Focused on maximizing sheet metal utilization, Radan 05 offers nesting routines for components that stack at specific angles, common line slitting, and ability to store and nest partly used sheets. It provides ability to define, store, and retrieve tooling templates that specify required tool blow combinations to be used whenever particular geometry is programmed. Radan 05 supports ACIS 14, allowing direct import of latest ACIS 3D models.

Radan 05 Delivers New Levels of Material Utilisation and Productivity

Radan 05, the latest release of its world-leading CAD/CAM software for sheet metal applications, is now available from Radan Computational Ltd.

Many of the software's new features focus on maximising sheet utilisation, reflecting the continuing escalation of world-wide raw material costs. These include enhanced nesting routines for components that stack at specific angles, improved common line slitting and the ability to store and automatically nest part used sheets.

Automation is a further theme in Radan 05, with new features including the ability to define, store and retrieve tooling templates that specify the required tool blow combinations to be used whenever particular geometry is programmed. Further productivity improvements include new heat avoidance options for all types of profiling machines and enhanced parts removal and unloading capabilities.

Radan 05 also supports ACIS 14, allowing the direct import of latest ACIS 3D models. In addition, native AutoDesk Inventor files can be imported directly into the system, along with an extended range of optional 3D file formats - including Parasolid, CATIA V4 and V5, SolidWorks, Unigraphics, VDA-FS and Pro/E. Equivalent support for SolidEdge models will be available shortly.

Latest upgrades to the software's user interface and working environment include enhancements to auto-dimensioning, easier set up sheet and nesting report generation, and more effective DNC flow control. Furthermore, Radan 05's support for Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) provides simplified handling of macros, improves integration with third party software, and enables users to easily customise their working environments to individual requirements.

On February 18, 2004, a world-famous game designer slipped unnoticed across international lines and into the United States. The man? Hideo Kojima. His mission? To preside over a rare roundtable event discussing his next game. That game? Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, one of the most eagerly anticipated games of the past few years.

The presentation and subsequent Q&A session focused almost entirely on a single feature: the camouflage index. Once again demonstrating his passionately thorough approach to game design, Kojima elaborated on exactly how and why this newest addition to the Metal Gear School of Stealth works.

The camouflage index is essentially an equation. The player's equipment and environment add up to a percentage: 100 percent equals absolute invisibility. To accommodate the numerous types of backdrops and ground coverings he'll encounter, series leading man Solid Snake must make use of a number of prefab camouflage patterns, each of which affects the index and can be swapped on the fly. Finding the best match is the key to Snake's survival.

Naturally, it's not as simple as donning the right duds—Snake's stance also comes into the equation. For example, standing in the grass in olive-drab attire results in an index of 45 percent, while crouching and lying down raise it to 65 percent and 80 percent, respectively. Adopting the right face paint also helps, adding depth to that old MGS standby: peering around corners. If properly made up, Snake can peer around trees undetected, even if a guard is approaching him. When questioned about whether the camouflage index would replace the decidedly non-'60s-style motion detection that Snake has utilized in prior games, Kojima stated vaguely that several types of radar would be available—unsurprisingly, no specifics were forthcoming.

Movement affects the index appropriately: Walking and running bring down the index significantly, while stalking is a good way to keep on the move stealthily. This addition to Snake's already impressive arsenal of moves should make Snake Eater—with its emphasis on hunting and being hounded—an even more harrowing experience than its predecessors. But evolution comes at a price: Stalking (and, presumably, running) depletes Snake's stamina. It's been revealed that stamina can be replenished by eating food foraged from nature, but Kojima won't elaborate further on this until E3 in May.

Kojima went on to illustrate the index in action via a prerecorded video presentation. Snake was shown in a variety of settings—including open, sun-dappled clearings, thick clumps of grass, and beds of dried leaves—adopting appropriate attire for each. In the Metal Gear tradition, the player will start off poorly equipped; this time around, Snake loses (and must later reacquire) his backpack upon insertion—therefore, pattern procurement will be on-site. While several patterns were shown (including snow, leaf, fire, tiger stripe, and tree bark), others have yet to be revealed.

