First T2K measurement of transverse kinematic imbalance in the muon-neutrino charged-current single pi+ production channel containing at least one proton

This paper reports the first T2K measurement of the transverse kinematic imbalance in the single-pi+ production channel of neutrino interactions. We measure the differential cross sections in the muon-neutrino charged-current interaction on hydrocarbon with a single pi+ and at least one proton in the final state, at the ND280 off axis near detector of the T2K experiment. The extracted cross sections are compared to the predictions from different neutrino-nucleus interaction event generators. Overall, the results show a preference for models that have a more realistic treatment of nuclear medium effects including the initial nuclear state and final-state interactions

Improved constraints on neutrino mixing from the T2K experiment with 3.13 x10^21 protons on target

The T2K experiment reports updated measurements of neutrino and antineutrino oscillations using both appearance and disappearance channels. This result comes from an exposure of 14.9 (16.4) × 10^20 protons on target in neutrino (antineutrino) mode. Significant improvements have been made to the neutrino interaction model and far detector reconstruction. An extensive set of simulated data studies have also been performed to quantify the effect interaction model uncertainties have on the T2K oscillation parameter sensitivity. T2K performs multiple oscillation analyses that present both frequentist and Bayesian intervals for the Pontecorvo-Maki-Nakagawa-Sakata parameters. For fits including a constraint on sin^2θ13 from reactor data and assuming normal mass ordering T2K measures sin^2θ_23 = 0.53+0.03−0.04 and Δm^2_32 = (2.45+-0.07) × 10^−3 eV^2 c^−4. The Bayesian analyses show a weak preference for normal mass ordering 89 % posterior probability) and the upper sin^2 θ_23 octant (80% posterior probability), with a uniform prior probability assumed in both cases. The T2K data exclude CP conservation in neutrino oscillations at the 2σ level

Nuclear Emulsion Film Detectors for Proton Radiography: Design and Test of the First Prototype

Proton therapy is nowadays becoming a wide spread clinical practice in cancer therapy and sophisticated treatment planning systems are routinely used to exploit at best the ballistic properties of charged particles. The information on the quality of the beams and the range of the protons is a key issue for the optimization of the treatment. For this purpose, proton radiography can be used in proton therapy to obtain direct information on the range of the protons, on the average density of the tissues for treatment planning optimization and to perform imaging with negligible dose to the patient. We propose an innovative method based on nuclear emulsion film detectors for proton radiography, a technique in which images are obtained by measuring the position and the residual range of protons passing through the patient's body. Nuclear emulsion films interleaved with tissue equivalent absorbers can be fruitfully used to reconstruct proton tracks with very high precision. The first prototype of a nuclear emulsion based detector has been conceived, constructed and tested with a therapeutic proton beam at PSI. The scanning of the emulsions has been performed at LHEP in Bern, where a fully automated microscopic scanning technology has been developed for the OPERA experiment on neutrino oscillations. After track reconstruction, the first promising experimental results have been obtained by imaging a simple phantom made of PMMA with a step of 1 cm. A second phantom with five 5 x 5 mm^2 section aluminum rods located at different distances and embedded in a PMMA structure has been also imaged. Further investigations are in progress to improve the resolution and to image more sophisticated phantoms.Comment: Presented at the 11th ICATPP Conference on Astroparticle, Particle, Space Physics, Detectors and Medical Physics Applications, Como (Italy), October 200

Music expression with a robot manipulator used as a bidirectional tangible interface

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Using the Data Fusion tecnique for producing tematic maps.

The University of Salerno (Italy) has recently been equipped with a pair of aerials that are able to receive data transmitted from various satellite platforms such as the NOAA and the Terra-1 and Aqua-1 EOS. These satellites are fitted with sensors that pick up information regarding soil and cloud temperature, the humidity level of the atmosphere, the presence of extraneous water, the presence of certain substances such as chlorophyll, the surface colour of the ocean and the presence of plankton with a spatial resolution that at its greatest reaches 250 m. Great use is therefore made of a vast amount of data that concerns our geographical area which allows for a fairly approximate assessment of the state of health (desertification, deforestation, abundance of surface water) and the potential risks (landslides, fires, plant and crop infections or diseases) to which the territory is prone. Nevertheless, the data is supplied with differing precision to the ground and with different pixel dimensions, therefore it is not possible to generate, taking as a starting point the data alone, (thematic map) which, besides furnishing qualitative information, also supplies correct and precise metric information. By using the Data Fusion technique it is possible to project the data supplied by various sensors onto a higher resolution image in order to obtain a representation that allows for a synthesis of all available information

