3,417 research outputs found
Ion backflow studies with a triple-GEM stack with increasing hole pitch
Gas Electron Multipliers have undergone a very consistent development since
their invention in 1997. Their production procedures have been tuned in such a
way that nowadays it is possible to produce foils with areas of the order of
the square meter that can operate at a reasonable gain, uniform over large
areas and with a good stability in what concerns electrical discharges. For the
third run of LHC, they will be included in the CMS and ALICE experiments after
significant upgrades of the detectors, confirming that these structures are
suitable for very large experiments. In the special case of Time Projection
Chambers, the ion backflow and the energy resolution are sensitive issues that
must be addressed and the GEM has shown to be able to deal with both of them.
In this work, a stack of three GEMs with different pitches has been studied
as a possible future approach for ion-backflow suppression to be used in TPCs
and other detection concepts. With this approach, an ion backflow of 1 % with
an energy resolution of 12 % at 5.9 keV has been achieved with the detector
operating in an Ar/CO2 (90/10) mixture at a gain of ~ 2000.Comment: 15 pages, 11 figure
Human case of West Nile neuroinvasive disease in Portugal, summer 2015
A case of West Nile virus (WNV) infection was reported in the Algarve region, Portugal, in the first week of September 2015. WNV is known to circulate in Portugal, with occasional reports in horses and birds (2004 to 2011) and very sporadically human cases (in 2004 and in 2010). Here we present the clinical and laboratory aspects related to the first human case of West Nile neuroinvasive disease reported in Portugal
The Relation between the Radial Temperature Profile in the Chromosphere and the Solar Spectrum at Centimeter, Millimeter, Sub-millimeter, and Infrared Wavelengths
Solar observations from millimeter to ultraviolet wavelengths show that there
is a temperature minimum between photosphere and chromosphere. Analysis based
on semi-empirical models locate this point at about 500 km over the
photosphere. The consistency of these models has been tested by means of
millimeter to infrared observations.
In the present work, we show that variations of the theoretical radial
temperature profile near the temperature minimum impacts the brightness
temperature at centimeter, submillimeter, and infrared wavelengths, but the
millimeter wavelength emission remains unchanged. We found a region between 500
and 1000 km over the photosphere that remains hidden to observations at the
frequencies under study in this work.Comment: Accepted in Solar Physic
Quantum Dynamics in a Time-dependent Hard-Wall Spherical Trap
Exact solution of the Schr\"{o}dinger equation is given for a particle inside
a hard sphere whose wall is moving with a constant velocity. Numerical
computations are presented for both contracting and expanding spheres. The
propagator is constructed and compared with the propagator of a particle in an
infinite square well with one wall in uniform motion.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, Accepted by Europhys. Let
Coasting cosmologies with time dependent cosmological constant
The effect of a time dependent cosmological constant is considered in a
family of scalar tensor theories. Friedmann-Robertson-Walker cosmological
models for vacumm and perfect fluid matter are found. They have a linear
expansion factor, the so called coasting cosmology, the gravitational
"constant" decreace inversely with time; this model satisfy the Dirac
hipotesis. The cosmological "constant" decreace inversely with the square of
time, therefore we can have a very small value for it at present time.Comment: 7 pages, latex file (ijmpal macro), accepted for publication in Int.
Mod. Phys.
A field evaluation of the Hardy TB MODS Kitâ„¢ for the rapid phenotypic diagnosis of tuberculosis and multi-drug resistant tuberculosis.
