Cost Accounting and Pricing Improvement at Helmond Print: Using Xeikon Digital Colour Printing Equipment: A Case study

Helmond Print B.V., a (fictional) Dutch print provider, is facing competitive problems. The student is expected to step into the role of an independent expert advising Helmond Print''s owner and manager. The first objective is to let the student find out, from a piece of qualitative and quantitative information about Xeikon N.V. machines, that the cost structure is much different than currently assumed. The student should try to improve the cost calculations, which will require linear and both non-linear regression analysis. A second objective is to make the student realize that the incorrect cost calculations affected Helmond Print''s pricing policy and may have lead to the competitive problems faced now. The student should therefore link their investigations to pricing, search for the weak spots in the current pricing policy and make suggestions for improvement. (Note: a solution to the case can be obtained by simple request)management and organization theory ;

Possible explanations for different surface quality in laser cutting with 1 micron and 10 microns beams

In laser　cutting　of　thick　steel　sheets,　quality　difference　is　observed　between　cut　surfaces　obtained　with 1 micron and 10 micron laser beams. This paper investigates physical mechanisms for this interesting and important problem of the wavelength dependence. First, striation generation process is described, based on a 3D structure of melt flow on a kerf front, which was revealed for the first time by our recent experimental observations. Two fundamental processes are suggested to explain the difference in the cut surface quality: destabilization of the melt flow in the central part of the kerf front and downward displacement of discrete melt accumulations along the side parts of the front. Then each of the processes is analyzed using a simplified analytical model. The results show that in both processes, different angular dependence of the absorptivity of the laser beam can result in the quality difference. Finally we propose use of radial polarization to improve the quality with the 1 micron wavelength

Topologically non-trivial quantum layers

Given a complete non-compact surface embedded in R^3, we consider the Dirichlet Laplacian in a layer of constant width about the surface. Using an intrinsic approach to the layer geometry, we generalise the spectral results of an original paper by Duclos et al. to the situation when the surface does not possess poles. This enables us to consider topologically more complicated layers and state new spectral results. In particular, we are interested in layers built over surfaces with handles or several cylindrically symmetric ends. We also discuss more general regions obtained by compact deformations of certain layers.Comment: 15 pages, 6 figure

Recommendations for the Use of Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) at CERN

Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) have been increasingly used at CERN for several years. In future control solutions, PLCs will initially be considered for the rejuvenation of old and obsolete systems, and then for the control of new equipment to be installed in technical services, accelerators and experiments. Many industrial systems will be installed for the control of equipment during the next 5 to 10 years, particularly for the construction of the LHC project. In order to increase efficiency, to reduce the initial investment and to minimise the long term maintenance costs in terms of money and human resources the Working Group recommends that all CERN equipment control projects, based on PLCs, select or specify PLCs from the product lines of the recommended PLC manufacturers

Meaningful results for Information Retrieval in the MEANING project

The goal of the MEANING project (IST-2001-34460) is to develop tools for the automatic acquisition of lexical knowledge that will help Word Sense Disambiguation (WSD). The acquired lexical knowledge from various sources and various languages is stored in the Multilingual Central Repository (MCR) (Atserias et al 04), which is based on the design of the EuroWordNet database. The MCR holds wordnets in various languages (English, Spanish, Italian, Catalan and Basque), which are interconnected via an Inter-Lingual-Index (ILI). In addition, the MCR holds a number of ontologies and domain labels related to al

Stage-Specific Inhibition of MHC Class I Presentation by the Epstein-Barr Virus BNLF2a Protein during Virus Lytic Cycle

gamma-herpesvirus Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) persists for life in infected individuals despite the presence of a strong immune response. During the lytic cycle of EBV many viral proteins are expressed, potentially allowing virally infected cells to be recognized and eliminated by CD8+ T cells. We have recently identified an immune evasion protein encoded by EBV, BNLF2a, which is expressed in early phase lytic replication and inhibits peptide- and ATP-binding functions of the transporter associated with antigen processing. Ectopic expression of BNLF2a causes decreased surface MHC class I expression and inhibits the presentation of indicator antigens to CD8+ T cells. Here we sought to examine the influence of BNLF2a when expressed naturally during EBV lytic replication. We generated a BNLF2a-deleted recombinant EBV (ΔBNLF2a) and compared the ability of ΔBNLF2a and wild-type EBV-transformed B cell lines to be recognized by CD8+ T cell clones specific for EBV-encoded immediate early, early and late lytic antigens. Epitopes derived from immediate early and early expressed proteins were better recognized when presented by ΔBNLF2a transformed cells compared to wild-type virus transformants. However, recognition of late antigens by CD8+ T cells remained equally poor when presented by both wild-type and ΔBNLF2a cell targets. Analysis of BNLF2a and target protein expression kinetics showed that although BNLF2a is expressed during early phase replication, it is expressed at a time when there is an upregulation of immediate early proteins and initiation of early protein synthesis. Interestingly, BNLF2a protein expression was found to be lost by late lytic cycle yet ΔBNLF2a-transformed cells in late stage replication downregulated surface MHC class I to a similar extent as wild-type EBV-transformed cells. These data show that BNLF2a-mediated expression is stage-specific, affecting presentation of immediate early and early proteins, and that other evasion mechanisms operate later in the lytic cycle

