RBF neural net based classifier for the AIRIX accelerator fault diagnosis

The AIRIX facility is a high current linear accelerator (2-3.5kA) used for flash-radiography at the CEA of Moronvilliers France. The general background of this study is the diagnosis and the predictive maintenance of AIRIX. We will present a tool for fault diagnosis and monitoring based on pattern recognition using artificial neural network. Parameters extracted from the signals recorded on each shot are used to define a vector to be classified. The principal component analysis permits us to select the most pertinent information and reduce the redundancy. A three layer Radial Basis Function (RBF) neural network is used to classify the states of the accelerator. We initialize the network by applying an unsupervised fuzzy technique to the training base. This allows us to determine the number of clusters and real classes, which define the number of cells on the hidden and output layers of the network. The weights between the hidden and the output layers, realising the non-convex union of the clusters, are determined by a least square method. Membership and ambiguity rejection enable the network to learn unknown failures, and to monitor accelerator operations to predict future failures. We will present the first results obtained on the injector.Comment: 3 pages, 4 figures, LINAC'2000 conferenc

GPS Precision Timing at CERN

For the past decade, the Global Positioning System (GPS) has been used to provide precise time, frequency and position co-ordinates world-wide. Recently, equipment has become available specialising in providing extremely accurate timing information, referenced to Universal Time Co-ordinates (UTC). This feature has been used at CERN to provide time of day information for systems that have been installed in the Proton Synchrotron (PS), Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) and the Large Electron Positron (LEP) machines. The different systems are described as well as the planned developments, particularly with respect to optical transmission and the Inter-Range Instrumentation Group IRIG-B standard, for future use in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC)

Dielectric Relaxations and Conductivity of Crosslinked PVA/SSA/GO Composite Membranes for Fuel Cells

[EN] Composite membranes obtained from Poly(vinyl Alcohol) (PVA) with sulfosuccinic acid (SSA) as crosslinking agent, and two different proportions of graphene oxide (GO), were prepared to be used in Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells (PEMFCs). The superficial micrographs from transmission electron microscopy (TEM) confirmed a good dispersion of GO. Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) was used to evaluate the final chemical structure. Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) showed that glass transition and crystalline phase were not present in the cross-linked PVA/SSA/GO composites membranes. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) demonstrated that the addition of GO reduced the moisture content and increased the thermal stability of the membranes. The electrical properties of PVA/SSA and PVA/SSA/GO composite membranes and the effect of GO concentration were evaluated by means of dielectric spectra in a broad range of temperatures and frequencies. The dielectric permittivity of these membranes was significantly promoted at low filler concentration due to an interfacial polarization effect. From the analysis of the dielectric relaxation spectrum, it can be deduced that the origin of the associated molecular movements is intramolecular and occurs in the working range of the PMEFC. In addition, the direct current conductivity, the protonic conductivity, and the polarization currents were correlated to the power produced in a hydrogen monocell. It was observed that low and no high GO concentrations of filler in PVA/SSA composite membranes enhanced their performance. The systematic characterization procedure based on the study of dielectric spectra and conductivity allowed to establish a potential approach to control the addition of GO in the design of other composite membranes for PEMFC with improved properties.The authors would like to thank Dr. Roberto Teruel Juanes and Dr. Victor Saenz de Juano for their advice in the treatment of results. The authors are also thankful to Generalitat Valenciana and the European Social Fund for the Santiago Grisolia scholarship, GRISOLIA/2013/031, and the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation for the concession of Research Project ENE2014-53734-C2-1-R.González-Guisasola, C.; Ribes-Greus, A. (2018). Dielectric Relaxations and Conductivity of Crosslinked PVA/SSA/GO Composite Membranes for Fuel Cells. Polymer Testing. 67:55-67. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polymertesting.2018.01.024S55676

