183 research outputs found
Gamma ray production in inelastic scattering of neutrons produced by cosmic muons in Fe
We report on the study of the intensities of several gamma lines emitted
after the inelastic scattering of neutrons in Fe. Neutrons were produced
by cosmic muons passing the 20t massive iron cube placed at the Earth's surface
and used as a passive shield for the HPGe detector. Relative intensities of
detected gamma lines are compared with the results collected in the same iron
shield by the use of Cf neutrons. Assessment against the published data
from neutron scattering experiments at energies up to 14 MeV is also provided
The neutron 'thunder' accompanying the extensive air shower
Simulations show that neutrons are the most abundant component among
extensive air shower hadrons. However, multiple neutrons which appear with long
delays in neutron monitors nearby the EAS core ('neutron thunder') are mostly
not the neutrons of the shower, but have a secondary origin. The bulk of them
is produced by high energy EAS hadrons hitting the monitors. The delays are due
to the termalization and diffusion of neutrons in the moderator and reflector
of the monitor accompanied by the production of secondary gamma-quanta. This
conclusion raises the important problem of the interaction of EAS with the
ground, the stuff of the detectors and their environment since they have often
hydrogen containing materials like polyethilene in neutron monitors. Such
interaction can give an additional contribution to the signal in the EAS
detectors. It can be particularly important for the signals from scintillator
or water tank detectors at km-long distances from the EAS core where neutrons
of the shower become the dominant component after a few mcsec behind the EAS
front.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, accepted by J.Phys.G: Nucl.Part.Phy
Searching for New Physics Through AMO Precision Measurements
We briefly review recent experiments in atomic, molecular, and optical
physics using precision measurements to search for physics beyond the Standard
Model. We consider three main categories of experiments: searches for changes
in fundamental constants, measurements of the anomalous magnetic moment of the
electron, and searches for an electric dipole moment of the electron.Comment: Prepared for Comments on AMO Physics at Physica Script
EFFECT OF THE PROPHAGE CTXΦ DELETION UPON PHENOTYPIC PROPERTIES IN STRAINS OF VIBRIO CHOLERAE BIOVAR EL TOR, ASSOCIATED WITH VIRULENCE AND PERSISTENCE
Objective of the study is to evaluate the influence of CTXφ prophage deletion, which carries ctxAB genes, on phenotypical properties associated with pathogenicity or biofilm formation in non-toxigenic mutants. Materials and methods. Utilized have been the clinical strains of Vibrio cholerae biovar El Tor and their spontaneous non-toxigenic mutants that lost CTXφ prophage. Applied have been microbiological and biochemical methods, inoculation of model animals with cells of the strains under study. Results and conclusions. The results of comparative analysis of phenotypic properties in isogenic toxigenic and non-toxigenic strains of Vibrio cholerae biovar El Tor, which lost CTXφ prophage encoding the cholera toxin, are represented. It is established that the deletion of CTXφ prophage leads to the simultaneous change of several phenotypic properties associated with virulence (colonizing ability, production of soluble hemagglutinin/protease and heat labile hemolysin/cytolysin) and biofilm formation (motility, exopolysaccharide biosynthesis) in spontaneous non-toxigenic mutants. It is suggested that the reason for these phenotypic changes in the mutants might be the changes in activity of the related to each other regulatory genes controlling virulence and biofilm formation process in cholera agent
Experience in Studying Herd and Individual Immunity to the SARS-CoV-2 Virus in Medical Workers
