2,231 research outputs found

    Glossing Over: How Magazine Fact Checkers Use Conditional Self-Presentation to Straddle Glamour and Dreariness in Their Work

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    In this paper, we introduce the concept of Glossy Work, work that has a glamorous patina but that is actually mundane and unfulfilling. We studied magazine fact checkers, who exemplify Glossy Work, specifically examining how they balance these discrepant aspects of the job in presenting their work to others. We found that fact checkers use conditional presentation to modulate their portrayal of the work according to audience members’ knowledge of their job’s secret taint and the nature of presenter’s relationship to that audience. Presentations ranged from full disclosure to deliberate attempts to reframe the presentation to unfettered job enhancement

    Tracking Study of the Effect of BPM Impedances in the SPS

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    Following the observation of a Transverse Mode Coupling Instability (TMCI) in the SPS [1, 2], a systematic estimate of the impedance of the various pieces of equipment installed in the machine has started. In this report the contribution of the Beam Position Monitor trapped modes to the global transverse impedance is considered. The trapped modes have been thus calculated with MAFIA and characterized with their resonator parameters. These impedances have been subsequently fed into the MOSES and HEADTAIL codes in order to evaluate the expected TMCI threshold in the SPS and compare it with the experimental observations

    A Comparison of a Brain-Computer Interface and an Eye Tracker: Is There a More Appropriate Technology for Controlling a Virtual Keyboard in an ALS Patient?

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    The ability of people affected by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), muscular dystrophy or spinal cord injuries to physically interact with the environment, is usually reduced. In some cases, these patients suffer from a syndrome known as locked-in syndrome (LIS), defined by the patient’s inability to make any move-ment but blinks and eye movements. Tech communication systems available for people in LIS are very limited, being those based on eye-tracking and brain-computer interface (BCI) the most useful for these patients. A comparative study between both technologies in an ALS patient is carried out: an eye tracker and a visual P300-based BCI. The purpose of the study presented in this paper is to show that the choice of the technology could depend on user´s preference. The evaluation of performance, workload and other subjective measures will allow us to determine the usability of the systems. The obtained results suggest that, even if for this patient the BCI technology is more appropriate, the technology should be always tested and adapted for each user.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

    Electron cloud buildup and impedance effects on beam dynamics in the future circular e+e− collider and experimental characterization of thin TiZrV vacuum chamber coatings

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    The Future Circular Collider FCC-ee is a study toward a high luminosity electron-positron collider with a centre-of-mass energy from 91 GeV to 365 GeV. Due to the beam parameters and pipe dimensions, collective effects and electron cloud can be very critical aspects for the machine and can represent the main limitations to its performance. An estimation of the electron cloud build up in the main machine components and an impedance model are required to analyze the induced instabilities and to find solutions for their mitigation. Special attention has been given to the resistive wall impedance associated with a layer of nonevaporable getter (NEG) coating on the vacuum chamber required for electron cloud mitigation. The studies presented in this paper will show that minimizing the thickness of this coating layer is mandatory to increase the single bunch instability thresholds in the proposed lepton collider at 45.6 GeV. For this reason, NEG thin films with thicknesses below 250 nm have been investigated by means of numerical simulations to minimize the resistive wall impedance. In parallel, an extensive measurement campaign was performed at CERN to characterize these thin films, with the purpose of finding the minimum effective thickness satisfying vacuum and electron cloud requirements

    Advanced Design of a Low Energy Electron Source

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    A multiphysics-based modeling design of a low energy electron source using a thermionic cathode is described in this paper. The proposed device produces a narrow beam employable in delicate applications where dimensions are critical. The effects of multiple physics influencing factors due to the cathode heating over the beam dynamics have been predicted through a multiphysics design approach. This paper would provide the needed knowledge for virtual prototyping of such devices. For this aim, several strategies have been adopted to obtain a simple model, which shows clearly the investigated mechanisms. According to this study, the appropriate materials and shapes can be chosen

    An amino acid mixture, enriched with Krebs cycle intermediates, enhances extracellular matrix gene expression in cultured human fibroblasts

