Characteristics of High Energy Particle Interactions from the Study of Irregular Air Showers

Since the discovery of cosmic rays about one century ago, there have been two main approaches in their experimental study. The first is analyzing their arrival directions, energies, and composition in order to determine the nature of their source or sources. The second is analysis of their interactions in the atmosphere to learn about the structure of elementary particles through the characteristics of their collisions at extremely high energy. The energy available in the collisions of cosmic ray protons with atmospheric nuclei exceeds greatly that achieved or achievable in any man-made accelerators. The study of these interactions may reveal the existence of new, exotic particle states, as well as the details of particle structure. The Pierre Auger Observatory is the largest cosmic ray experiment ever constructed. It records air shower data from the interactions of primary cosmic ray particles with energies from 1018eV to beyond 1020eV. The interaction energies of these events exceed the LHC at CERN by one to two orders of magnitude. I have developed a new method that seeks to identify leading particles with long tracks emerging from the primary interaction. The technique characterizes the properties of the leading particles, giving information on inelasticity and cross-section in a regime well beyond current accelerator data. The method identifies events with irregular air shower development. These events are compared to expectations from CONEX air shower simulations using the current event generator QGSJET-II. To eliminate background events, real-time data on cloud cover at the site are employed. We have measured the interaction length for the leading particles with mean energy near 1018eV. Based on the predicted leading particle composition in QGSJET-II, we have determined an interaction length for protons. The method does not find any irregular air showers in simulations of iron primaries. The analysis demonstrates the proton primaries are present in the cosmic rays at these energies

Comparison of the Therapeutic Effects of Bubble CPAP and Ventilator CPAP on Respiratory Distress Syndrome in Premature Neonates

Background: Respiratory distress syndrome is one of the main complications associated with low birth weight, and a main cause of mortality in premature neonates. The present study aimed to compare the efficacy of ventilator continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) and bubble CPAP in the treatment of respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) in premature neonates. Methods: This randomized controlled clinical trial was conducted on 119 neonates diagnosed with RDS, with the gestational age of 28-34 weeks and birth weight of 1000-2200 grams, who were admitted in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Infants were allocated to two groups of ventilator CPAP (VCPAP) and bubble CPAP (BCPAP) therapy. Results: Mean weight, gestational age, and one-minute Apgar score were not significantly different between the two groups. However, duration of treatment with mechanical ventilation in the BCPAP group was significantly lower compared to the VCPAP group. In addition, frequency of complications had no significant difference between the two groups. Conclusion: In the treatment of RDS, duration of mechanical ventilation was lower in the BCPAP group compared to the VCPAP group in premature neonate

THE EVALUATION OF SUCCESS IN ESTABLISHEMNT OF KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND PRIORITIZATION OF ITS DIMENSIONS BY HP IN OIL AND ENERGY INSUTRY OF IRAN

ABSTRACT By power of knowledge, the organizations can preserve their long-term priorities in various competitive areas. Despite other managements, knowledge management is not transient but it has long-lasting effects. The competitive space and condition of organizations are more complex than before and rapidly changing such that the speed of change in most organizations is much bigger than the power of responding and conforming. Continuous change of knowledge has created new imbalance status for organizations. In this regard, just those organizations can survive who can preserve their competitive advantage. According to the scholars and thinkers, this maintenance of competitive advantage and organization survival is possible through knowledge management such that it is possible to continuously create new knowledge in organization. This paper measures evaluation of knowledge success in Qeshm Oil and Energy Development Company, which is one of companies working in oil and energy industry. It also specifies the dimensions of success evaluation, status of company and determines the gap in each dimension. The research methodology is descriptive-evaluative for which a questionnaire with 35 questions and 8 dimensions has been designed based on the model of building blocks of knowledge management. At the end, some solutions have been offered for improvement of the status of company

Measurement of the cosmic ray spectrum above 4×10184{\times}10^{18} eV using inclined events detected with the Pierre Auger Observatory

A measurement of the cosmic-ray spectrum for energies exceeding $4{\times}10^{18}$ eV is presented, which is based on the analysis of showers with zenith angles greater than $60^{\circ}$ detected with the Pierre Auger Observatory between 1 January 2004 and 31 December 2013. The measured spectrum confirms a flux suppression at the highest energies. Above $5.3{\times}10^{18}$ eV, the "ankle", the flux can be described by a power law $E^{-\gamma}$ with index $\gamma=2.70 \pm 0.02 \,\text{(stat)} \pm 0.1\,\text{(sys)}$ followed by a smooth suppression region. For the energy ($E_\text{s}$) at which the spectral flux has fallen to one-half of its extrapolated value in the absence of suppression, we find $E_\text{s}=(5.12\pm0.25\,\text{(stat)}^{+1.0}_{-1.2}\,\text{(sys)}){\times}10^{19}$ eV.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Measurement of the Radiation Energy in the Radio Signal of Extensive Air Showers as a Universal Estimator of Cosmic-Ray Energy

