1,594 research outputs found
Polymerization of Methyl Methacrylate by Heat-Catalyst and Gamma-Irradiation Methods
Methyl methacrylate (MMA) was bulk-polymerized with 0 to 4% crosslinker (ethylene glycol dimethacrylate, EGDM, and trimethylol propane trimethacrylate, TMPTM), initiated with 0.05 to 5% catalyst (Vazo) at 65-75 C or 0.1 to 1 Mrad/hr gamma radiation at 20 C. Heat-catalyzed MMA conversion to polymer vs. time was obtained directly from polymer mass, which indicated that about 90% conversion had occurred at the exothermic peak temperature. The time to the exothermic peak temperature was used to determine sample polymerization time. The over-all polymerization rate varied with the half-power of initiator concentration. An Arrhenius plot of the initiator-time data gave an activation energy of 18 kcal/mole. A log-log relationship was found between crosslinker concentration and polymerization time over the 65-75 C temperature and 0.1-0.4% initiator range. The crosslinkers were found equally efficient in reducing polymerization time. Peak exothermie temperature varied directly with time, irrespective of the initiator and crosslinker concentrations or bath temperature except as they affected time. In the irradiation tests, the crosslinkers exhibited different data fits: log-log with EGDM and semilog for TMPTM. The time-dose rate equation for uncrosslinked MMA was analogous to that for heat-catalyzed polymerization. Molecular weight of uncrosslinked PMMA was determined as a function of temperature and catalyst concentration, and dose rate. Similar molecular weights were obtained for heat-catalyzed polymerization at 65 C and gamma irradiation at 20 C for numerically the same initiator concentration (%) and does rate (Mrad/hr)
Expression of divIB of Bacillus subtilis during vegetative growth
Expression of the division initiation gene, divIB, of Bacillus subtilis vegetative growth was examined. lacZ fusion studies and transcription start point mapping have established that a sigma A promoter proximal to divIB is utilized in vivo. The -10 region of this promoter, which is located 93 bp upstream of the start codon, has been defined precisely by site-directed mutagenesis that destroys the promoter. Examination of transcripts by Northern (RNA) blotting has shown that there are at least two transcripts for divIB. The established proximal promoter was found to give rise to a very minor transcript which could not be convincingly demonstrated in wild-type cells but which became apparent upon insertion of a plasmid into the chromosome just upstream of this promoter. The major transcript for divIB originated from a site several kb upstream of the gene and is probably the same as the long polycistronic message also traversing the murD-spoVE-murG genes that was identified previously by others (A.D. Henriques, H. de Lencastre, and P.J. Piggot, Biochimie 74:735-748, 1992). Transcription from the proximal promoter alone, in an upstream-deletion mutant strain, provided sufficient DivIB for normal growth and division as well as sporulation
Supernova pointing with low- and high-energy neutrino detectors
A future galactic SN can be located several hours before the optical
explosion through the MeV-neutrino burst, exploiting the directionality of
--scattering in a water Cherenkov detector such as Super-Kamiokande. We
study the statistical efficiency of different methods for extracting the SN
direction and identify a simple approach that is nearly optimal, yet
independent of the exact SN neutrino spectra. We use this method to quantify
the increase in the pointing accuracy by the addition of gadolinium to water,
which tags neutrons from the inverse beta decay background. We also study the
dependence of the pointing accuracy on neutrino mixing scenarios and initial
spectra. We find that in the ``worst case'' scenario the pointing accuracy is
at 95% C.L. in the absence of tagging, which improves to
with a tagging efficiency of 95%. At a megaton detector, this accuracy can be
as good as . A TeV-neutrino burst is also expected to be emitted
contemporaneously with the SN optical explosion, which may locate the SN to
within a few tenths of a degree at a future km high-energy neutrino
telescope. If the SN is not seen in the electromagnetic spectrum, locating it
in the sky through neutrinos is crucial for identifying the Earth matter
effects on SN neutrino oscillations.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures, Revtex4 format. The final version to be
published in Phys. Rev. D. A few points in the original text are clarifie
Planar Silicon Metamaterial Lenslet Arrays for Millimeter-wavelength Imaging
Large imaging arrays of detectors at millimeter and submillimeter wavelengths
have applications that include measurements of the faint polarization signal in
the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), and submillimeter astrophysics. We are
developing planar lenslet arrays for millimeter-wavelength imaging using
metamaterials microlithically fabricated using silicon wafers. This
metamaterial technology has many potential advantages compared to conventional
hemispherical lenslet arrays, including high precision and homogeneity, planar
integrated anti-reflection layers, and a coefficient of thermal expansion
matched to the silicon detector wafer. Here we describe the design process for
a gradient-index (GRIN) metamaterial lenslet using metal-mesh patterned on
silicon and a combination of metal-mesh and etched-hole metamaterial
anti-reflection layers. We optimize the design using a bulk-material model to
rapidly simulate and iterate on the lenslet design. We fabricated prototype
GRIN metamaterial lenslet array and mounted it on a Polarbear/Simons Array
90/150~GHz band transition edge sensor (TES) bolometer detector array with
sinuous planar antennas. Beam measurements of a prototype lenslet array agree
reasonably well with the model simulations. We plan to further optimize the
design and combine it with a broadband anti-reflection coating to achieve
operation over 70--350~GHz bandwidth.Comment: Presented at SPIE Millimeter, Submillimeter, and Far-Infrared
Detectors and Instrumentation for Astronomy X, December 13-18, 202
Mathematical modelling long-term effects of replacing Prevnar7 with Prevnar13 on invasive pneumococcal diseases in England and Wales
