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Great Opportunity (great + opportunity)
Selected AbstractsA GREAT OPPORTUNITY AHEAD FOR SURGICAL PUBLISHING,ANZ JOURNAL OF SURGERY, Issue 12 2006Robert J. S. Thomas Editor-in-Chief No abstract is available for this article. [source] Giant Electric Field Tuning of Magnetic Properties in Multiferroic Ferrite/Ferroelectric HeterostructuresADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS, Issue 11 2009Ming Liu Abstract Multiferroic heterostructures of Fe3O4/PZT (lead zirconium titanate), Fe3O4/PMN-PT (lead magnesium niobate-lead titanate) and Fe3O4/PZN-PT (lead zinc niobate-lead titanate) are prepared by spin-spray depositing Fe3O4 ferrite film on ferroelectric PZT, PMN-PT and PZN-PT substrates at a low temperature of 90,°C. Strong magnetoelectric coupling (ME) and giant microwave tunability are demonstrated by a electrostatic field induced magnetic anisotropic field change in these heterostructures. A high electrostatically tunable ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) field shift up to 600,Oe, corresponding to a large microwave ME coefficient of 67,Oe cm kV,1, is observed in Fe3O4/PMN-PT heterostructures. A record-high electrostatically tunable FMR field range of 860 Oe with a linewidth of 330,380,Oe is demonstrated in Fe3O4/PZN-PT heterostructure, corresponding to a ME coefficient of 108,Oe cm kV,1. Static ME interaction is also investigated and a maximum electric field induced squareness ratio change of 40% is observed in Fe3O4/PZN-PT. In addition, a new concept that the external magnetic orientation and the electric field cooperate to determine microwave magnetic tunability is brought forth to significantly enhance the microwave tunable range up to 1000,Oe. These low temperature synthesized multiferroic heterostructures exhibiting giant electrostatically induced tunable magnetic resonance field at microwave frequencies provide great opportunities for electrostatically tunable microwave multiferroic devices. [source] Security and delay issues in SIP systemsINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS, Issue 8 2009Christian Callegari Abstract The deployment of multimedia over IP (MoIP), and in particular voice over IP services, requires to solve new security issues they introduce, before completely exploiting the great opportunities they offer to telecommunication market. Furthermore, the implementation of various security measures can cause a marked deterioration in quality of service, which is fundamental to the operation of an MoIP network that meets users' quality expectations. In particular, because of the time-critical nature of MoIP and its low tolerance for disruption and packet loss, many security measures implemented in traditional data networks are simply not applicable in their current form. This paper presents an analysis of the security options of Session Initiation Protocol- (SIP)-based MoIP architecture aimed at evaluating their impact on delay. In particular, each security option is analyzed in terms of clock cycles needed to perform the related operations. This parameter could be used to estimate the delay introduced by the security mechanisms. Moreover the paper proposes a rigorous definition of five security profiles, which provide different levels of security to a MoIP system. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Evolution on oceanic islands: molecular phylogenetic approaches to understanding pattern and processMOLECULAR ECOLOGY, Issue 6 2002B. C. Emerson Abstract By their very nature oceanic island ecosystems offer great opportunities for the study of evolution and have for a long time been recognized as natural laboratories for studying evolution owing to their discrete geographical nature and diversity of species and habitats. The development of molecular genetic methods for phylogenetic reconstruction has been a significant advance for evolutionary biologists, providing a tool for answering questions about the diversity among the flora and fauna on such islands. These questions relate to both the origin and causes of species diversity both within an archipelago and on individual islands. Within a phylogenetic framework one can answer fundamental questions such as whether ecologically and/or morphologically similar species on different islands are the result of island colonization or convergent evolution. Testing hypotheses about ages of the individual species groups or entire community assemblages is also possible within a phylogenetic framework. Evolutionary biologists and ecologists are increasingly turning to molecular phylogenetics for studying oceanic island plant and animal communities and it is important to review what has been attempted and achieved so far, with some cautionary notes about interpreting phylogeographical pattern on oceanic islands. [source] Web communication services and the PacketIN® application hosting environmentBELL LABS TECHNICAL JOURNAL, Issue 1 2002Yang Chen Large telecommunication customers are migrating their network infrastructure to support new converged services, while containing their operating costs. Deploying converged services on the networks today represents great opportunities to network service providers for new revenue generation. It brings big challenges as well, due to the requirements for a service platform with high capability to deal with