A new design using GEM-based technology for the CMS experiment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ressegotti, M.

2017-07-01

The muon system of the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment at the LHC is currently not instrumented for pseudorapidity higher than |η|> 2.4. The main challenges to the installation of a detector in that position are the high particle flux to be sustained, a high level of radiation, and the ability to accomodate a multilevel detector into the small available space (less than 30 cm). A new back-to-back configuration of a Gas Electron Multiplier (GEM) detector is presented with the aim of developing a compact, multi-layer GEM detector. It is composed of two independent stacked triple-GEM detectors, positioned with the anodes toward the outside and sharing the same cathode plane, which is located at the center of the chamber, to reduce the total detector's thickness. A first prototype has been produced and tested with an X-Ray source and muon beam. First results on its performance are presented.

Python based integration of GEM detector electronics with JET data acquisition system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zabołotny, Wojciech M.; Byszuk, Adrian; Chernyshova, Maryna; Cieszewski, Radosław; Czarski, Tomasz; Dalley, Simon; Hogben, Colin; Jakubowska, Katarzyna L.; Kasprowicz, Grzegorz; Poźniak, Krzysztof; Rzadkiewicz, Jacek; Scholz, Marek; Shumack, Amy

2014-11-01

This paper presents the system integrating the dedicated measurement and control electronic systems for Gas Electron Multiplier (GEM) detectors with the Control and Data Acquisition system (CODAS) in the JET facility in Culham, England. The presented system performs the high level procedures necessary to calibrate the GEM detector and to protect it against possible malfunctions or dangerous changes in operating conditions. The system also allows control of the GEM detectors from CODAS, setting of their parameters, checking their state, starting the plasma measurement and to reading the results. The system has been implemented using the Python language, using the advanced libraries for implementation of network communication protocols, for object based hardware management and for data processing.

Measurement of basic characteristics and gain uniformity of a triple GEM detector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Patra, Rajendra Nath; Singaraju, Rama N.; Biswas, Saikat; Ahammed, Zubayer; Nayak, Tapan K.; Viyogi, Yogendra P.

2017-08-01

Large area Gas Electron Multiplier (GEM) detectors have been the preferred choice for tracking devices in major nuclear and particle physics experiments. Uniformity over surface of the detector in terms of gain, energy resolution and efficiency is crucial for the optimum performance of these detectors. In the present work, detailed performance study of a 10×10 cm2 triple GEM detector operated using Ar and CO2 gas mixtures in proportions of 70:30 and 90:10, has been made by making a voltage scan of the efficiency with 106Ru-Rh β-source and cosmic rays. The gain and energy resolution of the detector were studied using the X-ray spectrum of 55Fe source. The uniformity of the detector has been investigated by dividing the detector in 7×7 zones and measuring the gain and energy resolution at the centre of each zone. The variations of the gain and energy resolution have been found to be 8.8% and 6.7%, respectively. These studies are essential to characterise GEM detectors before their final use in the experiments.

Design of T-GEM detectors for X-ray diagnostics on JET

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rzadkiewicz, J.; Dominik, W.; Scholz, M.; Chernyshova, M.; Czarski, T.; Czyrkowski, H.; Dabrowski, R.; Jakubowska, K.; Karpinski, L.; Kasprowicz, G.; Kierzkowski, K.; Pozniak, K.; Salapa, Z.; Zabolotny, W.; Blanchard, P.; Tyrrell, S.; Zastrow, K.-D.; JET EFDA Contributors

2013-08-01

Upgraded high-resolution X-ray diagnostics on JET is expected to monitor the plasma radiation emitted by W46+ and Ni26+ ions at 2.4 keV and 7.8 keV photon energies, respectively. Both X-ray lines will be monitored by new generation energy-resolved micropattern gas detectors with 1-D position reconstruction capability. The detection structure is based on triple GEM (T-GEM) amplification structure followed by the strip readout electrode. This article presents a design of new detectors and prototype detector tests.

Construction of the TH-GEM detector components for metrology of low energy ionizing radiation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Silva, N. F.; Silva, T. F.; Castro, M. C.; Natal da Luz, H.; Caldas, L. V. E.

2018-03-01

The Gas Electron Multiplier (GEM) detector was originally proposed as a position sensitive detector to determine trajectories of particles prevenient from high-energy collisions. In order to study the potential of TH-GEM type detectors in dosimetric applications for low energy X-rays, specifically for the mammography standard qualities, it was proposed to construct a prototype with characteristics suitable for such use. In this work the general, structural and material parameters applicable to the necessary conditions were defined, establishing the process of construction of the components of a prototype.

3D simulation of electron and ion transmission of GEM-based detectors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bhattacharya, Purba; Mohanty, Bedangadas; Mukhopadhyay, Supratik; Majumdar, Nayana; da Luz, Hugo Natal

2017-10-01

Time Projection Chamber (TPC) has been chosen as the main tracking system in several high-flux and high repetition rate experiments. These include on-going experiments such as ALICE and future experiments such as PANDA at FAIR and ILC. Different R&D activities were carried out on the adoption of Gas Electron Multiplier (GEM) as the gas amplification stage of the ALICE-TPC upgrade version. The requirement of low ion feedback has been established through these activities. Low ion feedback minimizes distortions due to space charge and maintains the necessary values of detector gain and energy resolution. In the present work, Garfield simulation framework has been used to study the related physical processes occurring within single, triple and quadruple GEM detectors. Ion backflow and electron transmission of quadruple GEMs, made up of foils with different hole pitch under different electromagnetic field configurations (the projected solutions for the ALICE TPC) have been studied. Finally a new triple GEM detector configuration with low ion backflow fraction and good electron transmission properties has been proposed as a simpler GEM-based alternative suitable for TPCs for future collider experiments.

FPGA-based GEM detector signal acquisition for SXR spectroscopy system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wojenski, A.; Pozniak, K. T.; Kasprowicz, G.; Kolasinski, P.; Krawczyk, R.; Zabolotny, W.; Chernyshova, M.; Czarski, T.; Malinowski, K.

2016-11-01

The presented work is related to the Gas Electron Multiplier (GEM) detector soft X-ray spectroscopy system for tokamak applications. The used GEM detector has one-dimensional, 128 channel readout structure. The channels are connected to the radiation-hard electronics with configurable analog stage and fast ADCs, supporting speeds of 125 MSPS for each channel. The digitalized data is sent directly to the FPGAs using fast serial links. The preprocessing algorithms are implemented in the FPGAs, with the data buffering made in the on-board 2Gb DDR3 memory chips. After the algorithmic stage, the data is sent to the Intel Xeon-based PC for further postprocessing using PCI-Express link Gen 2. For connection of multiple FPGAs, PCI-Express switch 8-to-1 was designed. The whole system can support up to 2048 analog channels. The scope of the work is an FPGA-based implementation of the recorder of the raw signal from GEM detector. Since the system will work in a very challenging environment (neutron radiation, intense electro-magnetic fields), the registered signals from the GEM detector can be corrupted. In the case of the very intense hot plasma radiation (e.g. laser generated plasma), the registered signals can overlap. Therefore, it is valuable to register the raw signals from the GEM detector with high number of events during soft X-ray radiation. The signal analysis will have the direct impact on the implementation of photon energy computation algorithms. As the result, the system will produce energy spectra and topological distribution of soft X-ray radiation. The advanced software was developed in order to perform complex system startup and monitoring of hardware units. Using the array of two one-dimensional GEM detectors it will be possible to perform tomographic reconstruction of plasma impurities radiation in the SXR region.

Quality control for the first large areas of triple-GEM chambers for the CMS endcaps

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abbaneo, D.; Abbas, M.; Abbrescia, M.; Abi Akl, M.; Aboamer, O.; Acosta, D.; Ahmad, A.; Ahmed, W.; Aleksandrov, A.; Altieri, P.; Asawatangtrakuldee, C.; Aspell, P.; Assran, Y.; Awan, I.; Bally, S.; Ban, Y.; Banerjee, S.; Barashko, V.; Barria, P.; Bencze, G.; Beni, N.; Benussi, L.; Bhopatkar, V.; Bianco, S.; Bos, J.; Bouhali, O.; Braghieri, A.; Braibant, S.; Buontempo, S.; Calabria, C.; Caponero, M.; Caputo, C.; Cassese, F.; Castaneda, A.; Cauwenbergh, S.; Cavallo, F. R.; Celik, A.; Choi, M.; Choi, S.; Christiansen, J.; Cimmino, A.; Colafranceschi, S.; Colaleo, A.; Conde Garcia, A.; Czellar, S.; Dabrowski, M. M.; De Lentdecker, G.; De Oliveira, R.; de Robertis, G.; Dildick, S.; Dorney, B.; Endroczi, G.; Errico, F.; Fenyvesi, A.; Ferry, S.; Furic, I.; Giacomelli, P.; Gilmore, J.; Golovtsov, V.; Guiducci, L.; Guilloux, F.; Gutierrez, A.; Hadjiiska, R. M.; Hauser, J.; Hoepfner, K.; Hohlmann, M.; Hoorani, H.; Iaydjiev, P.; Jeng, Y. G.; Kamon, T.; Karchin, P.; Korytov, A.; Krutelyov, S.; Kumar, A.; Kim, H.; Lee, J.; Lenzi, T.; Litov, L.; Loddo, F.; Madorsky, A.; Maerschalk, T.; Maggi, M.; Magnani, A.; Mal, P. K.; Mandal, K.; Marchioro, A.; Marinov, A.; Majumdar, N.; Merlin, J. A.; Mitselmakher, G.; Mohanty, A. K.; Mohapatra, A.; Molnar, J.; Muhammad, S.; Mukhopadhyay, S.; Naimuddin, M.; Nuzzo, S.; Oliveri, E.; Pant, L. M.; Paolucci, P.; Park, I.; Passeggio, G.; Pavlov, B.; Philipps, B.; Piccolo, D.; Postema, H.; Puig Baranac, A.; Radi, A.; Radogna, R.; Raffone, G.; Ranieri, A.; Rashevski, G.; Riccardi, C.; Rodozov, M.; Rodrigues, A.; Ropelewski, L.; RoyChowdhury, S.; Ryu, G.; Ryu, M. S.; Safonov, A.; Salva, S.; Saviano, G.; Sharma, A.; Sharma, A.; Sharma, R.; Shah, A. H.; Shopova, M.; Sturdy, J.; Sultanov, G.; Swain, S. K.; Szillasi, Z.; Talvitie, J.; Tatarinov, A.; Tuuva, T.; Tytgat, M.; Vai, I.; Van Stenis, M.; Venditti, R.; Verhagen, E.; Verwilligen, P.; Vitulo, P.; Volkov, S.; Vorobyev, A.; Wang, D.; Wang, M.; Yang, U.; Yang, Y.; Yonamine, R.; Zaganidis, N.; Zenoni, F.; Zhang, A.

2018-02-01

The CMS Collaboration plans to equip the very forward muon system with triple-GEM detectors that can withstand the environment of the High-Luminosity LHC. This project is at the final stages of R&D and moving to production. An unprecedented large area of several 100 m2 are to be instrumented with GEM detectors which will be produced in six different sites around the world. A common construction and quality control procedure is required to ensure the performance of each detector. The quality control steps will include optical inspection, cleaning and baking of all materials and parts used to build the detector, leakage current tests of the GEM foils, high voltage tests, gas leak tests of the chambers and monitoring pressure drop vs. time, gain calibration to know the optimal operation region of the detector, gain uniformity tests, and studying the efficiency, noise and tracking performance of the detectors in a cosmic stand using scintillators.

FPGA based charge fast histogramming for GEM detector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Poźniak, Krzysztof T.; Byszuk, A.; Chernyshova, M.; Cieszewski, R.; Czarski, T.; Dominik, W.; Jakubowska, K.; Kasprowicz, G.; Rzadkiewicz, J.; Scholz, M.; Zabolotny, W.

2013-10-01

This article presents a fast charge histogramming method for the position sensitive X-ray GEM detector. The energy resolved measurements are carried out simultaneously for 256 channels of the GEM detector. The whole process of histogramming is performed in 21 FPGA chips (Spartan-6 series from Xilinx) . The results of the histogramming process are stored in an external DDR3 memory. The structure of an electronic measuring equipment and a firmware functionality implemented in the FPGAs is described. Examples of test measurements are presented.

GEM detector performance and efficiency in Proton Charge Radius (PRad) Experiment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bai, Xinzhan; PRad Collaboration

2017-09-01

The PRad experiment (E12-11-106) was performed in 2016 at Jefferson Lab in Hall B. It aims to investigate the proton charge radius puzzle through electron proton elastic scattering process. The experiment used a non-magnetic spectrometer method, and reached a very small ep scattering angle and thus an unprecedented small four-momentum transfer squared region, Q2 from 2 ×10-4 to 0.06(GeV / c) 2 . PRad experiment was designed to measure the proton charge radius within a sub-percent precision. Gas Electron Multiplier (GEM) detectors have contributed to reach the experimental goal. A pair of large area GEM detectors, and a large acceptance, high resolution calorimeter(HyCal) were utilized in the experiment to detect the scattered electrons. The precision requirements of the experiment demands a highly accurate understanding of efficiency and stability of GEM detectors. In this talk, we will present the preliminary results on the performance and efficiency of GEM detectors. This work is supported in part by NSF MRI award PHY-1229153, the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-FG02-07ER41528, No. DE-FG02-03ER41240 and Thomas Jefferson National Laboratory.

Simulation of the GEM detector for BM@N experiment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baranov, Dmitriy; Rogachevsky, Oleg

2017-03-01

The Gas Electron Multiplier (GEM) detector is one of the basic parts of the BM@N experiment included in the NICA project. The simulation model that takes into account features of signal generation process in an ionization GEM chamber is presented in this article. Proper parameters for the simulation were extracted from data retrieved with the help of Garfield++ (a toolkit for the detailed simulation of particle detectors). Due to this, we are able to generate clusters in layers of the micro-strip readout that correspond to clusters retrieved from a real physics experiment.

GEM detector performance with innovative micro-TPC readout in high magnetic field

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Garzia, I.; Alexeev, M.; Amoroso, A.; Baldini Ferroli, R.; Bertani, M.; Bettoni, D.; Bianchi, F.; Calcaterra, A.; Canale, N.; Capodiferro, M.; Cassariti, V.; Cerioni, S.; Chai, J. Y.; Chiozzi, S.; Cibinetto, G.; Cossio, F.; Cotta Ramusino, A.; De Mori, F.; Destefanis, M.; Dong, J.; Evangelisti, F.; Evangelisti, F.; Farinelli, R.; Fava, L.; Felici, G.; Fioravanti, E.; Gatta, M.; Greco, M.; Lavezzi, L.; Leng, C. Y.; Li, H.; Maggiora, M.; Malaguti, R.; Marcello, S.; Melchiorri, M.; Mezzadri, G.; Mignone, M.; Morello, G.; Pacetti, S.; Patteri, P.; Pellegrino, J.; Pelosi, A.; Rivetti, A.; Rolo, M. D.; Savrié, M.; Scodeggio, M.; Soldani, E.; Sosio, S.; Spataro, S.; Tskhadadze, E.; Verma, S.; Wheadon, R.; Yan, L.

2018-01-01

Gas detector development is one of the pillars of the research in fundamental physics. Since several years, a new concept of detectors, called Micro Pattern Gas Detector (MPGD), allowed to overcome several problems related to other types of commonly used detectors, like drift chamber and micro strips detectors, reducing the rate of discharges and providing better radiation tolerance. Among the most used MPGDs are the Gas Electron Multipliers (GEMs). Invented by Sauli in 1997, nowadays GEMs have become an important reality for particle detectors in high energy physics. Commonly deployed as fast timing detectors and triggers, their fast response, high rate capability and high radiation hardness make them also suitable as tracking detectors. The readout scheme is one of the most important features in tracking technology. Analog readout based on the calculation of the center of gravity technique allows to overcome the limit imposed by digital pads, whose spatial resolution is limited by the pitch dimensions. However, the presence of high external magnetic fields can distort the electronic cloud and affect the performance. The development of the micro-TPC reconstruction method brings GEM detectors into a new prospective, improving significantly the spatial resolutionin presence of high magnetic fields. This innovative technique allows to reconstruct the 3-dimensional particle position, as Time Projection Chamber, but within a drift gap of a few millimeters. In these report, the charge centroid and micro-TPC methods are described in details. We discuss the results of several test beams performed with planar chambers in magnetic field. These results are one of the first developments of micro-TPC technique for GEM detectors, which allows to reach unprecedented performance in a high magnetic field of 1 T.

Numerical Investigation on Electron and Ion Transmission of GEM-based Detectors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bhattacharya, Purba; Sahoo, Sumanya Sekhar; Biswas, Saikat; Mohanty, Bedangadas; Majumdar, Nayana; Mukhopadhyay, Supratik

2018-02-01

ALICE at the LHC is planning a major upgrade of its detector systems, including the TPC, to cope with an increase of the LHC luminosity after 2018. Different R&D activities are currently concentrated on the adoption of the Gas Electron Multiplier (GEM) as the gas amplification stage of the ALICE-TPC upgrade version. The major challenge is to have low ion feedback in the drift volume as well as to ensure a collection of good percentage of primary electrons in the signal generation process. In the present work, Garfield simulation framework has been adopted to numerically estimate the electron transparency and ion backflow fraction of GEM-based detectors. In this process, extensive simulations have been carried out to enrich our understanding of the complex physical processes occurring within single, triple and quadruple GEM detectors. A detailed study has been performed to observe the effect of detector geometry, field configuration and magnetic field on the above mentioned characteristics.

Characterization of multilayer Thick-GEM geometries as 10B converters aiming thermal neutron detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Natal da Luz, H.; Souza, F. A.; Moralles, M.; Carlin, N.; Oliveira, R. A. N.; Bregant, M.; Suaide, A. A. P.; Chubaci, J. F. D.; Matsuoka, M.; Silva, T. F.; Moro, M. V.; Rodrigues, C. L.; Munhoz, M. G.

2018-02-01

Boron-based thermal neutron detectors have recently regained some attention from the instrumentation community as a strong alternative to helium-3 detectors. From the existing concepts exploiting boron layers in position sensitive detectors, the Cascade [1] is the one that takes full advantage of the 2D capabilities of gaseous detectors, with the position resolution not limited by the architecture of the detector. In this work, a proposal for the Cascade detector, based on Thick-GEMs is presented, together with some preliminary studies of the suitable pitch that optimizes the neutron conversion efficiency, while keeping the collection efficiency intact. The characterization of Thick-GEM prototypes produced in Brazil with hole pitch from 0.75 to 3 mm shows that these devices already present a stable performance at low gains, also resulting in fair energy resolution, when cascaded with a standard KaptonTM 50 µm GEM. Results of the first attempts of boron film depositions with Ion Beam Assisted Deposition and characterization by Ion Beam Analysis are also presented.

Technological aspects of GEM detector design and assembling for soft x-ray application

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kowalska-Strzeciwilk, E.; Chernyshova, M.

2016-09-01

Various types of Micro Pattern Gas Detectors (MPGDs) found applications as tracking detectors in high energy particle physics experiments and as well as imaging detectors, especially for soft X-rays. These detectors offer several advantages like high count rate capability, good spatial and energy resolution, low cost and possibility of constructing large area detectors with very small dead area. Construction, like the triple Gas Electron Multiplier (GEM) detector has become a standard detector, which is widely used for different imaging applications. Some examples of such applications are: monitoring the impurity in plasma, imaging system for mapping of some parameters like pigment distributions using X-ray fluorescence technique[1], proton range radiography system for quality assurance in hadron therapy. Measuring of the Soft X-Ray (SXR) radiation of magnetic fusion plasma is a standard way of accessing valuable information, for example, about particle transport and MHD. The paper is focused on the design of GEM based soft Xray radiation detecting system which is under development. It is dedicated to study soft X-ray emission of plasma radiation with focus on tungsten emission lines energy region. The paper presents the designing, construction and assembling of a prototype of two triple-GEM detectors for soft-X ray application on the WEST device.

Development of a scintillating G-GEM detector for a 6-MeV X-band Linac for medical applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fujiwara, T.; Tanaka, S.; Mitsuya, Y.; Takahashi, H.; Tagi, K.; Kusano, J.; Tanabe, E.; Yamamoto, M.; Nakamura, N.; Dobashi, K.; Tomita, H.; Uesaka, M.

2013-12-01

We recently developed glass gas electron multipliers (G-GEMs) with an entirely new process using photo-etchable glass. The photo-etchable glass used for the substrate is called PEG3 (Hoya Corporation). Taking advantage of low outgassing material, we have envisioned a medical application of G-GEMs. A two-dimensional position-sensitive dosimetry system based on a scintillating gas detector is being developed for real-time dose distribution monitoring in X-ray radiation therapy. The dosimetry system consists of a chamber filled with an Ar/CF4 scintillating gas mixture, inside of which G-GEM structures are mounted. Photons produced by the excited Ar/CF4 gas molecules during the gas multiplication in the GEM holes are detected by a mirror-lens-CCD-camera system. We found that the intensity distribution of the measured light spot is proportional to the 2D dose distribution. In this work, we report on the first results from a scintillating G-GEM detector for a position-sensitive X-ray beam dosimeter.

Fast ADC based multichannel acquisition system for the GEM detector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kasprowicz, G.; Czarski, T.; Chernyshova, M.; Dominik, W.; Jakubowska, K.; Karpinski, L.; Kierzkowski, K.; Pozniak, K.; Rzadkiewicz, J.; Scholz, M.; Zabolotny, W.

2012-05-01

A novel approach to the Gas Electron Multiplier1 (GEM) detector readout is presented. Unlike commonly used methods, based on discriminators, and analogue FIFOs,[ the method developed uses simultaneously sampling high speed ADCs and advanced FPGA-based processing logic to estimate the energy of every single photon. Such method is applied to every GEM strip signal. It is especially useful in case of crystal-based spectrometers for soft X-rays, where higher order reflections need to be identified and rejected. For the purpose of the detector readout, a novel conception of the measurement platform was developed.

GEM detectors for WEST and potential application for heavy impurity transport studies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mazon, D.; Jardin, A.; Coston, C.; Faisse, F.; Chernyshova, M.; Czarski, T.; Kasprowicz, G.; Wojenski, A.

2016-08-01

In tokamaks equipped with metallic walls and in particular tungsten, the interplay between particle transport and MagnetoHydroDynamic (MHD) activity might lead to impurities accumulation and finally to sudden plasma termination called disruption. Studying such transport phenomena is thus essential if stationary discharges are to be achieved. On WEST a new SXR diagnostic is developed in collaboration with IPPLM (Poland) and the Warsaw University of Technology, based on a triple Gas Electron Multiplier (GEM) detector. Potential application of the WEST GEM detectors for tomographic reconstruction and subsequent transport analysis is presented.

Performance of GEM Detectors in the DarkLight Experiment at LERF

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mohammed Prem Nazeer, Sahara Jesmin; DarkLight Collaboration

2017-01-01

The DarkLight experiment has been proposed to search for a heavy photon A' in the mass range of 10-100 MeV/c2 produced in electron-proton collisions. Phase-I of DarkLight has started to take place in 2016 at the Low Energy Recirculator Facility (LERF) at Jefferson Lab. LERF delivered a 100 MeV electron beam onto a windowless hydrogen gas target. The phase-I detector tracks leptons inside the DarkLight solenoid with a set of Gas Electron Multiplier (GEM) detectors, combined with segmented scintillators for triggering. The GEM telescope consists of four 10 × 10 cm2 triple layer GEM chambers with 2D readout strips, mounted in a slightly angled fixed frame about 12 cm tall. The GEM data are read out with analog pipeline front-end cards (APV-25) each of which can process 128 readout channels. Each GEM chamber has 250 channels for each coordinate axis, read out with two APVs on each side, resulting in 2000 readout channels for the GEM stack, processed by 16 APVs. One Multi Purpose Digitizer (MPD) module is used to read out all of the 16 APV-25 cards. The current run status of DarkLight experiment and the performance of GEMs in the experiment will be discussed. This work has been supported by NSF PHY-1436680 and PHY-1505934.

A Prototype Combination TPC Cherenkov Detector with GEM Readout for Tracking and Particle Identification and its Potential Use at an Electron Ion Collider

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Woody, Craig; Azmoun, Babak; Majka, Richard; Phipps, Michael; Purschke, Martin; Smirnov, Nikolai

2018-02-01

A prototype detector is being developed which combines the functions of a Time Projection Chamber for charged particle tracking and a Cherenkov detector for particle identification. The TPC consists of a 10×10×10 cm3 drift volume where the charge is drifted to a 10×10 cm2 triple GEM detector. The charge is measured on a readout plane consisting of 2×10 mm2 chevron pads which provide a spatial resolution ˜ 100 μm per point in the chevron direction along with dE/dx information. The Cherenkov portion of the detector consists of a second 10×10 cm2 triple GEM with a photosensitive CsI photocathode on the top layer. This detector measures Cherenkov light produced in the drift gas of the TPC by high velocity particles which are above threshold. CF4 or CF4 mixtures will be used as the drift gas which are highly transparent to UV light and can provide excellent efficiency for detecting Cherenkov photons. The drift gas is also used as the operating gas for both GEM detectors. The prototype detector has been constructed and is currently being tested in the lab with sources and cosmic rays, and additional tests are planned in the future to study the detector in a test beam.

GEM Detector Performance Assessment in the BM@N Experiment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kapishin, Mikhail; Karjavin, Vladimir; Kulish, Elena; Lenivenko, Vasilisa; Makankin, Alexander; Maksymchuk, Anna; Palichik, Vladimir; Vasiliev, Sergey

2018-02-01

The Gas Electron Multiplier (GEM) chambers are developed for modern purposes in the elementary particle physics. In the BM@N experiment, a GEM system is used for the reconstruction of the trajectories of the charged particles. The investigation of GEM performance (efficiency and spatial resolution) is presented.

Data processing for soft X-ray diagnostics based on GEM detector measurements for fusion plasma imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Czarski, T.; Chernyshova, M.; Pozniak, K. T.; Kasprowicz, G.; Byszuk, A.; Juszczyk, B.; Wojenski, A.; Zabolotny, W.; Zienkiewicz, P.

2015-12-01

The measurement system based on GEM - Gas Electron Multiplier detector is developed for X-ray diagnostics of magnetic confinement fusion plasmas. The Triple Gas Electron Multiplier (T-GEM) is presented as soft X-ray (SXR) energy and position sensitive detector. The paper is focused on the measurement subject and describes the fundamental data processing to obtain reliable characteristics (histograms) useful for physicists. So, it is the software part of the project between the electronic hardware and physics applications. The project is original and it was developed by the paper authors. Multi-channel measurement system and essential data processing for X-ray energy and position recognition are considered. Several modes of data acquisition determined by hardware and software processing are introduced. Typical measuring issues are deliberated for the enhancement of data quality. The primary version based on 1-D GEM detector was applied for the high-resolution X-ray crystal spectrometer KX1 in the JET tokamak. The current version considers 2-D detector structures initially for the investigation purpose. Two detector structures with single-pixel sensors and multi-pixel (directional) sensors are considered for two-dimensional X-ray imaging. Fundamental output characteristics are presented for one and two dimensional detector structure. Representative results for reference source and tokamak plasma are demonstrated.

Operating range of a gas electron multiplier for portal imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wallmark, M.; Brahme, A.; Danielsson, M.; Fonte, P.; Iacobaeus, C.; Peskov, V.; Östling, J.

2001-09-01

At the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden a new detector for portal imaging is under development, which could greatly improve the alignment of the radiation beam with respect to the tumor during radiation treatment. The detector is based on solid converters combined with gas electron multipliers (GEMs) as an amplification structure. The detector has a large area and will be operated in a very high rate environment in the presence of heavy ionizing particles. As was discovered recently high rates and alpha particles could cause discharges in GEM and discharge propagation from GEM to GEM and to the readout electronics. Since reliability is one of the main requirements for the portal imaging device, we performed systematic studies to find a safe operating range of the device, free from typical high rate problems, such as discharges.

The BoNuS GEM-Based Radial Time-Projection Chamber

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fenker, Howard

2006-10-01

A special-purpose detector for measuring low-momentum spectator protons from e-d collisions has been developed. It is a radial time-projection chamber in which the gas-amplification elements are GEM foils formed into cylinders. This is believed to be the first application of curved GEMs. In a 4T magnetic field, this low-mass detector allows tracking of spectator protons with momentum as low as 70 MeV/c while covering a large solid angle. Physics data were taken using the system in late 2005. We report on the development of the detector, experience with operating it, and the data coming out of it.

Readout electronics for the GEM detector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kasprowicz, G.; Czarski, T.; Chernyshova, M.; Czyrkowski, H.; Dabrowski, R.; Dominik, W.; Jakubowska, K.; Karpinski, L.; Kierzkowski, K.; Kudla, I. M.; Pozniak, K.; Rzadkiewicz, J.; Salapa, Z.; Scholz, M.; Zabolotny, W.

2011-10-01

A novel approach to the Gas Electron Multiplier (GEM) detector readout is presented. Unlike commonly used methods, based on discriminators[2],[3] and analogue FIFOs[1], the method developed uses simultaneously sampling high speed ADCs and advanced FPGA-based processing logic to estimate the energy of every single photon. Such method is applied to every GEM strip signal. It is especially useful in case of crystal-based spectrometers for soft X-rays, where higher order reflections need to be identified and rejected[5].

A Study of a Mini-Drift GEM Tracking Detector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Azmoun, B.; DiRuzza, B.; Franz, A.; Kiselev, A.; Pak, R.; Phipps, M.; Purschke, M. L.; Woody, C.

2016-06-01

A GEM tracking detector with an extended drift region has been studied as part of an effort to develop new tracking detectors for future experiments at RHIC and for the Electron Ion Collider that is being planned for BNL or JLAB. The detector consists of a triple GEM stack with a 1.6 cm drift region that was operated in a mini TPC type configuration. Both the position and arrival time of the charge deposited in the drift region were measured on the readout plane which allowed the reconstruction of a short vector for the track traversing the chamber. The resulting position and angle information from the vector could then be used to improve the position resolution of the detector for larger angle tracks, which deteriorates rapidly with increasing angle for conventional GEM tracking detectors using only charge centroid information. Two types of readout planes were studied. One was a COMPASS style readout plane with 400 μm pitch XY strips and the other consisted of 2 × 10 mm2 chevron pads. The detector was studied in test beams at Fermilab and CERN, along with additional measurements in the lab, in order to determine its position and angular resolution for incident track angles up to 45 degrees. Several algorithms were studied for reconstructing the vector using the position and timing information in order to optimize the position and angular resolution of the detector for the different readout planes. Applications for large angle tracking detectors at RHIC and EIC are also discussed.

The KLOE-2 Inner Tracker: Detector commissioning and operation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Balla, A.; Bencivenni, G.; Branchini, P.; Ciambrone, P.; Czerwinski, E.; De Lucia, E.; Cicco, A.; Di Domenici, D.; Felici, G.; Morello, G.

2017-02-01

The KLOE-2 experiment started its data taking campaign in November 2014 with an upgraded tracking system including an Inner Tracker built with the cylindrical GEM technology, to operate together with the Drift Chamber improving the apparatus tracking performance. The Inner Tracker is composed of four cylindrical triple-GEM, each provided with an X-V strips-pads stereo readout and equipped with the GASTONE ASIC developed inside the KLOE-2 collaboration. Although GEM detectors are already used in high energy physics experiment, this device is considered a frontier detector due to its cylindrical geometry: KLOE-2 is the first experiment to use this novel solution. The results of the detector commissioning, detection efficiency evaluation, calibration studies and alignment, both with dedicated cosmic-ray muon and Bhabha scattering events, will be reported.

Study of the spatial resolution of low-material GEM tracking detectors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kudryavtsev, V. N.; Maltsev, T. V.; Shekhtman, L. I.

2018-02-01

The spatial resolution of GEM based tracking detectors has been simulated and measured. The simulation includes the GEANT4 based transport of high energy electrons with careful accounting for atomic relaxation processes including emission of fluorescent photons and Auger electrons and custom post-processing, including accounting for diffusion, gas amplification fluctuations, the distribution of signals on readout electrodes, electronics noise and a particular algorithm of the final coordinate calculation (center of gravity). The simulation demonstrates that a minimum of the spatial resolution of about 10 μm can be achieved with strip pitches from 250 μm to 300 μm. For larger pitches the resolution is quickly degrading reaching 80-100 μm at a pitch of 500 μm. The spatial resolution of low-material triple-GEM detectors for the DEUTRON facility at the VEPP-3 storage ring is measured at the extracted beam facility of the VEPP-4M collider. The amount of material in these detectors is reduced by etching the copper of the GEMs electrodes and using a readout structure on a thin kapton foil rather than on a glass fibre plate. The exact amount of material in one DEUTRON detector is measured by studying multiple scattering of 100 MeV electrons in it. The result of these measurements is X/X0 = 2.4×10-3 corresponding to a thickness of the copper layers of the GEM foils of 3 μm. The spatial resolution of one DEUTRON detector is measured with 500 MeV electrons and the measured value is equal to 35 ± 1 μm for orthogonal tracks.

A Muon Tomography Station with GEM Detectors for Nuclear Threat Detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Staib, Michael; Gnanvo, Kondo; Grasso, Leonard; Hohlmann, Marcus; Locke, Judson; Costa, Filippo; Martoiu, Sorin; Muller, Hans

2011-10-01

Muon tomography for homeland security aims at detecting well-shielded nuclear contraband in cargo and imaging it in 3D. The technique exploits multiple scattering of atmospheric cosmic ray muons, which is stronger in dense, high-Z nuclear materials, e.g. enriched uranium, than in low-Z and medium-Z shielding materials. We have constructed and operated a compact Muon Tomography Station (MTS) that tracks muons with six to ten 30 cm x 30 cm Triple Gas Electron Multiplier (GEM) detectors placed on the sides of a 27-liter cubic imaging volume. The 2D strip readouts of the GEMs achieve a spatial resolution of ˜130 μm in both dimensions and the station is operated at a muon trigger rate of ˜20 Hz. The 1,536 strips per GEM detector are read out with the first medium-size implementation of the Scalable Readout System (SRS) developed specifically for Micro-Pattern Gas Detectors by the RD51 collaboration at CERN. We discuss the performance of this MTS prototype and present experimental results on tomographic imaging of high-Z objects with and without shielding.

Data Analysis And Polarization Measurements With GEMS

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stohmayer, Tod

2011-01-01

The Gravity and Extreme Magnetism SMEX (GEMS) mission was selected by NASA for flight in 2014. GEMS will make the first sensitive survey of X-ray polarization across a wide range of source classes including black hole and neutron star binaries, AGN of different types, rotation and accretion-powered pulsars, magnetars, shell supernova remnants and pulsar wind nebulae. GEMS employs grazing-incidence foil mirrors and novel time-projection chamber (TPC) polarimeters leveraging the photoelectric effect. The GEMS detectors image the charge tracks of photoelectrons produced by 2 - 10 keV X-rays. The initial direction of the photoelectron is determined by the linear polarization of the photon. We present an overview of the data analysis challenges and methods for GEMS, including procedures for producing optimally filtered images of the charge tracks and estimating their initial directions. We illustrate our methods using laboratory measurements of polarized and unpolarized X-rays with flight-like detectors as well as from simulated tracks. We also present detailed simulations exploring the statistics of polarization measurements appropriate for GEMS, and make comparisons with previous work.

Neutron diffraction measurements on a reference metallic sample with a high-efficiency GEM side-on 10B-based thermal neutron detector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pietropaolo, A.; Claps, G.; Fedrigo, A.; Grazzi, F.; Höglund, C.; Murtas, F.; Scherillo, A.; Schmidt, S.; Schooneveld, E. M.

2018-03-01

The upgraded version of the GEM side-on thermal neutron detector was successfully tested in a neutron diffraction experiment on a reference sample using the INES diffractometer at the ISIS spallation neutron source, UK. The performance of the new 10B4C-based detector is compared to that of a standard 3He tube, operating at the instrument as a part of the detectors assembly. The results show that the upgraded detector has a better resolution and an efficiency of the same order of magnitude of a 3He-based detector.

Design Improvements and X-Ray Performance of a Time Projection Chamber Polarimeter for Persistent Astronomical Sources

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hill, Joanne E.; Black, J. Kevin; Emmett, Thomas J.; Enoto, Teruaki; Jahoda, Keith M.; Kaaret, Philip; Nolan, David S.; Tamagawa, Toru

2014-01-01

The design of the Time-Projection Chamber (TPC) Polarimeter for the Gravity and Extreme Magnetism Small Explorer (GEMS) was demonstrated to Technology Readiness Level 6 (TRL-6)3 and the flight detectors fabricated, assembled and performance tested. A single flight detector was characterized at the Brookhaven National Laboratory Synchrotron Light Source with polarized X-rays at 10 energies from 2.3-8.0 keV at five detector positions. The detector met all of the GEMS performance requirements. Lifetime measurements have shown that the existing flight design has 23 years of lifetime4, opening up the possibility of relaxing material requirements, in particular the consideration of the use of epoxy, to reduce risk elsewhere. We report on design improvements to the GEMS detector to enable a narrower transfer gap that, when operated with a lower transfer field, reduces asymmetries in the detector response. In addition, the new design reduces cost and risk by simplifying the assembly and reducing production time. Finally, we report on the performance of the narrow-gap detector in response to polarized and unpolarized X-rays.

A Study of a Mini-Drift GEM Tracking Detector

DOE PAGES

Azmoun, B.; DiRuzza, B.; Franz, A.; ...

2016-06-22

In this paper, a GEM tracking detector with an extended drift region has been studied as part of an effort to develop new tracking detectors for future experiments at RHIC and for the Electron Ion Collider that is being planned for BNL or JLAB. The detector consists of a triple GEM stack with a 1.6 cm drift region that was operated in a mini TPC type configuration. Both the position and arrival time of the charge deposited in the drift region were measured on the readout plane which allowed the reconstruction of a short vector for the track traversing themore » chamber. The resulting position and angle information from the vector could then be used to improve the position resolution of the detector for larger angle tracks, which deteriorates rapidly with increasing angle for conventional GEM tracking detectors using only charge centroid information. Two types of readout planes were studied. One was a COMPASS style readout plane with 400 μm pitch XY strips and the other consisted of 2 × 10 mm 2 chevron pads. The detector was studied in test beams at Fermilab and CERN, along with additional measurements in the lab, in order to determine its position and angular resolution for incident track angles up to 45 degrees. Several algorithms were studied for reconstructing the vector using the position and timing information in order to optimize the position and angular resolution of the detector for the different readout planes. Finally, applications for large angle tracking detectors at RHIC and EIC are also discussed.« less

A Study of a Mini-Drift GEM Tracking Detector

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Azmoun, B.; DiRuzza, B.; Franz, A.

In this paper, a GEM tracking detector with an extended drift region has been studied as part of an effort to develop new tracking detectors for future experiments at RHIC and for the Electron Ion Collider that is being planned for BNL or JLAB. The detector consists of a triple GEM stack with a 1.6 cm drift region that was operated in a mini TPC type configuration. Both the position and arrival time of the charge deposited in the drift region were measured on the readout plane which allowed the reconstruction of a short vector for the track traversing themore » chamber. The resulting position and angle information from the vector could then be used to improve the position resolution of the detector for larger angle tracks, which deteriorates rapidly with increasing angle for conventional GEM tracking detectors using only charge centroid information. Two types of readout planes were studied. One was a COMPASS style readout plane with 400 μm pitch XY strips and the other consisted of 2 × 10 mm 2 chevron pads. The detector was studied in test beams at Fermilab and CERN, along with additional measurements in the lab, in order to determine its position and angular resolution for incident track angles up to 45 degrees. Several algorithms were studied for reconstructing the vector using the position and timing information in order to optimize the position and angular resolution of the detector for the different readout planes. Finally, applications for large angle tracking detectors at RHIC and EIC are also discussed.« less

Performance of a large size triple GEM detector at high particle rate for the CBM Experiment at FAIR

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adak, Rama Prasad; Kumar, Ajit; Dubey, Anand Kumar; Chattopadhyay, Subhasis; Das, Supriya; Raha, Sibaji; Samanta, Subhasis; Saini, Jogender

2017-02-01

In CBM Experiment at FAIR, dimuons will be detected by a Muon Chamber (MUCH) consisting of segmented absorbers of varying widths and tracking chambers sandwiched between the absorber-pairs. In this fixed target heavy-ion collision experiment, operating at highest interaction rate of 10 MHz for Au+Au collision, the inner region of the 1st detector will face a particle rate of 1 MHz/cm2. To operate at such a high particle density, GEM technology based detectors have been selected for the first two stations of MUCH. We have reported earlier the performance of several small-size GEM detector prototypes built at VECC for use in MUCH. In this work, we report on a large GEM prototype tested with proton beam of momentum 2.36 GeV/c at COSY-Jülich Germany. The detector was read out using nXYTER operated in self-triggering mode. An efficiency higher than 96% at ΔVGEM = 375.2 V was achieved. The variation of efficiency with the rate of incoming protons has been found to vary within 2% when tested up to a maximum rate of 2.8 MHz/cm2. The gain was found to be stable at high particle rate with a maximum variation of ∼9%.

Simulation of energy spectrum of GEM detector from an x-ray quantum

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Malinowski, K.; Chernyshova, M.; Czarski, T.; Kowalska-Strzęciwilk, E.; Linczuk, P.; Wojeński, A.; Krawczyk, R.; Gąska, M.

2018-01-01

This paper presents the results of the energy resolution simulation for the triple GEM-based detector for x-ray quantum of 5.9 keV . Photons of this energy are emitted by 55Fe source, which is a standard calibration marker for this type of detectors. The calculations were made in Garfield++ in two stages. In the first stage, the distribution of the amount of primary electrons generated in the drift volume by the x-ray quantum was simulated using the Heed program. Secondly, the primary electrons of the resulting quantitative distribution were treated as a source of electron avalanches propagated through the whole volume of the triple GEM-based detector. The distribution of the obtained signals created a spectrum corresponding to the peak at 5.9 keV, which allowed us to determine the theoretical energy resolution of the detector. Its knowledge allows observing and improving the eventual experimental deterioration of the energy resolution, inevitably accompanying processes of registration and processing of the signals.

Fast modular data acquisition system for GEM-2D detector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kasprowicz, G.; Byszuk, Adrian; Wojeński, A.; Zienkiewicz, P.; Czarski, T.; Chernyshova, M.; Poźniak, K.; Rzadkiewicz, J.; Zabolotny, W.; Juszczyk, B.

2014-11-01

A novel approach to two dimensional Gas Electron Multiplier (GEM) detector readout is presented. Unlike commonly used methods, based on discriminators and analogue FIFOs, the method developed uses simulta- neously sampling high speed ADCs with fast hybrid integrator and advanced FPGA-based processing logic to estimate the energy of every single photon. Such a method is applied to every GEM strip / pixel signal. It is especially useful in case of crystal-based spectrometers for soft X-rays, 2D imaging for plasma tomography and all these applications where energy resolution of every single photon is required. For the purpose of the detector readout, a novel, highly modular and extendable conception of the measurement platform was developed. It is evolution of already deployed measurement system for JET Spectrometer.

GEM detector development for tokamak plasma radiation diagnostics: SXR poloidal tomography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chernyshova, Maryna; Malinowski, Karol; Ziółkowski, Adam; Kowalska-Strzeciwilk, Ewa; Czarski, Tomasz; Poźniak, Krzysztof T.; Kasprowicz, Grzegorz; Zabołotny, Wojciech; Wojeński, Andrzej; Kolasiński, Piotr; Krawczyk, Rafał D.

2015-09-01

An increased attention to tungsten material is related to a fact that it became a main candidate for the plasma facing material in ITER and future fusion reactor. The proposed work refers to the studies of W influence on the plasma performances by developing new detectors based on Gas Electron Multiplier GEM) technology for tomographic studies of tungsten transport in ITER-oriented tokamaks, e.g. WEST project. It presents current stage of design and developing of cylindrically bent SXR GEM detector construction for horizontal port implementation. Concept to overcome an influence of constraints on vertical port has been also presented. It is expected that the detecting unit under development, when implemented, will add to the safe operation of tokamak bringing creation of sustainable nuclear fusion reactors a step closer.

Performance of the full size nGEM detector for the SPIDER experiment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Muraro, A.; Croci, G.; Albani, G.; Claps, G.; Cavenago, M.; Cazzaniga, C.; Dalla Palma, M.; Grosso, G.; Murtas, F.; Pasqualotto, R.; Perelli Cippo, E.; Rebai, M.; Tardocchi, M.; Tollin, M.; Gorini, G.

2016-03-01

The ITER neutral beam test facility under construction in Padova will host two experimental devices: SPIDER, a 100 kV negative H/D RF beam source, and MITICA, a full scale, 1 MeV deuterium beam injector. SPIDER will start operations in 2016 while MITICA is expected to start during 2019. Both devices feature a beam dump used to stop the produced deuteron beam. Detection of fusion neutrons produced between beam-deuterons and dump-implanted deuterons will be used as a means to resolve the horizontal beam intensity profile. The neutron detection system will be placed right behind the beam dump, as close to the neutron emitting surface as possible thus providing the map of the neutron emission on the beam dump surface. The system uses nGEM neutron detectors. These are Gas Electron Multiplier detectors equipped with a cathode that also serves as neutron-proton converter foil. The cathode is designed to ensure that most of the detected neutrons at a point of the nGEM surface are emitted from the corresponding beamlet footprint (with dimensions of about 40×22 mm2) on the dump front surface. The size of the nGEM detector for SPIDER is 352 mm×200 mm. Several smaller size prototypes have been successfully made in the last years and the experience gained on these detectors has led to the production of the full size detector for SPIDER during 2014. This nGEM has a read-out board made of 256 pads (arranged in a 16×16 matrix) each with a dimension of 22 mm×13 mm. This paper describes the production of this detector and its tests (in terms of beam profile reconstruction capability, uniformity over the active area, gamma rejection capability and time stability) performed on the ROTAX beam-line at the ISIS spallation source (Didcot-UK).

A GEM readout with radial zigzag strips and linear charge-sharing response

DOE PAGES

Zhang, Aiwu; Hohlmann, Marcus; Azmoun, Babak; ...

2018-01-10

Here, we study the position sensitivity of radial zigzag strips intended to read out large GEM detectors for tracking at future experiments. Zigzag strips can cover a readout area with fewer strips than regular straight strips while maintaining good spatial resolution. Consequently, they can reduce the number of required electronic channels and related cost for large-area GEM detector systems. A non-linear relation between incident particle position and hit position measured from charge sharing among zigzag strips was observed in a previous study. We significantly reduce this non-linearity by improving the interleaving of adjacent physical zigzag strips. Zigzag readout structures aremore » implemented on PCBs and on a flexible foil and are tested using a 10 cm × 10 cm triple-GEM detector scanned with a strongly collimated X-ray gun on a 2D motorized stage. Lastly, angular resolutions of 60–84 μrad are achieved with a 1.37 mrad angular strip pitch at a radius of 784 mm. On a linear scale this corresponds to resolutions below 100 μm.« less

A GEM readout with radial zigzag strips and linear charge-sharing response

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Aiwu; Hohlmann, Marcus; Azmoun, Babak; Purschke, Martin L.; Woody, Craig

2018-04-01

We study the position sensitivity of radial zigzag strips intended to read out large GEM detectors for tracking at future experiments. Zigzag strips can cover a readout area with fewer strips than regular straight strips while maintaining good spatial resolution. Consequently, they can reduce the number of required electronic channels and related cost for large-area GEM detector systems. A non-linear relation between incident particle position and hit position measured from charge sharing among zigzag strips was observed in a previous study. We significantly reduce this non-linearity by improving the interleaving of adjacent physical zigzag strips. Zigzag readout structures are implemented on PCBs and on a flexible foil and are tested using a 10 cm × 10 cm triple-GEM detector scanned with a strongly collimated X-ray gun on a 2D motorized stage. Angular resolutions of 60-84 μrad are achieved with a 1.37 mrad angular strip pitch at a radius of 784 mm. On a linear scale this corresponds to resolutions below 100 μm.

Status of the KLOE-2 Inner Tracker

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

De Lucia, Erika

2018-01-01

KLOE-2 at the DAΦNE Φ-factory is the main experiment of the INFN Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati (LNF) and is the first high-energy experiment using the GEM technology with a cylindrical geometry, a novel idea developed at LNF. Four concentric cylindrical triple-GEM detectors compose the Inner Tracker, inserted around the interaction region and before the inner wall of the pre-existing KLOE Drift Chamber to improve the resolution on decay vertices close to the interaction point. State-of-the-art solutions have been expressly developed or tuned for this project: single-mask GEM etching, multi-layer XV patterned readout, PEEK spacer grid, GASTONE front-end board, a custom 64-channel ASIC with digital output, and the Global Interface Board for data collection, with a configurable FPGA architecture and Gigabit Ethernet. Alignment and calibration of a cylindrical GEM detector was never done before and represents one of the challenging activities of the experiment. The Inner Tracker detector construction, operation, calibration and performance obtained with cosmic-ray muons and Bhabha scattering events will be reported.

A cylindrical tripleGEM detector for the BESIII experiment: Measurement of the performance in a magnetic field and project status

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Farinelli, R.; BESIII CGEM Group

2017-01-01

A new cylindrical GEM detector is under development to upgrade the tracking system of the BESIII experiment at the IHEP in Beijing. The new detector will replace the current inner drift chamber of the experiment in order to increase significantly the spatial resolution along the beam direction (σ_z ˜ 300 μ m) and to grant the performance of momentum resolution (σ_{p_t}/p_t ˜ 0.5% at 1GeV) and spatial resolution (σ_{xy} ˜ 130 μ m). A cylindrical prototype with the final detector dimensions has been built and the assembly procedure has been successfully validated. Moreover the performance of a 10 × 10 cm ^2 planar GEM has been studied inside a magnetic field by means of a beam test at CERN. The data have been analyzed using two different readout mode: the charge centroid (CC) and the micro time projection chamber ( μ TPC) method.

The development of algorithms for the deployment of new version of GEM-detector-based acquisition system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krawczyk, Rafał D.; Czarski, Tomasz; Kolasiński, Piotr; Linczuk, Paweł; Poźniak, Krzysztof T.; Chernyshova, Maryna; Kasprowicz, Grzegorz; Wojeński, Andrzej; Zabolotny, Wojciech; Zienkiewicz, Paweł

2016-09-01

This article is an overview of what has been implemented in the process of development and testing the GEM detector based acquisition system in terms of post-processing algorithms. Information is given on mex functions for extended statistics collection, unified hex topology and optimized S-DAQ algorithm for splitting overlapped signals. Additional discussion on bottlenecks and major factors concerning optimization is presented.

Limits of a spatial resolution of the cascaded GEM based detectors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kudryavtsev, V. N.; Maltsev, T. V.; Shekhtman, L. I.

2017-06-01

Spatial resolution of tracking detectors based on GEM cascades is determined in the simulation and measured. The simulation includes GEANT4 implemented transport of high energy electrons with careful accounting for atomic relaxation processes including emission of fluorescent photons and Auger electrons and custom post-processing taking into account diffusion, gas amplification fluctuations, the distribution of signals over readout electrodes, electronics noise and particular algorithm of final coordinate calculation (centre-of-gravity algorithm). The simulation demonstrates that the minimum of the spatial resolution of about 10-20 μm can be achieved with a gas mixture of Ar-CO2 (75%-25%) at a strip pitch in the range from 250 μm to 300 μm. At a larger pitch the resolution quickly degrades reaching 70-100 μm at a pitch of 450-500 μm. The reasons of such behavior are discussed and corresponding hypothesis is tested. Particularly, the effect of electron cloud modification due to a GEM operation is considered using the ANSYS and Garfield++ simulation programs. The detection efficiency and spatial resolution of low-material triple-GEM detectors for the DEUTERON facility at BINP are measured at the extracted beam facility of the VEPP-4M collider. One-coordinate resolution of two detectors for the DEUTERON facility is measured with a 2 GeV electron beam. The determined values of the detectors' spatial resolution is equal to 46.6 ± 0.1 μm and 38.5 ± 0.2 μm for orthogonal tracks in two detectors, respectively.

Application of GEM-based detectors in full-field XRF imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dąbrowski, W.; Fiutowski, T.; Frączek, P.; Koperny, S.; Lankosz, M.; Mendys, A.; Mindur, B.; Świentek, K.; Wiącek, P.; Wróbel, P. M.

2016-12-01

X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF) is a commonly used technique for non-destructive elemental analysis of cultural heritage objects. It can be applied to investigations of provenance of historical objects as well as to studies of art techniques. While the XRF analysis can be easily performed locally using standard available equipment there is a growing interest in imaging of spatial distribution of specific elements. Spatial imaging of elemental distrbutions is usually realised by scanning an object with a narrow focused X-ray excitation beam and measuring characteristic fluorescence radiation using a high energy resolution detector, usually a silicon drift detector. Such a technique, called macro-XRF imaging, is suitable for investigation of flat surfaces but it is time consuming because the spatial resolution is basically determined by the spot size of the beam. Another approach is the full-field XRF, which is based on simultaneous irradiation and imaging of large area of an object. The image of the investigated area is projected by a pinhole camera on a position-sensitive and energy dispersive detector. The infinite depth of field of the pinhole camera allows one, in principle, investigation of non-flat surfaces. One of possible detectors to be employed in full-field XRF imaging is a GEM based detector with 2-dimensional readout. In the paper we report on development of an imaging system equipped with a standard 3-stage GEM detector of 10 × 10 cm2 equipped with readout electronics based on dedicated full-custom ASICs and DAQ system. With a demonstrator system we have obtained 2-D spatial resolution of the order of 100 μm and energy resolution at a level of 20% FWHM for 5.9 keV . Limitations of such a detector due to copper fluorescence radiation excited in the copper-clad drift electrode and GEM foils is discussed and performance of the detector using chromium-clad electrodes is reported.

Data processing and analysis for 2D imaging GEM detector system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Czarski, T.; Chernyshova, M.; Pozniak, K. T.; Kasprowicz, G.; Byszuk, A.; Juszczyk, B.; Kolasinski, P.; Linczuk, M.; Wojenski, A.; Zabolotny, W.; Zienkiewicz, P.

2014-11-01

The Triple Gas Electron Multiplier (T-GEM) is presented as soft X-ray (SXR) energy and position sensitive detector for high-resolution X-ray diagnostics of magnetic confinement fusion plasmas [1]. Multi-channel measurement system and essential data processing for X-ray energy and position recognition is consider. Several modes of data acquisition are introduced depending on processing division for hardware and software components. Typical measuring issues aredeliberated for enhancement of data quality. Fundamental output characteristics are presented for one and two dimensional detector structure. Representative results for reference X-ray source and tokamak plasma are demonstrated.

Serial data acquisition for GEM-2D detector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kolasinski, Piotr; Pozniak, Krzysztof T.; Czarski, Tomasz; Linczuk, Maciej; Byszuk, Adrian; Chernyshova, Maryna; Juszczyk, Bartlomiej; Kasprowicz, Grzegorz; Wojenski, Andrzej; Zabolotny, Wojciech; Zienkiewicz, Pawel; Mazon, Didier; Malard, Philippe; Herrmann, Albrecht; Vezinet, Didier

2014-11-01

This article debates about data fast acquisition and histogramming method for the X-ray GEM detector. The whole process of histogramming is performed by FPGA chips (Spartan-6 series from Xilinx). The results of the histogramming process are stored in an internal FPGA memory and then sent to PC. In PC data is merged and processed by MATLAB. The structure of firmware functionality implemented in the FPGAs is described. Examples of test measurements and results are presented.

Gas electron multiplier (GEM) enhanced ionization chamber for fluorescence detector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shaban, E. H.; Siddons, D. P.; Kuczewski, A.

2007-11-01

Detecting dilute elements in thin materials using extended X-ray absorption fluorescence spectroscopy (EXAFS) method requires a detector capable of high count rate and low noise. For detection of dilute elements, the fluorescence signal amplitude is often overcome by the presence of noise or background interference. In this paper we have used a gas ionization chamber enhanced by a gas electron multiplier (GEM) to amplify the primary ionized electrons due to the X-ray fluorescence of a dilute element. The GEM provides an essentially noise free electron amplification of the signal primary photoelectrons. It provides a larger output current prior to the electronic amplification, allowing a lower gain amplifier with lower electronic circuit noise contribution and hence improved S/ N ratio. In addition, since the signal is produced only by electrons, and not from ion motion, the detector is capable of recording rapidly changing signals. Iron in an arbitrary tree leaf was used as a test sample. This sample was measured using our detector SUBRSAB, and also with Lytle and passivated implanted planar silicon (PIPS) detectors. An improvement in the signal amplitude by a factor of 20 and a factor of 2 are recorded for the proposed detector with respect to the Lytle and PIPS detectors, respectively. Although the gain in signal over the PIPS detector is small for this detector, its lack of sensitivity to light and its low and temperature-independent dark current are further advantages.

X-ray GEM Detectors for Burning Plasma Experiments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Puddu, S.; Bombarda, F.; Pizzicaroli, G.; Murtas, F.

2009-11-01

The harsh environment and higher values of plasma parameters to be expected in future burning plasma experiments (and even more so in future power producing fusion reactors) is prompting the development of new, advanced diagnostic systems. The detection of radiation emitted by the plasma in the X-ray spectral region is likely to play the role that visible or UV radiation have in present day experiments. GEM gas detectors, developed at CERN, are the natural evolution of Multiwire Proportional Chambers, with a number of advantages: higher counting rates, lower noise, good energy resolution, low sensitivity to background radiation. GEM's can be used in several different ways, but two specific applications are being explored in the framework of the Ignitor program, one for plasma position control and the other for high resolution spectroscopy. The diagnostic layout on the Ignitor machine is such that the detectors will not be in direct view of the plasma, at locations where they can be efficiently screened by the background radiation. Prototype detectors 10 x 10 cm^2 in area have been assembled and will be tested to assess the optimal geometrical parameters and operating conditions, regarding in particular the choice between Single and Triple GEM configurations, the gas mixture, and the problem of fan-out associated with the high number of output channels required for high resolution crystal spectrometers.

Radiation imaging with optically read out GEM-based detectors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brunbauer, F. M.; Lupberger, M.; Oliveri, E.; Resnati, F.; Ropelewski, L.; Streli, C.; Thuiner, P.; van Stenis, M.

2018-02-01

Modern imaging sensors allow for high granularity optical readout of radiation detectors such as MicroPattern Gaseous Detectors (MPGDs). Taking advantage of the high signal amplification factors achievable by MPGD technologies such as Gaseous Electron Multipliers (GEMs), highly sensitive detectors can be realised and employing gas mixtures with strong scintillation yield in the visible wavelength regime, optical readout of such detectors can provide high-resolution event representations. Applications from X-ray imaging to fluoroscopy and tomography profit from the good spatial resolution of optical readout and the possibility to obtain images without the need for extensive reconstruction. Sensitivity to low-energy X-rays and energy resolution permit energy resolved imaging and material distinction in X-ray fluorescence measurements. Additionally, the low material budget of gaseous detectors and the possibility to couple scintillation light to imaging sensors via fibres or mirrors makes optically read out GEMs an ideal candidate for beam monitoring detectors in high energy physics as well as radiotherapy. We present applications and achievements of optically read out GEM-based detectors including high spatial resolution imaging and X-ray fluorescence measurements as an alternative readout approach for MPGDs. A detector concept for low intensity applications such as X-ray crystallography, which maximises detection efficiency with a thick conversion region but mitigates parallax-induced broadening is presented and beam monitoring capabilities of optical readout are explored. Augmenting high resolution 2D projections of particle tracks obtained with optical readout with timing information from fast photon detectors or transparent anodes for charge readout, 3D reconstruction of particle trajectories can be performed and permits the realisation of optically read out time projection chambers. Combining readily available high performance imaging sensors with compatible scintillating gases and the strong signal amplification factors achieved by MPGDs makes optical readout an attractive alternative to the common concept of electronic readout of radiation detectors. Outstanding signal-to-noise ratios and robustness against electronic noise allow unprecedented imaging capabilities for various applications in fields ranging from high energy physics to medical instrumentation.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cibinetto, G.

Inner Trackers (IT) are key detectors in Particle Physics experiments; excellent spatial resolution, radiation transparency and hardness, and operability under high occupancies are main requirements. We aim to design, build and commission by 2017 a Cylindrical GEM (CGEM) detector candidate to be the new IT of the BESIII spectrometer, hosted on BEPC2 in IHEP, Beijing; BESIII data taking will last until at least 2020. The IT itself will represent an evolution w.r.t. the state of the art of GEM detectors, since the use of new kind of mechanical supports for the GEM foils will reduce the total radiation length ofmore » the detector and improve its tracking performance; an innovative design of the CGEM anode will allow for smaller capacitance and hence for bigger signals. The relatively strong BESIII magnetic field requires a new analogue readout; full custom front-end electronics, including a dedicated ASIC, will be designed and produced for optimal data collection. Prototype Beam Test results showing the measurement of the spatial resolution in a 1 Tesla magnetic field will be presented among with the mechanical design and simulations. (authors)« less

Study of solid-conversion gaseous detector based on GEM for high energy X-ray industrial CT.

PubMed

Zhou, Rifeng; Zhou, Yaling

2014-01-01

The general gaseous ionization detectors are not suitable for high energy X-ray industrial computed tomography (HEICT) because of their inherent limitations, especially low detective efficiency and large volume. The goal of this study was to investigate a new type of gaseous detector to solve these problems. The novel detector was made by a metal foil as X-ray convertor to improve the conversion efficiency, and the Gas Electron Multiplier (hereinafter "GEM") was used as electron amplifier to lessen its volume. The detective mechanism and signal formation of the detector was discussed in detail. The conversion efficiency was calculated by using EGSnrc Monte Carlo code, and the transport course of photon and secondary electron avalanche in the detector was simulated with the Maxwell and Garfield codes. The result indicated that this detector has higher conversion efficiency as well as less volume. Theoretically this kind of detector could be a perfect candidate for replacing the conventional detector in HEICT.

Fast data transmission from serial data acquisition for the GEM detector system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kolasinski, Piotr; Pozniak, Krzysztof T.; Czarski, Tomasz; Byszuk, Adrian; Chernyshova, Maryna; Kasprowicz, Grzegorz; Krawczyk, Rafal D.; Wojenski, Andrzej; Zabolotny, Wojciech

2015-09-01

This article proposes new method of storing data and transferring it to PC in the X-ray GEM detector system. The whole process is performed by FPGA chips (Spartan-6 series from Xilinx). Comparing to previous methods, new approach allows to store much more data in the system. New, improved implementation of the communication algorithm significantly increases transfer rate between system and PC. In PC data is merged and processed by MATLAB. The structure of firmware implemented in the FPGAs is described.

Detectors for MUSE

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hirschman, Jack; Muon Scattering Experiment (MUSE) Collaboration

2017-09-01

Until recently, it was thought that the proton radius was known with an uncertainty of 1%. However, experiments carried-out at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) involving muonic hydrogen yielded a radius 4% smaller with an uncertainty of .1%, a 7.9 σ inconsistency. This problem of properly measuring the radius now requires new and different measurements. The Muon Scattering Experiment (MUSE) will thus be the first to utilize elastic muon scattering with sufficient precision to address the proton radius measurement. MUSE will run in PSI's PiM1 beamline, using a stack of GEM chambers and thin scintillation detectors to identify and track the beam particle species in this mixed e, pi, mu beam. Scattered particles will be measured in two arms with ten layers of Straw Tube Tracking (STT) detectors and a double plastic scintillator wall for timing of and triggering on scattered particles. The STT chambers will employ the anti-Proton Annihilations at Darmstadt (PANDA) design. Each straw consists of a thin wire with high voltage surrounded by an aluminized Mylar tube inflated with a mix of Argon and Carbon Dioxide, the ratio of which is important for optimal operation. The Argon gas, ionized by incoming charged particles, releases electrons which attract to the central wire. The CO2 acts as a quencher, taking-up electrons to prevent an unstable avalanche effect. This project will investigate the effects of altering the gas mixture in the STTs on signal size and timing. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. OISE-1358175, PHY-1614850, and PHY-1614938. Thank you to the teams at HUJI and PSI, in particular, Dr. G. Ron, Dr. T. Rostomyan, Dr. K. Dieters, and D. Cohen.

Combined readout of a triple-GEM detector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Antochi, V. C.; Baracchini, E.; Cavoto, G.; Di Marco, E.; Marafini, M.; Mazzitelli, G.; Pinci, D.; Renga, F.; Tomassini, S.; Voena, C.

2018-05-01

Optical readout of GEM based devices by means of high granularity and low noise CMOS sensors allows to obtain very interesting tracking performance. Space resolution of the order of tens of μm were measured on the GEM plane along with an energy resolution of 20%÷30%. The main limitation of CMOS sensors is represented by their poor information about time structure of the event. In this paper, the use of a concurrent light readout by means of a suitable photomultiplier and the acquisition of the electric signal induced on the GEM electrode are exploited to provide the necessary timing informations. The analysis of the PMT waveform allows a 3D reconstruction of each single clusters with a resolution on z of 100 μm. Moreover, from the PMT signals it is possible to obtain a fast reconstruction of the energy released within the detector with a resolution of the order of 25% even in the tens of keV range useful, for example, for triggering purpose.

Lifetime Estimation of a Time Projection Chamber X-ray Polarimeter

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hill, Joanne E.; Black, J. Kevin; Brieda, Lubos; Dickens, Patsy L.; deGarcia, Kristina Montt; Hawk, Douglas L.; Hayato, Asami; Jahoda, Keith; Mohammed, Jelila

2013-01-01

The Gravity and Extreme Magnetism Small Explorer (GEMS) X-ray polarimeter Instrument (XPI) was designed to measure the polarization of 23 sources over the course of its 9 month mission. The XPI design consists of two telescopes each with a polarimeter assembly at the focus of a grazing incidence mirror. To make sensitive polarization measurements the GEMS Polarimeter Assembly (PA) employed a gas detection system based on a Time Projection Chamber (TPC) technique. Gas detectors are inherently at risk of degraded performance arising from contamination from outgassing of internal detector components or due to loss of gas. This paper describes the design and the materials used to build a prototype of the flight polarimeter with the required GEMS lifetime. We report the results from outgassing measurements of the polarimeter subassemblies and assemblies, enclosure seal tests, life tests, and performance tests that demonstrate that the GEMS lifetime is achievable. Finally we report performance measurements and the lifetime enhancement from the use of a getter.

Prototype of a Muon Tomography Station with GEM detectors for Detection of Shielded Nuclear Contraband

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Staib, Michael; Bhopatkar, Vallary; Bittner, William; Hohlmann, Marcus; Locke, Judson; Twigger, Jessie; Gnanvo, Kondo

2012-03-01

Muon tomography for homeland security aims at detecting well-shielded nuclear contraband in cargo and imaging it in 3D. The technique exploits multiple scattering of atmospheric cosmic ray muons, which is stronger in dense, high-Z materials, e.g. enriched uranium, than in low-Z and medium-Z shielding materials. We have constructed and are operating a compact Muon Tomography Station (MTS) that tracks muons with eight 30 cm x 30 cm Triple Gas Electron Multiplier (GEM) detectors placed on the sides of a cubic-foot imaging volume. A point-of-closest-approach algorithm applied to reconstructed incident and exiting tracks is used to create a tomographic reconstruction of the material within the active volume. We discuss the performance of this MTS prototype including characterization and commissioning of the GEM detectors and the data acquisition systems. We also present experimental tomographic images of small high-Z objects including depleted uranium with and without shielding and discuss the performance of material discrimination using this method.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhang, Aiwu; Hohlmann, Marcus; Azmoun, Babak

Here, we study the position sensitivity of radial zigzag strips intended to read out large GEM detectors for tracking at future experiments. Zigzag strips can cover a readout area with fewer strips than regular straight strips while maintaining good spatial resolution. Consequently, they can reduce the number of required electronic channels and related cost for large-area GEM detector systems. A non-linear relation between incident particle position and hit position measured from charge sharing among zigzag strips was observed in a previous study. We significantly reduce this non-linearity by improving the interleaving of adjacent physical zigzag strips. Zigzag readout structures aremore » implemented on PCBs and on a flexible foil and are tested using a 10 cm × 10 cm triple-GEM detector scanned with a strongly collimated X-ray gun on a 2D motorized stage. Lastly, angular resolutions of 60–84 μrad are achieved with a 1.37 mrad angular strip pitch at a radius of 784 mm. On a linear scale this corresponds to resolutions below 100 μm.« less

A scintillating gas detector for 2D dose measurements in clinical carbon beams.

PubMed

Seravalli, E; de Boer, M; Geurink, F; Huizenga, J; Kreuger, R; Schippers, J M; van Eijk, C W E; Voss, B

2008-09-07

A two-dimensional position sensitive dosimetry system based on a scintillating gas detector has been developed for pre-treatment verification of dose distributions in hadron therapy. The dosimetry system consists of a chamber filled with an Ar/CF4 scintillating gas mixture, inside which two cascaded gas electron multipliers (GEMs) are mounted. A GEM is a thin kapton foil with copper cladding structured with a regular pattern of sub-mm holes. The primary electrons, created in the detector's sensitive volume by the incoming beam, drift in an electric field towards the GEMs and undergo gas multiplication in the GEM holes. During this process, photons are emitted by the excited Ar/CF4 gas molecules and detected by a mirror-lens-CCD camera system. Since the amount of emitted light is proportional to the dose deposited in the sensitive volume of the detector by the incoming beam, the intensity distribution of the measured light spot is proportional to the 2D hadron dose distribution. For a measurement of a 3D dose distribution, the scintillating gas detector is mounted at the beam exit side of a water-bellows phantom, whose thickness can be varied in steps. In this work, the energy dependence of the output signal of the scintillating gas detector has been verified in a 250 MeV/u clinical 12C ion beam by means of a depth-dose curve measurement. The underestimation of the measured signal at the Bragg peak depth is only 9% with respect to an air-filled ionization chamber. This is much smaller than the underestimation found for a scintillating Gd2O2S:Tb ('Lanex') screen under the same measurement conditions (43%). Consequently, the scintillating gas detector is a promising device for verifying dose distributions in high LET beams, for example to check hadron therapy treatment plans which comprise beams with different energies.

