1,279 research outputs found
A spatially explicit and quantitative vulnerability assessment of ecosystem service change in Europe
Environmental change alters ecosystem functioning and may put the provision of services to human at risk. This paper presents a spatially explicit and quantitative assessment of the corresponding vulnerability for Europe, using a new framework designed to answer multidisciplinary policy relevant questions about the vulnerability of the human-environment system to global change. Scenarios were constructed for a range of possible changes in socio-economic trends, land uses and climate. These scenarios were used as inputs in a range of ecosystem models in order to assess the response of ecosystem function as well as the changes in the services they provide. The framework was used to relate the impacts of changing ecosystem service provision for four sectors in relation to each other, and to combine them with a simple, but generic index for societal adaptive capacity. By allowing analysis of different sectors, regions and development pathways, the vulnerability assessment provides a basis for discussion between stakeholders and policymakers about sustainable management of EuropeÂżs natural resource
Electromagnetic cascade in high energy electron, positron, and photon interactions with intense laser pulses
The interaction of high energy electrons, positrons, and photons with intense
laser pulses is studied in head-on collision geometry. It is shown that
electrons and/or positrons undergo a cascade-type process involving multiple
emissions of photons. These photons can consequently convert into
electron-positron pairs. As a result charged particles quickly lose their
energy developing an exponentially decaying energy distribution, which
suppresses the emission of high energy photons, thus reducing the number of
electron-positron pairs being generated. Therefore, this type of interaction
suppresses the development of the electromagnetic avalanche-type discharge,
i.e., the exponential growth of the number of electrons, positrons, and photons
does not occur in the course of interaction. The suppression will occur when 3D
effects can be neglected in the transverse particle orbits, i.e., for
sufficiently broad laser pulses with intensities that are not too extreme. The
final distributions of electrons, positrons, and photons are calculated for the
case of a high energy e-beam interacting with a counter-streaming, short
intense laser pulse. The energy loss of the e-beam, which requires a
self-consistent quantum description, plays an important role in this process,
as well as provides a clear experimental observable for the transition from the
classical to quantum regime of interaction.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figure
Optimized laser pulse profile for efficient radiation pressure acceleration of ions
The radiation pressure acceleration regime of laser ion acceleration requires
high intensity laser pulses to function efficiently. Moreover the foil should
be opaque for incident radiation during the interaction to ensure maximum
momentum transfer from the pulse to the foil, which requires proper matching of
the target to the laser pulse. However, in the ultrarelativistic regime, this
leads to large acceleration distances, over which the high laser intensity for
a Gaussian laser pulse must be maintained. It is shown that proper tailoring of
the laser pulse profile can significantly reduce the acceleration distance,
leading to a compact laser ion accelerator, requiring less energy to operate.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure
On Retardation Effects in Space Charge Calculations Of High Current Electron Beams
Laser-plasma accelerators are expected to deliver electron bunches with high
space charge fields. Several recent publications have addressed the impact of
space charge effects on such bunches after the extraction into vacuum.
Artifacts due to the approximation of retardation effects are addressed, which
are typically either neglected or approximated. We discuss a much more
appropriate calculation for the case of laser wakefield acceleration with
negligible retardation artifacts due to the calculation performed in the mean
rest frame. This presented calculation approach also aims at a validation of
other simulation approaches
Relativistic spherical plasma waves
Tightly focused laser pulses as they diverge or converge in underdense plasma
can generate wake waves, having local structures that are spherical waves. Here
we report on theoretical study of relativistic spherical wake waves and their
properties, including wave breaking. These waves may be suitable as particle
injectors or as flying mirrors that both reflect and focus radiation, enabling
unique X-ray sources and nonlinear QED phenomena.Comment: 6 pages; 4 figure
Fast and accurate Slicewise OutLIer Detection (SOLID) with informed model estimation for diffusion MRI data
The accurate characterization of the diffusion process in tissue using diffusion MRI is greatly challenged by the presence of artefacts. Subject motion causes not only spatial misalignments between diffusion weighted images, but often also slicewise signal intensity errors. Voxelwise robust model estimation is commonly used to exclude intensity errors as outliers. Slicewise outliers, however, become distributed over multiple adjacent slices after image registration and transformation. This challenges outlier detection with voxelwise procedures due to partial volume effects. Detecting the outlier slices before any transformations are applied to diffusion weighted images is therefore required. In this work, we present i) an automated tool coined SOLID for slicewise outlier detection prior to geometrical image transformation, and ii) a framework to naturally interpret data uncertainty information from SOLID and include it as such in model estimators. SOLID uses a straightforward intensity metric, is independent of the choice of the diffusion MRI model, and can handle datasets with a few or irregularly distributed gradient directions. The SOLID-informed estimation framework prevents the need to completely reject diffusion weighted images or individual voxel measurements by downweighting measurements with their degree of uncertainty, thereby supporting convergence and well-conditioning of iterative estimation algorithms. In comprehensive simulation experiments, SOLID detects outliers with a high sensitivity and specificity, and can achieve higher or at least similar sensitivity and specificity compared to other tools that are based on more complex and time-consuming procedures for the scenarios investigated. SOLID was further validated on data from 54 neonatal subjects which were visually inspected for outlier slices with the interactive tool developed as part of this study, showing its potential to quickly highlight problematic volumes and slices in large population studies. The informed model estimation framework was evaluated both in simulations and in vivo human data.Peer reviewe
Helium-3 and Helium-4 acceleration by high power laser pulses for hadron therapy
The laser driven acceleration of ions is considered a promising candidate for
an ion source for hadron therapy of oncological diseases. Though proton and
carbon ion sources are conventionally used for therapy, other light ions can
also be utilized. Whereas carbon ions require 400 MeV per nucleon to reach the
same penetration depth as 250 MeV protons, helium ions require only 250 MeV per
nucleon, which is the lowest energy per nucleon among the light ions. This fact
along with the larger biological damage to cancer cells achieved by helium
ions, than that by protons, makes this species an interesting candidate for the
laser driven ion source. Two mechanisms (Magnetic Vortex Acceleration and
hole-boring Radiation Pressure Acceleration) of PW-class laser driven ion
acceleration from liquid and gaseous helium targets are studied with the goal
of producing 250 MeV per nucleon helium ion beams that meet the hadron therapy
requirements. We show that He3 ions, having almost the same penetration depth
as He4 with the same energy per nucleon, require less laser power to be
accelerated to the required energy for the hadron therapy.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, 1 tabl
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