Fixation of aqueous tritiated waste in polymer impregnated concrete and in polyacetylene

Tritiated aqueous waste can be used to hydrate hydraulic cement producing a concrete that contains a network of interconnected porosity. Such a product is subject to water intrusion and subsequent tritium loss by leaching and exchange. Techniques have been developed to impregnate this porosity with styrene monomer which is then polymerized in situ, resulting in a concrete that is essentially impermeable while its strength, durability, and resistance to chemical attack are significantly improved. Tritium bulk leach rates as low as 1.68 x 10$sup -4$ g/(cm$sup 2$-day) have been measured for polymer-impregnated concrete in water. An adsorbent additive can be incorporated to increase the specific tritiated waste loading of the concrete. Depending upon the formulations, these composites incorporate 5.8 to 8.3 liters HTO per cubic foot. Tritiated aqueous waste can also be fixed in polymeric form as polyacetylene through reaction with calcium carbide to form tritiated acetylene which is subsequently polymerized. Acetylene polymerization is accomplished by either $sup 60$Co gamma irradiation or thermal catalysis over cupric oxide. The tritiated polyacetylene produced can contain up to 50 atomic percent tritium and is essentially non-leachable, insoluble, thermally stable to 325$sup 0$C, and chemically inert. The bulk leach rate of tritiated polyacetylene was determined to be of the order of 1.8 x 10$sup -8$ g/(cm$sup 2$-day). Radiolysis by $sup 60$Co gamma irradiation results in a G value for hydrogen production of 0.15 molecules/100 eV. Tritiated polyacetylene can be incorporated as an aggregate in concrete, polymer concrete, or polymer impregnated concrete to form a monolithic solid. (auth

Solidification of oils and organic liquids

The suitability of selected solidification media for application in the disposal of low-level oil and other organic liquid wastes has been investigated. In the past, these low-level wastes (LLWs) have commonly been immobilized by sorption onto solid absorbents such as vermiculite or diatomaceous earth. Evolving regulations regarding the disposal of these materials encourage solidification. Solidification media which were studied include Portland type I cement; vermiculite plus Portland type I cement; Nuclear Technology Corporation's Nutek 380-cement process; emulsifier, Portland type I cement-sodium silicate; Delaware Custom Materiel's cement process; and the US Gypsum Company's Envirostone process. Waste forms have been evaluated as to their ability to reliably produce free standing monolithic solids which are homogeneous (macroscopically), contain < 1% free standing liquids by volume and pass a water immersion test. Solidified waste form specimens were also subjected to vibratory shock testing and flame testing. Simulated oil wastes can be solidified to acceptable solid specimens having volumetric waste loadings of less than 40 volume-%. However, simulated organic liquid wastes could not be solidified into acceptable waste forms above a volumetric loading factor of about 10 volume-% using the solidification agents studied

Mobility of thorium ions in liquid xenon

We present a measurement of the $^{226}$Th ion mobility in LXe at 163.0 K and 0.9 bar. The result obtained, 0.240$\pm$0.011 (stat) $\pm$0.011 (syst) cm$^{2}$/(kV-s), is compared with a popular model of ion transport.Comment: 6.5 pages,

The development and application of a new tool to assess the adequacy of the content and timing of antenatal care

Abstract Background: Current measures of antenatal care use are limited to initiation of care and number of visits. This study aimed to describe the development and application of a tool to assess the adequacy of the content and timing of antenatal care. Methods: The Content and Timing of care in Pregnancy (CTP) tool was developed based on clinical relevance for ongoing antenatal care and recommendations in national and international guidelines. The tool reflects minimal care recommended in every pregnancy, regardless of parity or risk status. CTP measures timing of initiation of care, content of care (number of blood pressure readings, blood tests and ultrasound scans) and whether the interventions were received at an appropriate time. Antenatal care trajectories for 333 pregnant women were then described using a standard tool (the APNCU index), that measures the quantity of care only, and the new CTP tool. Both tools categorise care into 4 categories, from ‘Inadequate’ (both tools) to ‘Adequate plus’ (APNCU) or ‘Appropriate’ (CTP). Participants recorded the timing and content of their antenatal care prospectively using diaries. Analysis included an examination of similarities and differences in categorisation of care episodes between the tools. Results: According to the CTP tool, the care trajectory of 10,2% of the women was classified as inadequate, 8,4% as intermediate, 36% as sufficient and 45,3% as appropriate. The assessment of quality of care differed significantly between the two tools. Seventeen care trajectories classified as ‘Adequate’ or ‘Adequate plus’ by the APNCU were deemed ‘Inadequate’ by the CTP. This suggests that, despite a high number of visits, these women did not receive the minimal recommended content and timing of care. Conclusions: The CTP tool provides a more detailed assessment of the adequacy of antenatal care than the current standard index. However, guidelines for the content of antenatal care vary, and the tool does not at the moment grade over-use of interventions as ‘Inappropriate’. Further work needs to be done to refine the content items prior to larger scale testing of the impact of the new measure