A scintillating gas detector for 2D dose measurements in clinical carbon beams

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Seravalli, E.; de Boer, M.; Geurink, F.; Huizenga, J.; Kreuger, R.; Schippers, J. M.; van Eijk, C. W. E.; Voss, B.

2008-09-01

A two-dimensional position sensitive dosimetry system based on a scintillating gas detector has been developed for pre-treatment verification of dose distributions in hadron therapy. The dosimetry system consists of a chamber filled with an Ar/CF4 scintillating gas mixture, inside which two cascaded gas electron multipliers (GEMs) are mounted. A GEM is a thin kapton foil with copper cladding structured with a regular pattern of sub-mm holes. The primary electrons, created in the detector's sensitive volume by the incoming beam, drift in an electric field towards the GEMs and undergo gas multiplication in the GEM holes. During this process, photons are emitted by the excited Ar/CF4 gas molecules and detected by a mirror-lens-CCD camera system. Since the amount of emitted light is proportional to the dose deposited in the sensitive volume of the detector by the incoming beam, the intensity distribution of the measured light spot is proportional to the 2D hadron dose distribution. For a measurement of a 3D dose distribution, the scintillating gas detector is mounted at the beam exit side of a water-bellows phantom, whose thickness can be varied in steps. In this work, the energy dependence of the output signal of the scintillating gas detector has been verified in a 250 MeV/u clinical 12C ion beam by means of a depth-dose curve measurement. The underestimation of the measured signal at the Bragg peak depth is only 9% with respect to an air-filled ionization chamber. This is much smaller than the underestimation found for a scintillating Gd2O2S:Tb ('Lanex') screen under the same measurement conditions (43%). Consequently, the scintillating gas detector is a promising device for verifying dose distributions in high LET beams, for example to check hadron therapy treatment plans which comprise beams with different energies.

Performance studies of the P barANDA planar GEM-tracking detector in physics simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Divani Veis, Nazila; Firoozabadi, Mohammad M.; Karabowicz, Radoslaw; Maas, Frank; Saito, Takehiko R.; Voss, Bernd; ̅PANDA Gem-Tracker Subgroup

2018-03-01

The P barANDA experiment will be installed at the future facility for antiproton and ion research (FAIR) in Darmstadt, Germany, to study events from the annihilation of protons and antiprotons. The P barANDA detectors can cover a wide physics program about baryon spectroscopy and nucleon structure as well as the study of hadrons and hypernuclear physics including the study of excited hyperon states. One very specific feature of most hyperon ground states is the long decay length of several centimeters in the forward direction. The central tracking detectors of the P barANDA setup are not sufficiently optimized for these long decay lengths. Therefore, using a set of the planar GEM-tracking detectors in the forward region of interest can improve the results in the hyperon physics-benchmark channel. The current conceptual designed P barANDA GEM-tracking stations contribute the measurement of the particles emitted in the polar angles between about 2 to 22 degrees. For this designed detector performance and acceptance, studies have been performed using one of the important hyperonic decay channel p bar p → Λ bar Λ → p bar pπ+π- in physics simulations. The simulations were carried out using the PandaRoot software packages based on the FairRoot framework.

Particle tracking with a Timepix based triple GEM detector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

George, S. P.; Murtas, F.; Alozy, J.; Curioni, A.; Rosenfeld, A. B.; Silari, M.

2015-11-01

This paper details the response of a triple GEM detector with a 55 μmetre pitch pixelated ASIC for readout. The detector is operated as a micro TPC with 9.5 cm3 sensitive volume and characterized with a mixed beam of 120 GeV protons and positive pions. A process for reconstruction of incident particle tracks from individual ionization clusters is described and scans of the gain and drift fields are performed. The angular resolution of the measured tracks is characterized. Also, the readout was operated in a mixed mode where some pixels measure drift time and others charge. This was used to measure the energy deposition in the detector and the charge cloud size as a function of interaction depth. The future uses of the device, including in microdosimetry are discussed.

SXR measurement and W transport survey using GEM tomographic system on WEST

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mazon, D.; Jardin, A.; Malard, P.; Chernyshova, M.; Coston, C.; Malard, P.; O'Mullane, M.; Czarski, T.; Malinowski, K.; Faisse, F.; Ferlay, F.; Verger, J. M.; Bec, A.; Larroque, S.; Kasprowicz, G.; Wojenski, A.; Pozniak, K.

2017-11-01

Measuring Soft X-Ray (SXR) radiation (0.1-20 keV) of fusion plasmas is a standard way of accessing valuable information on particle transport. Since heavy impurities like tungsten (W) could degrade plasma core performances and cause radiative collapses, it is necessary to develop new diagnostics to be able to monitor the impurity distribution in harsh fusion environments like ITER. A gaseous detector with energy discrimination would be a very good candidate for this purpose. The design and implementation of a new SXR diagnostic developed for the WEST project, based on a triple Gas Electron Multiplier (GEM) detector is presented. This detector works in photon counting mode and presents energy discrimination capabilities. The SXR system is composed of two 1D cameras (vertical and horizontal views respectively), located in the same poloidal cross-section to allow for tomographic reconstruction. An array (20 cm × 2 cm) consists of up to 128 detectors in front of a beryllium pinhole (equipped with a 1 mm diameter diaphragm) inserted at about 50 cm depth inside a cooled thimble in order to retrieve a wide plasma view. Acquisition of low energy spectrum is insured by a helium buffer installed between the pinhole and the detector. Complementary cooling systems (water) are used to maintain a constant temperature (25oC) inside the thimble. Finally a real-time automatic extraction system has been developed to protect the diagnostic during baking phases or any overheating unwanted events. Preliminary simulations of plasma emissivity and W distribution have been performed for WEST using a recently developed synthetic diagnostic coupled to a tomographic algorithm based on the minimum Fisher information (MFI) inversion method. First GEM acquisitions are presented as well as estimation of transport effect in presence of ICRH on W density reconstruction capabilities of the GEM.

2D dosimetry in a proton beam with a scintillating GEM detector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Seravalli, E.; de Boer, M. R.; Geurink, F.; Huizenga, J.; Kreuger, R.; Schippers, J. M.; van Eijk, C. W. E.

2009-06-01

A two-dimensional position-sensitive dosimetry system based on a scintillating gas detector is being developed for pre-treatment verification of dose distributions in particle therapy. The dosimetry system consists of a chamber filled with an Ar/CF4 scintillating gas mixture, inside which two gas electron multiplier (GEM) structures are mounted (Seravalli et al 2008b Med. Phys. Biol. 53 4651-65). Photons emitted by the excited Ar/CF4 gas molecules during the gas multiplication in the GEM holes are detected by a mirror-lens-CCD camera system. The intensity distribution of the measured light spot is proportional to the 2D dose distribution. In this work, we report on the characterization of the scintillating GEM detector in terms of those properties that are of particular importance in relative dose measurements, e.g. response reproducibility, dose dependence, dose rate dependence, spatial and time response, field size dependence, response uniformity. The experiments were performed in a 150 MeV proton beam. We found that the detector response is very stable for measurements performed in succession (σ = 0.6%) and its response reproducibility over 2 days is about 5%. The detector response was found to be linear with the dose in the range 0.05-19 Gy. No dose rate effects were observed between 1 and 16 Gy min-1 at the shallow depth of a water phantom and 2 and 38 Gy min-1 at the Bragg peak depth. No field size effects were observed in the range 120-3850 mm2. A signal rise and fall time of 2 µs was recorded and a spatial response of <=1 mm was measured.

Results of neutron irradiation of GEM detector for plasma radiation detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jednorog, S.; Bienkowska, B.; Chernyshova, M.; Łaszynska, E.; Prokopowicz, R.; Ziołkowski, A.

2015-09-01

The detecting devices dedicated for plasma monitoring will be exposed for massive fluxes of neutron, photons as well as other rays that are components of fusion reactions and their product interactions with plasma itself or surroundings. In result detecting module metallic components will be activated becoming a source of radiation. Moreover, electronics components could change their electronic properties. The prototype GEM detector constructed for monitoring soft X-ray radiation in ITER oriented tokamaks was used for plasma monitoring during experimental campaign on tokamak ASDEX Upgrade. After that it became a source of gamma radiation caused by neutrons. The present work contains description of detector activation in the laboratory conditions.

Modeling of serial data acquisition structure for GEM detector system in Matlab

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kolasinski, Piotr; Pozniak, Krzysztof T.; Czarski, Tomasz; Chernyshova, Maryna; Kasprowicz, Grzegorz; Krawczyk, Rafal D.; Wojenski, Andrzej; Zabolotny, Wojciech; Byszuk, Adrian

2016-09-01

This article presents method of modeling in Matlab hardware architecture dedicated for FPGA created by languages like VHDL or Verilog. Purposes of creating such type of model with its advantages and disadvantages are described. Rules presented in this article were exploited to create model of Serial Data Acquisition algorithm used in X-ray GEM detector system. Result were compared to real working model implemented in VHDL. After testing of basic structure, other two structures were modeled to see influence parameters of the structure on its behavior.

Multi-GEM Detectors in High Particle Fluxes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thuiner, P.; Resnati, F.; Franchino, S.; Gonzalez Diaz, D.; Hall-Wilton, R.; Müller, H.; Oliveri, E.; Pfeiffer, D.; Ropelewski, L.; Van Stenis, M.; Streli, C.; Veenhof, R.

2018-02-01

Gaseous Electron Multipliers (GEM) are well known for stable operation at high particle fluxes. We present a study of the intrinsic limits of GEMdetectors when exposed to very high particle fluxes of the order of MHz/mm2. We give an interpretation to the variations of the effective gain, which, as a function of the particle flux, first increases and then decreases. We also discuss the reduction of the ion back-flow with increasing flux. We present measurements and simulations of a triple GEM detector, describing its behaviour in terms of accumulation of positive ions that results in changes of the transfer fields and the amplification fields. The behaviour is expected to be common to all multi-stage amplification devices where the efficiency of transferring the electrons from one stage to the next one is not 100%.

Study of a Large Prototype TPC for the ILC using Micro-Pattern Gas Detectors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Münnich, A.; LCTPC Collaboration

2016-04-01

In the last decade, R&D for detectors for the future International Linear Collider (ILC) has been performed by the community. The International Large Detector (ILD) is one of two detector concepts at the ILC. Its tracking system consists of a Si vertex detector, forward tracking disks and a large volume Time Projection Chamber (TPC). Within the LCTPC collaboration, a Large Prototype (LP) TPC has been built as a demonstrator. Its endplate is able to house up to seven identical modules with Micro-Pattern Gas Detectors (MPGD) amplification. Recently, the LP has been equipped with resistive anode Micromegas (MM) or Gas Electron Multiplier (GEM) modules. Both the MM and GEM technologies have been studied with an electron beam up to 6 GeV in a 1 Tesla solenoid magnet. After introducing the current R&D status, recent results will be presented including field distortions, ion gating and spatial resolution as well as future plans of the LCTPC R&D.

PLC-controlled cryostats for the BlackGEM and MeerLICHT detectors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Raskin, Gert; Morren, Johan; Pessemier, Wim; Bloemen, Steven; Klein-Wolt, Marc; Roelfsema, Ronald; Groot, Paul; Aerts, Conny

2016-08-01

BlackGEM is an array of telescopes, currently under development at the Radboud University Nijmegen and at NOVA (Netherlands Research School for Astronomy). It targets the detection of the optical counterparts of gravitational waves. The first three BlackGEM telescopes are planned to be installed in 2018 at the La Silla observatory (Chile). A single prototype telescope, named MeerLICHT, will already be commissioned early 2017 in Sutherland (South Africa) to provide an optical complement for the MeerKAT radio array. The BlackGEM array consists of, initially, a set of three robotic 65-cm wide-field telescopes. Each telescope is equipped with a single STA1600 CCD detector with 10.5k x 10.5k 9-micron pixels that covers a 2.7 square degrees field of view. The cryostats for housing these detectors are developed and built at the KU Leuven University (Belgium). The operational model of BlackGEM requires long periods of reliable hands-off operation. Therefore, we designed the cryostats for long vacuum hold time and we make use of a closed-cycle cooling system, based on Polycold PCC Joule-Thomson coolers. A single programmable logic controller (PLC) controls the cryogenic systems of several BlackGEM telescopes simultaneously, resulting in a highly reliable, cost-efficient and maintenance-friendly system. PLC-based cryostat control offers some distinct advantages, especially for a robotic facility. Apart of temperature monitoring and control, the PLC also monitors the vacuum quality, the power supply and the status of the PCC coolers (compressor power consumption and temperature, pressure in the gas lines, etc.). Furthermore, it provides an alarming system and safe and reproducible procedures for automatic cool down and warm up. The communication between PLC and higher-level software takes place via the OPC-UA protocol, offering a simple to implement, yet very powerful interface. Finally, a touch-panel display on the PLC provides the operator with a user-friendly and robust technical interface. In this contribution, we present the design of the BlackGEM cryostats and of the PLC-based control system.

The ALICE TPC Upgrad

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Castro, Andrew; Alice-Usa Collaboration; Alice-Tpc Collaboration

2017-09-01

The Time Projection Chamber (TPC) currently used for ALICE (A Large Ion Collider Experiment at CERN) is a gaseous tracking detector used to study both proton-proton and heavy-ion collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) In order to accommodate the higher luminosit collisions planned for the LHC Run-3 starting in 2021, the ALICE-TPC will undergo a major upgrade during the next LHC shut down. The TPC is limited to a read out of 1000 Hz in minimum bias events due to the intrinsic dead time associated with back ion flow in the multi wire proportional chambers (MWPC) in the TPC. The TPC upgrade will handle the increase in event readout to 50 kHz for heavy ion minimum bias triggered events expected with the Run-3 luminosity by switching the MWPCs to a stack of four Gaseous Electron Multiplier (GEM) foils. The GEM layers will combine different hole pitches to reduce the dead time while maintaining the current spatial and energy resolution of the existing TPC. Undertaking the upgrade of the TPC represents a massive endeavor in terms of design, production, construction, quality assurance, and installation, thus the upgrade is coordinated over a number of institutes worldwide. The talk will go over the physics motivation for the upgrade, the ALICE-USA contribution to the construction of Inner Read Out Chambers IROCs, and QA from the first chambers built in the U.S

High density harp or wire scanner for particle beam diagnostics

DOEpatents

Fritsche, C.T.; Krogh, M.L.

1996-05-21

Disclosed is a diagnostic detector head harp used to detect and characterize high energy particle beams using an array of closely spaced detector wires, typically carbon wires, spaced less than 0.1 cm (0.040 inch) connected to a hybrid microcircuit formed on a ceramic substrate. A method to fabricate harps to obtain carbon wire spacing and density not previously available utilizing hybrid microcircuit technology. The hybrid microcircuit disposed on the ceramic substrate connects electrically between the detector wires and diagnostic equipment which analyzes pulses generated in the detector wires by the high energy particle beams. 6 figs.

GEM detectors development for radiation environment: neutron tests and simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chernyshova, Maryna; Jednoróg, Sławomir; Malinowski, Karol; Czarski, Tomasz; Ziółkowski, Adam; Bieńkowska, Barbara; Prokopowicz, Rafał; Łaszyńska, Ewa; Kowalska-Strzeciwilk, Ewa; Poźniak, Krzysztof T.; Kasprowicz, Grzegorz; Zabołotny, Wojciech; Wojeński, Andrzej; Krawczyk, Rafał D.; Linczuk, Paweł; Potrykus, Paweł; Bajdel, Barcel

2016-09-01

One of the requests from the ongoing ITER-Like Wall Project is to have diagnostics for Soft X-Ray (SXR) monitoring in tokamak. Such diagnostics should be focused on tungsten emission measurements, as an increased attention is currently paid to tungsten due to a fact that it became a main candidate for the plasma facing material in ITER and future fusion reactor. In addition, such diagnostics should be able to withstand harsh radiation environment at tokamak during its operation. The presented work is related to the development of such diagnostics based on Gas Electron Multiplier (GEM) technology. More specifically, an influence of neutron radiation on performance of the GEM detectors is studied both experimentally and through computer simulations. The neutron induced radioactivity (after neutron source exposure) was found to be not pronounced comparing to an impact of other secondary neutron reaction products (during the exposure).

Introducing parallelism to histogramming functions for GEM systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krawczyk, Rafał D.; Czarski, Tomasz; Kolasinski, Piotr; Pozniak, Krzysztof T.; Linczuk, Maciej; Byszuk, Adrian; Chernyshova, Maryna; Juszczyk, Bartlomiej; Kasprowicz, Grzegorz; Wojenski, Andrzej; Zabolotny, Wojciech

2015-09-01

This article is an assessment of potential parallelization of histogramming algorithms in GEM detector system. Histogramming and preprocessing algorithms in MATLAB were analyzed with regard to adding parallelism. Preliminary implementation of parallel strip histogramming resulted in speedup. Analysis of algorithms parallelizability is presented. Overview of potential hardware and software support to implement parallel algorithm is discussed.

On algorithmic optimization of histogramming functions for GEM systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krawczyk, Rafał D.; Czarski, Tomasz; Kolasinski, Piotr; Poźniak, Krzysztof T.; Linczuk, Maciej; Byszuk, Adrian; Chernyshova, Maryna; Juszczyk, Bartlomiej; Kasprowicz, Grzegorz; Wojenski, Andrzej; Zabolotny, Wojciech

2015-09-01

This article concerns optimization methods for data analysis for the X-ray GEM detector system. The offline analysis of collected samples was optimized for MATLAB computations. Compiled functions in C language were used with MEX library. Significant speedup was received for both ordering-preprocessing and for histogramming of samples. Utilized techniques with obtained results are presented.

Large size GEM for Super Bigbite Spectrometer (SBS) polarimeter for Hall A 12GeV program at JLab

DOE PAGES

Gnanvo, Kondo; Liyanage, Nilanga; Nelyubin, Vladimir; ...

2015-05-01

We report on the R&D effort in the design and construction of a large size GEM chamber for the Proton Polarimeter of the Super Bigbite Spectrometer (SBS) in Hall A at Thomas Jefferson National Laboratory (JLab). The SBS Polarimeter trackers consist of two sets of four large chambers of size 200 cm x 60 cm 2. Each chamber is a vertical stack of four GEM modules with an active area of 60 cm x 50 cm. We have built and tested several GEM modules and we describe in this paper the design and construction of the final GEM as wellmore » as the preliminary results on performances from tests carried out in our detector lab and with test beams at (Fermilab).« less

High density harp or wire scanner for particle beam diagnostics

DOEpatents

Fritsche, Craig T.; Krogh, Michael L.

1996-05-21

A diagnostic detector head harp (23) used to detect and characterize high energy particle beams using an array of closely spaced detector wires (21), typically carbon wires, spaced less than 0.1 cm (0.040 inch) connected to a hybrid microcircuit (25) formed on a ceramic substrate (26). A method to fabricate harps (23) to obtain carbon wire spacing and density not previously available utilizing hybrid microcircuit technology. The hybrid microcircuit (25) disposed on the ceramic substrate (26) connects electrically between the detector wires (21) and diagnostic equipment (37) which analyzes pulses generated in the detector wires (21) by the high energy particle beams.

Development of GEM gas detectors for X-ray crystal spectrometry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chernyshova, M.; Czarski, T.; Dominik, W.; Jakubowska, K.; Rzadkiewicz, J.; Scholz, M.; Pozniak, K.; Kasprowicz, G.; Zabolotny, W.

2014-03-01

Two Triple Gas Electron Multiplier (Triple-GEM) detectors were developed for high-resolution X-ray spectroscopy measurements for tokamak plasma to serve as plasma evolution monitoring in soft X-ray region (SXR). They provide energy resolved fast dynamic plasma radiation imaging in the SXR with 0.1 kHz frequency. Detectors were designed and constructed for continuous data-flow precise energy and position measurement of plasma radiation emitted by metal impurities, W46+ and Ni26+ ions, at 2.4 keV and 7.8 keV photon energies, respectively. High counting rate capability of the detecting units has been achieved with good position resolution. This article presents results of the laboratory and tokamak experiments together with the system performance under irradiation by photon flux from the plasma core.

Gas scintillation glass GEM detector for high-resolution X-ray imaging and CT

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fujiwara, T.; Mitsuya, Y.; Fushie, T.; Murata, K.; Kawamura, A.; Koishikawa, A.; Toyokawa, H.; Takahashi, H.

2017-04-01

A high-spatial-resolution X-ray-imaging gaseous detector has been developed with a single high-gas-gain glass gas electron multiplier (G-GEM), scintillation gas, and optical camera. High-resolution X-ray imaging of soft elements is performed with a spatial resolution of 281 μm rms and an effective area of 100×100 mm. In addition, high-resolution X-ray 3D computed tomography (CT) is successfully demonstrated with the gaseous detector. It shows high sensitivity to low-energy X-rays, which results in high-contrast radiographs of objects containing elements with low atomic numbers. In addition, the high yield of scintillation light enables fast X-ray imaging, which is an advantage for constructing CT images with low-energy X-rays.

Properties of the Flight Model Gas Electron Multiplier for the GEMS Mission

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Takeuchi, Yoko; Kitaguchi, Takao; Hayato, Asami; Tamagawa, Toru; Iwakiri, Wataru; Asami, Fumi; Yoshikawa, Akifumi; Kaneko, Kenta; Enoto, Teruaki; Black, Kevin;

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

The GEM collaboration was formed in June 1991 to develop a major detector for the SSC. The primary physics objectives of GEM are those central to the motivation for the SSC, to study high p{sub T} physics - exemplified by the search for Higgs bosons - and to search for new physics beyond the standard model. The authors present in this Technical Design Report (TDR) a detector with broad capabilities for the discovery and subsequent study of electroweak symmetry breaking, the origin of mass and flavor, and other physics requiring precise measurements of gammas, electrons, and muons - hence themore » name, GEM. In addition, as a design goal, they have taken care to provide the robustness needed to do the physics that requires high luminosity. Finally, good coverage and hermeticity allow the detection of missing transverse energy, E{sub T}. The GEM design emphasizes clean identification and high resolution measurement of the primary physics signatures for high p{sub T} physics. The approach is to make precise energy measurements that maximize the sensitivity to rare narrow resonances, to detect the elementary interaction products (quarks, leptons, and photons), and to build in the features required to reduce backgrounds.« less

Double helix boron-10 powder thermal neutron detector

DOEpatents

Wang, Zhehui; Morris, Christopher L.; Bacon, Jeffrey D.

2015-06-02

A double-helix Boron-10 powder detector having intrinsic thermal neutron detection efficiency comparable to 36'' long, 2-in diameter, 2-bar Helium-3 detectors, and which can be used to replace such detectors for use in portal monitoring, is described. An embodiment of the detector includes a metallic plate coated with Boron-10 powder for generating alpha and Lithium-7 particles responsive to neutrons impinging thereon supported by insulators affixed to at least two opposing edges; a grounded first wire wound in a helical manner around two opposing insulators; and a second wire having a smaller diameter than that of the first wire, wound in a helical manner around the same insulators and spaced apart from the first wire, the second wire being positively biased. A gas, disposed within a gas-tight container enclosing the plate, insulators and wires, and capable of stopping alpha and Lithium-7 particles and generating electrons produces a signal on the second wire which is detected and subsequently related to the number of neutrons impinging on the plate.

Secondary scintillation yield from GEM and THGEM gaseous electron multipliers for direct dark matter search

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Monteiro, C. M. B.; Fernandes, L. M. P.; Veloso, J. F. C. A.; Oliveira, C. A. B.; dos Santos, J. M. F.

2012-07-01

The search for alternatives to PMTs as photosensors in optical TPCs for rare event detection has significantly increased in the last few years. In particular, in view of the next generation large volume detectors, the use of photosensors with lower natural radioactivity, such as large area APDs or GM-APDs, with the additional possibility of sparse surface coverage, triggered the intense study of secondary scintillation production in micropattern electron multipliers, such as GEMs and THGEMs, as alternatives to the commonly used uniform electric field region between two parallel meshes. The much higher scintillation output obtained from the electron avalanches in such microstructures presents an advantage in those situations. The accurate knowledge of the amount of such scintillation is important for correct detector simulation and optimization. It will also serve as a benchmark for software tools developed and/or under development for the calculation of the amount of such scintillation.The secondary scintillation yield, or electroluminescence yield, in the electron avalanches of GEMs and THGEMs operating in gaseous xenon and argon has been determined for different gas pressures. At 1 bar, THGEMs deliver electroluminescence yields that are more than one order of magnitude higher when compared to those achieved in GEMs and two orders of magnitude when compared to those achieved in a uniform field gap. The THGEM electroluminescence yield presents a faster decrease with pressure when comparing to the GEM electroluminescence yield, reaching similar values to what is achieved in GEMs for xenon pressures of 2.5 bar, but still one order of magnitude higher than that produced in a uniform field gap. Another exception is the GEM operating in argon, which presents an electroluminescence yield similar to that produced in a uniform electric field gap, while the THGEM achieves yields that are more than one order of magnitude higher.

SOFT X-RAY SPECTROSCOPY OF THE CYGNUS LOOP SUPERNOVA REMNANT

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Oakley, Phil; McEntaffer, Randall; Cash, Webster, E-mail: Oakley@mit.edu

2013-03-20

We present the results of a suborbital rocket flight whose scientific target was the Cygnus Loop Supernova Remnant. The payload consists of wire grid collimators, off-plane grating arrays, and gaseous electron multiplier (GEM) detectors. The system is designed for spectral measurements in the 17-107 A bandpass with a resolution up to {approx}60 ({lambda}/{Delta}{lambda}). The Extended X-ray Off-plane Spectrometer (EXOS) was launched on a Terrier-Black Brant rocket on 2009 November 13 from White Sands Missile Range and obtained 340 s of useable scientific data. The X-ray emission is dominated by O VII and O VIII, including the He-like O VII tripletmore » at {approx}22 A. Another emission feature at {approx}45 A is composed primarily of Si XI and Si XII. The best-fit model to this spectrum is an equilibrium plasma model at a temperature of log(T) = 6.4 (0.23 keV).« less

GEMS X-ray Polarimeter Performance Simulations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Baumgartner, Wayne H.; Strohmayer, Tod; Kallman, Tim; Black, J. Kevin; Hill, Joanne; Swank, Jean

2012-01-01

The Gravity and Extreme Magnetism Small explorer (GEMS) is an X-ray polarization telescope selected as a NASA small explorer satellite mission. The X-ray Polarimeter on GEMS uses a Time Projection Chamber gas proportional counter to measure the polarization of astrophysical X-rays in the 2-10 keV band by sensing the direction of the track of the primary photoelectron excited by the incident X-ray. We have simulated the expected sensitivity of the polarimeter to polarized X-rays. We use the simulation package Penelope to model the physics of the interaction of the initial photoelectron with the detector gas and to determine the distribution of charge deposited in the detector volume. We then model the charge diffusion in the detector,and produce simulated track images. Within the track reconstruction algorithm we apply cuts on the track shape and focus on the initial photoelectron direction in order to maximize the overall sensitivity of the instrument, using this technique we have predicted instrument modulation factors nu(sub 100) for 100% polarized X-rays ranging from 10% to over 60% across the 2-10 keV X-ray band. We also discuss the simulation program used to develop and model some of the algorithms used for triggering, and energy measurement of events in the polarimeter.

Temperature detection in a gas turbine

DOEpatents

Lacy, Benjamin; Kraemer, Gilbert; Stevenson, Christian

2012-12-18

A temperature detector includes a first metal and a second metal different from the first metal. The first metal includes a plurality of wires and the second metal includes a wire. The plurality of wires of the first metal are connected to the wire of the second metal in parallel junctions. Another temperature detector includes a plurality of resistance temperature detectors. The plurality of resistance temperature detectors are connected at a plurality of junctions. A method of detecting a temperature change of a component of a turbine includes providing a temperature detector include ing a first metal and a second metal different from the first metal connected to each other at a plurality of junctions in contact with the component; and detecting any voltage change at any junction.

Rate and Gain Limitations of MSGC's and MGC's Combined with GEM and other Preamplification Structures

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fonte, P.; Peskov, V.; Ramsey, B. D.

1998-01-01

We have studied the rate and gain limits of diamond-coated Microstrip Gas Counters (MSGC's) and Micro-Gap Counters (MGC's) when combined with various preamplification structures: Gas Electron Multiplier (GEM), Parallel-Plate Avalanche Chamber (PPAC) or a MICROMEGAS-type structure. Measurements were done both with X rays and alpha particles with various detector geometries and in different gas mixtures at pressures from 0.05 to 10 atm. The results obtained varied significantly with detector design, gas mixture and pressure, but some general features can be identified. We found that in all cases, bare MSGC'S, MGC'S, PPAC's and MICROMEGAS, the maximum achievable gain drops with rate. The addition of preamplification structures significantly increases the gain of MSGC's and MGC'S, but this gain is still rate dependent. There would seem to be a general rate-dependent effect governing the usable gain of all these detectors. We speculate on possible mechanisms for this effect, and identify a safe, spark-free, operation zone for each system (detector + preamplification structure) in the rate-gain coordinate plane.

Experimental High Energy Physics Research

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hohlmann, Marcus

This final report summarizes activities of the Florida Tech High Energy Physics group supported by DOE under grant #DE-SC0008024 during the period June 2012 – March 2015. We focused on one of the main HEP research thrusts at the Energy Frontier by participating in the CMS experiment. We were exploiting the tremendous physics opportunities at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and prepared for physics at its planned extension, the High-Luminosity LHC. The effort comprised a physics component with analysis of data from the first LHC run and contributions to the CMS Phase-2 upgrades in the muon endcap system (EMU) formore » the High-Luminosity LHC. The emphasis of our hardware work was the development of large-area Gas Electron Multipliers (GEMs) for the CMS forward muon upgrade. We built a production and testing site for such detectors at Florida Tech to complement future chamber production at CERN. The first full-scale CMS GE1/1 chamber prototype ever built outside of CERN was constructed at Florida Tech in summer 2013. We conducted two beam tests with GEM prototype chambers at CERN in 2012 and at FNAL in 2013 and reported the results at conferences and in publications. Principal Investigator Hohlmann served as chair of the collaboration board of the CMS GEM collaboration and as co-coordinator of the GEM detector working group. He edited and authored sections of the detector chapter of the Technical Design Report (TDR) for the GEM muon upgrade, which was approved by the LHCC and the CERN Research Board in 2015. During the course of the TDR approval process, the GEM project was also established as an official subsystem of the muon system by the CMS muon institution board. On the physics side, graduate student Kalakhety performed a Z' search in the dimuon channel with the 2011 and 2012 CMS datasets that utilized 20.6 fb⁻¹ of p-p collisions at √s = 8 TeV. For the dimuon channel alone, the 95% CL lower limits obtained on the mass of a Z' resonance are 2770 GeV for a Z' with the same standard-model couplings as the Z boson. Our student team operated a Tier-3 cluster on the Open Science Grid (OSG) to support local CMS physics analysis and remote OSG activity. As a service to the HEP community, Hohlmann participated in the Snowmass effort over the course of 2013. Specifically, he acted as a liaison for gaseous detectors between the Instrumentation Frontier and the Energy Frontier and contributed to five papers and reports submitted to the summer study.« less

Gaseous electron multiplier-based soft x-ray plasma diagnostics development: Preliminary tests at ASDEX Upgrade.

PubMed

Chernyshova, M; Malinowski, K; Czarski, T; Wojeński, A; Vezinet, D; Poźniak, K T; Kasprowicz, G; Mazon, D; Jardin, A; Herrmann, A; Kowalska-Strzęciwilk, E; Krawczyk, R; Kolasiński, P; Zabołotny, W; Zienkiewicz, P

2016-11-01

A Gaseous Electron Multiplier (GEM)-based detector is being developed for soft X-ray diagnostics on tokamaks. Its main goal is to facilitate transport studies of impurities like tungsten. Such studies are very relevant to ITER, where the excessive accumulation of impurities in the plasma core should be avoided. This contribution provides details of the preliminary tests at ASDEX Upgrade (AUG) with a focus on the most important aspects for detector operation in harsh radiation environment. It was shown that both spatially and spectrally resolved data could be collected, in a reasonable agreement with other AUG diagnostics. Contributions to the GEM signal include also hard X-rays, gammas, and neutrons. First simulations of the effect of high-energy photons have helped understanding these contributions.

Gaseous electron multiplier-based soft x-ray plasma diagnostics development: Preliminary tests at ASDEX Upgrade

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chernyshova, M.; Malinowski, K.; Czarski, T.; Wojeński, A.; Vezinet, D.; Poźniak, K. T.; Kasprowicz, G.; Mazon, D.; Jardin, A.; Herrmann, A.; Kowalska-Strzeciwilk, E.; Krawczyk, R.; Kolasiński, P.; Zabołotny, W.; Zienkiewicz, P.

2016-11-01

A Gaseous Electron Multiplier (GEM)-based detector is being developed for soft X-ray diagnostics on tokamaks. Its main goal is to facilitate transport studies of impurities like tungsten. Such studies are very relevant to ITER, where the excessive accumulation of impurities in the plasma core should be avoided. This contribution provides details of the preliminary tests at ASDEX Upgrade (AUG) with a focus on the most important aspects for detector operation in harsh radiation environment. It was shown that both spatially and spectrally resolved data could be collected, in a reasonable agreement with other AUG diagnostics. Contributions to the GEM signal include also hard X-rays, gammas, and neutrons. First simulations of the effect of high-energy photons have helped understanding these contributions.

Conceptual design and development of GEM based detecting system for tomographic tungsten focused transport monitoring

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chernyshova, M.; Czarski, T.; Malinowski, K.; Kowalska-Strzęciwilk, E.; Poźniak, K.; Kasprowicz, G.; Zabołotny, W.; Wojeński, A.; Kolasiński, P.; Mazon, D.; Malard, P.

2015-10-01

Implementing tungsten as a plasma facing material in ITER and future fusion reactors will require effective monitoring of not just its level in the plasma but also its distribution. That can be successfully achieved using detectors based on Gas Electron Multiplier (GEM) technology. This work presents the conceptual design of the detecting unit for poloidal tomography to be tested at the WEST project tokamak. The current stage of the development is discussed covering aspects which include detector's spatial dimensions, gas mixtures, window materials and arrangements inside and outside the tokamak ports, details of detector's structure itself and details of the detecting module electronics. It is expected that the detecting unit under development, when implemented, will add to the safe operation of tokamak bringing the creation of sustainable nuclear fusion reactors a step closer. A shorter version of this contribution is due to be published in PoS at: 1st EPS conference on Plasma Diagnostics

Study of a nTHGEM-based thermal neutron detector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Ke; Zhou, Jian-Rong; Wang, Xiao-Dong; Xiong, Tao; Zhang, Ying; Xie, Yu-Guang; Zhou, Liang; Xu, Hong; Yang, Gui-An; Wang, Yan-Feng; Wang, Yan; Wu, Jin-Jie; Sun, Zhi-Jia; Hu, Bi-Tao

2016-07-01

With new generation neutron sources, traditional neutron detectors cannot satisfy the demands of the applications, especially under high flux. Furthermore, facing the global crisis in 3He gas supply, research on new types of neutron detector as an alternative to 3He is a research hotspot in the field of particle detection. GEM (Gaseous Electron Multiplier) neutron detectors have high counting rate, good spatial and time resolution, and could be one future direction of the development of neutron detectors. In this paper, the physical process of neutron detection is simulated with Geant4 code, studying the relations between thermal conversion efficiency, boron thickness and number of boron layers. Due to the special characteristics of neutron detection, we have developed a novel type of special ceramic nTHGEM (neutron THick GEM) for neutron detection. The performance of the nTHGEM working in different Ar/CO2 mixtures is presented, including measurements of the gain and the count rate plateau using a copper target X-ray source. A detector with a single nTHGEM has been tested for 2-D imaging using a 252Cf neutron source. The key parameters of the performance of the nTHGEM detector have been obtained, providing necessary experimental data as a reference for further research on this detector. Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (11127508, 11175199, 11205253, 11405191), Key Laboratory of Neutron Physics, CAEP (2013DB06, 2013BB04) and CAS (YZ201512)

Wire-inhomogeneity detector

DOEpatents

Gibson, G.H.; Smits, R.G.; Eberhard, P.H.

1982-08-31

A device for uncovering imperfections in electrical conducting wire, particularly superconducting wire, by detecting variations in eddy currents. Eddy currents effect the magnetic field in a gap of an inductor, contained in a modified commercial ferrite core, through which the wire being tested is passed. A small increase or decrease in the amount of conductive material, such as copper, in a fixed cross section of wire will unbalance a bridge used to measure the impedance of the inductor, tripping a detector and sounding an alarm.

Performance verification of the Gravity and Extreme Magnetism Small explorer (GEMS) x-ray polarimeter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Enoto, Teruaki; Black, J. Kevin; Kitaguchi, Takao; Hayato, Asami; Hill, Joanne E.; Jahoda, Keith; Tamagawa, Toru; Kaneko, Kenta; Takeuchi, Yoko; Yoshikawa, Akifumi; Marlowe, Hannah; Griffiths, Scott; Kaaret, Philip E.; Kenward, David; Khalid, Syed

2014-07-01

Polarimetry is a powerful tool for astrophysical observations that has yet to be exploited in the X-ray band. For satellite-borne and sounding rocket experiments, we have developed a photoelectric gas polarimeter to measure X-ray polarization in the 2-10 keV range utilizing a time projection chamber (TPC) and advanced micro-pattern gas electron multiplier (GEM) techniques. We carried out performance verification of a flight equivalent unit (1/4 model) which was planned to be launched on the NASA Gravity and Extreme Magnetism Small Explorer (GEMS) satellite. The test was performed at Brookhaven National Laboratory, National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS) facility in April 2013. The polarimeter was irradiated with linearly-polarized monochromatic X-rays between 2.3 and 10.0 keV and scanned with a collimated beam at 5 different detector positions. After a systematic investigation of the detector response, a modulation factor >=35% above 4 keV was obtained with the expected polarization angle. At energies below 4 keV where the photoelectron track becomes short, diffusion in the region between the GEM and readout strips leaves an asymmetric photoelectron image. A correction method retrieves an expected modulation angle, and the expected modulation factor, ~20% at 2.7 keV. Folding the measured values of modulation through an instrument model gives sensitivity, parameterized by minimum detectable polarization (MDP), nearly identical to that assumed at the preliminary design review (PDR).

Calibrating an optical scanner for quality assurance of large area radiation detectors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Karadzhinova, A.; Hildén, T.; Berdova, M.; Lauhakangas, R.; Heino, J.; Tuominen, E.; Franssila, S.; Hæggström, E.; Kassamakov, I.

2014-11-01

A gas electron multiplier (GEM) is a particle detector used in high-energy physics. Its main component is a thin copper-polymer-copper sandwich that carries Ø =70  ±  5 µm holes. Quality assurance (QA) is needed to guarantee both long operating life and reading fidelity of the GEM. Absence of layer defects and conformity of the holes to specifications is important. Both hole size and shape influence the detector’s gas multiplication factor and hence affect the collected data. For the scanner the required lateral measurement tolerance is ± 5 µm. We calibrated a high aspect ratio optical scanning system (OSS) to allow ensuring the quality of large GEM foils. For the calibration we microfabricated transfer standards, which were imaged with the OSS and which were compared to corresponding scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images. The calibration fulfilled the ISO/IEC 17025 and UKAS M3003 requirements: the calibration factor was 1.01  ±  0.01, determined at 95% confidence level across a 950  ×  950 mm2 area. The proposed large-scale scanning technique can potentially be valuable in other microfabricated products too.

On line separation of overlapped signals from multi-time photons for the GEM-based detection system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Czarski, T.; Pozniak, K. T.; Chernyshova, M.; Malinowski, K.; Kasprowicz, G.; Kolasinski, P.; Krawczyk, R.; Wojenski, A.; Zabolotny, W.

2015-09-01

The Triple Gas Electron Multiplier (T-GEM) is presented as soft X-ray (SXR) energy and position sensitive detector for high-resolution X-ray diagnostics of magnetic confinement fusion plasmas. Multi-channel measurement system and serial data acquisition for X-ray energy and position recognition is described. Fundamental characteristics are presented for two dimensional detector structure. Typical signals of ADC - Analog to Digital Converter are considered for charge value and position estimation. Coinciding signals for high flux radiation cause the problem for cluster charge identification. The amplifier with shaper determines time characteristics and limits the pulses frequency. Separation of coincided signals was introduced and verified for simulation experiments. On line separation of overlapped signals was implemented applying the FPGA technology with relatively simple firmware procedure. Representative results for reconstruction of coinciding signals are demonstrated.

Gaseous electron multiplier-based soft x-ray plasma diagnostics development: Preliminary tests at ASDEX Upgrade

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Chernyshova, M., E-mail: maryna.chernyshova@ipplm.pl; Malinowski, K.; Czarski, T.

2016-11-15

A Gaseous Electron Multiplier (GEM)-based detector is being developed for soft X-ray diagnostics on tokamaks. Its main goal is to facilitate transport studies of impurities like tungsten. Such studies are very relevant to ITER, where the excessive accumulation of impurities in the plasma core should be avoided. This contribution provides details of the preliminary tests at ASDEX Upgrade (AUG) with a focus on the most important aspects for detector operation in harsh radiation environment. It was shown that both spatially and spectrally resolved data could be collected, in a reasonable agreement with other AUG diagnostics. Contributions to the GEM signalmore » include also hard X-rays, gammas, and neutrons. First simulations of the effect of high-energy photons have helped understanding these contributions.« less

Development of near infrared spectrometer for gem materials study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jindata, W.; Meesiri, W.; Wongkokua, W.

2015-07-01

Most of gem materials can be characterized by infrared absorption spectroscopy. Normally, mid infrared absorption technique has been applied for investigating fundamental vibrational modes. However, for some gem materials, such as tourmaline, NIR is a better choice due to differentiation. Most commercial NIR spectrometers employ complicated dispersive grating or Fourier transform techniques. In this work, we developed a filter type NIR spectrometer with the availability of high efficiency and low-cost narrow bandpass NIR interference filters to be taught in a physics laboratory. The instrument was designed for transmission-mode configuration. A 50W halogen lamp was used as NIR source. There were fourteen NIR filters mounted on a rotatory wheel for wavelength selection ranging from 1000-1650 nm with steps of 50 nm. A 1.0 mm diameter of InGaAs photodiode was used as the detector for the spectrometer. Hence, transparent gem materials can be used as samples for experiment. Student can learn vibrational absorption spectroscopy as well as Beer-Lambert law from the development of this instrument.

Wire inhomogeneity detector having a core with opposing pole pieces and guide pieces adjacent the opposing pole pieces

DOEpatents

Gibson, George H.; Smits, Robert G.; Eberhard, Philippe H.

1989-01-01

A device for uncovering imperfections in electrical conducting wire, particularly superconducting wire, by detecting variations in eddy currents. Eddy currents effect the magnetic field in a gap of an inductor, contained in a modified commercial ferrite core, through which the wire being tested is passed. A small increase or decrease in the amount of conductive material, such as copper, in a fixed cross section of wire will unbalance a bridge used to measure the impedance of the inductor, tripping a detector and sounding an alarm.

The effect of electrostatic and gravity force on offset wire inside tube

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oh, S. H.; Hazineh, D.; Wang, C.

2018-04-01

In a straw-tube detector, a wire that is offset with respect to the tube axis experiences a Coulomb force when high voltage is applied between the anode wire and the tube. This force results in a shifting of the wire and straw, in addition to the gravitational sag, and is a function of the tube and wire radius, initial offset, high voltage, tension and length. The presence of such effects is well known, but the precise magnitude of the shift for the anode wires under conditions of detector operation have not been previously documented with measurable confidence. In this work, we provide the first systematic measurements for the wire shift in straw-tube detectors due to gravity and the electrostatic force using an x-ray scanner developed for the Mu2e experiment. The data are compared to the solutions of the differential equations governing the system, and we find a good match between the two. The solutions can predict the final wire and straw positions from the initial positions measured without the high voltage, and the final wire and straw positions can then be used as an input to the track reconstruction software to improve the track position resolution.

A Vibrating Wire System For Quadrupole Fiducialization

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wolf, Zachary

2010-12-13

A vibrating wire system is being developed to fiducialize the quadrupoles between undulator segments in the LCLS. This note provides a detailed analysis of the system. The LCLS will have quadrupoles between the undulator segments to keep the electron beam focused. If the quadrupoles are not centered on the beam axis, the beam will receive transverse kicks, causing it to deviate from the undulator axis. Beam based alignment will be used to move the quadrupoles onto a straight line, but an initial, conventional alignment must place the quadrupole centers on a straight line to 100 {micro}m. In the fiducialization stepmore » of the initial alignment, the position of the center of the quadrupole is measured relative to tooling balls on the outside of the quadrupole. The alignment crews then use the tooling balls to place the magnet in the tunnel. The required error on the location of the quadrupole center relative to the tooling balls must be less than 25 {micro}m. In this note, we analyze a system under construction for the quadrupole fiducialization. The system uses the vibrating wire technique to position a wire onto the quadrupole magnetic axis. The wire position is then related to tooling balls using wire position detectors. The tooling balls on the wire position detectors are finally related to tooling balls on the quadrupole to perform the fiducialization. The total 25 {micro}m fiducialization error must be divided between these three steps. The wire must be positioned onto the quadrupole magnetic axis to within 10 {micro}m, the wire position must be measured relative to tooling balls on the wire position detectors to within 15 {micro}m, and tooling balls on the wire position detectors must be related to tooling balls on the quadrupole to within 10 {micro}m. The techniques used in these three steps will be discussed. The note begins by discussing various quadrupole fiducialization techniques used in the past and discusses why the vibrating wire technique is our method of choice. We then give an overview of the measurement system showing how the vibrating wire is positioned onto the quadrupole axis, how the wire position detectors locate the wire relative to tooling balls without touching the wire, and how the tooling ball positions are all measured. The novel feature of this system is the vibrating wire which we discuss in depth. We analyze the wire dynamics and calculate the expected sensitivity of the system. The note should be an aid in debugging the system by providing calculations to compare measurements to.« less

A 32-channel front-end ASIC for GEM detectors used in beam monitoring applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ciciriello, F.; Altieri, P. R.; Corsi, F.; De Robertis, G.; Felici, G.; Loddo, F.; Lorusso, L.; Marzocca, C.; Matarrese, G.; Ranieri, A.; Stamerra, A.

2017-11-01

A multichannel, mixed-signal, front-end ASIC for GEM detectors, intended for beam monitoring in hadron therapy applications, has been designed and prototyped in a standard 0.35 μm CMOS technology. The analog channels are based on the classic CSA + shaper processing chain, followed by a peak detector which can work as an analog memory, to simplifiy the analog-to-digital conversion of the peak voltage of the output pulse, proportional to the energy of the detected event. The available hardware resources include an 8-bit A/D converter and a standard-cell digital part, which manages the read-out procedure, in sparse or serial mode. The ASIC is self-triggered and transfers energy and address data to the external DAQ via a fast 100 MHz LVDS link. Preliminary characterization results show that the non-linearity error is limited to 5% for a maximum input charge of about 70 fC, the measured ENC is about 1400e- and the time jitter of the trigger signal generated in response to an injected charge of 60 fC is close to 200 ps.

Early clinical experience utilizing scintillator with optical fiber (SOF) detector in clinical boron neutron capture therapy: its issues and solutions.

PubMed

Ishikawa, Masayori; Yamamoto, Tetsuya; Matsumura, Akira; Hiratsuka, Junichi; Miyatake, Shin-Ichi; Kato, Itsuro; Sakurai, Yoshinori; Kumada, Hiroaki; Shrestha, Shubhechha J; Ono, Koji

2016-08-09

Real-time measurement of thermal neutrons in the tumor region is essential for proper evaluation of the absorbed dose in boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) treatment. The gold wire activation method has been routinely used to measure the neutron flux distribution in BNCT irradiation, but a real-time measurement using gold wire is not possible. To overcome this issue, the scintillator with optical fiber (SOF) detector has been developed. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the feasibility of the SOF detector as a real-time thermal neutron monitor in clinical BNCT treatment and also to report issues in the use of SOF detectors in clinical practice and their solutions. Clinical measurements using the SOF detector were carried out in 16 BNCT clinical trial patients from December 2002 until end of 2006 at the Japanese Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) and Kyoto University Research Reactor Institute (KURRI). The SOF detector worked effectively as a real-time thermal neutron monitor. The neutron fluence obtained by the gold wire activation method was found to differ from that obtained by the SOF detector. The neutron fluence obtained by the SOF detector was in better agreement with the expected fluence than with gold wire activation. The estimation error for the SOF detector was small in comparison to the gold wire measurement. In addition, real-time monitoring suggested that the neutron flux distribution and intensity at the region of interest (ROI) may vary due to the reactor condition, patient motion and dislocation of the SOF detector. Clinical measurements using the SOF detector to measure thermal neutron flux during BNCT confirmed that SOF detectors are effective as a real-time thermal neutron monitor. To minimize the estimation error due to the displacement of the SOF probe during treatment, a loop-type SOF probe was developed.

Research of x-ray nondestructive detector for high-speed running conveyor belt with steel wire ropes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Junfeng; Miao, Changyun; Wang, Wei; Lu, Xiaocui

2008-03-01

An X-ray nondestructive detector for high-speed running conveyor belt with steel wire ropes is researched in the paper. The principle of X-ray nondestructive testing (NDT) is analyzed, the general scheme of the X-ray nondestructive testing system is proposed, and the nondestructive detector for high-speed running conveyor belt with steel wire ropes is developed. The hardware of system is designed with Xilinx's VIRTEX-4 FPGA that embeds PowerPC and MAC IP core, and its network communication software based on TCP/IP protocol is programmed by loading LwIP to PowerPC. The nondestructive testing of high-speed conveyor belt with steel wire ropes and network transfer function are implemented. It is a strong real-time system with rapid scanning speed, high reliability and remotely nondestructive testing function. The nondestructive detector can be applied to the detection of product line in industry.

Curved position-sensitive detector for X-ray crystallography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Izumi, T.

1980-11-01

A new curved position-sensitive proportional detector has been constructed for X-ray crystallography. A very hard steel wire 0.2 mm in diameter was used as a single anode wire. It was bent to a radius of 6.5 cm and was suspended elastically in a wide 160° 2θ angular aperture. An amplifier and ADC-per-cathode strip system was made in order to encode the position. The spatial resolution is better than 0.37 mm (fwhm) along the curved anode wire, and this value corresponds to an angular resolution of 0.28° in 2θ. It is shown that a thick hard anode wire is quite suitable for use as a curved position-sensitive detector.

Study of spatial resolution of coordinate detectors based on Gas Electron Multipliers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kudryavtsev, V. N.; Maltsev, T. V.; Shekhtman, L. I.

2017-02-01

Spatial resolution of GEM-based tracking detectors is determined in the simulation and measured in the experiments. The simulation includes GEANT4 implemented transport of high energy electrons with careful accounting of atomic relaxation processes including emission of fluorescent photons and Auger electrons and custom post-processing with accounting of diffusion, gas amplification fluctuations, distribution of signals on readout electrodes, electronics noise and particular algorithm of final coordinate calculation (center of gravity). The simulation demonstrates that the minimum of spatial resolution of about 10 μm can be achieved with a gas mixture of Ar -CO2 (75-25 %) at a strips pitch from 250 μm to 300 μm. At a larger pitch the resolution quickly degrades reaching 80-100 μm at a pitch of 460-500 μm. Spatial resolution of low-material triple-GEM detectors for the DEUTERON facility at the VEPP-3 storage ring is measured at the extracted beam facility of the VEPP-4 M collider. One-coordinate resolution of the DEUTERON detector is measured with electron beam of 500 MeV, 1 GeV and 3.5 GeV energies. The determined value of spatial resolution varies in the range from approximately 35 μm to 50 μm for orthogonal tracks in the experiments.

Geostationary Environment Monitoring Spectrometer (gems) Over the Korea Peninsula and Asia-Pacific Region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lasnik, J.; Stephens, M.; Baker, B.; Randall, C.; Ko, D. H.; Kim, S.; Kim, Y.; Lee, E. S.; Chang, S.; Park, J. M.; SEO, S. B.; Youk, Y.; Kong, J. P.; Lee, D.; Lee, S. H.; Kim, J.

2014-12-01

Introduction: The Geostationary Environment Monitoring Spectrometer (GEMS) is one of two instruments manifested aboard the South Korean Geostationary Earth Orbit KOrea Multi-Purpose SATellite-2B (GEO-KOMPSAT-2B or GK2B), which is scheduled to launch in 2018. Jointly developed/built by KARI and Ball Aerospace, GEMS is a geostationary UV-Vis hyperspectral imager designed to monitor trans-boundary tropospheric pollution events over the Korean peninsula and Asia-Pacific region. The spectrometer provides high temporal and spatial resolution (3.5 km N/S by 7.2 km E/W) measurements of ozone, its precursors, and aerosols. Over the short-term, hourly measurements by GEMS will improve early warnings for potentially dangerous pollution events and monitor population exposure. Over the 10-year mission-life, GEMS will serve to enhance our understanding of long-term climate change and broader air quality issues on both a regional and global scale. The GEMS sensor design and performance are discussed, which includes an overview of measurement capabilities and the on-orbit concept of operations. GEMS Sensor Overview: The GEMS hyperspectral imaging system consists of a telescope and Offner grating spectrometer that feeds a single CCD detector array. A spectral range of 300-500 nm and sampling of 0.2 nm enables NO2, SO2, HCHO, O3, and aerosol retrieval. The GEMS field of regard (FOR), which extends from 5°S to 45°N in latitude and 75°E to 145°E in longitude, is operationally achieved using an onboard two-axis scan mirror. On-orbit, the radiometric calibration is maintained using solar measurements, which are performed using two onboard diffusers: a working diffuser that is deployed routinely for the purpose of solar calibration, and a reference diffuser that is deployed sparingly for the purpose of monitoring working diffuser performance degradation.

A miniature Joule-Thomson cooler for optical detectors in space.

PubMed

Derking, J H; Holland, H J; Tirolien, T; ter Brake, H J M

2012-04-01

The utilization of single-stage micromachined Joule-Thomson (JT) coolers for cooling small optical detectors is investigated. A design of a micromachined JT cold stage-detector system is made that focuses on the interface between a JT cold stage and detector, and on the wiring of the detector. Among various techniques, adhesive bonding is selected as most suitable technique for integrating the detector with the JT cold stage. Also, the optimum wiring of the detector is discussed. In this respect, it is important to minimize the heat conduction through the wiring. Therefore, each wire should be optimized in terms of acceptable impedance and thermal heat load. It is shown that, given a certain impedance, the conductive heat load of electrically bad conducting materials is about twice as high as that of electrically good conducting materials. A micromachined JT cold stage is designed and integrated with a dummy detector. The JT cold stage is operated at 100 K with nitrogen as the working fluid and at 140 K with methane. Net cooling powers of 143 mW and 117 mW are measured, respectively. Taking into account a radiative heat load of 40 mW, these measured values make the JT cold stage suitable for cooling a photon detector with a power dissipation up to 50 mW, allowing for another 27 to 53 mW heat load arising from the electrical leads. © 2012 American Institute of Physics

Characterisation of a neutron diffraction detector prototype based on the Trench-MWPC technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Buffet, J. C.; Clergeau, J. F.; Cuccaro, S.; Guérard, B.; Mandaroux, N.; Marchal, J.; Pentenero, J.; Platz, M.; Van Esch, P.

2017-12-01

The Trench Multi-Wire-Proportional-Chamber is a new type of MWPC which has been designed to fulfill the requirements of the 2D curved neutron detector under development for the XtremeD neutron diffractometer, under construction at ILL. In this design, anode wires are mounted orthogonally to a stack of metallic cathode plates which are insulated from each other by ceramic spacers. A row of teeth is spark-eroded along the edge of the cathode plates so that anode wires appear to be stretched along trenches machined across a segmented cathode plane. This design was tested on a prototype detector module mounted in a vessel filled with a mixture of 3He-Ar-CO2 at 7 bar. The detector configuration as well as measurements performed on this prototype at ILL neutron test beam line are presented. Results show that the Trench-MWPC design provides uniform amplification gain across the detection area despite the absence of the top cathode wires used to balance the electric field in standard Cathode-Anode-Cathode MWPC configurations. The presence of cathode trench side-walls surrounding anode wires minimises the spread of neutron-induced charge across electrodes, allowing for detector operation at reduced amplification gain without compromising the signal to noise per electrode. Pulse-height spectra acquired under various neutron flux conditions demonstrated that the Trench-MWPC design minimises space-charge effects, thanks to its low amplification gain combined with the fast collection of ions by cathode trench side-walls surrounding anode wires. Measurements also showed that this space-charge effect reduction results in a high local count-rate of ~100 kHz at 10% count loss when irradiating the detector with a small 5 mm × 5 mm neutron beam.

A correction method of the anode wire modulation for 2D MWPCs detector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wen, Z. W.; Qi, H. R.; Zhang, Y. L.; Wang, H. Y.; Liu, L.; Li, Y. H.

2018-04-01

The linearity performance of 2D Multi-Wire Proportional Chambers (MWPCs) detector across the anode wires is modulated by the discrete anode wires. A MWPCs dectector with the 2 mm anode wire spacing was developed to study the anode wire modulation effect. The 2D lineartity performance was measured with a 55Fe source which was moved by a electric mobile platform. The experimental results show that the deviation of the measured position depends upon the incident position in the axis across the anode wires and the curve between the measured position and the incident position is consistent with the sine function whose period is equal to the anode wire spacing. A correction method of the measured position across the anode wire direction was obtained by fitting the curve between the measured position and the incident position. The non-linearity of the measured position across the anode wire direction is reduced about 0.085% and the imaging capability is obviously improved after the data is modified by the correction method.

High granularity tracker based on a Triple-GEM optically read by a CMOS-based camera

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marafini, M.; Patera, V.; Pinci, D.; Sarti, A.; Sciubba, A.; Spiriti, E.

2015-12-01

The detection of photons produced during the avalanche development in gas chambers has been the subject of detailed studies in the past. The great progresses achieved in last years in the performance of micro-pattern gas detectors on one side and of photo-sensors on the other provide the possibility of making high granularity and very sensitive particle trackers. In this paper, the results obtained with a triple-GEM structure read-out by a CMOS based sensor are described. The use of an He/CF4 (60/40) gas mixture and a detailed optimization of the electric fields made possible to obtain a very high GEM light yield. About 80 photons per primary electron were detected by the sensor resulting in a very good capability of tracking both muons from cosmic rays and electrons from natural radioactivity.

Development of 2D imaging of SXR plasma radiation by means of GEM detectors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chernyshova, M.; Czarski, T.; Jabłoński, S.; Kowalska-Strzeciwilk, E.; Poźniak, K.; Kasprowicz, G.; Zabołotny, W.; Wojeński, A.; Byszuk, A.; Burza, M.; Juszczyk, B.; Zienkiewicz, P.

2014-11-01

Presented 2D gaseous detector system has been developed and designed to provide energy resolved fast dynamic plasma radiation imaging in the soft X-Ray region with 0.1 kHz exposure frequency for online, made in real time, data acquisition (DAQ) mode. The detection structure is based on triple Gas Electron Multiplier (GEM) amplification structure followed by the pixel readout electrode. The efficiency of detecting unit was adjusted for the radiation energy region of tungsten in high-temperature plasma, the main candidate for the plasma facing material for future thermonuclear reactors. Here we present preliminary laboratory results and detector parameters obtained for the developed system. The operational characteristics and conditions of the detector were designed to work in the X-Ray range of 2-17 keV. The detector linearity was checked using the fluorescence lines of different elements and was found to be sufficient for good photon energy reconstruction. Images of two sources through various screens were performed with an X-Ray laboratory source and 55Fe source showing a good imaging capability. Finally offline stream-handling data acquisition mode has been developed for the detecting system with timing down to the ADC sampling frequency rate (~13 ns), up to 2.5 MHz of exposure frequency, which could pave the way to invaluable physics information about plasma dynamics due to very good time resolving ability. Here we present results of studied spatial resolution and imaging properties of the detector for conditions of laboratory moderate counting rates and high gain.

Serial data acquisition for the X-ray plasma diagnostics with selected GEM detector structures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Czarski, T.; Chernyshova, M.; Pozniak, K. T.; Kasprowicz, G.; Zabolotny, W.; Kolasinski, P.; Krawczyk, R.; Wojenski, A.; Zienkiewicz, P.

2015-10-01

The measurement system based on GEM—Gas Electron Multiplier detector is developed for X-ray diagnostics of magnetic confinement tokamak plasmas. The paper is focused on the measurement subject and describes the fundamental data processing to obtain reliable characteristics (histograms) useful for physicists. The required data processing have two steps: 1—processing in the time domain, i.e. events selections for bunches of coinciding clusters, 2—processing in the planar space domain, i.e. cluster identification for the given detector structure. So, it is the software part of the project between the electronic hardware and physics applications. The whole project is original and it was developed by the paper authors. The previous version based on 1-D GEM detector was applied for the high-resolution X-ray crystal spectrometer KX1 in the JET tokamak. The current version considers 2-D detector structures for the new data acquisition system. The fast and accurate mode of data acquisition implemented in the hardware in real time can be applied for the dynamic plasma diagnostics. Several detector structures with single-pixel sensors and multi-pixel (directional) sensors are considered for two-dimensional X-ray imaging. Final data processing is presented by histograms for selected range of position, time interval and cluster charge values. Exemplary radiation source properties are measured by the basic cumulative characteristics: the cluster position distribution and cluster charge value distribution corresponding to the energy spectra. A shorter version of this contribution is due to be published in PoS at: 1st EPS conference on Plasma Diagnostics

Design of dual energy x-ray detector for conveyor belt with steel wire ropes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dai, Yue; Miao, Changyun; Rong, Feng

2009-07-01

A dual energy X-ray detector for conveyor belt with steel wire ropes is researched in the paper. Conveyor belt with steel wire ropes is one of primary transfer equipments in modern production. The traditional test methods like electromagnetic induction principle could not display inner image of steel wire ropes directly. So X-ray detection technology has used to detect the conveyor belt. However the image was not so clear by the interference of the rubber belt. Therefore, the dualenergy X-ray detection technology with subtraction method is developed to numerically remove the rubber belt from radiograph, thus improving the definition of the ropes image. The purpose of this research is to design a dual energy Xray detector that could make the operator easier to found the faulty of the belt. This detection system is composed of Xray source, detector controlled by FPGA chip, PC for running image processing system and so on. With the result of the simulating, this design really improved the capability of the staff to test the conveyor belt.

Electron beams scanning: A novel method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Askarbioki, M.; Zarandi, M. B.; Khakshournia, S.; Shirmardi, S. P.; Sharifian, M.

2018-06-01

In this research, a spatial electron beam scanning is reported. There are various methods for ion and electron beam scanning. The best known of these methods is the wire scanning wherein the parameters of beam are measured by one or more conductive wires. This article suggests a novel method for e-beam scanning without the previous errors of old wire scanning. In this method, the techniques of atomic physics are applied so that a knife edge has a scanner role and the wires have detector roles. It will determine the 2D e-beam profile readily when the positions of the scanner and detectors are specified.

High efficiency proportional neutron detector with solid liner internal structures

DOEpatents

Kisner, Roger Allen; Holcomb, David Eugene; Brown, Gilbert M.

2014-08-05

A tube-style neutron detector, a panel-style neutron detector incorporating a plurality of tube-style neutron detectors, and a panel-style neutron detector including a plurality of anode wires are provided. A plurality of channels is provided in a neutron detector such that each channel has an inner surface of a coating layer including a neutron-absorbing material. A wire anode is provided at end of each channel so that electrons generated by a charged daughter particle generated by a neutron are collected to detect a neutron-matter interaction. Moderator units can be incorporated into a neutron detector to provide improved detection efficiencies and/or to determine neutron energy spectrum. Gas-based proportional response from the neutron detectors can be employed for special nuclear material (SNM) detection. This neutron detector can provide similar performance to .sup.3He-based detectors without requiring .sup.3He and without containing toxic, flammable, or high-pressure materials.

Development of Gating Foils To Inhibit Ion Feedback Using FPC Production Techniques

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arai, D.; Ikematsu, K.; Sugiyama, A.; Iwamura, M.; Koto, A.; Katsuki, K.; Fujii, K.; Matsuda, T.

2018-02-01

Positive ion feedback from a gas amplification device to the drift region of the Time Projection Chamber for the ILC can deteriorate the position resolution. In order to inhibit the feedback ions, MPGD-based gating foils having good electron transmission have been developed to be used instead of the conventional wire gate. The gating foil needs to control the electric field locally in opening or closing the gate. The gating foil with a GEM (gas electron multiplier)-like structure has larger holes and smaller thickness than standard GEMs for gas amplification. It is known that the foil transmits over 80 % of electrons and blocks ions almost completely. We have developed the gating foils using flexible printed circuit (FPC) production techniques including an improved single-mask process. In this paper, we report on the production technique of 335 μm pitch, 12.5 μm thick gating foil with 80 % transmittance of electrons in ILC conditions.

High speed curved position sensitive detector

DOEpatents

Hendricks, Robert W.; Wilson, Jack W.

1989-01-01

A high speed curved position sensitive porportional counter detector for use in x-ray diffraction, the detection of 5-20 keV photons and the like. The detector employs a planar anode assembly of a plurality of parallel metallic wires. This anode assembly is supported between two cathode planes, with at least one of these cathode planes having a serpentine resistive path in the form of a meander having legs generally perpendicular to the anode wires. This meander is produced by special microelectronic fabrication techniques whereby the meander "wire" fans outwardly at the cathode ends to produce the curved aspect of the detector, and the legs of the meander are small in cross-section and very closely spaced whereby a spatial resolution of about 50 .mu.m can be achieved. All of the other performance characteristics are about as good or better than conventional position sensitive proportional counter type detectors. Count rates of up to 40,000 counts per second with 0.5 .mu.s shaping time constants are achieved.

Working Gas Selection of the Honeycomb Converter-Based Neutron Detector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fang, Zhujun; Yang, Yigang; Li, Yulan; Wang, Xuewu

2017-07-01

To reduce the manufacturing difficulty and improve the robustness of traditional boron-lined detectors that may replace the 3He counter, the honeycomb neutron converter-based gaseous neutron detector has been proposed. A drift electric field is applied to drive electrons ionized by α or 7Li after the 10B(n, α)7Li reaction from their origination positions to the incident surface of the gas electron multiplier (GEM), which multiplies electrons and forms the neutron signal. As the working gas affects the energy deposition of α or 7Li, the transverse diffusion of electrons in the migration process, as well as the multiplication of electrons in the GEM detector, the working gas selection of the honeycomb converter-based detector would be very important. Fourteen different working gases are investigated in detail through simulation research. Four working gases, Ar:iC4H10:CF4 = 90:7:3, Ar:CO2 = 95:5, Ar:CH4 = 90:10, and Ar:DME = 95:5, are experimentally tested. Both the simulation and experimental results demonstrate that working gases of Ar:iC4H10:CF4 = 90:7:3, Ar:CO2 = 95:5, and Ar:DME = 95:5 show good performances benefitting from both the large stopping powers of α or 7Li and the small transverse diffusion coefficients of electrons. The simulation results indicate that the detection efficiency with one of the three gases is 1.33 to 1.48 times the Ar:CH4 = 90:10, while the experimental results demonstrate that there is 1.34-1.49 times of the detection efficiency. The research in this paper helps improve the performance of the honeycomb converter-based neutron detector.

Live event reconstruction in an optically read out GEM-based TPC

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brunbauer, F. M.; Galgóczi, G.; Gonzalez Diaz, D.; Oliveri, E.; Resnati, F.; Ropelewski, L.; Streli, C.; Thuiner, P.; van Stenis, M.

2018-04-01

Combining strong signal amplification made possible by Gaseous Electron Multipliers (GEMs) with the high spatial resolution provided by optical readout, highly performing radiation detectors can be realized. An optically read out GEM-based Time Projection Chamber (TPC) is presented. The device permits 3D track reconstruction by combining the 2D projections obtained with a CCD camera with timing information from a photomultiplier tube. Owing to the intuitive 2D representation of the tracks in the images and to automated control, data acquisition and event reconstruction algorithms, the optically read out TPC permits live display of reconstructed tracks in three dimensions. An Ar/CF4 (80/20%) gas mixture was used to maximize scintillation yield in the visible wavelength region matching the quantum efficiency of the camera. The device is integrated in a UHV-grade vessel allowing for precise control of the gas composition and purity. Long term studies in sealed mode operation revealed a minor decrease in the scintillation light intensity.

Algorithms development for the GEM-based detection system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Czarski, T.; Chernyshova, M.; Malinowski, K.; Pozniak, K. T.; Kasprowicz, G.; Kolasinski, P.; Krawczyk, R.; Wojenski, A.; Zabolotny, W.

2016-09-01

The measurement system based on GEM - Gas Electron Multiplier detector - is developed for soft X-ray diagnostics of tokamak plasmas. The multi-channel setup is designed for estimation of the energy and the position distribution of an Xray source. The focal measuring issue is the charge cluster identification by its value and position estimation. The fast and accurate mode of the serial data acquisition is applied for the dynamic plasma diagnostics. The charge clusters are counted in the space determined by 2D position, charge value and time intervals. Radiation source characteristics are presented by histograms for a selected range of position, time intervals and cluster charge values corresponding to the energy spectra.

Calibration of optical particle-size analyzer

DOEpatents

Pechin, William H.; Thacker, Louis H.; Turner, Lloyd J.

1979-01-01

This invention relates to a system for the calibration of an optical particle-size analyzer of the light-intercepting type for spherical particles, wherein a rotary wheel or disc is provided with radially-extending wires of differing diameters, each wire corresponding to a particular equivalent spherical particle diameter. These wires are passed at an appropriate frequency between the light source and the light detector of the analyzer. The reduction of light as received at the detector is a measure of the size of the wire, and the electronic signal may then be adjusted to provide the desired signal for corresponding spherical particles. This calibrator may be operated at any time without interrupting other processing.

