PVC- copper composite films by sol gel technique and characterize the prepared films. It was aimed to increase the electrical conductivity of the films by adding copper powder. However, the copper particles settled down to bottom instead of forming a conductive network that covers the whole cross section. Thus at the film crosssection a plastic upper phase and a copper rich lower phase were present. The film did not conduct electricity due to this uneven distribution. The minimum volumetric and surface resistivities of the films were at the order of 109 ohm-cm and 1010 ohm square respectively

Pulmonary echinococcosis mimicking multipl lung metastasis of breast cancer: The role of fluoro-deoxy-glucose positron emission tomography

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Echinococcosis is still a serious problem particularly in endemic areas such as South and Central America, Mediterranean countries, and Russia. Furthermore, hydatid cysts of the lung are often indistinguishable from a variety of other pulmonary lesions such as lung tumors</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>We herein present a 56 year old woman with breast cancer who presented with bilateral pulmonary nodules due to echinococcosis granulosis that mimicked metastatic breast cancer to the lung.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>During the evaluation of the malignancies which could metastasize to the lung, it must be kept in mind that the appearance of bilateral multiple pulmonary masses can also be the sign of a pulmonary echinococcosis especially in endemic areas. FDG-PET with its known high negative predictive value in characterizing indeterminate pulmonary nodules >1 cm is very helpful to characterize this kind of lesions.</p

Persistent High Postoperative Carcinoembryonic Antigen in Colorectal Cancer Patients- Is it Important?

INTRODUCTION: Evaluation of pre- and postoperative serum CEA levels together has seldom been assessed for the prognosis of colorectal cancer (CRC). OBJECTIVE: To concurrently evaluate pre- and postoperative CEA as factors of relapse and survival. METHODS: The study consisted of 114 patients who had undergone surgery from February 2002 to June 2006 for CRC. All patients were classified into four groups according to their pre- and postoperative CEA levels. Data obtained for clinicopathologic parameters, lymph node metastasis, stage, recurrence, and CEA levels were analyzed to determine their association with survival. Multivariate analysis by the Cox proportional hazard regression model was performed to identify the independent prognostic factors associated with survival. RESULTS: Postoperative serum CEA levels remained high in Group 3 (n = 32). Nineteen patients (59.3%) demonstrated a detectable cause for persistent high CEA levels, while the reasons for those in the other thirteen patients (40.6%) remained obscure. Abnormal preoperative CEA levels significantly correlated with the depth of tumor invasion, lymph node metastasis, TNM stage, and recurrence (p < 0.05). Abnormal postoperative CEA levels were significantly related to the depth of tumor invasion, TNM stage, and postoperative relapse (p<0.05). Patients in Group 3 demonstrated the worst survival rate. Abnormal postoperative CEA levels, lymph node metastasis, and location of the tumor were independent prognostic factors for survival. CONCLUSION: The survival of patients with high postoperative CEA levels due to unknown reasons may be extended if they are exhaustively tested with sensitive diagnostic methods and treated at an early stage

Analyse von On-Demand ÖPNV als Bahnhofszubringerverkehr im urbanen und ländlichen Raum