Sunlight will play a significant role as well. One particularly suspenseful scene showed two soldiers coming onscreen and heading down a path toward Snake, who is inconveniently caught out in the open. Quickly switching over to black camouflage and face paint, Snake is able to successfully avoid detection by lying in mud that's in the shadow of a tree. Another more lighthearted scene showed Snake clambering into a hollowed-out tree trunk and then adopting the now infamous crocodile headgear. A guard standing watch promptly freaks out when he sees Snake's snout, running away and leaving the path clear. It's clever, it's cool, and it's sure to be just a taste of what we'll see at E3. Expect secrets to be revealed—and jaws to hit the show floor—this May.

MARK: Measured against all other games, Metal Gear Solid absolutely holds up—it has an emotional, twisting story; rock-solid controls; and intense hide-and-sneak gameplay that launched a genre. If you missed the stealth-action classic on PS1, you absolutely must play this version. But judged as a remake, Twin Snakes’ lack of major changes, as well as troubles with some tweaks, left me feeling just a bit disappointed.

In terms of controls, Twin Snakes faithfully reproduces Metal Gear’s excellent setup and feel and adds handy new moves (hanging from ledges, stuffing guards in lockers, etc.) from MGS2. The game looks decent, like a sharper version of the original, but thanks in part to its limited color palette, Twin Snakes is far from the best we’ve seen on the Cube. Luckily, the revamped cut-scenes add some spice to the visuals—filled with Fight Club–esque zooms and, of course, Matrix-y slow-mo 360s, they inject new excitement and even a sight gag or two into Metal Gear’s already gripping story.

But sometimes you can see the stitches where new elements were grafted on. Evading guards is tougher—they call for backup, clear rooms, and leave corpses behind when they die (for other guards to find), adding importance to staying hidden and covering your tracks. Trouble is, the levels were designed around the old A.I.; the relatively small rooms and lack of hiding places make getting away overly difficult. The ability to shoot in first-person view is another welcome feature, but it spoils the challenge of a few sections and completely ruins at least one boss battle.

Don’t misunderstand me, though—this is still a good version of a great game. I just can’t help thinking what might have been had Metal Gear Solid been more thoroughly reworked.

SHAWN: The price of a clandestine affair with Solid Snake: five years spent sneaking through lesser, stealth-obsessed Metal Gear knockoffs. Splinter Cell notwithstanding, no other game offers so many nuanced ways to remain unnoticed. Still, there’s more to Metal Gear Solid than hide-and-seek, something most copycats missed. Equipped with everything from camera-guided missiles to a ketchup bottle used to fool guards in the event that he’s captured, Snake’s got plenty to do when he’s not playing hard to get.

The guys (and gals!) who first made the game knew they were onto something groundbreaking and, from the brilliant boss battles to the suspenseful story, spared no expense. The folks who remade it knew better than to fix what wasn’t broken—everything old isn’t exactly new, but it doesn’t need to be. Adding anything other than a face-lift, smarter foes, and fresh cut-scenes would’ve been sacrilege.

GMR—ANDREW: Well, if you’re going to play a version of Metal Gear Solid, then this is definitely the one. Granted, that may not sound enthusiastic enough considering the excellent job developer Silicon Knights did, partly because despite all of the wonderful new additions to the game—and there are many—it still feels like you’re playing the original MGS. Then again, the original was fantastic, so it only follows that The Twin Snakes would be at least the same. But with each new feature comes a downside: First-person aiming makes regular combat easier...but it also makes boss battles far too easy; the new cut-scenes are brilliantly produced...when they’re not overdosing on painfully clich�d bullet-time effects (though Mark liked ’em all right); and the graphical overhaul is nice…but we know GameCube is capable of even better.

