Conditions database system of the COMPASS experiment

The CERN SPS experiment COMPASS has integrated a Conditions Database System in its off-line software. The system is used to manage time-dependent information, detector condition, calibration, and geometrical alignment information, by using a package provided by the CERN IT/DB. This integrated system consists of administration tools, a data handling library, and data transfer software from the detector control system to the Conditions Database. In this paper, the status of the Conditions Database project is described, and the results of the performance test on the COMPASS computing farm are given.     

Experimental and numerical analysis of heat transfer and airflow on an interactive building facade

The envelope of a building is mainly responsible for its energy demand. Different kinds of double skin facades (DSFs) are nowadays used as a building envelope to reduce the energy demand and improve aesthetical view of buildings. Although DSF are already extensively used, their thermal performance is not well understood. This study presents a decoupling method capable to evaluate thermal performances and analyze fluid phenomena in a DSF. The solar radiation effects were evaluated with an analytical model and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations were used to evaluate complex flow and thermal effect on a commercial DSF. With the decoupling approach to account for the effects of solar radiation and flow, the numerical results obtained by the CFD approach agree well with the experimental data collected on a full scale test room with a ventilated DSF. The method can be used to establish a database to develop a tool for DSF design.     

Mixed crystalline films of co-evaporated hydrogen- and fluorine-terminated phthalocyanines and their application in photovoltaic devices

Blends of organic electron and hole conductive materials are widely used for ambipolar charge carrier transport and photovoltaic cells. An obvious choice for donor–acceptor blends are organic semiconducting materials in their hydrogenated and fluorinated form, since they combine potentially suitable electronic properties with structural compatibility of the two constituents. This study focuses on the structural, optical, and electrical properties of blends using hydrogenated copper-phthalocyanine (H₁₆CuPc) in combination with its per-fluorinated version (F₁₆CuPc). Using X-ray scattering, scanning force microscopy and optical absorption measurements we show that mixed crystalline films are obtained by co-evaporation of the two materials. Electrical transport measurements reveal a profound reduction of the current for bipolar charge injection in mixed films. We discuss the formation of self-trapped charge transfer excitons as possible explanation for this unexpected behaviour, which impedes the usability of this system in photovoltaic cells.     

Double diffraction by wedges in nonperfectly conducting surfaces

A high-frequency solution is obtained via an extended ray method for the field doubly diffracted in the far zone by a pair of parallel wedges with impedance faces, when they are illuminated by a plane wave perpendicularly incident on the edges. Except for a multiplying special function, this solution is expressed in closed form, which is valid for any incidence and observation aspects.     

High-frequency scattering from a wedge with impedance facesilluminated by a line source. I. Diffraction

The canonical problem of evaluating the scattered field at a finite distance from the edge of an impedance wedge which is illuminated by a line source is considered. The presentation of the results is divided into two parts. In this first part, reciprocity and superposition of plane wave spectra are applied to the left far-field response of the wedge to a plane wave, to obtain exact expression for the diffracted field and the surface wave contributions. In addition, a high-frequency solution is given for the diffracted field contribution. Its expression, derived via a rigorous asymptotic procedure, has the same structure as that of the uniform geometrical theory of diffraction (UTD) solution for the field diffracted by a perfectly conducting wedge. This solution for the diffracted field explicitly exhibits reciprocity with respect to the direction of incidence and scattering     

Laser Melting of Spark Plasma-Sintered Zirconium Carbide: Thermophysical Properties of a Generation IV Very High-Temperature Reactor Material

Melting temperatures of zirconium carbide were investigated in validating a novel thermal analysis technique for refractory materials. Commercial ZrC_0.96 powder was densified by spark plasma sintering to >96% relative density after 6–30 min at 2173–2453 K under 40–100 MPa. Sintered ceramics were heated to >4000 K via pulsed laser heating. Mean values for solidus and liquidus transitions were 3451 and 3608 K, respectively, in fair agreement with the present phase diagram. Postmelting analysis revealed dendritic microstructure and composition consistent with single-phase ZrC. Subsurface gas porosity and ZrC–C eutectic indicate complex processes occurring during melting and freezing.     

