931 research outputs found
The structure of wool and wool textile production, trade and consumption 1958-69
This paper is a revision and updating of the Agricultural Economics Research Unit Research report no. 55.In this paper we have set out, in the form of charts and tables, the results of an attempt to measure the disposition of wool produced by the major producing and consuming countries in the post-war period. Our aim is to present a picture of the structure of the world wool market, by tracing through the major flows of wool from the point of raw production to its final use in the form of wool type textiles measured in clean fibre content, and to identify the growing points of world demand for wool. The paper is mainly descriptive and no attempt is made at analysis, though the data presented was assembled in the course of an analysis of factors affecting wool prices. In such an analysis we would be concerned, as with the analysis of prices of other agricultural products, with the interaction of supply and demand. But unlike other New Zealand export products, for example meat, in which we confine our attention to one particular type of meat in a few particular countries, we focus on wool because of the infinite possibilities of substitution possible between different grades and types. And we have to take as our market the world as a whole, since nearly every country in the world consumes wool in greater or smaller quantities, if only in the form of small quantities of imported wool textiles
Underuse of coronary revascularization procedures in patients considered appropriate candidates for revascularization.
Background: Ratings by an expert panel of the appropriateness of treatments may offer better guidance for clinical practice than the variable decisions of individual clinicians, yet there have been no prospective studies of clinical outcomes. We compared the clinical outcomes of patients treated medically after angiography with those of patients who underwent revascularization, within groups defined by ratings of the degree of appropriateness of revascularization in varying clinical circumstances.Methods: This was a prospective study of consecutive patients undergoing coronary angiography at three London hospitals. Before patients were recruited, a nine-member expert panel rated the appropriateness of percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) and coronary-artery bypass grafting (CABG) on a nine-point scale (with 1 denoting highly inappropriate and 9 denoting highly appropriate) for specific clinical indications. These ratings were then applied to a population of patients with coronary artery disease. However, the patients were treated without regard to the ratings. A total of 2552 patients were followed for a median of 30 months after angiography.Results: Of 908 patients with indications for which PTCA was rated appropriate (score, 7 to 9), 34 percent were treated medically; these patients were more likely to have angina at follow-up than those who underwent PTCA (odds ratio, 1.97; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.29 to 3.00). Of 1353 patients with indications for which CABG was considered appropriate, 26 percent were treated medically; they were more likely than those who underwent CABG to die or have a nonfatal myocardial infarction - the composite primary outcome (hazard ratio, 4.08; 95 percent confidence interval, 2.82 to 5.93) - and to have angina (odds ratio, 3.03; 95 percent confidence interval, 2.08 to 4.42). Furthermore, there was a graded relation between rating and outcome over the entire scale of appropriateness (P for linear trend = 0.002).Conclusions: On the basis of the ratings of the expert panel, we identified substantial underuse of coronary revascularization among patients who were considered appropriate candidates for these procedures. Underuse was associated with adverse clinical outcomes. (N Engl J Med 2001;344:645-54.) Copyright (C) 2001 Massachusetts Medical Society
A Mini-PET beamline for optimized proton delivery to the ISOTRACEâą target system
Introduction
The ISOTRACEâą Super-Conducting Cyclotron is PMB-Alcenâs redeveloped and modernized version of Oxford Instrumentâs OSCAR superconducting cyclotron [1]. Its extracted 80+ mi-croamperes of 12 MeV protons are used for the production of PET radioisotopes. Following the philosophy of Dickie, Stevenson, Szlavik [2] for minimizing dose to personnel, and as developed by Dehnel et al [3,4], and Stokely et al [5], the ISOTRACEâą shall utilize an innovative, light-weight, integrated and self-supporting Mini-Beamline. This permits the relatively high residual radiation fields around PET targets to be moved ~1 metre away from the cyclotron, and facilitates the use of local shielding (around the targets) that limits prompt gammas and neutrons, but more importantly attenuates the residual target radiation, so that maintenance/research staff can work on the cyclotron in a relatively low activity environment. In addition, the mini-beamline for PET utilizes a compound quadrupole/steerer doublet that permits active and dynamic focusing/steering of the extracted proton beam for optimized production and minimized losses [3], so it improves on the successful work of Theroux et al [6]. The integrated beamline unit is extremely small, so that it is very unlike bulky traditional PET and SPECT beamlines that require substantial support structures, such as described by Dehnel in [7,8].
Material and Methods
The ISOTRACEâą cyclotron is pictured in FIG. 1. The exit port flange and gate valve to which the integrated mini-beamline for PET shall be mounted is shown. Immediately upstream of the exit port, hidden from view, is a 4 jaw collimator (called BPI for Beam Position Indicator) with spilled beam current readbacks to the control system. TABLE 1 shows the nominal beam emittance and Twiss parameter values at the exit port flange location. This ion-optical information is necessary to simulate ion beam transport, develop the mini-beamline, and determine a nominal tune (i.e. magnet settings).
