Laboratory Analysis of Risky Driving at 0.05% and 0.08% Blood Alcohol Concentration

Background—The public health costs associated with alcohol-related traffic crashes are a continuing problem for society. One harm reduction strategy has been to employ per se limits for blood alcohol concentrations (BACs) at which drivers can legally operate motor vehicles. This limit is currently 0.08% in all 50 US states. Recently, the National Transportation Safety Board proposed lowering the legal limit to 0.05 % (NTSB, 2013). While research has well-validated the ability of alcohol to impair driving performance and heighten crash-risk at these BACs, relatively little is known about the degree to which alcohol might increase drivers’ risk-taking. Methods—Risk-taking was examined in 20 healthy adults who were each tested in a driving simulator following placebo and two doses of alcohol calculated to yield peak BACs of 0.08% and 0.05%, the respective current and proposed BAC limits. The drive test emphasized risk-taking by placing participants in a multiple-lane, high-traffic environment. The primary measure was how close drivers maneuvered relative to other vehicles on the road (i.e., time-to-collision, TTC). Results—Alcohol increased risk-taking by decreasing drivers’ TTC at the 0.08% target BAC relative to placebo. Moreover, risk-taking at the 0.05% target was less than risk-taking at 0.08% target BAC. Conclusions—These findings provide evidence that reducing the legal BAC limit in the USA to 0.05% would decrease risk-taking among drivers. A clearer understanding of the dose-response relationship between various aspects of driving behaviors, such as drivers’ accepted level of risk while driving, is an important step to improving traffic safety

Final Calibration of the Berkeley Extreme and Far-Ultraviolet Spectrometer on the ORFEUS-SPAS I and II Missions

The Berkeley Extreme and Far-Ultraviolet Spectrometer (BEFS) flew as part of the ORFEUS telescope on the ORFEUS-SPAS I and II space-shuttle missions in 1993 and 1996, respectively. The data obtained by this instrument have now entered the public domain. To facilitate their use by the astronomical community, we have re-extracted and re-calibrated both data sets, converted them into a standard (FITS) format, and placed them in the Multimission Archive at Space Telescope (MAST). Our final calibration yields improved wavelength scales and effective-area curves for both data sets.Comment: To appear in the January 2002 issue of the PASP. 17 pages with 9 embedded postscript figures; uses emulateapj5.st

TOWARD A THEORY OF JUST COMMUNICATION: A CASE STUDY OF NATO, MULTINATIONAL PUBLIC RELATIONS, AND ETHICAL MANAGEMENT OF INTERNATIONAL CONFLICT

This dissertation used a qualitative, case study to explore how the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) applied strategic public relations management during peace operations in post-war Bosnia-Herzegovina, 1995 to 1996. The purpose of this research was to propose a model of ethical communication that extended the excellence theory in public relations and contributed to a global public relations theory. This proposed model relies on an ethical framework for moral reasoning that helps justify public relations decisions. The model incorporates interdisciplinary concepts drawn from the situational theory of publics, the excellence theory, an activist theory of communication, a moral theory of just war, and game theory. Fourteen long interviews, four elite interviews, and three focus group interviews explained how NATO applied principles of the excellence theory and global theory in public relations, how organizational culture and conflict influenced NATO communication management, and how NATO leaders made communication decisions. It had been assumed that NATO's political-military, authoritarian nature would lead the alliance to reject symmetrical communication and to adopt asymmetrical communication strategies. The study found that NATO mixed symmetrical communication - and other principles of the excellence theory and global public relations - with asymmetrical strategies like coercion to manage conflict. The study also identified a constellation of divided cultures among NATO's 26 member nations that influenced alliance public relations. Furthermore, senior NATO leaders relied heavily on intuitive knowledge when making decisions, leaving communication choices vulnerable to ethical relativism. In conclusion, this study has significant implications for theory and practice. The integrated, coercive-collaborative model of ethical communication developed through this study offers normative and positive value for managing asymmetrical conflict situations in which one or more parties demonstrate no willingness to cooperate. This model retains the value of excellence in public relations, which produces strategic, long-term, symmetrical relationships. Demonstrating how symmetrical outcomes can be achieved through ethical application of short-term coercive as well as collaborative communication tactics represents a major leap forward for the excellence theory. Practical implications of this study extend to any organization that relies on communication to manage conflict, build strategic relationships, and reduce costs - especially in a global, multinational context

