The W-MON project aims to improve and automatize the control of the presence of radioactive material in conventional waste containers at CERN using a distributed network of interconnected low-power ...radiation sensors. The key development is the integration of a lightweight but sensitive radiation sensor in a powerful network that allows continuous data recording, transfer and storage in a database for alarm triggering and subsequent data analysis. The Chiyoda D-shuttle personal dosimeter was used as proof-of-concept. Extensive tests performed with the commercial version of the D-shuttle showed that its robustness, stability under variable thermal conditions, high sensitivity and hourly dose logging capabilities make it a strong candidate for the project. To comply with the requirements of remote operation and wireless data transmission to a central server, a customized version of the D-shuttle has been developed. Two additional radiation sensors are also currently being considered. The sensors have been coupled to a custom-made communication board allowing for long-range low-power LoRa wireless data transmission. A centralized IoT (Internet of Things) end-to-end data architecture has been developed for real-time monitoring and visualization of the radiation level in waste containers before the final integration into REMUS, the overall CERN Radiation and Environment Monitoring Unified Supervision service.
•Environmental radiological monitoring for conventional waste.•Lightweight and smart radiation sensors for real-time monitoring of the radiation level in waste containers.•Distributed network of interconnected low-power radiation sensors with LoRa wireless data transmission.
The integration of web technologies and web services has been, in the recent years, one of the major trends in upgrading and developing distributed control systems for accelerators and large ...experimental apparatuses. Usually, web technologies have been introduced to complement the control systems with smart add-ons and user friendly services or, for instance, to safely allow access to the control system to users from remote sites. Despite this still narrow spectrum of employment, some software technologies developed for high-performance web services, although originally intended and optimized for these particular applications, deserve some features suggesting a deeper integration in a control system and, eventually, their use to develop some of the control system’s core components. In this paper, we present the conceptual design of a new control system for a particle accelerator and associated machine data acquisition system, based on a synergic combination of a nonrelational key/value database and network distributed object caching. The use of these technologies, to implement respectively continuous data archiving and data distribution between components, brought about the definition of a new control system concept offering a number of interesting features such as a high level of abstraction of services and components and their integration in a framework that can be seen as a comprehensive service provider that both graphical user interface applications and front-end controllers join for accessing and, to some extent, expanding its functionalities.
This paper describes the design and the current state of implementation of an infrastructure made available to software developers within the Italian National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN) to ...support and facilitate their daily activity. The infrastructure integrates several tools, each providing a well-identified function: project management, version control system, continuous integration, dynamic provisioning of virtual machines, efficiency improvement, knowledge base. When applicable, access to the services is based on the INFN-wide Authentication and Authorization Infrastructure. The system is being installed and progressively made available to INFN users belonging to tens of sites and laboratories and will represent a solid foundation for the software development efforts of the many experiments and projects that see the involvement of the Institute. The infrastructure will be beneficial especially for small- and medium-size collaborations, which often cannot afford the resources, in particular in terms of know-how, needed to set up such services.
With the aim of controlling the risk of releasing radioactive material together with ordinary waste, the Radiation Protection (RP) group at CERN is developing a fully automated network of wireless ...radiation sensors to provide remote and real- time monitoring of the radiation level of hundreds of waste containers located on the CERN sites. The system, based on the Internet of Things (IoT) paradigm, will be included in the existing CERN RP supervisory system, allowing online monitoring and continuous supervision. As proof of concept, a complete IoT architecture was successfully developed. A fully operational monitoring system was installed in a waste container equipped with eight wireless radiation sensors, which record and transmit the radiation measurements every hour to a dedicated custom server.
Abstract
The present analysis is aimed to evaluate the use and results of direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) in the past years, in a group of patients presenting with multiple comorbidies and at ...medium–high thromboembolic risk. In the past years, our outpatient Center followed 929 patients (mean age at admission 76.5 + 9.2 years, range: 29–99 years, 501 men), 848 with non–valvular atrial fibrillation/flutter, and 81 with recent phlebopulmonar thromboembolism (PPTE). An anamnesis of previous cardiovascular events were present in 302 patients (32.5%): coronary artery disease (146), carotid or peripheral atherosclerosis (109), cerebral stroke or ischemia (116). Initial CHA2DS2–VASc and HASBLED score were respectively 3.9 and 2.3 points. Patients were initially treated with Apixaban (A) (301, 89 with reduced dose, according to clinical–prescriptive characteristics), Dabigatran (D) (332, 256 with low dose), Edoxaban (E) (161, 83 with reduced dose), Rivaroxaban (R) (135, 53 with reduced dose). All patients were followed–up periodically (every 6 months) with both clinical and instrumental controls (electrocardiogram, blood tests, etc.), re–evaluating risk factors, in order also to check indication and dosage appropriateness. After a mean follow–up of 3.8 years (range: 6 montsh–9 years), for a total of 3530.2 years*patient, 57 patients (6.1%) had stopped DOAC therapy, because of: severe renal failure (12), repeated bleeding (6), clinical criteria (19), mechanical valve insertion (7), detection of thrombophilia (5), left atrial appendage occlusion (3), frailty (5). In the remaining 872 patients, 33 strokes (7 relapses), 11 PPTE, 17 major bleedings, 24 clinically relevant bleedings, and 71 minor bleedings, occurred. DOAC dose reduction occurred in 101 patients (11.6%: 31on A, 25 on D, 16 on E, 29 on R), because of clinical criteria (28), renal failure (56), bleedings (17). A replacement with other DOACS occurred in 104 patients (11.9%: 7 on A, 71 on D, 5 on E, 21 on R), because of renal failure (29), digestive disorders (27), bleedings (32), thrombotic events (6), lactose intolerance (3), allergic reactions (7). Clinical–and instrumental periodical control of patients treated with DOACs confirmed their effectiveness and safety, even in a population at medium–high thromboembolic risk. Additionally, such a management may allow also a greater prescribing appropriateness, as well as a safer and reliable follow–up over time of these patients.
The accurate determination of the geometrical features of quasi one-dimensional nanostructures is mandatory for reducing errors and improving repeatability in the estimation of a number of ...geometry-dependent properties in nanotechnology. In this paper a method for the reconstruction of length and spatial orientation of single nanowires (NWs) is presented. Those quantities are calculated from a sequence of scanning electron microscope (SEM) images taken at different tilt angles using a simple 3D geometric model. The proposed method is evaluated on a collection of SEM images of single GaAs NWs. It is validated through the reconstruction of known geometric features of a standard reference calibration pattern. An overall uncertainty of about 1% in the estimated length of the NWs is achieved.
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