2,370 research outputs found
River doctors: Learning from medicine to improve ecosystem management
Effective ecosystem management requires a robust methodology to analyse, remedy and avoid ecosystem damage. Here we propose that the overall conceptual framework and approaches developed over millennia in medical science and practice to diagnose, cure and prevent disease can provide an excellent template. Key principles to adopt include combining well-established assessment methods with new analytical techniques and restricting both diagnosis and treatment to qualified personnel at various levels of specialization, in addition to striving for a better mechanistic understanding of ecosystem structure and functioning, as well as identifying the proximate and ultimate causes of ecosystem impairment. In addition to applying these principles, ecosystem management would much benefit from systematically embracing how medical doctors approach and interview patients, diagnose health condition, select treatments, take follow-up measures, and prevent illness. Here we translate the overall conceptual framework from medicine into environmental terms and illustrate with examples from rivers how the systematic adoption of the individual steps proven and tested in medical practice can improve ecosystem management.EC/FP7/603629/EU/MANAGING THE EFFECTS OF MULTIPLE STRESSORS ON AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS UNDER WATER SCARCITY/GLOBAQUAEC/FP7/603378/EU/Managing Aquatic ecosystems and water Resources under multiple Stress/MAR
Vaccine-preventable haemophilus influenza type B disease burden and cost-effectiveness of infant vaccination in Indonesia.
BACKGROUND: Most of Asia, including Indonesia, does not use Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) conjugate vaccines. We estimated total vaccine-preventable disease burden and the cost-effectiveness of Hib conjugate vaccine in Indonesia. METHODS: Hib pneumonia and meningitis incidences for children with access to health care were derived from a randomized vaccine probe study on Lombok Island, Indonesia during 1998-2002. Incidences were adjusted for limited access to care. Health system and patient out-of-pocket treatment cost data were collected concurrent with the probe study. For Hib vaccine in monovalent and combined (with DTP-HepB) presentations, we used 2007 UNICEF vaccine prices of US3.75 per dose. RESULTS: For the 2007 Indonesian birth cohort, Hib vaccine would prevent meningitis in 1 of every 179 children, pneumonia in 1 of every 18 children, and 4.9% of mortality among those younger than 5 years. The total incremental societal costs of introducing Hib vaccine in monovalent and pentavalent presentations were, respectively, US8.93 per child vaccinated. Annual discounted treatment costs averted amounted to 20% of pentavalent vaccine costs. For the pentavalent vaccine, the incremental costs per discounted death and disability adjusted life-year averted amounted to US74, respectively, versus 102 for monovalent vaccine. CONCLUSIONS: Routine infant Hib vaccination would prevent a large burden of pediatric illness and death in Indonesia. Even without external funding support, Hib vaccine will be a highly cost-effective intervention in either a monovalent or pentavalent presentation based on commonly used benchmarks
Three-dimensional Models of Core-collapse Supernovae From Low-mass Progenitors With Implications for Crab
We present 3D full-sphere supernova simulations of non-rotating low-mass (~9
Msun) progenitors, covering the entire evolution from core collapse through
bounce and shock revival, through shock breakout from the stellar surface,
until fallback is completed several days later. We obtain low-energy explosions
[~(0.5-1.0)x 10^{50} erg] of iron-core progenitors at the low-mass end of the
core-collapse supernova (LMCCSN) domain and compare to a super-AGB (sAGB)
progenitor with an oxygen-neon-magnesium core that collapses and explodes as
electron-capture supernova (ECSN). The onset of the explosion in the LMCCSN
models is modelled self-consistently using the Vertex-Prometheus code, whereas
the ECSN explosion is modelled using parametric neutrino transport in the
Prometheus-HOTB code, choosing different explosion energies in the range of
previous self-consistent models. The sAGB and LMCCSN progenitors that share
structural similarities have almost spherical explosions with little metal
mixing into the hydrogen envelope. A LMCCSN with less 2nd dredge-up results in
a highly asymmetric explosion. It shows efficient mixing and dramatic shock
deceleration in the extended hydrogen envelope. Both properties allow fast
nickel plumes to catch up with the shock, leading to extreme shock deformation
and aspherical shock breakout. Fallback masses of <~5x10^{-3} Msun have no
significant effects on the neutron star (NS) masses and kicks. The anisotropic
fallback carries considerable angular momentum, however, and determines the
spin of the newly-born NS. The LMCCSNe model with less 2nd dredge-up results in
a hydrodynamic and neutrino-induced NS kick of >40 km/s and a NS spin period of
~30 ms, both not largely different from those of the Crab pulsar at birth.Comment: 47 pages, 27 figures, 6 tables; minor revisions, accepted by MNRA
Positron Acceleration in Plasma Wakefields
Plasma acceleration has emerged as a promising technology for future particle
accelerators, particularly linear colliders. Significant progress has been made
in recent decades toward high-efficiency and high-quality acceleration of
electrons in plasmas. However, this progress does not generalize to
acceleration of positrons, as plasmas are inherently charge asymmetric. Here,
we present a comprehensive review of historical and current efforts to
accelerate positrons using plasma wakefields. Proposed schemes that aim to
