Micro-Faraday cup matrix detector for ion beam measurements in fusion plasmas

Atomic Beam Probe (ABP) is an extension of the routinely used Beam Emission Spectroscopy (BES) diagnostic for plasma edge current fluctuation measurement at magnetically confined plasmas. Beam atoms ionized by the plasma are directed to a curved trajectory by the magnetic field and may be detected close to the wall of the device. The arrival location and current distribution of the ions carry information about the plasma current distribution, the density profile and the electric potential in the plasma edge. This paper describes a micro-Faraday cup matrix detector for the measurement of the few microampere ion current distribution close to the plasma edge. The device implements a shallow Faraday cup matrix, produced by printed-circuit board technology. Secondary electrons induced by the plasma radiation and the ion bombardment are basically confined into the cups by the tokamak magnetic field. Additionally, a double mask is installed in the front face to limit ion influx into the cups and supplement secondary electron suppression. The setup was tested in detail using a Lithium ion beam in the laboratory. Switching time, cross talk and fluctuation sensitivity test results in the lab setup are presented, along with the detector setup to be installed at the COMPASS tokamak.Comment: 10 pages, 18 figures, Review of Scientific Instrument

Studenti kao lojalni korisnici informativnih mrežnih stranica: kako faktori upotrebljivosti, poznatosti, zadovoljstva i reputacije koreliraju s lojalnosti korisnika

In a time of increasing competition in online news, it is important for the publishers of news websites to retain loyal users. This paper contributes to the study of loyalty through an investigation of the factors that affect the loyalty of young users of news websites and motivate them to return there. The research sample in this study was made up of students (N=408) at universities in Slovakia who use news websites to search for information every day. Correlation and regression analyses have been used to test the hypotheses. The results of this research confirm that usability, familiarity, satisfaction and reputation have a direct and positive relationship to the users’ loyalty as reflected in daily use of a news website. The correlation shows that loyalty is associated particularly closely with reputation and satisfaction with a selected news website. Regression analysis shows that there are also other variables that affect users’ loyalty.Izdavačima informativnih mrežnih stranica važno je u vrijeme rastuće konkurencije u online vijestima zadržati lojalne korisnike. Ovaj rad doprinosi proučavanju lojalnosti istraživanjem faktora koji djeluju na lojalnost mladih korisnika informativnih mrežnih stranica i motiviraju ih na ponovno posjećivanje. Uzorak u ovom istraživanju čine studenti (N = 408) sa sveučilišta u Slovačkoj koji svaki dan koriste informativne mrežne stranice u potrazi za informacijama. Korelacijska i regresijska analiza korištene su za testiranje hipoteza. Rezultati istraživanja potvrđuju da su faktori upotrebljivosti, poznatosti, zadovoljstva i reputacije u izravnoj i pozitivnoj vezi s lojalnosti korisnika, što se odražava u svakodnevnom korištenju informativnih mrežnih stranica. Lojalnost je osobito blisko povezana s reputacijom i zadovoljstvom s odabranim informativnim mrežnim stranicama. Regresijska analiza također pokazuje da postoje i druge varijable koje djeluju na lojalnost korisnika

Economic and Democratic Consolidation of the Former Yugoslav Republics

Article analyses the processes of democratic consolidation in the former Yugoslav republics in the period since the volatile and violent breakup of socialist Yugoslavia three decades ago. Author is putting an emphasis on the notion of economic consolidation processes in all former Yugoslav republics and tests the thesis that economic consolidation is indeed the one prerequisite of democratic consolidation that suffered most direct effects of failed peaceful transformation in areas of former Yugoslavia that plunged into post-independence wars and conflicts. Author confirms that the secret to the democratic resilience is hidden in economic development – not only, as some theories claimed back in the 1960s (Lipset, 1959, p. 69–105), in various forms of undemocratic rule, but in a democracy built upon democratic institutions, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms plus the rule of law.Article analyses the processes of democratic consolidation in the former Yugoslav republics in the period since the volatile and violent breakup of socialist Yugoslavia three decades ago. Author is putting an emphasis on the notion of economic consolidation processes in all former Yugoslav republics and tests the thesis that economic consolidation is indeed the one prerequisite of democratic consolidation that suffered most direct effects of failed peaceful transformation in areas of former Yugoslavia that plunged into post-independence wars and conflicts. Author confirms that the secret to the democratic resilience is hidden in economic development – not only, as some theories claimed back in the 1960s (Lipset, 1959, p. 69–105), in various forms of undemocratic rule, but in a democracy built upon democratic institutions, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms plus the rule of law