Skew incidence diffraction by an anisotropic impedance half plane with a PEC face and arbitrarily oriented anisotropy axes

High-frequency expressions for the field scattered by a half-plane with a perfectly conducting and an anisotropic impedance face are provided in the format of the uniform geometrical theory of diffraction (UTD), when the half-plane is illuminated by an arbitrarily polarized plane wave obliquely incident on its edge. The loaded face is characterized by a tensor surface impedance with principal anisotropy axes arbitrarily oriented with respect to the edge; a vanishing surface impedance is exhibited in one of the principal directions. This kind of tensor surface impedance can be suitably applied for analyzing the effects on the scattered field of corrugated surfaces or grounded dielectric slabs periodically loaded by metallic strips. This solution extends previous high-frequency formulations valid in those cases in which the direction of corrugations or strips is either parallel or perpendicular to the edge. The analysis is performed by resorting to the Sommerfeld-Maliuzhinets method. To determine the spectral solution, a special function is needed that differs from the standard Maliuzhinets one and was originally introduced to study the electromagnetic scattering by a wedge embedded in a gyroelectric medium.     

Negative modulation of nitric oxide production by neurotensin as a putative mechanism of the diuretic action of SR 48692 in rats

1. We investigated the effect of the non-peptide neurotensin (NT) antagonist SR 48692 on renal function in rats and the involvement of nitric oxide (NO) in the diuretic action of this compound. 2. In fed animals, SR 48692 dose-dependently (0.5 to 12.5 mg kg-1, p.o., 0.03 to 1 mg kg-1, i.p. and 0.1 to 1 microgram/rat, i.c.v.) increased urine output and urinary excretion of Na+, K+ and Cl- and reduced urine osmolality. The diuretic activity was also evident in water-deprived, fasted animals and in fasted, water-loaded rats. 3. NT (0.1 microgram/rat, i.c.v.) had no effect on urine output in fed rats, but reduced the diuretic action of SR 48692 (1 microgram/rat, i.c.v.). The opposite result was obtained in fasted, water-loaded animals: NT dose-dependently (0.01 and 0.1 microgram/rat, i.c.v.) inhibited diuresis and this effect was significantly inhibited by i.c.v. SR 48692. In this experimental condition, SR 48692 did not further increase the on-going diuresis. 4. The NO synthesis inhibitor N(1)-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME; 30 mg kg-1, i.p.) alone had no effect on urine output in fed rats but prevented the diuretic action of i.c.v. or i.p. SR 48692; L-arginine (1 g kg-1, i.p.) but not D-arginine (1 g kg-1, i.p.) restored the SR 48692-dependent increase in diuresis, L-NAME had no effect on furosemide-stimulated diuresis. 5. Systemically administered L-NAME or i.c.v. NT in fasted, water-loaded rats significantly reduced water diuresis but this effect was no longer seen in animals given i.p. L-arginine. Rats receiving i.c.v. NT, whose diuresis was significantly reduced, also excreted less nitrates and nitrites in urine. 6. Increased diuresis after central or systemic administration of SR 48692 to fed rats was paralleled by increased urinary excretion of nitrates and nitrites, this being consistent with peripheral enhancement of NO production after NT-receptor blockade by SR 48692. The increase in diuresis after furosemide also involved an increase of nitrates and nitrites in urine, but this effect was about half that attained with an equipotent diuretic dose of SR 48692. 7. In fed rats, the NO donor isosorbide-dinitrate, reduced systolic blood pressure (unlike SR 48692 which did not affect blood pressure) but also dose-dependently (1 and 5 mg kg-1, i.p.) stimulated urine output. 8. The overall effects of SR 48692 strongly support a link between the actions of endogenous NT, AVP and peripheral NO production in the modulation of renal excretion of water, Na+, K+ and Cl-.     

Electromagnetic scattering by a wedge with anisotropic impedancefaces

Electromagnetic scattering from the edge of an anisotropic impedance wedge, illuminated at oblique incidence, is addressed. In particular, the paper provides a review of existing solutions for this important topic in diffraction theory. Both numerical and analytical techniques, suitable to properly account for the scattering properties of the wedge's anisotropic impedance faces, are considered     

A space-time discretization criterion for a stable time-marchingsolution of the electric field integral equation

Numerical techniques based on a time-domain recursive solution of the electric field integral equation (EFIE) may exhibit instability phenomena induced by the joint space-time discretization. The above problem is addressed with specific reference to the evaluation of electromagnetic scattering from perfectly conducting bodies of arbitrary shape. We analyze a particular formulation of the method of moments which relies on a triangular-patch geometrical model of the exterior surface of the scattering body and operates according to a “marching-on-in-time” scheme, whereby the surface current distribution at a given time step is recursively evaluated as a function of the current distribution at previous steps. A heuristic stability condition is devised which allows us to define a proper time step, as well as a geometrical discretization criterion, ensuring convergence of the numerical procedure and, therefore, eliminating insurgence of late-time oscillations. The stability condition is discussed and validated by means of a few working examples