A stretched foil sample holder for liquids

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/33340/1/0000737.pd

An absolute measurement of the efficiency of a BF3 proportional counter

We report an absolute measurement of the efficiency of a BF3 counter in narrow beam geometry in the energy range frame 0.024 eV to 0.111 eV. Agreement with calculated efficiency values is excellent. No significant end effects are noted. The basic feature of this experiment is the measurement of the incident neutron flux by gold foil activation and counting in an NaI well counter which was calibrated with gold foils irradiated in the National Bureau of Standards Standard Thermal Neutron Flux.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/33574/1/0000077.pd

Untangling the effects of overexploration and overexploitation on organizational performance: The moderating role of environmental dynamism

Because a firm's optimal knowledge search behavior is determined by unique firm and industry conditions, organizational performance should be contingent oil the degree to which a firm's actual level of knowledge search deviates from the optimal level. It is thus hypothesized that deviation from the optimal search, in the form of either overexploitation or overexploration, is detrimental to organizational performance. Furthermore, the negative effect of search deviation oil organizational performance varies with environmental dynamism: that is, overexploitation is expected to become more harmful. whereas overexploration becomes less so with all increase in environmental dynamism. The empirical analyses yield results consistent with these arguments. Implications for research and practice are correspondingly discussed

Multiorgan MRI findings after hospitalisation with COVID-19 in the UK (C-MORE): a prospective, multicentre, observational cohort study

Introduction: The multiorgan impact of moderate to severe coronavirus infections in the post-acute phase is still poorly understood. We aimed to evaluate the excess burden of multiorgan abnormalities after hospitalisation with COVID-19, evaluate their determinants, and explore associations with patient-related outcome measures. Methods: In a prospective, UK-wide, multicentre MRI follow-up study (C-MORE), adults (aged ≥18 years) discharged from hospital following COVID-19 who were included in Tier 2 of the Post-hospitalisation COVID-19 study (PHOSP-COVID) and contemporary controls with no evidence of previous COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid antibody negative) underwent multiorgan MRI (lungs, heart, brain, liver, and kidneys) with quantitative and qualitative assessment of images and clinical adjudication when relevant. Individuals with end-stage renal failure or contraindications to MRI were excluded. Participants also underwent detailed recording of symptoms, and physiological and biochemical tests. The primary outcome was the excess burden of multiorgan abnormalities (two or more organs) relative to controls, with further adjustments for potential confounders. The C-MORE study is ongoing and is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04510025. Findings: Of 2710 participants in Tier 2 of PHOSP-COVID, 531 were recruited across 13 UK-wide C-MORE sites. After exclusions, 259 C-MORE patients (mean age 57 years [SD 12]; 158 [61%] male and 101 [39%] female) who were discharged from hospital with PCR-confirmed or clinically diagnosed COVID-19 between March 1, 2020, and Nov 1, 2021, and 52 non-COVID-19 controls from the community (mean age 49 years [SD 14]; 30 [58%] male and 22 [42%] female) were included in the analysis. Patients were assessed at a median of 5·0 months (IQR 4·2–6·3) after hospital discharge. Compared with non-COVID-19 controls, patients were older, living with more obesity, and had more comorbidities. Multiorgan abnormalities on MRI were more frequent in patients than in controls (157 [61%] of 259 vs 14 [27%] of 52; p5mg/L, OR 3·55 [1·23–11·88]; padjusted=0·025) than those without multiorgan abnormalities. Presence of lung MRI abnormalities was associated with a two-fold higher risk of chest tightness, and multiorgan MRI abnormalities were associated with severe and very severe persistent physical and mental health impairment (PHOSP-COVID symptom clusters) after hospitalisation. Interpretation: After hospitalisation for COVID-19, people are at risk of multiorgan abnormalities in the medium term. Our findings emphasise the need for proactive multidisciplinary care pathways, with the potential for imaging to guide surveillance frequency and therapeutic stratification. Funding: UK Research and Innovation and National Institute for Health Research

Large-scale phenotyping of patients with long COVID post-hospitalization reveals mechanistic subtypes of disease

