682 research outputs found
Flexible aggregation in multiple attribute decision making: Application to the Kuranda Range Road Upgrade
The conventional method of aggregating the satisfaction of transport projects with respect to multiple attributes is commonly some variant of Simple Additive Weighting (SAW), which involves the sum of products of standardized outcomes of projects with respect to attributes and attribute importance weights. It is suggested that alternative forms of aggregation might be more useful, in particular, the Ordered Weighted Averaging (OWA) operator introduced by Yager (1988). Attribute importance weights and satisfaction of attributes by projects may be aggregated prior to aggregation via an OWA operator. In this case OWA operator weights may be based on the "attitudinal character of the decision maker expressed in terms of the degree of "orness and "andness of the aggregation. A well-known approach is maximum entropy aggregation, in which weights are derived to be as "even (or as minimally dispersed) as a possible subject to satisfying a given "orness or "andness constraint. Recently, aggregation processes have been proposed by Larsen (199920022003) which have several desirable properties and also may be considered as alternative forms of aggregation. An example is given relating to the Kuranda Range Road upgrade (Queensland, Australia) which is limited by grade, poor overtaking opportunities, poor horizontal alignment, and other constraints, and the road is expected to become increasingly congested over the next few years. A more flexible Multiple Attribute Decision Making is used to identify a "best project from a set of four alternative projects
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
Exploring the views of young women and their healthcare professionals on dietary habits and supplementation practices in adolescent pregnancy: a qualitative study
Background: Nutrition is a modifiable factor affecting foetal growth and pregnancy outcomes. Inadequate nutrition
is of particular concern in adolescent pregnancies with poor quality diet and competing demands for nutrients. The
aim of this study was to explore knowledge and understanding of nutrition advice during adolescent pregnancy,and identify barriers and facilitators to dietary change and supplementation use in this vulnerable population.
Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with young women and key antenatal healthcare providers:
midwives, family nurses and obstetricians. Doncaster, Manchester and London were chosen as sites offering different models of midwifery care alongside referral to the Family Nurse Partnership programme.
Results: A total of 34 young women (adolescents aged 16–19 years) and 20 health professionals were interviewed.
Young women made small changes to their dietary intake despite limited knowledge and social constraints.
Supplementation use varied; the tablet format was identified by few participants as a barrier but forgetting to take them was the main reason for poor adherence. Health professionals provided nutrition information but
often lack the time and resources to tailor this appropriately. Young women’s prime motivator was a desire
to have a healthy baby; they wanted to understand the benefits of supplementation and dietary change in
those terms.
Conclusion: Pregnancy is a window of opportunity for improving nutrition but often constrained by social
circumstances. Health professionals should be supported in their role to access education, training and resources which
build their self-efficacy to facilitate change in this vulnerable population group beyond the routine care they provide
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
Measurement of the Spectral Shape of the β-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 nonunique β-decay transition ¹³⁷Xe(7/2⁻)→¹³⁷Cs(7/2⁺). The experimental data were acquired by the EXO-200 experiment during a deployment of an AmBe neutron source. The ultralow 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 nonunique β-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
Measurement of the Spectral Shape of the β-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 nonunique β-decay transition ¹³⁷Xe(7/2⁻)→¹³⁷Cs(7/2⁺). The experimental data were acquired by the EXO-200 experiment during a deployment of an AmBe neutron source. The ultralow 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 nonunique β-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
Measurement of the scintillation and ionization response of liquid xenon at MeV energies in the EXO-200 experiment
Liquid xenon (LXe) is employed in a number of current and future detectors
for rare event searches. We use the EXO-200 experimental data to measure the
absolute scintillation and ionization yields generated by interactions
from Th (2615~keV), Ra (1764~keV) and Co (1332~keV and
1173~keV) calibration sources, over a range of electric fields. The -value
that defines the recombination-independent energy scale is measured to be
~(syst.)~~(stat.) eV. These data are also used to
measure the recombination fluctuations in the number of electrons and photons
produced by the calibration sources at the MeV-scale, which deviate from
extrapolations of lower-energy data. Additionally, a semi-empirical model for
the energy resolution of the detector is developed, which is used to constrain
the recombination efficiency, i.e., the fraction of recombined electrons that
result in the emission of a detectable photon. Detailed measurements of the
absolute charge and light yields for MeV-scale electron recoils are important
for predicting the performance of future neutrinoless double beta decay
detectors
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