The role of electron capture decay in the precision era of Galactic cosmic-ray data

Electron capture (EC) decay relies on attachment and stripping cross-sections, that in turn, depend on the atomic number of the nucleus. We revisit the impact of EC decay in the context of the high-precision cosmic-ray fluxes measured by the AMS-02 experiment. We derive the solution of the steady-state fluxes in a 1D thin disk model including EC decay. We compare our results with relevant elemental and isotopic fluxes and evaluate the impact of this process, given the precision of recent AMS-02, ACE-CRIS, SuperTIGER, and Voyager data. We find this impact to be at the level or larger than the precision of recently collected data for several species, e.g. $_{31}$Ga and $_{33}$As, indicating that EC decay must be properly taken into account in the calculation.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, Proceedings for International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC) 202

Development of a methodology for studying tunnel climate in long railway tunnels and for optimizing the design process of cross-passage cooling systems

When it comes into operation in 2026, the Koralmtunnel in Austria will be the world́s seventh longest railway tunnel. The installation of the power supply, telecommunications and electro-mechanical services is currently ongoing. Parts of these systems have to be protected from temperature and humidity variations and from the high dust loads which are characteristic of the tunnel atmosphere. In particular, cooling systems are required to counteract the significant amounts of heat released by some installations. Information on a large number of parameters (e.g. tunnel air temperatures) is required in the design process. However, such information is only partly available in the design stage. Hence, a prediction of tunnel air temperatures has to be made. Additionally, since hardly any information about the tunnel climate in long railway tunnels is available and in-situ mea- surements are not possible, as thermal conditions differ significantly between the construction/equipping phase and the operation phase, a novel methodology for the prediction of the tunnel climate had to be developed. This article presents a description of a new method comprising four main investigative steps and of its application to the Koralmtunnel as a selected case study. While steps 1 and 2 provide information about the actual cooling requirement and tunnel air temperatures for a period of 50 years, steps three and four of the investigation aim at the technical and economic optimization of cooling systems

Digital Platforms for Renewable Energy Communities Projects: An Overview

The European Union energy policy agenda of achieving the transition to carbon neutrality has been established by an important legislative package called "Clean Energy for all Europeans". A novel approach introduced was to put the citizen at the center of the energy transition. On one side, by powering his freedom of action and, on the other side, by asking him an exceptional engagement in energy consumption reduction activities and in participating in the investments for new distributed Renewable Energy Sources (RES) power plants. The Renewable Energy Communities (REC) is the policy framework used to implement this strategy introduced by the Renewable Energy Directive Recast (RED II). In particular, RECs promote citizen’s active role by encouraging energy consumption reduction and energy demand flexibility while reducing the Not In My Bachyard (NIMBY) effect towards RES. Each member state is transposing the RED II directive, adapting it to national legislation and energy transition strategy. Pioneers countries like Italy have already started the experimentation of this framework and developing the first pilot projects. The citizens’ interest and their will to participate in REC projects indicate the need for supporting tools guiding them along all the project development stages: “design”, “creation”, and “operation”. This work presents three categories of supporting digital tools and platforms required to develop REC projects: Commercial, EU Founded and Freeware. We analyzed 30 tools, evaluating the services provided in each of the different stages of REC project implementation

Techno-economic comparison of buildings acting as Single-Self Consumers or as energy community through multiple economic scenarios

The European Union has set ambitious targets to move towards a society with high penetration of renewable energy sources. In the forthcoming energy transition, Energy Communities (EC), i.e., legal entities where different actors, including citizens, cooperate in energy generation, storage and management, will play a crucial role. The present work simulates the energy flows and assesses the potential economic benefits of a cluster of buildings acting collectively as an energy community – a specific case study is set in northern Italy by comparing the EC performance with a configuration where customers act as Single Self-Consumers (SSCs). Pending the transposition of EU Directives to binding national laws, due by 2021, different supporting tariffs (economic scenarios) have been simulated in order to determine which scheme will support more effectively the integration of Energy Communities in the national energy market. Results show that ECs (i.e., customers acting collectively as energy prosumers) are able to accelerate the diffusion of building-integrated renewable energy sources (RES), resulting in higher overall self-consumption rates than SSCs. Self-consumed electricity generates savings on the energy bill of EC, and we calculated positive economic performance indicators for all the analysed economic scenarios. The sensitivity analysis carried out on system and transport charges of the electricity bill shows their remarkable impact on the economics making the EC less attractive for investors and citizens without proper supporting schemes

