DDD Group plc (LSE:DDD) has announced that it has integrated DDD’s TriDef 3D content solutions with SANYO Electric Company’s (”SANYO”) new 2D/3D switchable “glasses-free” 3D LCD displays. SANYO is showcasing its 8″ and 40″ multi-viewer 3D LCD displays at the CeBIT show from March 18th to the 24th 2004. CeBIT ranks as the world’s leading showcase for information technologies and telecommunications.

The SANYO CeBIT demonstration will include music videos and Hollywood movie clips converted from 2D to 3D using DDD’s patented conversion technologies and played back with DDD’s TriDef Movie Player. In addition, still images converted from 2D to 3D using DDD’s TriDef Photo Transformer will be played utilizing the TriDef Photo Viewer.

Mr. Hideyuki Kanayama, Principal Researcher for SANYO’s 3D Project, said, “DDD’s software and content solutions are one of the best we have seen. We are very pleased with the results of the combination of our respective technologies. We believe there are many opportunities for the use of our displays in the retail world. DDD’s market leading 3D conversion and presentation software is a valuable component to help us secure customers by offering a complete content and display package.”

Chris Yewdall, Chief Executive of DDD, added, “We are delighted that SANYO has elected to use DDD’s TriDef suite of tools and 3D content at CeBIT. The new multi-viewer switchable 2D/3D SANYO LCD displays fill a gap in the 3D display market and will be well received by our customers, particularly in retail advertising and promotion. Our relationship with SANYO further underlines the role that DDD is playing in delivering high quality content solutions for professional and consumer users in the growing market for 3D displays.”

From the Final Report of the Task Force on Guidelines for OPAC Displays in May 2005, this handbook provides common international practices for displays designed by librarians of general collections in the humanities, social sciences, and pure and applied sciences. The standards serve to facilitate public use from catalog to catalog. Focusing on authority and bibliographic information, the guidelines are divided into principles and recommendations, based on user needs, content, arrangement, and standardization, with examples of screen shots. There is no index.

MAX[R] II EPM240, EPM570, and EPM1270 are available in 100- and 256-pin, 0.5 mm Micro FineLine BGA[R] (MBGA) packages or 100-pin, 1.0 mm FineLine BGA (FBGA) package to meet form-factor and power capabilities needed by portable systems. MBGA packages suit applications requiring high I/O count per board area to interface with LCD displays, keypads, flash, or memory. Along with power-down capability, features include high logic density, on-chip voltage regulator, and internal oscillator.

New Ultra-Small Packages Offer 50 Percent Lower Cost and 50 Percent Lower Power Than Competing Devices

San Jose, Calif., July 10, 2006-Altera Corporation (NASDAQ:ALTR) today announced it has expanded the MAX[R] II device family to address the growing portable applications market. With new ultra-small packages, a new power-down capability and the lowest cost in the industry, MAX II devices offer designers of handheld applications half the cost and power of competing products. Altera[R] MAX II CPLDs meet the small form-factor package and low power capabilities needed by designers of portable systems such as point-to-multipoint (PMP) systems, barcode scanners, PDAs and handheld sensors.

“After evaluating a number of component solutions, we determined that MAX II devices were the best fit for our Multiple Integrated Laser Engagement Systems (MILES)-compatible battery-powered wireless laser sensor,” said Mark Chaildin, systems engineer at Intercoastal Electronics. “MAX II devices’ low power consumption, short power-up times, density offerings and low cost help us stay competitive in the marketplace.”

According to the Gartner Dataquest report entitled “Semiconductor Forecast Worldwide-Forecast Database” by Nolan Reilly and Richard Gordon (May 2006), portable applications use in the consumer market is expected to grow from an estimated $16B in 2006 to $19B by 2008, a CAGR of 9 percent. The new MAX II ultra-small packages and power-down capabilities are targeted at this market and are expected to accelerate the adoption of MAX II devices into portable applications.

Higher Levels of Integration at Lower Cost and Power

The MAX II EPM240, EPM570 and EPM1270 devices are now available in 100-pin and 256-pin 0.5-mm Micro FineLine BGA[R] (MBGA) packages and 100-pin 1.0‑mm FineLine BGA (FBGA) package. Using the new MBGA packages, designers can integrate 50 percent more user I/O and logic elements (LEs) for a given board area, on average, than competing CPLD solutions. This makes MAX II CPLDs ideal for applications requiring high I/O count per board area (mm2) to interface with LCD displays, keypads, flash or memory. Designers can further reduce system cost by using the new packages and MAX II devices’ differentiating features, including high logic density, an on-chip voltage regulator and an internal oscillator, to integrate discrete devices and minimize the number of power rails.

