Valuing Children's Fatality Risk Reductions

The estimates used by U.S. Federal agencies and others to value reductions in fatality risks generally reflect adults’ willingness to trade income for changes in their own risks. Several studies have now been completed that address the value of risk reductions to children. We review these studies for quality and applicability based on selection and evaluation criteria derived from recent discussions of best practices. To limit the effects of between-study variability, we searched for studies that estimate values for both adults and children using a consistent approach. We find seven studies that meet our selection criteria. The studies suggest that the value for children exceeds the value for adults by a factor of 1.2 to 3.0, with a midpoint of 2.1. Studies that estimate the value of reductions in nonfatal risks lead to similar results. Although some studies suggest that the divergence between child and adult values may decrease as the child ages, more work is needed to determine the extent to which these multipliers vary across age groups

Valuing Children's Fatality Risk Reductions

The estimates used by U.S. Federal agencies and others to value reductions in fatality risks generally reflect adults’ willingness to trade income for changes in their own risks. Several studies have now been completed that address the value of risk reductions to children. We review these studies for quality and applicability based on selection and evaluation criteria derived from recent discussions of best practices. To limit the effects of between-study variability, we searched for studies that estimate values for both adults and children using a consistent approach. We find seven studies that meet our selection criteria. The studies suggest that the value for children exceeds the value for adults by a factor of 1.2 to 3.0, with a midpoint of 2.1. Studies that estimate the value of reductions in nonfatal risks lead to similar results. Although some studies suggest that the divergence between child and adult values may decrease as the child ages, more work is needed to determine the extent to which these multipliers vary across age groups

Strategic Value of an Unbound, Interoperable PHR Platform for Rights–Managed Care Coordination

Health care reform requires an information-system paradigm shift. We present an innovative implementation involving an unbound, interoperable PHR platform that enforces patient permissions while exchanging structured data via Web services with certified EHRs. We draw on a strategic health information technology framework and a disruptive-innovation argument for the underlying conceptual basis. We describe how the platform’s three-tier architecture supports rights–managed care coordination. Finally, we discuss future observational and experimental research on the platform’s cost-effectiveness

Wire scanners in low energy accelerators

Fast wire scanners are today considered as part of standard instrumentation in high energy synchrotrons. The extension of their use to synchrotrons working at lower energies, where Coulomb scattering can be important and the transverse beam size is large, introduces new complications considering beam heating of the wire, composition of the secondary particle shower and geometrical consideration in the detection set-up. A major problem in treating these effects is that the creation of secondaries in a thin carbon wire by a energetic primary beam is difficult to describe in an analytical way. We are here presenting new results from a full Monte Carlo simulation of this process yielding information on heat deposited in the wire, particle type and energy spectrum of secondaries and angular dependence as a function of primary beam energy. The results are used to derive limits for the use of wire scanners in low energy accelerators.Comment: 20 pages, 8 Postscript figures, uses elsart.cl

A comparison of soil food webs beneath C3- and C4-dominated grasslands

Soil food webs influence organic matter mineralization and plant nutrient availability, but the potential for plants to capitalize on these processes by altering soil food webs has received little attention. We compared soil food webs beneath C3- and C4-grass plantings by measuring bacterial and fungal biomass and protozoan and nematode abundance repeatedly over 2 years. We tested published expectations that C3 detritus and root chemistry (low lignin/N) favor bacterial-based food webs and root-feeding nematodes, whereas C4 detritus (high lignin/N) and greater production favor fungal decomposers and predatory nematodes. We also hypothesized that seasonal differences in plant growth between the two grassland types would generate season-specific differences in soil food webs. In contrast to our expectations, bacterial biomass and ciliate abundance were greater beneath C4 grasses, and we found no differences in fungi, amoebae, flagellates, or nematodes. Soil food webs varied significantly among sample dates, but differences were unrelated to aboveground plant growth. Our findings, in combination with previous work, suggest that preexisting soil properties moderate the effect of plant inputs on soil food webs. We hypothesize that high levels of soil organic matter provide a stable environment and energy source for soil organisms and thus buffer soil food webs from short-term dynamics of plant communities

