Digital Pulse Processing offers multiple advantages over traditional analogue processing chains. As a disadvantage, produce gigabytes of data every second. Storing and processing such data rates in ...real-time still remains a challenge. Analogue solutions are not riddled with this issue, however, they offer limited flexibility and modifiability. This work highlights the advantages of Digital Pulse Processing over Analogue Pulse Processing and describes a successful implementation of a digital pulse detection and acquisition system based on Field Programmable Gate Arrays. The system is tasked with processing pulses generated by a Photo Multiplier Tube nuclear detector. Incoming signals are sampled at a 1 GS/s rate, so to enable full acquisition resolution, throughput is reduced with digital detection filters and leading-edge triggering or with a derivative zero-crossing detector. Three different fast timing filters are adapted to high-speed real-time acquisition and compared in a simulated scenario. A trapezoidal filter is implemented in firmware alongside the detection channel for pulse height analysis. Thanks to the use of reprogrammable devices, the system remains versatile and can be remotely adapted to different needs with no additional hardware costs.
A pair of a scintillator and a Photomultiplier Tube (PMT) is often used as a Hard X-Ray (HXR) radiation detector in existing tokamaks such as JET, EAST, COMPASS or ASDEX-U. Future nuclear fusion ...reactors such as ITER or DEMO will use more powerful magnets and confine a larger volume of hot plasma. Placement of the detectors used for plasma diagnostic will be constrained by high temperatures, magnetic fields and ionizing radiation present near the tokamak vessel. It might be necessary to move detectors away from tokamak to a safer location. This might generate problems with pulse discrimination and transmission of the signal. In the case of the ITER tokamak, sensitive electronics such as digitizers cannot be installed close to the reactor due to harsh environmental conditions. A new approach to component placement is needed to protect those devices. The PMT signal will be transmitted via an over 100 m long coaxial cable to the digitizer located in the adjacent diagnostic building. The long cables will introduce additional signal attenuation. Also, the RF noise from the tokamak environment can couple into the signal. To improve the signal-to-noise ratio a dedicated PMT amplifier with a high output range (from + 1.5 to − 11 V) was proposed.The paper presents issues with signal transmission in HXR diagnostic systems and includes a discussion on the methodology of PMT signal transmission in the conditions of the future tokamaks. A proposal of guidelines for selection of the signal chain components and design of a dedicated PMT amplifier is part of this paper.
In modern democracies, the outcome of elections and referendums is often remarkably tight. The repetition of these divisive events are the hallmark of a split society; to the physicist, however, it ...is an astonishing feat for such large collections of diverse individuals. Many sociophysics models reproduce the emergence of collective human behavior with interacting agents, which respond to their environment according to simple rules, modulated by random fluctuations. A paragon of this class is the Ising model which, when interactions are strong, predicts that order can emerge from a chaotic initial state. In contrast with many elections, however, this model favors a strong majority. Here we introduce a new element to this classical theory, which accounts for the influence of opinion polls on the electorate. This brings about a new phase in which two groups divide the opinion equally. These political camps are spatially segregated, and the sharp boundary that separates them makes the system size dependent, even in the limit of a large electorate. Election data show that, since the early 1990s, countries with more than about a million voters often found themselves in this state, whereas elections in smaller countries yielded more consensual results. We suggest that this transition hinges on the electorate's awareness of the general opinion.
The effect of administration of lipid complex (LC) on cow milk and cheese characteristics was studied. Lipid complex was elaborated based on grapeseed oil with synthesized conjugated linoleic acid ...(CLA) and Atlantic mackerel oil enriched in n-3 fatty acids. The 4-wk experiment was conducted on 30 Polish Holstein Friesian cows. The experimental group cow diet was supplemented with 400 g/d of LC (containing 38% CLA, and eicosapentaenoic acid + docosahexaenoic acid in a relative amount of 36.5%) on a humic-mineral carrier. The chemical composition and fatty acid profile of milk and rennet cheese from raw fresh milk were analyzed. Lipid complex supplementation of the total mixed ration had no effect on milk yield and milk composition, except fat content, which decreased from 4.6 to 4.1%, a 10.9% decrease. Milk from cows treated with LC had greater relative amounts of unsaturated fatty acids, particularly polyunsaturated fatty acids, and lesser relative amounts of saturated fatty acids. Lipid complex addition changed milk fat fatty acid profile: C18:2 cis-9,trans-11 and trans-10,cis-12 isomer (CLA) contents increased by 278 and 233%, respectively, as did eicosapentaenoic acid (C20:5) and docosahexaenoic acid (C22:6) contents. Milk fat fatty acid profile changes were correlated with the modifications in rennet cheese fatty acid profile. Lipid complex supplementation of dairy cows produced considerable changes in the biological value of milk and cheese fat.
The aim of the study was to determine the electrical characteristics of wool derived from Polish Olkuska breed lambs. The comparison involved the features of wool both in its natural state and ...washed. The lambs were bathed on the 1st and 14th days of life. Electrical features were determined on the basis of impedance (Ω) and resistance (Ω) for wool samples from 16 lambs from twin litters. The wool samples were collected from the lambs on the 14th and 35th days of life. The results of blood morphology (RBC, WBC, HGB, HCT, PLT, MCV, MCH, MCHC) were used in order to evaluate the health status of both lambs subjected to bathing and control ones. The level of resistance and impedance at low frequencies in both cases demonstrated the step changes from 0 Ω to over 100 MΩ. This shows that wool has the features of a dielectric (insulator) in the frequency range from 10 Hz to 64 kHz. At a frequency of > 64 kHz, there was a linear trend of decline in the value from about 30 kΩ to the lowest values of resistance and impedance at a frequency of 1 MHz, and these values amounted to > 7.3 kΩ and > 4 kΩ, respectively. The effect of lamb bathing on the electrical properties of wool was demonstrated. These treatments resulted in an increase in resistance of wool from 35-day-old lambs bathed on the 14th day of life compared to the control group (maximum differences at the level of 40-50%). In turn, wool of lambs bathed on the 1st day of life had lower resistance than wool from lambs in the control group, on average 10-20% lower. No significant correlations were demonstrated between bathing treatment and lamb health status, except for higher levels of leukocytes in the 14-day-old lambs subject to bathing on the 1st day of life compared to the control, which amounted to 8.76 x 10
9
/L, and 6.38 x 10
9
/L (P ≤ 0.05), respectively.
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