The design of the MEG II experiment Baldini, A. M; Baracchini, E; Bemporad, C ...
The European physical journal. C, Particles and fields,
05/2018, Letnik:
78, Številka:
5
Journal Article
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The MEG experiment, designed to search for the Formula omitted decay, completed data-taking in 2013 reaching a sensitivity level of Formula omitted for the branching ratio. In order to increase the ...sensitivity reach of the experiment by an order of magnitude to the level of Formula omitted, a total upgrade, involving substantial changes to the experiment, has been undertaken, known as MEG II. We present both the motivation for the upgrade and a detailed overview of the design of the experiment and of the expected detector performance.
► Off-white rice husk ash is an effective pozzolanic material. ► It improves the mechanical properties of blended concrete (15% replacement). ► It improves the durability performance of reinforced ...concrete (15% replacement). ► It reduces the thermal conductivity of blended mortar.
Rice husk ash (RHA) is one of the promising pozzolanic materials that can be blended with Portland cement for the production of durable concrete and the reduction of the environmental impact of the cement industry. Commercially available RHA contains 3% or more graphitic carbon which determines the dark pigmentation of the material. Recent studies have led to the production of carbon neutral rice ash named OWRHA (Off-White Rice Husk Ash), with no graphitic carbon, no crystalline SiO2 and toxic metals, so legitimately considered environmental friendly. This paper presents the results of an experimental investigation on the strength, porosity, corrosion resistance and thermal conductivity of white concrete blended with OWRHA. The results show that the compression strength of the concrete increases with replacement level of OWRHA, while the porosity decreases. Accelerated corrosion tests demonstrate that the use of OWRHA increases the corrosion resistance at all levels of replacement. The results on mortal samples showed that also thermal conductivity and density decrease with the increase in OWRHA and with age. With the intention of reducing the carbon footprint in the cement industry, this study evidences encouraging results for the use of OWRHA in sustainable construction.
In the past decade, a few studies have suggested that psoriasis could be associated with the presence of mild cognitive deficits.
The aim of the present matched case-control study was to investigate ...several cognitive domains (executive functions, verbal memory, attention, and language) in a sample of outpatients with psoriasis. We also investigated whether cognitive impairment was associated with poor health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in patients with psoriasis.
Fifty adult outpatients and 50 age- and sex-matched healthy controls were administered a battery of neuropsychological tests investigating major cognitive domains, psychopathology (anxiety and depression), alexithymia, and HRQoL.
At the bivariate level, psoriasis patients (compared to healthy controls) performed worse on most of the neuropsychological tests, and they also reported more anxiety and depressive symptoms, higher scores for alexithymia, and worse physical and mental health. At the multivariate level, cognitive performance was independently associated with psoriasis even when controlling for psychopathology and alexithymia.
Patients with psoriasis show impaired cognitive performance, high levels of anxiety and depression, and impaired quality of life. Based on the current results, clinicians should assess the presence of psychological symptoms in their patients and evaluate whether the presence of cognitive deficits is limiting the patients' ability to cope with the disease.
•Patients with psoriasis show worse performance in cognitive tests than controls.•Patients with psoriasis report more anxiety and depressive symptoms than controls.•Cognitive performance is weakly to moderately related to quality of life.
We present the first direct search for lepton flavour violating muon decay mediated by a new light particle X,
μ
+
→
e
+
X
,
X
→
γ
γ
. This search uses a dataset resulting from
7.5
×
10
14
stopped ...muons collected by the MEG experiment at the Paul Scherrer Institut in the period 2009–2013. No significant excess is found in the mass region 20–45 MeV/c
2
for lifetimes below 40 ps, and we set the most stringent branching ratio upper limits in the mass region of 20–40 MeV/c
2
, down to
O
(
10
-
11
)
at 90% confidence level.
To evaluate the prognostic impact of diabetes mellitus (DM) in patients with Infective Endocarditis (IE).
