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Cet article propose de survoler la méthodologie du projet Vauban en Amérique ? qui fit l’utilisation—entre autres—de la photogrammétrie et des systèmes d’information géographique (SIG) afin de bonifier l’étude de l’héritage de Vauban Plus précisément, c’est le fort de Chambly qui a servi de banc d’essai à nos expérimentations. Ainsi, Vauban en Amérique ? est une initiative d’étudiants à la maîtrise en informatique appliquée à l’histoire à l’Université de Sherbrooke. Sous la bannière Historiamatica, une plateforme web qui regroupe différentes initiatives en humanités numériques parmi les étudiants et étudiantes en histoire, les membres du projet Vauban ont créé une application web permettant de visualiser les différents types de structures défensives., This article proposes to review the methodology of Vauban in America? which—among other things—uses photogrammetry and geographic information system (GIS) to improve the study of the Vauban heritage as well as forts and fortresses of North America before the conquest. More precisely, Fort de Chambly served as a “sandbox” for our experimentation. Thus, the Vauban project is an initiative from a group of digital history master students at Université de Sherbrooke. Under the banner Historiamatica, a web platform that brings together the various digital humanities initiatives among history students, members of the Vauban project have created a web application to visualize the different types of defensive structures.

Life expectancy expertise must comply with court-mandated evidentiary standards. A proper opinion should abide by 3 principles; it should be generated by a qualified expert who applies proper methods to appropriate facts. Several common mistakes can make opinions unsuitable for admission into testimony by straying from 1 or more of these 3 principles. Examining life expectancy opinions in light of these principles allows consumers of life expectancy expertise to evaluate the quality of the opinions proffered.

To use the theoretical frameworks of implementation science to implement pressure injury (PI) prevention best practices in spinal cord injury (SCI) rehabilitation.Quality improvement.Six Canadian SCI rehabilitation centers.Inpatients (N=2371) admitted from 2011 to 2015.The SCI Knowledge Mobilization Network (SCI KMN) selected and implemented 2 PI prevention best practices at 6 Canadian SCI rehabilitation centers: (1) completing a comprehensive PI risk assessment comprised of a structured risk assessment instrument followed by an individualized, interprofessional risk factor determination and prevention plan; and (2) providing structured and individualized PI prevention patient education. Active Implementation Frameworks provided a systematic approach to best practice implementation.Implementation indicators (completion rates) and patient outcomes (PI incidence, patient education survey).After implementation, risk assessment completion rates improved from 46% to 94% (P.05). Between initial (2012-2013) and full (2014-2015) implementation stages, completion rates improved for both interprofessional risk factor determination (67% to 96%) and prevention plans (67% to 94%). Documentation of patient education also increased to 86% (vs. 71% preimplementation). At rehabilitation admission 22% of patients had PIs, with 14% of individuals developing new PIs during rehabilitation. The overall PI prevalence was 30%. Considering only PIs of stage 2 or greater, prevalence was 21% and incidence 7%. There were no statistically significant differences in PI incidence between pre- and postimplementation. Patient education surveys indicated that PI education improved patients' knowledge of prevention strategies.Active Implementation Frameworks supported successful implementation of PI prevention best practices across the 6 participating SCI KMN sites. Achieving a reduction in PI incidence will require additional measures, and there is an ongoing need to strengthen the evidence base underpinning PI prevention guidelines.

