5,123 research outputs found
Baseline LHC machine parameters and configuration of the 2015 proton run
This paper shows the baseline LHC machine parameters for the 2015 start-up.
Many systems have been upgraded during LS1 and in 2015 the LHC will operate at
a higher energy than before and with a tighter filling scheme. Therefore, the
2015 commissioning phase risks to be less smooth than in 2012. The proposed
starting configuration puts the focus on feasibility rather than peak
performance and includes margins for operational uncertainties. Instead, once
beam experience and a better machine knowledge has been obtained, a push in
and performance can be envisaged. In this paper, the focus is on
collimation settings and reach in ---other parameters are covered in
greater depth by other papers in these proceedings.Comment: submitted for publication in a CERN yellow report (Proceedings of the
LHC Performance Workshop - Chamonix 2014
The chemical structure of the very young starless core L1521E
L1521E is a dense starless core in Taurus that was found to have relatively
low molecular depletion by earlier studies, thus suggesting a recent formation.
We aim to characterize the chemical structure of L1521E and compare it to the
more evolved L1544 pre-stellar core. We have obtained 2.52.5
arcminute maps toward L1521E using the IRAM-30m telescope in transitions of
various species. We derived abundances for the species and compared them to
those obtained toward L1544. We estimated CO depletion factors. Similarly to
L1544, -CH and CHOH peak at different positions. Most species
peak toward the -CH peak. The CO depletion factor derived toward the
dust peak is 4.31.6, which is about a factor of three lower
than that toward L1544. The abundances of sulfur-bearing molecules are higher
toward L1521E than toward L1544 by factors of 2-20. The abundance of
methanol is similar toward the two cores. The higher abundances of
sulfur-bearing species toward L1521E than toward L1544 suggest that significant
sulfur depletion takes place during the dynamical evolution of dense cores,
from the starless to pre-stellar stage. The CO depletion factor measured toward
L1521E suggests that CO is more depleted than previously found. Similar
CHOH abundances between L1521E and L1544 hint that methanol is forming at
specific physical conditions in Taurus, characterized by densities of a few
10 cm and (H)10 cm, when CO
starts to catastrophically freeze-out, while water can still be significantly
photodissociated, so that the surfaces of dust grains become rich in solid CO
and CHOH, as already found toward L1544. Methanol can thus provide
selective crucial information about the transition region between dense cores
and the surrounding parent cloud.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A, abstract abridge
Comparazione di metodi termovisivi per l’identificazione di aree umide su materiali dell’edilizia storica
Water content inside building materials (plaster, brick, stone) is usefull to evaluate their decay level. Passive and active termography are compared, in order to define the most reliable procedure, firstly to map the moisture diffusion and secondary to evaluate the moisture content in the surfaces. Laboratory researches carried out in the last decades and scientific literature permitted to determine that the superficial decay in porous materials is more related to the evaporative speed of the surfaces and the presence of soluble salts than to their absorption capability. Moreover, evaporative fluxes were studied at different environmental conditions and water content in order to find out a correlation between moisture content, evaporation and boundary conditions. The thermal characteristics of timber are highly different from the characteristics of porous materials such as brick and stone and mortar, particularly the thermal capacity of wood is lower. Nevertheless, because of the lower heat capacity of wood, the presence of water greatly affects the wood thermal capacity: the active procedure, guarantees the best results. Lab tests and study case permit to evaluate the sensitivity of the method
Design of polarization-insensitive superconducting single photon detectors with high-index dielectrics
In this paper, the design of superconducting-nanowire single-photon detectors
which are insensitive to the polarization of the incident light is
investigated. By using high-refractive-index dielectrics, the index mismatch
between the nanowire and the surrounding media is reduced. This enhances the
absorption of light with electric field vector perpendicular to the nanowire
segments, which is generally hindered in this kind of detectors. Building on
this principle and focusing on NbTiN nanowire devices, we present several
easy-to-realize cavity architectures which allow high absorption efficiency (in
excess of 90%) and polarization insensitivity simultaneously. Designs based on
ultranarrow nanowires, for which the polarization sensitivity is much more
marked, are also presented. Finally, we briefly discuss the specific advantages
of this approach in the case of WSi or MoSi nanowires
Microfluidic system for a label-free, real-time functional assessment of thrombotic risk
High incidence of thrombotic diseases worldwide,
together with the variability of patients’ response to antiplatelet
drugs, makes the management of antithrombotic regimes of
paramount importance. Platelet function testing is the most
promising tool in addressing this clinical need. Here we present
the first prototype of a microfluidic system for rapid, label-free,
real-time functional assessment of the thrombotic risk of patients
undergoing antiplatelet treatment. Our platform allows to
monitor pressure drop variations on a collagen-coated
microchannel under a range of blood flow conditions, and to
relate these measurements to thrombus formation and ultimately
to platelet functionality. The preliminary testing campaign
presented in this work demonstrated the feasibility of our
approach and allowed us to determine the most suitable working
range of the current system
A large (~1 pc) contracting envelope around the prestellar core L1544
Prestellar cores, the birthplace of Sun-like stars, form from the
fragmentation of the filamentary structure that composes molecular clouds, from
which they must inherit at least partially the kinematics. Furthermore, when
they are on the verge of gravitational collapse, they show signs of subsonic
infall motions. How extended these motions are, which depends on how the
collapse occurs, remains largely unknown. We want to investigate the kinematics
of the envelope that surrounds the prototypical prestellar core L1544, studying
the cloud-core connection. To our aims, we observed the (1-0)
transition in a large map. \hcop is expected to be abundant in the envelope,