A Prevention through Design Approach for the Environmental S&H Conditions and the Ventilation System at an Italian Underground Quarry

Even if the number of the Italian quarrying operations in underground is steadily growing, in many cases the safety criticalities are somehow underestimated, in spite of the regulations D.Lgs. 81/08 and D.Lgs. 624/96, Italian enforcements of the European Directives. Ventilation system is conceived to face very simplified requirements, whilst critical pollutants or emergency situations are not taken in due considerations. Asides, the ventilation system fault and availability analysis is seldom included in the project. The paper deals with the results of a research work started some years ago at an underground quarry exploited through drift sublevel based on drill and blast technique, to identify criteria suitable to grant effective safety and health -S&H- conditions for the workers operating in the underground in the Prevention through Design approach. Taken into account that the phases for an effective approach to the S&H problems in underground must follow a hierarchic method in which the risk management should be faced from an effective hazard reduction to a minimum at the sources, and the ventilation should be considered only as a 4th level solution, the possibilities of control at the main pollution sources, i.e. the emission of pollutants due to the rock winning and mucking operations, have been examined. The residual risk was then faced with both the original underground and airways layout definition for a new exploitation development, based on technical and efficiency considerations, and on fire emergency computer simulations. Finally, the paper summarizes the results of an availability analysis of the ventilation system for the normal operating conditions and the emergencies management, on the basis of the results of Hazard Evaluation techniques, in particular Hazard and Operability Analysis and Fault Tree Analysis

A Prevention through Design Approach for the Environmental S&H Conditions and the Ventilation System at an Italian Underground Quarry

Even if the number of the Italian underground quarrying operations is steadily growing, in many cases the safety criticalities are somehow underestimated, in spite of the regulations D.Lgs. 81/08 and D.Lgs. 624/96, Italian enforcements of the former European Directives 89/391/EEC, 92/91/EEC and 92/104/EEC. Ventilation system is conceived to face very simplified requirements, whilst critical pollutants or emergency situations are not taken in due consideration. Asides, the ventilation system fault and availability analysis are seldom included in the project. The paper deals with the results of a research work started some years ago at an underground quarry exploited through drift sublevel based on drill and blast technique, to identify criteria suitable to grant effective safety and health -S&H- conditions for the workers operating in the underground in the Prevention through Design approach. Taken into account that the phases for an effective approach to the S&H problems in underground must follow a hierarchic method, in which the risk management should be faced from an effective hazard reduction to a minimum at the sources, and the ventilation should be considered only as a 4th level solution, the possibilities of control at the main pollution sources, i.e. the emission of pollutants due to the rock winning and mucking operations, have been examined. The residual risk was then faced with both the original underground and airways layout definition for a new exploitation development, based on technical and efficiency considerations, and on fire emergency computer simulations. Finally, the paper summarizes the results of an availability analysis of the ventilation system for normal operating conditions, and the emergencies management, on the basis of the results of Hazard Evaluation techniques, particularly Hazard and Operability Analysis and Fault Tree Analysis

Subsequent therapy following pembrolizumab + axitinib or sunitinib treatment for advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) in the phase III KEYNOTE-426 study

Background: In the phase III KEYNOTE-426 study, pembrolizumab + axitinib showed significant improvement in OS, PFS, and ORR vs sunitinib in patients with RCC. This analysis assessed subsequent treatment in patients enrolled in KEYNOTE-426. Methods: Treatment-naive patients with clear cell RCC, KPS score �70%, and measurable disease (RECIST v1.1) were randomly assigned 1:1 to receive pembrolizumab 200 mg IV every 3 weeks for up to 35 doses + axitinib 5 mg orally twice daily or sunitinib 50 mg once daily (4 weeks on/2 weeks off) until progression, toxicity, or withdrawal. Type of and time to subsequent therapy were assessed. Results: Of patients in the pembrolizumab + axitinib arm and in the sunitinib arm, 81.4% (349/432) and 90.6% of patients (385/429), respectively, discontinued treatment; radiologic or clinical PD was the most common reason for discontinuation in both (pembrolizumab + axitinib: 65.0% [227/349]; sunitinib: 68.1% [262/385]). Of patients who discontinued, 58.5% of patients (204/349) in the pembrolizumab + axitinib arm and 73.0% (281/385) in the sunitinib arm received subsequent therapy (Table). Although a similar proportion of patients in both arms received subsequent therapy with a VEGF/VEGFR inhibitor (pembrolizumab + axitinib: 88.2% [180/204]; sunitinib: 68.7% [193/281]), a greater proportion of patients in the sunitinib arm (74.4% [209/281]) received subsequent PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitor therapy than in the pembrolizumab + axitinib arm (21.6% [44/204]). Of patients in the pembrolizumab + axitinib arm and the sunitinib arm, 32.4% (66/204) and 22.8% (64/281), respectively, received other therapies

