Successful Practices to Accelerate Pond Closure with Beneficial Reuse of CCR

Successful practices to accelerate pond closure with beneficial reuse of CCR Authors Mr. John Gartin - United States - Tetra Tech EC, Inc. Mr. Dearl Tate - United States - Tetra Tech EC, Inc. Mr. Tom Kierspe - United States - The SEFA Group, LLC Abstract Successful project implementation by the Duke Energy, SEFA Group, and Tetra Tech Team to achieve pond closure with beneficiation at the retired H.F. Lee Plant. Duke Energy is beneficially reusing ash from multiple basins at the site, providing a source of materials that helps cement producers meet their sustainability goals and compliance while ensuring Duke Energy complies with CCR regulations. On this unique and challenging site, the ash beneficiation project considerations include safe operations, environmental compliance, maintaining CCR beneficiation specifications, sequencing of available basins, and risk reduction. This is being accomplished through industry leading best practices with a collaborative effort between the contractors and owner, with periodic basin stability assessments, instrumentation and monitoring, staff training in safety/excavation risk identification, advanced planning, and selecting appropriate means and methods for efficient operations. Duke Energy has successfully guided the construction and startup of three Staged Turbulent Air Reactor (STAR®) ash beneficiation facilities including one at the H.F. Lee Coal Fired Plant. Tetra Tech’s operations are being performed in an ash basin where CCR is delivered from four other onsite basins, blended, and stockpiled in a lined containment area. Simultaneously, Tetra Tech is excavating, screening, processing, and segregating CCR material per SEFA’s specification

Who\u27s Distressed? A Comparison of Diabetes-Related Distress by Type of Diabetes and Medication

OBJECTIVE: We hypothesized that diabetes-related distress would vary by type of diabetes and medication regimen [Type 1 diabetes (T1DM), Type 2 diabetes with insulin use (T2DM-i), Type 2 diabetes without insulin use (T2DM)]. Thus, the aim of this study was to identify groups with elevated diabetes-related distress. METHODS: We administered the 17-item Diabetes-related Distress Scale (DDS-17) to 585 patients. We collected demographics, medications, and lab results from patient records. RESULTS: Patients were categorized by type of diabetes and medication: T1DM (n = 149); T2DM-i (n = 333); and T2DM (n = 103). ANOVA revealed significant differences in sample characteristics. ANCOVA were conducted on all four DDS-17 domains [Emotional Burden (EB); Physician-related Distress (PD); Regimen-related Distress (RD); and Interpersonal Distress (ID)]; covariates included in the models were sex, age, duration of diabetes, BMI, and HbA1c. EB was significantly lower in T1DM than T2DM-i, p \u3c 0.05. In addition, RD was significantly lower in T1DM than either T2DM-i, p \u3c 0.05 and T2DM, p \u3c 0.05. CONCLUSIONS: EB and RD are higher for those with type 2 diabetes. Thus, interventions to reduce EB and RD need to be considered for patients with type 2 diabetes. IMPLICATIONS: DDS-17 is useful in identifying diabetes-related distress in patients with diabetes. Efforts need to be made to reduce EB and RD

Radio Galaxy Zoo: The Distortion of Radio Galaxies by Galaxy Clusters

We study the impact of cluster environment on the morphology of a sample of 4304 extended radio galaxies from Radio Galaxy Zoo. A total of 87% of the sample lies within a projected 15 Mpc of an optically identified cluster. Brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) are more likely than other cluster members to be radio sources, and are also moderately bent. The surface density as a function of separation from cluster center of non-BCG radio galaxies follows a power law with index $-1.10\pm 0.03$ out to $10~r_{500}$ ($\sim 7~$Mpc), which is steeper than the corresponding distribution for optically selected galaxies. Non-BCG radio galaxies are statistically more bent the closer they are to the cluster center. Within the inner $1.5~r_{500}$ ($\sim 1~$Mpc) of a cluster, non-BCG radio galaxies are statistically more bent in high-mass clusters than in low-mass clusters. Together, we find that non-BCG sources are statistically more bent in environments that exert greater ram pressure. We use the orientation of bent radio galaxies as an indicator of galaxy orbits and find that they are preferentially in radial orbits. Away from clusters, there is a large population of bent radio galaxies, limiting their use as cluster locators; however, they are still located within statistically overdense regions. We investigate the asymmetry in the tail length of sources that have their tails aligned along the radius vector from the cluster center, and find that the length of the inward-pointing tail is weakly suppressed for sources close to the center of the cluster.Comment: 23 pages, 17 figures, 2 tables. Supplemental data files available in The Astronomical Journal or contact autho

Incorporation of hyperfine probes into the thin-film superconductor YBa₂Cu₃O₇₋δ during deposition

Radioactive In has been incorporated into oriented thin films of YBa₂Cu₃O₇₋δ during a thermal coevaporation process. The hyperfme technique of perturbed γγ-angular correlation spectroscopy shows that 60% of the indium substitutes at a single site in the superconductor. We obtain spectra with reasonable statistics from 2 mCi of starting material, about 1% of which is incorporated into the film. Other methods of incorporating indium into films and bulk YBa₂Cu₃O₇₋δ have often resulted in a significant amount of indium being incorporated into impurity phases