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    : In the human body, the skin is one of the organs most affected by the aging process. Nutritional approaches aimed to counteract the age-induced decline of extracellular matrix (ECM) deposition could be a valuable tool to decrease the degenerative processes underlying skin aging. Here, we investigated the ability of a six-amino acid plus hyaluronic acid (6AAH) formulation enriched with tricarboxylic acid (TCA) intermediates to stimulate ECM gene expression. To this aim, human BJ fibroblasts were treated with 6AAH alone or plus succinate or malate alone or succinate plus malate (6AAHSM), and mRNA levels of several ECM markers were evaluated. 6AAHSM increased the expression of all the ECM markers significantly above 6AAH alone or plus only succinate or malate. Furthermore, in an in vitro oxidative damage model, 6AAHSM blunted the hydrogen peroxide-induced decline in ECM gene expression. Our data suggest that feeding cells with 6AAH enriched with TCAs could efficiently be employed as a non-pharmacological approach for counteracting skin aging

    Interface of the general fitting tool GENFIT2 in PandaRoot

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    ANDA is a planned experiment at FAIR (Darmstadt) with a cooled antiproton beam in a range [1.5; 15] GeV/c, allowing a wide physics program in nuclear and particle physics. It is the only experiment worldwide, which combines a solenoid field (B=2T) and a dipole field (B=2Tm) in a spectrometer with a fixed target topology, in that energy regime. The tracking system of ANDA involves the presence of a high performance silicon vertex detector, a GEM detector, a straw-tubes central tracker, a forward tracking system, and a luminosity monitor. The offline tracking algorithm is developed within the PandaRoot framework, which is a part of the FairRoot project. The tool here presented is based on algorithms containing the Kalman Filter equations and a deterministic annealing filter. This general fitting tool (GENFIT2) offers to users also a Runge-Kutta track representation, and interfaces with Millepede II (useful for alignment) and RAVE (vertex finder). It is independent on the detector geometry and the magnetic field map, and written in C++ object-oriented modular code. Several fitting algorithms are available with GENFIT2, with user-adjustable parameters; therefore the tool is of friendly usage. A check on the fit convergence is done by GENFIT2 as well. The Kalman-Filter-based algorithms have a wide range of applications; among those in particle physics they can perform extrapolations of track parameters and covariance matrices. The adoptions of the PandaRoot framework to connect to Genfit2 are described, and the impact of GENFIT2 on the physics simulations of ANDA are shown: significant improvement is reported for those channels where a good low momentum tracking is required (pT < 400 MeV/c)

    Production and function of Neolithic black-painted pottery from Schela Cladovei (Iron Gates, Romania)

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    This paper presents for the first time the results of a combination of petrographic, geochemical and organic residue analyses of early Neolithic ceramics from the Iron Gates region of the Danube basin. Eleven early Neolithic potsherds from Schela Cladovei (Romania) were analysed in detail. The results of the petrographic analysis show that the ceramics were made with the same recipe that was used by Starčevo-Körös-Criș potters elsewhere in southeastern Europe. The SEM-EDX analysis shows one of the earliest uses of Mn-rich black pigments to decorate Neolithic European ceramics. Organic residue analyses detected dairy, non-ruminant and ruminant adipose fats. No evidence of aquatic resources was detected. In summary, the early Neolithic potters at the Iron Gates, although able to make coarse and more sophisticated painted ceramics, did not make specific vessels for a specific use

    Beam heat load analysis with COLDDIAG: a cold vacuum chamber for diagnostics

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    The knowledge of the heat intake from the electron beam is essential to design the cryogenic layout of superconducting insertion devices. With the aim of measuring the beam heat load to a cold bore and understanding the responsible mechanisms, a cold vacuum chamber for diagnostics (COLDDIAG) has been built. The instrumentation comprises temperature sensors, pressure gauges, mass spectrometers and retarding field analyzers, which allow to study the beam heat load and the influence of the cryosorbed gas layer. COLDDIAG was installed in the storage ring of the Diamond Light Source from September 2012 to August 2013. During this time measurements were performed for a wide range of machine conditions, employing the various measuring capabilities of the device. Here we report on the analysis of the measured beam heat load, pressure and gas content, as well as the low energy charged particle flux and spectrum as a function of the electron beam parameters
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