Pollution Prevention: Factors Behind Toxic Release Reduction in the U.S. Paper Industry

Drs. Tiefenbacher and Solecki analyze the factors associated with, and influential in, the reduction of toxic releases in the U.S. paper industry

Themes of U.S. Wine Advertising and the Use of Geography and Place to Market Wine

Cet article décrit et traite du rôle de la géographie en matière de publicité pour le vin dans le célèbre magazine américain spécialisé en la matière : The Wine Spectator. L’analyse systématique du contenu visuel et textuel des 764 annonces publiées dans les 30 numéros (correspondant à deux ans de publication) démontre qu’environ 66 % d’entre elles présentaient des éléments géographiques, révélant clairement l’importance du lieu dans la production et la qualité de vin. L’approche qualitative basée sur une combinaison de méthodes a fait ressortir 8 messages identifiables et 11 thèmes distincts traités dans ces annonces. Le plus important d’entre eux étant l’importance du lieu et du paysage pour la qualité des vins. L’utilisation explicite de la notion de « terroir » n’est qu’un composant de la publicité vinicole actuelle et peut traduire l’évolution de la filière, passant de l’ère de la production de masse par les grandes entreprises vinicoles à la prolifération des plus petits producteurs intimement liés aux lieux et aux conditions de production. Cette étude jette les bases des recherches plus approfondies en vue de comparer les approches passées en matière d’annonces et l’importance relative de la géographie dans la publicité vinicole.This paper describes and discusses the role of geography in the advertising of wine in a popular American wine magazine, The Wine Spectator. Systematic assessment of the visual and textual contents of 764 advertisements that appeared in 30 issues (2 years of the publication) reveals that approximately 66% of advertisements contained geographical components that clearly suggest that place is important in the production and quality of wine. A mixed-methods qualitative approach yielded eight identifiable messages and eleven distinct themes reflected in these advertisements. The most important of these relate the importance of place and landscape to the quality of wines. Explicit use of the notion of terroir is but one component of contemporary wine advertising and may reflect a movement toward the “down-scaling” of the wine industry, reflecting a shift from the era of mass production of wine by large corporations to a proliferation of smaller producers who are intimate with the places and conditions of production. This study establishes a baseline for further research that can compare past approaches to advertisements and relative importance of geography in wine advertising

GOOGLE EARTH ENGINE AND THE USE OF OPEN BIG DATA FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AND CLIMATE-CHANGE ASSESSMENTS: A KOSOVO CASE STUDY

This paper presents a framework for utilizing available open data resources, such as Google Earth Engine, to assess environmental conditions and climate change vulnerability in Kosovo. This paper lays the groundwork for academic, government, and private sector institutions to develop strategies for addressing climate change and environmental issues in Kosovo and for other developing nations to understand the extent of change occurring. The study demonstrates the value of open data for environmental sustainability and resilience building. The framework is based on the analysis of air pollution, groundwater monitoring, urban environments, and deforestation in Kosovo using publicly available models. The model is re-coded for Kosovo in JavaScript using open datasets to create an environmental assessment of the scopes and scales of the environmental issues that plague Kosovo. The results show that there is a lack of institutional frameworks for assessing climate change impacts in Kosovo, with limited capacity for conducting environmental assessments, and with limited data capacity for resource and data scarce environments with community managed frameworks. By leveraging extensive amounts of data and applying analytical frameworks, this paper contributes to the knowledge base of environmental conditions in Kosovo with emphasis on open data and technological advancements

Intraoperative radiotherapy (IORT) is an option for patients with localized breast recurrences after previous external-beam radiotherapy

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>For patients suffering of recurrent breast cancer within the irradiated breast, generally mastectomy is recommended. The normal tissue tolerance does not permit a second full-dose course of radiotherapy to the entire breast after a second breast-conserving surgery (BCS). A novel option is to treat these patients with partial breast irradiation (PBI). This approach is based on the hypothesis that re-irradiation of a limited volume will be effective and result in an acceptable frequency of side effects. The following report presents a single center experience with intraoperative radiotherapy (IORT) during excision of recurrent breast cancer in the previously irradiated breast.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Between 4/02 and 11/06, 15 patients were treated for in-breast recurrences at a median of 10 years (3–25) after previous EBRT (10 recurrences in the initial tumor bed, 3 elsewhere in-breast failures, 2 invasive recurrences after previous DCIS). Additional 2 patients were selected for IORT with new primary breast cancer after previous partial breast EBRT for treatment of Hodgkin's disease. IORT with a single dose of 14.7 – 20 Gy 50 kV X-rays at the applicator surface was delivered with the Intrabeam™-device (Carl Zeiss, Oberkochen, Germany).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>After a median follow-up of 26 months (1–60), no local recurrence occurred. 14 out of 17 patients are alive and free of disease progression. Two patients are alive with distant metastases. One patient died 26 months after BCS/IORT due to pulmonary metastases diagnosed 19 months after BCS/IORT. Acute toxicity after IORT was mild with no Grade 3/4 toxicities and cosmetic outcome showed excellent/good/fair results in 7/7/3 cases.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>IORT for recurrent breast cancer using low energy X-rays is a valuable option for patients with recurrent breast cancer after previous radiotherapy.</p