A novel application of Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) sensors in MPGD

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abbaneo, D.; Abbas, M.; Abbrescia, M.; Abi Akl, M.; Aboamer, O.; Acosta, D.; Ahmad, A.; Ahmed, W.; Aleksandrov, A.; Altieri, P.; Asawatangtrakuldee, C.; Aspell, P.; Assran, Y.; Awan, I.; Bally, S.; Ban, Y.; Banerjee, S.; Barashko, V.; Barria, P.; Bencze, G.; Beni, N.; Benussi, L.; Bhopatkar, V.; Bianco, S.; Bos, J.; Bouhali, O.; Braghieri, A.; Braibant, S.; Buontempo, S.; Calabria, C.; Caponero, M.; Caputo, C.; Cassese, F.; Castaneda, A.; Cauwenbergh, S.; Cavallo, F. R.; Celik, A.; Choi, M.; Choi, S.; Christiansen, J.; Cimmino, A.; Colafranceschi, S.; Colaleo, A.; Conde Garcia, A.; Czellar, S.; Dabrowski, M. M.; De Lentdecker, G.; De Oliveira, R.; de Robertis, G.; Dildick, S.; Dorney, B.; Endroczi, G.; Errico, F.; Fenyvesi, A.; Ferrini, M.; Ferry, S.; Furic, I.; Giacomelli, P.; Gilmore, J.; Golovtsov, V.; Guiducci, L.; Guilloux, F.; Gutierrez, A.; Hadjiiska, R. M.; Hauser, J.; Hoepfner, K.; Hohlmann, M.; Hoorani, H.; Iaydjiev, P.; Jeng, Y. G.; Kamon, T.; Karchin, P.; Korytov, A.; Krutelyov, S.; Kumar, A.; Kim, H.; Lalli, A.; Lee, J.; Lenzi, T.; Litov, L.; Loddo, F.; Madorsky, A.; Maerschalk, T.; Maggi, M.; Magnani, A.; Mal, P. K.; Mandal, K.; Marchioro, A.; Marinov, A.; Majumdar, N.; Merlin, J. A.; Mitselmakher, G.; Mohanty, A. K.; Mohapatra, A.; Molnar, J.; Muhammad, S.; Mukhopadhyay, S.; Naimuddin, M.; Nuzzo, S.; Oliveri, E.; Pant, L. M.; Paolucci, P.; Park, I.; Passamonti, L.; Passeggio, G.; Pavlov, B.; Philipps, B.; Piccolo, D.; Pierluigi, D.; Postema, H.; Primavera, F.; Puig Baranac, A.; Radi, A.; Radogna, R.; Raffone, G.; Ranieri, A.; Rashevski, G.; Riccardi, C.; Rodozov, M.; Rodrigues, A.; Ropelewski, L.; RoyChowdhury, S.; Russo, A.; Ryu, G.; Ryu, M. S.; Safonov, A.; Salva, S.; Saviano, G.; Sharma, A.; Sharma, A.; Sharma, R.; Shah, A. H.; Shopova, M.; Sturdy, J.; Sultanov, G.; Swain, S. K.; Szillasi, Z.; Talvitie, J.; Tatarinov, A.; Tuuva, T.; Tytgat, M.; Valente, M.; Vai, I.; Van Stenis, M.; Venditti, R.; Verhagen, E.; Verwilligen, P.; Vitulo, P.; Volkov, S.; Vorobyev, A.; Wang, D.; Wang, M.; Yang, U.; Yang, Y.; Yonamine, R.; Zaganidis, N.; Zenoni, F.; Zhang, A.

2018-02-01

We present a novel application of Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) sensors in the construction and characterisation of Micro Pattern Gaseous Detector (MPGD), with particular attention to the realisation of the largest triple (Gas electron Multiplier) GEM chambers so far operated, the GE1/1 chambers of the CMS experiment at LHC. The GE1/1 CMS project consists of 144 GEM chambers of about 0.5 m2 active area each, employing three GEM foils per chamber, to be installed in the forward region of the CMS endcap during the long shutdown of LHC in 2108-2019. The large active area of each GE1/1 chamber consists of GEM foils that are mechanically stretched in order to secure their flatness and the consequent uniform performance of the GE1/1 chamber across its whole active surface. So far FBGs have been used in high energy physics mainly as high precision positioning and re-positioning sensors and as low cost, easy to mount, low space consuming temperature sensors. FBGs are also commonly used for very precise strain measurements in material studies. In this work we present a novel use of FBGs as flatness and mechanical tensioning sensors applied to the wide GEM foils of the GE1/1 chambers. A network of FBG sensors have been used to determine the optimal mechanical tension applied and to characterise the mechanical tension that should be applied to the foils. We discuss the results of the test done on a full-sized GE1/1 final prototype, the studies done to fully characterise the GEM material, how this information was used to define a standard assembly procedure and possible future developments.

Investigation of mechanical properties of cryogenically treated music wire

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Heptonstall, A.; Waller, M.; Robertson, N. A.

2015-08-01

It has been reported that treating music wire (high carbon steel wire) by cooling to cryogenic temperatures can enhance its mechanical properties with particular reference to those properties important for musical performance. We use such wire for suspending many of the optics in Advanced LIGO, the upgrade to LIGO—the Laser Interferometric Gravitational-Wave Observatory. Two properties that particularly interest us are mechanical loss and breaking strength. A decrease in mechanical loss would directly reduce the thermal noise associated with the suspension, thus enhancing the noise performance of mirror suspensions within the detector. An increase in strength could allow thinner wire to be safely used, which would enhance the dilution factor of the suspension, again leading to lower suspension thermal noise. In this article, we describe the results of an investigation into some of the mechanical properties of music wire, comparing untreated wire with the same wire which has been cryogenically treated. For the samples we studied, we conclude that there is no significant difference in the properties of interest for application in gravitational wave detectors.

Micro-machined thermo-conductivity detector

DOEpatents

Yu, Conrad

2003-01-01

A micro-machined thermal conductivity detector for a portable gas chromatograph. The detector is highly sensitive and has fast response time to enable detection of the small size gas samples in a portable gas chromatograph which are in the order of nanoliters. The high sensitivity and fast response time are achieved through micro-machined devices composed of a nickel wire, for example, on a silicon nitride window formed in a silicon member and about a millimeter square in size. In addition to operating as a thermal conductivity detector, the silicon nitride window with a micro-machined wire therein of the device can be utilized for a fast response heater for PCR applications.

Embedded controller for GEM detector readout system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zabołotny, Wojciech M.; Byszuk, Adrian; Chernyshova, Maryna; Cieszewski, Radosław; Czarski, Tomasz; Dominik, Wojciech; Jakubowska, Katarzyna L.; Kasprowicz, Grzegorz; Poźniak, Krzysztof; Rzadkiewicz, Jacek; Scholz, Marek

2013-10-01

This paper describes the embedded controller used for the multichannel readout system for the GEM detector. The controller is based on the embedded Mini ITX mainboard, running the GNU/Linux operating system. The controller offers two interfaces to communicate with the FPGA based readout system. FPGA configuration and diagnostics is controlled via low speed USB based interface, while high-speed setup of the readout parameters and reception of the measured data is handled by the PCI Express (PCIe) interface. Hardware access is synchronized by the dedicated server written in C. Multiple clients may connect to this server via TCP/IP network, and different priority is assigned to individual clients. Specialized protocols have been implemented both for low level access on register level and for high level access with transfer of structured data with "msgpack" protocol. High level functionalities have been split between multiple TCP/IP servers for parallel operation. Status of the system may be checked, and basic maintenance may be performed via web interface, while the expert access is possible via SSH server. System was designed with reliability and flexibility in mind.

Diagnostics Development for the Ignition Experiment Ignitor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pizzicaroli, G.; Bombarda, F.; Licciulli, A.; Fersini, M.; Diso, D.; Kroegler, H.

2008-11-01

The Ignitor experiment is designed to reach ignition conditions. The short, but intense neutron flux will pose challenging conditions for diagnostics, such as magnetic sensors or bolometers, in direct proximity, or in direct view, of the plasma. An R&D program is in progress to manufacture mineral insulated magnetic coils with a reduced sensitivity to radiation effects. A double layer, MgO insulated Ni coil has been produced and tested. The wire is wound on an alumina core and the coil is housed in an alumina box for high refractoriness and minimum vacuum degassing. A lanthanide glass ceramic has been used as sealant for the box. At the same time, alternative methods to provide critical plasma position information during the high performance discharges in Ignitor are being explored. For example, the radiation emitted at the plasma edge by Mo^+14 can be monitored by means of a soft X- ray spectrometer equipped with a GEM detector, which allows high counting rates (> 1 MHz) and provides good energy resolution and flexibility of design. A 10x10 cm^2 multichannel prototype with its associated fast read-out system is being assembled. A layout of the complete spectrometer compatible with the Ignitor port design has been carried out, and the bolometer system design has been updated.

The Use of 3D Printing in the Development of Gaseous Radiation Detectors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fargher, Sam; Steer, Chris; Thompson, Lee

2018-01-01

Fused Deposition Modelling has been used to produce a small, single wire, Iarocci-style drift tube to demonstrate the feasibility of using the Additive Manufacturing technique to produce cheap detectors, quickly. Recent technological developments have extended the scope of Additive Manufacturing, or 3D printing, to the possibility of fabricating Gaseous Radiation Detectors, such as Single Wire Proportional Counters and Time Projection Chambers. 3D printing could allow for the production of customisable, modular detectors; that can be easily created and replaced and the possibility of printing detectors on-site in remote locations and even for outreach within schools. The 3D printed drift tube was printed using Polylactic acid to produce a gas volume in the shape of an inverted triangular prism; base length of 28 mm, height 24.25 mm and tube length 145 mm. A stainless steel anode wire was placed in the centre of the tube, mid-print. P5 gas (95% Argon, 5% Methane) was used as the drift gas and a circuit was built to capacitively decouple signals from the high voltage. The signal rate and average pulse height of cosmic ray muons were measured over a range of bias voltages to characterise and prove correct operation of the printed detector.

Tin Can Radiation Detector.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crull, John L.

1986-01-01

Provides instructions for making tin can radiation detectors from empty aluminum cans, aluminum foil, clear plastic, copper wire, silica gel, and fine, unwaxed dental floss put together with tape or glue. Also provides suggestions for activities using the detectors. (JN)

Soft X-ray astronomy proportional counter electronics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gardner, W. R.

1971-01-01

The X-ray multiwire proportional counter is designed to measure cosmic X-ray fluxes at sounding rocket altitudes in the energy range of 0.1 to 10 keV. Four instruments will be launched in a Black Brant 4 rocket employing different combinations of detector windows and gas. The detector is constructed with two layers of twelve cells. A columnator is mounted on the face of one layer whose cells are wired together alternately to form two main detector sections. The electronics and gas regulation systems are mounted on the face of the second layer whose cells are wired together to form one anticoincidence detector section. Normally X-rays will have short ionization paths in only one of the main detector cells at a time and won't enter the anticoincidence detector cells. To distinguish between X-rays and charged particles, the instrument includes a coincidence discriminator, an anticoincidence discriminator, and a pulse rise time discriminator.

24 CFR 891.555 - Smoke detectors.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 4 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Smoke detectors. 891.555 Section... Assistance § 891.555 Smoke detectors. (a) Performance requirement. After October 30, 1992, each dwelling unit must include at least one battery-operated or hard-wired smoke detector, in proper working condition...

24 CFR 891.555 - Smoke detectors.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 4 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Smoke detectors. 891.555 Section... Assistance § 891.555 Smoke detectors. (a) Performance requirement. After October 30, 1992, each dwelling unit must include at least one battery-operated or hard-wired smoke detector, in proper working condition...

24 CFR 891.555 - Smoke detectors.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 4 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Smoke detectors. 891.555 Section... Assistance § 891.555 Smoke detectors. (a) Performance requirement. After October 30, 1992, each dwelling unit must include at least one battery-operated or hard-wired smoke detector, in proper working condition...

24 CFR 891.555 - Smoke detectors.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 4 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false Smoke detectors. 891.555 Section... Assistance § 891.555 Smoke detectors. (a) Performance requirement. After October 30, 1992, each dwelling unit must include at least one battery-operated or hard-wired smoke detector, in proper working condition...

24 CFR 965.805 - Smoke detectors.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 4 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Smoke detectors. 965.805 Section... PHA-OWNED OR LEASED PROJECTS-GENERAL PROVISIONS Fire Safety § 965.805 Smoke detectors. (a) Performance... battery-operated or hard-wired smoke detector, or such greater number as may be required by state or local...

24 CFR 965.805 - Smoke detectors.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 4 2012-04-01 2012-04-01 false Smoke detectors. 965.805 Section... PHA-OWNED OR LEASED PROJECTS-GENERAL PROVISIONS Fire Safety § 965.805 Smoke detectors. (a) Performance... battery-operated or hard-wired smoke detector, or such greater number as may be required by state or local...

24 CFR 965.805 - Smoke detectors.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 4 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Smoke detectors. 965.805 Section... PHA-OWNED OR LEASED PROJECTS-GENERAL PROVISIONS Fire Safety § 965.805 Smoke detectors. (a) Performance... battery-operated or hard-wired smoke detector, or such greater number as may be required by state or local...

24 CFR 891.555 - Smoke detectors.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 4 2012-04-01 2012-04-01 false Smoke detectors. 891.555 Section... Assistance § 891.555 Smoke detectors. (a) Performance requirement. After October 30, 1992, each dwelling unit must include at least one battery-operated or hard-wired smoke detector, in proper working condition...

24 CFR 965.805 - Smoke detectors.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 4 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Smoke detectors. 965.805 Section... PHA-OWNED OR LEASED PROJECTS-GENERAL PROVISIONS Fire Safety § 965.805 Smoke detectors. (a) Performance... battery-operated or hard-wired smoke detector, or such greater number as may be required by state or local...

24 CFR 965.805 - Smoke detectors.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 4 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false Smoke detectors. 965.805 Section... PHA-OWNED OR LEASED PROJECTS-GENERAL PROVISIONS Fire Safety § 965.805 Smoke detectors. (a) Performance... battery-operated or hard-wired smoke detector, or such greater number as may be required by state or local...

Development of the GEM-TPC X-ray Polarimeter with the Scalable Readout System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kitaguchi, Takao; Hayato, Asami; Iwakiri, Wataru; Takeuchi, Yoko; Kubota, Megu; Nishida, Kazuki; Enoto, Teruaki; Tamagawa, Toru

2018-02-01

We have developed a gaseous Time Projection Chamber (TPC) containing a single-layered foil of a gas electron multiplier (GEM) to open up a new window on cosmic X-ray polarimetry in the 2-10 keV band. The micro-pattern TPC polarimeter in combination with the Scalable Readout System produced by the RD51 collaboration has been built as an engineering model to optimize detector parameters and improve polarimeter sensitivity. The polarimeter was characterized with unpolarized X-rays from an X-ray generator in a laboratory and polarized X-rays on the BL32B2 beamline at the SPring-8 synchrotron radiation facility. Preliminary results show that the polarimeter has a comparable modulation factor to a prototype of the flight one.

Beam-based measurement of the center of the new STAR pipe

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Robert-Demolaize, G.

During the RHIC Shutdown preceding Run13 for polarized protons, various upgrades were brought to the STAR detector, one of which being the partial installation of the Forward GEM Tracker (FGT). This installation includes a new beam pipe at the center of the detector with an internal radius half the size of what the replaced pipe was, from 40 mm to 20 mm. The following reviews the results of a vertical aperture scans in the STAR interaction region performed at injection energy with both beams, and gives an estimate of the measured transverse offset of the new STAR pipe.

Multichannel reconfigurable measurement system for hot plasma diagnostics based on GEM-2D detector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wojenski, A. J.; Kasprowicz, G.; Pozniak, K. T.; Byszuk, A.; Chernyshova, M.; Czarski, T.; Jablonski, S.; Juszczyk, B.; Zienkiewicz, P.

2015-12-01

In the future magnetically confined fusion research reactors (e.g. ITER tokamak), precise determination of the level of the soft X-ray radiation of plasma with temperature above 30 keV (around 350 mln K) will be very important in plasma parameters optimization. This paper presents the first version of a designed spectrography measurement system. The system is already installed at JET tokamak. Based on the experience gained from the project, the new generation of hardware for spectrography measurements, was designed and also described in the paper. The GEM detector readout structure was changed to 2D in order to perform measurements of i.e. laser generated plasma. The hardware structure of the system was redesigned in order to provide large number of high speed input channels. Finally, this paper also covers the issue of new control software, necessary to set-up a complete system of certain complexity and perform data acquisition. The main goal of the project was to develop a new version of the system, which includes upgraded structure and data transmission infrastructure (i.e. handling large number of measurement channels, high sampling rate).

Wire Chambers and Cherenkov Detectors at Fermilab Test Beam Facility

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Tame Narvaez, Karla

2017-01-01

Fermilab Test Beam Facility (FTBF) is dedicated to helping scientists test their prototypes. For this, FTBF has instrumentation that is very useful for the users. However, before a user can test a detector, it is necessary to ensure the facility has the characteristics they need. During this summer, we studied beam properties by collecting Cherenkov and wire chamber data. Analyzed data will be used for updating the general information that FTBF posts on a web page.

Cryogenic and radiation-hard asic for interfacing large format NIR/SWIR detector arrays

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gao, Peng; Dupont, Benoit; Dierickx, Bart; Müller, Eric; Verbruggen, Geert; Gielis, Stijn; Valvekens, Ramses

2017-11-01

For scientific and earth observation space missions, weight and power consumption is usually a critical factor. In order to obtain better vehicle integration, efficiency and controllability for large format NIR/SWIR detector arrays, a prototype ASIC is designed. It performs multiple detector array interfacing, power regulation and data acquisition operations inside the cryogenic chambers. Both operation commands and imaging data are communicated via the SpaceWire interface which will significantly reduce the number of wire goes in and out the cryogenic chamber. This "ASIC" prototype is realized in 0.18um CMOS technology and is designed for radiation hardness.

Pulsed-neutron imaging by a high-speed camera and center-of-gravity processing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mochiki, K.; Uragaki, T.; Koide, J.; Kushima, Y.; Kawarabayashi, J.; Taketani, A.; Otake, Y.; Matsumoto, Y.; Su, Y.; Hiroi, K.; Shinohara, T.; Kai, T.

2018-01-01

Pulsed-neutron imaging is attractive technique in the research fields of energy-resolved neutron radiography and RANS (RIKEN) and RADEN (J-PARC/JAEA) are small and large accelerator-driven pulsed-neutron facilities for its imaging, respectively. To overcome the insuficient spatial resolution of the conunting type imaging detectors like μ NID, nGEM and pixelated detectors, camera detectors combined with a neutron color image intensifier were investigated. At RANS center-of-gravity technique was applied to spots image obtained by a CCD camera and the technique was confirmed to be effective for improving spatial resolution. At RADEN a high-frame-rate CMOS camera was used and super resolution technique was applied and it was recognized that the spatial resolution was futhermore improved.

New approach to calculate the true-coincidence effect of HpGe detector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alnour, I. A.; Wagiran, H.; Ibrahim, N.; Hamzah, S.; Siong, W. B.; Elias, M. S.

2016-01-01

The corrections for true-coincidence effects in HpGe detector are important, especially at low source-to-detector distances. This work established an approach to calculate the true-coincidence effects experimentally for HpGe detectors of type Canberra GC3018 and Ortec GEM25-76-XLB-C, which are in operation at neutron activation analysis lab in Malaysian Nuclear Agency (NM). The correction for true-coincidence effects was performed close to detector at distances 2 and 5 cm using 57Co, 60Co, 133Ba and 137Cs as standard point sources. The correction factors were ranged between 0.93-1.10 at 2 cm and 0.97-1.00 at 5 cm for Canberra HpGe detector; whereas for Ortec HpGe detector ranged between 0.92-1.13 and 0.95-100 at 2 and 5 cm respectively. The change in efficiency calibration curve of the detector at 2 and 5 cm after correction was found to be less than 1%. Moreover, the polynomial parameters functions were simulated through a computer program, MATLAB in order to find an accurate fit to the experimental data points.

First Results from the DUNE 35-ton Prototype using Cosmics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Insler, Jonathan; DUNE Collaboration

2016-03-01

The 35-ton prototype for the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) Far Detector is a single-phase liquid argon time projection chamber (LAr-TPC) integrated detector that will take cosmics data for a two month run beginning in February 2016. The 35-ton prototype will characterize DUNE's Far Detector technology performance and provide a sample of real data for DUNE reconstruction algorithms. The 35-ton prototype has two drift volumes of lengths 2.23 m and 0.23 m on either side of its anode plane assembly (APA) and makes use of wire planes with wrapped wires and a photon detection system (PDS) utilizing photon detection panels read out by silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs). Data from the 35-ton LAr detector are expected to provide rich information on scintillation light and charged particle tracks. We present a preliminary analysis of cosmics data taken with the 35-ton detector with a focus on stopping muons.

Data conditioning for gravitational wave detectors: A Kalman filter for regressing suspension violin modes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Finn, Lee Samuel; Mukherjee, Soma

2001-03-01

Interferometric gravitational wave detectors operate by sensing the differential light travel time between free test masses. Correspondingly, they are sensitive to anything that changes the physical distance between the test masses, including physical motion of the masses themselves. In ground-based detectors the test masses are suspended as pendula, in order that they be approximately ``free'' above the pendulumn frequency. Still, thermal or other excitations of the suspension wires' violin modes do impart a force on the masses that appears as a strong, albeit narrow-band, ``signal'' in the detectors waveband. Gravitational waves, on the other hand, change the distance between the test masses without disturbing the suspensions. Consequently, violin modes can confound attempts to observe gravitational waves since ``signals'' that are correlated with a disturbance of the suspension violin modes are not likely due to a passing gravitational wave. Here we describe the design of a Kalman filter that determines the time-dependent vibrational state of a detector's suspension ``violin'' modes from time dependent observations of the detector output. From the estimated state we can predict that component of the detector output due to suspension excitations, thermal or otherwise. The wire state can be examined for evidence of suspension disturbances that might, in the absence of such a diagnostic, be mistaken for gravitational wave signals. Additionally, from the wire state we can subtractively remove the contribution from suspension disturbances, thermal or otherwise, from the detector output, leaving a residual free from this instrumental artifact. We demonstrate the filter's effectiveness both through numerical simulations and application to real data taken on the LIGO 40 M prototype detector.

Construction and assembly of the wire planes for the MicroBooNE Time Projection Chamber

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Acciarri, R.; Adams, C.; Asaadi, J.

In this paper we describe how the readout planes for the MicroBooNE Time Projection Chamber were constructed, assembled and installed. We present the individual wire preparation using semi-automatic winding machines and the assembly of wire carrier boards. The details of the wire installation on the detector frame and the tensioning of the wires are given. A strict quality assurance plan ensured the integrity of the readout planes. The different tests performed at all stages of construction and installation provided crucial information to achieve the successful realization of the MicroBooNE wire planes.

Comparison of lens- and fiber-coupled CCD detectors for X-ray computed tomography

PubMed Central

Uesugi, K.; Hoshino, M.; Yagi, N.

2011-01-01

X-ray imaging detectors with an identical phosphor and a CCD chip but employing lens- and fiber-coupling between them have been compared. These are designed for X-ray imaging experiments, especially computed tomography, at the medium-length beamline at the SPring-8 synchrotron radiation facility. It was found that the transmittance of light to the CCD is about four times higher in the fiber-coupled detector. The uniformity of response in the lens-coupled detector has a global shading of up to 40%, while pixel-to-pixel variation owing to a chicken-wire pattern was dominant in the fiber-coupled detector. Apart from the higher transmittance, the fiber-coupled detector has a few characteristics that require attention when it is used for computed tomography, which are browning of the fiber, discontinuity in the image, image distortion, and dark spots in the chicken-wire pattern. Thus, it is most suitable for high-speed tomography of samples that tend to deform, for example biological and soft materials. PMID:21335908

Detecting short circuits during assembly

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Deboo, G. J.

1980-01-01

Detector circuit identifies shorts between bus bars of electronic equipment being wired. Detector sounds alarm and indicates which planes are shorted. Power and ground bus bars are scanned continuously until short circuit occurs.

The construction technique of the high granularity and high transparency drift chamber of MEG II

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chiarello, G.; Chiri, C.; Corvaglia, A.; Grancagnolo, F.; Miccoli, A.; Panareo, M.; Pinto, C.; Spedicato, M.; Tassielli, G. F.

2017-07-01

The MEG experiment searches for the charged lepton flavor violating decay, μ +→ e+γ. MEG has already determined the world best upper limit on the branching ratio BR<4.2× 10-13 at 90% CL. An upgrade of the whole detector has been approved to obtain a substantial increase in sensitivity. Currently MEG is in upgrade phases, this phase involves all the detectors. The new positron tracker is a single volume, full stereo, small cells drift chamber (DCH) co-axial to the beam line. It is composed of 10 concentric layers and each single drift cell is approximately square 7 mm side, with a 20 μ m gold plated W sense wire surrounded by 40 μ m and 50 μ m silver plated Al field wires in a ratio of 5:1, about 12,000 wires. Due to the high wire density (12 wires/cm2), the use of the classical feed-through technique as wire anchoring system could hardly be implemented and therefore it was necessary to develop new wiring strategies. The number of wires and the stringent requirements on the precision of their position and on the uniformity of the wire mechanical tension impose the use of an automatic system to operate the wiring procedures. This wiring robot, designed and built at the INFN Lecce and University of Salento laboratories, consists of: ṡ a semiautomatic wiring machine with a high precision on wire mechanical tensioning (better than 0.5 g) and on wire positioning (20 μ m) for simultaneous wiring of multiwire layers; ṡ a contact-less infrared laser soldering tool; ṡ an automatic handling system for storing and transporting the multi-wire layers. The drift chamber is currently under construction at INFN and should be completed by the end of summer 2017 to be then delivered to PSI for commissioning.

Pulse-by-pulse energy measurement at the Stanford Linear Collider

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Blaylock, G.; Briggs, D.; Collins, B.; Petree, M.

1992-01-01

The Stanford Linear Collider (SLC) collides a beam of electrons and positrons at 92 GeV. It is the first colliding linac, and produces Z(sup 0) particles for High-Energy Physics measurements. The energy of each beam must be measured to one part in 10(exp 4) on every collision (120 Hz). An Energy Spectrometer in each beam line after the collision produces two stripes of high-energy synchrotron radiation with critical energy of a few MeV. The distance between these two stripes at an imaging plane measures the beam energy. The Wire-Imaging Synchrotron Radiation Detector (WISRD) system comprises a novel detector, data acquisition electronics, readout, and analysis. The detector comprises an array of wires for each synchrotron stripe. The electronics measure secondary emission charge on each wire of each array. A Macintosh II (using THINK C, THINK Class Library) and DSP coprocessor (using ANSI C) acquire and analyze the data, and display and report the results for SLC operation.

A frequency and sensitivity tunable microresonator array for high-speed quantum processor readout

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Whittaker, J. D., E-mail: jwhittaker@dwavesys.com; Swenson, L. J.; Volkmann, M. H.

Superconducting microresonators have been successfully utilized as detection elements for a wide variety of applications. With multiplexing factors exceeding 1000 detectors per transmission line, they are the most scalable low-temperature detector technology demonstrated to date. For high-throughput applications, fewer detectors can be coupled to a single wire but utilize a larger per-detector bandwidth. For all existing designs, fluctuations in fabrication tolerances result in a non-uniform shift in resonance frequency and sensitivity, which ultimately limits the efficiency of bandwidth utilization. Here, we present the design, implementation, and initial characterization of a superconducting microresonator readout integrating two tunable inductances per detector. Wemore » demonstrate that these tuning elements provide independent control of both the detector frequency and sensitivity, allowing us to maximize the transmission line bandwidth utilization. Finally, we discuss the integration of these detectors in a multilayer fabrication stack for high-speed readout of the D-Wave quantum processor, highlighting the use of control and routing circuitry composed of single-flux-quantum loops to minimize the number of control wires at the lowest temperature stage.« less

Quenching gas for detectors of charged particles

DOEpatents

Atac, M.

1974-01-22

Operation of detectors of charged particles such as wire counters and Geiger-Muller tubes is improved by filling the counters with a quenching-gas mixture of argon, isobutane and methylchloroform. (Official Gazette)

Parylene supported 20um*20um uncooled thermoelectric infrared detector with high fill factor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Modarres-Zadeh, Mohammad J.; Carpenter, Zachary S.; Rockley, Mark G.; Abdolvand, Reza

2012-06-01

Presented is a novel design for an uncooled surface-micromachined thermoelectric (TE) infrared (IR) detector. The detector features a P-doped polysilicon/Nichrome (Cr20-Ni80) thermocouple, which is embedded into a thin layer of Parylene-N to provide structural support. The low thermal conductivity (~0.1W/m.K), chemical resistance, and ease of deposition/patterning of Parylene-N make it an excellent choice of material for use in MEMS thermal detectors. This detector also features an umbrella-like IR absorber composed of a three layer stack of NiCr/SiN/NiCr to optimize IR absorption. The total device area is 20 um * 20 um per pixel with an absorber area of ~19 um * 19 um resulting in a fill factor of 90%. At room temperature, a DC responsivity of ~170V/W with a rise time of less than 8 ms is measured from the fabricated devices in vacuum when viewing a 500K blackbody without any concentrating optics. The dominant source of noise in thermoelectric IR detectors is typically Johnson noise when the detectors are operating in an open circuit condition. The fabricated detectors have resistances about 85KOhm which results in Johnson noise of about 38nV/Hz^0.5. The D* is calculated to be 9 * 106 cm*Hz0.5/ W. Preliminary finite element analysis indicates that the thermal conduction from the hot junction to the substrate through the TE wires is dominant ( GTE >> Gparylene) considering the fabricated dimensions of the parylene film and the TE wires. Thus, by further reducing the size of the TE wires, GTE can be decreased and hence, responsivity can be improved while the parylene film sustains the structural integrity of the cell.

Wire-Wrap Chatter Detector

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fisch, G. Z.; Borden, T. J.

1982-01-01

Monitoring circuit responds to changes in resistance as little as 0.1 ohm. Has been used to detect defective wire-wrap connections during thermal and vibration tests. Defect is indicated to operator by light-emitting diode and by increase in count on a two-digit display.

Fast wire per wire X-ray data acquisition system for time-resolved small angle scattering experiments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Epstein, A.; Briquet-Laugier, F.; Sheldon, S.; Boulin, C.

2000-04-01

Most of the X-ray multi-wire gas detectors used at the EMBL Hamburg outstation for time-resolved studies of biological samples are readout, using the delay line method. The main disadvantage of such readout systems is their event rate limitation introduced by the delay line and the required time to digital conversion step. They also lack the possibility to deal with multiple events. To overcome these limitations, a new approach for the complete readout system was introduced. The new linear detection system is based on the wire per wire approach where each individual wire is associated to preamplifier/discriminator/counter electronics channel. High-density, front-end electronics were designed around a fast current sensitive preamplifier. An eight-channel board was designed to include the preamplifiers-discriminators and the differential ECL drivers output stages. The detector front-end consists of 25 boards directly mounted inside the detector assembly. To achieve a time framing resolution as short as 10 /spl mu/s, very fast histogramming is required. The only way to implement this for a high number of channels (200 in our case) is by using a distributed system. The digital part of the system consists of a crate controller, up to 16 acquisition boards (capable of handling fast histogramming for up to 32-channels each) and an optical-link board (based on the Cypress "Hot-Link" chip set). Both the crate controller and the acquisition boards are based on a standard RISC microcontroller (IDT R3081) plug-in board. At present, a dedicated CAMAC module which we developed is used to interface the digital front-end acquisition crate to the host via the optical link.

Effect of electron beam cooling on transversal and longitudinal emittance of an external proton beam

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kilian, K.; Machner, H.; Magiera, A.; Prasuhn, D.; von Rossen, P.; Siudak, R.; Stein, H. J.; Stockhorst, H.

2018-02-01

Benefits of electron cooling to the quality of extracted ion beams from storage rings are discussed. The transversal emittances of an external proton beam with and without electron cooling at injection energy are measured with the GEM detector assembly. While the horizontal emittance remains the vertical emittance shrinks by the cooling process. The longitudinal momentum variance is also reduced by cooling.

New approach to calculate the true-coincidence effect of HpGe detector

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Alnour, I. A., E-mail: aaibrahim3@live.utm.my, E-mail: ibrahim.elnour@yahoo.com; Wagiran, H.; Ibrahim, N.

The corrections for true-coincidence effects in HpGe detector are important, especially at low source-to-detector distances. This work established an approach to calculate the true-coincidence effects experimentally for HpGe detectors of type Canberra GC3018 and Ortec GEM25-76-XLB-C, which are in operation at neutron activation analysis lab in Malaysian Nuclear Agency (NM). The correction for true-coincidence effects was performed close to detector at distances 2 and 5 cm using {sup 57}Co, {sup 60}Co, {sup 133}Ba and {sup 137}Cs as standard point sources. The correction factors were ranged between 0.93-1.10 at 2 cm and 0.97-1.00 at 5 cm for Canberra HpGe detector; whereas for Ortec HpGemore » detector ranged between 0.92-1.13 and 0.95-100 at 2 and 5 cm respectively. The change in efficiency calibration curve of the detector at 2 and 5 cm after correction was found to be less than 1%. Moreover, the polynomial parameters functions were simulated through a computer program, MATLAB in order to find an accurate fit to the experimental data points.« less

Monte Carlo Evaluation of a New Track-Finding Method for the VENUS Muon Detector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Asano, Yuzo; Hatanaka, Makoto; Koseki, Tadashi; Mori, Shigeki; Shirakata, Masashi; Yamamoto, Kazumichi

1989-10-01

A new method of finding a track is devised for the VENUS muon detector composed of eight-cell drift-tube modules, each cell having a rectangular cross section of 5× 7 cm2. The new method, in which fourth-order equations are solved by the Ferarri-Cardano method, is especially powerful for a track having a large incident angle with respect to the line normal to the anode-wire plane of a drift tube, compared to the presently used method in which a track is determined by the intersecting points of an equi-drift-distance circle and the anode-wire plane. Cosmic-ray test data for the forward-backward part muon detector support these simulation results.

A large ungated TPC with GEM amplification

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Berger, M.; Ball, M.; Fabbietti, L.; Ketzer, B.; Arora, R.; Beck, R.; Böhmer, F. V.; Chen, J.-C.; Cusanno, F.; Dørheim, S.; García, F.; Hehner, J.; Herrmann, N.; Höppner, C.; Kaiser, D.; Kis̆, M.; Kleipa, V.; Konorov, I.; Kunkel, J.; Kurz, N.; Leifels, Y.; Müllner, P.; Münzer, R.; Neubert, S.; Rauch, J.; Schmidt, C. J.; Schmitz, R.; Soyk, D.; Vandenbroucke, M.; Voss, B.; Walther, D.; Zmeskal, J.

2017-10-01

A Time Projection Chamber (TPC) is an ideal device for the detection of charged particle tracks in a large volume covering a solid angle of almost 4 π. The high density of hits on a given particle track facilitates the task of pattern recognition in a high-occupancy environment and in addition provides particle identification by measuring the specific energy loss for each track. For these reasons, TPCs with Multiwire Proportional Chamber (MWPC) amplification have been and are widely used in experiments recording heavy-ion collisions. A significant drawback, however, is the large dead time of the order of 1 ms per event generated by the use of a gating grid, which is mandatory to prevent ions created in the amplification region from drifting back into the drift volume, where they would severely distort the drift path of subsequent tracks. For experiments with higher event rates this concept of a conventional TPC operating with a triggered gating grid can therefore not be applied without a significant loss of data. A continuous readout of the signals is the more appropriate way of operation. This, however, constitutes a change of paradigm with considerable challenges to be met concerning the amplification region, the design and bandwidth of the readout electronics, and the data handling. A mandatory prerequisite for such an operation is a sufficiently good suppression of the ion backflow from the avalanche region, which otherwise limits the tracking and particle identification capabilities of such a detector. Gas Electron Multipliers (GEM) are a promising candidate to combine excellent spatial resolution with an intrinsic suppression of ions. In this paper we describe the design, construction and the commissioning of a large TPC with GEM amplification and without gating grid (GEM-TPC). The design requirements have driven innovations in the construction of a light-weight field-cage, a supporting media flange, the GEM amplification and the readout system, which are presented in this paper. We further describe the support infrastructure such as gas, cooling and slow control. Finally, we report on the operation of the GEM-TPC in the FOPI experiment, and describe the calibration procedures which are applied to achieve the design performance of the device.

Removal of Long-Lived Radon Daughters by Electropolishing Thin Layers of Stainless Steel

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

White, James; Schnee, Richard; Bunker, Raymond; Bowles, Michael; Cushman, Priscilla; Epland, Matthew; Pepin, Mark; Guiseppe, Vince

2012-10-01

Long-lived alpha and beta emitters in the Radon decay chain on detector surfaces may be limiting background in many experiments attempting to detect dark matter or neutrinoless double beta decay. To screen detector surfaces for this radioactive contamination, a low-radiation, multi-wire proportional chamber (the BetaCage) is under construction. Removal of Pb-210 implanted on its 25-micron stainless steel wires without causing significant variation in the diameter of the wires is critical to the BetaCage's ultimate sensitivity. An apparatus to perform electropolishing trials to remove roughly a micron of material has been assembled. These trials have shown promising results. Stainless steel square samples implanted with Pb-210 have shown counts with a reduction factor greater than 10 after electropolishing according to gamma assay. Furthermore, alpha counting has produced similar results, with a reduction factor greater than 100. Lastly, the diameters of wires after electropolishing have remained sufficiently uniform, with reduction in thickness consistent with expectations.

Lifetime Extension of the Gas Discharge Detectors with Plasma Etching of Silicon Deposits in 80%CF4 + 20%CO2

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gavrilov, G. E.; Vakhtel, V. M.; Maysuzenko, D. A.; Tavtorkina, T. A.; Fetisov, A. A.; Shvetsova, N. Yu.

2017-12-01

A method of elimination of silicon compounds from the anode wire of an aged proportional counter is presented. The aging of a counter with a 70%Ar + 30%CO2 and a 60%Ar + 30%CO2 + 10%CF4 working mixture was stimulated by a 90Sr β source. To accelerate the process of aging, the gas mixture flow to the counter was supplied through a pipe with RTV coated wall. As a result, the amplitude of the signal decreased 70% already at accumulated charge of Q = 0.03 C/cm. The etching of the silicon compounds on the wire surface with an 80%CF4 + 20%CO2 gas mixture discharge led to full recovery of the operating characteristics of detector and an increase in the lifetime. A scanning electron microscopy and X-ray spectroscopy analysis of the recovered wire surface were performed. In accordance with the results, a good quality of wire cleaning from SiO2 compounds was obtained.

Proportional drift tubes for large area muon detectors

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cho, C.; Higashi, S.; Hiraoka, N.; Maruyama, A.; Okusawa, T.; Sato, T.; Suwada, T.; Takahashi, T.; Umeda, H.

1985-01-01

A proportional drift chamber which consists of eight rectangular drift tubes with cross section of 10 cm x 5 cm, a sense wire of 100 micron phi gold-plated tungsten wire and the length of 6 m, was tested using cosmic ray muons. Spatial resolution (rms) is between 0.5 and 1 mm over drift space of 50 mm, depending on incident angle and distance from sense wire.

Testing sTGC with small angle wire edges for the ATLAS new small wheel muon detector upgrade

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Roth, Itamar; Klier, Amit; Duchovni, Ehud

The LHC upgrade scheduled for 2018 is expected to significantly increase the accelerator's luminosity, and as a result the radiation background rates in the ATLAS Muon Spectrometer will increase too. Some of its components will have to be replaced in order to cope with these high rates. Newly designed small-strip Thin Gap chambers (sTGC) will replace them at the small wheel region. One of the differences between the sTGC and the currently used TGC is the alignment of the wires along the azimuthal direction. As a result, the outermost wires approach the detector's edge with a small angle. Such amore » configuration may be a cause for various problems. Two small dedicated chambers were built and tested in order to study possible edge effects that may arise from the new configuration. The sTGC appears to be stable and no spark have been observed, yet some differences in the detector response near the edge is seen and further studies should be carried out. (authors)« less

Cargo Container Imaging with Gaseous Detectors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Forest, Tony

2006-10-01

The gas electron multiplier (GEM) , developed at CERN by Fabio Sauli, represents the latest innovation in micropattern gaseous detectors and has been utilized as a preamplification stage in applications ranging from fundamental physics experiments to medical imaging. Although cargo container inspection systems are currently in place using gamma-rays or X-rays, they are predominantly designed with a resolution to detect contraband. Current imaging systems also suffer from false alarms due to naturally radioactive cargo when radiation portal monitors are used for passive detection of nuclear materials. Detection of small shielded radioactive elements is even more problematic. Idaho State University has been developing a system to image cargo containers in order to detect small shielded radioactive cargo. The possible application of an imaging system with gas electron multiplication will be shown along with preliminary images using gaseous detectors instead of the scintillators currently in use.

Command detector SNR estimator and lock status monitor circuitry

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Emerson, R. F.

1976-01-01

A breadboard of the command detector signal-to-noise-ratio estimator and lock status monitor was built on a wire-wrap card. The breadboard was integrated with the standard command detector, and its performance was measured. The design, design constraints, and construction of the breadboard are described. The performance is shown to agree with the theoretical model.

Fine-Scale Mechanical Properties of Sliding Solids.

DTIC Science & Technology

1987-02-28

experiments to be described, the tip was prepared by chemical polishing or electropolishing and welded to a loop of wire that could be resistively heated in...attach the sample to a wire mesh that could be resistively heated itself to high temperatures. Where neither of these methods were appropriate...section welded to the tip wire . The reflected beam is focussed onto an optical detector (also outside the chamber) which is sensitive to small changes

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wang, Xu; Shen, Fuwang; Wang, Shuai

The STAR experiment at RHIC is planning to upgrade the Time Projection Chamber which lies at the heart of the detector. We have designed an instrument to measure the tension of the wires in the multi-wire proportional chambers (MWPCs) which will be used in the TPC upgrade. The wire tension measurement system causes the wires to vibrate and then it measures the fundamental frequency of the oscillation via a laser based optical platform. The platform can scan the entire wire plane, automatically, in a single run and obtain the wire tension on each wire with high precision. In this paper,more » the details about the measurement method and the system setup will be described. In addition, the test results for a prototype MWPC to be used in the STAR-iTPC upgrade will be presented.« less

14 CFR 25.1203 - Fire detector system.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... fire zone, and in the combustion, turbine, and tailpipe sections of turbine engine installations, in... the sensor or associated wiring within a designated fire zone is severed at one point, unless the... means to warn the crew in the event of a short circuit in the sensor or associated wiring within a...

Gated strip proportional detector

DOEpatents

Morris, C.L.; Idzorek, G.C.; Atencio, L.G.

1985-02-19

A gated strip proportional detector includes a gas tight chamber which encloses a solid ground plane, a wire anode plane, a wire gating plane, and a multiconductor cathode plane. The anode plane amplifies the amount of charge deposited in the chamber by a factor of up to 10/sup 6/. The gating plane allows only charge within a narrow strip to reach the cathode. The cathode plane collects the charge allowed to pass through the gating plane on a set of conductors perpendicular to the open-gated region. By scanning the open-gated region across the chamber and reading out the charge collected on the cathode conductors after a suitable integration time for each location of the gate, a two-dimensional image of the intensity of the ionizing radiation incident on the detector can be made.

Gated strip proportional detector

DOEpatents

Morris, Christopher L.; Idzorek, George C.; Atencio, Leroy G.

1987-01-01

A gated strip proportional detector includes a gas tight chamber which encloses a solid ground plane, a wire anode plane, a wire gating plane, and a multiconductor cathode plane. The anode plane amplifies the amount of charge deposited in the chamber by a factor of up to 10.sup.6. The gating plane allows only charge within a narrow strip to reach the cathode. The cathode plane collects the charge allowed to pass through the gating plane on a set of conductors perpendicular to the open-gated region. By scanning the open-gated region across the chamber and reading out the charge collected on the cathode conductors after a suitable integration time for each location of the gate, a two-dimensional image of the intensity of the ionizing radiation incident on the detector can be made.

Acoustic temperature measurement in a rocket noise field.

PubMed

Giraud, Jarom H; Gee, Kent L; Ellsworth, John E

2010-05-01

A 1 μm diameter platinum wire resistance thermometer has been used to measure temperature fluctuations generated during a static GEM-60 rocket motor test. Exact and small-signal relationships between acoustic pressure and acoustic temperature are derived in order to compare the temperature probe output with that of a 3.18 mm diameter condenser microphone. After preliminary plane wave tests yielded good agreement between the transducers within the temperature probe's ∼2 kHz bandwidth, comparison between the temperature probe and microphone data during the motor firing show that the ±∼3 K acoustic temperature fluctuations are a significant contributor to the total temperature variations.

Recent Developments in Transition-Edge Strip Detectors for Solar X-Rays

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rausch, Adam J.; Deiker, Steven W.; Hilton, Gene; Irwin, Kent D.; Martinez-Galarce, Dennis S.; Shing, Lawrence; Stern, Robert A.; Ullom, Joel N.; Vale, Leila R.

2008-01-01

LMSAL and NIST are developing position-sensitive x-ray strip detectors based on Transition Edge Sensor (TES) microcalorimeters optimized for solar physics. By combining high spectral (E/ delta E approximately equals 1600) and temporal (single photon delta t approximately equals 10 micro s) resolutions with imaging capabilities, these devices will be able to study high-temperature (>l0 MK) x-ray lines as never before. Diagnostics from these lines should provide significant new insight into the physics of both microflares and the early stages of flares. Previously, the large size of traditional TESs, along with the heat loads associated with wiring large arrays, presented obstacles to using these cryogenic detectors for solar missions. Implementing strip detector technology at small scales, however, addresses both issues: here, a line of substantially smaller effective pixels requires only two TESs, decreasing both the total array size and the wiring requirements for the same spatial resolution. Early results show energy resolutions of delta E(sub fwhm) approximately equals 30 eV and spatial resolutions of approximately 10-15 micron, suggesting the strip-detector concept is viable.

X-ray polarization capabilities of a small explorer mission

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jahoda, Keith M.; Black, J. Kevin; Hill, Joanne E.; Kallman, Timothy R.; Kaaret, Philip E.; Markwardt, Craig B.; Okajima, Takashi; Petre, Robert; Soong, Yang; Strohmayer, Tod E.; Tamagawa, Toru; Tawara, Yuzuru

2014-07-01

X-ray polarization measurements hold great promise for studying the geometry and emission mechanisms in the strong gravitational and magnetic fields that surround black holes and neutron stars. In spite of this, the observational situation remains very limited; the last instrument dedicated to X-ray polarimetry flew decades ago on OSO-8, and the few recent measurements have been made by instruments optimized for other purposes. However, the technical capabilities to greatly advance the observational situation are in hand. Recent developments in micro-pattern gas detectors allow use of the polarization sensitivity of the photo-electric effect, which is the dominant interaction in the band above 2 keV. We present the scientific and technical requirements for an X-ray polarization observatory consistent with the scope of a NASA Small Explorer (SMEX) mission, along with a representative catalog of what the observational capabilities and expected sensitivities for the first year of operation could be. The mission is based on the technically robust design of the Gravity and Extreme Magnetism SMEX (GEMS) which completed a Phase B study and Preliminary Design Review in 2012. The GEMS mission is enabled by time projection detectors sensitive to the photo-electric effect. Prototype detectors have been designed, and provide engineering and performance data which support the mission design. The detectors are further characterized by low background, modest spectral resolution, and sub-millisecond timing resolution. The mission also incorporates high efficiency grazing incidence X-ray mirrors, design features that reduce systematic errors (identical telescopes at different azimuthal angles with respect to the look axis, and mounted on a rotating spacecraft platform), and a moderate capability to perform Target of Opportunity observations. The mission operates autonomously in a low earth, low inclination orbit with one to ten downlinks per day and one or more uplinks per week. Data and calibration products will be made available through the High Energy Astrophysics Science and Archival Research Center (HEASARC).

Design and implementation of wire tension measurement system for MWPCs used in the STAR iTPC upgrade

DOE PAGES

Wang, Xu; Shen, Fuwang; Wang, Shuai; ...

2017-04-06

The STAR experiment at RHIC is planning to upgrade the Time Projection Chamber which lies at the heart of the detector. We have designed an instrument to measure the tension of the wires in the multi-wire proportional chambers (MWPCs) which will be used in the TPC upgrade. The wire tension measurement system causes the wires to vibrate and then it measures the fundamental frequency of the oscillation via a laser based optical platform. The platform can scan the entire wire plane, automatically, in a single run and obtain the wire tension on each wire with high precision. In this paper,more » the details about the measurement method and the system setup will be described. In addition, the test results for a prototype MWPC to be used in the STAR-iTPC upgrade will be presented.« less

Design and implementation of wire tension measurement system for MWPCs used in the STAR iTPC upgrade

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Xu; Shen, Fuwang; Wang, Shuai; Feng, Cunfeng; Li, Changyu; Lu, Peng; Thomas, Jim; Xu, Qinghua; Zhu, Chengguang

2017-07-01

The STAR experiment at RHIC is planning to upgrade the Time Projection Chamber which lies at the heart of the detector. We have designed an instrument to measure the tension of the wires in the multi-wire proportional chambers (MWPCs) which will be used in the TPC upgrade. The wire tension measurement system causes the wires to vibrate and then it measures the fundamental frequency of the oscillation via a laser based optical platform. The platform can scan the entire wire plane, automatically, in a single run and obtain the wire tension on each wire with high precision. In this paper, the details about the measurement method and the system setup will be described. In addition, the test results for a prototype MWPC to be used in the STAR-iTPC upgrade will be presented.

Prosthetic metal implants and airport metal detectors.

PubMed

Ismail, A; Dancey, A; Titley, O G

2013-04-01

Metal detectors have been present in airports and points of departure for some time. With the introduction of heightened security measures in response to fears of an increased threat of terrorism, they may become more prevalent in other public locations. The aim of this study was to ascertain which prosthetic devices activated metal detector devices used for security purposes. A range of prosthetic devices used commonly in orthopaedic and plastic surgery procedures were passed through an arch metal detector at Birmingham Airport in the UK. Additionally, each item was passed under a wand detector. Items tested included expandable breast prostheses, plates used in wrist and hand surgery, screws, K-wires, Autosuture™ ligation clips and staples. No prostheses were detected by the arch detector. The expandable implants and wrist plates were the only devices detected by passing the wand directly over them. No device was detected by the wand when it was under cover of the axillary soft tissue. Screws, K-wires, Autosuture™ clips and staples were not detected under any of the study conditions. Although unlikely to trigger a detector, it is possible that an expandable breast prosthesis or larger plate may do so. It is therefore best to warn patients of this so they can anticipate detection and further examination.

Prosthetic metal implants and airport metal detectors

PubMed Central

Dancey, A; Titley, OG

2013-01-01

Introduction Metal detectors have been present in airports and points of departure for some time. With the introduction of heightened security measures in response to fears of an increased threat of terrorism, they may become more prevalent in other public locations. The aim of this study was to ascertain which prosthetic devices activated metal detector devices used for security purposes. Methods A range of prosthetic devices used commonly in orthopaedic and plastic surgery procedures were passed through an arch metal detector at Birmingham Airport in the UK. Additionally, each item was passed under a wand detector. Items tested included expandable breast prostheses, plates used in wrist and hand surgery, screws, K-wires, Autosuture™ ligation clips and staples. Results No prostheses were detected by the arch detector. The expandable implants and wrist plates were the only devices detected by passing the wand directly over them. No device was detected by the wand when it was under cover of the axillary soft tissue. Screws, K-wires, Autosuture™ clips and staples were not detected under any of the study conditions. Conclusions Although unlikely to trigger a detector, it is possible that an expandable breast prosthesis or larger plate may do so. It is therefore best to warn patients of this so they can anticipate detection and further examination. PMID:23827294

Negative Ion Time Projection Chamber operation with SF6 at nearly atmospheric pressure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baracchini, E.; Cavoto, G.; Mazzitelli, G.; Murtas, F.; Renga, F.; Tomassini, S.

2018-04-01

We present the measurement of negative ion drift velocities and mobilities for innovative particle tracking detectors using gas mixtures based on SF6. This gas has recently received attention in the context of directional Dark Matter searches, thanks to its high Fluorine content, reduced diffusion and multiple species of charge carriers, which allow for full detector fiducialization. Our measurements, performed with a 5 cm drift distance Negative Ion Time Projection Chamber, show the possibility of negative ion operation in pure SF6 between 75 and 150 Torr with triple thin GEM amplification, confirming the attractive potentialities of this gas. Above all, our results with the mixture He:CF4:SF6 360:240:10 Torr demonstrate for the first time the feasibility of SF6‑ negative ion drift and gas gain in He at nearly atmospheric pressure, opening very interesting prospects for the next generation of directional Dark Matter detectors.

The payloads of Advanced Virgo: current status and upgrades

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Naticchioni, L.; Virgo Collaboration

2018-02-01

The development and integration of new detector payloads has been an important part of the Advanced Virgo (AdV) project, the major upgrade of the Virgo interferometric detector of Gravitational Waves, aiming to increase the detector sensitivity by one order of magnitude. During the integration phase of the new AdV payloads with monolithic suspension of mirrors we experienced systematic suspension failures later identified as caused by dust contamination of the vacuum system. In order to not postpone the detector commissioning, making possible to join the LIGO O2 observation run, the Collaboration decided to proceed with the integration of the payloads relying on steel wire suspensions for all the mirrors. In this proceeding the status of the currently integrated payloads is reported, including their angular control characterization and the Q-factor measurements for test mass steel wire suspensions. The payload upgrade for the re-integration of monolithic suspensions after the O2 run is reported in the last section.

An efficient and cost-effective microchannel plate detector for slow neutron radiography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wiggins, B. B.; Vadas, J.; Bancroft, D.; deSouza, Z. O.; Huston, J.; Hudan, S.; Baxter, D. V.; deSouza, R. T.

2018-05-01

A novel approach for efficiently imaging objects with slow neutrons in two dimensions is realized. Neutron sensitivity is achieved by use of a boron doped microchannel plate (MCP). The resulting electron avalanche is further amplified with a Z-stack MCP before being sensed by two orthogonally oriented wire planes. Coupling of the wire planes to delay lines efficiently encodes the position information as a time difference. To determine the position resolution, slow neutrons were used to illuminate a Cd-mask placed directly in front of the detector. Peaks in the resulting spectrum exhibited an average peak width of 329 μm FWHM, corresponding to an average intrinsic resolution of 216 μm. The center region of the detector exhibits a significantly better spatial resolution with an intrinsic resolution of <100 μm observed.

GEM-based TPC with CCD imaging for directional dark matter detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Phan, N. S.; Lauer, R. J.; Lee, E. R.; Loomba, D.; Matthews, J. A. J.; Miller, E. H.

2016-11-01

The most mature directional dark matter experiments at present all utilize low-pressure gas Time Projection Chamber (TPC) technologies. We discuss some of the challenges for this technology, for which balancing the goal of achieving the best sensitivity with that of cost effective scale-up requires optimization over a large parameter space. Critical for this are the precision measurements of the fundamental properties of both electron and nuclear recoil tracks down to the lowest detectable energies. Such measurements are necessary to provide a benchmark for background discrimination and directional sensitivity that could be used for future optimization studies for directional dark matter experiments. In this paper we describe a small, high resolution, high signal-to-noise GEM-based TPC with a 2D CCD readout designed for this goal. The performance of the detector was characterized using alpha particles, X-rays, gamma-rays, and neutrons, enabling detailed measurements of electron and nuclear recoil tracks. Stable effective gas gains of greater than 1 × 105 were obtained in 100 Torr of pure CF4 by a cascade of three standard CERN GEMs each with a 140 μm pitch. The high signal-to-noise and sub-millimeter spatial resolution of the GEM amplification and CCD readout, together with low diffusion, allow for excellent background discrimination between electron and nuclear recoils down below ∼10 keVee (∼23 keVr fluorine recoil). Even lower thresholds, necessary for the detection of low mass WIMPs for example, might be achieved by lowering the pressure and utilizing full 3D track reconstruction. These and other paths for improvements are discussed, as are possible fundamental limitations imposed by the physics of energy loss.

24 CFR 883.310 - Property standards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

..., ordinances, and regulations. (c) Smoke detectors—(1) Performance requirement. After October 30, 1992, each dwelling unit must include at least one battery-operated or hard-wired smoke detector, in proper working condition, on each level of the unit. If the unit is occupied by hearing-impaired persons, smoke detectors...

24 CFR 883.310 - Property standards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

..., ordinances, and regulations. (c) Smoke detectors—(1) Performance requirement. After October 30, 1992, each dwelling unit must include at least one battery-operated or hard-wired smoke detector, in proper working condition, on each level of the unit. If the unit is occupied by hearing-impaired persons, smoke detectors...

24 CFR 883.310 - Property standards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

..., ordinances, and regulations. (c) Smoke detectors—(1) Performance requirement. After October 30, 1992, each dwelling unit must include at least one battery-operated or hard-wired smoke detector, in proper working condition, on each level of the unit. If the unit is occupied by hearing-impaired persons, smoke detectors...

24 CFR 883.310 - Property standards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

..., ordinances, and regulations. (c) Smoke detectors—(1) Performance requirement. After October 30, 1992, each dwelling unit must include at least one battery-operated or hard-wired smoke detector, in proper working condition, on each level of the unit. If the unit is occupied by hearing-impaired persons, smoke detectors...

The cluster charge identification in the GEM detector for fusion plasma imaging by soft X-ray diagnostics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Czarski, T.; Chernyshova, M.; Malinowski, K.; Pozniak, K. T.; Kasprowicz, G.; Kolasinski, P.; Krawczyk, R.; Wojenski, A.; Zabolotny, W.

2016-11-01

The measurement system based on gas electron multiplier detector is developed for soft X-ray diagnostics of tokamak plasmas. The multi-channel setup is designed for estimation of the energy and the position distribution of an X-ray source. The focal measuring issue is the charge cluster identification by its value and position estimation. The fast and accurate mode of the serial data acquisition is applied for the dynamic plasma diagnostics. The charge clusters are counted in the space determined by 2D position, charge value, and time intervals. Radiation source characteristics are presented by histograms for a selected range of position, time intervals, and cluster charge values corresponding to the energy spectra.

The cluster charge identification in the GEM detector for fusion plasma imaging by soft X-ray diagnostics.

PubMed

Czarski, T; Chernyshova, M; Malinowski, K; Pozniak, K T; Kasprowicz, G; Kolasinski, P; Krawczyk, R; Wojenski, A; Zabolotny, W

2016-11-01

The measurement system based on gas electron multiplier detector is developed for soft X-ray diagnostics of tokamak plasmas. The multi-channel setup is designed for estimation of the energy and the position distribution of an X-ray source. The focal measuring issue is the charge cluster identification by its value and position estimation. The fast and accurate mode of the serial data acquisition is applied for the dynamic plasma diagnostics. The charge clusters are counted in the space determined by 2D position, charge value, and time intervals. Radiation source characteristics are presented by histograms for a selected range of position, time intervals, and cluster charge values corresponding to the energy spectra.

24 CFR 884.110 - Types of housing and property standards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

...) Smoke detectors—(1) Performance requirement. After October 30, 1992, each dwelling unit must include at least one battery-operated or hard-wired smoke detector, in proper working condition, on each level of the unit. If the unit is occupied by hearing-impaired persons, smoke detectors must have an alarm...

24 CFR 884.110 - Types of housing and property standards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

...) Smoke detectors—(1) Performance requirement. After October 30, 1992, each dwelling unit must include at least one battery-operated or hard-wired smoke detector, in proper working condition, on each level of the unit. If the unit is occupied by hearing-impaired persons, smoke detectors must have an alarm...

24 CFR 881.207 - Property standards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... regulations. (g) Smoke detectors—(1) Performance requirement. After October 30, 1992, each dwelling unit must include at least one battery-operated or hard-wired smoke detector, in proper working condition, on each level of the unit. If the unit is occupied by hearing-impaired persons, smoke detectors must have an...

24 CFR 884.110 - Types of housing and property standards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

...) Smoke detectors—(1) Performance requirement. After October 30, 1992, each dwelling unit must include at least one battery-operated or hard-wired smoke detector, in proper working condition, on each level of the unit. If the unit is occupied by hearing-impaired persons, smoke detectors must have an alarm...

24 CFR 884.110 - Types of housing and property standards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

...) Smoke detectors—(1) Performance requirement. After October 30, 1992, each dwelling unit must include at least one battery-operated or hard-wired smoke detector, in proper working condition, on each level of the unit. If the unit is occupied by hearing-impaired persons, smoke detectors must have an alarm...

24 CFR 881.207 - Property standards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... regulations. (g) Smoke detectors—(1) Performance requirement. After October 30, 1992, each dwelling unit must include at least one battery-operated or hard-wired smoke detector, in proper working condition, on each level of the unit. If the unit is occupied by hearing-impaired persons, smoke detectors must have an...

24 CFR 881.207 - Property standards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... regulations. (g) Smoke detectors—(1) Performance requirement. After October 30, 1992, each dwelling unit must include at least one battery-operated or hard-wired smoke detector, in proper working condition, on each level of the unit. If the unit is occupied by hearing-impaired persons, smoke detectors must have an...

24 CFR 881.207 - Property standards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... regulations. (g) Smoke detectors—(1) Performance requirement. After October 30, 1992, each dwelling unit must include at least one battery-operated or hard-wired smoke detector, in proper working condition, on each level of the unit. If the unit is occupied by hearing-impaired persons, smoke detectors must have an...

24 CFR 881.207 - Property standards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... regulations. (g) Smoke detectors—(1) Performance requirement. After October 30, 1992, each dwelling unit must include at least one battery-operated or hard-wired smoke detector, in proper working condition, on each level of the unit. If the unit is occupied by hearing-impaired persons, smoke detectors must have an...

24 CFR 884.110 - Types of housing and property standards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

...) Smoke detectors—(1) Performance requirement. After October 30, 1992, each dwelling unit must include at least one battery-operated or hard-wired smoke detector, in proper working condition, on each level of the unit. If the unit is occupied by hearing-impaired persons, smoke detectors must have an alarm...

A soft X-ray beam-splitting multilayer optic for the NASA GEMS Bragg Reflection Polarimeter

DOE PAGES

Allured, Ryan; Kaaret, Philip; Fernandez-Perea, Monica; ...

2013-04-12

A soft X-ray, beam-splitting, multilayer optic has been developed for the Bragg Reflection Polarimeter (BRP) on the NASA Gravity and Extreme Magnetism Small Explorer Mission (GEMS). The optic is designed to reflect 0.5 keV X-rays through a 90° angle to the BRP detector, and transmit 2–10 keV X-rays to the primary polarimeter. The transmission requirement prevents the use of a thick substrate, so a 2 μm thick polyimide membrane was used. Atomic force microscopy has shown the membrane to possess high spatial frequency roughness less than 0.2 nm rms, permitting adequate X-ray reflectance. A multilayer thin film was especially developedmore » and deposited via magnetron sputtering with reflectance and transmission properties that satisfy the BRP requirements and with near-zero stress. Furthermore, reflectance and transmission measurements of BRP prototype elements closely match theoretical predictions, both before and after rigorous environmental testing.« less

A soft X-ray beam-splitting multilayer optic for the NASA GEMS Bragg Reflection Polarimeter

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Allured, Ryan; Kaaret, Philip; Fernandez-Perea, Monica

A soft X-ray, beam-splitting, multilayer optic has been developed for the Bragg Reflection Polarimeter (BRP) on the NASA Gravity and Extreme Magnetism Small Explorer Mission (GEMS). The optic is designed to reflect 0.5 keV X-rays through a 90° angle to the BRP detector, and transmit 2–10 keV X-rays to the primary polarimeter. The transmission requirement prevents the use of a thick substrate, so a 2 μm thick polyimide membrane was used. Atomic force microscopy has shown the membrane to possess high spatial frequency roughness less than 0.2 nm rms, permitting adequate X-ray reflectance. A multilayer thin film was especially developedmore » and deposited via magnetron sputtering with reflectance and transmission properties that satisfy the BRP requirements and with near-zero stress. Furthermore, reflectance and transmission measurements of BRP prototype elements closely match theoretical predictions, both before and after rigorous environmental testing.« less

Control of secondary electrons from ion beam impact using a positive potential electrode

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Crowley, T. P., E-mail: tpcrowley@xanthotechnologies.com; Demers, D. R.; Fimognari, P. J.

2016-11-15

Secondary electrons emitted when an ion beam impacts a detector can amplify the ion beam signal, but also introduce errors if electrons from one detector propagate to another. A potassium ion beam and a detector comprised of ten impact wires, four split-plates, and a pair of biased electrodes were used to demonstrate that a low-voltage, positive electrode can be used to maintain the beneficial amplification effect while greatly reducing the error introduced from the electrons traveling between detector elements.

Multi-anode wire two dimensional proportional counter for detecting Iron-55 X-Ray Radiation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weston, Michael William James

Radiation detectors in many applications use small sensor areas or large tubes which only collect one-dimensional information. There are some applications that require analyzing a large area and locating specific elements such as contamination on the heat tiles of a space shuttle or features on historical artifacts. The process can be time consuming and scanning a large area in a single pass is beneficial. The use of a two dimensional multi-wire proportional counter provides a large detection window presenting positional information in a single pass. This thesis described the design and implementation of an experimental detector to evaluate a specific design intended for use as a handheld instrument. The main effort of this research was to custom build a detector for testing purposes. The aluminum chamber and all circuit boards were custom designed and built specifically for this application. Various software and programmable logic algorithms were designed to analyze the raw data in real time and attempted to determine what data was useful and what could be discarded. The research presented here provides results useful for designing an improved second generation detector in the future. With the anode wire spacing chosen and the minimal collimation of the radiation source, detected events occurred all over the detection grid at any time. The raw event data did not make determining the source position easy and further data correlation was required. An abundance of samples had multiple wire hits which were not useful because it falsely reported the source to be all over the place and at different energy levels. By narrowing down the results to only use the largest signal pairs on different axes in each event, a much more accurate analysis of where the source existed above the grid was determined. The basic principle and construction method was shown to work, however the gas selection, geometry and anode wire constructs proved to be poor. To provide a system optimized for a specific application would require detailed Monte Carlo simulations. These simulation results together with the details and techniques implemented in this thesis would provide a final instrument of much higher accuracy.

New high-precision drift-tube detectors for the ATLAS muon spectrometer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kroha, H.; Fakhrutdinov, R.; Kozhin, A.

2017-06-01

Small-diameter muon drift tube (sMDT) detectors have been developed for upgrades of the ATLAS muon spectrometer. With a tube diameter of 15 mm, they provide an about an order of magnitude higher rate capability than the present ATLAS muon tracking detectors, the MDT chambers with 30 mm tube diameter. The drift-tube design and the construction methods have been optimised for mass production and allow for complex shapes required for maximising the acceptance. A record sense wire positioning accuracy of 5 μm has been achieved with the new design. In the serial production, the wire positioning accuracy is routinely better than 10 μm. 14 new sMDT chambers are already operational in ATLAS, further 16 are under construction for installation in the 2019-2020 LHC shutdown. For the upgrade of the barrel muon spectrometer for High-Luminosity LHC, 96 sMDT chambers will be contructed between 2020 and 2024.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Spagliardi, Fabio

Liquid argon Time Projection Chambers (LArTPCs) are becoming widely used as neutrino detectors because of their image-like event reconstruction which enables precision neutrino measurements. They primarily use ionisation charge to reconstruct neutrino events. It has been shown, however, that the scintillation light emitted by liquid argon could be exploited to improve their performance. As the neutrino measurements planned in the near future require large-scale experiments, their construction presents challenges in terms of both charge and light collection. In this dissertation we present solutions developed to improve the performance in both aspects of these detectors. We present a new wire tensioningmore » measurement method that allows a remote measurement of the tension of the large number wires that constitute the TPC anode. We also discuss the development and installation of WLS-compound covered foils for the SBND neutrino detector at Fermilab, which is a technique proposed t o augment light collection in LArTPCs. This included preparing a SBND-like mesh cathode and testing it in the Run III of LArIAT, a test beam detector also located at Fermilab. Finally, we present a study aimed at understanding late scintillation light emitted by recombining positive argon ions using LArIAT data, which could affect large scale surface detectors.« less

Status of the R&D activities for the upgrade of the ALICE TPC

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Deisting, Alexander

2018-02-01

After the Long Shutdown 2 (LS2) the LHC will provide lead-lead collisions at interaction rates as high as 50 kHz. In order to cope with such conditions the ALICE Time Projection Chamber (TPC) needs to be upgraded. After the upgrade the TPC will run in a continuous mode, without any degradation of the momentum and dE/dx resolution compared to the performance of the present TPC. Since readout by multi-wire proportional chambers is no longer feasible with these requirements, new technologies have to be employed. In the new readout chambers the electron amplification is provided by a stack of four Gas ElectronMultiplier (GEM) foils. Here foils with a standard hole pitch of 140 μm as well as large pitch foils (280 μm) are used. Their high voltage settings and orientation have been optimised to provide an energy resolution of σE/E ≤ 12% at the photopeak of 55Fe. At the same settings the Ion BackFlow into the drift volume is less than 1% of the effective number of ions produced during gas amplification and the primary ionisations. This is necessary to prevent the accumulation of space charge, which eventually will distort the field in the drift volume. To ensure stable operation at the high loads during LHC run 3 the chambers have to be robust against discharges, too. With the selected configuration in a quadruple GEMstack the discharge probability is kept at the level of 10-12 discharges per incoming hadron. An overview of the ALICE TPC upgrade activities will be given in these proceedings and the optimised settings foreseen for the GEM stacks of the future readout chambers are introduced. Furthermore the outcome of two beam time campaigns at SPS and PS (at CERN) in the end of 2014 is shown. At this campaigns the stability against discharges and the dE/dx performance of a full size readout chamber prototype was tested. In addition it is reported on charging-up studies of 4GEM stacks and on tests of electromagnetic sagging of large GEM foils.