Background Drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) is a global public health issue. To monitor this in Canada, surveillance systems have been in place for the last 20 years. Objective To describe drug resistance patterns among TB isolates in Canada in 2017 by type of resistance as well as geographic location, demographic data and origin and to compare current data to those of the previous 10 years. Methods Data were derived and analyzed from two sources. The Canadian Tuberculosis Laboratory Surveillance System (CTBLSS) is an isolate-based laboratory surveillance system and was used to obtain information on the results of drug susceptibility testing (DST) as well as province or territory, sex and age of the individual from which the sample originated. The Canadian Tuberculosis Reporting System (CTBRS) is a case-based surveillance system with information on active and retreatment TB cases in Canada and was used to derive origin data, which is defined as either foreign-born, Canadian-born Indigenous or Canadian-born non-Indigenous. Analysis was descriptive and compared with data from these two sources for 2007-2016. Results In 2017, 1,515 TB isolates were tested for resistance to anti-TB drugs, with 123 (8.1%) demonstrating resistance to any first-line anti-TB drug. Of these, 103 were monoresistant, six were polyresistant and 14 were multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB). No extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) isolates were reported. Drug resistance was reported in seven provinces/territories (British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick). There were 63 isolates from females with drug resistance (9.5%) and 60 isolates from males with drug resistance (7.0%). Drug resistance was found in a greater percentage of isolates among those aged 25-34 (n=29, 23.6%). By origin, 1,072 (11%) foreign-born TB cases reported between 2005 and 2015 were drug-resistant. Among the Canadian-born non-Indigenous and Canadian-born Indigenous TB cases, 143 (9%) and 54 (2%) were drug-resistant, respectively. Compared with previous years, the number of isolates tested increased slightly (from 1,267 to 1,515); however, there was a decrease in the percentage of isolates with reported drug resistance (from 10.5% in 2007 to 8.1% in 2017). Conclusion In 2017, TB drug resistance rates remained low in Canada.

Background Tuberculosis (TB) is a major global health problem that affected an estimated 10.4 million people worldwide in 2016. The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) monitors active TB disease through a national surveillance system, which is a collaborative effort withthe provinces and territories. Objective This article presents an epidemiological summary of the active TB disease cases reported from 2006 to 2016, with a focus on 2016. Treatment outcomes for cases diagnosed in 2015 are also presented. Methods The Canadian Tuberculosis Reporting System (CTBRS) is a case-based surveillance system that maintains non-nominal data on people diagnosed with active TB disease in Canada. Data are collected annually from the provinces and territories, analyzed by PHAC and validated by each province and territory. Results The number of active TB disease cases increased from 1,642 in 2015 to 1,737 in 2016, corresponding to an increase in incidence rate from 4.6 to 4.8 per 100,000 population. Foreign born individuals continued to make up the majority of cases reported (70%) and the incidence rate remained highest among Canadian born Indigenous people (23.5 per 100,000 population) and was particularly high within the Inuit population (170.1 per 100,000 population). Over the past decade, there was a slight decrease in the number of cases among children and the proportion of re-treatment cases declined from 8.3% of cases in 2006 to 5.4% of cases in 2016. Conclusion Although tuberculosis incidence rates in Canada are low in the global context and have been relatively stable over the last decade, there has been a slight increase in rates over the last three years, especially in the foreign born population which accounts for the majority of cases. The decrease in cases among children suggests less active transmission and the low proportion of re-treatment cases suggests effective treatment and adherence.

Background Drug-resistant strains of tuberculosis (TB) pose a serious threat to TB prevention and control efforts. The Canadian Tuberculosis Laboratory Surveillance System (CTBLSS) was created in 1998 to monitor emerging trends and patterns in TB drug resistance in Canada. Objective To present a descriptive overview of TB drug resistance data collected through the CTBLSS for the years 2006 to 2016 in Canada, with a focus on 2016. Methods The CTBLSS is an isolate-based surveillance system designed to collect data on TB drug resistance across Canada. Each year, data are collected and analyzed by the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) and then validated by the submitting laboratory. Results In 2016, anti-tuberculosis drug susceptibility test results were reported for 1,452 isolates. The proportion of TB drug-resistant strains remained relatively stable with 108 (7.4%) of the isolates classified as monoresistant, five (0.3%) isolates as polyresistant and 17 (1.2%) as multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) strains. In 2016, there were no extensively drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB) isolates identified. Males accounted for 792 (54.5%) of all reported isolates and 64 (49.2%) of the resistant strains and females accounted for 11 (64.7%) of the MDR-TB strains. Between 2006 and 2016, individuals between 15 and 44 years of age comprised 47.4% of all reported isolates, 54.0% of isolates showing any resistance and 72.3% of MDR-TB strains. Conclusion TB drug resistance levels have been relatively low and stable over the past 11 years and have remained below the global average since national surveillance began. However, with growing worldwide concern about drug resistance and the emergence of XDR-TB, the CTBLSS will remain vital to the monitoring of TB drug resistance in Canada.