The aim was to study SARS-CoV-2 immunity among medical workers in Kazan.Materials and methods. Studied were serum samples from 348 medical workers from 10 medical organizations in Kazan, divided into groups according to the level of the alleged risk of infection of employees. To determine IgG, a two-stage direct version of the solid-phase ELISA and the test-system “SARS-CoV-2-IgG-ELISA-BEST” (Russia) were used.Results and discussion. At the time of the study and over the previous three months, the examined medical workers had no symptoms of acute respiratory viral infection or respiratory tract infections; there were negative results of examining nasopharyngeal/ oropharyngeal swabs for the presence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA. Seroprevalence for IgG to SARS-CoV-2 virus for different medical organizations in Kazan ranged within the scope of 3.3–30.8 % and averaged 16.4 %. The wide variation in seroprevalence values in medical workers of different medical organizations may indicate different levels of intensity of professional contacts and the effectiveness of anti-epidemic measures in these medical organizations. Among medical workers with seropositive results, the prevalence of persons with a very high coefficient of positivity (49.1 %) is observed, which characterizes high level of antiviral antibodies. The presence of a high proportion of seropositive individuals among medical workers, who have had an asymptomatic form of COVID-19 confirms the high intensity of the latent epidemic process, which must be taken into account when organizing preventive measures, including vaccination
Study of features of humoral immune response to the new coronavirus infection COVID-19 among healthcare workers
Relevance. Since the beginning of the epidemic in China, there have been reports of nosocomial cases of SARSCoV-2 infection, including among medical workers. Studies of the intensity of humoral immune response to the SARSCoV-2 virus among medical workers who are much more likely to have professional contact with COVID-19 patients than are of particular importance. The aim is to study the seroprevalence and features of the humoral immune response to SARS-CoV-2 among medical workers. Materials and methods. The study included 61 medical workers from a multidisciplinary hospital in Kazan, which was redesigned to provide medical care to patients with new coronavirus infection, using the method of random sampling. The control group consisted of 60 non-medical workers. For the determination of IgG, a solid-phase ELISA was used. Statistical processing of the results was carried out using MS Excel software. The error of the relative value (M±m) was calculated, and the 95% confidence interval of the frequency of occurrence. To assess the significance of differences, the Student’s test (t-test) was used for independent samples. Results. The proportion of those seropositive to SARS-CoV-2 in the study group was 45.9%, compared with 21.7% in the control group. Among medical workers seropositive to the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the proportion of asymptomatic forms was 18.5%, mild forms — 53.6%, moderate forms and severe forms 25%. Two forms of the formation of a humoral immune response among seropositive ones were revealed: the first is characterized by the gradual elimination of specific IgG antibodies to SARSCoV-2 after 8 weeks from the onset of the first symptoms of COVID-19, the second form is an increase in specific IgG to SARS-CoV-2 and a higher value of the coefficient level of IgM positivity to SARS-CoV-2 after 8–10 weeks from the onset of the first symptoms. The group of seropositive, “raising antibodies”, prevailed over the group of individuals “eliminating antibodies”. Among seropositive medical workers, two forms of the formation of a humoral immune response were revealed: synchronous with the parallel elimination of IgG and IgM antibodies and a parallel increase in IgG and IgM. Conclusion. The study of the level of humoral immunity to COVID-19 in medical workers is important in terms of planning both anti-epidemic measures and predicting the effectiveness of the response to vaccination to SARS-CoV-2
Procedure for short-lived particle detection in the OPERA experiment and its application to charm decays
The OPERA experiment, designed to perform the first observation of oscillations in appearance mode through the detection of
the leptons produced in charged current interactions, has
collected data from 2008 to 2012. In the present paper, the procedure developed
to detect particle decays, occurring over distances of the order of 1 mm
from the neutrino interaction point, is described in detail. The results of its
application to the search for charmed hadrons are then presented as a
validation of the methods for appearance detection
Constraining the variation of fundamental constants at z ~ 1.3 using 21-cm absorbers
We present high resolution optical spectra obtained with the Ultraviolet and
Visual Echelle Spectrograph (UVES) at the Very Large Telescope (VLT) and 21-cm
absorption spectra obtained with the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) and
the Green Bank Telescope (GBT) of five quasars along the line of sight of which
