Search

Background: Several studies have previously reported the presence of altered cerebral perfusion during sepsis. However, the role of non-invasive neuromonitoring, and the impact of altered cerebral perfusion, in sepsis patients with delirium remains unclear. Methods: We performed a systematic review of studies that used near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) and/or transcranial Doppler (TCD) to assess adults (≥18 years) with sepsis and delirium. From study inception to July 28, 2020, we searched the following databases: Ovid MedLine, Embase, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science. Results: Of 1546 articles identified, 10 met our inclusion criteria. Although NIRS-derived regional cerebral oxygenation was consistently lower, this difference was only statistically significant in one study. TCD-derived cerebral blood flow velocity was inconsistent across studies. Importantly, both impaired cerebral autoregulation during sepsis and increased cerebrovascular resistance were associated with delirium during sepsis. However, the heterogeneity in NIRS and TCD devices, duration of recording (from 10 seconds to 72 hours), and delirium assessment methods (e.g., electronic medical records, confusion assessment method for the intensive care unit), precluded meta-analysis. Conclusion: The available literature demonstrates that cerebral perfusion disturbances may be associated with delirium in sepsis. However, future investigations will require consistent definitions of delirium, delirium assessment training, harmonized NIRS and TCD assessments (e.g., consistent measurement site and length of recording), as well as the quantification of secondary and tertiary variables (i.e., Cox, Mxa, MAPOPT), in order to fully assess the relationship between cerebral perfusion and delirium in patients with sepsis.

The concept of justice plays an important role in shaping the attitudes of citizens towards criminal justice agencies. Additionally, research indicates that police officers’ perceptions of justice within their own organisation can affect their attitudes towards it. Most of the research to date has focused on police officers in Western nations; however, the effects of organisational justice could be universal (i.e. cut across different police agencies and nations) or contextual (i.e. vary between cultures). The current study examined the association between perceptions of two dimensions of organisational justice, distributive (fairness in outcomes) and procedural (fairness in procedures/processes), with job satisfaction and organisational commitment among Indian police officers. Ordinary least squares (OLS) regression analysis of survey data collected from 827 officers stationed in the Sonepat and Rohtak districts in the north Indian state of Haryana indicated that perceptions of distributive justice and procedural justice (in terms of promotions and evaluations) had significant positive relationships with both job satisfaction and affective organisational commitment. The findings support the contention that perceptions of organisational justice have important effects on Indian police officers.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine how initial frameworks for understanding police problems influence how police analyze and address those problems in the context of problem-oriented policing. The paper shows why researchers, and police, should pay more attention to problem theories. Design/methodology/approach – Data for this case study were obtained from the Middletown, Ohio Police Department, the Middletown housing authority, and the Butler County auditor. Frequency tables and simple graphs were used to identify patterns in the calls for service. Discussions with police officials were used to describe how police originally conceptualized the problem described. Findings – The paper found that initial problem framing has a significant impact on the available interventions and that problem solvers should be vigilant against errors of problem identification. Research limitations/implications – Caution must be taken when generalizing from a single case study. Nevertheless, more attention needs to be placed on problem identification and framing in the problem-solving process. Practical implications – Police problem solvers should be vigilant against errors in problem identification, particularly when the original problem identification is broad or when interventions based on the original problem frame do not produce the desired effect. Originality/value – There are few studies that specifically examine the problem identification and definition process. This paper adds to the literature on problem-oriented policing by examining the critical yet understudied process of problem framing. It also adds to our knowledge of place-specific analysis.

December 4, 2013, marks a significant day in the modern history of Christian worship: the fiftieth anniversary of the promulgation of the Second Vatican Council's Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy...

