Multipurpose Facility Research Articles

The Frascati Neutron Generator: A multipurpose facility for physics and engineering

The Frascati Neutron Generator (FNG) started operations in November 1992 making available to EU fusion community 14 MeV neutrons at an emission rate of 1011 s-1. The fusion community strongly supported the idea of international collaboration in neutronics experiments, data base and code improvement, development of (new) experimental techniques and detectors. FNG was designed and built in ENEA that also operates the machine at its own expenses. FNG is extensively used to perform benchmarks or mock-up experiments of interest to Fusion neutronics in turn validating nuclear data and codes. A number of activities in different fields within a series of collaborations are carried out at FNG so far.

Enhancement of bass frequency absorption in fabric-based absorbers

Variable Acoustics has become an important topic in the acoustic design of multi-purpose venues but also in classical concert halls and opera houses. Varying the reverberation time in the middle and high frequencies can easily be achieved by using fabric-based absorbers like curtains or roll banners. When using fabric-based absorbers, the proportionally low absorption capability in the bass frequencies below 400 Hz can be challenging when planning a multi-purpose facility. A full range variable system would provide a great tool to consultants and architects. Double layer roll banner systems with a highly absorbing fabric are mostly installed freely hanging in front of the wall. Research shows a significant enhancement of the bass frequency absorption if the fabric is installed in an enclosed housing. This paper will examine the fundamental problem of low bass absorption capability but will also show the measurement data and technical solution for the described problem.

An innovative simulation model for the operations of a multipurpose seaport: a case study from Port of Wilmington, USA

The analysis of potential operating problems in a port facility is an enduring theoretical and practical problem. Because of the complexity of the problem, many existing methods have difficulties in providing a fast and reliable analysis of potential operating problems in a multipurpose port facility. In this study, a simulation model is developed to overcome this difficulty by analysing the operation of a multipurpose regional seaport in Delaware, USA. The model is implemented to identify the possible bottlenecks and optimise the operation of the port. The results of the simulation model are used to choose the optimal change in the significant elements (ship turnaround time, waiting time for bulk cargoes, containers, and trucks) of the terminal's operation.

Performance and Advanced Data Placement Techniques with Ceph's Distributed Storage System

The STAR online computing environment is a demanding concentrated multipurpose compute system with the objective to obtain maximum throughput with process concurrency. Motivation for extending the STAR online compute farm from a simple job processing tool for data taking, into a multipurpose resource equipped with a large storage system would lead any dedicated resources to become an extremely efficient and an attractive multi-purpose facility. To achieve this goal, our compute farm is using the Ceph distributed storage system which has proven to be an agile solution due to its effective POSIX interface and excelling its object storage with IO concurrency. With this we have taken our cluster one step further in terms of IO performance by investigating and leveraging new technologies and key features of Ceph. With the acquisition of a 10Gb backbone network we have ensured to eliminate the network as a limitation. With further acquisition of large fast drives (1TB SSDs) we will show how one can customize the data placement options Ceph has to offer such as primary affinity, mounting OSD journals on SSDs, and Cache Tiering along with non-Ceph related local disk caching techniques. We will discuss the latest performance results along with the expected results by using each technique. We hope this paper will serve the community's interest for the Ceph distributed storage solution.

The New Sorgentina Fusion Source-NSFS: 14 MeV neutrons for fusion and beyond

The importance of the design for the realization of an intense 14 MeV neutron facility devoted to test and validate materials suitable for harsh neutron environments, such as a fusion reactor, is well established. The “New Sorgentina” Fusion Source (NSFS) is a project that proposes an intense D-T 14 MeV neutron source achievable with T and D ion beams impinging on 2 m radius rotating targets. NSFS may produce about 1015 n/s at the target and has to be intended as an European facility that maybe realized in a few years, once provided a preliminary technological program devoted to the operation of the ion source in continuous mode, target heat loading/removal, target and tritium handling, inventor as well as site licensing. In this contribution, the main characteristics of NSFS project will be presented and its possible use as a multipurpose facility outlined.