the complexity of the network infrastructure, the difficulty of interoperability between different service platforms, and the diversity of signaling protocols and application programming interfaces (APIs). The Lucent PacketIN® application hosting environment (AHE) provides a solution that empowers network service providers to deliver a wide variety of enhanced services over the converged (packet and circuit, wireline and wireless) networks. It enables the creation and deployment of enhanced services on converged networks via the open service platform with interoperability, programmability, scalability, and wide protocol compliance. In particular, a new class of services is presented to demonstrate the transformation of telecommunication services that is enabled through Web presence. This article gives an overview of the PacketIN AHE with the focus on the customer values, the architecture, and enabling capability to deploy advanced applications and services. A new service portal, enterprise communication, is presented as an example of the innovation and implementation enabled by the service enabling environment. The enterprise communication provides Web access to presence information, instant messaging, third-party call management, and location. This convergence of features is enabled by the PacketIN AHE integration of the public switched telephone network (PSTN), session initiation protocol (SIP), and H.323 protocols through standard open APIs. The voice communication protocols are combined with a Web access interface to establish a new Internet presence, while leveraging existing switching products and reusing deployed communication networks and services. © 2002 Lucent Technologies Inc. [source] Overcoming barriers to sustainability: an explanation of residential builders' reluctance to adopt clean technologiesBUSINESS STRATEGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT, Issue 8 2009Jonatan Pinkse Abstract The construction industry has great opportunities to significantly reduce CO2 emissions by improving the energy efficiency of residential buildings. However, in this industry, diffusion of cost-effective clean technologies has been notoriously slow and below potential. This paper sheds light on factors that explain why construction companies have been reluctant to adopt energy-efficient technologies. It questions why some companies have intensified their investments in clean technologies, while others are lagging behind. Based on a multiple case study of four Dutch building contractors, the paper shows that contractors that actively gather information and build internal technical capacity are keener on adopting energy-efficient technologies. Findings also reveal that it will be a major challenge for the construction industry to communicate the advantages of clean technologies to (potential) home buyers and create market demand. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source] Advances in sol-gel based columns for capillary electrochromatography: Sol-gel open-tubular columnsELECTROPHORESIS, Issue 22-23 2002Abdul Malik Abstract The development of sol-gel open-tubular column technology in capillary electrochromatography (CEC) is reviewed. Sol-gel column technology offers a versatile means of creating organic-inorganic hybrid stationary phases. Sol-gel column technology provides a general approach to column fabrication for microseparation techniques including CEC, and is amenable to both open-tubular and monolithic columns. Direct chemical bonding of the stationary phase to the capillary inner walls provides enhanced thermal and solvent stability to sol-gel columns. Sol-gel stationary phases inherently possess higher surface area, and thus provide an effective one-step alternative to conventional open-tubular column technology. Sol-gel column technology is applicable to both silica-based and transition metal oxide-based hybrid stationary phases, and thus, provides a great opportunity to utilize advanced material properties of a wide range of nontraditional stationary phases to achieve enhanced selectivity in analytical microseparations. A wide variety of stationary phase ligands can be chemically immobilized on the capillary inner surface using a single-step sol-gel procedure. Sol-gel chemistry can be applied to design stationary phases with desired chromatographic characteristics, including the possibility of creating columns with either a positive or a negative charge on the stationary phase surface. This provides a new tool to control electroosmotic flow (EOF) in the column. Column efficiencies on the order of half a million theoretical plates per meter have been reported for sol-gel open-tubular CEC columns. The selectivity of sol-gel stationary phases can be easily fine-tuned by adjusting the composition of the coating sol solution. Open-tubular columns have significant advantages over their packed counterparts because of the simplicity in column making and hassle-free fritless operation. Open-tubular CEC columns possess low sample capacity and low detection sensitivity. Full utilization of the analytical potential of sol-gel open-tubular columns will require a concomitant development in the area of high-sensitivity detection technology. [source] 360-degree Feedback: Possibilities for Assessment of the ACGME Core Competencies for Emergency Medicine ResidentsACADEMIC EMERGENCY MEDICINE, Issue 