The ATLAS Experiment has upgraded some off-detector readout chains during the 2013–2015 LHC shut down and an additional barrel layer has been inserted as part of the Pixel Detector: the Insertable ...B-Layer (IBL). The Layers 2 and 1 of the ATLAS Pixel Detector have also been upgraded, using the same Back Of Crate (BOC) and ReadOut-Driver (ROD) cards designed for IBL, while maintaining the front-end sensors unchanged. The same IBL BOC and ROD card configuration has been used for the upgrade of the B-Layer and Disks. The entire upgrade of the ATLAS Pixel Detector readout is now finished, after the technical stop in 2018. In parallel with the commissioning of the above Phase-0 upgrade of the current ATLAS Pixel Detector we have designed and fabricated a new readout electronic board, PCIe based, to address the requirements of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) Phase-2 upgrade. This new board features many of the input–output interfaces to address the requirements of the front-end electronics being developed for the future upgrade, in particular to interface with the future pixel detectors and with FELIX readout cards. Preliminary results and tests are presented here.
CSES (China Seismo-Electromagnetic Satellite) is a Chinese–Italian scientific space mission dedicated to monitor the variations of the main parameters of the topside ionosphere (electric and magnetic ...fields, plasma parameters, charge particle fluxes) caused by either natural emitters – especially earthquakes – or artificial ones.
The CSES satellite was successfully launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center located in the west of Inner Mongolia on February 2nd, 2018, and it is now orbiting under nominal conditions. The expected mission lifetime amounts to 5 years. CSES is the first element of a multi-satellite monitoring system; several satellites are scheduled for the next few years.
The High-Energy Particle Detector (HEPD) is the main contribution of the Italian collaboration to the mission. It was designed and built in order to detect electrons in the energy range between 3 and 100 MeV, protons between 30 and 200 MeV, and light nuclei in the MeV energy window.
The electronics of the detector was designed following stringent requirements on mechanical and thermal stability, power consumption, radiation hardness and double redundancy. The system successfully went through the space qualification tests. In this paper, we describe the HEPD electronics, the space qualification tests performed before launch, and the in-flight performance of the detector.
Cosmic rays’ interactions with the residual atmosphere surrounding the Earth produce a variety of particles, like electrons, positrons, protons, anti-protons, and Helium nuclei that can be observed ...below the local geomagnetic cutoff. In this work, we present new measurements of downward-going, albedo proton fluxes with kinetic energy in the range ∼40–∼250 MeV, performed by the High-Energy Particle Detector (HEPD-01) on board of the China Seismo-Electromagnetic Satellite - CSES-01 - at an altitude of ∼500 km. Employing a dedicated trajectory-tracing simulation routine, the protons collected by HEPD-01 are classified into quasi-trapped (QT), long lifetime (≳10 s) particles concentrating in the equatorial region of the Earth, and un-trapped (UT), distributed at all latitudes; the latter includes both precipitating short lifetime particles (UTS) and pseudo-trapped long lifetime (UTL) populations, abundant in the so-called penumbra regions. The temporal trend of re-entrant protons between 2018 and 2022 is also reported, assessing the stability of such population during the data-taking period of HEPD-01; this highlights their independence from the long-term modulating effect of the solar activity.
•A study of re-entrant albedo protons in the Earth’s magnetosphere as a function of energy with the HEPD-01 payload is presented.•A comparison with past experiments is carried out, with good results.•Time-profiles of re-entrant albedo protons show a general stability during the analyzed period.
Abstract
High-energy, long gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) can be generated by the core collapse of massive stars at the end of their lives. When they happen in the close-by universe they can be ...exceptionally bright, as seen from the Earth in the case of the recent, giant, long-lasting GRB221009A. GRB221009A was produced by a collapsing star with a redshift of 0.152: this event was observed by many gamma-ray space experiments, which also detected an extraordinary long gamma-ray afterglow. The exceptionally large fluence of the prompt emission of about 0.013 erg cm
−2
illuminated a large geographical region centered on India and including Europe and Asia. We report in this paper the observation of sudden electron flux changes correlated with GRB221009A and measured by the HEPP-L charged particle detector on board the China Seismo-Electromagnetic Satellite, which was orbiting over Europe at the time of the GRB event. The time structure of the observed electron flux closely matches the very distinctive time dependence of the photon flux associated with the main part of the emission at around 13:20 UTC on 2022 October 9. To test the origin of these signals, we set up a simplified simulation of one HEPP-L subdetector: the results of this analysis suggest that the signals observed are mostly due to electrons created within the aluminum collimator surrounding the silicon detector, providing real-time monitoring of the very intense photon fluxes. We discuss the implications of this observation for existing and forthcoming particle detectors on low Earth orbits.
