Biomedical applications of medium energy particle beams at LAMPF

At LAMPF an 800-MeV proton accelerator is used to produce intense beams of secondary protons, pi mesons, and muons which are being employed in several areas of biomedical research. The primary proton beam is used to produce short-lived radioisotopes of clinical interest. Carefully tailored secondary proton beams are used to obtain density reconstructions of samples with a dose much less than that required by x-ray CT scanners. The elemental composition of tissue samples is being determined non-destructively with muonic x-ray analysis. Finally, an extensive program, with physical, biological, and clinical components, is underway to evaluate negative pi mesons for use in cancer radiotherapy. The techniques used in these experiments and recent results are described

Proceedings of the nineteenth LAMPF Users Group meeting

Separate abstracts were prepared for eight invited talks on various aspects of nuclear and particle physics as well as status reports on LAMPF and discussions of upgrade options. Also included in these proceedings are the minutes of the working groups for: energetic pion channel and spectrometer; high resolution spectrometer; high energy pion channel; neutron facilities; low-energy pion work; nucleon physics laboratory; stopped muon physics; solid state physics and material science; nuclear chemistry; and computing facilities. Recent LAMPF proposals are also briefly summarized. (LEW

Pion production cross sections and associated parameters

Negative pions have been used for radiotherapy at the meson factories LAMPF (USA), SIN (Switzerland), and TRIUMF (Canada) and have been planned for use at new meson facilities under construction (USSR) and at proposed dedicated medical facilities. Providing therapeutically useful dose rates of pions requires a knowledge of the pion production cross sections as a function of primary proton energy (500 to 1000 MeV), pion energy (less than or equal to100 MeV), production angle, and target material. The current status of the data base in this area is presented including theoretical guidelines for extrapolation purposes. The target material and geometry, as well as the proton and pion beam parameters, will affect the electron (and muon) contamination in the beam which may have an important effect on both the LET characteristics of the dose and the dose distribution. In addition to cross-section data, channel characteristics such as length of pion trajectory, solid-angle acceptance, and momentum analysis will affect dose rate, distribution, and quality. Such considerations are briefly addressed in terms of existing facilities and proposed systems. 16 refs., 6 figs

Settlement in the Upper Orontes Valley from the Neolithic to the Islamic Period: an instance of punctuated equilibrium

This paper seeks to outline the main developments in settlement organization in the Orontes Valley around the modern city of Homs from the Neolithic through to the Islamic period. Data drawn from ten seasons of fieldwork undertaken by the project Settlement and Landscape Development in the Homs Region, Syria (1999-2009) are used to delineate the main developments in settlement distribution and organization in each of three contrasting landscape units. Settlement change over time in each unit is considered in terms of its possible relationship to political and economic developments at a wider regional scale

Meson factories

Technological improvements in accelerator design in the 1960's resulted in the capability to develop medium-energy proton accelerators with beam intensities of almost 1 mA. These beams are able to produce fluxes of secondary particles, including pions, muons, neutrinos, and neutrons, which are as much as 10,000 times as intense as those previously available. Those machines built for optimum meson production are commonly called meson factories. The characteristics of these facilities are reviewed, and the present programs in applied research, and some potential areas of future work are discussed

Colour pattern component phenotypic divergence can be predicted by the light environment

The sensory drive hypothesis predicts that across different light environments sexually selected colour patterns will change to increase an animal's visual communication efficiency within different habitats. This is because individuals with more efficient signal components are likely to have more successful matings and hence produce more offspring. However, how colour pattern signals change over multiple generations under different light environmental conditions has not been tested experimentally. Here, we manipulated colour pattern signal efficiency by providing different ambient light environments over multiple generations to examine whether male colour pattern components change within large replicated populations of guppies (Poecilia reticulata). We report that colour patches change within populations over time and are phenotypically different among our three different light environments. Visual modelling suggests that the majority of these changes can be understood by considering the chroma, hue and luminance of each colour patch as seen by female guppies under each light environment. Taken together, our results support the hypothesis that different environmental conditions during signal reception can directly or indirectly drive the phenotypic diversification of visual signals within species