Background Several Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) surveillance programs do not specify laboratory strategies to use. We investigated the evolution in testing strategies used across Quebec, Canada, and its association with incidence rates. Methods Cross-sectional study of 95 hospitals by surveys conducted in 2010 and in 2013-2014. The association between testing strategies and institutional CDI incidence rates was analyzed via multivariate Poisson regressions. Results The most common assays in 2014 were toxin A/B enzyme immunoassays (EIAs) (61 institutions, 64%), glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH) EIAs (51 institutions, 53.7%), and nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs) (34 institutions, 35.8%). The most frequent algorithm was a single-step NAAT (20 institutions, 21%). Between 2010 and 2014, 35 institutions (37%) modified their algorithm. Institutions detecting toxigenic C difficile instead of C difficile toxin increased from 14 to 37 ( P C difficile had higher CDI rates (7.9 vs 6.6 per 10,000 patient days; P = .01). Institutions using single-step NAATs, GDH plus toxigenic cultures, and GDH plus cytotoxicity assays had higher CDI rates than those using an EIA-based algorithm ( P Conclusions Laboratory detection of CDI has changed since 2010. There is an association between diagnostic algorithms and CDI incidence. Mitigation strategies are warranted.

Expert opinion on life expectancy must make reasonable factual assumptions, which entails finding a proper group to which the individual being assessed will be compared, as well as use of appropriate and reliable technical methods. Reasonable judgment should be exercised in the selection of the studies employed. A schedule of mortality rates must be built on a fair assessment of the person's medical condition and of relevant peer-reviewed findings. A clear and detailed report should be produced, containing the basis for the opinion, the description of the methods employed, and the life-expectancy calculations specific to the individual.

Objectives To compare the mortality experience of 112 justices of the US Supreme Court with that expected in the general population. To identify variables associated with mortality within this cohort. Background Supreme Court justices are a select occupational cohort. High socio-economic status, advanced education, lifetime appointment, and the healthy worker effect suggest lower mortality. Sedentary work, stress, and a tendency to work beyond typical retirement age may attenuate this. Methods Standardized mortality ratios compare the observed mortality rates of justices with those expected in age- and sex-matched contemporary general populations. Poisson regression analyzes variables associated with mortality within the cohort. Results From 1789 to 2013, 112 justices (108 male) contributed 2,355 person-years of exposure. Mean age (standard deviation) at appointment was 53.1 years (6.7); at retirement 69.7 years (9.9); at death (n = 100) 74.4 years (10.3); and at end of the study for those alive (n = 12) 72.1 years (11.8). Standardized mortality ratios (95% ci) were: overall 0.87 (0.70-1.05); prior to 1950 0.92 (0.61-1.33); and from 1950 to 2013 0.66 (0.42-0.99). Variables in the final Poisson model and their associated mortality rate ratios (95% ci) were: age 1.06 (1.03-1.09); calendar year 0.99 (0.99-1.00); active status 0.41 (0.25-0.68); career length 1.04 (1.01-1.07); and chief justice 1.08 (0.59-1.84). Conclusions Supreme Court mortality was lower than that of the general population in the period from 1950 to the present, but was on par prior to 1950. Increasing age and career length were associated with greater mortality, while active status and later calendar year with lower. These results may add to a body of knowledge that may help to develop or refine models of mortality risk in increasingly aged working populations.

