Polarized Proton Beams from Laser-induced Plasmas

We report on the concept of an innovative source to produce polarized proton/deuteron beams of a kinetic energy up to several GeV from a laser-driven plasma accelerator. Spin effects have been implemented into the PIC simulation code VLPL to make theoretical predictions about the behavior of proton spins in laser-induced plasmas. Simulations of spin-polarized targets show that the polarization is conserved during the acceleration process. For the experimental realization, a polarized HCl gas-jet target is under construction using the fundamental wavelength of a Nd:YAG laser system to align the HCl bonds and simultaneously circular polarized light of the fifth harmonic to photo-dissociate, yielding nuclear polarized H atoms. Subsequently, their degree of polarization is measured with a Lamb-shift polarimeter. The final experiments, aiming at the first observation of a polarized particle beam from laser-generated plasmas, will be carried out at the 10 PW laser system SULF at SIOM/Shanghai.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figure

Isopropanol at 60% and at 70% are effective against 'isopropanol-tolerant' Enterococcus faecium.

The bactericidal activity of isopropanol was determined against Enterococcus faecium ATCC 6057, ST 796 (isopropanol-tolerant strain) and Enterococcus hirae ATCC 10541 (EN 13727). Isopropanol at 60% and 70% were effective (≥5.38 log10-reduction) in 15 s against all strains but 23% isopropanol was not (<0.99 log10-reduction in ≤15 min). Isopropanol at 70% was tested against E. faecium in the four-field test. Eight millilitres was not effective enough in 1 min (<5 log10-reduction), whilst 16 mL was effective (≥5.85 log10-reduction). Healthcare workers can be reassured that 60% and 70% isopropanol with an appropriate volume are effective against E. faecium

Electromagnetic Simulation and Design of a Novel Waveguide RF Wien Filter for Electric Dipole Moment Measurements of Protons and Deuterons

The conventional Wien filter is a device with orthogonal static magnetic and electric fields, often used for velocity separation of charged particles. Here we describe the electromagnetic design calculations for a novel waveguide RF Wien filter that will be employed to solely manipulate the spins of protons or deuterons at frequencies of about 0.1 to 2 MHz at the COoler SYnchrotron COSY at J\"ulich. The device will be used in a future experiment that aims at measuring the proton and deuteron electric dipole moments, which are expected to be very small. Their determination, however, would have a huge impact on our understanding of the universe.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figures, 4 table

The prevalence of loneliness across 113 countries: systematic review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVES: To identify data availability, gaps, and patterns for population level prevalence of loneliness globally, to summarise prevalence estimates within World Health Organization regions when feasible through meta-analysis, and to examine temporal trends of loneliness in countries where data exist. DESIGN: Systematic review and meta-analysis. DATA SOURCES: Embase, Medline, PsycINFO, and Scopus for peer reviewed literature, and Google Scholar and Open Grey for grey literature, supplemented by backward reference searching (to 1 September 2021) ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA FOR SELECTING STUDIES: Observational studies based on nationally representative samples (n≥292), validated instruments, and prevalence data for 2000-19. Two researchers independently extracted data and assessed the risk of bias using the Joanna Briggs Institute checklist. Random effects meta-analysis was conducted in the subset of studies with relatively homogeneous research methods by measurement instrument, age group, and WHO region. RESULTS: Prevalence data were available for 113 countries or territories, according to official WHO nomenclature for regions, from 57 studies. Data were available for adolescents (12-17 years) in 77 countries or territories, young adults (18-29 years) in 30 countries, middle aged adults (30-59 years) in 32 countries, and older adults (≥60 years) in 40 countries. Data for all age groups except adolescents were lacking outside of Europe. Overall, 212 estimates for 106 countries from 24 studies were included in meta-analyses. The pooled prevalence of loneliness for adolescents ranged from 9.2% (95% confidence interval 6.8% to 12.4%) in South-East Asia to 14.4% (12.2% to 17.1%) in the Eastern Mediterranean region. For adults, meta-analysis was conducted for the European region only, and a consistent geographical pattern was shown for all adult age groups. The lowest prevalence of loneliness was consistently observed in northern European countries (2.9%, 1.8% to 4.5% for young adults; 2.7%, 2.4% to 3.0% for middle aged adults; and 5.2%, 4.2% to 6.5% for older adults) and the highest in eastern European countries (7.5%, 5.9% to 9.4% for young adults; 9.6%, 7.7% to 12.0% for middle aged adults; and 21.3%, 18.7% to 24.2% for older adults). CONCLUSION: Problematic levels of loneliness are experienced by a substantial proportion of the population in many countries. The substantial difference in data coverage between high income countries (particularly Europe) and low and middle income countries raised an important equity issue. Evidence on the temporal trends of loneliness is insufficient. The findings of this meta-analysis are limited by data scarcity and methodological heterogeneity. Loneliness should be incorporated into general health surveillance with broader geographical and age coverage, using standardised and validated measurement tools. SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION: PROSPERO CRD42019131448

