New Light through Old Windows:Restraint of Trade in English, Scottish, and Australian Employment Laws - Emerging and Enduring Issues

The nature of the study to be pursued in this article concerns the extent to which the common law systems of England and Australia contain principles or rules designed to impinge on an employer's freedom of contract or legitimate trading interests in order to promote the ability of an employee to trade, work freely, and enjoy the benefits of his/her labour and innovations. This will entail spelling out the principal elements of both the English and Australian concepts and outlining the differences between them in light of new problems that have emerged as a result of recent developments in economic and social conditions

Virtuaalikoneen testaaminen

Euroopan hiukkasfysiikan tutkimuskeskus CERN julkaisee maailman suurimmalta hiukkastörmäyttimeltä kerättyä tietoaineistoa vuodelta 2011. Tämä tieto on nyt kaikkien saatavilla. CERN tarjoaa tiedon analyysiin virtuaalisen työympäristön sekä tarvittavat ohjelmistot. Opinnäytetyön aiheena on testata kyseistä virtuaaliympäristöä sekä sen toimivuutta eri käyttöjärjestelmillä sekä laitekokoonpanoilla. Työn tehtävänä oli tarkastella virtuaalikoneen yleistä toimivuutta sekä havaita mahdolliset puutteet ja kehitellä näihin ratkaisut. Testauksessa käytettiin avoimen lähdekoodin virtualisointiohjelmaa, Virtualboxia. Testauksessa käytettiin kolmea eri isäntäkonetta sekä kolmea yleisintä käyttöjärjestelmää. Työlle asetetut tavoitteet saavutettiin. Testausten perusteella virtuaaliympäristön toimivuus oli sujuvaa eikä eroavaisuuksia havaittu käyttöjärjestelmien välillä. Käyttöönotossa sekä käytössä havaitut ongelmatilanteet saatiin selvitettyä.The European Organization for Nuclear Research CERN publishes data collected in 2011 from LHC, Large Hydron Collider. This data is now available for everyone. CERN offers for the research a virtual working environment and the necessary software. The subject of this thesis is to test this virtual environment and its functionality with different operating systems and hardware combinations. The goal for the project was to explore the basic functionality of the virtual machine and to detect possible problems and generate solutions for these. Testings were made with open source virtualization software called Virtualbox. There were three host computers used with three the most commonly used operating systems. The goals for the testings were achieved. There was no difference between operating systems or hardware combinations. The problems and solutions in starting the virtual machine and the problems related to the usage were discovered and solved

Varaston arvon ja varastotoimintojen optimointi

Opinnäytetyön aiheena oli hydrauliikkaputkistoihin erikoistuneen GS-Hydro Finland:n varaston arvon ja varastotoimintojen optimointi. Yrityksessä oli otettu käyttöön uusi tuotannonohjausjärjestelmä vuonna 2010, jonka ostoon ja varastonhallintaan liittyvissä moduuleissa oli vielä paljon kehitettävää. Työn tavoitteena oli pyrkiä laskemaan varaston arvoa ja nostamaan varaston kiertonopeutta erinäisin tavoin, kuten päivittämällä toiminnanohjausjärjestelmään ohjaustiedot ja pyrkimällä poistamaan mahdollinen hitaasti kiertävä materiaali parhaalla mahdollisella hinnalla. Opinnäytetyön aikana tehtyjä muutoksia käytiin tiiviisti läpi yrityksen tuotantopäällikön kanssa, jonka kanssa määriteltiin jokaiselle tehtävälle muutokselle raamit ja tarkastettiin että lopputulos vastasi myös mahdollisimman hyvin suunniteltua. Lisäksi teoriapuolella käytettiin perinteistä kirjallisuutta sekä internet-aineistoa lähinnä toiminnanohjausjärjestelmän tarvelaskennan ymmärtämiseen. Varaston arvotavoitteita ei saavutettu sellaisina kuin ne oli asetettu, mutta tämä selittyy sillä, että yrityksen vuoden 2012 myynti ylitti huomattavasti arvioidun määrän. Suhteuttamalla varaston arvon myyntiin voidaan todeta, että varaston arvon ylittyminen tavoitteista on suhteellisesti suoraan verrattavissa arvioidun myynnin ylittymiseen. Kiertonopeuden tavoitteeksi oli asetettu 5,5, joka onnistuttiin ylittämään. Toiminnanohjausjärjestelmään ajettiin nimikkeille uudet ohjaustiedot, joiden ansiosta varsinkin oston tarvelaskenta siistiytyi huomattavasti. Lisäksi näiden asetusten vaikutus varaston arvoon on ilmeinen, sillä varaston arvoa on pystytty laskemaan siitä huolimatta, että myynti on kasvanut. Fyysiseen materiaalinhallintaan tehtiin erinäisiä muutoksia, joista ulkoisen tilapäisvaraston vuokraaminen ja tilajärjestyksen muuttaminen varastotiloissa olivat suurimpia konkreettisia kehityksiä materiaalin käsittelyn suhteen.The main purpose of this thesis was to improve the procedures of GS-Hydro Finland´s inventory value and to optimize the inventory process. The company had introduced a new ERP-System in 2010, which still had a lot of things to be enhanced especially in the purchases and inventory management related operations. The most significant improvements were to reduce inventory value and raise inventory turnover by re-defining the item steering settings for the ERP´s Master Planning, module, removing obsolete or non moving items from the stock to obtain the best possible profit. All of the changes that were made during the thesis were first specified with the production manager of GS-Hydro Finland; these changes were then monitored and the results were checked to ensure that they were as expected. Web documents were the main sources of the theory for this thesis, additionally some Microsoft Ax manuals and internet forums were used to learn more about the requirements for the ERP´s material planning. The goals set for inventory value were not achieved, but this can be explained through the high growth in business in 2012. The exceeding of the inventory value equals relatively the increased business. The goal set for the inventory turnover, which was 5,5, was achieved first time in August 2012. New steering data was formed and run into the ERP. This had a huge positive effect on the material resources planning, and also it had an obvious signification on the development of the inventory value, which was reduced at the same time as the business was growing. Some changes were made to the physical management of material, such as renting an external warehouse for temporary preservation of items that were seldom used, but were too expensive to be disposed of. Also some layout improvements were done to help the flow of materials in and out