Potential net primary productivity in South America: application of a global model

We use a mechanistically based ecosystem simulation model to describe and analyze the spatial and temporal patterns of terrestrial net primary productivity (NPP) in South America. The Terrestrial Ecosystem Model (TEM) is designed to predict major carbon and nitrogen fluxes and pool sizes in terrestrial ecosystems at continental to global scales. Information from intensively studies field sites is used in combination with continental—scale information on climate, soils, and vegetation to estimate NPP in each of 5888 non—wetland, 0.5° latitude °0.5° longitude grid cells in South America, at monthly time steps. Preliminary analyses are presented for the scenario of natural vegetation throughout the continent, as a prelude to evaluating human impacts on terrestrial NPP. The potential annual NPP of South America is estimated to be 12.5 Pg/yr of carbon (26.3 Pg/yr of organic matter) in a non—wetland area of 17.0 ° 106 km2. More than 50% of this production occurs in the tropical and subtropical evergreen forest region. Six independent model runs, each based on an independently derived set of model parameters, generated mean annual NPP estimates for the tropical evergreen forest region ranging from 900 to 1510 g°m—2°yr—1 of carbon, with an overall mean of 1170 g°m—2°yr—1. Coefficients of variation in estimated annual NPP averaged 20% for any specific location in the evergreen forests, which is probably within the confidence limits of extant NPP measurements. Predicted rates of mean annual NPP in other types of vegetation ranged from 95 g°m—2°yr—1 in arid shrublands to 930 g°m@?yr—1 in savannas, and were within the ranges measured in empirical studies. The spatial distribution of predicted NPP was directly compared with estimates made using the Miami mode of Lieth (1975). Overall, TEM predictions were °10% lower than those of the Miami model, but the two models agreed closely on the spatial patterns of NPP in south America. Unlike previous models, however, TEM estimates NPP monthly, allowing for the evaluation of seasonal phenomena. This is an important step toward integration of ecosystem models with remotely sensed information, global climate models, and atmospheric transport models, all of which are evaluated at comparable spatial and temporal scales. Seasonal patterns of NPP in South America are correlated with moisture availability in most vegetation types, but are strongly influenced by seasonal differences in cloudiness in the tropical evergreen forests. On an annual basis, moisture availability was the factor that was correlated most strongly with annual NPP in South America, but differences were again observed among vegetation types. These results allow for the investigation and analysis of climatic controls over NPP at continental scales, within and among vegetation types, and within years. Further model validation is needed. Nevertheless, the ability to investigate NPP—environment interactions with a high spatial and temporal resolution at continental scales should prove useful if not essential for rigorous analysis of the potential effects of global climate changes on terrestrial ecosystems

Injection Matching Studies using Turn by Turn Beam Profile Measurements in the CERN PS

The very small emittance beam needed for the LHC requires that the emittance blow-up in its injector machines must be kept to a minimum. Mismatch upon the beam transfer from one machine to the next is a potential source of such blow-up. The CERN PS ring is equipped with 3 Secondary Emission Grids (SEM-Grids) which are used for emittance measurement at injection. One of these has been converted to a multi-turn mode, in which several tens of consecutive beam passages can be observed. This allows the study of mismatch between the PS-Booster and the PS. This paper describes the instrument and experimental results obtained during the last year

Linac4 Beam Characterization before Injection into the CERN PS Booster

Construction work for the new CERN linear accelerator, Linac4, started in October 2008. Linac4 will replace the existing Linac2 and provide an H− beam at 160 MeV (as opposed to the present 50 MeV proton beam) for injection into the CERN PS Booster (PSB). The charge-exchange H− injection combined with the higher beam energy will allow for an increase in beam brightness required for reaching the ultimate LHC luminosity. Commissioning of Linac4 and of the transfer line to the PSB is planned for the last quarter of 2012. Appropriate beam instrumentation is foreseen to provide transverse and longitudinal beam characterization at the exit of Linac4 and in two dedicated measurement lines located before injection into the PSB. A detailed description of the diagnostics set, especially of spectrometer and emittance meter, and the upgrade of the measurement lines for Linac4 commissioning and operation is presented