Precision Optics Corporation (United States)

SPRITE (Supernova Remnants and Proxies for Reionization Testbed Experiment) is a 12U CubeSat mission funded by NASA and led by the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) at the University of Colorado, Boulder. The payload will house the first sub-arcminute resolution Far-Ultraviolet (FUV) long-slit spectrograph with access to the Lyman UV (912 − 1216 Å), enabled by new enhanced lithium fluoride coatings and an ultra-low-noise photon-counting microchannel plate (MCP) detector. The scientific mission has two main components: constraining the escape fraction of ionizing Lyman-Continuum (LyC) radiation from low-redshift galaxies (0.14 ≤ z ≤ 0.4) and measuring feedback from nearby star forming regions and supernova remnants. Enabling the scientific mission are two distinct observing modes. For the faintest sources, we will operate the MCP detector in photon-counting mode. For brighter sources, we will operate the MCP in an accumulation / integration mode. For extended sources we will collate multiple pointings of the long slit, stepping across the field of view in a ‘push broom’ mapping to create 3D spectroscopic cubes. SPRITE will also take weekly calibration data to characterize the degradation of the coatings and detector. We present these observing modes along with the data acquisition and processing pipeline required to enable scientific analysis on the ground.

Se analizan las variaciones geográficas del comportamiento electoral en España en las elecciones nacionales de marzo de 1979 mediante su cuantificación en un análisis factorial de correlaciones. Se analizan los porcentajes de voto que recibieron ocho partidos políticos en las cincuenta provincias españolas en base a seis factores primarios, entre los cuales dos dan cuenta de la mayor parte de la varianza; 55% de la varianza se debe a la posición que ocupa cada partido y cada provincia en el eje centralista-nacionalista, y un 23% resultó derivar de la dualidad izquierda-derecha

The Stroke Treatment Academic Industry Roundtable (STAIR) convened a session and workshop regarding enrollment in acute stroke trials during the STAIR XII meeting on March 22, 2023. This forum brought together stroke physicians and researchers, members of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, industry representatives, and members of the US Food and Drug Administration to discuss the current status and opportunities for improving enrollment in acute stroke trials. The workshop identified the most relevant issues impacting enrollment in acute stroke trials and addressed potential action items for each. Focus areas included emergency consent in the United States and other countries; careful consideration of eligibility criteria to maximize enrollment and representativeness; investigator, study coordinator, and pharmacist availability outside of business hours; trial enthusiasm/equipoise; site start-up including contractual issues; site champions; incorporation of study procedures into standard workflow as much as possible; centralized enrollment at remote sites by study teams using telemedicine; global trials; and coenrollment in trials when feasible. In conclusion, enrollment of participants is the lifeblood of acute stroke trials and is the rate-limiting step for testing an exciting array of new approaches to improve patient outcomes. In particular, efforts should be undertaken to broaden the medical community's understanding and implementation of emergency consent procedures and to adopt designs and processes that are easily incorporated into standard workflow and that improve trials' efficiencies and execution. Research and actions to improve enrollment in ongoing and future trials will improve stroke outcomes more broadly than any single therapy under consideration.

The Six filters used for the Large Synaptic Survey Telescope (LSST) are ~750 mm precision optics. We report the development of a spectrometer to directly map the transmission of these curved filters.

The project is focused on the development of a predictive model that enables prediction of the development of type 2 diabetes mellitus supported by SAP Predictive Analytics. Its main purpose is the definition of a predictive model that allows institutions that offer health coverage (both public and private) to optimize their diagnostic process and also enables the use of the prediction result in order to determine which actions could be taken, based on medical recommendations, on behalf of the patients benefit.

Palmtop tensile and fatigue testing machines were developed in-house for small and thin specimens that were fabricated by the LIGA process. The dimensions of the specimens were selected in accordance with the international standard IEC62047-3, and were 10 micrometers in thickness, 20 micrometers in width, and 500 micrometers in parallel length. Since the loading mechanism and methods of measuring the load and displacement were specially designed, the stiffness of the specimen is quite low compared to that of the conventional large-size specimens. The mechanical properties of electroformed Ni2Pd8 and Ni4Pd6 alloys were studied with these developed testing machines and excellent values of tensile and fatigue strengths of 2.7 GPa and 1.8 GPa, respectively were obtained in the case of the Ni4Pd6 alloy.