Pharmaceuticals in drinking water and resources for drinking water

Geneesmiddelen komen in zeer lage concentraties voor in drinkwater en drinkwaterbronnen. De hoeveelheden zijn echter zo laag dat effecten op de volksgezondheid zijn te verwaarlozen. Dit blijkt uit een inventarisatie van RIVM in opdracht van het ministerie van VROM. De meest voorkomende medicijnen in drinkwater en drinkwaterbronnen zijn slecht afbreekbaar in het milieu en/of worden veel gebruikt. De inventarisatie is een vervolg op onderzoek van vier waterinstituten in 2003 (RIVM rapport 703719004). Het RIVM heeft destijds vier geneesmiddelen in drinkwater aangetoond. Nu heeft het RIVM van 22 geneesmiddelen onderzocht in welke hoeveelheden ze voorkomen in drinkwater en drinkwaterbronnen. Hiervoor is een meetprogramma tweemaal uitgevoerd bij 22 drinkwaterproductielocaties. Ondanks de lage concentraties blijkt dat geneesmiddelen waarschijnlijk vaker voorkomen in drinkwater dan enkele jaren geleden. De medicijnen die in 2003 zijn aangetroffen zijn ook in het huidige onderzoek aangetoond. De pijnstillers acetylsalicylzuur (overwegend afkomstig van aspirine) en fenazon en het epilepsiemiddel carbamazepine werden het vaakst aangetroffen. Het synthetisch hormoon van de anticonceptiepil is niet aangetoond. Van het antidepressivum prozac is in enkele gevallen een spoortje aangetroffen. Om de verspreiding van humane en diergeneesmiddelen naar water te verminderen heeft het kabinet begin 2007 een pakket aan beleidsmaatregelen voorgesteld. Voorbeelden van deze maatregelen zijn het beperken van geneesmiddelgebruik, het inzamelen en vernietigen van ongebruikte medicijnen, en het ontwikkelen van geneesmiddelen die beter worden opgenomen in het lichaam en makkelijker worden afgebroken in milieu. Volgens dit onderzoek zijn de aangekondigde beleidsmaatregelen nuttig en nodig om het watermilieu en het drinkwater nu en in de toekomst te beschermen tegen verontreiniging met medicijnen.Pharmaceuticals are present in drinking water and drinking water resources in very low concentrations. However, the amounts are so low that effects on public health are negligible. This was shown in an RIVM investigation performed under the authority of the Dutch Ministry for Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment (VROM). The most frequently detected medicines in drinking water are almost non-degradable in the environment and/or are frequently used. This investigation represents a follow-up to the research done by four water research institutes in 2003(Report 703719004); at that time RIVM detected four pharmaceuticals in drinking water. Recently, RIVM has investigated 22 pharmaceuticals for amounts present in drinking water and drinking-water resources. For this, a monitoring programme was conducted at 22 drinking-water production sites. In spite of low concentrations, detected pharmaceuticals are probably more frequently found in drinking water compared with several years ago. Medicines detected in 2003 were also found in this current investigation. The analgesics, salicylic acid (mainly from aspirin), phenazon and the anti-epileptic carbamazepin were detected most frequently. The synthetic hormone from the contraceptive pill was not found, while traces of the tranquilizer, prozac, were found in a few samples. At the beginning of 2007 the Dutch government proposed a package of policy measures to decrease the discharge of human and veterinary pharmaceuticals to water. Examples of these measures are reducing the use of pharmaceuticals, collecting and destroying unused pharmaceuticals, and developing pharmaceuticals which are better absorbed in the body and better degradable in the environment. This investigation supports the announced policy measures as being useful and necessary to protect the aquatic environment and drinking water against pollution by pharmaceuticals now and in the future.VROM-Inspecti

