Comparison of Compression Schemes for CLARA

CLARA (Compact Linear Advanced Research Accelerator)at Daresbury Laboratory is proposed to be the UK's national FEL test facility. The accelerator will be a ~250 MeV electron linac capable of producing short, high brightness electron bunches. The machine comprises a 2.5cell RF photocathode gun, one 2 m and three 5 m normal conducting S-band (2998MHz) accelerating structures and a variable magnetic compression chicane. CLARA will be used as a test bed for novel FEL configurations. We present a comparison of acceleration and compression schemes for the candidate machine layout.Comment: 3 pages, 5 figures, IPAC 201

Space-based tests of gravity with laser ranging

Existing capabilities in laser ranging, optical interferometry and metrology, in combination with precision frequency standards, atom-based quantum sensors, and drag-free technologies, are critical for the space-based tests of fundamental physics; as a result, of the recent progress in these disciplines, the entire area is poised for major advances. Thus, accurate ranging to the Moon and Mars will provide significant improvements in several gravity tests, namely the equivalence principle, geodetic precession, PPN parameters $\beta$ and $\gamma$, and possible variation of the gravitational constant $G$. Other tests will become possible with development of an optical architecture that would allow proceeding from meter to centimeter to millimeter range accuracies on interplanetary distances. Motivated by anticipated accuracy gains, we discuss the recent renaissance in lunar laser ranging and consider future relativistic gravity experiments with precision laser ranging over interplanetary distances.Comment: 14 pages, 2 figures, 1 table. To appear in the proceedings of the International Workshop "From Quantum to Cosmos: Fundamental Physics Research in Space", 21-24 May 2006, Warrenton, Virginia, USA http://physics.jpl.nasa.gov/quantum-to-cosmos

Improving the retention rate for residential treatment of substance abuse by sequential intervention for social anxiety

BACKGROUND Residential drug rehabilitation is often seen as a treatment of last resort for people with severe substance abuse issues. These clients present with more severe symptoms, and frequent psychiatric comorbidities relative to outpatients. Given the complex nature of this client group, a high proportion of clients seeking treatment often do not enter treatment, and of those who do, many exit prematurely. Given the highly social nature of residential drug rehabilitation services, it has been argued that social anxieties might decrease the likelihood of an individual entering treatment, or increase the likelihood of them prematurely exiting treatment. The current paper reports on the protocol of a Randomised Control Trial which examined whether treatment of social anxiety prior to entry to treatment improves entry rates and retention in residential drug rehabilitation. METHOD/DESIGN A Randomised Control Trial comparing a social skills treatment with a treatment as usual control group was employed. The social skills training program was based on the principles of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, and was adapted from Ron Rapee's social skills training program. A permutated block randomisation procedure was utilised. Participants are followed up at the completion of the program (or baseline plus six weeks for controls) and at three months following entry into residential rehabilitation (or six months post-baseline for participants who do not enter treatment). DISCUSSION The current study could potentially have implications for addressing social anxiety within residential drug treatment services in order to improve entry and retention in treatment. The results might suggest that the use of additional screening tools in intake assessments, a focus on coping with social anxieties in support groups for clients waiting to enter treatment, and greater awareness of social anxiety issues is warranted. AUSTRALIAN NEW ZEALAND CLINICAL TRIALS REGISTRY Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ACTRN) registration number: ACTRN12611000579998.This research was supported under Australian Research Council's Linkage Projects funding scheme (project number: LP0990162)

Mobile work platform for initial lunar base construction

Described is a system of equipment intended for site preparation and construction of a lunar base. The proximate era of lunar exploration and the initial phase of outpost habitation are addressed. Drilling, leveling, trenching, and cargo handling are within the scope of the system's capabilities. The centerpiece is a three-legged mobile work platform, named SKITTER. Using standard interfaces, the system is modular in nature and analogous to the farmer's tractor and implement set. Conceptually somewhat different from their Earthbound counterparts, the implements are designed to take advantage of the lunar environment as well as the capabilities of the work platform. The proposed system is mechanically simple and weight efficient

