To increase the use of fly ash (FA) as a pozzolanic material in concrete, a composite was formed with an interaction of FA with β-cyclodextrin (β-CD). Further research was carried out in this article ...to study the effects of replacing cement with FA (30% and 50% by mass), β-CD (0.025%, 0.05% and 0.1%) and FA-β-CD composite on the workability and strength of concrete. Workability was assessed by means of the slump test and strengths were assessed using the compressive and split tensile strength tests. Higher combined contents of FA and β-CD resulted in increased workability of concrete of up to approximately 550%. Furthermore, the inclusion of β-CD generally increased both the compressive and tensile strengths of the concretes not containing FA by up to 10%. When combined with FA, the β-CD resulted in increased compressive strengths of up to 63% and tensile strengths of up to 28%, compared to the relevant pozzolanic concretes which did not include β-CD. The study contributed to the knowledge of FA performance using cyclodextrin and promoted the continued inclusion of FA in concrete, which in turn should reduce the environmental pollution resulting from FA.
With the tenfold luminosity increase envisaged at the HL-LHC, the background (i.e., photons, neutrons, \ldots ) and the event pileup probability are expected to highly increase in proportion in the ...different experiments, especially in the forward regions, for instance the muons chambers of the ATLAS detector. Detectors based on the Micromegas principle should be good alternatives for the detector upgrade in the HL-LHC framework because of its good spatial (< 100\mu{\hbox{m}}) and time (few ns) resolutions, high-rate capability, radiation hardness, good robustness, and the possibility to build large areas. The aim of this study is to demonstrate that it is possible to reduce the discharge probability and protect the electronics by using a resistive anode plane in a high-flux hadrons environment. Several prototypes of 10 \times 10~{\hbox{cm}}^{2} , with different pitches (0.5-2 mm) and different resistive layers have been tested at CERN (\pi^{+}@{\rm SPS}) . Several tests have been performed with a telescope at different voltages to assess the performance of the detectors in terms of position resolution and efficiency. The spark behavior in these conditions has also been evaluated. Resistive coating has been shown to be a successful method to reduce the effect of sparks on the efficiency of micromegas. A good spatial resolution (\sim 80\ \mu{\hbox{m}}) can be reached with a resistive strip coating detector of 1-mm pitch, and a high efficiency ( > 98\%) can be achieved with resistive-anode micromegas detector. An X-rays irradiation has also been performed, showing no ageing effect after more than 21 days exposure and an integrated charge of almost 1C.
•Detailed simulation of the response of scintillator detectors to extensive air showers.•Measurement of the zenith and azimuth distribution of EAS at ground level combining two distant Astroneu ...stations.•Performance of the Astroneu array.
The Astroneu Extensive Air Shower (EAS) array comprises autonomous detection stations; each station consisting of 3 large scintillator detectors and one or more Radio Frequency (RF) antennas. The scintillator detectors of a station are able to detect showers with a low energy threshold of 20−30 TeV, at a rate of 10−20 showers per hour depending on the station geometrical layout. The RF antennas are used to detect very high energy EAS (E > 1017eV) through their radio wave emission. This work focuses in reconstructing and studying showers that have been detected synchronously by the scintillator detectors of two distant Astroneu stations. The performance of the array to detect and reconstruct the direction of such high energy (E > 5 · 1015eV) showers is evaluated by comparing the experimental measurements to the predictions of a detail Monte Carlo (MC) simulation.
In this paper, we present the physics performance of the ESSnuSB experiment in the standard three flavor scenario using the updated neutrino flux calculated specifically for the ESSnuSB configuration ...and updated migration matrices for the far detector. Taking conservative systematic uncertainties corresponding to a normalization error of
5
%
for signal and
10
%
for background, we find that there is
10
σ
(
13
σ
)
CP violation discovery sensitivity for the baseline option of 540 km (360 km) at
δ
CP
=
±
90
∘
. The corresponding fraction of
δ
CP
for which CP violation can be discovered at more than
5
σ
is
70
%
. Regarding CP precision measurements, the
1
σ
error associated with
δ
CP
=
0
∘
is around
5
∘
and with
δ
CP
=
-
90
∘
is around
14
∘
(
7
∘
)
for the baseline option of 540 km (360 km). For hierarchy sensitivity, one can have
3
σ
sensitivity for 540 km baseline except
δ
CP
=
±
90
∘
and
5
σ
sensitivity for 360 km baseline for all values of
δ
CP
. The octant of
θ
23
can be determined at
3
σ
for the values of:
θ
23
>
51
∘
(
θ
23
<
42
∘
and
θ
23
>
49
∘
) for baseline of 540 km (360 km). Regarding measurement precision of the atmospheric mixing parameters, the allowed values at
3
σ
are:
40
∘
<
θ
23
<
52
∘
(
42
∘
<
θ
23
<
51
.
