Dissemination, redissemination and fiber life

The technical background of dissemination of carbon fibers as well as the possibility of redissemination and fiber life are outlined. Plume spread and weather, measures of pollution and of damage potential, and parameters controlling dissemination patterns are among the topics discussed. It is shown that the redissemination rate off hard surfaces decreases with time and that fiber length decreases with time. Redissemination from vegetated land is shown to be insignificant

Schwingungseigenschaften der Ossikel und der Cochlea und deren Bedeutung für unser Gehör

Zusammenfassung: Untersuchungen der Bewegungen von Trommelfell und Steigbügel belegen, dass in den höheren Frequenzen komplexe, räumliche Vibrationsmuster auftreten, bei denen sich die einzelnen Elemente in sehr unterschiedlichen räumlichen Richtungen und in sehr unterschiedlichen Phasenlagen bewegen. Am Steigbügel sind eine kolbenförmige Bewegung sowie eine Rotation um die kurze und lange Steigbügelachse zu unterscheiden. Im Gegensatz zu den kolbenförmigen Schwingungen führen Rotationsbewegungen nicht zu einer Nettovolumenverschiebung der cochleären Flüssigkeit in einem gewissen Abstand von der Fußplatte. Deshalb wird aufgrund der gängigen Theorie des Hörens angenommen, dass solche Kippbewegungen keinen Einfluss auf das Gehör haben. In einer Reihe von Studien wurde jedoch qualitativ gezeigt, dass auch Kippbewegungen zu cochleärer Aktivität führen können. Weitere Forschung ist notwendig, um diesen Effekt zu quantifiziere

Complex Stapes Motions in Human Ears

It has been reported that the physiological motion of the stapes in human and several animals in response to acoustic stimulation is mainly piston-like at low frequencies. At higher frequencies, the pattern includes rocking motions around the long and short axes of the footplate in human and animal ears. Measurements of such extended stapes motions are highly sensitive to the exact angulation of the stapes in relation to the measurement devices and to measurement errors. In this study, velocity in a specific direction was measured at multiple points on the footplates of human temporal bones using a Scanning Laser Doppler Vibrometer (SLDV) system, and the elementary components of the stapes motions, which were the piston-like motion and the rocking motions about the short and long axes of the footplate, were calculated from the measurements. The angular position of a laser beam with respect to the stapes and coordinates of the measurement points on the footplate plane were calculated by correlation between the SLDV measurement frame and the footplate-fixed frame, which was obtained from micro-CT images. The ratios of the rocking motions relative to the piston-like motion increased with frequency and reached a maximum around 7kHz. A novel method for quantitatively assessing measurements of complex stapes motions and error boundaries of the motion components is presented. In the frequency range of 0.5 to 8kHz, the magnitudes of the piston-like and two rocking motions were larger than estimated values of the corresponding upper error bound

Characterization of Stapes Anatomy: Investigation of Human and Guinea Pig

The accuracy of any stapes model relies on the accuracy of the anatomical information upon which it is based. In many previous models and measurements of the stapes, the shape of the stapes has been considered as symmetric with respect to the long and short axes of the footplate. Therefore, the reference frame has been built based upon this assumption. This study aimed to provide detailed anatomical information on the dimensions of the stapes, including its asymmetries. High-resolution microcomputed tomography data from 53 human stapes and 11 guinea pig stapes were collected, and their anatomical features were analyzed. Global dimensions of the stapes, such as the size of the footplate, height, and volume, were compared between human and guinea pig specimens, and asymmetric features of the stapes were quantitatively examined. Further, dependence of the stapes dimensions on demographic characteristics of the subjects was explored. The height of the stapes relative to the footplate size in the human stapes was found to be larger than the corresponding value in guinea pig. The stapes showed asymmetry of the footplate with respect to the long axis and offset of the stapes head from the centroid of the medial surface of the footplate for both humans and guinea pigs. The medial surface of the footplate was curved, and the longitudinal arches of the medial surface along the long axis of the footplate were shaped differently between humans and guinea pigs. The dimension of the footplate was gender-dependent, with the size greater in men than in wome

