Parametric instabilities in the LCGT arm cavity

We evaluated the parametric instabilities of LCGT (Japanese interferometric gravitational wave detector project) arm cavity. The number of unstable modes of LCGT is 10-times smaller than that of Advanced LIGO (U.S.A.). Since the strength of the instabilities of LCGT depends on the mirror curvature more weakly than that of Advanced LIGO, the requirement of the mirror curvature accuracy is easier to be achieved. The difference in the parametric instabilities between LCGT and Advanced LIGO is because of the thermal noise reduction methods (LCGT, cooling sapphire mirrors; Advanced LIGO, fused silica mirrors with larger laser beams), which are the main strategies of the projects. Elastic Q reduction by the barrel surface (0.2 mm thickness Ta$_2$O$_5$) coating is effective to suppress instabilities in the LCGT arm cavity. Therefore, the cryogenic interferometer is a smart solution for the parametric instabilities in addition to thermal noise and thermal lensing.Comment: 6 pages,3 figures. Amaldi7 proceedings, J. Phys.: Conf. Ser. (accepted

Parametric instabilities and their control in advanced interferometer GW detectors

A detailed simulation of Advanced LIGO test mass optical cavities shows that parametric instabilities will excite acoustic modes in the test masses in the frequency range 28-35 kHz and 64-72 kHz. Using nominal Advanced LIGO optical cavity parameters with fused silica test masses, parametric instability excites 7 acoustic modes in each test mass, with parametric gain R up to 7. For the alternative sapphire test masses only 1 acoustic mode is excited in each test mass with R ~ 2. Fine tuning of the test mass radii of curvature cause the instabilities to sweep through various modes with R as high as ~2000. Sapphire test mass cavities can be tuned to completely eliminate instabilities using thermal g-factor tuning with negligible degradation of the noise performance. In the case of fused silica test mass, instabilities can be minimized but not eliminated.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Light and heavy element detection in thin sections of soils with the ion microprobe mass analyzer (IMMA).

Previous research with the scanning electron microscope (SEM)-energy dispersive X-ray analyzer (EDXRA) and the electron microprobe analyzer (EMA), showed that the detection of light elements in thin sections of soils was problematic or even impossible. Consequently initial experiments were performed with the ion microprobe mass analyzer (IMMA). These preliminary investigations were carried out on a piece of root material in soil (containing both light and heavy elements) which has a 'clayey' appearance and is known as a clayified root (Parfenova et al., 1964). The presence of heavier elements in this sample was investigated by SEM-EDXRA prior to IMMA analysis. The results with the ion microprobe mass analyzer showed that all chemical elements could be analyzed in the plant fragment. Also much higher elemental detection sensitivities were found with IMMA as compared to SEM-EDXRA and EMA. This even allowed ion imaging of trace elements. High-quality ion images of both light and heavy elements could be obtained in much shorter exposure times than with SEM-EDXRA and EMA techniques. Furthermore by analysis of fragmentation ('fingerprint') spectra additional information was obtained with respect to the chemical binding of the analyzed elements. Due to these preliminary results IMMA offers full possibilities for microchemical analysis in situ of all important elements in soil specimens. This technique considerably increases possibilities in soil micromorphology. (Abstract retrieved from CAB Abstracts by CABI’s permission

Effect of temperature on the microstructure of fat globules and the immunoglobulin-mediated interactions between fat and bacteria in natural raw milk creaming

