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BACKGROUND: There is little published research about managers’ views about implementing and embedding workplace health promotion interventions. OBJECTIVE: To shed light on research-to-practice challenges in implementing workplace health promotion interventions in the Australian road transport industry. METHODS: In this Participatory Action Research project, managers from small-to-midsized companies in the Australian road transport industry were asked their views about enablers and barriers to implementing nutrition and physical activity interventions in their workplace. RESULTS: Managers identified practical assistance with resources, ideas, and staffing as being key enablers to implementation. Barriers included time restraints, worker age and lack of interest, and workplace issues relating to costs and resources. CONCLUSION: Manager perspectives add new insights about successful implementation of workplace health promotion. A Participatory Action Research approach allows managers to develop their own ideas for adapting interventions to suit their workplace. These findings add to a small body of knowledge about managers’ views regarding implementing workplace health promotion in small-to-midsized road transport companies – a relatively unexplored group. Managers highlight the importance of time constraints and worker availability when designing interventions for the road transport industry. Managers require a good understanding of the workplaces’ socio-cultural context for successful health promotion and health behaviour change.

Purpose Workplaces are challenging environments which place workers at the risk of obesity. This is particularly true for Australian road transport industry workplaces. The Analysis Grid for Environments Linked to Obesity (ANGELO) framework is a public health tool which can be used to conceptualise obesogenic environments. It suggests that workplaces have a variety of roles (in the physical, economic, political and sociocultural domains) in responding to obesity in transport industry workplaces. The purpose of this paper is to present the findings which explore this idea. Design/methodology/approach The project used a mixed-methods approach located within a participatory action research framework, to engage workplace managers and truck drivers in the implementation and evaluation of workplace health promotion strategies. The project involved six transport industry workplaces in Queensland, Australia. Findings This study found that transport industry workplaces perceive themselves to have an important role in addressing the physical, economic, political and sociocultural aspects of obesity, as per the ANGELO framework. However, transport industry employees – specifically, truck drivers – do not perceive workplaces to have a major role in health; rather, they consider health to be an area of personal responsibility. Practical implications Balancing the competing perceptions of truck drivers and workplace managers about the workplace’s role in health promotion is an important consideration for future health promotion activities in this hard-to-reach, at-risk population. Originality/value The use of the ANGELO framework allows the conceptualisation of obesity in a novel workplace context.

Background Road trauma had been identified as the leading cause of work-related death in Australia. Research in general driving behaviours has shown that sensation seekers with high levels of thrill and adventure seeking traits are more likely to drive in a risky manner. However, thrill and adventure seeking has not been explicitly examined as a predictor of risky driving behaviour in work-related settings. Methodology Using a large sample of fleet drivers ( N = 892) from three Australian organisations, the current study examined the role of thrill and adventure seeking in predicting risky work-related driving behaviours and involvement in crash and traffic offence. Hardcopies and online version of the questionnaire were sent to the worksite measuring participants' demographic information, work driving exposure, thrill and adventure seeking trait, work-related risky driving behaviours, and self-reported crash and traffic offences in the past 12 months. Results The results indicated that thrill and adventure seeking was a significant predictor of risky work-related driving behaviours. However, thrill and adventure seeking did not significantly predict self-reported crashes and traffic offences. Conclusion The current study implies that dispositional characteristics, such as thrill and adventure seeking, should be considered when implementing interventions in fleet safety.

Research on concepts associated with risk management and theoretical frameworks associated with safety culture and safety citizenship behavior are reviewed, along with their practical application within the work driving safety setting. A model incorporating safety citizenship behavior as a complementary paradigm to safety culture is proposed. It is suggested that this model provides a theoretical framework to inform future research directions aimed at improving safety within the work driving setting.

