Long-acting reversible contraception use among residents in obstetrics/gynecology training programs

Background: The objective of the study was to estimate the personal usage of long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) among obstetrics and gynecology (Ob/Gyn) residents in the United States and compare usage between programs with and without a Ryan Residency Training Program (Ryan Program), an educational program implemented to enhance resident training in family planning. Materials and methods: We performed a web-based, cross-sectional survey to explore contraceptive use among Ob/Gyn residents between November and December 2014. Thirty-two Ob/Gyn programs were invited to participate, and 24 programs (75%) agreed to participate. We divided respondents into two groups based on whether or not their program had a Ryan Program. We excluded male residents without a current female partner as well as residents who were currently pregnant or trying to conceive. We evaluated predictors of LARC use using bivariate analysis and multivariable Poisson regression. Results: Of the 638 residents surveyed, 384 (60.2%) responded to our survey and 351 were eligible for analysis. Of those analyzed, 49.3% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 44.1%, 54.5%) reported current LARC use: 70.0% of residents in Ryan Programs compared to 26.8% in non-Ryan Programs (RRadj 2.14, 95% CI 1.63-2.80). Residents reporting a religious affiliation were less likely to use LARC than those who described themselves as non-religious (RRadj 0.76, 95% CI 0.64-0.92). Of residents reporting LARC use, 91% were using the levonorgestrel intrauterine device. Conclusion: LARC use in this population of women's health specialists is substantially higher than in the general population (49% vs. 12%). Ob/Gyn residents in programs affiliated with the Ryan Program were more likely to use LARC

Characterization of self-injected electron beams from LWFA experiments at SPARC_LAB

The plasma-based acceleration is an encouraging technique to overcome the limits of the accelerating gradient in the conventional RF acceleration. A plasma accelerator is able to provide accelerating fields up to hundreds of $GeV/m$, paving the way to accelerate particles to several MeV over a short distance (below the millimetre range). Here the characteristics of preliminary electron beams obtained with the self-injection mechanism produced with the FLAME high-power laser at the SPARC_LAB test facility are shown. In detail, with an energy laser on focus of $1.5\ J$ and a pulse temporal length (FWHM) of $40\ fs$, we obtained an electron plasma density due to laser ionization of about $6 \times 10^{18}\ cm^{-3}$, electron energy up to $350\ MeV$ and beam charge in the range $(50 - 100)\ pC$.Comment: 6 pages, 11 figures, conference EAAC201

Afterschool Programs in America: Origins, Growth, Popularity, and Politics

The historical and recent growth of afterschool program (ASPs) in the U.S. is discussed in this article. Particular attention is given to the recent history of social and political influences that have led to growth and current popularity of ASPs. The article begins by reviewing changes in schooling and the labor force that created a supervision gap between the school day of children and work day of parents. This gap contributed to the need for afterschool child care. Next, influences leading to a growing recognition of the significance of school-age childcare for working families and their children, including research on the potential risks of self care and benefits of well-designed ASPs, are described. These discussions are contextualized alongside decades of social and political action and debate over the development of and funding for ASPs in America. Several key factors likely to affect after-school programming in the near future are discussed

Plasma ramps caused by outflow in gas-filled capillaries

Plasma confinement inside capillaries has been developed in the past years for plasma-based acceleration to ensure a stable and repeatable plasma density distribution during the interaction with either particles or laser beams. In particular, gas-filled capillaries allow a stable and almost predictable plasma distribution along the interaction with the particles. However, the plasma ejected through the ends of the capillary interacts with the beam before the inner plasma, affecting the quality of the beam. In this article we report the measurements on the evolution of the plasma flow at the two ends of a 1 cm long, 1 mm diameter capillary filled with hydrogen. In particular, we measured the longitudinal density distribution and the expansion velocity of the plasma outside the capillary. This study will allow a better understanding of the beam-plasma interaction for future plasma-based experiments.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figures, EAAC 201

Frontiers of beam diagnostics in plasma accelerators: measuring the ultra-fast and ultra-cold

Advanced diagnostics are essential tools in the development of plasma-based accelerators. The accurate measurement of the quality of beams at the exit of the plasma channel is crucial to optimize the parameters of the plasma accelerator. 6D electron beam diagnostics will be reviewed with emphasis on emittance measurement, which is particularly complex due to large energy spread and divergence of the emerging beams, and on femtosecond bunch length measurements

Single-shot non-intercepting profile monitor of plasma-accelerated electron beams with nanometric resolution

An innovative, single-shot, non-intercepting monitor of the transverse profile of plasma-accelerated electron beams is presented, based on the simultaneous measurement of the electron energy and the betatron radiation spectra. The spatial resolution is shown to be down to few tens of nanometers, important for high-precision applications requiring fine shaping of beams and detailed characterizations of the electron transverse phase space at the exit of plasma accelerating structures

Longitudinal phase-space manipulation with beam-driven plasma wakefields

The development of compact accelerator facilities providing high-brightness beams is one of the most challenging tasks in field of next-generation compact and cost affordable particle accelerators, to be used in many fields for industrial, medical and research applications. The ability to shape the beam longitudinal phase-space, in particular, plays a key role to achieve high-peak brightness. Here we present a new approach that allows to tune the longitudinal phase-space of a high-brightness beam by means of a plasma wakefields. The electron beam passing through the plasma drives large wakefields that are used to manipulate the time-energy correlation of particles along the beam itself. We experimentally demonstrate that such solution is highly tunable by simply adjusting the density of the plasma and can be used to imprint or remove any correlation onto the beam. This is a fundamental requirement when dealing with largely time-energy correlated beams coming from future plasma accelerators

Temperature analysis in the shock waves regime for gas-filled plasma capillaries in plasma-based accelerators

Plasma confinement represents a crucial point for plasma-based accelerators and plasma lenses because it can strongly affect the beam properties. For this reason, an accurate measurement of the plasma parameters, as plasma temperature, pressure and electron density, must be performed. In this paper, we introduce a novel method to detect the plasma temperature and the pressure for gas-filled capillaries in use at the SPARC-LAB test facility. The proposed method is based on the shock waves produced at the ends of the capillary during the gas discharge and the subsequent plasma formation inside it. By measuring the supersonic speed of the plasma outflow, the thermodynamic parameters have been obtained both outside and inside the capillary. A plasma temperature around 1.4 eV has been measured, that depends on the geometric properties and the operating conditions of the capillary