Modern mosaic cameras have grown both in size and in number of sensors. The required volume of sensor testing and characterization has grown accordingly. For camera projects as large as the LSST, test automation becomes a necessity. A CCD testing and characterization laboratory was built and is in operation for the LSST project. Characterization of LSST study contract sensors has been performed. The characterization process and its automation are discussed, and results are presented. Our system automatically acquires images, populates a database with metadata information, and runs express analysis. This approach is illustrated on 55 Fe data analysis. 55 Fe data are used to measure gain, charge transfer efficiency and charge diffusion. Examples of express analysis results are presented and discussed.

Successful police organizations rely on involved, satisfied, and committed workers. The concepts of job involvement (i.e., connection with the job), job satisfaction (i.e., affective feeling toward the job), and organizational commitment (i.e., bond with the employing organization) have been shown to significantly affect intentions and behaviors of employees. The current study used multivariate ordinary least squares (OLS) regression analysis on survey results from a sample of 827 Indian police officers to explore how perceptions of work environment factors affect officers’ job involvement, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment. Organizational support, formalization (i.e., level of codified written rules and guidelines), promotional opportunities, institutional communication (i.e., salient work information is transmitted), and input into decision-making (i.e., having a voice in the process) significantly influenced the job involvement, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment of Indian police officers. Specifically, in the multivariate analysis, perceptions of formalization and instrumental communication had a positive relationship with job involvement; perceptions of organizational support, promotional opportunities, instrumental communication, and input into decision-making had positive associations with job satisfaction; and perceptions of organizational support, formalization, promotional opportunities, instrumental communication, and input into decision-making had positive relationships with organizational commitment.

In thick fully depleted CCDs charge carrier transport from the back window to the gates is accompanied by charge diffusion. Lateral diffusion smooths out density variations of the incoming photon flux by redistributing charges spatially. This creates short range positive correlations in recorded amplitudes. Pixel-to-pixel amplitude variations can also be caused by pixel size and quantum efficiency variations. Pixel size variations result in short range negative correlations. Our study shows that the characteristic diffusion width can be extracted from flat field data. The study was performed on fully depleted, thick CCDs produced in a technology study for the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST). Data were taken in the laboratory at bias voltages between −5 and −40 V. To increase statistical accuracy, images taken in identical conditions were co-added after base line subtraction and master files were produced. A flat field image simulator was developed for statistical comparison of simulated and measured images. Results on diffusion, pixel response variations, data features, analysis and modeling techniques are presented and discussed.

The purpose of this study is to extend White’s analysis predicting successful police recruit performance during academy training. Using police personnel data collected on 486 officers hired between 1996 and 2006 by a Midwestern police department, the authors examine characteristics related to academy success as well as active police service. The results show that most demographic and experience variables did not predict academy or active service success. However, White recruits and those scoring higher on the civil service exam consistently performed better on multiple academy outcome measures than their counterparts. In addition, those scoring higher on the overall academy success measure generally received better evaluations from their superiors. The results also show that higher education is not related to any of the measures of academy or on the job success used in these analyses.

Branding has long been seen as an effective means of marketing products. The use of brand-based marketing campaigns, however, has come under intense scrutiny over the past 10 years for its power to facilitate deception and emotional manipulation. As a way of proceeding through the many differing moral assessments, this paper turns for insight to the tradition of writing on social ethical issues within the Roman Catholic Church. The author suggests that Catholic Social Teaching offers a distinctive approach to advertising ethics that charts a middle course between the two poles of the debate on branding. This article introduces readers to the approach to advertising developed within Vatican documents on media, highlighting the basic values at stake and the particular moral norms for advertising that are articulated. The article then applies these values and norms to the case of brand-based advertising, ultimately suggesting that advertisers approach their work through the virtue of solidarity.