Background: Workers in the road transport industry, and particularly truck drivers, are at increased risk of chronic diseases. Innovative health promotion strategies involving technologies such as social media may engage this “hard-to-reach” group. There is a paucity of evidence for the efficacy of social media technologies for health promotion in the Australian transport industry. Objective: This study analyzed qualitative data from interviews and focus group discussions to evaluate a social media health promotion intervention, the Truckin’ Healthy Facebook webpage, in selected Australian transport industry workplaces. Methods: We engaged 5 workplace managers and 30 truck drivers from 6 transport industry organizations in developing workplace health promotion strategies, including a social media intervention, within a Participatory Action Research approach. Mixed methods, including a pre- and postintervention manager survey, truck driver survey, key informant semistructured interviews, truck driver focus groups, and focused observation, were used to evaluate the social media intervention. We asked questions about workplace managers’ and truck drivers’ opinions, engagement, and satisfaction with the intervention. This paper focuses on qualitative data. Results: Of the workplace managers who reported implementing the social media intervention at their workplace, all (3/3, 100%) reported satisfaction with the intervention and expressed a keen interest in learning more about social media and how it may be used for workplace health promotion and other purposes. Truck drivers were poorly engaged with the intervention because (1) many believed they were the “wrong age” and lacked the necessary skills; (2) the cost of smartphone technology was prohibitive; (3) they confined their use of social media to nonwork-related purposes; and (4) many workplaces had “no Facebook” policies. Conclusions: The use of social media as a health promotion intervention in transport industry workplaces has potential. Workplace interventions using social media can benefit from a Participatory Action Research approach. Involving managers and workers in the design of social media health promotion interventions and developing strategies to support and deliver the interventions helps to facilitate their success. The workers’ profile, including their age and familiarity with social media, and work, workplace, and family context is important to consider in this process. Much more research needs to be undertaken to better understand the effective use of social media to engage “hard-to-reach” groups.

BACKGROUND Australia's mineral, resource and infrastructure sectors continues to expand as operations in rural and remote locations increasingly rely on fly-in, fly-out or drive-in, drive-out workforces in order to become economically competitive. The issues in effectively managing these workforces are becoming more apparent with reported high amounts of turnover and concerns for safety and performance. The issues presented include a range of physical, mental, psychosocial, safety and community challenges. OBJECTIVES This review aims to consolidate a range of research conducted to communicate potential challenges for industry in relation to a wide variety of issues when engaging and using FIFO/DIDO workforces which includes compressed working schedule design (work schedules), working hours, fatigue, safety performance, employee wellbeing, turnover, psychosocial relationships and community concerns. METHODS A comprehensive literature review was performed using EBSCOhost, PubMed and google scholar, with a focus on FIFO or DIDO workforces engaged within the resources sector. Search terms were kept broad in order to capture all national and international research conducted and included: "fly-in, fly-out" "FIFO" "DIDO" "drive-in, drive-out" "mining". There was no date restriction included in the search. RESULTS Many of the studies were focused on sleep quality, fatigue and the influence of lowered safety performance while at work, presenting an increased risk for health and safety. These issues may be exacerbated for the FIFO workforce when linked to additional research surrounding the extended periods of absence from families influencing workers personal relationships, psychological wellbeing, job satisfaction and the reported high amounts of turnover within the industry. Taken together, this presents a unique implication for the management and continued use of FIFO workforces when considering balancing safety and performance with economic viability of production and operations. CONCLUSIONS The issues of long working hours, fatigue, turnover and job satisfaction are not new to the management of workers. However, FIFO workforces appear to be at an increased risk physically and mentally due to a culmination of other influences, such as extended and frequent periods of absence from friends and families which contribute to feelings of isolation and lowered psychological wellbeing. FIFO workers and their families, engage in a unique lifestyle, rarely are other workers subjected to long hours and compressed work weeks while separated or isolated from their families for extended periods of time. Recently, FIFO interest has shifted to understanding the influences on employee engagement, satisfaction, retention and safety. Considering the management of FIFO workforces from a holistic perspective incorporating all of the issues impacting on these workers may assist to ensure the challenges associated with FIFO employment are understood, addressed and communicated to workers and their families is crucial for safety and health.

This paper discusses how a consistent treatment of asset markets may be integrated into standard trade-focussed CGE models. Starting from a core specification of the real economy, calibrated to data for Zambia in the mid-1990s, the paper examines the properties of a hierarchy of models which differ only in the specification of asset markets but subject to a common (negative) temporary fiscal shock.