375 patients with diagnosis of IE referred to our Hospital between 1994-2017 were ...retrospectively included; diabetes was reported in 129 (34.4%). Diabetic patients were older than non-diabetic (66±1 vs. 57±2 years, p<0.001) and showed a higher prevalence of comorbidities such as hypertension (75 vs. 54%, p<0.001), coronary artery disease (30 vs. 12%, p<0.001) and history of heart failure (HF; 24 vs. 13%, p = 0.021). Echocardiography showed a higher incidence of paravalvular complications (82 vs. 64%, p<0.001) and a lower left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF; 52±11 vs. 55±10%, p = 0.001) in diabetic than in non-diabetic patients. In-hospital mortality was higher in diabetic patients (83 vs. 74%; p = 0.030). At logistic regression, history of HF (OR = 3.1, 95%CI: 1.87-5.29, p<0.001) resulted an independent predictor of in-hospital death. At long-term follow-up median 24(7-84) months, the Kaplan-Meier analysis showed a significantly lower survival free from all-cause death in the group with diabetes (Log-rank<0.001). At the propensity score adjusted Cox multivariable analysis, DM (HR = 1.76, 95%CI: 1.18-2.6, p = 0.005), age (HR = 1.03, 95%CI: 1.02-1.05, p<0.001), intravenous drug users (HR = 5.42, 95%CI: 2.55-11.51, p<0.001) and low LVEF (HR = 0.98, 95%CI: 0.96-0.99, p = 0.013) were independently associated to a higher mortality.
In patients with IE, DM is associated to a higher prevalence of anatomic complications and a more impaired LVEF. Diabetic patients show a significantly lower survival both in hospital and during follow-up compared to the non-diabetic ones.
Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is a heterogenous group of disorders characterised by left ventricular dilatation and dysfunction, in the absence of factors affecting loading conditions such as ...hypertension or valvular disease, or significant coronary artery disease. The prevalence of idiopathic DCM is estimated between 1:250 and 1:500 individuals. Determining the aetiology of DCM can be challenging, particularly when evaluating an individual and index case with no classical history or investigations pointing towards an obvious acquired cause, or no clinical clues in the family history to suggest a genetic cause. We present a family affected by DCM associated with Filamin C variant, causing sudden cardiac death at a young age and heart failure due to severe left ventricular impairment and myocardial scarring. We review the diagnosis and treatment of DCM, its genetic associations and potential acquired causes. Thorough assessment is mandatory to risk stratify and identify patients who may benefit from primary prevention implantable cardioverter defibrillator therapy according to international guidelines. Genetic testing has some limitations, and is positive in only 20%-35% of DCM, but should be considered in specific cases to identify families who may benefit from cascade screening after appropriate counselling. The management of often complex familial cardiomyopathy requires specialist input for every case, and the appropriate infrastructure to coordinate investigations.
Pre-Descemet endothelial keratoplasty (PDEK) is an alternative technique to Descemet membrane endothelial keratoplasty (DMEK). The preparation of PDEK tissue by pneumatic dissection is simple and ...reproducible. The PDEK clamp helps to consistently obtain a type 1 big bubble. The mean size of type 1 big bubble is 7.255 ± 0.535 × 6.745 ± 0.668 mm. The volume of air required to obtain type 1 big bubble is 0.14 to 0.37 mL. Dissection of PDEK tissue can be achieved by trephination or manual excision. Insertion of tissue into the recipient eye can be by injection or pulling. Unfolding techniques used for PDEK are similar to those used in DMEK. Unlike DMEK, PDEK tissue is easier to handle and unscroll and allows use of younger donors. It could help surgeons converting to endothelial keratoplasty, with significant advantages in preparation, handling, and unscrolling in the eye.
Properties of the propagation of scintillation light in liquid argon (LAr), at λ∼128 nm wavelength, have been experimentally investigated in a dedicated setup at CERN. The speed of scintillation ...photons has been measured for the first time in this medium, refractive index and the Rayleigh scattering are being studied as well. Such measurement provides a key ingredient for the interpretation of data from the current and next generation large mass LAr detectors as those dedicated to the search for rare events such as neutrinos or Dark Matter. Furthermore the improvement on the understanding of the scintillation light propagation represent a benchmark for the multiple theoretical models and simulations for the next generation of detectors which are now based on still incomplete measurements and calculations.
•Measurement of the scintillation light propagation speed in liquid argon.•Optical properties as refractive index and Rayleigh Scattering (λ=128 nm) are derived.•Measurement of interest for LAr-based large scale future experimental setups.•Results can be used to improve current Monte Carlo simulations.
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