By matching of repeat optical satellite images it is now possible to investigate glacier dynamics within large regions of the world and also between regions to improve knowledge about glacier ...dynamics in space and time. In this study we investigate whether the negative glacier mass balance seen over large parts of the world has caused the glaciers to change their speeds. The studied regions are Pamir, Caucasus, Penny Ice Cap, Alaska Range and Patagonia. In addition we derive speed changes for Karakoram, a region assumed to have positive mass balance and that contains many surge-type glaciers. We find that the mapped glaciers in the five regions with negative mass balance have over the last decades decreased their velocity at an average rate per decade of: 43 % in the Pamir, 8 % in the Caucasus, 25 % on Penny Ice Cap, 11 % in the Alaska Range and 20 % in Patagonia. Glaciers in Karakoram have generally increased their speeds, but surging glaciers and glaciers with flow instabilities are most prominent in this area. Therefore the calculated average speed change is not representative for this area.
Letter of intent for KM3NeT 2.0 Adrián-Martínez, S; Aharonian, F; Aiello, S ...
Journal of physics. G, Nuclear and particle physics,
08/2016, Letnik:
43, Številka:
8
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
The main objectives of the KM3NeT Collaboration are (i) the discovery and subsequent observation of high-energy neutrino sources in the Universe and (ii) the determination of the mass hierarchy of ...neutrinos. These objectives are strongly motivated by two recent important discoveries, namely: (1) the high-energy astrophysical neutrino signal reported by IceCube and (2) the sizable contribution of electron neutrinos to the third neutrino mass eigenstate as reported by Daya Bay, Reno and others. To meet these objectives, the KM3NeT Collaboration plans to build a new Research Infrastructure consisting of a network of deep-sea neutrino telescopes in the Mediterranean Sea. A phased and distributed implementation is pursued which maximises the access to regional funds, the availability of human resources and the synergistic opportunities for the Earth and sea sciences community. Three suitable deep-sea sites are selected, namely off-shore Toulon (France), Capo Passero (Sicily, Italy) and Pylos (Peloponnese, Greece). The infrastructure will consist of three so-called building blocks. A building block comprises 115 strings, each string comprises 18 optical modules and each optical module comprises 31 photo-multiplier tubes. Each building block thus constitutes a three-dimensional array of photo sensors that can be used to detect the Cherenkov light produced by relativistic particles emerging from neutrino interactions. Two building blocks will be sparsely configured to fully explore the IceCube signal with similar instrumented volume, different methodology, improved resolution and complementary field of view, including the galactic plane. One building block will be densely configured to precisely measure atmospheric neutrino oscillations.
A
bstract
Studying atmospheric neutrino oscillations in the few-GeV range with a multi-megaton detector promises to determine the neutrino mass hierarchy. This is the main science goal pursued by the ...future KM3NeT/ORCA water Cherenkov detector in the Mediterranean Sea. In this paper, the processes that limit the obtainable resolution in both energy and direction in charged-current neutrino events in the ORCA detector are investigated. These processes include the composition of the hadronic fragmentation products, the subsequent particle propagation and the photon-sampling fraction of the detector. GEANT simulations of neutrino interactions in seawater produced by GENIE are used to study the effects in the 1-20 GeV range. It is found that fluctuations in the hadronic cascade in conjunction with the variation of the inelasticity
y
are most detrimental to the resolutions. The effect of limited photon sampling in the detector is of significantly less importance. These results will therefore also be applicable to similar detectors/media, such as those in ice.
The prototype detection unit of the KM3NeT detector Adrián-Martínez, S.; Ageron, M.; Anghinolfi, M. ...
