Our knowledge of the universe comes from recording the photon and particle fluxes incident on the Earth from space. We thus require sensitive measurement across the entire energy spectrum, using large telescopes with efficient instrumentation located on superb sites. Technological advances and engineering constraints are nearing the point where we are recording as many photons arriving at a site as is possible. Major advances in the future will come from improving the quality of the site. The ultimate site is, of course, beyond the Earth’s atmosphere, such as on the Moon, but economic limitations prevent our exploiting this avenue to the degree that the scientific community desires. Here we describe an alternative, which offers many of the advantages of space for a fraction of the cost: the Antarctic Plateau.

Acute agitation is a common psychiatric emergency often treated with intramuscular (IM) medication when rapid control is necessary or the patient refuses to take an oral agent. Conventional IM antipsychotics are associated with side effects, particularly movement disorders, that may alarm patients and render them unreceptive to taking these medications again. Ziprasidone (Geodon®) is the first second-generation, or atypical, antipsychotic to become available in an IM formulation. Ziprasidone IM was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2002 for the treatment of agitation in patients with schizophrenia. In October 2004, a roundtable panel of physicians with extensive experience in the management of acutely agitated patients met to review the first 2 years of experience with this agent. This monograph, a product of that meeting, discusses clinical experience to date with ziprasidone IM and offers recommendations on its use in various settings.

In clinical trials, patients treated with ziprasidone IM demonstrated significant and rapid (within 15-30 minutes) reduction in agitation and improvement in psychotic symptoms, agitation, and hostility to an extent greater than or equal to that attained with haloperidol IM. Tolerability of ziprasidone IM was superior to that of haloperidol IM, with a lower burden of movement disorders. Clinical trials have also shown that ziprasidone IM can be administered with benzodiazepines without adverse consequences. Transition from IM to oral ziprasidone has been well tolerated, with maintenance of symptom control. The most common adverse events associated with ziprasidone IM were insomnia, headache, and dizziness in fixed-dose trials and insomnia and hypertension in flexible-dose trials. No consistent pattern of escalating incidence of adverse events with escalating ziprasidone doses has been observed. Changes in QTc interval associated with ziprasidone at peak serum concentrations are modest and comparable to those seen with haloperidol IM. Results of randomized clinical trials of ziprasidone IM have been corroborated in studies in real-world treatment settings involving patients with extreme agitation or a recent history of alcohol or substance abuse. In these circumstances, clinically significant improvement was seen within 30 minutes of ziprasidone IM administration, without regard to the suspected underlying etiology of agitation. Agents with a good safety/tolerability profile, such as ziprasidone IM, may be more cost effective long term than older agents, due to reduced incidence of acute adverse effects (eg, acute dystonia) that often require extended periods of observation. Additional trials of ziprasidone IM in agitated patients in a variety of clinical settings are warranted to generate comparative risk/benefit data with conventional agents and other second-generation antipsychotics.

Agitation can present as an emergency in the course of numerous psychiatric conditions including intoxication, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and delirium. This article reviews relevant literature regarding the definition, etiology, measurement, and management of episodic agitation and pays particular attention to intramuscular treatments. The impact of changes in methodology between the era of first- and second-generation antipsychotics, the implications of those changes for external validity of studies of second-generation studies, and the recent evolution of expert consensus are discussed.

Single crystal diamond has been implanted at 1 MeV with 2×1020 Ar/m2. Rutherford backscattering spectrometry in a channeled geometry revealed a broad amorphized region underlying a thin, partially crystalline layer. Raman spectroscopy disclosed modifications in the bonding characteristic of the appearance of non-diamond carbon. The complementary nature of the two analysis techniques is demonstrated. The Knoop hardness of the implanted diamond was reduced by implantation.

The analysis of plasma etching processes has been explored for the etching of polysilicon films with CF3Cl/Ar discharges. The etching rate is well fit as a function of the macroscopic plasma parameters (power input, pressure, and composition) using Response Surface Methodology. The parametric expression obtained can be used to examine the sensitivity of the process to the operating conditions, and to optimize the process. The parametric expression also permits comparison of the experimental data with physically meaningful kinetic models.

The Response Surface Method allows characterization of a wide parameter space with few experiments. The design of the experimental set is critical to the success of the parametric fit. The parametric expression must account for interactions between parameters, and the expected curvature of the response surface will dictate the required number of data points.

ZnO has recently attracted a great deal of attention as a material for transparent contacts in light emitters and adsorbers. ZnO films heavily doped with Ga (carrier concentration in the range of 1020 - 1021 cm-3) were grown on a-plane sapphire substrates by RF plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy. Oxygen pressure during growth (i.e. metal (Zn+Ga)–to–oxygen ratio) was found to have a crucial effect on structural, electrical, and optical properties of the ZnO:Ga films. As-grown layers prepared under metal-rich conditions exhibited resistivities below 3×10-4 Ω-cm and an optical transparency exceeding 90% in the visible spectral range. In contrast, the films grown under the oxygen-rich conditions required thermal activation and showed inferior structural, electrical, and optical characteristics even after annealing.