We measure the energy emitted by extensive air showers in the form of radio emission in the frequency range from 30 to 80 MHz. Exploiting the accurate energy scale of the Pierre Auger Observatory, we obtain a radiation energy of 15.8 \pm 0.7 (stat) \pm 6.7 (sys) MeV for cosmic rays with an energy of 1 EeV arriving perpendicularly to a geomagnetic field of 0.24 G, scaling quadratically with the cosmic-ray energy. A comparison with predictions from state-of-the-art first-principle calculations shows agreement with our measurement. The radiation energy provides direct access to the calorimetric energy in the electromagnetic cascade of extensive air showers. Comparison with our result thus allows the direct calibration of any cosmic-ray radio detector against the well-established energy scale of the Pierre Auger Observatory.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DOI. Supplemental material in the ancillary file

Energy Estimation of Cosmic Rays with the Engineering Radio Array of the Pierre Auger Observatory

The Auger Engineering Radio Array (AERA) is part of the Pierre Auger Observatory and is used to detect the radio emission of cosmic-ray air showers. These observations are compared to the data of the surface detector stations of the Observatory, which provide well-calibrated information on the cosmic-ray energies and arrival directions. The response of the radio stations in the 30 to 80 MHz regime has been thoroughly calibrated to enable the reconstruction of the incoming electric field. For the latter, the energy deposit per area is determined from the radio pulses at each observer position and is interpolated using a two-dimensional function that takes into account signal asymmetries due to interference between the geomagnetic and charge-excess emission components. The spatial integral over the signal distribution gives a direct measurement of the energy transferred from the primary cosmic ray into radio emission in the AERA frequency range. We measure 15.8 MeV of radiation energy for a 1 EeV air shower arriving perpendicularly to the geomagnetic field. This radiation energy -- corrected for geometrical effects -- is used as a cosmic-ray energy estimator. Performing an absolute energy calibration against the surface-detector information, we observe that this radio-energy estimator scales quadratically with the cosmic-ray energy as expected for coherent emission. We find an energy resolution of the radio reconstruction of 22% for the data set and 17% for a high-quality subset containing only events with at least five radio stations with signal.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Detection of bacterial agents causing prostate infection by culture and molecular methods from biopsy specimens

Background and Objectives: Prostatitis affects about 16% of men in their lifetime and sometimes leading to prostate cancer. Bacterial infections are the most common causes of prostatitis. Diagnosis of the causative agents of bacterial prostate infections plays an essential role in timely treating and preventing secondary complications. This study isolated bacterial infectious agents in patients’ surgical prostate and evaluated them by routine and molecular microbiological methods. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 72 prostate biopsy specimens were collected from the Orology Departmen of hospitals of Qazvin University of Medical Sciences. All samples were cultured in aerobic and anaerobic conditions. Antibiotic susceptibility test by Kirby-Bauer standard method was performed for all isolated bacteria. In addition, all isolated bacteria were identified using 16S rDNA PCR and sanger sequencing methods. Also, TaqMan real-time PCR was applied to detect Ureaplasm aurealyticum, Mycoplasma hominins, and Mycoplasma genitalium. Results: In conventional culture method, out of 18 positive samples, 15 samples (83.3%) were Gram-negative bacteria and 3 samples (16.6%) were Gram-positive bacteria, containing Escherichia coli (55.5%), Klebsiella pneumoniae (11.1%), Enterobacter cloacae (5.5%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (11.1%), Staphylococcus aureus (11.1%), and Enterococcus faecalis (5.5%). The results of molecular identification methods were the same as conventional culture results. Also, four patients were Ureaplasm aurealyticum, and three patients were positive for Mycoplasma hominis. Conclusion: Most bacteria isolated from prostate specimens belonged to the Enterobacteriaceae family, especially Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Enterobacter cloacae. Staphylococcus aureus and Enterococcus faecalis were cocci isolated in the specimens too. Also, Ureaplasma urealyticum, and Mycoplasma hominis were identified in prostatitis. Keywords: Prostatitis; Pathogens; Enterobacteriaceae; 16s rDNA; Real-time polymerase chain reactio