An overview of plastic optical fiber end finishers at Fermilab

Several years ago the need for equipment to precisely finish the ends of plastic optical fibers was recognized. Many high energy physics experiments use thousands of these fibers which must be polished on one or both ends. A fast, easy-to-operate machine yielding repeatable finishes was needed. Three types of machines were designed and constructed that are in daily use at Fermilab, all finish the fiber ends by flycutting with a diamond tool. Althrough diamond flycutting of plastic is not new, the size and fragility of plastic optical fibers present several challenges

O Psíquico e o Corporal da Sexualidade nas Origens da Psicanálise freudiana

The article aims to explore, from a conceptual and theoretical perspective, the corporeal presence of sexuality in the comprehension of psychoanalysis, not exhausting it in the psyche. It is argued that the primitive experiences of sexuality (infantile sexuality) not only determine forms of fantasy and symptoms, but also act as bodily experiences of stimulation and arousal, organ satisfaction and pleasure and pain. In order to do so, one goes through the various modes of the presence of sexuality in neuroses and perversions, as understood from Freud's early texts, showing their roots in the body and their original features as permanently bodily. It is concluded with irreducibility between psyche, sexuality and body.O artigo tem por objetivo explorar, em uma perspectiva teórica conceitual, a presença corporal da sexualidade na compreensão da psicanálise, não se esgotando ela no psiquismo. Argumenta-se que as vivências primitivas da sexualidade (a sexualidade infantil) não somente determinam formas da fantasia e dos sintomas, mas vigem como vivências corporais de estímulo e excitação, satisfação, prazer de órgão e dor. Para isso, percorre-se os diversos modos da presença da sexualidade nas neuroses e nas perversões, tais como compreendidas a partir dos primeiros textos de Freud, mostrando suas raízes no corpo e seus traços originários como permanentemente corporais. Conclui-se com a irredutibilidade entre psiquismo, sexualidade e corpo

Alcohol homograph priming in alcohol-dependent inpatients

Item does not contain fulltextAim: Alcohol dependency is characterized by alcohol-related interpretation biases (IBs): Individuals with high levels of alcohol consumption generate more alcohol-related than alcohol-unrelated interpretations in response to ambiguous alcohol-related cues. However, a response bias could be an alternative account, meaning that individuals with high levels of alcohol consumption generate more alcohol-related IBs because of a greater baseline tendency to endorse alcohol-related responses. Methods: To test this alternative explanation, the present study employed a homograph-priming task, reliability of which was also examined. The sample included 577 clinically diagnosed alcohol-dependent inpatients and 61 control inpatients. Participants completed a homograph priming task (primes: homographs with and without an alcohol-related meaning, target words: alcohol and soft drinks) before commencing their behavioral cognitive treatment at a rehabilitation clinic. Results: Contrary to our expectations, we did not find an enhanced priming effect in alcohol-dependent inpatients. Moreover, there was no correlation between the priming score and levels of harmful drinking (AUDIT scores). Conclusions: The data provide limited support for the existence of alcohol-related IBs, possibly because of the low reliability of the priming task, the features of the task, and the study’s design.8 p

Macroscopic nucleation phenomena in continuum media with long-range interactions

Nucleation, commonly associated with discontinuous transformations between metastable and stable phases, is crucial in fields as diverse as atmospheric science and nanoscale electronics. Traditionally, it is considered a microscopic process (at most nano-meter), implying the formation of a microscopic nucleus of the stable phase. Here we show for the first time, that considering long-range interactions mediated by elastic distortions, nucleation can be a macroscopic process, with the size of the critical nucleus proportional to the total system size. This provides a new concept of "macroscopic barrier-crossing nucleation". We demonstrate the effect in molecular dynamics simulations of a model spin-crossover system with two molecular states of different sizes, causing elastic distortions.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures. Supplementary information accompanies this paper at http://www.nature.com/scientificreport

Measurement of the CMS Magnetic Field

The measurement of the magnetic field in the tracking volume inside the superconducting coil of the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) detector under construction at CERN is done with a fieldmapper designed and produced at Fermilab. The fieldmapper uses 10 3-D B-sensors (Hall probes) developed at NIKHEF and calibrated at CERN to precision 0.05% for a nominal 4 T field. The precise fieldmapper measurements are done in 33840 points inside a cylinder of 1.724 m radius and 7 m long at central fields of 2, 3, 3.5, 3.8, and 4 T. Three components of the magnetic flux density at the CMS coil maximum excitation and the remanent fields on the steel-air interface after discharge of the coil are measured in check-points with 95 3-D B-sensors located near the magnetic flux return yoke elements. Voltages induced in 22 flux-loops made of 405-turn installed on selected segments of the yoke are sampled online during the entire fast discharge (190 s time-constant) of the CMS coil and integrated offline to provide a measurement of the initial magnetic flux density in steel at the maximum field to an accuracy of a few percent. The results of the measurements made at 4 T are reported and compared with a three-dimensional model of the CMS magnet system calculated with TOSCA.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, 15 reference

A Case Study of Pseudo-Neuropathic Pseudogout

Background This interesting case highlights the clinical progression of a rare disease process and the important role of a multi-disciplinary team in achieving a diagnosis and successful management plan. Case Presentation A 76-year-old male with a history of coronary artery disease, hypertension and hyperlipidemia presented as an outpatient with left foot pain and swelling. He had spent a week bicycling in Colorado one month prior to presentation. The pain was initially localized to the plantar surface of his foot and progressed to involve the lateral and dorsal aspects of the foot, as well as his great toe. The pain was accompanied by swelling of the midfoot without erythema and he was unable to bear weight. His podiatrist prescribed Ibuprofen and a foot brace for empiric treatment of tendonitis. An outpatient MRI demonstrated extensive bony edema and synovial enhancement within the midfoot, as well as severe superficial edema and peroneal tendonitis with mild subluxation. The patient was sent to the emergency department to be evaluated for osteomyelitis