Observed Behavioral Effects of Medical Treatment for Type B Aortic Dissections

Observed Behavioral Effects when Medically Treating Type B Aortic Dissections Jordan Williams, James Wu, M.D. July 21, 2014 Abstract This study sought to identify possible behavioral effects from treatment of Type B aortic dissections with antihypertensive medications. A retrospective study of 104 patient records and charts was performed searching for eleven different behavioral effects compiled from listed side effects of five different classes of antihypertensive medications. This resulted in 57 patients with observed behavioral effects, and 47 patients with no observed behavioral effects. The median age of the patient population was 68 ± 16 years. Of the 57 patients with observed behavioral effects, the most frequent symptom seen was anxiety and restlessness. Although it was not possible in this study to prove an exact cause and effect relationship between the antihypertensive medications and the behavioral effects, this study is still significant. The pattern of behavioral symptoms identified in this study, as well as the lack of statistically sound research in this area, create a need for further randomized controlled studies in order to possibly improve patient outcomes by identifying other aspects of needed treatment. Introduction A Stanford Type B aortic dissection is an event where the wall of the descending aorta tears, diverting blood from the true lumen, into a newly created false lumen (Kouchoukos, Blackstone, Hanley, & Kirklin, 2013). Over time this can lead to an aortic aneurysm, and possibly even a rupture of the aorta. Type B dissections are further classified as complicated and uncomplicated. Complicated dissections are those that involve spinal cord, renal and/or visceral ischemia, as well as aortic rupture (Moulakakis , et al., 2014), while uncomplicated dissections involve none of the aforementioned events. Complicated dissections usually require surgical intervention, by an endovascular stent graft or open surgical repair. The accepted treatment of uncomplicated Type B aortic dissections continues to be medical treatment utilizing antihypertensive medications. There are many types of antihypertensive medications used in treatments today, including anti-adrenergic (including alpha and beta blockers), diuretics, calcium channel blockers, angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARB), and drugs that are formed from combinations of all these types (Medications for Treating Hypertension, 2009). With the exception of the diuretics, all of the drugs described act on specific neurological pathways, for example ARB drugs block the angiotensin II receptor, thereby inhibiting angiotensin II from causing an increase in blood pressure. Due to the fact that these drugs act to decrease blood pressure, changes in the patient’s perfusion may occur, especially if the patient was hypertensive before being diagnosed with the dissection. This change in perfusion then may result in a change in behavior, as the patient’s brain tissue is not receiving and exchanging the same amount of material over time as before. Because most of the prescribed antihypertensive medications act on neurological pathways, the drugs may also cause behavioral effects simply due to their mechanism of action. Patients may describe feeling, “dizzy” or “lightheaded”, among other symptoms, and in some cases may begin acting restlessly or even violently. A literature review utilizing the key words “type B dissection”, “behavioral effects” and “medical treatment” revealed no studies done on the behavioral effects of treating Type B aortic dissections with antihypertensive medications. Furthermore this search revealed that there were no studies performed that compared the behavioral effects of different classes of antihypertensive medications being used to treat Type B aortic dissections (Chan, Lai, & Wright , 2014). A literature search using the key words “antihypertensive medication” and “behavioral effects” did result in articles published in the 1980’s and 1990’s, on the behavioral effects of various hypertensive medications. Most of these studies focused on the behavioral effects of one class of antihypertensive medication (Bird, Blizard, & Mann, 1990; Blumenthal , et al., 1988; Callender, Hodsman, Hutcheson, Lever, & Robertson, 1983; Conant , et al., 1989; McAnish & Cruickshank, 1990). However as one summary article stated, while these articles generally found no negative impacts on behavior, most of the articles utilized a patient sample of less than 20. (Muldoon, Manuck, Shapiro, & Waldstein, 1991). Therefore due to this finding, and the lack of research on the behavioral effects of treating type B aortic dissections medically, there is a need for further studies involving antihypertensive medications and their behavioral effects, especially when used to treat Type B aortic dissections. The purpose of this study was to observe possible behavioral consequences of treating Type B aortic dissections medically, in order to determine the frequency of these behavioral consequences, and thus stimulate interest in further research involving randomized controlled trials. Methods This study was a retrospective study initially involving 244 patients selected from the hospital database. Patients were sorted based off of the following inclusion criteria: (1) Patient had to have Type B aortic dissection (versus Type A), (2) Patient had to be treated medically versus surgically, and (3) Patient could not have any history of behavioral disorders (stroke, dementia, etc.) before being treated for their Type B dissection. Of the 244 initial patients, 109 were found to present with type B aortic dissections. Of these 109, 104 patients were treated medically and did not have any major behavioral disorders prior to hospital treatment. These patients’ medical records were then examined to determine if any behavioral changes after administration of antihypertensive medications could be observed. These changes were entered into a database, using the following selection options: anxiousness/restlessness, depression, disorientation, dizziness/lightheadedness, fatigue, hallucinations, headache, nausea, none found, shakes , slurred/garbled speech and syncope. These categories were selected from common side effects listed for