Sharks are fish, big fish that are apex predators; yet, people and smaller fish still swim in the sea. “As the most powerful type of nongovernmental organization in the United States today and as the most dynamic form of organization in the world, the large corporation has enormous potential to affect communities for better or for worse.” What does this mean for small communities when a large company comes to town? The common dialogue when a large company comes to a small town involves a cost benefit analysis regarding their presence. The introduction of a big superstore or big company headquarters implicates questions regarding: the impact of having the business as a community member (a neighbor, so to speak); the effect on local people (merchants, employees, children, etc.); the repercussions for local businesses, the changes to local law, rules, and regulations; the influence on the use of local resources (including environmental); managing allocation of funding; and the list continues. “Big box stores can be a blessing in that they often act as an anchor for further commercial development. However, some planners also criticize them for diminishing the unique feel of small towns.” These considerations are all important, and as meaningful aspects of local business governance decisions, this article addresses the issues. So often local governments and private-sector decision makers do not factor in the benefits of establishing a development plan to respond to economic, social, and environmental concerns. Acting individually or as a united guild in this planning process improves outcomes. This article addresses the benefits of stakeholders making the governance decision to work together, and proactively recognizing the importance of the employees and consumers working in concert and making a proactive plan. Similarly, local government actors may have a narrowed vision, focusing only on concerns of appearance, aesthetics, and generating taxes. When these types of development plans are analyzed, the analysis usually does not include reference to more than the power of the community at large or the individual local businesses. This article will provide information about big businesses and the impacts they have on small communities, with an emphasis on the Wal-Mart effect and makes recommendations for governance decisions from the perspective of the small business owner in the small community. Most notably, this article emphasizes that one key governance tool that has been ignored, and should be an integral part of management’s and the board’s informed decision making, is the power of the employees who will work in the large company and the consumers who will shop there. From this perspective, this article digs into the relevant details of the Market Basket Supermarket events from summer 2013. These events clearly, and some say shockingly, demonstrate the power flexed by the non-unionized employees and its customers. In light of the strength of the impact of the actions of the other stakeholders, including employees, customers, and the community, this article will conclude with an examination of the inter-related interests of these various stakeholder actions in a small community.

This study examined growth of children and adolescents with cerebral palsy (CP) who received services from the California Department of Developmental Services from 1987 to 2002. In all, 141 961 measurements of height and weight were taken from 24920 patients with CP (14103 males, 10817 females). Centiles of weight and height were determined by age, sex, and five levels of functional ability ranging from fully ambulatory to unable to walk, crawl, or feed self, and fed via gastrostomy tube. Resulting charts of height and weight centiles were compared with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention weight and height charts for the general population of the US. Centiles of height and weight of patients with CP were close to those of the general population for the highest functioning groups with CP, but lagged substantially for other groups. Presence of a feeding tube was associated with greater height and weight in the lowest functioning groups, with centiles for weight being 2 to 5 kg higher for those with gastrostomy tubes. The charts may assist in early identification of nutritional or metabolic difficulties beyond what might be expected for patients with similar functional disabilities.

This list is an initial list prepared by the task force noted above, most recently reviewed by the Legal Education Committee of the ABA Business Law Section at the Spring Meeting of the Section in April 2015. It will continue to be discussed, reviewed and revised, with an aim to providing more detailed materials for teaching or study by new lawyers, would-be lawyers, and trainers and employers of new lawyers. These would include, for example, specific scenarios and skillsets and checklists (such as “due diligence” or “closing documents”).This is by no means an all-inclusive list, and does not focus on specific areas, such as business formation, real estate, borrowing and lending, securities, intellectual property, but rather, more generic business lawyering skills. The Task Force recognizes that many larger law firms have their own competencies and training programs, so the focus of this outline is smaller firms, although these competencies may be applicable to mid-size and larger firms, as well.

The structure of the monoprotonated ion, 2, of 5-methyl-1,5,9-triazabicyclo[7.3.1]tridecane, 1, as a picrate shows an NMeH+ group engaged in a transannular hydrogen bond with one of the aminal nitrogen atoms and this, in turn, induces a small but measurable structural anomeric effect in the aminal functional group. Diprotonation of 1 in CF3CO2H yields an equilibrium mixture of two isomeric bicyclic dications which are interconverted via a monocyclic ion containing a H2CN+ group and further protonation by CF3SO3H traps the iminium ion as a monocyclic trication. The structure of the monoprotonated ion, 4, of 1,4,8,11-tetraazatricyclo[9.3.1.14,8]hexadecane, 3, as a perchlorate shows the cation with effective C2 symmetry, a nearly linear, and almost symmetrical, transannular hydrogen bond, and a more pronounced structural anomeric effect in both hexahydropyrimidine units. Diprotonation of 3 gives a dication, 5, and the structure of the bis(trifluoroacetate) shows measurable shortening of the aminal C–NR2 bond in spite of the fact that the lone pair and the C–N+ bond are close to gauche. The structural effects in 2, 4, and 5 are well-reproduced by Becke–Perdew density functional theory calculations, and a natural bond orbital analysis of the parent system H3N–H+· · ·NH2CH2NH2, based on SCF and MP2 ab initio calculations is described.

