Pencil beam characteristics of the next-generation proton scanning gantry of PSI: design issues and initial commissioning results

In this paper we report on the main design features, on the realization process and on selected first results of the initial commissioning of the new Gantry 2 of PSI for the delivery of proton therapy with new advanced pencil beam scanning techniques. We present briefly the characteristics of the new gantry system with main emphasis on the beam optics, on the characterization of the pencil beam used for scanning and on the performance of the scanning system. The idea is to give an overview of the major components of the whole system. The main long-term technical goal of the new equipment of Gantry 2 is to expand the use of pencil beam scanning to the whole spectrum of clinical indications including moving targets. We report here on the initial experience and problems encountered in the development of the system with selected preliminary results of the ongoing commissioning of Gantry

Optimization of Chaetoceros gracilis microalgae production for fish feeding using an airlift photobioreactor

An experimental procedure was carried out to maximize Chaetoceros gracilis growth. Chaetoceros gracilis, marine microalgae, is considered for feeding fisheries with no GMO (Genetically Modified Organisms) to avoid human health hazards. Furthermore, following United Nations Resolution on water, the microalgae is grown in photobioreactors due to its low water usage. To maximize the microalgae growth, an experimental design was carried out to analyze the effects of Light Intensity, CO2 supply per day, Sparger type, Photoperiod and Inlet airflow, pH and water temperature were monitored but not controlled. It was found that Light intensity and CO2 supply per day have statistical significance. Out of three possible scenarios, 1700 lux and 80 gr/day of CO2, leads to a cell density at day three of 310×104 cel/mL which represents 20% more of the density attained in day two under bag (standard) growing conditions. It was also found that water Ph has also a strong effect over cell density

Pengaruh Diameter Inner-Helical Fin Terhadap Characteristic of Performance Counter Flow Heat Exchanger

The study of energy conservation using the head exchanger with different fin shapes havebeen carried out, including research on the counter flow heat exchanger using a helical spiral shaped fin is placed on the inner pipe. The problem lies in the acquisition of the influence of the diameter of the helical fin to the characteristic of performance counter flow heat exchanger. The diameter of the helical fin which the test is 8 mm, 12 mm and 16 mm. The objective is achieved, the effect of the diameter of the helical fin characteristic of performance counter flow heat exchanger in the increase of hot water discharge 400 liters / hour, 500 liters / hour, 600 liters /hour, 700 liters / hour, 800 liters / hr and 900 liters / hour. Method of design of experiments with laboratory-scale experiments using a set-up equipment double tube heat exchanger is the method used. The results obtained, the highest effectiveness for all types of helical fins foundon discharge 400 liters / h with the order from highest to lower the effectiveness of internal diameter of 12 mm reached 17.66%, diameter of 8 mm effectiveness reaches 15:56% and the internal diameter of 16 mm effectiveness of achieving 14.29%. For the plain tube efektiftasobtained 11:48%

Experimental observation of nonlinear Thomson scattering

A century ago, J. J. Thomson showed that the scattering of low-intensity light by electrons was a linear process (i.e., the scattered light frequency was identical to that of the incident light) and that light's magnetic field played no role. Today, with the recent invention of ultra-high-peak-power lasers it is now possible to create a sufficient photon density to study Thomson scattering in the relativistic regime. With increasing light intensity, electrons quiver during the scattering process with increasing velocity, approaching the speed of light when the laser intensity approaches 10^18 W/cm^2. In this limit, the effect of light's magnetic field on electron motion should become comparable to that of its electric field, and the electron mass should increase because of the relativistic correction. Consequently, electrons in such high fields are predicted to quiver nonlinearly, moving in figure-eight patterns, rather than in straight lines, and thus to radiate photons at harmonics of the frequency of the incident laser light, with each harmonic having its own unique angular distribution. In this letter, we report the first ever direct experimental confirmation of these predictions, a topic that has previously been referred to as nonlinear Thomson scattering. Extension of these results to coherent relativistic harmonic generation may eventually lead to novel table-top x-ray sources.Comment: including 4 figure

A motion model-guided 4D dose reconstruction for pencil beam scanned proton therapy.

