Non-contact temperature measurement of a falling drop

The 105 meter drop tube at NASA-Marshall has been used in a number of experiments to determine the effects of containerless, microgravity processing on the undercooling and solidification behavior of metals and alloys. These experiments have been limited, however, because direct temperature measurement of the falling drops has not been available. Undercooling and nucleation temperatures are calculated from thermophysical properties based on droplet cooling models. In most cases these properties are not well known, particularly in the undercooled state. This results in a large amount of uncertainty in the determination of nucleation temperatures. If temperature measurement can be accomplished then the thermal history of the drops could be well documented. This would lead to a better understanding of the thermophysical and thermal radiative properties of undercooled melts. An effort to measure the temperature of a falling drop is under way. The technique uses two color pyrometry and high speed data acquisition. The approach is presented along with some preliminary data from drop tube experiments. The results from droplet cooling models is compared with noncontact temperature measurements

Prenatal Human Immunodeficiency Virus Testing and Patient Management by Obstetricians in a High Seroprevalence Community

Objective: In order to determine the practice habits of obstetricians concerning frequency of prenatal human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) testing and management strategies for HIV-seropositive obstetric patients, we conducted a telephone survey of practicing obstetricians over a 3-month period

Annual report, 1956

CER56AAR18.Includes bibliographical references

Effect of Successive Single-gestation Pregnancies on the Course of Maternal Human Immunodeficiency Virus Disease and Perinatal Transmission

Objective: This study was undertaken to examine the effect of successive pregnancies over a 3-year period on the course of maternal human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and the rate of perinatal transmission of HIV

Crystalline optical cavity at 4 K with thermal noise limited instability and ultralow drift

Crystalline optical cavities are the foundation of today's state-of-the-art ultrastable lasers. Building on our previous silicon cavity effort, we now achieve the fundamental thermal noise-limited stability for a 6 cm long silicon cavity cooled to 4 Kelvin, reaching $6.5\times10^{-17}$ from 0.8 to 80 seconds. We also report for the first time a clear linear dependence of the cavity frequency drift on the incident optical power. The lowest fractional frequency drift of $-3\times10^{-19}$/s is attained at a transmitted power of 40 nW, with an extrapolated drift approaching zero in the absence of optical power. These demonstrations provide a promising direction to reach a new performance domain for stable lasers, with stability better than $1\times10^{-17}$ and fractional linear drift below $1\times10^{-19}$/s

Gender, Culture and Intervention: Exploring Differences between Aboriginal and Non-Aboriginal Children’s Responses to an Early Intervention Programme

Evaluation of a group parenting programme in the Northern Territory of Australia showed significant differences in benefits for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal boys and girls. The analysis considers whether boys and girls from different cultural backgrounds present with different problems; whether parental expectations for boys and girls differ and whether the intervention activates different responses in different settings. Conclusions suggest that there is a need to closely examine the ‘cultural logic’ of interventions, the appropriateness of their assumptions about child development and hypothesised mechanisms of change in different settings

A Nonrestrictive Approach to Fluoroquinolone Stewardship at Two Community Hospitals

Background Fluoroquinolones are one of the most prescribed antimicrobials in the United States and have been increasingly used in inpatient and outpatient settings to treat various infectious diseases syndromes. Due to the unwanted collateral effects on antibiotic resistance, poor susceptibility rates among Gram-negative pathogens, and adverse effects, fluoroquinolones are often targeted by hospital antimicrobial stewardship programs to prevent overutilization. This study describes the association of nonrestrictive antimicrobial stewardship interventions at 2 nonacademic community hospitals on levofloxacin utilization, prescribing patterns on alternative antibiotics, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa nonsusceptibility rates to levofloxacin. Methods Nonrestrictive antimicrobial stewardship interventions included monitoring and reporting of fluoroquinolone susceptibility trends to physician groups, performing medication use evaluations of levofloxacin accompanied with prescriber detailing, daily prospective audit and feedback, implementation of beta-lactam-based institutional guidelines for empiric therapy in various infectious disease syndromes, review and adjustment of electronic medical record order sets containing fluoroquinolones, and intensive prescriber education. No preauthorization of levofloxacin was used during this study period. Antibiotic utilization data were collected for the time periods of August 2015 through January 2021. Correlation between levofloxacin and other broad-spectrum antibiotc use was investigated as well as the impact on Pseudomonas aeruginosa levofloxacin nonsusceptibility rates. Results Both hospitals showed an overall downward trend in the prescribing of levofloxacin during the time period of August 2015 to January 2021. There was a significant negative correlation between monthly ceftriaxone and levofloxacin days of therapy for both hospitals (P \u3c .0001). There was a positive correlation between levofloxacin days of therapy and P aeruginosa nonsusceptibility (P \u3c .02 at both hospitals). Conclusions Our results demonstrate that a nonrestrictive approach to fluoroquinolone stewardship interventions had a significant impact on reducing levofloxacin utilization, increasing ceftriaxone utilization, and improving P aeruginosa levofloxacin susceptibility

Archaeological data management and analysis at Blandwood mansion.

This thesis involves the creation, organization, and analysis of digital archaeological data within a site Geographic Information System and Microsoft Access relational database. The data were the result of excavations at the Blandwood Mansion property in downtown Greensboro, NC, during the summer of 2008. The creation and implementation of the site GIS and custom relational database were discussed with a focus placed on increasing the efficiency of data storage and the speed at which data can be analyzed. The archaeological database was developed for the project and its creation and purpose were discussed with reference to the user experience. The specific methods of data analysis performed within the study include artifact dating via mean ceramic dating, equation based flat window glass dating, artifact distribution analysis using density mapping, and 3D soil layer modeling using statistical kriging. A number of other historical resources including Sanborn Fire Insurance maps and photos were integrated into the GIS to better understand the results obtained by the methods stated above. The final chapter briefly discusses some key insights provided by the study and recommendations of future archaeological exploration within the site