Analysis of relativistic nucleus-nucleus interactions in emulsion chambers

The development of a computer-assisted method is reported for the determination of the angular distribution data for secondary particles produced in relativistic nucleus-nucleus collisions in emulsions. The method is applied to emulsion detectors that were placed in a constant, uniform magnetic field and exposed to beams of 60 and 200 GeV/nucleon O-16 ions at the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) of the European Center for Nuclear Research (CERN). Linear regression analysis is used to determine the azimuthal and polar emission angles from measured track coordinate data. The software, written in BASIC, is designed to be machine independent, and adaptable to an automated system for acquiring the track coordinates. The fitting algorithm is deterministic, and takes into account the experimental uncertainty in the measured points. Further, a procedure for using the track data to estimate the linear momenta of the charged particles observed in the detectors is included

Fluctuation analysis of relativistic nucleus-nucleus collisions in emulsion chambers

An analytical technique was developed for identifying enhanced fluctuations in the angular distributions of secondary particles produced from relativistic nucleus-nucleus collisions. The method is applied under the assumption that the masses of the produced particles are small compared to their linear momenta. The importance of particles rests in the fact that enhanced fluctuations in the rapidity distributions is considered to be an experimental signal for the creation of the quark-gluon-plasma (QGP), a state of nuclear matter predicted from the quantum chromodynamics theory (QCD). In the approach, Monte Carlo simulations are employed that make use of a portable random member generator that allow the calculations to be performed on a desk-top computer. The method is illustrated with data taken from high altitude emulsion exposures and is immediately applicable to similar data from accelerator-based emulsion exposures

Economic studies showing positive competition effects on hospital performance fully controlled for the factors cited by recent critics

Criticisms have been made of recent influential studies that show improving performance in hospitals operating in more competitive environments compared with hospitals that have a local monopoly on care. Zack Cooper, Steve Gibbons, Simon Jones and Alistair McGuire set the record straight. The claims by Pollock et al are based either on distortions of the original research, or on an apparent lack of understanding of modern economic analysi

Extensions to a Lemma of Bernik with Applications in the area of Metric Diophantine Approximation

This thesis is concerned with two extensions to a result of V. I Bernik [23] from\ud 1983 which provides a quantitative description of the fact that two relatively prime polynomials in Z[x] cannot both have very small absolute values (in terms of their degrees and heights) in an interval unless that interval is extremely short. Bernik's result was presented for intervals in R and has the restriction that the polynomials being considered must have small modulus. In this thesis the result is extended to a cuboid in R3 and, in fact, it is clear from the proof that the result holds in Rn. Furthermore the restriction that the polynomials must have small modulus is removed. This is the first extension of Bernik's result to consider polynomials of large modulus. Bernik's result is also extended to a parallelepiped in R x C x Qp. This is not the first extension of this kind but the method of proof used leads to a new and very useful proposition

Does hospital competition save lives? Evidence from the English NHS patient choice reforms

This paper examines whether or not hospital competition in a market with fixed reimbursement prices can prompt improvements in clinical quality. In January 2006, the British Government introduced a major extension of their market-based reforms to the English National Health Service. From January 2006 onwards, every patient in England could choose their hospital for secondary care and hospitals had to compete with each other to attract patients to secure their revenue. One of the central aims of this policy was to create financial incentives for providers to improve their clinical performance. This paper assesses whether this aim has been achieved and competition led to improvements in quality. For our estimation, we exploit the fact that choice-based reforms will create sharper financial incentives for hospitals in markets where choice is geographically feasible and that prior to 2006, in the absence of patient choice, hospitals had no direct financial incentive to improve performance in order to attract more patients. We use a modified difference-in-difference estimator to analyze whether quality improved more quickly in more competitive markets after the government introduced its new wave of market-based reforms. Using AMI mortality as a quality indicator, we find that mortality fell more quickly (i.e. quality improved) for patients living in more competitive markets after the introduction of hospital competition in January 2006. Our results suggest that hospital competition in markets with fixed prices can lead to improvements in clinical quality

Operationalizing Resilience in the Face of Water Conflict: Linking Social and Ecological Systems

