Looming struggles over technology for border control

New technologies under development, capable of inflicting pain on masses of people, could be used for border control against asylum seekers. Implementation might be rationalized by the threat of mass migration due to climate change, nuclear disaster or exaggerated fears of refugees created by governments. We focus on taser anti-personnel mines, suggesting both technological countermeasures and ways of making the use of such technology politically counterproductive. We also outline several other types of ‘non-lethal’ technology that could be used for border control and raise human rights concerns: high-powered microwaves, armed robots, wireless tasers, acoustic devices/vortex rings, ionizing and pulsed energy lasers, chemical calmatives, convulsants, bioregulators and malodurants. Whether all these possible border technologies will be implemented is a matter for speculation, but their serious human rights implications warrant advance scrutiny

Friction stir welding of thin DH36 steel plate

A series of 4, 6 and 8 mm DH36 steel welds were produced using optimum conditions for friction stir welding (FSW). Comparator welds in the same thickness from the same plates were produced using a single sided single pass process submerged arc welds (SAW). This work was carried out to evaluate the mechanical properties of FSW material with a view to its possible application in a shipbuilding production process route. Overall, the performance of the FSW material was superior to the SAW comparators. Areas such as distortion and fatigue were particularly positive in the FSW material. An 8 mm thick plate was also produced using two FSW passes, one from either side, and it was found to have superior toughness and fatigue performance when compared to the single sided 8 mm FSW material. Some of these benefits are thought to have originated from the internal overlap zone between the two passes

Antibody capture radioimmunoassay for anti-rubella IgM

An M-antibody capture radioimmunoassay (MACRIA) for anti-rubella IgM was developed. Under optimum conditions positive serum specimens bound up to 20 times as much radioactivity as negative specimens. Positive reactions were expressed in arbitrary units/ml by comparison with a calibration curve derived from results obtained with dilutions of a standard serum. The specificity of the assay was confirmed by testing IgM and IgG rich fractions of positive sera. One hundred and forty specimens from blood donors, patients whose sera contained rheumatoid factor and patients with acute, non-rubella, virus infections were tested by MACRIA. No significant non-specific reactions were detected. Paired sera from acute rubella (25 patients) and individual sera from suspected rubella (69 patients) were tested for anti-rubella IgM by MACRIA and by haemagglutination inhibition following sucrose-density-gradient fractionation. There was close agreement between the two methods. The capture assay was more sensitive and could be used to detect the weak IgM response in women given RA 27/3 vaccine. After the natural infection, the MACRIA was strongly positive for two months and remained weakly so for a further two months. Repeat testing of sera demonstrated good reproducibility of the assay. MACRIA proved a simple, sensitive and specific test for anti-rubella IgM and compared favourably with currently used technique

Dissimilar friction stir welding of duplex stainless steel to low alloy structural steel

In the present study, 6 mm nominal thickness dissimilar steel plates were joined using friction stir welding. The materials used were duplex stainless steel and low alloy structural steel. The weld was assessed by metallographic examination and mechanical testing (transverse tensile and fatigue). Microstructural examination identified four distinct weld zones and a substantially hard region within the stir zone at the base of the weld tool pin. Fatigue specimens demonstrated high level fatigue life and identified four distinct fracture modes

A new integrated care pathway for ambulance attended severe hypoglycaemia in the East of England: The Eastern Academic Health Science Network (EAHSN) model

Aims: We developed a new clinical integrated pathway linking a regional Ambulance Trust with a severe hypoglycaemia (SH) prevention team. We present clinical data from the first 2,000 emergency calls taken through this new clinical pathway in the East of England. Methods: SH patients attended by Ambulance crew receive written information on SH avoidance, and are contacted for further education through a new regional SH prevention team. All patients are contacted unless they actively decline. Results: Median age (IQR) was 67 (50 - 80) years, 23.6% of calls were for patients over 80 years old, and patients more than 90 years old were more common than 20 - 25 year olds in this population. Most calls were for patients (84.9%) who were insulin treated, even those over 80 years (75%). One - third of patients attended after a call were unconscious on attendance. 5.6% of patients in this call population had 3 or more ambulance call outs, and they generated 17.6% of all calls. In total, 728 episodes (36.4%) were repeat calls. Insulin related events were clinically more severe than oral hypoglycaemic related events. Patients conveyed to hospitals (13.8%) were significantly older, with poorer recovery in biochemical hypoglycaemia after ambulance crew attendance. Only 19 (1%) opted out of further contact. Patients were contacted by the SH prevention team after a median 3 (0 - 6) days. The most common patient self - reported cause for their SH episode was related to percieved errors in insulin management (31.4%). Conclusions: This new clinical service is simple, acceptable to patients, and a translatable model for prevention of recurrent SH in this largely elderly insulin treated SH population

Community-based pre-pregnancy care programme improves pregnancy preparation in women with pregestational diabetes.

