Scaling the state: Egypt in the third millennium BC

Discussions of the early Egyptian state suffer from a weak consideration of scale. Egyptian archaeologists derive their arguments primarily from evidence of court cemeteries, elite tombs, and monuments of royal display. The material informs the analysis of kingship, early writing, and administration but it remains obscure how the core of the early Pharaonic state was embedded in the territory it claimed to administer. This paper suggests that the relationship between centre and hinterland is key for scaling the Egyptian state of the Old Kingdom (ca. 2,700-2,200 BC). Initially, central administration imagines Egypt using models at variance with provincial practice. The end of the Old Kingdom demarcates not the collapse, but the beginning of a large-scale state characterized by the coalescence of central and local models

Verfahren zur Herstellung eines Duennschichtsystems durch Puls-Magnetron-Sputtern

DE 10327050 A UPAB: 20050126 NOVELTY - The method involves applying at least one individual layer (2) as sub-regions (2a-2c) lying one on the other in the growth direction so that the separation of such stacked sub-regions of the layer takes place with a different pulse mode and/or a different pulse ratio and/or a different number of individual pulses per pulse packet and/or different pulse duration. DETAILED DESCRIPTION - AN INDEPENDENT CLAIM is also included for the following: (1) a product consisting of a base body and a layer system applied in accordance with the inventive method. USE - For manufacturing a thin film system by pulse-magnetron sputtering. ADVANTAGE - Improved to achieve a very low degree of micro-roughness of the boundary surface between individual layers

Verfahren zur Herstellung eines Duennschichtsystems

DE 10051509 A UPAB: 20020815 NOVELTY - Production of a thin layer system comprises introducing power into the plasma in the form of a controlled number of pulses during deposition of extremely thin layers; and adjusting the average power during the pulse-one time by three times the power averaged over the whole coating time during the deposition of the layer. DETAILED DESCRIPTION - Preferred Features: The average power during the pulse-one time is adjusted by ten times the power averaged over the whole coating time during the deposition of the layer. The power is periodically or aperiodically introduced into the plasma in the form of a controlled number of pulses. USE - Used in the production of magnetic layer systems (claimed), e.g. for storage media, and flat TV screens. ADVANTAGE - The layer system is reproducible

The Coronary Artery Revascularisation in Diabetes (CARDia) trial: Background aims and design

Background Patients with diabetes have an increased incidence and severity of ischemic heart disease, which leads to an increased requirement for coronary revascularization. Comparative information regarding mode of revascular-ization-coronary artery bypass graft surgery surgery (CABG) or percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI)-is limited, mainly confined to a subanalysis of the Bypass Angioplasty Revascularization (BARI) trial, suggesting a mortality benefit of CABG over PCI. No prospective trial has specifically compared these modes of revascularization in patients with diabetes. Objective The Coronary Artery Revascularisation in Diabetes (CARDia) trial is designed to address the hypothesis that optimal PCI is not inferior to modern CABG as a revascularization strategy for diabetics with multivessel or complex single-vessel coronary disease. The primary end point is a composite of death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, and cerebrovascular accident at 1 year. Method A total of 600 patients with diabetes are to be randomized to either PCI or CABG, with few protocol restrictions on operative techniques or use of new technology. This gives a power of 80% to detect non-inferiority of PCI assuming that the PCI 1-year event rate is 9%. A cardiac surgeon and a cardiologist must agree that a patient is suitable for revascularization by either technique prior to recruitment into the study. Twenty-one centers in the United Kingdom and Ireland are recruiting patients. Data on cost effectiveness, quality of life, and neurocognitive function are being collected. Long-term (3-5 year) follow-up data will also be collected.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/0002870

When Do Companies Train Low‐Skilled Workers? The Role of Institutional Arrangements at the Company and Sectoral Level

The article investigates how institutional arrangements at the organizational and sectoral level affect the likelihood and size of employer investments in continuing training for low-skilled workers in Germany. By building on comparative political economy and organizational theory, hypotheses are derived and tested. Regression analysis based on the IAB Establishment Survey (waves 2011 and 2013) shows evidence that the training participation of low-skilled workers is related to institutional differences between sectors and organizations. At the organizational level, structures of employee representation and formalized HR policies are positively associated with higher rates of training participation among low-skilled workers. Moreover, there is evidence that low-skilled workers benefit in organizational clusters that are characterized by structures of employee representation, formalized HR practices, and bargaining coverage. At the sectoral level, this study finds evidence that low-skilled workers in the health care and manufacturing sector are more likely to receive continuing training

Contactless radar-based breathing monitoring of premature infants in the neonatal intensive care unit

Vital sign monitoring systems are essential in the care of hospitalized neonates. Due to the immaturity of their organs and immune system, premature infants require continuous monitoring of their vital parameters and sensors need to be directly attached to their fragile skin. Besides mobility restrictions and stress, these sensors often cause skin irritation and may lead to pressure necrosis. In this work, we show that a contactless radar-based approach is viable for breathing monitoring in the Neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). For the first time, different scenarios common to the NICU daily routine are investigated, and the challenges of monitoring in a real clinical setup are addressed through different contributions in the signal processing framework. Rather than just discarding measurements under strong interference, we present a novel random body movement mitigation technique based on the time-frequency decomposition of the recovered signal. In addition, we propose a simple and accurate frequency estimator which explores the harmonic structure of the breathing signal. As a result, the proposed radar-based solution is able to provide reliable breathing frequency estimation, which is close to the reference cabled device values most of the time. Our findings shed light on the strengths and limitations of this technology and lay the foundation for future studies toward a completely contactless solution for vital signs monitoring