Live-trapping elusive animals is often challenging, hampering the achievement of reasonable sample sizes for molecular studies. In such cases, the use of noninvasive samples (NIS) is critical in many ...research fields, mostly related to ecology, management and conservation of wild species. We analysed the influence of several variables potentially associated with the quality of wolf NIS—season, weather conditions, and in situ collected site and sample characteristics—on the success rates of species and individual identification performed using mtDNA and 13 microsatellites, respectively. NIS included scats, urine and saliva collected from two areas in Portugal. Scat samples exhibited the highest success rate for both species (81%) and individual identification (59%), compared with urine (63 and 30%, respectively) or saliva samples (48 and 36%, respectively). The success rate of species identification of scats was better explained by season of collection, the presence of mucous, moisture and odour. For samples with successful species identification analysis, individual identification success was best predicted by the presence of odour. Performing a preliminary selection of scat samples with the best characteristics can increase up to 13% the success rates of molecular analysis. Urine collected on snow had a higher success rate of species identification than that collected on vegetation. To our knowledge, this was the first time that wolf urine on vegetation near ground-scratching marks is used as DNA source. Saliva samples collected with different substrate types can also be used for species identification. These results contribute to optimising noninvasive sampling procedures, maximising the success of molecular ecology studies, and ultimately minimising sampling efforts and costs.
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EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OBVAL, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
Abstract
The new era of particle physics experiments is moving towards new upgrades of present accelerators (Large Hadron Collider at CERN) and the design of high energy (tens/hundreds TeV scale) and ...very high intensity new particle accelerators (FCC-ee/hh, EIC, Muon Collider). Cost effective, high efficiency particle detection in a high background and high radiation environment is fundamental to accomplish their physics program. We present a new high granularity resistive Micromegas detector capable to ensure full efficient and stable operation and a good tracking capabilities up to particle fluxes of 10 MHz/cm
2
. A summary of the detector performances, measured by mean of high intensity X-ray, muon and pion sources, is reported, together with most recent results from test beam activities.
The NA62 experiment is designed to measure the (ultra-)rare decay K+→π+νν¯ branching ratio with a precision of ∼10% at the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS). The L0 Trigger Processor (L0TP) is the ...lowest level system of the trigger chain. It is hardware implemented using programmable logic. The architecture of the L0TP is completely new for a high energy physics experiment. It is fully digital, based on a standard gigabit ethernet communication between detectors and L0TP Board. The L0TP Board is a commercial development board, Terasic DE4, mounting an Altera Stratix IV FPGA. The primitives generated by sub-detectors are sent asynchronously using the UDP protocol to the L0TP during the entire beam spill period (about 5 seconds). The L0TP realigns in time the primitives coming from 7 different sources and manages the information of the time plus all the characteristics of the event as energy, multiplicity and position of hits in order to select good events with a comparison with preset masks. It should guarantee a maximum latency of 1ms. The maximum input rate is 10MHz for each sub-detector, while the design maximum output trigger rate is 1MHz. A complete trigger-less parasitic acquisition of the primitives is possible using mirroring switches to monitor the L0 behavior. A first version of the L0TP was commissioned during the 2014 NA62 pilot run and it is used in the current data taking. A description of the trigger algorithm is here presented.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZRSKP
We propose a novel detector (Thick Groove Detector, TGD) designed for cosmic ray tomography with a spatial resolution of ~500μm, trying to keep the construction procedure as simple as possible and to ...reduce the operating costs. The TGD belongs to the category of MPGDs with an amplification region less than 1mm wide formed by alternate anode/cathode microstrips layers at different heights. A first 10×10cm2 prototype has been built, divided in four sections with different test geometries. We present the construction procedure and the first results in terms of gain and stability. Preliminary studies with cosmic rays are also reported.
•A new MPGD detector designed for cosmic ray tomography is presented.•With respect to existing detectors, the construction procedure is simpler and operating costs are lower.•Construction procedures and preliminary performance are shown.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZRSKP
We present the development of resistive Micromegas aiming at operation under high rates, up to tens MHz/cm2, focusing on the optimisation of the spark protection resistive layer and the ...miniaturisation of the readout elements. Several Micromegas detectors have been built with an anode plane matrix of 48x16 rectangular readout pads, each pad 0.8x2.8 mm2. The detectors differ for the spark protection resistive schemes being realised with the following techniques: a pad-patterned embedded resistor by screen printing, and uniform DLC (Diamond Like Carbon structure) layers. Characterisation and performance studies of the detectors have been carried out by means of radioactive sources, X-Rays, and test beam. A comparison of the performance obtained with the different resistive layouts is presented, in particular focusing on the response under high irradiation and high rate exposure.
CYGNO is a project realising a cubic meter demonstrator to study the scalability of the performance of the optical approach for the readout of large-volume, GEM-equipped TPC. This is part of the ...CYGNUS proto-collaboration which aims at constructing a network of underground observatories for directional Dark Matter search. The combined use of high-granularity sCMOS and fast sensors for reading out the light produced in GEM channels during the multiplication processes was shown to allow on one hand to reconstruct 3D direction of the tracks, offering accurate energy measurements and sensitivity to the source directionality and, on the other hand, a high particle identification capability very useful to distinguish nuclear recoils. Results of the performed R&D and future steps toward a 30-100 cubic meter experiment will be presented.
