This study explores the use of environmental management systems for initiating and controlling environmental improvements in the context of supply chain cooperation. It examines how environmental requirements are reaching smaller companies in the electronics supply chain, especially in the light of recent legal changes such as enforcement of the RoHS Directive. It is based on qualitative interview

Loss of the JunB/AP-1 transcription factor induces a myeloproliferative disease (MPD) arising from the hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) compartment. Here, we show that junB inactivation deregulates the cell-cycle machinery and increases the proliferation of long-term repopulating HSCs (LT-HSCs) without impairing their self-renewal or regenerative potential in vivo. We found that JunB loss destabilize

LiBH4 is one of the promising candidates for hydrogen storage materials because of its high gravimetric and volumetric hydrogen capacity. However, its high dehydrogenation temperature and limited reversibility has been a hurdle for its use in real applications. In an effort to overcome this barrier and to adjust the thermal stability, we make a composite system LiBH4-Ca(BH4)(2). In order to fully

A radiocarbon-dated sediment sequence from Lake Berkut in the southern part of the Kola Peninsula, northwest Russia, was investigated by means of midge analysis in order to reconstruct the Holocene climatic and environmental history of the region. Past mean July air temperatures at the study site and hypolimnetic oxygen contents of the lake water were inferred from chironomid-based transfer functi

Introduction Manual interpretation of immunohistochemistry (IHC) is a subjective, time-consuming and variable process, with an inherent intra-observer and inter-observer variability. Automated image analysis approaches offer the possibility of developing rapid, uniform indicators of IHC staining. In the present article we describe the development of a novel approach for automatically quantifying o

Using bicontinuous microemulsions as templates opens a new field for the design of novel structures and thus novel materials, but has significant challenges due to the very small composition and temperature windows in which microemulsions are bicontinuous. In previous work we had shown that we can take a ternary base system (water-n-dodecane-C13/15E5), add monomer and cross-linker (N-isopropylacry

We followed-up for mortality and cancer incidence 1088 healthy non-smokers from a population-based study, who were characterized for 22 variants in 16 genes involved in DNA repair pathways. Follow-up was 100% complete. The association between polymorphism and mortality or cancer incidence was analyzed using Cox Proportional Hazard regression models. Ninety-five subjects had died in a median follow

Background A growing body of evidence suggests that migration is a risk factor for the development of schizophrenia, although the putative mechanism remains obscure. Aims To examine immigrant background and history of foreign residence as risk factors for schizophrenia. Method Using data from the Danish Civil Registration System, we established a population-based cohort of 2.14 million persons r

Superporous agarose beads contain both normal diffusion pores and special, very wide superpores through which part of the chromatographic flow is transported, a situation that may greatly improve the chromatographic performance. For the first time such pore flow was measured directly by following the movement of microparticles (dyed yeast cells) through superporous beads packed in a chromatographi

Empirical evidence for changed timing of migration in birds is emerging from both American and Euro-African migration systems. These changes are usually interpreted as a consequence of changes in climate. Responses in timing of migration and breeding may differ among species, and the adaptive significance is not well understood. There is a lack of theoretical understanding about time-shifts in lif

This paper presents the state of the art of PID control and reflectson its future. Particular issues discussed include specifications,stability, design, applications, and performance of PID control. Thepaper ends with a discussion of alternatives to PID and its future.

Resuscitation with pure oxygen at birth after fetal asphyxia may aggravate brain damage by inducing pro-inflammation. The toll-like receptors (TLRs) may serve a pro-inflammatory role in hyperoxemia during ischemia-reperfusion. Sixteen near-term fetal sheep (132-136 d) were subjected to 10 min of cord occlusion, delivery and mechanical ventilation with 100% O-2 (n = 8), or 21% O-2 (n = 8) for 30 mi

This article presents a stress analysis of a saw tooth. The analysis aims to determine the stress distribution for various egde load and varying microgeometry. The analysis is performed on a three-dimensional finite element model representing the tip of a saw tooth. The 3D model makes it possible to model the load distribution and study stress distributions across the width of the teeth with a suf

BACKGROUND: Fibreoptic laryngotracheoscopy via the laryngeal mask airway-previously reported in adults but not in children-gives a better endoscopic view of the upper airway than does endoscopy via an endotracheal tube. METHOD: The endoscopic procedure was carried out via a size 2 laryngeal mask in 4 spontaneously breathing children between 1 and 6 years old. Anaesthesia was induced and maintained

We present a simple correlation-corrected density functional treatment of dispersions containing macroions, where these are assumed to interact via screened Coulomb potentials, as given by Debye-Hückel theory. A straightforward mean-field description even fails to qualitatively capture important correlation effects displayed by such systems. However, if an effective, correlation-corrected potentia

Degradation of the dry semiarid ecosystems in the Mu Us Sandy Land of north central China was explored using high-resolution satellite images from 1978, 1987 and 1996. This study monitored both changes in grassland biomass production and reclamation activities to detect the nature and scale of land degradation since major economic reforms were introduced in 1978. The position of the high-resolutio

In this study the self-diffusion of different species in highly concentrated water-in-oil emulsions was investigated by means of the NMR diffusometry approach. The emulsions contained 96% aqueous solutions of salt or other additives; hept ne was used as the oil phase. The surfactants, used to stabilize the emulsion, were soybean phosphatidylcholine and C12EO4. The water drops were about 1.5 mum in