Contemporary police practice advocates the importance of proactive policing activities. Proactive policing reforms emphasize self‐initiated tasks during unassigned patrol time and directed activities based on supervisor review of crime analysis and problem identification. Our study analyzes data from systematic social observations of police patrol officers to examine how officers spent their discretionary time. We find that, on average, over three quarters of a patrol officers’ shift is unassigned. During this time, officers primarily self‐initiate routine patrol, or back up other officers on calls to which they were not dispatched. Just 6 percent of unassigned time activities are directed by supervising officers, dispatchers, other officers or citizens. Moreover, directives provided by supervisors are vague, general in form, and do not operationalize problem‐oriented policing, community‐oriented policing, or proactive policing strategies. We conclude that first, a very significant proportion of patrol of...

PurposeTo provide an empirical analysis of what influences police use of field citations (tickets) against citizens in nontraffic and traffic encounters.Design/methodology/approachThe research was conducted using systematic social observations of police‐citizen encounters in Cincinnati, Ohio, from April 1997 to 1998. Multiple logistic regression models were used to examine the effects of legal and extralegal factors on the dependant variable (receipt of a citation) versus an officer doing nothing or arresting a citizen in nontraffic and traffic encounters.FindingsOfficers appear to be more likely to issue citations, as opposed to doing nothing formal or making an arrest, in traffic encounters. The extant literature's focus on citation issuance being more relevant to police behavior in traffic encounters as opposed to other routine encounters may be appropriate. When the decision rests between issuing a citation or making a full‐custody arrest in traffic encounters, white officers are more likely to arrest than their black counterparts, and black suspects were significantly more likely than Caucasians to be arrested than cited. Race of the officer or the suspect exhibited no significant effect in any of the other models estimated.Research limitations/implicationsThe study utilized data collected on police‐citizen interactions from one police agency in one jurisdiction, and the data do not come from a study designed primarily to examine citation outcomes or traffic encounters.Practical implicationsThis study would be useful to researchers examining police use of citations, officer behavior in traffic and nontraffic encounters, quantifying law in police‐citizen encounters, and race‐based policing.Originality/valueThis study provides a comprehensive review of the literature, and an empirical analysis, regarding officer decision making as it pertains to the issuing of tickets relative to other police actions (i.e. arrest) in traffic and nontraffic situations.

During the past 20 years, there has been an expanding body of research examining citizens’ attitudes toward the police. Most of this research has been directed at assessing the determinants of these attitudes. In contrast, less attention has been focused on the reasons why citizens hold certain attitudes. The present study uses the survey responses of 613 residents of a midwestern city to examine the information accessed by citizens when responding to questions regarding their general and specific attitudes toward the police. The findings suggest that citizens focus on attributes of agencies and encounters, some focus on the behavior of officers during interactions, and others base their attitudes on general perceptions of the occupation of policing. Furthermore, the referent employed by citizens is not always consistent with the attitude object (i.e., general questions elicit specific responses). The likelihood that police agencies can influence citizens’ attitudes is also assessed.

A new programmable trigger board and digital mean-timer modules using complex programmable logic device have been introduced to the trigger system of the BNL-E949 experiment. The online dead time was reduced from 4.0% to 1.7% by introducing an on-chip prescaler to the programmable trigger board. The acceptance loss of the online photon veto was reduced from 4.9% to 1.8% by introducing the mean-timer modules.

Determining the impact of civilian review board on the police is a challenging process. The task is complicated due to the absence of baseline data that will account for observed changes in citizen complaints, especially if the concept is a novelty in a particular jurisdiction. Likewise, using traditional measures of impact such as the number of complaints or conviction rates is problematic due to a variety of confounding factors. This study examines the perceptions of complainants and officers concerning the impact of civilian review boards. Using data collected through surveys of police officers and complainants in a metropolitan area in the Philippines, the study focuses on “learning” as a viable construct to measure the impact of civilian review boards and the perceived deterrent effects of these boards. The research found that civilian review boards have a significant impact on police officer perceptions as well as on the police department. The study also shows that learning may be a viable measure for studying the impact of civilian review boards.

