Scintillating double beta decay bolometers

We present the results obtained in the development of scintillating Double Beta Decay bolometers. Several Mo and Cd based crystals were tested with the bolometric technique. The scintillation light was measured through a second independent bolometer. A 140 g CdWO_4 crystal was run in a 417 h live time measurement. Thanks to the scintillation light, the alpha background is easily discriminated resulting in zero counts above the 2615 keV gamma line of Thallium 208. These results, combined with an extremely easy light detector operation, represent the first tangible proof demonstrating the feasibility of this kind of technique.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figure

MALVA: Genotyping by Mapping-free ALlele Detection of Known VAriants

The amount of genetic variation discovered in human populations is growing rapidly leading to challenging computational tasks, such as variant calling. Standard methods for addressing this problem include read mapping, a computationally expensive procedure; thus, mapping-free tools have been proposed in recent years. These tools focus on isolated, biallelic SNPs, providing limited support for multi-allelic SNPs and short insertions and deletions of nucleotides (indels). Here we introduce MALVA, a mapping-free method to genotype an individual from a sample of reads. MALVA is the first mapping-free tool able to genotype multi-allelic SNPs and indels, even in high-density genomic regions, and to effectively handle a huge number of variants. MALVA requires one order of magnitude less time to genotype a donor than alignment-based pipelines, providing similar accuracy. Remarkably, on indels, MALVA provides even better results than the most widely adopted variant discovery tools. Biological Sciences; Genetics; Genomics; Bioinformatic

Regulated deficit irrigation and crop load interaction effects on grape heterogeneity

Aim: To investigate the interaction effects between irrigation and crop load and the resulting impact on grape heterogeneity within a Geographical Indication in South Australia. Methods and Results: Cabernet Sauvignon grapes were sampled at the time of harvest from the Coonawarra Geographical Indication where full and sustained deficit irrigation and crop load manipulations were implemented as a 2 × 2 factorial block design. Grape heterogeneity was quantified for each treatment at three levels (bunch, vine and block) using berry density categories that were related to grape maturity. Furthermore, each density category was characterised in terms of total soluble solids, berry fresh weight, tannin content and tartaric and malic acid concentrations. Irrigation and crop load interaction effects on grape heterogeneity were observed for intra- cluster, vine, and between blocks. Conclusion: This research reveals the extent of heterogeneity existing in the vineyard at the time of harvest, and presents management techniques that may mitigate grape ripeness variation in the vineyard. Significance and Impact of the Study: Grape heterogeneity is an important consideration for the production of high quality red wine, as high proportions of under ripe and/or overripe fruit present at the time of harvest have been shown to negatively impact colour, mouthfeel, and varietal aroma of the wine. Furthermore, the presence of overripe/shrivelled grapes with excessive sugar concentrations can lead to increased ethanol in the wine. Previous research has acknowledged the impact that the three focal aspects of terroir – climate, soil and cultivar – have on grape composition, with the overarching effects of climate being highlighted. Vine water status and vine balance can conceivably mediate some of the influences of climate on grape composition, but there has been limited literature delving into the effects on grape heterogeneity. By investigating vineyard management techniques with a view to minimising grape heterogeneity, this research gives insight into the optimisation of grape production, especially in hotter climates that are more susceptible to producing overripe fruit.Claire Armstrong, Pietro Previtali, Vinay Pagay, Paul Boss, David Jeffer