making it an ideal probe of the large-scale kinematics in the source. We
modelled the spectrum at the dust peak by means of a non
local-thermodynamical-equilibrium radiative transfer. In order to reproduce the
spectrum at the dust peak, a large () envelope is needed, with
low density (tens of at most) and contraction motions, with an
inward velocity of . We fitted the data cube
using the Hill5 model, which implements a simple model {for the optical depth
and excitation temperature profiles along the line-of-sight,} in order to
obtain a map of the infall velocity. This shows that the infall motions are
extended, with typical values in the range . Our
results suggest that the contraction motions extend in the diffuse envelope
surrounding the core, which is consistent with recent magnetic field
measurements in the source, which showed that the envelope is magnetically
supercritical.Comment: Accepted for publication on ApJ, 24 Oct. 202
Electrical conditioning of adipose-derived stem cells in a multi-chamber culture platform
In tissue engineering, several factors play key roles in providing adequate stimuli for cells differentiation, in particular biochemical and physical stimuli, which try to mimic the physiological microenvironments. Since electrical stimuli are important in the developing heart, we have developed an easy-to-use, cost-effective cell culture platform, able to provide controlled electrical stimulation aimed at investigating the influence of the electric field in the stem cell differentiation process. This bioreactor consists of an electrical stimulator and 12 independent, petri-like culture chambers and a 3-D computational model was used to characterize the distribution and the intensity of the electric field generated in the cell culture volume. We explored the effects of monophasic and biphasic square wave pulse stimulation on a mouse adipose-derived stem cell line (m17.ASC) comparing cell viability, proliferation, protein, and gene expression. Both monophasic (8V, 2ms, 1Hz) and biphasic (+4V, 1ms and -4V, 1ms; 1Hz) stimulation were compatible with cell survival and proliferation. Biphasic stimulation induced the expression of Connexin 43, which was found to localize also at the cell membrane, which is its recognized functional mediating intercellular electrical coupling. Electrically stimulated cells showed an induced transcriptional profile more closely related to that of neonatal cadiomyocytes, particularly for biphasic stimulation. The developed platform thus allowed to set-up precise conditions to drive adult stem cells toward a myocardial phenotype solely by physical stimuli, in the absence of exogenously added expensive bioactive molecules, and can thus represent a valuable tool for translational applications for heart tissue engineering and regeneration
Measurements of heavy ion beam losses from collimation
The collimation efficiency for Pb ion beams in the LHC is predicted to be
lower than requirements. Nuclear fragmentation and electromagnetic dissociation
in the primary collimators create fragments with a wide range of Z/A ratios,
which are not intercepted by the secondary collimators but lost where the
dispersion has grown sufficiently large. In this article we present
measurements and simulations of loss patterns generated by a prototype LHC
collimator in the CERN SPS. Measurements were performed at two different
energies and angles of the collimator. We also compare with proton loss maps
and find a qualitative difference between Pb ions and protons, with the maximum
loss rate observed at different places in the ring. This behavior was predicted
by simulations and provides a valuable benchmark of our understanding of ion
beam losses caused by collimation.Comment: 12 pages, 20 figure
Unexpected frequency of genomic alterations in histologically normal colonic tissue from colon cancer patients
As shown by genomic studies, colorectal cancer (CRC) is a highly heterogeneous disease, where copy number alterations (CNAs) may greatly vary among different patients. To explore whether CNAs may be present also in histologically normal tissues from patients affected by CRC, we performed CGH + SNP Microarray on 15 paired tumoral and normal samples. Here, we report for the first time the occurrence of CNAs as a common feature of the histologically normal tissue from CRC patients, particularly CNAs affecting different oncogenes and tumor-suppressor genes, including some not previously reported in CRC and others known as being involved in tumor progression. Moreover, from the comparison of normal vs paired tumoral tissue, we were able to identify three groups: samples with an increased number of CNAs in tumoral vs normal tissue, samples with a similar number of CNAs in both tissues, and samples with a decrease of CNAs in tumoral vs normal tissue, which may be likely due to a selection of the cell population within the tumor. In conclusion, our approach allowed us to uncover for the first time an unexpected frequency of genetic alteration in normal tissue, suggesting that tumorigenic genetic lesions are already present in histologically normal colonic tissue and that the use in array comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) studies of normal samples as reference for the paired tumors can lead to misrepresented genomic data, which may be incomplete or limited, especially if used for the research of target molecules for personalized therapy and for the possible correlation with clinical outcome
Testing Beam-Induced Quench Levels of LHC Superconducting Magnets
In the years 2009-2013 the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) has been operated with
the top beam energies of 3.5 TeV and 4 TeV per proton (from 2012) instead of
the nominal 7 TeV. The currents in the superconducting magnets were reduced
accordingly. To date only seventeen beam-induced quenches have occurred; eight
of them during specially designed quench tests, the others during injection.
There has not been a single beam- induced quench during normal collider
operation with stored beam. The conditions, however, are expected to become
much more challenging after the long LHC shutdown. The magnets will be
operating at near nominal currents, and in the presence of high energy and high
intensity beams with a stored energy of up to 362 MJ per beam. In this paper we
summarize our efforts to understand the quench levels of LHC superconducting
magnets. We describe beam-loss events and dedicated experiments with beam, as
well as the simulation methods used to reproduce the observable signals. The
simulated energy deposition in the coils is compared to the quench levels
predicted by electro-thermal models, thus allowing to validate and improve the
models which are used to set beam-dump thresholds on beam-loss monitors for Run
2.Comment: 19 page
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