Voltammetric instrumentation can be used to determine trace metals that occur naturally but are potential contaminants because human activities influence their levels in the environment

Trace metals occur naturally but are potential contaminantsbecause human activities influence their levels in theenvironment. Marine, estuarine and waters of a similar nature aregenerally not suitable for direct determinations of trace metalsbecause of the large amounts of dissolved solids that theycontain.
Electrochemical techniques such as voltammetry offer aviable alternative approach for quantification of trace metals.The advances made in recent years in terms of voltammetricinstrumentation and method development ensure that often anunrivalled sensitivity can be obtained, usually for a fraction ofthe cost of spectroscopic techniques and without the need forseparation of the metals either using solvent extraction orco-precipitation Generally, concentrations of heavy metals arecomparatively low in open sea areas where human activities havenot yet had a major effect, however in coastal areas accumulationof trace metals are often evident.

These higher concentrationstend to be found in offshore sediments close to discharge pointsof municipal and industrial waste run-off.

Trace metals can alsoreach marine waters by air from industrial smoke discharges andtraffic exhausts.

The matrix effects of saline waters vary inseverity with regard to analysis by spectroscopic techniques.

Theeffects are minor for lead and copper but can impart substantialmatrix interference upon cadmium where it is often necessary toemploy a matrix modifier.
In the past fifteen years researchorganisation from the United Kingdom have conducted marinestudies in diverse environments such as the English Channel,North Sea, Adriatic Sea, Indian and Pacific Oceans to study theeffects that trace metals pose upon species resident in themarine environment.

Voltammetry - A Brief Overview Heyrovskyfirst introduced polarography in 1922.

The term voltammetry isapplied to designate the current-voltage measurement obtained ata given electrode.

Polarography is a special case of voltammetryreferring to the current-voltage measurement acquired using adropping mercury electrode with a constant flow of mercury drops.Stripping voltammetry uses the same instrumentation astraditional polarography but a stationary electrode such as theHanging Mercury Dropping Electrode (H.M.D.E) is used.

Thevoltammetric measurement is performed on a stationary mercurydrop allowing one to achieve considerable increases insensitivity.

The jump in sensitivity is possible byelectrochemical preconcentration of the metals in question at thesurface of the stationary electrode before the current-voltagecurve is recorded.

The recorded current is the redissolution(reoxidation) current of the preconcentrated metal traces.Voltammetry today represents a refined, clean, simple techniquethat offers outstanding limits of detection and is now thefastest growing analytical technique for trace analysis.

With theMetrohm Multi Mode Electrode (M.M.E) the mercury is hermeticallysealed in the reservoir and suffices for around 200,000 dropsensuring low laboratory running costs.

Impact of Trace Metals inMarine Waters The trace elements found in marine waters can havea profound influence on life in the ocean, for example zinc canaffect the phytoplankton growth rate.

As well as the directeffects on marine life one should also be aware that any possiblecontamination of the marine environment could possibly make itsway into the human food chain and have a real impact on humanlife.

From studies conducted in the North Pacific, it has beenobserved that the trace metal concentrations of cadmium, lead andcopper show vertical concentration profiles (i.e they increasewith depth).

These are related to such parameters as temperature,salinity, dissolved oxygen and dissolved inorganic carbon.

Thisimplies that the metals are directly involved like macronutrientsin the biological cycle of algal uptake in the surface water andheterotrophic remineralisation at depths typical of oceanicecosystems.

From previous work, it has been revealed that thereis a close correlation between zinc and silicate that shows asthe amount of silicate increases so does the zinc.

This seeminglyimplies that zinc is taken up in the mineral parts ofphytoplankton such as calcium carbonate or silicate exoskeletonof coccolithophores and diatoms respectively.

Zinc is recognisedas an essential trace element for plankton growth and is anecessary cofactor for several important enzyme systems requiredfor photosynthesis.

The toxic elements lead and cadmium presentin the sea contaminate marine life and food, which can result ina decrease in a particular species population or in the worstcase possible extinction.