Much of the prior literature concerning police behavior has focused on the activities and citizen interactions of officers employed by large agencies located in urban jurisdictions. Using data collected through the systematic observation of police officers employed by small-town and rural agencies, the present study explores issues related to the work of police officers in smaller jurisdictions. Specifically, we present observational data that provides a detailed description of how these officers spend time on their shifts. In addition, observational data is used to identify the problems these officers confronted, as well as their relationship with the citizens they encountered. Similarities and differences between observed small-town and rural officers and their more urban counterparts are identified and discussed.

Research Summary: Our paper explores the impact of implementing a nonemergency 3-1-1 call system in Baltimore, Maryland. We found a large (34.2%) reduction in 9-1-1 calls following the introduction of the 3-1-1 nonemergency call system. Many, but not all, of these calls simply migrated over to the 3-1-1 call system. Overall, we identified a 7.7% reduction in recorded citizen calls to the police post 3-1-1 intervention. This recorded reduction in citizen calls was confounded by an increase in high priority calls to the 9-1-1 system (27.5%), a large overall reduction in low priority calls (54.3%), and an estimated increase (perhaps 8%) in unrecorded calls to the police. We also note a small increase in response times to high priority 9-1-1 calls following the implementation of the 3-1-1 call system and virtually no change in the amount of officer time available for community policing or problem-oriented policing activities. Policy Implications: Our findings suggest that nonemergency call systems, such as 3-1-1, can greatly facilitate police efforts to better handle citizen calls for police service. However, the intrinsic value of nonemergency call systems is tightly woven with a police department's willingness to change dispatch policies (especially for those calls received via the 3-1-1 system), reallocate patrol resources, and adopt organizational reforms to support alternative methods (apart from dispatch) for handling nonemergency calls for service.

This article identifies the characteristics of police officers (officers' background attributes, arrest activity, and assignment) who most frequently receive complaints from citizens regarding the use of excessive force. The data for the study were obtained from a large mid-western municipal police department. The results show that arrest activity, officer age, and officer gender are most strongly related to the receipt of citizen's complaints about excessive force and differentiate high-complaint officers from low-complaint officers. Implications of the findings are discussed.

In the past decade, municipal police organizations have devoted significant resources toward drug enforcement. One popular strategy in addressing the American drug problem is the formulation of multijurisdictional drug task forces. Despite their popularity, the impact of these cooperative ventures on law enforcement agencies has not been adequately evaluated. The research reported here examined the effect of membership in a drug enforcement task force on levels of drug enforcement outputs and perceptions of effectiveness by comparing law enforcement agencies participating in drug task forces to agencies which do not participate. Results suggest that task force membership impacts perceptions, but does not appear to influence objective measures of drug enforcement outputs.

During the past two decades there has been increasing interest in the attitudes of adults toward the police. There has only been limited interest in the attitudes of juveniles, even though they comprise a significant proportion of the population subject to police contact and arrests. The present study, using data collected through a survey administered to a sample of urban and suburban juveniles, examined the determinants of juveniles' attitudes toward the police. The findings generally suggest that the overall attitudes of juveniles are not quite as favorable as those reported previously for adults, that the overall level of support voiced by juveniles varied depending on the focus of the attitude question, that many juveniles selected the “neutral” response category and failed to voice positive or negative attitudes, and that many of the variables identified as being theoretically relevant in the literature on adult attitudes toward the police (e.g., contact with police, respondents' races and genders, extent of victimization) are also significant predictors of the attitudes of juveniles.

Multijurisdictional drug task forces formalize cooperative ventures and dedi cate attention to drug crime with the assumption that such will lead to more effective drug law enforcement. This improvement in drug enforcement is hypothesized to benefit the task forces not only in the number of drug arrests achieved, but also in enhanced communication and cooperation among in dividual members. Using data collected from a survey of task force leaders, grant applications and quarterly arrest reports, this study compares effective ness across task forces and organizational contexts. Findings indicate that differences in task force organizational structure, context and managerial fac tors may not affect the number of drug-related arrests, though they may influence the level of perceived effectiveness.

