1,742 research outputs found
Impurity transport in Alcator C-Mod in the presence of poloidal density variation induced by ion cyclotron resonance heating
Impurity particle transport in an ion cyclotron resonance heated Alcator
C-Mod discharge is studied with local gyrokinetic simulations and a theoretical
model including the effect of poloidal asymmetries and elongation. In spite of
the strong minority temperature anisotropy in the deep core region, the
poloidal asymmetries are found to have a negligible effect on the turbulent
impurity transport due to low magnetic shear in this region, in agreement with
the experimental observations. According to the theoretical model, in outer
core regions poloidal asymmetries may contribute to the reduction of the
impurity peaking, but uncertainties in atomic physics processes prevent
quantitative comparison with experiments.Comment: 32 pages, 12 figure
A Single Wearable Sensor for Gait Analysis in Parkinson’s Disease: A Preliminary Study
Movement monitoring in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) is critical for quantifying disease progression and assessing how a subject responds to medication administration over time. In this work, we propose a continuous monitoring system based on a single wearable sensor placed on the lower back and an algorithm for gait parameters evaluation. In order to preliminarily validate the proposed system, seven PD subjects took part in an experimental protocol in preparation for a larger randomized controlled study. We validated the feasibility of our algorithm in a constrained environment through a laboratory scenario. Successively, it was tested in an unsupervised environment, such as the home scenario, for a total of almost 12 h of daily living activity data. During all phases of the experimental protocol, videos were shot to document the tasks. The obtained results showed a good accuracy of the proposed algorithm. For all PD subjects in the laboratory scenario, the algorithm for step identification reached a percentage error low of 2%, 99.13% of sensitivity and 100% of specificity. In the home scenario the Bland–Altman plot showed a mean difference of −3.29 and −1 between the algorithm and the video recording for walking bout detection and steps identification, respectively
Investigation of rare nuclear decays with BaF crystal scintillator contaminated by radium
The radioactive contamination of a BaF scintillation crystal with mass of
1.714 kg was measured over 101 hours in the low-background DAMA/R&D set-up deep
underground (3600 m w.e.) at the Gran Sasso National Laboratories of INFN
(LNGS, Italy). The half-life of Po (present in the crystal scintillator
due to contamination by radium) was measured as Po) =
298.80.8(stat.)1.4(syst.) ns by analysis of the events' pulse
profiles. The Rn nuclide is known as 100% decaying via emission of
particle with = 3.82 d; however, its decay is also
energetically allowed with keV. Search for decay chains of
events with specific pulse shapes characteristic for or for
signals and with known energies and time differences allowed us
to set, for the first time, the limit on the branching ratio of Rn
relatively to decay as % at 90% C.L. (equivalent to
limit on partial half-life y). Half-life limits of
Pb, Rn and Ra relatively to decays are also
improved in comparison with the earlier results.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures, 2 table
Search for long-lived superheavy eka-tungsten with radiopure ZnWO crystal scintillator
The data collected with a radioactively pure ZnWO crystal scintillator
(699 g) in low background measurements during 2130 h at the underground (3600 m
w.e.) Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (INFN, Italy) were used to set a
limit on possible concentration of superheavy eka-W (seaborgium Sg, Z = 106) in
the crystal. Assuming that one of the daughters in a chain of decays of the
initial Sg nucleus decays with emission of high energy particle
( MeV) and analyzing the high energy part of the measured
spectrum, the limit N(Sg)/N(W) < 5.5 10 atoms/atom at
90% C.L. was obtained (for Sg half-life of 10 yr). In addition, a limit on
the concentration of eka-Bi was set by analysing the data collected with a
large BGO scintillation bolometer in an experiment performed by another group
[L. Cardani et al., JINST 7 (2012) P10022]: N(eka-Bi)/N(Bi) < 1.1
10 atoms/atom with 90% C.L. Both the limits are comparable with those
obtained in recent experiments which instead look for spontaneous fission of
superheavy elements or use the accelerator mass spectrometry.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures; in press on Physica Script
Search for double beta decay of Ce and Ce with HPGe gamma detector
Search for double decay of Ce and Ce was realized
with 732 g of deeply purified cerium oxide sample measured over 1900 h with the
help of an ultra-low background HPGe detector with a volume of 465
cm at the STELLA facility of the Gran Sasso National Laboratories of the
INFN (Italy). New improved half-life limits on double beta processes in the
cerium isotopes were set at the level of ~yr;
many of them are even two orders of magnitude larger than the best previous
results.Comment: 21 pages, 6 figures, 3 tables; version accepted for publication on
Nucl. Phys.
