534 research outputs found
New high level application software for the control of the SPS-LEP beam transfer lines
New high level application software is being developed for the control of the SPS and LEP Transfer Lines. This paper briefly describes the model for the operation of these Transfer Lines, which is largely based on previous experience gained during the development and upgrades of the SPS and LEP control systems. The software system is then presented, followed by a description of the high level applications for the control room operators. Tools and methods used for the design and implementation of the system are mentioned
Unveiling the intruder deformed 0 state in Si
The 0 state in Si has been populated at the {\sc Ganil/Lise3}
facility through the -decay of a newly discovered 1 isomer in
Al of 26(1) ms half-life. The simultaneous detection of pairs
allowed the determination of the excitation energy E(0)=2719(3) keV and
the half-life T=19.4(7) ns, from which an electric monopole strength of
(E0)=13.0(0.9) was deduced. The 2 state is
observed to decay both to the 0 ground state and to the newly observed
0 state (via a 607(2) keV transition) with a ratio
R(2)=1380(717). Gathering all
information, a weak mixing with the 0 and a large deformation parameter
of =0.29(4) are found for the 0 state, in good agreement with
shell model calculations using a new {\sc sdpf-u-mix} interaction allowing
\textit{np-nh} excitations across the N=20 shell gap.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Physical Review
Letter
Casimir-Polder force between an atom and a dielectric plate: thermodynamics and experiment
The low-temperature behavior of the Casimir-Polder free energy and entropy
for an atom near a dielectric plate are found on the basis of the Lifshitz
theory. The obtained results are shown to be thermodynamically consistent if
the dc conductivity of the plate material is disregarded. With inclusion of dc
conductivity, both the standard Lifshitz theory (for all dielectrics) and its
generalization taking into account screening effects (for a wide range of
dielectrics) violate the Nernst heat theorem. The inclusion of the screening
effects is also shown to be inconsistent with experimental data of Casimir
force measurements. The physical reasons for this inconsistency are elucidated.Comment: 10 pages, 1 figure; improved discussion; to appear in J. Phys. A:
Math. Theor. (Fast Track Communications
Analytical and Numerical Demonstration of How the Drude Dispersive Model Satisfies Nernst's Theorem for the Casimir Entropy
In view of the current discussion on the subject, an effort is made to show
very accurately both analytically and numerically how the Drude dispersive
model, assuming the relaxation is nonzero at zero temperature (which is the
case when impurities are present), gives consistent results for the Casimir
free energy at low temperatures. Specifically, we find that the free energy
consists essentially of two terms, one leading term proportional to T^2, and a
next term proportional to T^{5/2}. Both these terms give rise to zero Casimir
entropy as T -> 0, thus in accordance with Nernst's theorem.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures; minor changes in the discussion. Contribution to
the QFEXT07 proceedings; matches version to be published in J. Phys.
On the selection and design of proteins and peptide derivatives for the production of photoluminescent, red-emitting gold quantum clusters
Novel pathways of the synthesis of photoluminescent gold quantum clusters (AuQCs) using biomolecules as reactants provide biocompatible products for biological imaging techniques. In order to rationalize the rules for the preparation of red-emitting AuQCs in aqueous phase using proteins or peptides, the role of different organic structural units was investigated. Three systems were studied: proteins, peptides, and amino acid mixtures, respectively. We have found that cysteine and tyrosine are indispensable residues. The SH/S-S ratio in a single molecule is not a critical factor in the synthesis, but on the other hand, the stoichiometry of cysteine residues and the gold precursor is crucial. These observations indicate the importance of proper chemical behavior of all species in a wide size range extending from the atomic distances (in the AuI-S semi ring) to nanometer distances covering the larger sizes of proteins assuring the hierarchical structure of the whole self-assembled system
Unraveling biogeochemical phosphorus dynamics in hyperarid Marsâanalogue soils using stable oxygen isotopes in phosphate
With annual precipitation less than 20 mm and extreme UV intensity, the Atacama Desert in northern Chile has long been utilized as an analogue for recent Mars. In these hyperarid environments, water and biomass are extremely limited, and thus, it becomes difficult to generate a full picture of biogeochemical phosphateâwater dynamics. To address this problem, we sampled soils from five Atacama study sites and conducted three main analysesâstable oxygen isotopes in phosphate, enzyme pathway predictions, and cell culture experiments. We found that high sedimentation rates decrease the relative size of the organic phosphorus pool, which appears to hinder extremophiles. Phosphoenzyme and pathway prediction analyses imply that inorganic pyrophosphatase is the most likely catalytic agent to cycle P in these environments, and this process will rapidly overtake other P utilization strategies. In these soils, the biogenic ÎŽ18O signatures of the soil phosphate (ÎŽ18OPO4) can slowly overprint lithogenic ÎŽ18OPO4 values over a timescale of tens to hundreds of millions of years when annual precipitation is more than 10 mm. The ÎŽ18OPO4 of calciumâbound phosphate minerals seems to preserve the ÎŽ18O signature of the water used for biogeochemical P cycling, pointing toward sporadic rainfall and gypsum hydration water as key moisture sources. Where precipitation is less than 2 mm, biological cycling is restricted and bedrock ÎŽ18OPO4 values are preserved. This study demonstrates the utility of ÎŽ18OPO4 values as indicative of biogeochemical cycling and hydrodynamics in an extremely dry Marsâanalogue environment