EPCOR Water (USA) Inc. overcame many challenges to replace an aging 3.5 mi, 18″ asbestos-cement sewer force main to better serve its Sun City West Wastewater District in AZ. Challenges included a 1,600′ HDD crossing under the Agua Fria River, coordinating with numerous public and private stakeholders, and completing design and construction within an accelerated 12 month timeframe, all while maintaining operation of the existing 4 MGD wastewater system. EPCOR selected GHD to tackle the project’s design challenges and Achen-Gardner Construction, Inc. (Achen Gardner) as the construction manager at risk (CMAR).

Clinical characteristics of isolated idiopathic cervical dystonia such as onset site and spread to and from additional body regions have been addressed in single-site studies with limited data and incomplete or variable dissociation of focal and segmental subtypes. The objectives of this study were to characterize the clinical characteristics and demographics of isolated idiopathic cervical dystonia in the largest standardized multicenter cohort. The Dystonia Coalition, through a consortium of 37 recruiting sites in North America, Europe, and Australia, recruited 1477 participants with focal (60.7%) or segmental (39.3%) cervical dystonia on examination. Clinical and demographic characteristics were evaluated in terms of the body region of dystonia onset and spread. Site of dystonia onset was: (1) focal neck only (78.5%), (2) focal onset elsewhere with later segmental spread to neck (13.3%), and (3) segmental onset with initial neck involvement (8.2%). Frequency of spread from focal cervical to segmental dystonia (22.8%) was consistent with prior reports, but frequency of segmental onset with initial neck involvement was substantially higher than the 3% previously reported. Cervical dystonia with focal neck onset, more than other subtypes, was associated with spread and tremor of any type. Sensory tricks were less frequent in cervical dystonia with segmental components, and segmental cervical onset occurred at an older age. Subgroups had modest but significant differences in the clinical characteristics that may represent different clinical entities or pathophysiologic subtypes. These findings are critical for design and implementation of studies to describe, treat, or modify disease progression in idiopathic isolated cervical dystonia. © 2016 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society.

As a medical student, I was trained in psychology and ethics courses to believe that suffering is a state of being that patients want to escape—that in their old age, patients would naturally and rationally want to relieve their distresses. When I left the classroom and entered the world of clinical rotations, I found this to be less of a hard-and-fast rule and more of a loose emotional shortcut. In particular, one elderly man demonstrated that the state of suffering is far more complex, and as much as it is an aching miserable state of being, it can also present itself as an opportunity to show gratitude and generosity. Mr. Joe Banks (real name withheld) was a 78-year-old African-American man living in New York who was being taken care of by family members. Disabled by multiple medical problems that hindered most day-to-day activities, Joe, as he preferred to be called, felt utterly humiliated, particularly by his inability to clean himself after soiling. Joe's saving grace was his son and daughter-in-law, who had left their jobs in the South to tend to his multiple ailments. I met Joe when he was hospitalized early in November 2008 for severe abdominal pain during my geriatrics rotation. At that time, Joe's regular physician briefed him and asked for his decision on advance directives. To me, Joe looked like he was dispirited and in poor physical condition, so it came to my great surprise that, if needed, Joe would opt for full resuscitation. There was such dissonance between his body language and his affirmation that curiosity got the better of me, so I asked him how he came to such a decision. Joe's decision, although not unusual by any measure, was the result of a unique decision-making process. In his younger days, as a housekeeper in the medical intensive care unit, he disapprovingly saw what happened to patients in those conditions, but then Joe's thoughts turned to his loved ones—his son and daughter-in-law. Both had provided him with comfort. They enjoyed being with him and served him lovingly, without any sense of burden or sacrifice. Joe explained that he could not leave them with such apparent ease; it would be an insult to their efforts. Instead, he wished to return their love and impress upon them that their care was the most important thing in the world. In short, Joe could bear the pain of daily suffering but not the pain of disappointing his loved ones. Joe Banks taught me more about suffering than any textbook could. Physical suffering is indeed a potent source of human motivation, but so too is gratitude. The fact that someone would be willing to prolong his suffering to demonstrate his appreciation is a testament to the nobility of the human spirit. Conflict of Interest: The editor in chief has reviewed the conflict of interest checklist provided by the author and has determined that the author has no financial or any other kind of personal conflicts with this paper. Author Contributions: The author is the sole contributor to this paper. Sponsor's Role: None.