505 research outputs found
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300 AREA URANIUM CONTAMINATION
{sm_bullet} Uranium fuel production {sm_bullet} Test reactor and separations experiments {sm_bullet} Animal and radiobiology experiments conducted at the. 331 Laboratory Complex {sm_bullet} .Deactivation, decontamination, decommissioning,. and demolition of 300 Area facilitie
Hand Rehabilitation and Telemonitoring through Smart Toys
We describe here a platform for autonomous hand rehabilitation and telemonitoring of young patients. A toy embedding the electronics required to sense fingers pressure in different grasping modalities is the core element of this platform. The system has been realized following the user-centered design methodology taking into account stakeholder needs from start: clinicians require reliable measurements and the ability to get a picture remotely on rehabilitation progression; children have asked to interact with a pleasant and comfortable object that is easy to use, safe, and rewarding. These requirements are not antithetic, and considering both since the design phase has allowed the realization of a platform reliable to clinicians and keen to be used by young children
Diffusive transport of light in two-dimensional granular materials
We study photon diffusion in a two-dimensional random packing of monodisperse
disks as a simple model of granular material. We apply ray optics approximation
to set up a persistent random walk for the photons. We employ Fresnel's
intensity reflectance with its rich dependence on the incidence angle and
polarization state of the light. We present an analytic expression for the
transport-mean-free path in terms of the refractive indices of grains and host
medium, grain radius, and packing fraction. We perform numerical simulations to
examine our analytical result.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figure
Minimal Stability in Maximal Supergravity
Recently, it has been shown that maximal supergravity allows for
non-supersymmetric AdS critical points that are perturbatively stable. We
investigate this phenomenon of stability without supersymmetry from the
sGoldstino point of view. In particular, we calculate the projection of the
mass matrix onto the sGoldstino directions, and derive the necessary conditions
for stability. Indeed we find a narrow window allowing for stable SUSY breaking
points. As a by-product of our analysis, we find that it seems impossible to
perturb supersymmetric critical points into non-supersymmetric ones: there is a
minimal amount of SUSY breaking in maximal supergravity.Comment: 27 pages, 1 figure. v2: two typos corrected, published versio
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Hanford Site groundwater monitoring for fiscal year 1996
This report presents the results of groundwater and vadose-zone monitoring for fiscal year (FY) 1996 on the Hanford Site, Washington. Hanford Site operations from 1943 onward produced large quantities of radiological and chemical waste that affected groundwater quality on the site. Characterization and monitoring of the vadose zone during FY 1996 comprised primarily spectral gamma logging, soil-gas monitoring, and electrical resistivity tomography. Water-level monitoring was performed to evaluate groundwater-flow directions, to track changes in water levels, and to relate such changes to evolving disposal practices. Water levels over most of the Hanford Site continued to decline between June 1995 and June 1996. Groundwater chemistry was monitored to track the extent of contamination, to note trends, and to identify emerging groundwater-quality problems. The most widespread radiological contaminant plumes were tritium and iodine-129. Smaller plumes of strontium-90, technetium-99, and plutonium also were present at levels above the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency or State of Washington interim drinking water standards. Uranium concentrations greater than the proposed drinking water standard were also observed. Nitrate, fluoride, chromium, carbon tetrachloride, chloroform, trichloroethylene, and cis-1,2-dichlomethylene were present in groundwater samples at levels above their U.S. Environmental Protection Agency or State of Washington maximum contaminant levels. The nitrate plume is the most extensive. Three-dimensional, numerical, groundwater models were applied to the Hanford Site to predict contaminant-flow paths and the impact of operational changes on site groundwater conditions. Other models were applied to assess the performance of three separate pump-and-treat systems
The X-ray outburst of the Galactic Center magnetar over six years of Chandra observations
The magnetar SGR J1745-2900 discovered at parsecs distance from the Milky Way
central black hole, Sagittarius A*, represents the closest pulsar to a
supermassive black hole ever detected. Furthermore, its intriguing radio
emission has been used to study the environment of the black hole, as well as
to derive a precise position and proper motion for this object. The discovery
of SGR J1745-2900 has opened interesting debates about the number, age and
nature of pulsars expected in the Galactic center region. In this work, we
present extensive X-ray monitoring of the outburst of SGR J1745-2900 using the
Chandra X-ray Observatory, the only instrument with the spatial resolution to
distinguish the magnetar from the supermassive black hole (2.4" angular
distance). It was monitored from its outburst onset in April 2013 until August
2019, collecting more than fifty Chandra observations for a total of more than
2.3 Ms of data. Soon after the outburst onset, the magnetar emission settled
onto a purely thermal emission state that cooled from a temperature of about
0.9 to 0.6 keV over 6 years. The pulsar timing properties showed at least two
