3D printing of optical materials: an investigation of the microscopic properties

3D printing technologies are currently enabling the fabrication of objects with complex architectures and tailored properties. In such framework, the production of 3D optical structures, which are typically based on optical transparent matrices, optionally doped with active molecular compounds and nanoparticles, is still limited by the poor uniformity of the printed structures. Both bulk inhomogeneities and surface roughness of the printed structures can negatively affect the propagation of light in 3D printed optical components. Here we investigate photopolymerization-based printing processes by laser confocal microscopy. The experimental method we developed allows the printing process to be investigated in-situ, with microscale spatial resolution, and in real-time. The modelling of the photo-polymerization kinetics allows the different polymerization regimes to be investigated and the influence of process variables to be rationalized. In addition, the origin of the factors limiting light propagation in printed materials are rationalized, with the aim of envisaging effective experimental strategies to improve optical properties of printed materials.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figure

Nucleon generalized polarizabilities within a relativistic Constituent Quark Model

Nucleon generalized polarizabilities are investigated within a relativistic framework, defining such quantities through a Lorentz covariant multipole expansion of the amplitude for virtual Compton scattering. The key physical ingredients in the calculation of the nucleon polarizabilities are the Lorentz invariant reduced matrix elements of the electromagnetic transition current, which can be evaluated from off-energy-shell helicity amplitudes. The evolution of the proton paramagnetic polarizability, $\beta_{para}(q)$, as a function of the virtual-photon three-momentum transfer $q,$ is explicitly evaluated within a relativistic constituent quark model by adopting transition form factors obtained in the light-front formalism. The discussion is focussed on the role played by the effects due to the relativistic approach and to the transition form factors, derived within different models.Comment: 14 pages and three figures (included), to appear in Phys. Rev. C (May 1998

Compaction dynamics in ductile granular media

Ductile compaction is common in many natural systems, but the temporal evolution of such systems is rarely studied. We observe surprising oscillations in the weight measured at the bottom of a self-compacting ensemble of ductile grains. The oscillations develop during the first ten hours of the experiment, and usually persist through the length of an experiment (one week). The weight oscillations are connected to the grain--wall contacts, and are directly correlated with the observed strain evolution and the dynamics of grain--wall contacts during the compaction. Here, we present the experimental results and characteristic time constants of the system, and discuss possible reasons for the measured weight oscillations.Comment: 11 pages, 14 figure

Extended van Royen-Weisskopf formalism for lepton-antilepton meson decay widths within non-relativistic quark models

The classical van Royen-Weisskopf formula for the decay width of a meson into a lepton-antilepton pair is modified in order to include non-zero quark momentum contributions within the meson as well as relativistic effects. Besides, a phenomenological electromagnetic density for quarks is introduced. The meson wave functions are obtained from two different models: a chiral constituent quark model and a quark potential model including instanton effects. The modified van Royen-Weisskopf formula is found to improve systematically the results for the widths, giving an overall good description of all known decays.Comment: 22 pages, 3 figures, RevTex, epsfig. To be published in Nucl. Phys.

Rare exclusive semileptonic b -> s transitions in the Standard Model

We study long-distance effects in rare exclusive semileptonic decays B -> (K, K*) (l+ l-, nu bar{nu}) and analyze dilepton spectra and asymmetries within the framework of the Standard Model. The form factors, describing the meson transition amplitudes of the effective Hamiltonian are calculated within the lattice-constrained dispersion quark model: the form factors are given by dispersion representations through the wave functions of the initial and final mesons, and these wave functions are chosen such that the B -> K* transition form factors agree with the lattice results at large q**2. We calculate branching ratios of semileptonic B -> K, K* transition modes and study the sensitivity of observables to the long-distance contributions. The shape of the forward-backward asymmetry and the longitudinal lepton polarization asymmetry are found to be independent of the long-distance effects and mainly determined by the values of the Wilson coefficients in the Standard Model.Comment: revtex, 17 pp., 5 figures with epsfig.st

A collimation system for ELI-NP Gamma Beam System - design and simulation of performance

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the performance and refine the design of the collimation system for the gamma radiation source (GBS) currently being realised at ELI-NP facility. The gamma beam, produced by inverse Compton scattering, will provide a tunable average energy in the range between 0.2 and 20 MeV, an energy bandwidth 0.5% and a flux of about 108 photons/s. As a result of the inverse Compton interaction, the energy of the emitted radiation is related to the emission angle, it is maximum in the backscattering direction and decreases as the angle increase [1,2]. Therefore, the required energy bandwidth can be obtained only by developing a specific collimation system of the gamma beam, i.e. filtering out the radiation emitted at larger angles. The angular acceptance of the collimation for ELI-NP-GBS must be continuously adjustable in a range from about 700 to 60 μrad, to obtain the required parameters in the entire energy range. The solution identified is a stack of adjustable slits, arranged with a relative rotation around the beam axis to obtain an hole with an approximately circular shape. In this contribution, the final collimation design and its performance evaluated by carrying out a series of detailed Geant4 simulations both of the high-energy and the low-energy beamline are presented

A connection between inclusive semileptonic decays of bound and free heavy quarks