A magnetically-driven piston pump for ultra-clean applications

A magnetically driven piston pump for xenon gas recirculation is presented. The pump is designed to satisfy extreme purity and containment requirements, as is appropriate for the recirculation of isotopically enriched xenon through the purification system and large liquid xenon TPC of EXO-200. The pump, using sprung polymer gaskets, is capable of pumping more than 16 standard liters per minute (SLPM) of xenon gas with 750 torr differential pressure.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure

Multilocus Bayesian Estimates of Intra-Oceanic Genetic Differentiation, Connectivity, and Admixture in Atlantic Swordfish (Xiphias gladius L.)

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Prolonged Antibiotic Treatment does not Prevent Intra-Abdominal Abscesses in Perforated Appendicitis

Contains fulltext : 89619.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)BACKGROUND: Children with perforated appendicitis have a relatively high risk of intra-abdominal abscesses. There is no evidence that prolonged antibiotic treatment after surgery reduces intra-abdominal abscess formation. We compared two patient groups with perforated appendicitis with different postoperative antibiotic treatment protocols. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed patients younger than age 18 years who underwent appendectomy for perforated appendicitis at two academic hospitals between January 1992 and December 2006. Perforation was diagnosed during surgery and confirmed during histopathological evaluation. Patients in hospital A received 5 days of antibiotics postoperatively, unless decided otherwise on clinical grounds. Patients in hospital B received antibiotics for 5 days, continued until serum C-reactive protein (CRP) was <20 mg/l. Univariate logistic regression analysis was performed on intention-to-treat basis. p < 0.05 was considered significant. RESULTS: A total of 149 children underwent appendectomy for perforated appendicitis: 68 in hospital A, and 81 in hospital B. As expected, the median (range) use of antibiotics was significantly different: 5 (range, 1-16) and 7 (range, 2-32) days, respectively (p < 0.0001). However, the incidence of postoperative intra-abdominal abscesses was similar (p = 0.95). Regression analysis demonstrated that sex (female) was a risk factor for abscess formation, whereas surgical technique and young age were not. CONCLUSIONS: Prolonged use of antibiotics after surgery for perforated appendicitis in children based on serum CRP does not reduce postoperative abscess formation.1 december 201

HIV-1 Superinfection in Women Broadens and Strengthens the Neutralizing Antibody Response

Identifying naturally-occurring neutralizing antibodies (NAb) that are cross-reactive against all global subtypes of HIV-1 is an important step toward the development of a vaccine. Establishing the host and viral determinants for eliciting such broadly NAbs is also critical for immunogen design. NAb breadth has previously been shown to be positively associated with viral diversity. Therefore, we hypothesized that superinfected individuals develop a broad NAb response as a result of increased antigenic stimulation by two distinct viruses. To test this hypothesis, plasma samples from 12 superinfected women each assigned to three singly infected women were tested against a panel of eight viruses representing four different HIV-1 subtypes at matched time points post-superinfection (∼5 years post-initial infection). Here we show superinfected individuals develop significantly broader NAb responses post-superinfection when compared to singly infected individuals (RR = 1.68, CI: 1.23–2.30, p = 0.001). This was true even after controlling for NAb breadth developed prior to superinfection, contemporaneous CD4+ T cell count and viral load. Similarly, both unadjusted and adjusted analyses showed significantly greater potency in superinfected cases compared to controls. Notably, two superinfected individuals were able to neutralize variants from four different subtypes at plasma dilutions >1∶300, suggesting that their NAbs exhibit elite activity. Cross-subtype breadth was detected within a year of superinfection in both of these individuals, which was within 1.5 years of their initial infection. These data suggest that sequential infections lead to augmentation of the NAb response, a process that may provide insight into potential mechanisms that contribute to the development of antibody breadth. Therefore, a successful vaccination strategy that mimics superinfection may lead to the development of broad NAbs in immunized individuals

Young and Intermediate-age Distance Indicators

Distance measurements beyond geometrical and semi-geometrical methods, rely mainly on standard candles. As the name suggests, these objects have known luminosities by virtue of their intrinsic proprieties and play a major role in our understanding of modern cosmology. The main caveats associated with standard candles are their absolute calibration, contamination of the sample from other sources and systematic uncertainties. The absolute calibration mainly depends on their chemical composition and age. To understand the impact of these effects on the distance scale, it is essential to develop methods based on different sample of standard candles. Here we review the fundamental properties of young and intermediate-age distance indicators such as Cepheids, Mira variables and Red Clump stars and the recent developments in their application as distance indicators.Comment: Review article, 63 pages (28 figures), Accepted for publication in Space Science Reviews (Chapter 3 of a special collection resulting from the May 2016 ISSI-BJ workshop on Astronomical Distance Determination in the Space Age