1,519 research outputs found

    Porous clays heterostructures as supports of iron oxide for environmental catalysis

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    [EN] Porous Clays Heterostructures (PCH) from natural pillared clays (bentonite with a high proportion of montmorillonite) have been used as supports of iron oxide for two reactions of environmental interest: i) the elimination of toluene (a representative compound of one of the most toxic subsets of volatile organic compounds, aromatics) by total oxidation and ii) the selective oxidation of H2S to elemental sulfur. For both reactions these catalysts have resulted to be remarkably more efficient than similar catalysts prepared using conventional silica as a support. Thus, in the total oxidation of toluene it has been observed that the catalytic activity obtained using siliceous PCH is two orders of magnitude higher than that with conventional silica. The catalytic activity has shown to be dependant of the capacity of the support for dispersing iron oxide in a way that the higher the dispersion of iron oxide on the surface of the support, the higher is the activity. In the case of the selective oxidation of H2S to S both higher catalytic activity and higher selectivity to S have been observed using siliceous porous clays heterostructures than using conventional silica. Highly dispersed FeOx species have been shown as highly selective towards elemental sulfur whereas more aggregated FeOx species favour the formation of sulphur oxides decreasing the selectivity to S. Analyses of the surface by XPS have shown the predominance of sulfate species in the catalysts presenting low selectivity to elemental sulfur.The authors would like to acknowledge the DGICYT in Spain (CTQ2015-68951-C3-1-R, CTQ2015-68951-C3-3-R, CTQ2012-37925-C03-2, CTQ2012-37925-C03-3 and CTQ2012-37984-C02-01) and FEDER for financial support. We also thank the University of Valencia for funding (UV-INV-AE-16-484416) and SCSIE-UV for assistance.Sanchis Martinez, R.; Cecilia, J.; Soriano Rodríguez, MD.; Vazquez, I.; Dejoz, A.; López Nieto, JM.; Rodriguez-Castellon, E.... (2008). Porous clays heterostructures as supports of iron oxide for environmental catalysis. Chemical Engineering Journal. 334:1159-1168. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2017.11.060S1159116833

    Surgical treatment for colorectal cancer: Analysis of the influence of an enhanced recovery programme on long-term oncological outcomes-a study protocol for a prospective, multicentre, observational cohort study

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    Introduction The evidence currently available from enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) programmes concerns their benefits in the immediate postoperative period, but there is still very little evidence as to whether their correct implementation benefits patients in the long term. The working hypothesis here is that, due to the lower response to surgical aggression and lower rates of postoperative complications, ERAS protocols can reduce colorectal cancer-related mortality. The main objective of this study is to analyse the impact of an ERAS programme for colorectal cancer on 5-year survival. As secondary objectives, we propose to analyse the weight of each of the predefined items in the oncological results as well as the quality of life. Methods and analysis A multicentre prospective cohort study was conducted in patients older than 18 years of age who are scheduled to undergo surgery for colorectal cancer. The study involved 12 hospitals with an implemented enhanced recovery protocol according to the guidelines published by the Spanish National Health Service. The intervention group includes patients with a minimum implementation level of 70%, and the control group includes those who fail to reach this level. Compliance will be studied using 18 key performance indicators, and the results will be analysed using cancer survival indicators, including overall survival, cancer-specific survival and relapse-free survival. The time to recurrence, perioperative morbidity and mortality, hospital stay and quality of life will also be studied, the latter using the validated EuroQol Five questionnaire. The propensity index method will be used to create comparable treatment and control groups, and a multivariate regression will be used to study each variable. The Kaplan-Meier estimator will be used to estimate survival and the log-rank test to make comparisons. A p value of less than 0.05 (two-tailed) will be considered to be significant. Ethics and dissemination Ethical approval for this study was obtained from the Aragon Ethical Committee (C.P.-C.I. PI20/086) on 4 March 2020. The findings of this study will be submitted to peer-reviewed journals (BMJ Open, JAMA Surgery, Annals of Surgery, British Journal of Surgery). Abstracts will be submitted to relevant national and international meetings. Trial registration number NCT04305314

    Update on the correlation of the highest energy cosmic rays with nearby extragalactic matter

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    Data collected by the Pierre Auger Observatory through 31 August 2007 showed evidence for anisotropy in the arrival directions of cosmic rays above the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuz'min energy threshold, \nobreak{6×10196\times 10^{19}eV}. The anisotropy was measured by the fraction of arrival directions that are less than 3.13.1^\circ from the position of an active galactic nucleus within 75 Mpc (using the V\'eron-Cetty and V\'eron 12th12^{\rm th} catalog). An updated measurement of this fraction is reported here using the arrival directions of cosmic rays recorded above the same energy threshold through 31 December 2009. The number of arrival directions has increased from 27 to 69, allowing a more precise measurement. The correlating fraction is (386+7)(38^{+7}_{-6})%, compared with 2121% expected for isotropic cosmic rays. This is down from the early estimate of (6913+11)(69^{+11}_{-13})%. The enlarged set of arrival directions is examined also in relation to other populations of nearby extragalactic objects: galaxies in the 2 Microns All Sky Survey and active galactic nuclei detected in hard X-rays by the Swift Burst Alert Telescope. A celestial region around the position of the radiogalaxy Cen A has the largest excess of arrival directions relative to isotropic expectations. The 2-point autocorrelation function is shown for the enlarged set of arrival directions and compared to the isotropic expectation.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astroparticle Physics on 31 August 201

