Abstract
In the field of internal combustion engines, the Low Temperature Combustions (LTC) appear to have the potential to reduce the formation of both soot and nitrogen oxides. One of the most ...promising LTC is Reactivity Controlled Compression Ignition (RCCI) which is based on the combustion of a lean low reactivity fuel-air mixture generated in the intake manifold and autoignited by small injections of high reactivity fuel introduced at high pressure in the combustion chamber. By the combination of net-zero natural gas and biodiesel, such LTC methodology might represent a suitable solution moving toward zero-emissions in transportation sector.
Despite the potential to reduce pollutant emissions, Low Temperature Combustion strategies face a challenge in controlling the angular position where the combustion takes place which can be overcome by a proper management of the high-pressure injections.
One potentially interesting application is related to trucks, mainly because they have long periods of idling, since emissions can be drastically reduced by means LTC. A single cylinder research engine for heavy duty application is operated under steady state conditions at low load and speed to analyze the possibility of controlling the engine behavior in dual fuel RCCI mode. The results indicate that the combustion mode switches from the dual-stage to gaussian within a narrow angular range. A further advance of the start of injection can generate misfires and significant variations in typical combustion indexes, while a delayed start of injection can cause impulsive combustion that rises the cylinder temperature and results in high-frequency pressure oscillations inside the combustion chamber. These oscillations are related to the combustion chamber typical resonance frequency, and if relevant in amplitude and persist for a long time, they might generate a potential source of failures.
The development of e-health technologies for teleconsultation and exchange of knowledge is one of the core purposes of European Reference Networks (ERNs), including the ERN EURO-NMD for rare ...neuromuscular diseases. Within ERNs, the Clinical Patient Management System (CPMS) is a web-based platform that seeks to boost active collaboration within and across the network, implementing data sharing. Through CPMS, it is possible to both discuss patient cases and to make patients' data available for registries and databases in a secure way. In this view, CPMS may be considered a sort of a temporary storage for patients' data and an effective tool for data sharing; it facilitates specialists' consultation since rare diseases (RDs) require multidisciplinary skills, specific, and outstanding clinical experience. Following European Union (EU) recommendation, and to promote the use of CPMS platform among EURO-NMD members, a twelve-month pilot project was set up to train the 15 Italian Health Care Providers (HCPs). In this paper, we report the structure, methods, and results of the teaching course, showing that tailored, ERN-oriented, training can significantly enhance the profitable use of the CPMS.
Throughout the training course, 45 professionals learned how to use the many features of the CPMS, eventually opening 98 panels of discussion-amounting to 82% of the total panels included in the EURO-NMD. Since clinical, genetic, diagnostic, and therapeutic data of patients can be securely stored within the platform, we also highlight the importance of this platform as an effective tool to discuss and share clinical cases, in order to ease both case solving and data storing.
In this paper, we discuss how similar course could help implementing the use of the platform, highlighting strengths and weaknesses of e-health for ERNs. The expected result is the creation of a "map" of neuromuscular patients across Europe that might be improved by a wider use of CPMS.
Pulsed production of antihydrogen Amsler, Claude; Antonello, Massimiliano; Belov, Alexander ...
Communications physics,
01/2021, Letnik:
4, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
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Abstract
Antihydrogen atoms with K or sub-K temperature are a powerful tool to precisely probe the validity of fundamental physics laws and the design of highly sensitive experiments needs ...antihydrogen with controllable and well defined conditions. We present here experimental results on the production of antihydrogen in a pulsed mode in which the time when 90% of the atoms are produced is known with an uncertainty of ~250 ns. The pulsed source is generated by the charge-exchange reaction between Rydberg positronium atoms—produced via the injection of a pulsed positron beam into a nanochanneled Si target, and excited by laser pulses—and antiprotons, trapped, cooled and manipulated in electromagnetic traps. The pulsed production enables the control of the antihydrogen temperature, the tunability of the Rydberg states, their de-excitation by pulsed lasers and the manipulation through electric field gradients. The production of pulsed antihydrogen is a major landmark in the AE
$$\bar{g}$$
ḡ
IS experiment to perform direct measurements of the validity of the Weak Equivalence Principle for antimatter.
Since the end of February 2020, Italy has suffered one of the most severe outbreaks of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). However, what happened just before the Italian index case has not yet been ...investigated. To answer this question, we evaluated the potential impact of COVID-19 on the clinical features of a cohort of neurological inpatients admitted right before the Italian index case, as compared to the same period of the previous year. Demographic, clinical, treatment and laboratory data were extracted from medical records. The data collected included all inpatients who had been admitted to the Neurology and Stroke Units of the Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milan, Italy, from December 15, 2018 to February 20, 2019 and from December 15, 2019 to February 20, 2020. Of the 248 patients, 97 subjects (39.1%) were admitted for an acute cerebrovascular event: 46 in the 2018/2019 period (mean SD age, 72.3 15.6 years; 22 men 47.8%), and 51 in the 2019/2020 interval (mean SD age, 72.8 12.4 years; 24 men 47.1%). The number of cryptogenic strokes has increased during the 2019–2020 year, as compared to the previous year (30 58.8% vs. 18 39.1%,
p
= 0.05). These patients had a longer hospitalization (mean SD day, 15.7 10.5 days vs. mean SD day, 11.7 7.2 days,
p
= 0.03) and more frequent cerebrovascular complications (9 30.0% vs. 2 11.1%), but presented a lower incidence of cardiocerebral risk factors (18 60.0% vs. 14 77.8%). Right before the Italian index case, an increase in cryptogenic strokes has occurred, possibly due to the concomitant COVID-19.
