Pyrochemical Glovebox Line Replacement and Modernization Effort at Los Alamos National Laboratory Plutonium Facility.

Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), as part of the stockpile stewardship mission, is developing the capability to manufacture replacement pits for the United States nuclear weapon stockpile. Part of this effort requires that the various manufacturing activities formerly performed at the Rocky Flats be reconstructed at LANL, modernized to improve operation, and re-certified for pit production. Part of this effort requires that new pyrochemical metal production facilities be installed in TA-55 to replace existing outdated equipment. The purpose of this effort is design, build/procure, assemble, cold test, and support installation activities for ten pyrochemical processing gloveboxes and processing support equipment for insertion into a selected PF-4 laboratory. Eight of the gloveboxes will be connected to a common trolley tunnel with a state-of-the-art automated transport system that can access each glovebox. Five of those gloveboxes will be designed to accommodate standard water-cooled pyrochemical processing furnaces with appropriate lift mechanisms for handling the furnace products and processing hardware. Another glovebox will be designed to accommodate an improved breaking press that will be designed/procured to break alpha metal up to a thickness of l-inch, eliminate introduction of hydraulic oil to the glovebox environment, provide appropriate shielding for prevention of glovebox damage due to shrapnel projectiles, and use interchangeable impact tools in order to be able to process both contaminated and clean metals with the same machine. In addition, a storage glovebox and a distillation glovebox (already developed) will be attached to the transport system. Two other gloveboxes, one accommodating two casting furnaces and another storage glovebox, will be installed in the laboratory independent of the transport system. A transfer system (trolley) will be incorporated to handle material flow between the pyrochemical furnace gloveboxes, the press glovebox, the storage glovebox, and the distillation glovebox. The trolley will be very simple to operate, able to accommodate at least 50 pounds, require minimal maintenance, and be able to be requested and operated fiom any of the glovebox locations on the line. The transfer system will be capable of discharging its load in some manner through the open door to the entrance of each of the gloveboxes on the line. This may be an automatic function with manual selection for unusual loads or a completely manual operation. An existing commercial or otherwise proven system will be used if possible to minimize the design and test time needed for the system. Two commercial systems examined so far are the Montrac monorail type system available from Montech Incorporated and the Linear Synchronous Motor system available from MagneMotion Inc. Work to be completed during FY02 includes glovebox design, transport system industry research, demonstration of selected commercial transport systems, transport system conceptual design, metal breaking press conceptual design, and glovebox furnace lift mechanism design. Glovebox fabrication/procurement, material transport system procurement, press procurement, lift mechanism procurement, system assembly and staging, system testing, assistance in installing the system into TA-55, assistance with NMT configuration management approvals, and shakeout testing of the system is scheduled for FY03 and FY04. The goal is to have a fully functioning and modernized pyrochemical processing line in PF-4 ready for processing sometime in the first or second quarter of FY04

Effects of Anacetrapib in Patients with Atherosclerotic Vascular Disease

BACKGROUND: Patients with atherosclerotic vascular disease remain at high risk for cardiovascular events despite effective statin-based treatment of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels. The inhibition of cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) by anacetrapib reduces LDL cholesterol levels and increases high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol levels. However, trials of other CETP inhibitors have shown neutral or adverse effects on cardiovascular outcomes. METHODS: We conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial involving 30,449 adults with atherosclerotic vascular disease who were receiving intensive atorvastatin therapy and who had a mean LDL cholesterol level of 61 mg per deciliter (1.58 mmol per liter), a mean non-HDL cholesterol level of 92 mg per deciliter (2.38 mmol per liter), and a mean HDL cholesterol level of 40 mg per deciliter (1.03 mmol per liter). The patients were assigned to receive either 100 mg of anacetrapib once daily (15,225 patients) or matching placebo (15,224 patients). The primary outcome was the first major coronary event, a composite of coronary death, myocardial infarction, or coronary revascularization. RESULTS: During the median follow-up period of 4.1 years, the primary outcome occurred in significantly fewer patients in the anacetrapib group than in the placebo group (1640 of 15,225 patients [10.8%] vs. 1803 of 15,224 patients [11.8%]; rate ratio, 0.91; 95% confidence interval, 0.85 to 0.97; P=0.004). The relative difference in risk was similar across multiple prespecified subgroups. At the trial midpoint, the mean level of HDL cholesterol was higher by 43 mg per deciliter (1.12 mmol per liter) in the anacetrapib group than in the placebo group (a relative difference of 104%), and the mean level of non-HDL cholesterol was lower by 17 mg per deciliter (0.44 mmol per liter), a relative difference of -18%. There were no significant between-group differences in the risk of death, cancer, or other serious adverse events. CONCLUSIONS: Among patients with atherosclerotic vascular disease who were receiving intensive statin therapy, the use of anacetrapib resulted in a lower incidence of major coronary events than the use of placebo. (Funded by Merck and others; Current Controlled Trials number, ISRCTN48678192 ; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01252953 ; and EudraCT number, 2010-023467-18 .)

Accounting and the Papal States: The influence of the Pro commissa

The aim of this article is to explore the role played by accounting in the building of the early modern Papal States. In particular, the study shows how the control and accountability system set up by the Pro commissa Bull (15 August 1592) allowed the Pope to concentrate and centralize political power, fostering the shift of the Papal States towards the configuration of an absolute state which can be considered the first major institutional embodiment of the modern state in the early modern period. Besides contributing to the literature on accounting and state building, this research also provides insights into the role of accounting in religious institutions. The analysis, in fact, is carried out in one of the most important religious institutions in history. Moreover, the fact that the Pope was both the political and the religious head of the Papal States allows the inference that this peculiar “dual role” could have affected the setting up of the abovementioned control and accountability system