When Deciding Whether to Transfer Venue, Bankruptcy Courts will Consider Their Discretion to Retain a Case, as well as the Interests of Justice and Convenience of the Parties

(Excerpt) When a debtor decides to file a petition for bankruptcy, one decision to make is in what court, or what jurisdiction to file. However, the debtor’s choice of where to file is not always indisputable. Once a case is filed in a particular court, any “party in interest” may bring a motion seeking to change the venue of the case to an alternate court. Additionally, a court, on its own motion, may transfer a case to an alternate venue. The three statutory provisions that govern transfers of venue are Bankruptcy Rule 1014 (“Rule 1014”), 28 U.S.C. § 1408 (“Section 1408”), and 28 U.S.C. § 1412 (the substantive equivalent of Rule 1014). This article primarily discusses Rule 1014, however, it is important to note that Section 1408 provides the criteria for what constitutes proper venue. These considerations include the debtors’ and creditors’ domicile, residence, principal place of business, and principal assets. However, the statutory interpretation of Rule 1014(a)(2) is what will be focused on in this article. Rule 1014(a)(2) states in pertinent part, “[i]f a petition is filed in an improper district, the court, on timely motion of a party in interest or on its own motion . . . may dismiss the case or transfer it to any other district if the court determines that transfer is in the interest of justice or convenience of the parties.” The language of this provision poses two issues: (1) What discretion does a bankruptcy court have to retain a case filed in an improper venue; and (2) what constitutes in the interest of justice and convenience to the parties? The majority of courts have held that a bankruptcy court does not have discretion to retain jurisdiction over an improperly venued case upon a timely-filed objection. Furthermore, when determining what constitutes the interest of justice and convenience of the parties under Rule 1014, courts will consider several practical and equitable factors. This article explores how courts have interpreted Rule 1014 in a twofold approach. Part I discusses whether a court has the discretion to retain a case even if it was filed in the improper venue. Part II examines what constitutes “in the interest of justice and convenience of the parties” under Rule 1014

"Visuelle Elemente" in Qualitätszeitungen im Wandel

Ziel der Magisterarbeit war es zu untersuchen, ob sich der Einsatz von visuellen Elementen" (Fotografien, Infografiken, Cartoons und Illustrationen) in Qualitätszeitungen in den vergangenen Jahrzehnten verändert hat. Zu diesem Zweck wurden die drei deutschen Qualitätszeitungen Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Süddeutsche Zeitung und Die Welt untersucht. Insgesamt wurden 782 visuelle Elemente zwischen den Jahren 1950 und 2000 in einer zufallsgesteuerten Stichprobe gezogen. Diese wurden mit einer Inhaltsanalyse auf formale Kriterien, wie z.B. Art des visuellen Elements, Platzierung, Format, Größe, Funktion und Farbigkeit geprüft. Die Auswertung ergab, dass sich der Einsatz visueller Elemente vor allem in den letzten zwei Jahrzehnten verändert hat, allerdings für jede der drei Zeitungen in einem anderen Maße. So trifft die Wendung zum Bild, der 'pictorial turn', am stärksten auf Die Welt zu. Im Gegensatz dazu stellte die FAZ, die auch heute noch sehr zurückhaltend Abbildungen einsetzt, die Qualität vor die Quantität. Die SZ ist aufgrund der Ergebnisse zwischen diesen beiden Zeitungen einzuordnen, ihr Bildanteil hat zugenommen - allerdings langsam und kontinuierlich. Fazit: Visuelle Elemente sind ein zentrales Kriterium für die Modernität einer Zeitungsgestaltung. Ganz besonders ist dies bezeichnend für die zunehmende Zahl der Infografiken. Allerdings behalten Fotografien weiterhin ihre dominante Stellung

The Effect of a Values Clarification Strategy on the Smoking Behavior of Pregnant Women