This correction provides updated acknowledgements:
This work was supported by Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare; the Swiss National Science Foundation Ambizione Grant (No. 154833); a Deutsche ...Forschungsgemeinschaft research grant; an excellence initiative of Heidelberg University; Marie Sklodowska-Curie Innovative Training Network Fellowship of the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 Programme (No. 721559 AVA); European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement ANGRAM No 748826; European Research Council under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Program FP7/2007-2013 (Grants Nos. 291242 and 277762); Austrian Ministry for Science, Research, and Economy; Research Council of Norway; Bergen Research Foundation; John Templeton Foundation; Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation and Russian Academy of Sciences; and the European Social Fund within the framework of realizing the project, in support of intersectoral mobility and quality enhancement of research teams at Czech Technical University in Prague (Grant No. CZ.1.07/2.3.00/30.0034).
Although several authors have studied the association between patent foramen ovale (PFO) and ischaemic stroke, the matter is still controversial; few have suggested an association between ...cryptogenetic stroke and PFO, while others have denied this association. The aim of this study was to evaluate PFO prevalence in the whole ischaemic stroke population, independently from age and stroke subtypes and to identify the characteristics associated with the presence of PFO.
SISIFO study was a multicenter, prospective, single-wave, cross-sectional survey conducted on consecutive patients with acute ischemic stroke admitted to selected clinical centres. Data regarding vascular risk factors were registered for each patient; all patients underwent computed tomography scan and/or magnetic resonance imaging of the brain; an electrocardiogram and standard laboratory blood tests were performed. A Doppler ultrasound study of extra-cranial arteries was performed too. The cases were classified according to TOAST and OCSP criteria. Each patient underwent transcranial Doppler or transcranial color-coded duplex sonography with bubble test as diagnostic tool for right-to-left-shunt. Where right-to-left shunt was detected, PFO presence was confirmed by echocardiography.
1,130 consecutive patients were included. We found a PFO in 247 (21.9%; 95% CI, 19.5-24.3%) patients; PFO was present in 23.5% of patients with cryptogenic stroke and in 21.3% of patients with stroke of known causes; this difference was not statistically significant. At the univariate analysis, decreasing age, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and atrial fibrillation, and stroke characteristics such as NIHSS, OCSP and TOAST were predictors of PFO presence. At the multivariate analysis, we found a significant interaction between age and OCSP syndrome. Being LACI the reference category, the prevalence of PFO in PACI and POCI decreased significantly along with age, whereas there was no change in TACI.
If any relationship exists between stroke and PFO, this is more likely in PACI and POCI at a younger age. Our results are consistent with recent findings that underline PFO alone must not be considered a significant independent predictor for stroke; so the presence of PFO alone doesn't permit rushed causal correlations or 'therapeutic aggressiveness'.
This correction provides updated acknowledgements:This work was supported by Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare; the Swiss National Science Foundation Ambizione Grant (No. 154833); a Deutsche ...Forschungsgemeinschaft research grant; an excellence initiative of Heidelberg University; Marie Sklodowska-Curie Innovative Training Network Fellowship of the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 Programme (No. 721559 AVA); European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement ANGRAM No 748826; European Research Council under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Program FP7/2007-2013 (Grants Nos. 291242 and 277762); Austrian Ministry for Science, Research, and Economy; Research Council of Norway; Bergen Research Foundation; John Templeton Foundation; Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation and Russian Academy of Sciences; and the European Social Fund within the framework of realizing the project, in support of intersectoral mobility and quality enhancement of research teams at Czech Technical University in Prague (Grant No. CZ.1.07/2.3.00/30.0034).
The AEgIS experiment aims at producing antihydrogen (and eventually measuring the effects of the Earth gravitational field on it) with a method based on the charge exchange reaction between ...antiproton and Rydberg positronium. To be precise, antiprotons are delivered by the CERN Antiproton Decelerator (AD) and are trapped in a multi-ring Penning trap, while positronium is produced by a nanoporous silica target and is excited to Rydberg states by means of a two steps laser excitation. New Monte Carlo simulations are presented in this paper in order to investigate the current status of the AEgIS experiment
1
and to interpret the recently collected data
2
.
Imaging a positronium cloud in a 1 Tesla Camper, Antoine; Aghion, Stefano; Amsler, Claude ...
EPJ Web of Conferences,
2019, Letnik:
198
Journal Article, Conference Proceeding
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We report on recent developments in positronium work in the frame of antihydrogen production through charge exchange in the AEgIS collaboration 1. In particular, we present a new technique based on ...spatially imaging a cloud of positronium by collecting the positrons emitted by photoionization. This background free diagnostic proves to be highly efficient and opens up new opportunities for spectroscopy on antimatter, control and laser manipulation of positronium clouds as well as Doppler velocimetry.
The design of a flywheel system for energy storage is herein performed through the Model Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) as an example of mechatronic product development and innovation. Some ...relevant advantages of the MBSE applied to a material mechatronic system, in some activities, as the requirement analysis, the identification of system capabilities, the definition of architecture and the system validation are identified. Moreover, the paper is aimed at investigating some critical issues arising when the MBSE tools are applied to machine design, being still a domain poorly inclined to exploit this holistic approach. That trend might be related to technical difficulties in assessing an interoperable framework of simulators aimed at dealing simultaneously with functional and physical models. In addition the technology scouting looks poorly connected within the standard SysML diagrams, without introducing some additional charts. A demonstration of the fruitful impact of the MBSE on the machine design is herein proposed, to show some advantages provided as a mechatronic integrated system is conceived and how a complete trade-off analysis could be supported by the MBSE modeling activity.
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