One in ten severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infections result in prolonged symptoms termed long coronavirus disease (COVID), yet disease phenotypes and mechanisms are poorly understood1. Here we profiled 368 plasma proteins in 657 participants ≥3 months following hospitalization. Of these, 426 had at least one long COVID symptom and 233 had fully recovered. Elevated markers of myeloid inflammation and complement activation were associated with long COVID. IL-1R2, MATN2 and COLEC12 were associated with cardiorespiratory symptoms, fatigue and anxiety/depression; MATN2, CSF3 and C1QA were elevated in gastrointestinal symptoms and C1QA was elevated in cognitive impairment. Additional markers of alterations in nerve tissue repair (SPON-1 and NFASC) were elevated in those with cognitive impairment and SCG3, suggestive of brain–gut axis disturbance, was elevated in gastrointestinal symptoms. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2-specific immunoglobulin G (IgG) was persistently elevated in some individuals with long COVID, but virus was not detected in sputum. Analysis of inflammatory markers in nasal fluids showed no association with symptoms. Our study aimed to understand inflammatory processes that underlie long COVID and was not designed for biomarker discovery. Our findings suggest that specific inflammatory pathways related to tissue damage are implicated in subtypes of long COVID, which might be targeted in future therapeutic trials

Plutonium isotopic composition by gamma-ray spectroscopy: a review

This report presents a review of the methods and capabilities of nondestructive measurements of the isotopic composition of plutonium using gamma-ray spectroscopy

Measurement control: Principles and practice as applied to nondestructive assay

This paper discusses the principles and practice of measurement control for nondestructive assay (NDA) instruments. The NDA is not always blessed with the highly controlled samples that are assumed in the analytical laboratory. This adversely affects the use and applicability of the historical error information from instrument stability checks to estimate measurement uncertainties for the broad range of sample characteristics presented to most NDA instruments. This paper emphasizes the methods used to perform instrument stability checks and discusses the resulting uncertainty information that can be derived from these measurements. 4 refs., 2 figs., 2 tabs

Equations for plutonium and americium-241 decay corrections

We present derivations of equations used in various plutonium accountability measurements to correct for plutonium decay and /sup 241/Am ingrowth and decay. The equations are formulated in terms of the most widely available variables and are derived without approximation

The Concentration of (236)Pu Daughters in Plutonium for Application to MOX Production from Plutonium from Dismantled US Nuclear Weapons

The isotope {sup 236}Pu in the weapons-grade plutonium to be used in the US MOX (mixed-oxide) plant is of concern because the daughter products of {sup 236}Pu are sources of high-energy gamma rays. The {sup 208}Tl daughter of {sup 236}Pu emits intense, high-energy gamma rays that are important for radiation exposure calculations for plant design. It is generally thought that the concentrations of {sup 236}Pu and its daughters are well below 10{sup {minus}10}, but these concentrations are generally below the detection limits of most analytical techniques. One technique that can be used to determine the concentration {sup 208}Tl is the direct measurement of the intensity of the {sup 208}Tl gamma rays in the gamma-ray spectrum from plutonium. Thallium-208 will be in equilibrium with {sup 228}Th, and may very well be in equilibrium with {sup 232}U for most aged plutonium samples. We have used the FRAM isotopic analysis software to analyze dozens of archived high-resolution gamma ray spectra from various samples of US and foreign plutonium. We are able to quantify the ratio of minor isotopes with measurable gamma-ray emissions to the major isotope of plutonium and hence, through the measurement of the plutonium isotopic distribution of the sample, to elemental plutonium itself. Excluding items packaged in fluoropolymer vials, all samples analyzed with {sup 240}Pu < 9% gave {sup 228}Th/Pu ratios < 3.4 e-012 and all samples of US-produced plutonium, including {sup 240}Pu values up to 16.4%, gave {sup 228}Th/Pu ratios < 9.4 e-012. None of these values is significant from a radiation dose standpoint

Integrated nondestructive assay solutions for plutonium measurement problems of the 21st century

The authors describe automated and integrated nondestructive assay (NDA) systems configured to measure many of the materials that will be found in the Department of Energy complex in the dismantlement, disposition, residue stabilization, immobilization, and mixed oxide fuel programs. These systems are typified by the Advanced Recovery and Integrated Extraction System NDA system which is under construction at Los Alamos National Laboratory to measure the outputs of a weapon component dismantlement system