This dissertation investigates the possibility of linked surface-groundwater governance through the application of a social-ecological systems lens to the Lake Beulah Conflict over a high capacity well in Walworth County, Wisconsin. Potential adverse impacts the loss of Ca2+ rich groundwater would have on Lake Beulah’s water quality was modeled through an ex-ante assessment method using the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers lake and reservoir model BATHTUB, the U.S. Geological Survey geochemical model PHREEQC and a Ca2+ mass balance equation. The utility of this information in a management setting was also analyzed. Reduction of Ca2+ through groundwater withdrawal revealed a eutrophication threshold and a drastic change in Ca2+ concentration in the downstream basins of Lake Beulah, uncovering the need for monitoring how groundwater withdrawal affects the interdependent basins in the lake. Currently, scientific information is used to generate results-based legitimacy, a hallmark of the model-as-mediator management paradigm. Utilization of these findings would best inform governance and management of linked surface-groundwater resources as a boundary object to generate consensus and initiate process development. The analysis revealed that water policies favoring state level development interests threaten the water quality of groundwater dependent ecosystems and spark resistance at the community level. Conflicts are resolved through the court system affecting state level water governance, but local control over decision making regarding linked surface-groundwater resources is still lacking. Centralization of power over linked surface-groundwater resources fails to acknowledge the context dependency of local level conflicts and places power in the hands of state scale players like development and agricultural interests. Community and watershed non-governmental organizations focus on local issues of concern within their watershed such as invasive species management when conflicts over linked surface-groundwater resources are resolved, when state level interests pursue other avenues to influence the decision-making process. For the sustainable governance of LSGW resources, the Public Trust Doctrine must be integrated within a participatory governance process to resolve future conflicts. The legal separation of groundwater and surface water has created independent institutions that now require new scales of collaborative adaptive governance to manage linked surface-groundwater resources. Identifying the opportunities and barriers to this collaborative adaptive governance is necessary to institutionalize practices that lead to sustainable water resource use. Application of Panarchy theory to analyze local, regional and state development in Wisconsin placed Lake Beulah and East Troy in their historical contexts. An understanding of cross-scale interactions outlined crises, opportunities and barriers operating within the Lake Beulah-East Troy Social-Ecological System. Opportunities for collaborative governance are largely based on current conditions of the system while barriers are rooted deeply in historical system development. For collaborative governance to be institutionalized in the Lake Beulah-East Troy Social-Ecological System, the barriers must be addressed before opportunities can be seized

Does Competition Improve Public Hospitals' Efficiency? Evidence from a Quasi-Experiment in the English National Health Service

This paper uses a difference-in-difference style estimation strategy to test separately the impact of competition from public sector and private sector hospitals on the efficiency of public hospitals. Our identification strategy takes advantage of the phased introduction of a recent set of substantive reforms introduced in the English NHS from 2006 onwards. These reforms forced public sector health care providers to compete with other public hospitals and eventually to face competition from existing private sector providers for care delivered to publicly funded patients. In this study, we measure efficiency using hospitals' average length of stay (LOS) for patients undergoing elective surgery. For a more nuanced assessment of efficiency, we break LOS down into its two key components: the time from patients' admission to the hospital until their surgery and the time from their surgery until their discharge. Here, pre-surgery LOS serves as a proxy for hospitals' lean efficiency. Our results suggest that competition between public providers prompted public hospitals to improve their productivity by decreasing their pre-surgery, overall and post-surgery length of stay. In contrast, competition from private hospitals did not spur public providers to improve their performance and instead left incumbent public providers with a more costly case mix of patients and led to increases in post-surgical LOS.Hospital competition, market structure, prospective payment, incentivestructure

Frequency response of underwater ultrasonic transducers in the near field using polarimetric polarization maintaining fiber sensors

Near-field ultrasonic response (50-2000 kHz) of an underwater 1-3 piezocomposite transducer is experimentally investigated using a polarimetric polarization maintaining fiber sensor. Measured outputs from our sensor and a reference hydrophone are observed to be comparable

A predictive model for risk and trust assessment in cloud computing: taxonomy and analysis for attack pattern detection

Cloud computing environments consist of many entities that have different roles, such as provider and customer, and multiple interactions amongst them. Trust is an essential element to develop confidence-based relationships amongst the various components in such a diverse environment. The current chapter presents the taxonomy of trust models and classification of information sources for trust assessment. Furthermore, it presents the taxonomy of risk factors in cloud computing environment. It analyses further the existing approaches and portrays the potential of enhancing trust development by merging trust assessment and risk assessment methodologies. The aim of the proposed solution is to combine information sources collected from various trust and risk assessment systems deployed in cloud services, with data related to attack patterns. Specifically, the approach suggests a new qualitative solution that could analyse each symptom, indicator, and vulnerability in order to detect the impact and likelihood of attacks directed at cloud computing environments. Therefore, possible implementation of the proposed framework might help to minimise false positive alarms, as well as to improve performance and security, in the cloud computing environment

The Expert Witness: Another Opportunity For College Professors

Trial lawyers are frequently in need of professionals to testify as experts in matters that are in litigation.  Juries, as well as judges themselves, are normally not knowledgeable in many technical aspects of civil cases and must, therefore, be educated during the trial process.  Many times, attorneys look to their local university for expertise.  If you have not already received a call, someday you might be contacted by a lawyer to testify as an expert.  Not only can your giving expert testimony look impressive on your vitae, it can also bring large amounts of supplemental income to a professor.  Well known experts can receive thousands of dollars a day for giving their opinions on matters involved in litigation.  While you might think you are or are not an expert, a brief look at court decisions can help us define the term “expert.&rdquo