Preliminary assessment of industrial needs for an advanced ocean technology

A quick-look review of selected ocean industries is presented for the purpose of providing NASA OSTA with an assessment of technology needs and market potential. The size and growth potential, needs and problem areas, technology presently used and its suppliers, are given for industries involved in deep ocean mining, petrochemicals ocean energy conversion. Supporting services such as ocean bottom surveying; underwater transportation, data collection, and work systems; and inspection and diving services are included. Examples of key problem areas that are amenable to advanced technology solutions are included. Major companies are listed

N-fixation in legumes – an assessment of the potential threat posed by ozone pollution

The growth, development and functioning of legumes are often significantly affected by exposure to tropospheric ozone (O3) pollution. However, surprisingly little is known about how leguminous Nitrogen (N) fixation responds to ozone, with a scarcity of studies addressing this question in detail. In the last decade, ozone impacts on N-fixation in soybean, cowpea, mung bean, peanut and clover have been shown for concentrations which are now commonly recorded in ambient air or are likely to occur in the near future. We provide a synthesis of the existing literature addressing this issue, and also explore the effects that may occur on an agroecosystem scale by predicting reductions in Trifolium (clovers) root nodule biomass in United Kingdom (UK) pasture based on ozone concentration data for a “high” (2006) and “average” ozone year (2008). Median 8% and 5% reductions in clover root nodule biomass in pasture across the UK were predicted for 2006 and 2008 respectively. Seasonal exposure to elevated ozone, or short-term acute concentrations >100 ppb, are sufficient to reduce N-fixation and/or impact nodulation, in a range of globally-important legumes. However, an increasing global burden of CO2, the use of artificial fertiliser, and reactive N-pollution may partially mitigate impacts of ozone on N-fixation

Time trends in access to smoking cessation support for people with depression or severe mental illness: a cohort study in English primary care

OBJECTIVES: To investigate delivery of smoking cessation interventions, recorded quit attempts and successful quitting rates within primary care in smokers with depression or severe mental illness (SMI) compared with those without. DESIGN: Longitudinal cohort study using primary healthcare records. SETTING: English primary care. PARTICIPANTS: 882 849 patients registered with participating practices recorded as current smokers during 2007-2014, including three groups: (1) 13 078 with SMI, (2) 55 630 with no SMI but recent depression and (3) 814 141 with no SMI nor recent depression. OUTCOMES: Recorded advice to quit smoking, referrals to smoking cessation services, prescriptions for smoking cessation medication, recorded quit attempts and changes of smoking status. RESULTS: The majority (>70%) of smokers had recorded smoking cessation advice. This was consistently higher in those with SMI than the other cohorts of patients, although the gap greatly reduced in more recent years. Increases in smoking cessation advice over time were not accompanied by increases in recorded attempts to quit or changes of smoking status. Overall nicotine replacement therapy prescribing by general practitioners (GPs) was higher in those with SMI (10.1%) and depression (8.7%) than those without (5.9%), but a downward time trend was observed in all groups. Bupropion and varenicline prescribing was very low and lower for those with SMI. Few smokers (<5%) had referrals to stop smoking services, though this increased over time, but no significant differences were observed between those with and without mental health problems. CONCLUSIONS: There was no evidence of consistent inequalities in access to GP-delivered smoking cessation interventions for people with mental health conditions. Smoking cessation advice was widely reported as taking place in all groups. In order to address the widening gap in smoking prevalence in those with poor mental health compared with those without, the emphasis should be on addressing the quality of advice and support given

Fluoride-Salt-Cooled High-Temperature Reactor (FHR) Using British Advanced Gas-Cooled Reactor (AGR) Refueling Technology and Decay Heat Removal Systems That Prevent Salt Freezing

The FHR uses graphite-matrix coated-particle fuel (same as high-temperature gas-cooled reactors (HTGRs)) and a clean liquid salt coolant. It delivers heat to industry or the power cycle at temperatures between 600 and 700°C with higher average heat delivery temperatures than other reactors. The liquid- salt-coolant melting point is above 450°C. The high minimum temperatures present refueling challenges and require special features to control temperatures—avoiding excessively high temperatures and freezing of the coolant that could impact decay heat cooling systems. We describe herein a pre-conceptual FHR design that addresses many of these challenges by adopting features from the British AGR and alternative decay heat cooling systems. The basis for specific design choices are described. The AGRs are carbon-dioxide cooled and graphite-moderated reactors that use cylindrical fuel subassemblies with vertical refueling at 650°C—meeting FHR high-temperature refueling requirements. The 14 AGRs have operated for many decades. The AGR uses 8 cylindrical fuel sub-assemblies each a meter tall coupled axially together by a metal stringer to create a long fuel assembly. The stringer assemblies are in vertical channels in a graphite core that provides neutron moderation. This geometric core design is compatible with an FHR using graphite-matrix coated-particle fuel. The FHR uses a once- through fuel cycle. The design minimizes used nuclear fuel volumes relative to other FHR and HTGR designs. The primary system is inside a secondary liquid-salt-filled tank that (1) provides an added heat sink for decay heat, (2) helps ensure no freezing of primary system salt, and (3) helps ensure no major fuel failures in a beyond-design-basis accident. The refueling standpipes above each stringer fuel assembly in the AGR core with modifications can be used in an FHR for refueling and provide efficient heat transfer between the primary system and the secondary liquid-salt-filled tank. The passive decay heat removal system uses heat-pipes that turn on and off at a preset temperature to avoid overheating the core in a reactor accident and avoid freezing the salt coolant as decay heat decreases after reactor shutdown

Exploring the Educational Involvement of Parents of English Learners

The purpose of the current investigation was to examine the relationships among a range of specific barriers and facilitators of parent involvement and a variety of types of school involvement within a diverse group of immigrant parents of English Learners (ELs) in four elementary school districts. In-home types of educational involvement such as monitoring homework and asking children about their school day were the most commonly reported behaviors, and utilizing community resources was found to be the least common type of parental involvement. Involvement type was predicted by parental demographic factors such as comfort with English language, educational background, and ethnicity, as well as perceptions of barriers and overall school climate. The findings of this study have implications for the design and implementation of interventions (e.g., parent programs, school policy changes) aimed at increasing the parental involvement of EL children

Report of the GDR working group on the R-parity violation

This report summarizes the work of the "R-parity violation group" of the French Research Network (GDR) in Supersymmetry, concerning the physics of supersymmetric models without conservation of R-parity at HERA, LEP, Tevatron and LHC and limits on R-parity violating couplings from various processes. The report includes a discussion of the recent searches at the HERA experiment, prospects for new experiments, a review of the existing limits, and also theoretically motivated alternatives to R-parity and a brief discussion on the implications of R-parity violation on the neutrino masses.Comment: 60 pages, LaTeX, 22 figures, 2 table