Develops neoclassical theory for the case of developing countries with small, open economies, with weak domestic financial markets, subject to a variety of government controls and liable to periodic temporary shocks in their terms of trade. Investigates the properties of compatible control regimes, i.e., combinations of controls that yield sustainable, through typically not optimal, outcomes, and illustrates how the apparatus developed may be used to explore a variety of policy issues, including attempts at stabilization and liberalization of the economy. Analyzes the dynamics of unsustainable policy configurations, addressing the process by which a control regime becomes unsustainable as well as the process by which an economy can be returned to sustainability through the sequencing of liberalization policies. Develops a theory of temporary export windfalls under a variety of control regimes. Analyzes the Kenyan coffee boom of 1976-79 and the Tanzanian economic collapse of 1978-84, examining macroeconomic responses to a trade shock. Compares the experiences of both countries. Bevan is at St. John's College, Oxford University. Collier is at Oxford University and the Centre for the Study of African Economies. Gunning is at the Free University, Amsterdam. Index.

Provides a comparative analysis of the economic development of Indonesia and Nigeria over the period 1950-85, to learn why equitable growth took place in Indonesia but not in Nigeria after 1972, though the two countries ostensibly had similar opportunities. Studies the case of Nigeria, covering the colonial period; the period from independence to chaos, 1960-66; civil war and reconstruction, 1966-73; the first oil cycle, 1973-79; the second oil cycle, 1979-87; economic growth and living standards, 1950-92; factor and product markets; and government finance and the political economy of public policy. Explains the outcomes of choices made for Nigeria. Examines the case of Indonesia, discussing the colonial period; parliamentary democracy, 1950-57; guided democracy, 1957-66; stabilization and the New Order, 1966-73; the first oil boom, 1973-79; the second oil cycle, 1979-88; long-term trends in poverty and equity; factor and product markets; and government finance and public policy. Compares policies and outcomes for income distribution and economic growth in the two countries, and examines why policies themselves differed between the two countries. Bevan is at Oxford University. Collier is with the Development Research Group of the World Bank. Gunning is with the Center for the Study of African Economies, Oxford University. Index.

Reversing vehicle incidents is a significant but often overlooked issues in organisations. Utilising three Australian organisations, this study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of reversing aids and a behaviour-change program in reducing reversing-related crashes in fleet settings. Reversing-related incidents increased from Time 1 to Time 2 in the organisation that did not implement a specific strategy to reduce their reversing-related crashes and in the organisation that implemented the reversing aids intervention. However, the increase was only statistically significant in the organisation that utilised the reversing aids technology. In this organisation, the odds of its drivers getting involved in a reversing incident has almost doubled from Time 1 and Time 2. In contrast, the frequency of reversing incidents in the organisation implementing the behaviour-change program has significantly decreased, with less than 50 % chance of its drivers being involved in a reversing incident from Time 1 to Time 2. The implications associated with these results will be discussed.

One of the expected effects of climate change is a change in the magnitudes of extreme temperatures. This effect is likely to be pronounced on the Canadian Prairies, which experience a continental climate. This study investigates the extreme minimum temperatures of the winter season at rural or small urban prairie locations, having long periods of record. For each winter month, daily minima are analysed for the number of occurrences of temperatures colder than two standard deviations from the mean minimum for the month. A Mann‐Kendall nonparametric test for the trend is then applied to the counts obtained for the period of record in order to test the significance of the results. Following this, a spatial analysis of each month's trend is carried out using inverse distance weighting. During January and February it was found that there was a significant trend towards fewer occurrences of very cold minimum daily temperature during the period 1914–94. This is especially noticeable in western portions...

Climate Change is anticipatedto result in alterations in cyclone activity over the northern hemisphere. Cyclones in their passage across the open prairie of western Canada spawn one of the more extreme weather events that occur in that part of the country; blizzards. Numerous studies of individual blizzards are available. The objective of this study of blizzards is to identify trends in their seasonal occurrence, in seasonal blizzard weather element extremes, and discuss the results in the context of climate change. Criteria used in western Canada to define a blizzard event during the period of study were applied to the archive of hourly weather data for locations within the Prairie Ecozone. Blizzard events were extracted for the period 1953–1997 and analyzed for trends in seasonal occurrence. Results of this analysis are presented which illustrate a significant downward trend for weather observing locations in the more westerly part of the prairies. This trend is consistent with results found by others that indicate a decrease in cyclone frequency over western Canada. No significant trend was found in the more central and eastern locations. No significant trend was evident in seasonal extremes of blizzard weather elements at most locations.