Results and Conclusion
TABLE 2 shows the ion-optical system parameters. FIGS. 2 and 3 show the horizontal and vertical beam profiles. The Horizontally focusing Quadrupole magnet (HQ), and Vertically focusing Quadrupole magnet (VQ) aperture diameter, 33 mm, was chosen to give sufficient beam acceptance. The focusing strength is a function of BL, so the effective length, L = 150 mm, was chosen to ensure Bmax less than 0.3 Tesla, while keeping overall magnet mass down. The quad-rupole magnets are fitted with water-cooled compound coils in which the copper/mylar strip wound portion of each coil is a winding for the quadrupole focusing function, and the wire wound portion is for the steering function. To increase beam acceptance and provide additional section strength for the pipe support function, the internal aperture of the low-activation aluminium beam pipe and the external shape are in the shape of a cross. FIG. 4 shows the beam crosssection at the mid-point of the downstream quadrupole magnet, and illustrates the additional acceptance as compared to a round beampipe. In order to machine the interior profile, the pipe is comprised of two premachined pieces that are friction stirwelded together. FIG. 5 is an isometric of the mini-beamline for PET.
The four upstream HQ compound coils are excited with a 75A power supply for the horizontally focusing quadrupole magnet function, and a ± 10A power supply for a vertical steering function. The same power supplies are used for the four downstream VQ compound coils for the purpose of a vertically focusing quadrupole magnet function and horizontal steering function
Thomas rotation and Thomas precession
Exact and simple calculation of Thomas rotation and Thomas precessions along
a circular world line is presented in an absolute (coordinate-free) formulation
of special relativity. Besides the simplicity of calculations the absolute
treatment of spacetime allows us to gain a deeper insight into the phenomena of
Thomas rotation and Thomas precession.Comment: 20 pages, to appear in Int. J. Theo. Phy
On the relation of Thomas rotation and angular velocity of reference frames
In the extensive literature dealing with the relativistic phenomenon of
Thomas rotation several methods have been developed for calculating the Thomas
rotation angle of a gyroscope along a circular world line. One of the most
appealing concepts, introduced in \cite{rindler}, is to consider a rotating
reference frame co-moving with the gyroscope, and relate the precession of the
gyroscope to the angular velocity of the reference frame. A recent paper
\cite{herrera}, however, applies this principle to three different co-moving
rotating reference frames and arrives at three different Thomas rotation
angles. The reason for this apparent paradox is that the principle of
\cite{rindler} is used for a situation to which it does not apply. In this
paper we rigorously examine the theoretical background and limitations of
applicability of the principle of \cite{rindler}. Along the way we also
establish some general properties of {\it rotating reference frames}, which may
be of independent interest.Comment: 14 pages, 2 figure
New Discrete Basis for Nuclear Structure Studies
A complete discrete set of spherical single-particle wave functions for
studies of weakly-bound many-body systems is proposed. The new basis is
obtained by means of a local-scale point transformation of the spherical
harmonic oscillator wave functions. Unlike the harmonic oscillator states, the
new wave functions decay exponentially at large distances. Using the new basis,
characteristics of weakly-bound orbitals are analyzed and the ground state
properties of some spherical doubly-magic nuclei are studied. The basis of the
transformed harmonic oscillator is a significant improvement over the harmonic
oscillator basis, especially in studies of exotic nuclei where the coupling to
the particle continuum is important.Comment: 13 pages, RevTex, 6 p.s. figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Gamow Shell Model Description of Weakly Bound Nuclei and Unbound Nuclear States
We present the study of weakly bound, neutron-rich nuclei using the nuclear
shell model employing the complex Berggren ensemble representing the bound
single-particle states, unbound Gamow states, and the non-resonant continuum.
In the proposed Gamow Shell Model, the Hamiltonian consists of a one-body
finite depth (Woods-Saxon) potential and a residual two-body interaction. We
discuss the basic ingredients of the Gamow Shell Model. The formalism is
illustrated by calculations involving {\it several} valence neutrons outside
the double-magic core: He and O.Comment: 19 pages, 20 encapsulated PostScript figure
OGLE-2013-BLG-0102LA,B: Microlensing binary with components at star/brown-dwarf and brown-dwarf/planet boundaries
We present the analysis of the gravitational microlensing event
OGLE-2013-BLG-0102. The light curve of the event is characterized by a strong
short-term anomaly superposed on a smoothly varying lensing curve with a
moderate magnification . It is found that the event was
produced by a binary lens with a mass ratio between the components of and the anomaly was caused by the passage of the source trajectory over a
caustic located away from the barycenter of the binary. From the analysis of
the effects on the light curve due to the finite size of the source and the
parallactic motion of the Earth, the physical parameters of the lens system are
determined. The measured masses of the lens components are and , which correspond to
near the hydrogen-burning and deuterium-burning mass limits, respectively. The
distance to the lens is and the projected separation
between the lens components is .Comment: 6 figures, 2 tables, ApJ submitte
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