Gunshot detection systems are defined as technologically advanced acoustic sensing systems capable of identifying, discriminating and reporting gun shots within one second of a shot being fired. Manufacturers of gunshot detection systems propose that the technology can significantly decrease officer response times to random gunfire calls for service as well as indi rectly control random gunfire problems. Our paper examines some of the organizational imphcations of using gunshot detection systems in local law enforcement agencies. Drawing from a two-month field trial of a gun shot detection system implemented in Dallas, Tex., our paper explores the impact of the technology on officer response times and officer workloads. Our results suggest that implementation of gunshot detection technology in Dallas reduced officer response times by about one minute (7% reduc tion) yet significantly increased officer workloads.

States that proponents of community policing contend that implementation of this strategy should substantially change the nature of police work. Unfortunately, there remains only limited knowledge about what community policing officers actually do, and in fact, many researchers suggest that community policing is merely a new name for traditional forms of policing. Using observational data collected in a medium sized municipal police department, examines the work of community officers and compares it to the work of traditional “beat” officers. Discusses the activities of community officers in light of existing literature which has examined the workload of police officers.

Considers the impact of a range of variables on confidence in the police, including those given little or no previous attention, e.g. measures of crime experience and of conservative political orientation. Draws data from a larger study of urban crime‐prevention issues based on Cincinnati, Ohio. Finds that respondents’ race is not a significant determinant of confidence in the police; the most important determinant being the community context. Suggests that neighborhood social integration may provide a supportive context which could encourage positive evaluation of formal institutional arrangements. Finds that attitudes toward the police (ATP) are regulated by the social context and that much of the existing research, which excluded contextual variables, may have been wrong in making race a significant variable. Notes that confidence in the police is higher in women than in men, but this may be due to a lower rate of antagonistic contact between police and women (not measured here).

It is often implied that citizens’ attitudes toward the police are a determinant of their willingness to engage in the coproduction of police outputs. This relationship, however, has been subjected to only limited empirical scrutiny. Using data from a three wave panel survey conducted in a large metropolitan area, this study examines the determinants of coproduction with particular emphasis on the causal role of citizens’ attitudes toward the police. The study provides little support for the hypothesis which links citizens’ attitudes to citizen willingness to engage in coproductive behaviors. Instead, a variety of other individual level variables appear to have a much greater effect on citizen willingness to engage in coproductive behaviors.

An investigation has been made of a readout technique for undoped cesium iodide and cerium fluoride crystals using scintillating fibers and bars. The method uses the fluors in the scintillator as wavelength shifters to absorb the primary UV scintillation light from the crystals and reemit it at a longer wavelength which can be more easily propagated over large distances. A study was made for various types of fibers (BCF-10, BCF-12 and BCF-20), giving the dependence of the light output on fluor type, fiber diameter and the spacing between fibers. Similar studies are made for several types of bars (BC-404 and BC-408) which compare the light output for various bar thicknesses, fluor concentrations and geometrical configurations. An initial investigation also showed that this technique can be used to read out CeF/sub 3/ crystals. >

Tight requirements on the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope point spread function (PSF) demand sensor contribution to PSF be both small and well characterized. The sensor PSF is determined by the lateral charge diffusion on the drift path from the photon conversion point to the gates. The maximum drift path occurs for photons converted at the window, for blue optical photons in particular. Charges generated at the window surface undergo "worst case" charge spreading and the blue optical PSF is used to characterize the sensor's PSF. Different techniques for charge diffusion characterization have been developed, each with its own systematics and measurement difficulties. A new way to measure charge diffusion using an X-ray source is presented. We demonstrate the effectiveness and limitations of our technique and discuss relation of charge diffusion value obtained with X-ray measurements to sensor PSF.

