Stay aware of surroundings to avoid stings, rashes

More people are stung by yellowjackets than any other type of bee or wasps. Notoriously aggressive, the yellowjacket's shiny yellow and black striped abdomen makes it easy to identify. Image courtesy of Wikipedia.

Recently three people were stung by wasps and required medical care. While sometimes stings are unavoidable, the incidents highlight a need to stay aware of your natural surroundings.

Insect stings and plants such as poison ivy can cause irritating, and sometimes deadly, reactions. Fermilab has had great success during the last few years nearly eliminating reports of poison ivy rashes. The Medical Office largely attributes this to an education push by Roads & Grounds to recognize the plant and its signature trio of leaves with a protruding center leaf. Reports of insect stings, on the other hand, have not followed a similar decline.

From 1997 through 2001, the number of wasp and bee stings reported to Fermilab's Medical Office steadily decreased. This trend reversed itself in 2002 and has continued to steadily climb, albeit with a short reprieve earlier this summer. Sting reports generally start in July, continue throughout the summer and then decline through September and October. In 80 percent of the attacks, a person's hands, arms, head or neck were targeted.

To prevent wasp and bee stings take the following precautions:

• Before beginning work, inspect the area. Avoid nests and other areas where insects are concentrated.
• If working in an area where wasps are present, wearing protective gloves, long sleeves, a hat and neck cover to help prevent stings.
• Tuck shirts into pants and pull gloves over sleeves to help eliminate entry points for insects.
• If a wasp or bee lands on you, hold still. It will eventually leave on its own.
• When outdoors, avoid sugary drinks or wearing brightly colored clothing or strong fragrances.
• If you are allergic to stings, be prepared. Carry a self-administered epinephrine sting kit (e.g., EpiPen). Let others know of your condition.

A thing of beauty

BSS's Dave Bundy found this luna moth outside of Warehouse 2 on August 13. BSS employee Jennifer Thorson submitted the photo. Click on the image to see the moth's size.

The complexity behind the date

From CERN Bulletin,
Aug. 24, 2009

For the waiting world, and indeed for most of us here at CERN, 'the LHC schedule' simply means the date that the LHC will restart - and we only take notice when that end-date changes. But in fact the schedule is a constantly evolving intricate document coordinating all the repairs, consolidation and commissioning in every part of the machine. So, what actually goes on behind the scenes in timing and planning all the work on one of the most complex scientific instruments ever built?

Each week the nitty-gritty details are discussed at the LHC Machine Committee (LMC) meeting, where the four experiments and every technical group from the accelerator sector are represented. "Nearly every week the schedule changes and, although the end-date nearly always stays the same, inside it looks completely different," explains Steve Myers, Director for Accelerators, who chairs the LMC meeting.

Due to the huge amount of inter-dependency between different areas of work in the LHC, even a small change can necessitate a complete overhaul of the schedule. For example, something as simple as cleaning a water cooling tower - required regularly by Swiss law to prevent Legionella - has a huge impact on the planning: "When you clean the water tanks it means we don't have water-cooling for the compressors, that means we can't run the cryogenics, so the temperature starts to go up," explains Myers. "If a sector gets above 100 K, then the expansion effects of heating can cause problems, and we could have to replace parts."

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