11 2002Kevin G. Rodgers MD The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) has challenged residency programs to provide documentation via outcomes assessment that all residents have successfully mastered the six core competencies. A variety of assessment "tools" has been identified by the ACGME for outcomes assessment determination. Although rarely cited in the medical literature, 360-degree feedback is currently in widespread use in the business sector. This tool provides timely, consolidated feedback from sources in the resident's sphere of influence (emergency medicine faculty, emergency medicine residents, off-service residents and faculty, nurses, ancillary personnel, patients, out-of-hospital care providers, and a self-assessment). This is a significant deviation from both the peer review process and the resident review process that almost exclusively use physicians as raters. Because of its relative lack of development, utilization, and validation as a method of resident assessment in graduate medical education, a great opportunity exists to develop the 360-degree feedback tool for resident assessment. [source] Shape-Controlled Synthesis of Pd Nanocrystals in Aqueous SolutionsADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS, Issue 2 2009Byungkwon Lim Abstract This article provides an overview of recent developments regarding synthesis of Pd nanocrystals with well-controlled shapes in aqueous solutions. In a solution-phase synthesis, the final shape taken by a nanocrystal is determined by the twin structures of seeds and the growth rates of different crystallographic facets. Here, the maneuvering of these factors in an aqueous system to achieve shape control for Pd nanocrystals is discussed. L -ascorbic acid, citric acid, and poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) are tested for manipulating the reduction kinetics, with citric acid and Br, ions used as capping agents to selectively promote the formation of {111} and {100} facets, respectively. The distribution of single-crystal versus multiple-twinned seeds can be further manipulated by employing or blocking oxidative etching. The shapes obtained for the Pd nanocrystals include truncated octahedron, icosahedron, octahedron, decahedron, hexagonal and triangular plates, rectangular bar, and cube. The ability to control the shape of Pd nanocrystals provides a great opportunity to systematically investigate their catalytic, electrical, and plasmonic properties. [source] Extracting bird migration information from C-band Doppler weather radarsIBIS, Issue 4 2008HANS VAN GASTEREN Although radar has been used in studies of bird migration for 60 years, there is still no network in Europe for comprehensive monitoring of bird migration. Europe has a dense network of military air surveillance radars but most systems are not directly suitable for reliable bird monitoring. Since the early 1990s, Doppler radars and wind profilers have been introduced in meteorology to measure wind. These wind measurements are known to be contaminated with insect and bird echoes. The aim of the present research is to assess how bird migration information can be deduced from meteorological Doppler radar output. We compare the observations on migrating birds using a dedicated X-band bird radar with those using a C-band Doppler weather radar. The observations were collected in the Netherlands, from 1 March to 22 May 2003. In this period, the bird radar showed that densities of more than one bird per km3 are present in 20% of all measurements. Among these measurements, the weather radar correctly recognized 86% of the cases when birds were present; in 38% of the cases with no birds detected by the bird radar, the weather radar claimed bird presence (false positive). The comparison showed that in this study reliable altitudinal density profiles of birds cannot be obtained from the weather radar. However, when integrated over altitude, weather radar reflectivity is correlated with bird radar density. Moreover, bird flight speeds from both radars show good agreement in 78% of cases, and flight direction in 73% of cases. The usefulness of the existing network of weather radars for deducing information on bird migration offers a great opportunity for a European-wide monitoring network of bird migration. [source] Walnut Staminate Flowers Can Be Explored as a Supplementary Plant Oil SourceJOURNAL OF INTEGRATIVE PLANT BIOLOGY, Issue 4 2006Husen Jia Abstract Fossil fuel is currently the major energy source driving global socio-economy, but its stock is being heavily depleted due to increasing anthropogenic activities worldwide. There are also concerns regarding the burning of fossil fuels, which contributes to global climate warming and air pollution. As such, the development of biodiesel as a non-toxic, biodegradable, and renewable alternative energy source using oil crops such as soybean and rapeseed has quickly emerged in the West countries. However, the production of oil crops in China is far from sufficient to meet the demands of the country's population of 1.3 billion, and increasing oil crop production is inhibited by a severe shortage of agricultural land, which currently averages 0.2 acre per person and, as such, is less than half the world average. The current national policy in China regarding land use is more towards revering cultivated lands in ravins and