A concept of tunable electric-LC (ELC) resonators is presented in this work. The voltage-controlled tunability is achieved by using liquid crystal in a micro-fluidic channel running through the central capacitive gaps. To attain the largest tunability, the structure is optimized through a parametric analysis using full-wave electromagnetic simulations. The simulation results predict a 6% continuous frequency tuning for this ELC resonator around the frequency of 4.5 GHz. The achieved results demonstrate the possibility of using these ELC resonators in an array to form a tunable frequency selective surfaces (FSS). The principle can be scaled for operation at higher microwave frequencies, where the dissipation of liquid crystal is low.

An overview of liquid crystal technology for microwave and millimeter-wave frequencies is presented. The potential of liquid crystals as reconfigurable materials arises from their ability for continuous tuning with low power consumption, transparency, and possible integration with printed and flexible circuit technologies. This paper describes physical theory and fundamental electrical properties arising from the anisotropy of liquid crystals and overviews selected realized liquid crystal devices, throughout four main categories: resonators and filters, phase shifters and delay lines, antennas, and, finally, frequency-selective surfaces and metamaterials.

Fast probability integration (FPI) algorthms are adapted, extended and used to perform nuclear engineering uncertainty analyses. Methods are presented to improve the efficiency and precision of FPI for frequently encountered input distributions, to permit quick estimates of extreme model output quantiles and to provide appropriate sensitivity and uncertainty importance measures. Advantages and disadvantages of FPI as a stand-alone method are explored in two demonstration applications. FPI is first applied to estimate extreme (0.95, 0.99, 0.999 and 0.9999) quantiles of the frequency of a dominant station blackout accident. Sensitivity measures are quantified to indicate how the relative importance of each model input changes at progressively more extreme output quantiles. FPI is next applied to analyze uncertainties in fire damage times predicted by compbrn iiie . Alternative FPI-based uncertainty importance measures are compared and shown to consistently rank the input contributions to the output uncertainty. FPI results are compared with results obtained from Monte Carlo sampling to demonstrate the computational advantage that clearly favors FPI, especially at the more extreme output quantiles. In a third application, Latin hypercube sampling (LHS) is combined with FPI to determine extreme quantiles of peak cladding temperature during the blowdown phase of a large-break loss of coolant accident as modeled by trac-pfi/mod2 . The 0.95 quantile peak cladding temperature is reproducibly determined to within 2 K in one LHS-FPI iteration, which is based on only 21 trac-pfi/mod2 runs. To demonstrate convergence for a more extreme case, LHS-FPI is also applied to estimate the 0.999 quantile peak cladding temperature. In each LHS-FPI iteration a final code run is performed to assure that the code-calculated peak cladding temperature agrees with that predicted by LHS-FPI at the most probable point. Importance measures are quantified at this point to identify dominant input-output relationships. Compared with past code scaling, applicability and uncertainty (CSAU) analyses, LHS-FPI offers a significant reduction in the number of best-estimate code runs required while providing additional checks and insights.

The characterization of a tunable band-pass filter based on stepped-impedance resonator (SIR) is presented in this work. The designed filter uses a half-wavelength resonator patch above a multi-layer substrate, with liquid crystal as its central layer, making it continuously tunable at frequencies around S-band. Two liquid crystal samples are considered for three different approaches: lumped-element circuit simulation, full-wave electromagnetic simulations and prototype measurements. The results demonstrate the possibility of using a simple lumped-element circuit simulation for rapid calculation of the performances of liquid crystal devices at microwave frequencies.

Liquid crystals have potential applications in the design of tunable microwave devices. Polyimide films are commonly incorporated in designs to achieve reproducible molecule alignment in the unbiased state. In this investigation two separate resonator elements are designed and investigated: One is fabricated with polyimide layers and one without. Experimental results obtained with a patch resonator illustrate that about half of the maximum tuning range is achieved without polyimide layers. Since substrates able to sustain a temperature range of 180–300 °C are required for the polyimide film curing process, avoiding polyimide enables using even lower heat resistant substrates for various tunable microwave applications and can lead to faster fabrication processes.