Radiation Technology to Enhance Food Quality and Ensure Food Safety in Syria

Food irradiation program in Syria has been going on since 1985. The major goal of this program is to investigate the effect of ionizing irradiation on improving storability and insuring safety and preserving the quality of food. The food irradiation research focuses on sprout inhibition of onions and tubers, insect disinfestations of seeds and nuts, shelf life extension of prepared meal of both plant and animal food for human nutrition, and decontamination of spices and medical herbs. The results of the food irradiation program in Syria indicate that food irradiation is feasible for sprout inhibition, shelf life extension, disinfestations, and decontamination of food products. Regulations for food irradiation in Syria were put in place in 1986 with a maximum allowable dose of 10 kGy. Syrian Atomic Energy Commission (SAEC) has a multipurpose pilot scale facility (ROBO, Russia) 60Co, and linear electron accelerator facility (D-EPS-T30-30-002V, VIVARAD, France), which are used for pilot and semi- commercial irradiation of food, and about 2000 metric tons of food are irradiated yearly.

Development of a multipurpose beam foil spectroscopy set-up for the low cross-section measurements

A multipurpose facility for low cross section measurements has been developed at Inter University Accelerator Centre, New Delhi, India. The facility consists of a multipurpose miniature chamber equipped with 1m focal length normal incidence Monochromator and charge coupled device based detection system which has been aligned to realize the best resolution of the spectrometer. The chamber in this facility collects radiation 100 times more efficiently from the older system, without using any extra focusing mirror assembly. It is ensured to have the provision of mounting an X-ray detector and the spectrometer transverse to the beam direction simultaneously in the same chamber. The atomic spectroscopic studies can be performed by interaction of ions beams with both thin foil and gas targets. Provision for using photomultiplier tube instead of charge coupled device, is employed in the system depending on the condition of the source strength or other detection issues. We observed the essence of a very weak atomic phenomenon, a triply excited autoionizing forbidden transition, using the above facility to demonstrate its capability for measuring such low cross section phenomena. The present developed facility covers a large spectroscopic region from X-rays to the near infrared (0.1–10,000Å).

Сервисное пространство в составе комплексного музейного продукта

An activity of museums today experiences the growing influence of a number of factors. Museums in the modern world no longer act only as guardian of cultural and historical values and research centers. A museum today - multipurpose facility, which serves different target groups and accomplishes diversified activities. Demand from the local community enhances the sociocultural and educational function of a museum. The integration of a museum in the tourism industry actualizes the issues of support of effective tourist-excursion service. Visitors to a museum are different by gender, age, interests and needs. A museum for each visitor is a special kind of product, concerning to which, in the same way as to others, the special requirements and expectations exist, and after - the attitude is formed. Modern management concepts are grounded on the priorities of customized solutions, i.e., they support the desire to provide opportunity to the consumers to form product in accordance with their opinion with the necessary attributes and characteristics. The same position is true for museums. With the help of modern technologies and the development of the service space museums allow each visitor to see and use the correct museum product. The article presents the composition of the service space of a museum and defines its place in the integrated museum product.

Application results of a prototype ultrasonic liquid film sensor to a 7 MPa steam–water two-phase flow experiment

A prototype ultrasonic liquid film sensor was applied to a high-temperature steam–water two-phase flow experiment. The liquid film sensor was vertically installed in a loop which was connected to HUSTLE, a multi-purpose steam source test facility. The hydraulic diameter of the measurement section was 9.4 mm. The output waveforms of the sensor were acquired with a digital oscilloscope. The fluid temperature and system pressure were kept at 288 °C and 7.2 MPa, respectively, during the experiment. The pulse-echo method was used to calculate the liquid film thickness. The cross-correlation calculation was utilized to determine the time difference between the pulse reflected at the sensor surface and the pulse reflected at the liquid film surface. The time-averaged liquid film thicknesses were less than 0.055 mm in the annular flow condition. The increase of the time-averaged thickness was small with the change of the gas momentum flux. The film thicknesses measured with the sensor were compared with the past experimental results; the former were smaller than one-fourth of the thickness estimated as the mean film thickness. The comparison results suggested that the continuous liquid sublayer thickness was measured with the liquid film sensor.

