3,528 research outputs found
Energy Deposition around Swift Carbon-Ion Tracks in Liquid Water
Energetic carbon ions are promising projectiles used for cancer radiotherapy. A thorough knowledge of how the energy of these ions is deposited in biological media (mainly composed of liquid water) is required. This can be attained by means of detailed computer simulations, both macroscopically (relevant for appropriately delivering the dose) and at the nanoscale (important for determining the inflicted radiobiological damage). The energy lost per unit path length (i.e., the so-called stopping power) of carbon ions is here theoretically calculated within the dielectric formalism from the excitation spectrum of liquid water obtained from two complementary approaches (one relying on an optical-data model and the other exclusively on ab initio calculations). In addition, the energy carried at the nanometre scale by the generated secondary electrons around the ion's path is simulated by means of a detailed Monte Carlo code. For this purpose, we use the ion and electron cross sections calculated by means of state-of-the art approaches suited to take into account the condensed-phase nature of the liquid water target. As a result of these simulations, the radial dose around the ion's path is obtained, as well as the distributions of clustered events in nanometric volumes similar to the dimensions of DNA convolutions, contributing to the biological damage for carbon ions in a wide energy range, covering from the plateau to the maximum of the Bragg peak
Electronic excitation spectra of cerium oxides: from ab initio dielectric response functions to Monte Carlo electron transport simulations
Nanomaterials made of the cerium oxides CeO and CeO have a broad
range of applications, from catalysts in automotive, industrial or energy
operations to promising materials to enhance hadrontherapy effectiveness in
oncological treatments. To elucidate the physico-chemical mechanisms involved
in these processes, it is of paramount importance to know the electronic
excitation spectra of these oxides, which are obtained here through
high-accuracy linear-response time-dependent density functional theory
calculations. In particular, the macroscopic dielectric response functions
of both bulk CeO and CeO are derived, which compare
remarkably well with the available experimental data. These results stress the
importance of appropriately accounting for local field effects to model the
dielectric function of metal oxides. Furthermore, we reckon the materials
energy loss functions \mbox{Im} (-1/\bar{\epsilon}), including the accurate
evaluation of the momentum transfer dispersion from first-principles. In this
respect, by using a Mermin-type parametrization we are able to model the
contribution of different electronic excitations to the dielectric loss
function. Finally, from the knowledge of the electron inelastic mean free path,
together with the elastic mean free path provided by the relativistic Mott
theory, we carry out statistical Monte Carlo (MC) charge transport simulations
to reproduce the major features of the reported experimental reflection
electron energy loss (REEL) spectra of cerium oxides. The good agreement with
REEL experimental data strongly supports our approach based on MC modelling
informed by ab initio calculated electronic excitation spectra in a broad range
of momentum and energy transfers.Comment: 21 pages, 19 figure
Radiative Corrections to the Aharonov-Bohm Scattering
We consider the scattering of relativistic electrons from a thin magnetic
flux tube and perturbatively calculate the order , radiative
correction, to the first order Born approximation. We show also that the second
order Born amplitude vanishes, and obtain a finite inclusive cross section for
the one-body scattering which incorporates soft photon bremsstrahlung effects.
Moreover, we determine the radiatively corrected Aharonov-Bohm potential and,
in particular, verify that an induced magnetic field is generated outside of
the flux tube.Comment: 14 pages, revtex, 3 figure
Non-Steroidal Anti-inflammatory Drugs As Host-Directed Therapy for Tuberculosis: A Systematic Review
Lengthy, antimicrobial therapy targeting the pathogen is the mainstay of conventional tuberculosis treatment, complicated by emerging drug resistances. Host-directed therapies, including non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), in contrast, target host factors to mitigate disease severity. In the present Systematic Review, we investigate whether NSAIDs display any effects as therapy of TB and discuss possible mechanisms of action of NSAIDs as adjunctive therapy of TB. Ten studies, seven preclinical studies in mice and three clinical trials, were included and systematically reviewed. Our results point toward a beneficial effect of NSAIDs as adjunct to current TB therapy regimens, mediated by decreased lung pathology balancing host-immune reaction. The determination of the best timing for their administration in order to obtain the potential beneficial effects needs further investigation. Even if the preclinical evidence requires clinical evaluation, NSAIDs might represent a potential safe, simple, and cheap improvement in therapy of TB
Produtividade de cultivares de feijão-caupi sob diferentes sistemas de manejo de solo.