LIFECYCLE MANAGEMENT, MONITORING AND ASSESSMENT FOR SAFE LARGE-SCALE INFRASTRUCTURES: CHALLENGES AND NEEDS

Many European infrastructures dating back to ’50 and ’60 of the last century like bridges and viaducts are approaching the end of their design lifetime. In most European countries costs related to maintenance of infrastructures reach a quite high percentage of the construction budget and additional costs in terms of traffic delay are due to downtime related to the inspection and maintenance interventions. In the last 30 years, the rate of deterioration of these infrastructures has increased due to increased traffic loads, climate change related events and man-made hazards. A sustainable approach to infrastructures management over their lifecycle plays a key role in reducing the impact of mobility on safety (over 50 000 fatalities in EU per year) and the impact of greenhouse gases emission related to fossil fuels. The events related to the recent collapse of the Morandi bridge in Italy tragically highlighted the sheer need to improve resilience of aging transport infrastructures, in order to increase the safety for people and goods and to reduce losses of functionality and the related consequences. In this focus Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) is one of the key strategies with a great potential to provide a new approach to performance assessment and maintenance over the life cycle for an efficient, safe, resilient and sustainable management of the infrastructures. In this paper research efforts, needs and challenges in terms of performance monitoring, assessment and standardization are described and discussed.The networking support of COST Action TU1402 on ‘Quantifying the Value of Structural Health Monitoring’ and of COST Action TU1406 on ‘Quality specifications for roadway bridges, standardization at a European level (BridgeSpec)

Application of martensitic SMA alloys as passive dampers of GFRP laminated composites

This paper describes the application of SMA (Shape Memory Alloy) materials to enhance the passive damping of GFRP (Glass Fiber Reinforced Plastic) laminated composite. The SMA has been embedded as reinforcement in the GFRP laminated composite and a SMA/GFRP hybrid composite has been obtained. Two SMA alloys have been studied as reinforcement and characterized by thermo-mechanical tests. The architecture of the hybrid composite has been numerically optimized in order to enhance the structural damping of the host GFRP laminated, without significant changes of the specific weight and of the flexural stiffness. The design and the resultant high damping material are interesting and will be useful in general for applications related to passive damping. The application to a new designed lateral horn of railway collector of the Italian high speed trains is discussed

Design for the Damping of a Railway Collector Based on the Application of Shape Memory Alloys

A new design of a Cu based SMA/GFRP lateral horn of a railway collector is proposed. Synergistic contribution of the performance parameters associated with the SMA, including specific damping, specific stiffness, and volume fraction, as well as those associated with the host composite such as flexural rigidity, SMA through-the-thickness location, and SMA-host interfacial strength, is taken into account. The aim is to increase the structural damping of the first flexural mode of the horn without significantly changing its flexural stiffness and weight. The focus of this work also applies to manufacturability and the cost effectiveness of the component for future industrial production

Metal and Metal Oxide Transformation and Texturing Using Pulsed Fiber Laser

Thin films of amorphous vanadium metal were deposited on a glass substrate using the electron beam evaporator, these thin films were then exposed to a focused 1064 nm wavelength nanosecond laser pulses. The laser fluence was selected such that it was below the ablation threshold of the films, x-ray diffraction measurement revealed the formation of an oxide phase of vanadium after the laser exposure. The time of flight-secondary ion mass spectrometry data analysis showed a uniform elemental distribution of the elements on the films, whereas the Rutherford backscattering spectrometry results showed that the concentration of oxygen as a function of the laser fluence was increasing, hinting to the incorporation of the oxygen atoms in the films as the laser fluence increases. UV-Vis-NIR percentage reflectance measurements showed small evolution in the visible part of the spectrum due to laser exposure

Application of martensitic SMA alloys as passive dampers of GFRP laminated composites

This paper describes the application of SMA (Shape Memory Alloy) materials to enhance thepassive damping of GFRP (Glass Fiber Reinforced Plastic) laminated composite. The SMA has been embeddedas reinforcement in the GFRP laminated composite and a SMA/GFRP hybrid composite has been obtained.Two SMA alloys have been studied as reinforcement and characterized by thermo-mechanical tests. Thearchitecture of the hybrid composite has been numerically optimized in order to enhance the structural dampingof the host GFRP laminated, without significant changes of the specific weight and of the flexural stiffness. Thedesign and the resultant high damping material are interesting and will be useful in general for applicationsrelated to passive damping. The application to a new designed lateral horn of railway collector of the Italianhigh speed trains is discussed