2,779 research outputs found
The k 0-INRIM software: a tool to compile uncertainty budgets in neutron activation analysis based on k 0-standardisation
A software package was developed to evaluate the uncertainty of results provided by neutron activation laboratories adopting the k0-standardisation method in trace elements analysis.
The outputs are stand-alone and editable spreadsheet budgets based on a measurement equation including more than 40 input quantities and written to consider the effect of correlations. The program, called k0-INRIM, is presented to potential users and freely
distributed alongside the user’s manual.
The measurement equation is reported and the main features are described together with the results obtained in a validation test. An uncertainty budget compiled using the software output is given as an example
Radiation Hardness tests with neutron flux on different Silicon photomultiplier devices
Radiation hardness is an important requirement for solid state readout
devices operating in high radiation environments common in particle physics
experiments. The MEGII experiment, at PSI, Switzerland, investigates the
forbidden decay . Exploiting the most intense
muon beam of the world. A significant flux of non-thermal neutrons (kinetic
energy ) is present in the experimental hall produced along
the beamline and in the hall itself. We present the effects of neutron fluxes
comparable to the MEGII expected doses on several Silicon PhotoMulitpliers
(SiPMs). The tested models are: AdvanSiD ASD-NUV3S-P50 (used in MEGII
experiment), AdvanSiD ASD-NUV3S-P40, AdvanSiD ASD-RGB3S-P40, Hamamatsu and
Excelitas C30742-33-050-X. The neutron source is the thermal Sub-critical
Multiplication complex (SM1) moderated with water, located at the University of
Pavia (Italy). We report the change of SiPMs most important electric
parameters: dark current, dark pulse frequency, gain, direct bias resistance,
as a function of the integrated neutron fluency.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures. Proceedings from Instrumentation for colliding
Beam Physics (INSTR-17) 27-02-2017/03-03-2017 Novosibirsk (R
CCD Washington photometry of four poorly studied open clusters in the two inner quadrants of the galactic plane
Complementing our Washington photometric studies on Galactic open clusters
(OCs), we now focus on four poorly studied OCs located in the first and fourth
Galactic quadrants, namely BH 84, NGC 5381, BH 211 and Czernik 37. We have
obtained CCD photometry in the Washington system and passbands down
to 18.5 magnitudes for these four clusters. Their positions and
sizes were determined using the stellar density radial profiles. We derived
reddening, distance, age and metallicity of the clusters from extracted
color-magnitude diagrams (CMDs), using theoretical isochrones
computed for the Washington system. There are no previous photometric data in
the optical band for BH 84, NGC 5381 and BH 211. The CMDs of the observed
clusters show relatively well defined main sequences, except for Czernik 37,
wherein significant differential reddening seems to be present. The red giant
clump is clearly seen only in BH 211. For this cluster, we estimated the age in
(1000) Myr, assuming a metallicity of = 0.019. BH 84 was
found to be much older than it was previously believed, while NGC 5381 happened
to be much younger than previously reported. The heliocentric distances to
these clusters are found to range between 1.4 and 3.4 kpc. BH 84 appears to be
located at the solar galactocentric distance, while NGC 5381, BH 211 and
Czernik 37 are situated inside the solar ring.Comment: 30 pages, 9 figures, 10 table
Interleukin-1beta tear concentration in glaucomatous and ocular hypertensive patients treated with preservative-free nonselective beta-blockers
PURPOSE: To evaluate the ocular surface inflammatory response to the presence of preservatives in nonselective
beta-blocker eyedrops.
DESIGN: Prospective, crossover, single-masked, randomized
clinical study. METHODS: STUDY POPULATION: Twenty primary open angle glaucoma or ocular hypertensive patients were divided in two groups, one treated with preservative-free timolol 0.5% (group 1) and the other with preserved timolol 0.5% (group 2) eyedrops. After 60 days of therapy and 3 more weeks of washout, the two groups switched to the other therapy. PROCEDURE: At each visit,basal tear samples were collected from the inferior conjunctival fornix for the determination of interleukin (IL)-1 tear concentrations by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Intraocular pressure measurement, conjunctival
hyperemia, superficial punctate keratitis, and tear film breakup time were evaluated. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: IL-1 concentration in tears following the use of preserved eyedrops.
RESULTS: IL-1 tear concentrations increased significantly in both groups, compared with baseline values,during preserved timolol therapy. There were no statistically significant changes in hyperemia and superficial punctate keratitis throughout the study in either group.A statistically significant breakup time reduction was observed in both groups after 30 days and after 60 days of preserved therapy.