PRIMAP-crf: UNFCCC CRF data in IPCC 2006 categories

All Annex I Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) are required to report domestic emissions on an annual basis in a Common Reporting Format (CRF). In 2015, the CRF data reporting was updated to follow the more recent 2006 guidelines from the IPCC and the structure of the reporting tables was modified accordingly. However, the hierarchical categorisation of data in the IPCC 2006 guidelines is not readily extracted from the reporting tables. In this paper, we present the PRIMAP-crf data as a re-constructed hierarchical dataset according to the IPCC 2006 guidelines. Furthermore, the data are organised in a series of tables containing all available countries and years for each individual gas and category reported. It is therefore readily usable for climate policy assessment, such as the quantification of emissions reduction targets.In addition to single gases, the Kyoto basket of greenhouse gases (CO2, N2O, CH4, HFCs, PFCs, SF6, and NF3) is provided according to multiple global warming potentials. The dataset was produced using the PRIMAP emissions module. Key processing steps include extracting data from submitted CRF Excel spreadsheets, mapping CRF categories to IPCC 2006 categories, constructing missing categories from available data, and aggregating single gases to gas baskets. Finally, we describe key aspects of the data with relevance for climate policy: the contribution of NF3 to national totals, changes in data reported over subsequent years, and issues or difficulties encountered when processing currently available data. The processed data are available under an Open Data CC BY 4.0 license, and are available at https://doi.org/10.5880/pik.2018.001.</p

Kaon pair production in proton-nucleus collisions at 2.83 GeV kinetic energy

The production of non-phi K+K- pairs by protons of 2.83 GeV kinetic energy on C, Cu, Ag, and Au targets has been investigated using the COSY-ANKE magnetic spectrometer. The K- momentum dependence of the differential cross section has been measured at small angles over the 0.2--0.9 GeV/c range. The comparison of the data with detailed model calculations indicates an attractive K- -nucleus potential of about -60 MeV at normal nuclear matter density at a mean momentum of 0.5 GeV/c. However, this approach has difficulty in reproducing the smallness of the observed cross sections at low K- momenta.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, 1 tabl

Silizium-basierte Lichtemitter : Neue Möglichkeiten für Lab-on-Chip Systeme?

