The design, development and survey reaction to a normative form of clinically oriented optometric software

Software was written to aid the Doctor of Optometry in providing a more detailed, precise and time efficient form of case analysis (normative). A survey of practitioner opinion was also conducted (in DHSS Region X) to assess their value of this type of software and to solicit ideas on their needs. The survey results indicated a limited interest and application for case analysis programming and a much greater interest in business oriented software

Evaluation of the efficacy of commercial disinfectants against Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense Race 1 and Tropical Race 4 propagules

Panama disease caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense (Foc) has devastated banana production worldwide. This work aimed to determine effective disinfectants against two races of Foc, race 1 and tropical race 4 (TR4), for implementation with on-farm biosecurity procedures against this disease following the outbreak of TR4 in North Queensland in 2015. A total of 32 commercial disinfectants were screened and their activity was assessed after ≤ 30 sec, 5 min, 30 min and 24 hr of contact with a Foc suspension containing 105/ml chlamydospores without and with soil added (0.05 g/ml). Of the disinfectants tested, the quaternary ammonium compounds containing ≥ 10% active ingredient were found to be the most effective against both Foc races. These products, when used at a 1:100 dilution, completely inhibited the survival of all Foc propagules across all the contact times regardless of the absence or presence of soil. The bioflavonoids product EvoTech 213 and bleach (10% sodium hypochlorite) used at a 1:10 dilution also eliminated all Foc propagules across all the contact times. None of the detergent-based or miscellaneous products tested were completely effective against both Foc races even used at a 1:10 dilution. Soil decreases the efficacy of disinfectants and therefore must be removed from contaminated items before treatments are applied

Argonne National Laboratory Reports

Present concepts of disposal of low-level aqueous wastes (LLAW) that contain much of the fission-product tritium from light water reactors involve dispersal to the atmosphere or to surface streams at fuel reprocessing plants. These concepts have been challenged in recent years. Deep-well injection of low-level aqueous wastes, an alternative to biospheric dispersal, is the subject of this presentation. Many factors must be considered in assessing its feasibility, including technology, costs, environmental impact, legal and regulatory constraints, and siting. Examination of these factors indicates that the technology of deep-well injection, extensively developed for other industrial wastes, would require little innovation before application to low-level aqueous wastes. Costs would be low, of the order of magnitude of 10⁻⁴ mill/kWh. The environmental impact of normal deep-well disposal would be small, compared with dispersal to the atmosphere or to surface streams; abnormal operation would not be expected to produce catastrophic results. Geologically suitable sites are abundant in the U.S., but a well would best be co-located with the fuel-reprocessing plant where the LLAW is produced. Legal and regulatory constraints now being developed will be the most important determinants of the feasibility of applying the method

Evaluation of the efficacy of commercial disinfectants against Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense Race 1 and Tropical Race 4 propagules

Panama disease caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense (Foc) has devastated banana production worldwide. This work aimed to determine effective disinfectants against two races of Foc, race 1 and tropical race 4 (TR4), for implementation with on-farm biosecurity procedures against this disease following the outbreak of TR4 in North Queensland in 2015. A total of 32 commercial disinfectants were screened and their activity was assessed after ≤ 30 sec, 5 min, 30 min and 24 hr of contact with a Foc suspension containing 105/ml chlamydospores without and with soil added (0.05 g/ml). Of the disinfectants tested, the quaternary ammonium compounds containing ≥ 10% active ingredient were found to be the most effective against both Foc races. These products, when used at a 1:100 dilution, completely inhibited the survival of all Foc propagules across all the contact times regardless of the absence or presence of soil. The bioflavonoids product EvoTech 213 and bleach (10% sodium hypochlorite) used at a 1:10 dilution also eliminated all Foc propagules across all the contact times. None of the detergent-based or miscellaneous products tested were completely effective against both Foc races even used at a 1:10 dilution. Soil decreases the efficacy of disinfectants and therefore must be removed from contaminated items before treatments are applied

