The Assembly of the LHC Short Straight Sections at CERN: Work Organization, Quality Assurance and Lessons Learned

After 4 years of activity, the assembly of approximately 500 Short Straight Sections (SSS) for the LHC has come to an end at the beginning of 2007. This activity, which was initially foreseen in European industry, was in-sourced at CERN because of the insolvency of the prime contractor. While the quadrupole cold masses were produced in industry, the assembly within their cryostats was transferred to CERN and executed by an external company under a result-oriented contract. CERN procured cryostat components, set up a dedicated 2000 m2 assembly hall with all the specific assembly equipment and tooling and defined the assembly and testing procedures. The contractor took up responsibility for the delivery, on time, of assemblies according to the required quality. A dedicated CERN production and quality assurance team was constituted. A specific quality assurance plan was set up involving 2 additional contractors responsible for weld inspections on a total of about 20'000 assembly welds and the execution of about 3300 leak detection tests. This paper presents the organizational aspects of the activity and the experience gained throughout the production. The learning curves and statistics by type of non-conformities detected and general quality assurance aspects are presented and discussed. The main lessons learnt are summarized, in an attempt to draw some conclusions which could be useful in making strategic choices for the cryostat assembly in future large-scale accelerators

Amplified fragment length homoplasy: in silico analysis for model and non-model species

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>AFLP markers are widely used in evolutionary genetics and ecology. However the frequent occurrence of non-homologous co-migrating fragments (homoplasy) both at the intra- and inter-individual levels in AFLP data sets is known to skew key parameters in population genetics. Geneticists can take advantage of the growing number of full genome sequences available for model species to study AFLP homoplasy and to predict it in non-model species.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In this study we performed <it>in silico </it>AFLPs on the complete genome of three model species to predict intra-individual homoplasy in a prokaryote (<it>Bacillus thuringiensis </it>ser. <it>konkukian</it>), a plant (<it>Arabidopsis thaliana</it>) and an animal (<it>Aedes aegypti</it>). In addition, we compared <it>in silico </it>AFLPs to empirical data obtained from three related non-model species (<it>Bacillus thuringiensis </it>ser. <it>israelensis, Arabis alpina </it>and <it>Aedes rusticus</it>). Our results show that homoplasy rate sharply increases with the number of peaks per profile. However, for a given number of peaks per profile, genome size or taxonomical range had no effect on homoplasy. Furthermore, the number of co-migrating fragments in a single peak was dependent on the genome richness in repetitive sequences: we found up to 582 co-migrating fragments in <it>Ae. aegypti</it>. Finally, we show that <it>in silico </it>AFLPs can help to accurately predict AFLP profiles in related non-model species.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>These predictions can be used to tackle current issues in the planning of AFLP studies by limiting homoplasy rate and population genetic estimation bias. ISIF (In SIlico Fingerprinting) program is freely available at <url>http://www-leca.ujf-grenoble.fr/logiciels.htm</url>.</p

Leak-Tight Welding Experience from the Industrial Assembly of the LHC Cryostats at CERN

The assembly of the approximately 1700 LHC main ring cryostats at CERN involved extensive welding of cryogenic lines and vacuum vessels. More than 6 km of welding requiring leak tightness to a rate better than 1.10-9 mbar.l.s-1 on stainless steel and aluminium piping and envelopes was made, essentially by manual welding but also making use of orbital welding machines. In order to fulfil the safety regulations related to pressure vessels and to comply with the leak-tightness requirements of the vacuum systems of the machine, welds were executed according to high qualification standards and following a severe quality assurance plan. Leak detection by He mass spectrometry was extensively used. Neon leak detection was used successfully to locate leaks in the presence of helium backgrounds. This paper presents the quality assurance strategy adopted for welds and leak detection. It presents the statistics of non-conformities on welds and leaks detected throughout the entire production and the advances in the use of alternative leak detection methods in an industrial environment

Burnout in the ICU : potential consequences for staff and patient well-being

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Fundamental units of numerosity estimation

Humans can approximately enumerate a large number of objects at a single glance. While several mechanisms have been proposed to account for this ability, the fundamental units over which they operate remain unclear. Previous studies have argued that estimation mechanisms act only on topologically distinct units or on units formed by spatial grouping cues such as proximity and connectivity, but not on units grouped by similarity. Over four experiments, we tested this claim by systematically assessing and demonstrating that similarity grouping leads to underestimation, just as spatial grouping does. Ungrouped objects with the same low-level properties as grouped objects did not cause underestimation. Further, the underestimation caused by spatial and similarity grouping was additive, suggesting that these grouping processes operate independently. These findings argue against the proposal that estimation mechanisms operate solely on topological units. Instead, we conclude that estimation processes act on representations constructed after Gestalt grouping principles, whether similarity based or spatial, have organised incoming visual input

Total synthesis and biological evaluation of the tetramic acid based natural product harzianic acid and its stereoisomers

Financial support for this project was provided by Cancer Research UK (Grant No. C21383/A6950)The bioactive natural product harzianic acid was prepared for the first time in just six steps (longest linear sequence) with an overall yield of 22%. The identification of conditions to telescope amide bond formation and a Lacey-Dieckmann reaction into one pot proved important. The three stereoisomers of harzianic acid were also prepared, providing material for comparison of their biological activity. While all of the isomers promoted root growth, improved antifungal activity was unexpectedly associated with isomers in the enantiomeric series opposite that of harzianic acid.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Multicentre evaluation of the Naída Ci Q70 sound processor: Feedback from cochlear implant users and professionals

The aim of this survey was to gather data from both implant recipients and professionals on the ease of use of the Naída CI Q70 (Naída CI) sound processor from Advanced Bionics and on the usefulness of the new functions and features available. A secondary objective was to investigate fitting practices with the new processor. A comprehensive user satisfaction survey was conducted in a total of 186 subjects from 24 centres. In parallel, 23 professional questionnaires were collected from 11 centres. Overall, there was high satisfaction with the Naída CI processor from adults, children, experienced and new CI users as well as from professionals. The Naída CI processor was shown as being easy to use by all ages of recipients and by professionals. The majority of experienced CI users rated the Naída CI processor as being similar or better than their previous processor in all areas surveyed. The Naída CI was recommended by the professionals for fitting in all populations. Features like UltraZoom, ZoomControl and DuoPhone would not be fitted to very young children in contrast to adults. Positive ratings were obtained for ease of use, comfort and usefulness of the new functions and features of the Naída CI sound processor. Seventy-seven percent of the experienced CI users rated the new processor as being better than their previous sound processor from a general point of view. The survey also showed that fitting practices were influenced by the age of the user