Data Processing Engine (DPE): Data Analysis Tool for Particle Tracking and Mixed Radiation Field Characterization with Pixel Detectors Timepix

Hybrid semiconductor pixelated detectors from the Timepix family are advanced detectors for online particle tracking, offering energy measurement and precise time stamping capabilities for particles of various types and energies. This inherent capability makes them highly suitable for various applications, including imaging, medical fields such as radiotherapy and particle therapy, space-based applications aboard satellites and the International Space Station, and industrial applications. The data generated by these detectors is complex, necessitating the development and deployment of various analytical techniques to extract essential information. For this purpose, and to aid the Timepix user community, it was designed and developed the "Data Processing Engine" (DPE) as an advanced tool for data processing designed explicitly for Timepix detectors. The functionality of the DPE is structured into three distinct processing levels: i) Pre-processing: This phase involves clusterization and the application of necessary calibrations and corrections. ii) Processing: This stage includes particle classification, employing machine learning algorithms, and the recognition of radiation fields. iii) Post-processing: Involves various analyses, such as directional analysis, coincidence analysis, frame analysis, Compton directional analysis, and the generation of physics products, are performed. The core of the DPE is supported by an extensive experimental database containing calibrations and referential radiation fields of typical environments, including protons, ions, electrons, gamma rays and X-rays, as well as thermal and fast neutrons. To enhance accessibility, the DPE is implemented into various user interface platforms such as a command-line tool, an application programming interface, and as a graphical user interface in the form of a web portal.Comment: 9 pages, proceedings IWORI

OLENEKIAN TO EARLY LADINIAN STRATIGRAPHY OF THE WESTERN PART OF THE AGHDARBAND WINDOW (KOPEH-DAG, NE IRAN)

The structural setting and the stratigraphy of the Early to Middle Triassic sedimentary succession exposed in the western part of the Aghdarband window (Kopeh Dag, NE Iran) is described. Six stratigraphic sections in the Sefid-Kuh Limestone, Nazar-Kardeh Formation and Sina Formation have been studied in the tectonic units 1a and 2. The lithostratigraphy is revised, with bio-chronostratigraphic constrain provided by conodonts and ammonoids. The new Olenekian ammonoid genus Megatirolitesis erected. It is based on species thus far known only in Mangyshlak (West Kazakhstan) but it is occurs also in the Sefid-Kuh Limestone.The evolution of the Lower Triassic carbonate ramp of the Sefid-Kuh Limestone, persisted in the Middle Anisian, with a three-stage development (Sefid-Kuh 1, 2 and 3 members) separated by drowning and onset of siliciclastics. The last stage is in part coeval with the Middle Anisian basinal Nazarkardeh Formation.The unconformity-bounded, three-stage development of the carbonate ramp documents that in the Aghdarband Basin the tectonic control over sedimentation started already in the Olenekian, since the onset of the marine transgression. The transgression of the Ladinian Sina Formation sealed a complex morphology resulting from the uplift and erosion of the Middle Anisian units. A new paleogeographic position along the southern Laurasia margin is propsed for the Triassic Aghdarband Basin. Based on the paleobiogeographic affinity of the Olenekian ammonoid occurences, we suggest that the Aghdarband Basin was located in a back-arc position in close connection with Mangyshlak (West Kazakhstan) and Tuarkyr (Turkmenistan), passing northwestward to a large epicontinental basin extending to the Donbass area. At least during the Olenekian the Aghdarband Basin had no direct connection with the Nakhlak Basin, which was proably located in a different intra-arc or more probably fore-arc region with respect to the Palaeotethys subduction-related Triassic arc

Colorectal cancer after bariatric surgery (Cric-Abs 2020): Sicob (Italian society of obesity surgery) endorsed national survey

Background The published colorectal cancer (CRC) outcomes after bariatric surgery (BS) are conflicting, with some anecdotal studies reporting increased risks. The present nationwide survey CRIC-ABS 2020 (Colo-Rectal Cancer Incidence-After Bariatric Surgery-2020), endorsed by the Italian Society of Obesity Surgery (SICOB), aims to report its incidence in Italy after BS, comparing the two commonest laparoscopic procedures-Sleeve Gastrectomy (SG) and Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (GBP). Methods Two online questionnaires-first having 11 questions on SG/GBP frequency with a follow-up of 5-10 years, and the second containing 15 questions on CRC incidence and management, were administered to 53 referral bariatric, high volume centers. A standardized incidence ratio (SIR-a ratio of the observed number of cases to the expected number) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) was calculated along with CRC incidence risk computation for baseline characteristics. Results Data for 20,571 patients from 34 (63%) centers between 2010 and 2015 were collected, of which 14,431 had SG (70%) and 6140 GBP (30%). 22 patients (0.10%, mean age = 53 +/- 12 years, 13 males), SG: 12 and GBP: 10, developed CRC after 4.3 +/- 2.3 years. Overall incidence was higher among males for both groups (SG: 0.15% vs 0.05%; GBP: 0.35% vs 0.09%) and the GBP cohort having slightly older patients. The right colon was most affected (n = 13) and SIR categorized/sex had fewer values < 1, except for GBP males (SIR = 1.07). Conclusion Low CRC incidence after BS at 10 years (0.10%), and no difference between procedures was seen, suggesting that BS does not trigger the neoplasm development

ECLAIRE: Effects of Climate Change on Air Pollution Impacts and Response Strategies for European Ecosystems. Project final report