Capacity optimization and scheduling of a multiproduct manufacturing facility for biotech products.

A general mathematical framework has been proposed in this work for scheduling of a multiproduct and multipurpose facility involving manufacturing of biotech products. The specific problem involves several batch operations occurring in multiple units involving fixed processing time, unlimited storage policy, transition times, shared units, and deterministic and fixed data in the given time horizon. The different batch operations are modeled using state-task network representation. Two different mathematical formulations are proposed based on discrete- and continuous-time representations leading to a mixed-integer linear programming model which is solved using General Algebraic Modeling System software. A case study based on a real facility is presented to illustrate the potential and applicability of the proposed models. The continuous-time model required less number of events and has a smaller problem size compared to the discrete-time model.

Conceptual design of the International Axion Observatory (IAXO)

The International Axion Observatory (IAXO) will be a forth generation axion helioscope. As its primary physics goal, IAXO will look for axions or axion-like particles (ALPs) originating in the Sun via the Primakoff conversion of the solar plasma photons. In terms of signal-to-noise ratio, IAXO will be about 4–5 orders of magnitude more sensitive than CAST, currently the most powerful axion helioscope, reaching sensitivity to axion-photon couplings down to a few × 10−12 GeV−1 and thus probing a large fraction of the currently unexplored axion and ALP parameter space. IAXO will also be sensitive to solar axions produced by mechanisms mediated by the axion-electron coupling gae with sensitivity — for the first time — to values of gae not previously excluded by astrophysics. With several other possible physics cases, IAXO has the potential to serve as a multi-purpose facility for generic axion and ALP research in the next decade. In this paper we present the conceptual design of IAXO, which follows the layout of an enhanced axion helioscope, based on a purpose-built 20 m-long 8-coils toroidal superconducting magnet. All the eight 60cm-diameter magnet bores are equipped with focusing x-ray optics, able to focus the signal photons into ∼ 0.2 cm2 spots that are imaged by ultra-low-background Micromegas x-ray detectors. The magnet is built into a structure with elevation and azimuth drives that will allow for solar tracking for ∼ 12 h each day.

명대 원림서에 기술된 죽병(竹屏)의 활용과 그 의미

본 연구는 중국 명대 원림서인 원야, 장물지, 한정우기를 통해 중국 죽병의 용도와 식물소재를 분석한 것으로, 요약된 결과는 다음과 같다. 위 세 서적은 거의 동일한 시기에 저술되었지만 작자가 바라보는 죽병의 시각은 부정적이기도 했고 적극 지지하는 의견이 피력되기도 한다. 이는 명초에 시은(市隱)을 조성할 때 죽병을 사용했던 양상이 퇴색되는 과정을, 나아가 명말 사회경제적 변화에 의해 죽병의 의미가 사치적 성향으로 전화되었음을 보여준다. 죽병은 덩굴성 식물의 가지가 등반 부착하게 하는 보조재(補助材) 또는 유도재(誘導材)의 성격으로 고안된 것이었다. 이는 한편 여름 내내 많은 꽃이 연이어 피는 장미과 식물의 관상효과를 극대화하기 위한 장치였으며, 또한 중국 특유의 문화적 향유와 관련되었다. 죽병에는 주로 꽃이 아름다운 장미과 식물이 사용되었으며, 이 식물들을 부식하여 만든 죽병은 평소에 담장의 역할을 하다가 개화기에는 아름다운 화벽을 볼 수 있는 다목적 시설로 설치되었다. This study has researched the uses and plant materials of bamboo screen from the gardening books in Ming Dynasty: Yuanye (園冶), Zhang wu ji (長物志) and Xian Qing Ou Ji (閑情偶寄). The results were as follows; first, though these books nearly were written nearly at the same period, the bamboo screen was seen in a negative viewpoint or positively endorsed by authors. These show the extinctive process which had used bamboo screen creating for urban seclusion in early Ming Dynasty and that the meaning was changed by the social economic changes in Late Ming Dynasty. Second, the bamboo screen was devised as a support which was trained the branches of the creepers. This was an equipment to maximize ornamental effectiveness with some rose families which produced nearly all year round, and it was involved cultural enjoyment of Chinese indigenous custom. Finally, the bamboo screen was used rose families for the beautiful flowers. And this was constructed as a multipurpose facility which was used as the flower screen in blossoming season as well as the role as wall.

