220 research outputs found
How many operating rooms are needed to manage non-elective surgical cases? A Monte Carlo simulation study.
BackgroundPatients often wait to have urgent or emergency surgery. The number of operating rooms (ORs) needed to minimize waiting time while optimizing resources can be determined using queuing theory and computer simulation. We developed a computer program using Monte Carlo simulation to determine the number of ORs needed to minimize patient wait times while optimizing resources.MethodsWe used patient arrival data and surgical procedure length from our institution, a tertiary-care academic medical center that serves a large diverse population. With ~4800 patients/year requiring non-elective surgery, and mean procedure length 185 min (median 150 min) we determined the number of ORs needed during the day and evening (0600-2200) and during the night (2200-0600) that resulted in acceptable wait times.ResultsSimulation of 4 ORs at day/evening and 3 ORs at night resulted in median wait time = 0 min (mean = 19 min) for emergency cases requiring surgery within 2 h, with wait time at the 95th percentile = 109 min. Median wait time for urgent cases needing surgery within 8-12 h was 34 min (mean = 136 min), with wait time at the 95th percentile = 474 min. The effect of changes in surgical length and volume on wait times was determined with sensitivity analysis.ConclusionsMonte Carlo simulation can guide decisions on how to balance resources for elective and non-elective surgical procedures
Thin-disk laser pump schemes for large number of passes and moderate pump source quality
Novel thin-disk laser pump layouts are proposed yielding an increased number
of passes for a given pump module size and pump source quality. These novel
layouts result from a general scheme which bases on merging two simpler pump
optics arrangements. Some peculiar examples can be realized by adapting
standard commercially available pump optics simply by intro ducing an
additional mirror-pair. More pump passes yield better efficiency, opening the
way for usage of active materials with low absorption. In a standard multi-pass
pump design, scaling of the number of beam passes brings ab out an increase of
the overall size of the optical arrangement or an increase of the pump source
quality requirements. Such increases are minimized in our scheme, making them
eligible for industrial applicationsComment: 16 pages, 9 figure
Compact 20-pass thin-disk amplifier insensitive to thermal lensing
We present a multi-pass amplifier which passively compensates for distortions
of the spherical phase front occurring in the active medium. The design is
based on the Fourier transform propagation which makes the output beam
parameters insensitive to variation of thermal lens effects in the active
medium. The realized system allows for 20 reflections on the active medium and
delivers a small signal gain of 30 with M = 1.16. Its novel geometry
combining Fourier transform propagations with 4f-imaging stages as well as a
compact array of adjustable mirrors allows for a layout with a footprint of 400
mm x 1000 mm.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure
Muonic hydrogen cascade time and lifetime of the short-lived state
Metastable muonic-hydrogen atoms undergo collisional -quenching,
with rates which depend strongly on whether the kinetic energy is above
or below the energy threshold. Above threshold, collisional
excitation followed by fast radiative
deexcitation is allowed. The corresponding short-lived component
was measured at 0.6 hPa room temperature gas pressure, with
lifetime ns (i.e.,
at liquid-hydrogen density) and population
% (per atom). In
addition, a value of the cascade time, ns, was found.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
muCool: A novel low-energy muon beam for future precision experiments
Experiments with muons () and muonium atoms () offer
several promising possibilities for testing fundamental symmetries. Examples of
such experiments include search for muon electric dipole moment, measurement of
muon and experiments with muonium from laser spectroscopy to gravity
experiments. These experiments require high quality muon beams with small
transverse size and high intensity at low energy.
At the Paul Scherrer Institute, Switzerland, we are developing a novel device
that reduces the phase space of a standard beam by a factor of
with efficiency. The phase space compression is achieved by
stopping a standard beam in a cryogenic helium gas. The stopped
are manipulated into a small spot with complex electric and magnetic
fields in combination with gas density gradients. From here, the muons are
extracted into the vacuum and into a field-free region. Various aspects of this
compression scheme have been demonstrated. In this article the current status
will be reported.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, TCP 2018 conference proceeding
Muonium emission into vacuum from mesoporous thin films at cryogenic temperatures
We report on Muonium (Mu) emission into vacuum following {\mu}+ implantation
in mesoporous thin SiO2 films. We obtain a yield of Mu into vacuum of (38\pm4)%
at 250 K temperature and (20\pm4)% at 100 K for 5 keV {\mu}+ implantation
energy. From the implantation energy dependence of the Mu vacuum yield we
determine the Mu diffusion constants in these films: D250KMu = (1.6 \pm 0.1)
\times 10-4 cm2/s and D100KMu = (4.2\pm0.5)\times10-5 cm2/s. Describing the
diffusion process as quantum mechanical tunneling from pore-to-pore, we
reproduce the measured temperature dependence T^3/2 of the diffusion constant.