Interactions between medicines in an office of community drugstore

Objetivo: cuantificar, valorar y analizar las interacciones farmacológicas en los pacientes que acuden a una oficina de farmacia.Método: Estudio transversal de un año en una oficina de farmacia de Valencia. Las interacciones se detectaron con el programa BotPlus del Consejo General de Colegios Oficiales de Farmacéuticos.Resultados: El 63,64% de las interacciones se produjeron en mujeres. Más del 63% aparecieron en mayores de 56 años. El 57,94% fueron de tipo farmacodinámico. El 69,16% fueron importantes o potencialmente importantes. El 57,01% afectaban a la seguridad. En un 69,16% se recomendaba un control clínico del paciente. La interacción de antiinflamatorios no esteroideos y diuréticos fue la que apareció con una mayor frecuencia.Conclusiones: Es necesario establecer un plan de actuación con protocolos normalizados de trabajo ante posibles interacciones y con intervenciones en la educación de los pacientes para minimizar la aparición de problemas relacionados con medicamentos.Objective: To quantify, to value and to analyze the pharmacological interactions in the patients who come to a community pharmacy.Method: Cross-sectional study of one year in a community pharmacy of Valencia. The interactions were detected by the program BotPlus of the General Council of Pharmacists’ Official Colleges.Results: 63,64 % of the interactions took place in women. More than 63 % appeared in major of 56 years. 57,94 % were pharmacodinamic type. 69,16 % were important or potentially important. 57,01 % were concerning the safety. In 69,16 % a clinical control of the patient was recommended. The interaction of anti-inflammatories-non-steroidal and diuretics it was the one that appeared with a major frequency.Conclusions: It is necessary to establish an action plan with standard operating protocols to possible interactions and interventions in the education of patients to minimize the occurrence of drug-related problems

Interacciones entre fármacos en una oficina de farmacia comunitaria

Objetivo: cuantificar, valorar y analizar las interacciones farmacológicas en los pacientes que acuden a una oficina de farmacia. Método: Estudio transversal de un año en una oficina de farmacia de Valencia. Las interacciones se detectaron con el programa BotPlus del Consejo General de Colegios Oficiales de Farmacéuticos. Resultados: El 63,64% de las interacciones se produjeron en mujeres. Más del 63% aparecieron en mayores de 56 años. El 57,94% fueron de tipo farmacodinámico. El 69,16% fueron importantes o potencialmente importantes. El 57,01% afectaban a la seguridad. En un 69,16% se recomendaba un control clínico del paciente. La interacción de antiinflamatorios no esteroideos y diuréticos fue la que apareció con una mayor frecuencia. Conclusiones: Es necesario establecer un plan de actuación con protocolos normalizados de trabajo ante posibles interacciones y con intervenciones en la educación de los pacientes para minimizar la aparición de problemas relacionados con medicamentos.Objective: To quantify, to value and to analyze the pharmacological interactions in the patients who come to a community pharmacy. Method: Cross-sectional study of one year in a community pharmacy of Valencia. The interactions were detected by the program BotPlus of the General Council of Pharmacists’ Official Colleges. Results: 63,64 % of the interactions took place in women. More than 63 % appeared in major of 56 years. 57,94 % were pharmacodinamic type. 69,16 % were important or potentially important. 57,01 % were concerning the safety. In 69,16 % a clinical control of the patient was recommended. The interaction of anti-inflammatories-non-steroidal and diuretics it was the one that appeared with a major frequency. Conclusions: It is necessary to establish an action plan with standard operating protocols to possible interactions and interventions in the education of patients to minimize the occurrence of drug-related problems

Technical Evolution of Ceramic Tile Printing

[EN] Ceramic tile decorating techniques have evolved significantly in recent years. Digital inkjet printing technology has enabled digital systems to be used for the direct decoration of ceramic tiles, revolutionizing ceramic tile decoration and providing many advantages over traditional decoration techniques. It was the formulation of inks with soluble and vitrifiable stains that allowed inkjet printing technology to be introduced into ceramic tile decoration. The incorporation of milled inorganic pigments into the inks broadened the available color palette. However, the colloidal instability of these inks and the constraints of the printing heads themselves made it necessary to reduce pigment particle size, thus limiting color saturation and the color gamut. In order to increase color saturation and obtain a set of pigmented inks with colors more closely resembling CMYK colors, pigments with larger particle sizes need to be used. Indeed, other digital decorating techniques, such as xerography, allow larger particle sizes to be used, while also providing the advantages associated with digital decoration. However, the implementation of this technique for ceramic tile decoration requires the development of appropriate ceramic toners and adaptation of printing machines. This article reviews the technical evolution of ceramic tile printing and describes the development of a prototype, based on xerographic printing, that is able to print ceramic tiles directly and provides greater color intensity and a wider color gamut.40140756