Vitamin B₁₂ is found almost exclusively in animal-based foods and is therefore a nutrient of potential concern for those following a vegetarian or vegan diet. Vegans, and anyone who significantly limits intake of animal-based foods, require vitamin B₁₂-fortified foods or supplements. Vitamin B₁₂ deficiency has several stages and may be present even if a person does not have anaemia. Anyone following a vegan or vegetarian diet should have their vitamin B₁₂ status regularly assessed to identify a potential problem. A useful process for assessing vitamin B₁₂ status in clinical practice is the combination of taking a diet history, testing serum vitamin B₁₂ level and testing homocysteine, holotranscobalamin II or methylmalonic acid serum levels. Pregnant and lactating vegan or vegetarian women should ensure an adequate intake of vitamin B₁₂ to provide for their developing baby. In people who can absorb vitamin B₁₂, small amounts (in line with the recommended dietary intake) and frequent (daily) doses appear to be more effective than infrequent large doses, including intramuscular injections. Fortification of a wider range of foods products with vitamin B₁₂, particularly foods commonly consumed by vegetarians, is likely to be beneficial, and the feasibility of this should be explored by relevant food authorities.

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Defective hemostasis in haemophilia patients with FVIII inhibitors results in a dramatic decrease in thrombin generation forming unstable fibrin clots that are susceptible to fibrinolyisis. In this study we tested whether the combination of plasma derived activated prothrombin complex concentrate (pd-aPCC) with tranexamic acid (TXA) may improve fibrin clot stability in FVIII inhibitor plasma. A microplate assay for clot lysis time was used to assess clot stability in FVIII inhibitor plasma. The effect of pd-aPCC on clot stability was first tested using the commercial FVIII inhibitor plasma. TXA (5 ~ 10 mg mL⁻¹) increased clot lysis time, but pd-aPCC (0.25 ~ 1.0 U mL⁻¹) had no effect on it. The combination of pd-aPCC and TXA significantly increased clot lysis time compared with TXA alone. The effect appeared to be limited to fibrin clot resistance to fibrinolysis, as TXA was found to have no effect on thrombin generation induced by pd-aPCC. The effect of pd-aPCC and TXA on clot stability was then tested and verified in plasma samples from ten patients with severe haemophilia A and inhibitors. The combination of TXA (10 mg mL⁻¹) and pd-aPCC (0.5 U mL⁻¹) significantly increased clot lysis time compared to TXA alone. Our results suggest that the combination of pd-aPCC with TXA improves clot stability in FVIII inhibitor plasma without additional increases in thrombin generation.

Two 6 GHz microstrip patch antennas made from conducting polymers with relatively low DC conductivity such as PEDOT (10000 S/m) and PPy (2000 S/m) are presented. The performance of these patch antennas is compared with a similar copper patch antenna. The results indicate that it is possible to obtain reasonable performance albeit with modest radiation efficiencies. The PEDOT antenna achieved a maximum gain of 2.2 dB, while the PPy antenna reached a gain of 3.8 dB, as against 6.0 dB for a corresponding Cu patch antenna The results confirm the potential of polymer materials for microwave antennas and suggest that CPs may be of use in other passive microwave circuit applications.

Getsinger's Longitudinal Section Electric model describing the propagation characteristics of a single layer microstrip line is modified to cater for ‘n’ layers. An accurate closed-form expression for two and three layered structures is presented and validated against full-wave numerical results. The computed effective permittivity for a randomly selected two and three layer dielectric microstrip line is presented. In the selected examples, for the modified Getsinger model, the dispersion of effective permittivity is within 2–3% relative error for two-layer and within 6–7% relative error for three-layer dielectric microstrip lines for frequency up to 50 GHz. In contrast, for the same structures, the relative errors in previously reported works are above 10% for two layers and above 15% for three-layer dielectric substrates.

