469 research outputs found
Geant4-related R&D for new particle transport methods
A R&D project has been launched in 2009 to address fundamental methods in
radiation transport simulation and revisit Geant4 kernel design to cope with
new experimental requirements. The project focuses on simulation at different
scales in the same experimental environment: this set of problems requires new
methods across the current boundaries of condensed-random-walk and discrete
transport schemes. An exploration is also foreseen about exploiting and
extending already existing Geant4 features to apply Monte Carlo and
deterministic transport methods in the same simulation environment. An overview
of this new R&D associated with Geant4 is presented, together with the first
developments in progress.Comment: 4 pages, to appear in proceedings of the Nuclear Science Symposium
and Medical Imaging Conference 2009, Orland
ADWICE: Advanced diagnosis and warning system for aircraft icing environments
This paper describes the design of the Advanced Diagnosis and Warning System for Aircraft Icing Environments (ADWICE) and presents results for two different icing weather situations with typical icing conditions. ADWICE has been in development since 1998 through the joint cooperation of the Institute for Atmospheric Physics at the German Aerospace Center (DLR), the German Weather Service (DWD), and the Institute for Meteorology and Climatology of the University of Hannover (IMUK). ADWICE uses information from different data sources in order to identify atmospheric environments that are potentially hazardous for aircraft icing. Forecast data from the operational Local Model (LM) of the DWD, with a horizontal grid spacing of 7 km covering the domain of central Europe, are combined with radar data and routine weather observations from the surface station network for this purpose. Algorithms developed at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) that take into account different weather scenarios use the LM forecast fields of temperature, humidity, and pressure to provide first-guess icing information at LM grid points. This first-guess field is then subjected to a scenario correction in which a consistency check is performed through the combined use of the radar data and present weather reports. A final correction of the icing volume is achieved through surface observations of cloudiness and ceiling. For all diagnosed icing points the intensity of icing is derived from a formula that provides an adiabatic estimate of cloud liquid water from water vapor saturation mixing ratio at cloud base and forecast mixing ratios from the LM. Results are presented for a typical case of freezing rain and another one in which pilot reports (PIREPs) of icing are available for comparison. These PIREPS have been collected together with other relevant meteorological data during a testing phase from January to May 2001 in which ADWICE has been run in an operational environment at the DWD. Although ADWICE produces plausible icing fields, uncertainty remains with regard to providing an estimate of the icing intensity at a particular flight level. Taking cloud liquid water as forecast by the LM model directly as a measure of icing intensity instead of the estimate provided by the formula, however, produces poor results, as the comparison with PIREPs indicates
Integrated Detector Control and Calibration Processing at the European XFEL
The European X-ray Free Electron Laser is a high-intensity X-ray light source
currently being constructed in the area of Hamburg, that will provide spatially
coherent X-rays in the energy range between and
. The machine will deliver ,
consisting of up to , with a
repetition rate. The LPD, DSSC and AGIPD detectors are being developed to
provide high dynamic-range Mpixel imaging capabilities at the mentioned
repetition rates. A consequence of these detector characteristics is that they
generate raw data volumes of up to . In addition the
detector's on-sensor memory-cell and multi-/non-linear gain architectures pose
unique challenges in data correction and calibration, requiring online access
to operating conditions and control settings. We present how these challenges
are addressed within XFEL's control and analysis framework Karabo, which
integrates access to hardware conditions, acquisition settings (also using
macros) and distributed computing. Implementation of control and calibration
software is mainly in Python, using self-optimizing (py) CUDA code, numpy and
iPython parallels to achieve near-real time performance for calibration
application.Comment: Proceeding ICALEPS 201
Sensing electric fields using single diamond spins
The ability to sensitively detect charges under ambient conditions would be a
fascinating new tool benefitting a wide range of researchers across
disciplines. However, most current techniques are limited to low-temperature
methods like single-electron transistors (SET), single-electron electrostatic
force microscopy and scanning tunnelling microscopy. Here we open up a new
quantum metrology technique demonstrating precision electric field measurement
using a single nitrogen-vacancy defect centre(NV) spin in diamond. An AC