Differences in \u3cem\u3eRhodococcus equi\u3c/em\u3e Infections Based on Immune Status and Antibiotic Susceptibility of Clinical Isolates in a Case Series of 12 Patients and Cases in the Literature

Rhodococcus equi is an unusual zoonotic pathogen that can cause life-threatening diseases in susceptible hosts. Twelve patients with R. equi infection in Kentucky were compared to 137 cases reported in the literature. Although lungs were the primary sites of infection in immunocompromised patients, extrapulmonary involvement only was more common in immunocompetent patients (P \u3e 0.0001). Mortality in R. equi-infected HIV patients was lower in the HAART era (8%) than in pre-HAART era (56%) (P \u3e 0.0001), suggesting that HAART improves prognosis in these patients. Most (85–100%) of clinical isolates were susceptible to vancomycin, clarithromycin, rifampin, aminoglycosides, ciprofloxacin, and imipenem. Interestingly, there was a marked difference in susceptibility of the isolates to cotrimoxazole between Europe (35/76) and the US (15/15) (P \u3e 0.0001). Empiric treatment of R. equi infection should include a combination of two antibiotics, preferably selected from vancomycin, imipenem, clarithromycin/azithromycin, ciprofloxacin, rifampin, or cotrimoxazole. Local antibiograms should be checked prior to using cotrimoxazole due to developing resistance

Thermo-oxidative characterisation of the residues from persimmon harvest for its use in energy recovery processes

[EN] The residues from the harvest of persimmon fruit will be thermally valorised by means of high temperature reactions within a spouted bed reactor. With the aim to obtain valuable information for the design of the device, the thermo-chemical processes were simulated by multi-rate linear non-isothermal Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA) using O-2 as carrier gas. In addition, a set of analyses were carried out using Ar as carrier gas in order to evaluate the influence of the atmosphere (oxidative or inert conditions) on the decomposition of the samples evaluating the reactions of pyrolysis. The release of gases was monitored by Evolved Gas Analysis (EGA) with in-line Fourier Transformed Infrared (FT-IR) analysis. The thermochemical reaction was mathematically described through the definition of the main kinetic parameters: activation energy (Ea), pre-exponential factor (In A) and model and order of reaction (n). The so-called kinetic triplet was calculated through the application of a methodology based on complementary isoconversional methods. These results will be the initial parameters that will help design the Spouted Bed Reactor and it is envisaged that they will be used in computer simulation software to achieve a better understanding of the process to obtain the optimum operational parameters. (C) 2016 Published by Elsevier B.V.Moliner, C.; Aguilar, A.; Bosio, B.; Arato, E.; Ribes-Greus, A. (2016). Thermo-oxidative characterisation of the residues from persimmon harvest for its use in energy recovery processes. Fuel Processing Technology. 152:421-429. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fuproc.2016.07.008S42142915

Influence of the Molecular Weight on PVA/GO Composite Membranes for Fuel Cell Applications

Composite polymer electrolyte membranes were prepared with poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA). Two different molecular weight (Mw), 67·103 and 130·103 g·mol−1 were selected, cross-linked with sulfosuccinic acid (SSA) and doped graphene oxide (GO). The effects on the membranes obtained from these polymers were characterized in order to evaluate the fuel cell performance. Electron microscopy showed a proper nanoparticle distribution in the polymer matrix. The chemical structure was evaluated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The absence of a crystalline structure and the enhancement on the thermal stability with the addition of 1% of GO was demonstrated by thermal characterization. Total transference number and protonic conductivity were correlated to the performance of a hydrogen fuel cell. Overall, a power increase in the composite membranes with lower molecular weight was observed. Shorter polymer chains may improve protonic conductivity and consequently the fuel cell performance