Objective.4D dose reconstruction in proton therapy with pencil beam scanning (PBS) typically relies on a single pre-treatment 4DCT (p4DCT). However, breathing motion during the fractionated treatment can vary considerably in both amplitude and frequency. We present a novel 4D dose reconstruction method combining delivery log files with patient-specific motion models, to account for the dosimetric effect of intra- and inter-fractional breathing variability.Approach.Correlation between an external breathing surrogate and anatomical deformations of the p4DCT is established using principal component analysis. Using motion trajectories of a surface marker acquired during the dose delivery by an optical tracking system, deformable motion fields are retrospectively reconstructed and used to generate time-resolved synthetic 4DCTs ('5DCTs') by warping a reference CT. For three abdominal/thoracic patients, treated with respiratory gating and rescanning, example fraction doses were reconstructed using the resulting 5DCTs and delivery log files. The motion model was validated beforehand using leave-one-out cross-validation (LOOCV) with subsequent 4D dose evaluations. Moreover, besides fractional motion, fractional anatomical changes were incorporated as proof of concept.Main results.For motion model validation, the comparison of 4D dose distributions for the original 4DCT and predicted LOOCV resulted in 3%/3 mm gamma pass rates above 96.2%. Prospective gating simulations on the p4DCT can overestimate the target dose coverage V95%by up to 2.1% compared to 4D dose reconstruction based on observed surrogate trajectories. Nevertheless, for the studied clinical cases treated with respiratory-gating and rescanning, an acceptable target coverage was maintained with V95%remaining above 98.8% for all studied fractions. For these gated treatments, larger dosimetric differences occurred due to CT changes than due to breathing variations.Significance.To gain a better estimate of the delivered dose, a retrospective 4D dose reconstruction workflow based on motion data acquired during PBS proton treatments was implemented and validated, thus considering both intra- and inter-fractional motion and anatomy changes

Temporary Acceleration of Electrons While Inside an Intense Electromagnetic Pulse

A free electron can temporarily gain a very significant amount of energy if it is overrun by an intense electromagnetic wave. In principle, this process would permit large enhancements in the center-of-mass energy of electron-electron, electron-positron and electron-photon interactions if these take place in the presence of an intense laser beam. Practical considerations severely limit the utility of this concept for contemporary lasers incident on relativistic electrons. A more accessible laboratory phenomenon is electron-positron production via an intense laser beam incident on a gas. Intense electromagnetic pulses of astrophysical origin can lead to very energetic photons via bremsstrahlung of temporarily accelerated electrons

Opinions on integrating couple counselling and female sexual reproductive health services into Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision services in Lilongwe, Malawi

Background Couples HIV Counselling and Testing (CHCT) has been found to be potentially beneficial than individual HIV Counselling and Testing for prevention and treatment of HIV. However, there are few health care opportunities for men and women to access health services together, leading to underutilization of CHCT service. Integrating female Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) services into male-dominated service could be more effective than trying to integrate men's health services into female-dominated health services. A potential site for male-female service integration could be Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision (VMMC) centers. Methodology We conducted a qualitative study in Lilongwe, Malawi between June to August 2018. Twenty VMMC clients, 20 peers and 20 VMMC providers completed individual in-depth interviews to share their opinions on what they thought about integrating CHCT and other SRH Services into VMMC services. These proposed SRH services include family planning, cervical cancer screening, sexually transmitted infection management and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). Content analysis was used to analyze the results. Results All participants were receptive to integration of CHCT, and most accepted the integration of SRH services into VMMC Services. Most VMMC clients, peers and care providers said that CHCT integration would help couples to know their HIV status, prevent HIV transmission, encourage healthy relationships, and provide a chance for women to participate in VMMC counselling and wound care. However, integration of other services, such as family planning and cervical cancer screening, drew mixed opinions among participants. Most VMMC clients, peers and providers felt that integration of services would promote male involvement and increase men's knowledge in feminine sexual reproductive health services. A few providers expressed concerns over service integration, citing reasons such as overcrowding, work overload, gender mixing, and lack of provider capacity and space. Most participants supported integrating PrEP with VMMC Services and felt that PrEP would complement VMMC in HIV prevention. Few providers, peers and VMMC clients felt the addition of PrEP to VMMC services would lead to high-risk sexual activity that would then increase the risk for HIV acquisition. A few participants recommended community sensitization when integrating some of sexual reproductive health services into VMMC Services to mitigate negative perceptions about VMMC services and encourage service uptake among couples Conclusion Most participants service providers, VMMC clients and Peers were receptive to integrating SRH services, particularly HIV prevention services such as CHCT and PrEP, into male dominated VMMC services. Adequate community sensitization is required when introducing other SRH services into VMMC services