Deep cover bleeder entry performance and support loading: A case study

Several questions have emerged in relation to deep cover bleeder entry performance and support loading: how well do current modeling procedures calculate the rear abutment extent and loading? Does an improved understanding of the rear abutment extent warrant a change in standing support in bleeder entries? To help answer these questions and to determine the current utilization of standing support in bleeder entries, four bleeder entries at varying distances from the startup room were instrumented, observed, and numerically modeled. This paper details observations made by NIOSH researchers in the bleeder entries of a deep cover longwall panel—specifically data collected from instrumented pumpable cribs, observations of the conditions of the entries, and numerical modeling of the bleeder entries during longwall extraction. The primary focus was on the extent and magnitude of the abutment loading expe- rienced by the standing support. As expected, the instrumentation of the standing supports showed very little loading relative to the capacity of the standing supports—less than 23 Mg load and 2.54 cm conver- gence. The Flac3D program was used to evaluate these four bleeder entries using previously defined mod- eling and input parameter estimation procedures. The results indicated only a minor increase in load during the extraction of the longwall panel. The model showed a much greater increase in stress due to the development of the gateroad and bleeder entries, with about 80% of the increase associated with development and 20% with longwall extraction. The Flac3D model showed very good correlation between expected gateroad loading during panel extraction and that expected based on previous studies. The results of this study showed that the rear abutment stress experienced by this bleeder entry design was minimal. The farther away from the startup room, the lower the applied load and smaller the con- vergence in the entry if all else is held constant. Finally, the numerical modeling method used in this study was capable of replicating the expected and measured results near seam

Crossover from 2D to 3D in a weakly interacting Fermi gas

We have studied the transition from two to three dimensions in a low temperature weakly interacting $^6$Li Fermi gas. Below a critical atom number, $N_{2D}$, only the lowest transverse vibrational state of a highly anisotropic oblate trapping potential is occupied and the gas is two-dimensional. Above $N_{2D}$ the Fermi gas enters the quasi-2D regime where shell structure associated with the filling of individual transverse oscillator states is apparent. This dimensional crossover is demonstrated through measurements of the cloud size and aspect ratio versus atom number.Comment: Replaced with published manuscrip

ORFEUS-II Far-Ultraviolet Observations of 3C273: 1. Interstellar and Intergalactic Absorption Lines

We present the first intermediate-resolution (lambda / 3000) spectrum of the bright quasi-stellar object 3C273 at wavelengths between 900 and 1200 A. Observations were performed with the Berkeley spectrograph aboard the ORFEUS-SPAS II mission. We detect Lyman beta counterparts to previously-identified intergalactic Lyman-alpha features at cz = 19900, 1600, and 1000 km/s; counterparts to other putative Lyman-alpha clouds along the sight line are below our detection limit. The strengths of the two very low redshift Lyman-beta features, which are believed to arise in Virgo intracluster gas, exceed preflight expectations, suggesting that the previous determination of the cloud parameters may underestimate the true column densities. A curve-of-growth analysis sets a minimum H I column density of 4 E14/cm^2 for the 1600 km/s cloud. We find marginally significant evidence for Galactic H_2 along the sight line, with a total column density of about 1 E15/cm^2. We detect the stronger interstellar O VI doublet member unambiguously; the weaker member is blended with other features. If the Doppler b value for O VI is comparable to that determined for N V then the O VI column density is 7 +/- 2 E14/cm^2, significantly above the only previous estimate. The O VI / N V ratio is about 10, consistent with the low end of the range observed in the disk. Additional interstellar species detected for the first time toward 3C273 (at modest statistical significance) include P II, Fe III, Ar I, and S III.Comment: LaTeX file, 11 pages, 4 encapsulated PostScript figures. Uses aaspp4.sty and astrobib.sty. (Astrobib is available from http://www.stsci.edu/software/TeX.html .) The ORFEUS telescope is described at http://sag-www.ssl.berkeley.edu/orfeus/ . To appear in ApJ (Letters