MAX II CPLDs also offer the lowest dynamic power-more than 50 percent lower than competing CPLD solutions-and a power-down capability that conserves battery life. Unlike competing CPLDs, the power characteristics of MAX II devices enable them to power down to eliminate current draw entirely. To learn more about power savings using MAX II CPLDs, visit www.altera.com/max2-lowpower and www.altera.com/support/examples/max/exm-power-down.html.

“Designers of portable or battery-powered applications face many of the same challenges that have fueled the programmable industry for the last twenty years, namely shortened schedules, feature uncertainty caused by changing industry standards and cost pressures. With a zero-power mode and package sizes common to this market, portable designers can now benefit from using CPLDs from Altera,” said Luanne Schirrmeister, Altera’s director of low-cost product marketing.

Read more about the new MAX II enhancements in the “Reduce Total System Cost in Portable Applications Using MAX II CPLDs” white paper, at www.altera.com/literature/wp/wp-01001.pdf. To learn more about MAX II CPLDs, visit www.altera.com/max2.

Analog Devices unveiled a major breakthrough in radio frequency (RF) detection for wireless infrastructure equipment. Analog Devices has developed the industry’s first logarithmic RF detector to accurately measure the power of radio signals from 1MHz to 8GHz, exceeding the previous maximum of 2.5GHz. Accurate RF power measurement can reduce the size and cost of expensive RF power transmitters, and is a key to easing wireless network management challenges. Maintaining the detector dynamic range up to 8GHz has never before been possible.

The AD8318, a monolithic semiconductor-based detector, is superior to traditional alternatives because it is more cost-effective than module solutions and more accurate than discrete diode-based detectors. Its unique combination of accuracy and broad dynamic range allows the device to be used in many types of wireless communications infrastructure equipment, including GSM, CDMA, and W-CDMA cellular base stations (which operate up to 2GHz), W-LAN 802.11 applications (which require 5GHz), and point-to-point fixed wireless systems (which operate up to 30GHz).

Analog Devices, Inc. Tuesday announced at Wireless Symposium/Portable by Design a new radio frequency (RF) detector/controller that enables precise, temperature-stable power amplifier control and supports all current and emerging cellular standards. The AD8314 replaces discrete diode detectors and offers wireless designers a single- package, temperature-stable IC solution.

Operating at up to a 2500 MHz operating frequency with 45 dB dynamic range, the AD8314 handles a wide signal range, enabling it to support all current and emerging cellular and PCS standards. Because the AD8314 provides precise, temperature-stable power amplifier control with 0.5 dB accuracy, designers no longer have to adjust for temperature variability during manufacturing, and design time is reduced. The AD8314 also minimizes board area due to 8-pin microSOIC packaging, which reduces required real estate by as much as 50%. With its superior functionality and performance, the AD8314 is an efficient solution for the measurement and control problems that plague RF transmitter designers.

“The AD8314 measures and controls power amplifiers with minimal temperature drift, replacing highly varying discrete diode detectors,” said John Greichen, RF/IF marketing manager, Analog Processing Products, Analog Devices. “Its 0.5 dB accuracy represents a new level of performance up to 2.5 GHz, enabling an RF engineer to design a high performance transmitter. With the AD8314, Analog Devices extends its proprietary portfolio of logarithmic amplifiers for RF/IF measurement and control applications, building off the highly successful AD8313 RF Detector architecture.”

Managing Health Services: Cases in Organization Design and Decision Making Deborah E. Bender with Julie Curkendall and Heather Manning 2000, 214 pp $55 softcover

This book was written to help “hone the skills of managers and leaders who walk and breathe in the ever increasingly challenging world of health sciences management.” It is intended to be used in conjunction with the textbooks Health Care Management: Organization Design and Behavior, (1) and The Well Managed Healthcare Organization, (2) but it also can be used on its own. Although the book was written for new nurse managers, it contains valuable information that can be used by managers in any stage of their careers.

The authors use a series of 16 case studies to illustrate real life situations and challenges faced by managers. Each case is divided into the same five-part system:

* a focused topic description,

* learning/teaching objectives,

* background and case overview,

* organizational problems, and

* questions for discussion.

This organizational system helps guide readers in their analysis and provides a focus for discussions in a classroom setting. The book can be used to help students handle situations that will occur during their careers or by managers as a reference book to help them manage situations that occur daily. The authors take a subject that could be dry and make it interesting by presenting relevant case studies, thought-provoking questions, and discussions that promote problem-solving of tough scenarios with results that can be applied to everyday situations.

