Gluon Fragmentation to Gluonium

The fragmentation of gluons to gluonium states is analyzed qualitatively in the non-perturbative region. The convolution of this mechanism with perturbative gluon radiation leaves us with a hard component in the fragmentation of gluon to gluonium.Comment: 6 pages with 2 figures, LaTe

Evaluation of a self-guided transport vehicle for remote transportation of transuranic and other hazardous waste

Between 1952 and 1970, over two million cubic ft of transuranic mixed waste was buried in shallow pits and trenches in the Subsurface Disposal Area at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory`s Radioactive Waste Management Complex. Commingled with this two million cubic ft of waste is up to 10 million cubic ft of fill soil. The pits and trenches were constructed similarly to municipal landfills with both stacked and random dump waste forms such as barrels and boxes. The main contaminants are micron-sized particles of plutonium and americium oxides, chlorides, and hydroxides. Retrieval, treatment, and disposal is one of the options being considered for the waste. This report describes the results of a field demonstration conducted to evaluate a technology for transporting exhumed transuranic wastes at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) and at other hazardous or radioactive waste sites through the U.S. Department of Energy complex. The full-scale demonstration, conducted at the INEEL Robotics Center in the summer of 1995, evaluated equipment performance and techniques for remote transport of exhumed buried waste. The technology consisted of a Self-Guided Transport Vehicle designed to remotely convey retrieved waste from the retrieval digface and transport it to a receiving/processing area with minimal human intervention. Data were gathered and analyzed to evaluate performance parameters such as precision and accuracy of navigation and transportation rates

Gluon Radiation Off Scalar Stop Particles

We present the distributions for gluon radiation off stop-antistop particles produced in $e^+e^-$ annihilation: $e^+e^- \to \tilde t \bar{\tilde t} g$. For high energies the splitting functions of the fragmentation processes $\tilde t \to \tilde t g$ and $g \to \tilde t \bar{\tilde t}$ are derived; they are universal and apply also to high-energy stop particles produced at hadron colliders.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures as uuencoded ps files, Latex, uses epsfig, complete postscript version at ftp://x4u2.desy.de/pub/preprints/desy/1994/desy94-235.p

Risk of new onset diabetes mellitus in patients with asthma or COPD taking inhaled corticosteroids

SummaryBackgroundA recent case-controlled study reported an increased risk of diabetes mellitus in patients treated with inhaled corticosteroids for asthma or COPD, versus age-matched controls.ObjectiveThe purpose of the current study was to evaluate whether there was an increased risk of new onset diabetes mellitus or hyperglycaemia among patients with asthma or COPD treated with inhaled corticosteroids.MethodsA retrospective analysis evaluated all double-blind, placebo-controlled, trials in patients ≥4 years of age involving budesonide or budesonide/formoterol in asthma (26 trials; budesonide: n = 9067; placebo: n = 5926), and in COPD (8 trials; budesonide: n = 4616; non-ICS: n = 3643). A secondary dataset evaluated all double-blind, controlled trials in asthma involving the use of inhaled corticosteroids (60 trials; budesonide: n = 33,496; fluticasone: n = 2773).ResultsIn the primary asthma dataset, the occurrence of diabetes mellitus/hyperglycaemia adverse events (AEs) was 0.13% for budesonide and 0.13% for placebo (HR 0.98 [95% CI: 0.38–2.50], p = 0.96) and serious adverse events (SAEs) was 0% for budesonide and 0.05% for placebo. In the secondary dataset, the occurrence of diabetes/hyperglycaemia as AE and SAE was 0.19% and 0.03%, respectively. In the COPD dataset, the occurrence of diabetes mellitus/hyperglycaemia AEs was 1.3% for budesonide and 1.2% for non-ICS (HR 0.99 [95% CI: 0.67–1.46], p = 0.96) and SAEs was 0.1% for budesonide and 0.03% for non-ICS.Conclusion and clinical relevanceTreatment with inhaled corticosteroids in patients with asthma or COPD was not associated with increased risk of new onset diabetes mellitus or hyperglycaemia

Moments of the Virtual Photon Structure Function

The photon structure function is a useful testing ground for QCD. It is perturbatively computable apart from a contribution from what is usually called the hadronic component of the photon. There have been many proposals for this nonperturbative part of the real photon structure function. By studying moments of the virtual photon structure function, we explore the extent to which these proposed nonperturbative contributions can be identified experimentally.Comment: LaTeX, 16 pages + 14 compressed and uuencoded postscript figures, UMN-TH-1111/9

Finite element simulation of three-dimensional free-surface flow problems

An adaptive finite element algorithm is described for the stable solution of three-dimensional free-surface-flow problems based primarily on the use of node movement. The algorithm also includes a discrete remeshing procedure which enhances its accuracy and robustness. The spatial discretisation allows an isoparametric piecewise-quadratic approximation of the domain geometry for accurate resolution of the curved free surface. The technique is illustrated through an implementation for surface-tension-dominated viscous flows modelled in terms of the Stokes equations with suitable boundary conditions on the deforming free surface. Two three-dimensional test problems are used to demonstrate the performance of the method: a liquid bridge problem and the formation of a fluid droplet

Can forest management based on natural disturbances maintain ecological resilience?

Given the increasingly global stresses on forests, many ecologists argue that managers must maintain ecological resilience: the capacity of ecosystems to absorb disturbances without undergoing fundamental change. In this review we ask: Can the emerging paradigm of natural-disturbance-based management (NDBM) maintain ecological resilience in managed forests? Applying resilience theory requires careful articulation of the ecosystem state under consideration, the disturbances and stresses that affect the persistence of possible alternative states, and the spatial and temporal scales of management relevance. Implementing NDBM while maintaining resilience means recognizing that (i) biodiversity is important for long-term ecosystem persistence, (ii) natural disturbances play a critical role as a generator of structural and compositional heterogeneity at multiple scales, and (iii) traditional management tends to produce forests more homogeneous than those disturbed naturally and increases the likelihood of unexpected catastrophic change by constraining variation of key environmental processes. NDBM may maintain resilience if silvicultural strategies retain the structures and processes that perpetuate desired states while reducing those that enhance resilience of undesirable states. Such strategies require an understanding of harvesting impacts on slow ecosystem processes, such as seed-bank or nutrient dynamics, which in the long term can lead to ecological surprises by altering the forest's capacity to reorganize after disturbance