PHYSICS PROGRAM WITH A LOW ENERGY e+e-, e-γ, γγ COLLIDER AND ELECTRON BEAM ON TARGET AT IRIDE

We will discuss the particle physics opportunities at IRIDE (Interdisciplinary Research Infrastructure based on a Dual Electron Linac et Laser), a new multipurpose facility based on a combination of a high duty cycle radio-frequency superconducting electron linac (SC RF LINAC) and of high energy laser, presently under consideration at INFN.

Viability of the ESS-Bilbao neutron source for irradiation of nuclear fusion materials

The ESS-Bilbao neutron source, currently under construction, is conceived as a multipurpose facility. It will offer a fast neutron beam line for materials irradiation. In this paper we discuss the viability of ESS-Bilbao for experimental studies of fusion materials. Making use of the already designed target station we have calculated the neutron spectrum expected in the fast neutron line. Then, we have studied the neutron irradiation effects in two model materials: iron and silica. We have calculated the expected PKA (primary knock-on atom) spectra and light species production as well as the damage production in these materials. Regarding structural materials, we conclude that the ESS-Bilbao neutron irradiation facility will play a minor role due to the resulting low neutron fluxes (about two orders of magnitude lower than in fusion reactors). On the other hand, ESS-Bilbao turns out to be relevant for studies of final lenses in laser fusion power plants. A comparison with the conditions expected for HiPER final lenses shows that the fluxes will be only a factor 5 smaller in ESS-Bilbao and the PKA spectra will be very similar. Taking into account, in addition, that relevant effects on lenses occur from the onset of irradiation, we conclude that an appropriate irradiation cell with in situ characterisation techniques will make ESS-Bilbao very attractive for applied neutron damage studies of laser fusion final lenses. Finally, we compare ESS-Bilbao with other facilities.

The seven yearSwift-XRT point source catalog (1SWXRT)

Swift is a multi-wavelength observatory specifically designed for gamma-ray burst (GRB) astronomy that is operational since 2004. Swift is also a very flexible multi-purpose facility that supports a wide range of scientific fields such as active galactic nuclei, supernovae, cataclysmic variables, Galactic transients, active stars and comets. The Swift X-ray Telescope (XRT) has collected more than 150 Ms of observations in its first seven years of operations. We present the list of all the X-ray point sources detected in XRT imaging data taken in photon counting mode during the first seven years of Swift operations. All these point-like sources, excluding the Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRB), will be stored in a catalog publicly available (1SWXRT). We consider all XRT observations with exposure time > 500 s taken in the period 2005-2011. Data were reduced and analyzed with standard techniques and a list of detected sources for each observation was produced. A careful visual inspection was performed to remove extended, spurious and piled-up sources. Positions, count rates, fluxes and the corresponding uncertainties were computed. We have analyzed more than 35,000 XRT fields, with exposures ranging between 500 s and 100 ks, for a total exposure time of 140 Ms. The catalog includes ~ 89,000 entries, of which almost 85,000 are not affected by pile-up and are not GRBs. Since many XRT fields were observed several times, we have a total of ~36,000 distinct celestial sources. We computed count rates in three energy bands: 0.3-10 keV (Full, or F), 0.3-3 keV (Soft, or S) and 2-10 keV (Hard, or H). Each entry has a detection in at least one of these bands. In particular, we detect ~ 80,000, ~ 70,000 and ~ 25,500$ in the F, S and H band, respectively. Count rates were converted into fluxes in the 0.5-10, 0.5-2 and 2-10 keV bands. Some possible scientific uses of the catalog are also highlighted.

