Single crystal tubes of beta alumina

Edge-defined, film-fed growth process allows both tubular shapes and single crystallinity to be achieved. Beta alumina in single crystal form makes possible membranes with improved conductivities. Single crystal membranes also eliminate problems associated with electrical short circuiting of membrane due to possible sodium metal diffusion

Development of single crystal beta-alumina membrane

Feasibility of crystal growth technique for beta alumina membrane from molybdenum, tungsten, and iridiu

Radioactive Waste Isolation in Salt: Peer Review of the D'Appolonia Report on Schematic Designs for Penetration Seals for a Repository in the Permian Basin, Texas

Argonne made the following recommedations for improving the reviewed reports. The authors of the report should: state the major assumptions of the study in Sec. 1.1 rather than later in the report; consider using salt for the shaft seals in salt horizons; reconsider whether keys are needed for the bulkheads; provide for interface grouting because use of expansive cement will not guarantee that interfaces will be impermeable; discuss the sealing schedule and, where appropriate, consider what needs to be done to ensure that emplaced radioactive waste could be retrieved if necessary; describe in more detail the sealing of the Dockum and Ogallala aquifers; consider an as low as reasonably achievable approach to performance requirements for the initial design phase; address the concerns in the 1983 US Nuclear Regulatory Commission document entitled Draft Technical Position: Borehole and Shaft Sealing of High-Level Nuclear Waste Repositories; cite the requirements for release of radioactivity by referring to specific clauses in the regulations of the US Environmental Protection Agency; and provide further explanation in the outline of future activities about materials development and verification testing. More emphasis on development of accelerated testing programs is also required

Coaching Models of School-Based Prevention and Promotion Programmes: A Qualitative Exploration of UK Teachers' Perceptions

There has been increased interest in recent years regarding the utility of imported universal prevention and promotion (P&P) programmes in UK schools, many of which have a coaching model attached. However, there have been relatively few studies exploring the cultural transferability and social validity of these models, even though evidence suggests that these factors are important to the successful implementation of the programmes, and thus the achievement of the intended outcomes. The aim of the current study was to explore the coaching practices that teachers report experiencing, and to further understanding of the perceived benefts of these coaching practices to teachers. The sample consisted of 33 teachers implementing one of two universal, school-based P&P programmes, Good Behavior Game and Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies as part of large-scale, randomised controlled trials. Qualitative, semi-structured interviews were conducted, and data were analysed thematically utilising a hybrid approach. Teachers typically reported engaging in six distinct practices with their coaches. While the majority of these practices were in line with coaching literature, there were some discrepancies between intended coaching practices and teachers’ reports. The coaching practices were generally perceived to be acceptable to teachers. Two unanticipated practices, validation and motivation, appeared to be of particular value to teachers, although these are not currently a prominent feature in existing coaching models. The fndings provide implications for improving the development of socially valid coaching models for UK schools

A technical framework for costing health workforce retention schemes in remote and rural areas

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Increasing the availability of health workers in remote and rural areas through improved health workforce recruitment and retention is crucial to population health. However, information about the costs of such policy interventions often appears incomplete, fragmented or missing, despite its importance for the sound selection, planning, implementation and evaluation of these policies. This lack of a systematic approach to costing poses a serious challenge for strong health policy decisions.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This paper proposes a framework for carrying out a costing analysis of interventions to increase the availability of health workers in rural and remote areas with the aim to help policy decision makers. It also underlines the importance of identifying key sources of financing and of assessing financial sustainability.</p> <p>The paper reviews the evidence on costing interventions to improve health workforce recruitment and retention in remote and rural areas, provides guidance to undertake a costing evaluation of such interventions and investigates the role and importance of costing to inform the broader assessment of how to improve health workforce planning and management.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We show that while the debate on the effectiveness of policies and strategies to improve health workforce retention is gaining impetus and attention, there is still a significant lack of knowledge and evidence about the associated costs. To address the concerns stemming from this situation, key elements of a framework to undertake a cost analysis are proposed and discussed.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>These key elements should help policy makers gain insight into the costs of policy interventions, to clearly identify and understand their financing sources and mechanisms, and to ensure their sustainability.</p

Planner9, a HTN planner distributed on groups of miniature mobile robots

Autonomous mobile robots are promising tools for operations in environments that are difficult to access for humans. When these environments are dynamic and non-deterministic, like in collapsed buildings, the robots must coordinate their actions and the use of resources using planning. This paper presents Planner9, a hierarchical task network (HTN) planner that runs on groups of miniature mobile robots. These robots have limited computational power and memory, but are well connected through Wi-Fi. Planner9 takes advantage of this connectivity to distribute the planning over different robots. We have adapted the HTN algorithm to perform parallel search using A* and to limit the number of search nodes through lifting. We show that Planner9 scales well with the number of robots, even on non-linear tasks that involve recursions in their decompositions. We show that contrary to JSHOP2, Planner9 finds optimal plans

Foot and ankle surgery in Australia: a descriptive analysis of the Medicare Benefits Schedule database, 1997–2006

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licens

Environmental occurrence, analysis, and toxicology of toxaphene compounds.

Toxaphene production, in quantities similar to those of polychlorinated biphenyls, has resulted in high toxaphene levels in fish from the Great Lakes and in Arctic marine mammals (up to 10 and 16 microg g-1 lipid). Because of the large variabiliity in total toxaphene data, few reliable conclusions can be drawn about trends or geographic differences in toxaphene concentrations. New developments in mass spectrometric detection using either negative chemical ionization or electron impact modes as well as in multidimensional gas chromatography recently have led researchers to suggest congener-specific approaches. Recently, several nomenclature systems have been developed for toxaphene compounds. Although all systems have specific advantages and limitations, it is suggested that an international body such as the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry make an attempt to obtain uniformity in the literature. Toxicologic information on individual chlorobornanes is scarce, but some reports have recently appeared. Neurotoxic effects of toxaphene exposure such as those on behavior and learning have been reported. Technical toxaphene and some individual congeners were found to be weakly estrogenic in in vitro test systems; no evidence for endocrine effects in vivo has been reported. In vitro studies show technical toxaphene and toxaphene congeners to be mutagenic. However, in vivo studies have not shown genotoxicity; therefore, a nongenotoxic mechanism is proposed. Nevertheless, toxaphene is believed to present a potential carcinogenic risk to humans. Until now, only Germany has established a legal tolerance level for toxaphene--0.1 mg kg-1 wet weight for fish

The Role of Genetic Variation Near Interferon-Kappa in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a systemic autoimmune disease characterized by increased type I interferons (IFNs) and multiorgan inflammation frequently targeting the skin. IFN-kappa is a type I IFN expressed in skin. A pooled genome-wide scan implicated the IFNK locus in SLE susceptibility. We studied IFNK single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 3982 SLE cases and 4275 controls, composed of European (EA), African-American (AA), and Asian ancestry. rs12553951C was associated with SLE in EA males (odds ratio = 1.93, P = 2.5 × 10−4), but not females. Suggestive associations with skin phenotypes in EA and AA females were found, and these were also sex-specific. IFNK SNPs were associated with increased serum type I IFN in EA and AA SLE patients. Our data suggest a sex-dependent association between IFNK SNPs and SLE and skin phenotypes. The serum IFN association suggests that IFNK variants could influence type I IFN producing plasmacytoid dendritic cells in affected skin