DEVELOPMENT OF A HIGH PRECISION QUANTUM DOT SYNTHESIS METHOD UTILIZING A MICROFLUIDIC REACTOR AND IN-LINE FLUORESCENCE FLOW CELL

Quantum dots show great potential for use as spectral converters in solar cells, lighting applications, and biological imaging. These applications require precise control of quantum dot size to maximize performance. The quality, size, and fluorescence of quantum dots depend on parameters that are difficult to control using traditional batch synthesis processes. An alternative, high precision process was developed for the synthesis of cadmium-selenide quantum dots using a microfluidic reactor and fluorescence flow cell. The process required creating separate cadmium and selenium precursors that were then mixed in a nitrogen environment at 17°C. Using an NE-300® syringe pump, the solution was pumped through a microfluidic reactor submerged in a 240°C oil bath. The reactor then fed through a water quench bath at 25°C to terminate the nucleation and growth reaction. The fluorescence profiles of the quantum dot solutions were then characterized with an in-line fluorescence flow cell used in conjunction with an Ocean Optics® USB4000® spectrometer and a ThorLabs® LED UV light source. Flow rates through the reactor were varied from 0.05ml/min to 2ml/min. A central peak wavelength was registered in the fluorescence profiles for each flow rate. Monodisperse Cd-Se quantum dot solutions were synthesized across a broad spectrum of wavelengths ranging from 490nm to 620nm. An empirical relationship between flow rate and center wavelength was determined

Alien Registration- Lafferty, William A. (Portland, Cumberland County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/21807/thumbnail.jp

An Interesting Secondary Airway Lesion in an Infant With Laryngomalacia

A 2-month-old male with a prior diagnosis of laryngomalacia (LM) presented to the emergency department in respiratory distress with worsening inspiratory stridor, suprasternal retractions, and a dry cough. A chest X-ray and lateral neck radiograph were performed and demonstrated no abnormalities. Flexible laryngoscopy revealed the same, previously observed moderately prolapsed arytenoids and an omega-shaped epiglottis with shortened aryepiglottic (AE) folds. He also had a right lower neck mass. He was scheduled for a direct laryngoscopy and bronchoscopy (DLB) and supraglottoplasty. During the DLB, LM and anterior compression of the midtrachea was noted. Lysis of the AE folds was performed in cold-steel fashion, and the infant was then taken for further imaging

Channelling Norwegian hydropower towards greener currents: The challenge of conflicting environmental concerns?

Nearly 100 percent of electricity used in Norway stems from hydropower, but no further large-scale production is politically viable. There is however increased interest in hydropower as both a supplement to the national energy supply and as provider of balance within the European energy system. Interest focuses on: (1) increased pumping and storage; (2) upgrading of existing hydropower installations; and (3) small-scale hydro production. Such measures are also considered as climate-change mitigation. As a fourth developmental path there are also alternative processes aiming at reinforcing environmental concerns in existing hydropower, not least by revising granted licenses. These processes coincide with a reinforced focus on biodiversity. This dual environmental challenge is also enhanced by Norway’s follow-up of the EU Directive on renewable energy (RES) and the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD). In this context, we here assess current political and regulatory practice in Norway, focusing on the status of environmental concerns, and the challenges Norwegian hydropower policy faces by the implementation of the EU Directives. The policy challenge is manifest as ‘trade-offs’ among hydropower priorities at both the strategic and project-specific levels; and is further enhanced by lack of clarity as to the ultimate impact of the relevant EU Directives.publishedVersio

Operationalizing the Replication Standard

In response to widespread concerns about the integrity of research published in scholarly journals, several initiatives have emerged that are promoting research transparency through access to data underlying published scientific findings. Journal editors, in particular, have made a commitment to research transparency by issuing data policies that require authors to submit their data, code, and documentation to data repositories to allow for public access to the data. In the case of the American Journal of Political Science (AJPS) Data Replication Policy, the data also must undergo an independent verification process in which materials are reviewed for quality as a condition of final manuscript publication and acceptance. Aware of the specialized expertise of the data archives, AJPS called upon the Odum Institute Data Archive to provide a data review service that performs data curation and verification of replication datasets. This article presents a case study of the collaboration between AJPS and the Odum Institute Data Archive to develop a workflow that bridges manuscript publication and data review processes. The case study describes the challenges and the successes of the workflow integration, and offers lessons learned that may be applied by other data archives that are considering expanding their services to include data curation and verification services to support reproducible research

Causes of delayed outbreak responses and their impacts on epidemic spread

Livestock diseases have devastating consequences economically, socially and politically across the globe. In certain systems, pathogens remain viable after host death, which enables residual transmissions from infected carcasses. Rapid culling and carcass disposal are well-established strategies for stamping out an outbreak and limiting its impact; however, wait-times for these procedures, i.e. response delays, are typically farm-specific and time-varying due to logistical constraints. Failing to incorporate variable response delays in epidemiological models may understate outbreak projections and mislead management decisions. We revisited the 2001 foot-and-mouth epidemic in the United Kingdom and sought to understand how misrepresented response delays can influence model predictions. Survival analysis identified farm size and control demand as key factors that impeded timely culling and disposal activities on individual farms. Using these factors in the context of an existing policy to predict local variation in response times significantly affected predictions at the national scale. Models that assumed fixed, timely responses grossly underestimated epidemic severity and its long-term consequences. As a result, this study demonstrates how general inclusion of response dynamics and recognition of partial controllability of interventions can help inform management priorities during epidemics of livestock diseases

Quality of life at the end of life

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Little is known about self-perceived quality of life (QOL) near the end of life, because such information is difficult to collect and to interpret. Here, we describe QOL in the weeks near death and determine correlates of QOL over time, with emphasis on accounting for death and missing data.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Data on QOL were collected approximately every week in an ongoing randomized trial involving persons at the end of life. We used these data to describe QOL in the 52 weeks after enrollment in the trial (prospective analysis, N = 115), and also in the 10 weeks just prior to death (retrospective analysis, N = 83). The analysis consisted of graphs and regressions that accounted explicitly for death and imputed missing data.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>QOL was better than expected until the final 3 weeks of life, when a terminal drop was observed. Gender, race, education, cancer, and baseline health status were not significantly related to the number of “weeks of good-quality life” (WQL) during the study period. Persons younger than 60 had significantly higher WQL than older persons in the prospective analysis, but significantly lower WQL in the retrospective analysis. The retrospective results were somewhat sensitive to the imputation model.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>In this exploratory study, QOL was better than expected in persons at the end of life, but special interventions may be needed for persons approaching a premature death, and also for the last 3 weeks of life. Our descriptions of the trajectory of QOL at the end of life may help other investigators to plan and analyze future studies of QOL. Methodology for dealing with death and the high amount of missing data in longitudinal studies at the end of life needs further investigation.</p