Identification and rapid mapping of a gene conferring broad-spectrum late blight resistance in the diploid potato species <i>Solanum verrucosum</i> through DNA capture technologies

Key message: A broad-spectrum late blight disease-resistance gene from Solanum verrucosum has been mapped to potato chromosome 9. The gene is distinct from previously identified-resistance genes. Abstract: We have identified and characterised a broad-spectrum resistance to Phytophthora infestans from the wild Mexican species Solanum verrucosum. Diagnostic resistance gene enrichment (dRenSeq) revealed that the resistance is not conferred by previously identified nucleotide-binding, leucine-rich repeat genes. Utilising the sequenced potato genome as a reference, two complementary enrichment strategies that target resistance genes (RenSeq) and single/low-copy number genes (Generic-mapping enrichment Sequencing; GenSeq), respectively, were deployed for the rapid, SNP-based mapping of the resistance through bulked-segregant analysis. Both approaches independently positioned the resistance, referred to as Rpi-ver1, to the distal end of potato chromosome 9. Stringent post-enrichment read filtering identified a total of 64 informative SNPs that corresponded to the expected ratio for significant polymorphisms in the parents as well as the bulks. Of these, 61 SNPs are located on potato chromosome 9 and reside within 27 individual genes, which in the sequenced potato clone DM locate to positions 45.9 to 60.9 Mb. RenSeq- and GenSeq-derived SNPs within the target region were converted into allele-specific PCR-based KASP markers and further defined the position of the resistance to a 4.3 Mb interval at the bottom end of chromosome 9 between positions 52.62–56.98 Mb.</p

Inclusive charged hadron elliptic flow in Au + Au collisions at sNN\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 7.7 - 39 GeV

A systematic study is presented for centrality, transverse momentum ($p_T$) and pseudorapidity ($\eta$) dependence of the inclusive charged hadron elliptic flow ($v_2$) at midrapidity($|\eta| < 1.0$) in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 7.7, 11.5, 19.6, 27 and 39 GeV. The results obtained with different methods, including correlations with the event plane reconstructed in a region separated by a large pseudorapidity gap and 4-particle cumulants ($v_2{4}$), are presented in order to investigate non-flow correlations and $v_2$ fluctuations. We observe that the difference between $v_2{2}$ and $v_2{4}$ is smaller at the lower collision energies. Values of $v_2$, scaled by the initial coordinate space eccentricity, $v_{2}/\varepsilon$, as a function of $p_T$ are larger in more central collisions, suggesting stronger collective flow develops in more central collisions, similar to the results at higher collision energies. These results are compared to measurements at higher energies at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider ($\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 62.4 and 200 GeV) and at the Large Hadron Collider (Pb + Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 2.76 TeV). The $v_2(p_T)$ values for fixed $p_T$ rise with increasing collision energy within the $p_T$ range studied ($< 2 {\rm GeV}/c$). A comparison to viscous hydrodynamic simulations is made to potentially help understand the energy dependence of $v_{2}(p_{T})$. We also compare the $v_2$ results to UrQMD and AMPT transport model calculations, and physics implications on the dominance of partonic versus hadronic phases in the system created at Beam Energy Scan (BES) energies are discussed.Comment: 20 pages, 12 figures. Version accepted by PR

Evidence of Υ(1S)→J/ψ+χc1\Upsilon(1S) \to J/\psi+\chi_{c1} and search for double-charmonium production in Υ(1S)\Upsilon(1S) and Υ(2S)\Upsilon(2S) decays

Using data samples of $102\times10^6$ $\Upsilon(1S)$ and $158\times10^6$ $\Upsilon(2S)$ events collected with the Belle detector, a first experimental search has been made for double-charmonium production in the exclusive decays $\Upsilon(1S,2S)\rightarrow J/\psi(\psi')+X$, where $X=\eta_c$, $\chi_{cJ} (J=~0,~1,~2)$, $\eta_c(2S)$, $X(3940)$, and $X(4160)$. No significant signal is observed in the spectra of the mass recoiling against the reconstructed $J/\psi$ or $\psi'$ except for the evidence of $\chi_{c1}$ production with a significance of $4.6\sigma$ for $\Upsilon(1S)\rightarrow J/\psi+\chi_{c1}$. The measured branching fraction \BR(\Upsilon(1S)\rightarrow J/\psi+\chi_{c1}) is $(3.90\pm1.21(\rm stat.)\pm0.23 (\rm syst.))\times10^{-6}$. The $90\%$ confidence level upper limits on the branching fractions of the other modes having a significance of less than $3\sigma$ are determined. These results are consistent with theoretical calculations using the nonrelativistic QCD factorization approach.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, 1 table. The fit range was extended to include X(4160) signal according to referee's suggestions. Other results unchanged. Paper was accepted for publication as a regular article in Physical Review