CONCLUSION: The use of preservatives in timolol 0.5% eyedrops leads to tear film instability and ocular surface inflammatory changes documented by a reduction of breakup time and an increase of IL-1 tear concentrations.Preservative-free beta-blockers are preferable for long-term hypotensive therapy to prevent ocular surface inflammation
Dark interlayer plasmons in colloidal gold nanoparticle bi- and few-layers
We demonstrate the excitation of dark plasmon modes with linearly polarized light at normal incidence in self-assembled layers of gold nanoparticles. Because of field retardation, the incident light field induces plasmonic dipoles that are parallel within each layer but antiparallel between the layers, resulting in a vanishing net dipole moment. Using microabsorbance spectroscopy we measured a pronounced absorbance peak and reflectance dip at 1.5 eV for bi- and trilayers of gold nanoparticles with a diameter of 46 nm and 2 nm interparticle gap size. The excitations were identified as dark interlayer plasmons by finite-difference time-domain simulations. The dark plasmon modes are predicted to evolve into standing waves when further increasing the layer number, which leads to 90% transmittance of the incident light through the nanoparticle film. Our approach is easy to implement and paves the way for large-area coatings with tunable plasmon resonance
Interleukin-1beta tear concentration in glaucomatous and ocular hypertensive patients treated with preservative-free nonselective beta-blockers
PURPOSE: To evaluate the ocular surface inflammatory response to the presence of preservatives in nonselective
beta-blocker eyedrops.
DESIGN: Prospective, crossover, single-masked, randomized
clinical study. METHODS: STUDY POPULATION: Twenty primary open angle glaucoma or ocular hypertensive patients were divided in two groups, one treated with preservative-free timolol 0.5% (group 1) and the other with preserved timolol 0.5% (group 2) eyedrops. After 60 days of therapy and 3 more weeks of washout, the two groups switched to the other therapy. PROCEDURE: At each visit,basal tear samples were collected from the inferior conjunctival fornix for the determination of interleukin (IL)-1 tear concentrations by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Intraocular pressure measurement, conjunctival
hyperemia, superficial punctate keratitis, and tear film breakup time were evaluated. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: IL-1 concentration in tears following the use of preserved eyedrops.
RESULTS: IL-1 tear concentrations increased significantly in both groups, compared with baseline values,during preserved timolol therapy. There were no statistically significant changes in hyperemia and superficial punctate keratitis throughout the study in either group.A statistically significant breakup time reduction was observed in both groups after 30 days and after 60 days of preserved therapy.
CONCLUSION: The use of preservatives in timolol 0.5% eyedrops leads to tear film instability and ocular surface inflammatory changes documented by a reduction of breakup time and an increase of IL-1 tear concentrations.Preservative-free beta-blockers are preferable for long-term hypotensive therapy to prevent ocular surface inflammation
Parallel hardware architectures for the cryptographic Tate pairing
Identity-based cryptography uses pairing functions, which
are sophisticated bilinear maps defined on elliptic
curves. Computing pairings efficiently in software is
presently a relevant research topic. Since such functions
are very complex and slow in software, dedicated hard-
ware (HW) implementations are worthy of being stud-
ied, but presently only very preliminary research is avail-
able. This work affords the problem of designing paral-
lel dedicated HW architectures, i.e.,co-processors, for the
Tate pairing, in the case of the Duursma-Lee algorithm
in characteristic 3. Formal scheduling methodologies are
applied to carry out an extensive exploration of the archi-
tectural solution space, evaluating the obtained structures
by means of different figures of merit such as computation
time, circuit area and combinations thereof.Comparisons
with the (few) existing proposals are carried out, show-
ing that a large space exists for the efficient parallelHW
computation of pairings
Instrumental neutron activation analysis of an enriched 28Si single-crystal
The determination of the Avogadro constant plays a key role in the
redefinition of the kilogram in terms of a fundamental constant. The present
experiment makes use of a silicon single-crystal highly enriched in 28Si that
must have a total impurity mass fraction smaller than a few parts in 109. To
verify this requirement, we previously developed a relative analytical method
based on neutron activation for the elemental characterization of a sample of
the precursor natural silicon crystal WASO 04. The method is now extended to
fifty-nine elements and applied to a monoisotopic 28Si single-crystal that was
grown to test the achievable enrichment. Since this crystal was likely
contaminated, this measurement tested also the detection capabilities of the
analysis. The results quantified contaminations by Ge, Ga, As, Tm, Lu, Ta, W
and Ir and, for a number of the detectable elements, demonstrated that we can
already reach the targeted 1 ng/g detection limit.Comment: 9 pages, 1 figure, 1 tabl
Dexamethasone downregulates autophagy through accelerated turn-over of the ulk-1 complex in a trabecular meshwork cells strain: Insights on steroid-induced glaucoma pathogenesis
Steroid-induced glaucoma is a severe pathological condition, sustained by a rapidly progressive increase in intraocular pressure (IOP), which is diagnosed in a subset of subjects who adhere to a glucocorticoid (GC)-based therapy. Molecular and clinical studies suggest that either natural or synthetic GCs induce a severe metabolic dysregulation of Trabecular Meshwork Cells (TMCs), an endothelial-derived histotype with phagocytic and secretive functions which lay at the iridocorneal angle in the anterior segment of the eye. Since TMCs physiologically regulate the composition and architecture of trabecular meshwork (TM), which is the main outflow pathway of aqueous humor, a fluid which shapes the eye globe and nourishes the lining cell types, GCs are supposed to trigger a pathological remodeling of the TM, inducing an IOP increase and retina mechanical compression. The metabolic dysregulation of TMCs induced by GCs exposure has never been characterized at the molecular detail. Herein, we report that, upon dexamethasone exposure, a TMCs strain develops a marked inhibition of the autophagosome biogenesis pathway through an enhanced turnover of two members of the Ulk-1 complex, the main platform for autophagy induction, through the Ubiquitin Proteasome System (UPS)
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