A relativistic constituent quark model, formulated on the light-front, is used to derive a new parton approximation for the inclusive semileptonic decay width of the B-meson. A simple connection between the decay rate of a free heavy-quark and the one of a heavy-quark bound in a meson or in a baryon is established. The main features of the new approach are the treatment of the b-quark as an on-mass-shell particle and the inclusion of the effects arising from the b-quark transverse motion in the B-meson. In a way conceptually similar to the deep-inelastic scattering case, the B-meson inclusive width is expressed as the integral of the free b-quark partial width multiplied by a bound-state factor related to the b-quark distribution function in the B-meson. The non-perturbative meson structure is described through various quark-model wave functions, constructed via the Hamiltonian light-front formalism using as input both relativized and non-relativistic potential models. A link between spectroscopic quark models and the B-meson decay physics is obtained in this way. Our predictions for the B -> X_c l nu_l and B -> X_u l nu_l decays are used to extract the CKM parameters |V_cb| and |V_ub| from available inclusive data. After averaging over the various quark models adopted and including leading-order perturbative QCD corrections, we obtain |V_cb| = (43.0 +/- 0.7_exp +/- 1.8_th) 10^-3 and |V_ub| = (3.83 +/- 0.48_exp +/- 0.14_th) 10^-3, implying |V_ub / V_cb| = 0.089 +/- 0.011_exp +/- 0.005_th, in nice agreement with existing predictions.Comment: revised version with pQCD corrections included, to appear in Physical Review

Characterizing Sediment from Riverton, WY

Riverton, Wyoming is home to the seventh-largest Native American Reservation by area and a former uranium processing facility. Milling activities at this site have left the sediments and groundwater with elevated concentrations of uranium that occasionally disrupt water quality to the 12,000 residents of the reservation. The floodplain becomes seasonally wet and sometimes flooded from snowmelt that can be amplified by El Niño events. As a result, the sediments of this area experience periodic droughts and floods. There is concern that a decreased water stage can have major impacts on the geochemical makeup of this ecosystem as 1) a decreased water volume may result in an increase of pollutant concentrations and 2) a decreased water stage can have a significant impact the redox cycling within the subsurface and affect major biogeochemical cycles. This study addresses the need to understand current subsurface elemental distributions in Riverton, Wyoming. Overall, the project explores the sediment characteristics of several Riverton cores in response to drought and flood conditions. Samples for this study were taken over the course of twelve months - at three different time points. This summer, 105 Riverton sediment samples from August 2016 (the final time point) were geochemically characterized and compared to samples from dry conditions (August 2015) prior to the second largest flood on record at this location. We expect the sediments collected prior to the flood to vary greatly from the sediments collected after the flood because the activity of microbial communities is affected by differences in the physical structure of the soil. This data, along with an analysis of the microbial communities present in these sediments, will help the Francis Lab understand what factors shape the distribution and diversity of microbial communities present in order to better understand the subsurface biogeochemistry at Riverton

Cholesterol dependent macropinocytosis and endosomal escape control the transfection efficiency of lipoplexes in CHO Living Cells

Here we investigate the cellular uptake mechanism and final intracellular fate of two cationic liposome formulations characterized by similar physicochemical properties but very different lipid composition and efficiency for intracellular delivery of DNA. The first formulation is made of cationic lipid 1,2-dioleoyl-3-trimethylammonium-propane (DOTAP) and the zwitterionic helper dioleoylphosphocholine (DOPC), while the second one is made of the cationic 3 beta-[N-(N,N-dimethylaminoethane)-carbamoyl] cholesterol (DC-Chol) and the zwitterionic lipid dioleoylphosphatidylethanolamine (DOPE). Combining pharmacological and imaging approaches we show that both DOTAP-DOPC/DNA and DC-Chol-DOPE/DNA lipoplexes are taken up in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) living cells mainly through fluid-phase macropinocytosis. Our results also indicate that lipoplex macropinocytosis is a cholesterol-sensitive uptake mechanism. On the other side, both clathrin-mediated and caveolae-mediated endocytosis play a minor role, if any, in the cell uptake. Colocalization of fluorescently tagged lipoplexes and Lysosensor, a primary lysosome marker, reveals that poorly efficient DOTAP-DOPC/DNA lipoplexes are largely degraded in the lysosomes, while efficient DC-Chol-DOPE/DNA systems can efficiently escape from endosomal compartments

Eosinophilic cystitis associated with urethral stricture disease from pelvic trauma. Case report and literature review

We report a case of eosinophilic cystitis (EC) in a 65-year-old man with urethral stricture disease from blunt pelvic traumatic event. EC is a rare condition characterized by eosinophilic infiltration of the bladder wall, that usually presents with irritative voiding symptoms, suprapubic pain and hematuria. Etiology is still not clear although a review of the literature suggests that pathogenetic mechanisms probably engage an altered immune response in the bladder, with the inflammatory reaction caused by factors such as exogenous allergens and previous bladder injury or surgery to the bladder or the prostate. The diagnosis of EC has to be confirmed by biopsy, since in some cases it may manifest as other inflammatory and malignant bladder disorders. A conservative medical management is indicated initially, since this disease may be self-limited, with a benign course especially in children and young patients. In adults EC is more often a chronic recurrent condition that requires close follow-up since it may lead to serious progressive bladder and/or upper urinary tract disease. More invasive therapies (including transurethral resection, partial or total cystectomy) may also be required when conservative therapy fails