the major classes of antihypertensive medications found on Harvard Medical School’s health publication site (Medications for Treating Hypertension, 2009). If a new behavioral category, not seen in prior patients was discovered while reviewing the patients’ charts, this was added to the category set as well. Behavioral effects for each patient were only recorded if they didn’t present with those symptoms prior to hospitalization. For example, if a patient had a history of fatigue and then experienced fatigue, nausea, and dizziness while being treated, then only nausea and dizziness were recorded. A histogram was then constructed to show the relative frequency of the behavioral effects observed, along with a pie chart that compared the number of patients with behavioral effects found to the number of patients that had not observed behavioral effects. Results Table 1 Summary of Patient Demographics Total Patients with Medically Treated Type B Aortic Dissection 104 Number with Behavioral Effects 57 Number of Males 67 Number of Females 37 Date Range 2004-2014 (10 Years) Age Range 21-94 (73 years) Median Age 68 ± 16 years Number of Deaths 10 Figure 1 This figure displays the frequency of a given behavioral effect seen in the study population Figure 2 This figure depicts the relative amount of patients in which behavioral effects found, and patients in which no effects were found These results show that the patients in this study were mostly in their upper 60’s. From the histogram (Figure 1), it can be seen that of the behavioral effects observed, anxiousness/restless had the highest frequency. However it can also be observed that 45% of the patients did not present with any behavioral effects (Figure 2). It is also interesting to note that no events of depression or syncope were observed in the patient population (Figure 1). Conclusion This study revealed that while almost half of the patients observed did not present with any behavioral effects, the other half presented most frequently with “anxiousness/restlessness”. These results are interesting because the fact that half of the patients did not present with any behavioral effects, seems to possibly concur with the findings of the studies performed twenty years prior on hypertensive medications, which either found no negative effect on behavior or possibly found a positive effect. However as stated before, these studies are advanced in age, utilized very small sample sizes, and were note done on patients being treated for type B dissections. Therefore their results could be unduly biased. For the patients that did respond to the antihypertensive medications with some form of behavioral effect, the fact that the top three frequencies of behavioral effect were anxiety and restlessness, along with nausea and fatigue, could indicate areas where patients would need more medication or other treatment. Even though this study utilized a cohort of 104 patients, it was still performed at one location, and thus results could still be skewed based on the patient population surrounding the hospital. Also because this study was retrospective in nature, exact cause and effect cannot necessarily be proven between the antihypertensive medication and the behavioral effects. Based on these findings, randomized controlled trials need to be performed in order to better understand the effects of hypertensive medications on behavior in hypertensive only patients. These results can then be used to study effects that may or may not present themselves in treating Type B aortic dissections medically. In conclusion, this and other studies could greatly enhance the treatment of people with Type B aortic dissections, by identifying critical needs of the patient that might currently be ignored. References Bird, A., Blizard , R., & Mann, A. (1990). Treating hypertension in the older person: an evaluation of the association of blood pressure level and its reduction in cognitive performance. Journal of Hypertension, 147-52. Retrieved from http://www.druglib.com/abstract/bi/bird-as_j-hypertens_19900200.html Blumenthal , J., Madden, D., Krantz, D., Light, K., McKee, D., Ekelund, L., & Simon, J. (1988). Short-term behavioral effects of beta-adrenergic medications in men with mild hypertension. Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, 429-35. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.gov/pubmed/3356086 Callender, J., Hodsman, G., Hutcheson, M., Lever, A., & Robertson, J. (1983). Mood Changes during captopril therapy for hypertension. A double-blind pilot study. Hypertension, 90-93. Retrieved from http://hyper.ahajournals.org/content/5/5_Pt_2/III90.short Chan, K. K., Lai, P., & Wright , J. M. (2014). First-line beta-blockers versus other anithypertensive medications for chronic type B aortic dissection. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews . doi:DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD010426.pub2 Conant , J., Engler , R., Janowsky, D., Maisel, A., Gilpin, E., & LeWinter, M. (1989). Central Nervous System side effects of beta-adrenergic blocking agents with high and low lipid solubility . Journal of Cardiovascular Pharmacology , 656-661. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2471005 Kouchoukos, N., Blackstone, E., Hanley, F., & Kirklin, J. (2013). Kirklin/Barratt-Boyes Cardiac Surgery, 2 Vol Set. Elsevier Health Sciences. Retrieved 2014 McAnish , J., & Cruickshank, J. (1990). Beta-Blockers and Central Nervous System Side Effects. Pharmacology and Therapeutics , 163-197. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1969642 Medications for Treating Hypertension. (2009, August). Harvard Women\u27s Health Watch. Retrieved from http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletters/Harvard_Womens_Health_Watch/2009/August/Medications-for-treating-hypertension Moulakakis , K., Mylonas , S., Dalainas, I., Kakisis, J., Kotsis, T., & Liapis, C. (2014). Management of complicated and uncomplicated acute type B dissection. A systematic review and meta-analysis. Annals of Cardiothoracic Surgery, 234-246. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4052408/ Muldoon, M. F., Manuck, S. B., Shapiro, A. P., & Waldstein, S. R. (1991). Neurobehavioral effects of antihypertensive medications. Journal of Hypertension, 549-559. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/167945

