EVIA 2007: The First International Workshop on Evaluating Information Access (Workshop Report)

The first workshop on Evaluating Information Access was held at the National Institute of Informatics, Tokyo, Japan on May 15th, 2007. It was composed of a five invited speakers and two sessions of refereed papers and posters

Acceleration with Self-Injection for an All-Optical Radiation Source at LNF

We discuss a new compact gamma-ray source aiming at high spectral density, up to two orders of magnitude higher than currently available bremsstrahlung sources, and conceptually similar to Compton Sources based on conventional linear accelerators. This new source exploits electron bunches from laser-driven electron acceleration in the so-called self-injection scheme and uses a counter-propagating laser pulse to obtain X and gamma-ray emission via Thomson/Compton scattering. The proposed experimental configuration inherently provides a unique test-bed for studies of fundamental open issues of electrodynamics. In view of this, a preliminary discussion of recent results on self-injection with the FLAME laser is also given.Comment: 8 pages, 10 figures, 44 references - Channeling 2012 conferenc

An Open-Group Music Therapy Program Design for Asylum-Seeking Prenatal Women

Asylum-seeking prenatal women (ASPW) are an emerging vulnerable population worldwide, facing unique physiological and psychological challenges within a dual context of being asylum-seekers who are pregnant. Given their multifaceted needs during precarious resettlement periods, a broader context-based approach, rather than the current medical approach, could provide much more comprehensive support. While the literature indicates that music therapy can be used to promote health and wellbeing, no research has been conducted to date on how music therapy may help ASPW. Using an adapted intervention research methodology, this study examined how an open-group music therapy program can be designed to address the needs of ASPW during their resettlement period. A directed qualitative content analysis of related literature in music therapy and other relevant fields revealed that the main challenges of ASPW during their resettlement were poor health and absence of perceived feelings of wellbeing. Poor health was described as a lack of three dimensions of health: (a) absence of disease, (b) positive personal experience in one’s life, and (c) quality in the relationship between a person and their surroundings. The analysis also revealed multiple risk and protective factors, as well as potential malleable mediators inherent to the wellbeing of ASPW during the period of their resettlement. These findings combined with relevant music therapy literature and the researcher’s perspectives (based on her clinical experience), resulted in a proposed action strategy and theory of change that informed the development of an open-group music therapy program design for ASPW that was conceptualized within a Community Music Therapy approach. Limitations of the research are presented along with implications for practice and future research

Enhancing proton acceleration by using composite targets

Efficient laser ion acceleration requires high laser intensities, which can only be obtained by tightly focusing laser radiation. In the radiation pressure acceleration regime, where the tightly focused laser driver leads to the appearance of the fundamental limit for the maximum attainable ion energy, this limit corresponds to the laser pulse group velocity as well as to another limit connected with the transverse expansion of the accelerated foil and consequent onset of the foil transparency. These limits can be relaxed by using composite targets, consisting of a thin foil followed by a near critical density slab. Such targets provide guiding of a laser pulse inside a self-generated channel and background electrons, being snowplowed by the pulse, compensate for the transverse expansion. The use of composite targets results in a significant increase in maximum ion energy, compared to a single foil target case.Comment: 16 pages, 9 figure