The null hypothesis of this study stated that there would be no significant difference (α=.05) in the change in smoking behavior following a teaching intervention to discourage smoking in pregnant women between those who completed a values clarifying strategy prior to the intervention and those who did not. Forty subjects were randomly assigned 20 to an experimental group and 20 to a control group. Both groups completed a pretest questionnaire concerning demographic data and smoking behavior. Information regarding the adverse effects on the fetus and on the developing child of smoking was presented to each subject by the researcher. The members of the experimental group completed a values clarifying strategy prior to receiving this information. A posttest questionnaire concerning smoking behavior was completed four weeks later by 14 of the control group and by 15 of the experimental group, the control group reduced their smoking behavior, four remained unchanged, Seven of and three increased their smoking behavior. Eleven of the experimental group reported reduced smoking behavior and four remained unchanged. The Mann Whitney U and the Binomial Test for Equality of Proportions were the statistical tests used to analyze the smoking behavior data. The difference in reduction of smoking behavior between the groups was not found to be significant at the 5 percent level; however, a trend was found in favor of decreased smoking in the experimental group: p=.07 using the Mann Whitney U and p=.09 using the Binomial Test for Equality of Proportions. The null hypothesis was retained. A t-test was run on the comparison of changes between the experimental and control groups in decreased number of cigarettes and gave a significant difference (p=.05). Due to skewing of the distribution of the differences for the experimental group, the test was declared inappropriate. The difference between the groups on the number of pregnancy variable was significant (p=.05), yet the correlation between this variable and the variable change in the number of cigarettes was not significantly different from zero (r=.003)

Schlussbericht

Ziel des Förderprojektes FaeBS war es, Prototypen eines leistungsfähigen innovativen Brennstoffzellensystems (BZS) kompakt und bauraumoptimiert aus innovativen neuen Komponenten zu entwickeln und zu erproben. Die Zollner Elektronik AG entwickelte im Rahmen des Projektes einen DCDC-Spannungswandler, der innerhalb des Brennstoffzellensystems die von der Brennstoffzelle gelieferte Energie auf die Bordnetzspannung des Fahrzeuges wandelt und so die elektrische Schnittstelle zum Hochvolt-System des Fahrzeuges darstellt. Die Herausforderung im Teilprojekt war die Realisierung des DCDC Wandlers in minimalem Bauraum bei gleichzeitig sehr großem Spannungs-Hub (ca. 1:6), einer enorm hohen Stromtragfähigkeit bis zu 1000A und einem hohen elektrischen Wirkungsgrad. Innerhalb des Teilvorhabens erfolgte die Entwickelung des DCDC-Wandlers, wobei ein die Integration in das Gesamtsystem (FCS) (Mechanische Integration / Software-Integration) ein wesentlicher Teil des Umfangs war. Nach Aufbau und Inbetriebnahme der Geräte wurden in einem umfangreichen Testprogramm die Eigenschaften des entwickelten Wandlers sowohl als Einzelkomponente als auch im Gesamtsystemverbund untersucht. Datei-Upload durch TIBThe aim of the FaeBS funded project was to develop and test prototypes of a powerful innovative fuel cell system (BZS) from innovative new components in a compact and space-optimized manner. As part of the project, Zollner Elektronik AG developed a DCDC voltage converter, which is the electrical interface from the Fuelcell-System to the vehicle, as it transfers the energy delivered by the Fuel-Cell to the Voltage-Level of the HV electrical system of the car. The challenge of the project was to realize a DCDC-converter within a minimum of space but at the same time being capable of handling very high input currents up to 1000A with a very high voltage boost factor (ca. 1:6) and high electrical efficiency. Within the sub-project, the DCDC converter was developed, whereby the integration into the overall system (FCS) (mechanical integration / software integration) was an essential part of the scope. After the devices had been produced and put into operation, the properties of the converter were investigated in an extensive test program both as an individual component and in the overall system