Risk of climate-induced damage in historical textiles

Eleven wool and silk historic textiles and two modern artist's canvases were examined to determine their water vapour adsorption, moisture dimensional response and tensile behaviour. All the textiles showed a similar general pattern of moisture response. A rise in ambient relative humidity (RH) from dry conditions produced expansion of a textile until a certain critical RH level after which a contraction occurred to a greater or lesser degree depending on the yarn crimp and the weave geometry. The largest expansion recorded between the dry state and 80% RH was 1.2 and 0.9% for wool and silk textiles, respectively. The largest shrinkage of 0.8% at high RH range was experienced by a modern linen canvas. Two potential damage mechanisms related to the moisture response of the textiles—stress building as a result of shrinkage of the textile restrained in its dimensional response and the fretting fatigue when yarns move with friction one against another—were found insignificant in typical textile display environments unless the textiles are severely degraded or excessively strained in their mounting

Contemporary analytical techniques reveal the secret composition of a 19th century Jerusalem Balsam

In 1719, Antonio Menzani di Cuna from the Saint Savior monastery published an alcoholic extract formula made from plant and herb resins under the name Jerusalem Balsam. The Balsam gained high popularity due to its remedial benefits. At the end of the 19 th century, Jerusalem Balsam produced by the hermit Johannes Treutler was found to be particularly popular. We analysed a sample of a valuable find coming from the last decade of the 19 th century, making it probably the oldest surviving Jerusalem Balsam in the world. The purpose of this work was to investigate the composition of the historical sample and to try to determine the origin of its components. This was achieved by comparing the profile of volatile compounds extracted from the balsam using HS-SPME technique with the profile characteristic for plant resins as classic ingredients of the Johannes Treutler formula. The use of two chromatographic columns of different polarity, as well as the transformation of the polar components of the sample into TMS derivatives, allowed to obtain new information on the historical composition of the Balsam. Also, it can be stated with high probability that plant resins were indeed used in the production of the Balsam as referred to in the original recipe of Johannes Treutler. We also discuss challenges in determining the original composition of the Balsam

Underground telecommunications networks with copper cables in the mines of JSW S.A.

W artykule omówiono magistralne dołowe sieci telekomunikacyjne z liniami symetrycznymi, eksploatowane obecnie w kopalniach JSW SA. Scharakteryzowano rodzaje stosowanych telekomunikacyjnych kabli górniczych, typowe konfiguracje i struktury zajętości linii telekomunikacyjnych. Zwrócono uwagę na systemy, które w największym stopniu wykorzystują kable miedziane w swoich układach teletransmisyjnych. Przedstawiono uwagi związane z eksploatacją i racjonalnym wykorzystaniem tych sieci w kopalniach JSW SA.The article presents underground telecommunications bus networks with symmetrical lines used currently in the mines of the JSW S.A. mining company. The types of used mining telecommunications cables were characterized, along with typical configurations and the busy structure of telecommunications line. Attention was turned to the system which use copper cables the most in their transmission systems. Some remarks were presented on the exploitation and reasonable use of these networks in the mines of JSW S.A

The CERN Gamma Factory Initiative: An Ultra-High Intensity Gamma Source

International audienceThis contribution discusses the possibility of broadening the present CERN research programme making use of a novel concept of light source. The proposed, Partially Stripped Ion beam driven, light source is the backbone of the Gamma Factory (GF) initiative. It could push the intensity limits of the presently operating light-sources by 7 orders of mag- nitude, reaching the flux of up to $10^{17}$ photons/s. It could operate in the particularly interesting $\gamma$-ray energy domain of $1 \leq E \gamma \leq 400$ MeV. This domain is out of reach for the FEL-based light sources based on sub-TeV energy-range electron beams. The unprecedented-intensity, energy-tuned, gamma beams, together with the gamma-beams-driven secondary beams of polarized positrons, polarized muons, neutrinos, neutrons and radioactive ions would constitute the basic research tools of the proposed Gamma Factory. A broad spectrum of new opportunities, in a vast domain of uncharted fundamental and applied physics territories, could be opened by the Gamma Factory research programme

The Gamma Factory Project at CERN: a New Generation of Research Tools Made of Light

The Gamma Factory project offers the possibility of creating novel research tools by producing relativistic beams of highly ionised atoms in CERN's accelerator complex and exciting their atomic degrees of freedom by lasers to produce strongly collimated high-energy photon beams. Intensity of such beams would exceed by several orders of magnitude the ones offered by the presently operating light sources, in the particularly interesting energy domain from about 100 keV to above 400 MeV. In this energy regime, the high-intensity photon beams can be used to produce secondary beams of polarised electrons, polarised positrons, polarised muons, neutrinos, neutrons and radioactive ions. New research opportunities in many domains of physics, from particle physics through nuclear physics to atomic physics, can be opened by the Gamma Factory scientific programme based on the above primary and secondary beams. Except for basic research, it offers also a possibility for various application studies, e.g. in medical physics and nuclear power