Radiation-induced hydrogen transfer in metals

The paper presents processes of hydrogen (deuterium) diffusion and release from hydrogen-saturated condensed matters in atomic, molecular and ionized states under the influence of the electron beam and X-ray radiation in the pre-threshold region. The dependence is described between the hydrogen isotope release intensity and the current density and the electron beam energy affecting sample, hydrogen concentration in the material volume and time of radiation exposure to the sample. The energy distribution of the emitted positive ions of hydrogen isotopes is investigated herein. Mechanisms of radiation-induced hydrogen transfer in condensed matters are suggested

Connecting the dots between brand experience and brand loyalty: The mediating role of brand personality and brand relationships

This article critically examines consumer–brand relationships from the perspective of interpersonal relationship theory. Specifically, the authors investigate the relationship between brand experience and the two components of brand loyalty, namely purchase brand loyalty and attitudinal brand loyalty. The study also examines the link between brand experience and brand relationship variables, brand trust, brand attachment and brand commitment. In addition, the mediating role of brand personality and brand commitment in the relationship between brand experience and brandloyalty is investigated. Drawing on the results of an empirical cross-brand study from three product categories, the authors demonstrate that brand experience, brand personality and brand relationship variables (brand attachment and brand commitment) all affect the degree to which a consumer is loyal to a brand. On the basis of the findings, the authors offer guidelines to managers on how to build and sustain purchase and attitudinal brand loyalty by enhancing brand experience. The theoretical and managerial significance of the findings together with directions for future research are discussed

Test beam performance of a CBC3-based mini-module for the Phase-2 CMS Outer Tracker before and after neutron irradiation

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN will undergo major upgrades to increase the instantaneous luminosity up to 5–7.5×10$^{34}$ cm$^{-2}$s$^{-1}$. This High Luminosity upgrade of the LHC (HL-LHC) will deliver a total of 3000–4000 fb-1 of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13–14 TeV. To cope with these challenging environmental conditions, the strip tracker of the CMS experiment will be upgraded using modules with two closely-spaced silicon sensors to provide information to include tracking in the Level-1 trigger selection. This paper describes the performance, in a test beam experiment, of the first prototype module based on the final version of the CMS Binary Chip front-end ASIC before and after the module was irradiated with neutrons. Results demonstrate that the prototype module satisfies the requirements, providing efficient tracking information, after being irradiated with a total fluence comparable to the one expected through the lifetime of the experiment

Evaluation of HPK +- planar pixel sensors for the CMS Phase-2 upgrade

Data availability: Data will be made available on request.The article archived on this institutional repository is a preprint made available on arXiv, arXiv:2212.04793v1 [physics.ins-det] (license: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). It has not been certified by peer review. You are advised to consult the final version published by Elsevier at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2023.168326 (the pubished version is copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved).To cope with the challenging environment of the planned high luminosity upgrade of the Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC), scheduled to start operation in 2029, CMS will replace its entire tracking system. The requirements for the tracker are largely determined by the long operation time of 10 years with an instantaneous peak luminosity of up to 7.5 × 10^34 cm^−2^s−1 in the ultimate performance scenario. Depending on the radial distance from the interaction point, the silicon sensors will receive a particle fluence corresponding to a non-ionizing energy loss of up to Φeq = 3.5 × 10^16 cm^−2. This paper focuses on planar pixel sensor design and qualification up to a fluence of Φeq = 1.4 × 10^16 cm^−2. For the development of appropriate planar pixel sensors an R&D program was initiated, which includes n+-p sensors on 150 mm (6'') wafers with an active thickness of 150 μm with pixel sizes of 100 × 25 μm^2 and 50 × 50 μm^2 manufactured by Hamamatsu Photonics K.K. (HPK). Single chip modules with ROC4Sens and RD53A readout chips were made. Irradiation with protons and neutrons, as well was an extensive test beam campaign at DESY were carried out. This paper presents the investigation of various assemblies mainly with ROC4Sens readout chips. It demonstrates that multiple designs fulfill the requirements in terms of breakdown voltage, leakage current and efficiency. The single point resolution for 50 × 50 μm^2 pixels is measured as 4.0 μm for non-irradiated samples, and 6.3 μm after irradiation to Φeq = 7.2 × 10^15 cm^−2.This work was supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) in the framework of the “FIS-Projekt - Fortführung des CMS-Experiments zum Einsatz am HL-LHC: Verbesserung des Spurdetektors für das Phase-2 Upgrade des CMS-Experiments” and supported by the H2020 project AIDA-2020, GA no. 654168. The measurements leading to these results have been performed at the Test Beam Facility at DESY Hamburg (Germany), a member of the Helmholtz Association (HGF). The tracker groups gratefully acknowledge financial support from the following funding agencies: BMWFW and FWF (Austria); FNRS, Belgium and FWO (Belgium); CERN, Switzerland; MSE and CSF (Croatia); Academy of Finland, Finland, MEC, Canada, and HIP (Finland); CEA, United States and CNRS/IN2P3 (France); BMBF, DFG, United States, and HGF (Germany); GSRT (Greece); NKFIA K124850, and Bolyai Fellowship of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (Hungary); DAE, India and DST (India); INFN (Italy); PAEC (Pakistan); SEIDI, Spain, CPAN, PCTI and FEDER (Spain); Swiss Funding Agencies (Switzerland); MST (Taipei); STFC (United Kingdom); DOE and NSF (U.S.A.). This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 884104 (PSI-FELLOW-III-3i). Individuals have received support from HFRI (Greece)

Vitamin A derivatives in the prevention and treatment of human cancer.