Dieser Beitrag zeigt die Durchführung und die Ergebnisse von simulationsbasierten Wirkungsanalysen, die das DLR vorgenommen hat. Gegenstand sind On-Demand-Verkehre, welche als Zu- und Abbringerverkehre für den SPNV eingesetzt werden. Zur Analyse der simulierten Szenarien wurden Indikatoren der Angebotsqualität, des Betriebsaufwands und der Kosten ermittelt und den Szenarien vergleichend gegenübergestellt. On-Demand-ÖV steht für ein Verkehrssystem, welches Fahrten für den Transport von Personen nach Bedarf der Reisenden zur Verfügung stellt. Daher ist es nicht an einen Fahrplan oder vorab festgelegte Fahrtrouten gebunden. Von einem Dispositionsalgorithmus werden zeitlich und räumlich ähnliche Fahrtanfragen gebündelt, sodass die Auslastung der Fahrzeuge erhöht werden kann. Dies sollte mit einem positiven Effekt auf Emissions- und Res-sourcenverbräuche im Vergleich zum motorisierten Individualverkehr oder schlecht ausgelastetem Linienverkehr einhergehen bei einem geringeren Fahrpreis im Vergleich zu der Nutzung anderer Mobilitätsdienstleistungen wie beispielsweise von Taxis. Dem entgegen steht jedoch das Risiko für den Nutzer, dass die Fahrtzeit durch die Bün-delung von Fahrten mit unterschiedlichen Start- und Zielpunkten tendenziell steigen kann. Um den Zusammenhang zwischen Verkehrsnachfrage, Angebotskonzept und Angebotsqualität analysieren zu kön-nen, bieten sich Simulationen des Verkehrs- und Betriebsgeschehens in einem Modell der Verkehrsinfrastruktur und der Verkehrsnachfrage an. Auf dieser Basis können betriebswirtschaftliche Analysen angeschlossen werden (vgl. Scheier et al. 2021). Dieses Vorgehen wurde an On-Demand-Verkehre im städtischen und auch ländlichen Kontext angewendet und wird in diesem Beitrag dargestellt

Valuing Customer Experience – How KPIs can distort investment decisions by focusing on economic aspects obscuring secondary benefits

The European Shift2Rail Initiative identified three high-level Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) “Life-Cycle-Costs”, “Punctuality” and “Capacity” to which Shift2Rail projects contribute in the three passenger use cases (high-speed, regional, and metro) and a mixed freight use case reflecting the overall railway transport system. The KPI methodology is carried out within the framework of the IMPACT projects and it supports investment decisions in railway innovation. However, investment decisions can only reach optimal resource allocation when the KPIs communicated to policymakers encompass the whole range of economic benefits generated by projects. The high-level KPIs which were primarily identified focused on the supply side (i.e. economic benefits for providers of mobility), omitting economic benefits associated with the demand side (i.e. improved customer experience when traveling by train). In the absence of KPIs associated with the demand side, the metrics would lead to distortions in investment decisions. A methodology integrating customer needs and customer behaviour has been developed within the framework of the IMPACT-2 project. The “Customer Experience Model” (initially presented at the 2019 WCRR in Tokyo) focuses on economic benefits associated with the demand-side of innovation projects, but does not take into account customer acquisition and increased modal share of train once these innovations have been deployed. The Customer Experience Model is based on multilevel weighting of data to bridge the gap between the availability of existing studies, and the need for a new methodology. This model feeds inputs for a modal shift calculation based on logit models whereby utility functions are set to include factors both known (e.g. travel time, travel cost, delay, customer experience factors, waiting time) and unknown. This paper highlights the importance of considering customer needs and to gain new perspectives when assessing investment decisions in innovative technologies for the railway system

Assessing Innovations in High-Speed Rail Infrastructure

With a focus on infrastructure-related innovations for HSR, this paper aims at assessing their impacts in relation to the targets of punctuality, capacity, and life cycle costs. The paper presents a hybrid assessment methodology combing different approaches to assess effects on the named KPI. This contributes to reducing the existing gap that is found in the research literature

Ökonomische Auswirkungen der Eisenbahninnovationen von Shift2Rail - The economic impacts of the railway innovations developed in Shift2Rail

The Shift2Rail initiative specifies, develops and dem onstrates new technologies in order to increase capacity and punctuality and reduce the costs of the future railway system. Due to the complexity of the railway system, the combined impacts of these technologies can lead to stronger or reduced effects. An integrated methodology using Key Performance Indicators (KPI) has therefore been developed, implemented and validated in order to estimate their overall impact. The final version of the integrated KPI assessment has been presented as a Shift2Rail cross cutting activity under the IMPACT-2 project

IMPACT-2 methodology to include customer experience improvements in modal shift estimations

In this paper, the methodology developed within the IMPACT-2 modelling system for capturing customer experience improvements has been shown when conducting modal shift analyses of railway innovations. Furthermore, challenges and constraints when developing the models have been discussed