GM1 Ganglioside Modifies α-Synuclein Toxicity and is Neuroprotective in a Rat α-Synuclein Model of Parkinson\u27s Disease.

While GM1 may interact with α-synuclein in vitro to inhibit aggregation, the ability of GM1 to protect against α-synuclein toxicity in vivo has not been investigated. We used targeted adeno-associated viral vector (AAV) overexpression of human mutant α-synuclein (A53T) in the rat substantia nigra (SN) to produce degeneration of SN dopamine neurons, loss of striatal dopamine levels, and behavioral impairment. Some animals received daily GM1 ganglioside administration for 6 weeks, beginning 24 hours after AAV-A53T administration or delayed start GM1 administration for 5 weeks beginning 3 weeks after AAV-A53T administration. Both types of GM1 administration protected against loss of SN dopamine neurons and striatal dopamine levels, reduced α-synuclein aggregation, and delayed start administration of GM1 reversed early appearing behavioral deficits. These results extend prior positive results in MPTP models, are consistent with the results of a small clinical study of GM1 in PD patients that showed slowing of symptom progression with chronic use, and argue for the continued refinement and development of GM1 as a potential disease modifying therapy for PD

Improving LLR Tests of Gravitational Theory

Accurate analysis of precision ranges to the Moon has provided several tests of gravitational theory including the Equivalence Principle, geodetic precession, parameterized post-Newtonian (PPN) parameters $\gamma$ and $\beta$, and the constancy of the gravitational constant {\it G}. Since the beginning of the experiment in 1969, the uncertainties of these tests have decreased considerably as data accuracies have improved and data time span has lengthened. We are exploring the modeling improvements necessary to proceed from cm to mm range accuracies enabled by the new Apache Point Observatory Lunar Laser-ranging Operation (APOLLO) currently under development in New Mexico. This facility will be able to make a significant contribution to the solar system tests of fundamental and gravitational physics. In particular, the Weak and Strong Equivalence Principle tests would have a sensitivity approaching 10$^{-14}$, yielding sensitivity for the SEP violation parameter $\eta$ of $\sim 3\times 10^{-5}$, $v^2/c^2$ general relativistic effects would be tested to better than 0.1%, and measurements of the relative change in the gravitational constant, $\dot{G}/G$, would be $\sim0.1$% the inverse age of the universe. Having this expected accuracy in mind, we discusses the current techniques, methods and existing physical models used to process the LLR data. We also identify the challenges for modeling and data analysis that the LLR community faces today in order to take full advantage of the new APOLLO ranging station.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figures, talk presented at 2003 NASA/JPL Workshop on Fundamental Physics in Space, April 14-16, 2003, Oxnard, C

The effect of learning styles on course performance: A quantile regression analysis: Working paper series--08-02

In this study, we investigated the relationship between student performance and learning styles for students enrolled in a basic business statistics course. This course used a learner-centered approach that incorporated multiple teaching styles. To assess our success in designing a course that facilitates learning for all learning styles, we evaluated the impact of students' learning style on their performance in the course. To accomplish this analysis, we utilized quantile regression, a statistical technique from the economics literature developed by Koenker and Bassett (1978) that is an alternative to the classical ordinary least squares (OLS) regression. Quantile regression allowed investigation of a more complete picture of student performance over the entire population as opposed to the mean effect from OLS regression. Learning style was not significant in determining a student's overall course score for the entire cohort of students. For small cohorts of students, learning styles were significant for exam average. That is, some students experienced either a disadvantage or advantage due to their learning style for the exam course component. However, for the overall course performance, a student with a particular learning style was neither advantaged nor disadvantaged

Multivariate side-band subtraction using probabilistic event weights

A common situation in experimental physics is to have a signal which can not be separated from a non-interfering background through the use of any cut. In this paper, we describe a procedure for determining, on an event-by-event basis, a quality factor ($Q$-factor) that a given event originated from the signal distribution. This procedure generalizes the "side-band" subtraction method to higher dimensions without requiring the data to be divided into bins. The $Q$-factors can then be used as event weights in subsequent analysis procedures, allowing one to more directly access the true spectrum of the signal.Comment: 17 pages, 9 figure