Aza-macrocyclic complexes of Group 1 cations:synthesis, structures and density functional theory study

The Group 1 complexes, [M(Me6[18]aneN6)][BArF] (M = Li–Cs; Me6[18]aneN6 = 1,4,7,10,13,16-hexamethyl-1,4,7,10,13,16-hexaazacyclooctadecane; BArF = tetrakis{3,5-bis(trifluoromethyl)-phenyl}borate), are obtained in high yield by reaction of the macrocycle with M[BArF] in anhydrous CH2Cl2 solution, and characterised spectroscopically (1H, 13C{1H}, 7Li, 23Na, and 133Cs NMR), by microanalysis and, for M = Li, K, and Rb, by single crystal X-ray analysis. The structures show N6-coordination to the metal ion; the small ionic radius for Li+ leads to a puckered conformation. In contrast, the K+ ion fits well into the N6 plane, with the [BArF]? anions above and below, leading to two K+ species in the asymmetric unit (a hexagonal planar [K(Me6[18]aneN6)]+ cation and a ‘[K(Me6[18]aneN6)(?1-BArF)2]? anion’, with long axial K?F interactions). The Rb+ ion sits above the N6 plane, with two long axial Rb?F interactions in one cation and two long, mutually cis Rb?F interactions in the other. The unusual sandwich cations, [M(Me3tacn)2]+ (M = Na, K; distorted octahedral, N6 donor set) and half-sandwich cations [Li(Me3tacn)(thf)]+ (distorted tetrahedron, N3O donor set), [Li(Me4cyclen)(OH2)]+, and [Na(Me4cyclen)(thf)]+ (both distorted square pyramids with N4O donor sets) were also prepared (Me3tacn = 1,4,7-trimethyl-1,4,7-triazacyclononane, Me4cyclen = 1,4,7,10-tetramethyl-1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane). Density functional theory (DFT) calculations, using the BP86 and B3LYP functionals, show that the accessibility of the [M(Me3tacn)2]+ sandwich cations depends strongly on the M+ ionic radius, such that it is sufficiently large to avoid steric clashing between the Me groups of the two rings, and small enough to avoid very acute N–M–N chelate angles. The calculations also show that coordination to the Group 1 cation involves significant donation of electron density from the p-orbitals on the N atoms of the macrocycle, rather than purely electrostatic interactions

The chronostratigraphy of Late Pleistocene glacial and periglacial aeolian activity in the Tuktoyaktuk Coastlands, NWT, Canada

Aeolian periglacial sand deposits are common in the Tuktoyaktuk Coastlands of Western Arctic Canada. Regionally extensive and thick aeolian sand-sheet deposits have been observed in two major stratigraphic settings: within a sand unit characterized by large aeolian dune deposits; and interbedded with glaciofluvial outwash from the Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS). Small, localized sand sheets have also been observed along the tops of sandy bluffs, within sequences of drained thermokarst lakes deposits and as an involuted veneer above buried basal ice of the LIS. On the basis of radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dates from preserved periglacial aeolian sand sheets and dunes a regional chronostratigraphy is presented which indicates that both extensive dunes and sand sheets accumulated mainly between ca 30 and 13 ka. A switch to dominantly sand-sheet aggradation at ca 14–13 ka, with sand sheets forming widely until ca 8 ka, is attributed to (a) surface armouring by glacial deposits associated with the advance of the LIS; and (b) amelioration of the climate from cold aridity. An absence of OSL dates between ca 8 and 1 ka suggests that sand sheets stabilized during much of the Holocene. Local sand-sheet aggradation during recent centuries has occurred near sandy bluffs and on the floors of drained thermokarst lakes. The OSL dates constrain the maximum extent of the LIS in the Tuktoyaktuk Coastlands to Marine Isotope Stage 2