Replacement-Policy Development: A Case Study of Glove Replacement at a Nuclear Processing Facility

Individual/group replacement models were used to identify the minimum-cost policy for replacing protective gloves that are utilized in product fabrication at a nuclear processing facility. Since historical data on glove longevity were not available to determine the failure-rate distribution, the classical replacement model for items that fail was modified to consider glove life as a normally distributed variable. Moreover, the absence of replacement-cost required that the classical model be transformed to incorporate the ratio of single to unit-group replacement cost. Sensitivity analysis on these two input parameter values provided guidance for the development of an appropriate replacement policy.     

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Few-Body Systems — News Section

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The global structure of simple space-times

According to a standard definition of Penrose, a space-time admitting well-defined future and past null infinitiesI ⁺ andI ^– is asymptotically simple if it has no closed timelike curves, and all its endless null geodesics originate fromI ^– and terminate atI ⁺. The global structure of such space-times has previously been successfully investigated only in the presence of additional constraints. The present paper deals with the general case. It is shown thatI ⁺ is diffeomorphic to the complement of a point in some contractible open 3-manifold, the strongly causal regionI ₀ ⁺ ofI ⁺ is diffeomorphic to , and every compact connected spacelike 2-surface inI ⁺ is contained inI ₀ ⁺ and is a strong deformation retract of bothI ₀ ⁺ andI ⁺. Moreover the space-time must be globally hyperbolic with Cauchy surfaces which, subject to the truth of the Poincaré conjecture, are diffeomorphic to ³.     

New theoretical insight into the interactions and properties of formic acid: development of a quantum-based pair potential for formic acid

We performed ab initio quantum-chemical studies for the development of intra- and intermolecular interaction potentials for formic acid for use in molecular-dynamics simulations of formic acid molecular crystal. The formic acid structures considered in the ab initio studies include both the cis and trans monomers which are the conformers that have been postulated as part of chains constituting liquid and crystal phases under extreme conditions. Although the cis to trans transformation is not energetically favored, the trans isomer was found as a component of stable gas-phase species. Our decomposition scheme for the interaction energy indicates that the hydrogen-bonded complexes are dominated by the Hartree-Fock forces while parallel clusters are stabilized by the electron correlation energy. The calculated three-body and higher interactions are found to be negligible, thus rationalizing the development of an atom-atom pair potential for formic acid based on high-level ab initio calculations of small formic acid clusters. Here we present an atom-atom pair potential that includes both intra- and inter molecular degrees of freedom for formic acid. The newly developed pair potential is used to examine formic acid in the condensed phase via molecular-dynamics simulations. The isothermal compression under hydrostatic pressure obtained from molecular-dynamics simulations is in good agreement with experiment. Further, the calculated equilibrium melting temperature is found to be in good agreement with experiment.     

BIOLOGICAL ACTIVITIES OF PHTHALOCYANINES-X. SYNTHESES AND ANALYSES OF SULFONATED PHTHALOCYANINES

Abstract— Synthetic methods to obtain selectively sulfonated metallo phthalocyanines are compared. Both condensation and direct sulfonation procedures lead to mixtures of mono- to tetrasulfonated products which are resolved by reverse phase liquid chromatography in buffered aqueous-methanol. The proportion of sulfonated derivatives is examined as a function of the starting reagents in the case of the condensation method, and as a function of the temperature and reaction time in the case of the direct sulfonation procedure. The number of sulfonate groups per phthalocyanine molecule is determined by oxidative degradation of the phthalocyanine ring followed by quantitative chromatographic analysis of the sulfophthalamide and phthalamide fragments.     

The synthesis of 1,4-diazacycl[3,2,2]azine

The diazaanalog of “cycl[3,2,2]azine”, “1,4-diazacycl[3,2,2]azine” (1,4,7b-triazacyclopent-[cd]indene) and its 2-methyl derivative were prepared. These compounds are subject to facile acid-catalyzed hydrolysis affording substituted imidazo[1,2-a]pyridines.     

Evaluation of gas chromatography-tandem quadrupole mass spectrometry for the determination of organochlorine pesticides in fats and oils

A gas chromatography-tandem quadrupole mass spectrometry multi-residue method for the analysis of 19 organochlorine pesticides in fats and oils has been developed. Gel permeation chromatography was employed to remove lipid material prior to GC-MS/MS analysis. Average recoveries of the pesticides spiked at 10 and 50 microg kg(-1) into fish oil, pork fat, olive oil and hydrogenated vegetable oil were typically in the range 70-110% with relative standard deviations generally less than 10%. Calculated limits of detection are between 0.1 and 2.0 microg kg(-1) and results obtained for the analysis of proficiency test materials are in good agreement with assigned values. The higher selectivity of the GC-MS/MS compared to electron capture detection and GC-MS in selective ion monitoring mode allowed unambiguous identification and confirmation of all the target pesticides at low microg kg(-1) levels in fats and oils in a single analysis.     

Structural impacts on thallus and algal cell components of two lichen species in response to low-level air pollution in pacific northwest forests.

Lichens have long been regarded as bioindicators of air pollution, and structural studies typically have indicated negative impacts in highly polluted areas. In this research, Parmelia sulcata and Platismatia glauca were collected from one clean and two polluted sites in the Pacific Northwest forests of the United States to investigate the anatomical and ultrastructural responses of relatively resistant lichens to moderate air pollution. Light microscopy of polluted materials revealed only slight increases in the algal cell proportions of the thallus, and a decrease in the fungal cells of the medulla. Using transmission electron microscopy, increased lipid droplets in the cytoplasm and an increase in the cell wall thickness of the photobionts were found in the polluted lichens. These results were compared with physiological data in which the net carbon uptake did not show any significant differences; however, the total chlorophyll content was heightened in the polluted samples. The increased total chlorophyll content and the absence of any changes in the algal cell proportions of the polluted samples suggest that the photobionts possessed a higher chlorophyll content per unit volume of the photobiont at polluted sites. The results also indicate that lichens have altered their storage allocation in different cellular compartments. This may be a result of symbiotic readjustment(s) between the photobiont and the mycobiont. In comparison with the physiological results from these two species, these changes do not represent damaging effects by low-level air pollution.