Plasma Lens Backgrounds at a Future Linear Collider

A 'plasma lens' might be used to enhance the luminosity of future linear colliders. However, its utility for this purpose depends largely on the potential backgrounds that may be induced by the insertion of such a device in the interaction region of the detector. In this note we identify different sources of such backgrounds, calculate their event rates from the elementary interaction processes, and evaluate their effects on the major parts of a hypothetical Next Linear Collider (NLC) detector. For plasma lens parameters which give a factor of seven enhancement of the luminosity, and using the NLC design for beam parameters as a reference, we find that the background yields are fairly high, and require further study and improvements in detector technology to avoid their impact.Comment: 14 pages incl. 3 figures; contributed to the 4th International Workshop, Electron-Electron Interactions at TeV Energies, Santa Cruz, California, Dec. 7 - 9, 2001. To be published in Int.Journ. Mod. Phys.

A core eating network and its modulations underlie diverse eating phenomena

We propose that a core eating network and its modulations account for much of what is currently known about the neural activity underlying a wide range of eating phenomena in humans (excluding homeostasis and related phenomena). The core eating network is closely adapted from a network that Kaye, Fudge, and Paulus (2009) proposed to explain the neurocircuitry of eating, including a ventral reward pathway and a dorsal control pathway. In a review across multiple literatures that focuses on experiments using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), we first show that neural responses to food cues, such as food pictures, utilize the same core eating network as eating. Consistent with the theoretical perspective of grounded cognition, food cues activate eating simulations that produce reward predictions about a perceived food and potentially motivate its consumption. Reviewing additional literatures, we then illustrate how various factors modulate the core eating network, increasing and/or decreasing activity in subsets of its neural areas. These modulating factors include food significance (palatability, hunger), body mass index (BMI, overweight/obesity), eating disorders (anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating), and various eating goals (losing weight, hedonic pleasure, healthy living). By viewing all these phenomena as modulating a core eating network, it becomes possible to understand how they are related to one another within this common theoretical framework. Finally, we discuss future directions for better establishing the core eating network, its modulations, and their implications for behavior

A simple element for multilayer beams in NASTRAN thermal stress analysis

In the application of NASTRAN, structural members are usually represented by bar elements with multipoint constraint cards to enforce the interface conditions. While this is a very powerful method in principle, it was found that in practice the process for specification of constraints became tedious and error prone, unless the geometry was simple and the number of grid points low. An alternative approach was found within the framework of the NASTRAN program. This approach made use of the idea that a thermal distortion in a multilayer beam may be similar to a homogeneous beam with a thermal gradient across the cross section. The exact mathematical derivation for the equivalent beam, and all the necessary formulae for the equivalent parameters in NASTRAN analysis are presented. Some numerical examples illustrate the simplicity and ease of this approach for finite element analysis

Thermal components for 1.8 K space cryogenics

Work of the summer 1986 is summarized in three areas. First, conceptual design of a laboratory system for heat exchanger evaluation in conjunction with the operation of a thermally activated fountain effect pump (FEP) is presented. Second, Knudsen effect evaluation of fine porous media useful for the pressurization plug which forms the main component of the FEP is described. Third, proof-of-principle test of the lab system selected on the basis of the evaluation is summarized