Results from a search for neutrinoless double-beta decay (0νββ) of ^{136}Xe are presented using the first year of data taken with the upgraded EXO-200 detector. Relative to previous searches by ...EXO-200, the energy resolution of the detector has been improved to σ/E=1.23%, the electric field in the drift region has been raised by 50%, and a system to suppress radon in the volume between the cryostat and lead shielding has been implemented. In addition, analysis techniques that improve topological discrimination between 0νββ and background events have been developed. Incorporating these hardware and analysis improvements, the median 90% confidence level 0νββ half-life sensitivity after combining with the full data set acquired before the upgrade has increased twofold to 3.7×10^{25} yr. No statistically significant evidence for 0νββ is observed, leading to a lower limit on the 0νββ half-life of 1.8×10^{25} yr at the 90% confidence level.
Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPMs) are attractive candidates for light detectors for next generation liquid xenon double-beta decay experiments, like nEXO (next Enriched Xenon Observatory). In this ...paper we discuss the requirements that the SiPMs must satisfy in order to be suitable for nEXO and similar experiments, describe the two test setups operated by the nEXO collaboration, and present the results of characterization of SiPMs from several vendors. In particular, we find that the photon detection efficiency at the peak of xenon scintillation light emission (175-178 nm) approaches the nEXO requirements for tested FBK and Hamamatsu devices. Additionally, the nEXO collaboration performed radio-assay of several grams of bare FBK devices using neutron activation analysis, indicating levels of 40 K, 232 Th, and 238 U of the order of <; 0.15, (6.9 · 10 - 4 - 1.3 · 10 - 2 ), and <; 0.11 mBq/kg, respectively.
For more than a decade, the long wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have placed tremendous and cumulative strain on U.S. military personnel and their families. The high operational tempo, length, and ...number of deployments-and greater in-theater exposure to threat-have resulted in well-documented psychological health concerns among service members and veterans. In addition, there is increasing and compelling evidence describing the significant deleterious impact of the deployment cycle on family members, including children, in military-connected families. However, rates of engagement and service utilization in prevention and intervention services continue to lag far below apparent need among service members and their families, because of both practical and psychological barriers. The authors describe the dynamic and ultimately successful process of engaging military families with young children in a home-based reintegration program designed to support parenting and strengthen parent-child relationships as service member parents move back into family life. In addition to the integration of existing evidence-based engagement strategies, the authors applied a strengths-based approach to working with military families and worked from a community-based participatory foundation to enhance family engagement and program completion. Implications for engagement of military personnel and their loved ones are discussed.
Summary form only given. We report a laboratory realization of the gedanken experiment that Dicke used to introduce superradiance. Two Ba/sup +/ ions are laser-cooled and crystallized in a ...microscopic Paul trap so that they come to rest 1.5 microns from each other. This is about 3 wavelengths of the 493 nm light used to laser cool the transition. Micromotion and residual thermal motion are low so that they are essentially stationary relative to 493 nm light.
The Enriched Xenon Observatory (EXO) will search for double beta decays of
136Xe. We report the results of a systematic study of trace concentrations of radioactive impurities in a wide range of raw ...materials and finished parts considered for use in the construction of EXO-200, the first stage of the EXO experimental program. Analysis techniques employed, and described here, include direct gamma counting, alpha counting, neutron activation analysis, and high-sensitivity mass spectrometry.
There is acknowledgment that deployments can be stressful for military spouses; however, less is known about their experiences post-deployment. This qualitative study examined the post-deployment ...experiences of 16 female spouses, whose active duty Army husband had returned from deployment within the previous 2 years and who had a young child during the deployment. Spouses reported that the time surrounding their husbands’ return was one of the great transitions, often accompanied by stress. Most families were able to work through challenges and show positive adjustment over time. However, some spouses described severe post-deployment challenges marked by disconnect from their partners; three of these were spouses whose husbands had posttraumatic stress disorder. The findings address how spouses prepared for their husband’s return, their reunion experiences, the process of reintegrating their husband into family life, and individual changes in the partners post-deployment. Facilitators and challenges to adjustment were identified as potential targets for interventions.
The parenting cycle of deployment DeVoe, Ellen R; Ross, Abigail
Military medicine,
02/2012, Letnik:
177, Številka:
2
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Parents of dependent children comprise approximately 42% of Active Duty and National Guard/Reserve military members serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation Enduring Freedom. Recent estimates ...indicate that more than two million children have experienced parental deployment since the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. This article seeks to characterize the impact of the deployment life cycle on parenting roles among service members and at-home partners/caregivers of dependent children. Specifically, a new conceptual framework is presented for considering the ways in which parenting and co-parenting processes are affected by the demands and transitions inherent in contemporary deployment to a war zone. Although the phase-based emotional cycle of deployment continues to offer an instructive description of the broad challenges faced by military couples, a parenting cycle of deployment model shifts the perspective to the critical and largely ignored processes of parenting in the context of deployment and war, and to the realities faced by parents serving in the U.S. military. Implications for prevention, intervention, and future research related to military families are addressed.