5
∘
) and
2.485
×
10
-
3
eV
2
<
Δ
m
31
2
<
2.545
×
10
-
3
eV
2
(
2.49
×
10
-
3
eV
2
<
Δ
m
31
2
<
2.54
×
10
-
3
eV
2
) for the baseline of 540 km (360 km).
The proteasome inhibitor PS-341 inhibits nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) activation, induces apoptosis in cancer cells, including multiple myeloma (MM) cells, and has marked clinical activity as a ...monotherapy for MM. In this study, we found that subtoxic concentrations of PS-341 potently sensitized MM cell lines and patient cells to DNA-damaging chemotherapeutic agents such as doxorubicin and melphalan, including cells resistant to these drugs and those isolated from a patient who had relapsed after PS-341 monotherapy. Moreover, PS-341 abolished cell adhesion–mediated drug resistance. Using gene expression profiling and proteomic analysis, we demonstrate that PS-341, among its other proapoptotic effects, down-regulates the expression of several effectors involved in the cellular response to genotoxic stress. These data suggest that, in addition to down-regulating the expression of apoptosis inhibitors, PS-341 inhibits genotoxic stress response pathways and thereby restores sensitivity to DNA-damaging chemotherapeutic agents. These studies, therefore, provide the framework for clinical use of this agent in combination with conventional chemotherapy.
The proteasome inhibitor PS-341 inhibits IκB degradation, prevents NF-κB activation, and induces apoptosis in several types of cancer cells, including chemoresistant multiple myeloma (MM) cells. ...PS-341 has marked clinical activity even in the setting of relapsed refractory MM. However, PS-341-induced apoptotic cascade(s) are not yet fully defined. By using gene expression profiling, we characterized the molecular sequelae of PS-341 treatment in MM cells and further focused on molecular pathways responsible for the anticancer actions of this promising agent. The transcriptional profile of PS-341-treated cells involved down-regulation of growth/survival signaling pathways, and up-regulation of molecules implicated in proapoptotic cascades (which are both consistent with the proapoptotic effect of proteasome inhibition), as well as up-regulation of heat-shock proteins and ubiquitin/proteasome pathway members (which can correspond to stress responses against proteasome inhibition). Further studies on these pathways showed that PS-341 decreases the levels of several antiapoptotic proteins and triggers a dual apoptotic pathway of mitochondrial cytochrome c release and caspase-9 activation, as well as activation of Jun kinase and a Fas/caspase-8-dependent apoptotic pathway which is inhibited by a dominant negative (decoy) Fas construct. Stimulation with IGF-1, as well as overexpression of Bcl-2 or constitutively active Akt in MM cells also modestly attenuates PS-341-induced cell death, whereas inhibitors of the BH3 domain of Bcl-2 family members or the heat-shock protein 90 enhance tumor cell sensitivity to proteasome inhibition. These data provide both insight into the molecular mechanisms of antitumor activity of PS-341 and the rationale for future clinical trials of PS-341, in combination with conventional and novel therapies, to improve patient outcome in MM.
Micromegas readouts are an attractive option for many of the rare event searches, due to their performance regarding energy resolution, gain stability, homogeneity and material budget. The T-REX ...project aims at developing further these novel readout techniques for Time Projection Chambers and their potential use in experiments searching for rare events. Here we will refer to the latest results regarding the use and prospects of Micromegas read-outs in axion physics (CAST and the future helioscope), as well as the R&D carried out within NEXT, to search for the neutrinoless double-beta decay.
Micromegas in a bulk Giomataris, I.; De Oliveira, R.; Andriamonje, S. ...
Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment,
05/2006, Volume:
560, Issue:
2
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
In this paper, we present a novel way to manufacture the bulk Micromegas detector. A simple process based on the Printed Circuit Board (PCB) technology is employed to produce the entire sensitive ...detector. Such a fabrication process could be extended to very large area detectors made by the industry. The low cost fabrication together with the robustness of the electrode materials will make it attractive for several applications ranging from particle physics and astrophysics to medicine.
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