The science focal plane of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope is made up of 21 modules designated "raft towers". Each raft tower module (RTM) is an autonomous, fully-testable and serviceable 144 Mpixel imager consisting of nine highly-segmented CCDs with complete readout electronics chain. To minimize noise and obscuration the RTM is housed in a compact enclosure fully contained within the camera cryostat. The RTM is required to meet strict performance goals for image plane flatness, readout speed, noise, and power dissipation. Key components include the 4K × 4K fully-depleted CCDs with 16 outputs each, ceramic CCD support structure, and ASIC electronics for video processing and clock/bias generation. In addition to CCD signal handling, the RTM electronics also includes monitoring for temperature, voltage, and current, makeup heater control, ASIC configuration and readback, powerdown modes, and specialized diagnostic outputs. Digitized data are transmitted out of the camera cryostat over a single 3Gb/s serial link.

Knowledge of the point spread function (PSF) of the sensors to be used in the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) camera is essential for optimal extraction of subtle galaxy shape distortions caused by gravitational weak lensing. We have developed a number of techniques for measuring the PSF of candidate CCD sensors to be used in the LSST camera, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. The two main optical PSF measurement techniques that we use are the direct Virtual Knife Edge (VKE) scan as developed by Karcher, et al. and the indirect interference fringe method after Andersen and Sorensen that measures the modulation transfer function (MTF) directly. The PSF is derived from the MTF by Fourier transform. Other non-optical PSF measurement techniques that we employ include {sup 55}Fe x-ray cluster image size measurements and statistical distribution analysis, and cosmic ray muon track size measurements, but are not addressed here. The VKE technique utilizes a diffraction-limited spot produced by a Point-Projection Microscope (PPM) that is scanned across the sensor with sub-pixel resolution. This technique closely simulates the actual operating condition of the sensor in the telescope with the source spot size having an f/number close to the actual telescope design value.more » The interference fringe method uses a simple equal-optical-path Michelson-type interferometer with a single-mode fiber source that produces interference fringes with 100% contrast over a wide spatial frequency range sufficient to measure the MTF of the sensor directly. The merits of each measurement technique and results from the various measurement techniques on prototype LSST sensors are presented and compared.« less

We present the latest modifications of the open source observatory control software package RTS2. New features were developed specifically for the automated testing of CCD chips for the mosaic camera of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope. Currently, the system is in operation at Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, USA and at Laboratoire de Physique Nucl´eaire et des Hautes ´Energies in Paris, France. RTS2 software is currently used to characterize the sensors from various vendors and will be used first for selection and then for testing of production CCD sensors. With our system we are able to automatically obtain a series of images for analysis. Data is used to study many aspects of sensor characteristics, including wavelength dependence of quantum efficiency, the dark current, and the linearity of the CCD response as a function of back-bias voltage and temperature. We also can measure a point spread function over the whole surface of the CCD sensors.

High statistics astronomical surveys require higher accuracy of sensor calibration procedures. The first step in calibration procedures is the base line subtraction. The accuracy and robustness of different base line subtraction techniques used for Charge Coupled Device (CCD) sensors are discussed. The specialized algorithm of the base line subtraction for CCD images containing sparse signals was developed and is discussed in section 3. This algorithm does not require taking additional bias exposures and uses data from the same image. Statistical properties of the algorithm are discussed in section 3. The algorithm performance on 55Fe data and comparison with bias exposures approach is presented in section 4. Details of the bias exposure analysis are presented in section 2.

OBJECTIVES: Although, the relationship between childhood physical abuse and adult heart disease has been documented, very few studies have controlled for many of the known risk factors for heart disease. The objective of the current study, therefore, was to investigate the association between childhood physical abuse and adult heart disease while controlling for the following established risk factors: (1) childhood stressors; (2) adult health behaviors; (3) adult stressors; (4) depression; and, (5) high pressure. METHODS: Data was obtained from the 2005 Canadian Community Health Survey. The sample included 13,093 respondents from the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan, of whom 7.4% (n=1025) reported that they had been physically abused as a child by someone close to them and 4.4% (n=850) reported that they had been diagnosed with heart disease by a health professional. The regional level response rate was 84%. RESULTS: The age-gender-race adjusted odds ratio of heart disease among those who had reported childhood physical abuse was 1.57 (95% CI=1.12, 2.20). When adjustments were made for all of the established risk factors the odds ratio declined to 1.45 (95% CI=1.01, 2.08). CONCLUSIONS: The relationship between childhood physical abuse and heart disease persists even when controlling for five types of factors previously thought to mediate the relationship. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Further research would benefit from a closer analysis of the potential mechanisms linking childhood physical abuse and heart disease. Language: en

