LMDA New & Noteworthy, November 2017

Contents include: Q & A: Amy Stoller; Q & A: Andrea Kovich; Events/Announcements.https://soundideas.pugetsound.edu/lmdanewsletter/1013/thumbnail.jp

Emerging Neurotechnologies for Lie Detection and the Fifth Amendment

The article examines the legal implications and advantages of emerging Neurotechnological Lie Detection (NTLD). The self-incrimination clause of the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was taken into account, including its scope over NTLD. Key information about the reliability and privacy issues of NTLD is further presented

An Evaluation of Through-Thickness Changes in Primary Damage Production in Commercial Reactor Pressure Vessels

An extensive database of atomic displacement cascades in iron has been developed using the method of molecular dynamics (MD). More than 300 simulations have been completed at 100K with energies between 0.1 and 100 keV. This encompasses nearly all energies relevant to fission reactor irradiation environments since a 100 keV MD cascade corresponds to the average iron cascade following a collision with a 5.1 MeV neutron. Extensive statistical analysis of the database has determined representative average values for several primary damage parameters: the total number of surviving point defects, the fraction of the surviving point defects contained in clusters formed during cascade cooling, and a measure of the size distribution of the in-cascade point defect clusters. The cascade energy dependence of the MD-based primary damage parameters has been used to obtain spectrum-averaged defect production cross sections for typical fission reactor neutron energy spectra as a function of depth through the reactor pressure vessel. The attenuation of the spectrum-averaged cross sections for total point defect survival and the fraction of either interstitials or vacancies in clusters are quite similar to that for the NRT dpa. However, the cross sections derived to account for the energy dependence of the point defect cluster size distributions exhibit a potentially significant variation through the vessel. The production rate of large interstitial clusters decreases more rapidly than dpa whereas the production of large vacancy clusters is slower than dpa

Point defect survival and clustering fractions obtained from molecular dynamics simulations of high energy cascades

Evolution of high-energy displacement cascades in iron has been investigated for times up to 200 ps using molecular dynamics simulation. The simulations were carried out using the MOLDY code and a modified version of the many-body interatomic potential developed by Finnis and Sinclair. Previously reported results have been supplemented by a series of 10 keV simulations at 900 K and 20 keV simulations at 100K. Results indicate that the fraction of the Frenkel pairs escaping in-cascade recombination is somewhat higher and the fraction of the surviving point defects that cluster is lower in iron than in materials such as copper. In particular, vacancy clustering appears to be inhibited in iron. Many of the larger interstitial clusters were observed to exhibit a complex, three-dimensional morphology. Apparent mobility of the crowdion and clusters of crowdions was very high

Linear growth in preschool children treated with mass azithromycin distributions for trachoma: A cluster-randomized trial.

BackgroundMass azithromycin distributions have been shown to reduce mortality among pre-school children in sub-Saharan Africa. It is unclear what mediates this mortality reduction, but one possibility is that antibiotics function as growth promoters for young children.Methods and findings24 rural Ethiopian communities that had received biannual mass azithromycin distributions over the previous four years were enrolled in a parallel-group, cluster-randomized trial. Communities were randomized in a 1:1 ratio to either continuation of biannual oral azithromycin (20mg/kg for children, 1 g for adults) or to no programmatic antibiotics over the 36 months of the study period. All community members 6 months and older were eligible for the intervention. The primary outcome was ocular chlamydia; height and weight were measured as secondary outcomes on children less than 60 months of age at months 12 and 36. Study participants were not masked; anthropometrists were not informed of the treatment allocation. Anthropometric measurements were collected for 282 children aged 0-36 months at the month 12 assessment and 455 children aged 0-59 months at the month 36 assessment, including 207 children who had measurements at both time points. After adjusting for age and sex, children were slightly but not significantly taller in the biannually treated communities (84.0 cm, 95%CI 83.2-84.8, in the azithromycin-treated communities vs. 83.7 cm, 95%CI 82.9-84.5, in the untreated communities; mean difference 0.31 cm, 95%CI -0.85 to 1.47, P = 0.60). No adverse events were reported.ConclusionsPeriodic mass azithromycin distributions for trachoma did not demonstrate a strong impact on childhood growth.Trial registrationThe TANA II trial was registered on clinicaltrials.gov #NCT01202331