Atomic Force Microscopy Study of the Kinetic Roughening in Nanostructured Gold Films on SiO2
Dynamic scaling behavior has been observed during the room-temperature growth of sputtered Au films on SiO2using the atomic force microscopy technique. By the analyses of the dependence of the roughness, Ï, of the surface roughness power,P(f), and of the correlation length,Ο, on the film thickness,h, the roughness exponent,α = 0.9 ± 0.1, the growth exponent,ÎČ = 0.3 ± 0.1, and the dynamic scaling exponent,z = 3.0 ± 0.1 were independently obtained. These values suggest that the sputtering deposition of Au on SiO2at room temperature belongs to a conservative growth process in which the Au grain boundary diffusion plays a dominant role
Alcohol affects neuronal substrates of response inhibition but not of perceptual processing of stimuli signalling a stop response
Alcohol impairs inhibitory control, including the ability to terminate an initiated action. While there is increasing knowledge about neural mechanisms involved in response inhibition, the level at which alcohol impairs such mechanisms remains poorly understood. Thirty-nine healthy social drinkers received either 0.4g/kg or 0.8g/kg of alcohol, or placebo, and performed two variants of a Visual Stop-signal task during acquisition of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data. The two task variants differed only in their instructions: in the classic variant (VSST), participants inhibited their response to a âGo-stimulusâ when it was followed by a âStop-stimulusâ. In the control variant (VSST_C), participants responded to the âGo-stimulusâ even if it was followed by a âStop-stimulusâ. Comparison of successful Stop-trials (Sstop)>Go, and unsuccessful Stop-trials (Ustop)>Sstop between the three beverage groups enabled the identification of alcohol effects on functional neural circuits supporting inhibitory behaviour and error processing. Alcohol impaired inhibitory control as measured by the Stop-signal reaction time, but did not affect other aspects of VSST performance, nor performance on the VSST_C. The low alcohol dose evoked changes in neural activity within prefrontal, temporal, occipital and motor cortices. The high alcohol dose evoked changes in activity in areas affected by the low dose but importantly induced changes in activity within subcortical centres including the globus pallidus and thalamus. Alcohol did not affect neural correlates of perceptual processing of infrequent cues, as revealed by conjunction analyses of VSST and VSST_C tasks. Alcohol ingestion compromises the inhibitory control of action by modulating cortical regions supporting attentional, sensorimotor and action-planning processes. At higher doses the impact of alcohol also extends to affect subcortical nodes of fronto-basal ganglia- thalamo-cortical motor circuits. In contrast, alcohol appears to have little impact on the early visual processing of infrequent perceptual cues. These observations clarify clinically-important effects of alcohol on behaviour
Rb-37(97)60 : The Cornerstone of the Region of Deformation around A similar to 100
Excited states of the neutron-rich nuclei Rb-97,Rb- 99 were populated for the first time using the multistep Coulomb excitation of radioactive beams. Comparisons of the results with particle-rotor model calculations provide clear identification for the ground-state rotational band of Rb-97 as being built on the pi g(9/2) [431] 3/2(+) Nilsson-model configuration. The ground-state excitation spectra of the Rb isotopes show a marked distinction between single-particle-like structures below N = 60 and rotational bands above. The present study defines the limits of the deformed region around A similar to 100 and indicates that the deformation of Rb-97 is essentially the same as that observed well inside the deformed region. It further highlights the power of the Coulomb-excitation technique for obtaining spectroscopic information far from stability. The Rb-99 case demonstrates the challenges of studies with very short-lived postaccelerated radioactive beams.Peer reviewe
Towards High Capacity Li-ion Batteries Based on Silicon-Graphene Composite Anodes and Sub-micron V-doped LiFePO4 Cathodes
Lithium iron phosphate, LiFePO4 (LFP) has demonstrated promising performance as a cathode material in lithium ion batteries (LIBs), by overcoming the rate performance issues from limited electronic conductivity. Nano-sized vanadium-doped LFP (V-LFP) was synthesized using a continuous hydrothermal process using supercritical water as a reagent. The atomic % of dopant determined the particle shape. 5 at. % gave mixed plate and rod-like morphology, showing optimal electrochemical performance and good rate properties vs. Li. Specific capacities of >160âmAh gâ1 were achieved. In order to increase the capacity of a full cell, V-LFP was cycled against an inexpensive micron-sized metallurgical grade Si-containing anode. This electrode was capable of reversible capacities of approximately 2000âmAh gâ1 for over 150 cycles vs. Li, with improved performance resulting from the incorporation of few layer graphene (FLG) to enhance conductivity, tensile behaviour and thus, the composite stability. The cathode material synthesis and electrode formulation are scalable, inexpensive and are suitable for the fabrication of larger format cells suited to grid and transport applications
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