AIMS/HYPOTHESIS: Women with diabetes remain at increased risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes associated with poor pregnancy preparation. However, women with type 2 diabetes are less aware of and less likely to access pre-pregnancy care (PPC) compared with women with type 1 diabetes. We developed and evaluated a community-based PPC programme with the aim of improving pregnancy preparation in all women with pregestational diabetes. METHODS: This was a prospective cohort study comparing pregnancy preparation measures before and during/after the PPC intervention in women with pre-existing diabetes from 1 June 2013 to 28 February 2017. The setting was 422 primary care practices and ten National Health Service specialist antenatal diabetes clinics. A multifaceted approach was taken to engage women with diabetes and community healthcare teams. This included identifying and sending PPC information leaflets to all eligible women, electronic preconception care templates, online education modules and resources, and regional meetings and educational events. Key outcomes were preconception folic acid supplementation, maternal HbA1c level, use of potentially harmful medications at conception and gestational age at first presentation, before and during/after the PPC programme. RESULTS: A total of 306 (73%) primary care practices actively participated in the PPC programme. Primary care databases were used to identify 5075 women with diabetes aged 18-45 years. PPC leaflets were provided to 4558 (89.8%) eligible women. There were 842 consecutive pregnancies in women with diabetes: 502 before and 340 during/after the PPC intervention. During/after the PPC intervention, pregnant women with type 2 diabetes were more likely to achieve target HbA1c levels ≤48 mmol/mol (6.5%) (44.4% of women before vs 58.5% of women during/after PPC intervention; p = 0.016) and to take 5 mg folic acid daily (23.5% and 41.8%; p = 0.001). There was an almost threefold improvement in 'optimal' pregnancy preparation in women with type 2 diabetes (5.8% and 15.1%; p = 0.021). Women with type 1 diabetes presented for earlier antenatal care during/after PPC (54.0% vs 67.3% before 8 weeks' gestation; p = 0.003) with no other changes. CONCLUSIONS/INTERPRETATION: A pragmatic community-based PPC programme was associated with clinically relevant improvements in pregnancy preparation in women with type 2 diabetes. To our knowledge, this is the first community-based PPC intervention to improve pregnancy preparation for women with type 2 diabetes. DATA AVAILABILITY: Further details of the data collection methodology, individual clinic data and the full audit reports for healthcare professionals and service users are available from https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/clinical-audits-and-registries/our-clinical-audits-and-registries/national-pregnancy-in-diabetes-audit

CrAs: heat capacity, enthalpy increments, thermodynamic properties from 5 to 1280 K, and transitions

The heat capacity of chromium arsenide has been measured by adiabatic calorimetry from 5 to 1050 K and enthalpy increments have been taken over the range 875 to 1280 K with respect to 298.15 K by drop calorimetry. The heat capacity shows a distinct bell-shaped transition with a peak at 259.9 K related to the disappearance of antiferromagnetic helical ordering on heating. The enthalpy and entropy of this transition are 177 calth mol-1 and 0.69 calth K-1 mol-1, respectively. At 1170 K another transition is observed related to the phase change from the MnP- to the NiAs-type structure. The enthalpy and entropy of the latter gradual transition are 280 calth mol-1 and 0.22 calth K-1 mol-1, respectively. Thermodynamic functions have been evaluated and the values of Cp, {So(T)-So(0)}, -{o(T)-Ho(0)}/T at 298.15 K are 12.501, 15.40, and 6.990 calth K-1 mol-1 and 16.09, 32.53, and 19.86 calth K-1 mol-1 at 1000 K.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/22750/1/0000305.pd

Actinoid pnictides--I : Heat capacities from 5 to 950 K and magnetic transitions of U3As4 and U3Sb4. Ferromagnetic transitions

The heat capacities of triuranium tetraarsenide (U3As4) and triuranium tetraantimonide (U3Sb4), measured by adiabatic calorimetry over the temperature range 5-950 K, show sharp [lambda]-shaped transitions at 196.1 and 147.5 K, respectively. The maxima are related to the appearance of permanent magnetic moments below 198 and 148 K. Excess cooperative entropies associated with ferromagnetic ordering are tentatively estimated as 6.7 for U3As4 and 6.8 cal K-1 mole-1 for U3Sb4. These are larger than the two literature values reported for U3P4 (1.5 and 3.1 cal K-1 mole-1). The fact that these entropy of transition values are much smaller than would be expected from [Delta]St = R In (2J + 1) for the 3H4 ground term (J = 4) and that the observed heat capacities at high temperatures are much larger than would be expected from lattice plus dilational contributions are evidence of crystal field effects. The total electronic entropies to 950 K are estimated as 11.05 and 12.95 cal K-1 mole-1 for U3As4 and U3Sb4, respectively. Thermal functions for both U3As4 and U3Sb4 are integrated from the experimental data up to 950 K. At 298.15 K, the values of Cpo [So(T)-So(0)] and -{[Go(T)-Ho(0)]/T} in cal K-1 mole-1, are 44.82, 73.87 and 38.97, U3As4 and 44.98, 83.60 and 46.89, for U3Sb4.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/23080/1/0000655.pd