2,530 research outputs found
The acceleration and storage of radioactive ions for a neutrino factory
The term beta-beam has been coined for the production of a pure beam of
electron neutrinos or their antiparticles through the decay of radioactive ions
circulating in a storage ring. This concept requires radioactive ions to be
accelerated to a Lorentz gamma of 150 for 6He and 60 for 18Ne. The neutrino
source itself consists of a storage ring for this energy range, with long
straight sections in line with the experiment(s). Such a decay ring does not
exist at CERN today, nor does a high-intensity proton source for the production
of the radioactive ions. Nevertheless, the existing CERN accelerator
infrastructure could be used as this would still represent an important saving
for a beta-beam facility. This paper outlines the first study, while some of
the more speculative ideas will need further investigations.Comment: Accepted for publication in proceedings of Nufact02, London, 200
Reduced basis isogeometric mortar approximations for eigenvalue problems in vibroacoustics
We simulate the vibration of a violin bridge in a multi-query context using
reduced basis techniques. The mathematical model is based on an eigenvalue
problem for the orthotropic linear elasticity equation. In addition to the nine
material parameters, a geometrical thickness parameter is considered. This
parameter enters as a 10th material parameter into the system by a mapping onto
a parameter independent reference domain. The detailed simulation is carried
out by isogeometric mortar methods. Weakly coupled patch-wise tensorial
structured isogeometric elements are of special interest for complex geometries
with piecewise smooth but curvilinear boundaries. To obtain locality in the
detailed system, we use the saddle point approach and do not apply static
condensation techniques. However within the reduced basis context, it is
natural to eliminate the Lagrange multiplier and formulate a reduced eigenvalue
problem for a symmetric positive definite matrix. The selection of the
snapshots is controlled by a multi-query greedy strategy taking into account an
error indicator allowing for multiple eigenvalues
Physics at a Fermilab Proton Driver
This report documents the physics case for building a 2 MW, 8 GeV
superconducting linac proton driver at Fermilab.Comment: 52 pages, 15 figure
Interleukin-2 therapy in patients with HIV infection
BACKGROUND
Used in combination with antiretroviral therapy, subcutaneous recombinant interleukin-2 raises CD4+ cell counts more than does antiretroviral therapy alone. The clinical implication of these increases is not known.
METHODS
We conducted two trials: the Subcutaneous Recombinant, Human Interleukin-2 in HIV-Infected Patients with Low CD4+ Counts under Active Antiretroviral Therapy (SILCAAT) study and the Evaluation of Subcutaneous Proleukin in a Randomized International Trial (ESPRIT). In each, patients infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) who had CD4+ cell counts of either 50 to 299 per cubic millimeter (SILCAAT) or 300 or more per cubic millimeter (ESPRIT) were randomly assigned to receive interleukin-2 plus antiretroviral therapy or antiretroviral therapy alone. The interleukin-2 regimen consisted of cycles of 5 consecutive days each, administered at 8-week intervals. The SILCAAT study involved six cycles and a dose of 4.5 million IU of interleukin-2 twice daily; ESPRIT involved three cycles and a dose of 7.5 million IU twice daily. Additional cycles were recommended to maintain the CD4+ cell count above predefined target levels. The primary end point of both studies was opportunistic disease or death from any cause.
RESULTS
In the SILCAAT study, 1695 patients (849 receiving interleukin-2 plus antiretroviral therapy and 846 receiving antiretroviral therapy alone) who had a median CD4+ cell count of 202 cells per cubic millimeter were enrolled; in ESPRIT, 4111 patients (2071 receiving interleukin-2 plus antiretroviral therapy and 2040 receiving antiretroviral therapy alone) who had a median CD4+ cell count of 457 cells per cubic millimeter were enrolled. Over a median follow-up period of 7 to 8 years, the CD4+ cell count was higher in the interleukin-2 group than in the group receiving antiretroviral therapy alone--by 53 and 159 cells per cubic millimeter, on average, in the SILCAAT study and ESPRIT, respectively. Hazard ratios for opportunistic disease or death from any cause with interleukin-2 plus antiretroviral therapy (vs. antiretroviral therapy alone) were 0.91 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.70 to 1.18; P=0.47) in the SILCAAT study and 0.94 (95% CI, 0.75 to 1.16; P=0.55) in ESPRIT. The hazard ratios for death from any cause and for grade 4 clinical events were 1.06 (P=0.73) and 1.10 (P=0.35), respectively, in the SILCAAT study and 0.90 (P=0.42) and 1.23 (P=0.003), respectively, in ESPRIT.
