Fully equipped half bridge building block for fast prototyping of switching power converters

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Commercial experience with facility deactivation to safe storage

The Department of Energy (DOE) has shutdown many production reactors; the Department has begun a major effort to also shutdown a wide variety of other nuclear facilities. Because so many facilities are being closed, it is necessary to place many of them into a safe- storage status, i.e., deactivation, before conducting decommissioning- for perhaps as long as 20 years. The challenge is to achieve this safe-storage condition in a cost-effective manner while remaining in compliance with applicable regulations. The DOE Office of Environmental Management, Office of Transition and Management, commissioned a lessons-learned study of commercial experience with safe storage and decommissioning. Although the majority of the commercial experience has been with reactors, many of the lessons learned presented in this document can provide insight into transitioning challenges that Will be faced by the DOE weapons complex

Ventricular Dysrhythmias Associated with Poisoning and Drug Overdose: A 10-Year Review of Statewide Poison Control Center Data from California

Background: Ventricular dysrhythmias are a serious consequence associated with drug overdose and chemical poisoning. The risk factors for the type of ventricular dysrhythmia and the outcomes by drug class are not well documented. Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the most common drugs and chemicals associated with ventricular dysrhythmias and their outcomes. Methods: We reviewed all human exposures reported to a statewide poison control system between 2002 and 2011 that had a documented ventricular dysrhythmia. Cases were differentiated into two groups by type of arrhythmia: (1) ventricular fibrillation and/or tachycardia (VT/VF); and (2) torsade de pointes (TdP). Results: Among the 300 potential cases identified, 148 cases met the inclusion criteria. Of these, 132 cases (89 %) experienced an episode of VT or VF, while the remaining 16 cases (11 %) had an episode of TdP. The most commonly involved therapeutic classes of drugs associated with VT/VF were antidepressants (33/132, 25 %), stimulants (33/132, 25 %), and diphenhydramine (16/132, 12.1 %). Those associated with TdP were antidepressants (4/16, 25 %), methadone (4/16, 25 %), and antiarrhythmics (3/16, 18.75 %). Drug exposures with the greatest risk of death in association with VT/VF were antidepressant exposure [odds ratio (OR) 1.71; 95 % confidence interval (CI) 0.705–4.181] and antiarrhythmic exposure (OR 1.75; 95 % CI 0.304–10.05), but neither association was statistically significant. Drug exposures with a statistically significant risk for TdP included methadone and antiarrhythmic drugs. Conclusions: Antidepressants and stimulants were the most common drugs associated with ventricular dysrhythmias. Patients with suspected poisonings by medications with a high risk of ventricular dysrhythmia warrant prompt ECG monitoring

Reduction of the voltage distortion with a converter employed as shunt harmonic impedance

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Environmental Sustainability in Belgian Sport Federations

Aim and research interest The awareness for environmental sustainability (ES) in sport is gradually increasing, resulting in more literature being published in the field (McCullough et al., 2020). However, to date, numerous important research domains remain unexplored. The environmental management of sport federations (SFs), for example, is little discussed. Yet, SFs are considered to be impactful actors that interact with a wide range of stakeholders and are, accordingly, potentially meaningful enforcers of ES (Sotiriadou & Hill, 2015; Zeimers et al., 2020). Furthermore, McCullough and colleagues (2020) noticed that, despite the considerable pressure to combat climate change, the environment is still too often taken for granted in managerial sport contexts. As a result, strategic environmental initiatives that are embedded in national SFs are still the exception rather than the norm. A profound strategic approach will, therefore, be an imperative next step to leverage the full potential and unique position of SFs. To assist the SFs, the aim of this paper is to map ES efforts in SFs and to analyse to what level these efforts are embedded into their organisational strategy. Theoretical background and literature review Currently, the literature on ES in SFs focused on international sport governing bodies like the International Olympic Committee (Paquette et al., 2011) or discussed ES from a general corporate social responsibility perspective (Zeimers et al., 2020). There is, also, literature available that examined the strategic management of ES in sport (Dingle & Mallen, 2021), but literature that addresses ES from a strategic perspective in national SF is scarce. McCullough, Pfahl and Nguyen (2016) created the environmental wave typology, which enables researchers to classify the initiation and development of ES in sport organisations. The authors built on the institutional theory and diffusion of innovation theory to understand the increased efforts of the sector and comprehend the drivers of change. Sport personnel awareness, knowledge and action levels are, for example, described as important factors (McCullough et al., 2016). This conceptual model provides a relevant framework to analyse the initial development of ES in sport organisations and it can serve as a foundation to indicate next steps for short- and long-term strategic planning. Research design, methodology and data analysis The study draws on qualitative and quantitative data about ES of Belgian national and regional SFs gathered through a survey, website analyses and official strategic documents. The data was collected from January 2020 until June 2020. In Belgium, 75 Flemish, 62 French and 16 German sport governing bodies are recognised and/or subsidised by the Belgian government. Additionally, four national governing bodies were selected and added to the database, since they did not have a functional regional federation. Three regional federations were excluded from the data collection, since they did not have a website that could be consulted to collect the data. This resulted in 154 Belgian SFs that were investigated through a website analyses and an official strategic documents assessment. An online survey resulted in 26 completed questionnaires, which is a response rate of 16.6%. Both data collections proved to be representative for the entire population, when looking at the region (i.e., Flemish, French and German) and the size of the federations (χ2 = 11.93; ns). The data will be processed and analysed in June and July 2021, whereby all the content regarding the three data collections will be classified and comprehensively reported. Results/findings and discussion The results of this study are not available yet, but they will give a clear overview of the current state of affairs regarding ES in SF. Furthermore, the findings will be discussed in relation to the current literature and analysed to what extend they are generalisable to an international context. Conclusion, contribution and implication The results from this study will provide stakeholders with insights regarding ES in SFs and, throughout time, it can ameliorate the environmental management in the sector. More precisely, the research might encourage federations that are not yet engaged with sustainability, to be more willingly to include the matter in their work and actions, and it can act as a source of information that might foster more diverse initiatives. Furthermore, the environmental wave typology suggested by McCullough et al. (2016) will identify the strategic efforts that are necessary to progress towards the next wave and might, therefore, provide the necessary knowledge for SF to initiate a more strategic approach in the long run