580 research outputs found
Application of Distributed Fiber Optic Strain Sensors to LMQXFA Cold Mass Welding
The future High Luminosity upgrade of the Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC) at
CERN will include the low-beta inner triplets (Q1, Q2a/b, Q3) for two LHC
insertion regions. The Q1, Q3 components consist of eight 10 m-long LMQXFA
cryo-assemblies fabricated by the HL-LHC Accelerator Upgrade Project. Each
LMQXFA Cold mass contains two Nb3Sn magnets connected in series. A
stainless-steel shell is welded around the two magnets before the insertion
into the cryostat. There is a limit on how much coil preload increase induced
by the shell welding is allowed. Distributed Rayleigh backscattering fiber
optics sensors were used for the first time to obtain a strain map over a wide
area of a Nb3Sn magnet cold mass shell. Data were collected during welding of
the first LMQXFA cold mass and the results confirm that the increase of the
coil pole azimuthal pre-stress after welding do not exceed requirements
Examining decentralization and managerial decision making for child immunization program performance in India
Despite widespread adoption of decentralization reforms, the impact of decentralization on health system attributes, such as access to health services, responsiveness to population health needs, and effectiveness in affecting health outcomes, remains unclear. This study examines how decision space, institutional capacities, and accountability mechanisms of the Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI) in India relate to measurable performance of the immunization program. Data on decision space and its related dimensions of institutional capacity and accountability were collected by conducting structured interviews with managers based in 24 districts, 61 blocks, and 279 subcenters. Two measures by which to assess performance were selected: (1) proportion reduction in the DTP3 coverage gap (i.e., effectiveness), and (2) total IMI doses delivered per incremental USD spent on program implementation (i.e., efficiency). Descriptive statistics on decision space, institutional capacity, and accountability for IMI managers were generated. Structural equation models (SEM) were specified to detect any potential associations between decision space dimensions and performance measures. The majority of districts and blocks indicated low levels of decision space. Institutional capacity and accountability were similar across areas. Increases in decision space were associated with less progress towards closing the immunization coverage gap in the IMI context. Initiatives to support health workers and managers based on their specific contextual challenges could further improve outcomes of the program. Similar to previous studies, results revealed strong associations between each of the three decentralization dimensions. Health systems should consider the impact that management structures have on the efficiency and effectiveness of health services delivery. Future research could provide greater evidence for directionality of direct and indirect effects, interaction effects, and/or mediators of relationships
Insertion Magnets
Chapter 3 in High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC) : Preliminary
Design Report. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is one of the largest scientific
instruments ever built. Since opening up a new energy frontier for exploration
in 2010, it has gathered a global user community of about 7,000 scientists
working in fundamental particle physics and the physics of hadronic matter at
extreme temperature and density. To sustain and extend its discovery potential,
the LHC will need a major upgrade in the 2020s. This will increase its
luminosity (rate of collisions) by a factor of five beyond the original design
value and the integrated luminosity (total collisions created) by a factor ten.
The LHC is already a highly complex and exquisitely optimised machine so this
upgrade must be carefully conceived and will require about ten years to
implement. The new configuration, known as High Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC), will
rely on a number of key innovations that push accelerator technology beyond its
present limits. Among these are cutting-edge 11-12 tesla superconducting
magnets, compact superconducting cavities for beam rotation with ultra-precise
phase control, new technology and physical processes for beam collimation and
300 metre-long high-power superconducting links with negligible energy
dissipation. The present document describes the technologies and components
that will be used to realise the project and is intended to serve as the basis
for the detailed engineering design of HL-LHC.Comment: 19 pages, Chapter 3 in High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC)
: Preliminary Design Repor
Evaluating patient reported outcomes in routine practice of patients with rheumatoid arthritis treated with biological disease modifying anti rheumatic drugs (b-DMARDs)
To what extent do site-based training, mentoring, and operational research improve district health system management and leadership in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review protocol
District health managers play a key role in the effectiveness of decentralized health systems in low- and middle-income countries. Inadequate management and leadership skills often hamper their ability to improve quality of care and effectiveness of health service delivery. Nevertheless, significant investments have been made in capacity-building programmes based on site-based training, mentoring, and operational research. This systematic review aims to review the effectiveness of site-based training, mentoring, and operational research (or action research) on the improvement of district health system management and leadership. Our secondary objectives are to assess whether variations in composition or intensity of the intervention influence its effectiveness and to identify enabling and constraining contexts and underlying mechanisms
Field quality of quadrupole R&D models for the LHC IR
Superconducting quadrupole magnets operating in superfluid helium at 1.9 K, with 70 mm bore and nominal field gradient of 205 T/m at collision optics, are being developed by the US LHC Accelerator Project for the Interaction Regions of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). A magnet model program to validate and optimize the design is underway. This paper reports results of field quality measurements of four model magnets. (3 refs)
Analysing the Stewardship Function in Botswanaâs Health System: Reflecting on the Past, Looking to the Future
Quench performance of Fermilab high gradient quadrupole short models for the LHC Interaction Regions
Fermilab and LBNL are in the midst of superconducting magnet R&D program to test and optimize the design of quadrupoles to be used in the LHC Interaction Region inner triplets. The magnets are required to deliver a 215 T/m gradient across a 70 mm aperture. Five quadrupole short models have been fabricated and four of them have been tested. This paper describes the last model design details and reports the results of the magnet quench performance study. (5 refs)
Preventive medical care in remote Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory: a follow-up study of the impact of clinical guidelines, computerised recall and reminder systems, and audit and feedback
Background
Interventions to improve delivery of preventive medical services have been shown to be effective in North America and the UK. However, there are few studies of the extent to which the impact of such interventions has been sustained, or of the impact of such interventions in disadvantaged populations or remote settings. This paper describes the trends in delivery of preventive medical services following a multifaceted intervention in remote community health centres in the Northern Territory of Australia.
Methods
The intervention comprised the development and dissemination of best practice guidelines supported by an electronic client register, recall and reminder systems and associated staff training, and audit and feedback. Clinical records in seven community health centres were audited at regular intervals against best practice guidelines over a period of three years, with feedback of audit findings to health centre staff and management.
Results
Levels of service delivery varied between services and between communities. There was an initial improvement in service levels for most services following the intervention, but improvements were in general not fully sustained over the three year period.
Conclusions
Improvements in service delivery are consistent with the international experience, although baseline and follow-up levels are in many cases higher than reported for comparable studies in North America and the UK. Sustainability of improvements may be achieved by institutionalisation of relevant work practices and enhanced health centre capacity
Detecting controlling nodes of boolean regulatory networks
Boolean models of regulatory networks are assumed to be tolerant to perturbations. That qualitatively implies that each function can only depend on a few nodes. Biologically motivated constraints further show that functions found in Boolean regulatory networks belong to certain classes of functions, for example, the unate functions. It turns out that these classes have specific properties in the Fourier domain. That motivates us to study the problem of detecting controlling nodes in classes of Boolean networks using spectral techniques. We consider networks with unbalanced functions and functions of an average sensitivity less than 23k, where k is the number of controlling variables for a function. Further, we consider the class of 1-low networks which include unate networks, linear threshold networks, and networks with nested canalyzing functions. We show that the application of spectral learning algorithms leads to both better time and sample complexity for the detection of controlling nodes compared with algorithms based on exhaustive search. For a particular algorithm, we state analytical upper bounds on the number of samples needed to find the controlling nodes of the Boolean functions. Further, improved algorithms for detecting controlling nodes in large-scale unate networks are given and numerically studied
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