Progress in the development of a S-RETGEM-based detector for an early forest fire warning system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Charpak, G.; Benaben, P.; Breuil, P.; Martinengo, P.; Nappi, E.; Peskov, V.

2009-12-01

We present a prototype of a Strip Resistive Thick GEM (S-RETGEM) photosensitive gaseous detector filled with Ne and ethylferrocene (EF) vapours at a total pressure of 1 atm for an early forest fire detection system. Measurements show that it is one hundred times more sensitive than the best commercial ultraviolet (UV) flame detectors; and therefore, it is able to reliably detect a flame of ~ 1.5 × 1.5 × 1.5 m3 at a distance of about 1 km. An additional and unique feature of this detector is its imaging capability, which in combination with other techniques, may significantly reduce false fire alarms rate when operating in an automatic mode. Preliminary results conducted with air-filled photosensitive gaseous detectors are also presented. The main advantages of this approach include both the simplicity of manufacturing and affordability of construction materials such as plastics and glues specifically reducing detector production cost. The sensitivity of these air-filled detectors at certain conditions may be as high as those filled with Ne and EF. Long-term tests of such sealed detectors indicate a significant progress in this direction. We believe that our detectors utilized in addition to other flame and smoke sensors will exceptionally increase the capability to detect forest fire at a very early stage of development. Our future efforts will be focused on attempts to commercialize such detectors utilizing our aforementioned findings.

Computational steering of GEM based detector simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sheharyar, Ali; Bouhali, Othmane

2017-10-01

Gas based detector R&D relies heavily on full simulation of detectors and their optimization before final prototypes can be built and tested. These simulations in particular those with complex scenarios such as those involving high detector voltages or gas with larger gains are computationally intensive may take several days or weeks to complete. These long-running simulations usually run on the high-performance computers in batch mode. If the results lead to unexpected behavior, then the simulation might be rerun with different parameters. However, the simulations (or jobs) may have to wait in a queue until they get a chance to run again because the supercomputer is a shared resource that maintains a queue of other user programs as well and executes them as time and priorities permit. It may result in inefficient resource utilization and increase in the turnaround time for the scientific experiment. To overcome this issue, the monitoring of the behavior of a simulation, while it is running (or live), is essential. In this work, we employ the computational steering technique by coupling the detector simulations with a visualization package named VisIt to enable the exploration of the live data as it is produced by the simulation.

Reconstruction of Micropattern Detector Signals using Convolutional Neural Networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Flekova, L.; Schott, M.

2017-10-01

Micropattern gaseous detector (MPGD) technologies, such as GEMs or MicroMegas, are particularly suitable for precision tracking and triggering in high rate environments. Given their relatively low production costs, MPGDs are an exemplary candidate for the next generation of particle detectors. Having acknowledged these advantages, both the ATLAS and CMS collaborations at the LHC are exploiting these new technologies for their detector upgrade programs in the coming years. When MPGDs are utilized for triggering purposes, the measured signals need to be precisely reconstructed within less than 200 ns, which can be achieved by the usage of FPGAs. In this work, we present a novel approach to identify reconstructed signals, their timing and the corresponding spatial position on the detector. In particular, we study the effect of noise and dead readout strips on the reconstruction performance. Our approach leverages the potential of convolutional neural network (CNNs), which have recently manifested an outstanding performance in a range of modeling tasks. The proposed neural network architecture of our CNN is designed simply enough, so that it can be modeled directly by an FPGA and thus provide precise information on reconstructed signals already in trigger level.

Development of a beam ion velocity detector for the heavy ion beam probe

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Fimognari, P. J., E-mail: PJFimognari@XanthoTechnologies.com; Crowley, T. P.; Demers, D. R.

2016-11-15

In an axisymmetric plasma, the conservation of canonical angular momentum constrains heavy ion beam probe (HIBP) trajectories such that measurement of the toroidal velocity component of secondary ions provides a localized determination of the poloidal flux at the volume where they originated. We have developed a prototype detector which is designed to determine the beam angle in one dimension through the detection of ion current landing on two parallel planes of detecting elements. A set of apertures creates a pattern of ion current on wires in the first plane and solid metal plates behind them; the relative amounts detected bymore » the wires and plates determine the angle which beam ions enter the detector, which is used to infer the toroidal velocity component. The design evolved from a series of simulations within which we modeled ion beam velocity changes due to equilibrium and fluctuating magnetic fields, along with the ion beam profile and velocity dispersion, and studied how these and characteristics such as the size, cross section, and spacing of the detector elements affect performance.« less

Wire-chamber radiation detector with discharge control

DOEpatents

Perez-Mendez, V.; Mulera, T.A.

1982-03-29

A wire chamber; radiation detector has spaced apart parallel electrodes and grids defining an ignition region in which charged particles or other ionizing radiations initiate brief localized avalanche discharges and defining an adjacent memory region in which sustained glow discharges are initiated by the primary discharges. Conductors of the grids at each side of the memory section extend in orthogonal directions enabling readout of the X-Y coordinates of locations at which charged particles were detected by sequentially transmitting pulses to the conductors of one grid while detecting transmissions of the pulses to the orthogonal conductors of the other grid through glow discharges. One of the grids bounding the memory region is defined by an array of conductive elements each of which is connected to the associated readout conductor through a separate resistance. The wire chamber avoids ambiguities and imprecisions in the readout of coordinates when large numbers of simultaneous or; near simultaneous charged particles have been detected. Down time between detection periods and the generation of radio frequency noise are also reduced.

The cluster charge identification in the GEM detector for fusion plasma imaging by soft X-ray diagnostics

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Czarski, T., E-mail: tomasz.czarski@ifpilm.pl; Chernyshova, M.; Malinowski, K.

2016-11-15

The measurement system based on gas electron multiplier detector is developed for soft X-ray diagnostics of tokamak plasmas. The multi-channel setup is designed for estimation of the energy and the position distribution of an X-ray source. The focal measuring issue is the charge cluster identification by its value and position estimation. The fast and accurate mode of the serial data acquisition is applied for the dynamic plasma diagnostics. The charge clusters are counted in the space determined by 2D position, charge value, and time intervals. Radiation source characteristics are presented by histograms for a selected range of position, time intervals,more » and cluster charge values corresponding to the energy spectra.« less

Discharge rate measurements for Micromegas detectors in the presence of a longitudinal magnetic field

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moreno, B.; Aune, S.; Ball, J.; Charles, G.; Giganon, A.; Konczykowski, P.; Lahonde-Hamdoun, C.; Moutarde, H.; Procureur, S.; Sabatié, F.

2011-10-01

We present first discharge rate measurements for Micromegas detectors in the presence of a high longitudinal magnetic field in the GeV kinematical region. Measurements were performed by using two Micromegas detectors and a photon beam impinging a CH 2 target in the Hall B of the Jefferson Laboratory. One detector was equipped with an additional GEM foil, and a reduction of the discharge probability by two orders of magnitude compared to the stand-alone Micromegas was observed. The detectors were placed in the FROST solenoid providing a longitudinal magnetic field up to 5 T. It allowed for precise measurements of the discharge probability dependence with a diffusion-reducing magnetic field. Between 0 and 5 T, the discharge probability increased by a factor of 10 for polar angles between 19° and 34°. A GEANT4-based simulation developed for sparking rate calculation was calibrated against these data in order to predict the sparking rate in a high longitudinal magnetic field environment. This simulation is then used to investigate the possible use of Micromegas in the Forward Vertex Tracker (FVT) of the future CLAS12 spectrometer. In the case of the FVT a sparking rate of 1 Hz per detector was obtained at the anticipated CLAS12 luminosity.

Enhancing the x-ray output of a single-wire explosion with a gas-puff based plasma opening switch

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Engelbrecht, Joseph T.; Ouart, Nicholas D.; Qi, Niansheng; de Grouchy, Philip W.; Shelkovenko, Tatiana A.; Pikuz, Sergey A.; Banasek, Jacob T.; Potter, William M.; Rocco, Sophia V.; Hammer, David A.; Kusse, Bruce R.; Giuliani, John L.

2018-02-01

We present experiments performed on the 1 MA COBRA generator using a low density, annular, gas-puff z-pinch implosion as an opening switch to rapidly transfer a current pulse into a single metal wire on axis. This gas-puff on axial wire configuration was studied for its promise as an opening switch and as a means of enhancing the x-ray output of the wire. We demonstrate that current can be switched from the gas-puff plasma into the wire, and that the timing of the switch can be controlled by the gas-puff plenum backing pressure. X-ray detector measurements indicate that for low plenum pressure Kr or Xe shots with a copper wire, this configuration can offer a significant enhancement in the peak intensity and temporal distribution of radiation in the 1-10 keV range.

Isotopic Composition of Gaseous Elemental Mercury in the Free Troposphere of the Pic du Midi Observatory, France.

PubMed

Fu, Xuewu; Marusczak, Nicolas; Wang, Xun; Gheusi, François; Sonke, Jeroen E

2016-06-07

Understanding the sources and transformations of mercury (Hg) in the free troposphere is a critical aspect of global Hg research. Here we present one year of observations of atmospheric Hg speciation and gaseous elemental Hg (GEM) isotopic composition at the high-altitude Pic du Midi Observatory (2860 m above sea level) in France. Biweekly integrated GEM from February 2012 to January 2013 revealed significant variations in δ(202)HgGEM (-0.04‰ to 0.52‰) but not in Δ(199)HgGEM (-0.17‰ to -0.27‰) or Δ(200)HgGEM (-0.10‰ to 0.05‰). δ(202)HgGEM was negatively correlated with CO and reflected air mass origins from Europe (high CO, low δ(202)HgGEM) and from the Atlantic Ocean (low CO, high δ(202)HgGEM). We suggest that the δ(202)HgGEM variations represent mixing of recent low δ(202)HgGEM European anthropogenic emissions with high δ(202)HgGEM northern hemispheric background GEM. In addition, Atlantic Ocean free troposphere air masses showed a positive correlation between δ(202)HgGEM and gaseous oxidized Hg (GOM) concentrations, indicative of mass-dependent Hg isotope fractionation during GEM oxidation. On the basis of atmospheric δ(202)HgGEM and speciated Hg observations, we suggest that the oceanic free troposphere is a reservoir within which GEM is readily oxidized to GOM.

Si:Bi switched photoconducttor infrared detector array

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Eakin, C. E.

1983-01-01

A multiplexed infrared detector array is described. The small demonstration prototype consisted of two cryogenically cooled, bismuth doped silicon, extrinsic photoconductor pixels multiplexed onto a single output channel using an on focal plane switch integration sampling technique. Noise levels of the order of 400 to 600 rms electrons per sample were demonstrated for this chip and wire hybrid version.

Multiple cell radiation detector system, and method, and submersible sonde

DOEpatents

Johnson, Larry O.; McIsaac, Charles V.; Lawrence, Robert S.; Grafwallner, Ervin G.

2002-01-01

A multiple cell radiation detector includes a central cell having a first cylindrical wall providing a stopping power less than an upper threshold; an anode wire suspended along a cylindrical axis of the central cell; a second cell having a second cylindrical wall providing a stopping power greater than a lower threshold, the second cylindrical wall being mounted coaxially outside of the first cylindrical wall; a first end cap forming a gas-tight seal at first ends of the first and second cylindrical walls; a second end cap forming a gas-tight seal at second ends of the first and second cylindrical walls; and a first group of anode wires suspended between the first and second cylindrical walls.

Pushing the Boundaries of Suborbital Soft X-ray Spectroscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McEntaffer, Randall

There are two primary objectives for this investigation. First, we propose to launch a preexisting payload to perform scientific investigations. Second, we propose to build a new payload which will integrate and demonstrate key technologies vital to future X-ray observatories. These efforts will train graduate students and prepare junior researchers to be major contributors to the next suite of NASA missions. We propose to increase the ability of gratings to obtain high resolution at energies below 1 keV. The concept that will be developed in this proposed investigation will be capable of meeting the requirements of future X-ray observatories. In addition, the design could be utilized effectively on smaller, Explorer class missions as pathfinders to the larger observatories while providing important scientific insights along the way. For this investigation, we propose to fly two separate, but related, rocket payloads. The first payload, christened OGRESS, has already been constructed and successfully flown three times. OGRESS is optimized to observe diffuse X-ray sources with a wire-grid collimating optic, parallel groove sinusoidal gratings, and Gaseous Electron Multiplier (GEM) detectors and is capable of attaining high resolution of E/dE ~ 25-80 in the 1/4 keV band. OGRESS will take high resolution spectra of the Vela Supernova Remnant (SNR) in the 1/4 keV band. This flight will provide the highest resolution spectra yet taken of Vela in this band and will produce a PhD thesis. The second payload, OGRE, will demonstrate key technologies necessary for the next X-ray observatory and provide even higher resolution of E/dE ~ 1000-2000 between 0.2 1.0 keV. To improve upon the resolution of OGRESS, OGRE will integrate several key technologies which have already been developed in a laboratory setting, but have not been flight proven. OGRE will use a modified Wolter telescope made from slumped glass to provide a smaller focus and increase throughput. Slumped glass optics are planned for every future large X-ray mission and flight-proving the design is extremely important. The gratings will be radially grooved and blazed to reduce grating aberrations and to focus the spectrum to one side of zero-order. Gratings of this type have been well developed by the IXO Off- Plane X-ray Grating Spectrometer concept study, but have not been flight proven. The spectrum will be focused onto high spatial resolution CCD detectors. OGRE will draw heavily from the heritage gained from OGRESS. OGRE will observe Capella. Due to its high flux and spectral line density, Capella is an ideal target for showcasing the resolution capabilities of our instrument. As an important calibration target, our improved resolution measurements will be extremely helpful for many future X-ray observations. OGRESS has already provided three thesis projects for past graduate students. The upgrades and flights proposed here will produce at least two more PhD theses. This program in hands-on training of young scientists in the techniques of instrumental X-ray astronomy has proven very successful over nearly three decades, leading to high rates of launch, publication, graduation, and flight qualification of instrumental PI's. It will also provide full experiment cycle experience - design, fabrication, tolerancing, assembly, flight-qualification, calibration, integration, launch, and data analysis - with reflection gratings, GEM and CCD detectors, and other technologies suitable for adaptation to NASA's major missions. The University of Iowa and University of Colorado programs in suborbital X-ray astronomy represent an exciting mix of compelling science, cutting- edge technology development, and training of young scientists.

Beam tracking with micromegas & wire chambers in secondary electron detection configuration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Voštinar, M.; Fernández, B.; Pancin, J.; Alvarez, M. A. G.; Chaminade, T.; Damoy, S.; Doré, D.; Drouart, A.; Druillole, F.; Frémont, G.; Kebbiri, M.; Materna, T.; Monmarthe, E.; Panebianco, S.; Papaevangelou, T.; Riallot, M.; Savajols, H.; Spitaels, C.

2013-12-01

The focal plane of S3 (Super Separator Spectrometer), a new experimental area of SPIRAL2 at GANIL, will be used for identification of nuclei, and requires the reconstruction of their trajectories and velocities by the Time Of Flight (TOF) method. Classical tracking detectors used in-beam would generate a lot of angular and energy straggling due to their thickness. One solution is the use of a SED (Secondary Electron Detection), which consists of a thin emissive foil in beam coupled to a low pressure gaseous detector out of the beam, for the detection of secondary electrons ejected from the foil. Moreover, this type of detector can be used for classical beam tracking at low energies, or for example at NFS (GANIL) for the FALSTAFF experiment for the reconstruction of fission fragments trajectories. Several low pressure gaseous detectors such as wire chambers and Micromegas have been constructed and tested since 2008. High counting rate capabilities and good time resolution obtained in previous tests motivated the construction of a new real-size 2D prototype wire chamber and a 2D bulk Micromegas at low pressure. For the first time, spatial resolution of the Micromegas at low pressure (below 20 mbar) in the SED configuration was measured. Different tests have been performed in order to characterize time and spatial properties of both prototypes, giving spatial resolution in the horizontal (X) direction of 0.90(0.02) mm FWHM for the real size prototype and 0.72(0.08) mm FWHM for Micromegas, and a time resolution of ~ 110(25) ps for the real size prototype.

Design of an Experiment to Measure ann Using 3H(γ, pn)n at HIγS★

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Friesen, F. Q. L.; Ahmed, M. W.; Crowe, B. J.; Crowell, A. S.; Cumberbatch, L. C.; Fallin, B.; Han, Z.; Howell, C. R.; Malone, R. M.; Markoff, D.; Tornow, W.; Witała, H.

2016-03-01

We provide an update on the development of an experiment at TUNL for determining the 1S0 neutron-neutron (nn) scattering length (ann) from differential cross-section measurements of three-body photodisintegration of the triton. The experiment will be conducted using a linearly polarized gamma-ray beam at the High Intensity Gamma-ray Source (HIγS) and tritium gas contained in thin-walled cells. The main components of the planned experiment are a 230 Ci gas target system, a set of wire chambers and silicon strip detectors on each side of the beam axis, and an array of neutron detectors on each side beyond the silicon detectors. The protons emitted in the reaction are tracked in the wire chambers and their energy and position are measured in silicon strip detectors. The first iteration of the experiment will be simplified, making use of a collimator system, and silicon detectors to interrogate the main region of interest near 90° in the polar angle. Monte-Carlo simulations based on rigorous 3N calculations have been conducted to validate the sensitivity of the experimental setup to ann. This research supported in part by the DOE Office of Nuclear Physics Grant Number DE-FG02-97ER41033

Direct-Write Printing on Three-Dimensional Geometries for Miniaturized Detector and Electronic Assemblies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Paquette, Beth; Samuels, Margaret; Chen, Peng

2017-01-01

Direct-write printing techniques will enable new detector assemblies that were not previously possible with traditional assembly processes. Detector concepts were manufactured using this technology to validate repeatability. Additional detector applications and printed wires on a 3-dimensional magnetometer bobbin will be designed for print. This effort focuses on evaluating performance for direct-write manufacturing techniques on 3-dimensional surfaces. Direct-write manufacturing has the potential to reduce mass and volume for fabrication and assembly of advanced detector concepts by reducing trace widths down to 10 microns, printing on complex geometries, allowing new electronic concept production, and reduced production times of complex those electronics.

Numerical Analysis of Parasitic Crossing Compensation with Wires in DA$$\\Phi$$NE

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Valishev, A.; Shatilov, D.; Milardi, C.

2015-06-24

Current-bearing wire compensators were successfully used in the 2005-2006 run of the DAΦNE collider to mitigate the detrimental effects of parasitic beam-beam interactions. A marked improvement of the positron beam lifetime was observed in machine operation with the KLOE detector. In view of the possible application of wire beam-beam compensators for the High Luminosity LHC upgrade, we revisit the DAΦNE experiments. We use an improved model of the accelerator with the goal to validate the modern simulation tools and provide valuable input for the LHC upgrade project.

A Large Tracking Detector In Vacuum Consisting Of Self-Supporting Straw Tubes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wintz, P.

2004-02-01

A novel technique to stretch the anode wire simply by the gas over-pressure inside straw drift tubes reduces the necessary straw weight to an absolute minimum. Our detector will consist of more than 3000 straws filling up a cylindrical tracking volume of 1m diameter and 30cm length. The projected spatial resolution is 200μm. The detector with a total mass of less than 15kg will be operated in vacuum, but will have an added wall thickness of 3mm mylar, only. The detector design, production experience and first results will be discussed.

A small-angle large-acceptance detection system for hadrons

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kalantar-Nayestanaki, N.; Bacelar, J. C. S.; Brandenburg, S.; Huisman, H.; Messchendorp, J. G.; Mul, F. A.; Schadmand, S.; van der Schaaf, K.; Schippers, J. M.; Volkerts, M.

2000-04-01

The performance of a segmented large-acceptance detector, capable of measuring particles at small forward angles, is presented. The Small-Angle Large-Acceptance Detector (SALAD), was built to handle very high rates of particles impinging on the detector. Particles down to a few MeV can be detected with it. The position of charged particles is measured by two Multi-Wire Proportional Chambers while scintillator blocks are used to measure the energy of the detected particle. A stack of thin scintillators placed behind the energy detectors allows for a hardware rejection (veto) of high-energy particles going through the scintillator blocks.

Technical design report for the overline{P}ANDA (Anti Proton Annihilations at Darmstadt) Straw Tube Tracker. Strong interaction studies with antiprotons

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Erni, W.; Keshelashvili, I.; Krusche, B.; Steinacher, M.; Heng, Y.; Liu, Z.; Liu, H.; Shen, X.; Wang, Q.; Xu, H.; Aab, A.; Albrecht, M.; Becker, J.; Csapó, A.; Feldbauer, F.; Fink, M.; Friedel, P.; Heinsius, F. H.; Held, T.; Klask, L.; Koch, H.; Kopf, B.; Leiber, S.; Leyhe, M.; Motzko, C.; Pelizäus, M.; Pychy, J.; Roth, B.; Schröder, T.; Schulze, J.; Sowa, C.; Steinke, M.; Trifterer, T.; Wiedner, U.; Zhong, J.; Beck, R.; Bianco, S.; Brinkmann, K. T.; Hammann, C.; Hinterberger, F.; Kaiser, D.; Kliemt, R.; Kube, M.; Pitka, A.; Quagli, T.; Schmidt, C.; Schmitz, R.; Schnell, R.; Thoma, U.; Vlasov, P.; Walther, D.; Wendel, C.; Würschig, T.; Zaunick, H. G.; Bianconi, A.; Bragadireanu, M.; Caprini, M.; Pantea, D.; Pantelica, D.; Pietreanu, D.; Serbina, L.; Tarta, P. D.; Kaplan, D.; Fiutowski, T.; Idzik, M.; Mindur, B.; Przyborowski, D.; Swientek, K.; Czech, B.; Kistryn, M.; Kliczewski, S.; Kozela, A.; Kulessa, P.; Lebiedowicz, P.; Pysz, K.; Schäfer, W.; Siudak, R.; Szczurek, A.; Jowzaee, S.; Kajetanowicz, M.; Kamys, B.; Kistryn, S.; Korcyl, G.; Korcyl, K.; Krzemien, W.; Magiera, A.; Moskal, P.; Palka, M.; Rudy, Z.; Salabura, P.; Smyrski, J.; Wrońska, A.; Augustin, I.; Lehmann, I.; Nimorus, D.; Schepers, G.; Al-Turany, M.; Arora, R.; Deppe, H.; Flemming, H.; Gerhardt, A.; Götzen, K.; Jordi, A. F.; Kalicy, G.; Karabowicz, R.; Lehmann, D.; Lewandowski, B.; Lühning, J.; Maas, F.; Orth, H.; Patsyuk, M.; Peters, K.; Saito, T.; Schepers, G.; Schmidt, C. J.; Schmitt, L.; Schwarz, C.; Schwiening, J.; Traxler, M.; Voss, B.; Wieczorek, P.; Wilms, A.; Zühlsdorf, M.; Abazov, V. M.; Alexeev, G.; Arefiev, A.; Astakhov, V. I.; Barabanov, M. Yu.; Batyunya, B. V.; Davydov, Yu. I.; Dodokhov, V. Kh.; Efremov, A. A.; Fedunov, A. G.; Festchenko, A. A.; Galoyan, A. S.; Grigoryan, S.; Karmokov, A.; Koshurnikov, E. K.; Lobanov, V. I.; Lobanov, Yu. Yu.; Makarov, A. F.; Malinina, L. V.; Malyshev, V. L.; Mustafaev, G. A.; Olshevskiy, A.; Pasyuk, M. A.; Perevalova, E. A.; Piskun, A. A.; Pocheptsov, T. A.; Pontecorvo, G.; Rodionov, V. K.; Rogov, Yu. N.; Salmin, R. A.; Samartsev, A. G.; Sapozhnikov, M. G.; Shabratova, G. S.; Skachkova, A. N.; Skachkov, N. B.; Strokovsky, E. A.; Suleimanov, M. K.; Teshev, R. Sh.; Tokmenin, V. V.; Uzhinsky, V. V.; Vodopyanov, A. S.; Zaporozhets, S. A.; Zhuravlev, N. I.; Zorin, A. G.; Branford, D.; Glazier, D.; Watts, D.; Woods, P.; Britting, A.; Eyrich, W.; Lehmann, A.; Uhlig, F.; Dobbs, S.; Metreveli, Z.; Seth, K.; Tomaradze, A.; Xiao, T.; Bettoni, D.; Carassiti, V.; Cotta Ramusino, A.; Dalpiaz, P.; Drago, A.; Fioravanti, E.; Garzia, I.; Savriè, M.; Stancari, G.; Bianchi, N.; Gianotti, P.; Guaraldo, C.; Lucherini, V.; Orecchini, D.; Pace, E.; Bersani, A.; Bracco, G.; Macri, M.; Parodi, R. F.; Bremer, D.; Dormenev, V.; Drexler, P.; Düren, M.; Eissner, T.; Föhl, K.; Galuska, M.; Gessler, T.; Hayrapetyan, A.; Hu, J.; Koch, P.; Kröck, B.; Kühn, W.; Lange, S.; Liang, Y.; Merle, O.; Metag, V.; Moritz, M.; Münchow, D.; Nanova, M.; Novotny, R.; Spruck, B.; Stenzel, H.; Ullrich, T.; Werner, M.; Xu, H.; Euan, C.; Hoek, M.; Ireland, D.; Keri, T.; Montgomery, R.; Protopopescu, D.; Rosner, G.; Seitz, B.; Babai, M.; Glazenborg-Kluttig, A.; Kavatsyuk, M.; Lemmens, P.; Lindemulder, M.; Löhner, H.; Messchendorp, J.; Moeini, H.; Schakel, P.; Schreuder, F.; Smit, H.; Tambave, G.; van der Weele, J. C.; Veenstra, R.; Sohlbach, H.; Büscher, M.; Deermann, D.; Dosdall, R.; Esch, S.; Gillitzer, A.; Goldenbaum, F.; Grunwald, D.; Henssler, S.; Herten, A.; Hu, Q.; Kemmerling, G.; Kleines, H.; Kozlov, V.; Lehrach, A.; Maier, R.; Mertens, M.; Ohm, H.; Orfanitski, S.; Prasuhn, D.; Randriamalala, T.; Ritman, J.; Röder, M.; Schadmand, S.; Serdyuk, V.; Sterzenbach, G.; Stockmanns, T.; Wintz, P.; Wüstner, P.; Xu, H.; Kisiel, J.; Li, S.; Li, Z.; Sun, Z.; Xu, H.; Rigato, V.; Fissum, S.; Hansen, K.; Isaksson, L.; Lundin, M.; Schröder, B.; Achenbach, P.; Bleser, S.; Cahit, U.; Cardinali, M.; Denig, A.; Distler, M.; Fritsch, M.; Jasinski, P.; Kangh, D.; Karavdina, A.; Lauth, W.; Merkel, H.; Michel, M.; Mora Espi, M. C.; Müller, U.; Pochodzalla, J.; Sanchez, S.; Sanchez-Lorente, A.; Schlimme, S.; Sfienti, C.; Thiel, M.; Weber, T.; Dormenev, V. I.; Fedorov, A. A.; Korzhik, M. V.; Missevitch, O. V.; Balanutsa, V.; Chernetsky, V.; Demekhin, A.; Dolgolenko, A.; Fedorets, P.; Gerasimov, A.; Goryachev, V.; Varentsov, V.; Boukharov, A.; Malyshev, O.; Marishev, I.; Semenov, A.; Böhmer, F.; Dørheim, S.; Ketzer, B.; Paul, S.; Hergemöller, A. K.; Khoukaz, A.; Köhler, E.; Täschner, A.; Wessels, J.; Varma, R.; Chaterjee, A.; Jha, V.; Kailas, S.; Roy, B. J.; Yan, Y.; Chinorat, K.; Khanchai, K.; Ayut, L.; Pomrad, S.; Baldin, E.; Kotov, K.; Peleganchuk, S.; Tikhonov, Yu.; Boucher, J.; Chambert, V.; Dbeyssi, A.; Gumberidze, M.; Hennino, T.; Imre, M.; Kunne, R.; Le Galliard, C.; Ma, B.; Marchand, D.; Maroni, A.; Ong, S.; Ramstein, B.; Rosier, P.; Tomasi-Gustafsson, E.; Van de Wiele, J.; Boca, G.; Braghieri, A.; Costanza, S.; Genova, P.; Lavezzi, L.; Montagna, P.; Rotondi, A.; Abramov, V.; Belikov, N.; Davidenko, A.; Derevschikov, A.; Goncharenko, Y.; Grishin, V.; Kachanov, V.; Konstantinov, D.; Kormilitsin, V.; Melnik, Y.; Levin, A.; Minaev, N.; Mochalov, V.; Morozov, D.; Nogach, L.; Poslavskiy, S.; Ryazantsev, A.; Ryzhikov, S.; Semenov, P.; Shein, I.; Uzunian, A.; Vasiliev, A.; Yakutin, A.; Bäck, T.; Cederwall, B.; Makónyi, K.; Tegnér, P. E.; von Würtemberg, K. M.; Belostotski, S.; Gavrilov, G.; Itzotov, A.; Kashchuk, A.; Kisselev, A.; Kravchenko, P.; Levitskaya, O.; Manaenkov, S.; Miklukho, O.; Naryshkin, Y.; Veretennikov, D.; Vikhrov, V.; Zhadanov, A.; Alberto, D.; Amoroso, A.; Bussa, M. P.; Busso, L.; De Mori, F.; Destefanis, M.; Fava, L.; Ferrero, L.; Greco, M.; Maggiora, M.; Marcello, S.; Sosio, S.; Spataro, S.; Zotti, L.; Calvo, D.; Coli, S.; De Remigis, P.; Filippi, A.; Giraudo, G.; Lusso, S.; Mazza, G.; Morra, O.; Rivetti, A.; Wheadon, R.; Iazzi, F.; Lavagno, A.; Younis, H.; Birsa, R.; Bradamante, F.; Bressan, A.; Martin, A.; Clement, H.; Galander, B.; Caldeira Balkeståhl, L.; Calén, H.; Fransson, K.; Johansson, T.; Kupsc, A.; Marciniewski, P.; Thomé, E.; Wolke, M.; Zlomanczuk, J.; Díaz, J.; Ortiz, A.; Dmowski, K.; Duda, P.; Korzeniewski, R.; Slowinski, B.; Chlopik, A.; Guzik, Z.; Kosinski, K.; Melnychuk, D.; Wasilewski, A.; Wojciechowski, M.; Wronka, S.; Wysocka, A.; Zwieglinski, B.; Bühler, P.; Hartman, O. N.; Kienle, P.; Marton, J.; Suzuki, K.; Widmann, E.; Zmeskal, J.

2013-02-01

This document describes the technical layout and the expected performance of the Straw Tube Tracker (STT), the main tracking detector of the overline{P}ANDA target spectrometer. The STT encloses a Micro-Vertex-Detector (MVD) for the inner tracking and is followed in beam direction by a set of GEM stations. The tasks of the STT are the measurement of the particle momentum from the reconstructed trajectory and the measurement of the specific energy loss for a particle identification. Dedicated simulations with full analysis studies of certain proton-antiproton reactions, identified as being benchmark tests for the whole overline{P}ANDA scientific program, have been performed to test the STT layout and performance. The results are presented, and the time lines to construct the STT are described.

Trigger drift chamber for the upgraded mark II detector at PEP

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ford, W. T.; Smith, J. G.; Wagner, S. R.; Weber, P.; White, S. L.; Alvarez, M.; Calviño, F.; Fernandez, E.

1987-04-01

A small cylindrical track detector was built as an array of single-wire drift cells with aluminized mylar cathode tubes. Point measurement resolution of ˜ 90 μm was achieved with a drift gas of 50% argon-50% ethane at atmospheric pressure. The chamber construction, electronics, and calibration are discussed. Performance results from PEP colliding-beam data are presented.

An Information-Theoretical Approach to Image Resolution Applied to Neutron Imaging Detectors Based Upon Individual Discriminator Signals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Clergeau, Jean-François; Ferraton, Matthieu; Guérard, Bruno; Khaplanov, Anton; Piscitelli, Francesco; Platz, Martin; Rigal, Jean-Marie; Van Esch, Patrick; Daullé, Thibault

2017-01-01

1D or 2D neutron position sensitive detectors with individual wire or strip readout using discriminators have the advantage of being able to treat several neutron impacts partially overlapping in time, hence reducing global dead time. A single neutron impact usually gives rise to several discriminator signals. In this paper, we introduce an information-theoretical definition of image resolution. Two point-like spots of neutron impacts with a given distance between them act as a source of information (each neutron hit belongs to one spot or the other), and the detector plus signal treatment is regarded as an imperfect communication channel that transmits this information. The maximal mutual information obtained from this channel as a function of the distance between the spots allows to define a calibration-independent measure of position resolution. We then apply this measure to quantify the power of position resolution of different algorithms treating these individual discriminator signals which can be implemented in firmware. The method is then applied to different detectors existing at the ILL. Center-of-gravity methods usually improve the position resolution over best-wire algorithms which are the standard way of treating these signals.

The GTP binding proteins Gem and Rad are negative regulators of the Rho–Rho kinase pathway

PubMed Central

Ward, Yvona; Yap, Seow-Fong; Ravichandran, V.; Matsumura, Fumio; Ito, Masaaki; Spinelli, Beth; Kelly, Kathleen

2002-01-01

The cytoskeletal changes that alter cellular morphogenesis and motility depend upon a complex interplay among molecules that regulate actin, myosin, and other cytoskeletal components. The Rho family of GTP binding proteins are important upstream mediators of cytoskeletal organization. Gem and Rad are members of another family of small GTP binding proteins (the Rad, Gem, and Kir family) for which biochemical functions have been mostly unknown. Here we show that Gem and Rad interface with the Rho pathway through association with the Rho effectors, Rho kinase (ROK) α and β. Gem binds ROKβ independently of RhoA in the ROKβ coiled-coil region adjacent to the Rho binding domain. Expression of Gem inhibited ROKβ-mediated phosphorylation of myosin light chain and myosin phosphatase, but not LIM kinase, suggesting that Gem acts by modifying the substrate specificity of ROKβ. Gem or Rad expression led to cell flattening and neurite extension in N1E-115 neuroblastoma cells. In interference assays, Gem opposed ROKβ- and Rad opposed ROKα-mediated cell rounding and neurite retraction. Gem did not oppose cell rounding initiated by ROKβ containing a deletion of the Gem binding region, demonstrating that Gem binding to ROKβ is required for the effects observed. In epithelial or fibroblastic cells, Gem or Rad expression resulted in stress fiber and focal adhesion disassembly. In addition, Gem reverted the anchorage-independent growth and invasiveness of Dbl-transformed fibroblasts. These results identify physiological roles for Gem and Rad in cytoskeletal regulation mediated by ROK. PMID:11956230

FIRE_CI2_CITATN_1HZ

Atmospheric Science Data Center

2015-11-25

... Flow Angle Sensors Hot-Wire Icing Rate Detector Pressure Transducer Reverse Flow Temperature Probes Spatial ... Condensation Nuclei Dew/Frost Point Temperature Liquid Water Content Nitrogen Dioxide Ozone Pressure Supercooled ...

Simple electronic apparatus for the analysis of radioactively labeled gel electrophoretograms

DOEpatents

Goulianos, Konstantin; Smith, Karen K.; White, Sebastian N.

1982-01-01

A high resolution position sensitive radiation detector for analyzing radiation emanating from a source, constructed of a thin plate having an elongated slot with conductive edges acting as a cathode, a charged anode wire positioned within 0.5 mm adjacent the source and running parallel to the slot and centered therein, an ionizable gas ionized by radiation emanating from the source provided surrounding the anode wire in the slot, a helical wire induction coil serving as a delay line and positioned beneath the anode wire for detecting gas ionization and for producing resulting ionization signals, and processing circuits coupled to the induction coil for receiving ionization signals induced therein after determining therefrom the location along the anode wire of any radiation emanating from the source. An ionization gas of 70% Ar, 29% Isobutane, 0.6% Freon 13BI, and 0.4% Methylal is used.

Methods of measurement for semiconductor materials, process control, and devices

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bullis, W. M. (Editor)

1972-01-01

Significant accomplishments include development of a procedure to correct for the substantial differences of transistor delay time as measured with different instruments or with the same instrument at different frequencies; association of infrared response spectra of poor quality germanium gamma ray detectors with spectra of detectors fabricated from portions of a good crystal that had been degraded in known ways; and confirmation of the excellent quality and cosmetic appearance of ultrasonic bonds made with aluminum ribbon wire. Work is continuing on measurement of resistivity of semiconductor crystals; study of gold-doped silicon, development of the infrared response technique; evaluation of wire bonds and die attachment; and measurement of thermal properties of semiconductor devices, delay time and related carrier transport properties in junction devices, and noise properties of microwave diodes.

Gemcitabine-based polymer-drug conjugate for enhanced anticancer effect in colon cancer.

PubMed

Liang, Tie-Jun; Zhou, Zhong-Mei; Cao, Ying-Qing; Ma, Ming-Ze; Wang, Xiao-Jun; Jing, Kai

2016-11-20

In this study, we have demonstrated gemcitabine (GEM)-conjugated amphiphilic biodegradable polymeric drug carriers. Our aim was to increase the chemotherapeutic potential of GEM in colon cancer by forming a unique polymer-drug conjugates. The polymer-drug conjugate micelles were nanosized with a typical spherical shape. The GEM-conjugated methoxy poly(ethylene glycol)-poly(lactic acid) (GEM-PL) exhibited a controlled release of drug in both the pH conditions. The developed GEM-PL efficiently killed the HT29 cancers cells in a typical time dependent manner. The clonogenic assay further confirmed the superior anticancer effect of GEM-PL which showed least number of colonies. GEM-PL formulation exhibited a significantly higher apoptosis of cancer cells (∼25%) when stained using Annexin-V/PI kit. Conjugation of GEM to the mPEG-PLA significantly enhanced the blood circulation potential in animal model compared to that of free GEM. GEM-PL could prevent quick elimination of the drug and can provide sufficient time for the greater accumulation of GEM at the tumor sites. GEM-PL showed a remarkable tumor regression effect as evident from the lowest tumor volume in HT-29 containing tumor model. Overall, mPEG-PLA/GEM conjugates showed the potential of polymer-based drug targeting and might hold significant clinical potential in the treatment of colon cancers. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The performance of hafnium and gadolinium self powered neutron detectors in the TREAT reactor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Imel, G. R.; Hart, P. R.

1996-05-01

The use of gadolinium and hafnium self powered neutron detectors in a transient reactor is described in this paper. The detectors were calibrated to the fission rate of U-235 using calibrated fission chambers; the calibration factors were tested in two reactors in steady state and found to be consistent. Calibration of the detectors in transient reactor conditions was done by using uranium wires that were analyzed by radiochemistry techniques to determine total fissions during the transient. This was correlated to the time-integrated current of the detectors during the transient. A temperature correction factor was derived to account for self-shielding effects in the hafnium and gadolinium detectors. The dynamic response of the detectors under transient conditions was studied, and found to be excellent.

A fast 1-D detector for imaging and time resolved SAXS experiments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Menk, R. H.; Arfelli, F.; Bernstorff, S.; Pontoni, D.; Sarvestani, A.; Besch, H. J.; Walenta, A. H.

1999-02-01

A one-dimensional test detector on the principle of a highly segmented ionization chamber with shielding grid (Frisch grid) was developed to evaluate if this kind of detector is suitable for advanced small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) experiments. At present it consists of 128 pixels which can be read out within 0.2 ms with a noise floor of 2000 e-ENC. A quantum efficiency of 80% for a photon energy of 8 keV was achieved. This leads to DQE values of 80% for photon fluxes above 1000 photons/pixel and integration time. The shielding grid is based on the principles of the recently invented MCAT structure and the GEM structure which also allows electron amplification in the gas. In the case of the MCAT structure, an energy resolution of 20% at 5.9 keV was observed. The gas amplification mode enables imaging with this integrating detector on a subphoton noise level with respect to the integration time. Preliminary experiments of saturation behavior show that this kind of detector digests a photon flux density up to 10 12 photons/mm 2 s and operates linearly. A spatial resolution of at least three line pairs/mm was obtained. All these features show that this type of detector is well suited for time-resolved SAXS experiments as well as high flux imaging applications.

GEM1: First-year modeling and IT activities for the Global Earthquake Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anderson, G.; Giardini, D.; Wiemer, S.

2009-04-01

GEM is a public-private partnership initiated by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to build an independent standard for modeling and communicating earthquake risk worldwide. GEM is aimed at providing authoritative, open information about seismic risk and decision tools to support mitigation. GEM will also raise risk awareness and help post-disaster economic development, with the ultimate goal of reducing the toll of future earthquakes. GEM will provide a unified set of seismic hazard, risk, and loss modeling tools based on a common global IT infrastructure and consensus standards. These tools, systems, and standards will be developed in partnership with organizations around the world, with coordination by the GEM Secretariat and its Secretary General. GEM partners will develop a variety of global components, including a unified earthquake catalog, fault database, and ground motion prediction equations. To ensure broad representation and community acceptance, GEM will include local knowledge in all modeling activities, incorporate existing detailed models where possible, and independently test all resulting tools and models. When completed in five years, GEM will have a versatile, penly accessible modeling environment that can be updated as necessary, and will provide the global standard for seismic hazard, risk, and loss models to government ministers, scientists and engineers, financial institutions, and the public worldwide. GEM is now underway with key support provided by private sponsors (Munich Reinsurance Company, Zurich Financial Services, AIR Worldwide Corporation, and Willis Group Holdings); countries including Belgium, Germany, Italy, Singapore, Switzerland, and Turkey; and groups such as the European Commission. The GEM Secretariat has been selected by the OECD and will be hosted at the Eucentre at the University of Pavia in Italy; the Secretariat is now formalizing the creation of the GEM Foundation. Some of GEM's global components are in the planning stages, such as the developments of a unified active fault database and earthquake catalog. The flagship activity of GEM's first year is GEM1, a focused pilot project to develop GEM's first hazard and risk modeling products and initial IT infrastructure, starting in January 2009 and ending in March 2010. GEM1 will provide core capabilities for the present and key knowledge for future development of the full GEM computing Environment and product set. We will build GEM1 largely using existing tools and datasets, connected through a unified IT infrastructure, in order to bring GEM's initial capabilities online as rapidly as possible. The Swiss Seismological Service at ETH-Zurich is leading the GEM1 effort in cooperation with partners around the world. We anticipate that GEM1's products will include: • A global compilation of regional seismic source zone models in one or more common representations • Global synthetic earthquake catalogs for use in hazard calculations • Initial set of regional and global catalogues for validation • Global hazard models in map and database forms • First compilation of global vulnerabilities and fragilities • Tools for exposure and loss assessment • Validation of results and software for existing risk assessment tools to be used in future GEM stages • Demonstration risk scenarios for target cities • First version of GEM IT infrastructure All these products will be made freely available to the greatest extent possible. For more information on GEM and GEM1, please visit http://www.globalquakemodel.org.

Indium Hybridization of Large Format TES Bolometer Arrays to Readout Multiplexers for Far-Infrared Astronomy

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Miller, Timothy M.; Costen, Nick; Allen, Christine

2007-01-01

The advance of new detector technologies combined with enhanced fabrication methods has resulted in an increase in development of large format arrays. The next generation of scientific instruments will utilize detectors containing hundreds to thousands of elements providing a more efficient means to conduct large area sky surveys. Some notable detectors include a 32x32 x-ray microcalorimeter for Constellation-X, an infrared bolometer called SAFIRE to fly on the airborne observatory SOFIA, and the sub-millimeter bolometer SCUBA-2 to be deployed at the JCMT which will use more than 10,000 elements for two colors, each color using four 32x40 arrays. Of these detectors, SCUBA-2 is farthest along in development and uses indium hybridization to multiplexers for readout of the large number of elements, a technology that will be required to enable the next generation of large format arrays. Our current efforts in working toward large format arrays have produced GISMO, the Goddard IRAM Superconducting 2-Millimeter observer. GISMO is a far infrared instrument to be field tested later this year at the IRAM 30 meter telescope in Spain. GISMO utilizes transition edge sensor (TES) technology in an 8x16 filled array format that allows for typical fan-out wiring and wire-bonding to four 1x32 NIST multiplexers. GISMO'S electrical wiring is routed along the tops of 30 micron walls which also serve as the mechanical framework for the array. This architecture works well for the 128 element array, but is approaching the limit for routing the necessary wires along the surface while maintaining a high fill factor. Larger format arrays will benefit greatly from making electrical connections through the wafer to the backside, where they can be hybridized to a read-out substrate tailored to handling the wiring scheme. The next generation array we are developing is a 32x40 element array on a pitch of 1135 microns that conforms to the NIST multiplexer, already developed for the SCUBA-2 instrument This architecture will utilize electrical connections that route from the TES to the support frame and through the wafer. The detector chip will then be hybridized to the NIST multiplexer via indium bump bonding. In our development scheme we are using substrates that allow for diagnostic testing of electrical continuity across the entire array and we are testing our process to minimize or eliminate any contact resistance at metal interfaces. Our goal is hybridizing a fully functional 32x40 array of TES bolometers to a NIST multiplexer. The following work presents our current progress toward enabling this technology.

Wire insulation defect detector

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Greulich, Owen R. (Inventor)

2004-01-01

Wiring defects are located by detecting a reflected signal that is developed when an arc occurs through the defect to a nearby ground. The time between the generation of the signal and the return of the reflected signal provides an indication of the distance of the arc (and therefore the defect) from the signal source. To ensure arcing, a signal is repeated at gradually increasing voltages while the wire being tested and a nearby ground are immersed in a conductive medium. In order to ensure that the arcing occurs at an identifiable time, the signal whose reflection is to be detected is always made to reach the highest potential yet seen by the system.

A tool for measuring the bending length in thin wires

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lorenzini, M.; Cagnoli, G.; Cesarini, E.; Losurdo, G.; Martelli, F.; Piergiovanni, F.; Vetrano, F.; Viceré, A.

2013-03-01

Great effort is currently being put into the development and construction of the second generation, advanced gravitational wave detectors, Advanced Virgo and Advanced LIGO. The development of new low thermal noise suspensions of mirrors, based on the experience gained in the previous experiments, is part of this task. Quasi-monolithic suspensions with fused silica wires avoid the problem of rubbing friction introduced by steel cradle arrangements by directly welding the wires to silica blocks bonded to the mirror. Moreover, the mechanical loss level introduced by silica (ϕfs ˜ 10-7 in thin fused silica wires) is by far less than the one associated with steel. The low frequency dynamical behaviour of the suspension can be computed and optimized, provided that the wire bending shape under pendulum motion is known. Due to the production process, fused silica wires are thicker near the two ends (necks), so that analytical bending computations are very complicated. We developed a tool to directly measure the low frequency bending parameters of fused silica wires, and we tested it on the wires produced for the Virgo+ monolithic suspensions. The working principle and a set of test measurements are presented and explained.

A tool for measuring the bending length in thin wires.

PubMed

Lorenzini, M; Cagnoli, G; Cesarini, E; Losurdo, G; Martelli, F; Piergiovanni, F; Vetrano, F; Viceré, A

2013-03-01

Great effort is currently being put into the development and construction of the second generation, advanced gravitational wave detectors, Advanced Virgo and Advanced LIGO. The development of new low thermal noise suspensions of mirrors, based on the experience gained in the previous experiments, is part of this task. Quasi-monolithic suspensions with fused silica wires avoid the problem of rubbing friction introduced by steel cradle arrangements by directly welding the wires to silica blocks bonded to the mirror. Moreover, the mechanical loss level introduced by silica (φfs ∼ 10(-7) in thin fused silica wires) is by far less than the one associated with steel. The low frequency dynamical behaviour of the suspension can be computed and optimized, provided that the wire bending shape under pendulum motion is known. Due to the production process, fused silica wires are thicker near the two ends (necks), so that analytical bending computations are very complicated. We developed a tool to directly measure the low frequency bending parameters of fused silica wires, and we tested it on the wires produced for the Virgo+ monolithic suspensions. The working principle and a set of test measurements are presented and explained.

Comparative Soot Diagnostics Experiment Looks at the Smoky World of Microgravity Combustion

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Urban, David L.; Griffin, DeVon W.; Gard, Melissa Y.

1997-01-01

From an economic standpoint, soot is one of the most important combustion intermediates and products. It is a major industrial product and is the dominant medium for radiant heat transport in most flames used to generate heat and power. The nonbuoyant structure of most flames of practical interest (turbulent flames) makes the understanding of soot processes in microgravity flames important to our ability to predict fire behavior on Earth. In addition, fires in spacecraft are considered a credible possibility. To respond to this risk, NASA has flown fire (or smoke) detectors on Skylab and the space shuttles and included them in the International Space Station design. The design of these detectors, however, was based entirely on normal gravity (1g) data. The detector used in the shuttle fleet is an ionization detector, whereas the system planned for the space station uses forward scattering of near-infrared light. The ionization detector, which is similar to smoke detectors used in homes, has a comparative advantage for submicron particulates. In fact, the space shuttle model uses a separation system that makes it blind to particles larger than a micron (believed to be dust). In the larger size range, the lightscattering detector is most sensitive. Without microgravity smoke data, the difference in the particle size sensitivities of the two detectors cannot be evaluated. As part of the Comparative Soot Diagnostics (CSD) experiment, these systems were tested to determine their response to particulates generated during long periods of low gravity. This experiment provided the first such measurements toward understanding soot processes on Earth and for designing and implementing improved spacecraft smoke detection systems. The objectives of CSD were to examine how particulates form from a variety of sources and to quantify the performance of several diagnostic techniques. The sources tested included four overheated materials (paper, silicone rubber, Teflon-coated (DuPont) wire, and Kapton-coated (DuPont) wires), each tested at three heating rates, and a candle tested at three air velocities. Paper, silicone rubber, and wire insulation, materials found in spacecraft crew cabins, were selected because of their different smoke properties. The candle yielded hydrocarbon soot typical of many 1g flames. Four diagnostic techniques were employed: thermophoretic sampling collected particulates for size analysis; laser light extinction measurements near the source tallied total particulate production; and laser light scattering and ionization detector measurements far from the particulate source provided data for evaluating the performance of smoke detection systems for these particulate sources.

The Gem GTP-binding protein promotes morphological differentiation in neuroblastoma.

PubMed

Leone, A; Mitsiades, N; Ward, Y; Spinelli, B; Poulaki, V; Tsokos, M; Kelly, K

2001-05-31

Gem is a small GTP-binding protein within the Ras superfamily whose function has not been determined. We report here that ectopic Gem expression is sufficient to stimulate cell flattening and neurite extension in N1E-115 and SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells, suggesting a role for Gem in cytoskeletal rearrangement and/or morphological differentiation of neurons. Consistent with this potential function, in clinical samples of neuroblastoma, Gem protein was most highly expressed within cells which had differentiated to express ganglionic morphology. Gem was also observed in developing trigeminal nerve ganglia in 12.5 day mouse embryos, demonstrating that Gem expression is a property of normal ganglionic development. Although Gem expression is rare in epithelial and hematopoietic cancer cell lines, constitutive Gem levels were detected in several neuroblastoma cell lines and could be further induced as much as 10-fold following treatment with PMA or the acetylcholine muscarinic agonist, carbachol.

Single-crystal diffraction instrument TriCS at SINQ

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schefer, J.; Könnecke, M.; Murasik, A.; Czopnik, A.; Strässle, Th; Keller, P.; Schlumpf, N.

2000-03-01

The single-crystal diffractometer TriCS at the Swiss Continuous Spallation Source (SINQ) is presently in the commissioning phase. A two-dimensional wire detector produced by EMBL was delivered in March 1999. The instrument is presently tested with a single detector. First measurements on magnetic structures have been performed. The instrument is remotely controlled using JAVA-based software and a UNIX DEC-α host computer.

Not Your Ordinary GEM

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2001-01-01

Through Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) funding from NASA's Stennis Space Center, Geophex devised a new design for broadband electromagnetic sensors. Geophex developed a patented sensing technology, capable not only of coastal monitoring, but also a variety of other functions, including environmental pollution characterization, groundwater contamination detection, archaeological study, and mineral detection. The new technology is offered in several of the company's products the GEM-2, GEM-2A, and the GEM-3. The Geophex products consist of two primary electromagnetic coils, which are stimulated by alternating currents that generate a magnetic field in the object targeted for investigation. GEM-2 is a handheld, lightweight, programmable, digital device. GEM-2A is an airborne version of the sensor. Suspended from a helicopter, the GEM-2A is used to search for mineral deposits and to survey large tracts of land. The GEM-3 is capable of detecting buried landmines and other active munitions. GEM-3 identifies landmines by their brand names. Because each landmine has its own unique electromagnetic response to the broad frequency band emitted by the GEM-3, bomb identification and disposal strategies are made easier.

AIRBORNE RADIATION DETECTOR

DOEpatents

Cartmell, T.R.; Gifford, J.F.

1959-08-01

An ionization chamber used for measuring the radioactivity of dust present in atmospheric air is described. More particularly. the patent describes a device comprising two concentric open ended, electrically connected cylinders between which is disposed a wire electrcde. A heating source is disposed inside of the cylinder to circulate air through the space between the two cylinders by convective flow. A high voltage electric field between the wire electrcde of the electrically connected cylinder will cause ionization of the air as it passes therethrough.

Origins of GEMS Grains

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Messenger, S.; Walker, R. M.

2012-01-01

Interplanetary dust particles (IDPs) collected in the Earth s stratosphere contain high abundances of submicrometer amorphous silicates known as GEMS grains. From their birth as condensates in the outflows of oxygen-rich evolved stars, processing in interstellar space, and incorporation into disks around new stars, amorphous silicates predominate in most astrophysical environments. Amorphous silicates were a major building block of our Solar System and are prominent in infrared spectra of comets. Anhydrous interplanetary dust particles (IDPs) thought to derive from comets contain abundant amorphous silicates known as GEMS (glass with embedded metal and sulfides) grains. GEMS grains have been proposed to be isotopically and chemically homogenized interstellar amorphous silicate dust. We evaluated this hypothesis through coordinated chemical and isotopic analyses of GEMS grains in a suite of IDPs to constrain their origins. GEMS grains show order of magnitude variations in Mg, Fe, Ca, and S abundances. GEMS grains do not match the average element abundances inferred for ISM dust containing on average, too little Mg, Fe, and Ca, and too much S. GEMS grains have complementary compositions to the crystalline components in IDPs suggesting that they formed from the same reservoir. We did not observe any unequivocal microstructural or chemical evidence that GEMS grains experienced prolonged exposure to radiation. We identified four GEMS grains having O isotopic compositions that point to origins in red giant branch or asymptotic giant branch stars and supernovae. Based on their O isotopic compositions, we estimate that 1-6% of GEMS grains are surviving circumstellar grains. The remaining 94-99% of GEMS grains have O isotopic compositions that are indistinguishable from terrestrial materials and carbonaceous chondrites. These isotopically solar GEMS grains either formed in the Solar System or were completely homogenized in the interstellar medium (ISM). However, the chemical compositions of GEMS grains are extremely heterogeneous and seem to rule out this possibility. Based on their solar isotopic compositions and their non-solar elemental compositions we propose that most GEMS grains formed in the nebula as late-stage non-equilibrium condensates.

Data management software concept for WEST plasma measurement system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zienkiewicz, P.; Kasprowicz, G.; Byszuk, A.; Wojeński, A.; Kolasinski, P.; Cieszewski, R.; Czarski, T.; Chernyshova, M.; Pozniak, K.; Zabolotny, W.; Juszczyk, B.; Mazon, D.; Malard, P.

2014-11-01

This paper describes the concept of data management software for the multichannel readout system for the GEM detector used in WEST Plasma experiment. The proposed system consists of three separate communication channels: fast data channel, diagnostics channel, slow data channel. Fast data channel is provided by the FPGA with integrated ARM cores providing direct readout data from Analog Front Ends through 10GbE with short, guaranteed intervals. Slow data channel is provided by multiple, fast CPUs after data processing with detailed readout data with use of GNU/Linux OS and appropriate software. Diagnostic channel provides detailed feedback for control purposes.

Monte-Carlo Estimation of the Inflight Performance of the GEMS Satellite X-Ray Polarimeter

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kitaguchi, Takao; Tamagawa, Toru; Hayato, Asami; Enoto, Teruaki; Yoshikawa, Akifumi; Kaneko, Kenta; Takeuchi, Yoko; Black, Kevin; Hill, Joanne; Jahoda, Keith;

Monte-Carlo estimation of the inflight performance of the GEMS satellite x-ray polarimeter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kitaguchi, Takao; Tamagawa, Toru; Hayato, Asami; Enoto, Teruaki; Yoshikawa, Akifumi; Kaneko, Kenta; Takeuchi, Yoko; Black, Kevin; Hill, Joanne; Jahoda, Keith; Krizmanic, John; Sturner, Steven; Griffiths, Scott; Kaaret, Philip; Marlowe, Hannah

2014-07-01

We report a Monte-Carlo estimation of the in-orbit performance of a cosmic X-ray polarimeter designed to be installed on the focal plane of a small satellite. The simulation uses GEANT for the transport of photons and energetic particles and results from Magboltz for the transport of secondary electrons in the detector gas. We validated the simulation by comparing spectra and modulation curves with actual data taken with radioactive sources and an X-ray generator. We also estimated the in-orbit background induced by cosmic radiation in low Earth orbit.

Measurements of 55Fe activity in activated steel samples with GEMPix

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Curioni, A.; Dinar, N.; La Torre, F. P.; Leidner, J.; Murtas, F.; Puddu, S.; Silari, M.

2017-03-01

In this paper we present a novel method, based on the recently developed GEMPix detector, to measure the 55Fe content in samples of metallic material activated during operation of CERN accelerators and experimental facilities. The GEMPix, a gas detector with highly pixelated read-out, has been obtained by coupling a triple Gas Electron Multiplier (GEM) to a quad Timepix ASIC. Sample preparation, measurements performed on 45 samples and data analysis are described. The calibration factor (counts per second per unit specific activity) has been obtained via measurements of the 55Fe activity determined by radiochemical analysis of the same samples. Detection limit and sensitivity to the current Swiss exemption limit are calculated. Comparison with radiochemical analysis shows inconsistency for the sensitivity for only two samples, most likely due to underestimated uncertainties of the GEMPix analysis. An operative test phase of this technique is already planned at CERN.

The Hadron Blind Ring Imaging Cherenkov Detector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Blatnik, Marie; Zajac, Stephanie; Hemmick, Tom

2013-10-01

Heavy Ion Collisions in the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven Lab have hinted at the existence of a new form of matter at high gluon density, the Color Glass Condensate. High energy electron scattering off of nuclei, focusing on the low-x components of the nuclear wave function, will definitively measure this state of matter. However, when a nucleus contributes a low x parton, the reaction products are highly focused in the electron-going direction and have large momentum in the lab system. High-momentum particle identification is particularly challenging. A particle is identifiable by its mass, but tracking algorithms only yield a particle's momentum based on its track's curvature. The particle's velocity is needed to identify the particle. A ring-imaging Cerenkov detector is being developed for the forward angle particle identification from the technological advancements of PHENIX's Hadron-Blind Detector (HBD), which uses Gas Electron Multipliers (GEMs) and pixelated pad planes to detect Cerenkov photons. The new HBD will focus the Cerenkov photons into a ring to determine the parent particle's velocity. Results from the pad plane simulations, construction tests, and test beam run will be presented.

3D reconstruction of nuclear reactions using GEM TPC with planar readout

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bihałowicz, Jan Stefan

2015-02-24

The research program of the Extreme Light Infrastructure – Nuclear Physics (ELI-NP) laboratory under construction in Magurele, Romania facilities the need of developing a gaseous active-target detector providing 3D reconstruction of charged products of nuclear reactions induced by gamma beam. The monoenergetic, high-energy (E{sub γ} > 19 MeV) gamma beam of intensity 10{sup 13}γ/s allows studying nuclear reactions in astrophysics. A Time Projection Chamber with crossed strip readout (eTPC) is proposed as one of the imaging detectors. The special feature of the readout electrode structure is a 2D reconstruction based on the information read out simultaneously from three arrays ofmore » strips that form virtual pixels. It is expected to reach similar spatial resolution as for pixel readout at largely reduced cost of electronics. The paper presents the current progress and first results of the small scale prototype TPC which is a one of implementation steps towards eTPC detector proposed in the Technical Design Report of Charged Particles Detection at ELI-NP.« less

BONUS Gas Handling System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ferrer, James

2004-10-01

The BONUS experiment, at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility aims to measure structure functions of the neutron via electron scattering. In order to overcome the unavailability of a neutron target, the BONUS collaboration will use a deuterium target. By detecting the recoil (spectator) proton in coincidence with the scattered electron, the kinematics of the electron-neutron interaction will be fully determined, thus overcoming theoretical complications that arise when extracting neutron cross sections. In order to detect low energy recoil protons, in the 70-100 MeV/c range, a (6 cm-radius) radial time projection chamber (RTPC) will be used. The BONUS RTPC is based on the gas electron multiplier (GEM) technology recently developed at CERN. One of the key components of this detector is the gas handling system, designed and built to deliver the correct mixture of gas to the detector safely, accurately, and reliably. The building and testing of this system is the major contribution of James Madison University to the BONUS collaboration. This poster provides a general overview of the BONUS detector, focusing on the gas handling system.

Design and Operation of A Setup with A Camera and Adjustable Mirror to Inspect the Sense-Wire Planes of the Time Projection Chamber Inside the MicroBooNE Cryostat

DOE PAGES

Carls, Benjamin; Horton-Smith, Glenn; James, Catherine C.; ...

2015-08-26

Detectors in particle physics, particularly when including cryogenic components, are often enclosed in vessels that do not provide any physical or visual access to the detectors themselves after installation. However, it can be desirable for experiments to visually investigate the inside of the vessel. The MicroBooNE cryostat hosts a TPC with sense-wire planes, which had to be inspected for damage such as breakage or sagging. This inspection was performed after the transportation of the vessel with the enclosed detector to its final location, but before filling with liquid argon. Our paper describes an approach to view the inside of themore » MicroBooNE cryostat with a setup of a camera and a mirror through one of its cryogenic service nozzles. The paper also describes the camera and mirror chosen for the operation, the illumination, and the mechanical structure of the setup. It explains how the system was operated and demonstrates its performance.« less

Thermopile Detector Arrays for Space Science Applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Foote, M. C.; Kenyon, M.; Krueger, T. R.; McCann, T. A.; Chacon, R.; Jones, E. W.; Dickie, M. R.; Schofield, J. T.; McCleese, D. J.; Gaalema, S.

2004-01-01

Thermopile detectors are widely used in uncooled applications where small numbers of detectors are required, particularly in low-cost commercial applications or applications requiring accurate radiometry. Arrays of thermopile detectors, however, have not been developed to the extent of uncooled bolometer and pyroelectric/ferroelectric arrays. Efforts at JPL seek to remedy this deficiency by developing high performance thin-film thermopile detectors in both linear and two-dimensional formats. The linear thermopile arrays are produced by bulk micromachining and wire bonded to separate CMOS readout electronic chips. Such arrays are currently being fabricated for the Mars Climate Sounder instrument, scheduled for launch in 2005. Progress is also described towards realizing a two-dimensional thermopile array built over CMOS readout circuitry in the substrate.

PbS-PbSe IR detector arrays

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Barrett, John R. (Inventor)

1986-01-01

A silicon wafer is provided which does not employ individually bonded leads between the IR sensitive elements and the input stages of multiplexers. The wafer is first coated with lead selenide in a first detector array area and is thereafter coated with lead sulfide within a second detector array area. The described steps result in the direct chemical deposition of lead selenide and lead sulfide upon the silicon wafer to eliminate individual wire bonding, bumping, flip chipping, planar interconnecting methods of connecting detector array elements to silicon chip circuitry, e.g., multiplexers, to enable easy fabrication of very long arrays. The electrode structure employed, produces an increase in the electrical field gradient between the electrodes for a given volume of detector material, relative to conventional electrode configurations.

[Construction of Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG particles surface display system].

PubMed

Su, Runyu; Nie, Boyao; Yuan, Shengling; Tao, Haoxia; Liu, Chunjie; Yang, Bailiang; Wang, Yanchun

2017-01-25

To describe a novel particles surface display system which is consisted of gram-positive enhancer matrix (GEM) particles and anchor proteins for bacteria-like particles vaccines, we treated Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG bacteria with 10% heated-TCA for preparing GEM particles, and then identified the harvested GEM particles by electron microscopy, RT-PCR and SDS-PAGE. Meanwhile, Escherichia coli was induced to express hybrid proteins PA3-EGFP and P60-EGFP, and GEM particles were incubated with them. Then binding of anchor proteins were determined by Western blotting, transmission electron microscopy, fluorescence microscopy and spectrofluorometry. GEM particles preserved original size and shape, and proteins and DNA contents of GEM particles were released substantially. The two anchor proteins both had efficiently immobilized on the surface of GEM. GEM particles that were bounded by anchor proteins were brushy. The fluorescence of GEM particles anchoring PA3 was slightly brighter than P60, but the difference was not significant (P>0.05). GEM particles prepared from L. rhamnosus GG have a good binding efficiency with anchor proteins PA3-EGFP and P60-EGFP. Therefore, this novel foreign protein surface display system could be used for bacteria-like particle vaccines.

The histone methyltransferase G9a as a therapeutic target to override gemcitabine resistance in pancreatic cancer

PubMed Central

Pan, Mei-Ren; Hsu, Ming-Chuan; Luo, Chi-Wen; Chen, Li-Tzong; Shan, Yan-Shen; Hung, Wen-Chun

2016-01-01

Gemcitabine (GEM) resistance is a critical issue for pancreatic cancer treatment. The involvement of epigenetic modification in GEM resistance is still unclear. We established a GEM-resistant subline PANC-1-R from the parental PANC-1 pancreatic cancer cells and found the elevation of various chromatin-modifying enzymes including G9a in GEM-resistant cells. Ectopic expression of G9a in PANC-1 cells increased GEM resistance while inactivation of G9a in PANC-1-R cells reduced it. Challenge of PANC-1 cells with GEM increased the expression of stemness markers including CD133, nestin and Lgr5 and promoted sphere forming activity suggesting chemotherapy enriched cancer cells with stem-like properties. Inhibition of G9a in PANC-1-R cells reduced stemness and invasiveness and sensitized the cells to GEM. We revealed interleukin-8 (IL-8) is a downstream effector of G9a to increase GEM resistance. G9a-overexpressing PANC-1-R cells exhibited autocrine IL-8/CXCR1/2 stimulation to increase GEM resistance which could be decreased by anti-IL-8 antibody and G9a inhibitor. IL-8 released by cancer cells also activated pancreatic stellate cell (PSC) to increase GEM resistance. In orthotopic animal model, GEM could not suppress tumor growth of PANC-1-R cells and eventually promoted tumor metastasis. Combination with G9a inhibitor and GEM reduced tumor growth, metastasis, IL-8 expression and PSC activation in animals. Finally, we showed that overexpression of G9a correlated with poor survival and early recurrence in pancreatic cancer patients. Collectively, our results suggest G9a is a therapeutic target to override GEM resistance in the treatment of pancreatic cancer. PMID:27531902

MWPC prototyping and performance test for the STAR inner TPC upgrade

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shen, Fuwang; Wang, Shuai; Kong, Fangang; Bai, Shiwei; Li, Changyu; Videbæk, Flemming; Xu, Zhangbu; Zhu, Chengguang; Xu, Qinghua; Yang, Chi

2018-07-01

A new prototype of STAR inner Time Projection Chamber (iTPC) MWPC sector has been fabricated and tested in an X-ray test system. The wire chamber built at Shandong University has a wire tension precision better than 6% and wire pitch precision better than 10 μm. The gas gain uniformity and energy resolution are measured to be better than 1% (RMS) and 20% (FWHM), respectively, using an 55Fe X-ray source. The iTPC upgrade project is to replace all 24 STAR TPC inner sectors as a crucial detector upgrade for the RHIC beam energy scan phase II program. The test results show that the constructed iTPC prototype meets all project requirements.

Diagnostics of underwater electrical wire explosion through a time- and space-resolved hard x-ray source

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sheftman, D.; Shafer, D.; Efimov, S.

2012-10-15

A time- and space-resolved hard x-ray source was developed as a diagnostic tool for imaging underwater exploding wires. A {approx}4 ns width pulse of hard x-rays with energies of up to 100 keV was obtained from the discharge in a vacuum diode consisting of point-shaped tungsten electrodes. To improve contrast and image quality, an external pulsed magnetic field produced by Helmholtz coils was used. High resolution x-ray images of an underwater exploding wire were obtained using a sensitive x-ray CCD detector, and were compared to optical fast framing images. Future developments and application of this diagnostic technique are discussed.

Diagnostics of underwater electrical wire explosion through a time- and space-resolved hard x-ray source.

PubMed

Sheftman, D; Shafer, D; Efimov, S; Gruzinsky, K; Gleizer, S; Krasik, Ya E

2012-10-01

A time- and space-resolved hard x-ray source was developed as a diagnostic tool for imaging underwater exploding wires. A ~4 ns width pulse of hard x-rays with energies of up to 100 keV was obtained from the discharge in a vacuum diode consisting of point-shaped tungsten electrodes. To improve contrast and image quality, an external pulsed magnetic field produced by Helmholtz coils was used. High resolution x-ray images of an underwater exploding wire were obtained using a sensitive x-ray CCD detector, and were compared to optical fast framing images. Future developments and application of this diagnostic technique are discussed.

GEM at 10: a decade's experience with the Guideline Elements Model.

PubMed

Hajizadeh, Negin; Kashyap, Nitu; Michel, George; Shiffman, Richard N

2011-01-01

The Guideline Elements Model (GEM) was developed in 2000 to organize the information contained in clinical practice guidelines using XML and to represent guideline content in a form that can be understood by human readers and processed by computers. In this work, we systematically reviewed the literature to better understand how GEM was being used, potential barriers to its use, and suggestions for improvement. Fifty external and twelve internally produced publications were identified and analyzed. GEM was used most commonly for modeling and ontology creation. Other investigators applied GEM for knowledge extraction and data mining, for clinical decision support for guideline generation. The GEM Cutter software-used to markup guidelines for translation into XML- has been downloaded 563 times since 2000. Although many investigators found GEM to be valuable, others critiqued its failure to clarify guideline semantics, difficulties in markup, and the fact that GEM files are not usually executable.