Correlated Strength in Nuclear Spectral Function

We have carried out an (e,e'p) experiment at high momentum transfer and in parallel kinematics to measure the strength of the nuclear spectral function S(k,E) at high nucleon momenta k and large removal energies E. This strength is related to the presence of short-range and tensor correlations, and was known hitherto only indirectly and with considerable uncertainty from the lack of strength in the independent-particle region. This experiment confirms by direct measurement the correlated strength predicted by theory.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, accepted by Phys. Rev. Let

Cometary dust analogues for physics experiments

The CoPhyLab (Cometary Physics Laboratory) project is designed to study the physics of comets through a series of earth-based experiments. For these experiments, a dust analogue was created with physical properties comparable to those of the non-volatile dust found on comets. This "CoPhyLab dust" is planned to be mixed with water and CO$_2$ ice and placed under cometary conditions in vacuum chambers to study the physical processes taking place on the nuclei of comets. In order to develop this dust analogue, we mixed two components representative for the non-volatile materials present in cometary nuclei. We chose silica dust as representative for the mineral phase and charcoal for the organic phase, which also acts as a darkening agent. In this paper, we provide an overview of known cometary analogues before presenting measurements of eight physical properties of different mixtures of the two materials and a comparison of these measurements with known cometary values. The physical properties of interest are: particle size, density, gas permeability, spectrophotometry, mechanical, thermal and electrical properties. We found that the analogue dust that matches the highest number of physical properties of cometary materials consists of a mixture of either 60\%/40\% or 70\%/30\% of silica dust/charcoal by mass. These best-fit dust analogue will be used in future CoPhyLab experiments

Transcatheter Implantation of the MONARC Coronary Sinus Device for Mitral Regurgitation 1-Year Results From the EVOLUTION Phase I Study (Clinical Evaluation of the Edwards Lifesciences Percutaneous Mitral Annuloplasty System for The Treatment of Mitral Regurgitation)

ObjectivesThis study sought to assess the safety and efficacy of transcatheter valve annuloplasty in patients with mitral regurgitation (MR).BackgroundMitral regurgitation is associated with a worsened prognosis in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy. Surgical mitral annuloplasty reduces the septal-lateral dimension of the mitral annulus resulting in improved leaflet coaptation with a reduction in regurgitation. Percutaneous annuloplasty with the MONARC device (Edwards Lifesciences, Irvine, California) implanted within the coronary sinus is designed to reduce mitral regurgitation through a similar mechanism.MethodsA total of 72 patients with MR grade ≥2 were enrolled at 8 participating centers in 4 countries. Clinical evaluation and transthoracic echocardiography were performed at baseline and at 3, 6, and 12 months. Multislice cardiac computed tomography and coronary angiography were performed at baseline and 3 months.ResultsThe MONARC device was implanted in 59 of 72 patients (82%). The primary safety end point (freedom from death, tamponade, or myocardial infarction at 30 days) was met in 91% of patients at 30 days and in 82% at 1 year. Computed tomography imaging documented passage of the great cardiac vein over an obtuse marginal artery in 55% of patients and was associated with angiographic coronary artery compression in 15 patients and myocardial infarction in 2 patients (3.4%). At 12 months, a reduction in MR by ≥1 grade was observed in 50.0% of 22 implanted patients with matched echocardiograms and in 85.7% of 7 patients with baseline MR grade ≥3.ConclusionsImplantation of the MONARC device in the coronary sinus is feasible and may reduce MR. However, coronary artery compression may occur in patients in whom the great cardiac vein passes over a coronary artery, necessitating strategies in future studies to avoid this occurrence