The European physical journal. C, Particles and fields,
02/2016, Letnik:
76, Številka:
2
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
A prototype detection unit of the KM3NeT deep-sea neutrino telescope has been installed at 3500m depth 80 km offshore the Italian coast. KM3NeT in its final configuration will contain several ...hundreds of detection units. Each detection unit is a mechanical structure anchored to the sea floor, held vertical by a submerged buoy and supporting optical modules for the detection of Cherenkov light emitted by charged secondary particles emerging from neutrino interactions. This prototype string implements three optical modules with 31 photomultiplier tubes each. These optical modules were developed by the KM3NeT Collaboration to enhance the detection capability of neutrino interactions. The prototype detection unit was operated since its deployment in May 2014 until its decommissioning in July 2015. Reconstruction of the particle trajectories from the data requires a nanosecond accuracy in the time calibration. A procedure for relative time calibration of the photomultiplier tubes contained in each optical module is described. This procedure is based on the measured coincidences produced in the sea by the
40
K background light and can easily be expanded to a detector with several thousands of optical modules. The time offsets between the different optical modules are obtained using LED nanobeacons mounted inside them. A set of data corresponding to 600 h of livetime was analysed. The results show good agreement with Monte Carlo simulations of the expected optical background and the signal from atmospheric muons. An almost background-free sample of muons was selected by filtering the time correlated signals on all the three optical modules. The zenith angle of the selected muons was reconstructed with a precision of about 3
∘
.
To create a risk score using clinical factors to determine whom to screen and monitor for atrial fibrillation (AF).
The AF risk score was developed based on the summed odds ratios (ORs) for AF ...development of 7 accepted clinical risk factors. The AF risk score is intended to assess the risk of AF similar to how the CHA2DS2-VASc score assesses stroke risk. Seven validated risk factors for AF were used to develop the AF risk score: age, coronary artery disease, diabetes mellitus, sex, heart failure, hypertension, and valvular disease. The AF risk score was tested within a random population sample of the Intermountain Healthcare outpatient database. Outcomes were stratified by AF risk score for OR and Kaplan-Meier analysis.
A total of 100,000 patient records with an index follow-up from January 1, 2002, through December 31, 2007, were selected and followed up for the development of AF through the time of this analysis, May 13, 2013, through September 6, 2013. Mean ± SD follow-up time was 3106±819 days. The ORs of subsequent AF diagnosis of patients with AF risk scores of 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 or higher were 3.05, 12.9, 22.8, 34.0, and 48.0, respectively. The area under the curve statistic for the AF risk score was 0.812 (95% CI, 0.805-0.820).
We developed a simple AF risk score made up of common clinical factors that may be useful to possibly select patients for long-term monitoring for AF detection.
Epoxy-based insulating systems usually feature a low thermal conductivity, which is a limiting factor for application in high voltage apparatus. Improved properties such as thermal conductivity, ...breakdown strength or resistance to erosion from corona discharges can be obtained by replacing the neat epoxy with composite systems reinforced by inorganic particles. Particularly interesting fillers are Polyhedral Oligomeric Silsesquioxanes (POSS) with reactive side-groups that can be dispersed at the nanometric level up to a high filler rate and that have been shown to improve the dielectric properties of the resulting composites as well as their thermal conductivity. The aim of this paper is to present a model able to predict the thermal conductivity of epoxy/POSS based composites. The proposed model was validated by Finite Elements Method (FEM) simulations.
The influence of interface on the dielectric response, electrical and thermal conductivity of the filled high density polyethylene (HDPE) was studied. Two types of composites containing 10 wt% of ...polyaniline (PAni) as filler was used. It was shown that the degradation temperature of the composites is slightly lower than that of the pure matrix. The crystalline content was found to remain unchanged at 67% for all composites except in the case of HDPE/PAni core-shell structure which exhibits a slightly higher crystalline content of 75%. The presence of PAni in the composite systems contributed to the increase of the conductivity by about eight orders of magnitude for the composite when stearic acid was used as a compatibilizer. The thermal conductivity of HDPE/PAni 10 wt% films was also found to remain unchanged at 0.35 W/m.K. The microstructure study by scanning electron microscopy revealed that the stearic acid helped to achieve a reasonably good dispersion of PAni in HDPE matrix.
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