UNLABELLED Additional non-English language abstract (in Dutch) BACKGROUND A properly conducted surgical informed consent process (SIC) allows patients to authorize an invasive procedure with full comprehension of relevant information including involved risks. Current practice of SIC may differ from the ideal situation. The aim of this study is to evaluate whether SIC practiced by Dutch genera...

Mullite–SiC nanocomposites are synthesized by introducing surface modified sol–gel mullite coated SiC particles in the matrix and densification and associated microstructural features of such precursor are reported. Nanosize SiC (average size 180 nm) surface was first provided with a mullite precursor coating which was characterized by the X-ray analysis and TEM. An average coating thickness of...

A comprehensive molecular dynamics study to shed light on the existence of SiC based cage nanostruc-tures Si m C n , together with their stability, structural and other properties, in the range of compositions with n/(n + m) from 0.4 to 0.6 has been carried out using an efficient semi-empirical Hamiltonian scheme. Through this study, a series of self-assembled stable (even up to 2000 K) SiC bas...

Due to its desirable material properties, Silicon Carbide (SiC) has become an alternative material to replace Si for Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS) applications in harsh environments. To promote SiC MEMS development towards future cost-effective products, main technology areas in material deposition and processes have attracted significant interest. The developments in these areas have c...

The subcarriers of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems may fail to keep orthogonal to each other under timevarying channels. The loss of orthogonality among the subcarriers will degrade the system performace, and this effect is named intercarrier interference (ICI). In this paper, a Wiener-based successive interference cancellation (SIC) scheme is proposed to detect the OF...

A survey was conducted with 568 adolescent children (average age 13) to investigate the possible effects upon perceptions of health warnings when cigarettes are presented in plain packaging. A measure of unaided recall was used to reflect participants' attention to the assortment of cues presented on cigarette packs. The presentation of health warnings in the context of plain packs achieved a s...

Recent research efforts in growth of 3C-SiC are reviewed. Sublimation growth is addressed with an emphasis on the enhanced understanding of polytype stability in relation to growth conditions, such as supersaturation and Si/C ratio. It is shown that at low temperature/supersaturation spiral 6H-SiC growth is favored, which prepares the surface for 3C-SiC nucleation. Provided the supersaturation ...

The paper presents a model developed for numerical simulation of temperature dependence of a hypothetical Si and SiC diode and BJT current-voltage characteristics. A classical Si PN wide-base diode model and an E-M BJT model are used with SiC semiconductor-specific parameters. Intrinsic carrier concentrations, carrier mobility temperature and doping concentration dependence are calculated for b...

Complex life cycles have evolved independently numerous times in marine animals as well as in disparate algae. Such life histories typically involve a dispersive immature stage followed by settlement and metamorphosis to an adult stage on the sea floor. One commonality among animals exhibiting transitions of this type is that their larvae pass through a 'precompetent' period in which they do no...