The event generator DECAY4 for simulation of double beta processes and decay of radioactive nuclei
The computer code DECAY4 is developed to generate initial energy, time and
angular distributions of particles emitted in radioactive decays of nuclides
and nuclear (atomic) deexcitations. Data for description of nuclear and atomic
decay schemes are taken from the ENSDF and EADL database libraries. The
examples of use of the DECAY4 code in several underground experiments are
described.Comment: 8 pages, 1 fi
New limits on , and decay of Ce and Ce with deeply purified cerium sample
A search for double electron capture (), electron capture with
positron emission (), and double positron emission
) in Ce and Ce was realized with a 465 cm
ultra-low background HP Ge spectrometer over 2299 h at the Gran Sasso
underground laboratory. A 627 g sample of cerium oxide deeply purified by
liquid-liquid extraction method was used as a source of quanta
expected in double decay of the cerium isotopes. New improved half-life
limits were set on different modes and channels of double decay of
Ce and Ce at the level of yr.Comment: 19 pages, 6 figures, 2 table
Local and global Fokker-Planck neoclassical calculations showing flow and bootstrap current modification in a pedestal
In transport barriers, particularly H-mode edge pedestals, radial scale
lengths can become comparable to the ion orbit width, causing neoclassical
physics to become radially nonlocal. In this work, the resulting changes to
neoclassical flow and current are examined both analytically and numerically.
Steep density gradients are considered, with scale lengths comparable to the
poloidal ion gyroradius, together with strong radial electric fields sufficient
to electrostatically confine the ions. Attention is restricted to relatively
weak ion temperature gradients (but permitting arbitrary electron temperature
gradients), since in this limit a delta-f (small departures from a Maxwellian
distribution) rather than full-f approach is justified. This assumption is in
fact consistent with measured inter-ELM H-Mode edge pedestal density and ion
temperature profiles in many present experiments, and is expected to be
increasingly valid in future lower collisionality experiments. In the numerical
analysis, the distribution function and Rosenbluth potentials are solved for
simultaneously, allowing use of the exact field term in the linearized
Fokker-Planck collision operator. In the pedestal, the parallel and poloidal
flows are found to deviate strongly from the best available conventional
neoclassical prediction, with large poloidal variation of a different form than
in the local theory. These predicted effects may be observable experimentally.
In the local limit, the Sauter bootstrap current formulae appear accurate at
low collisionality, but they can overestimate the bootstrap current near the
plateau regime. In the pedestal ordering, ion contributions to the bootstrap
and Pfirsch-Schluter currents are also modified
First search for double-beta decay of 184Os and 192Os
A search for double-beta decay of osmium has been realized for the first time
with the help of an ultra-low background HPGe gamma detector at the underground
Gran Sasso National Laboratories of the INFN (Italy). After 2741 h of data
taking with a 173 g ultra-pure osmium sample limits on double-beta processes in
184Os have been established at the level of T_{1/2} about 10^{14}-10^{17} yr.
Possible resonant double-electron captures in 184Os were searched for with a
sensitivity T_{1/2} about 10^{16} yr. A half-life limit T_{1/2} > 5.3 10^{19}
yr was set for the double-beta decay of 192Os to the first excited level of
192Pt. The radiopurity of the osmium sample has been investigated and
radionuclides 137Cs, 185Os and 207Bi were detected in the sample, while
activities of 40K, 60Co, 226Ra and 232Th were limited at the mBq/kg level.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figures, 2 table
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