The central goal of ECLAIRE is to assess how climate change will alter the extent to which air pollutants threaten terrestrial ecosystems. Particular attention has been given to nitrogen compounds, especially nitrogen oxides (NOx) and ammonia (NH3), as well as Biogenic Volatile Organic Compounds (BVOCs) in relation to tropospheric ozone (O3) formation, including their interactions with aerosol components. ECLAIRE has combined a broad program of field and laboratory experimentation and modelling of pollution fluxes and ecosystem impacts, advancing both mechanistic understanding and providing support to European policy makers. The central finding of ECLAIRE is that future climate change is expected to worsen the threat of air pollutants on Europe’s ecosystems. Firstly, climate warming is expected to increase the emissions of many trace gases, such as agricultural NH3, the soil component of NOx emissions and key BVOCs. Experimental data and numerical models show how these effects will tend to increase atmospheric N deposition in future. By contrast, the net effect on tropospheric O3 is less clear. This is because parallel increases in atmospheric CO2 concentrations will offset the temperature-driven increase for some BVOCs, such as isoprene. By contrast, there is currently insufficient evidence to be confident that CO2 will offset anticipated climate increases in monoterpene emissions. Secondly, climate warming is found to be likely to increase the vulnerability of ecosystems towards air pollutant exposure or atmospheric deposition. Such effects may occur as a consequence of combined perturbation, as well as through specific interactions, such as between drought, O3, N and aerosol exposure. These combined effects of climate change are expected to offset part of the benefit of current emissions control policies. Unless decisive mitigation actions are taken, it is anticipated that ongoing climate warming will increase agricultural and other biogenic emissions, posing a challenge for national emissions ceilings and air quality objectives related to nitrogen and ozone pollution. The O3 effects will be further worsened if progress is not made to curb increases in methane (CH4) emissions in the northern hemisphere. Other key findings of ECLAIRE are that: 1) N deposition and O3 have adverse synergistic effects. Exposure to ambient O3 concentrations was shown to reduce the Nitrogen Use Efficiency of plants, both decreasing agricultural production and posing an increased risk of other forms of nitrogen pollution, such as nitrate leaching (NO3-) and the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N2O); 2) within-canopy dynamics for volatile aerosol can increase dry deposition and shorten atmospheric lifetimes; 3) ambient aerosol levels reduce the ability of plants to conserve water under drought conditions; 4) low-resolution mapping studies tend to underestimate the extent of local critical loads exceedance; 5) new dose-response functions can be used to improve the assessment of costs, including estimation of the value of damage due to air pollution effects on ecosystems, 6) scenarios can be constructed that combine technical mitigation measures with dietary change options (reducing livestock products in food down to recommended levels for health criteria), with the balance between the two strategies being a matter for future societal discussion. ECLAIRE has supported the revision process for the National Emissions Ceilings Directive and will continue to deliver scientific underpinning into the future for the UNECE Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution

ECLAIRE third periodic report

The ÉCLAIRE project (Effects of Climate Change on Air Pollution Impacts and Response Strategies for European Ecosystems) is a four year (2011-2015) project funded by the EU's Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (FP7)

Monte Carlo simulations for the space radiation superconducting shield project (SR2S)

Astronauts on deep-space long-duration missions will be exposed for long time to galactic cosmic rays (GCR) and Solar Particle Events (SPE). The exposure to space radiation could lead to both acute and late effects in the crew members and well defined countermeasures do not exist nowadays. The simplest solution given by optimized passive shielding is not able to reduce the dose deposited by GCRs below the actual dose limits, therefore other solutions, such as active shielding employing superconducting magnetic fields, are under study. In the framework of the EU FP7 SR2S Project - Space Radiation Superconducting Shield - a toroidal magnetic system based on MgB2 superconductors has been analyzed through detailed Monte Carlo simulations using Geant4 interface GRAS. Spacecraft and magnets were modeled together with a simplified mechanical structure supporting the coils. Radiation transport through magnetic fields and materials was simulated for a deep-space mission scenario, considering for the first time the effect of secondary particles produced in the passage of space radiation through the active shielding and spacecraft structures. When modeling the structures supporting the active shielding systems and the habitat, the radiation protection efficiency of the magnetic field is severely decreasing compared to the one reported in previous studies, when only the magnetic field was modeled around the crew. This is due to the large production of secondary radiation taking place in the material surrounding the habita

The Limits of Space Radiation Magnetic Shielding: An Updated Analysis

A major problem of long-duration manned missions in the deep space is the flow of high energy charged particles of solar (SPE) and galactic (GCR) origin. SPE has short duration but can be extremely intense and can lead to acute, even lethal, effects. GCR flow is much less intense but is continuous, isotropic, and more energetic; it increases the risk of carcinogenesis and can affect the nervous and cardiovascular systems, restricting the endurance of missions to few months. It is commonly believed that the problem of space radiation can be solved by surrounding the spacecraft habitats with large superconducting magnets, even though a considerable technological effort would be required. However, magnetic shielding has several basic limitations, which restrict the reduction of the radiation dose: they range from the biological effect of the particles in the high region of the GCR spectrum, higher than the shield cutoff energy, to the generation of secondary particles due to the interaction of cosmic rays with magnet and spacecraft materials. The physical and technological constraints of space radiation magnetic shields are discussed in this paper. Despite such limitations, a superconducting magnet could completely eliminate the risk due to SPE. Moreover, it could reduce the GCR adsorbed dose enough to make acceptable the risk of developing long term diseases after a return trip to Mars