Gravity model improvement using GEOS-3 (GEM 9 and 10)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lerch, F. J.; Klosko, S. M.; Laubscher, R. E.; Wagner, C. A.

1977-01-01

The use of collocation permitted GEM 9 to be a larger field than previous derived satellite models, GEM 9 having harmonics complete to 20 x 20 with selected higher degree terms. The satellite data set has approximately 840,000 observations, of which 200,000 are laser ranges taken on 9 satellites equipped with retroreflectors. GEM 10 is complete to 22 x 22 with selected higher degree terms out to degree and order 30 amounting to a total of 592 coefficients. Comparisons with surface gravity and altimeter data indicate a substantial improvement in GEM 9 over previous satellite solutions; GEM 9 is in even closer agreement with surface data than the previously published GEM 6 solution which contained surface gravity. In particular the free air gravity anomalies calculated from GEM 9 and a surface gravity solution are in excellent agreement for the high degree terms.

Methods of measurement for semiconductor materials, process control, and devices

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bullis, W. M. (Editor)

1972-01-01

Activities directed toward the development of methods of measurement for semiconductor materials, process control, and devices are described. Topics investigated include: measurements of transistor delay time; application of the infrared response technique to the study of radiation-damaged, lithium-drifted silicon detectors; and identification of a condition that minimizes wire flexure and reduces the failure rate of wire bonds in transistors and integrated circuits under slow thermal cycling conditions. Supplementary data concerning staff, standards committee activities, technical services, and publications are included as appendixes.

Nuclear cargo detector

DOEpatents

Christo, Steven Basil

2006-12-19

Apparatus for the inspection of cargo containers for nuclear materials comprising one or more arrays of modules comprising grounded, closed conductive tubes filled with an ionizing gas mixture such as, but not limited to, Argon:CO.sub.2. A wire is suspended along each tube axis and electrically connected at both ends of the tube. A positive, dc high voltage is supplied to one end of the wire and an amplifier is attached to the other end through a capacitance to decouple the amplifier from the high voltage. X-rays, gamma rays or neutrons produced by nuclear material and passing through the tube ionize the gas. The electrons from the gas ionization process are accelerated toward the wire surface due to the wire's electrical potential. The acceleration of the electrons near the wire's surface is sufficient to ionize more gas and produce an amplification of electrons/ions that create a surge of current large enough to be detectable by the amplifier. Means are also provided for a warning device coupled to the amplifier.

Wire chamber radiation detector with discharge control

DOEpatents

Perez-Mendez, Victor; Mulera, Terrence A.

1984-01-01

A wire chamber radiation detector (11) has spaced apart parallel electrodes (16) and grids (17, 18, 19) defining an ignition region (21) in which charged particles (12) or other ionizing radiations initiate brief localized avalanche discharges (93) and defining an adjacent memory region (22) in which sustained glow discharges (94) are initiated by the primary discharges (93). Conductors (29, 32) of the grids (18, 19) at each side of the memory section (22) extend in orthogonal directions enabling readout of the X-Y coordinates of locations at which charged particles (12) were detected by sequentially transmitting pulses to the conductors (29) of one grid (18) while detecting transmissions of the pulses to the orthogonal conductors (36) of the other grid (19) through glow discharges (94). One of the grids (19) bounding the memory region (22) is defined by an array of conductive elements (32) each of which is connected to the associated readout conductor (36) through a separate resistance (37). The wire chamber (11) avoids ambiguities and imprecisions in the readout of coordinates when large numbers of simultaneous or near simultaneous charged particles (12) have been detected. Down time between detection periods and the generation of radio frequency noise are also reduced.

A method for (n,alpha) and (n,p) cross section measurements using a lead slowing-down spectrometer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thompson, Jason Tyler

The need for nuclear data comes from several sources including astrophysics, stockpile stewardship, and reactor design. Photodisintegration, neutron capture, and charged particle out reactions on stable or short-lived radioisotopes play crucial roles during stellar evolution and forming solar isotopic abundances whereas these reactions can affect the safety of our national weapons stockpile or criticality and safety calculations for reactors. Although models can be used to predict some of these values, these predictions are only as good as the experimental data that constrains them. For neutron-induced emission of α particles and protons ((n,α) and (n,p) reactions) at energies below 1 MeV, the experimental data is at best scarce and models must rely on extrapolations from unlike situations, (i.e. different reactions, isotopes, and energies) providing ample room for uncertainty. In this work a new method of measuring energy dependent (n,α) and (n,p) cross sections was developed for the energy range of 0.1 eV - ˜100 keV using a lead slowing-down spectrometer (LSDS). The LSDS provides a ˜10 4 neutron flux increase over the more conventionally used time-of-flight (ToF) methods at equivalent beam conditions, allowing for the measurement of small cross sections (µb’s to mb’s) while using small sample masses (µg’s to mg’s). Several detector concepts were designed and tested, including specially constructed Canberra passivated, implanted, planar silicon (PIPS) detectors; and gas-electron-multiplier (GEM) foils. All designs are compensated to minimize γ-flash problems. The GEM detector was found to function satisfactory for (n,α) measurements, but the PIPS detectors were found to be better suited for (n,p) reaction measurements. A digital data acquisition (DAQ) system was programmed such that background can be measured simultaneously with the reaction cross section. Measurements of the 147Sm(n,α)144Nd and 149 Sm(n,α)146Nd reaction cross sections were performed as proofs of concept. The measurement of 147Sm verified and extended a previous measurement while the measurement of 149Sm is the first over the majority of the 0.1 eV to 100 keV energy region.

Hyaluronic acid-coated, prodrug-based nanostructured lipid carriers for enhanced pancreatic cancer therapy.

PubMed

Lu, Zhihe; Su, Jingrong; Li, Zhengrong; Zhan, Yuzhu; Ye, Decai

2017-01-01

Gemcitabine (GEM) and Baicalein (BCL) are reported to have anti-tumor effects including pancreatic cancer. Hyaluronic acid (HA) can bind to over-expressed receptors in various kinds of cancer cells. The aim of this study is to develop prodrugs containing HA, BCL and GEM, and construct nanomedicine incorporate GEM and BCL in the core and HA on the surface. This system could target the cancer cells and co-deliver the drugs. GEM-stearic acid lipid prodrug (GEM-SA) and hyaluronic acid-amino acid-baicalein prodrug (HA-AA-BCL) were synthesized. Then, GEM and BCL prodrug-based targeted nanostructured lipid carriers (HA-GEM-BCL NLCs) were prepared by the nanoprecipitation technique. The in vitro cytotoxicity studies of the NLCs were evaluated on AsPC1 pancreatic cancer cell line. In vivo anti-tumor effects were observed on the murine-bearing pancreatic cancer model. HA-GEM-BCL NLCs were effective in entering pancreatic cancer cells over-expressing HA receptors, and showed cytotoxicity of tumor cells in vitro. In vivo study revealed significant tumor growth inhibition ability of HA-GEM-BCL NLCs in murine pancreatic cancer model. It could be concluded that HA-GEM-BCL NLCs could be featured as promising co-delivery, tumor-targeted nanomedicine for the treatment of cancers.

GEMS and New Pre-Accretionally Irradiated RELICT Grains in Interplanetary Dust - The Plot Thickens

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bradley, J.

1995-09-01

The hypothesis that GEMS (glass with embedded metal and sulfides) in interplanetary dust particles (IDPs) might be the long-sought interstellar silicate grains is undergoing close scrutiny [1-3]. GEMS are proposed to be interstellar because: (a) they are abundant in cometary IDPs; (b) they were irradiated prior to incorporation into IDPs; (c) both their size distribution and Oamorphous silicate" microstructures are consistent with those of interstellar silicates; (d) they contain nanometer-sized (superparamagnetic) alpha-iron inclusions, which provides a simple explanation for the observed interstellar grain alignment and polarization [4,5]. Challenges to the GEMS hypothesis include the following: (a) GEMS may have formed and been irradiated in the solar nebula rather than a presolar interstellar environment; (b) non-solar isotope abundances have yet to be measured in GEMS; (c) the irradiation regime required to produce the observed effects in GEMS might be incompatible with the interstellar medium; (b) relationships between GEMS and carbon (e.g. core/mantle) need clarification; (c) major element abundances in GEMS should be consistent with observed interstellar gas phase depletions [2,3]. GEMS may indeed have formed in the solar nebula, in which case they would be the oldest known solar nebula solids [2]. An interstellar origin for GEMS does not require detection of non-solar isotope abundances [6]. Irradiation experiments are in progress to simulate the properties of GEMS. The petrographic relationship between GEMS and carbon in IDPs is being investigated (by examining IDPs embedded and thin-sectioned in carbon-free media). Major element abundances in GEMS are being evaluated in terms on interstellar gas phase abundances. For example, sulfur is not highly depleted in the interstellar gas, implying that it must be significantly depleted in interstellar grains [3]. GEMS are significantly depleted in sulfur relative to solar abundances. Analytical electron microscopic studies of the local petrographic environment of GEMS in IDPs are continuing. There is evidence of a population of relict grains associated with GEMS. Some of these relict grains have distinctive compositions and they appear to have functioned as (pre-existing) depositional substrates while GEMS were being formed. Thus, it may be possible to begin to assign a chronology to the seemingly complex admixture of grains that make up the ultrafine-grained matrices of anhydrous chondritic IDPs. References: [1] Bradley J. P. (1994) Science, 265, 925-929. [2] Flynn G. J. (1994) Nature, 371, 287-288. [3] Martin P. G. (1995) Astrophys. J., 445, L63-L66. [4] Mathis J. S. (1986) Astrophys. J., 308, 281-287. [5] Mathis J. S. (1993) Rept. Prog. Phys., 56, 605-652. [6] Walker R. M. (1994) in Analysis of Interplanetary Dust (M. E. Zolensky et al., eds.), pp. 203-209, AIP Conf. Proc. 310.

The SuperCDMS SNOLAB Detector Tower

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aramaki, Tsuguo

2016-08-01

The SuperCDMS collaboration is moving forward with the design and construction of SuperCDMS SNOLAB, where the initial deployment will include ˜ 30 kg of Ge and ˜ 5 kg of Si detectors. Here, we will discuss the associated cryogenic cold hardware required for the detector readout. The phonon signals will be read out with superconducting quantum interference device arrays and the ionization signals will use high electron mobility transistor amplifiers operating at 4 K. A number of design challenges exist regarding the required wiring complex impedance, noise pickup, vibration, and thermal isolation. Our progress to date will be presented.

High Energy Electron Detectors on Sphinx

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thompson, J. R.; Porte, A.; Zucchini, F.; Calamy, H.; Auriel, G.; Coleman, P. L.; Bayol, F.; Lalle, B.; Krishnan, M.; Wilson, K.

2008-11-01

Z-pinch plasma radiation sources are used to dose test objects with K-shell (˜1-4keV) x-rays. The implosion physics can produce high energy electrons (> 50keV), which could distort interpretation of the soft x-ray effects. We describe the design and implementation of a diagnostic suite to characterize the electron environment of Al wire and Ar gas puff z-pinches on Sphinx. The design used ITS calculations to model detector response to both soft x-rays and electrons and help set upper bounds to the spurious electron flux. Strategies to discriminate between the known soft x-ray emission and the suspected electron flux will be discussed. H.Calamy et al, ``Use of microsecond current prepulse for dramatic improvements of wire array Z-pinch implosion,'' Phys Plasmas 15, 012701 (2008) J.A.Halbleib et al, ``ITS: the integrated TIGER series of electron/photon transport codes-Version 3.0,'' IEEE Trans on Nuclear Sci, 39, 1025 (1992)

Superior therapeutic efficacy of nab-paclitaxel over cremophor-based paclitaxel in locally advanced and metastatic models of human pancreatic cancer.

PubMed

Rajeshkumar, N V; Yabuuchi, Shinichi; Pai, Shweta G; Tong, Zeen; Hou, Shihe; Bateman, Scott; Pierce, Daniel W; Heise, Carla; Von Hoff, Daniel D; Maitra, Anirban; Hidalgo, Manuel

2016-08-09

Albumin-bound paclitaxel (nab-paclitaxel, nab-PTX) plus gemcitabine (GEM) combination has demonstrated efficient antitumour activity and statistically significant overall survival of patients with metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) compared with GEM monotherapy. This regimen is currently approved as a standard of care treatment option for patients with metastatic PDAC. It is unclear whether cremophor-based PTX combined with GEM provide a similar level of therapeutic efficacy in PDAC. We comprehensively explored the antitumour efficacy, effect on metastatic dissemination, tumour stroma and survival advantage following GEM, PTX and nab-PTX as monotherapy or in combination with GEM in a locally advanced, and a highly metastatic orthotopic model of human PDAC. Nab-PTX treatment resulted in significantly higher paclitaxel tumour plasma ratio (1.98-fold), robust stromal depletion, antitumour efficacy (3.79-fold) and survival benefit compared with PTX treatment. PTX plus GEM treatment showed no survival gain over GEM monotherapy. However, nab-PTX in combination with GEM decreased primary tumour burden, metastatic dissemination and significantly increased median survival of animals compared with either agents alone. These therapeutic effects were accompanied by depletion of dense fibrotic tumour stroma and decreased proliferation of carcinoma cells. Notably, nab-PTX monotherapy was equivalent to nab-PTX plus GEM in providing survival advantage to mice in a highly aggressive metastatic PDAC model, indicating that nab-PTX could potentially stop the progression of late-stage pancreatic cancer. Our data confirmed that therapeutic efficacy of PTX and nab-PTX vary widely, and the contention that these agents elicit similar antitumour response was not supported. The addition of PTX to GEM showed no survival advantage, concluding that a clinical combination of PTX and GEM may unlikely to provide significant survival advantage over GEM monotherapy and may not be a viable alternative to the current standard-of-care nab-PTX plus GEM regimen for the treatment of PDAC patients.

Method of fabricating a PbS-PbSe IR detector array

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Barrett, John R. (Inventor)

1987-01-01

A silicon wafer is provided which does not employ individually bonded leads between the IR sensitive elements and the input stages of multiplexers. The wafer is first coated with lead selenide in a first detector array area and is thereafter coated with lead sulfide within a second detector array area. The described steps result in the direct chemical deposition of lead selenide and lead sulfide upon the silicon wafer to eliminate individual wire bonding, bumping, flip chiping, planar interconnecting methods of connecting detector array elements to silicon chip circuitry, e.g., multiplexers, to enable easy fabrication of very long arrays. The electrode structure employed, produces an increase in the electrical field gradient between the electrodes for a given volume of detector material, relative to conventional electrode configurations.

The GEM-T2 gravitational model

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Marsh, J. G.; Lerch, F. J.; Putney, B. H.; Felsentreger, T. L.; Sanchez, B. V.; Klosko, S. M.; Patel, G. B.; Robbins, J. W.; Williamson, R. G.; Engelis, T. E.

1989-01-01

The GEM-T2 is the latest in a series of Goddard Earth Models of the terrestrial field. It was designed to bring modeling capabilities one step closer towards ultimately determining the TOPEX/Poseidon satellite's radial position to an accuracy of 10-cm RMS (root mean square). It also improves models of the long wavelength geoid to support many oceanographic and geophysical applications. The GEM-T2 extends the spherical harmonic field to include more than 600 coefficients above degree 36 (which was the limit for its predecessor, GEM-T1). Like GEM-T1, it was produced entirely from satellite tracking data, but it now uses nearly twice as many satellites (31 vs. 17), contains four times the number of observations (2.4 million), has twice the number of data arcs (1132), and utilizes precise laser tracking from 11 satellites. The estimation technique for the solution has been augmented to include an optimum data weighting procedure with automatic error calibration for the gravitational parameters. Results for the GEM-T2 error calibration indicate significant improvement over previous satellite-only models. The error of commission in determining the geoid has been reduced from 155 cm in GEM-T1 to 105 cm for GEM-T2 for the 36 x 36 portion of the field, and 141 cm for the entire model. The orbital accuracies achieved using GEM-T2 are likewise improved. Also, the projected radial error on the TOPEX satellite orbit indicates 9.4 cm RMS for GEM-T2, compared to 24.1 cm for GEM-T1.

MWPC prototyping and performance test for the STAR inner TPC upgrade

DOE PAGES

Shen, Fuwang; Wang, Shuai; Kong, Fangang; ...

2018-04-16

A new prototype of STAR inner Time Projection Chamber (iTPC) MWPC sector has been fabricated and tested in an X-ray test system. The wire chamber built at Shandong University has a wire tension precision better than 6% and wire pitch precision better than 10 μm. The gas gain uniformity and energy resolution are measured to be better than 1% (RMS) and 20% (FWHM), respectively, using an 55Fe X-ray source. The iTPC upgrade project is to replace all 24 STAR TPC inner sectors as a crucial detector upgrade for the RHIC beam energy scan phase II program. Furthermore, the test resultsmore » show that the constructed iTPC prototype meets all project requirements.« less

MWPC prototyping and performance test for the STAR inner TPC upgrade

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Shen, Fuwang; Wang, Shuai; Kong, Fangang

A new prototype of STAR inner Time Projection Chamber (iTPC) MWPC sector has been fabricated and tested in an X-ray test system. The wire chamber built at Shandong University has a wire tension precision better than 6% and wire pitch precision better than 10 μm. The gas gain uniformity and energy resolution are measured to be better than 1% (RMS) and 20% (FWHM), respectively, using an 55Fe X-ray source. The iTPC upgrade project is to replace all 24 STAR TPC inner sectors as a crucial detector upgrade for the RHIC beam energy scan phase II program. Furthermore, the test resultsmore » show that the constructed iTPC prototype meets all project requirements.« less

Comment on "The shape and composition of interstellar silicate grains"

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bradley, J P; Ishii, H

2007-09-27

In the paper entitled 'The shape and composition of interstellar silicate grains' (A & A, 462, 667-676 (2007)), Min et al. explore non-spherical grain shape and composition in modeling the interstellar 10 and 20 {micro}m extinction features. This progression towards more realistic models is vitally important to enabling valid comparisons between dust observations and laboratory measurements. Min et al. proceed to compare their model results with GEMS (glass with embedded metals and sulfides) from IDPs (interplanetary dust particles) and to discuss the nature and origin of GEMS. Specifically, they evaluate the hypothesis of Bradley (1994) that GEMS are interstellar (IS)more » amorphous silicates. From a comparison of the mineralogy, chemical compositions, and infrared (IR) spectral properties of GEMS with their modeling results, Min et al. conclude: 'GEMS are, in general, not unprocessed leftovers from the diffuse ISM'. This conclusion is based, however, on erroneous and incomplete GEMS data. It is important to clarify first that Bradley (1994) never proposed that GEMS are unprocessed leftovers from the diffuse ISM, nor did he suggest that individual subnanogram mass GEMS are a representative sampling of the enormous mass of silicates in the diffuse ISM. Bradley (1994) simply showed that GEMS properties are consistent with those of IS amorphous silicates. It is widely accepted that circumstellar outflows are important sources of IS silicates, and whether GEMS are processed or not, the circumstellar heritage of some has been rigorously confirmed through measurements of non-solar oxygen (O) isotope abundances (Messenger et al., 2003; Floss et al., 2006). Keller et al. (2000) assert that even GEMS without detectable O isotope anomalies are probably also extrasolar IS silicates because they are embedded in carbonaceous material with non-solar D/H isotopic composition. (Much of the silicate dust in the ISM may be isotopically homogenized (Zhukovska et al., 2007)). Recent measurements show that the elemental compositions of GEMS with non-solar isotopic compositions are 'remarkably similar' to those with solar isotopic compositions (Keller & Messenger, 2007). About 80% of all isotopically anomalous IS silicates identified to date are GEMS with detectable and variable O isotopic memories of a circumstellar ancestry (Messenger, 2007). Bradley (1999) proposed that GEMS are IS silicates from 'a presolar interstellar molecular cloud, presumably the local molecular cloud from which the solar system formed'. Although based on incorrect data (detailed below), Min et al. propose that most GEMS actually formed in the presolar molecular cloud, and they further propose that none of them are IS silicates. IS silicate sources include molecular clouds, circumstellar outflows, supernovae, and even recently discovered black hole winds (Molster & Waters; 2003; Jones, 2005; Zhukovska et al. 2007; Markwick-Kemper et al. 2007). The average IS 10 {micro}m extinction feature observed along lines of sight towards the galactic center (modeled by Min et al.) presumably provides a good average for IS silicates, but it cannot distinguish amorphous silicates originating in the presolar molecular cloud from amorphous silicates originating in other interstellar molecular clouds or indeed other sources of amorphous IS silicates. Even if most GEMS accreted in the presolar molecular cloud, then they must also be representatives of some portion of the IS amorphous silicate population. Laboratory heating experiments indicate it is highly unlikely that GEMS were modified in a protoplanetary accretion disk environment (Brownlee et al. 2005). In summary, Min et al. conclude from their modeling of the shape and composition of IS silicates that the properties of GEMS are generally inconsistent with those of IS silicates. First, it has been rigorously confirmed via ion microprobe measurements that some GEMS are indeed presolar IS silicates. Second, regardless of whether GEMS, or components of GEMS, originated in presolar circumstellar outflows or a presolar molecular cloud they are all IS silicates. Third, key GEMS data reported in Min et al. are inaccurate. Had complete isotopic, chemical, mineralogical and infrared (IR) spectral properties of GEMS been considered, Min et al. may have concluded that the properties of GEMS, although not an exact match, are generally consistent with those of amorphous silicates in the ISM.« less

A novel transparent charged particle detector for the CPET upgrade at TITAN

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lascar, D.; Kootte, B.; Barquest, B. R.; Chowdhury, U.; Gallant, A. T.; Good, M.; Klawitter, R.; Leistenschneider, E.; Andreoiu, C.; Dilling, J.; Even, J.; Gwinner, G.; Kwiatkowski, A. A.; Leach, K. G.

2017-10-01

The detection of an electron bunch exiting a strong magnetic field can prove challenging due to the small mass of the electron. If placed too far from a solenoid's entrance, a detector outside the magnetic field will be too small to reliably intersect with the exiting electron beam because the light electrons will follow the diverging magnetic field outside the solenoid. The TITAN group at TRIUMF in Vancouver, Canada, has made use of advances in the practice and precision of photochemical machining (PCM) to create a new kind of charge collecting detector called the "mesh detector." The TITAN mesh detector was used to solve the problem of trapped electron detection in the new Cooler PEnning Trap (CPET) currently under development at TITAN. This thin array of wires etched out of a copper plate is a novel, low profile, charge agnostic detector that can be made effectively transparent or opaque at the user's discretion.

Gemcitabine-loaded albumin nanospheres (GEM-ANPs) inhibit PANC-1 cells in vitro and in vivo

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Ji; Di, Yang; Jin, Chen; Fu, Deliang; Yang, Feng; Jiang, Yongjian; Yao, Lie; Hao, Sijie; Wang, Xiaoyi; Subedi, Sabin; Ni, Quanxing

2013-04-01

With the development of nanotechnology, special attention has been given to the nanomaterial application in tumor treatment. Here, a modified desolvation-cross-linking method was successfully applied to fabricate gemcitabine-loaded albumin nanospheres (GEM-ANPs), with 110 and 406 nm of mean diameter, respectively. The aim of this study was to assess the drug distribution, side effects, and antitumor activity of GEM-ANPs in vivo. The metabolic viability and flow cytometry analysis revealed that both GEM-ANPs, especially 406-nm GEM-ANPs, could effectively inhibit the metabolism and proliferation and promote the apoptosis of human pancreatic carcinoma (PANC-1) in vitro. Intravenous injection of 406-nm GEM-ANPs exhibited a significant increase of gemcitabine in the pancreas, liver, and spleen of Sprague-Dawley rats ( p < 0.05). Moreover, no signs of toxic side effects analyzed by blood parameter changes were observed after 3 weeks of administration although a high dose (200 mg/kg) of GEM-ANPs were used. Additionally, in PANC-1-induced tumor mice, intravenous injection of 406-nm GEM-ANPs also could effectively reduce the tumor volume by comparison with free gemcitabine. With these findings, albumin nanosphere-loading approach might be efficacious to improve the antitumor activity of gemcitabine, and the efficacy is associated with the size of GEM-ANPs.

Noise Characterization and Filtering in the MicroBooNE Liquid Argon TPC

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Acciarri, R.; Adams, C.; An, R.; Anthony, J.; Asaadi, J.; Auger, M.; Bagby, L.; Balasubramanian, S.; Baller, B.; Barnes, C.; Barr, G.; Bass, M.; Bay, F.; Bishai, M.; Blake, A.; Bolton, T.; Bullard, B.; Camilleri, L.; Caratelli, D.; Carls, B.; Castillo Fernandez, R.; Cavanna, F.; Chen, H.; Church, E.; Cianci, D.; Cohen, E.; Collin, G. H.; Conrad, J. M.; Convery, M.; Crespo-Anadón, J. I.; De Geronimo, G.; Del Tutto, M.; Devitt, D.; Dytman, S.; Eberly, B.; Ereditato, A.; Escudero Sanchez, L.; Esquivel, J.; Fadeeva, A. A.; Fleming, B. T.; Foreman, W.; Furmanski, A. P.; Garcia-Gamez, D.; Garvey, G. T.; Genty, V.; Goeldi, D.; Gollapinni, S.; Graf, N.; Gramellini, E.; Greenlee, H.; Grosso, R.; Guenette, R.; Hackenburg, A.; Hamilton, P.; Hen, O.; Hewes, J.; Hill, C.; Ho, J.; Horton-Smith, G.; Hourlier, A.; Huang, E.-C.; James, C.; de Vries, J. Jan; Jen, C.-M.; Jiang, L.; Johnson, R. A.; Joshi, J.; Jostlein, H.; Kaleko, D.; Karagiorgi, G.; Ketchum, W.; Kirby, B.; Kirby, M.; Kobilarcik, T.; Kreslo, I.; Laube, A.; Li, S.; Li, Y.; Lister, A.; Littlejohn, B. R.; Lockwitz, S.; Lorca, D.; Louis, W. C.; Luethi, M.; Lundberg, B.; Luo, X.; Marchionni, A.; Mariani, C.; Marshall, J.; Martinez Caicedo, D. A.; Meddage, V.; Miceli, T.; Mills, G. B.; Moon, J.; Mooney, M.; Moore, C. D.; Mousseau, J.; Murrells, R.; Naples, D.; Nienaber, P.; Nowak, J.; Palamara, O.; Paolone, V.; Papavassiliou, V.; Pate, S. F.; Pavlovic, Z.; Piasetzky, E.; Porzio, D.; Pulliam, G.; Qian, X.; Raaf, J. L.; Radeka, V.; Rafique, A.; Rescia, S.; Rochester, L.; von Rohr, C. Rudolf; Russell, B.; Schmitz, D. W.; Schukraft, A.; Seligman, W.; Shaevitz, M. H.; Sinclair, J.; Smith, A.; Snider, E. L.; Soderberg, M.; Söldner-Rembold, S.; Soleti, S. R.; Spentzouris, P.; Spitz, J.; St. John, J.; Strauss, T.; Szelc, A. M.; Tagg, N.; Terao, K.; Thomson, M.; Thorn, C.; Toups, M.; Tsai, Y.-T.; Tufanli, S.; Usher, T.; Van De Pontseele, W.; Van de Water, R. G.; Viren, B.; Weber, M.; Wickremasinghe, D. A.; Wolbers, S.; Wongjirad, T.; Woodruff, K.; Yang, T.; Yates, L.; Yu, B.; Zeller, G. P.; Zennamo, J.; Zhang, C.

2017-08-01

The low-noise operation of readout electronics in a liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) is critical to properly extract the distribution of ionization charge deposited on the wire planes of the TPC, especially for the induction planes. This paper describes the characteristics and mitigation of the observed noise in the MicroBooNE detector. The MicroBooNE's single-phase LArTPC comprises two induction planes and one collection sense wire plane with a total of 8256 wires. Current induced on each TPC wire is amplified and shaped by custom low-power, low-noise ASICs immersed in the liquid argon. The digitization of the signal waveform occurs outside the cryostat. Using data from the first year of MicroBooNE operations, several excess noise sources in the TPC were identified and mitigated. The residual equivalent noise charge (ENC) after noise filtering varies with wire length and is found to be below 400 electrons for the longest wires (4.7 m). The response is consistent with the cold electronics design expectations and is found to be stable with time and uniform over the functioning channels. This noise level is significantly lower than previous experiments utilizing warm front-end electronics.

Reducing False Alarms in Ion Mobility Spectrometry Detectors: Determination of Accurate and Precise Reduced Mobility Values

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-11-01

Front view of the drift gas showerhead assembly showing the Faraday plate and insulating ceramic cemented in the center, (left) the drift gas...drift gas was preheated using a heater built in-house at WSU, which consisted of an 8 in. length of 1/8 in. stainless steel tubing wrapped with 3 ft...gate halves were then cemented together with an array of parallel 0.003 in. o.d. Alloy 46 wires (California Fine Wire Company) were spaced between them

New central drift chamber for the MARK II at SLC

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bartelt, J.E.

A new central drift chamber has been constructed for the Mark II detector for use at the new SLAC Linear Collider (SLC). The design of the chamber is based on a multi-sense-wire cell of the jet chamber type. In addition to drift-time measurements, pulse-height measurements from the sense wires provide electron-hadron separation by dE/dx. The chamber has been tested in operation at PEP before its move to the SLC. The design and construction are described, and measurements from the new chamber are presented.

Facilitation of endoglin-targeting cancer therapy by development/utilization of a novel genetically engineered mouse model expressing humanized endoglin (CD105).

PubMed

Toi, Hirofumi; Tsujie, Masanori; Haruta, Yuro; Fujita, Kanako; Duzen, Jill; Seon, Ben K

2015-01-15

Endoglin (ENG) is a TGF-β coreceptor and essential for vascular development and angiogenesis. A chimeric antihuman ENG (hENG) monoclonal antibody (mAb) c-SN6j (also known as TRC105) shows promising safety and clinical efficacy features in multiple clinical trials of patients with various advanced solid tumors. Here we developed a novel genetically engineered mouse model to optimize the ENG-targeting clinical trials. We designed a new targeting vector that contains exons 4-8 of hENG gene to generate novel genetically engineered mice (GEMs) expressing functional human/mouse chimeric (humanized) ENG with desired epitopes. Genotyping of the generated mice confirmed that we generated the desired GEMs. Immunohistochemical analysis demonstrated that humanized ENG protein of the GEMs expresses epitopes defined by 7 of our 8 anti-hENG mAbs tested. Surprisingly the homozygous GEMs develop normally and are healthy. Established breast and colon tumors as well as metastasis and tumor microvessels in the GEMs were effectively suppressed by systemic administration of anti-hENG mAbs. Additionally, test result indicates that synergistic potentiation of antitumor efficacy can be induced by simultaneous targeting of two distinct epitopes by anti-hENG mAbs. Sorafenib and capecitabine also showed antitumor efficacy in the GEMs. The presented novel GEMs are the first GEMs that express the targetable humanized ENG. Test results indicate utility of the GEMs for the clinically relevant studies. Additionally, we generated GEMs expressing a different humanized ENG containing exons 5-6 of hENG gene, and the homozygous GEMs develop normally and are healthy. © 2014 UICC.

The influence of gemfibrozil on malondialdehyde level and paraoxonase 1 activity in wistar and fisher rats.

PubMed

Macan, Marija; Marija, Macan; Konjevoda, Paško; Paško, Konjevoda; Lovric, Jasna; Jasna, Lovrić; Koprivanac, Marijan; Marijan, Koprivanac; Kelava, Marta; Marta, Kelava; Vrkic, Nada; Nada, Vrkić; Bradamante, Vlasta; Vlasta, Bradamante

2011-06-01

There are diverse experimental data about the influence of gemfibrozil (GEM) on the production of hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2)) and antioxidant enzymes. We investigated the influence of GEM treatment on the production of malondialdehyde (MDA) level in tissues of normolipidaemic Wistar and Fisher rats which is an index of lipid peroxidation. Because serum paraoxonase 1 (PON1) is an important enzyme with specific protective function on metabolism of lipid peroxides, we examined the influence of GEM on PON1 activity in liver and serum. MDA level and enzyme activities were also determined 10 days after withdrawal of GEM treatment. The significantly increased levels of MDA in liver, kidney and heart of both rat strains were obtained after 3 weeks of GEM treatment. We propose two possibilities for the increase of MDA levels caused by GEM, induction of peroxisome proliferation and activities of enzymes that participated in occurrence of H(2)O(2) and possible reduction of enzyme activities including in H(2)O(2) metabolism. Ten days after withdrawal of GEM treatment, MDA levels in all tissue levels of both rat strains were less in comparison with GEM treatment. GEM caused a significant drop of PON1 activity in serum and liver of Fisher rats, and in liver of Wistar rats. We suggest that GEM, through induction of lipid peroxidation, caused the damage of hepatocytes with consequent reduction of PON1 synthesis. The increase in PON1 activity in serum and tissues of both rat strains 10 days after withdrawal of GEM treatment shows the fast recovery of enzyme synthesis. © 2011 The Authors. Basic & Clinical Pharmacology & Toxicology © 2011 Nordic Pharmacological Society.

CONKO-005: Adjuvant Chemotherapy With Gemcitabine Plus Erlotinib Versus Gemcitabine Alone in Patients After R0 Resection of Pancreatic Cancer: A Multicenter Randomized Phase III Trial.

PubMed

Sinn, Marianne; Bahra, Marcus; Liersch, Torsten; Gellert, Klaus; Messmann, Helmut; Bechstein, Wolf; Waldschmidt, Dirk; Jacobasch, Lutz; Wilhelm, Martin; Rau, Bettina M; Grützmann, Robert; Weinmann, Arndt; Maschmeyer, Georg; Pelzer, Uwe; Stieler, Jens M; Striefler, Jana K; Ghadimi, Michael; Bischoff, Sven; Dörken, Bernd; Oettle, Helmut; Riess, Hanno

2017-10-10

Purpose Gemcitabine is standard of care in the adjuvant treatment of resectable pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). The epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor erlotinib in combination with gemcitabine has shown efficacy in the treatment of advanced PDAC and was considered to improve survival in patients with primarily resectable PDAC after R0 resection. Patients and Methods In an open-label, multicenter trial, patients were randomly assigned to one of two study arms: gemcitabine 1,000 mg/m 2 days 1, 8, 15, every 4 weeks plus erlotinib 100 mg once per day (GemErlo) or gemcitabine (Gem) alone for six cycles. The primary end point of the study was to improve disease-free survival (DFS) from 14 to 18 months by adding erlotinib to gemcitabine. Results In all, 436 patients were randomly assigned at 57 study centers between April 2008 and July 2013. A total of 361 instances (83%) of disease recurrence were observed after a median follow-up of 54 months. Median treatment duration was 22 weeks in both arms. There was no difference in median DFS (GemErlo 11.4 months; Gem 11.4 months) or median overall survival (GemErlo 24.5 months; Gem 26.5 months). There was a trend toward long-term survival in favor of GemErlo (estimated survival after 1, 2, and 5 years for GemErlo was 77%, 53%, and 25% v 79%, 54%, and 20% for Gem, respectively). The occurrence or the grade of rash was not associated with a better survival in the GemErlo arm. Conclusion To the best of our knowledge, CONKO-005 is the first study to investigate the combination of chemotherapy and a targeted therapy in the adjuvant treatment of PDAC. GemErlo for 24 weeks did not improve DFS or overall survival over Gem.

Depletion of atmospheric gaseous elemental mercury by plant uptake at Mt. Changbai, Northeast China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fu, Xuewu; Zhu, Wei; Zhang, Hui; Sommar, Jonas; Yu, Ben; Yang, Xu; Wang, Xun; Lin, Che-Jen; Feng, Xinbin

2016-10-01

There exists observational evidence that gaseous elemental mercury (GEM) can be readily removed from the atmosphere via chemical oxidation followed by deposition in the polar and sub-polar regions, free troposphere, lower stratosphere, and marine boundary layer under specific environmental conditions. Here we report GEM depletions in a temperate mixed forest at Mt. Changbai, Northeast China. The strong depletions occurred predominantly at night during the leaf-growing season and in the absence of gaseous oxidized mercury (GOM) enrichment (GOM < 3 pg m-3). Vertical gradients of decreasing GEM concentrations from layers above to under forest canopy suggest in situ loss of GEM to forest canopy at Mt. Changbai. Foliar GEM flux measurements showed that the foliage of two predominant tree species is a net sink of GEM at night, with a mean flux of -1.8 ± 0.3 ng m2 h-1 over Fraxinus mandshurica (deciduous tree species) and -0.1 ± 0.2 ng m2 h-1 over Pinus Koraiensis (evergreen tree species). Daily integrated GEM δ202Hg, Δ199Hg, and Δ200Hg at Mt. Changbai during 8-18 July 2013 ranged from -0.34 to 0.91 ‰, from -0.11 to -0.04 ‰ and from -0.06 to 0.01 ‰, respectively. A large positive shift in GEM δ202Hg occurred during the strong GEM depletion events, whereas Δ199Hg and Δ200Hg remained essentially unchanged. The observational findings and box model results show that uptake of GEM by forest canopy plays a predominant role in the GEM depletion at Mt. Changbai forest. Such depletion events of GEM are likely to be a widespread phenomenon, suggesting that the forest ecosystem represents one of the largest sinks ( ˜ 1930 Mg) of atmospheric Hg on a global scale.

Large-format high resolution microchannel plate detectors for ultraviolet astronomy

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Martin, Christopher

1995-01-01

This report includes work on two types of two-dimensional position-sensitive detectors that were developed in this lab under this award. We worked to develop and optimize the wire-wound helical delay line detector (HDL) in the first and second years. Some early work on the HDL is contained in a paper included as Appendix A. In the second and third years we developed the concept for, then successfully designed and tested, both a lab prototype, and a flight prototype of the first, crossed delay line detector based on two orthogonal serpentine delay lines (SDL). Some of the work on the SDL is contained in a paper included as Appendix B. Appendix C contains copies of the invention report and record.

Use of short-term breath measures to estimate daily methane production by cattle.

PubMed

Velazco, J I; Mayer, D G; Zimmerman, S; Hegarty, R S

2016-01-01

Methods to measure enteric methane (CH4) emissions from individual ruminants in their production environment are required to validate emission inventories and verify mitigation claims. Estimates of daily methane production (DMP) based on consolidated short-term emission measurements are developing, but method verification is required. Two cattle experiments were undertaken to test the hypothesis that DMP estimated by averaging multiple short-term breath measures of methane emission rate did not differ from DMP measured in respiration chambers (RC). Short-term emission rates were obtained from a GreenFeed Emissions Monitoring (GEM) unit, which measured emission rate while cattle consumed a dispensed supplement. In experiment 1 (Expt. 1), four non-lactating cattle (LW=518 kg) were adapted for 18 days then measured for six consecutive periods. Each period consisted of 2 days of ad libitum intake and GEM emission measurement followed by 1 day in the RC. A prototype GEM unit releasing water as an attractant (GEM water) was also evaluated in Expt. 1. Experiment 2 (Expt. 2) was a larger study based on similar design with 10 cattle (LW=365 kg), adapted for 21 days and GEM measurement was extended to 3 days in each of the six periods. In Expt. 1, there was no difference in DMP estimated by the GEM unit relative to the RC (209.7 v. 215.1 g CH(4)/day) and no difference between these methods in methane yield (MY, 22.7 v. 23.7 g CH(4)/kg of dry matter intake, DMI). In Expt. 2, the correlation between GEM and RC measures of DMP and MY were assessed using 95% confidence intervals, with no difference in DMP or MY between methods and high correlations between GEM and RC measures for DMP (r=0.85; 215 v. 198 g CH(4)/day SEM=3.0) and for MY (r=0.60; 23.8 v. 22.1 g CH(4)/kg DMI SEM=0.42). When data from both experiments was combined neither DMP nor MY differed between GEM- and RC-based measures (P>0.05). GEM water-based estimates of DMP and MY were lower than RC and GEM (P<0.05). Cattle accessed the GEM water unit with similar frequency to the GEM unit (2.8 v. 3.5 times/day, respectively) but eructation frequency was reduced from 1.31 times/min (GEM) to once every 2.6 min (GEM water). These studies confirm the hypothesis that DMP estimated by averaging multiple short-term breath measures of methane emission rate using GEM does not differ from measures of DMP obtained from RCs. Further, combining many short-term measures of methane production rate during supplement consumption provides an estimate of DMP, which can be usefully applied in estimating MY.

Inspection of anode and field wires for the COMPASS drift chamber, DC5, with Environmental Scanning Electron Microscope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cyuzuzo, Sonia

2014-09-01

The COMPASS experiment at CERN uses a secondary pion beam from the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) at CERN to explore the spin structure of nucleons. A new drift chamber, DC5, will be integrated into the COMPASS spectrometer to replace an aging straw tube detector. DC5 will detect muon pairs from Drell-Yan scattering of a pion-beam off a transversely polarized proton target. This data will be used to determine the correlation between transverse proton spin and the intrinsic transverse momentum of up-quarks inside the proton, the Sivers effect. DC5 is a large area planar drift chamber with 8 layers of anode-frames made of G10 fiberglass-epoxy. The G10 frames support printed circuit boards for soldering 20 μm diameter anode and 100 μm diameter field wires. The anode planes are sandwiched by 13 graphite coated Mylar cathode planes. To ensure a well-functioning of DC5, the wires were carefully tested. An optical inspection and a spectral analysis was performed with an Environmental Scanning Electron Microscope (ESEM) to verify the composition and dimensions and the integrity of the gold plating on the surface of these wires. The spectra of the wires were studied at 10 and 30 keV. The COMPASS experiment at CERN uses a secondary pion beam from the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) at CERN to explore the spin structure of nucleons. A new drift chamber, DC5, will be integrated into the COMPASS spectrometer to replace an aging straw tube detector. DC5 will detect muon pairs from Drell-Yan scattering of a pion-beam off a transversely polarized proton target. This data will be used to determine the correlation between transverse proton spin and the intrinsic transverse momentum of up-quarks inside the proton, the Sivers effect. DC5 is a large area planar drift chamber with 8 layers of anode-frames made of G10 fiberglass-epoxy. The G10 frames support printed circuit boards for soldering 20 μm diameter anode and 100 μm diameter field wires. The anode planes are sandwiched by 13 graphite coated Mylar cathode planes. To ensure a well-functioning of DC5, the wires were carefully tested. An optical inspection and a spectral analysis was performed with an Environmental Scanning Electron Microscope (ESEM) to verify the composition and dimensions and the integrity of the gold plating on the surface of these wires. The spectra of the wires were studied at 10 and 30 keV. Acknowledging NSF and UIUC.

Great Explorations in Math and Science[R] (GEMS[R]) Space Science. What Works Clearinghouse Intervention Report

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

What Works Clearinghouse, 2012

2012-01-01

"Great Explorations in Math and Science[R] (GEMS[R]) Space Science" is an instructional sequence for grades 3-5 that covers fundamental concepts, including planetary sizes and distance, the Earth's shape and movement, gravity, and moon phases and eclipses. Part of the "GEMS"[R] core curriculum, "GEMS[R] Space Science"…

Possible Gems and Ultra-Fine Grained Polyphase Units in Comet Wild 2.

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gainsforth, Z.; Butterworth, A. L.; Jilly-Rehak, C. E.; Westphal, A. J.; Brownlee, D. E.; Joswiak, D.; Ogliore, R. C.; Zolensky, M. E.; Bechtel, H. A.; Ebel, D. S.;

On the Origin of GEMS

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Keller, L. P.; Messenger, S.

2004-01-01

GEMS (glass with embedded metal and sulfides) are a major component of anhydrous interplanetary dust particles (IDPs) their physical and chemical characteristics show marked similarities to contemporary interstellar dust. Recent oxygen isotopic measurements confirm that at least a small fraction (less than 5%) of GEMS are demonstrably presolar, while the remainder have ratios that are indistinguishable from solar values. GEMS with solar oxygen isotopic compositions either (1) had their isotopic compositions homogenized through processing in the interstellar medium (ISM), or (2) formed in the early solar system. Isotopic homogenization necessarily implies chemical homogenization, so (interstellar) GEMS compositions should reflect the average composition of dust in the local ISM. We performed a systematic examination of the bulk chemistry of GEMS in primitive IDPs in order to test this hypothesis.

Results from prototypes of environmental and health alarm devices based on gaseous detectors operating in air in counting mode

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Charpak, G.; Benaben, P.; Breuil, P.; Martinengo, P.; Nappi, E.; Peskov, V.

2011-02-01

We have developed and successfully tested two prototypes of detectors of dangerous gases based on wire-type counters operating in air in avalanche mode: one is for radon (Rn) detection whereas the other one is for the detection of gases with an ionization potential less than the air components. Due to the operation in pulse counting mode these prototypes have sensitivities comparable to (in the case of the Rn detector) or much higher than (in the case of the detector for low ionization gases) the best commercial devices currently available on the market. We believe that due to their high sensitivity, simplicity and low cost such new detectors will find massive applications. One of them, discussed in this paper, could be the on-line monitoring of Rn for the prediction of earthquakes.

High-Density Superconducting Cables for Advanced ACTPol

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pappas, C. G.; Austermann, J.; Beall, J. A.; Duff, S. M.; Gallardo, P. A.; Grace, E.; Henderson, S. W.; Ho, S. P.; Koopman, B. J.; Li, D.; McMahon, J.; Nati, F.; Niemack, M. D.; Niraula, P.; Salatino, M.; Schillaci, A.; Schmitt, B. L.; Simon, S. M.; Staggs, S. T.; Stevens, J. R.; Vavagiakis, E. M.; Ward, J. T.; Wollack, E. J.

2016-07-01

Advanced ACTPol (AdvACT) is an upcoming Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) receiver upgrade, scheduled to deploy in 2016, that will allow measurement of the cosmic microwave background polarization and temperature to the highest precision yet with ACT. The AdvACT increase in sensitivity is partly provided by an increase in the number of transition-edge sensors (TESes) per array by up to a factor of two over the current ACTPol receiver detector arrays. The high-density AdvACT TES arrays require 70 \\upmu m pitch superconducting flexible cables (flex) to connect the detector wafer to the first-stage readout electronics. Here, we present the flex fabrication process and test results. For the flex wiring layer, we use a 400-nm-thick sputtered aluminum film. In the center of the cable, the wiring is supported by a polyimide substrate, which smoothly transitions to a bare (uncoated with polyimide) silicon substrate at the ends of the cable for a robust wedge wire-bonding interface. Tests on the first batch of flex made for the first AdvACT array show that the flex will meet the requirements for AdvACT, with a superconducting critical current above 1 mA at 500 mK, resilience to mechanical and cryogenic stress, and a room temperature yield of 97 %.

Design and performance of the readout electronics chain of the Delphi Forward Ring Imaging Cherenkov Detector

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dam, P.; Nielsen, B.S.; Formenti, F.

1992-10-01

In this paper the Front End Readout electronics chain of the Forward Ring Imaging CHerenkov (FRICH) Detector used at the Delphi experiment of the Large Electron Positron (LEP) collider is presented. The system incorporates a wide band low noise preamplifier, mounted in the proximity of the MultiWire Proportional Chamber, an Amplifying-Discriminating-Multiple-xing FASTBUS unit for further signal amplification, discrimination and channel reduction and a LEP Time Digitizer FASTBUS unit for time digitization. The paper gives a general view of the detector and its electronics with particular emphasis on the novel characteristics and capabilities of the system.

Application of an ultraminiature thermal neutron monitor for irradiation field study of accelerator-based neutron capture therapy

PubMed Central

Ishikawa, Masayori; Tanaka, Kenichi; Endo, Satrou; Hoshi, Masaharu

2015-01-01

Abstract Phantom experiments to evaluate thermal neutron flux distribution were performed using the Scintillator with Optical Fiber (SOF) detector, which was developed as a thermal neutron monitor during boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) irradiation. Compared with the gold wire activation method and Monte Carlo N-particle (MCNP) calculations, it was confirmed that the SOF detector is capable of measuring thermal neutron flux as low as 105 n/cm2/s with sufficient accuracy. The SOF detector will be useful for phantom experiments with BNCT neutron fields from low-current accelerator-based neutron sources. PMID:25589504

Metallic wire grid behavior and testing in a low pressure gaseous noble elements detector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ji, W.

2018-05-01

High voltage performance has been a challenge for noble element detectors. One piece of this challenge is the emission of electrons from metal electrodes when applying high voltage. This has become a major concern for low-background detectors such as LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ). LZ is a liquid xenon Time Projection Chamber (TPC) searching for Weakly Interactive Massive Particles (WIMPs). In this work, we demonstrate a method to measure electron emission from metallic electrode grids via detection of proportional scintillation light. We find consistency with Fowler-Nordheim emission with a surface parameter β = 1988 after electro-polishing treatment of a stainless steel grid.

Radionuclide counting technique for measuring wind velocity and direction

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Singh, J. J. (Inventor)

1984-01-01

An anemometer utilizing a radionuclide counting technique for measuring both the velocity and the direction of wind is described. A pendulum consisting of a wire and a ball with a source of radiation on the lower surface of the ball is positioned by the wind. Detectors and are located in a plane perpendicular to pendulum (no wind). The detectors are located on the circumferene of a circle and are equidistant from each other as well as the undisturbed (no wind) source ball position.

Particle identification using the time-over-threshold measurements in straw tube detectors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jowzaee, S.; Fioravanti, E.; Gianotti, P.; Idzik, M.; Korcyl, G.; Palka, M.; Przyborowski, D.; Pysz, K.; Ritman, J.; Salabura, P.; Savrie, M.; Smyrski, J.; Strzempek, P.; Wintz, P.

2013-08-01

The identification of charged particles based on energy losses in straw tube detectors has been simulated. The response of a new front-end chip developed for the PANDA straw tube tracker was implemented in the simulations and corrections for track distance to sense wire were included. Separation power for p - K, p - π and K - π pairs obtained using the time-over-threshold technique was compared with the one based on the measurement of collected charge.

The Remote Detection of Alpha-Radioactive Nucleus Decay

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gurkovskiy, Boris; Miroshnichenko, Vladimir; Onishchenko, Evgeny; Simakov, Andrey; Streil, Thomas

Results of the new device design for the alpha-radiation remote detection are presented. Negative ions from the alpha particle tracks are detected by the discharge wire counter opened to air. Ion clusters being transferred from the particle tracks to the detector volume by an air flux. The detector works in a counting mode that provides sharp selectivity and accuracy of measurements. The basic parameters of the device are: detecting distance -0.5 m; measurement time -30 s; the square sensitivity -0.05 Bq/cm2.

On-chip detection of non-classical light by scalable integration of single-photon detectors

PubMed Central

Najafi, Faraz; Mower, Jacob; Harris, Nicholas C.; Bellei, Francesco; Dane, Andrew; Lee, Catherine; Hu, Xiaolong; Kharel, Prashanta; Marsili, Francesco; Assefa, Solomon; Berggren, Karl K.; Englund, Dirk

2015-01-01

Photonic-integrated circuits have emerged as a scalable platform for complex quantum systems. A central goal is to integrate single-photon detectors to reduce optical losses, latency and wiring complexity associated with off-chip detectors. Superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs) are particularly attractive because of high detection efficiency, sub-50-ps jitter and nanosecond-scale reset time. However, while single detectors have been incorporated into individual waveguides, the system detection efficiency of multiple SNSPDs in one photonic circuit—required for scalable quantum photonic circuits—has been limited to <0.2%. Here we introduce a micrometer-scale flip-chip process that enables scalable integration of SNSPDs on a range of photonic circuits. Ten low-jitter detectors are integrated on one circuit with 100% device yield. With an average system detection efficiency beyond 10%, and estimated on-chip detection efficiency of 14–52% for four detectors operated simultaneously, we demonstrate, to the best of our knowledge, the first on-chip photon correlation measurements of non-classical light. PMID:25575346

[Effects of Cultivation Soil Properties on the Transport of Genetically Engineered Microorganism in Huabei Plain].

PubMed

Zhang, Jing; Liu, Ping; Liu, Chun; Chen, Xiao-xuan; Zhang, Lei

2015-12-01

The transport of genetically engineered microorganism (GEM) in the soil is considered to be the important factor influencing the enhanced bioremediation of polluted soil. The transport of an atrazine-degrading GEM and its influencing factors were investigated in the saturated cultivation soil of Huabei Plain. The results showed that horizontal infiltration was the main mechanism of GEM transport in the saturated cultivation soil. The transport process could be simulated using the filtration model. Soil properties showed significant effects on pore water flow and GEM transport in saturated soil. When particle size, porosity and sand component of the soil increased, the hydraulic conductivity constant increased and filtration coefficient of GEM decreased in saturated soil, indicating the reduced retention of GEM in the soil. An increase in infiltration flow also increased hydraulic conductivity constant in saturated soil and consequently decreased filtration coefficient of GEM. When hydraulic conductivity constants ranged from 5.02 m · d⁻¹ to 6.70 m · d⁻¹ in the saturated soil, the filtration coefficients of GEM varied from 0.105 to 0.274. There was a significantly negative correlation between them.

Does GEM-encoding clinical practice guidelines improve the quality of knowledge bases? A study with the rule-based formalism.

PubMed

Georg, Georg; Séroussi, Brigitte; Bouaud, Jacques

2003-01-01

The aim of this work was to determine whether the GEM-encoding step could improve the representation of clinical practice guidelines as formalized knowledge bases. We used the 1999 Canadian recommendations for the management of hypertension, chosen as the knowledge source in the ASTI project. We first clarified semantic ambiguities of therapeutic sequences recommended in the guideline by proposing an interpretative framework of therapeutic strategies. Then, after a formalization step to standardize the terms used to characterize clinical situations, we created the GEM-encoded instance of the guideline. We developed a module for the automatic derivation of a rule base, BR-GEM, from the instance. BR-GEM was then compared to the rule base, BR-ASTI, embedded within the critic mode of ASTI, and manually built by two physicians from the same Canadian guideline. As compared to BR-ASTI, BR-GEM is more specific and covers more clinical situations. When evaluated on 10 patient cases, the GEM-based approach led to promising results.

The determination of the orbit of the Japanese satellite Ajisai and the GEM-T1 and GEM-T2 gravity field models

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sanchez, Braulio V.

1990-01-01

The Japanese Experimental Geodetic Satellite Ajisai was launched on August 12, 1986. In response to the TOPEX-POSEIDON mission requirements, the GSFC Space Geodesy Branch and its associates are producing improved models of the Earth's gravitational field. With the launch of Ajisai, precise laser data is now available which can be used to test many current gravity models. The testing of the various gravity field models show improvements of more than 70 percent in the orbital fits when using GEM-T1 and GEM-T2 relative to results obtained with the earlier GEM-10B model. The GEM-T2 orbital fits are at the 13-cm level (RMS). The results of the tests with the various versions of the GEM-T1 model indicate that the addition of satellite altimetry and surface gravity anomalies as additional data types should improve future gravity field models.

gem-Difluoroolefination of diaryl ketones and enolizable aldehydes with difluoromethyl 2-pyridyl sulfone: new insights into the Julia-Kocienski reaction.

PubMed

Gao, Bing; Zhao, Yanchuan; Hu, Mingyou; Ni, Chuanfa; Hu, Jinbo

2014-06-16

The direct conversion of diaryl ketones and enolizable aliphatic aldehydes into gem-difluoroalkenes has been a long-standing challenge in organofluorine chemistry. Herein, we report efficient strategies to tackle this problem by using difluoromethyl 2-pyridyl sulfone as a general gem-difluoroolefination reagent. The gem-difluoroolefination of diaryl ketones proceeds by acid-promoted Smiles rearrangement of the carbinol intermediate; the gem-difluoroolefination is otherwise difficult to achieve through a conventional Julia-Kocienski olefination protocol under basic conditions due to the retro-aldol type decomposition of the key intermediate. Efficient gem-difluoroolefination of aliphatic aldehydes was achieved by the use of an amide base generated in situ (from CsF and tris(trimethylsilyl)amine), which diminishes the undesired enolization of aliphatic aldehydes and provides a powerful synthetic method for chemoselective gem-difluoroolefination of multi-carbonyl compounds. Our results provide new insights into the mechanistic understanding of the classical Julia-Kocienski reaction. © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Diagnostic-management system and test pulse acquisition for WEST plasma measurement system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wojenski, A.; Kasprowicz, G.; Pozniak, K. T.; Byszuk, A.; Juszczyk, B.; Zabolotny, W.; Zienkiewicz, P.; Chernyshova, M.; Czarski, T.; Mazon, D.; Malard, P.

2014-11-01

This paper describes current status of electronics, firmware and software development for new plasma measurement system for use in WEST facility. The system allows to perform two dimensional plasma visualization (in time) with spectrum measurement. The analog front-end is connected to Gas Electron Multiplier detector (GEM detector). The system architecture have high data throughput due to use of PCI-Express interface, Gigabit Transceivers and sampling frequency of ADC integrated circuits. The hardware is based on several years of experience in building X-ray spectrometer system for Joint European Torus (JET) facility. Data streaming is done using Artix7 FPGA devices. The system in basic configuration can work with up to 256 channels, while the maximum number of measurement channels is 2048. Advanced firmware for the FPGA is required in order to perform high speed data streaming and analog signal sampling. Diagnostic system management has been developed in order to configure measurement system, perform necessary calibration and prepare hardware for data acquisition.

MICROROC: MICRO-mesh gaseous structure Read-Out Chip

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adloff, C.; Blaha, J.; Chefdeville, M.; Dalmaz, A.; Drancourt, C.; Dulucq, F.; Espargilière, A.; Gaglione, R.; Geffroy, N.; Jacquemier, J.; Karyotakis, Y.; Martin-Chassard, G.; Prast, J.; Seguin-Moreau, N.; de La Taille, Ch; Vouters, G.

2012-01-01

MICRO MEsh GAseous Structure (MICROMEGAS) and Gas Electron Multipliers (GEM) detectors are two candidates for the active medium of a Digital Hadronic CALorimeter (DHCAL) as part of a high energy physics experiment at a future linear collider (ILC/CLIC). Physics requirements lead to a highly granular hadronic calorimeter with up to thirty million channels with probably only hit information (digital readout calorimeter). To validate the concept of digital hadronic calorimetry with such small cell size, the construction and test of a cubic meter technological prototype, made of 40 planes of one square meter each, is necessary. This technological prototype would contain about 400 000 electronic channels, thus requiring the development of front-end ASIC. Based on the experience gained with previous ASIC that were mounted on detectors and tested in particle beams, a new ASIC called MICROROC has been developped. This paper summarizes the caracterisation campaign that was conducted on this new chip as well as its integration into a large area Micromegas chamber of one square meter.

TACTIC: the TRIUMF Annular Chamber for Tracking and Identification of Charged particles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Martin, L.; Ruprecht, G.; Hager, U.; Amaudruz, P.-A.; Buchmann, L.; Fox, S. P.; Laird, A. M.; Martin, E.

2018-01-01

An in-depth characterization of the TACTIC detector was performed using data from a 148Gd alpha source and some test runs with a stable ion beam. The detector is an active target time-projection chamber with a blind central region for maximizing beam tolerance and GEM-based electron amplification, equipped with a modern digitizing data acquisition system allowing the recording of full signals. The system was developed to study the reaction 8Li(α,n)11B, which is important for bridging the mass 8 gap in scenarios of low 4He density like Inhomogeneous Big Bang Nucleosynthesis and the production of r-process seeds in supernovae. Both energy resolution and tracking accuracy were found to agree with theoretical predictions and Geant4 simulations. The 8Li beam rate capability of the system is predicted to be of the order of 105s-1, several orders of magnitude higher than most previous measurements of the same reaction, while still maintaining a high detection efficiency of 70% to 80 %.

Wiring up pre-characterized single-photon emitters by laser lithography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shi, Q.; Sontheimer, B.; Nikolay, N.; Schell, A. W.; Fischer, J.; Naber, A.; Benson, O.; Wegener, M.

2016-08-01

Future quantum optical chips will likely be hybrid in nature and include many single-photon emitters, waveguides, filters, as well as single-photon detectors. Here, we introduce a scalable optical localization-selection-lithography procedure for wiring up a large number of single-photon emitters via polymeric photonic wire bonds in three dimensions. First, we localize and characterize nitrogen vacancies in nanodiamonds inside a solid photoresist exhibiting low background fluorescence. Next, without intermediate steps and using the same optical instrument, we perform aligned three-dimensional laser lithography. As a proof of concept, we design, fabricate, and characterize three-dimensional functional waveguide elements on an optical chip. Each element consists of one single-photon emitter centered in a crossed-arc waveguide configuration, allowing for integrated optical excitation and efficient background suppression at the same time.

Current understanding of the driving mechanisms for spatiotemporal variations of atmospheric speciated mercury: a review

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mao, Huiting; Cheng, Irene; Zhang, Leiming

2016-10-01

Atmospheric mercury (Hg) is a global pollutant and thought to be the main source of mercury in oceanic and remote terrestrial systems, where it becomes methylated and bioavailable; hence, atmospheric mercury pollution has global consequences for both human and ecosystem health. Understanding of spatial and temporal variations of atmospheric speciated mercury can advance our knowledge of mercury cycling in various environments. This review summarized spatiotemporal variations of total gaseous mercury or gaseous elemental mercury (TGM/GEM), gaseous oxidized mercury (GOM), and particulate-bound mercury (PBM) in various environments including oceans, continents, high elevation, the free troposphere, and low to high latitudes. In the marine boundary layer (MBL), the oxidation of GEM was generally thought to drive the diurnal and seasonal variations of TGM/GEM and GOM in most oceanic regions, leading to lower GEM and higher GOM from noon to afternoon and higher GEM during winter and higher GOM during spring-summer. At continental sites, the driving mechanisms of TGM/GEM diurnal patterns included surface and local emissions, boundary layer dynamics, GEM oxidation, and for high-elevation sites mountain-valley winds, while oxidation of GEM and entrainment of free tropospheric air appeared to control the diurnal patterns of GOM. No pronounced diurnal variation was found for Tekran measured PBM at MBL and continental sites. Seasonal variations in TGM/GEM at continental sites were attributed to increased winter combustion and summertime surface emissions, and monsoons in Asia, while those in GOM were controlled by GEM oxidation, free tropospheric transport, anthropogenic emissions, and wet deposition. Increased PBM at continental sites during winter was primarily due to local/regional coal and wood combustion emissions. Long-term TGM measurements from the MBL and continental sites indicated an overall declining trend. Limited measurements suggested TGM/GEM increasing from the Southern Hemisphere (SH) to the Northern Hemisphere (NH) due largely to the vast majority of mercury emissions in the NH, and the latitudinal gradient was insignificant in summer probably as a result of stronger meridional mixing. Aircraft measurements showed no significant vertical variation in GEM over the field campaign regions; however, depletion of GEM was observed in stratospherically influenced air masses. In examining the remaining questions and issues, recommendations for future research needs were provided, and among them is the most imminent need for GOM speciation measurements and fundamental understanding of multiphase redox kinetics.

Immunogenicity and immunoprotection of porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) Cap protein displayed by Lactococcus lactis.

PubMed

Li, Peng-Cheng; Qiao, Xu-Wen; Zheng, Qi-Sheng; Hou, Ji-Bo

2016-01-27

The capsid (Cap) protein, an important immunoprotective protein of porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2), was expressed on the cell surface of the Gram-positive food-grade bacterium, Lactococcus lactis. Cap protein was fused to the peptidoglycan binding domain (known as the protein anchor domain, PA) of the lactococcal AcmA cell-wall hydrolase. The Cap protein fusion was non-covalently rebound to the surface of non-genetically modified, non-living high-binder L. lactis cells (designated Gram-positive enhancer matrix (GEM) particles). Expression of the recombinant GEM-displaying capsid protein (GEM-PA-Cap) was verified by Western blotting and immunofluorescence and transmission electron microscopy assays. To evaluate the immunogenicity of the recombinant Cap protein (rCap), 20 PCV2-seronegative piglets were immunized with the GEM-PA-Cap subunit vaccine, GEM alone, or phosphate-buffered saline (PBS, challenge control and empty control). Each group consisted of five piglets. The results showed that the level of PCV2-specific antibodies in piglets immunized with the GEM-PA-Cap subunit vaccine was significantly higher than that of the piglets immunized with GEM alone or the control group at all the time points post-vaccination (P<0.01). After challenge with the PCV2 wild-type strain, piglets that received the GEM-PA-Cap subunit vaccine showed significantly higher average daily weight gain (DWG) and shorter fever duration than the other two groups (P<0.001). Furthermore, a significant reduction in the gross lung lesion scores and lymph node lesion scores was noted in the GEM-PA-Cap-immunized group compared with the scores of the GEM or PBS-treated group (P<0.01). The results suggest that recombinant rCap displayed by L. lactis GEM particles provided the piglets with significant immunoprotection from PCV2-associated disease. Thus, the novel GEM-PA-Cap subunit vaccine has potential to be considered an effective and safe candidate vaccine against PCV2 infection in piglets. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Emissions of mercury in Southern Africa derived from long-term observations at Cape Point, South Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brunke, E.-G.; Ebinghaus, R.; Kock, H. H.; Labuschagne, C.; Slemr, F.

2012-05-01

Mercury emissions in South Africa have so far been estimated only by a bottom-up approach from activities and emission factors for different processes. In this paper we derive GEM/CO (GEM being gaseous elemental mercury, Hg0), GEM/CO2, GEM/CH4, CO/CO2, CH4/CO2, and CH4/CO emission ratios from plumes observed during long-term monitoring of these species at Cape Point between March 2007 and December 2009. The average observed GEM/CO, GEM/CO2, GEM/CH4, CO/CO2, CH4/CO2, and CH4/CO emission ratios were 2.40 ± 2.65 pg m-3 ppb-1 (n = 47), 62.7 ± 80.2 pg m-3 ppb-1 (n = 44), 3.61 ± 4.66 pg m-3 ppb-1 (n = 46), 35.6 ± 25.4 ppb ppm-1 (n = 52), 20.2 ± 15.5 ppb ppm-1 (n=48), and 0.876 ± 1.106 ppb ppm-1 (n=42), respectively. The observed CO/CO2, CH4/CO2, and CH4/CO emission ratios agree within the combined uncertainties of the observations and emissions with the ratios calculated from EDGAR (version 4.2) CO2, CO, and CH4 inventories for South Africa and Southern Africa (South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique) in 2007 and 2008 (inventories for 2009 are not available yet). Total elemental mercury emission of 13.1, 15.2, and 16.1 t Hg yr-1 are estimated independently using the GEM/CO, GEM/CO2, and GEM/CH4 emission ratios and the annual mean CO, CO2, and CH4 emissions, respectively, of South Africa in 2007 and 2008. The average of these independent estimates of 14.8 ± 1.5 t GEM yr-1 is much less than the total emission of 257 t Hg yr-1 from older inventories. Considering that emission of GEM represents only 50-78% of all mercury emissions, our estimates come close to the total mercury emission estimates ranging between 40-50 t Hg yr-1 from more recent inventories.

Extending the ISC-GEM Global Earthquake Instrumental Catalogue

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Di Giacomo, Domenico; Engdhal, Bob; Storchak, Dmitry; Villaseñor, Antonio; Harris, James

2015-04-01

After a 27-month project funded by the GEM Foundation (www.globalquakemodel.org), in January 2013 we released the ISC-GEM Global Instrumental Earthquake Catalogue (1900 2009) (www.isc.ac.uk/iscgem/index.php) as a special product to use for seismic hazard studies. The new catalogue was necessary as improved seismic hazard studies necessitate that earthquake catalogues are homogeneous (to the largest extent possible) over time in their fundamental parameters, such as location and magnitude. Due to time and resource limitation, the ISC-GEM catalogue (1900-2009) included earthquakes selected according to the following time-variable cut-off magnitudes: Ms=7.5 for earthquakes occurring before 1918; Ms=6.25 between 1918 and 1963; and Ms=5.5 from 1964 onwards. Because of the importance of having a reliable seismic input for seismic hazard studies, funding from GEM and two commercial companies in the US and UK allowed us to start working on the extension of the ISC-GEM catalogue both for earthquakes that occurred beyond 2009 and for earthquakes listed in the International Seismological Summary (ISS) which fell below the cut-off magnitude of 6.25. This extension is part of a four-year program that aims at including in the ISC-GEM catalogue large global earthquakes that occurred before the beginning of the ISC Bulletin in 1964. In this contribution we present the updated ISC GEM catalogue, which will include over 1000 more earthquakes that occurred in 2010 2011 and several hundreds more between 1950 and 1959. The catalogue extension between 1935 and 1949 is currently underway. The extension of the ISC-GEM catalogue will also be helpful for regional cross border seismic hazard studies as the ISC-GEM catalogue should be used as basis for cross-checking the consistency in location and magnitude of those earthquakes listed both in the ISC GEM global catalogue and regional catalogues.

Temporal distribution and potential sources of atmospheric mercury measured at a high-elevation background station in Taiwan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sheu, Guey-Rong; Lin, Neng-Huei; Wang, Jia-Lin; Lee, Chung-Te; Ou Yang, Chang-Feng; Wang, Sheng-Hsiang

2010-07-01

Measurements of gaseous elemental mercury (GEM), reactive gaseous mercury (RGM), and particulate mercury (PHg) have been conducted at Lulin Atmospheric Background Station (LABS) in Taiwan since April 2006. This was the first long-term free tropospheric atmospheric Hg monitoring program in the downwind region of East Asia, which is a major Hg emission source region. Between April 13, 2006 and December 31, 2007, the mean concentrations of GEM, RGM, and PHg were 1.73 ng m -3, 12.1 pg m -3, and 2.3 pg m -3, respectively. A diurnal pattern was observed for GEM with afternoon peaks and nighttime lows, whereas the diurnal pattern of RGM was opposite to that of GEM. Spikes of RGM were frequently observed between midnight and early morning with concurrent decreases in GEM and relative humidity and increases in O 3, suggesting the oxidation of GEM and formation of RGM in free troposphere (FT). Upslope movement of boundary layer (BL) air in daytime and subsidence of FT air at night resulted in these diurnal patterns. Considering only the nighttime data, which were more representative of FT air, the composite monthly mean GEM concentrations ranged between 1.06 and 2.06 ng m -3. Seasonal variation in nighttime GEM was evident, with lower concentrations usually occurring in summer when clean marine air masses prevailed. Between fall and spring, air masses passed the East Asian continent prior to reaching LABS, contributing to the elevated GEM concentrations. Analysis of GEM/CO correlation tends to support the argument. Good GEM/CO correlations were observed in fall, winter, and spring, suggesting influence of anthropogenic emission sources. Our results demonstrate the significance of East Asian Hg emissions, including both anthropogenic and biomass burning emissions, and their long-range transport in the FT. Because of the pronounced seasonal monsoon activity and the seasonal variation in regional wind field, export of the Asian Hg emissions to Taiwan occurs mainly during fall, winter, and spring.

