Artificial Intelligence for the Electron Ion Collider (AI4EIC)

The Electron-Ion Collider (EIC), a state-of-the-art facility for studying the strong force, is expected to begin commissioning its first experiments in 2028. This is an opportune time for artificial intelligence (AI) to be included from the start at this facility and in all phases that lead up to the experiments. The second annual workshop organized by the AI4EIC working group, which recently took place, centered on exploring all current and prospective application areas of AI for the EIC. This workshop is not only beneficial for the EIC, but also provides valuable insights for the newly established ePIC collaboration at EIC. This paper summarizes the different activities and R&D projects covered across the sessions of the workshop and provides an overview of the goals, approaches and strategies regarding AI/ML in the EIC community, as well as cutting-edge techniques currently studied in other experiments.Comment: 27 pages, 11 figures, AI4EIC workshop, tutorials and hackatho

Artificial Intelligence for the Electron Ion Collider (AI4EIC)

The Electron-Ion Collider (EIC), a state-of-the-art facility for studying the strong force, is expected to begin commissioning its first experiments in 2028. This is an opportune time for artificial intelligence (AI) to be included from the start at this facility and in all phases that lead up to the experiments. The second annual workshop organized by the AI4EIC working group, which recently took place, centered on exploring all current and prospective application areas of AI for the EIC. This workshop is not only beneficial for the EIC, but also provides valuable insights for the newly established ePIC collaboration at EIC. This paper summarizes the different activities and R and D projects covered across the sessions of the workshop and provides an overview of the goals, approaches and strategies regarding AI/ML in the EIC community, as well as cutting-edge techniques currently studied in other experiments

Artificial Intelligence for the Electron Ion Collider (AI4EIC)

The Electron-Ion Collider (EIC), a state-of-the-art facility for studying the strong force, is expected to begin commissioning its first experiments in 2028. This is an opportune time for artificial intelligence (AI) to be included from the start at this facility and in all phases that lead up to the experiments. The second annual workshop organized by the AI4EIC working group, which recently took place, centered on exploring all current and prospective application areas of AI for the EIC. This workshop is not only beneficial for the EIC, but also provides valuable insights for the newly established ePIC collaboration at EIC. This paper summarizes the different activities and R and D projects covered across the sessions of the workshop and provides an overview of the goals, approaches and strategies regarding AI/ML in the EIC community, as well as cutting-edge techniques currently studied in other experiments

Predicting concentrations of fine particles in enclosed vessels using a camera based system and CFD simulations

One of the main challenges in industries handling biomass is the consequence of the particle breakage of pelletised biomass in smaller fractions which can lead to fine particles smaller 500 microns that can form dust clouds in the handling and storing equipment. These dust clouds present potential health and safety hazards as well as dust explosion hazards to plant operators because the airborne dust can occur in high concentrations close to the dust explosion limits of the biomass material, during the filling process of storage silos. Preventing dust explosions and the damage of plant infrastructures requires a profound understanding of the particle/ air dynamics in the dust cloud circulating in the storage silo. The limited access to the storage facilities as well as the silo size requires a detailed study of the particle/ air dynamics at different scales. Lab scale experiments were conducted as a first step to establishing a new optical method for measuring particle concentrations. A small scale experimental rig was fed centrally with different sized wood pellets and a single camera and a laser was utilised to capture the dust concentration in different areas of the silo. According to the experimental results, a higher mass concentration of dust was observed near the silo wall as well as near the main particle jet. However, the mass concentrations were below the explosive limits at the area in between main particle jet and silo wall. These experimental results were then feeding into a 2D CFD simulation representing the particle dynamics in the laser sheet (2D plane). Qualitative findings show a good agreement of the particle/air dynamics between experiments and simulation

Comparison of Technical Efficiency and Socio-economic Status in Animal-crop Mixed Farming Systems in Dry Lowland Sri Lanka

Pre-tested, structured questionnaires covered management aspects, inputs, outputs, socio-economic situations and constraints in dairy farming among Semi-intensive (SIFS) and Extensive farming systems (EFS) in dry-lowland Sri Lanka. Parametric data were analyzed using two-tailed‘t’ and ‘Z’ tests, and non-parametric values were analyzed using Chi-square and Fisher’s extract tests. Cobb-Douglas model was used to calculate meta-frontier and system-specific frontiers. Returns in SIFS are lower than EFS. Labor costs are 91.72% and 87.26% in EFS and SIFS respectively. Counting family labor, SIFS has no comparative surplus. Excluding this, dairying is profitable even in SIFS. Dairying provides EFS family insurance where selling animals increases income. Discouragement of this in SIFS impacts negatively on sustainable income. Integration is comparatively minimal in EFS. Established with the best practices and technologies available, SIFS requires external resources to enhance efficiencies. If all EFS farmers achieved best farmer TE, output could increase by 45.09%. Similarly, SIFS output could increase by 57.08%. Farmer education and training programs contribute to improved production efficiency. Grassland scarcity and low productivity affect output adversely; poor veterinary and extension services are major constraints. Farmers consider dairying as profitable, which secures its future. Contrastingly, 35.19% of farmers believe it is low status, preferring professional jobs despite lower comparative incomes

