Information technology and computer-based decision support in diabetic management

This paper describes the application of computer-based techniques within an intelligent, knowledge-based framework to the management of diabetes. The objectives are to structure data collection and storage so that the relevant patient-specific data are collected and made accessible as needed, and to provide clinical decision support on either a day-by-day or longer timescale as appropriate; these objectives relating to both hospital clinic and general practice. For longer-term management, a prototype rule set (greater than 500 rules) has been developed (coded in Sigma PROLOG), validated and tested on patient data. The data collection programs (written in SCULPTOR) to feed the ruleset have been tested in the hospital clinic and compared with the resident data collection system for usability, and impact on the running of the clinic. Links between the data collection programs and the ruleset program have been written and tested. The computer system will also incorporate a module, combining knowledge-based advisory system and glucose/insulin model as patient simulator, that can be tested as a potential decision aid for adjusting insulin dosage on a daily basis.     

Willing to pay for quality personalization? Trade-off between quality and privacy

Online personalization presents recommendations of products and services based on customers’ past online purchases or browsing behavior. Personalization applications reduce information overload and provide value-added services. However, their adoption is hindered by customers’ concerns about information privacy. This paper reports on research undertaken to determine whether a high-quality recommendation service will encourage customers to use online personalization. We collected data through a series of online experiments to examine the impacts of privacy and quality on personalization usage and on users’ willingness to pay and to disclose information when using news and financial services. Our findings suggest that under certain circumstances, perceived personalization quality can outweigh the impact of privacy concerns. This implies that service providers can improve the perceived quality of personalization services being offered in order to offset customer privacy concerns. Nevertheless, the impact of perceived quality on personalization usage is weaker for customers who have experienced privacy invasion in the past. The results show that customers who are likely to use online personalization are also likely to pay for the service. This finding suggests that, despite privacy concerns, there is an opportunity for businesses to monetize high-quality personalization.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">In situ</Emphasis> grazing-incidence small-angle X-ray scattering observation of block-copolymer templated formation of magnetic nanodot arrays and their magnetic properties

The fabrication of bit-patterned media (BPM) is crucial for new types of hard disk drives.The development of methods for the production of BPM is progressing rapidly.Conventional lithography reaches the limit regarding lateral resolution,and new routes are needed.In this study,we mainly focus on the dependence of the size and shape of magnetic nanodots on the Ar+-ion etching duration,using silica dots as masks.Two-dimensional (2D) arrays of magnetic nanostructures are created using silica-filled diblock-copolymer micelles as templates.After the self-assembly of the micelles into 2D hexagonal arrays,the polymer shell is removed,and the SiO2 cores are utilized to transform the morphology into a (Co/Pt)2-multilayer via ion etching under normal incidence.The number of preparation steps is kept as low as possible to simplify the formation of the nanostructure arrays.High-resolution in situ grazing-incidence small-angle X-ray scattering (GISAXS) investigations are performed during the Ar+-ion etching to monitor and control the fabrication process.The in situ investigation provides information on how the etching conditions can be improved for further ex situ experiments.The GISAXS patterns are compared with simulations.We observe that the dots change in shape from cylindrical to conical during the etching process.The magnetic behavior is studied by utilizing the magneto-optic Kerr effect.The Co/Pt dots exhibit different magnetic behaviors depending on their size,interparticle distance,and etching time.They show ferromagnetism with an easy axis of magnetization perpendicular to the film.A systematic dependence of the coercivity on the dot size is observed.     

Load-carrying capacity prediction of single rods glued into cross-laminated timber

European Journal of Wood and Wood Products - Timber engineering is currently crossing new frontiers in terms of performance, as illustrated by the increasing number of high-rise buildings. This has...     

Life cycle assessment of H2 generation with high temperature electrolysis

Water electrolysis is a well-established process for hydrogen production but requires efficiency improvements to reduce costs. High temperature electrolysis (HTE) as a means to higher efficiency was advanced in the EU project RelHY. Through Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), also the environmental performance of five HTE-based hydrogen production systems was evaluated: operation with power and steam from a nuclear plant, continuous and intermittent operation with wind power and water, intermittent operation with natural gas or biogas reforming as back-up. Large scale natural gas reforming (NGR) was used as a reference. The LCA aims to identifying environmental hotspots of HTE plants and comparing their operation. The results show that stack manufacturing has the strongest impact during construction of the HTE plant while the impacts during H₂ production are largely due to power supply. All HTE variants studied lead to less life cycle CO₂-equivalent emissions than NGR. However, only the wind powered HTE variants without back-up use less energy than NGR. The other impacts and flows show different patterns. The results and limitations of the study are discussed.     

Thermal stability of the engineered interfaces in Wf/W composites

Application of tungsten as a structural material is severely restricted due to its inherent brittleness. Recently, a novel toughening method for tungsten was proposed by the authors using tungsten wires as reinforcement. The idea is analogous to the fiber-reinforced ceramic–matrix composites theory which utilizes the internal energy dissipation caused by the debonding and frictional sliding at the fiber/matrix interfaces to absorb strain energy and to redistribute stress concentrations over an extended volume. To maximize the energy dissipation, the interfaces need to be engineered by coating which can withstand thermal exposure during service. In this work, we studied the thermal stability of various interfacial coatings after heat treatment. Microstructural change and the effect on mechanical properties were investigated by means of electron microscopy and fiber push-out tests. The results show that the microstructural phases of the analyzed interfaces remained relatively stable under thermal exposure of 800 °C for 10 h. Under such thermal exposure, the fracture energy of the Er/W multilayer and the ZrO _x /Zr multilayer were affected by less than 10%, while it was increased by 40% for the ZrO _x /W bilayer. The fracture energy of the C/W dual layer was decreased by a factor of 4, whereas for the Cu/W multilayer case it was increased by a factor of 2.