Local Elections as a Sphere for Forming Citizens’ Political Identity

The specifi city of local elections supports the idea that there is signifi cantly more chance of developing political identity at the local level. Given the social specifi city of local elections, we propose three hypotheses with the aim of ascertaining whether (i) the greater signifi cance of these elections, (ii) the specifi city of their political programmes and/or (iii) the proximity of voters to candidates lead to a stronger sense of individual political identity. These hypotheses are verifi ed from a comparative perspective by reference to local elections in Poland and Slovenia

Positive discrimination of the Roma minority

In its Constitutional Charter, Europe, as a multicultural society, advocates and guarantees the protection of minorities and emphasizes the establishment of the conditions for preserving cultural diversity. The protection of minorities is especially important, given the large number of different nationalities that have often not only settled within the boundaries of their motherlands but also coexist on common European territory. One of the most problematic concerns here is the displaced Roma community. The rights of the Roma minority are regulated by each individual country within its legislative borders but always in compliance with the related EU guidelines. The purpose of the article is to provide an in-depth evaluation of the current state of the Roma's participation at the local level in Europe, and specifically in Slovenia. The authors thereby seek to identify how the Roma question is being resolved, based on an empirical analysis of opinions of decision-makers at the local level

Integration of molecular characterization of microorganisms in a global antimicrobial resistance surveillance program

© 2001 by the Infectious Diseases Society of America. All rights reserved.The SENTRY Antimicrobial Surveillance Program has incorporated molecular strain typing and resistance genotyping as a means of providing additional information that may be useful for understanding pathogenic microorganisms worldwide. Resistance phenotypes of interest include multidrug-resistant pathogens, extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL)–producing Enterobacteriaceae, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), vancomycin-resistant enterococci, and fluoroquinolone-resistant (FQR) strains of gram-negative bacilli and Streptococcus pneumoniae. Clusters of 2 isolates within a given resistance profile that are linked temporally and by hospital location are flagged for DNA fingerprinting. Further characterization of organisms with respect to resistance genotype is accomplished with use of polymerase chain reaction and DNA sequencing. This process has been highly successful in identifying clonal spread within clusters of multiresistant pathogens. Between 50% and 90% of MRSA clusters identified by phenotypic screening contained evidence of clonal spread. Among the Enterobacteriaceae, ESBL-producing strains of Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae are the most common pathogens causing clusters of infection, and 50% of recognized clusters demonstrate clonal spread. Clusters of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Acinetobacter species, and Stenotrophomonas maltophilia have been noted with clonal spread among patients with urinary tract, respiratory, and bloodstream infections. Characterization of mutations in the FQR-determining region of phenotypically susceptible isolates of E. coli and S. pneumoniae has identified first-stage mutants among as many as 40% of isolates. The ability to characterize organisms phenotypically and genotypically is extremely powerful and provides unique information that is important in a global antimicrobial surveillance program.M. A. Pfaller, J. Acar, R. N. Jones, J. Verhoef, J. Turnidge, and H. S. Sade