BACKGROUND: Even though the WHO-endorsed, non-commercial MODS assay offers rapid, reliable TB liquid culture and phenotypic drug susceptibility testing (DST) at lower cost than any other diagnostic, uptake has been patchy. In part this reflects misperceptions about in-house assay quality assurance, but user convenience of one-stop procurement is also important. A commercial MODS kit was developed by Hardy Diagnostics (Santa Maria, CA, USA) with PATH (Seattle, WA, USA) to facilitate procurement, simplify procedures through readymade media, and enhance safety with a sealing silicone plate lid. Here we report the results from a large-scale field evaluation of the MODS kit in a government service laboratory. METHODS & FINDINGS: 2446 sputum samples were cultured in parallel in Lowenstein-Jensen (LJ), conventional MODS and in the MODS kit. MODS kit DST was compared with conventional MODS (direct) DST and proportion method (indirect) DST. 778 samples (31.8%) were Mycobacterium tuberculosis culture-positive. Compared to conventional MODS the sensitivity, specificity, positive, and negative predictive values (95% confidence intervals) of the MODS Kit were 99.3% (98.3-99.8%), 98.3% (97.5-98.8%), 95.8% (94.0-97.1%), and 99.7% (99.3-99.9%). Median (interquartile ranges) time to culture-positivity (and rifampicin and isoniazid DST) was 10 (9-13) days for conventional MODS and 8.5 (7-11) for MODS Kit (p<0.01). Direct rifampicin and isoniazid DST in MODS kit was almost universally concordant with conventional MODS (97.9% agreement, 665/679 evaluable samples) and reference indirect DST (97.9% agreement, 687/702 evaluable samples). CONCLUSIONS: MODS kit delivers performance indistinguishable from conventional MODS and offers a convenient, affordable alternative with enhanced safety from the sealing silicone lid. The availability in the marketplace of this platform, which conforms to European standards (CE-marked), readily repurposed for second-line DST in the near future, provides a fresh opportunity for improving equity of access to TB diagnosis and first and second-line DST in settings where the need is greatest
First in-beam studies of a Resistive-Plate WELL gaseous multiplier
We present the results of the first in-beam studies of a medium size
(1010 cm) Resistive-Plate WELL (RPWELL): a single-sided THGEM
coupled to a pad anode through a resistive layer of high bulk resistivity
(10cm). The 6.2~mm thick (excluding readout electronics)
single-stage detector was studied with 150~GeV muons and pions. Signals were
recorded from 11 cm square copper pads with APV25-SRS readout
electronics. The single-element detector was operated in Ne\(5%
) at a gas gain of a few times 10, reaching 99
detection efficiency at average pad multiplicity of 1.2. Operation at
particle fluxes up to 10 Hz/cm resulted in 23 gain drop
leading to 5 efficiency loss. The striking feature was the
discharge-free operation, also in intense pion beams. These results pave the
way towards robust, efficient large-scale detectors for applications requiring
economic solutions at moderate spatial and energy resolutions.Comment: Accepted by JINS
How can Health Technology Assessment support our response to public health emergencies?
Public health emergencies (PHEs), such as the COVID-19 crisis, are threats to global health and public order. We recommend that countries bolster their PHE responses by investing in health technology assessment (HTA), defined as a systematic process of gathering pertinent information on and evaluating health technologies from a medical, economic, social and ethical standpoint. We present examples of how HTA organizations in low- and middle-income countries have adapted to supporting PHE-related decisions during COVID-19 and describe the ways HTA can help the response to a PHE. In turn, we advocate for HTA capacity to be further developed globally and for increased institutional acceptance of these methods as a building block for preparedness and response to future PHEs. Finally, the long-term potential of HTA in strengthening health systems and embedding confidence and transparency into scientific policy should be recognized
Trombose tripla, simultânea, muito tardia de stents coronários
Abstract
Coronary artery stent thrombosis is an uncommon but potentially catastrophic complication. The risk of very late stent thrombosis (VLST) raises important safety issues regarding the first generation of drug-eluting stents (DES). Although several complex mechanisms for VLST have been suggested and various predictors have been described, its pathophysiology is not completely understood and it is not known whether longer-term dual antiplatelet therapy reduces the risk. We present a rare case of simultaneous very late DES thrombosis in the three vascular territories, following discontinuation of antiplatelet therapy seven years after stent placement, presenting as cardiogenic shock
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