Quantum Instantons and Quantum Chaos

Based on a closed form expression for the path integral of quantum transition amplitudes, we suggest rigorous definitions of both, quantum instantons and quantum chaos. As an example we compute the quantum instanton of the double well potential.Comment: Extended version with new figures. Text (LaTeX), 5 Figures (epsi files

International Collaboration in Science and the Formation of a Core Group

International collaboration as measured by co-authorship relations on refereed papers grew linearly from 1990 to 2005 in terms of the number of papers, but exponentially in terms of the number of international addresses. This confirms Persson et al.'s (2004) hypothesis of an inflation in international collaboration. Patterns in international collaboration in science can be considered as network effects, since there is no political institution mediating relationships at that level except for the initiatives of the European Commission. During the period 2000-2005, the network of global collaborations appears to have reinforced the formation of a core group of fourteen most cooperative countries. This core group can be expected to use knowledge from the global network with great efficiency, since these countries have strong national systems. Countries at the periphery may be disadvantaged by the increased strength of the core

Histopathological evaluation of root canal filling materials for primary teeth

This study aimed to assess the response of apical and periapical tissues of dogs¿ teeth after root canal filling with different materials. Forty roots from dogs¿ premolars were prepared biomechanically and assigned to 4 groups filled with: Group I: commercial calcium hydroxide and polyethylene glycol-based paste (Calen®) thickened with zinc oxide; Group II: paste composed of iodoform, Rifocort® and camphorated amonochlorophenol; Group III: zinc oxide-eugenol cement; Group IV: sterile saline. After 30 days, the samples were subjected to histological processing. The histopathological findings revealed that in Groups I and IV the apical and periapical regions exhibited normal appearance, with large number of fibers and cells and no resorption of mineralized tissues. In Group II, mild inflammatory infiltrate and mild edema were observed, with discrete fibrogenesis and bone resorption. Group III showed altered periapical region and thickened periodontal ligament with presence of inflammatory cells and edema. It may be concluded that the Calen paste thickened with zinc oxide yielded the best tissue response, being the most indicated material for root canal filling of primary teeth with pulp vitality

Quantification of H/D Isotope Effects on Protein Hydrogen-bonds by h3JNC′ and 1JNC′ Couplings and Peptide Group 15N and 13C′ Chemical Shifts

The effect of hydrogen/deuterium exchange on proteinhydrogen bond coupling constants h3JNC′ has been investigated in the small globular protein ubiquitin. The couplings across deuterated or protonated hydrogen bonds were measured by a long-range quantitative HA(CACO)NCO experiment. The analysis is combined with a determination of the HN/DN isotope effect on the amide group 1JNC′ couplings and the 15N and 13C′ chemical shifts. On average, H-bond deuteration exchange weakens h3JNC′ and strengthens 1JNC′ couplings. A correlation is found between the size of the 15N isotope shift, the 15N chemical shift, and the h3JNC′ coupling constants. The data are consistent with a reduction of donor-acceptor overlap as expected from the classical Ubbelohde effect and the common understanding that HN/DN exchange leads to a shortening of the N-hydron bond length. Abbreviations: H-bond - hydrogen bon

Bacterial Growth Kinetics under a Novel Flexible Methacrylate Dressing Serving as a Drug Delivery Vehicle for Antiseptics

A flexible methacrylate powder dressing (Altrazeal®) transforms into a wound contour conforming matrix once in contact with wound exudate. We hypothesised that it may also serve as a drug delivery vehicle for antiseptics. The antimicrobial efficacy and influence on bacterial growth kinetics in combination with three antiseptics was investigated in an in vitro porcine wound model. Standardized in vitro wounds were contaminated with Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA; ATCC 33591) and divided into six groups: no dressing (negative control), methacrylate dressing alone, and combinations with application of 0.02% Polyhexamethylene Biguanide (PHMB), 0.4% PHMB, 0.1% PHMB + 0.1% betaine, 7.7 mg/mL Povidone-iodine (PVP-iodine), and 0.1% Octenidine-dihydrochloride (OCT) + 2% phenoxyethanol. Bacterial load per gram tissue was measured over five days. The highest reduction was observed with PVP-iodine at 24 h to log10 1.43 cfu/g, followed by OCT at 48 h to log10 2.41 cfu/g. Whilst 0.02% PHMB resulted in a stable bacterial load over 120 h to log10 4.00 cfu/g over 120 h, 0.1% PHMB + 0.1% betaine inhibited growth during the first 48 h, with slightly increasing bacterial numbers up to log10 5.38 cfu/g at 120 h. These results indicate that this flexible methacrylate dressing can be loaded with various antiseptics serving as drug delivery system. Depending on the selected combination, an individually shaped and controlled antibacterial effect may be achieved using the same type of wound dressing