We extract a potential barrier of (-0.3 \pm 0.1) eV which is consistent with
our computed Mu work-function in SiO2 of [-0.3,-0.9] eV. The high Mu vacuum
yield even at low temperatures represents an important step towards next
generation Mu spectroscopy experiments.Comment: 5 pages, 5 Figure
The proton radius puzzle
High-precision measurements of the proton radius from laser spectroscopy of
muonic hydrogen demonstrated up to six standard deviations smaller values than
obtained from electron-proton scattering and hydrogen spectroscopy. The status
of this discrepancy, which is known as the proton radius puzzle will be
discussed in this paper, complemented with the new insights obtained from
spectroscopy of muonic deuterium.Comment: Moriond 2017 conference, 8 pages, 4 figure
Improved X-ray detection and particle identification with avalanche photodiodes
Avalanche photodiodes are commonly used as detectors for low energy x-rays.
In this work we report on a fitting technique used to account for different
detector responses resulting from photo absorption in the various APD layers.
The use of this technique results in an improvement of the energy resolution at
8.2 keV by up to a factor of 2, and corrects the timing information by up to 25
ns to account for space dependent electron drift time. In addition, this
waveform analysis is used for particle identification, e.g. to distinguish
between x-rays and MeV electrons in our experiment.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figure
Characterization of large area avalanche photodiodes in X-ray and VUV-light detection
The present manuscript reviews our R+D studies on the application of large area avalanche photodiodes (LAAPDs) to the detection of X-rays and vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) light. The operational characteristics of LAAPDs manufactured by Advanced Photonix Inc. were investigated for X-ray detection at room temperature. The optimum energy resolution obtained in four LAAPDs investigated was found to be in the range 10-18% for 5.9 keV X-rays. The observed variations are associated with dark current differences between the several prototypes. LAAPDs have demonstrated high counting rate capability (up to about 10⁵/s) and applicability in diverse areas, mainly low-energy X-ray detection, where LAAPDs selected for low dark current may achieve better performance than proportional counters. LAAPDs were also investigated as VUV photosensors, presenting advantages compared to photomultiplier tubes. X-rays are often used as a reference in light measurements; this may be compromised by the non-linearity between gains measured for X-rays and VUV-light. The gain was found to be lower for X-rays than for VUV light, especially at higher bias voltages. For 5.9 keV X-rays, gain variations of 10% and 6% were measured relative to VUV light produced in argon ( ∼ 128 nm) and xenon ( ∼ 172 nm) for gains of about 200. The effect of temperature on the LAAPD performance was investigated for X-ray and VUV-light detection. Gain variations of more than -4% per oC were measured for 5.9 keV X-rays for gains above 200, while for VUV light variations are larger than -5% per oC. The energy resolution was found to improve with decreasing temperature, what is mainly attributed to dark current. The excess noise factor, another contribution to the energy resolution, was experimentally determined and found to be independent of temperature, increasing linearly with gain, from 1.8 to 2.3 for a 50-300 gain range. The LAAPD response under intense magnetic fields up to 5 Tesla was investigated. While for X-ray detection the APD response practically does not vary with the magnetic field, for 172 nm VUV light a significant amplitude reduction of more than 20% was observed
Muon Physics: A Pillar of the Standard Model
Since its discovery in the 1930s, the muon has played an important role in
our quest to understand the sub-atomic theory of matter. The muon was the first
second-generation standard-model particle to be discovered, and its decay has
provided information on the (Vector -Axial Vector) structure of the weak
interaction, the strength of the weak interaction, G_F, and the conservation of
lepton number (flavor) in muon decay. The muon's anomalous magnetic moment has
played an important role in restricting theories of physics beyond the standard
standard model, where at present there is a 3.4 standard-deviation difference
between the experiment and standard-model theory. Its capture on the atomic
nucleus has provided valuable information on the modification of the weak
current by the strong interaction which is complementary to that obtained from
nuclear beta decay.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figures. Invited paper for the Journal of Physical Society
in Japan (JPSJ), Special Topics Issue "Frontiers of Elementary Particle
Physics, The Standard Model and beyond
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