ThermoFisher Scientific (formerly Ahura Scientific) has developed a handheld, modular detection and identification system for trace-level gases, chemical vapors and aerosols, and swab analyses. The sample chamber is a separate, removable module that can be tailored specifically to the users’ needs. The vapor module can operate in three modes: ambient sampling, vapor/aerosol preconcentration, and direct injection. A swab module can be used to analyze thermally desorbed vapors from a sample swab. Limits of identification for vapors are as low as 0.1 ppm following a 15-min preconcentration period. The swab module can detect as little as 5 μg of TNT.

The United States continues to receive refugees and other legal immigrants across its borders on a regular basis. These newcomers offer much to our economy. From a business perspective, these refugees and immigrants often represent a resource for corporations. Underlying this concept is the critical nuance that the refugees, and immigrants in general, represent a resource very vulnerable to exploitation. Consequently, refugees, other immigrants fill the jobs that many Americans will not consider, usually involving manual labor at low pay, and many times work in significantly sub-par conditions, such as in plants and other corporate facilities. In this context, this article sets forth the argument that the corporation is the seat of yet another example of growing informality, inequality and illegality that Professor Larson described in Informality, Illegality, and Inequality. This article’s analysis urges that, from the perspective of corporate social responsibility and business ethics, the law should be changed in the manner suggested by Professor Larson, through progressive regularization. With measures to require increased transparency into corporate use and treatment of the refugee and immigrant work force, the consumer market may help to mandate improved working conditions when current law does not. “Informality contradicts legality, and especially equality, as we conceive these values. From within this tradition, informality is an abuse of law, as well as tolerance of exploitation and inequality. Accordingly, informality creates the best argument for stepped-up regulation…[yet] support and neither punish nor prohibit those who shelter themselves informally.”

This essay provides insight into how teaching business associations in two semesters, Business Associations I and II, may be used as a tool in the new economic order. Business Associations II allows for the professor and students to explore doctrine and practice for which one semester would not provide adequate time.

1,5,9-Triazacyclododecane and related macrocyclic triamines can be conveniently constructed around a single carbon atom as template; this route permits the preparation of selectively alkylated derivatives.

Introduction: Several studies have examined the effect of genetic variants in genes involved in the estrogen metabolic pathway on mammographic density, but the number of loci studied and the sample sizes evaluated have been small and pathways have not been evaluated comprehensively. In this study, we evaluate the association between mammographic density and genetic variants of the estrogen metabolic pathway. Methods: A total of 239 SNPs in 34 estrogen metabolic genes were studied in 1,731 Swedish women who participated in a breast cancer case-control study, of which 891 were cases and 840 were controls. Film mammograms of the medio-lateral oblique view were digitalized and the software Cumulus was used for computer-assisted semi-automated thresholding of mammographic density. Generalized linear models controlling for possible confounders were used to evaluate the effects of SNPs on mammographic density. Results found to be nominally significant were examined in two independent populations. The admixture maximum likelihood-based global test was performed to evaluate the cumulative effect from multiple SNPs within the whole metabolic pathway and three subpathways for androgen synthesis, androgen-to-estrogen conversion and estrogen removal. Results: Genetic variants of genes involved in estrogen metabolism exhibited no appreciable effect on mammographic density. None of the nominally significant findings were validated. In addition, global analyses on the overall estrogen metabolic pathway and its subpathways did not yield statistically significant results. Conclusions: Overall, there is no conclusive evidence that genetic variants in genes involved in the estrogen metabolic pathway are associated with mammographic density in postmenopausal women.

