Strongly coupled large-angle stimulated Raman scattering of short laser pulses in plasma-filled capillaries

Strongly coupled large-angle stimulated Raman scattering (LA SRS) of a short intense laser pulse proceeds in a plane plasma-filled capillary differently than in a plasma with open boundaries. Oblique mirror reflections off capillary walls partly suppress the lateral convection of scattered radiation and increase the growth rate of the instability: the convective gain of the LA SRS falls with an angle much slower than in an unbounded plasma and even for the near-forward SRS can be close to that of the direct backscatter. The long-term evolution of LA SRS in the interior of the capillary is dominated by quasi-one-dimensional leaky modes, whose damping is related to the transmission of electromagnetic waves through capillary walls.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures; to be submitted to Physics of Plasma

Libraries as Community: Investigating Social Infrastructure and Community Cohesion

Libraries are a form of public infrastructure that guide, protect, and preserve the spirit of community. Established as the guarantor of a peaceful, well-informed society, this research evaluates the library\u27s methods and degree of influence over citizens\u27 feelings of community alongside other social phenomena; looking both within and without existing systems, the researcher posits a model of critical librarianship, acknowledging that current practices reinforce existing structures of inequity and privilege. A methodological investigation is then made into the link between library and community through use of secondary data analysis, concluding that strong library systems positively associate with community cohesion on a county level in Kentucky. It is the intention of this research to illuminate the vision of a public library and its reflection of cultural values, connection to democracy, and relationship to communities through an intersectional lens

Maternal residential pesticide use and risk of childhood leukemia in Costa Rica.

Evidence suggests that early-life exposure to pesticides inside the home may be associated with childhood leukemia, however data from Latin American countries are limited. We examined whether self-reported maternal residential pesticide use and nearby pesticide applications-before and after child's birth-were associated with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in the Costa Rican Childhood Leukemia Study (CRCLS), a population-based case-control study (2001-2003). Cases (n = 251 ALL) were diagnosed between 1995 and 2000 (age <15 years at diagnosis) and were identified through the Costa Rican Cancer Registry and National Children's Hospital. Population controls (n = 577) were drawn from the National Birth Registry. We fitted unconditional logistic regression models adjusted for child sex, birth year, and socioeconomic status to estimate the exposure-outcome associations and also stratified by child sex. We observed that self-reported maternal insecticide use inside the home in the year before pregnancy, during pregnancy, and while breastfeeding was associated with increased odds of ALL among boys [adjusted Odds Ratio (aOR) = 1.63 (95% confidence interval [95% CI]: 1.05-2.53), 1.75 (1.13-2.73), and 1.75 (1.12-2.73), respectively. We also found evidence of exposure-response relationships between more frequent maternal insecticide use inside the home and increased odds of ALL among boys and girls combined. Maternal report of pesticide applications on farms or companies near the home during pregnancy and at any time period were also associated with ALL. Our study in Costa Rica highlights the need for education to minimize pesticide exposures inside and around the home, particularly during pregnancy and breastfeeding

Mitigating the out-of-plane seismic vulnerability of unreinforced masonry façades with viscoelastic devices

Surveys conducted after earthquakes have revealed that the most common and hazardous collapse mechanism observed in unreinforced masonry façades is the out-of-plane overturning. Traditional techniques such as tie rods, ring beams, and rigid slab-to-wall connections have been employed to enhance the seismic performance of unreinforced masonry (URM) buildings. However, there are alternative strengthening systems that may improve the performance compared to these conventional techniques. While passive energy dissipation (PED) devices are utilized in framed structures to mitigate dynamic response, their application to URM buildings remains limited. In this study, the effectiveness of three different strengthening techniques, namely rigid slab-to-wall connections, steel tie rods, and viscoelastic devices was investigated. A FEM model of a partial façade with a transversal wall was created to simulate the out-of-plane behaviour. Nonlinear dynamic analyses were conducted using recorded earthquakes as input. The performance of each technique was evaluated by comparing various parameters, namely displacements, base shear forces, plastic energy, and damage distribution. The results revealed that viscoelastic devices exhibited better performance in reducing displacements and mitigating the vulnerability of façade overturning.This work was funded by FCT – Foundation for Science and Technology within the scope of project EXPL/ECIEGC/0940/2021. The first author is grateful for the funding from the Mexican National Council for Science and Technology (Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología CONACYT), grant number 2018-000013-01EXTF-00137

The impact of an easy access drug supply management policy law on the consumption and abuse of opioids in Catalonia : A population-based study

Background: Over the last two decades, the rise in opioid prescription has worsened health outcomes worldwide, increasing both levels of abuse and mortality rates. In order to reduce the scale of this public health problem, new policies have been implemented in many countries. In 2012, Spain adopted new legislation on opioid prescription (the ROE law), which meant that practitioners no longer needed to obtain extra authorisation in order to prescribe strong opioids. The objective of the paper is to assess the impact of this law on opioid use and abuse in Catalonia, Spain. Methods: We established two measures of the use of strong and weak opioids: DDDs, and abuse. We used benzodiazepines and antidepressants as controls, and adjusted for age, sex, drug co-payment level, death or near death, cancer diagnosis, morbidity group, and type of prescription. The data were obtained from administrative and dispensing drug databases in a population of 7.5 million inhabitants. We estimated two-way fixed effects using difference in difference models. Results: The ROE law impacted reducing the monthly use of strong opioids by 0.903 DDDs, representing a 3.15% decrease in the mean monthly use of strong opioids. However, abuse rose 1.86 times compared with the average pre-ROE value, which represents an increase of 11,190 months of opioid abuse (i.e., an 11.33% of all monthly opioids use). Conclusion: The abolition of the duplicate prescription programme for strong opioids led to a reduction in the average monthly use of strong opioids, but an increase in abuse