    Anisotropy studies around the galactic centre at EeV energies with the Auger Observatory

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    Data from the Pierre Auger Observatory are analyzed to search for anisotropies near the direction of the Galactic Centre at EeV energies. The exposure of the surface array in this part of the sky is already significantly larger than that of the fore-runner experiments. Our results do not support previous findings of localized excesses in the AGASA and SUGAR data. We set an upper bound on a point-like flux of cosmic rays arriving from the Galactic Centre which excludes several scenarios predicting sources of EeV neutrons from Sagittarius AA. Also the events detected simultaneously by the surface and fluorescence detectors (the `hybrid' data set), which have better pointing accuracy but are less numerous than those of the surface array alone, do not show any significant localized excess from this direction.Comment: Matches published versio

    Advanced functionality for radio analysis in the Offline software framework of the Pierre Auger Observatory

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    The advent of the Auger Engineering Radio Array (AERA) necessitates the development of a powerful framework for the analysis of radio measurements of cosmic ray air showers. As AERA performs "radio-hybrid" measurements of air shower radio emission in coincidence with the surface particle detectors and fluorescence telescopes of the Pierre Auger Observatory, the radio analysis functionality had to be incorporated in the existing hybrid analysis solutions for fluoresence and surface detector data. This goal has been achieved in a natural way by extending the existing Auger Offline software framework with radio functionality. In this article, we lay out the design, highlights and features of the radio extension implemented in the Auger Offline framework. Its functionality has achieved a high degree of sophistication and offers advanced features such as vectorial reconstruction of the electric field, advanced signal processing algorithms, a transparent and efficient handling of FFTs, a very detailed simulation of detector effects, and the read-in of multiple data formats including data from various radio simulation codes. The source code of this radio functionality can be made available to interested parties on request.Comment: accepted for publication in NIM A, 13 pages, minor corrections to author list and references in v

    Search for First Harmonic Modulation in the Right Ascension Distribution of Cosmic Rays Detected at the Pierre Auger Observatory

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    We present the results of searches for dipolar-type anisotropies in different energy ranges above 2.5×10172.5\times 10^{17} eV with the surface detector array of the Pierre Auger Observatory, reporting on both the phase and the amplitude measurements of the first harmonic modulation in the right-ascension distribution. Upper limits on the amplitudes are obtained, which provide the most stringent bounds at present, being below 2% at 99% C.L.C.L. for EeV energies. We also compare our results to those of previous experiments as well as with some theoretical expectations.Comment: 28 pages, 11 figure

    BB flavour tagging using charm decays at the LHCb experiment

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    An algorithm is described for tagging the flavour content at production of neutral BB mesons in the LHCb experiment. The algorithm exploits the correlation of the flavour of a BB meson with the charge of a reconstructed secondary charm hadron from the decay of the other bb hadron produced in the proton-proton collision. Charm hadron candidates are identified in a number of fully or partially reconstructed Cabibbo-favoured decay modes. The algorithm is calibrated on the self-tagged decay modes B+J/ψK+B^+ \to J/\psi \, K^+ and B0J/ψK0B^0 \to J/\psi \, K^{*0} using 3.0fb13.0\mathrm{\,fb}^{-1} of data collected by the LHCb experiment at pppp centre-of-mass energies of 7TeV7\mathrm{\,TeV} and 8TeV8\mathrm{\,TeV}. Its tagging power on these samples of BJ/ψXB \to J/\psi \, X decays is (0.30±0.01±0.01)%(0.30 \pm 0.01 \pm 0.01) \%.Comment: All figures and tables, along with any supplementary material and additional information, are available at http://lhcbproject.web.cern.ch/lhcbproject/Publications/LHCbProjectPublic/LHCb-PAPER-2015-027.htm

    Measurements of long-range near-side angular correlations in sNN=5\sqrt{s_{\text{NN}}}=5TeV proton-lead collisions in the forward region

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    Two-particle angular correlations are studied in proton-lead collisions at a nucleon-nucleon centre-of-mass energy of sNN=5\sqrt{s_{\text{NN}}}=5TeV, collected with the LHCb detector at the LHC. The analysis is based on data recorded in two beam configurations, in which either the direction of the proton or that of the lead ion is analysed. The correlations are measured in the laboratory system as a function of relative pseudorapidity, Δη\Delta\eta, and relative azimuthal angle, Δϕ\Delta\phi, for events in different classes of event activity and for different bins of particle transverse momentum. In high-activity events a long-range correlation on the near side, Δϕ0\Delta\phi \approx 0, is observed in the pseudorapidity range 2.0<η<4.92.0<\eta<4.9. This measurement of long-range correlations on the near side in proton-lead collisions extends previous observations into the forward region up to η=4.9\eta=4.9. The correlation increases with growing event activity and is found to be more pronounced in the direction of the lead beam. However, the correlation in the direction of the lead and proton beams are found to be compatible when comparing events with similar absolute activity in the direction analysed.Comment: All figures and tables, along with any supplementary material and additional information, are available at https://lhcbproject.web.cern.ch/lhcbproject/Publications/LHCbProjectPublic/LHCb-PAPER-2015-040.htm