Phthalocyanine- and porphyrin-based GUMBOS for rapid and sensitive detection of organic vapors

© 2014 Elsevier B.V. Metal complexes of porphyrins and phthalocyanines are attractive materials for designing recognition elements for chemical sensors, and hence they have been the focus of intense research. An interesting feature of these materials is that they can be functionalized at multiple positions to create sensors having slightly different selectivities. Considering the importance of these materials, herein, we report the synthesis and vapor-sensing characteristics of novel porphyrin- and phthalocyanine-based GUMBOS. More specifically, sodium counterions of copper (II) meso-tetra (4-carboxyphenyl) porphyrin (CuTCPP) and copper phthalocyanine-3,4,4″,4″-tetrasulfonic acid (CuPcS4) were replaced by trihexyl(tetradecyl)phosphonium cations to respectively produce the GUMBOS compounds, [P66614]4[CuTCPP] and [P66614]4[CuPcS4]. The resulting compounds were found to be solids with considerably lower melting points. These GUMBOS were then coated on the surface of a quartz crystal resonator, and the vapor sensing characteristics were evaluated by exposing the sensors to 11 different organic vapors. These materials exhibited excellent sensing characteristics; moreover, the two sensors exhibited cross-reactive response patterns, making these compounds very promising candidates for array-based vapor-sensing applications

Fluorescein-based ionic liquid sensor for label-free detection of serum albumins

Herein, we report a fluorescein-based room temperature ionic liquid (RTIL) as a fluorescent probe for highly selective and sensitive detection of albumins. This RTIL was prepared by pairing dianionic fluorescein (FL) with trihexyl(tetradecyl)phosphonium (P66614) cation. The ionic liquid was then dispersed in aqueous medium to produce nanodroplet dispersions. Examination of fluorescence and UV-vis spectroscopic data suggests that these dispersions are comprised of strongly fluorescent monomeric species and weakly fluorescent J-type aggregates. The relative abundance of these two types of species is observed to be dependent on the type and concentration of proteins. In the presence of bovine serum albumin (BSA) or human serum albumin (HSA), monomeric species are found to be predominant, and hence an increase in fluorescence intensity was observed with increasing concentrations of BSA or HSA. Excellent correlation between fluorescence intensity and HSA concentration was observed, and concentrations as low as 300 ng per mL of HSA were detectable. Overall, these [P66614]2[FL] nanodroplets appear to be very promising materials for facile, inexpensive, rapid, and label-free detection of albumins in aqueous medium with a high degree of accuracy, sensitivity, and selectivity. This journal is © the Partner Organisations 2014

Heart and liver are infected in fatal cases of dengue: three PCR based case studies

Abstract Background Dengue is a global problem mainly in the tropics. Meticulous clinical management of cases has reduced the death rate significantly, but large numbers of people still succumb to severe complications of the infection. Presence of myocarditis is often overlooked leading to a poor outcome. Clinical management guidelines of dengue do not stress the importance of myocarditis as a manifestation in dengue infection. Severe hepatic dysfunction also needs emphasis. Case presentation We present three patients who had come to hospital on the 3rd day of fever. Two of them (case 1 and 3) were in shock on admission and case 2, who was stable on the3rd day, went into the critical phase and developed shock while in the hospital on the 4thday. All three had tachycardia on admission that got worse with time. The clinical course was unstable with fluctuations in urine output and deterioration of organ function. Despite frequent monitoring and life support they survived only 2–3 days in hospital. All three patients had myocarditis during the critical phase. In the first case, myocarditis was confirmed by troponin estimation and echocardiogram. In the second and third cases, histopathology confirmed myocarditis. Haemorrhagic necrosis of the liver was found in case 2 and 3 with exponential rise of transaminases. In all three cases, viral RNA was detected in both heart and liver tissues by PCR amplification. Conclusions We stress that detection of myocarditis and liver involvement in any dengue patient is important from the onset of the illness where treatment should be tailored to prevent development of hypotension. Our findings are novel as PCR and histology are rarely done on tissues of deceased dengue patients in the world. Studies are needed to find therapeutic interventions to reverse cardiac and hepatic dysfunction in dengue infection