LED lighting for indoor cultivation of basil

Indoor cultivation systems are gaining importance worldwide, thanks to their greater efficiency in the use of resources (water, land and nutrients). The limiting factor for these systems is the illumination costs that are still high. In this context, LEDs (light emitting diodes) are gaining attention because of their ability to provide the required light spectra, and high electricity use efficiency. The goal of this study is to identify the role played by red:blue (R:B) ratio on the resource use efficiency of indoor basil cultivation, linking the light physiological response to changes in yield and nutritional properties. Basil plants were cultivated in growth chamber under 5 different R:B ratio LED lighting regimens (respectively, RB0.5, RB1, RB2, RB3, and RB4), using fluorescent lamps as control (CK1). For the six light treatments, a PPFD of 215 mol m-2 s-1 and a photoperiod of 16/8 light/dark per day were provided. Greater biomass production was associated with LEDs lighting as compared with fluorescent lamp, with best performances observed using RB≥2. Adoption of RB2 and RB3 improved also the plant’s capacity to transform resources, resulting in greatest water, land and energy use efficiency. Nutrient use efficiency was increased by using LED lights with a greater portion of blue light in the spectrum. Decreasing R:B ratio also increased leaf stomatal conductance. Plant grown under RB3 showed the best antioxidant properties in terms of flavonoid content and FRAP as compared to the other light treatments. From this study it can be concluded that a R:B ratio of 3 (RB3) provides optimal growing conditions for indoor cultivation of basil

Measurements of π± , K± , p and p¯ spectra in proton-proton interactions at 20, 31, 40, 80 and 158 GeV/c with the NA61/SHINE spectrometer at the CERN SPS

Measurements of inclusive spectra and mean multiplicities of π±, K±, p and p¯ produced in inelastic p+p interactions at incident projectile momenta of 20, 31, 40, 80 and 158 GeV/c (√s = 6.3, 7.7, 8.8, 12.3 and 17.3 GeV, respectively) were performed at the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron using the large acceptance NA61/SHINE hadron spectrometer. Spectra are presented as function of rapidity and transverse momentum and are compared to predictions of current models. The measurements serve as the baseline in the NA61/SHINE study of the properties of the onset of deconfinement and search for the critical point of strongly interacting matter

SMAUG v1.0 – a user-friendly muon simulator for the imaging of geological objects in 3-D

Knowledge about muon tomography has spread in recent years in the geoscientific community and several collaborations between geologists and physicists have been founded. As the data analysis is still mostly done by particle physicists, much of the know-how is concentrated in particle physics and specialised geophysics institutes. SMAUG (Sim- ulation for Muons and their Applications UnderGround), a toolbox consisting of several modules that cover the various aspects of data analysis in a muon tomographic experiment, aims at providing access to a structured data analysis frame- work. The goal of this contribution is to make muon tomog- raphy more accessible to a broader geoscientific audience. In this study, we show how a comprehensive geophysical model can be built from basic physics equations. The emerging un- certainties are dealt with by a probabilistic formulation of the inverse problem, which is finally solved by a Monte Carlo Markov chain algorithm. Finally, we benchmark the SMAUG results against those of a recent study, which, however, have been established with an approach that is not easily accessi- ble to the geoscientific community. We show that they reach identical results with the same level of accuracy and preci- sion

Comparison and potential determinants of health-related quality of life among rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, and spondyloarthritis: A cross-sectional study

Objectives: This study aimed to compare the health-related quality of life scores among rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, and spondyloarthritis and to evaluate socio-demographic and clinical determinantes of quality of life across diseases. Methods: The sample comprised 490 patients with rheumatoid arthritis, 198 with psoriatic arthritis, and 119 with spondyloarthritis who completed a series of health examinations and self-reported questionnaires. Quality of life was evaluated using the Short-Form 36 Health Survey, disease activity by DAS28-CRP, DAPSA, and ASDAS-CRP (for rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, and spondyloarthritis, respectively), depression and anxiety using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. ANOVA was used to compare the quality of life dimensions and their physical and mental summary measures among rheumatic diseases, and multivariate analysis was used to explore their potential determinants. Results: Rheumatoid arthritis had significantly worse scores than spondyloarthritis in the following dimensions: physical functioning, role limitation due to physical health, physical component score, and mental health. Psoriatic arthritis was not significantly different from the other two diseases. Multivariate analysis revealed that physical quality of life was mainly associated with disease activity across rheumatic diseases, rheumatological treatment and depression in rheumatoid arthritis and psoriatic arthritis. Mental quality of life is primarily associated with depression and anxiety across rheumatic diseases. Conclusion: There were differences in quality of life among patients with inflammatory rheumatic diseases, but overall, approximately uniform factors explained the variance in quality of life across diseases. Clinicians should develop general approaches and strategies for inflammatory rheumatic diseases to improve patients' quality of life

Residential Proximity to Urban Play Spaces and Childhood Overweight and Obesity in Barcelona, Spain: A Population-Based Longitudinal Study

Altres ajuts: La Marató de TV3, 201621-30Findings on the relationship between play spaces and childhood overweight and obesity are mixed and scarce. This study aimed to investigate the associations between residential proximity to play spaces and the risk of childhood overweight or obesity and potential effect modifiers. This longitudinal study included children living in the city of Barcelona identified in an electronic primary healthcare record database between 2011 and 2018 (N = 75,608). Overweight and obesity were defined according to the WHO standards and we used 300 m network buffers to assess residential proximity to play spaces. We calculated the risk of developing overweight or obesity using Cox proportional hazard models. A share of 29.4% of the study population developed overweight or obesity, but we did not find consistent associations between play space indicators and overweight or obesity. We did not find any consistent sign of effect modification by sex, and only some indications of the modifying role of area socioeconomic status and level of exposure. Although it is not possible to draw clear conclusions from our study, we call for cities to continue increasing and improving urban play spaces with an equitable, healthy, and child-friendly perspectiv