INEEL HEPA Filter Leach System: A Mixed Waste Solution

Calciner operations and the fuel dissolution process at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory have generated many mixed waste high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters. The HEPA Filter Leach System located at the Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center lowers radiation contamination levels and reduces cadmium, chromium, and mercury concentrations on spent HEPA filter media to below disposal limits set by the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). The treated HEPA filters are disposed as low-level radioactive waste. The technical basis for the existing system was established and optimized in initial studies using simulants in 1992. The treatment concept was validated for EPA approval in 1994 by leaching six New Waste Calcining Facility spent HEPA filters. Post-leach filter media sampling results for all six filters showed that both hazardous and radiological constituent levels were reduced so the filters could be disposed of as low-level radioactive waste. Since the validation tests the HEPA Filter Leach System has processed 78 filters in 1997 and 1998. The Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory HEPA Filter Leach System is the only mixed waste HEPA treatment system in the DOE complex. This process is of interest to many of the other DOE facilities and commercial companies that have generated mixed waste HEPA filters but currently do not have a treatment option available

Análisis sincrónico de la gobernanza universitaria: una mirada teórica a los años sesenta y setenta

Resumen Estudiar las perspectivas en el campo del gobierno de las universidades tiene cada día mayor preeminencia, especialmente si se toma en cuenta la incuestionable necesidad de avanzar hacía organizaciones más eficientes, conectadas con las expectativas que sobre ellas tiene la sociedad. Considerando este escenario, el trabajo se ha planteado como propósito central realizar un análisis de carácter sincrónico del concepto de gobernanza y la constitución de los gobiernos universitarios. Desde el punto de vista metodológico se utilizaron fuentes secundarias: una revisión de papers publicados esencialmente en revistas de habla inglesa. El estudio comprende las décadas del sesenta y el setenta. Se centra en las raíces del concepto de gobernanza universitaria, en la delineación de los actores que participan en sus gobiernos y en las relaciones de poder que fluyen entre ellos.Entre las principales conclusiones, se pueden destacar como el estamento académico desde el principio de las universidades ha ocupado el rol casi plenipotenciario en su respectivo gobierno, producto de esto, en el correr del desarrollo y mientras la complejidad organizacional se incrementaba, es que fue necesario incorporar nuevos actores a los sistemas de gestión; todo lo anterior, teniendo en cuenta que dos elementos han sido fundamentales para la sobrevivencia de este tipo de instituciones, la legitimidad otorgada por la sociedad y los principios de estrategias del ámbito de la gestión

The James Webb Space Telescope Mission

Twenty-six years ago a small committee report, building on earlier studies, expounded a compelling and poetic vision for the future of astronomy, calling for an infrared-optimized space telescope with an aperture of at least $4m$. With the support of their governments in the US, Europe, and Canada, 20,000 people realized that vision as the $6.5m$ James Webb Space Telescope. A generation of astronomers will celebrate their accomplishments for the life of the mission, potentially as long as 20 years, and beyond. This report and the scientific discoveries that follow are extended thank-you notes to the 20,000 team members. The telescope is working perfectly, with much better image quality than expected. In this and accompanying papers, we give a brief history, describe the observatory, outline its objectives and current observing program, and discuss the inventions and people who made it possible. We cite detailed reports on the design and the measured performance on orbit.Comment: Accepted by PASP for the special issue on The James Webb Space Telescope Overview, 29 pages, 4 figure

A multicenter, randomized, controlled trial of Celsior for flush and hypothermic storage of cardiac allografts

Background. A multicenter, randomized, controlled, open-label trial was conducted to evaluate the safety and efficacy of Celsior when used for flush and hypothermic storage of donor hearts before transplantation. Methods. Heart transplant recipients were randomized to one of two treatment groups in which donor hearts were flushed and stored in either Celsior or conventional preservation solution(s) (control). Study subjects were followed for 30 days after transplantation. Results. A total of 131 heart transplant recipients were enrolled (Celsior, n = 64; control, n = 67). The treatment groups were evenly distributed in donor and recipient base line characteristics. Graft loss rate was lower in the Celsior group on day 7 (3% versus 9%) and on day 30 (6% versus 13%), but the difference was not statistically significant based on 95% confidence interval analysis. No significant difference was measured between the Celsior and control groups in 7-day patient survival (97% versus 94%) and the proportion of patients with one or more adverse events (Celsior, 88%; control 87%) or serious adverse events (Celsior, 38%; control, 46%). Significantly fewer patients in the Celsior group developed at least one cardiac-related serious adverse event (13% versus 25%). Conclusions. Celsior was demonstrated to be as safe and effective as conventional solutions for flush and cold storage of cardiac allografts before transplantation

Paradoxes of Constitutional Democracy

Drawing on the work of Frank Michelman and Jürgen Habermas, I outline two interconnected paradoxes of constitutional democracy. The paradox of the founding prevents a purely democratic constitution from being founded, because the procedures needed to secure its legitimacy cannot be spontaneously self-generated. It displays an infinite regression of procedures presupposing procedures. The paradox of dynamic indeterminacy heads off any attempt to resolve this problem through constitutional amendment. It shows that a developing constitution needs some standard to guide it towards legitimacy. Without such a standard, constitutional reform will be aimlessly indeterminate. After rejecting proposed solutions to these paradoxes based on political contestation, culture, and “constitutional patriotism,” I outline an alternative based on the ideas of dynamic constitutionalism and reflexive citizenship. This solution draws on material, structural, positive characteristics of the law to show how a dynamically evolving constitution can promote its own legitimacy from within, resolving both paradoxes in one stroke