Charge and current-sensitive preamplifiers for pulse shape discrimination techniques with silicon detectors

New charge and current-sensitive preamplifiers coupled to silicon detectors and devoted to studies in nuclear structure and dynamics have been developed and tested. For the first time shapes of current pulses from light charged particles and carbon ions are presented. Capabilities for pulse shape discrimination techniques are demonstrated.Comment: 14 pages, 12 figures, to be published in Nucl. Inst. Meth.

High-Quality Draft Genome Sequences of 28 Enterococcus sp. Isolates

The enterococci are low-GC Gram-positive bacteria that have emerged as leading causes of hospital-acquired infection. They are also commensals of the gastrointestinal tract of healthy humans and most other animals with gastrointestinal flora and are important for food fermentations. Here we report the availability of draft genome sequences for 28 enterococcal strains of diverse origin, including the species Enterococcus faecalis, E. faecium, E. casseliflavus, and E. gallinarum

The quality case for information technology in healthcare

BACKGROUND: As described in the Institute of Medicine's Crossing the Quality Chasm report, the quality of health care in the U.S. today leaves much to be desired. DISCUSSION: One major opportunity for improving quality relates to increasing the use of information technology, or IT. Health care organizations currently invest less in IT than in any other information-intensive industry, and not surprisingly current systems are relatively primitive, compared with industries such as banking or aviation. Nonetheless, a number of organizations have demonstrated that quality can be substantially improved in a variety of ways if IT use is increased in ways that improve care. Specifically, computerization of processes that are error-prone and computerized decision support may substantially improve both efficiency and quality, as well as dramatically facilitate quality measurement. This report discusses the current levels of IT and quality in health care, how quality improvement and management are currently done, the evidence that more IT might be helpful, a vision of the future, and the barriers to getting there. SUMMARY: This report suggests that there are five key policy domains that need to be addressed: standards, incentives, security and confidentiality, professional involvement, and research, with financial incentives representing the single most important lever

An On-line Monitor for Fluence Distributions and Imaging of Scanning Ion Beams

International audienceClinical applications of hadron beams have generated a wide development of radiobiology experiments, especially at GANIL (Grand Accélérateur National d'Ions Lourds), an ion accelerator in Caen. Biological samples are irradiated with ions in order to observe the induced biological effects. As these observations have to be related to the fluence distribution, an on-line beam monitor has been developed in order to measure and image fluence maps of each biological sample irradiation with a 1% uncertainty. This beam monitor has been tested with different types of ions at several energies and for intensities from 10$^{4}$ to 10$^{9}$ ions per second

On-line Monitoring of Fluence Distributions and Imaging of Scanning Ion Beams

Abstract: In this paper we describe the design of an ion beam monitor developed to control irradiations of biological samples with ions at GANIL (Grand Accélérateur National d’Ions Lourds). This device can be used as an on-line monitor to provide transverse fluence distributions for active scanning ion irradiations. It can also be used as an interceptive beam imager to provide beam profiles or fluence depth distributions. A prototype of the monitor has been tested at GANIL with five different ion beams, having intensities from 10 4 to 10 9 ions per second. Real time transverse fluence distributions have been obtained with a 1mm spatial resolution

Heavy ion beams monitoring for radiobiology applications

Expérience GANILInternational audienceWe describe the design and the construction of an on-line ion beam monitor. The device provides accurate measurements for radiobiology experiments currently held at GANIL (Grand Accélérateur National d'Ions Lourds) in France. A prototype named IBIS (Ion Beam Inspection System) has been tested at GANIL with Ne (13.7 A.MeV), O (8.37 A.MeV), C (9.07 A.MeV and 11.12 A.MeV) and Ar (95 A.MeV) beams from 105 to 108 pps. IBIS can provide fluence maps for each biological irradiation with a 2 % uncertainty. It can also be used as a beam imaging device in order to study depth distributions and profiles of the light produced by ions in a plastic scintillator