381 research outputs found

    An Institutional Framework for Heterogeneous Formal Development in UML

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    We present a framework for formal software development with UML. In contrast to previous approaches that equip UML with a formal semantics, we follow an institution based heterogeneous approach. This can express suitable formal semantics of the different UML diagram types directly, without the need to map everything to one specific formalism (let it be first-order logic or graph grammars). We show how different aspects of the formal development process can be coherently formalised, ranging from requirements over design and Hoare-style conditions on code to the implementation itself. The framework can be used to verify consistency of different UML diagrams both horizontally (e.g., consistency among various requirements) as well as vertically (e.g., correctness of design or implementation w.r.t. the requirements)

    Mass Composition of Cosmic Rays in the Range 2 x 10^17 - 3 x 10^18 Measured with Haverah Park Array

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    At the Haverah Park Array a number of air shower observables were measured that are relevant to the determination of the mass composition of cosmic rays. In this paper we discuss measurements of the risetime of signals in large area water-Cherenkov detectors and of the lateral distribution function of the water-Cherenkov signal. The former are used to demonstrate that the CORSIKA code, using the QGSJET98 model, gives an adequate description of the data with a low sensitivity, in this energy range, to assumptions about primary mass. By contrast the lateral distribution is sufficiently well measured that there is mass sensitivity. We argue that in the range 0.2-1.0 EeV the data are well represented with a bi-modal composition of 34+-2 % protons and the rest iron. We also discuss the systematic errors induced by the choice of hadronic model.Comment: 16 pages, 13 figures. Accepted for publication in Astroparticle Physic

    Statistical methods applied to composition studies of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays

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    The mass composition of high energy cosmic rays above 101710^{17} eV is a crucial issue to solve some open questions in astrophysics such as the acceleration and propagation mechanisms. Unfortunately, the standard procedures to identify the primary particle of a cosmic ray shower have low efficiency mainly due to large fluctuations and limited experimental observables. We present a statistical method for composition studies based on several measurable features of the longitudinal development of the CR shower such as NmaxN_{max}, XmaxX_{max}, asymmetry, skewness and kurtosis. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to evaluate the relevance of each parameter in the representation of the overall shower features and a linear discriminant analysis (LDA) was used to combine the different parameters to maximize the discrimination between different particle showers. The new parameter from LDA provides a separation between primary gammas, proton and iron nuclei better than the procedures based on XmaxX_{max} only. The method proposed here was successfully tested in the energy range from 101710^{17} to 102010^{20} eV even when limitations of shower track length were included in order to simulate the field of view of fluorescence telescopes

    Vaccination with an Inactivated Virulent Feline Immunodeficiency Virus Engineered to Express High Levels of Env

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    An inactivated virus vaccine was prepared from a pathogenic isolate of feline immunodeficiency virus containing a mutation that eliminated an endocytic sorting signal in the envelope glycoprotein, increasing its expression on virions. Cats immunized with inactivated preparations of this modified virus exhibited strong titers of antibody to Env by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Evidence of protection following challenge demonstrated the potential of this approach to lentiviral vaccination

    Growth and Mechanical and Tribological Characterization of Multi-Layer Hard Carbon Films

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    Vacuum-arc deposition is used to deposit multilayer C films by modulating the sample bias during deposition. Effect of varying the sublayer thickness in multilayer films consisting of alternating layers of ``hard`` (68.4 GPa, -100 V bias) and ``soft`` (27.5 GPa, - 200 V bias) was investigated. Films consisting of equal thickness layers of hard and soft material and an individual layer thickness varying from 10 to 35 nm were deposited. Mechanical property measurements were obtained by finite element modeling of nanoindentation load-displacement curves. The film hardness values were about 20% below the average of the component layers and relatively independent of the layer thickness. TEM revealed deterioration of the multilayer structure when the sublayer thickness was below 15 nm due to implantation damage of the hard layers caused by the energetic C{sup +} ions of the soft layers (-2000 V bias) deposited over them. Pin-on-disk wear tests show that the wear rate drops when sublayer thickness is decreased below 20 nm and remains constant with further decreases in the layer thickness

    Production of Medical Radioisotopes with High Specific Activity in Photonuclear Reactions with γ\gamma Beams of High Intensity and Large Brilliance

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    We study the production of radioisotopes for nuclear medicine in (γ,xn+yp)(\gamma,x{\rm n}+y{\rm p}) photonuclear reactions or (γ,γ\gamma,\gamma') photoexcitation reactions with high flux [(1013101510^{13}-10^{15})γ\gamma/s], small diameter (100μ\sim (100 \, \mum)2)^2 and small band width (ΔE/E103104\Delta E/E \approx 10^{-3}-10^{-4}) γ\gamma beams produced by Compton back-scattering of laser light from relativistic brilliant electron beams. We compare them to (ion,xxn+y + yp) reactions with (ion=p,d,α\alpha) from particle accelerators like cyclotrons and (n,γ\gamma) or (n,f) reactions from nuclear reactors. For photonuclear reactions with a narrow γ\gamma beam the energy deposition in the target can be managed by using a stack of thin target foils or wires, hence avoiding direct stopping of the Compton and pair electrons (positrons). (γ,γ)(\gamma,\gamma') isomer production via specially selected γ\gamma cascades allows to produce high specific activity in multiple excitations, where no back-pumping of the isomer to the ground state occurs. We discuss in detail many specific radioisotopes for diagnostics and therapy applications. Photonuclear reactions with γ\gamma beams allow to produce certain radioisotopes, e.g. 47^{47}Sc, 44^{44}Ti, 67^{67}Cu, 103^{103}Pd, 117m^{117m}Sn, 169^{169}Er, 195m^{195m}Pt or 225^{225}Ac, with higher specific activity and/or more economically than with classical methods. This will open the way for completely new clinical applications of radioisotopes. For example 195m^{195m}Pt could be used to verify the patient's response to chemotherapy with platinum compounds before a complete treatment is performed. Also innovative isotopes like 47^{47}Sc, 67^{67}Cu and 225^{225}Ac could be produced for the first time in sufficient quantities for large-scale application in targeted radionuclide therapy.Comment: submitted to Appl. Phys.

    Quantum cellular automata quantum computing with endohedral fullerenes

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    We present a scheme to perform universal quantum computation using global addressing techniques as applied to a physical system of endohedrally doped fullerenes. The system consists of an ABAB linear array of Group V endohedrally doped fullerenes. Each molecule spin site consists of a nuclear spin coupled via a Hyperfine interaction to an electron spin. The electron spin of each molecule is in a quartet ground state S=3/2S=3/2. Neighboring molecular electron spins are coupled via a magnetic dipole interaction. We find that an all-electron construction of a quantum cellular automata is frustrated due to the degeneracy of the electronic transitions. However, we can construct a quantum celluar automata quantum computing architecture using these molecules by encoding the quantum information on the nuclear spins while using the electron spins as a local bus. We deduce the NMR and ESR pulses required to execute the basic cellular automata operation and obtain a rough figure of merit for the the number of gate operations per decoherence time. We find that this figure of merit compares well with other physical quantum computer proposals. We argue that the proposed architecture meets well the first four DiVincenzo criteria and we outline various routes towards meeting the fifth criteria: qubit readout.Comment: 16 pages, Latex, 5 figures, See http://planck.thphys.may.ie/QIPDDF/ submitted to Phys. Rev.
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