Die Realisierung von Lichtemittern in herkömmlicher Siliziumtechnologie ist ein großer Traum der Mikroelektronik. Aufgrund seines indirekten Bandgaps ist Silizium prinzipiell schlecht als Lichtemitter geeignet. Teure und aufwendige andere Verfahren und Werkstoffe (z.B. Verbindungshalbleiter wie GaAs, GaN, SiC usw.) fanden Verwendung für Leuchtdioden und werden heute kommerziell eingesetzt. Diese sind jedoch nicht in herkömmliche Silizium-Chipstrukturen integrierbar. Die Integration in die Silizium – Technologie ist jedoch von eminenter Bedeutung für die kostengünstige Herstellung von Emitterarrays, die neben der Nutzung für integrierte Systeme der Mikrosystemtechnik und der optischen Informationsübertragung auf und zwischen Chips auch zur Lumineszenzanregung von Farbstoffmolekülen in Lab-on-Chip Systemen dienen können. Seit Anfang der 90er Jahre kann durch modifizierte Schichten und Strukturen im Nanometerbereich die bisherige Beschränkung des Siliziums überwunden werden. So können in Siliziumdioxid eingebettete Nanostrukturen aufgrund ihrer speziellen Eigenschaften zur Lumineszenz angeregt werden. In den hier beschriebenen Untersuchungen werden Nanostrukturen durch Ionenimplantation in thermisch auf einen Siliziumwafer (100, n-Typ) aufgewachsene SiO2 – Schichten erzeugt. Im Anschluß an die Ionenimplantation werden durch eine Temperung Strahlenschäden ausgeheilt und die Clusterbildung angeregt. Die so erhaltenen Nanocluster weisen Größen von 4 ... 6 nm auf. Als Frontkontakt der Lumineszenzstrukturen wird eine aufgesputterte transparente Indium-Zinnoxid (ITO) - Schicht lithographisch in kreisrunde Flächen von 0.2mm2 strukturiert. Der Rückseitenkontakt wird durch Al - Beschichtung der Wafersrückseite hergestellt

High precision beam momentum determination in a synchrotron using a spin resonance method

In order to measure the mass of the eta meson with high accuracy using the d+p -> 3He+eta reaction, the momentum of the circulating deuteron beam in the Cooler Synchrotron COSY of the Forschungszentrum Juelich has to be determined with unprecedented precision. This has been achieved by studying the spin dynamics of the polarized deuteron beam. By depolarizing the beam through the use of an artificially induced spin resonance, it was possible to evaluate its momentum p with a precision of dp/p < 10-4 for a momentum of roughly 3 GeV/c. Different possible sources of error in the application of the spin resonance method are discussed in detail and its possible use during a standard experiment is considered.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, 2 tables, published versio

A Precision Measurement of pp Elastic Scattering Cross Sections at Intermediate Energies

We have measured differential cross sections for \pp elastic scattering with internal fiber targets in the recirculating beam of the proton synchrotron COSY. Measurements were made continuously during acceleration for projectile kinetic energies between 0.23 and 2.59 GeV in the angular range $30 \leq \theta_{c.m.} \leq 90$ deg. Details of the apparatus and the data analysis are given and the resulting excitation functions and angular distributions presented. The precision of each data point is typically better than 4%, and a relative normalization uncertainty of only 2.5% within an excitation function has been reached. The impact on phase shift analysis as well as upper bounds on possible resonant contributions in lower partial waves are discussed.Comment: 23 pages 29 figure

Morphology of supported polymer electrolyte ultra-thin films: a numerical study

Morphology of polymer electrolytes membranes (PEM), e.g., Nafion, inside PEM fuel cell catalyst layers has significant impact on the electrochemical activity and transport phenomena that determine cell performance. In those regions, Nafion can be found as an ultra-thin film, coating the catalyst and the catalyst support surfaces. The impact of the hydrophilic/hydrophobic character of these surfaces on the structural formation of the films has not been sufficiently explored yet. Here, we report about Molecular Dynamics simulation investigation of the substrate effects on the ionomer ultra-thin film morphology at different hydration levels. We use a mean-field-like model we introduced in previous publications for the interaction of the hydrated Nafion ionomer with a substrate, characterized by a tunable degree of hydrophilicity. We show that the affinity of the substrate with water plays a crucial role in the molecular rearrangement of the ionomer film, resulting in completely different morphologies. Detailed structural description in different regions of the film shows evidences of strongly heterogeneous behavior. A qualitative discussion of the implications of our observations on the PEMFC catalyst layer performance is finally proposed