We present characterization methods and results on a number of new devices produced specifically to address LSST's performance goals, including flatness, QE, PSF, dark current, read noise, CTE, cosmetics, and crosstalk. The results indicate that commercially produced, thick n-channel over-depleted CCDs with excellent red response can achieve tight PSF at moderate applied substrate bias with no evidence of persistent image artifacts. We will also report ongoing studies of mosaic assembly techniques to achieve chip-to-chip co-planarity, high fill factor, and thermal stability.

The LSST camera focal plane array will consist of individual Si sensor modules, each 42×42mm 2 in size, that are assembled into 3×3 "raft" structures, which are then assembled into the final focal plane array. It is our responsibility at Brookhaven National Lab (BNL) to insure that the individual sensors provided by the manufacturer meet the flatness requirement of 5 μm PV and that the assembled raft structure be within the 6.5 μm PV flatness tolerance. These tolerances must be measured with the detectors operating in a cryogenic environment at -100C in a face-down configuration. Conventional interferometric techniques for flatness testing are inadequate to insure that edge discontinuities between detector elements are within the tolerances because of the quarter-wave phase ambiguity problem. For this reason we have chosen a combination of metrology techniques to solve the discontinuity ambiguity problem that include both a full aperture interferometer and a scanning confocal distance microscope. We will discuss concepts for performing flatness metrology testing with these instruments under these conditions and will present preliminary results of measurement sensitivity and repeatability from tests performed on step height artifacts.

This report highlights the findings of an extensive review of the literature in the area of nanorobotics. The main goal of this midyear LDRD effort is to survey and identify accomplishments and advancements that have been made in this relatively new and emerging field. As a result, it may be determined what routes in the area of nanorobotics are scientifically plausible and technically useful so that the Intelligent Systems and Robotics Center can position itself to play a role in the future development of nanotechnology.

A photon detector for BNL experiment E949 is described. The detector consists of lead/scintillator ``sandwich'' of 25 layers of 5 mm thick scintillator BC404 and 24 layers of 2 mm lead absorber. Readout is implemented with 30-60 cm long WLS fibers (BCF99-29AA) glued into grooves in the BC404. Average yield was measured with cosmic rays to be about 43 p.e./MeV. Extruded plastic scintillation counters developed for sandwich detectors of photons for the KOPIO experiment are also described. For a 7 mm thick counter with 4.3 m long WLS fibers spaced at 7 mm a light yield of 18.7 p.e./MeV and time resolution of 0.71 ns were obtained. A prototype photon veto module consisting of 10 layers of 7 mm thick extruded plastic slabs interleaved with 1 mm lead sheets was tested., 10 pages, 8 figures, 2 tables, talk at the INSTR02 Conference, Novosibirsk, Russia, February 28 - March 6, 2002

LSST parameters are discussed and requirements on the LSST camera are presented. Characterization methods and results on a number of new devices produced specifically to address LSST's performance goals, including flatness, QE, full well capacity, linearity, dark current, read noise, CTE, and image persistence are presented. The results indicate that commercially produced, thick n-channel over-depleted CCDs can achieve excellent red response, high CTE, low dark current and satisfy LSST requirements with no evidence of persistent image artifacts. We will also report ongoing studies of mosaic assembly techniques to achieve chip-to-chip co-planarity, high fill factor, and thermal stability.