Natural creaming of raw milk is the first step in production of Grana Padano and Parmigiano Reggiano Protected Denomination of Origin cheeses. This process decreases the fat content and plays an important role in the removal of clostridia species that may cause late-blowing defects in ripened cheeses. Partial coalescence of fat globules-that may influence fat behavior in cheese making and affect the microstructure of fat in the final cheese product-was observed at creaming temperatures higher than 22\uc2\ub0C by confocal laser scanning microscopy. The widespread practice of heating of milk at 37\uc2\ub0C before creaming at 8\uc2\ub0C resulted in important changes in the size distribution of fat globules in raw milk, potentially altering the ability of fat to entrap clostridia spores. We investigated the role of immunoglobulin classes in both the clustering of fat globules and the agglutination of Clostridium tyrobutyricum to fat globules during creaming. Immunogold labeling and transmission electron microscopy showed that IgA and IgM but not IgG were involved in both clustering and agglutination. Both vegetative cells and spores were clearly shown to agglutinate to fat droplets, a process that was suppressed by thermal denaturation of the immunoglobulins. The debacterization of raw milk through natural creaming was improved by the addition of purified immunoglobulins. Overall, these findings provide not only a better understanding of the phenomena occurring during the natural creaming but also practical insights into how the process of creaming may be optimized in cheese production plants

Beam Scraping for LHC Injection

Operation of the LHC will require injection of very high intensity beams from the SPS to the LHC. Fast scrapers have been installed and will be used in the SPS to detect and remove any existing halo before beams are extracted, to minimize the probability for quenching of superconducting magnets at injection in the LHC. We briefly review the functionality of the scraper system and report about measurements that have recently been performed in the SPS on halo scraping and re-population of tails

Distribution of Salmonella enterica isolates from human cases in Italy, 1980 to 2011

n/

Tangential View and Intraoperative Three-Dimensional Fluoroscopy for the Detection of Screw-Misplacements in Volar Plating of Distal Radius Fractures

Background: Volar locking plate fixation has become the gold standard in the treatment of unstable distal radius fractures. Juxta-articular screws should be placed as close as possible to the subchondral zone, in an optimized length to buttress the articular surface and address the contralateral cortical bone. On the other hand, intra-articular screw misplacements will promote osteoarthritis, while the penetration of the contralateral bone surface may result in tendon irritations and ruptures. The intraoperative control of fracture reduction and implant positioning is limited in the common postero-anterior and true lateral two-dimensional (2D)-fluoroscopic views. Therefore, additional 2D-fluoroscopic views in different projections and intraoperative three-dimensional (3D) fluoroscopy were recently reported. Nevertheless, their utility has issued controversies. Objectives: The following questions should be answered in this study; 1) Are the additional tangential view and the intraoperative 3D fluoroscopy useful in the clinical routine to detect persistent fracture dislocations and screw misplacements, to prevent revision surgery? 2) Which is the most dangerous plate hole for screw misplacement? Patients and Methods: A total of 48 patients (36 females and 13 males) with 49 unstable distal radius fractures (22 x 23 A; 2 x 23 B, and 25 x 23 C) were treated with a 2.4 mm variable angle LCP Two-Column volar distal radius plate (Synthes GmbH, Oberdorf, Switzerland) during a 10-month period. After final fixation, according to the manufactures' technique guide and control of implant placement in the two common perpendicular 2D-fluoroscopic images (postero-anterior and true lateral), an additional tangential view and intraoperative 3D fluoroscopic scan were performed to control the anatomic fracture reduction and screw placements. Intraoperative revision rates due to screw misplacements (intra-articular or overlength) were evaluated. Additionally, the number of surgeons, time and radiation-exposure, for each step of the operating procedure, were recorded. Results: In the standard 2D-fluoroscopic views (postero-anterior and true lateral projection), 22 screw misplacements of 232 inserted screws were not detected. Based on the additional tangential view, 12 screws were exchanged, followed by further 10 screws after performing the 3D fluoroscopic scan. The most lateral screw position had the highest risk for screw misplacement (accounting for 45.5% of all exchanged screws). The mean number of images for the tangential view was 3 ± 2.5 images. The mean surgical time was extended by 10.02 ± 3.82 minutes for the 3D fluoroscopic scan. An additional radiation exposure of 4.4 ± 4.5seconds, with a dose area product of 39.2 ± 14.5 cGy/cm2 were necessary for the tangential view and 54.4 ± 20.9 seconds with a dose area product of 2.1 ± 2.2 cGy/cm2, for the 3D fluoroscopic scan. Conclusions: We recommend the additional 2D-fluoroscopic tangential view for detection of screw misplacements caused by overlength, with penetration on the dorsal cortical surface of the distal radius, predominantly observed for the most lateral screw position. The use of intraoperative 3D fluoroscopy did not become accepted in our clinical routine, due to the technical demanding and time consuming procedure, with a limited image quality so far

