Neutron Soft Errors in Xilinx FPGAs at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

The LBNL 88-Inch Cyclotron offers broad-spectrum neutrons for single event effects testing. We discuss results from this beamline for neutron soft upsets in Xilinx Virtex-4 and -5 field-programmable-gate-array (FPGA) devices

Neutron Soft Errors in Xilinx FPGAs at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Abstract--The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory cyclotron offers broad-spectrum neutrons for single event effects testing. We discuss results from this beamline for neutron soft upsets in Xilinx Virtex-4 and -5 fieldprogrammable-gate-array (FPGA) devices

Berkeley Accelerator Space Effects (BASE) Light Ion FacilityUpgrade

The BASE Light Ion Facility upgrades have been completed. All proton beams are now delivered to Cave 4A. New control software, a larger diameter beam window, and improved quality assurance measures have been added

Standard Practice for Dosimetry of Proton Beams for use in Radiation Effects Testing of Electronics

Representatives of facilities that routinely deliver protons for radiation effect testing are collaborating to establish a set of standard best practices for proton dosimetry. These best practices will be submitted to the ASTM International for adoption

"Super" Cocktails for Heavy Ion Testing

The 4.5 MeV/nucleon heavy ion cocktail at the 88-Inch Cyclotron has been expanded by incorporating beams from solid material to fill in the linear energy transfer curve. This supercocktail is available by special request and is useful when only normal incidence between the beam and the device under test is possible or desirable

Photography-based taxonomy is inadequate, unnecessary, and potentially harmful for biological sciences

The question whether taxonomic descriptions naming new animal species without type specimen(s) deposited in collections should be accepted for publication by scientific journals and allowed by the Code has already been discussed in Zootaxa (Dubois & Nemésio 2007; Donegan 2008, 2009; Nemésio 2009a–b; Dubois 2009; Gentile & Snell 2009; Minelli 2009; Cianferoni & Bartolozzi 2016; Amorim et al. 2016). This question was again raised in a letter supported by 35 signatories published in the journal Nature (Pape et al. 2016) on 15 September 2016. On 25 September 2016, the following rebuttal (strictly limited to 300 words as per the editorial rules of Nature) was submitted to Nature, which on 18 October 2016 refused to publish it. As we think this problem is a very important one for zoological taxonomy, this text is published here exactly as submitted to Nature, followed by the list of the 493 taxonomists and collection-based researchers who signed it in the short time span from 20 September to 6 October 2016

The first 20 months of the COVID-19 pandemic: Mortality, intubation and ICU rates among 104,590 patients hospitalized at 21 United States health systems

Main objective There is limited information on how patient outcomes have changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study characterizes changes in mortality, intubation, and ICU admission rates during the first 20 months of the pandemic. Study design and methods University of Wisconsin researchers collected and harmonized electronic health record data from 1.1 million COVID-19 patients across 21 United States health systems from February 2020 through September 2021. The analysis comprised data from 104,590 adult hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Inclusion criteria for the analysis were: (1) age 18 years or older; (2) COVID-19 ICD-10 diagnosis during hospitalization and/or a positive COVID-19 PCR test in a 14-day window (+/- 7 days of hospital admission); and (3) health system contact prior to COVID-19 hospitalization. Outcomes assessed were: (1) mortality (primary), (2) endotracheal intubation, and (3) ICU admission. Results and significance The 104,590 hospitalized participants had a mean age of 61.7 years and were 50.4% female, 24% Black, and 56.8% White. Overall risk-standardized mortality (adjusted for age, sex, race, ethnicity, body mass index, insurance status and medical comorbidities) declined from 16% of hospitalized COVID-19 patients (95% CI: 16% to 17%) early in the pandemic (February-April 2020) to 9% (CI: 9% to 10%) later (July-September 2021). Among subpopulations, males (vs. females), those on Medicare (vs. those on commercial insurance), the severely obese (vs. normal weight), and those aged 60 and older (vs. younger individuals) had especially high mortality rates both early and late in the pandemic. ICU admission and intubation rates also declined across these 20 months. Conclusions Mortality, intubation, and ICU admission rates improved markedly over the first 20 months of the pandemic among adult hospitalized COVID-19 patients although gains varied by subpopulation. These data provide important information on the course of COVID-19 and identify hospitalized patient groups at heightened risk for negative outcomes. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04506528 (https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04506528)

The nuclear science wallchart and teachers' guide

The Nuclear Science Wallchart and its companion Teachers' Guide were developed by a national committee of scientists and teachers and are published by the Contemporary Physics Education Project (CPEP). The Wallchart is designed as a tool for high school and community college teachers who wish to introduce concepts of nuclear science into their chemistry or physics curriculum. The Wallchart has several sections which fall into three basic categories: 1) the introduction of basic nuclear science concepts (e.g., radioactivity), 2) ties to 21st century research (e.g., the search for the quark-gluon plasma at RHIC), and 3 ) applications (e.g., nuclear energy). In California, thebasic concepts fall naturally into the State Science Standards for high school Chemistry. The TeachersGuide, subtitled "You don't have to be a Nuclear Scientist to Understand Nuclear Science", expands on the material on the chart and includes supplementary information in areas such as environmental concerns

Standard Practice for Dosimetry of Proton Beams for use in Radiation Effects Testing of Electronics

Representatives of facilities that routinely deliver protons for radiation effect testing are collaborating to establish a set of standard best practices for proton dosimetry. These best practices will be submitted to the ASTM International for adoption

Radiation effects testing at the 88-inch cyclotron at LBNL

The effects of ionizing particles on sensitive microelectronics is an important component of the design of systems as diverse as satellites and space probes, detectors for high energy physics experiments and even internet server farms. Understanding the effects of radiation on human cells is an equally important endeavor directed towards future manned missions in space and towards cancer therapy. At the 88-Inch Cyclotron at the Berkeley Laboratory, facilities are available for radiation effects testing (RET) with heavy ions and with protons. The techniques for doing these measurements and the advantages of using a cyclotron will be discussed, and the Cyclotron facilities will be compared with other facilities worldwide. RET of the same part at several facilities of varying beam energy can provide tests of the simple models used in this field and elucidate the relative importance of atomic and nuclear effects. The results and implications of such measurements will be discussed