Area Reduction: A Solution Whose Time has Come

Collectively, the mine action community has spent over $1.7 billion (U.S.) since 1992, yet it remains uncertain how much closer we are to the goal of a mine-free or even a mine impact-free world

Landmine Impact Survey Data and Planning for Reconstruction

This report is the result of a Survey Action Center consultancy for the UN Mine Action Centre Afghanistan on collecting reconstruction and/or planning data and how it can be combined with Landmine Impact Survey data for follow-up on reconstruction/planning, casualty reduction, and surveillance and development of field reporting systems

Evaluation of a Novel Approach for Reducing Emissions of Pharmaceuticals to the Environment

Increased interest over the levels of pharmaceuticals detected in the environment has led to the need for new approaches to manage their emissions. Inappropriate disposal of unused and waste medicines and release from manufacturing plants are believed to be important pathways for pharmaceuticals entering the environment. In situ treatment technologies, which can be used on-site in pharmacies, hospitals, clinics, and at manufacturing plants, might provide a solution. In this study we explored the use of Pyropure, a microscale combined pyrolysis and gasification in situ treatment system for destroying pharmaceutical wastes. This involved selecting 17 pharmaceuticals, including 14 of the most thermally stable compounds currently in use and three of high environmental concern to determine the technology’s success in waste destruction. Treatment simulation studies were done on three different waste types and liquid, solid, and gaseous emissions from the process were analyzed for parent pharmaceutical and known active transformation products. Gaseous emissions were also analyzed for NOx, particulates, dioxins, furans, and metals. Results suggest that Pyropure is an effective treatment process for pharmaceutical wastes: over 99 % of each study pharmaceutical was destroyed by the system without known active transformation products being formed during the treatment process. Emissions of the other gaseous air pollutants were within acceptable levels. Future uptake of the system, or similar in situ treatment approaches, by clinics, pharmacists, and manufacturers could help to reduce the levels of pharmaceuticals in the environment and reduce the economic and environmental costs of current waste management practices

Comment letters to the National Commission on Commission on Fraudulent Financial Reporting, 1987 (Treadway Commission) Vol. 2

https://egrove.olemiss.edu/aicpa_sop/1662/thumbnail.jp

Velocity-space sensitivity of the time-of-flight neutron spectrometer at JET

The velocity-space sensitivities of fast-ion diagnostics are often described by so-called weight functions. Recently, we formulated weight functions showing the velocity-space sensitivity of the often dominant beam-target part of neutron energy spectra. These weight functions for neutron emission spectrometry (NES) are independent of the particular NES diagnostic. Here we apply these NES weight functions to the time-of-flight spectrometer TOFOR at JET. By taking the instrumental response function of TOFOR into account, we calculate time-of-flight NES weight functions that enable us to directly determine the velocity-space sensitivity of a given part of a measured time-of-flight spectrum from TOFOR

Relationship of edge localized mode burst times with divertor flux loop signal phase in JET

A phase relationship is identified between sequential edge localized modes (ELMs) occurrence times in a set of H-mode tokamak plasmas to the voltage measured in full flux azimuthal loops in the divertor region. We focus on plasmas in the Joint European Torus where a steady H-mode is sustained over several seconds, during which ELMs are observed in the Be II emission at the divertor. The ELMs analysed arise from intrinsic ELMing, in that there is no deliberate intent to control the ELMing process by external means. We use ELM timings derived from the Be II signal to perform direct time domain analysis of the full flux loop VLD2 and VLD3 signals, which provide a high cadence global measurement proportional to the voltage induced by changes in poloidal magnetic flux. Specifically, we examine how the time interval between pairs of successive ELMs is linked to the time-evolving phase of the full flux loop signals. Each ELM produces a clear early pulse in the full flux loop signals, whose peak time is used to condition our analysis. The arrival time of the following ELM, relative to this pulse, is found to fall into one of two categories: (i) prompt ELMs, which are directly paced by the initial response seen in the flux loop signals; and (ii) all other ELMs, which occur after the initial response of the full flux loop signals has decayed in amplitude. The times at which ELMs in category (ii) occur, relative to the first ELM of the pair, are clustered at times when the instantaneous phase of the full flux loop signal is close to its value at the time of the first ELM

Scholarly Activity in a Vocational Context: Pitfalls and Potential

This chapter explores the issues which surround the development of a culture of research and scholarly activity within the college-based higher education sector in the United Kingdom. It uses as a case study the North East College Regional Scholarship Network (NECRSN), which contains a number of providers who are collaborating on the development of scholarly activity within, and across, their institutions. This chapter uses the experience of the participants in the NECRSN to explore the challenges at institutional and departmental levels of inculcating a culture of scholarly activity within college-based higher education. The activities of the network are used as an example to demonstrate how a collaborative approach at a regional level can stimulate innovation and alleviate some of the pressures on academics pursuing research within a vocational setting. The approach has now been operating for one year, and has seen some initial success