CONCLUSIONS
Despite a substantial and sustained increase in the CD4+ cell count, as compared with antiretroviral therapy alone, interleukin-2 plus antiretroviral therapy yielded no clinical benefit in either study. (ClinicalTrials.gov numbers, NCT00004978 [ESPRIT] and NCT00013611 [SILCAAT study].
Recommended from our members
Multi-omics of the gut microbial ecosystem in inflammatory bowel diseases.
Inflammatory bowel diseases, which include Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, affect several million individuals worldwide. Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis are complex diseases that are heterogeneous at the clinical, immunological, molecular, genetic, and microbial levels. Individual contributing factors have been the focus of extensive research. As part of the Integrative Human Microbiome Project (HMP2 or iHMP), we followed 132 subjects for one year each to generate integrated longitudinal molecular profiles of host and microbial activity during disease (up to 24 time points each; in total 2,965 stool, biopsy, and blood specimens). Here we present the results, which provide a comprehensive view of functional dysbiosis in the gut microbiome during inflammatory bowel disease activity. We demonstrate a characteristic increase in facultative anaerobes at the expense of obligate anaerobes, as well as molecular disruptions in microbial transcription (for example, among clostridia), metabolite pools (acylcarnitines, bile acids, and short-chain fatty acids), and levels of antibodies in host serum. Periods of disease activity were also marked by increases in temporal variability, with characteristic taxonomic, functional, and biochemical shifts. Finally, integrative analysis identified microbial, biochemical, and host factors central to this dysregulation. The study's infrastructure resources, results, and data, which are available through the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Multi'omics Database ( http://ibdmdb.org ), provide the most comprehensive description to date of host and microbial activities in inflammatory bowel diseases
Do the socioeconomic context and the European geographical area modify parental influences on smoking experimentation among adolescents?
Hopping conduction in strong electric fields: Negative differential conductivity
Effects of strong electric fields on hopping conductivity are studied
theoretically. Monte-Carlo computer simulations show that the analytical theory
of Nguyen and Shklovskii [Solid State Commun. 38, 99 (1981)] provides an
accurate description of hopping transport in the limit of very high electric
fields and low concentrations of charge carriers as compared to the
concentration of localization sites and also at the relative concentration of
carriers equal to 0.5. At intermediate concentrations of carriers between 0.1
and 0.5 computer simulations evidence essential deviations from the results of
the existing analytical theories.
The theory of Nguyen and Shklovskii also predicts a negative differential
hopping conductivity at high electric fields. Our numerical calculations
confirm this prediction qualitatively. However the field dependence of the
drift velocity of charge carriers obtained numerically differs essentially from
the one predicted so far. Analytical theory is further developed so that its
agreement with numerical results is essentially improved.Comment: 12 pages, 12 figures. References added, figures improve
A minimal Beta Beam with high-Q ions to address CP violation in the leptonic sector
In this paper we consider a Beta Beam setup that tries to leverage at most
existing European facilities: i.e. a setup that takes advantage of facilities
at CERN to boost high-Q ions (8Li and 8B) aiming at a far detector located at L
= 732 Km in the Gran Sasso Underground Laboratory. The average neutrino energy
for 8Li and 8B ions boosted at \gamma ~ 100 is in the range E_\nu = [1,2] GeV,
high enough to use a large iron detector of the MINOS type at the far site. We
perform, then, a study of the neutrino and antineutrino fluxes needed to
measure a CP-violating phase delta in a significant part of the parameter
space. In particular, for theta_13 > 3 deg, if an antineutrino flux of 3 10^19
useful 8Li decays per year is achievable, we find that delta can be measured in
60% of the parameter space with 6 10^18 useful 8B decays per year.Comment: 19 pages, 10 figures, added references and corrected typo
Refining Inductive Types
Dependently typed programming languages allow sophisticated properties of
data to be expressed within the type system. Of particular use in dependently
typed programming are indexed types that refine data by computationally useful
information. For example, the N-indexed type of vectors refines lists by their
lengths. Other data types may be refined in similar ways, but programmers must
produce purpose-specific refinements on an ad hoc basis, developers must
anticipate which refinements to include in libraries, and implementations must
often store redundant information about data and their refinements. In this
paper we show how to generically derive inductive characterisations of
refinements of inductive types, and argue that these characterisations can
alleviate some of the aforementioned difficulties associated with ad hoc
refinements. Our characterisations also ensure that standard techniques for
programming with and reasoning about inductive types are applicable to
refinements, and that refinements can themselves be further refined
- …