Impaired clinical utility of sequential patient GEM blood gas measurements associated with calibration schedule.

PubMed

Cembrowski, George S; Xu, Qian; Cembrowski, Adam R; Mei, Junyi; Sadrzadeh, Hossein

2017-11-01

Within- and/or between-instrument variation may falsely indicate patient trends or obscure real trends. We employ a methodology that transforms sequential intra-patient results into estimates of biologic and analytic variation. We previously derived realistic biologic variation (s b ) of blood gas (BG) and hematology analytes. We extend this methodology to derive the imprecision of two GEM 4000 BG analyzers. A laboratory data repository provided arterial BG, electrolyte and metabolite results generated by two GEM 4000s on ICU patients in 2012-2013. We tabulated consecutive pairs of intra-patient results separated by increasing time interval between consecutive tests. The average between pair variations were regressed against time with the y-intercept representing the sum of the biologic variation and short term analytic variation: y o 2 =s b 2 +s a 2 . Using an equivalent equation for the Radiometer ABL, the imprecision of the two GEMs was calculated: s aGEM =(y oGEM 2 -y oABL 2 +s aABL 2 ) 1/2 . This analysis was performed for nearly all measurements, regardless of time as well for values obtained over two 12h mutually exclusive periods, starting either at 2am or 2pm. Regression graphs were derived from 1800 patients' blood gas results with least 10,000 data pairs grouped into 2h intervals. The calculated s aGEM exceed the directly measured s aABL with many GEM sigma ratios of biologic variation/analytic variation being close to unity. All of the afternoon s aGEM exceeded their morning counterparts with pH, pCO 2 , K and bicarbonate being statistically significant. For many analytes, the average analytical variation of tandem GEMs approximates the biologic variation, indicating impaired clinical usefulness of tandem sequential measurements. A significant component of this variation is due to increased variation of the GEMs between 2pm and 2am. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The MONDO project: A secondary neutron tracker detector for particle therapy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Valle, S. M.; Battistoni, G.; Patera, V.; Pinci, D.; Sarti, A.; Sciubba, A.; Spiriti, E.; Marafini, M.

2017-02-01

During Particle Therapy treatments the patient irradiation produces, among different types of secondary radiation, an abundant flux of neutrons that can release a significant dose far away from the tumour region. A precise measurement of their flux, energy and angle distributions is eagerly needed in order to improve the Treatment Planning Systems software and to properly take into account the risk of late complications in the whole body. The technical challenges posed by a neutron detector aiming for high detection efficiency and good backtracking precision will be addressed within the MONDO project, whose main goal is to develop a tracking detector targeting fast and ultra-fast secondary neutrons. The neutron tracking principle is based on the reconstruction of two consequent elastic scattering interactions of a neutron with a target material. Reconstructing the recoiling protons it is hence possible to measure the energy and incoming direction of the neutron. Plastic scintillators will be used as scattering and detection media: the tracker is being developed as a matrix of squared scintillating fibres of 250 μm side. The light produced and collected in fibres will be amplified using a triple GEM-based image intensifier and acquired using CMOS Single Photon Avalanche Diode arrays. Using therapeutic beams, the principal detector goal will be the measurement of the neutron production yields, as a function of production angle and energy.

Performance of a Quintuple-GEM Based RICHDetector Prototype

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Blatnik, Marie; Dehmelt, Klaus; Deshpande, Abhay

2015-12-17

Cerenkov technology is often the optimal choice for particle identification in high energy particle collision applications. Typically, the most challenging regime is at high pseudorapidity (forward) where particle identification must perform well at high laboratory momenta. For the upcoming electron ion collider (EIC), the physics goals require hadron (π, K, p) identification up to ~50 GeV/c. In this region Cerenkov ring-imaging (RICH) is the most viable solution. The speed of light in a radiator medium is inversely proportional to the refractive index. Hence, for particle identification (PID) reaching out to high momenta a small index of refraction is required. Unfortunately,more » the lowest indices of refraction also result in the lowest light yield ([(dNγ)/dx] ∝ sin2(θC)) driving up the radiator length and thereby the overall detector cost. In this paper we report on a successful test of a compact RICH detector (1 meter radiator) capable of delivering in excess of 10 photoelectrons per ring with a low index radiator gas (CF4). The detector concept is a natural extension of the PHENIX hadron-blind detector (HBD) achieved by adding focusing capability at low wavelength and adequate gain for high efficiency detection of single-electron induced avalanches. Our results indicate that this technology is indeed a viable choice in the forward direction of the EIC. The setup and results are described within.« less

Photodegradation of gemfibrozil in aqueous solution under UV irradiation: kinetics, mechanism, toxicity, and degradation pathways.

PubMed

Ma, Jingshuai; Lv, Wenying; Chen, Ping; Lu, Yida; Wang, Fengliang; Li, Fuhua; Yao, Kun; Liu, Guoguang

2016-07-01

The lipid regulator gemfibrozil (GEM) has been reported to be persistent in conventional wastewater treatment plants. This study investigated the photolytic behavior, toxicity of intermediate products, and degradation pathways of GEM in aqueous solutions under UV irradiation. The results demonstrated that the photodegradation of GEM followed pseudo-first-order kinetics, and the pseudo-first-order rate constant was decreased markedly with increasing initial concentrations of GEM and initial pH. The photodegradation of GEM included direct photolysis via (3)GEM(*) and self-sensitization via ROS, where the contribution rates of degradation were 0.52, 90.05, and 8.38 % for ·OH, (1)O2, and (3)GEM(*), respectively. Singlet oxygen ((1)O2) was evidenced by the molecular probe compound, furfuryl alcohol (FFA), and was identified as the primary reactive species in the photolytic process. The steady-state concentrations of (1)O2 increased from (0.324 ± 0.014) × 10(-12) to (1.021 ± 0.040) × 10(-12) mol L(-1), as the initial concentrations of GEM were increased from 5 to 20 mg L(-1). The second-order rate constant for the reaction of GEM with (1)O2 was calculated to be 2.55 × 10(6) M(-1) s(-1). The primary transformation products were identified using HPLC-MS/MS, and possible photodegradation pathways were proposed by hydroxylation, aldehydes reactions, as well as the cleavage of ether side chains. The toxicity of phototransformation product evaluation revealed that photolysis potentially provides a critical pathway for GEM toxicity reduction in potable water and wastewater treatment facilities.

Integrated front-end electronics in a detector compatible process: source-follower and charge-sensitive preamplifier configurations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ratti, Lodovico; Manghisoni, Massimo; Re, Valerio; Speziali, Valeria

2001-12-01

This study is concerned with the simulation and design of low-noise front-end electronics monolithically integrated on the same high-resistivity substrate as multielectrode silicon detectors, in a process made available by the Istituto per la Ricerca Scientifica e Tecnologica (ITC-IRST) of Trento, Italy. The integrated front-end solutions described in this paper use N-channel JFETs as basic elements. The first one is based upon an all-NJFET charge preamplifier designed to match detector capacitances of a few picofarads and available in both a resistive and a non resistive feedback configuration. In the second solution, a single NJFET in the source-follower configuration is connected to the detector, while its source is wired to an external readout channel through an integrated capacitor.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Huml, O.

The objective of this work was to determine the neutron flux density distribution in various places of the training reactor VR-1 Sparrow. This experiment was performed on the new core design C1, composed of the new low-enriched uranium fuel cells IRT-4M (19.7 %). This fuel replaced the old high-enriched uranium fuel IRT-3M (36 %) within the framework of the RERTR Program in September 2005. The measurement used the neutron activation analysis method with gold wires. The principle of this method consists in neutron capture in a nucleus of the material forming the activation detector. This capture can change the nucleusmore » in a radioisotope, whose activity can be measured. The absorption cross-section values were evaluated by MCNP computer code. The gold wires were irradiated in seven different positions in the core C1. All irradiations were performed at reactor power level 1E8 (1 kW{sub therm}). The activity of segments of irradiated wires was measured by special automatic device called 'Drat' (Wire in English). (author)« less

Ionization Electron Signal Processing in Single Phase LArTPCs I. Algorithm Description and Quantitative Evaluation with MicroBooNE Simulation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Adams, C.; et al.

We describe the concept and procedure of drifted-charge extraction developed in the MicroBooNE experiment, a single-phase liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC). This technique converts the raw digitized TPC waveform to the number of ionization electrons passing through a wire plane at a given time. A robust recovery of the number of ionization electrons from both induction and collection anode wire planes will augment the 3D reconstruction, and is particularly important for tomographic reconstruction algorithms. A number of building blocks of the overall procedure are described. The performance of the signal processing is quantitatively evaluated by comparing extracted charge withmore » the true charge through a detailed TPC detector simulation taking into account position-dependent induced current inside a single wire region and across multiple wires. Some areas for further improvement of the performance of the charge extraction procedure are also discussed.« less

NASA technology utilization house

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1977-01-01

Following systems and features, which are predicted to save approximately $20,000 in utility costs over twenty year period, are incorporated into single-level, contemporarily designed, energy efficient residential structure: solar heating and cooling; energy efficient appliances; water recycling; security, smoke, and tornado detectors; and flat conductor electrical wiring.

A nonperturbing boundary-layer transition detector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ohare, J. E.

1985-11-01

A laser interferometer technique is being applied to the characterization of boundary-layer conditions on models in supersonic and hypersonic wind tunnels. The boundary-layer transition detector (BLTD), based on lateral interferometry, is applicable for determining the turbulence frequency spectrum of boundary layers in compressible flow. The turbulence, in terms of air density fluctuations, is detected by monitoring interferometric fringe phase shifts (in real time) formed by one beam which passes through the boundary layer and a reference beam which is outside the boundary layer. This technique is nonintrusive to the flow field unlike other commonly used methods such as pitot tube probing and hot-wire anemometry. Data which depict boundary-layer transition from laminar to turbulent flow are presented to provide comparisons of the BLTD with other measurement methods. Spectra from the BLTD reveals the presence of a high-frequency peak during transition which is characteristic of spectra obtained with hot wires. The BLTD is described along with operational requirements and limitations.

A Nonperturbing Boundary-Layer Transition Detector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

O'Hare, J. E.

1986-01-01

A laser interferometer technique is being applied to the characterization of boundary-layer conditions on models in supersonic and hypersonic wind tunnels in the von Kaman Facility at Arnold Engineering Development Center (AEDC). The Boundary-Layer Transition Detector (BLTD), based on lateral interferometry, is applicable for determining the turbulence frequency spectrum of boundary layers in compressible flow. The turbulence, in terms of air density fluctuations, is detected by monitoring interferometric fringe phase shifts (in real time) formed by one beam which passes through the boundary layer and a reference beam which is outside the boundary layer. This technique is nonintrusive to the flow field unlike other commonly used methods such as pitot tube probing and hot-wire anemometry. Model boundary-layer data are presented at Mach 8 and compared with data recorded using other methods during boundary-layer transition from laminar to turbulent flow. Spectra from the BLTD reveal the presence of a high-frequency peak during transition, which is characteristic of spectra obtained with hot wires. The BLTD is described along with operational requirements and limitations.

Building a multi-cathode-gas-filled scintillator detector for fission fragments

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mahgoub, M., E-mail: mmahgoub@jazanu.edu.sa; Physics department, Technical University of Munich, D-85748 Garching

2016-06-10

Radiation cannot be detected directly by human senses, indeed detecting and identifying the fission products or decay yield with high accuracy is a great challenge for experimental physicist. In this work we are building a Multi-Cathode-Gas-filled Scintillator MCGS detector. The detector consists of two parts. First: anode-wire proportional chamber and cathode strip foil, which measure the energy loss of the particles in the gas, due to the ionization, and identifies the position of the products on the detector plane depending on their energy with the presence of a magnetic field. Second: a 7 mm thick scintillator attached to a photomultipliermore » tube in the back end of the detector. This part measures the rest energy of the particles. A data acquisition system records the events and the particles infonnation. The yields are identified from the energy loss to rest energy ratio.« less

Monolithic short wave infrared (SWIR) detector array

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1983-01-01

A monolithic self-scanned linear detector array was developed for remote sensing in the 1.1- 2.4-micron spectral region. A high-density IRCCD test chip was fabricated to verify new design approaches required for the detector array. The driving factors in the Schottky barrier IRCCD (Pdsub2Si) process development are the attainment of detector yield, uniformity, adequate quantum efficiency, and lowest possible dark current consistent with radiometric accuracy. A dual-band module was designed that consists of two linear detector arrays. The sensor architecture places the floating diffusion output structure in the middle of the chip, away from the butt edges. A focal plane package was conceptualized and includes a polycrystalline silicon substrate carrying a two-layer, thick-film interconnecting conductor pattern and five epoxy-mounted modules. A polycrystalline silicon cover encloses the modules and bond wires, and serves as a radiation and EMI shield, thermal conductor, and contamination seal.

35t Prototype Detector for Experiment at Long Base Line Neutrino Facility (ELBNF) Far Detector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Santucci, Gabriel; Elbnf Collaboration

2015-04-01

The 35ton prototype detector is a Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber (LAr TPC) utilizing a membrane cryostat. It serves as a prototype for testing technology proposed for the ELBNF far detector. The construction of the prototype is an essential part of the ELBNF project due to the large amount of new technologies introduced for the far detector. In early 2014, it was shown that the membrane cryostat technology was able to reach and maintain the required LAr purity and an electron lifetime of 2.5 ms was achieved. The goals for the next phase include the installation of a fully functional TPC using the novel designs for the ELBNF far detector as much as possible. This includes the installation of the cold electronics, scintillation photon detectors and multiple Anode Plane Arrays with wrapped wires. In this talk I will review the status of the 35t prototype detector and describe what has been accomplished during 2014 and early 2015, including the commissioning phase and the early stages of data taking from cosmic-rays.

Noise Characterization and Filtering in the MicroBooNE Liquid Argon TPC

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Acciarri, R.; et al.

The low-noise operation of readout electronics in a liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) is critical to properly extract the distribution of ionization charge deposited on the wire planes of the TPC, especially for the induction planes. This paper describes the characteristics and mitigation of the observed noise in the MicroBooNE detector. The MicroBooNE's single-phase LArTPC comprises two induction planes and one collection sense wire plane with a total of 8256 wires. Current induced on each TPC wire is amplified and shaped by custom low-power, low-noise ASICs immersed in the liquid argon. The digitization of the signal waveform occurs outsidemore » the cryostat. Using data from the first year of MicroBooNE operations, several excess noise sources in the TPC were identified and mitigated. The residual equivalent noise charge (ENC) after noise filtering varies with wire length and is found to be below 400 electrons for the longest wires (4.7 m). The response is consistent with the cold electronics design expectations and is found to be stable with time and uniform over the functioning channels. This noise level is significantly lower than previous experiments utilizing warm front-end electronics.« less

Noise Characterization and Filtering in the MicroBooNE Liquid Argon TPC

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Acciarri, R.; Adams, C.; An, R.

The low-noise operation of readout electronics in a liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) is critical to properly extract the distribution of ionization charge deposited on the wire planes of the TPC, especially for the induction planes. This paper describes the characteristics and mitigation of the observed noise in the MicroBooNE detector. The MicroBooNE's single-phase LArTPC comprises two induction planes and one collection sense wire plane with a total of 8256 wires. Current induced on each TPC wire is amplified and shaped by custom low-power, low-noise ASICs immersed in the liquid argon. The digitization of the signal waveform occurs outsidemore » the cryostat. Using data from the first year of MicroBooNE operations, several excess noise sources in the TPC were identified and mitigated. The residual equivalent noise charge (ENC) after noise filtering varies with wire length and is found to be below 400 electrons for the longest wires (4.7 m). The response is consistent with the cold electronics design expectations and is found to be stable with time and uniform over the functioning channels. In conclusion, this noise level is significantly lower than previous experiments utilizing warm front-end electronics.« less

Noise Characterization and Filtering in the MicroBooNE Liquid Argon TPC

DOE PAGES

Acciarri, R.; Adams, C.; An, R.; ...

2017-08-04

The low-noise operation of readout electronics in a liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) is critical to properly extract the distribution of ionization charge deposited on the wire planes of the TPC, especially for the induction planes. This paper describes the characteristics and mitigation of the observed noise in the MicroBooNE detector. The MicroBooNE's single-phase LArTPC comprises two induction planes and one collection sense wire plane with a total of 8256 wires. Current induced on each TPC wire is amplified and shaped by custom low-power, low-noise ASICs immersed in the liquid argon. The digitization of the signal waveform occurs outsidemore » the cryostat. Using data from the first year of MicroBooNE operations, several excess noise sources in the TPC were identified and mitigated. The residual equivalent noise charge (ENC) after noise filtering varies with wire length and is found to be below 400 electrons for the longest wires (4.7 m). The response is consistent with the cold electronics design expectations and is found to be stable with time and uniform over the functioning channels. In conclusion, this noise level is significantly lower than previous experiments utilizing warm front-end electronics.« less

Does GEM-Encoding Clinical Practice Guidelines Improve the Quality of Knowledge Bases? A Study with the Rule-Based Formalism

PubMed Central

Georg, Gersende; Séroussi, Brigitte; Bouaud, Jacques

2003-01-01

The aim of this work was to determine whether the GEM-encoding step could improve the representation of clinical practice guidelines as formalized knowledge bases. We used the 1999 Canadian recommendations for the management of hypertension, chosen as the knowledge source in the ASTI project. We first clarified semantic ambiguities of therapeutic sequences recommended in the guideline by proposing an interpretative framework of therapeutic strategies. Then, after a formalization step to standardize the terms used to characterize clinical situations, we created the GEM-encoded instance of the guideline. We developed a module for the automatic derivation of a rule base, BR-GEM, from the instance. BR-GEM was then compared to the rule base, BR-ASTI, embedded within the critic mode of ASTI, and manually built by two physicians from the same Canadian guideline. As compared to BR-ASTI, BR-GEM is more specific and covers more clinical situations. When evaluated on 10 patient cases, the GEM-based approach led to promising results. PMID:14728173

GEMS Revealed: Spectrum Imaging of Aggregate Grains in Interplanetary Dust

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Keller, L. P.; Messenger, S.; Christoffersen, R.

2005-01-01

Anhydrous interplanetary dust particles (IDPs) of cometary origin contain abundant materials that formed in the early solar nebula. These materials were transported outward and subsequently mixed with molecular cloud materials and presolar grains in the region where comets accreted [1]. GEMS (glass with embedded metal and sulfides) grains are a major component of these primitive anhydrous IDPs, along with crystalline Mg-rich silicates, Fe-Ni sulfides, carbonaceous material, and other trace phases. Some GEMS grains (5%) are demonstrably presolar based on their oxygen isotopic compositions [2]. However, most GEMS grains are isotopically solar and have bulk chemical compositions that are incompatible with inferred compositions of interstellar dust, suggesting a solar system origin [3]. An alternative hypothesis is that GEMS grains represent highly irradiated interstellar grains whose oxygen isotopic compositions were homogenized through processing in the interstellar medium (ISM) [4]. We have obtained the first quantitative X-ray maps (spectrum images) showing the distribution of major and minor elements in individual GEMS grains. Nanometer-scale chemical maps provide critical data required to evaluate the differing models regarding the origin of GEMS grains.

Microvesicle removal of anticancer drugs contributes to drug resistance in human pancreatic cancer cells

PubMed Central

Muralidharan-Chari, Vandhana; Kohan, Hamed Gilzad; Asimakopoulos, Alexandros G.; Sudha, Thangirala; Sell, Stewart; Kannan, Kurunthachalam; Boroujerdi, Mehdi; Davis, Paul J.; Mousa, Shaker A.

2016-01-01

High mortality in pancreatic cancer patients is partly due to resistance to chemotherapy. We describe that human pancreatic cancer cells acquire drug resistance by a novel mechanism in which they expel and remove chemotherapeutic drugs from the microenvironment via microvesicles (MVs). Using human pancreatic cancer cells that exhibit varied sensitivity to gemcitabine (GEM), we show that GEM exposure triggers the cancer cells to release MVs in an amount that correlates with that cell line's sensitivity to GEM. The importance of MV-release in gaining drug resistance in GEM-resistant pancreatic cancer cells was confirmed when the inhibition of MV-release sensitized the cells to GEM treatment, both in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistically, MVs remove drugs that are internalized into the cells and that are in the microenvironment. The differences between the drug-resistant and drug-sensitive pancreatic cancer cell lines tested here are explained based on the variable content of influx/efflux proteins present on MVs, which directly dictates the ability of MVs either to trap GEM or to allow GEM to flow back to the microenvironment. PMID:27391262

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Eddy, N.; Fellenz, B.; Prieto, P.

The first cryomodule for the beam test facility at the Fermilab New-Muon-Lab building is currently under RF commissioning. Among other diagnostics systems, the transverse position of the helium gas return pipe with the connected 1.3 GHz SRF accelerating cavities is measured along the {approx}15 m long module using a stretched-wire position monitoring system. An overview of the wire position monitor system technology is given, along with preliminary results taken at the initial module cooldown, and during further testing. As the measurement system offers a high resolution, we also discuss options for use as a vibration detector. An electron beam testmore » facility, based on superconducting RF (SRF) TESLA-style cryomodules is currently under construction at the Fermilab New-Muon-Lab (NML) building. The first, so-called type III+, cryomodule (CM-1), equipped with eight 1.3 GHz nine-cell accelerating cavities was recently cooled down to 2 K, and is currently under RF conditioning. The transverse alignment of the cavity string within the cryomodule is crucial for minimizing transverse kick and beam break-up effects, generated by the high-order dipole modes of misaligned accelerating structures. An optimum alignment can only be guaranteed during the assembly of the cavity string, i.e. at room temperatures. The final position of the cavities after cooldown is uncontrollable, and therefore unknown. A wire position monitoring system (WPM) can help to understand the transverse motion of the cavities during cooldown, their final location and the long term position stability after cryo-temperatures are settled, as well as the position reproducibility for several cold-warm cycles. It also may serve as vibration sensor, as the wire acts as a high-Q resonant detector for mechanical vibrations in the low-audio frequency range. The WPM system consists out of a stretched-wire position detection system, provided with help of INFN-Milano and DESY Hamburg, and RF generation and read-out electronics, developed at Fermilab.« less

Measurement of the eta-meson mass using psi(2S) --> etaJ/psi.

PubMed

Miller, D H; Sanghi, B; Shipsey, I P J; Xin, B; Adams, G S; Anderson, M; Cummings, J P; Danko, I; Ge, J Y; Hu, D; Moziak, B; Napolitano, J; He, Q; Insler, J; Muramatsu, H; Park, C S; Thorndike, E H; Yang, F; Artuso, M; Blusk, S; Khalil, S; Li, J; Menaa, N; Mountain, R; Nisar, S; Randrianarivony, K; Sia, R; Skwarnicki, T; Stone, S; Wang, J C; Bonvicini, G; Cinabro, D; Dubrovin, M; Lincoln, A; Asner, D M; Edwards, K W; Naik, P; Briere, R A; Ferguson, T; Tatishvili, G; Vogel, H; Watkins, M E; Rosner, J L; Adam, N E; Alexander, J P; Cassel, D G; Duboscq, J E; Ehrlich, R; Fields, L; Gibbons, L; Gray, R; Gray, S W; Hartill, D L; Heltsley, B K; Hertz, D; Jones, C D; Kandaswamy, J; Kreinick, D L; Kuznetsov, V E; Mahlke-Krüger, H; Mohapatra, D; Onyisi, P U E; Patterson, J R; Peterson, D; Riley, D; Ryd, A; Sadoff, A J; Shi, X; Stroiney, S; Sun, W M; Wilksen, T; Athar, S B; Patel, R; Yelton, J; Rubin, P; Eisenstein, B I; Karliner, I; Lowrey, N; Selen, M; White, E J; Wiss, J; Mitchell, R E; Shepherd, M R; Besson, D; Pedlar, T K; Cronin-Hennessy, D; Gao, K Y; Hietala, J; Kubota, Y; Klein, T; Lang, B W; Poling, R; Scott, A W; Zweber, P; Dobbs, S; Metreveli, Z; Seth, K K; Tomaradze, A; Ernst, J; Ecklund, K M; Severini, H; Love, W; Savinov, V; Lopez, A; Mehrabyan, S; Mendez, H; Ramirez, J

2007-09-21

We measure the mass of the eta meson using psi(2S) --> etaJ/psi events acquired with the CLEO-c detector operating at the CESR e(+)e(-) collider. Using the four decay modes eta --> gamma gamma, 3pi(0), pi(+)pi(-)pi(0), and pi(+)pi(-)gamma, we find M(eta) = 547.785 +/- 0.017 +/- 0.057 MeV, in which the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic. This result has an uncertainty comparable to the two most precise previous measurements and is consistent with that of NA48, but is inconsistent at the level of 6.5 sigma with the much smaller mass obtained by GEM.

Measurement of the η-Meson Mass Using ψ(2S)→ηJ/ψ

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Miller, D. H.; Sanghi, B.; Shipsey, I. P. J.; Xin, B.; Adams, G. S.; Anderson, M.; Cummings, J. P.; Danko, I.; Ge, J. Y.; Hu, D.; Moziak, B.; Napolitano, J.; He, Q.; Insler, J.; Muramatsu, H.; Park, C. S.; Thorndike, E. H.; Yang, F.; Artuso, M.; Blusk, S.; Khalil, S.; Li, J.; Menaa, N.; Mountain, R.; Nisar, S.; Randrianarivony, K.; Sia, R.; Skwarnicki, T.; Stone, S.; Wang, J. C.; Bonvicini, G.; Cinabro, D.; Dubrovin, M.; Lincoln, A.; Asner, D. M.; Edwards, K. W.; Naik, P.; Briere, R. A.; Ferguson, T.; Tatishvili, G.; Vogel, H.; Watkins, M. E.; Rosner, J. L.; Adam, N. E.; Alexander, J. P.; Cassel, D. G.; Duboscq, J. E.; Ehrlich, R.; Fields, L.; Gibbons, L.; Gray, R.; Gray, S. W.; Hartill, D. L.; Heltsley, B. K.; Hertz, D.; Jones, C. D.; Kandaswamy, J.; Kreinick, D. L.; Kuznetsov, V. E.; Mahlke-Krüger, H.; Mohapatra, D.; Onyisi, P. U. E.; Patterson, J. R.; Peterson, D.; Riley, D.; Ryd, A.; Sadoff, A. J.; Shi, X.; Stroiney, S.; Sun, W. M.; Wilksen, T.; Athar, S. B.; Patel, R.; Yelton, J.; Rubin, P.; Eisenstein, B. I.; Karliner, I.; Lowrey, N.; Selen, M.; White, E. J.; Wiss, J.; Mitchell, R. E.; Shepherd, M. R.; Besson, D.; Pedlar, T. K.; Cronin-Hennessy, D.; Gao, K. Y.; Hietala, J.; Kubota, Y.; Klein, T.; Lang, B. W.; Poling, R.; Scott, A. W.; Zweber, P.; Dobbs, S.; Metreveli, Z.; Seth, K. K.; Tomaradze, A.; Ernst, J.; Ecklund, K. M.; Severini, H.; Love, W.; Savinov, V.; Lopez, A.; Mehrabyan, S.; Mendez, H.; Ramirez, J.

2007-09-01

We measure the mass of the η meson using ψ(2S)→ηJ/ψ events acquired with the CLEO-c detector operating at the CESR e+e- collider. Using the four decay modes η→γγ, 3π0, π+π-π0, and π+π-γ, we find Mη=547.785±0.017±0.057MeV, in which the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic. This result has an uncertainty comparable to the two most precise previous measurements and is consistent with that of NA48, but is inconsistent at the level of 6.5σ with the much smaller mass obtained by GEM.

Automatic HDL firmware generation for FPGA-based reconfigurable measurement and control systems with mezzanines in FMC standard

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wojenski, Andrzej; Kasprowicz, Grzegorz; Pozniak, Krzysztof T.; Romaniuk, Ryszard

2013-10-01

The paper describes a concept of automatic firmware generation for reconfigurable measurement systems, which uses FPGA devices and measurement cards in FMC standard. Following sections are described in details: automatic HDL code generation for FPGA devices, automatic communication interfaces implementation, HDL drivers for measurement cards, automatic serial connection between multiple measurement backplane boards, automatic build of memory map (address space), automatic generated firmware management. Presented solutions are required in many advanced measurement systems, like Beam Position Monitors or GEM detectors. This work is a part of a wider project for automatic firmware generation and management of reconfigurable systems. Solutions presented in this paper are based on previous publication in SPIE.

Radiation sensors based on GaN microwires

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Verheij, D.; Peres, M.; Cardoso, S.; Alves, L. C.; Alves, E.; Durand, C.; Eymery, J.; Lorenz, K.

2018-05-01

GaN microwires were shown to possess promising characteristics as building blocks for radiation resistant particle detectors. They were grown by metal organic vapour phase epitaxy with diameters between 1 and 2 μm and lengths around 20 μm. Devices were fabricated by depositing gold contacts at the extremities of the wires using photolithography. The response of these single wire radiation sensors was then studied under irradiation with 2 MeV protons. Severe degradation of the majority of devices only sets in for fluences above protons cm‑2 revealing good radiation resistance. During proton irradiation, a clear albeit small current gain was observed with a corresponding decay time below 1 s. Photoconductivity measurements upon irradiation with UV light were carried out before and after the proton irradiation. Despite a relatively low gain, attributed to significant dark currents caused by a high dopant concentration, fast response times of a few seconds were achieved comparable to state-of-the-art GaN nanowire photodetectors. Irradiation and subsequent annealing resulted in an overall improvement of the devices regarding their response to UV radiation. The photocurrent gain increased compared to the values that were obtained prior to the irradiation, without compromising the decay times. The results indicate the possibility of using GaN microwires not only as UV detectors, but also as particle detectors.

Focal-surface detector for heavy ions

DOEpatents

Erskine, John R.; Braid, Thomas H.; Stoltzfus, Joseph C.

1979-01-01

A detector of the properties of individual charged particles in a beam includes a gridded ionization chamber, a cathode, a plurality of resistive-wire proportional counters, a plurality of anode sections, and means for controlling the composition and pressure of gas in the chamber. Signals generated in response to the passage of charged particles can be processed to identify the energy of the particles, their loss of energy per unit distance in an absorber, and their angle of incidence. In conjunction with a magnetic spectrograph, the signals can be used to identify particles and their state of charge. The detector is especially useful for analyzing beams of heavy ions, defined as ions of atomic mass greater than 10 atomic mass units.

16 CFR 23.25 - Misuse of the word “gem.”

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... stones possess the necessary qualifications to properly be termed “gems.” Imitation diamonds and other imitation stones should not be described as “gems.” Not all diamonds or natural stones, including those...

16 CFR 23.25 - Misuse of the word “gem.”

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... stones possess the necessary qualifications to properly be termed “gems.” Imitation diamonds and other imitation stones should not be described as “gems.” Not all diamonds or natural stones, including those...

16 CFR 23.25 - Misuse of the word “gem.”

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... stones possess the necessary qualifications to properly be termed “gems.” Imitation diamonds and other imitation stones should not be described as “gems.” Not all diamonds or natural stones, including those...

16 CFR 23.25 - Misuse of the word “gem.”

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... stones possess the necessary qualifications to properly be termed “gems.” Imitation diamonds and other imitation stones should not be described as “gems.” Not all diamonds or natural stones, including those...

Gravitational induction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bini, Donato; Cherubini, Christian; Chicone, Carmen; Mashhoon, Bahram

2008-11-01

We study the linear post-Newtonian approximation to general relativity known as gravitoelectromagnetism (GEM); in particular, we examine the similarities and differences between GEM and electrodynamics. Notwithstanding some significant differences between them, we find that a special nonstationary metric in GEM can be employed to show explicitly that it is possible to introduce gravitational induction within GEM in close analogy with Faraday's law of induction and Lenz's law in electrodynamics. Some of the physical implications of gravitational induction are briefly discussed.

24 CFR 982.605 - SRO: Housing quality standards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... an SRO unit without passing through any other unit. (4) Sprinkler system. A sprinkler system that protects all major spaces, hard wired smoke detectors, and such other fire and safety improvements as State... utilize an approvable public or private disposal system. (E) Sanitary facilities must be reasonably...

24 CFR 982.605 - SRO: Housing quality standards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... an SRO unit without passing through any other unit. (4) Sprinkler system. A sprinkler system that protects all major spaces, hard wired smoke detectors, and such other fire and safety improvements as State... utilize an approvable public or private disposal system. (E) Sanitary facilities must be reasonably...

24 CFR 982.605 - SRO: Housing quality standards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... an SRO unit without passing through any other unit. (4) Sprinkler system. A sprinkler system that protects all major spaces, hard wired smoke detectors, and such other fire and safety improvements as State... utilize an approvable public or private disposal system. (E) Sanitary facilities must be reasonably...

24 CFR 982.605 - SRO: Housing quality standards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... an SRO unit without passing through any other unit. (4) Sprinkler system. A sprinkler system that protects all major spaces, hard wired smoke detectors, and such other fire and safety improvements as State... utilize an approvable public or private disposal system. (E) Sanitary facilities must be reasonably...

Simulation of the West African monsoon onset using the HadGEM3-RA regional climate model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Diallo, Ismaïla; Bain, Caroline L.; Gaye, Amadou T.; Moufouma-Okia, Wilfran; Niang, Coumba; Dieng, Mame D. B.; Graham, Richard

2014-08-01

The performance of the Hadley Centre Global Environmental Model version 3 regional climate model (HadGEM3-RA) in simulating the West African monsoon (WAM) is investigated. We focus on performance for monsoon onset timing and for rainfall totals over the June-July-August (JJA) season and on the model's representation of the underlying dynamical processes. Experiments are driven by the ERA-Interim reanalysis and follow the CORDEX experimental protocol. Simulations with the HadGEM3 global model, which shares a common physical formulation with HadGEM3-RA, are used to gain insight into the causes of HadGEM3-RA simulation errors. It is found that HadGEM3-RA simulations of monsoon onset timing are realistic, with an error in mean onset date of two pentads. However, the model has a dry bias over the Sahel during JJA of 15-20 %. Analysis suggests that this is related to errors in the positioning of the Saharan heat low, which is too far south in HadGEM3-RA and associated with an insufficient northward reach of the south-westerly low-level monsoon flow and weaker moisture convergence over the Sahel. Despite these biases HadGEM3-RA's representation of the general rainfall distribution during the WAM appears superior to that of ERA-Interim when using Global Precipitation Climatology Project or Tropical Rain Measurement Mission data as reference. This suggests that the associated dynamical features seen in HadGEM3-RA can complement the physical picture available from ERA-Interim. This approach is supported by the fact that the global HadGEM3 model generates realistic simulations of the WAM without the benefit of pseudo-observational forcing at the lateral boundaries; suggesting that the physical formulation shared with HadGEM3-RA, is able to represent the driving processes. HadGEM3-RA simulations confirm previous findings that the main rainfall peak near 10°N during June-August is maintained by a region of mid-tropospheric ascent located, latitudinally, between the cores of the African Easterly Jet and Tropical Easterly Jet that intensifies around the time of onset. This region of ascent is weaker and located further south near 5°N in the driving ERA-Interim reanalysis, for reasons that may be related to the coarser resolution or the physics of the underlying model, and this is consistent with a less realistic latitudinal rainfall profile than found in the HadGEM3-RA simulations.

Emissions of mercury in southern Africa derived from long-term observations at Cape Point, South Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brunke, E.-G.; Ebinghaus, R.; Kock, H. H.; Labuschagne, C.; Slemr, F.

2012-08-01

Mercury emissions in South Africa have so far been estimated only by a bottom-up approach from activities and emission factors for different processes. In this paper we derive GEM/CO (GEM being gaseous elemental mercury, Hg0), GEM/CO2, GEM/CH4, CO/CO2, CH4/CO2, and CH4/CO emission ratios from plumes observed during long-term monitoring of these species at Cape Point between March 2007 and December 2009. The average observed GEM/CO, GEM/CO2, GEM/CH4, CO/CO2, CH4/CO2, and CH4/CO emission ratios were 2.40 ± 2.65 pg m-3 ppb-1 (n = 47), 62.7 ± 80.2 pg m-3 ppm-1 (n = 44), 3.61 ± 4.66 pg m-3 ppb-1 (n = 46), 35.6 ± 25.4 ppb ppm-1 (n = 52), 20.2 ± 15.5 ppb ppm-1 (n = 48), and 0.876 ± 1.106 ppb ppb-1 (n = 42), respectively. The observed CO/CO2, CH4/CO2, and CH4/CO emission ratios agree within the combined uncertainties of the observations and emissions with the ratios calculated from EDGAR (version 4.2) CO2, CO, and CH4 inventories for South Africa and southern Africa (South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique) in 2007 and 2008 (inventories for 2009 are not available yet). Total elemental mercury emission of 13.1, 15.2, and 16.1 t Hg yr-1 are estimated independently using the GEM/CO, GEM/CO2, and GEM/CH4 emission ratios and the annual mean CO, CO2, and CH4 emissions, respectively, of South Africa in 2007 and 2008. The average of these independent estimates of 14.8 t GEM yr-1 is much less than the total emission of 257 t Hg yr-1 shown by older inventories which are now considered to be wrong. Considering the uncertainties of our emission estimate, of the emission inventories, and the fact that emission of GEM represents 50-78 % of all mercury emissions, our estimate is comparable to the currently cited GEM emissions in 2004 and somewhat smaller than emissions in 2006. A further increase of mercury emissions due to increasing electricity consumption will lead to a more pronounced difference. A quantitative assessment of the difference and its significance, however, will require emission inventories for the years of observations (2007-2009) as well as better data on the speciation of the total mercury emissions in South Africa.

Toward improved guideline quality: using the COGS statement with GEM.

PubMed

Shiffman, Richard N; Michel, Georges

2004-01-01

The Conference on Guideline Standardization (COGS) was convened to create a standardized documentation checklist for clinical practice guidelines in an effort to promote guideline quality and facilitate implementation. The statement was created by a multidisciplinary panel using a rigorous consensus development methodology. The Guideline Elements Model (GEM) provides a standardized approach to representing guideline documents using XML. In this work, we demonstrate the sufficiency of GEM for describing COGS components. Using the mapping between COGS and GEM elements we built an XSLT application to examine a guideline's adherence (or non-adherence) to the COGS checklist. Once a guideline has been marked up according to the GEM hierarchy, its knowledge content can be reused in multiple ways.

Comparative verification between GEM model and official aviation terminal forecasts

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Miller, Robert G.

1988-01-01

The Generalized Exponential Markov (GEM) model uses the local standard airways observation (SAO) to predict hour-by-hour the following elements: temperature, pressure, dew point depression, first and second cloud-layer height and amount, ceiling, total cloud amount, visibility, wind, and present weather conditions. GEM is superior to persistence at all projections for all elements in a large independent sample. A minute-by-minute GEM forecasting system utilizing the Automated Weather Observation System (AWOS) is under development.

Self-Delivery Nanoparticles of Amphiphilic Methotrexate-Gemcitabine Prodrug for Synergistic Combination Chemotherapy via Effect of Deoxyribonucleotide Pools.

PubMed

Wang, Yao; Huang, Ping; Hu, Minxi; Huang, Wei; Zhu, Xinyuan; Yan, Deyue

2016-11-16

The distinct and complementary biochemical mechanisms of folic acid analog methotrexate (MTX) and cytidine analog gemcitabine (GEM) make their synergistic combination effective. Unfortunately, such a combination faces severe pharmacokinetic problems and several transportation barriers. To overcome these problems, a new strategy of amphiphilic small molecule prodrug (ASMP) is developed to improve their synergistic combination effect. The ASMP was prepared by the amidation of the hydrophilic GEM with the hydrophobic MTX at a fixed ratio. Owing to its inherent amphiphilicity, the MTX-GEM ASMP self-assembled into stable nanoparticles (ASMP-NPs) with high drug loading capacity (100%), in which the MTX and GEM could self-deliver without any carriers and release synchronously in cancer cells. In vitro studies showed that the MTX-GEM ASMP-NPs could greatly improve the synergistic combination effects by the reason of arresting more S phase of the cell cycle and reducing levels of deoxythymidine triphosphate (dTTP), deoxyadenosine triphosphate (dATP), and deoxycytidine triphosphate (dCTP). The stronger synergistic effects caused the higher cell cytotoxicity and apoptotic ratio, and circumvented the multidrug resistance (MDR) of tumor cells. Additionally, MTX-GEM ASMP-NPs could achieve the same anticancer effect with the greatly reduced dosage compared with the free drugs according to the dose-reduction index (DRI) values of MTX and GEM in MTX-GEM ASMP-NPs, which may be beneficial for reducing the side effects.

Sheath-flow electrochemical detection of amino acids with a copper wire electrode in capillary electrophoresis.

PubMed

Inoue, Junji; Kaneta, Takashi; Imasaka, Totaro

2012-09-01

Here, we report the detection of native amino acids using a sheath-flow electrochemical detector with a working electrode made of copper wire. A separation capillary that was inserted into a platinum tube in the detector acted as a grounded electrode for electrophoresis and as a flow channel for sheath liquid. Sheath liquid flowed outside the capillary to support the transport of the separated analytes to the working electrode for electrochemical detection. The copper wire electrode was aligned at the outlet of the capillary in a wall-jet configuration. Amino acids injected into the capillary were separated following elution from the end of the capillary and detection by the copper electrode. Three kinds of copper electrodes with different diameters-50, 125, and 300 μm-were examined to investigate the effect of the electrode diameter on sensitivity. The peak widths of the analytes were independent of the diameter of the working electrode, while the 300-μm electrode led to a decrease in the signal-to-noise ratio compared with the 50- and 125-μm electrodes, which showed no significant difference. The flow rate of the sheath liquid was also varied to optimize the detection conditions. The limits of detection for amino acids ranged from 4.4 to 27 μM under optimal conditions. © 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Gaseous elemental mercury (GEM) fluxes over canopy of two typical subtropical forests in south China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, Qian; Luo, Yao; Wang, Shuxiao; Wang, Zhiqi; Hao, Jiming; Duan, Lei

2018-01-01

Mercury (Hg) exchange between forests and the atmosphere plays an important role in global Hg cycling. The present estimate of global emission of Hg from natural source has large uncertainty, partly due to the lack of chronical and valid field data, particularly for terrestrial surfaces in China, the most important contributor to global atmospheric Hg. In this study, the micrometeorological method (MM) was used to continuously observe gaseous elemental mercury (GEM) fluxes over forest canopy at a mildly polluted site (Qianyanzhou, QYZ) and a moderately polluted site (Huitong, HT, near a large Hg mine) in subtropical south China for a full year from January to December in 2014. The GEM flux measurements over forest canopy in QYZ and HT showed net emission with annual average values of 6.67 and 0.30 ng m-2 h-1, respectively. Daily variations of GEM fluxes showed an increasing emission with the increasing air temperature and solar radiation in the daytime to a peak at 13:00, and decreasing emission thereafter, even as a GEM sink or balance at night. High temperature and low air Hg concentration resulted in the high Hg emission in summer. Low temperature in winter and Hg absorption by plant in spring resulted in low Hg emission, or even adsorption in the two seasons. GEM fluxes were positively correlated with air temperature, soil temperature, wind speed, and solar radiation, while it is negatively correlated with air humidity and atmospheric GEM concentration. The lower emission fluxes of GEM at the moderately polluted site (HT) when compared with that in the mildly polluted site (QYZ) may result from a much higher adsorption fluxes at night in spite of a similar or higher emission fluxes during daytime. This shows that the higher atmospheric GEM concentration at HT restricted the forest GEM emission. Great attention should be paid to forests as a crucial increasing Hg emission source with the decreasing atmospheric GEM concentration in polluted areas because of Hg emission abatement in the future.

Limitations and opportunities of whole blood bilirubin measurements by GEM premier 4000®.

PubMed

Wang, Li; Albert, Arianne Y K; Jung, Benjamin; Hadad, Keyvan; Lyon, Martha E; Basso, Melanie

2017-03-29

Neonatal hyperbilirubinemia has traditionally been screened by either total serum bilirubin or transcutaneous bilirubin. Whole blood bilirubin (TwB) by the GEM Premier 4000® blood gas analyzer (GEM) is a relatively new technology and it provides fast bilirubin results with a small sample volume and can measure co-oximetry and other analytes. Our clinical study was to evaluate the reliability of TwB measured by the GEM and identify analytical and clinical factors that may contribute to possible bias. 440 consecutive healthy newborn samples that had plasma bilirubin ordered for neonatal hyperbilirubinemia screening were included. TwB was first measured using the GEM, after which the remainder of the blood was spun and plasma neonatal bilirubin was measured using the VITROS 5600® (VITROS). 62 samples (14%) were excluded from analysis due to failure in obtaining GEM results. Passing-Bablok regression suggested that the GEM results were negatively biased at low concentrations of bilirubin and positively biased at higher concentrations relative to the VITROS results (y = 1.43x-61.13). Bland-Altman plots showed an overall negative bias of the GEM bilirubin with a wide range of differences compared to VITROS. Both hemoglobin concentration and hemolysis affected the accuracy of the GEM results. Clinically, male infants had higher mean bilirubin levels, and infants delivered by caesarean section had lower hemoglobin levels. When comparing the number of results below the 40th percentile and above the 95th percentile cut-offs in the Bhutani nomogram which would trigger discharge or treatment, GEM bilirubin exhibited poor sensitivity and poor specificity in contrast to VITROS bilirubin. An imperfect correlation was observed between whole blood bilirubin measured on the GEM4000® and plasma bilirubin on the VITROS 5600®. The contributors to the observed differences between the two instruments were specimen hemolysis and the accuracy of hemoglobin measurements, the latter of which affects the calculation of plasma-equivalent bilirubin. Additionally, the lack of standardization of total bilirubin calibration particularly in newborn specimens, may also account for some of the disagreement in results.

Sensitive enhancement of vessel wall imaging with an endoesophageal Wireless Amplified NMR Detector (WAND).

PubMed

Zeng, Xianchun; Barbic, Mladen; Chen, Liangliang; Qian, Chunqi

2017-11-01

To improve the imaging quality of vessel walls with an endoesophageal Wireless Amplified NMR Detector (WAND). A cylindrically shaped double-frequency resonator has been constructed with a single metal wire that is self-connected by a pair of nonlinear capacitors. The double-frequency resonator can convert wirelessly provided pumping power into amplified MR signals. This compact design makes the detector easily insertable into a rodent esophagus. The detector has good longitudinal and axial symmetry. Compared to an external surface coil, the WAND can enhance detection sensitivity by at least 5 times, even when the distance separation between the region of interest and the detector's cylindrical surface is twice the detector's own radius. Such detection capability enables us to observe vessel walls near the aortic arch and carotid bifurcation with elevated sensitivity. A cylindrical MRI detector integrated with a wireless-powered amplifier has been developed as an endoesophageal detector to enhance detection sensitivity of vessel walls. This detector can greatly improve the imaging quality for vessel regions that are susceptible to atherosclerotic lesions. Magn Reson Med 78:2048-2054, 2017. © 2016 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. © 2016 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.

3D Observation of GEMS by Electron Tomography

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Matsuno, Junya; Miyake, Akira; Tsuchiyama, Akira; Nakamura-Messenger, Keiko; Messenger, Scott

2014-01-01

Amorphous silicates in chondritic porous interplanetary dust particles (CP-IDPs) coming from comets are dominated by glass with embedded metal and sulfides (GEMS). GEMS grains are submicron-sized rounded objects (typically 100-500) nm in diameter) with anaometer-sized (10-50 nm) Fe-Ni metal and sulfide grains embedded in an amorphous silicate matrix. Several formation processes for GEMS grains have been proposed so far, but these models are still being debated [2-5]. Bradley et al. proposed that GEMS grains are interstellar silicate dust that survived various metamorphism or alteration processes in the protoplanetary disk and that they are amorphiation products of crystalline silicates in the interstellar medium by sputter-deposition of cosmic ray irradiation, similar to space weathering [2,4]. This consideration is based on the observation of nano-sized crystals (approximately 10 nm) called relict grains in GEMS grains and their shapes are pseudomorphs to the host GEMS grains. On the other hand, Keller and Messenger proposed that most GEMS formed in the protoplanetary disk as condensates from high temperature gas [3,5]. This model is based on the fact that most GEMS grains have solar isotopic compositions and have extremely heterogeneous and non-solar elemental compositions. Keller and Messenger (2011) also reported that amorphous silicates in GEMS grains are surrounded by sulfide grains, which formed as sulfidization of metallic iron grains located on the GEMS surface. The previous studies were performed with 2D observation by using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) or scanning TEM (STEM). In order to understand the structure of GEMS grains described above more clearly, we observed 3D structure of GEMS grains by electron tomography using a TEM/STEM (JEM-2100F, JEOL) at Kyoto University. Electron tomography gives not only 3D structures but also gives higher spatial resolution (approximately a few nm) than that in conventional 2D image, which is restricted by sample thickness ) approx. or greater than 50 nm). Three cluster IDPs (L2036AA5 cluster4, L2009L8 cluster 13 and W726A2) were used for the observations. ID W726A2 was collected without silicon oil, which is ordinary used to collect IDPs, so this sample has no possibility of contaminations caused by silicon oil or solvent to rinse it [6]. The samples were embedded in epoxy risin and sliced into ultrathin sections (50-300 nm) using an ultramicotome. The sections were observed by BF-TEM and HAADF-STEM (high angle annular dark field-scanning TEM) modes. Images were obtained by rotating the sample tilt angle over a range of +/- 65 deg in 1 deg steps. The obtained images were reconstructed to slice images. Mineral phases in the slice images were estimated by comparing with a 2D elemental map obtained by an EDS (energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy) system equipped in the TEM/STEM. Careful examination of the slice images confirmed that iron grains are embedded in the amorphous silicate matrix of the GEMS grains, but sulfide grains were mainly present on the surface of the amorphous silicate. These results are consistent with the model that GEMS grains formed as condensates [3,5], although more data are needed to conclude the origin of GEMS grains. The present study is the first successful example adapting the electron tomography to the IDPs. This type of analysis will be important for planetary material sciences in the future.

Natural and anthropogenic atmospheric mercury in the European Arctic: a speciation study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Steen, A. O.; Berg, T.; Dastoor, A. P.; Durnford, D. A.; Hole, L. R.; Pfaffhuber, K. A.

2010-11-01

It is agreed that gaseous elemental mercury (GEM) is converted to reactive gaseous mercury (RGM) during springtime Atmospheric Mercury Depletion Event (AMDE). RGM is associated with aerosols (PHg) provided that there are sufficient aerosols available for the conversion from RGM to PHg to occur. This study reports the longest time series of GEM, RGM and PHg concentrations from a European Arctic site. From 27 April 2007 until 31 December 2008 composite GEM, RGM and PHg measurements were conducted in Ny-Ålesund (78°54' N, 11°53' E). The average concentrations of the complete dataset were 1.62±0.3 ng m-3, 8±13 pgm-3 and 8±25 pgm-3 for GEM, RGM and PHg, respectively. The study revealed a clear seasonal distribution of GEM, RGM and PHg previously undiscovered. For the complete dataset the atmospheric mercury distribution was 99% GEM, whereas RGM and PHg constituted <1%. Increased PHg concentration occurred exclusively from March through April, and constituted on average 75% of the reactive mercury species in the respective period. RGM was suggested as the precursor for the PHg existence, but long range transportation of PHg has to be taken into consideration. Surprisingly, RGM was not solely formed during the spring AMDE season. Environment Canada's Global/Regional Atmospheric Heavy Metal model (GRAHM) suggested that in situ oxidation of GEM by ozone may be producing the increased RGM concentrations from March through August. Most likely, in situ oxidation of GEM by BrO produced the observed RGM from March through August. The AMDEs occurred from late March until mid June and were thought to be of non-local origin, with GEM being transported to the study site by a wide variety of air masses. With some exceptions, no clear meteorological regime was associated with the GEM, RGM and PHg concentrations.

Gemfibrozil, a lipid-lowering drug, upregulates IL-1 receptor antagonist in mouse cortical neurons: implications for neuronal self-defense.

PubMed

Corbett, Grant T; Roy, Avik; Pahan, Kalipada

2012-07-15

Chronic inflammation is becoming a hallmark of several neurodegenerative disorders and accordingly, IL-1β, a proinflammatory cytokine, is implicated in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases. Although IL-1β binds to its high-affinity receptor, IL-1R, and upregulates proinflammatory signaling pathways, IL-1R antagonist (IL-1Ra) adheres to the same receptor and inhibits proinflammatory cell signaling. Therefore, upregulation of IL-1Ra is considered important in attenuating inflammation. The present study underlines a novel application of gemfibrozil (gem), a Food and Drug Administration-approved lipid-lowering drug, in increasing the expression of IL-1Ra in primary mouse and human neurons. Gem alone induced an early and pronounced increase in the expression of IL-1Ra in primary mouse cortical neurons. Activation of type IA p110α PI3K and Akt by gem and abrogation of gem-induced upregulation of IL-1Ra by inhibitors of PI3K and Akt indicate a role of the PI3K-Akt pathway in the upregulation of IL-1Ra. Gem also induced the activation of CREB via the PI3K-Akt pathway, and small interfering RNA attenuation of CREB abolished the gem-mediated increase in IL-1Ra. Furthermore, gem was able to protect neurons from IL-1β insult. However, small interfering RNA knockdown of neuronal IL-1Ra abrogated the protective effect of gem against IL-1β, suggesting that this drug increases the defense mechanism of cortical neurons via upregulation of IL-1Ra. Taken together, these results highlight the importance of the PI3K-Akt-CREB pathway in mediating gem-induced upregulation of IL-1Ra in neurons and suggest gem as a possible therapeutic treatment for propagating neuronal self-defense in neuroinflammatory and neurodegenerative disorders.

Complete Tem-Tomography: 3D Structure of Gems Cluster

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Matsuno, J.; Miyake, A.; Tsuchiyama, A.; Messenger, S.; Nakamura-Messenger, K.

2015-01-01

GEMS (glass with embedded metal and sulfide) grains in interplanetary dust particles (IDPs) are considered to be one of the ubiquitous and fundamental building blocks of solids in the Solar System. They have been considered to be interstellar silicate dust that survived various metamorphism or alteration processes in the protoplanetary disk but the elemental and isotopic composition measurements suggest that most of them have been formed in the protoplanetary disk as condensates from high temperature gas. This formation model is also supported by the formation of GEMS-like grains with respect to the size, mineral assemblage, texture and infrared spectrum by condensation experiments from mean GEMS composition materials. Previous GEMS studies were performed only with 2D observation by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) or scanning TEM (STEM). However, the 3D shape and structure of GEMS grains and the spatial distribution of Fe/FeS's has critical information about their formation and origin. Recently, the 3D structure of GEMS grains in ultrathin sections of cluster IDPs was revealed by electron tomography using a TEM/STEM (JEM-2100F, JEOL). However, CT images of thin sections mounted on Cu grids acquired by conventional TEM-tomography are limited to low tilt angles (e. g., less than absolute value of 75 deg. In fact, previous 3D TEM observations of GEMS were affected by some artifacts related to the limited tilt range in the TEM used. Complete tomographic images should be acquired by rotating the sample tilt angle over a range of more than absolute value of 80 deg otherwise the CT images lose their correct structures. In order to constrain the origin and formation process of GEMS grains more clearly, we performed complete electron tomography for GEMS grains. Here we report the sample preparation method we have developed for this study, and the preliminary results.

Novel Multiplexing Technique for Detector and Mixer Arrays

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Karasik, Boris S.; McGrath, William R.

2001-01-01

Future submillimeter and far-infrared space telescopes will require large-format (many 1000's of elements) imaging detector arrays to perform state-of-the-art astronomical observations. A crucial issue related to a focal plane array is a readout scheme which is compatible with large numbers of cryogenically-cooled (typically < 1 K) detectors elements. When the number of elements becomes of the order of thousands, the physical layout for individual readout amplifiers becomes nearly impossible to realize for practical systems. Another important concern is the large number of wires leading to a 0.1-0.3 K platform. In the case of superconducting transition edge sensors (TES), a scheme for time-division multiplexing of SQUID read-out amplifiers has been recently demonstrated. In this scheme the number of SQUIDs is equal to the number (N) of the detectors, but only one SQUID is turned on at a time. The SQUIDs are connected in series in each column of the array, so the number of wires leading to the amplifiers can be reduced, but it is still of the order of N. Another approach uses a frequency domain multiplexing scheme of the bolometer array. The bolometers are biased with ac currents whose frequencies are individual for each element and are much higher than the bolometer bandwidth. The output signals are connected in series in a summing loop which is coupled to a single SQUID amplifier. The total number of channels depends on the ratio between the SQUID bandwidth and the bolometer bandwidth and can be at least 100 according to the authors. An important concern about this technique is a contribution of the out-of-band Johnson noise which multiplies by factor N(exp 1/2) for each frequency channel. We propose a novel solution for large format arrays based on the Hadamard transform coding technique which requires only one amplifier to read out the entire array of potentially many 1000's of elements and uses approximately 10 wires between the cold stage and room temperature electronics. This can significantly reduce the complexity of the readout circuits.

An energy-efficient failure detector for vehicular cloud computing.

PubMed

Liu, Jiaxi; Wu, Zhibo; Dong, Jian; Wu, Jin; Wen, Dongxin

2018-01-01

Failure detectors are one of the fundamental components for maintaining the high availability of vehicular cloud computing. In vehicular cloud computing, lots of RSUs are deployed along the road to improve the connectivity. Many of them are equipped with solar battery due to the unavailability or excess expense of wired electrical power. So it is important to reduce the battery consumption of RSU. However, the existing failure detection algorithms are not designed to save battery consumption RSU. To solve this problem, a new energy-efficient failure detector 2E-FD has been proposed specifically for vehicular cloud computing. 2E-FD does not only provide acceptable failure detection service, but also saves the battery consumption of RSU. Through the comparative experiments, the results show that our failure detector has better performance in terms of speed, accuracy and battery consumption.

An energy-efficient failure detector for vehicular cloud computing

PubMed Central

Liu, Jiaxi; Wu, Zhibo; Wu, Jin; Wen, Dongxin

2018-01-01

Failure detectors are one of the fundamental components for maintaining the high availability of vehicular cloud computing. In vehicular cloud computing, lots of RSUs are deployed along the road to improve the connectivity. Many of them are equipped with solar battery due to the unavailability or excess expense of wired electrical power. So it is important to reduce the battery consumption of RSU. However, the existing failure detection algorithms are not designed to save battery consumption RSU. To solve this problem, a new energy-efficient failure detector 2E-FD has been proposed specifically for vehicular cloud computing. 2E-FD does not only provide acceptable failure detection service, but also saves the battery consumption of RSU. Through the comparative experiments, the results show that our failure detector has better performance in terms of speed, accuracy and battery consumption. PMID:29352282

The development and evaluation of mini-GEMs - short, focused, online e-learning videos in geriatric medicine.

PubMed

Garside, Mark J; Fisher, James M; Blundell, Adrian G; Gordon, Adam L

2018-01-01

Mini Geriatric E-Learning Modules (Mini-GEMs) are short, focused, e-learning videos on geriatric medicine topics, hosted on YouTube, which are targeted at junior doctors working with older people. This study aimed to explore how these resources are accessed and used. The authors analyzed the viewing data from 22 videos published over the first 18 months of the Mini-GEM project. We conducted a focus group of U.K. junior doctors considering their experiences with Mini-GEMS. The Mini-GEMs were viewed 10,291 times over 18 months, equating to 38,435 minutes of total viewing time. The average viewing time for each video was 3.85 minutes. Learners valued the brevity and focused nature of the Mini-GEMs and reported that they watched them in a variety of settings to supplement clinical experiences and consolidate learning. Watching the videos led to an increase in self-reported confidence in managing older patients. Mini-GEMs can effectively disseminate clinical teaching material to a wide audience. The videos are valued by junior doctors due to their accessibility and ease of use.

Teaching Electricity and Engineering with LEDs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnstone, Christopher

2014-01-01

When learning about electricity, students are typically asked to complete a simple circuit involving a battery, wire, and lightbulb. This activity can be enhanced by adding discussion and discourse and can take on a unique final form in the case of "The Friendship Detector." In such electrical circuit activities, the completed circuit is…

Method and apparatus for detecting gem-polyhalogenated hydrocarbons

DOEpatents

Anderson, deceased, William G.; Anderson, legal representative, Johanna S.

1990-01-01

A method and optrode for detecting gem polyhalogenated hydrocarbons in a sample fluid based on a single phase Fujiwara reaction as provided. The method comprises contacting a reaction mixture with a sample fluid which contains the gem-polyhalogenated hydrocarbons. The reaction mixture comprises an aqueous solution of pyridine or derivative thereof and a hindered nitrogen base. Upon contact a fluorescent and/or chromgenic reaction product forms whose fluorescence and/or absorbance is related to the concentration of gem-polyhalogenated hydrocarbons in the sample fluid.

Synthesis of GEMS from Shock-accelerated Crystalline Dust in Superbubbles: Model and Predictions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Westphal, Andrew J.; Bradley, John P.

2005-01-01

GEMS (Glass Embedded with Metals and Sulfides) are highly enigmatic yet common components of anhydrous IDPs. We have recently proposed a model of GEMS formation from shock-accelerated crystalline dust in superbubbles[1] which explains the three most perplexing properties of GEMS: pseudomorphism[2], their chemistry[3], and their size range. In this Abstract, we briefly review the main points of the model, and suggest tests that will either prove or rule out this hypothesis.

A gating grid driver for time projection chambers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tangwancharoen, S.; Lynch, W. G.; Barney, J.; Estee, J.; Shane, R.; Tsang, M. B.; Zhang, Y.; Isobe, T.; Kurata-Nishimura, M.; Murakami, T.; Xiao, Z. G.; Zhang, Y. F.; SπRIT Collaboration

2017-05-01

A simple but novel driver system has been developed to operate the wire gating grid of a Time Projection Chamber (TPC). This system connects the wires of the gating grid to its driver via low impedance transmission lines. When the gating grid is open, all wires have the same voltage allowing drift electrons, produced by the ionization of the detector gas molecules, to pass through to the anode wires. When the grid is closed, the wires have alternating higher and lower voltages causing the drift electrons to terminate at the more positive wires. Rapid opening of the gating grid with low pickup noise is achieved by quickly shorting the positive and negative wires to attain the average bias potential with N-type and P-type MOSFET switches. The circuit analysis and simulation software SPICE shows that the driver restores the gating grid voltage to 90% of the opening voltage in less than 0.20 μs, for small values of the termination resistors. When tested in the experimental environment of a time projection chamber larger termination resistors were chosen so that the driver opens the gating grid in 0.35 μs. In each case, opening time is basically characterized by the RC constant given by the resistance of the switches and terminating resistors and the capacitance of the gating grid and its transmission line. By adding a second pair of N-type and P-type MOSFET switches, the gating grid is closed by restoring 99% of the original charges to the wires within 3 μs.

Two new sources of reactive gaseous mercury in the free troposphere

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Timonen, H.; Ambrose, J. L.; Jaffe, D. A.

2012-11-01

Mercury (Hg) is a neurotoxin that bioaccumulates in the food chain. Mercury is emitted to the atmosphere primarily in its elemental form, which has a long lifetime allowing global transport. It is known that atmospheric oxidation of gaseous elemental mercury (GEM) generates reactive gaseous mercury (RGM) which plays an important role in the atmospheric mercury cycle by enhancing the rate of mercury deposition to ecosystems. However, the primary GEM oxidants, and the sources and chemical composition of RGM are poorly known. Using speciated mercury measurements conducted at the Mt. Bachelor Observatory since 2005 we present two previously unidentified sources of RGM to the free troposphere (FT). Firstly, we observed elevated RGM concentrations, large RGM/GEM-ratios, and anti-correlation between RGM and GEM during Asian long-rang transport events, demonstrating that RGM is formed from GEM by in-situ oxidation in some anthropogenic pollution plumes in the FT. During the Asian pollution events the measured RGM/GEM-ratios reached peak values, up to ~0.20, which are significantly larger than ratios typically measured (RGM/GEM < 0.05) in the Asian source region. Secondly, we observed very high RGM levels - the highest reported in the FT - in clean air masses that were processed upwind of Mt. Bachelor Observatory over the Pacific Ocean. The high RGM concentrations (up to 700 pg m-3), high RGM/GEM-ratios (up to 1), and very low ozone levels during these events provide the first observational evidence indicating significant GEM oxidation in the lower FT. The identification of these processes changes our conceptual understanding of the formation and distribution of oxidized Hg in the global atmosphere.

Genetic consultation embedded in a gynecologic oncology clinic improves compliance with guideline-based care.

PubMed

Senter, Leigha; O'Malley, David M; Backes, Floor J; Copeland, Larry J; Fowler, Jeffery M; Salani, Ritu; Cohn, David E

2017-10-01

Analyze the impact of embedding genetic counseling services in gynecologic oncology on clinician referral and patient uptake of cancer genetics services. Data were reviewed for a total of 737 newly diagnosed epithelial ovarian cancer patients seen in gynecologic oncology at a large academic medical center including 401 from 11/2011-7/2014 (a time when cancer genetics services were provided as an off-site consultation). These data were compared to data from 8/2014-9/2016 (n=336), when the model changed to the genetics embedded model (GEM), incorporating a cancer genetic counselor on-site in the gynecologic oncology clinic. A statistically significant difference in proportion of patients referred pre- and post-GEM was observed (21% vs. 44%, p<0.0001). Pre-GEM, only 38% of referred patients were actually scheduled for genetics consultation and post-GEM 82% were scheduled (p<0.00001). The difference in the time from referral to scheduling in genetics was also statistically significant (3.92months pre-GEM vs. 0.79months post-GEM, p<0.00001) as was the time from referral to completion of genetics consultation (2.52months pre-GEM vs. 1.67months post-GEM, p<0.01). Twenty-five percent of patients referred post GEM were seen by the genetic counselor on the same day as the referral. Providing cancer genetics services on-site in gynecologic oncology and modifying the process by which patients are referred and scheduled significantly increases referral to cancer genetics and timely completion of genetics consultation, improving compliance with guideline-based care. Practice changes are critical given the impact of genetic test results on treatment and familial cancer risks. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Development of Resistive Electrode Gas Electron Multiplier (RE-GEM)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yoshikawa, A.; Tamagawa, T.; Iwahashi, T.; Asami, F.; Takeuchi, Y.; Hayato, A.; Hamagaki, H.; Gunji, T.; Akimoto, R.; Nukariya, A.;

Gaseous Elemental Mercury (GEM) Emissions from Snow Surfaces in Northern New York

PubMed Central

Maxwell, J. Alexander; Holsen, Thomas M.; Mondal, Sumona

2013-01-01

Snow surface-to-air exchange of gaseous elemental mercury (GEM) was measured using a modified Teflon fluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP) dynamic flux chamber (DFC) in a remote, open site in Potsdam, New York. Sampling was conducted during the winter months of 2011. The inlet and outlet of the DFC were coupled with a Tekran Model 2537A mercury (Hg) vapor analyzer using a Tekran Model 1110 two port synchronized sampler. The surface GEM flux ranged from −4.47 ng m−2 hr−1 to 9.89 ng m−2 hr−1. For most sample periods, daytime GEM flux was strongly correlated with solar radiation. The average nighttime GEM flux was slightly negative and was not well correlated with any of the measured meteorological variables. Preliminary, empirical models were developed to estimate GEM emissions from snow surfaces in northern New York. These models suggest that most, if not all, of the Hg deposited with and to snow is reemitted to the atmosphere. PMID:23874951

Divergent Mechanistic Routes for the Formation of gem-Dimethyl Groups in the Biosynthesis of Complex Polyketides

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Poust, S; Phelan, RM; Deng, K

The gem-dimethyl groups in polyketide-derived natural products add steric bulk and, accordingly, lend increased stability to medicinal compounds, however, our ability to rationally incorporate this functional group in modified natural products is limited. In order to characterize the mechanism of gem-dimethyl group formation, with a goal toward engineering of novel compounds containing this moiety, the gem-dimethyl group producing polyketide synthase (PKS) modules of yersiniabactin and epothilone were characterized using mass spectrometry. The work demonstrated, contrary to the canonical understanding of reaction order in PKSs, that methylation can precede condensation in gem-dimethyl group producing PKS modules. Experiments showed that both PKSsmore » are able to use dimethylmalonyl acyl carrier protein (ACP) as an extender unit. Interestingly, for epothilone module8, use of dimethylmalonyl-ACP appeared to be the sole route to form a gem-dimethylated product, while the yersiniabactin PKS could methylate before or after ketosynthase condensation.« less

Gaseous elemental mercury (GEM) emissions from snow surfaces in northern New York.

PubMed

Maxwell, J Alexander; Holsen, Thomas M; Mondal, Sumona

2013-01-01

Snow surface-to-air exchange of gaseous elemental mercury (GEM) was measured using a modified Teflon fluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP) dynamic flux chamber (DFC) in a remote, open site in Potsdam, New York. Sampling was conducted during the winter months of 2011. The inlet and outlet of the DFC were coupled with a Tekran Model 2537A mercury (Hg) vapor analyzer using a Tekran Model 1110 two port synchronized sampler. The surface GEM flux ranged from -4.47 ng m(-2) hr(-1) to 9.89 ng m(-2) hr(-1). For most sample periods, daytime GEM flux was strongly correlated with solar radiation. The average nighttime GEM flux was slightly negative and was not well correlated with any of the measured meteorological variables. Preliminary, empirical models were developed to estimate GEM emissions from snow surfaces in northern New York. These models suggest that most, if not all, of the Hg deposited with and to snow is reemitted to the atmosphere.