Para o aprimoramento das práticas agrícolas, é necessário empregar técnicas de cultivo de plantas e de preparo do solo que possibilitem a melhoria do sistema de produção alimentar. Dessa forma, este trabalho objetivou avaliar a produtividade do feijão-caupi cultivado em dois sistemas de manejo de solo
Open and Hidden Charm Production in 920 GeV Proton-Nucleus Collisions
The HERA-B collaboration has studied the production of charmonium and open
charm states in collisions of 920 GeV protons with wire targets of different
materials. The acceptance of the HERA-B spectrometer covers negative values of
xF up to xF=-0.3 and a broad range in transverse momentum from 0.0 to 4.8
GeV/c. The studies presented in this paper include J/psi differential
distributions and the suppression of J/psi production in nuclear media.
Furthermore, production cross sections and cross section ratios for open charm
mesons are discussed.Comment: 5 pages, 9 figures, to be published in the proceedings of the 6th
International Conference on Hyperons, Charm & Beauty Hadrons (BEACH04),
Chicago, IL, June 27 - July 3, 200
The non-convex shape of (234) Barbara, the first Barbarian
Asteroid (234) Barbara is the prototype of a category of asteroids that has
been shown to be extremely rich in refractory inclusions, the oldest material
ever found in the Solar System. It exhibits several peculiar features, most
notably its polarimetric behavior. In recent years other objects sharing the
same property (collectively known as "Barbarians") have been discovered.
Interferometric observations in the mid-infrared with the ESO VLTI suggested
that (234) Barbara might have a bi-lobated shape or even a large companion
satellite. We use a large set of 57 optical lightcurves acquired between 1979
and 2014, together with the timings of two stellar occultations in 2009, to
determine the rotation period, spin-vector coordinates, and 3-D shape of (234)
Barbara, using two different shape reconstruction algorithms. By using the
lightcurves combined to the results obtained from stellar occultations, we are
able to show that the shape of (234) Barbara exhibits large concave areas.
Possible links of the shape to the polarimetric properties and the object
evolution are discussed. We also show that VLTI data can be modeled without the
presence of a satellite.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figure
Measurement of the J/Psi Production Cross Section in 920 GeV/c Fixed-Target Proton-Nucleus Interactions
The mid-rapidity (dsigma_(pN)/dy at y=0) and total sigma_(pN) production
cross sections of J/Psi mesons are measured in proton-nucleus interactions.
Data collected by the HERA-B experiment in interactions of 920 GeV/c protons
with carbon, titanium and tungsten targets are used for this analysis. The
J/Psi mesons are reconstructed by their decay into lepton pairs. The total
production cross section obtained is sigma_(pN)(J/Psi) = 663 +- 74 +- 46
nb/nucleon. In addition, our result is compared with previous measurements
Search for the Flavor-Changing Neutral Current Decay with the HERA-B Detector
We report on a search for the flavor-changing neutral current decay using events recorded with a dimuon trigger in
interactions of 920 GeV protons with nuclei by the HERA-B experiment. We find
no evidence for such decays and set a 90% confidence level upper limit on the
branching fraction .Comment: 17 pages, 4 figures (of which 1 double), paper to be submitted to
Physics Letters
The Relationship Between Mono-Abundance and Mono-Age Stellar Populations in the Milky Way Disk
Studying the Milky Way disk structure using stars in narrow bins of [Fe/H] and [α/Fe] has recently been proposed as a powerful method to understand the Galactic thick and thin disk formation. It has been assumed so far that these mono-abundance populations (MAPs) are also coeval, or mono-age, populations. Here we study this relationship for a Milky Way chemodynamical model and show that equivalence between MAPs and mono-age populations exists only for the high-[α/Fe] tail, where the chemical evolution curves of different Galactic radii are far apart. At lower [α/Fe]-values an MAP is composed of stars with a range in ages, even for small observational uncertainties and a small MAP bin size. Due to the disk inside-out formation, for these MAPs younger stars are typically located at larger radii, which results in negative radial age gradients that can be as large as 2 Gyr kpc−1. Positive radial age gradients can result for MAPs at the lowest [α/Fe] and highest [Fe/H] end. Such variations with age prevent the simple interpretation of observations for which accurate ages are not available. Studying the variation with radius of the stellar surface density and scale height in our model, we find good agreement to recent analyses of the APOGEE red-clump (RC) sample when 1–4 Gyr old stars dominate (as expected for the RC). Our results suggest that the APOGEE data are consistent with a Milky Way model for which mono-age populations flare for all ages. We propose observational tests for the validity of our predictions and argue that using accurate age measurements, such as from asteroseismology, is crucial for putting constraints on Galactic formation and evolution
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