2,176 research outputs found
The Time of Flight System of the AMS-02 Space Experiment
The Time-of-Flight (TOF) system of the AMS detector gives the fast trigger to
the read out electronics and measures velocity, direction and charge of the
crossing particles. The new version of the detector (called AMS-02) will be
installed on the International Space Station on March 2004. The fringing field
of the AMS-02 superconducting magnet is kG where the
photomultiplers (PM) are installed. In order to be able to operate with this
residual field, a new type of PM was chosen and the mechanical design was
constrained by requiring to minimize the angle between the magnetic field
vector and the PM axis. Due to strong field and to the curved light guides, the
time resolution will be ps, while the new electronics will allow
for a better charge measurement.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures. Proc. of 7th Int. Conf. on Adv. Tech. and Part.
Phys., 15-19 October 2001,Como (Italy
Clinical validation results of an innovative non-invasive device for colorectal cancer preventive screening through fecal exhalation analysis
Screening is recommended to reduce both incidence and mortality of colorectal cancer.
Currently, many countries employ fecal occult blood test (FOBT). In Emilia-Romagna (Italy), since
2005, FOBT immunochemical version (FIT) is performed every two years on people aged between 50
and 69 years. A colonoscopy is then carried out on those who are FIT positive. However, FIT shows
approximately 65% false positives (non-tumoral bleedings), leading to many negative colonoscopies.
The use of an economic and easy-to-use method to check FOBT-positives will improve screening
effectiveness, reducing costs to the national health service. This work illustrates the results of a
three-year clinical validation protocol (started in 2016) of a patented device composed of a core of
nanostructured gas sensors. This device was designed to identify CRC presence by fecal volatile
compounds, with a non-invasive, in vitro and low-cost analysis. Feces are, in fact, affected by
tumor-volatile biomarkers, produced by cellular peroxidation and metabolic alterations. The protocol
consisted in the analysis of fecal samples of FIT-positive subjects, using colonoscopy as a gold standard.
A total of 398 samples were analyzed with machine learning techniques, leading to a sensitivity and
specificity of 84.1% and 82.4%, respectively, and a positive predictive value of 72% (25–35% for FIT)
UNIMIB@NEEL-IT: Named Entity Recognition and Linking of Italian Tweets
Questo articolo descrive il sistema proposto dal gruppo UNIMIB per il task di Named Entity Recognition and Linking applicato a tweet in lingua italiana (NEEL-IT). Il sistema, che rappresenta un approccio iniziale al problema, \ue8 costituito da tre passaggi fondamentali: (1) Named Entity Recognition tramite l\u2019utilizzo di Conditional Random Fields, (2) Named Entity Linking considerando sia approcci supervisionati sia modelli di linguaggio basati su reti neurali, e (3) NIL clustering tramite un approccio basato su grafi.This paper describes the framework proposed by the UNIMIB Team for the task of Named Entity Recognition and Linking of Italian Tweets (NEEL-IT). The proposed pipeline, which represents an entry level system, is composed of three main steps: (1) Named Entity Recognition using Conditional Random Fields, (2) Named Entity Linking by considering both Supervised and Neural-Network Language models, and (3) NIL clustering byusing a graph-based approach
The AMS-02 Time of Flight System. Final Design
The AMS-02 detector is a superconducting magnetic spectrometer that will
operate on the International Space Station. The time of flight (TOF) system of
AMS-02 is composed by four scintillator planes with 8, 8, 10, 8 counters each,
read at both ends by a total of 144 phototubes. This paper describes the new
design, the expected performances, and shows preliminary results of the ion
beam test carried on at CERN on October 2002.Comment: 4 pages, 6 EPS figures. Proc. of the 28th ICRC (2003
In vitro evaluation of sugar digestibility in molasses
Beet and cane molasses mainly contain mono- di-, and tri-saccharides, composed by hexoses, as well as pentoses in traces. However, rationing software consider sugars as only one entity, with a rate of digestion similar to 20% h(-1). The aim of this initial study was to investigate and evaluate the in vitro digestion dynamics and rates of the sugar fraction in molasses. Three beet and three cane molasses were randomly selected from a variety of samples collected world-wide and digested via in vitro rumen fermentation, at 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, and 24 h. Samples were then analysed with a specific enzymatic kit to quantify residual sucrose, glucose, fructose, raffinose, galactose, and arabinose. Complete disappearance of sucrose happened within 3 hours of incubation. Glucose and fructose were completely digested within 4-6 h, showing variability among samples. Even if not so representative, galactose showed a similar trend of digestion (97% digestion within 3-4 h). Raffinose was quite slower in cane molasses, while it was completely digested within 1 h in beet molasses. Arabinose, a pentose, never reached a complete digestion, and its fermentation dynamic was different compared to other sugars. Calculated rates of digestion for sucrose, glucose and fructose, most representative sugars in molasses, were higher than 50% h(-1) in both cane and beet. Obtained results showed that sugar fraction in molasses may vary, and different sugars are rapidly fermented by rumen microbes. Modern rationing models should consider a modification of sugar rates of digestion, since the actual one appears too slow than those observed in vitro
