Monoenergetic proton beams accelerated by a radiation pressure driven shock

High energy ion beams (> MeV) generated by intense laser pulses promise to be viable alternatives to conventional ion beam sources due to their unique properties such as high charge, low emittance, compactness and ease of beam delivery. Typically the acceleration is due to the rapid expansion of a laser heated solid foil, but this usually leads to ion beams with large energy spread. Until now, control of the energy spread has only been achieved at the expense of reduced charge and increased complexity. Radiation pressure acceleration (RPA) provides an alternative route to producing laser-driven monoenergetic ion beams. In this paper, we show the interaction of an intense infrared laser with a gaseous hydrogen target can produce proton spectra of small energy spread (~ 4%), and low background. The scaling of proton energy with the ratio of intensity over density (I/n) indicates that the acceleration is due to the shock generated by radiation-pressure driven hole-boring of the critical surface. These are the first high contrast mononenergetic beams that have been theorised from RPA, and makes them highly desirable for numerous ion beam applications

Metallurgical hydrogen as an indicator and cause of damage of rolled steel

Fatigue tests and measurements of the volumetric distribution of metallurgical hydrogen in specimens cut from rolled I-beam 60Sh3 made of steel 10KhSND were carried out. Fatigue tests show a 20% reduction in fatigue limits compared to similar sheet material. On the fractures of the samples, there are flock-like defects in the areas of interface of the flanges of the I-beam or in the so-called zones of difficult deformation. The concentration of metallurgical hydrogen is unevenly distributed and varies from 0.17 ppm to 1.8 ppm. Large concentrations of hydrogen are observed in the zones of difficult deformation, which indicates the hydrogen nature of the metal defects observed at the fracture. The result of mechanical tests and hydrogen diagnostics is a manufacturing defect of rolled products that cannot be corrected. Hydrogen diagnostics using metallurgical hydrogen (without hydrogen charging samples) requires essentially less time than mechanical tests and yields the adequate result

On the strong converses for the quantum channel capacity theorems

A unified approach to prove the converses for the quantum channel capacity theorems is presented. These converses include the strong converse theorems for classical or quantum information transfer with error exponents and novel explicit upper bounds on the fidelity measures reminiscent of the Wolfowitz strong converse for the classical channel capacity theorems. We provide a new proof for the error exponents for the classical information transfer. A long standing problem in quantum information theory has been to find out the strong converse for the channel capacity theorem when quantum information is sent across the channel. We give the quantum error exponent thereby giving a one-shot exponential upper bound on the fidelity. We then apply our results to show that the strong converse holds for the quantum information transfer across an erasure channel for maximally entangled channel inputs.Comment: Added the strong converse for the erasure channel for maximally entangled inputs and corrected minor typo

Determination of the lateral size and thickness of solution-processed graphene flakes

We present a method to determine the lateral size distribution of solution–processed graphene via direct image analysis techniques. Initially transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and optical microscopy (OM) were correlated and used to provide a reliable benchmark. A rapid, automated OM method was then developed to obtain the distribution from thousands of flakes, avoiding statistical uncertainties and providing high accuracy. Dynamic light scattering (DLS) was further employed to develop an in-situ method to derive the number particle size distribution (PSD) for a dispersion, with a deviation lower than 22% in the sub-micron regime. Methods for determining flake thickness are also discussed

Application of dynamic priorities for controlling the characteristics of a queuing system

This paper considers the development and modification of an imitation model of a queuing system. The initial model uses the laws of control (discipline of expectation and service) with mixed priorities. The work investigates the model with three types of entities (absolute priority, relative priority and priority-free ones) in the regime of overload, i.e. a system with losses. Verification and validation of the created imitation model confirmed its adequateness and accuracy of received results. The application of dynamic priorities for changing the laws of model control substantially alters certain system characteristics. The creation of the model in MatLab Simulink environment with the use of SimEvents and Stateflow library modules allowed creating a fairly complex queuing system and obtain new interesting results

Castleman disease. A rare clinical case of retroperitoneal tumor localization in an elderly patient

Castleman disease is an extremely rare benign disease of the lymphatic system with an estimated incidence of 1–9 cases per 1,000,000. Its etiology remains unknown; interleukin 6 (IL-6) plays an important role in pathogenesis. Castleman disease has two clinical forms: localized (up to 90 % of cases) with a favorable prognosis, treated predominantly by surgical method; generalized (up to 10 % of cases) with less favorable prognosis, treated by pharmacological therapy. The diagnosis is rarely established at the preoperative stage.The aim. To present a clinical case of diagnosis and treatment of Castleman tumor of a rare topical localization.Results. A 66-year-old patient was admitted at the Abdominal Oncology Department of the G.E. Ostroverkhov Kursk Oncology Scientific and Clinical Center.Diagnosis: Retroperitoneal mass on the right found at the preventive examination; no peripheral lymphadenopathy was detected on ultrasound and computed tomography (CT). After the examination, a preliminary diagnosis was made: Gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) of the small intestine mesentery.  Based on the results of the case conference, the decision was taken to perform a surgery – laparoscopic removal of the tumor under endotracheal anesthesia. For surgical approach, a fan-shaped arrangement of ports was chosen. The surgery had no complications. Intraoperative blood loss was 50.0 ml. The total operating time was 98 minutes.According to the results of the histological study, the following diagnosis was made: Castleman disease, unicentric form, hyaline-vascular variant. En bloc surgery is the standard method for the treatment of localized forms of the Castleman disease. In all cases, long-term follow-up shows a long relapse-free period in almost all patients.During follow-up examinations (ultrasound of the abdominal cavity and retroperitoneal space, CT of the abdominal cavity with contrast enhancement, CT of the chest), no disease recurrence was detected during the year of observation.Castleman disease is a rare non-clonal lymphoproliferative disease of unknown etiology. A rare case of its retroperitoneal localization indicates that in cases with an uncertain nature of the peritoneal mass, Castleman disease should be included in the differential diagnostic search