    Study of the production of Λb0\Lambda_b^0 and B0\overline{B}^0 hadrons in pppp collisions and first measurement of the Λb0J/ψpK\Lambda_b^0\rightarrow J/\psi pK^- branching fraction

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    The product of the Λb0\Lambda_b^0 (B0\overline{B}^0) differential production cross-section and the branching fraction of the decay Λb0J/ψpK\Lambda_b^0\rightarrow J/\psi pK^- (B0J/ψK(892)0\overline{B}^0\rightarrow J/\psi\overline{K}^*(892)^0) is measured as a function of the beauty hadron transverse momentum, pTp_{\rm T}, and rapidity, yy. The kinematic region of the measurements is pT<20 GeV/cp_{\rm T}<20~{\rm GeV}/c and 2.0<y<4.52.0<y<4.5. The measurements use a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3 fb13~{\rm fb}^{-1} collected by the LHCb detector in pppp collisions at centre-of-mass energies s=7 TeV\sqrt{s}=7~{\rm TeV} in 2011 and s=8 TeV\sqrt{s}=8~{\rm TeV} in 2012. Based on previous LHCb results of the fragmentation fraction ratio, fΛB0/fdf_{\Lambda_B^0}/f_d, the branching fraction of the decay Λb0J/ψpK\Lambda_b^0\rightarrow J/\psi pK^- is measured to be \begin{equation*} \mathcal{B}(\Lambda_b^0\rightarrow J/\psi pK^-)= (3.17\pm0.04\pm0.07\pm0.34^{+0.45}_{-0.28})\times10^{-4}, \end{equation*} where the first uncertainty is statistical, the second is systematic, the third is due to the uncertainty on the branching fraction of the decay B0J/ψK(892)0\overline{B}^0\rightarrow J/\psi\overline{K}^*(892)^0, and the fourth is due to the knowledge of fΛb0/fdf_{\Lambda_b^0}/f_d. The sum of the asymmetries in the production and decay between Λb0\Lambda_b^0 and Λb0\overline{\Lambda}_b^0 is also measured as a function of pTp_{\rm T} and yy. The previously published branching fraction of Λb0J/ψpπ\Lambda_b^0\rightarrow J/\psi p\pi^-, relative to that of Λb0J/ψpK\Lambda_b^0\rightarrow J/\psi pK^-, is updated. The branching fractions of Λb0Pc+(J/ψp)K\Lambda_b^0\rightarrow P_c^+(\rightarrow J/\psi p)K^- are determined.Comment: 29 pages, 19figures. All figures and tables, along with any supplementary material and additional information, are available at https://lhcbproject.web.cern.ch/lhcbproject/Publications/LHCbProjectPublic/LHCb-PAPER-2015-032.htm

    Evidence for the strangeness-changing weak decay ΞbΛb0π\Xi_b^-\to\Lambda_b^0\pi^-

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    Using a pppp collision data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3.0~fb1^{-1}, collected by the LHCb detector, we present the first search for the strangeness-changing weak decay ΞbΛb0π\Xi_b^-\to\Lambda_b^0\pi^-. No bb hadron decay of this type has been seen before. A signal for this decay, corresponding to a significance of 3.2 standard deviations, is reported. The relative rate is measured to be fΞbfΛb0B(ΞbΛb0π)=(5.7±1.80.9+0.8)×104{{f_{\Xi_b^-}}\over{f_{\Lambda_b^0}}}{\cal{B}}(\Xi_b^-\to\Lambda_b^0\pi^-) = (5.7\pm1.8^{+0.8}_{-0.9})\times10^{-4}, where fΞbf_{\Xi_b^-} and fΛb0f_{\Lambda_b^0} are the bΞbb\to\Xi_b^- and bΛb0b\to\Lambda_b^0 fragmentation fractions, and B(ΞbΛb0π){\cal{B}}(\Xi_b^-\to\Lambda_b^0\pi^-) is the branching fraction. Assuming fΞb/fΛb0f_{\Xi_b^-}/f_{\Lambda_b^0} is bounded between 0.1 and 0.3, the branching fraction B(ΞbΛb0π){\cal{B}}(\Xi_b^-\to\Lambda_b^0\pi^-) would lie in the range from (0.57±0.21)%(0.57\pm0.21)\% to (0.19±0.07)%(0.19\pm0.07)\%.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, All figures and tables, along with any supplementary material and additional information, are available at https://lhcbproject.web.cern.ch/lhcbproject/Publications/LHCbProjectPublic/LHCb-PAPER-2015-047.htm
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