In vitro evaluation of sugar digestibility in molasses
Beet and cane molasses mainly contain mono- di-, and tri-saccharides, composed by hexoses, as well as pentoses in traces. However, rationing software consider sugars as only one entity, with a rate of digestion ∼20% h−1. The aim of this initial study was to investigate and evaluate the in vitro digestion dynamics and rates of the sugar fraction in molasses. Three beet and three cane molasses were randomly selected from a variety of samples collected world-wide and digested via in vitro rumen fermentation, at 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, and 24 h. Samples were then analysed with a specific enzymatic kit to quantify residual sucrose, glucose, fructose, raffinose, galactose, and arabinose. Complete disappearance of sucrose happened within 3 hours of incubation. Glucose and fructose were completely digested within 4-6 h, showing variability among samples. Even if not so representative, galactose showed a similar trend of digestion (97% digestion within 3-4 h). Raffinose was quite slower in cane molasses, while it was completely digested within 1 h in beet molasses. Arabinose, a pentose, never reached a complete digestion, and its fermentation dynamic was different compared to other sugars. Calculated rates of digestion for sucrose, glucose and fructose, most representative sugars in molasses, were higher than 50% h−1 in both cane and beet. Obtained results showed that sugar fraction in molasses may vary, and different sugars are rapidly fermented by rumen microbes. Modern rationing models should consider a modification of sugar rates of digestion, since the actual one appears too slow than those observed in vitro.Highlights Molasses are unique blends of several sugars Major sugars are digested in few hours Rationing software should consider a faster rate of digestion for different sugars
Short communication: Characterization of molasses chemical composition
Beet and cane molasses are produced worldwide as a
by-product of sugar extraction and are widely used in
animal nutrition. Due to their composition, they are fed
to ruminants as an energy source. However, molasses
has not been properly characterized in the literature;
its description has been limited to the type (sugarcane
or beet) or to the amount of dry matter (DM), total or
water-soluble sugars, crude protein, and ash. Our objective was to better characterize the composition of cane
and beet molasses, examine possible differences, and obtain a proper definition of such feeds. For this purpose,
16 cane and 16 beet molasses samples were sourced
worldwide and analyzed for chemical composition. The
chemical analysis used in this trial characterized 97.4
and 98.3% of the compounds in the DM of cane and
beet molasses, respectively. Cane molasses contained
less DM compared with beet molasses (76.8 ± 1.02 vs.
78.3 ± 1.61%) as well as crude protein content (6.7 ±
1.8 vs. 13.5 ± 1.4% of DM), with a minimum value of
2.2% of DM in cane molasses and a maximum of 15.6%
of DM in beet molasses. The amount of sucrose differed
between beet and cane molasses (60.9 ± 4.4 vs. 48.8 ±
6.4% of DM), but variability was high even within cane
molasses (39.2–67.3% of DM) and beet molasses. Glucose and fructose were detected in cane molasses (5.3 ±
2.7 and 8.1 ± 2.8% of DM, respectively), showing high
variability. Organic acid composition differed as well.
Lactic acid was more concentrated in cane molasses
than in beet molasses (6.1 ± 2.8 vs. 4.5 ± 1.8% of DM),
varying from 1.6 to 12.8% of DM in cane molasses. Dietary cation-anion difference showed numerical differences among cane and beet molasses (7 ± 53 vs. 66 ±
45 mEq/100 g of DM, on average). It varied from −76
to +155 mEq/100 g of DM in the cane group and from
+0 to +162 mEq/100 g of DM in the beet group. Data
obtained in this study detailed differences in composition between sources of molasses and suggested that a
more complete characterization could improve the use
of molasses in ration formulation
A simulation tool for MRPC telescopes of the EEE project
The Extreme Energy Events (EEE) Project is mainly devoted to the study of the
secondary cosmic ray radiation by using muon tracker telescopes made of three
Multigap Resistive Plate Chambers (MRPC) each. The experiment consists of a
telescope network mainly distributed across Italy, hosted in different building
structures pertaining to high schools, universities and research centers.
Therefore, the possibility to take into account the effects of these structures
on collected data is important for the large physics programme of the project.
A simulation tool, based on GEANT4 and using GEMC framework, has been
implemented to take into account the muon interaction with EEE telescopes and
to estimate the effects on data of the structures surrounding the experimental
apparata.A dedicated event generator producing realistic muon distributions,
detailed geometry and microscopic behavior of MRPCs have been included to
produce experimental-like data. The comparison between simulated and
experimental data, and the estimation of detector resolutions is here presented
and discussed
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