We describe an approach to the study of neutrino masses that combines quantum optics techniques with radiation detectors to obtain unprecedented sensitivity. With it the search for Majorana neutrino ...masses down to ∼10 meV will become accessible. The experimental technique uses the possibility of individually detecting Ba
+-ions in the final state of
136Xe double-beta decay via resonant excitation with a set of lasers aimed at a specific location in a large Time Projection Chamber. The specificity of the atomic levels provides tagging and, together with more traditional event recognition parameters, greatly suppresses radioactive backgrounds.
The adverse effects of deployment‐related stress (DRS) on military service members, spouses, and children are well documented. Findings from a recent Consensus Report on Military Families by the ...National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (2019) underscore the priority of gaining a more comprehensive understanding of the diversity of today’s military families and their needs and well‐being. While social support is generally regarded as helpful during times of stress, it has not been studied extensively in National Guard/Reserve spouses who are parents of young children. This qualitative study of 30 women examines the unique ways in which DRS affects women who are National Guard/Reserve spouses and mothers of young children, as well as the processes through which they encountered support to manage these stressors. Salient themes spanned experiences involving deployment cycle phases of separation and reintegration and included both anticipated and unanticipated changes in family‐related division of labor, dynamics, and communication patterns. These were complicated by geographic, social, and cultural isolation and misguided efforts to support spouses initiated by civilians. Women managed these stressors primarily through seeking, acquiring, and repurposing existing sources of informal social support for themselves and formal supports for their children, with varying degrees of success.
Resumen
Los efectos adversos del estrés relacionado con la movilización militar en los miembros del servicio militar, las esposas y los niños están bien documentados. Los resultados de un informe de consenso reciente sobre las familias de militares realizado por las Academias Nacionales de Ciencias, Ingeniería y Medicina National Academies of Sciende, Engineering and Medicine (2019) subrayan la prioridad de comprender de una manera más completa la diversidad de las familias de militares en la actualidad y sus necesidades y bienestar. Si bien el apoyo social generalmente se considera útil durante los momentos de estrés, no se ha estudiado ampliamente en las esposas de integrantes de la Guardia Nacional o de la Reserva Militar que son madres de niños pequeños. Este estudio cualitativo de 30 mujeres analiza las maneras únicas en las cuales el estrés relacionado con la movilización militar afecta a las mujeres que son esposas de integrantes de la Guardia Nacional o la Reserva Militar y madres de niños pequeños, así como los procesos por los cuales encontraron apoyo para manejar esos factores desencadenantes de estrés. Los temas destacados abarcaron experiencias relacionadas con las fases de separación y reintegración del ciclo de movilización militar e incluyeron los cambios tanto previstos como imprevistos en la división de los patrones de trabajo, de dinámica y de comunicación relacionados con la familia. Estos se complicaron por el aislamiento geográfico, social y cultural y los esfuerzos equivocados que hicieron los civiles para apoyar a las esposas. Las mujeres manejaron estos factores desencadenantes de estrés principalmente mediante la búsqueda, la adquisición y la readaptación de fuentes existentes de apoyo social informal para ellas y de apoyo formal para sus hijos, con diversos grados de éxito.
摘要
有充分证据证明服役相关的压力(DRS)对军人、配偶和子女的不利影响。美国国家科学、工程和医学研究院(2019年)最近发布了一份关于军人家庭的共识报告，文中的研究结果强调，首先要更全面地了解当今军人家庭的多样性，以及他们的需求和福祉。虽然通常人们会认为社会支持在压力时期是有帮助的，但在身为幼儿父母的国民警卫队/预备役配偶中，社会支持尚未得到广泛研究。这项针对30名女性的质的研究探讨了DRS对身为国民警卫队/预备役配偶和幼子母亲的妇女的独特影响，以及她们在处理这些压力源时获得支持的过程。突出的主题跨越了涉及分离和重返社会的兵役周期阶段的经验，包括与家庭相关的劳动分工、动态和沟通模式中预期的和未预期的变化。由于地理、社会和文化上的孤立以及由平民发起的支持军人家庭配偶的错误努力，这些问题变得复杂起来。妇女管理这些压力源主要是通过寻求、获得和重新利用现有的非正式社会支持资源，为自己和为子女提供正式的支持，取得了不同程度的成功。
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