Zettawatt-Exawatt Lasers and Their Applications in Ultrastrong-Field Physics: High Energy Front

Since its birth, the laser has been extraordinarily effective in the study and applications of laser-matter interaction at the atomic and molecular level and in the nonlinear optics of the bound electron. In its early life, the laser was associated with the physics of electron volts and of the chemical bond. Over the past fifteen years, however, we have seen a surge in our ability to produce high intensities, five to six orders of magnitude higher than was possible before. At these intensities, particles, electrons and protons, acquire kinetic energy in the mega-electron-volt range through interaction with intense laser fields. This opens a new age for the laser, the age of nonlinear relativistic optics coupling even with nuclear physics. We suggest a path to reach an extremely high-intensity level $10^{26-28}$W/cm$^2$ in the coming decade, much beyond the current and near future intensity regime $10^{23}$W/cm$^2$, taking advantage of the megajoule laser facilities. Such a laser at extreme high intensity could accelerate particles to frontiers of high energy, tera-electron-volt and peta-electron-volt, and would become a tool of fundamental physics encompassing particle physics, gravitational physics, nonlinear field theory, ultrahigh-pressure physics, astrophysics, and cosmology. We focus our attention on high-energy applications in particular and the possibility of merged reinforcement of high-energy physics and ultraintense laser.Comment: 25 pages. 1 figur

Features of dengue and chikungunya infections of colombian children under 24 months of age admitted to the emergency department

We aimed to assess clinical and laboratory differences between dengue and chikungunya in children <24 months of age in a comparative study. We collected retrospective clinical and laboratory data confirmed by NS1/IgM for dengue for 19 months (1 January 2013 to 17 August 2014). Prospective data for chikungunya confirmed by real-time polymerase chain reaction were collected for 4 months (22 September 2014-14 December 2014). Sensitivity and specificity [with 95% confidence interval (CI)] were reported for each disease diagnosis. A platelet count <150 000 cells/ml at emergency admission best characterized dengue, with a sensitivity of 67% (95% CI, 53-79) and specificity of 95% (95% CI, 82-99). The algorithm developed with classification and regression tree analysis showed a sensitivity of 93% (95% CI, 68-100) and specificity of 38% (95% CI, 9-76) to diagnose dengue. Our study provides potential differential characteristics between chikungunya and dengue in young children, especially low platelet counts. © The Author [2017].Universidad Nacional de Colombia, UN Johns Hopkins University1Departamento de Epidemiologia, Hospital Infantil Napoleón Franco Pareja—La Casa del Niño, Cartagena, Colombia 2Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia 3Departamento de Epidemiologia, Faculdade de Saúde Publica, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil 4Facultad de Ingenería, Universidad Tecnológica de Bolívar, Cartagena, Colombia 5Facultad Ciencias Básicas y Biomédicas, Universidad Simón Bolívar, Barranquilla, Colombia 6Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Cartagena, Cartagena, Colombia 7Instituto de Investigaciones Biologicas del Tropico, Universidad de Córdoba, Montería, Colombia 8Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA Correspondence: Angel Paternina-Caicedo, Hospital Infantil Napoleón Franco Pareja—La Casa del Niño, Bruselas Transversal 36 N. 36-33, Cartagena, Bolívar, Colombia. Tel: +1-412-3267809. E-mail or

Measurement of the quasi-elastic axial vector mass in neutrino-oxygen interactions

The weak nucleon axial-vector form factor for quasi-elastic interactions is determined using neutrino interaction data from the K2K Scintillating Fiber detector in the neutrino beam at KEK. More than 12,000 events are analyzed, of which half are charged-current quasi-elastic interactions nu-mu n to mu- p occurring primarily in oxygen nuclei. We use a relativistic Fermi gas model for oxygen and assume the form factor is approximately a dipole with one parameter, the axial vector mass M_A, and fit to the shape of the distribution of the square of the momentum transfer from the nucleon to the nucleus. Our best fit result for M_A = 1.20 \pm 0.12 GeV. Furthermore, this analysis includes updated vector form factors from recent electron scattering experiments and a discussion of the effects of the nucleon momentum on the shape of the fitted distributions.Comment: 14 pages, 10 figures, 6 table