Procedure Manual for the Pneumology Department of an Argentine university hospital

Introducción La redacción de un manual de procedimientos (MP) obliga a racionalizar la actividad diaria, permite hallar imperfecciones, discutir e implementar medidas preventivas y correctivas, y acorta la brecha entre teoría y práctica. Nuestro objetivo es describir las etapas que llevaron a su redacción para un Servicio de Neumonología en un hospital universitario de gestión pública, detallar su estructura y relatar dificultades y perspectivas. Material y métodos Se determinó el organigrama y se establecieron interrelaciones y competencias. Se asignó la redacción de procedimientos según competencia de cada profesional en base a bibliografía, regulaciones, normas de acreditación y experiencia institucional. Los procedimientos fueron vinculados mediante hipertexto y cargados en la red informática. Resultados Ocupa 300 páginas, en 3 secciones: Procedimientos Administrativos, Operativos y de Seguridad, y un anexo. Consta de 57 procedimientos (48 de confección propia, 9 tomados de sociedades científicas). Para estudios específicos que se realizan en el Laboratorio se redactaron procedimientos de novo. Cuando se hallaron disponibles, se utilizaron procedimientos previos, especialmente aquellos referidos a bioseguridad y seguridad ambiental. Discusión: Se dedicó toda una sección a detallar diversas acciones administrativas de uso habitual, detectadas como fuente de conflicto. Dado que cada institución tiene su idiosincrasia administrativa y operativa, creemos que los textos y recomendaciones de sociedades científicas deben ser adaptados y/o modificados para expresar la práctica habitual en cada Servicio. Conclusiones: La información recabada dará lugar a futuras actualizaciones. Esto debe culminar en una mejor atención del paciente, fin último de nuestra Institución.Introduction The writing of a procedure manual (PM) requires streamlining daily activities, allowing to find imperfections, discuss and implement preventive and corrective measures, and decreases the gap between theory and practice. We describe the stages that led to the drafting of a PM for a Pneumology Department at a public university hospital, detailing its structure and reporting problems and prospects. Methods We determined an organization flow chart and established interrelations and personnel skills. The drafting of procedures was assigned according to competence of each staff member, based on literature, regulations, accreditation standards and institutional experience. The procedures were linked by hypertext and loaded into our computer network. Results: It extend over 300 pages in 3 sections: Administrative, Operational and Safety Procedures, and an appendix . It consists of 57 procedures (48 of these are own, while 9 were drawn from scientific societies). Some procedures for specific studies that are performed in our laboratory were written de novo. When available, previous procedures were used, especially those related to biosafety and environmental safety. Discussion: An entire section is devoted to a number of commonly used administrative actions, identified as source for conflict. As each institution has its own administrative and operational idiosyncrasies, we believe that recommendations of scientific societies should not be used verbatim, but must be adapted and/or modified to the usual practice in each department. Conclusions: The gathered information will lead to future updates. All this must lead to better patient care, ultimate goal of our InstitutionFil: Arce, S. C.. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Investigaciones Médicas; ArgentinaFil: Civale, S. N.. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Investigaciones Médicas; ArgentinaFil: Rodriguez, M. N.. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Investigaciones Médicas; ArgentinaFil: de Vito, Eduardo. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Investigaciones Médicas; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay; Argentin

The Effect of Splayed Pins on Vortex Creep and Critical Currents

We study the effects of splayed columnar pins on the vortex motion using realistic London Langevin simulations. At low currents vortex creep is strongly suppressed, whereas the critical current j_c is enhanced only moderately. Splaying the pins generates an increasing energy barrier against vortex hopping, and leads to the forced entanglement of vortices, both of which suppress creep efficiently. On the other hand splaying enhances kink nucleation and introduces intersecting pins, which cut off the energy barriers. Thus the j_c enhancement is strongly parameter sensitive. We also characterize the angle dependence of j_c, and the effect of different splaying geometries.Comment: 4 figure

Angular dependent vortex pinning mechanisms in YBCO coated conductors and thin films

We present a comparative study of the angular dependent critical current density in YBa2Cu3O7 films deposited on IBAD MgO and on single crystal MgO and SrTiO3 substrates. We identify three angular regimes where pinning is dominated by different types of correlated and uncorrelated defects. We show that those regimes are present in all cases, indicating that the pinning mechanisms are the same, but their extension and characteristics are sample dependent, reflecting the quantitative differences in texture and defect density. In particular, the more defective nature of the films on IBAD turns into an advantage as it results in stronger vortex pinning, demonstrating that the critical current density of the films on single crystals is not an upper limit for the performance of the IBAD coated conductors.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figures. Submitted to AP

Irreversible dynamics of the phase boundary in U(Ru0.9)Rh0.04)2Si2 and implications for ordering

We report measurements and analysis of the specific heat and magnetocaloric effect at the phase boundary into the single magnetic field-induced phase (phase II) of U(Ru{0.96}Rh{0.04})2Si2, which yield striking similarities to the valence transition of Yb{1-x}YxInCu4. To explain these similarities, we propose a bootstrap mechanism by which a structural distortion causes an electric quadrupolar order parameter within phase II to become coupled to the 5f-electron hybridization, giving rise to a valence change at the transition.Comment: 4 pages including 4 figure