Computational simulation of pass rolling

Táto diplomová práca sa zaoberá možnosťami výpočtového modelovania valcovania v kalibroch pomocou metódy konečných prvkov. Na začiatku je formulovaná motivácia pre písanie práce a problémová situácia, nasledovaná zostavením systému podstatných veličín. Ďaľšia kapitola popisuje rôzne spôsoby valcovania ako aj samotný valcovací proces. Dôraz je kladený na popis tradičného návrhu kalibrov. Nasledujúca kapitola sa zaoberá teóriou plasticity, plastickým chovaním materiálu a jeho modelovaním v konečnoprvkovom prostredí Abaqus, ktoré je použité vo výpočtovej časti práce. Predstavené sú viaceré modely plasticity, ako aj modely tvárneho porušovania, používané na posúdenie tvárniteľnosti či simuláciu šírenia tvárnej trhliny v materiáli. Práca pokračuje kapitolou zameranou na metódu konečných prvkov, najmä jej explicitný algoritmus, využívaný vo výpočtovej časti práce. Ďaľšia časť je venovaná popisu základných princípov fotoelasticimetrie, tradičnej experimentálnej metódy. Tieto kapitoly zahŕňajú aj popis konečnoprvkovej a experimentálnej fotoplastickej analýzy konkrétneho prípadu valcovania v kalibroch, riešené v predchádzajúcom článku. Použitý výpočtový model je základom nového konečnoprvkového modelu, ktorého tvorbe je predmetom nasledujúcej kapitoly. Naviac sú vytvorené aj dve varianty pôvodného, zjednodušeného výpočtového modelu. S použitím vytvorených výpočtových modelov sú vykonané štrukturálne analýzy a vyhodnotené viaceré výsledky, následne zhrnuté a porovnané s pôvodnými výpočtovými a experimentálnymi výsledkami. Rozbor porovnania výsledkov a zhodnotenie použiteľnosti a spoľahlivosti jednotlivých výpočtových modelov tvoria záver práce.This master's thesis reviews possibilities of finite element modelling of pass rolling. Motivation and problem formulation may be found at the beginning of the thesis, followed by definition of system of essential variables. Next chapter describes various methods of rolling as well as the rolling process itself. An emphasis is put mainly on pass roll design. The following part deals with material behavior and its modelling in finite element software Abaqus, which is used in the computational part of the thesis. Multiple models of plasticity are introduced here, as well as damage criteria, used to assess material formability or simulate propagation of ductile damage through the material. Next part is focused on finite element method, specifically its explicit algorithm, later employed in the computational part of the thesis. In the last theoretical chapter, basic principles of photoelasticimetry, a traditional experimental method, are described. These chapters also contain description of simplified finite element analysis and photoplastic experimental analysis of a specific pass rolling problem. Computational model used there served as a basis for the new finite element model, creation of which is the purpose of the following chapter. Two variants of the simplified, previously used computational model were recreated as well. Structural analyses were carried out using the three created models and various results were evaluated. Summary of obtained results and their comparison to original computational and experimental results follows. Discussion of the results and evaluation of usability and reliability of individual computational models form conclusion of the thesis.

Species-selective killing of bacteria by antimicrobial peptide-PNAs

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, CC BY 4.0 which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.Broad-spectrum antimicrobials kill indiscriminately, a property that can lead to negative clinical consequences and an increase in the incidence of resistance. Species-specific antimicrobials that could selectively kill pathogenic bacteria without targeting other species in the microbiome could limit these problems. The pathogen genome presents an excellent target for the development of such antimicrobials. In this study we report the design and evaluation of species-selective peptide nucleic acid (PNA) antibacterials. Selective growth inhibition of B. subtilis, E. coli, K. pnuemoniae and S. enterica serovar Typhimurium in axenic or mixed culture could be achieved with PNAs that exploit species differences in the translation initiation region of essential genes. An S. Typhimurium-specific PNA targeting ftsZ resulted in elongated cells that were not observed in E. coli, providing phenotypic evidence of the selectivity of PNA-based antimicrobials. Analysis of the genomes of E. coli and S. Typhimurium gave a conservative estimate of >150 PNA targets that could potentially discriminate between these two closely related species. This work provides a basis for the development of a new class of antimicrobial with a tuneable spectrum of activity.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Influence of Role Models and Hospital Design on the Hand Hygiene of Health-Care Workers

We assessed the effect of medical staff role models and the number of health-care worker sinks on hand-hygiene compliance before and after construction of a new hospital designed for increased access to handwashing sinks. We observed health-care worker hand hygiene in four nursing units that provided similar patient care in both the old and new hospitals: medical and surgical intensive care, hematology/oncology, and solid organ transplant units. Of 721 hand-hygiene opportunities, 304 (42%) were observed in the old hospital and 417 (58%) in the new hospital. Hand-hygiene compliance was significantly better in the old hospital (161/304; 53%) compared to the new hospital (97/417; 23.3%) (p<0.001). Health-care workers in a room with a senior (e.g., higher ranking) medical staff person or peer who did not wash hands were significantly less likely to wash their own hands (odds ratio 0.2; confidence interval 0.1 to 0.5); p<0.001). Our results suggest that health-care worker hand-hygiene compliance is influenced significantly by the behavior of other health-care workers. An increased number of hand-washing sinks, as a sole measure, did not increase hand-hygiene compliance