LHC One-Turn Delay Feedback Commissioning

The LHC One-Turn delay FeedBack (OTFB) is an FPGA based feedback system part of the LHC cavity controller, which produces gain only around the revolution frequency (frev = 11.245 kHz) harmonics. As such, it helps reduce the transient beam loading and effective cavity impedance. Consequently, it increases the stability margin for Longitudinal Coupled Bunch Instabilities driven by the cavity impedance at the fundamental and allows reliable operation at higher beam currents. The OTFB was commissioned on all sixteen cavities in mid-October 2011 and has been used in operation since. The commissioning procedure and algorithms for setting-up are presented. The resulting improvements in transient beam loading, beam stability, and required klystron power are analyzed. The commissioning of the OTFB reduced the cavity voltage phase modulation from approximately six degrees peak-to-peak to below one degree at 400 MHz with nominal bunch intensity of 1.1e11 protons

Studies of RF Noise Induced Bunch Lengthening at the LHC

Radio Frequency noise induced bunch lengthening can strongly affect the Large Hadron Collider performance through luminosity reduction, particle loss, and other effects. Models and theoretical formalisms demonstrating the dependence of the LHC longitudinal bunch length on the RF station noise spectral content have been presented*,**. Initial measurements validated these studies and determined the performance limiting RF components. For the existing LHC LLRF implementation the bunch length increases with a rate of 1 mm/hr, which is higher than the intrabeam scattering diffusion and leads to a 27% bunch length increase over a 20 hour store. This work presents measurements from the LHC that better quantify the relationship between the RF noise and longitudinal emittance blowup. Noise was injected at specific frequency bands and with varying amplitudes at the LHC accelerating cavities. The experiments presented in this paper confirmed the predicted effects on the LHC bunch length due to both the noise around the synchrotron frequency resonance and the noise in other frequency bands aliased down to the synchrotron frequency by the periodic beam sampling of the accelerating voltage

Commissioning of the 400 MHz LHC RF System

The installation of the 400 MHz superconducting RF system in LHC is finished and commissioning is under way. The final RF system comprises four cryo-modules each with four cavities in the LHC tunnel straight section round IP4. Also underground in an adjacent cavern shielded from the main tunnel are the sixteen 300 kW klystron RF power sources with their high voltage bunkers, two Faraday cages containing RF feedback and beam control electronics, and racks containing all the slow controls. The system and the experience gained during commissioning will be described. In particular, results from conditioning the cavities and their movable main power couplers and the setting up of the low level RF feedbacks will be presented

LHC Beam Diffusion Dependence on RF Noise: Models and Measurements

Radio Frequency (RF) accelerating system noise and non-idealities can have detrimental impact on the LHC performance through longitudinal motion and longitudinal emittance growth. A theoretical formalism has been developed to relate the beam and RF loop dynamics with the bunch length growth [1]. Measurements were conducted at LHC to validate the formalism, determine the performance limiting RF components, and provide the foundation for beam diffusion estimates for higher energies and intensities. A brief summary of these results is presented in this work

Self-reported personality traits in forensic populations: a meta-analysis

FSW - Self-regulation models for health behavior and psychopathology - ou

Land and Peace in Colombia: FFP Methodology for Field Data Collection and Data Handling

Effective land administration is an essential step on the road to peace in Colombia. The Colombian government plans to have a complete nation-wide land tenure coverage within seven years. The traditional approach to land administration in Colombia is not up to this policy challenge: the pace is too slow, the costs too high, the procedures too complex. Fast and effective land administration is essential for the implementation of the Reforma Rural Integral of the Peace Agreements, and to maintain public confidence in the peace process. The Netherlands contributes to the implementation of the peace agreements by focussing on fast and effective land administration, together with the Colombian institutions. This paper presents a methodology for a project where fit-for-purpose Land Administration is tested at scale – after a successful field test. The test will be done in two pilot areas. These are participatory and integrated pilots, leading to cadastral maps and, more important, to land titles whenever the legal framework and institutional cooperation allows for land regularization and adjudication

First Beam Commissioning of the 400 MHz LHC RF System

Hardware commissioning of the LHC RF system was successfully completed in time for first beams in LHC in September 2008. All cavities ware conditioned to nominal field, power systems tested and all Low level synchronization systems, cavity controllers and beam control electronics were tested and calibrated. Beam was successfully captured in ring 2, cavities phased, and a number of initial measurements made. These results are presented and tests and preparation for colliding beams in 2009 are outlined

Identification and differential expression dynamics of peach small GTPases encoding genes during fruit development and ripening

The function of monomeric GTPases of the RAS superfamily in fruit development and ripening has been partially characterized. Here the identification of peach (Prunus persica) small GTPases of the RAS superfamily expressed in fruit and the characterization of their expression profiles during fruit development are described. Extensive searches on expressed sequence tag (EST) databases led to the selection of a total of 24 genes from peach encoding proteins with significant similarity to Arabidopsis small GTPases. Sequence similarity analyses and identification of conserved motifs, diagnostic of specific RAS families and subfamilies, enabled bona fide assignment of fourteen PpRAB, seven PpARF/ARL/SAR, two PpROP and one PpRAN GTPases. Transcriptional expression profiles of peach monomeric GTPases, analysed by real-time quantitative reverse transcription-PCR, were obtained for mesocarp samples, collected in two consecutive years. Reproducible patterns of expression could be identified for five peach RAB-encoding genes (PpRABA1-1, PpRABA2, PpRABD2-1, PpRABD2-2, and PpRABC2), two ARFs (PpARFA1-1 and PpARLB1), and two ROPs (PpROP3 and PpROP4). Interestingly, the transient transcriptional up-regulation of PpARF genes and of PpRAB genes of the A and D clades, putatively controlling the exocytic delivery of cell wall components and modifying enzymes, appeared to coincide with peaks of growth speed and sugar accumulation and with the final phases of ripening. To our knowledge, this is the first description of the co-ordinated differential expression of a set of genes encoding small GTPases of the ARF and RAB families which takes place during key moments of fruit development and maturation

Specialty-based, voluntary incident reporting in neonatal intensive care: description of 4846 incident reports

OBJECTIVES: To examine the characteristics of incidents reported after introduction of a voluntary, non-punitive incident reporting system for neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) in the Netherlands; and to investigate which types of reported incident pose the highest risk to patients in the NICU. DESIGN: Prospective multicentre survey. METHODS: Voluntary, non-punitive incident reporting was introduced in eight level III NICUs and one paediatric surgical ICU. An incident was defined as any unintended event which (could have) reduced the safety margin for the patient. Multidisciplinary, unit-based patient safety committees systematically collected and analysed incident reports, and assigned risk scores to each reported incident. Data were centrally collected for specialty-based analysis. This paper describes the characteristics of incidents reported during the first year. Bivariate logistic regression analysis was conducted to identify high-risk incident categories. RESULTS: There were 5225 incident reports on 3859 admissions, of which 4846 were eligible for analysis. Incidents with medication were most frequently reported (27%), followed by laboratory (10%) and enteral nutrition (8%). Severe harm was described in seven incident reports, and moderate harm in 63 incident reports. Incidents involving mechanical ventilation and blood products were most likely to be assigned high-risk scores, followed by those involving parenteral nutrition, intravascular lines and medication dosing errors. CONCLUSIONS: Incidents occur much more frequently in Dutch NICUs than has been previously observed, and their impact on patient morbidity is considerable. Reported incidents concerning mechanical ventilation, blood products, intravascular lines, parenteral nutrition and medication dosing errors pose the highest risk to patients in the NIC