665 research outputs found
Measurement of the Spectral Shape of the beta-decay of 137Xe to the Ground State of 137Cs in EXO-200 and Comparison with Theory
We report on a comparison between the theoretically predicted and
experimentally measured spectra of the first-forbidden non-unique -decay
transition ^{137}\textrm{Xe}(7/2^-)\to\,^{137}\textrm{Cs}(7/2^+). The
experimental data were acquired by the EXO-200 experiment during a deployment
of an AmBe neutron source. The ultra-low background environment of EXO-200,
together with dedicated source deployment and analysis procedures, allowed for
collection of a pure sample of the decays, with an estimated
signal-to-background ratio of more than 99-to-1 in the energy range from 1075
to 4175 keV. In addition to providing a rare and accurate measurement of the
first-forbidden non-unique -decay shape, this work constitutes a novel
test of the calculated electron spectral shapes in the context of the reactor
antineutrino anomaly and spectral bump.Comment: Version as accepted by PR
Generative Adversarial Networks for Scintillation Signal Simulation in EXO-200
Generative Adversarial Networks trained on samples of simulated or actual
events have been proposed as a way of generating large simulated datasets at a
reduced computational cost. In this work, a novel approach to perform the
simulation of photodetector signals from the time projection chamber of the
EXO-200 experiment is demonstrated. The method is based on a Wasserstein
Generative Adversarial Network - a deep learning technique allowing for
implicit non-parametric estimation of the population distribution for a given
set of objects. Our network is trained on real calibration data using raw
scintillation waveforms as input. We find that it is able to produce
high-quality simulated waveforms an order of magnitude faster than the
traditional simulation approach and, importantly, generalize from the training
sample and discern salient high-level features of the data. In particular, the
network correctly deduces position dependency of scintillation light response
in the detector and correctly recognizes dead photodetector channels. The
network output is then integrated into the EXO-200 analysis framework to show
that the standard EXO-200 reconstruction routine processes the simulated
waveforms to produce energy distributions comparable to that of real waveforms.
Finally, the remaining discrepancies and potential ways to improve the approach
further are highlighted.Comment: 20 pages, 10 figure
A qualitative investigation of lived experiences of long-term health condition management with people who are food insecure.
Background: As more people are living with one or more chronic health conditions, supporting patients to become activated, self-managers of their conditions has become a key health policy focus both in the UK and internationally. There is also growing evidence in the UK that those with long term health conditions have an increased risk of being food insecure. While international evidence indicates that food insecurity adversely affects individual's health condition management capability, little is known about how those so affected manage their condition(s) in this context. An investigation of lived experience of health condition management was undertaken with food insecure people living in north east Scotland. The study aimed to explore the challenges facing food insecure people in terms of, i. their self-care condition management practices, and ii. disclosing and discussing the experience of managing their condition with a health care professional, and iii. Notions of the support they might wish to receive from them. Methods: Twenty in-depth interviews were conducted with individuals attending a food bank and food pantry in north east Scotland. Interview audio recordings were fully transcribed and thematically analysed. Results: Individuals reporting multiple physical and mental health conditions, took part in the study. Four main themes were identified i.e.: 1. food practices, trade-offs and compromises, that relate to economic constraints and lack of choice; 2. illness experiences and food as they relate to physical and mental ill-health; 3. (in) visibility of participants' economic vulnerability within health care consultations; and 4. perceptions and expectations of the health care system. Conclusions: This study, the first of its kind in the UK, indicated that participants' health condition management aspirations were undermined by the experience of food insecurity, and that their health care consultations in were, on the whole, devoid of discussions of those challenges. As such, the study indicated practical and ethical implications for health care policy, practice and research associated with the risk of intervention-generated health inequalities that were suggested by this study. Better understanding is needed about the impact of household food insecurity on existing ill health, wellbeing and health care use across the UK
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