Multistage two-dimensional magneto-optical trap as a compact cold atom beam source

A compact cold atom beam source based on a multistage two-dimensional magneto-optical trap (MOT) has been demonstrated and characterized. The multiple-stage design greatly reduces the overall size of the source apparatus while providing a high flux of atoms. The cold atom beam was used to load a separate MOT in ultrahigh vacuum, and we obtained an actual trap loading rate of 1.5 x 109 atoms/s while using only 20 mW of total laser power for the source. The entire source apparatus, including optics, can fit into a 4 cm x 4 cm x 13 cm volume.     

Ion-molecule reactions of 2-methoxyethanol with some amines, carboxylic acids and amino acids under chemical ionization conditions

2-Methoxyethanol chemical ionization of amines, carboxylic acids and amino acids has been found to produce numerous adduct ions. The most intense adduct ions for amines are [M + H](+) and [M + 77](+), for carboxylic acids [M + 27](+), [M + 59](+) and [M + 77](+), and for amino acids [M + H](+), [M + 13](+), [M + 27](+) and [M + 77](+). Either the adduct ion [M + H](+) or [M + 77](+) was the most abundant ion found for amino acids. The proton affinities of amino acids are noticed to control the formation of the [M + H](+) and [M + 77](+) ions. The relative abundance of [M + 13](+) and [M + 27](+) ions varied for different amino acids being most intense for phenylalanine and aspartic acid. Copyright 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Status of electroweak phase transition and baryogenesis

I review recent progress on the electroweak phase transition and baryogenesis, focusing on the minimal supersymmetric Standard Model as the source of new physics.     

Integral resource capacity planning for inpatient care services based on bed census predictions by hour

The design and operations of inpatient care facilities are typically largely historically shaped. A better match with the changing environment is often possible, and even inevitable due to the pressure on hospital budgets. Effectively organizing inpatient care requires simultaneous consideration of several interrelated planning issues. Also, coordination with upstream departments like the operating theatre and the emergency department is much-needed. We present a generic analytical approach to predict bed census on nursing wards by hour, as a function of the Master Surgical Schedule and arrival patterns of emergency patients. Along these predictions, insight is gained on the impact of strategic (ie, case mix, care unit size, care unit partitioning), tactical (ie, allocation of operating room time, misplacement rules), and operational decisions (ie, time of admission/discharge). The method is used in the Academic Medical Center Amsterdam as a decision-support tool in a complete redesign of the inpatient care operations.