England and Wales recently replaced the 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7) with its 13-valent equivalent (PCV13), partly based on projections from mathematical models of the long-term impact of such a switch compared to ceasing pneumococcal conjugate vaccination altogether. A compartmental deterministic model was used to estimate parameters governing transmission of infection and competition between different groups of pneumococcal serotypes prior to the introduction of PCV13. The best-fitting parameters were used in an individual based model to describe pneumococcal transmission dynamics and effects of various options for the vaccination programme change in England and Wales. A number of scenarios were conducted using (i) different assumptions about the number of invasive pneumococcal disease cases adjusted for the increasing trend in disease incidence prior to PCV7 introduction in England and Wales, and (ii) a range of values representing serotype replacement induced by vaccination of the additional six serotypes in PCV13. Most of the scenarios considered suggest that ceasing pneumococcal conjugate vaccine use would cause an increase in invasive pneumococcal disease incidence, while replacing PCV7 with PCV13 would cause an overall decrease. However, the size of this reduction largely depends on the level of competition induced by the additional serotypes in PCV13. The model estimates that over 20 years of PCV13 vaccination, around 5000–62000 IPD cases could be prevented compared to stopping pneumococcal conjugate vaccination altogether. Despite inevitable uncertainty around serotype replacement effects following introduction of PCV13, the model suggests a reduction in overall invasive pneumococcal disease incidence in all cases. Our results provide useful evidence on the benefits of PCV13 to countries replacing or considering replacing PCV7 with PCV13, as well as data that can be used to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of such a switch
Performance and on-sky optical characterization of the SPTpol instrument
In January 2012, the 10m South Pole Telescope (SPT) was equipped with a
polarization-sensitive camera, SPTpol, in order to measure the polarization
anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). Measurements of the
polarization of the CMB at small angular scales (~several arcminutes) can
detect the gravitational lensing of the CMB by large scale structure and
constrain the sum of the neutrino masses. At large angular scales (~few
degrees) CMB measurements can constrain the energy scale of Inflation. SPTpol
is a two-color mm-wave camera that consists of 180 polarimeters at 90 GHz and
588 polarimeters at 150 GHz, with each polarimeter consisting of a dual
transition edge sensor (TES) bolometers. The full complement of 150 GHz
detectors consists of 7 arrays of 84 ortho-mode transducers (OMTs) that are
stripline coupled to two TES detectors per OMT, developed by the TRUCE
collaboration and fabricated at NIST. Each 90 GHz pixel consists of two
antenna-coupled absorbers coupled to two TES detectors, developed with Argonne
National Labs. The 1536 total detectors are read out with digital
frequency-domain multiplexing (DfMUX). The SPTpol deployment represents the
first on-sky tests of both of these detector technologies, and is one of the
first deployed instruments using DfMUX readout technology. We present the
details of the design, commissioning, deployment, on-sky optical
characterization and detector performance of the complete SPTpol focal plane.Comment: 15 pages, 6 figures. Conference: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes and
Instrumentation 201
On the Hadronic Beam Model for Gamma-ray Production in Blazars
We consider, herein, a model for gamma-ray production in blazars in which a
relativistic, highly-collimated electron-proton beam interacts with a dense,
compact cloud as the jet propagates through the broad and perhaps narrow line
regions (BLR and NLR) of active galactic nuclei (AGN). During the propagation
of the beam through the cloud, the process of excitation of plasma waves
becomes an important energy loss mechanism, especially for mildly relativistic
proton beams. We compute the expected spectra of gamma-rays from the decay of
neutral pions produced in hadronic collisions of the beam with the cloud,
taking into account collisionless losses of the electron-proton beam. This
model may explain the X-ray and TeV gamma-ray (both low and high emission
states) of Mrk 421 as a result of synchrotron emission of secondary pairs from
the decay of charged pions and gamma-ray emission from the decay of neutral
pions for the plausible cloud parameters. However clouds can not be too hot and
too dense. Otherwise the TeV gamma-rays can be attenuated by the bremsstrahlung
radiation in the cloud and the secondary pairs are not able to efficiently
produce synchrotron flares because of the dominant role of inverse Compton
scattering.
The non-variable -ray emission observed from Mrk 421 in the EGRET
energy range cannot be described by the -rays from decay of neutral
pions provided that the spectrum of protons in the beam is well described by a
simple power law. These -rays might only be produced by secondary pairs
scattering the soft non-variable X-rays which might originate in the inner part
of the accretion disk.Comment: 14 pages,3 figures, latex, submitted to Ap
Are the New Physics Contributions from the Left-Right Symmetric Model Important for the Indirect CP Violation in the Neutral B Mesons?
Several works analyzing the new physics contributions from the Left-Right
Symmetric Model to the CP violation phenomena in the neutral B mesons can be
found in the literature. These works exhibit interesting and experimentally
sensible deviations from the Standard Model predictions but at the expense of
considering a low right scale \upsilon_R around 1 TeV. However, when we stick
to the more conservative estimates for \upsilon_R which say that it must be at
least 10^7 GeV, no experimentally sensible deviations from the Standard Model
appear for indirect CP violation. This estimate for \upsilon_R arises when the
generation of neutrino masses is considered. In spite of the fact that this
scenario is much less interesting and says nothing new about both the CP
violation phenomenon and the structure of the Left-Right Symmetric Model, this
possibility must be taken into account for the sake of completeness and when
considering the see-saw mechanism that provides masses to the neutrino sector.Comment: LaTex file. 19 pages, 4 figures. Change in the way the paper address
the problem. As a result, change in title, abstract, and some sections.
Conclusions unchanged. Version to appear in Foundations of Physics Letter
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