Aircraft Observations of Mercury over the US: The Nomadss Experiment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jaffe, D. A.; Ambrose, J. L., II; Gratz, L.; Jaegle, L.; Shah, V.; Selin, N. E.; Song, S.; Giang, A.

2014-12-01

The Nitrogen, Oxidants, Mercury, and Aerosol Distributions, Sources and Sinks (NOMADSS) experiment took place in the summer of 2013. This is one of the first airborne experiments to focus on the sources and chemistry of Hg in the atmosphere. The experiment flew 19 research flights on the NCAR C-130 aircraft, based out of Smyrna, TN. The primary Hg goals for NOMADSS were to constrain emissions of Hg over the U.S. and quantify the distribution and chemistry of Gaseous Elemental Mercury (GEM) and Reactive Mercury (RM) in the troposphere. We measured speciated Hg on the C-130 using the UW-Detector of Oxidized HG species (UW-DOHGS). This instrument has been developed over several years and tested/calibrated with several HgX2 compounds and other compounds to examine possible interferences. In its current configuration, the instrument quantitatively measures HgX2 compounds (HgCl2 and HgBr2) with no interference from O3. During NOMADSS, flight planning was facilitated by use of the NASA GEOS-5 system, which provided forecasts for many relevant tracers. Post-mission analyses are being conducted using the GEOS-Chem Hg model. This provides a key tool to compare current estimates of Hg sources and distribution with aircraft observations. We are using the NOMADSS data for several types of analyses: GEM emissions and concentrations in power plant plumes and downwind of urban centers; Presence of RM in relatively high concentration in several free tropospheric locations; Evaluation and interpretation of the data using the GEOS-Chem Hg model. While there are a number of important results from NOMADSS, the most striking is the high concentrations of RM GOM in some regions of the upper troposphere, significantly higher than calculated by the standard GEOS-Chem simulation. We believe this is most likely due to halogen oxidation. These results suggest higher halogen concentrations or faster oxidation of GEM and thus a substantial rethinking of Hg oxidation in the global atmosphere.

The Effects of HSP27 on Gemcitabine-Resistant Pancreatic Cancer Cell Line Through Snail.

PubMed

Zhang, Song; Zhang, Xiao-qi; Huang, Shu-ling; Chen, Min; Shen, Shan-shan; Ding, Xi-wei; Lv, Ying; Zou, Xiao-ping

2015-10-01

To evaluate the regulation mechanism of heat shock protein 27 (HSP27) on gemcitabine (GEM) resistance of pancreatic cancer cell. The expression vectors pEGFP-C1-HSP27 and the vectors of MicroRNA targeting Snail were introduced into GEM-sensitive pancreatic cancer SW1990 cells, and the vectors of small hairpin RNA targeting HSP27 were transfected into SW1990 and GEM-resistant SW1990/GEM cells. The expressions of HSP27, p-HSP27 (Ser82), Snail, ERCC1, and E-cadherin were evaluated by Western blotting. The sensitivity of transfected cells to GEM was detected by CCK-8 assay and Annexin V-FITC apoptosis assay. As compared to SW1990, SW1990/GEM showed significantly increased expressions of HSP27, p-HSP27, Snail and ERCC1 with decreased expression of E-cadherin. By increasing HSP27 expression, we found increase of Snail and ERCC1 with reduction of E-cadherin expressions, while reduction of HSP27 expression caused reduction of Snail and ERCC1 but increase of E-cadherin expressions. Downregulation of Snail resulted in the reduction of ERCC1 expression and increase of E-cadherin. Furthermore, downregulation of HSP27 or snail caused increased GEM sensitivity of pancreatic cancer cells, and upregulation of HSP27 showed the opposite results. There is an inverse correlation between HSP27 expression and GEM sensitivity of SW1990 cells, which might be realized by regulating E-cadherin and ERCC1 expressions through Snail.

Ion profiling in an ambient drift tube-ion mobility spectrometer using a high pixel density linear array detector IonCCD.

PubMed

Davila, Stephen J; Hadjar, Omar; Eiceman, Gary A

2013-07-16

A linear pixel-based detector array, the IonCCD, is characterized for use under ambient conditions with thermal (<1 eV) positive ions derived from purified air and a 10 mCi (63)Ni foil. The IonCCD combined with a drift tube-ion mobility spectrometer permitted the direct detection of gas phase ions at atmospheric pressure and confirmed a limit of detection of 3000 ions/pixel/frame established previously in both the keV (1-2 keV) and the hyper-thermal (10-40 eV) regimes. Results demonstrate the "broad-band" application of the IonCCD over 10(5) orders in ion energy and over 10(10) in operating pressure. The Faraday detector of a drift tube for an ion mobility spectrometer was replaced with the IonCCD providing images of ion profiles over the cross-section of the drift tube. Patterns in the ion profiles were developed in the drift tube cross-section by control of electric fields between wires of Bradbury Nielson and Tyndall Powell shutter designs at distances of 1-8 cm from the detector. Results showed that ion beams formed in wire sets, retained their shape with limited mixing by diffusion and Coulombic repulsion. Beam broadening determined as 95 μm/cm for hydrated protons in air with moisture of ~10 ppmv. These findings suggest a value of the IonCCD in further studies of ion motion and diffusion of thermalized ions, enhancing computational results from simulation programs, and in the design or operation of ion mobility spectrometers.

Development of a Liquefied Noble Gas Time Projection Chamber

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lesser, Ezra; White, Aaron; Aidala, Christine

2015-10-01

Liquefied noble gas detectors have been used for various applications in recent years for detecting neutrinos, neutrons, photons, and potentially dark matter. The University of Michigan is developing a detector with liquid argon to produce scintillation light and ionization electrons. Our data collection method will allow high-resolution energy measurement and spatial reconstruction of detected particles by using multi-pixel silicon photomultipliers (SiPM) and a cylindrical time projection chamber (TPC) with a multi-wire endplate. We have already designed a liquid argon condenser and purification unit surrounded by an insulating vacuum, constructed circuitry for temperature and pressure sensors, and created software to obtain high-accuracy sensor readouts. The status of detector development will be presented. Funded through the Michigan Memorial Phoenix Project.

The constant current loop: A new paradigm for resistance signal conditioning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anderson, Karl F.

1994-02-01

A practical single constant current loop circuit for the signal conditioning of variable-resistance transducers has been synthesized, analyzed, and demonstrated. The strain gage and the resistance temperature detector are examples of variable-resistance sensors. Lead wires connect variable-resistance sensors to remotely located signal-conditioning hardware. The presence of lead wires in the conventional Wheatstone bridge signal-conditioning circuit introduces undesired effects that reduce the quality of the data from the remote sensors. A practical approach is presented for suppressing essentially all lead wire resistance effects while indicating only the change in resistance value. Theoretical predictions supported by laboratory testing confirm the following features of the approach: (1) dc response; (2) the electrical output is unaffected by extremely large variation in the resistance of any or all lead wires; (3) the electrical output remains zero for no change in gage resistance; (4) the electrical output is inherently linear with respect to gage resistance change; (5) the sensitivity is double that of a Wheatstone bridge circuit; and (6) the same excitation wires can serve multiple independent gages. An adaptation of current loop circuit is presented that simultaneously provides an output signal voltage directly proportional to transducer resistance change and provides temperature information that is unaffected by transducer and lead wire resistance variations. These innovations are the subject of NASA patent applications.

A Drift Chamber to Measure Charged Particles at COMPASS-II

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Heitz, Robert; Compass Collaboration

2013-10-01

A new drift chamber (DC05) will be constructed to replace two tracking detector stations based on straw tubes, ST02 and ST03 in the COMPASS spectrometer. DC05 uses the designs from DC04, a previous drift chamber designed at CEA-Saclay, France, but adds the addition of more wires for improved acceptance. In addition to more wires DC05 will also change its front end electronics using a new pre-amplifier-discriminator chip (CMAD). DC05 consists of 8 layers of anode planes and 21 layers of G-10 material frames carrying cathode planes and gas windows. The wires are orientated with two layers in the vertical x-direction, two layers in the horizontal y-direction, two layers offset +10 deg of the vertical x-direction, and two layers offset -10 deg of the vertical x-direction. The wires in parallel directions are offset half a pitch to resolve left-right ambiguities. The purpose for different wire orientations is to reconstruct the 3D space particle trajectory to fit a particle track. Each layer of wires is covered on the top and bottom by a cathode plane of carbon coated mylar. All these layers are sandwiched between two steel stiffening frames for support and noise reduction. A future drift chamber, DC06, is also being designed based off of DC05. Research funded by NSF-PHY-12-05-671 Medium Energy Nuclear Physics.

The constant current loop: A new paradigm for resistance signal conditioning

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Anderson, Karl F.

1994-01-01

A practical single constant current loop circuit for the signal conditioning of variable-resistance transducers has been synthesized, analyzed, and demonstrated. The strain gage and the resistance temperature detector are examples of variable-resistance sensors. Lead wires connect variable-resistance sensors to remotely located signal-conditioning hardware. The presence of lead wires in the conventional Wheatstone bridge signal-conditioning circuit introduces undesired effects that reduce the quality of the data from the remote sensors. A practical approach is presented for suppressing essentially all lead wire resistance effects while indicating only the change in resistance value. Theoretical predictions supported by laboratory testing confirm the following features of the approach: (1) dc response; (2) the electrical output is unaffected by extremely large variation in the resistance of any or all lead wires; (3) the electrical output remains zero for no change in gage resistance; (4) the electrical output is inherently linear with respect to gage resistance change; (5) the sensitivity is double that of a Wheatstone bridge circuit; and (6) the same excitation wires can serve multiple independent gages. An adaptation of current loop circuit is presented that simultaneously provides an output signal voltage directly proportional to transducer resistance change and provides temperature information that is unaffected by transducer and lead wire resistance variations. These innovations are the subject of NASA patent applications.

Central Drift Chamber for Belle-II

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Taniguchi, N.

2017-06-01

The Central Drift Chamber (CDC) is the main device for tracking and identification of charged particles for Belle-II experiment. The Belle-II CDC is cylindrical wire chamber with 14336 sense wires, 2.3 m-length and 2.2 m-diameter. The wire chamber and readout electronics have been completely replaced from the Belle CDC. The new readout electronics system must handle higher trigger rate of 30 kHz with less dead time at the design luminosity of 8 × 1035 cm-2s-1. The front-end electronics are located close to detector and send digitized signal through optical fibers. The Amp-Shaper-Discriminator chips, FADC and FPGA are assembled on a single board. Belle-II CDC with readout electronics has been installed successfully in Belle structure in October 2016. We will present overview of the Belle-II CDC and status of commissioning with cosmic ray.

IEEE 1988 International Symposium on Electromagnetic Compatibility, Seattle, WA, Aug. 2-4, 1988, Record

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Various papers on electromagnetic compatibility are presented. Some of the optics considered include: field-to-wire coupling 1 to 18 GHz, SHF/EHF field-to-wire coupling model, numerical method for the analysis of coupling to thin wire structures, spread-spectrum system with an adaptive array for combating interference, technique to select the optimum modulation indices for suppression of undesired signals for simultaneous range and data operations, development of a MHz RF leak detector technique for aircraft harness surveillance, and performance of standard aperture shielding techniques at microwave frequncies. Also discussed are: spectrum efficiency of spread-spectrum systems, control of power supply ripple produced sidebands in microwave transistor amplifiers, an intership SATCOM versus radar electromagnetic interference prediction model, considerations in the design of a broadband E-field sensing system, unique bonding methods for spacecraft, and review of EMC practice for launch vehicle systems.

Overview of the Gems Model of Volunteer Administration (Generate, Educate, Mobilize and Sustain)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Culp, Ken, III

2012-01-01

To organize and coordinate the efforts of many volunteers, a framework for volunteer engagement is needed. The "GEMS" Model of volunteer administration was developed to assist Extension professionals and volunteer coordinators to effectively administer volunteer programs without delivering the program themselves. The GEMS Model is…

The Ozone Layer. UNEP/GEMS Environment Library No. 2.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

United Nations Environment Programme, Nairobi (Kenya).

Since the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) was created, more than a dozen years ago, public understanding of the environmental issues confronting our planet has increased enormously. The Global Environment Monitoring System (GEMS) has provided several environmental assessments. The aim of the UNEP/GEMS Environment Library is to provide…

Imaging Demonstration of a Glass Gas Electron Multiplier with Electronic Charge Readout

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mitsuya, Yuki; Thuiner, Patrik; Oliveri, Eraldo; Resnati, Filippo; Stenis, Miranda van; Fujiwara, Takeshi; Takahashi, Hiroyuki; Ropelewski, Leszek

2018-02-01

We have developed a Glass Gas Electron Multiplier (Glass GEM, G-GEM), which is composed of two copper electrodes separated by a photosensitive etchable glass substrate having holes arranged in a hexagonal pattern. In this paper, we report the result of imaging using a G-GEM combined with a 2D electronic charge readout. We used a crystallized photosensitive etchable glass as the G-GEM substrate. A precise X-ray image of a small mammal was successfully obtained with position resolutions of approximately 110 to 140 μm in RMS.

A gravity model for crustal dynamics (GEM-L2)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lerch, F. J.; Klosko, S. M.; Patel, G. B.; Wagner, C. A.

1985-01-01

The Laser Geodynamics Satellite (Lageos) was the first NASA satellite which was placed into orbit exclusively for laser ranging applications. Lageos was designed to permit extremely accurate measurements of the earth's rotation and the movement of the tectonic plates. The Goddard earth model, GEM-L2, was derived mainly on the basis of the precise laser ranging data taken on many satellites. Douglas et al. (1984) have demonstrated the utility of GEM-L2 in detecting the broadest ocean circulations. As Lageos data constitute the most extensive set of satellite laser observations ever collected, the incorporation of 2-1/2 years of these data into the Goddard earth models (GEM) has substantially advanced the geodynamical objectives. The present paper discusses the products of the GEM-L2 solution.

Performance Evaluation of the COBRA GEM for the Application of the TPC

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Terasaki, Kohei; Hamagaki, Hideki; Gunji, Taku; Yamaguchi, Yorito

2014-09-01

Suppression of the back-drifting ions from avalanche region to drift space (IBF: Ion Backflow) is the key for a Time Projection Chamber (TPC) since IBF easily distorts the drift field. To suppress IBF, Gating Grid system is widely used for the TPC but this limits the data taking rate. Gas Electron Multiplier (GEM) has advantages in the reduction of IBF and high rate capability. By adopting GEM, it is possible to run a TPC continuously under high rate and high multiplicity conditions. Motivated by the study of IBF reduction for RICH with Thick COBRA, which has been developed by F. A. Amero et al., we developed COBRA GEMs for the application of a TPC. With a stack configuration, IBF reaches about 0.1 ~ 0.5%, which is ×5--10 better IBF than the standard GEMs. However, the measured energy resolution with COBRA is 20% (σ) and this is much worse than the resolution with standard GEMs. Measurement of long-time stability of gain indicates that gain of COBRA varies significantly due to charging up effect. Simulation studies based on Garfield++ are performed for understanding quantitatively the reasons of worse energy resolution and instability of gain. In this presentation, we will report the simulation studies together with the measured performance of the COBRA GEM.

Distributed Antenna-Coupled TES for FIR Detectors Arrays

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Day, Peter K.; Leduc, Henry G.; Dowell, C. Darren; Lee, Richard A.; Zmuidzinas, Jonas

2007-01-01

We describe a new architecture for a superconducting detector for the submillimeter and far-infrared. This detector uses a distributed hot-electron transition edge sensor (TES) to collect the power from a focal-plane-filling slot antenna array. The sensors lay directly across the slots of the antenna and match the antenna impedance of about 30 ohms. Each pixel contains many sensors that are wired in parallel as a single distributed TES, which results in a low impedance that readily matches to a multiplexed SQUID readout These detectors are inherently polarization sensitive, with very low cross-polarization response, but can also be configured to sum both polarizations. The dual-polarization design can have a bandwidth of 50The use of electron-phonon decoupling eliminates the need for micro-machining, making the focal plane much easier to fabricate than with absorber-coupled, mechanically isolated pixels. We discuss applications of these detectors and a hybridization scheme compatible with arrays of tens of thousands of pixels.

Modelling two-way interactions between atmospheric pollution and weather using high-resolution GEM-MACH

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Makar, Paul; Gong, Wanmin; Pabla, Balbir; Cheung, Philip; Milbrandt, Jason; Gravel, Sylvie; Moran, Michael; Gilbert, Samuel; Zhang, Junhua; Zheng, Qiong

2013-04-01

The Global Environmental Multiscale (GEM) model is the source of the Canadian government's operational numerical weather forecast guidance, and GEM-MACH is the Canadian operational air-quality forecast model. GEM-MACH comprises GEM and the 'Modelling Air-quality and Chemistry' module, a gas-phase, aqueous-phase and aerosol chemistry and microphysics subroutine package called from within GEM's physics module. The present operational GEM-MACH model is "on-line" (both chemistry and meteorology are part of the same modelling structure) but is not fully coupled (weather variables are provided as inputs to the chemistry, but the chemical variables are not used to modify the weather). In this work, we describe modifications made to GEM-MACH as part of the 2nd phase of the Air Quality Model Evaluation International Initiative, in order to bring the model to a fully coupled status and present the results of initial tests comparing uncoupled and coupled versions of the model to observations for a high-resolution forecasting system. Changes to GEM's cloud microphysics and radiative transfer packages were carried out to allow two-way coupling. The cloud microphysics package used here is the Milbrandt-Yau 2-moment (MY2) bulk microphysics scheme, which solves prognostic equations for the total droplet number concentration and the mass mixing ratios of six hydrometeor categories. Here, we have replaced the original cloud condensation nucleation parameterization of MY2 (empirically relating supersaturation and CCN number) with the aerosol activation scheme of Abdul-Razzak and Ghan (2002). The latter scheme makes use of the particle size and speciation distribution of GEM-MACH's chemistry code as well as meteorological inputs to predict the number of aerosol particles activated to form cloud droplets, which is then used in the MY2 microphysics. The radiative transfer routines of GEM assume a default constant concentration aerosol profile between the surface and 1500m, and a single set of optical properties for extinction, single scattering albedo, and asymmetry factor. Ozone in GEM is taken from a default 2D (latitude-height) monthly climatology. We have replaced the ozone below the model top with the ozone calculated from GEM-MACH's chemistry, and the default optical parameters associated with particulate matter have been replaced by those calculated with a Mie scattering algorithm. These changes were found to have a significant local impact on both weather and air-quality predictions for short-term test runs of 24 hours duration. In that particular case, the maximum number concentration of cloud droplets decreased by an order of magnitude, while the number of raindrops increased by an order of magnitude and changed in spatial distribution, but surface rainfall was found to decrease. The differences in meteorology had a profound effect on local pollutant plume concentrations at specific locations and times. We compare results over a longer time period, using two parallel forecast systems, one with feedbacks between meteorology and chemistry, one without. Both nest GEM-MACH from a North American domain (10 km horizontal grid spacing) to a 1535 x 1360 km, 2.5 km domain. These systems will be evaluated against monitoring networks within the high resolution domain.

Blast-induced Mild Traumatic Brain Injury

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-01-01

concentration with agents such as psychostimulants, or improving compensatory strategies through cognitive- behavioral therapies. Pharmacological interventions...participate in educational activities and support groups. Some examples of general educational content include (1) compensatory strategies for impaired...or simple, ranging from electronic transmitters to trip wires, tilt switches, motion detectors, or thermal or pressure-sensitive switches. lEOs are

Development of GEM detector for plasma diagnostics application: simulations addressing optimization of its performance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chernyshova, M.; Malinowski, K.; Kowalska-Strzęciwilk, E.; Czarski, T.; Linczuk, P.; Wojeński, A.; Krawczyk, R. D.

2017-12-01

The advanced Soft X-ray (SXR) diagnostics setup devoted to studies of the SXR plasma emissivity is at the moment a highly relevant and important for ITER/DEMO application. Especially focusing on the energy range of tungsten emission lines, as plasma contamination by W and its transport in the plasma must be understood and monitored for W plasma-facing material. The Gas Electron Multiplier, with a spatial and energy-resolved photon detecting chamber, based SXR radiation detection system under development by our group may become such a diagnostic setup considering and solving many physical, technical and technological aspects. This work presents the results of simulations aimed to optimize a design of the detector's internal chamber and its performance. The study of the effect of electrodes alignment allowed choosing the gap distances which maximizes electron transmission and choosing the optimal magnitudes of the applied electric fields. Finally, the optimal readout structure design was identified suitable to collect a total formed charge effectively, basing on the range of the simulated electron cloud at the readout plane which was in the order of ~ 2 mm.

A 18 m 2 cylindrical tracking detector made of 2.6 m long, stereo mylar straw tubes with 100 μm resolution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Benussi, L.; Bertani, M.; Bianco, S.; Fabbri, F. L.; Gianotti, P.; Giardoni, M.; Ghezzo, A.; Guaraldo, C.; Lanaro, A.; Locchi, P.; Lu, J.; Lucherini, V.; Mecozzi, A.; Pace, E.; Passamonti, L.; Qaisar, N.; Ricciardi, A.; Sarwar, S.; Serdyouk, V.; Trasatti, L.; Volkov, A.; Zia, A.

1998-12-01

An array of 2424 2.6 m-long, 15 mm-diameter mylar straw tubes, arranged in two axial and four stereo layers, has been assembled. The array covers a cylindrical tracking surface of 18 m 2 and provides coordinate measurement in the drift direction and along the wire. A correction of the systematic effects which are introduced by gravitational sag and electrostatics, thus dominating the detector performance especially with long straws, allows to determine wire position from drift-time distribution. The correction has been applied to reach a space resolution of 40 μm with DME, 100 μm with Ar+C 2H 6, and 100-200 μm with CO 2. Such a resolution is the best ever obtained for straws of these dimensions. A study of the gas leakage for the straw system has been performed, and results are reported. The array is being commissioned as a subdetector of the FINUDA spectrometer, and tracking performances are being studied with cosmic rays.

Atmospheric mercury speciation in Shanghai, China.

PubMed

Duan, Lian; Wang, Xiaohao; Wang, Dongfang; Duan, Yusen; Cheng, Na; Xiu, Guangli

2017-02-01

GEM (Gaseous elemental mercury), fine fraction (<2.5μm) PBM (Particle-bound mercury) and GOM (Gaseous oxidized mercury) were continuously monitored from Jun 1 to Dec 31 2014 at a suburban site in Shanghai. The average concentrations of GEM, PBM and GOM were 4.19±9.13ng·m -3 , 197±877pg·m -3 , 21±100pg·m -3 , respectively, which were all much higher than those at urban sites in Europe and North America and rural areas of China, but lower than those at urban sites of China. The concentrations of the three mercury species were all found with the highest concentration in December than those in summer. Overall, GEM varied little and PBM exhibited higher level during the night, while GOM typically peaked in the noon and afternoon which is consistent with that of ozone, indicating that GOM may depend on the stronger photochemical reactions during the daytime. Despite of the weak correlations of GEM with SO 2 (r=0.14, p<0.0001) and NO X (r=0.17, p<0.0001), GEM, PBM, SO 2 and NO x exhibited similar diurnal trend, suggesting that coal combustion might be the important sources of mercury in Shanghai because there is no mercury mining companies and few mercuric manufacturers in Shanghai. The strong correlation of PBM with GEM and GOM showed that directly anthropogenic emission was an important source of GEM and PBM, but the gas-particle partitioning of GOM and GEM might be also another source of PBM. The lower GEM/CO ratio of 3.9 (ng·m -3 ·ppmv -1 ) in Shanghai than that for mainland China and non-ferrous smelting factories were related to the few non-ferrous smelting factories around Shanghai. The results from the potential source contribution function (PSCF) model furtherly illustrated that in Shanghai the concentration of GEM in summer and autumn might be highly impacted by the local and regional source but wasn't heavily affected by long-range transport. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The Mitochondrial GTPase Gem1 Contributes to the Cell Wall Stress Response and Invasive Growth of Candida albicans.

PubMed

Koch, Barbara; Tucey, Timothy M; Lo, Tricia L; Novakovic, Stevan; Boag, Peter; Traven, Ana

2017-01-01

The interactions of mitochondria with the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) are crucial for maintaining proper mitochondrial morphology, function and dynamics. This enables cells to utilize their mitochondria optimally for energy production and anabolism, and it further provides for metabolic control over developmental decisions. In fungi, a key mechanism by which ER and mitochondria interact is via a membrane tether, the protein complex ERMES (ER-Mitochondria Encounter Structure). In the model yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae , the mitochondrial GTPase Gem1 interacts with ERMES, and it has been proposed to regulate its activity. Here we report on the first characterization of Gem1 in a human fungal pathogen. We show that in Candida albicans Gem1 has a dominant role in ensuring proper mitochondrial morphology, and our data is consistent with Gem1 working with ERMES in this role. Mitochondrial respiration and steady state cellular phospholipid homeostasis are not impacted by inactivation of GEM1 in C. albicans . There are two major virulence-related consequences of disrupting mitochondrial morphology by GEM1 inactivation: C. albicans becomes hypersusceptible to cell wall stress, and is unable to grow invasively. In the gem1 Δ / Δ mutant, it is specifically the invasive capacity of hyphae that is compromised, not the ability to transition from yeast to hyphal morphology, and this phenotype is shared with ERMES mutants. As a consequence of the hyphal invasion defect, the gem1 Δ / Δ mutant is drastically hypovirulent in the worm infection model. Activation of the mitogen activated protein (MAP) kinase Cek1 is reduced in the gem1 Δ / Δ mutant, and this function could explain both the susceptibility to cell wall stress and lack of invasive growth. This result establishes a new, respiration-independent mechanism of mitochondrial control over stress signaling and hyphal functions in C. albicans . We propose that ER-mitochondria interactions and the ER-Mitochondria Organizing Network (ERMIONE) play important roles in adaptive responses in fungi, in particular cell surface-related mechanisms that drive invasive growth and stress responsive behaviors that support fungal pathogenicity.

The Mitochondrial GTPase Gem1 Contributes to the Cell Wall Stress Response and Invasive Growth of Candida albicans

PubMed Central

Koch, Barbara; Tucey, Timothy M.; Lo, Tricia L.; Novakovic, Stevan; Boag, Peter; Traven, Ana

2017-01-01

The interactions of mitochondria with the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) are crucial for maintaining proper mitochondrial morphology, function and dynamics. This enables cells to utilize their mitochondria optimally for energy production and anabolism, and it further provides for metabolic control over developmental decisions. In fungi, a key mechanism by which ER and mitochondria interact is via a membrane tether, the protein complex ERMES (ER-Mitochondria Encounter Structure). In the model yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the mitochondrial GTPase Gem1 interacts with ERMES, and it has been proposed to regulate its activity. Here we report on the first characterization of Gem1 in a human fungal pathogen. We show that in Candida albicans Gem1 has a dominant role in ensuring proper mitochondrial morphology, and our data is consistent with Gem1 working with ERMES in this role. Mitochondrial respiration and steady state cellular phospholipid homeostasis are not impacted by inactivation of GEM1 in C. albicans. There are two major virulence-related consequences of disrupting mitochondrial morphology by GEM1 inactivation: C. albicans becomes hypersusceptible to cell wall stress, and is unable to grow invasively. In the gem1Δ/Δ mutant, it is specifically the invasive capacity of hyphae that is compromised, not the ability to transition from yeast to hyphal morphology, and this phenotype is shared with ERMES mutants. As a consequence of the hyphal invasion defect, the gem1Δ/Δ mutant is drastically hypovirulent in the worm infection model. Activation of the mitogen activated protein (MAP) kinase Cek1 is reduced in the gem1Δ/Δ mutant, and this function could explain both the susceptibility to cell wall stress and lack of invasive growth. This result establishes a new, respiration-independent mechanism of mitochondrial control over stress signaling and hyphal functions in C. albicans. We propose that ER-mitochondria interactions and the ER-Mitochondria Organizing Network (ERMIONE) play important roles in adaptive responses in fungi, in particular cell surface-related mechanisms that drive invasive growth and stress responsive behaviors that support fungal pathogenicity. PMID:29326680

Acute and delayed toxicity of gemcitabine administered during isolated lung perfusion: a preclinical dose-escalation study in pigs.

PubMed

Pagès, Pierre-Benoit; Derangere, Valentin; Bouchot, Olivier; Magnin, Guy; Charon-Barra, Céline; Lokiec, François; Ghiringhelli, François; Bernard, Alain

2015-08-01

Colorectal cancer is the third most commonly diagnosed cancer worldwide, with up to 25% of patients presenting with metastases at the time of diagnosis. Despite pulmonary metastasectomy many patients go on to develop pulmonary recurrence, which might be linked to the presence of lung micrometastases. In this setting, the adjuvant administration of high-dose chemotherapy by isolated lung perfusion (ILP) has shown encouraging results. However, the tolerance to and efficacy of modern gemcitabine (GEM)-based chemotherapy regimens during adjuvant ILP remain unknown. We conducted a dose-escalating preclinical study to evaluate the immediate and delayed toxicity of GEM in a pig model to define dose-limiting toxicity (DLT) and maximum tolerated concentration. Twenty-three pigs were given increasing concentrations of GEM during ILP, and were awakened at the end of the procedure. The concentrations of GEM were 40, 80, 160, 320, 640 and 1280 µg/ml. Serum and lung samples were taken to measure GEM concentrations. Pulmonary damage was evaluated by histological examination and cleaved caspase-3 detection. Immediate and delayed (1 month) toxicity were recorded. All of the animals underwent successful ILP with GEM. No systemic leak was observed. The three pigs that received a concentration of GEM of 1280 µg/ml died of hypoxia after lung recirculation at the end of the procedure. Eleven pigs survived for 1 month. Major lung toxicity was observed for the concentration of GEM of 640 µg/ml, both at the end of the procedure and after 1 month. DLT was defined at the concentration of 640 µg/ml and the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) was defined at the concentration of 320 µg/ml. ILP with GEM is a safe and reproducible technique in this large-animal model, which includes 1 month of survival. The MTD in this pig model was a concentration of GEM of 320 µg/ml. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery. All rights reserved.

Digital frequency domain multiplexing readout electronics for the next generation of millimeter telescopes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bender, Amy N.; Cliche, Jean-François; de Haan, Tijmen; Dobbs, Matt A.; Gilbert, Adam J.; Montgomery, Joshua; Rowlands, Neil; Smecher, Graeme M.; Smith, Ken; Wilson, Andrew

2014-07-01

Frequency domain multiplexing (fMux) is an established technique for the readout of transition-edge sensor (TES) bolometers in millimeter-wavelength astrophysical instrumentation. In fMux, the signals from multiple detectors are read out on a single pair of wires reducing the total cryogenic thermal loading as well as the cold component complexity and cost of a system. The current digital fMux system, in use by POLARBEAR, EBEX, and the South Pole Telescope, is limited to a multiplexing factor of 16 by the dynamic range of the Superconducting Quantum Interference Device pre-amplifier and the total system bandwidth. Increased multiplexing is key for the next generation of large format TES cameras, such as SPT-3G and POLARBEAR2, which plan to have on the of order 15,000 detectors. Here, we present the next generation fMux readout, focusing on the warm electronics. In this system, the multiplexing factor increases to 64 channels per module (2 wires) while maintaining low noise levels and detector stability. This is achieved by increasing the system bandwidth, reducing the dynamic range requirements though active feedback, and digital synthesis of voltage biases with a novel polyphase filter algorithm. In addition, a version of the new fMux readout includes features such as low power consumption and radiation-hard components making it viable for future space-based millimeter telescopes such as the LiteBIRD satellite.

Monte Carlo simulation of a photodisintegration of 3 H experiment in Geant4

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gray, Isaiah

2013-10-01

An upcoming experiment involving photodisintegration of 3 H at the High Intensity Gamma-Ray Source facility at Duke University has been simulated in the software package Geant4. CAD models of silicon detectors and wire chambers were imported from Autodesk Inventor using the program FastRad and the Geant4 GDML importer. Sensitive detectors were associated with the appropriate logical volumes in the exported GDML file so that changes in detector geometry will be easily manifested in the simulation. Probability distribution functions for the energy and direction of outgoing protons were generated using numerical tables from previous theory, and energies and directions were sampled from these distributions using a rejection sampling algorithm. The simulation will be a useful tool to optimize detector geometry, estimate background rates, and test data analysis algorithms. This work was supported by the Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory REU program at Duke University.

Production of low-background CuSn6-bronze for the CRESST dark-matter-search experiment.

PubMed

Majorovits, B; Kader, H; Kraus, H; Lossin, A; Pantic, E; Petricca, F; Proebst, F; Seidel, W

2009-01-01

One of the most intriguing open questions in modern particle physics is the nature of the dark matter in our universe. As hypothetical weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) do interact with ordinary matter extremely rarely, their observation requires a very low-background detector environment regarding radioactivity as well as an advanced detector technique that allows for active discrimination of the still present radioactive contaminations. The CRESST experiment uses detectors operating at milli-Kelvin temperature. Energy deposition in the detectors is recorded via the simultaneous measurement of a phonon-mediated signal and scintillation emitted by the CaWO(4) crystal targets. The entire setup is made of carefully selected materials. In this note we report on the development of ultra-pure bronze (CuSn(6)) wire in small quantities for springs and clamps that are currently being used in the CRESST II setup.

Performance of the improved larger acceptance spectrometer: VAMOS++

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rejmund, M.; Lecornu, B.; Navin, A.; Schmitt, C.; Damoy, S.; Delaune, O.; Enguerrand, J. M.; Fremont, G.; Gangnant, P.; Gaudefroy, L.; Jacquot, B.; Pancin, J.; Pullanhiotan, S.; Spitaels, C.

2011-08-01

Measurements and ion optic calculations showed that the large momentum acceptance of the VAMOS spectrometer at GANIL could be further increased from ˜11% to ˜30% by suitably enlarging the dimensions of the detectors used at the focal plane. Such a new detection system built for the focal plane of VAMOS is described. It consists of larger area detectors (1000 mm×150 mm) namely, a Multi-Wire Parallel Plate Avalanche Counter (MWPPAC), two drift chambers, a segmented ionization chamber and an array of Si detectors. Compared to the earlier existing system (VAMOS), we show that the new system (VAMOS++) has a dispersion-independent momentum acceptance. Additionally, a start detector (MWPPAC) has been introduced near the target to further improve the mass resolution to ˜1/220. The performance of the VAMOS++ spectrometer is demonstrated using measurements of residues formed in the collisions of 129Xe at 967 MeV on 197Au.

Real-time continuous-wave terahertz line scanner based on a compact 1 × 240 InGaAs Schottky barrier diode array detector.

PubMed

Han, Sang-Pil; Ko, Hyunsung; Kim, Namje; Lee, Won-Hui; Moon, Kiwon; Lee, Il-Min; Lee, Eui Su; Lee, Dong Hun; Lee, Wangjoo; Han, Seong-Tae; Choi, Sung-Wook; Park, Kyung Hyun

2014-11-17

We demonstrate real-time continuous-wave terahertz (THz) line-scanned imaging based on a 1 × 240 InGaAs Schottky barrier diode (SBD) array detector with a scan velocity of 25 cm/s, a scan line length of 12 cm, and a pixel size of 0.5 × 0.5 mm². Foreign substances, such as a paper clip with a spatial resolution of approximately 1 mm that is hidden under a cracker, are clearly detected by this THz line-scanning system. The system consists of the SBD array detector, a 200-GHz gyrotron source, a conveyor system, and several optical components such as a high-density polyethylene cylindrical lens, metal cylindrical mirror, and THz wire-grid polarizer. Using the THz polarizer, the signal-to-noise ratio of the SBD array detector improves because the quality of the source beam is enhanced.

Determination of itopride hydrochloride by high-performance liquid chromatography with Ru(bpy)3(2+) electrogenerated chemiluminescence detection.

PubMed

Sun, Yonghua; Zhang, Zhujun; Xi, Zhijun; Shi, Zuolong; Tian, Wei

2009-08-26

In this work, a stable electrogenerated chemiluminescence (ECL) detector was developed. The detector was prepared by packing cation-exchanged resin particles in a glass tube, followed by inserting Pt wires (working electrode) in this tube and sealing. The leakage of Ru(bpy)(3)(2+) can be compensated by adding a small amount of Ru(bpy)(3)(2+) into solution phase. Coupled with high-performance liquid chromatography separation, the detector has been used for determination of itopride hydrochloride in human serum. Under the optimal conditions, the ECL intensity has a linear relationship with the concentration of itopride hydrochloride in the range of 1.0 x 10(-8) g mL(-1) to 1.0 x 10(-6) g mL(-1) and the detection limit was 3 x 10(-9) g mL(-1) (S/N=3). The as-prepared ECL detector displayed good sensitivity and stability.

NCCAM/NCI Phase 1 Study of Mistletoe Extract and Gemcitabine in Patients with Advanced Solid Tumors

PubMed Central

Mansky, Patrick J.; Sannes, Timothy S.; Johnson, Laura Lee; Blackman, Marc R.; Grem, Jean L.; Swain, Sandra M.; Monahan, Brian P.

2013-01-01

Purpose. European Mistletoe (Viscum album L.) extracts (mistletoe) are commonly used for cancer treatment in Europe. This phase I study of gemcitabine (GEM) and mistletoe in advanced solid cancers (ASC) evaluated: (1) safety, toxicity, and maximum tolerated dose (MTD), (2) absolute neutrophil count (ANC) recovery, (3) formation of mistletoe lectin antibodies (ML ab), (4) cytokine plasma concentrations, (5) clinical response, and (6) pharmacokinetics of GEM. Methods. Design: increasing mistletoe and fixed GEM dose in stage I and increasing doses of GEM with a fixed dose of mistletoe in stage II. Dose limiting toxicities (DLT) were grade (G) 3 nonhematologic and G4 hematologic events; MTD was reached with 2 DLTs in one dosage level. Response in stage IV ASC was assessed with descriptive statistics. Statistical analyses examined clinical response/survival and ANC recovery. Results. DLTs were G4 neutropenia, G4 thrombocytopenia, G4 acute renal failure, and G3 cellulitis, attributed to mistletoe. GEM 1380 mg/m2 and mistletoe 250 mg combined were the MTD. Of 44 patients, 24 developed nonneutropenic fever and flu-like syndrome. GEM pharmacokinetics were unaffected by mistletoe. All patients developed ML3 IgG antibodies. ANC showed a trend to increase between baseline and cycle 2 in stage I dose escalation. 6% of patients showed partial response, 42% stable disease. Median survival was 200 days. Compliance with mistletoe injections was high. Conclusion. GEM plus mistletoe is well tolerated. No botanical/drug interactions were observed. Clinical response is similar to GEM alone. PMID:24285980

1985 Nuclear Science Symposium, 32nd, and 1985 Symposium on Nuclear Power Systems, 17th, San Francisco, CA, October 23-25, 1985, Proceedings

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1986-01-01

The present conference ranges over topics in high energy physics instrumentation, detectors, nuclear medical applications, health physics and environmental monitoring, reactor instrumentation, nuclear spacecraft instrumentation, the 'Fastbus' data acquisition system, circuits and systems for nuclear research facilities, and the development status of nuclear power systems. Specific attention is given to CCD high precision detectors, a drift chamber preamplifier, a Cerenkov ring imaging detector, novel scintillation glasses and scintillating fibers, a modular multidrift vertex detector, radial wire drift chambers, liquid argon polarimeters, a multianode photomultiplier, the reliability of planar silicon detectors, the design and manufacture of wedge and strip anodes, ultrafast triode photodetectors, photomultiplier tubes, a barium fluoride plastic scintillator, a fine grained neutron hodoscope, the stability of low leakage silicon photodiodes for crystal calorimeters, and X-ray proportional counters. Also considered are positron emission tomography, single photon emission computed tomography, nuclear magnetic resonance imaging, Geiger-Muller detectors, nuclear plant safeguards, a 32-bit Fastbus computer, an advanced light water reactor, and nuclear plant maintenance.

A Quasiparticle Detector for Imaging Quantum Turbulence in Superfluid He-B

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ahlstrom, S. L.; Bradley, D. I.; Fisher, S. N.; Guénault, A. M.; Guise, E. A.; Haley, R. P.; Holt, S.; Kolosov, O.; McClintock, P. V. E.; Pickett, G. R.; Poole, M.; Schanen, R.; Tsepelin, V.; Woods, A. J.

2014-06-01

We describe the development of a two-dimensional quasiparticle detector for use in visualising quantum turbulence in superfluid He-B at ultra-low temperatures. The detector consists of a matrix of pixels, each a 1 mm diameter hole in a copper block containing a miniature quartz tuning fork. The damping on each fork provides a measure of the local quasiparticle flux. The detector is illuminated by a beam of ballistic quasiparticles generated from a nearby black-body radiator. A comparison of the damping on the different forks provides a measure of the cross-sectional profile of the beam. Further, we generate a tangle of vortices (quantum turbulence) in the path of the beam using a vibrating wire resonator. The vortices cast a shadow onto the face of the detector due to the Andreev reflection of quasiparticles in the beam. This allows us to image the vortices and to investigate their dynamics. Here we give details of the design and construction of the detector and show some preliminary results for one row of pixels which demonstrates its successful application to measuring quasiparticle beams and quantum turbulence.

CTA1: Purified and display onto gram-positive enhancer matrix (GEM) particles as mucosal adjuvant.

PubMed

Zhang, Yuanpeng; Yu, Xiaoming; Hou, Liting; Chen, Jin; Li, Pengcheng; Qiao, Xuwen; Zheng, Qisheng; Hou, Jibo

2018-01-01

The A1 subunit of cholera toxin (CTA1) retains the adjuvant function of CT, without its toxic side effects, making the molecule a promising mucosal adjuvant. However, the methods required to obtain a pure product are both complicated and expensive, constricting its potential commercial applicability. Here, we fused the peptidoglycan binding domain (PA) to the C-terminus of CTA1, which enabled the fusion protein to be expressed by Bacillus subtilis, and secreted into the culture medium. CTA1 was then purified and displayed on GEM particles using a one step process, which resulted in the formation of CTA1-GEM complexes. Next, the CTA1-GEM complexes were used as an adjuvant to enhance the immune responses of mice to the influenza subunit vaccine. It was observed that the CTA1-GEM complexes enhanced specific systemic (IgG) and mucosal (IgA) immune responses against antigen, and induced cellular immune responses as well. The data presented here suggests that CTA1-GEM complexes can serve as a viable mucosal adjuvant. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Gravity model improvement using GEOS 3 /GEM 9 and 10/. [and Seasat altimetry data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lerch, F. J.; Wagner, C. A.; Klosko, S. M.; Laubscher, R. E.

1979-01-01

Although errors in previous gravity models have produced large uncertainties in the orbital position of GEOS 3, significant improvement has been obtained with new geopotential solutions, Goddard Earth Model (GEM) 9 and 10. The GEM 9 and 10 solutions for the potential coefficients and station coordinates are presented along with a discussion of the new techniques employed. Also presented and discussed are solutions for three fundamental geodetic reference parameters, viz. the mean radius of the earth, the gravitational constant, and mean equatorial gravity. Evaluation of the gravity field is examined together with evaluation of GEM 9 and 10 for orbit determination accuracy. The major objectives of GEM 9 and 10 are achieved. GEOS 3 orbital accuracies from these models are about 1 m in their radial components for 5-day arc lengths. Both models yield significantly improved results over GEM solutions when compared to surface gravimetry, Skylab and GEOS 3 altimetry, and highly accurate BE-C (Beacon Explorer-C) laser ranges. The new values of the parameters discussed are given.

Gravitomagnetic acceleration of accretion disk matter to polar jets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Poirier, John; Mathews, Grant

2016-03-01

The motion of the masses of an accretion disk around a black hole creates a general relativistic, gravitomagnetic field (GEM) from the moving matter (be it charged or uncharged) of the accretion disk. This GEM field accelerates moving masses (neutral or charged) near the accretion disk vertically upward and away from the disk, and then inward toward the axis of the disk. As the accelerated material nears the axis with approximately vertical angles, a frame dragging effect contributes to the formation of narrow jets emanating from the poles. This GEM effect is numerically evaluated in the first post Newtonian (1PN) approximation from observable quantities like the mass and velocity of the disk. This GEM force is linear in the total mass of the accretion disk matter and quadratic in the velocity of matter near to the disk with approximately the same velocity. Since these masses and velocities can be quite high in astrophysical contexts, the GEM force, which in other contexts is weak, is quite significant. This GEM effect is compared to the ordinary electromagnetic effects applied to this problem in the past.

Gemfibrozil modulates cytochrome P450 and peroxisome proliferation-inducible enzymes in the liver of the yellow European eel (Anguilla anguilla).

PubMed

Lyssimachou, Angeliki; Thibaut, Rémi; Gisbert, Enric; Porte, Cinta

2014-01-01

The human lipid regulator gemfibrozil (GEM) has been shown to induce peroxisome proliferation in rodents leading to hepatocarcinogenesis. Since GEM is found at biological active concentrations in the aquatic environment, the present study investigates the effects of this drug on the yellow European eel (Anguilla anguilla). Eels were injected with different concentrations of GEM (0.1 to 200 μg/g) and sampled 24- and 96-h post-injection. GEM was shown to inhibit CYP1A, CYP3A and CYP2K-like catalytic activities 24-h post-injection, but at 96-h post-injection, only CYP1A was significantly altered in fish injected with the highest GEM dose. On the contrary, GEM had little effect on the phase II enzymes examined (UDP-glucuronyltransferase and glutathione-S-transferase). Peroxisome proliferation inducible enzymes (liver peroxisomal acyl-CoA oxidase and catalase) were very weakly induced. No evidence of a significant effect on the endocrine system of eels was observed in terms of plasmatic steroid levels or testosterone esterification in the liver.

Codelivery of dual drugs from polymeric micelles for simultaneous targeting of both cancer cells and cancer stem cells.

PubMed

Krishnamurthy, Sangeetha; Ng, Victor W L; Gao, Shujun; Tan, Min-Han; Hedrick, James L; Yang, Yi Yan

2015-01-01

Phenformin-loaded micelles (Phen M) were used in combination with gemcitabine-loaded micelles (Gem M) to study their combined effect against H460 human lung cancer cells and cancer stem cells (CSCs) in vitro and in vivo. Gem M and Phen M were prepared via self-assembly of a mixture of a diblock copolymer of PEG and urea-functionalized polycarbonate (PEG-PUC) and a diblock copolymer of PEG and acid-functionalized polycarbonate (PEG-PAC) through hydrogen bonding and ionic interactions. Gem M and Phen M were characterized and tested for efficacy both in vitro and in vivo against cancer cells and CSCs. The combination of Gem M/Phen M exhibited higher cytotoxicity against CSCs and non-CSCs than Gem M and Phen M alone, and showed significant cell cycle growth arrest in vitro. The combination therapy had superior tumor suppression and apoptosis in vivo without inducing toxicity to liver and kidney. The combination of Gem M and Phen M may be potentially used in lung cancer therapy.

A cryogenic thermal source for detector array characterization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chuss, David T.; Rostem, Karwan; Wollack, Edward J.; Berman, Leah; Colazo, Felipe; DeGeorge, Martin; Helson, Kyle; Sagliocca, Marco

2017-10-01

We describe the design, fabrication, and validation of a cryogenically compatible quasioptical thermal source for characterization of detector arrays. The source is constructed using a graphite-loaded epoxy mixture that is molded into a tiled pyramidal structure. The mold is fabricated using a hardened steel template produced via a wire electron discharge machining process. The absorptive mixture is bonded to a copper backplate enabling thermalization of the entire structure and measurement of the source temperature. Measurements indicate that the reflectance of the source is <0.001 across a spectral band extending from 75 to 330 GHz.

The Origins and Evolution of the Time Projection Chamber (TPC) Idea

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Nygren, David

In February 1974, I conceived an idea for a tracking detector with only one spatial projection, thereby eliminating ambiguities that occur in conventional detector systems based on wires. I called it the “Time Projection Chamber”, or TPC, a name that has stuck even though the concept has evolved considerably over the following decades. I will recount the history leading to its conception and development in that now distant epoch, and will attempt to show why this is an interesting and instructive story and how the idea may continue to extend scientific reach in the coming era.

A Cryogenic Thermal Source for Detector Array Characterization

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chuss, David T.; Rostem, Karwan; Wollack, Edward J.; Berman, Leah; Colazo, Felipe; DeGeorge, Martin; Helson, Kyle; Sagliocca, Marco

2017-01-01

We describe the design, fabrication, and validation of a cryogenically compatible quasioptical thermal source for characterization of detector arrays. The source is constructed using a graphite-loaded epoxy mixture that is molded into a tiled pyramidal structure. The mold is fabricated using a hardened steel template produced via a wire electron discharge machining process. The absorptive mixture is bonded to a copper backplate enabling thermalization of the entire structure and measurement of the source temperature. Measurements indicate that the reflectance of the source is less than 0.001 across a spectral band extending from 75 to 330 gigahertz.

Equations for nickel-chromium wire heaters of column transfer lines in gas chromatographic-electroantennographic detection (GC-EAD).

PubMed

Byers, John A

2004-05-30

Heating of chromatographic columns, transfer lines, and other devices is often required in neuroscience research. For example, volatile compounds passing through a capillary column of a gas chromatograph (GC) can be split, with half exiting the instrument through a heated transfer line to an insect antenna or olfactory sensillum for electroantennographic detector (GC-EAD) recordings. The heated transfer line is used to prevent condensation of various chemicals in the capillary that would otherwise occur at room temperature. Construction of such a transfer line heater is described using (80/20%) nickel-chromium heating wire wrapped in a helical coil and powered by a 120/220 V ac rheostat. Algorithms were developed in a computer program to estimate the voltage at which a rheostat should be set to obtain the desired heater temperature for a specific coil. The coil attributes (radius, width, number of loops, or length of each loop) are input by the user, as well as AWG size of heating wire and desired heater temperature. The program calculates total length of wire in the helix, resistance of the wire, amperage used, and the voltage to set the rheostat. A discussion of semiochemical isolation methods using the GC-EAD and bioassays is presented.

A large 2D PSD for thermal neutron detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Knott, R. B.; Smith, G. C.; Watt, G.; Boldeman, J. W.

1997-02-01

A 2D PSD based on a MWPC has been constructed for a small angle neutron scattering instrument. The active area of the detector was 640 × 640 mm 2. To meet the specifications for neutron detection efficiency and spatial resolution, and to minimise parallax, the gas mixture was 190 kPa 3He plus 100 kPa CF 4, and the active volume had a thickness of 30 mm. The design maximum neutron count rate of the detector was 10 5 events per secod. The (calculated) neutron detection efficiency was 60% for 2 Å neutrons and the (measured) neutron energy resolution on the anode grid was typically 20% (fwhm). The location of a neutron detection event within the active area was determined using the wire-by-wire method: the spatial resolution (5 × 5 mm 2) was thereby defined by the wire geometry. A 16-channel charge-sensitive preamplifier/amplifier/comparator module has been developed with a channel sensitivity of 0.1 V/fC, noise line width of 0.4 fC (fwhm) and channel-to-channel cross-talk of less than 5%. The Proportional Counter Operating System (PCOS III) (LeCroy Corp, USA) was used for event encoding. The ECL signals produced by the 16 channel modules were latched in PCOS III by a trigger pulse from the anode and the fast encoders produce a position and width for each event. The information was transferred to a UNIX workstation for accumulation and online display.

Design and Assembly of SPT-3G Cold Readout Hardware

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Avva, J. S.; Ade, P. A. R.; Ahmed, Z.; Anderson, A. J.; Austermann, J. E.; Thakur, R. Basu; Barron, D.; Bender, A. N.; Benson, B. A.; Carlstrom, J. E.; Carter, F. W.; Cecil, T.; Chang, C. L.; Cliche, J. F.; Cukierman, A.; Denison, E. V.; de Haan, T.; Ding, J.; Dobbs, M. A.; Dutcher, D.; Elleflot, T.; Everett, W.; Foster, A.; Gannon, R. N.; Gilbert, A.; Groh, J. C.; Halverson, N. W.; Harke-Hosemann, A. H.; Harrington, N. L.; Hasegawa, M.; Hattori, K.; Henning, J. W.; Hilton, G. C.; Holzapfel, W. L.; Hori, Y.; Huang, N.; Irwin, K. D.; Jeong, O. B.; Jonas, M.; Khaire, T.; Kofman, A. M.; Korman, M.; Kubik, D.; Kuhlmann, S.; Kuo, C. L.; Lee, A. T.; Lowitz, A. E.; Meyer, S. S.; Montgomery, J.; Nadolski, A.; Natoli, T.; Nguyen, H.; Nishino, H.; Noble, G. I.; Novosad, V.; Padin, S.; Pan, Z.; Pearson, J.; Posada, C. M.; Rahlin, A.; Rotermund, K.; Ruhl, J. E.; Saunders, L. J.; Sayre, J. T.; Shirley, I.; Shirokoff, E.; Smecher, G.; Sobrin, J. A.; Stark, A. A.; Story, K. T.; Suzuki, A.; Tang, Q. Y.; Thompson, K. L.; Tucker, C.; Vale, L. R.; Vanderlinde, K.; Vieira, J. D.; Wang, G.; Whitehorn, N.; Yefremenko, V.; Yoon, K. W.; Young, M. R.

2018-05-01

The third-generation upgrade to the receiver on the South Pole Telescope, SPT-3G, was installed at the South Pole during the 2016-2017 austral summer to measure the polarization of the cosmic microwave background. Increasing the number of detectors by a factor of 10 to ˜ 16,000 required the multiplexing factor to increase to 68 and the bandwidth of the frequency-division readout electronics to span 1.6-5.2 MHz. This increase necessitates low-thermal conductance, low-inductance cryogenic wiring. Our cold readout system consists of planar thin-film aluminum inductive-capacitive resonators, wired in series with the detectors, summed together, and connected to 4K SQUIDs by 10-μm -thick niobium-titanium (NbTi) broadside-coupled striplines. Here, we present an overview of the cold readout electronics for SPT-3G, including assembly details and characterization of electrical and thermal properties of the system. We report, for the NbTi striplines, values of R ≤ 10^{-4} Ω , L = 21 ± 1 nH , and C = 1.47± .02 nF . Additionally, the striplines' thermal conductivity is described by kA = 6.0± 0.3 T^{0.92 ± 0.04} μW mm K^{-1} . Finally, we provide projections for cross talk induced by parasitic impedances from the stripline and find that the median value of percentage cross talk from leakage current is 0.22 and 0.09% from wiring impedance.

Editorial: Reviewer Selection Process and New Areas of Expertise in GEMS

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Liemohn, Michael W.; Balikhin, Michael; Kepko, Larry; Rodger, Alan; Wang, Yuming

2016-01-01

One method of selecting potential reviewers for papers submitted to the Journal of Geophysical Research Space Physics is to filter the user database within the Geophysical Electronic Manuscript System (GEMS) by areas of expertise. The list of these areas in GEMS can be self selected by users in their profile settings. The Editors have added 18 new entries to this list, an increase of 33 more than the previous 55 entries. All space physicists are strongly encouraged to update their profile settings in GEMS, especially their areas of expertise selections, and details of how to do this are provided.

Editorial: Reviewer selection process and new areas of expertise in GEMS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liemohn, Michael W.; Balikhin, Michael; Kepko, Larry; Rodger, Alan; Wang, Yuming

2016-06-01

One method of selecting potential reviewers for papers submitted to the Journal of Geophysical Research Space Physics is to filter the user database within the Geophysical Electronic Manuscript System (GEMS) by areas of expertise. The list of these areas in GEMS can be self selected by users in their profile settings. The Editors have added 18 new entries to this list, an increase of 33% more than the previous 55 entries. All space physicists are strongly encouraged to update their profile settings in GEMS, especially their areas of expertise selections, and details of how to do this are provided.

Multimodal properties and dynamics of gradient echo quantum memory.

PubMed

Hétet, G; Longdell, J J; Sellars, M J; Lam, P K; Buchler, B C

2008-11-14

We investigate the properties of a recently proposed gradient echo memory (GEM) scheme for information mapping between optical and atomic systems. We show that GEM can be described by the dynamic formation of polaritons in k space. This picture highlights the flexibility and robustness with regards to the external control of the storage process. Our results also show that, as GEM is a frequency-encoding memory, it can accurately preserve the shape of signals that have large time-bandwidth products, even at moderate optical depths. At higher optical depths, we show that GEM is a high fidelity multimode quantum memory.

Co-delivery of docetaxel and gemcitabine by anacardic acid modified self-assembled albumin nanoparticles for effective breast cancer management.

PubMed

Kushwah, Varun; Katiyar, Sameer S; Dora, Chander Parkash; Kumar Agrawal, Ashish; Lamprou, Dimitrios A; Gupta, Ramesh C; Jain, Sanyog

2018-06-01

In the present study, we have modified bovine serum albumin (BSA) by covalently conjugating with anacardic acid (AA) and gemcitabine (GEM) and further used for development of docetaxel (DTX) loaded nanoparticles (AA-GEM-BSA NPs). AA is supposed to provide tumor targeting through VEGF receptors overexpressed in tumors, while the combination of GEM and DTX is supposed to provide synergistic activity by targeting multiple pathways. The conjugate was synthesized via carbodiimide chemistry and characterized by 1 H NMR, FTIR, MALDI-TOF and elemental analysis. Conformational changes owing to conjugation of AA and GEM were estimated via fluorescence, Raman and CD spectroscopy, while changes in physiochemical properties were studied by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetry (TGA) and contact angle goniometry (CAG). Synthesized conjugate was further transformed into DTX loaded NPs and freeze dried. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) demonstrated formation of spherical NPs having particle size, 163 ± 8 nm, PDI, 0.13 ± 0.09 and ZP, -27 ± 1 mV. Cellular uptake in MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 revealed hNTs, OATP1B3 independent, clathrin mediated internalization followed via nuclear co-localization of C-6 loaded AA-GEM-BSA NPs, responsible for significantly higher apoptosis index. Pharmacokinetic profile of DTX loaded AA-GEM-BSA NPs revealed 6.12 and 3.27-fold and 6.28 and 8.9-fold higher AUC and T 1/2 values of DTX and GEM as compared to Taxotere® and Gemzar®, respectively. Interestingly, the developed NPs were found safe with no marked effect on RBCs, lower hepato and nephro toxicity. Data in hand suggest promising potential of developed NPs in ameliorating the pharmacokinetic and therapeutic profile of combinatorial regimen of DTX and GEM. The present report is the original state of art technology to selectively target dual drug (DTX and GEM) loaded BSA NPs via exploring tumor targeting potential of AA, having high affinity towards VEGF receptors (angiogenesis marker) overexpressed in tumor. The AA and GEM bio-conjugated BSA was synthesized and further used to develop DTX loaded nanoparticles (AA-GEM-BSA NPs). The optimized NPs were further evaluated via extensive in vitro and in vivo studies, demonstrating ameliorated cellular uptake, pharmacokinetic and toxicity profile of drugs. Conclusively, DTX loaded AA-GEM-BSA NPs, holds promising potential in increasing the therapeutic efficiency of drugs and overcoming solvent and drug mediated side effects and can be explored further as a scalable platform technology for difficult to deliver drugs. Copyright © 2018 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Speciated atmospheric mercury and its potential source in Guiyang, China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fu, Xuewu; Feng, Xinbin; Qiu, Guangle; Shang, Lihai; Zhang, Hui

2011-08-01

Speciated atmospheric mercury (Hg) including gaseous elemental mercury (GEM), particulate Hg (PHg), and reactive gaseous Hg (RGM) were continuously measured at an urban site in Guiyang city, southwest China from August to December 2009. The averaged concentrations for GEM, PHg, and RGM were 9.72 ± 10.2 ng m -3, 368 ± 676 pg m -3, and 35.7 ± 43.9 pg m -3, respectively, which were all highly elevated compared to observations at urban sites in Europe and North America. GEM and PHg were characterized by similar monthly and diurnal patterns, with elevated levels in cold months and nighttime, respectively. In contrast, RGM did not exhibit clear monthly and diurnal variations. The variations of GEM, PHg, and RGM indicate the sampling site was significantly impacted by sources in the city municipal area. Sources identification implied that both residential coal burning and large point sources were responsible to the elevated GEM and PHg concentrations; whereas point sources were the major contributors to elevated RGM concentrations. Point sources played a different role in regulating GEM, PHg, and RGM concentrations. Aside from residential emissions, PHg levels was mostly affected by small-scale coal combustion boilers situated to the east of the sampling site, which were scarcely equipped or lacking particulate control devices; whereas point sources situated to the east, southeast, and southwest of the sampling played an important role on the distribution of atmospheric GEM and RGM.

Hyperspectral imaging: gem identification and authentication

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gomez, Richard B.; Del Re, Nicholas

2005-01-01

Through the centuries gem materials have been highly prized and sought after. The varieties of gem materials run into the hundreds if not thousands, characterized by a gamut of material classes running from organic to inorganic and from crystalline to amorphous. All consisting of numerous chemical compositions and characterized by various physical and optical properties. In addition, most gem materials have been subject to numerous modifications to enhance and imitate the most pleasing of esthetic qualities, e.g., dyeing, impregnation, heating, reconstruction, high pressure and temperature, irradiation, and diffusion. Of concern is the ability not only to identify the gem material in question, but if applicable, the treatment. Up until recent, the main instruments utilized to detect these have been simple but quite effective such as a binocular microscope, refractometer, hand spectroscope, dichroscope, and measuring of specific gravity. New gem materials and techniques involved in treatments have become increasingly sophisticated such as ultraviolet-visible-infrared and Raman spectroscopy. In certain cases, some of the most recent techniques have become time consuming and expensive. Here is the opportunity to overview and utilize a powerful technology found in the field of remote sensing, i.e., Hyperspectral Imaging. This technology has been in effect for many years but only recently has it been used to focus on areas similar to the ones in this paper. In particular, hyperspectral imaging technology and its potential application to gem identification and authentication are covered in this paper.

An Initial Evaluation of Tablet Devices & What Are the Next Steps?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McKillen, Tracey

2016-01-01

This paper describes an evaluation of tablet devices for a Graduate Entry Medical School (GEMS). The purpose of this evaluation is to assess what type of tablet device could meet the needs of a GEMS student. GEMS requirements for the evaluation include; using the tablet device to replace paper teaching resources in lectures and tutorials and…

Copper-Catalyzed SN2'-Selective Allylic Substitution Reaction of gem-Diborylalkanes.

PubMed

Zhang, Zhen-Qi; Zhang, Ben; Lu, Xi; Liu, Jing-Hui; Lu, Xiao-Yu; Xiao, Bin; Fu, Yao

2016-03-04

A Cu/(NHC)-catalyzed SN2'-selective substitution reaction of allylic electrophiles with gem-diborylalkanes is reported. Different substituted gem-diborylalkanes and allylic electrophiles can be employed in this reaction, and various synthetic valuable functional groups can be tolerated. The asymmetric version of this reaction was initially researched with chiral N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) ligands.

77 FR 71776 - Certain Steel Threaded Rod From the People's Republic of China: Affirmative Preliminary...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-12-04

... more chromium, by weight, produced by Gem-Year Industrial Co., Ltd. (``Gem- Year''), and otherwise... greater than 1.25 percent chromium, by weight, and otherwise meeting the requirements of the scope of the... threaded rod products with 1.25 percent or more chromium, by weight, produced by Gem-Year, and otherwise...

Quantifying Atmospheric Mercury Emissions Sources in coastal California from Shipboard Measurements During CalNex 2010

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weiss-Penzias, P. S.; Lerner, B. M.; Williams, E. J.; Bates, T. S.; Gaston, C. J.; Prather, K. A.

2011-12-01

Mercury is a neurotoxin that can bioaccumulate in aquatic ecosystems to levels that are unsafe for humans and biota. It has both natural and anthropogenic sources to the atmosphere, where it can be transported and undergo transformations that lead to its deposition in both wet and dry forms. Due to recent surveys of mercury in fish in California that show widespread contamination, there is great interest in knowing the source of this mercury, whether it be from local, regional, or global emissions. In this study we made simultaneous measurements of gaseous elemental mercury (GEM), CO2, CO, NOx, SO2, O3, and meteorology during the spring of 2010 (May 14-June 8) on board the research vessel Atlantis during the CalNex campaign. The goal of this study was to observe and quantify emissions of GEM from known and potential sources along the California coast, including an incinerator, oil refineries, cargo ships, and natural ocean emissions. Additionally, an understanding of the behavior of GEM in the marine boundary layer under land-sea breeze conditions was sought. Our results indicate that on at least one occasion when the ship was located in the San Pedro harbor, emissions from an incinerator were observed, as indicated by high concentrations of GEM and unique single particle chemical composition. Using the ratio of the enhancements in GEM and CO and the CO emissions inventory for this facility, it was estimated that the annual GEM emissions were 11 +/- 5 kg. This is a factor of 5 lower than the reported total mercury emissions inventory for this facility in 2008. The discrepancy may be explained if a significant fraction of the emissions were gaseous oxidized and particulate mercury, since only GEM was measured. Additionally, a plume from a cargo ship was intercepted and the GEM/CO2 enhancement ratio indicated that approximately 13 tonnes of GEM are emitted from shipping worldwide, assuming values for global fuel usage and a CO2/fuel burned mass ratio. In spite of these impacts from combustion sources, mean concentrations of GEM in the bight of the Los Angeles were 1.38 ± 0.19 ng m-3, which is less than recognized hemispheric mean of 1.5-1.7 ng m-3, indicating minimal impact from anthropogenic sources overall. In fact, a slight positive correlation was observed between GEM and DMS in seawater suggesting that the ocean productivity may be associated with a source of mercury in this region.

The structure of the GemC1 coiled coil and its interaction with the Geminin family of coiled-coil proteins

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Caillat, Christophe; Fish, Alexander; Pefani, Dafni-Eleftheria

The GemC1 coiled-coil structure has subtle differences compared with its homologues Geminin and Idas. Co-expression experiments in cells and biophysical stability analysis of the Geminin-family coiled coils suggest that the GemC1 coiled coil alone is unstable. GemC1, together with Idas and Geminin, an important regulator of DNA-replication licensing and differentiation decisions, constitute a superfamily sharing a homologous central coiled-coil domain. To better understand this family of proteins, the crystal structure of a GemC1 coiled-coil domain variant engineered for better solubility was determined to 2.2 Å resolution. GemC1 shows a less typical coiled coil compared with the Geminin homodimer and themore » Geminin–Idas heterodimer structures. It is also shown that both in vitro and in cells GemC1 interacts with Geminin through its coiled-coil domain, forming a heterodimer that is more stable that the GemC1 homodimer. Comparative analysis of the thermal stability of all of the possible superfamily complexes, using circular dichroism to follow the unfolding of the entire helix of the coiled coil, or intrinsic tryptophan fluorescence of a unique conserved N-terminal tryptophan, shows that the unfolding of the coiled coil is likely to take place from the C-terminus towards the N-terminus. It is also shown that homodimers show a single-state unfolding, while heterodimers show a two-state unfolding, suggesting that the dimer first falls apart and the helices then unfold according to the stability of each protein. The findings argue that Geminin-family members form homodimers and heterodimers between them, and this ability is likely to be important for modulating their function in cycling and differentiating cells.« less

Natural and anthropogenic atmospheric mercury in the European Arctic: a fractionation study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Steen, A. O.; Berg, T.; Dastoor, A. P.; Durnford, D. A.; Engelsen, O.; Hole, L. R.; Pfaffhuber, K. A.

2011-07-01

Gaseous elemental mercury (GEM) is converted to reactive gaseous mercury (RGM) during springtime Atmospheric Mercury Depletion Events (AMDE). This study reports the longest time series of GEM, RGM and particle-bound mercury (PHg) concentrations from a European Arctic site. From 27 April 2007 until 31 December 2008 composite GEM, RGM and PHg measurements were conducted in Ny-Ålesund (78° 54' N, 11° 53' E). The average concentrations of the complete dataset were 1.6 ± 0.3 ng m-3, 8 ± 13 pg m-3 and 8 ± 25 pg m-3 for GEM, RGM and PHg, respectively. For the complete dataset the atmospheric mercury distribution was 99 % GEM, whereas RGM and PHg constituted <1 %. The study revealed a seasonal distribution of GEM, RGM and PHg previously undiscovered in the Arctic. Increased concentrations of RGM were observed during the insolation period from March through August, while increased PHg concentrations occurred almost exclusively during the spring AMDE period in March and April. The elevated RGM concentrations suggest that atmospheric RGM deposition also occurs during the polar summer. RGM was suggested as the precursor for the PHg existence, but long range transportation of PHg has to be taken into consideration. Still there remain gaps in the knowledge of how RGM and PHg are related in the environment. RGM and PHg accounted for on average about 10 % of the depleted GEM during AMDEs. Although speculative, the fairly low RGM and PHg concentrations supported by the predominance of PHg with respect to RGM and no clear meteorological regime associated with these AMDEs would all suggest the events to be of non-local origin. With some exceptions, no clear meteorological regime was associated with the GEM, RGM and PHg concentrations throughout the year.

Enhanced tumor targeting of cRGD peptide-conjugated albumin nanoparticles in the BxPC-3 cell line.