changes in the period derivative, increasing by a factor of about 4 during the
outburst decay. We find that the long-term properties of this outburst
challenge current models for the magnetar outbursts.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures. Accepted by Ap
Multiband study of RX J0838-2827 and XMM J083850.4-282759: A new asynchronous magnetic cataclysmic variable and a candidate transitional millisecond pulsar
Indexación: Scopus.In a search for the counterpart to the Fermi-LAT source 3FGL J0838.8-2829, we performed a multiwavelength campaign: in the X-ray band with Swift and XMM-Newton; in the infrared and optical with OAGH, ESO-NTT and IAC80; and in the radio with ATCA observations. We also used archival hard X-ray data obtained by INTEGRAL. We report on three X-ray sources consistent with the position of the Fermi-LAT source.We confirm the identification of the brightest object, RX J0838-2827, as a magnetic cataclysmic variable that we recognize as an asynchronous system (not associated with the Fermi-LAT source). RX J0838-2827 is extremely variable in the X-ray and optical bands, and timing analysis reveals the presence of several periodicities modulating its X-ray and optical emission. The most evident modulations are interpreted as being caused by the binary system orbital period of ~1.64 h and the white dwarf spin period of ~1.47 h. A strong flux modulation at ~15 h is observed at all energy bands, consistent with the beat frequency between spin and orbital periods. Optical spectra show prominent Hß, He I and He II emission lines that are Doppler-modulated at the orbital period and at the beat period. Therefore, RX J0838-2827 accretes through a disc-less configuration and could be either a strongly asynchronous polar or a rare example of a pre-polar system on its way to reaching synchronism. Regarding the other two X-ray sources, XMM J083850.4-282759 showed a variable X-ray emission, with a powerful flare lasting for ~600 s, similar to what is observed in transitional millisecond pulsars during the subluminous disc state: this observation possibly means that this source can be associated with the Fermi-LAT source. © 2017 The Authors.https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/471/3/2902/408195
Metastable de Sitter vacua in N=2 to N=1 truncated supergravity
We study the possibility of achieving metastable de Sitter vacua in general
N=2 to N=1 truncated supergravities without vector multiplets, and compare with
the situations arising in N=2 theories with only hypermultiplets and N=1
theories with only chiral multiplets. In N=2 theories based on a quaternionic
manifold and a graviphoton gauging, de Sitter vacua are necessarily unstable,
as a result of the peculiar properties of the geometry. In N=1 theories based
on a Kahler manifold and a superpotential, de Sitter vacua can instead be
metastable provided the geometry satisfies some constraint and the
superpotential can be freely adjusted. In N=2 to N=1 truncations, the crucial
requirement is then that the tachyon of the mother theory be projected out from
the daughter theory, so that the original unstable vacuum is projected to a
metastable vacuum. We study the circumstances under which this may happen and
derive general constraints for metastability on the geometry and the gauging.
We then study in full detail the simplest case of quaternionic manifolds of
dimension four with at least one isometry, for which there exists a general
parametrization, and study two types of truncations defining Kahler
submanifolds of dimension two. As an application, we finally discuss the case
of the universal hypermultiplet of N=2 superstrings and its truncations to the
dilaton chiral multiplet of N=1 superstrings. We argue that de Sitter vacua in
such theories are necessarily unstable in weakly coupled situations, while they
can in principle be metastable in strongly coupled regimes.Comment: 40 pages, no figure
Assessment of the Sabellaria alveolata reefs’ structural features along the Southern coast of Sicily (Strait of Sicily, Mediterranean Sea)
The honeycomb worm Sabellaria alveolata is a gregarious tube-dwelling polychaete that builds remarkable biogenic reefs in
marine coastal waters. Sabellaria alveolata reefs are considered valuable marine habitats requiring protection measures for their
conservation, as they play a key role in the functioning of coastal ecosystems. Sabellarid reefs are extensively developed along the
Atlantic coasts of Europe and reported for the Mediterranean Sea and the Italian coasts, where large reefs have been recorded in
several localities. Fragmentary information is available on their health status, Sabellaria reefs thus being listed as “Data Deficient”
in the Red List of Marine Habitats. To fill this knowledge gap, this study focused on the analysis of the structure of three reefs
found along the southern coast of Sicily. In particular, we aimed to assess their phases with respect to the natural cycle that characterizes
the sabellarid reefs. Reef features were analyzed both on the macroscale, based on the bioconstruction size (diameter and
thickness) and degree of fragmentation, and on the microscale, based on the measurement of worm density, opercular length and
sand porch presence. This study reveals relevant differences among reefs of the studied locations. These differences we attribute
to the temporal shift linked to the natural reef phases, albeit further analyses are needed to understand the possible effect of natural
and anthropogenic sources of variation on the Southern Sicilian reefs. In conclusion, Sabellaria reefs are a unique and persistent
habitat along the Sicilian coast requiring proper management and conservation measures
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