Vitamin A is essential for normal cellular growth and differentiation. A vast amount of laboratory data have clearly demonstrated the potent antiproliferative and differentiation-inducing effects of vitamin A and the synthetic analogues (retinoids). Recent in-vitro work has led to the exciting proposal that protein kinase-C may be centrally involved in many of retinoids' anticancer actions including the effects on ornithine decarboxylase induction, intracellular polyamine levels, and epidermal growth factor receptor number. Several intervention trials have clearly indicated that natural vitamin A at clinically tolerable doses has only limited activity against human neoplastic processes. Therefore, clinical work has focused on the synthetic derivatives with higher therapeutic indexes. In human cancer prevention, retinoids have been most effective for skin diseases, including actinic keratosis, keratoacanthoma, epidermodysplasia verruciformis, dysplastic nevus syndrome, and basal cell carcinoma. Several noncutaneous premaligancies, however, are currently receiving more attention in retinoid trials. Definite retinoid activity has been documented in oral leukoplakia, laryngeal papillomatosis, superficial bladder carcinoma, cervical dysplasia, bronchial metaplasia, and preleukemia. Significant therapeutic advances are also occurring with this class of drugs in some drug-resistant malignancies and several others that have become refractory, including advanced basal cell cancer, mycosis fungoides, melanoma, acute promyelocytic leukemia, and squamous cell carcinoma of the skin and of the head and neck. This report comprehensively presents the clinical data using retinoids as anticancer agents in human premalignant disorders and outlines the ongoing and planned studies with retinoids in combination and adjuvant therapy

Model of the Evolution of Deformation Defects and Irreversible Strain at Thermal Cycling of Stressed TiNi Alloy Specimen

This microstructural model deals with simulation both of the reversible and irreversible deformation of a shape memory alloy (SMA). The martensitic transformation and the irreversible deformation due to the plastic accommodation of martensite are considered on the microscopic level. The irreversible deformation is described from the standpoint of the plastic flow theory. Isotropic hardening and kinematic hardening are taken into account and are related to the densities of scattered and oriented deformation defects. It is supposed that the phase transformation and the micro plastic deformation are caused by the generalized thermodynamic forces, which are the derivatives of the Gibbs’ potential of the two-phase body. In terms of these forces conditions for the phase transformation and for the micro plastic deformation on the micro level are formulated. The macro deformation of the representative volume of the polycrystal is calculated by averaging of the micro strains related to the evolution of the martensite Bain’s variants in each grain comprising this volume. The proposed model allowed simulating the evolution of the reversible and of the irreversible strains of a stressed SMA specimen under thermal cycles. The results show a good qualitative agreement with available experimental data. Specifically, it is shown that the model can describe a rather big irreversible strain in the first thermocycle and its fast decrease with the number of cycles

Model of the Evolution of Deformation Defects and Irreversible Strain at Thermal Cycling of Stressed TiNi Alloy Specimen

This microstructural model deals with simulation both of the reversible and irreversible deformation of a shape memory alloy (SMA). The martensitic transformation and the irreversible deformation due to the plastic accommodation of martensite are considered on the microscopic level. The irreversible deformation is described from the standpoint of the plastic flow theory. Isotropic hardening and kinematic hardening are taken into account and are related to the densities of scattered and oriented deformation defects. It is supposed that the phase transformation and the micro plastic deformation are caused by the generalized thermodynamic forces, which are the derivatives of the Gibbs’ potential of the two-phase body. In terms of these forces conditions for the phase transformation and for the micro plastic deformation on the micro level are formulated. The macro deformation of the representative volume of the polycrystal is calculated by averaging of the micro strains related to the evolution of the martensite Bain’s variants in each grain comprising this volume. The proposed model allowed simulating the evolution of the reversible and of the irreversible strains of a stressed SMA specimen under thermal cycles. The results show a good qualitative agreement with available experimental data. Specifically, it is shown that the model can describe a rather big irreversible strain in the first thermocycle and its fast decrease with the number of cycles

Model of the Evolution of Deformation Defects and Irreversible Strain at Thermal Cycling of Stressed TiNi Alloy Specimen

This microstructural model deals with simulation both of the reversible and irreversible deformation of a shape memory alloy (SMA). The martensitic transformation and the irreversible deformation due to the plastic accommodation of martensite are considered on the microscopic level. The irreversible deformation is described from the standpoint of the plastic flow theory. Isotropic hardening and kinematic hardening are taken into account and are related to the densities of scattered and oriented deformation defects. It is supposed that the phase transformation and the micro plastic deformation are caused by the generalized thermodynamic forces, which are the derivatives of the Gibbs’ potential of the two-phase body. In terms of these forces conditions for the phase transformation and for the micro plastic deformation on the micro level are formulated. The macro deformation of the representative volume of the polycrystal is calculated by averaging of the micro strains related to the evolution of the martensite Bain’s variants in each grain comprising this volume. The proposed model allowed simulating the evolution of the reversible and of the irreversible strains of a stressed SMA specimen under thermal cycles. The results show a good qualitative agreement with available experimental data. Specifically, it is shown that the model can describe a rather big irreversible strain in the first thermocycle and its fast decrease with the number of cycles