electric field sensitivity reaching ~ 140V/cm/\surd Hz has been achieved. This
corresponds to the electric field produced by a single elementary charge
located at a distance of ~ 150 nm from our spin sensor with averaging for one
second. By careful analysis of the electronic structure of the defect centre,
we show how an applied magnetic field influences the electric field sensing
properties. By this we demonstrate that diamond defect centre spins can be
switched between electric and magnetic field sensing modes and identify
suitable parameter ranges for both detector schemes. By combining magnetic and
electric field sensitivity, nanoscale detection and ambient operation our study
opens up new frontiers in imaging and sensing applications ranging from
material science to bioimaging
Bacterial Porin Disrupts Mitochondrial Membrane Potential and Sensitizes Host Cells to Apoptosis
The bacterial PorB porin, an ATP-binding beta-barrel protein of pathogenic Neisseria gonorrhoeae, triggers host cell apoptosis by an unknown mechanism. PorB is targeted to and imported by host cell mitochondria, causing the breakdown of the mitochondrial membrane potential (Delta psi(m)). Here, we show that PorB induces the condensation of the mitochondrial matrix and the loss of cristae structures, sensitizing cells to the induction of apoptosis via signaling pathways activated by BH3-only proteins. PorB is imported into mitochondria through the general translocase TOM but, unexpectedly, is not recognized by the SAM sorting machinery, usually required for the assembly of beta-barrel proteins in the mitochondrial outer membrane. PorB integrates into the mitochondrial inner membrane, leading to the breakdown of Delta psi(m). The PorB channel is regulated by nucleotides and an isogenic PorB mutant defective in ATP-binding failed to induce Delta psi(m) loss and apoptosis, demonstrating that dissipation of Delta psi(m) is a requirement for cell death caused by neisserial infection
CAST solar axion search with 3^He buffer gas: Closing the hot dark matter gap
The CERN Axion Solar Telescope (CAST) has finished its search for solar
axions with 3^He buffer gas, covering the search range 0.64 eV < m_a <1.17 eV.
This closes the gap to the cosmological hot dark matter limit and actually
overlaps with it. From the absence of excess X-rays when the magnet was
pointing to the Sun we set a typical upper limit on the axion-photon coupling
of g_ag < 3.3 x 10^{-10} GeV^{-1} at 95% CL, with the exact value depending on
the pressure setting. Future direct solar axion searches will focus on
increasing the sensitivity to smaller values of g_a, for example by the
currently discussed next generation helioscope IAXO.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures. Last version uploade
The inner centromere is a biomolecular condensate scaffolded by the chromosomal passenger complex.
The inner centromere is a region on every mitotic chromosome that enables specific biochemical reactions that underlie properties, such as the maintenance of cohesion, the regulation of kinetochores and the assembly of specialized chromatin, that can resist microtubule pulling forces. The chromosomal passenger complex (CPC) is abundantly localized to the inner centromeres and it is unclear whether it is involved in non-kinase activities that contribute to the generation of these unique chromatin properties. We find that the borealin subunit of the CPC drives phase separation of the CPC in vitro at concentrations that are below those found on the inner centromere. We also provide strong evidence that the CPC exists in a phase-separated state at the inner centromere. CPC phase separation is required for its inner-centromere localization and function during mitosis. We suggest that the CPC combines phase separation, kinase and histone code-reading activities to enable the formation of a chromatin body with unique biochemical activities at the inner centromere
Bacterial porin disrupts mitochondrial membrane potential and sensitizes host cells to apoptosis
The bacterial PorB porin, an ATP-binding beta-barrel protein of pathogenic Neisseria gonorrhoeae, triggers host cell apoptosis by an unknown mechanism. PorB is targeted to and imported by host cell mitochondria, causing the breakdown of the mitochondrial membrane potential (delta psi m). Here, we show that PorB induces the condensation of the mitochondrial matrix and the loss of cristae structures, sensitizing cells to the induction of apoptosis via signaling pathways activated by BH3-only proteins. PorB is imported into mitochondria through the general translocase TOM but, unexpectedly, is not recognized by the SAM sorting machinery, usually required for the assembly of beta-barrel proteins in the mitochondrial outer membrane. PorB integrates into the mitochondrial inner membrane, leading to the breakdown of delta psi m. The PorB channel is regulated by nucleotides and an isogenic PorB mutant defective in ATP-binding failed to induce delta psi m loss and apoptosis, demonstrating that dissipation of delta psi m is a requirement for cell death caused by neisserial infection
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