Molecular Phylogeny Restores the Supra-Generic Subdivision of Homoscleromorph Sponges (Porifera, Homoscleromorpha)

Homoscleromorpha is the fourth major sponge lineage, recently recognized to be distinct from the Demospongiae. It contains <100 described species of exclusively marine sponges that have been traditionally subdivided into 7 genera based on morphological characters. Because some of the morphological features of the homoscleromorphs are shared with eumetazoans and are absent in other sponges, the phylogenetic position of the group has been investigated in several recent studies. However, the phylogenetic relationships within the group remain unexplored by modern methods.Here we describe the first molecular phylogeny of Homoscleromorpha based on nuclear (18S and 28S rDNA) and complete mitochondrial DNA sequence data that focuses on inter-generic relationships. Our results revealed two robust clades within this group, one containing the spiculate species (genera Plakina, Plakortis, Plakinastrella and Corticium) and the other containing aspiculate species (genera Oscarella and Pseudocorticium), thus rejecting a close relationship between Pseudocorticium and Corticium. Among the spiculate species, we found affinities between the Plakortis and Plakinastrella genera, and between the Plakina and Corticium. The validity of these clades is furthermore supported by specific morphological characters, notably the type of spicules. Furthermore, the monophyly of the Corticium genus is supported while the monophyly of Plakina is not.As the result of our study we propose to restore the pre-1995 subdivision of Homoscleromorpha into two families: Plakinidae Schulze, 1880 for spiculate species and Oscarellidae Lendenfeld, 1887 for aspiculate species that had been rejected after the description of the genus Pseudocorticium. We also note that the two families of homoscleromorphs exhibit evolutionary stable, but have drastically distinct mitochondrial genome organizations that differ in gene content and gene order

Health-related Quality of Life Analysis from KEYNOTE-426: Pembrolizumab plus Axitinib Versus Sunitinib for Advanced Renal Cell Carcinoma

The first interim analysis of the KEYNOTE-426 study showed superior efficacy of pembrolizumab plus axitinib over sunitinib monotherapy in treatment-naive, advanced renal cell carcinoma. The exploratory analysis with extended follow-up reported here aims to assess long-term efficacy and safety of pembrolizumab plus axitinib versus sunitinib monotherapy in patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma

A Post-Synaptic Scaffold at the Origin of the Animal Kingdom

The evolution of complex sub-cellular structures such as the synapse requires the assembly of multiple proteins, each conferring added functionality to the integrated structure. Tracking the early evolution of synapses has not been possible without genomic information from the earliest branching animals. As the closest extant relatives to the Eumetazoa, Porifera (sponges) represent a pivotal group for understanding the evolution of nervous systems, because sponges lack neurons with clearly recognizable synapses, in contrast to eumetazoan animals.We show that the genome of the demosponge Amphimedon queenslandica possesses a nearly complete set of post-synaptic protein homologs whose conserved interaction motifs suggest assembly into a complex structure. In the critical synaptic scaffold gene, dlg, residues that make hydrogen bonds and van der Waals interactions with the PDZ ligand are 100% conserved between sponge and human, as is the motif organization of the scaffolds. Expression in Amphimedon of multiple post-synaptic gene homologs in larval flask cells further supports the existence of an assembled structure. Among the few post-synaptic genes absent from Amphimedon, but present in Eumetazoa, are receptor genes including the entire ionotropic glutamate receptor family.Highly conserved protein interaction motifs and co-expression in sponges of multiple proteins whose homologs interact in eumetazoan synapses indicate that a complex protein scaffold was present at the origin of animals, perhaps predating nervous systems. A relatively small number of crucial innovations to this pre-existing structure may represent the founding changes that led to a post-synaptic element