Cadmium is produced commercially as aby-product of zinc and lead mining and since the 1950's hasbeen used as a stabiliser and pigment in many plastics andsolders, as well as its use in electroplating and batteries.Metal production and refining as well as waste disposal are majorsources of cadmium emissions.

Natural emissions occur fromvolcanoes and windblown dust and together with man-made emissionscontribute somewhere in the order of 8,000 tonnes per year to theworld's oceans.

Cadmium is thought to be probably the mostbio-toxic element and is regarded as a primary pollutant.

Inprevious studies conducted on estuarine environments, crustaceansappear to be particularly sensitive to the effects of cadmiumfollowed by molluscs and polychaetes.

In marine environments, theorganisms appear to be less sensitive to the toxicity of cadmiumthen estuarine and freshwater animals.

Studies on shrimp specieshave shown that species in regions with high cadmiumconcentrations are able to both handle and survive the high bodyloads of cadmium, although interestingly the female species werefound to have a higher tolerance than their male counterparts.Studies have shown there to be an interesting relationshipbetween cadmium and phosphate in deeper sections of the globaloceans.

In these waters, the cadmium concentration increaseslinearly with that of phosphate whereas in shallow shelf watersone sees a departure from this correlation.

Despite somefluctuations from the cadmium-phosphate concentration model, itis clear that cadmium is involved in organic matter formationthrough photosynthesis before remineralisation deeper in theocean.

It is not clearly understood at present why cadmium is soclosely involved as it has no known or specific biochemicalfunction.

One theory that has been proposed for its occurrence isbased on the close similarity of the ionic radius of the divalentcadmium and calcium, that hypothesises that cadmium substitutesinto the crystal lattice of calcium carbonate minerals that areformed by marine species.

Cadmium tends to be absorbed throughthe body via food and water intake and can adversely injure therenal, pulmonary, skeletal, testicular and nervous systems inaddition to it being a recognised carcinogen.

Renal failure tendsto be the earliest cause of death due to the sensitive nature ofthe kidneys where the cadmium becomes concentrated.

There has notbeen as much research work carried out on lead as for other tracemetals upon the effects that contamination presents to a marineenvironment.

It is known that lead is a cumulative poison and thevast majority retained in the body enters the bones from where itcan be remobilised.

Lead can bind to a number of molecules withinthe body such as amino acids, haemoglobin, enzymes, RNA and DNAand can disrupt many of the metabolic pathways.

Some of theeffects of lead toxicity include impaired blood synthesis,hypertension, hyperactivity, brain damage and cancer.

Sucheffects can occur at levels equivalent to 20-200mg l-1 in softtissue, this is the order of lead normally found in human adultsso one should view any factor that increases lead intake with adegree of concern.

Copper is an essential trace element for bothhumans and animals being a critical functional component of anumber of essential enzymes, it is found in the environment as anaturally occurring mineral.

Copper is part of the oxygen carrierin snails, crabs and some crustaceans.

Excessively high levels ofcopper found in the marine environment are likely to be as aresult of emissions and discharges caused by man-made activities.Toxicity from copper contamination is extremely rare in thegeneral population although acute copper toxicity can cause liverdamage, kidney failure and ultimately death.

Method for Analysisof Zinc, Cadmium, Lead and Copper in Marine Waters Metrohm hasdeveloped a method whereby it is possible to determine the tracemetals zinc, cadmium, lead and copper in a single voltammetricsweep.

8mls of deionised water, 2mls of marine water sample, 1mlacetate buffer and 200ml of molar nitric acid were added to thereaction vessel in the Metrohm 757 VA Computrace The role of theelectrolyte and additional solutions in voltammetry is crucial.Many determinations are pH dependent and the electrolyte canincrease the conductivity and selectivity of the solution.

Thesolution was then degassed with nitrogen for a period of 5minutes to remove the electrochemically active oxygen, before thefour metals were determined with two standard additions using theH.M.D.E.