Managing for change: October 11, 1989

Bi-weekly newsletter of University Hospital's Change Project, provided to managers at the hospital

PEP-II Status

PEP-II and BaBar have just finished run 7, the last run of the SLAC B-factory. PEP-II was one of the few high-current e+e- colliding accelerators and holds the present world record for stored electrons and stored positrons. It has stored 2.07 A of electrons, nearly 3 times the design current of 0.75 A and it has stored 3.21 A of positrons, 1.5 times more than the design current of 2.14 A. High-current beams require careful design of several systems. The feedback systems that control instabilities, the RF system stability loops, and especially the vacuum systems have to handle the higher power demands. We present here some of the accomplishments of the PEP-II accelerator and some of the problems we encountered while running high-current beams

Diabetes MILES - Australia (Management and Impact for Long-Term Empowerment and Success) : methods and sample characteristics of a national survey of the psychological aspects of living with type 1 or type 2 diabetes in Australian adults

Background Successful management of diabetes requires attention to the behavioural, psychological and social aspects of this progressive condition. The Diabetes MILES (Management and Impact for Long-term Empowerment and Success) Study is an international collaborative. Diabetes MILES-Australia, the first Diabetes MILES initiative to be undertaken, was a national survey of adults living with type 1 or type 2 diabetes in Australia. The aim of this study was to gather data that will provide insights into how Australians manage their diabetes, the support they receive and the impact of diabetes on their lives, as well as to use the data to validate new diabetes outcome measures.Methods The survey was designed to include a core set of self-report measures, as well as modules specific to diabetes type or management regimens. Other measures or items were included in only half of the surveys. Cognitive debriefing interviews with 20 participants ensured the survey content was relevant and easily understood. In July 2011, the survey was posted to 15,000 adults (aged 18-70 years) with type 1 or type 2 diabetes selected randomly from the National Diabetes Services Scheme (NDSS) database. An online version of the survey was advertised nationally. A total of 3,338 eligible Australians took part; most (70.4%) completed the postal survey. Respondents of both diabetes types and genders, and of all ages, were adequately represented in both the postal and online survey sub-samples. More people with type 2 diabetes than type 1 diabetes took part in Diabetes MILES-Australia (58.8% versus 41.2%). Most respondents spoke English as their main language, were married/in a de facto relationship, had at least a high school education, were occupied in paid work, had an annual household income &gt; $AUS40,000, and lived in metropolitan areas.Discussion A potential limitation of the study is the under-representation of respondents from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds (including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander origin). Diabetes MILES-Australia represents a major achievement in the study of diabetes in Australia, where for the first time, the focus is on psychosocial and behavioural aspects of this condition at a national level. <br /

Validation of the SF-36 in patients with endometriosis.

OBJECTIVES: Endometriosis presents with significant pain as the most common symptom. Generic health measures can allow comparisons across diseases or populations. However, the Medical Outcomes Study Short Form 36 (SF-36) has not been validated for this disease. The goal of this study was to validate the SF-36 (version 2) for endometriosis. METHODS: Using data from two clinical trials (N = 252 and 198) of treatment for endometriosis, a full complement of psychometric analyses was performed. Additional instruments included a pain visual analog scale (VAS); a physician-completed questionnaire based on patient interview (modified Biberoglu and Behrman--B&B); clinical global impression of change (CGI-C); and patient satisfaction with treatment. RESULTS: Bodily pain (BP) and the Physical Component Summary Score (PCS) were correlated with the pain VAS at baseline and over time and the B&B at baseline and end of study. In addition, those who had the greatest change in BP and PCS also reported the greatest change on CGI-C and patient satisfaction with treatment. Other subscales showed smaller, but significant, correlations with change in the pain VAS, CGI-C, and patient satisfaction with treatment. CONCLUSIONS: The SF-36--particularly BP and the PCS--appears to be a valid and responsive measure for endometriosis and its treatment

MCAO for Gemini South

The multi-conjugate adaptive optics (MCAO) system design for the Gemini-South 8-meter telescope will provide near-diffraction-limited, highly uniform atmospheric turbulence compensation at near-infrared wavelengths over a 2 arc minute diameter field-of-view. The design includes three deformable mirrors optically conjugate to ranges of 0, 4.5, and 9.0 kilometers with 349, 468, and 208 actuators, five 10-Watt-class sodium laser guide stars (LGSs) projected from a laser launch telescope located behind the Gemini secondary mirror, five Shack-Hartmann LGS wavefront sensors of order 16 by 16, and three tip/tilt natural guide star (NGS) wavefront sensors to measure tip/tilt and tilt anisoplanatism wavefront errors. The WFS sampling rate is 800 Hz. This paper provides a brief overview of sample science applications and performance estimates for the Gemini South MCAO system, together with a summary of the performance requirements and/or design status of the principal subsystems. These include the adaptive optics module (AOM), the laser system (LS), the beam transfer optics (BTO) and laser launch telescope (LLT), the real time control (RTC) system, and the aircraft safety system (SALSA)

Performance of the PEP-II B-Factory Collider at SLAC

PEP-II is an e{sup +}e{sup -} asymmetric B-Factory Collider located at SLAC operating at the Upsilon 4S resonance (3.1 GeV x 9 GeV). It has reached a luminosity of 9.21 x 10{sup 33}/cm{sup 2}/s and has delivered an integrated luminosity of 710 pb{sup -1} in one day. PEP-II has delivered, over the past six years, an integrated luminosity to the BaBar detector of over 262 fb{sup -1}. PEP-II operates in continuous injection mode for both beams boosting the integrated luminosity. The peak positron current has reached 2.45 A in 1588 bunches. Steady progress is being made in reaching higher luminosity. The goal over the next several years is to reach a luminosity of 2.1 x 10{sup 34}/cm{sup 2}/s. The accelerator physics issues being addressed in PEP-II to reach this goal include the electron cloud instability, beam-beam effects, parasitic beam-beam effects, high RF beam loading, shorter bunches, lower {beta}*{sub y} interaction region operation, and coupling control. Figure 1 shows the PEP-II tunnel

The Physics of the B Factories

This work is on the Physics of the B Factories. Part A of this book contains a brief description of the SLAC and KEK B Factories as well as their detectors, BaBar and Belle, and data taking related issues. Part B discusses tools and methods used by the experiments in order to obtain results. The results themselves can be found in Part C