Anthony N. Maluccio, Cinzia Canali and Tiziano Vecchiato (Eds.) Assessing Outcomes in Child and Family Services: Comparative Design and Policy Issues. Hawthorne, NY: 2003. $49.95 hardcover, $24.95 papercover.

The passage of the amendments to the Social Security Act (1994) gave the United State federal government a mandate to examine the nation’s child welfare service delivery system focusing on safety, permanency, and child well being outcomes. Since 2000, states have been participating in Child and Family Services Reviews conducted by the federal Children’s Bureau. While these reviews rely largely on administrative data from established management information systems, they also include examinations of a randomly selected small sample of complete case records and interviews of professional and community partners involved in child welfare services. Public policy resulting from these evaluations will affect what and how children’s and family services are funded for many years.

That is why this collection of papers on conducting outcome research in child and family services is timely for evaluation researchers and practitioners to read. Originally presented at the “Outcome-based Evaluation: A Cross-national Comparison” seminar in Volterra Italy in 2001, this volume is one of two. The companion volume is entitled, Evaluation in Child and Family Services: Comparative Client and Program Perspectives.

The focus of this volume is on sharing perspectives on challenges raised by the intersections of evaluation design and public policy. The reader can expect to examine program evaluation using examples from the United Kingdom, United States, Australia, South Africa, and Italy. Of particular interest is the notion of how complex these evaluations can be and how similar the problems are from country to country.

Ward offers an examination of the Looking After Children study, a national evaluation of fifty performance indicators for children in foster care in the United Kingdom. Two themes raised here and repeated by other contributors are that management information systems are not sensitive enough to drill down to the level of information needed to evaluate outcomes and that social work practitioners do not understand the importance of accurate thorough individual case documentation in evaluation.

Fein, reports on the evaluation of two intensive family preservation sites first emphasizing the importance of comparing what the social workers actually did with the clients rather than measuring time spent. Secondly she articulates the necessity for the definition of a “good” outcome, that is what is considered a good evaluation depends on how “good outcomes” are defined in the beginning. Next, Chaskin applies the theory of change model of evaluation that involves convening and evoking various stakeholders’ theories of change in community building efforts and how complex that can be.

In chapter four, Vecchiato notes the challenges to applying national indicators to detect regional differences, and presents discussion about “the limits of national planning.” In contrast, Goerge presents the case that paying close attention to selecting intervention measurements and control groups will overcome many challenges of non-experimental designs, using national welfare reform as the example.

Chapters six through eight address specific design issues. Pilati and associates offer an example of a public health intervention evaluation for smoking and compares it to other cross-national studies. Landsverk and Davis note that system improvements in child mental health systems do not demonstrate individual clinical level improvements. Pompei promotes the importance of informed documentation and how it enables embedded program evaluation using an example of residential care.

Berry and Cash’s intriguing study of risk assessment resulted in the conclusion that differential response family assessment and service provision are disconnected from the risk assessment process. Next, Wright and Paget’s paper specifically discusses the genesis of the United States’ federal reviews from a learning organization perspective, applying the logic model of evaluation. In chapter 11 Ainsworth discusses the cultural issues involved in the research agenda setting process and across professional disciplines, using an institutional review process example from Australia.

Finally Lightburn raises concerns about applying experimental evaluation designs before programs are mature enough to implement the services as intended, using the Family Resource Centers evaluation as an example. This reflects the condition of many new programs which target the most needy: those parents with multiple needs who live in dangerous or isolated communities, and who take longer to engage in services offered.

This book truly does not offer a cross-national comparison. However, the similarity of design and policy perspectives among nations should encourage more information sharing forums. Several contributors caution about the unintended consequences of focusing evaluations on indicators and systems, in view of lack of evidence that changes in systems influence outcomes for particular children. This book raises the caveat that, to paraphrase Amitai Etzioni in Modern Organizations, organizations under scrutiny of evaluation tend to neglect doing those things that are less easily measured because some things lend themselves to measurement better than others. As Vecchiato has discussed, evaluation efforts should be directed at building better theories to support effective children and family services.

Cook (engineering, U. of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign) presents a practical, science-based methodology (DFSS/SE) for guiding the product realization process for highly competitive markets. The methodology uses forecasts of cash flow, market share, and price to select the final design from among the alternatives considered. A single formalism is used to integrate the tasks and responsibilities of marketing research, product planning, finance, design, engineering, and manufacturing within the overall process. The accompanying CD-ROM contains Excel macros, sample files, and templates; tutorials; and raw data used as input for the problems analyzed in the text. For graduate engineers, statisticians, and scientists who are or soon will be involved in product developing and servicing; specialists in marketing research and finance; and CEOs.