Abstract
In this paper we report the detection of five strong gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) by the High-Energy Particle Detector (HEPD-01) mounted on board the China Seismo-Electromagnetic Satellite, ...operational since 2018 on a Sun-synchronous polar orbit at a ∼507 km altitude and 97° inclination. HEPD-01 was designed to detect high-energy electrons in the energy range 3–100 MeV, protons in the range 30–300 MeV, and light nuclei in the range 30–300 MeV n
−1
. Nonetheless, Monte Carlo simulations have shown HEPD-01 is sensitive to gamma-ray photons in the energy range 300 keV–50 MeV, even if with a moderate effective area above ∼5 MeV. A dedicated time correlation analysis between GRBs reported in literature and signals from a set of HEPD-01 trigger configuration masks has confirmed the anticipated detector sensitivity to high-energy photons. A comparison between the simultaneous time profiles of HEPD-01 electron fluxes and photons from GRB190114C, GRB190305A, GRB190928A, GRB200826B, and GRB211211A has shown a remarkable similarity, in spite of the different energy ranges. The high-energy response, with peak sensitivity at about 2 MeV, and moderate effective area of the detector in the actual flight configuration explain why these five GRBs, characterized by a fluence above ∼3 × 10
−5
erg cm
−2
in the energy interval 300 keV–50 MeV, have been detected.
Abstract
Time-dependent energy spectra of galactic cosmic rays (GCRs) carry crucial information regarding their origin and propagation throughout the interstellar environment. When observed at the ...Earth, after traversing the interplanetary medium, such spectra are heavily affected by the solar wind and the embedded solar magnetic field permeating the inner sectors of the heliosphere. The activity of the Sun changes significantly over an 11 yr solar cycle—and so does the effect on cosmic particles; this translates into a phenomenon called solar modulation. Moreover, GCR spectra during different epochs of solar activity provide invaluable information for a complete understanding of the plethora of mechanisms taking place in various layers of the Sun’s atmosphere and how they evolve over time. The High-Energy Particle Detector (HEPD-01) has been continuously collecting data since 2018 August, during the quiet phase between solar cycles 24 and 25; the activity of the Sun is slowly but steadily rising and is expected to peak around 2025/2026. In this paper, we present the first spectra for ∼50–250 MeV galactic protons measured by the HEPD-01 instrument—placed on board the CSES-01 satellite—from 2018 August to 2022 March over a one-Carrington-rotation time basis. Such data are compared to the ones from other spaceborne experiments, present (e.g., EPHIN, Parker Solar Probe) and past (PAMELA), and to a state-of-the-art three-dimensional model describing the GCRs propagation through the heliosphere.
We performed this phase III study to compare the irinotecan, leucovorin (LV), and fluorouracil (FU) regimen (FOLFIRI) versus the oxaliplatin, LV, and FU regimen (FOLFOX4) in previously untreated ...patients with advanced colorectal cancer.
A total of 360 chemotherapy-naive patients were randomly assigned to receive, every 2 weeks, either arm A (FOLFIRI: irinotecan 180 mg/m(2) on day 1 with LV 100 mg/m(2) administered as a 2-hour infusion before FU 400 mg/m(2) administered as an intravenous bolus injection, and FU 600 mg/m(2) as a 22-hour infusion immediately after FU bolus injection on days 1 and 2 LV5FU2) or arm B (FOLFOX4: oxaliplatin 85 mg/m(2) on day 1 with LV5FU2 regimen).
One hundred sixty-four and 172 patients were assessable in arm A and B, respectively. Overall response rates (ORR) were 31% in arm A (95% CI, 24.6% to 38.3%) and 34% in arm B (95% CI, 27.2% to 41.5%; P = .60). In both arms A and B, median time to progression (TTP; 7 v 7 months, respectively), duration of response (9 v 10 months, respectively), and overall survival (OS; 14 v 15 months, respectively) were similar, without any statistically significant difference. Toxicity was mild in both groups: alopecia and gastrointestinal disturbances were the most common toxicities in arm A; thrombocytopenia and neurosensorial were the most common toxicities in arm B. Grade 3 to 4 toxicities were uncommon in both arms, and no statistical significant difference was observed.
There is no difference in ORR, TTP, and OS for patients treated with the FOLFIRI or FOLFOX4 regimen. Both therapies seemed effective as first-line treatment in these patients. The difference between these two combination therapies is mainly in the toxicity profile.
Information about symptomatic toxicities of anticancer treatments is not based on direct report by patients, but rather on reports by clinicians in trials. Given the potential for under-reporting, ...our aim was to compare reporting by patients and physicians of six toxicities (anorexia, nausea, vomiting, constipation, diarrhea, and hair loss) within three randomized trials.
In one trial, elderly patients with breast cancer received adjuvant chemotherapy; in two trials, patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer received first-line treatment. Toxicity was prospectively collected by investigators (graded by National Cancer Institute Common Toxicity Criteria version 2.0 or Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events version 3). At the end of each cycle, patients completed the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer quality-of-life questionnaires, including toxicity-related symptom items. Possible answers were "not at all," "a little," "quite a bit," and "very much." Analysis was limited to the first three cycles. For each toxicity, agreement between patients and physicians and under-reporting by physicians (ie, toxicity reported by patients but not reported by physicians) were calculated.
Overall, 1,090 patients (2,482 cycles) were included. Agreement between patients and physicians was low for all toxicities. Toxicity rates reported by physicians were always lower than those reported by patients. For patients who reported toxicity (any severity), under-reporting by physicians ranged from 40.7% to 74.4%. Examining only patients who reported "very much" toxicity, under-reporting by physicians ranged from 13.0% to 50.0%.
Subjective toxicities are at high risk of under-reporting by physicians, even when prospectively collected within randomized trials. This strongly supports the incorporation of patient-reported outcomes into toxicity reporting in clinical trials.
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