21-cm absorption systems at 1.17 < z < 1.56 have been detected previously. We
also present milliarcsec scale radio images of these quasars obtained with the
Very Large Baseline Array (VLBA). We use the data on four of these systems to
constrain the time variation of x = g_p*alpha^2/mu where g_p is the proton
gyromagnetic factor, alpha is the fine structure constant, and mu is the
proton-to-electron mass ratio. We carefully evaluate the systematic
uncertainties in redshift measurements using cross-correlation analysis and
repeated Voigt profile fitting. In two cases we also confirm our results by
analysing optical spectra obtained with the Keck telescope. We find the
weighted and the simple means of Delta_x / x to be respectively -(0.1 +/-
1.3)x10^-6 and (0.0 +/- 1.5)x10^-6 at the mean redshift of = 1.36
corresponding to a look back time of ~ 9 Gyr. This is the most stringent
constraint ever obtained on Delta_x / x. If we only use the two systems towards
quasars unresolved at milliarcsec scales, we get the simple mean of Delta_x / x
= + (0.2 +/- 1.6)x10^-6. Assuming constancy of other constants we get
Delta_alpha / alpha = (0.0 +/- 0.8)x10^-6 which is a factor of two better than
the best constraints obtained so far using the Many Multiplet Method. On the
other hand assuming alpha and g_p have not varied we derive Delta_mmu / mu =
(0.0 +/- 1.5)x10^-6 which is again the best limit ever obtained on the
variation of mu over this redshift range. [Abridged]Comment: 22 pages, 15 figures, Accepted for publication in MNRA
Determination of the muon charge sign with the dipolar spectrometers of the OPERA experiment
The OPERA long-baseline neutrino-oscillation experiment has observed the
direct appearance of in the CNGS beam. Two large muon
magnetic spectrometers are used to identify muons produced in the
leptonic decay and in interactions by measuring their charge and
momentum. Besides the kinematic analysis of the decays, background
resulting from the decay of charmed particles produced in
interactions is reduced by efficiently identifying the muon track. A new method
for the charge sign determination has been applied, via a weighted angular
matching of the straight track-segments reconstructed in the different parts of
the dipole magnets. Results obtained for Monte Carlo and real data are
presented. Comparison with a method where no matching is used shows a
significant reduction of up to 40\% of the fraction of wrongly determined
charges.Comment: 10 pages. Improvements in the tex
Muon and Cosmogenic Neutron Detection in Borexino
Borexino, a liquid scintillator detector at LNGS, is designed for the
detection of neutrinos and antineutrinos from the Sun, supernovae, nuclear
reactors, and the Earth. The feeble nature of these signals requires a strong
suppression of backgrounds below a few MeV. Very low intrinsic radiogenic
contamination of all detector components needs to be accompanied by the
efficient identification of muons and of muon-induced backgrounds. Muons
produce unstable nuclei by spallation processes along their trajectory through
the detector whose decays can mimic the expected signals; for isotopes with
half-lives longer than a few seconds, the dead time induced by a muon-related
veto becomes unacceptably long, unless its application can be restricted to a
sub-volume along the muon track. Consequently, not only the identification of
muons with very high efficiency but also a precise reconstruction of their
tracks is of primary importance for the physics program of the experiment. The
Borexino inner detector is surrounded by an outer water-Cherenkov detector that
plays a fundamental role in accomplishing this task. The detector design
principles and their implementation are described. The strategies adopted to
identify muons are reviewed and their efficiency is evaluated. The overall muon
veto efficiency is found to be 99.992% or better. Ad-hoc track reconstruction
algorithms developed are presented. Their performance is tested against muon
events of known direction such as those from the CNGS neutrino beam, test
tracks available from a dedicated External Muon Tracker and cosmic muons whose
angular distribution reflects the local overburden profile. The achieved
angular resolution is 3-5 deg and the lateral resolution is 35-50 cm, depending
on the impact parameter of the crossing muon. The methods implemented to
efficiently tag cosmogenic neutrons are also presented.Comment: 42 pages. 32 figures on 37 files. Uses JINST.cls. 1 auxiliary file
(defines.tex) with TEX macros. submitted to Journal of Instrumentatio
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