hills to forestry, which presents an ideal opportunity to further develop plantations of walnut (Juglans regia L.) trees, a plant that is tolerant to drought and infertile soils and has a high oil content. Study in this paper shows that one ament of walnut staminate flowers produces about 0.168 g dry pollen, and the dry pollen contained 49.67% oil. Based on this discovery, oil yield obtained from staminate flowers is estimated to reach 6.95% of that from walnut nuts. Thus walnut staminate flower is suggested to explore as supplementary plant oil source, and has a great opportunity to utilize as a biodiesel feedstock. (Managing editor: Wei Wang) [source] Unlocking the Value of RFIDPRODUCTION AND OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT, Issue 1 2007Hau Lee RFID (Radio-Frequency Identification) technology has shown itself to be a promising technology to track movements of goods in a supply chain. As such, it can give unprecedented visibility to the supply chain. Such visibility can save labor cost, improve supply chain coordination, reduce inventory and increase product availability. Industry reports and white papers are now filled with estimates and proclamations of the benefits and quantified values of RFID. Early adopters are now rallying more and more followers. However, most such claims are educated guesses at best and are not substantiated, that is, they are not based on detailed, model-based analysis. This paper argues that there is a huge credibility gap of the value of RFID, and that a void exists in showing how the proclaimed values are arrived at, and how those values can be realized. The paper shows that this credibility gap must be filled with solid model analysis, and therefore presents a great opportunity for the Production and Operations Management (POM) research community. The paper reviews some of the ongoing research efforts that attempt to close the credibility gap, and suggests additional directions for further strengthening the POM's contribution to help industry realize the full potentials of RFID. [source] Performance and consistency of care in admitted trauma patients: our next great opportunity in trauma care?ANZ JOURNAL OF SURGERY, Issue 6 2009Wei Chong Chua Abstract Few studies have prospectively analysed the delivery of care in trauma patients. This study undertook a prospective analysis of performance and consistency of care at a Level 1 trauma centre. A 3-month prospective study was undertaken of all admitted trauma patients at Liverpool Hospital. Data were collected on patient demographics, mechanism of injury, injury severity score (ISS), length of hospital stay, patient outcome and cause of death. Delivery of care was evaluated using 30 performance indicators and assessment of errors. Two hundred and thirty-six consecutive major trauma patients were studied. 73.3% were male, mean age 39 years. The main mechanism of injury was road trauma in 46.2%. Mean ISS was 12 and 64 patients had an ISS ,16. Error-free care was delivered in 145/236 (61.4%). There were 145 errors in 91 patients (38.6%). Errors in judgement and delays in diagnosis accounted for 56/145 (38.6%) and 48/145 (33.1%), respectively. Errors occurred most commonly in the Emergency Department (ED) (48.3%), and trainees from all specialties were responsible for 67.5% of errors. There were 25 near misses detected. Three patients developed major sequelae or complications from errors. One of 13 deaths was deemed potentially preventable. This study has shown that while 61.4% of admitted trauma patients receive optimal care, errors are frequent, resulting in a spectrum of outcomes from near misses to death. The majority of errors result from the activity of unsupervised trainees and relate to errors in judgement and delays in diagnosis. Clearly, there is room for improvement of the delivery of trauma care. [source] International Year of Astronomy 2009ASTRONOMY & GEOPHYSICS, Issue 4 2007Ian Robson IYA2009 will be a great opportunity for all of us working in astronomy (and space) to make an impact; certainly locally and nationally and, we hope, globally. So what is going on and how can you participate? Ian Robson has the answers. [source] Piecewise analysis and modeling of circuit pack temperature cycling dataBELL LABS TECHNICAL JOURNAL, Issue 3 2006Toby Joyce Temperature cycling environmental stress testing (EST) of circuit packs is a standard test procedure for the precipitation of latent defects in order to minimize early product lifecycle customer returns. EST is an expensive, energy-intensive bottleneck in the manufacturing process, one that is based on empiricisms that may be out of date. This presents great opportunity for optimization and test cost reduction. This paper describes the characterization of temperature cycling through analysis and modeling of process data in order to optimize the test parameters,ramp rate, temperature extremes, dwell times, and number of cycles. Failure data from circuit packs tested at a Lucent facility is analyzed using a regression technique and graphical inspection. The dwell and ramp periods of the test are considered in a piecewise manner. A cost model is applied based on distributions fitted to the failure data. The analysis yields a methodology for the dynamic, value-based optimization of temperature cycling EST. © 2006 Lucent Technologies Inc. [source] | ||||||||||||||||