PubMed

Yu, Xinzhe; Song, Yunlong; Di, Yang; He, Hang; Fu, Deliang; Jin, Chen

2016-08-12

The emerging albumin nanoparticle brings new hope for the delivery of antitumor drugs. However, a lack of robust tumor targeting greatly limits its application. In this paper, cyclic arginine-glycine-aspartic-conjugated, gemcitabine-loaded human serum albumin nanoparticles (cRGD-Gem-HSA-NPs) were successfully prepared, characterized, and tested in vitro in the BxPC-3 cell line. Initially, 4-N-myristoyl-gemcitabine (Gem-C14) was formed by conjugating myristoyl to the 4-amino group of gemcitabine. Then, cRGD-HSA was synthesized using sulfosuccinimidyl-(4-N-maleimidomethyl)cyclohexane-1-carboxylate (Sulfo-SMCC) cross-linkers. Finally, cRGD-Gem-HSA-NPs were formulated based on the nanoparticle albumin-bound (nab) technology. The resulting NPs were characterized for particle size, zeta potential, morphology, encapsulation efficiency, and drug loading efficiency. In vitro cellular uptake and inhibition studies were conducted to compare Gem-HSA-NPs and cRGD-Gem-HSA-NPs in a human pancreatic cancer cell line (BxPC-3). The cRGD-Gem-HSA-NPs exhibited an average particle size of 160 ± 23 nm. The encapsulation rate and drug loading rate were approximately 83 ± 5.6% and 11 ± 4.2%, respectively. In vitro, the cRGD-anchored NPs exhibited a significantly greater affinity for the BxPC-3 cells compared to non-targeted NPs and free drug. The cRGD-Gem-HSA-NPs also showed the strongest inhibitory effect in the BxPC-3 cells among all the analyzed groups. The improved efficacy of cRGD-Gem-HSA-NPs in the BxPC-3 cell line warrants further in vivo investigations.

Unsupervised Gaussian Mixture-Model With Expectation Maximization for Detecting Glaucomatous Progression in Standard Automated Perimetry Visual Fields.

PubMed

Yousefi, Siamak; Balasubramanian, Madhusudhanan; Goldbaum, Michael H; Medeiros, Felipe A; Zangwill, Linda M; Weinreb, Robert N; Liebmann, Jeffrey M; Girkin, Christopher A; Bowd, Christopher

2016-05-01

To validate Gaussian mixture-model with expectation maximization (GEM) and variational Bayesian independent component analysis mixture-models (VIM) for detecting glaucomatous progression along visual field (VF) defect patterns (GEM-progression of patterns (POP) and VIM-POP). To compare GEM-POP and VIM-POP with other methods. GEM and VIM models separated cross-sectional abnormal VFs from 859 eyes and normal VFs from 1117 eyes into abnormal and normal clusters. Clusters were decomposed into independent axes. The confidence limit (CL) of stability was established for each axis with a set of 84 stable eyes. Sensitivity for detecting progression was assessed in a sample of 83 eyes with known progressive glaucomatous optic neuropathy (PGON). Eyes were classified as progressed if any defect pattern progressed beyond the CL of stability. Performance of GEM-POP and VIM-POP was compared to point-wise linear regression (PLR), permutation analysis of PLR (PoPLR), and linear regression (LR) of mean deviation (MD), and visual field index (VFI). Sensitivity and specificity for detecting glaucomatous VFs were 89.9% and 93.8%, respectively, for GEM and 93.0% and 97.0%, respectively, for VIM. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve areas for classifying progressed eyes were 0.82 for VIM-POP, 0.86 for GEM-POP, 0.81 for PoPLR, 0.69 for LR of MD, and 0.76 for LR of VFI. GEM-POP was significantly more sensitive to PGON than PoPLR and linear regression of MD and VFI in our sample, while providing localized progression information. Detection of glaucomatous progression can be improved by assessing longitudinal changes in localized patterns of glaucomatous defect identified by unsupervised machine learning.

Gemcitabine-Based Chemotherapy in Adrenocortical Carcinoma: A Multicenter Study of Efficacy and Predictive Factors.

PubMed

Henning, Judith E K; Deutschbein, Timo; Altieri, Barbara; Steinhauer, Sonja; Kircher, Stefan; Sbiera, Silviu; Wild, Vanessa; Schlötelburg, Wiebke; Kroiss, Matthias; Perotti, Paola; Rosenwald, Andreas; Berruti, Alfredo; Fassnacht, Martin; Ronchi, Cristina L

2017-11-01

Adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) is rare and confers an unfavorable prognosis in advanced stages. Other than combination chemotherapy with cisplatin, etoposide, doxorubicin, and mitotane, the second- and third-line regimens are not well-established. Gemcitabine (GEM)-based chemotherapy was suggested in a phase 2 clinical trial with 28 patients. In other solid tumors, human equilibrative nucleoside transporter type 1 (hENT1) and/or ribonucleotide reductase catalytic subunit M1 (RRM1) expression have been associated with resistance to GEM. To assess the efficacy of GEM-based chemotherapy in ACC in a real-world setting and the predictive role of molecular parameters. Retrospective multicenter study. Referral centers of university hospitals. A total of 145 patients with advanced ACC were treated with GEM-based chemotherapy (132 with concomitant capecitabine). Formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tumor material was available for 70 patients for immunohistochemistry. The main outcome measures were progression-free survival (PFS) and an objective response to GEM-based chemotherapy. The secondary objective was the predictive role of hENT1 and RRM1. The median PFS for the patient population was 12 weeks (range, 1 to 94). A partial response or stable disease was achieved in 4.9% and 25.0% of cases, with a median duration of 26.8 weeks. Treatment was generally well tolerated, with adverse events of grade 3 or 4 occurring in 11.0% of cases. No substantial effect of hENT1 and/or RRM1 expression was observed in response to GEM-based chemotherapy. GEM-based chemotherapy is a well-tolerated, but modestly active, regimen against advanced ACC. No reliable molecular predictive factors could be identified. Owing to the scarce alternative therapeutic options, GEM-based chemotherapy remains an important option for salvage treatment for advanced ACC. Copyright © 2017 Endocrine Society

Downregulation of STAT3/NF-κB potentiates gemcitabine activity in pancreatic cancer cells.

PubMed

Gong, Jingjing; Muñoz, Amanda R; Pingali, Subramanya; Payton-Stewart, Florastina; Chan, Daniel E; Freeman, James W; Ghosh, Rita; Kumar, Addanki P

2017-02-01

There is an unmet need to develop new agents or strategies against therapy resistant pancreatic cancer (PanCA). Recent studies from our laboratory showed that STAT3 negatively regulates NF-κB and that inhibition of this crosstalk using Nexrutine® (Nx) reduces transcriptional activity of COX-2. Inhibition of these molecular interactions impedes pancreatic cancer cell growth as well as reduces fibrosis in a preclinical animal model. Nx is an extract derived from the bark of Phellodendron amurense and has been utilized in traditional Chinese medicine as antidiarrheal, astringent, and anti-inflammatory agent for centuries. We hypothesized that "Nx-mediated inhibition of survival molecules like STAT3 and NF-κB in pancreatic cancer cells will improve the efficacy of the conventional chemotherapeutic agent, gemcitabine (GEM)." Therefore, we explored the utility of Nx, one of its active constituents berberine and its derivatives, to enhance the effects of GEM. Using multiple human pancreatic cancer cells we found that combination treatment with Nx and GEM resulted in significant alterations of proteins in the STAT3/NF-κB signaling axis culminating in growth inhibition in a synergistic manner. Furthermore, GEM resistant cells were more sensitive to Nx treatment than their parental GEM-sensitive cells. Interestingly, although berberine, the Nx active component used, and its derivatives were biologically active in GEM sensitive cells they did not potentiate GEM activity when used in combination. Taken together, these results suggest that the natural extract, Nx, but not its active component, berberine, has the potential to improve GEM sensitivity, perhaps by down regulating STAT3/NF-κB signaling. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Monsoon-driven transport of atmospheric mercury to the South China Sea from the Chinese mainland and Southeast Asia-Observation of gaseous elemental mercury at a background station in South China.

PubMed

Liu, Ming; Chen, Laiguo; Xie, Donghai; Sun, Jiaren; He, Qiusheng; Cai, Limei; Gao, Zhiqiang; Zhang, Yiqiang

2016-11-01

Concentrations of gaseous elemental mercury (GEM) were continuously monitored from May 2011 to May 2012 at the Wuzhishan State Atmosphere Background Monitoring Station (109°29'30.2″ E, 18°50'11.0″ N) located in Hainan Island. This station is an ideal site for monitoring long-range transport of atmospheric pollutants from mainland China and Southeast Asia to South China Sea. Annual average GEM concentration was 1.58 ± 0.71 ng m -3 during the monitoring period, which was close to background values in the Northern Hemisphere. GEM concentrations showed a clear seasonal variation with relatively higher levels in autumn (1.86 ± 0.55 ng m -3 ) and winter (1.80 ± 0.62 ng m -3 ) and lower levels in spring (1.16 ± 0.45 ng m -3 ) and summer (1.43 ± 0.46 ng m -3 ). Long-range atmospheric transport dominated by monsoons was a dominant factor influencing the seasonal variations of GEM. The GEM diel trends were related to the wind speed and long-range atmospheric mercury transport. We observed 30 pollution episodes throughout the monitoring period. The analysis of wind direction and backward trajectory suggested that elevated GEM concentrations at the monitoring site were primarily related to the outflows of atmospheric Hg from mainland China and the Indochina peninsula. The △GEM/△CO values also suggested that GEM was significantly affected by the long-range transport from the anthropogenic sources and biomass burning in Asia and Indochina peninsula.

Operation of a LAr-TPC equipped with a multilayer LEM charge readout

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baibussinov, B.; Centro, S.; Farnese, C.; Fava, A.; Gibin, D.; Guglielmi, A.; Meng, G.; Pietropaolo, F.; Varanini, F.; Ventura, S.; Zatrimaylov, K.

2018-03-01

A novel detector for ionization signals in a single phase LAr-TPC has been experimented in the ICARINO test facility at the INFN Laboratories in Legnaro. It is based on the adoption of a multilayer Large Electron Multiplier (LEM) replacing the traditional anodic wire arrays. Cosmic muon tracks were detected allowing the measurement of energy deposition and a first determination of the signal to noise ratio. The analysis of the recorded events demonstrated the 3D reconstruction capability of this device for ionizing events in liquid Argon. The collected fraction of ionization charge is close to about 90%, with signal to noise ratio similar to that measured with more traditional wire chambers.

The Value of Survival Gains in Pancreatic Cancer from Novel Treatment Regimens.

PubMed

MacEwan, Joanna P; Yin, Wes; Kaura, Satyin; Khan, Zeba M

2017-02-01

Metastatic pancreatic cancer (mPC) is associated with low survival, with less than 10% of patients surviving 5 years. Recent therapies improve survival outcomes where few alternative therapies exist, but few economic analyses measure the value of survival gains attributable to new therapies. To estimate the value of survival gains in advanced or mPC attributable to the introduction of novel treatment regimens. Multivariate Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate real-world survival gains associated with the introduction of gemcitabine (GEM) for patients diagnosed with stage IV or unstaged mPC in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program cancer registries. Then, evidence from clinical trials was used to evaluate the survival gains associated with nab-paclitaxel + gemcitabine (nP +GEM) and FOLFIRINOX (FFX) relative to GEM. The survival estimates and clinical trial evidence were used to calibrate an economic model and assess the cumulative value of survival gains in mPC to patients. Costs of treatment were calculated based on published cost-effectiveness studies. We estimated that the introduction of GEM in 1996 was associated with a hazard ratio of 0.920 (P < 0.05) and an increase in median survival from 3.1 to 4.5 months. Results suggested that the value of survival gains attributable to GEM equaled about $71,000 per patient, while the value attributable to nP + GEM was an additional $56,700. Estimates for the value of survival gains per patient, net of total incremental lifetime treatment costs (drugs, adverse events, and other costs), were $50,294 for GEM and an additional $31,900 for nP + GEM. Clinical trials and cost-effectiveness studies reported an overall survival gain from FFX that was larger than, but statistically similar to, nP + GEM and had greater risk of adverse events and total incremental costs. We estimated that the total value of survival gains to mPC patients, net of total costs, associated with GEM was up to $47.6 billion, and the additional values attributable to nP+GEM and FFX were up to $39.0 billion and $26.3 billion, respectively. Historically, mPC patients have faced high disease burden and had few treatment options. Treatments introduced since 1996 have led to improved survival, with varying costs associated with treatment and adverse events. Accounting for total incremental costs, the majority of the value of survival gains from GEM and nP+GEM was retained by mPC patients, highlighting the value of innovation in settings where survival is low and few alternative therapies exist. Support for this research was provided by Celgene. Precision Health Economics was compensated by Celgene for work on this study. MacEwan is an employee of, and Yin is a consultant to, Precision Health Economics. Kaura and Khan are employees of Celgene. Study concept and design were contributed primarily by Yin and MacEwan, along with Kaura and Khan. MacEwan collected the data, and data interpretation was performed primarily by MacEwan and Yin, along with Kaura and Khan. The manuscript was written and revised by MacEwan, Yin, Kaura, and Khan.

Earth's field NMR; a surface moisture detector?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fukushima, Eiichi; Altobelli, Stephen; McDowell, Andrew; Zhang, Tongsheng

2012-10-01

Earth's field NMR (EFNMR), being free of magnets, would be an ideal teaching medium as well as a mobile NMR technique except for its weak S/N. The common EFNMR apparatus uses a powerful prepolarization field to enhance the spin magnetization before the experiment. We introduce a coil design geared to larger but manageable samples with sufficient sensitivity without prepolarization to move EFNMR closer to routine use and to provide an inexpensive teaching tool. Our coil consists of parallel wires spread out on a plywood to form a current sheet with the current return wires separated so they will not influence the main part of the coil assembly. The sensitive region is a relatively thin region parallel to the coil and close to it. A single turn of the coil is wound to be topologically equivalent to a figure-8. The two crossing segments in the center of a figure-8 form two of the parallel wires of the flat coil. Thus, a two-turn figure-8 has four crossing wires so its topologically equivalent coil will have four parallel wires with currents in phase. Together with the excellent sensitivity, this coil offers outstanding interference rejection because of the figure-8 geometry. An example of such a coil has 328 parallel wires covering a ˜1 meter square plywood which yields a good NMR signal from 26 liters of water spread out roughly over the area of the coil in less than one minute in a nearby park.

Comparison between wire mesh sensor and gamma densitometry void measurements in two-phase flows

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sharaf, S.; Da Silva, M.; Hampel, U.; Zippe, C.; Beyer, M.; Azzopardi, B.

2011-10-01

Wire mesh sensors (WMS) are fast imaging instruments that are used for gas-liquid and liquid-liquid two-phase flow measurements and experimental investigations. Experimental tests were conducted at Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf to test both the capacitance and conductance WMS against a gamma densitometer (GD). A small gas-liquid test facility was utilized. This consisted of a vertical round pipe approximately 1 m in length, and 50 mm internal diameter. A 16 × 16 WMS was used with high spatial and temporal resolutions. Air-deionized water was the two-phase mixture. The gas superficial velocity was varied between 0.05 m s-1 and 1.4 m s-1 at two liquid velocities of 0.2 and 0.7 m s-1. The GD consisted of a collimated source and a collimated detector. The GD was placed on a moving platform close to the plane of wires of the sensor, in order to align it accurately using a counter mechanism, with each of the wires of the WMS, and the platform could scan the full section of the pipe. The WMS was operated as a conductivity WMS for a half-plane with eight wires and as a capacitance WMS for the other half. For the cross-sectional void (time and space averaged), along each wire, there was good agreement between WMS and the GD chordal void fraction near the centre of the pipe.

Copper-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions of epoxides with gem-diborylmethane: access to γ-hydroxyl boronic esters.

PubMed

Ebrahim-Alkhalil, Ahmed; Zhang, Zhen-Qi; Gong, Tian-Jun; Su, Wei; Lu, Xiao-Yu; Xiao, Bin; Fu, Yao

2016-04-07

Herein, we describe a novel copper-catalyzed epoxide opening reaction with gem-diborylmethane. Aliphatic, aromatic epoxides as well as aziridines are converted to the corresponding γ-pinacolboronate alcohols or amines in moderate to excellent yields. This new reaction provides beneficial applications for classic epoxide substrates as well as interesting gem-diborylalkane reagents.

Mountain Gem Russet: A medium to late season potato variety with high early and full season yield potential and excellent fresh market characteristics

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Mountain Gem Russet is a medium to late maturing variety with both high early and full season yields of oblong-long, medium-russeted tubers having higher protein content than those of standard potato varieties. Mountain Gem Russet has greater resistance to tuber late blight, tuber malformations and ...

Development, characterization and qualification of first GEM foils produced in India

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shah, Aashaq; Ahmed, Asar; Gola, Mohit; Sharma, Ram Krishna; Malhotra, Shivali; Kumar, Ashok; Naimuddin, Md.; Menon, Pradeep; Srinivasan, K.

2018-06-01

The increasing demand for Gas Electron Multiplier (GEM) foils has been driven by their application in many current and proposed high-energy physics experiments. Micropack, a Bengaluru-based company, has established and commercialized GEM foils for the first time in India. Micropack used the double-mask etching technique to successfully produce 10 cm × 10 cm GEM foil. In this paper, we report on the development as well as the geometrical and electrical properties of these foils, including the size uniformity of the holes and leakage current measurements. Our characterization studies show that the foils are of good quality and satisfy all the necessary quality control criteria.

Gemcitabine inhibits proliferation and induces apoptosis in human pancreatic cancer PANC-1 cells.

PubMed

Yong-Xian, Gui; Xiao-Huan, Li; Fan, Zhang; Guo-Fang, Tian

2016-10-01

The aim of the study is to investigate the underlying molecular mechanisms by which gemcitabine (gem) inhibits proliferation and induces apoptosis in human pancreatic cancer PANC-1 cells in vitro. After PANC-1 cells had been treated by indicated concentration (0, 5, and 25 mg/L) of gem for 48 h, cell proliferation was evaluated by 3'-(4, 5 dimethyl-thiazol-2-yl)-2, 5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide assay; cell morphology was observed by transmission electron microscopy; Expression of c-IAP2 and Bcl-2 proteins was analyzed by Western blot; the activity of caspase-3 and -9 was detected by spectrophotometry. Gem significantly inhibited cell proliferation and could induce apoptosis of human pancreatic cancer PANC-1 cells, with a dose-dependent manner. Western blot analysis showed that gem significantly reduced c-IAP2 and Bcl-2 proteins expression level (P < 0.05). Spectrophotometric assay showed that gem significantly increased caspase-3 and -9 activity in PANC-1 cells. Gem could induce apoptosis of human pancreatic cancer PANC-1 cells, probably through downregulating c-IAP2 and Bcl-2 expression levels, and at the same time activating caspase-3 and -9.

Creation of a genetic calcium channel blocker by targeted gem gene transfer in the heart.

PubMed

Murata, Mitsushige; Cingolani, Eugenio; McDonald, Amy D; Donahue, J Kevin; Marbán, Eduardo

2004-08-20

Calcium channel blockers are among the most commonly used therapeutic drugs. Nevertheless, the utility of calcium channel blockers for heart disease is limited because of the potent vasodilatory effect that causes hypotension, and other side effects attributable to blockade of noncardiac channels. Therefore, focal calcium channel blockade by gene transfer is highly desirable. With a view to creating a focally applicable genetic calcium channel blocker, we overexpressed the ras-related small G-protein Gem in the heart by somatic gene transfer. Adenovirus-mediated delivery of Gem markedly decreased L-type calcium current density in ventricular myocytes, resulting in the abbreviation of action potential duration. Furthermore, transduction of Gem resulted in a significant shortening of the electrocardiographic QTc interval and reduction of left ventricular systolic function. Focal delivery of Gem to the atrioventricular (AV) node significantly slowed AV nodal conduction (prolongation of PR and AH intervals), which was effective in the reduction of heart rate during atrial fibrillation. Thus, these results indicate that gene transfer of Gem functions as a genetic calcium channel blocker, the local application of which can effectively modulate cardiac electrical and contractile function.

Geopotential models of the Earth from satellite tracking, altimeter and surface gravity observations: GEM-T3 and GEM-T3S

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lerch, F. J.; Nerem, R. S.; Putney, B. H.; Felsentreger, T. L.; Sanchez, B. V.; Klosko, S. M.; Patel, G. B.; Williamson, R. G.; Chinn, D. S.; Chan, J. C.

1992-01-01

Improved models of the Earth's gravitational field have been developed from conventional tracking data and from a combination of satellite tracking, satellite altimeter and surface gravimetric data. This combination model represents a significant improvement in the modeling of the gravity field at half-wavelengths of 300 km and longer. Both models are complete to degree and order 50. The Goddard Earth Model-T3 (GEM-T3) provides more accurate computation of satellite orbital effects as well as giving superior geoidal representation from that achieved in any previous GEM. A description of the models, their development and an assessment of their accuracy is presented. The GEM-T3 model used altimeter data from previous satellite missions in estimating the orbits, geoid, and dynamic height fields. Other satellite tracking data are largely the same as was used to develop GEM-T2, but contain certain important improvements in data treatment and expanded laser tracking coverage. Over 1300 arcs of tracking data from 31 different satellites have been used in the solution. Reliable estimates of the model uncertainties via error calibration and optimal data weighting techniques are discussed.

Does Comet WILD-2 contain Gems?

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chi, M.; Ishii, H.; Dai, Z. R.; Toppani, A.; Joswiak, D. J.; Leroux, H.; Zolensky, M.; Keller, L. P.; Browning, N. D.

2007-01-01

It is expected that Comet Wild-2 dust should resemble anhydrous carbon-rich, chondritic porous (CP) interplanetary dust particles (IDPs) collected in the stratosphere because some CP IDPs are suspected to be from comets. The rarity of carbonaceous grains and presolar silicates, as well as the presence of high-temperature inner solar nebula minerals in the Wild-2 sample (e.g. osbornite and melilite), appear incompatible with most CP IDPs. However, it is premature to draw firm conclusions about the mineralogy of comet Wild-2 because only approx. 1% of the sample has been examined. The most abundant silicates in CP IDPs are GEMS (glass with embedded metal and sulfides). Nonsolar O isotopic compositions confirm that at least some GEMS in IDPs are presolar amorphous silicates. The presence or absence of GEMS in the Wild-2 sample is important because it addresses, (a) the relationship between CP IDPs and comets, and (b) the hypothesis that other GEMS in IDPs formed in the solar nebula. Here we show that most of the GEMSlike materials so far identified in Stardust aerogel were likely impact generated during collection. At the nanometer scale, they are compositionally and crystallographically distinct from GEMS in IDPs.

A review of current challenges for the identification of gemstones

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shigley, James E.

2008-01-01

A variety of treated and synthetic gem materials are encountered today in the jewelry marketplace in increasing quantities. Although normally entering into the market with correct information, in some cases these materials are sold with incorrect or inaccurate information on their identity. In some cases, they exhibit appearances that correspond closely to those of valuable untreated, natural gemstones. Although they can display certain distinctive gemological characteristics, some treated and synthetic gem materials can be difficult for jewelers to recognize, especially when these individuals lack gemological training and access to standard gem-testing methods and equipment. In such instances, testing by a professional gemological laboratory may be required. Accurate gem identification and complete information disclosure are essential in the jewelry trade to maintain both the commercial value of natural gemstones and the confidence among consumers who are considering gemstone purchases. The goal of most current gemological research is to provide practical means of gem identification for jewelers and gemologists to help insure integrity in the international gemstone trade. To support this goal, research on gem materials increasingly relies upon characterization with modern analytical tools such as chemical analysis, various spectroscopy methods, and other scientific techniques.

Cost-effectiveness analysis of treatments for metastatic pancreatic cancer based on PRODIGE and MPACT trials.

PubMed

Zhou, Jing; Zhao, Rongce; Wen, Feng; Zhang, Pengfei; Wu, Yifan; Tang, Ruilei; Chen, Hongdou; Zhang, Jian; Li, Qiu

2016-06-02

Fluorouracil, leucovorin, irinotecan, oxaliplatin (FOLFIRINOX) and gemcitabine plus nab-paclitaxel (GEM-N) have shown a significant survival benefit for the treatment of metastatic pancreatic cancer. The objective of this study was to assess the cost-effectiveness of FOLFIRINOX versus GEM-N for treating metastatic pancreatic cancer based on the PRODIGE and MPACT trials. A decision model was performed to compare FOLFIRINOX with GEM-N. Primary base case data were identified from PRODIGE and MPACT trials. Costs were estimated and incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) was calculated at West China Hospital, Sichuan University, China. Survival benefits were reported in quality-adjusted life-years (QALY). Finally, sensitive analysis was performed by varying potentially modifiable parameters in the model. The base-case analysis showed that FOLFIRINOX cost $37,203.75 and yielded a survival of 0.67 QALY, and GEM-N cost $32,080.59 and yielded a survival of 0.51 QALY in the entire treatment. Thus, the ICER of FOLFIRINOX versus GEM-N was $32,019.75 per QALY gained. The GEM-N regimen was more cost-effective compared with the FOLFIRINOX regimen for the treatment of metastatic pancreatic cancer from a Chinese perspective.

Nongenetically modified Lactococcus lactis-adjuvanted vaccination enhanced innate immunity against Helicobacter pylori.

PubMed

Liu, Wei; Tan, Zhoulin; Liu, Hai; Zeng, Zhiqin; Luo, Shuanghui; Yang, Huimin; Zheng, Lufeng; Xi, Tao; Xing, Yingying

2017-10-01

Gram-positive enhancer matrix particles (GEM) produced by Lactococcus lactis can enhance vaccine-induced immune response. However, the mechanism under which this adjuvant mounts the efficacy of orally administered vaccines remains unexplored. We used a prophylactic mice model to investigate the mechanism of GEM-adjuvanted vaccination. Helicobacter pylori urease-specific antibody response was monitored and detected in murine serum by ELISA. Urease-specific splenic cytokine profile was examined. Gastric inflammatory responses were measured on day 43 or 71 by quantitative real-time PCR, flow cytometry and histology. We found that GEM enhanced the efficiency of oral H. pylori vaccine by promoting innate immunity. The vaccine CUE-GEM composed of GEM particles and recombinant antigen CTB-UE provided protection of immunized mice against H. pylori insult. The protective response was associated with induction of postimmunization gastritis and local Th1/Th17 cell-medicated immune response. We showed that innate inflammatory responses including neutrophil chemokines CXCL1-2, neutrophils, and antimicrobial proteins S100A8 and MUC1 were significantly elevated. Within all infected mice, S100A8 and MUC1 levels were negatively correlated with H. pylori burden. Strikingly, mice receiving GEM also show reduction of colonization, possibly through natural host response pathways to recruit CD4 + T cells and promote S100A8 expression. These findings suggest that GEM-based vaccine may impact Th1/Th17 immunity to orchestrate innate immune response against H. pylori infection. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Smoke detection in low-G fires

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Urban, David L.; Griffin, Devon W.; Gard, Melissa Y.; Hoy, Michael

1995-01-01

Fires in spacecraft are considered a credible risk. To respond to this risk, NASA flew fire detectors on Skylab and the Space Shuttle (STS) and included them in the design for International Space Station Alpha (ISSA). In previous missions (Mercury, Gemini and Apollo), the crew quarters were so cramped that it was not considered credible that the astronauts could fail to observe a fire. The Skylab nodule included approximately 20 UV fire detectors. The space shuttle has 9 ionization detectors in the mid deck and flight deck and Spacelab has six additional ionization detectors. The planned detectors for ISSA are laser-diode, forward-scattering, smoke or particulate detectors. Current plans for the ISSA call for two detectors in the open area of the module and detectors in racks that have both cooling air flow and electrical power. Due to the complete absence of data concerning the nature of particulate and radiant emission from low-g fires, all three of these detector systems were designed based upon 1-g test data. As planned mission durations and complexity increase and the volume of spacecraft increases, the need for and importance of effective, crew independent, fire detection grows significantly. This requires more knowledge concerning low-gravity fires and how they might be detected. To date, no combustion-generated particulate samples have been collected for well-developed microgravity flames. All of the extant data come from drop tower tests and therefore only correspond to the early stages of a fire. The fuel sources were restricted to laminar gas-jet diffusion flames and rapidly overheated wire insulation. These gas-jet drop tower tests indicate, through thermophoretic sampling, that soot primaries and aggregates (groups of primary particles) in micro-g may be significantly larger than those in normal-g (ng). This raises new scientific questions about soot processes as well as practical issues for particulate detection/alarm threshold levels used in on-orbit smoke detectors. Furthermore, it is widely speculated but unverified that the aggregates will grow to very large scales in a microgravity fire of longer duration than available on the ground. Preliminary tests in the 2.2 second drop tower suggest that particulate generated by overheated wire insulation will also be larger in microgravity than in normal gravity. TEM grids downstream of the fire region in the WIF experiment as well as visual observation of long string-like aggregates, further confirm this suggestion. The combined impact of these limited results and theoretical predictions is that direct knowledge of low-g combustion particulate as opposed to extrapolation from 1-g data is needed for a more confident design of smoke detectors for spacecraft.

High-resolution extremity cone-beam CT with a CMOS detector: Task-based optimization of scintillator thickness.

PubMed

Cao, Q; Brehler, M; Sisniega, A; Stayman, J W; Yorkston, J; Siewerdsen, J H; Zbijewski, W

2017-03-01

CMOS x-ray detectors offer small pixel sizes and low electronic noise that may support the development of novel high-resolution imaging applications of cone-beam CT (CBCT). We investigate the effects of CsI scintillator thickness on the performance of CMOS detectors in high resolution imaging tasks, in particular in quantitative imaging of bone microstructure in extremity CBCT. A scintillator thickness-dependent cascaded systems model of CMOS x-ray detectors was developed. Detectability in low-, high- and ultra-high resolution imaging tasks (Gaussian with FWHM of ~250 μ m, ~80 μ m and ~40 μ m, respectively) was studied as a function of scintillator thickness using the theoretical model. Experimental studies were performed on a CBCT test bench equipped with DALSA Xineos3030 CMOS detectors (99 μ m pixels) with CsI scintillator thicknesses of 400 μ m and 700 μ m, and a 0.3 FS compact rotating anode x-ray source. The evaluation involved a radiographic resolution gauge (0.6-5.0 lp/mm), a 127 μm tungsten wire for assessment of 3D resolution, a contrast phantom with tissue-mimicking inserts, and an excised fragment of human tibia for visual assessment of fine trabecular detail. Experimental studies show ~35% improvement in the frequency of 50% MTF modulation when using the 400 μ m scintillator compared to the standard nominal CsI thickness of 700 μ m. Even though the high-frequency DQE of the two detectors is comparable, theoretical studies show a 14% to 28% increase in detectability index ( d' 2 ) of high- and ultrahigh resolution tasks, respectively, for the detector with 400 μ m CsI compared to 700 μ m CsI. Experiments confirm the theoretical findings, showing improvements with the adoption of 400 μ m panel in the visibility of the radiographic pattern (2× improvement in peak-to-through distance at 4.6 lp/mm) and a 12.5% decrease in the FWHM of the tungsten wire. Reconstructions of the tibial plateau reveal enhanced visibility of trabecular structures with the CMOS detector with 400 μ m scinitllator. Applications on CMOS detectors in high resolution CBCT imaging of trabecular bone will benefit from using a thinner scintillator than the current standard in general radiography. The results support the translation of the CMOS sensor with 400 μ m CsI onto the clinical prototype of CMOS-based extremity CBCT.

High-resolution extremity cone-beam CT with a CMOS detector: Task-based optimization of scintillator thickness

PubMed Central

Cao, Q.; Brehler, M.; Sisniega, A.; Stayman, J. W.; Yorkston, J.; Siewerdsen, J. H.; Zbijewski, W.

2017-01-01

Purpose CMOS x-ray detectors offer small pixel sizes and low electronic noise that may support the development of novel high-resolution imaging applications of cone-beam CT (CBCT). We investigate the effects of CsI scintillator thickness on the performance of CMOS detectors in high resolution imaging tasks, in particular in quantitative imaging of bone microstructure in extremity CBCT. Methods A scintillator thickness-dependent cascaded systems model of CMOS x-ray detectors was developed. Detectability in low-, high- and ultra-high resolution imaging tasks (Gaussian with FWHM of ~250 μm, ~80 μm and ~40 μm, respectively) was studied as a function of scintillator thickness using the theoretical model. Experimental studies were performed on a CBCT test bench equipped with DALSA Xineos3030 CMOS detectors (99 μm pixels) with CsI scintillator thicknesses of 400 μm and 700 μm, and a 0.3 FS compact rotating anode x-ray source. The evaluation involved a radiographic resolution gauge (0.6–5.0 lp/mm), a 127 μm tungsten wire for assessment of 3D resolution, a contrast phantom with tissue-mimicking inserts, and an excised fragment of human tibia for visual assessment of fine trabecular detail. Results Experimental studies show ~35% improvement in the frequency of 50% MTF modulation when using the 400 μm scintillator compared to the standard nominal CsI thickness of 700 μm. Even though the high-frequency DQE of the two detectors is comparable, theoretical studies show a 14% to 28% increase in detectability index (d′2) of high- and ultrahigh resolution tasks, respectively, for the detector with 400 μm CsI compared to 700 μm CsI. Experiments confirm the theoretical findings, showing improvements with the adoption of 400 μm panel in the visibility of the radiographic pattern (2× improvement in peak-to-through distance at 4.6 lp/mm) and a 12.5% decrease in the FWHM of the tungsten wire. Reconstructions of the tibial plateau reveal enhanced visibility of trabecular structures with the CMOS detector with 400 μm scinitllator. Conclusion Applications on CMOS detectors in high resolution CBCT imaging of trabecular bone will benefit from using a thinner scintillator than the current standard in general radiography. The results support the translation of the CMOS sensor with 400 μm CsI onto the clinical prototype of CMOS-based extremity CBCT. PMID:28989220

Detectors Ensure Function, Safety of Aircraft Wiring

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2013-01-01

Pedro Medelius waited patiently in his lab at Kennedy Space Center. He had just received word that a colleague was bringing over a cable from a Space Shuttle solid rocket booster to test Medelius new invention. Medelius was calm until his colleague arrived, with about 30 other people. "Talk about testing under pressure," says Medelius. "There were people there from the Navy, the Air Force, and the Federal Aviation Administration." After the group s arrival, Medelius took a deep breath and connected his Standing Wave Reflectometer (SWR) to the cable. He wiggled the cable around, and the display showed a fault (a short or open circuit in wire) about an inch and a half inside the connector on the cable. His colleague questioned the results, because he had already checked that area on the cable. Medelius used the SWR to check again but got the same result. "That is when we took the cable apart and looked inside," Medelius says. "Lo and behold, that was exactly where the fault was." The impetus for Medelius new wire inspection technology came about in 1999 when one of the space shuttles lost power due to a fault somewhere in its more than 200 miles of electrical wiring. "The backup circuit was activated and prevented a major dysfunction, but nevertheless, there was a problem with the wiring," Medelius describes. Even though technicians used a device called a multimeter to measure the electrical current to find which wire had a fault, it could not pinpoint exactly where on the wire the fault was located. For that, technicians had to visually inspect the wire. "Sometimes they would have to remove the whole wire assembly and visually inspect every single wire. It was a very tedious operation because the wires are behind cabinets. They go all over the place in the shuttle," says Medelius. "NASA needed an instrument capable of telling them exactly where the faults were occurring." To meet NASA s needs for a highly precise device to inspect electrical power bundles, wires, and connectors, Medelius devised the SWR. "It came down to what was affected when a wire is short circuited or opened," he says. "We worked out a few equations based on physical principles." The SWR proved very sensitive, and the technology was patented.

16 CFR 23.25 - Misuse of the word “gem.”

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 16 Commercial Practices 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Misuse of the word âgem.â 23.25 Section 23... JEWELRY, PRECIOUS METALS, AND PEWTER INDUSTRIES § 23.25 Misuse of the word “gem.” (a) It is unfair or deceptive to use the word “gem” to describe, identify, or refer to a ruby, sapphire, emerald, topaz, or...

Comparison of the accuracy of hemoglobin point of care testing using HemoCue and GEM Premier 3000 with automated hematology analyzer in emergency room.

PubMed

Zatloukal, Jan; Pouska, Jiri; Kletecka, Jakub; Pradl, Richard; Benes, Jan

2016-12-01

The laboratory analysis provides accurate, but time consuming hemoglobin level estimation especially in the emergency setting. The reliability of time-sparing point of care devices (POCT) remains uncertain. We tested two POCT devices accuracy (HemoCue ® 201 + and Gem ® Premier™3000) in routine emergency department workflow. Blood samples taken from patients admitted to the emergency department were analyzed for hemoglobin concentration using a laboratory reference Beckman Coulter LH 750 (HB LAB ), the HemoCue (HB HC ) and the Gem Premier 3000 (HB GEM ). Pairwise comparison for each device and Hb LAB was performed using correlation and the Bland-Altman methods. The reliability of transfusion decision was assessed using three-zone error grid. A total of 292 measurements were performed in 99 patients. Mean hemoglobin level were 115 ± 33, 110 ± 28 and 111 ± 30 g/l for Hb HC , Hb GEM and Hb LAB respectively. A significant correlation was observed for both devices: Hb HC versus Hb LAB (r 2  = 0.93, p < 0.001) and HB GEM versus HB LAB (r 2  = 0.86, p < 0.001). The Bland-Altman method revealed bias of -3.7 g/l (limits of agreement -20.9 to 13.5) for HB HC and HB LAB and 2.5 g/l (-18.6 to 23.5) for HB GEM and HB LAB , which significantly differed between POCT devices (p < 0.001). Using the error grid methodology: 94 or 91 % of values (Hb HC and Hb GEM ) fell in the zone of acceptable difference (A), whereas 0 and 1 % (Hb HC and Hb GEM ) were unacceptable (zone C). The absolute accuracy of tested POCT devices was low though reaching a high level of correlation with laboratory measurement. The results of the Morey´s error grid were unfavorable for both POCT devices.

The computation in diagnostics for tokamaks: systems, designs, approaches

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krawczyk, Rafał; Linczuk, Paweł; Czarski, Tomasz; Wojeński, Andrzej; Chernyshova, Maryna; Poźniak, Krzysztof; Kolasiński, Piotr; Kasprowicz, Grzegorz; Zabołotny, Wojciech; Kowalska-Strzeciwilk, Ewa; Malinowski, Karol; Gaska, Michał

2017-08-01

The requirements given for GEM (Gaseous Electron Multiplier) detector based acquisition system for plasma impurities diagnostics triggered a need for the development of a specialized software and hardware architecture. The amount of computations with latency and throughput restrictions cause that an advanced solution is sought for. In order to provide a mechanism fitting the designated tokamaks, an insight into existing solutions was necessary. In the article there is discussed architecture of systems used for plasma diagnostics and in related scientific fields. The developed solution is compared and contrasted with other diagnostic and control systems. Particular attention is payed to specific requirements for plasma impurities diagnostics in tokamak thermal fusion reactor. Subsequently, the details are presented that justified the choice of the system architecture and the discussion on various approaches is given.

Collaborative Research: Equipment for and Running of the PSI MUSE Experiment

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kohl, Michael

The R&D funding from this award has been a significant tool to move the Muon Scattering Experiment (MUSE) at the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland forward to the stage of realization. Specifically, this award has enabled Dr. Michael Kohl and his working group at Hampton University to achieve substantial progress toward the goal of providing beam particle tracking with Gas Electron Multiplier (GEM) detectors for MUSE experiment. Establishing a particle detection system that is capable of operating in a high-intensity environment, with a data acquisition system capable of running at several kHz, combined with robust tracking software providing high efficiencymore » for track reconstruction in the presence of noise and backgrounds will have immediate application in many other experiments.« less

Comparative Soot Diagnostics: Preliminary Results

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Urban, David L.; Griffin, DeVon W.; Gard, Melissa Y.

1997-01-01

The motivation for the Comparative Soot Diagnostics (CSD) experiment lies in the broad practical importance of understanding combustion generated particulate. Depending upon the circumstances, particulate matter can affect the durability and performance of combustion equipment, can be a pollutant, can be used to detect fires and, in the form of soot, can be the dominant source of radiant energy from flames. The nonbuoyant structure of most flames of practical interest makes understanding of soot processes in low gravity flames important to our ability to predict fire behavior on earth. These studies also have direct applications to fire safety in human-crew spacecraft, since smoke is the indicator used for automated detection in current spacecraft. In the earliest missions (Mercury, Gemini and Apollo), the crew quarters were so cramped that it was considered reasonable that the astronauts would rapidly detect any fire. The Skylab module, however, included approximately 20 UV-sensing fire detectors. The Space Shuttle has 9 particle-ionization smoke detectors in the mid-deck and flight deck and Spacelab has six additional particle-ionization smoke detectors. The designated detectors for the ISS are laser-diode, forward-scattering, smoke or particulate detectors. Current plans for the ISS call for two detectors in the open area of the module, and detectors in racks that have both cooling air flow and electrical power. Due to the complete absence of data concerning the nature of particulate and radiant emission from incipient and fully developed low-g fires, all three of these detector systems were designed based upon l-g test data and experience. As planned mission durations and complexity increase and the volume of spacecraft increases, the need for and importance of effective, crew-independent, fire detection grows significantly. To provide this level of protection, more knowledge is needed concerning low-gravity fire phenomena and, in particular, how they might be detected and suppressed. Prior to CSD, no combustion-generated particulate samples had been collected near the flame zone for well-developed microgravity flames. All of the extant data either came from drop tower tests and therefore only corresponded to the early stages of a fire or were collected far from the flame zone. The fuel sources in the drop tower tests were restricted to laminar gas-jet diffusion flames and very rapidly overheated wire insulation. The gas-jet tests indicated, through thermophoretic sampling, (2) that soot primaries and aggregates (groups of primary particles) in low-gravity may be significantly larger than those in normal gravity (1-g). This raises new scientific questions about soot processes as well as practical issues for particulate size sensitivity and detection alarm threshold levels used in on-orbit smoke detectors. Preliminary tests in the 2.2 second drop tower suggest that particulate generated by overheated wire insulation may be larger in low-g than in 1-g. Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) grids downstream of the fire region in the Wire Insulation Flammability experiment as well as visual observation of long string-like aggregates, further confirm this suggestion. The combined impact of these limited results and theoretical predictions is that, as opposed to extrapolation from l-g data, direct knowledge of low-g combustion particulate is needed for more confident design of smoke detectors for spacecraft. This paper describes the operation and preliminary results of the CSD, a project conceived and developed at NASA Lewis Research Center. The CSD flight experiment was conducted in the Middeck Glovebox Facility (MGBX) on USMP-3. The project is support by NASA Headquarters Microgravity Science and Applications Division and Code Q. The results presented here are from the microgravity portion of the experiment, including the temporal response of the detectors and average sizes of the primary and aggregate particles captured on the thermophoretic probes.

Characterization of an Ionization Readout Tile for nEXO

DOE PAGES

Jewell, M.; Schubert, A.; Cen, W. R.; ...

2018-01-10

Here, a new design for the anode of a time projection chamber, consisting of a charge-detecting "tile", is investigated for use in large scale liquid xenon detectors. The tile is produced by depositing 60 orthogonal metal charge-collecting strips, 3 mm wide, on a 10 cm × 10 cm fused-silica wafer. These charge tiles may be employed by large detectors, such as the proposed tonne-scale nEXO experiment to search for neutrinoless double-beta decay. Modular by design, an array of tiles can cover a sizable area. The width of each strip is small compared to the size of the tile, so amore » Frisch grid is not required. A grid-less, tiled anode design is beneficial for an experiment such as nEXO, where a wire tensioning support structure and Frisch grid might contribute radioactive backgrounds and would have to be designed to accommodate cycling to cryogenic temperatures. The segmented anode also reduces some degeneracies in signal reconstruction that arise in large-area crossed-wire time projection chambers. A prototype tile was tested in a cell containing liquid xenon. Very good agreement is achieved between the measured ionization spectrum of a 207Bi source and simulations that include the microphysics of recombination in xenon and a detailed modeling of the electrostatic field of the detector. An energy resolution σ/ E=5.5% is observed at 570 keV, comparable to the best intrinsic ionization-only resolution reported in literature for liquid xenon at 936 V/cm.« less

Characterization of an Ionization Readout Tile for nEXO

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jewell, M.; Schubert, A.; Cen, W. R.; Dalmasson, J.; DeVoe, R.; Fabris, L.; Gratta, G.; Jamil, A.; Li, G.; Odian, A.; Patel, M.; Pocar, A.; Qiu, D.; Wang, Q.; Wen, L. J.; Albert, J. B.; Anton, G.; Arnquist, I. J.; Badhrees, I.; Barbeau, P.; Beck, D.; Belov, V.; Bourque, F.; Brodsky, J. P.; Brown, E.; Brunner, T.; Burenkov, A.; Cao, G. F.; Cao, L.; Chambers, C.; Charlebois, S. A.; Chiu, M.; Cleveland, B.; Coon, M.; Craycraft, A.; Cree, W.; Côté, M.; Daniels, T.; Daugherty, S. J.; Daughhetee, J.; Delaquis, S.; Der Mesrobian-Kabakian, A.; Didberidze, T.; Dilling, J.; Ding, Y. Y.; Dolinski, M. J.; Dragone, A.; Fairbank, W.; Farine, J.; Feyzbakhsh, S.; Fontaine, R.; Fudenberg, D.; Giacomini, G.; Gornea, R.; Hansen, E. V.; Harris, D.; Hasan, M.; Heffner, M.; Hoppe, E. W.; House, A.; Hufschmidt, P.; Hughes, M.; Hößl, J.; Ito, Y.; Iverson, A.; Jiang, X. S.; Johnston, S.; Karelin, A.; Kaufman, L. J.; Koffas, T.; Kravitz, S.; Krücken, R.; Kuchenkov, A.; Kumar, K. S.; Lan, Y.; Leonard, D. S.; Li, S.; Li, Z.; Licciardi, C.; Lin, Y. H.; MacLellan, R.; Michel, T.; Mong, B.; Moore, D.; Murray, K.; Newby, R. J.; Ning, Z.; Njoya, O.; Nolet, F.; Odgers, K.; Oriunno, M.; Orrell, J. L.; Ostrovskiy, I.; Overman, C. T.; Ortega, G. S.; Parent, S.; Piepke, A.; Pratte, J.-F.; Radeka, V.; Raguzin, E.; Rao, T.; Rescia, S.; Retiere, F.; Robinson, A.; Rossignol, T.; Rowson, P. C.; Roy, N.; Saldanha, R.; Sangiorgio, S.; Schmidt, S.; Schneider, J.; Sinclair, D.; Skarpaas, K.; Soma, A. K.; St-Hilaire, G.; Stekhanov, V.; Stiegler, T.; Sun, X. L.; Tarka, M.; Todd, J.; Tolba, T.; Tsang, R.; Tsang, T.; Vachon, F.; Veeraraghavan, V.; Visser, G.; Vuilleumier, J.-L.; Wagenpfeil, M.; Weber, M.; Wei, W.; Wichoski, U.; Wrede, G.; Wu, S. X.; Wu, W. H.; Yang, L.; Yen, Y.-R.; Zeldovich, O.; Zhang, X.; Zhao, J.; Zhou, Y.; Ziegler, T.

2018-01-01

A new design for the anode of a time projection chamber, consisting of a charge-detecting "tile", is investigated for use in large scale liquid xenon detectors. The tile is produced by depositing 60 orthogonal metal charge-collecting strips, 3 mm wide, on a 10 cm × 10 cm fused-silica wafer. These charge tiles may be employed by large detectors, such as the proposed tonne-scale nEXO experiment to search for neutrinoless double-beta decay. Modular by design, an array of tiles can cover a sizable area. The width of each strip is small compared to the size of the tile, so a Frisch grid is not required. A grid-less, tiled anode design is beneficial for an experiment such as nEXO, where a wire tensioning support structure and Frisch grid might contribute radioactive backgrounds and would have to be designed to accommodate cycling to cryogenic temperatures. The segmented anode also reduces some degeneracies in signal reconstruction that arise in large-area crossed-wire time projection chambers. A prototype tile was tested in a cell containing liquid xenon. Very good agreement is achieved between the measured ionization spectrum of a 207Bi source and simulations that include the microphysics of recombination in xenon and a detailed modeling of the electrostatic field of the detector. An energy resolution σ/E=5.5% is observed at 570 keV, comparable to the best intrinsic ionization-only resolution reported in literature for liquid xenon at 936 V/cm.

Characterization of an Ionization Readout Tile for nEXO

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Jewell, M.; Schubert, A.; Cen, W. R.

Here, a new design for the anode of a time projection chamber, consisting of a charge-detecting "tile", is investigated for use in large scale liquid xenon detectors. The tile is produced by depositing 60 orthogonal metal charge-collecting strips, 3 mm wide, on a 10 cm × 10 cm fused-silica wafer. These charge tiles may be employed by large detectors, such as the proposed tonne-scale nEXO experiment to search for neutrinoless double-beta decay. Modular by design, an array of tiles can cover a sizable area. The width of each strip is small compared to the size of the tile, so amore » Frisch grid is not required. A grid-less, tiled anode design is beneficial for an experiment such as nEXO, where a wire tensioning support structure and Frisch grid might contribute radioactive backgrounds and would have to be designed to accommodate cycling to cryogenic temperatures. The segmented anode also reduces some degeneracies in signal reconstruction that arise in large-area crossed-wire time projection chambers. A prototype tile was tested in a cell containing liquid xenon. Very good agreement is achieved between the measured ionization spectrum of a 207Bi source and simulations that include the microphysics of recombination in xenon and a detailed modeling of the electrostatic field of the detector. An energy resolution σ/ E=5.5% is observed at 570 keV, comparable to the best intrinsic ionization-only resolution reported in literature for liquid xenon at 936 V/cm.« less

Development of a multi-element microdosimetric detector based on a thick gas electron multiplier

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anjomani, Z.; Hanu, A. R.; Prestwich, W. V.; Byun, S. H.

2017-03-01

A prototype multi-element gaseous microdosimetric detector was developed using the Thick Gas Electron Multiplier (THGEM) technique. The detector aims at measuring neutron and gamma-ray dose rates for weak neutron-gamma radiation fields. The multi-element design was employed to increase the neutron detection efficiency. The prototype THGEM multi-element detector consists of three layers of tissue equivalent plastic hexagons and each layer houses a hexagonal array of seven cylindrical gas cavity elements with equal heights and diameters of 17 mm. The final detector structure incorporates 21 gaseous volumes. Owing to the absence of wire electrodes, the THGEM multi-element detector offers flexible and convenient fabrication. The detector responses to neutron and gamma-ray were investigated using the McMaster Tandetron 7Li(p,n) neutron source. The dosimetric performance of the detector is presented in contrast to the response of a commercial tissue equivalent proportional counter. Compared to the standard TEPC response, the detector gave a consistent microdosimetric response with an average discrepancy of 8 % in measured neutron absorbed dose. An improvement of a factor of 3.0 in neutron detection efficiency has been accomplished with only a small degradation in energy resolution. However, its low energy cut off is about 6 keV/μm, which is not sufficient to measure the gamma-ray dose. This problem will be addressed by increasing the electron multiplication gain using double THGEM layers.

Cryogenic and radiation hard ASIC design for large format NIR/SWIR detector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gao, Peng; Dupont, Benoit; Dierickx, Bart; Müller, Eric; Verbruggen, Geert; Gielis, Stijn; Valvekens, Ramses

2014-10-01

An ASIC is developed to control and data quantization for large format NIR/SWIR detector arrays. Both cryogenic and space radiation environment issue are considered during the design. Therefore it can be integrated in the cryogenic chamber, which reduces significantly the vast amount of long wires going in and out the cryogenic chamber, i.e. benefits EMI and noise concerns, as well as the power consumption of cooling system and interfacing circuits. In this paper, we will describe the development of this prototype ASIC for image sensor driving and signal processing as well as the testing in both room and cryogenic temperature.

Monitoring relative humidity in RPC detectors by use of fiber optic sensors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Caponero, M. A.; Polimadei, A.; Benussi, L.; Bianco, S.; Colafranceschi, S.; Passamonti, L.; Piccolo, D.; Pierluigi, D.; Russo, A.; Felli, F.; Saviano, G.; Vendittozzi, C.

2013-03-01

We propose to adopt Fiber Bragg Grating technology to develop an innovative sensor for monitoring relative humidity of the gas fluxed in Resistive Plate Counters. Use of Fiber Bragg Grating as sensing device makes the proposed sensor well suited to develop distributed real-time monitoring systems to be installed on large volume detectors operated in high electromagnetic fields. In fact Fiber Bragg Gratings are fully immune from electromagnetic disturbances and allow simplified wiring by in-series interconnection of tens of them along a single optical fiber. In this paper we present results intended to investigate the feasibility of our proposal.

Taheri-Saramad x-ray detector (TSXD): a novel high spatial resolution x-ray imager based on ZnO nano scintillator wires in polycarbonate membrane.

PubMed

Taheri, A; Saramad, S; Ghalenoei, S; Setayeshi, S

2014-01-01

A novel x-ray imager based on ZnO nanowires is designed and fabricated. The proposed architecture is based on scintillation properties of ZnO nanostructures in a polycarbonate track-etched membrane. Because of higher refractive index of ZnO nanowire compared to the membrane, the nanowire acts as an optical fiber that prevents the generated optical photons to spread inside the detector. This effect improves the spatial resolution of the imager. The detection quantum efficiency and spatial resolution of the fabricated imager are 11% and <6.8 μm, respectively.

A pixelated charge readout for Liquid Argon Time Projection Chambers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Asaadi, J.; Auger, M.; Ereditato, A.; Goeldi, D.; Hänni, R.; Kose, U.; Kreslo, I.; Lorca, D.; Luethi, M.; von Rohr, C. Rudolf; Sinclair, J.; Stocker, F.; Tognina, C.; Weber, M.

2018-02-01

Liquid Argon Time Projection Chambers (LArTPCs) are ideally suited to perform long-baseline neutrino experiments aiming to measure CP violation in the lepton sector, and determine the ordering of the three neutrino mass eigenstates. LArTPCs have used projective wire readouts for charge detection since their conception in 1977. However, wire readouts are notoriously fragile and therefore a limiting factor in the design of any large mass detectors. Furthermore, a wire readout also introduces intrinsic ambiguities in event reconstruction. Within the ArgonCube concept—the liquid argon component of the DUNE near detector—we are developing a pixelated charge readout for LArTPCs. Pixelated charge readout systems represent the single largest advancement in the sensitivity of LArTPCs. They are mechanically robust and provide direct 3D readout, serving to minimise reconstruction ambiguities, enabling more advanced triggers, further reducing event pile-up and improving background rejection. This article presents first results from a pixelated LArTPC prototype built and operated in Bern.

A Wireless Sensor Network-Based Portable Vehicle Detector Evaluation System

PubMed Central

Yoo, Seong-eun

2013-01-01

In an upcoming smart transportation environment, performance evaluations of existing Vehicle Detection Systems are crucial to maintain their accuracy. The existing evaluation method for Vehicle Detection Systems is based on a wired Vehicle Detection System reference and a video recorder, which must be operated and analyzed by capable traffic experts. However, this conventional evaluation system has many disadvantages. It is inconvenient to deploy, the evaluation takes a long time, and it lacks scalability and objectivity. To improve the evaluation procedure, this paper proposes a Portable Vehicle Detector Evaluation System based on wireless sensor networks. We describe both the architecture and design of a Vehicle Detector Evaluation System and the implementation results, focusing on the wireless sensor networks and methods for traffic information measurement. With the help of wireless sensor networks and automated analysis, our Vehicle Detector Evaluation System can evaluate a Vehicle Detection System conveniently and objectively. The extensive evaluations of our Vehicle Detector Evaluation System show that it can measure the traffic information such as volume counts and speed with over 98% accuracy. PMID:23344388

A wireless sensor network-based portable vehicle detector evaluation system.

PubMed

Yoo, Seong-eun

2013-01-17

In an upcoming smart transportation environment, performance evaluations of existing Vehicle Detection Systems are crucial to maintain their accuracy. The existing evaluation method for Vehicle Detection Systems is based on a wired Vehicle Detection System reference and a video recorder, which must be operated and analyzed by capable traffic experts. However, this conventional evaluation system has many disadvantages. It is inconvenient to deploy, the evaluation takes a long time, and it lacks scalability and objectivity. To improve the evaluation procedure, this paper proposes a Portable Vehicle Detector Evaluation System based on wireless sensor networks. We describe both the architecture and design of a Vehicle Detector Evaluation System and the implementation results, focusing on the wireless sensor networks and methods for traffic information measurement. With the help of wireless sensor networks and automated analysis, our Vehicle Detector Evaluation System can evaluate a Vehicle Detection System conveniently and objectively. The extensive evaluations of our Vehicle Detector Evaluation System show that it can measure the traffic information such as volume counts and speed with over 98% accuracy.

Gravitational field modes GEM 3 and 4

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lerch, F. J.; Wagner, C. A.; Putney, B. H.; Sandson, M. L.; Brownd, J. E.; Richardson, J. A.; Taylor, W. A.

1972-01-01

A refinement in the satellite geopotential solution for a Goddard Earth Model (GEM 3) was obtained. The solution includes the addition of two low inclination satellites, SAS at 3 deg and PEOLE at 15 deg, and is based upon 27 close earth satellites containing some 400,000 observations of electronic, laser, and optical data. In addition, a new combination satellite/gravimetry solution (GEM 4) was derived. The new model includes 61 center of mass tracking station locations with data from GRARR, Laser, MOTS, Baker-Nunn, and NWL Tranet Doppler tracking sites. Improvement was obtained for the zonal coefficients of the new models and is shown by tests on the long period perturbations of the orbits. Individual zonal coefficients agree very closely among different models that contain low inclination satellites. Tests of models with surface gravity data show that the GEM 3 satellite model has significantly better agreement with the gravimetry data than the GEM 1 satellite model, and that it also has better agreement with the gravimetry data than the 1969 SAO Standard Earth 2 model.

MeerLICHT and BlackGEM: custom-built telescopes to detect faint optical transients

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bloemen, Steven; Groot, Paul; Woudt, Patrick; Klein Wolt, Marc; McBride, Vanessa; Nelemans, Gijs; Körding, Elmar; Pretorius, Margaretha L.; Roelfsema, Ronald; Bettonvil, Felix; Balster, Harry; Bakker, Roy; Dolron, Peter; van Elteren, Arjen; Elswijk, Eddy; Engels, Arno; Fender, Rob; Fokker, Marc; de Haan, Menno; Hagoort, Klaas; de Hoog, Jasper; ter Horst, Rik; van der Kevie, Giel; Kozłowski, Stanisław; Kragt, Jan; Lech, Grzegorz; Le Poole, Rudolf; Lesman, Dirk; Morren, Johan; Navarro, Ramon; Paalberends, Willem-Jelle; Paterson, Kerry; Pawłaszek, Rafal; Pessemier, Wim; Raskin, Gert; Rutten, Harrie; Scheers, Bart; Schuil, Menno; Sybilski, Piotr W.

2016-07-01

We present the MeerLICHT and BlackGEM telescopes, which are wide-field optical telescopes that are currently being built to study transient phenomena, gravitational wave counterparts and variable stars. The telescopes have 65 cm primary mirrors and a 2.7 square degree field-of-view. The MeerLICHT and BlackGEM projects have different science goals, but will use identical telescopes. The first telescope, MeerLICHT, will be commissioned at Sutherland (South Africa) in the first quarter of 2017. It will co-point with MeerKAT to collect optical data commensurate with the radio observations. After careful analysis of MeerLICHT's performance, three telescopes of the same type will be commissioned in La Silla (Chile) in 2018 to form phase I of the BlackGEM array. BlackGEM aims at detecting and characterizing optical counterparts of gravitational wave events detected by Advanced LIGO and Virgo. In this contribution we present an overview of the science goals, the design and the status of the two projects.

Identifying the Source of Gem Diamonds: Requirements for a Certification System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shigley, J. E.

2002-05-01

Recent civil conflicts in several countries, in which profits from the sales of gem diamonds have supported the rival factions, have forced the jewelry industry to confront the need to certify the geographic sources of gem diamonds. The goals of this program are to prohibit the sale of so-called "conflict diamonds", and to prevent the loss of consumer confidence. Efforts to identify unique characteristics of gem diamonds have been hampered so far by the absence of chemical or physical features that are diagnostic of particular sources, and the lack of a representative collection of diamonds from major producing areas that would be required for a rigorous scientific study. The jewelry industry has therefore adopted plans to track gem diamonds from the mine through the manufacturing process to the consumer. Practical requirements for implementation of such a certification system will be summarized. Any proposed solutions for determining the sources of gem diamonds by some analytical technique, or for following diamonds from the mine, must take into account the annual production of several tens of millions of carats of rough diamonds, which are transformed during manufacturing into several hundreds of millions of polished gemstones (with an average weight of only about 0.03 carat, or 0.006 gram).

Electrochemical DNA biosensor based on poly(2,6-pyridinedicarboxylic acid) modified glassy carbon electrode for the determination of anticancer drug gemcitabine.

PubMed

Tığ, Gözde Aydoğdu; Zeybek, Bülent; Pekyardımcı, Şule

2016-07-01

In this study, a simple methodology was used to develop a new electrochemical DNA biosensor based on poly(2,6-pyridinedicarboxylic acid) (P(PDCA)) modified glassy carbon electrode (GCE). This modified electrode was used to monitor for the electrochemical interaction between the dsDNA and gemcitabine (GEM) for the first time. A decrease in oxidation signals of guanine after the interaction of the dsDNA with the GEM was used as an indicator for the selective determination of the GEM via differential pulse voltammetry (DPV). The guanine oxidation peak currents were linearly proportional to the concentrations of the GEM in the range of 1-30mgL(‒1). Limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) were found to be 0.276mgL(‒1) and 0.922mgL(‒1), respectively. The reproducibility, repeatability, and applicability of the analysis to pharmaceutical dosage forms and human serum samples were also examined. In addition to DPV method, UV-vis and viscosity measurements were utilized to propose the interaction mechanism between the GEM and the dsDNA. The novel DNA biosensor could serve for sensitive, accurate and rapid determination of the GEM. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A large 2D PSD for thermal neutron detection

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Knott, R.B.; Watt, G.; Boldeman, J.W.

1996-12-31

A 2D PSD based on a MWPC has been constructed for a small angle neutron scattering instrument. The active area of the detector was 640 x 640 mm{sup 2}. To meet the specifications for neutron detection efficiency and spatial resolution, and to minimize parallax, the gas mixture was 190 kPa {sup 3}He plus 100 kPa CF{sub 4} and the active volume had a thickness of 30 mm. The design maximum neutron count-rate of the detector was 10{sup 5} events per second. The (calculated) neutron detection efficiency was 60% for 2{angstrom} neutrons and the (measured) neutron energy resolution on the anodemore » grid was typically 20% (fwhm). The location of a neutron detection event within the active area was determined using the wire-by-wire method: the spatial resolution (5 x 5 mm{sup 2}) was thereby defined by the wire geometry. A 16 channel charge-sensitive preamplifier/amplifier/comparator module has been developed with a channel sensitivity of 0.1 V/fC, noise linewidth of 0.4 fC (fwhm) and channel-to-channel cross-talk of less than 5%. The Proportional Counter Operating System (PCOS III) (LeCroy Corp USA) was used for event encoding. The ECL signals produced by the 16 channel modules were latched in PCOS III by a trigger pulse from the anode and the fast encoders produce a position and width for each event. The information was transferred to a UNIX workstation for accumulation and online display.« less

Nuclear Science Symposium, 23rd, Scintillation and Semiconductor Counter Symposium, 15th, and Nuclear Power Systems Symposium, 8th, New Orleans, La., October 20-22, 1976, Proceedings

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wagner, L. J.

1977-01-01

The volume includes papers on semiconductor radiation detectors of various types, components of radiation detection and dosimetric systems, digital and microprocessor equipment in nuclear industry and science, and a wide variety of applications of nuclear radiation detectors. Semiconductor detectors of X-rays, gamma radiation, heavy ions, neutrons, and other nuclear particles, plastic scintillator arrays, drift chambers, spark wire chambers, and radiation dosimeter systems are reported on. Digital and analog conversion systems, digital data and control systems, microprocessors, and their uses in scientific research and nuclear power plants are discussed. Large-area imaging and biomedical nucleonic instrumentation, nuclear power plant safeguards, reactor instrumentation, nuclear power plant instrumentation, space instrumentation, and environmental instrumentation are dealt with. Individual items are announced in this issue.

Simultaneous readout of 128 X-ray and gamma-ray transition-edge microcalorimeters using microwave SQUID multiplexing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mates, J. A. B.; Becker, D. T.; Bennett, D. A.; Dober, B. J.; Gard, J. D.; Hays-Wehle, J. P.; Fowler, J. W.; Hilton, G. C.; Reintsema, C. D.; Schmidt, D. R.; Swetz, D. S.; Vale, L. R.; Ullom, J. N.

2017-08-01

The number of elements in most cryogenic sensor arrays is limited by the technology available to multiplex signals from the arrays into a smaller number of wires and readout amplifiers. The largest demonstrated arrays of transition-edge sensor (TES) microcalorimeters contain roughly 250 detectors and use time-division multiplexing with Superconducting Quantum Interference Devices (SQUIDs). The bandwidth limits of this technology constrain the number of sensors per amplifier chain, a quantity known as the multiplexing factor, to several 10s. With microwave SQUID multiplexing, we can expand the readout bandwidth and enable much larger multiplexing factors. While microwave SQUID multiplexing of TES microcalorimeters has been previously demonstrated with small numbers of detectors, we now present a fully scalable demonstration in which 128 TES detectors are read out on a single pair of coaxial cables.

A position-sensitive X-ray detector for the HEAO-A satellite.

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Held, D.; Weisskopf, M. C.

1973-01-01

A position-sensitive, low-energy proportional counter system is described which will be used on the High-Energy Astronomical Observatory, Mission A, spacecraft. The associated system incorporates the capability to employ pulse-shape discrimination for background rejection and interpolation circuitry to locate the centroid of an X-ray event with an accuracy of approximately one eighth the cathode-wire spacing.

Passive radon/thoron personal dosimeter using an electrostatic collector and a diffused-junction detector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bigu, J.; Raz, R.

1985-01-01

A solid-state alpha dosimeter has been designed and tested suitable for personal and environmental radon/thoron monitoring. The dosimeter basically consists of an electrostatic collector and an alpha-particle counting system with spectroscopy capabilities. The sensitive volume (˜20 cm3) of the electrostatic collector consists of a cylindrically shaped metal wire screen and a diffused-junction silicon alpha-detector covered with a thin aluminized Mylar sheet. A dc voltage (˜500 V) is applied between the wire screen and the Mylar sheet, with the latter held at negative potential relative to the former. Data can be retrieved during or after sampling by means of a microcomputer (Epson HX20) via a RS-232 communication interface unit. The dosimeter has been calibrated in a large (26 m3) radon/thoron test facility. A linear relationship was found between the dosimeter's alpha-count and both radon gas concentration and radon daughter working level. The dosimeter is mounted on top of an ordinary miner's cap lamp battery and is ideally suited for personal monitoring in underground uranium mines and other working areas. The dosimeter presented here is a considerably improved version of an earlier prototype.

The fibrate drug gemfibrozil disrupts lipoprotein metabolism in rainbow trout

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Prindiville, John S., E-mail: jprin041@uottawa.ca; Mennigen, Jan A.; Zamora, Jake M.

2011-03-15

Gemfibrozil (GEM) is a fibrate drug consistently found in effluents from sewage treatment plants. This study characterizes the pharmacological effects of GEM on the plasma lipoproteins of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). Our goals were to quantify the impact of the drug on: 1) lipid constituents of lipoproteins (phospholipids (PL), triacylglycerol (TAG), and cholesterol), 2) lipoprotein classes (high, low and very low density lipoproteins), and 3) fatty acid composition of lipoproteins. Potential mechanisms of GEM action were investigated by measuring lipoprotein lipase activity (LPL) and the hepatic gene expression of LPL and of the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) {alpha}, {beta}, andmore » {gamma} isoforms. GEM treatment resulted in decreased plasma lipoprotein levels (- 29%) and a reduced size of all lipoprotein classes (lower PL:TAG ratios). However, the increase in HDL-cholesterol elicited by GEM in humans failed to be observed in trout. Therefore, HDL-cholesterol cannot be used to assess the impact of the drug on fish. GEM also modified lipoprotein composition by reducing the abundance of long-chain n-3 fatty acids, thereby potentially reducing the nutritional quality of exposed fish. The relative gene expression of LPL was increased, but the activity of the enzyme was not, and we found no evidence for the activation of PPAR pathways. The depressing effects of GEM on fish lipoproteins demonstrated here may be a concern in view of the widespread presence of fibrates in aquatic environments. Work is needed to test whether exposure to environmental concentrations of these drugs jeopardizes the capacity of fish for reproduction, temperature acclimation or migratory behaviors.« less

Cost-effectiveness analysis of gemcitabine, S-1 and gemcitabine plus S-1 for treatment of advanced pancreatic cancer based on GEST study.

PubMed

Zhou, Jing; Zhao, Rongce; Wen, Feng; Zhang, Pengfei; Tang, Ruilei; Du, Zedong; He, Xiaofeng; Zhang, Jian; Li, Qiu

2015-04-01

Gemcitabine (GEM) alone, S-1 alone and gemcitabine plus S-1 (GS) have shown a marginal clinical benefit for the treatment of advanced pancreatic cancer. However, there is no clearly defined optimal cost-effectiveness treatment. The objective of this study was to assess the cost-effectiveness of GEM alone, S-1 alone and GS for the treatment of advanced pancreatic cancer based on GEST study for public payers. A decision model compared GEM alone, S-1 alone and GS. Primary base case data were identified using the GEST study and the literatures. Costs were estimated from West China Hospital, Sichuan University, China, and incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) were calculated. Survival benefits were reported in quality-adjusted life-months (QALMs). Sensitive analyses were performed by varying potentially modifiable parameters of the model. The base case analysis showed that the GEM cost $21,912 and yielded survival of 6.93 QALMs, S-1 cost $19,371 and yielded survival of 7.90 QALMs and GS cost $22,943 and yielded survival of 7.46 QALMs in the entire treatment. The one-way sensitivity analyses showed that the ICER of S-1 was driven mostly by the S-1 group utility score of stable state compared with GEM, and the GEM group utility score of progressed state played a key role on the ICER of GS compared with GEM. S-1 represents an attractive cost-effective treatment for advanced pancreatic cancer, given the favorable cost per QALM and improvement in clinical efficacy, especially the limited available treatment options.