Venous leg ulcers affect approximately 1% of the general population and 3.6% of those over the age of 65. The goal of the research described herein is to shorten the time to healing by developing wound care alternatives that are based on a comprehensive understanding of the venous ulcer wound environment. The proteolytic and inflammatory components in wound fluids and tissue biopsy samples were characterized in subjects with documented long-standing venous ulcers that had showed resistance to standard therapy. All wounds showed polymicrobial colonization with greater than 10(6) CFU/g. Myeloperoxidase, a measure of leukocyte infiltration, was also markedly elevated in these wounds. Zymography revealed the presence of both pro-matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 and pro-MMP-9 in wound fluids and to a lesser extent in tissue biopsies. Using an immunocapture activity assay we reveal a sevenfold excess of MMP-9 in wound fluid as compared to tissue, with 73% in the activated form. In contrast, MMP-8 total protein levels were nearly equal in wound fluids and biopsies. Fibronectin, a critical component of the extracellular matrix, was shown to be degraded in both wound fluids and biopsy samples. Finally, the potential of a novel wound dressing to neutralize several constituents of this hostile wound environment is shown.

As one can expect, members of a common market are likely to work in quite different domains and use different kinds of schemas to describe their own business data. An ideal world would allow such heterogeneous data to be integrated into some (concrete or virtual) business data repository. It seems illusory to think that all members joining a common marketplace can directly provide data adhering to some predefined federative data scheme (e.g. standard ontology). More flexibility is usually required. Realistically, the integration of a new data source requires a mapping step allowing to compute semantic equivalences between the various schema concepts to be merged. This task can be alleviated by the use of semi-automatic mapping tools which evaluate semantic similarities between concepts. Most of these mapping systems currently rely on linguistic matching and are not so efficient when dealing with highly heterogeneous data sources. Some of them refer to general purpose dictionaries not taking into account the specificity of data sources' domain. To better cope with data source heterogeneity, this article presents INDIGO, a system which can compute semantic matching by taking into account data sources' context. The distinctive feature of INDIGO is to enrich data sources with semantic information extracted from their individual development artifacts. Thanks to this enrichment step, INDIGO can then compute a more accurate mapping between the two data sources thus enhanced. INDIGO was experimented on two case studies presented in this paper. INDIGO's performances are also compared to the results of three matching systems often cited in this research domain.

There is a growing interest in the development of wound dressings that possess functionality beyond providing physical protection and an optimal moisture environment for the wound. To this end, a novel dressing material based on a sulfonated triblock polymer has been developed. This versatile polymer possesses an ion-exchange capability that is amenable to binding and controlled release of a variety of therapeutic agents. This sulfonated polymer offers several advantages over existing commercial hydrogels used as wound dressings. These include (1) hydrophilicity that is proportional to sulfonation level, (2) easy preparation of fabric supported dressings (e.g., polyester, cotton, nylon), (3) excellent mechanical integrity of the materials when hydrated, (4) stability to a variety of chemistries, and (5) stability to a variety of sterilization methodologies. In this study, polymer was coated onto a polyester fabric and then modified by ion exchange to prepare the sodium, silver, or doxycycline salts. These sulfonated triblock polymer formulations were then evaluated for their capacity to sequester the neutrophil proteases, elastase, and collagenase-2 (MMP-8). Several of the formulations were found to sequester significant amounts of either elastase or collagenase. These formulations were demonstrated to be tested against a commercially available dressing that is currently marketed for its protease-inhibiting capability. The experimental dressing was statistically superior to the commercial dressing at inhibiting MMP-8 and elastase under the same conditions.

Estimates of old-age mortality are necessary for the construction of life tables and computation of life expectancy, and are essential in the growing area of life insurance for the elderly. Two common assumptions are that either the excess death rate (EDR) or the relative risk (RR) stays constant with increasing age. It is known, however, that for most medical conditions the former underestimates the risk and the latter overestimates it. A third popular method is that of rating up: a subject is said to be "rated up k years" if his future mortality rates are assumed to be those of a person in the general population who is k years older. It is shown here that this method generally leads to gross overestimates of old-age mortality. We consider two less-commonly used models, log-linear declining relative risk (LDR) and constant proportional life expectancy (PLE), and compare them to the methods of constant EDR, constant RR and rating up. Although slightly more complicated to employ than the other methods, both LDR and PLE generally give better estimates of mortality and life expectancy. When mortality rates for chronic conditions are known within a certain age range, and estimates outside of the range are required, the LDR and PLE methods may be preferable to the more familiar methods of constant EDR, constant RR, or rating up.

