620 research outputs found
Control System Design Philosophy for Effective Operations and Maintenance
A well-designed control system facilitates the functions of machine
operation, maintenance and development. In addition, the overall effectiveness
of the control system can be greatly enhanced by providing reliable mechanisms
for coordination and communication, ensuring that these functions work in
concert. For good operability, the information presented to operators should be
consistent, easy to understand and customizable. A maintainable system is
segmented appropriately, allowing a broken element to be quickly identified and
repaired while leaving the balance of the system available. In a research and
development environment, the control system must meet the frequently changing
requirements of a variety of customers. This means the system must be flexible
enough to allow for ongoing modifications with minimal disruptions to
operations. Beyond the hardware and software elements of the control system,
appropriate workflow processes must be in place to maximize system uptime and
allow people to work efficiently. Processes that provide automatic electronic
communication ensure that information is not lost and reaches its destination
in a timely fashion. This paper discusses how these control system design and
quality issues have been applied at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator
Facility.Comment: ICALEPCS 200
Using A Nameserver to Enhance Control System Efficiency
The Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (Jefferson Lab) control
system uses a nameserver to reduce system response time and to minimize the
impact of client name resolution on front-end computers. The control system is
based on the Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System (EPICS), which
uses name-based broadcasts to initiate data communication. By default, when
EPICS process variables (PV) are requested by client applications, all
front-end computers receive the broadcasts and perform name resolution
processing against local channel name lists. The nameserver is used to offload
the name resolution task to a single node. This processing, formerly done on
all front-end computers, is now done only by the nameserver. In a control
system with heavily loaded front-end computers and high peak client connection
loads, a significant performance improvement is seen. This paper describes the
name server in more detail, and discusses the strengths and weaknesses of
making name resolution a centralized service.Comment: ICALEPCS 200
Problem gambling: a suitable case for social work?
Problem gambling attracts little attention from health and social care agencies
in the UK. Prevalence surveys suggest that 0.6% of the population are
problem gamblers and it is suggested that for each of these individuals,
10–17 other people, including children and other family members, are
affected. Problem gambling is linked to many individual and social problems
including: depression, suicide, significant debt, bankruptcy, family conflict,
domestic violence, neglect and maltreatment of children and offending.
This makes the issue central to social work territory. Yet, the training of
social workers in the UK has consistently neglected issues of addictive
behaviour. Whilst some attention has been paid in recent years to substance
abuse issues, there has remained a silence in relation to gambling
problems. Social workers provide more help for problems relating to addictions
than other helping professions. There is good evidence that treatment,
and early intervention for gambling problems, including psycho-social and
public health approaches, can be very effective. This paper argues that
problem gambling should be moved onto the radar of the social work profession,
via inclusion on qualifying and post-qualifying training programmes
and via research and dissemination of good practice via institutions such as
the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE).
Keywords: problem gambling; addictive behaviour; socia
Collision geometry scaling of Au+Au pseudorapidity density from sqrt(s_NN) = 19.6 to 200 GeV
The centrality dependence of the midrapidity charged particle multiplicity in
Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 19.6 and 200 GeV is presented. Within a simple
model, the fraction of hard (scaling with number of binary collisions) to soft
(scaling with number of participant pairs) interactions is consistent with a
value of x = 0.13 +/- 0.01(stat) +/- 0.05(syst) at both energies. The
experimental results at both energies, scaled by inelastic p(pbar)+p collision
data, agree within systematic errors. The ratio of the data was found not to
depend on centrality over the studied range and yields a simple linear scale
factor of R_(200/19.6) = 2.03 +/- 0.02(stat) +/- 0.05(syst).Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, submitted to PRC-R
Transverse Momentum and Rapidity Dependence of HBT Correlations in Au+Au Collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 62.4 and 200 GeV
Two-particle correlations of identical charged pion pairs from Au+Au
collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 62.4 and 200 GeV were measured by the PHOBOS
experiment at RHIC. Data for the 15% most central events were analyzed with
Bertsch-Pratt and Yano-Koonin-Podgoretskii parameterizations using pairs with
rapidities of 0.4 < y_{\pi\pi} < 1.3 and transverse momenta 0.1 < k_T < 1.4
GeV/c. The Bertsch-Pratt radii R_o and R_l decrease as a function of pair
transverse momentum, while R_s is consistent with a weaker dependence. R_o and
R_s are independent of collision energy, while R_l shows a slight increase. The
source rapidity y_{ykp} scales roughly with the pair rapidity y_{\pi\pi},
indicating strong dynamical correlations.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, 2 tables, submitted to Phys. Rev.
The significance of the fragmentation region in ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions
We present measurements of the pseudorapidity distribution of primary charged
particles produced in Au+Au collisions at three energies, sqrt(s_{NN}) = 19.6,
130, and 200 GeV, for a range of collision centralities. The centrality
dependence is shown to be non-trivial: the distribution narrows for more
central collisions and excess particles are produced at high pseudorapidity in
peripheral collisions. For a given centrality, however, the distributions are
found to scale with energy according to the "limiting fragmentation"
hypothesis. The universal fragmentation region described by this scaling grows
in pseudorapidity with increasing collision energy, extending well away from
the beam rapidity and covering more than half of the pseudorapidity range over
which particles are produced. This approach to a universal limiting curve
appears to be a dominant feature of the pseudorapidity distribution and
therefore of the total particle production in these collisions.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
Centrality and pseudorapidity dependence of elliptic flow for charged hadrons in Au+Au collisions at sqrt(sNN) = 200 GeV
This paper describes the measurement of elliptic flow for charged particles
in Au+Au collisions at sqrt(sNN)=200 GeV using the PHOBOS detector at the
Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). The measured azimuthal anisotropy is
presented over a wide range of pseudorapidity for three broad collision
centrality classes for the first time at this energy. Two distinct methods of
extracting the flow signal were used in order to reduce systematic
uncertainties. The elliptic flow falls sharply with increasing eta at 200 GeV
for all the centralities studied, as observed for minimum-bias collisions at
sqrt(sNN)=130 GeV.Comment: Final published version: the most substantive change to the paper is
the inclusion of a complete description of how the errors from the hit-based
and track-based analyses are merged to produce the 90% C.L. errors quoted for
the combined results shown in Fig.
Energy dependence of elliptic flow over a large pseudorapidity range in Au+Au collisions at RHIC
This paper describes the measurement of the energy dependence of elliptic
flow for charged particles in Au+Au collisions using the PHOBOS detector at the
Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). Data taken at collision energies of
19.6, 62.4, 130 and 200 GeV are shown over a wide range in
pseudorapidity. These results, when plotted as a function of
, scale with approximate linearity throughout ,
implying no sharp changes in the dynamics of particle production as a function
of pseudorapidity or increasing beam energy.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
Forward-Backward Multiplicity Correlations in sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV Gold-Gold Collisions
Forward-backward correlations of charged-particle multiplicities in symmetric
bins in pseudorapidity are studied in order to gain insight into the underlying
correlation structure of particle production in Au+Au collisions. The PHOBOS
detector is used to measure integrated multiplicities in bins centered at eta,
defined within |eta|<3, and covering intervals Delta-eta. The variance
sigma^2_C of a suitably defined forward-backward asymmetry variable C is
calculated as a function of eta, Delta-eta, and centrality. It is found to be
sensitive to short range correlations, and the concept of "clustering'' is used
to interpret comparisons to phenomenological models.Comment: 5 Pages, 5 Figures, submitted to Physical Review C -- Rapid
Communication
- …