Effect of Military Deployment on Diabetes Mellitus in Air Force Personnel

Introduction: Military deployments relocate service members to austere locations with limited medical capabilities, raising uncertainties whether members with diabetes can participate safely. Military regulations require a medical clearance for service members with diabetes prior to deployment, but there is a dearth of data that can guide the provider in this decision. To alleviate the lack of evidence in this area, we analyzed the change in glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) and body mass index (BMI) before and after a deployment among active duty U.S. Air Force personnel who deployed with diabetes. Materials and Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted using HbA1c and BMI values obtained within 3 mo before and within 3 mo after repatriation from a deployment of at least 90 d between January 1, 2004 through December 31, 2014. The study population consisted of 103 and 195 subjects who had an available pre- and post-deployment HbA1c and BMI values, respectively. Paired t-tests were conducted to determine significant differences in HbA1C and BMI values. Results: The majority (73.8%) of members had a HbA1c7%. BMI declined for the overall population (28.3 kg/m2 vs. 27.7 kg/m2, p \u3c 0.0001) and for most of the subgroups. Conclusion: Air Force service members who deployed with diabetes, including those with a HbA1c \u3e 7%, experienced a statistically significant improvement in HbA1c and BMI upon repatriation. A prospective study design in the future can better reconcile the effect of a military deployment on a more comprehensive array of diabetes parameters

Optimisation and standardisation of a multiplex immunoassay of diverse Plasmodium falciparum antigens to assess changes in malaria transmission using sero-epidemiology.

Background: Antibody responses have been used to characterise transmission and exposure history in malaria-endemic settings for over a decade. Such studies have typically been conducted on well-standardised enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs). However, recently developed quantitative suspension array technologies (qSAT) are now capable of high-throughput and multiplexed screening of up to hundreds of analytes at a time. This study presents a customised protocol for the Luminex MAGPIX © qSAT using a diverse set of malaria antigens. The aim is to develop a standardised assay for routine serological surveillance that is implementable across laboratories and epidemiological settings. Methods: A panel of eight Plasmodium falciparum recombinant antigens, associated with long- and short-lived antibody responses, was designed for the Luminex MAGPIX © platform. The assay was optimised for key steps in the protocol: antigen-bead coupling concentration, buffer composition, serum sample dilution, and bead storage conditions. Quality control procedures and data normalisation methods were developed to address high-throughput assay processing.  Antigen-specific limits of quantification (LOQs) were also estimated using both in-house and WHO reference serum as positive controls. Results: Antigen-specific bead coupling was optimised across five serum dilutions and two positive controls, resulting in concentrations operational within stable analytical ranges. Coupled beads were stable after storage at room temperature (22?C) for up to eight weeks. High sensitivity and specificity for distinguishing positive and negative controls at serum sample dilutions of 1:500 (AUC 0.94 95%CI 0.91-0.96) and 1:1000 (AUC 0.96 95%CI 0.94-0.98) were observed. LOQs were also successfully estimated for all analytes but varied by antigen and positive control. Conclusions: This study demonstrates that developing a standardised malaria-specific qSAT protocol for a diverse set of antigens is achievable, though further optimisations may be required. Quality control and data standardisation methods may also be useful for future analysis of large sero-epidemiological surveys

Leadership Training in Endocrinology Fellowship? A Survey of Program Directors and Recent Graduates

Context: There is growing recognition that more physician leaders are needed to navigate the next era of medicine. Objective: To determine current opinions about leadership training in endocrinology fellowship programs. Design/Participants: Twenty-seven-question survey addressing various aspects of leadership training to current nationwide fellowship program directors (PDs) and fellowship graduates since 2010. Intervention: In partnership with the Endocrine Society, the electronic survey was advertised primarily via direct e-mail. It was open from March through July 2016. Main Outcome Measures: The survey addressed leadership traits, importance of leadership training, preferred timing, and content of leadership training. Results: Forty-six of 138 PDs (33.3%) and 147 of 1769 graduates (8.3%) completed the survey. Among PDs and graduates, there was strong agreement (\u3e95%) about important leadership characteristics, including job knowledge, character traits, team-builder focus, and professional skills. PDs (64.5%) and graduates (60.8%) favored teaching leadership skills during fellowship, with PDs favoring mentoring/coaching (75.0%), direct observation of staff clinicians (72.5%), and seminars (72.5%). Graduates favored a variety of approaches. Regarding topics to include in a leadership curriculum, PDs responded that communication skills (97.5%), team building (95.0%), professional skills (90.0%), clinic management (87.5%), strategies to impact the delivery of endocrinology care (85.0%), and personality skills (82.5%) were most important. Graduates responded similarly, with \u3e80% agreement for each topic. Finally, most PDs (89%) expressed a desire to incorporate more leadership training into their programs. Conclusions: Our survey suggests a need for leadership training in endocrinology fellowships. More work is needed to determine how best to meet this need