The authors describe optical IR&D (independent research and development) programs designed to demonstrate and evaluate optical technologies for incorporation into next-generation military and commercial aircraft engines. Using a comprehensive demonstration program to validate this technology in an on-engine environment, problems encountered can be resolved early and risk can be minimized. In addition to specific activities related to the optics demonstration on the fighter engine, there are other optical programs underway, including a solenoid control system, a light off detection system, and an optical communication link. Research in simplifying opto-electronics and exploiting multiplexing to further reduce cost and weight is also described. >

The objective of this pilot study was to evaluate glycemia in rabbits by administering various vehicles for solubilizing poorly soluble candidate drugs used for the treatment of diabetes. Groups of three New Zealand White rabbits received intravenously: saline; 2.0 IU/kg insulin; 23 to 45% dimethyl acetamide (DMA)/10% cremophor (v:v) in water; or N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP). For the determination of glycemia, blood was collected just before and 0.25, 0.5, 1, 2, 4, and 24 h after injection. Glycemia after saline and DMA/cremophor injections remained stable and within the normal range (3.6 to 5.0 mmol/l). In insulin-injected rabbits, glycemia decreased (1 to 2 mmol/l) as expected. With NMP, glycemia was elevated (7.8 mmol/l), and animals were hyperactive upon injections. Injected ears gradually became bluish; 48 h after injection, they were edematous and necrotic. In conclusion, DMA/cremophor seems to be an acceptable vehicle. However, NMP may cause stress and local ear irritation when injected intravenously in rabbits.

1,5,9-Triazacyclododecane and related macrocyclic triamines can be conveniently constructed around a single carbon atom as template; this route permits the preparation of selectively alkylated derivatives.

Efficient schemes for selective N-protection of 1,4,7-triazacyclononane and 1,5,9-triazacyclododecane and for synthesis of related bis-coronands are based upon the synthetic intermediacy of tricyclic orthoamides.

Projected requirements for future high-performance jet engine, missile, and fighter aircraft structures will necessitate extensive use of high temperature structural adhesives. For example, many advanced jet engine and tactical aircraft components will need to perform for hundreds of hours at 700 F (371 C) and above. For advanced air-to-air tactical missiles and air-launched stand-off missiles, composite airframe structures capable of maintaining strength for short periods (minutes) at 1000 F (538 C) and above will be needed. Other needs for adhesives capable of performing at high temperatures include bonding of structures for extended range cruise missiles, bonding of specialty materials for stealth applications, and, potentially, joining of aerospace plane structures. Under this program, a comprehensive technical effort was undertaken with the goal of developing high-temperature adhesive systems with inherent processibility and toughness. The approach was to perform a multidisciplinary integrated research effort involving a combination of polymer chemistry, moisture diffusion analysis, and fracture mechanics to tailor, characterize, and qualify tough adhesive systems for bonding to titanium and ferrous alloys. Performance goals for the adhesive systems included the ability to withstand extended duty cycles at high temperature (450 - 700 F or 232 - 371 C) while remaining viable under hot-wet and cold-dry conditions. Keywords: Adhesives, Polymer chemistry.

We would like to report the synthesis of new third order nonlinear optical materials formed from reaction of dibromothiophenes with p-phenylenediamines under Ullmann condensation conditions. Initial measurements of the third harmonic NLO susceptibilities (X3~= 4 × 10−10 esu ), high laser damage thresholds ( 4 GW/cm2 ), and low absorptions have provided promising materials for device applications. Composite films in poly(vinylalcohol), poly(methylmethacrylate). or poly(carbonate) also gave significant X3 values in less than 10 percent w/w concentrations.

A relationship between ischaemia of the myocardium and a muscular bridge over the anterios descending artery has now been demonstrated. The authors report three cases in which the severity of the clinical features was sufficient to justify surgical division of the muscular bridge without touching the underlying artery. Progress remained satisfactory after a follow-up period of 1.5 to 3 years. The opportunity is taken to discuss the role of the muscle bridge in causing pathology in the coronary arterial system.