Influence of random point defects introduced by proton irradiation on critical current density and vortex dynamics of Ba(Fe0.925Co0.075)2As2 single crystals

In this work we analyze the influence of random point defects introduced by 3 MeV proton irradiation on the critical current density (Jc) and vortex dynamics of a Ba(Fe0.925Co0.075)2As2 single crystal. The results show that at low temperatures (T) the irradiation produces an enhancement of Jc of up to 2.6 times. However the Jc (T) retention at different magnetic fields (H) in the elastic regime, estimated by the n exponent in Jc vs (1-(T/Tc)2)n, is poorer after the irradiations, due to the thermal softening of the pinning by the random point defects. We found that the elastic to plastic crossover and melting lines are only affected by the reduction of the superconducting critical temperature (Tc); they are exactly the same after rescaling the phase diagram by T/Tc. The pinning mechanisms in the single crystals can be associated with a mixed pinning landscape that produces a modulation in S(H,T) as a consequence of a fishtail or second peak in the magnetization.Fil: Haberkorn, Nestor Fabian. Los Alamos National Laboratory; Estados Unidos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Maiorov, B.. Los Alamos National Laboratory; Estados UnidosFil: Usov, I. O.. Los Alamos National Laboratory; Estados UnidosFil: Weigand, M.. Los Alamos National Laboratory; Estados UnidosFil: Hirata, W.. Osaka University; JapónFil: Miyasaka, S.. Osaka University; JapónFil: Tajima, S.. Osaka University; JapónFil: Chikumoto, N.. International Superconductivity Technology Center. Superconductivity Research Laboratory; JapónFil: Tanabe, K.. International Superconductivity Technology Center. Superconductivity Research Laboratory; JapónFil: Civale, Leonardo. Los Alamos National Laboratory; Estados Unido

Evidence for vortex staircases in the whole angular range due to competing correlated pinning mechanisms

We analyze the angular dependence of the irreversible magnetization of YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_7$ crystals with columnar defects inclined from the c-axis. At high fields a sharp maximum centered at the tracks' direction is observed. At low fields we identify a lock-in phase characterized by an angle-independent pinning strength and observe an angular shift of the peak towards the c-axis that originates in the material anisotropy. The interplay among columnar defects, twins and ab-planes generates a variety of staircase structures. We show that correlated pinning dominates for all field orientations.Comment: 9 figures, 4 figure

Measurement of the magnetic penetration depth of a superconducting MgB2_{2} thin film with a large intraband diffusivity

We report the temperature dependent magnetic penetration depth $\lambda(T)$ and the superconducting critical field $H_{c2}(T)$ in a 500-nm MgB$_{2}$ film. Our analysis of the experimental results takes into account the two gap nature of the superconducting state and indicates larger intraband diffusivity in the three-dimensional (3D) $\pi$ band compared to that in the two-dimensional (2D) $\sigma$ band. Direct comparison of our results with those reported previously for single crystals indicates that larger intraband scattering in the 3D $\pi$ band leads to an increase of $\lambda$. We calculated $\lambda$ and the thermodynamic critical field $H_{c}\approx$2000 Oe employing the gap equations for two-band superconductors. Good agreement between the measured and calculated $\lambda$ value indicates the two independent measurements, such as magnetic force microscopy and transport, provide a venue for investigating superconducting properties in multi-band superconductors

Doping dependence of upper critical field and Hall resistivity in LaFeAsO1-xFx

The electrical resistivity (Rxx) and Hall resistivity (Rxy) of LaFeAsO1-xFx have been measured over a wide fluorine doping range 0 =< x =< 0.14 using 60 T pulsed magnets. While the superconducting phase diagram (Tc, x) displays the classic dome-shaped structure, we find that the resistive upper critical field (Hc2) increases monotonically with decreasing fluorine concentration, with the largest Hc2 >= 75 T for x = 0.05. This is reminiscent of the composition dependence in high-Tc cuprates and might correlate with opening of a pseudo-gap in the underdoped region. Further, the temperature dependence of Hc2(T) for superconducting samples can be understood in terms of multi-band superconductivity. Rxy data for non-superconducting samples show non-linear field dependence, which is also consistent with a multi-carrier scenario.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures, Accepted by PR

Mesoscopic Superconducting Disc with Short-Range Columnar Defects

Short-range columnar defects essentially influence the magnetic properties of a mesoscopic superconducting disc.They help the penetration of vortices into the sample, thereby decrease the sample magnetization and reduce the upper critical field. Even the presence of weak defects split a giant vortex state (usually appearing in a clean disc in the vicinity of the transition to a normal state) into a number of vortices with smaller topological charges. In a disc with a sufficient number of strong enough defects vortices are always placed onto defects. The presence of defects lead to the appearance of additional magnetization jumps related to the redistribution of vortices which are already present on the defects and not to the penetration of new vortices.Comment: 14 pgs. RevTex, typos and figures corrected. Submitted to Phys. Rev.