Limitations to current long range weather radars include reduced coverage of the lower atmosphere, coarse cross range resolution and coarse temporal resolution due to the mechanical scanning. A proposed network of low cost, short range digital radars for monitoring hydrometeor phenomena is described and its potential benefit in providing lower atmospheric coverage is discussed. The benefits of replacing the scanning antenna at each node of the network with a phased array are also discussed.

th Generation Flash Ladar system which produces real-time, 3-dimensional (3D) video in all lighting conditions has been demonstrated to be a significant enabler to enhance the mission capabilities of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). These new capabilities include enhanced Intelligence, Reconnaissance and Surveillance (ISR), Automated Target Recognition (ATR), improved situational awareness, GPS denied (terrain relative) navigation, 3D surface mapping, surface change detection (detection of buried improvised explosive devices), camouflage penetration, autonomous aerial refueling and autonomous landing. Ball Aerospace 5 th Generation Flash Ladar system has benefited from over 6 years of development, is compact, modular, and has been demonstrated to be easily integrated and flight-tested on both fixed-wing and rotorcraft with different optical configurations. This paper presents the results of airborne test activities and sample imagery of our 5 th Generation system and discusses options for repackaging and integrating the system into UAV platforms. I. Introduction all Aerospace has significant experience in providing ladar systems for remote sensing applications. NASA’s CALIPSO lidar was built by Ball and has celebrated a number of operational milestones, including an extension of the 3-year initial mission lifetime and over 1 billion laser firings and associated atmospheric measurements. Further, Ball Aerospace is developing the flash ladar navigation system for NASA’s space exploration missions. These programs leverage Ball’s extensive understanding of ladar systems, real time image processing algorithms, guidance, navigation and control algorithms, laser system engineering, and the phenomenology being exploited. 1

A Microstrip Patch Antenna (MPA) has been fabricated using a Conducting Polymer (CP), Polypyrrole (PPy) as radiating patch on a transparent 3mm thick Plexiglas™ substrate. The bulk DC conductivity of the PPy patch is 2000 S/m and its thickness 120 µm. The MPA was designed for operating at 2 GHz. A similar antenna with Copper (Cu) patch on Plexiglas™ was also fabricated for validating the simulation of PPy antenna and comparing its performance. The results show that the PPy antenna reaches a gain of 5.01 dB at 2.18 GHz as against 6.26 dB at 2.2 GHz for a corresponding Cu patch antenna. The conduction efficiency of Cu-patch antenna is around 80% while that of PPy-patch antenna is around 60%. The results suggest that it might be possible to use CPs in other passive microwave circuit applications.

Radio frequency identification (RFID) systems are part of modern life. They are revolutionizing the way companies run their businesses, cars pay tolls and employees access an office in a building. RFID devices are also making their way quickly into other industries including health care where they are used in remote of monitoring equipment, as tiny chips that identify items in inventory, or are even embedded in surgical sponges for tracking during an operation. Although in many regions RFID regulations are very strict and operators must adhere to the standard, the unpredictable environmental effects on radio propagation can change the way that these devices operate. This paper offers a review of important EMC information relevant to RFID system deployment. It also examines the sources of error in simulations reported in some other publications.

Crash data involving taxis indicates that such drivers are over represented in crashes and are one to two times more likely to be involved in a fatality crash. This study reports on the pre intervention survey to provide a baseline measure of the self-reported attitudes and corresponding driving behaviours of a sample of taxi drivers. Results indicate that some taxi drivers willingly admit to engaging in unsafe driving practices. In addition, preliminary results of a post intervention survey revealed that taxi drivers’ safety perceptions, attitude and behaviours improved after completing a Driving Diary intervention.

Sparse array imaging systems (developed in ultra sound medical imaging) using a co array can be deployed on small UAVs to eliminate grating lobes on a wideband radar. This allows the use of thin film antennas under the aircraft wing using a split transmit and receive aperture. Simulations show side lobes equivalent to an array of 2 times the linear dimension. Apodization reduces sidelobes to -100 dB, but a secondary lobe is apparent at 0.5-0.8 π. Z transform apodization will reduce the secondary lobe. It can be eliminated entirely using sub kernel convolution with the Z transform. (5 pages)

Radar requirements differ from commercial Radio-Over-Fibre (ROF) systems. High signal to noise ratio (SNR) and spurious free dynamic range (SFDR) in a photonic beam forming architecture are paramount. The architecture described in this paper uses phase modulation to overcome previous limitations. It provides high SNR, low-distortion mixing, enabling optical systems to be used in radar, beamforming and similar applications. (5 pages)