Utility of the Cortical Thickness of the Distal Radius as a Predictor of Distal-Radius Bone Density

Background: Bone density is an important factor in the management of fractures of the distal radius. Objectives: The aim of this study was to establish whether standard anteroposterior (AP) radiographs would provide the attending physician with a prediction of bone density. Patients and Methods: Six pairs of human cadaveric radii were harvested. The mean donor age was 74 years. Standardized AP radiographs were taken of the radii. The outside diameter and the inside diameter of the cortical shell at the metaphyseal / diaphyseal junction were measured and their ratio was calculated. Dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) was used to obtain the bone mineral density (BMD) of the distal parts of the radii. The correlation of the BMD values with these ratios was studied. Results: The mean BMD was 0.559 (SD = 0.236) g / cm2. The mean outside diameter/inside diameter ratio was 1.24 (SD = 0.013); the ratio significantly correlated with the total BMD (P = 0.001; R2 = 0.710). In the BMD subregions, the correlation was also significant. Conclusions: The outside diameter/inside diameter ratio at the metaphyseal/diaphyseal junction of the distal radius on AP radiographs is suitable for use as a predictor of distal-radius bone density. Further studies should be performed, and clinical utility evaluated

Towards video-based surgical workflow understanding in open orthopaedic surgery

Safe and efficient surgical training and workflow management play a critical role in clinical competency and ultimately, patient outcomes. Video data in minimally invasive surgery (MIS) have enabled opportunities for vision-based artificial intelligence (AI) systems to improve surgical skills training and assurance through post-operative video analysis and development of real-time computer-assisted interventions (CAI). Despite the availability of mounted cameras for the operating room (OR), similar capabilities are much more complex to develop for recording open surgery procedures, which has resulted in a shortage of exemplar video-based training materials. In this paper, we present a potential solution to record open surgical procedures using head-mounted cameras. Recorded videos were anonymised to remove patient and staff identifiable information using a machine learning algorithm that achieves state-of-the-art results on the OR Face dataset. We then propose a CNN-LSTM-based model to automatically segment videos into different surgical phases, which has never been previously demonstrated in open procedures. The redacted videos, along with the automatically predicted phases, are then available for surgeons and their teams for post-operative review and analysis. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of the feasibility of deploying camera recording systems and developing machine learning-based workflow analysis solutions for open surgery, particularly in orthopaedics

Evaluation of Near-Surface Air Temperature from Reanalysis over the United States and Ukraine: Application to Winter Wheat Yield Forecasting

In this work we evaluate the near-surface air temperature datasets from the ERA-Interim, JRA55, MERRA2, NCEP1, and NCEP2 reanalysis projects. Reanalysis data were first compared to observations from weather stations located on wheat areas of the United States and Ukraine, and then evaluated in the context of a winter wheat yield forecast model. Results from the comparison with weather station data showed that all datasets performed well (r2>0.95) and that more modern reanalysis such as ERAI had lower errors (RMSD ~ 0.9) than the older, lower resolution datasets like NCEP1 (RMSD ~ 2.4). We also analyze the impact of using surface air temperature data from different reanalysis products on the estimations made by a winter wheat yield forecast model. The forecast model uses information of the accumulated Growing Degree Day (GDD) during the growing season to estimate the peak NDVI signal. When the temperature data from the different reanalysis projects were used in the yield model to compute the accumulated GDD and forecast the winter wheat yield, the results showed smaller variations between obtained values, with differences in yield forecast error of around 2% in the most extreme case. These results suggest that the impact of temperature discrepancies between datasets in the yield forecast model get diminished as the values are accumulated through the growing season