The Level 0 Trigger Processor for the NA62 experiment Chiozzi, S.; Gamberini, E.; Gianoli, A. ...
Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment,
07/2016, Volume:
824
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
In the NA62 experiment at CERN, the intense flux of particles requires a high-performance trigger for the data acquisition system. A Level 0 Trigger Processor (L0TP) was realized, performing the ...event selection based on trigger primitives coming from sub-detectors and reducing the trigger rate from 10 to 1MHz. The L0TP is based on a commercial FPGA device and has been implemented in two different solutions. The performance of the two systems are highlighted and compared.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZRSKP
The aim of this study was to report the antimicrobial resistance, the molecular mechanisms associated and the detection of virulence determinants within faecal Enterococcus spp. and Escherichia coli ...isolates of Iberian wolf. Enterococci (n = 227) and E. coli (n = 195) isolates were obtained from faecal samples of Iberian wolf (Canis lupus signatus). High rates of resistance were detected for tetracycline and erythromycin among the enterococci isolates, and most of resistant isolates harboured the tet(M) and/or tet(L) and erm(B) genes, respectively. The blaTEM, tet(A) and/or tet(B), and aadA or strA‐strB genes were detected among most ampicillin‐, tetracycline‐ or streptomycin‐resistant E. coli isolates, respectively. E. coli isolates were ascribed to phylogroups A (n = 56), B1 (91), B2 (13) and D (35). The occurrence of resistant enterococci and E. coli isolates in the faecal flora of Iberian wolf, including the presence of resistant genes in integrons, and virulence determinants was showed in this study. Iberian wolf might act as reservoir of certain resistance genes that could be spread throughout the environment.
Significance and Impact of the Study
This study shows antimicrobial resistance in commensal bacteria from the free‐range, Portuguese, Iberian wolf population. The results indicate that the Iberian wolf could contribute to the spread of resistant bacteria throughout the environment. Additionally, in case of infection, an increased risk of therapeutic failure due to the presence of multiresistant bacteria may represent a health problem for this endangered species. Future studies must be performed to analyse the possible contamination of these animals through the environment and/or the food chain.
Significance and Impact of the Study: This study shows antimicrobial resistance in commensal bacteria from the free‐range, Portuguese, Iberian wolf population. The results indicate that the Iberian wolf could contribute to the spread of resistant bacteria throughout the environment. Additionally, in case of infection, an increased risk of therapeutic failure due to the presence of multiresistant bacteria may represent a health problem for this endangered species. Future studies must be performed to analyse the possible contamination of these animals through the environment and/or the food chain.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
The Gigatracker, the silicon beam tracker for the NA62 experiment at CERN Federici, L.; Aglieri Rinella, G.; Alvarez Feito, D. ...
Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment,
04/2020, Volume:
958
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
The Gigatracker is the NA62 beam tracker. It is made of three 63.1mm×29.3mm stations of 300μm×300μm hybrid silicon pixel detectors installed in vacuum (∼10−6mbar). The beam particles, flowing at ...750MHz, are traced in 4-dimensions by mean of time-stamping pixels with a design resolution of 200ps. This performance has to be maintained despite the beam irradiation amounting to a yearly fluence of 2×10141MeVneq∕cm2. The detector material minimization is paramount, as the detector faces the full beam. The station material budget is reduced to 0.5%X0 by using (HEP world first) micro-channels cooling. We will describe the detector design and performances during the NA62 runs.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZRSKP
A comparison of platinum-group element (PGE) emission between gasoline and diesel engine catalytic converters is reported within this work. Whole raw exhaust fumes from four catalysts of three ...different types were examined during their useful lifetime, from fresh to 80
000 km. Two were gasoline engine catalysts (Pt–Pd–Rh and Pd–Rh), while the other two were diesel engine catalysts (Pt). Samples were collected following the 91441 EUDC driving cycle for light-duty vehicle testing, and the sample collection device used allowed differentiation between the particulate and soluble fractions, the latter being the most relevant from an environmental point of view. Analyses were performed by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) (quadrupole and high resolution), and special attention was paid to the control of spectral interference, especially in the case of Pd and Rh. The results obtained show that, for fresh catalysts, the release of particulate PGE through car exhaust fumes does not follow any particular trend, with a wide range (one–two orders of magnitude) for the content of noble metals emitted. The samples collected from 30
000–80
000 km present a more homogeneous PGE release for all catalysts studied. A decrease of approximately one order of magnitude is observed with respect to the release from fresh catalysts, except in the case of the diesel engine catalyst, for which PGE emission continued to be higher than in the case of gasoline engines. The fraction of soluble PGE was found to represent less than 10% of the total amount released from fresh catalysts. For aged catalysts, the figures are significantly higher, especially for Pd and Rh. Particulate PGE can be considered as virtually biologically inert, while soluble PGE forms can represent an environmental risk due to their bioavailability, which leads them to accumulate in the environment.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
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