Experimental Measurements of Ion Diffusion Coefficients and Heating in a Multi-Ion-Species Plasma Shock.

Collisional plasma shocks generated from supersonic flows are an important feature in many astrophysical and laboratory high-energy-density plasmas. Compared to single-ion-species plasma shocks, plasma shock fronts with multiple ion species contain additional structure, including interspecies ion separation driven by gradients in species concentration, temperature, pressure, and electric potential. We present time-resolved density and temperature measurements of two ion species in collisional plasma shocks produced by head-on merging of supersonic plasma jets, allowing determination of the ion diffusion coefficients. Our results provide the first experimental validation of the fundamental inter-ion-species transport theory. The temperature separation, a higher-order effect reported here, is valuable for advancements in modeling HED and ICF experiments.

High-resolution fiber imaging for pulsed power experiments.

This work presents a novel approach for imaging the visible emissions from plasmas in pulsed power experiments using high-resolution plastic optical fibers. The diagnostic consists of a 2 mm diameter core commercial cable constructed of 13 000 individual acrylic fibers. The fibers are fused together to create a single high-resolution bundle. Different designs were investigated to cover a wide range of resolutions and fields of view (3-700 µm and 0.05-45 mm, respectively). The system was tested on the 1-MA Mykonos accelerator at Sandia National Laboratories and successfully imaged visible emission from a hybrid x-pinch target. Diagnostic development and preliminary results are presented.

Perceived concerns of pregnant women with breast cancer treated with chemotherapy.

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES: To identify concerns of women who had received chemotherapy for breast cancer while pregnant. DESIGN: Exploratory, descriptive, retrospective pilot study. SETTING: Large cancer center in the Southwestern United States. SAMPLE: Six women (mean age of 35.5 years) who had been treated for breast cancer while pregnant within the previous five years. METHODS: Mailed survey using a demographic form and the Bandyk Concerns Questionnaire--a 30-item Likert-type scale. MAIN RESEARCH VARIABLES: Concerns about the effects of breast cancer treatment on the pregnancy and the fetus. FINDINGS: The primary concern was "living to see my child grow up." Of least concern was "other people's opinion of me." CONCLUSIONS: Although an informational pamphlet was written based on these results, more extensive examination of the special group of patients is needed to draw any conclusions. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING PRACTICE: Nurses are in a good position to offer accurate information to women who must make the choices involved with receiving chemotherapy during pregnancy and to support the women during and after the treatment and the child's birth.

Phases of wound healing.

The phases of wound healing--inflammatory, fibroblastic, and maturation--are continuous, though they overlap and do not always occur in an orderly fashion. Wound healing may be retarded by age, diabetes, smoking, immunosuppression, poor nutrition, cell hypoxia, dehydration, bacteria, and other factors. Bacteria and pus may be so great at the inflammatory phase that the wound remains at that phase. It is important that the nurse recognize when pus is a major factor in an unhealed wound and initiate local care to assist in cleaning the wound bed. It is also important to recognize a clean wound and to initiate appropriate local care that facilitates wound healing. New information about wound healing at the cellular level continues to become available. Epidermal growth factors, platelet-derived growth factors, and the growth hormone somatomedin are being studied, and new methods based on these studies may change local wound care measures. It is essential to understand the phases of wound healing to determine appropriate wound care measures for individual patients.