increase the energy efficiency and beam quality are summarised and
quantitatively compared. A dimensionless metric that scales with the
luminosity-per-beam power is introduced, indicating that positron-acceleration
schemes are currently below the ultimate requirement for colliders. The primary
issue is electron motion; the high mobility of plasma electrons compared to
plasma ions, which leads to non-uniform accelerating and focusing fields that
degrade the beam quality of the positron bunch, particularly for high
efficiency acceleration. Finally, we discuss possible mitigation strategies and
directions for future research.Comment: 24 pages (30 pages with references), 22 figure
Commissioning of the electron injector for the AWAKE experiment
The advanced wakefield experiment (AWAKE) at CERN is the first proton beam-driven plasma wakefield acceleration experiment. The main goal of AWAKE RUN 1 was to demonstrate seeded self-modulation (SSM) of the proton beam and electron witness beam acceleration in the plasma wakefield. For the AWAKE experiment, a 10-meter-long Rubidium-vapor cell together with a high-power laser for ionization was used to generate the plasma. The plasma wakefield is driven by a 400 GeV/c proton beam extracted from the super proton synchrotron (SPS), which undergoes a seeded self-modulation process in the plasma. The electron witness beam used to probe the wakefields is generated from an S-band RF photo-cathode gun and then accelerated by a booster structure up to energies between 16 and 20 MeV. The first run of the AWAKE experiment revealed that the maximum energy gain after the plasma cell is 2 GeV, and the SSM mechanism of the proton beam was verified. In this paper, we will present the details of the AWAKE electron injector. A comparison of the measured electron beam parameters, such as beam size, energy, and normalized emittance, with the simulation results was performed
Betatron radiation diagnostics for AWAKE Run 2
AWAKE Run 2 aims to preserve the transverse normalised emittance of an externally injected electron beam throughout acceleration, requiring a new diagnostic to measure the beam emittance after the accelerating plasma stage. Spectroscopy of the betatron emission from the electron beam could be suitable for this case. The method of trace-space reconstruction from a measured betatron spectrum is described via a simplified analytical model in order to assess its suitability the AWAKE experiment. The expected betatron emission from witness electrons at AWAKE is characterised using 3D quasi-static PIC simulations, revealing a measurable quantity of UV to soft x-ray emission. Practical challenges for the measurement are discussed
Local Detection of Quantum Correlations with a Single Trapped Ion
As one of the most striking features of quantum mechanics, quantum
correlations are at the heart of quantum information science. Detection of
correlations usually requires access to all the correlated subsystems. However,
in many realistic scenarios this is not feasible since only some of the
subsystems can be controlled and measured. Such cases can be treated as open
quantum systems interacting with an inaccessible environment. Initial
system-environment correlations play a fundamental role for the dynamics of
open quantum systems. Following a recent proposal, we exploit the impact of the
correlations on the open-system dynamics to detect system-environment quantum
correlations without accessing the environment. We use two degrees of freedom
of a trapped ion to model an open system and its environment. The present
method does not require any assumptions about the environment, the interaction
or the initial state and therefore provides a versatile tool for the study of
quantum systems.Comment: 6 Pages, 5 Figures + 6 Pages, 1 Figure of Supplementary Materia
The ITER EC H&CD upper launcher: Seismic analysis
The electron cyclotron heating and current drive (EC H&CD) upper launcher (UL) is a component of the ITER tokamak machine devoted to inject localized high microwave power, in order to counteract plasma instabilities (MHD activity). The UL consists of an assembly of ex-vessel waveguides (with diamond windows and isolation valves) and an in-vessel port plug (PP). The PP, with length close to 6 m, is fixed by a support flange into the upper port of the vacuum vessel (VV) as a cantilevered structure and the nominal gap between PP and port is 25 mm only. During an earthquake, accelerations generated by seismic events cause oscillations of the PP which might be amplified in case of resonance with the natural frequencies. A seismic analysis is therefore required in order to check the response of the UL PP to earthquakes.
This paper shows the procedure used for the seismic analysis of the UL PP and results are given in terms of displacements and stresses. The ITER reference earthquake named SL-2 seismic event was considered. The response spectrum method was used in the analysis and floor response spectra (plots of acceleration versus frequency) provided by ITER/F4E at the upper level of the tokamak were applied to the supports as load. A seismic analysis of the UL PP integrated in the upper port is also here reported.
The natural frequencies of the PP are far from the frequencies of the peaks in the applied spectra, so no resonance condition occurs. The obtained displacements and stresses of the PP are relatively small. The maximum total displacement is lower than 2 mm and the maximum equivalent stress is below 30 MPa. Since the highest excitation is the vertical one, most part of the total displacement is in the vertical direction. Afterwards, these results due to the seismic loads must be combined with displacements and stresses due to other loads affecting the PP such as the electromagnetic loads
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