Speaking as Country: A Ngarrindjeri Methodology of Transformative Engagement

The systemic nature of colonisation results in a trenchant series of problems for Indigenous peoples striving to protect their lands and waters, to ensure the health of their communities, and to rightfully enjoy their cultural life. Indigenous leaders and communities who seek the transformation of colonial systems of knowledge, law and practice must engage effectively and authoritatively with the non-Indigenous processes and structures that have long been the source of Indigenous disempowerment. How can Indigenous people engage with a dominant system, without being co-opted into that system? Similar issues are raised for non-Indigenous actors implicated with Indigenous affairs: how can the agencies of a dominant system partner meaningfully and respectfully with Indigenous peoples, to refrain from appropriating Indigenous cultural knowledge and assimilating Indigenous aspirations within a framework that has been developed insensitively, in ignorance of Indigenous needs, perspectives and philosophies? In sum, how can we collectively ensure that our ‘response to wrongs are not reinscriptions of colonial processes’?3 In South Australia, the Ngarrindjeri Regional Authority (NRA) has developed an innovative response to colonial governmentality, which subverts and seeks to correct the structural conditions underlying the continuing dominance of colonial social forms and their associated epistemologies. The NRA makes strategic use of an Indigenous-led methodology of engagement that is culturally relevant and secured legally through contractual agreement.4 At its centre is the Ngarrindjeri concept of Yannarumi—broadly translated as ‘Speaking as Country’. Resulting interaction then reinforces Ngarrindjeri nationhood and agency in protecting Ngarrindjeri lands and waters, by sharing in knowledge production that respects rights to cultural knowledge as a form of intellectual property. Through this method of relationship-building, including in the domain of scientific research conducted on Ngarrindjeri Ruwe (Country), the NRA has been able to take an active and progressive role in the development of environmental policy and in decision-making around water and natural resource management (NRM) in the Murray-Darling Basin regio

LABORATORY INVESTIGATIONS IN SUPPORT OF FLUID BED FLUORIDE VOLATILITY PROCESSES. PART I. THE FLUORINATION OF URANIUM DIOXIDE-PLUTONIUM DIOXIDE SOLID SOLUTIONS

Work in the development of fluid-bed fluoride volatility processes is described. In these processes, uranium and plutonium in spent nuclear fuels are converted into hexafluoride compounds in a fluid-bed reactor. The uranium and plutonium hexafluorides are volatile and can be separated from fission products, cladding, and alloying materials by techniques such as vaporization and distillation. The experimental work was directed toward devising a fluorination procedure for uranium and plutonium dioxides which would result in a high degree of removal of uranium and plutonium as hexafluorides. In these experiments synthetic mixtures made up to simulate a charge for a fluidized bed reactor (100 kg U, 0.4 kg Pu, approximates 1 kg F.P., and 30 kg inert solids) were used. High-purity recrystallized alumina was found to be a suitable material for use as the fluidized inert solid. After a 10-hr fluorination period at 450 deg C, the concentrations of residual uranium and plutonium on the alumina were 0.01 and 0.03 wt%, respectively. A reaction temperature of 450 deg C was found to be optimum, since experiments at 500 and 550 deg C resulted in plutonium retentions on the alumina of 0.060 and 0.090 wt%, respectively. At all these temperatures, the residual uranium content of the residue was less than 0.01 wt%. When fission product element oxides, in quantities that would be expected in a Dresden-type fuel after 100,000 Mwd/ton burnup and 30 days of cooling, were added to the uranium dioxide-plutonium dioxide-- alumina and the mixture was fluorinated at 450 deg C for 10 hr, the concentration of plutonium on the alumina increased to a value of 0.065 U%. Additional recovery of the plutonium retained on the alumina was obtained by either pyrohydrolysis followed by refluorination at 450 deg C for 10 hr, or by refluorination alone at 550 deg C for 10 hr. These procedures reduced the residual plutonium content of the alumina to less than 0.02 wt%. Experiments were also performed to determine the feasibility of using the same batch of alumina as the inert solid for the fluorinations of five batches of the urania--plutonia solid solution. Experiments were performed in which the solid solution of plutonium dioxide in uranium dioxide was oxidized prior to fluorination. The oxidation resulted in a powdered mixture of uranosic oxide and plutonium dioxide. Fluorination of this oxide mixture in alumina resulted in the removal of essentially all of the uranium in a reaction time of 2 hr at 450 deg C when 10 vol% fluorine was used. When this fluorination was followed by a second fluorination period of 5 hr at 550 deg C with 75 vol% fluorine, the plutonium content of the alumina was 0.011 wt%. When both fluorination periods were extended to 10 hr each, the retention of plutonium was 0.007 wt%, which corresponded to a removal of 99.5% of the plutonium contained in the solid mixture. During the first part of the fluorination period, in which the major portion of the uranium is removed from the mixture of uranium dioxide, plutonium dioxide, alumina, and representative fission product element oxides, a low ternperature (450 deg C) and a low concentration of fluorine (10 vol% fluorine in nitrogen) are desirable. However, in order to remove the plutonium efficiently during the last portion of the fluorination period, it is desirable to use a higher temperature (550 deg C) and a higher fluorine content of the gas mixture (75 vol% fluorine in nitrogen). (auth