ESS plans and synergy with CERN

Summarized are properties of 10 MW ESS H- SC Reference Linac, as described in ESS Update Report 2003. Particles are either injected into 2 accumulator rings, resulting in 1.4 μs pulses sent to a short pulse target station, or 2 ms long pulses directed to a long pulse target station. The 10 MW, 1.334 GeV ESS H-linac is 570m in length, modular cryomodules are used above 400 MeV with separated warm quads. After winding up the ESS Council and the Technical Team by the end of 2003, the neutron scattering community wanted to keep ESS on the political table and demonstrate to young scientist that the struggle for ESS goes on. For this purpose, the ESS-Initiative ( ESS-I ) was formed to include the European Neutron Scattering Association (ENSA), various consortia for site candidatures and some key European laboratories. A major highlight was the successful promotion of ESS to be as a high maturity project on the European Road Map of Research Infrastructures, published in October 2006 by the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI). The ESS Preparatory Phase project has been accepted in the meanwhile after a very positive assessment and has been allocated 5 M€ EU support to investigate site independent technical items and answer legal, financial and governance questions, starting January 2008. ESS 07 will be a 5 MW LP source, the worlds first one to offer the unique capabilities of novel long pulse instruments for almost all of the most interesting areas of science and technology. ESS will be built in such a way that governments can decide later on during its lifetime to increase power and add more target stations, as the future scientific need would arise. The 5 MW, 1 GeV ESS H+ linac is similar to the ESS H- SC Reference Linac, but only 464m in length, as more intense H+ sources are available. ESS’s world lead would become even more pronounced, even when SNS would upgrade its power to, say, 3 MW, if the ESS beam power would be increased to 7.5 MW. This goal is achievable by enlarging the linac tunnel by 115m, which allows to add later on 16 cyromodules, and increasing the accelerating gradient in all SC cavities by 15 %. The H+ linac length of 579 m in this case would still not be larger than the ESS H- SC Reference Linac. Synergy with the CERN plans would require to avoid the funnel section at 20 MeV, leading to a 5 MW LP power at 2 GeV.Linac length is unchanged by using accelerating high gradient in SC cavities. SPL frequencies can be used, but components will differ, as ESS LP source requires high current and long pulses, whereas SPL linac is designed for high energy and high rep. rate

Progress in the Design of the SPL, an H−H ^{-} High-Intensity Linac at CERN

The SPL (Superconducting Proton Linac) is a 4 MW 2.2 GeV H- linac, intended to re-use most of the 352 MHz RF equipment from the decommissioned LEP machine. Injecting into the CERN PS, this linac would improve the intensity and quality of the CERN proton beams, while as a stand-alone facility could provide intense beams of radioactive ions or neutrinos (Neutrino Superbeam). Together with accumulator and compressor rings, it would be a suitable driver for a Neutrino Factory. Since the original proposal, many improvements to the design have been introduced, in order to simplify the layout and reduce costs. They include the reduction of the repetition frequency to 50 Hz, the design of a shorter superconducting (SC) linac section that goes up to the full energy with b=0.8 cavities, an improved DTL section including a new CCDTL design, a chopping line based on fast (2 ns rise time) low-voltage choppers and pulser, and a simplified front-end. Moreover, the problem of pulse mode operation of a superconducting linac with more than one cavity per klystron has been analysed in more detail, showing additional limitation but also proposing some possible compensation schemes

N N bar,Delta bar N, Delta N bar excitation for the pion propagator in nuclear matter

The particle-hole and Delta -hole excitations are well-known elementary excitation modes for the pion propagator in nuclear matter. But, the excitation also involves antiparticles, namely, nucleon-antinucleon, anti-Delta-nucleon and Delta-antinucleon excitations. These are important for high-energy momentum as well, and have not been studied before, to our knowledge. In this paper, we give both the formulas and the numerical calculations for the real and the imaginary parts of these excitations.Comment: Latex, 3 eps file

Proton Drivers for Neutrino Factories: The CERN Approach

The paper describes the CERN approach for a proton driver for a Neutrino Factory. Two main layouts are presented: the so-called CERN Reference Scenario, based on a 2.2 GeV linac and an alternative one, based on a 30 GeV synchrotron. Both produce bunches of 1 ns (r.m.s.) and a beam power of 4 MW

Efficacy and Safety of Lacosamide in Painful Diabetic Neuropathy

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate efficacy and safety of lacosamide compared with placebo in painful diabetic polyneuropathy. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Diabetic patients with at least moderate neuropathic pain were randomized to placebo or lacosamide 400 (in a slow or standard titration) or 600 mg/day over 6-week titration and 12-week maintenance periods. Primary efficacy criterion was intra-individual change in average daily Numeric Pain Rating Scale score from baseline to the last 4 weeks. RESULTS: For the primary end point, pain reduction was numerically but not statistically greater with lacosamide compared with placebo (400 mg/day, P = 0.12; 600 mg/day, P = 0.18). Both doses were significantly more effective compared with placebo over the titration (P = 0.03, P = 0.006), maintenance (P = 0.01, P = 0.005), and entire treatment periods (P = 0.03, P = 0.02). Safety profiles between titration schemes were similar. CONCLUSIONS: Lacosamide reduced neuropathic pain and was well tolerated in diabetic patients, but the primary efficacy criterion was not met, possibly due to an increased placebo response over the last 4 weeks.status: publishe

Connecting the sustainable development goals by their energy inter-linkages

The United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide guide-posts to society as it attempts to respond to an array of pressing challenges. One of these challenges is energy; thus, the SDGs have become paramount for energy policy-making. Yet, while governments throughout the world have already declared the SDGs to be 'integrated and indivisible', there are still knowledge gaps surrounding how the interactions between the energy SDG targets and those of the non-energy-focused SDGs might play out in different contexts. In this review, we report on a large-scale assessment of the relevant energy literature, which we conducted to better our understanding of key energy-related interactions between SDGs, as well as their context-dependencies (relating to time, geography, governance, technology, and directionality). By (i) evaluating the nature and strength of the interactions identified, (ii) indicating the robustness of the evidence base, the agreement of that evidence, and our confidence in it, and (iii) highlighting critical areas where better understanding is needed or context dependencies should be considered, our review points to potential ways forward for both the policy making and scientific communities. First, we find that positive interactions between the SDGs outweigh the negative ones, both in number and magnitude. Second, of relevance for the scientific community, in order to fill knowledge gaps in critical areas, there is an urgent need for interdisciplinary research geared toward developing new data, scientific tools, and fresh perspectives. Third, of relevance for policy-making, wider efforts to promote policy coherence and integrated assessments are required to address potential policy spillovers across sectors, sustainability domains, and geographic and temporal boundaries. The task of conducting comprehensive science-to-policy assessments covering all SDGs, such as for the UN's Global Sustainable Development Report, remains manageable pending the availability of systematic reviews focusing on a limited number of SDG dimensions in each case