Toolmaking is an industry that creates metal moulds, generally of durable tool steels, for producing vacuum-formed and injection moulded plastic parts, which are used in thousands of everyday items such as mobile phones. At present toolmaking is labour intensive with each machining operation requiring manual supervision. The FASTOOL project was a European Union funded collaboration that was aimed at reducing the manpower content of mould toolmaking, and extending the working day. This paper focuses on one element which utilised specially created scheduling and control software that operated an automated overhead gantry system and could remotely start the workshop machines. The software was completely object oriented which allows future proofing by creating new objects for new machines. The results demonstrate that this manufacturing process can be automated, leading to better working conditions for employees and an increase in efficiency and profitability.

Contemporary policy debates on the macroeconomics of aid often concentrate on short-run Dutch disease effects, ignoring the possible supply side impact of aid— financed public expenditure. We develop a simple model of aid and public expenditure in which public infrastructure capital generates an inter-temporal productivity spillover for both tradable and non-tradable sectors, where these productivity effects may display sector-specific biases. The model also allows for non-homothetic demands. We then use an extended version of this model, calibrated to contemporary conditions in Uganda, to simulate the effect of a step increase in net aid flows. Our simulations show that beyond the short-run, where Dutch disease effects are present, the relationship between enhanced aid flows, real exchange rates and welfare is less straightforward than simple models of aid suggest. We show that public infrastructure which generates a productivity bias in favour of non-tradable production delivers the largest aggregate return to aid, with the real exchange rate appreciation reduced or reversed and enhanced export performance, but it does so at the cost of a deterioration in the income distribution. Income gains accrue predominantly to urban skilled and unskilled households, leaving the rural poor relatively worse off. Under plausible parameterizations of the model the rural poor may also be worse off in absolute terms.

We introduce the Network Photonics' Crosswave as the first commercially-available, MEMS-based wavelength selective switch. The CrossWave combines the functionality of signal demultiplexing, switching and re-multiplexing in a single all-optical operation using a dispersive element and 1-D MEMS. 1-D MEMS, where micronurrors are configured in a single array with a single mirror per wavelength, are fabricated in a standard surface micromachining process. In this paper we present three generations of micromirror designs. With proper design optimization and process improvements we have demonstrated exceptional mirror flatness (

Probably the most enduring result in the theory of optimum income taxation is that, for a sufficiently thin upper tail to the skill distribution, the marginal tax rate should fall rather than rise with income. This paper shows that this result is highly sensitive to a very strong informational assumption, namely that earnings exactly reflect a worker's contribution to output. While the formal structure of the optimum problem is altered only slightly when earnings are allowed to be less than perfectly correlated with productivity, the shape of the optimum schedule is very sensitive to this relaxation. For high but imperfect correlation, optimum schedules look rather like those traditionally chosen by governments, with the marginal rate rising over high incomes and possibly U-shaped over the whole distribution.

We describe 21 patients with severe and life-threatening autoimmune cytopenias resistant to standard immunosuppression who were treated with the monoclonal antibody Campath-1H. Four patients had autoimmune neutropenia, four had autoimmune haemolytic anaemia, four had pure red cell aplasia, one had immune thrombocytopenia purpura (ITP), three had autoimmune haemolytic anaemia and ITP (Evan's syndrome), three had autoimmune pancytopenia (ITP, autoimmune neutropenia and autoimmune haemolytic anaemia), one had ITP (associated with acquired Glanzmann's disease) and autoimmune neutropenia, and one had ITP and red cell aplasia. Campath-1H was administered at a dose of 10 mg/d as an intravenous infusion for 10 d. Responses were seen in 15 patients, which were sustained in six. Relapse occurred in eight patients after Campath-1H treatment. Patients entering the study later, received cyclosporine after Campath-1H in an attempt to reduce the incidence of relapse. Three patients received a second course of Campath-1H; all responded but later relapsed. Fourteen patients are alive at a median of 12 months (range 4-61) after Campath-1H. Campath-1H represents an alternative therapeutic option for severe, refractory autoimmune cytopenias.