209 research outputs found
Results from AMS-02 on the ISS after 6 years in space
AMS-02 is a cosmic-ray detector which has been operating on the International Space Station since May 2011 to conduct a unique mission of fundamental research in space. More than 100 billion cosmic rays have been collected by AMS-02 after 6 years of operations, providing a detailed insight into the features of different species of cosmic rays. This contribution reviews the recent AMS-02 results based on 6 years of operations in space and their contribution to the advances in the understanding of cosmic-ray origin, acceleration and propagation physics
SiPM and front-end electronics development for Cherenkov light detection
The Italian Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN) is involved in the
development of a demonstrator for a SiPM-based camera for the Cherenkov
Telescope Array (CTA) experiment, with a pixel size of 66 mm. The
camera houses about two thousands electronics channels and is both light and
compact. In this framework, a R&D program for the development of SiPMs suitable
for Cherenkov light detection (so called NUV SiPMs) is ongoing. Different
photosensors have been produced at Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK), with
different micro-cell dimensions and fill factors, in different geometrical
arrangements. At the same time, INFN is developing front-end electronics based
on the waveform sampling technique optimized for the new NUV SiPM. Measurements
on 11 mm, 33 mm, and 66 mm NUV SiPMs
coupled to the front-end electronics are presentedComment: In Proceedings of the 34th International Cosmic Ray Conference
(ICRC2015), The Hague, The Netherlands. All CTA contributions at
arXiv:1508.0589
Characterization and possible astrophysics applications of UV sensitive SiPM devices
The National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN) is involved in the R&D of Silicon Photomultiplier (SiPM) sensors optimized to detect near-UV (NUV) photon radiation in low-intensity photons and high-precision time mesaurements, in collaboration with the Bruno Kessler Foundation (FBK). The performances of 6Ă—6 mm2 NUV-HD SiPMs with 30Ă—30 ÎĽm2 microcell area and the possible prospects for production and packaging of multi-sensor modules for astrophysical applications are discussed in this paper
ps8 161 the disease burden in patients with longstanding systemic lupus erythematosus focus on health resource use and costs
Introduction As a consequence of increased SLE patients survival, patients with long disease duration represent a significant proportion of our cohorts. This study aims to evaluate health resource use and the 6 months costs in patients with SLE with long disease duration. Methods The economic evaluation was performed in terms of cost-of-illness analysis as part of a larger study enrolling SLE patients with at least 15 years of disease duration regularly followed at our unit. At enrollment, the following information were collected: disease activity (SLEDAI), organ damage (SLICC-DI score), comorbidities, treatment patterns; in addition to clinical data, patients were required to complete an ad-hoc questionnaire for the collection of facts relevant for the estimation of the economic dimension and covering the previous six-months. Such a time frame was considered to be appropriate as recall period. Direct health (drugs, hospitalizations, emergency visits, specialists visits, laboratory tests and instrumental examination) and non-health costs (transportation and accommodation) as well as indirect costs because of productivity loss were estimated. Results 51 adult patients with long disease duration were recruited (98% female, mean age 49±11 years, median disease duration 17 years, IQR 15–23). Median (IQR) SLEDAI score was 2 (0–4), median SLICC-DI was 1 (0–2). The median (IQR) direct health costs per patients over the previous 6 months resulted 410€ (201–1687); indirect costs because of productivity lost were 130€ (0–356). The median overall cost to the Society was 473€ (327–2148); the presence of comorbid conditions resulted associated with higher overall cost for the Society (552€ [327–1807] vs 264€ [94–1164] p=0.046); disease activity and damage at enrollment were not associated with costs increase in this cohort. Conclusions This cohort of patients with long lasting disease is characterised by low disease activity and mild organ damage; in this setting, the disease burden on the single patient and family is significant and the costs to the Society are influenced by the presence of comorbidities
Internal alignment and position resolution of the silicon tracker of DAMPE determined with orbit data
The DArk Matter Particle Explorer (DAMPE) is a space-borne particle detector
designed to probe electrons and gamma-rays in the few GeV to 10 TeV energy
range, as well as cosmic-ray proton and nuclei components between 10 GeV and
100 TeV. The silicon-tungsten tracker-converter is a crucial component of
DAMPE. It allows the direction of incoming photons converting into
electron-positron pairs to be estimated, and the trajectory and charge (Z) of
cosmic-ray particles to be identified. It consists of 768 silicon micro-strip
sensors assembled in 6 double layers with a total active area of 6.6 m.
Silicon planes are interleaved with three layers of tungsten plates, resulting
in about one radiation length of material in the tracker. Internal alignment
parameters of the tracker have been determined on orbit, with non-showering
protons and helium nuclei. We describe the alignment procedure and present the
position resolution and alignment stability measurements
INFN Camera demonstrator for the Cherenkov Telescope Array
The Cherenkov Telescope Array is a world-wide project for a new generation of
ground-based Cherenkov telescopes of the Imaging class with the aim of
exploring the highest energy region of the electromagnetic spectrum. With two
planned arrays, one for each hemisphere, it will guarantee a good sky coverage
in the energy range from a few tens of GeV to hundreds of TeV, with improved
angular resolution and a sensitivity in the TeV energy region better by one
order of magnitude than the currently operating arrays. In order to cover this
wide energy range, three different telescope types are envisaged, with
different mirror sizes and focal plane features. In particular, for the highest
energies a possible design is a dual-mirror Schwarzschild-Couder optical
scheme, with a compact focal plane. A silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) based
camera is being proposed as a solution to match the dimensions of the pixel
(angular size of ~ 0.17 degrees). INFN is developing a camera demonstrator made
by 9 Photo Sensor Modules (PSMs, 64 pixels each, with total coverage 1/4 of the
focal plane) equipped with FBK (Fondazione Bruno Kessler, Italy) Near
UltraViolet High Fill factor SiPMs and Front-End Electronics (FEE) based on a
Target 7 ASIC, a 16 channels fast sampler (up to 2GS/s) with deep buffer,
self-trigger and on-demand digitization capabilities specifically developed for
this purpose. The pixel dimensions of mm lead to a very compact
design with challenging problems of thermal dissipation. A modular structure,
made by copper frames hosting one PSM and the corresponding FEE, has been
conceived, with a water cooling system to keep the required working
temperature. The actual design, the adopted technical solutions and the
achieved results for this demonstrator are presented and discussed.Comment: In Proceedings of the 34th International Cosmic Ray Conference
(ICRC2015), The Hague, The Netherlands. All CTA contributions at
arXiv:1508.0589
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