Photon Spectrum behind Biological Shielding of the LVR-15 Research Reactor

Abstract The LVR-15 reactor is a light water research reactor situated at the Research Centre Řež, near Prague. It operates as a multipurpose facility with a maximum thermal power of 10 MW. The reactor core usually contains from 28 to 32 fuel assemblies with a total mass of 235U of about 5 kg. Emitted radiation from the fuel caused by fission is shielded by moderating water, a steel reactor vessel, and heavy concrete. This paper deals with measurement and analysis of the gamma spectrum near the outer surface of the concrete wall, behind biological shielding, mainly in the 3- to 10-MeV energy range. A portable HPGe detector with a portable multichannel analyzer was used to measure gamma spectra. The origin of energy lines in gamma detector spectra was identified.

Full-scale prototype of the circular track detector for the multipurpose detector facility at the NICA acceleration complex

The development of the NICA heavy ion collider, which is now under way, assumes the development of a Multipurpose Detector (MPD), including an end-cap tracker (EC) (which can be a wheel-type tracker based on thin-wall drift tubes (straws) similar to the inner detector of the transition radiation tracker (TRT) in the ATLAS experiment). The identical front and back tracker modules mounted behind the TPC are to ensure the detection of Au-Au ion collision products in the pseudorapidity range from 1.4 to 2.1 with good track parameters of reconstructed events. Each module will contain 60 circular straw planes and maximum straw occupancy will be no higher than 0.2 particle per collision. The NICA EC is substantially different from its analogue and requires a certain amount of R&D. The first results from applying new technology to make a full-scale prototype of the circular EC detector for NICA are presented.

Moses Mabhida Stadium, Durban’s icon of pride

The award-winning Moses Mabhida Stadium, completed in October 2009, is a world-class multi-purpose sporting facility and an iconic, innovative and sustainable landmark in Durban which played host to seven spectacular Fifa World Cup 2010 matches, including a semi-final. The 106 m arch, inspired by the Y-shape of the South African flag, was a world first in terms of the design of the arch foundations, involving diaphragm walling to bedrock, massive cappings and springer plinths. Another South African first was achieved for precast design and installation in stadiums.

Large pilot scale cultivation process study of adherent MDBK cells for porcine Influenza A virus propagation using a novel disposable stirred-tank bioreactor

Influenza is one of the major viral diseases and has tremendous importance for human and animal health worldwide. The etiologic agent, Influenza A virus belongs to the family Orthomyxoviridae and is a single stranded (-) enveloped RNA virus with round shape and a diameter of 90-130 nm. Its genome consists of 8 segments which code for up to 11 proteins. The major surface proteins and antigenic determinants are hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA). Pigs are of special importance for Influenza. They are susceptible for a number of Influenza A viruses from different species (human, avian, porcine); in the case of multiple infections of swine new and dangerous virus strains can be assembled by reassortment of genes (antigenic shift). The strain which was used in this study is part of a trivalent inactivated vaccine against porcine Influenza (IDT Biologika GmbH). The cultivation of Influenza virus for the production of vaccines is often still done in embryonated hens eggs, although there are a number of cell lines available which propagate the virus, e. g. VERO or MDCK cells. Egg production processes are limited in terms of capacity whereas cell culture based processes are more flexible and easy to scale up when facing pandemic situations (H5N1 in 2005 and H1N1pan in 2009/10). Currently, adherent MDBK cells are used for the production of porcine Influenza A viruses at commercial scale (IDT Biologika GmbH). This process is performed in roller bottles so far using a biphasic process scheme (cell growth and virus propagation phase) and is thus limited in capacity, yields and process control. The main goal of this study was to explore options for direct transfer of this process into a novel disposable stirred-tank bioreactor (BIOSTAT CultiBag STR, Sartorius Stedim Biotech GmbH) using microcarriers for the attachment of MDBK cells. The advantage of this system is its scalability up to 1000 l, better process control and presumably higher virus yields. The use of disposables has positive effects on costs and efforts but also for cleaning validation in a multi-purpose facility. Based on the results of this study further optimization steps can be done and the implementation of such systems in GMP routine vaccine production can be evaluated.

LAGUNA DESIGN STUDY, Underground infrastructures and engineering

The European Commission has awarded the LAGUNA project a grant of 1.7 million euro for a Design Study from the seventh framework program of research and technology development (FP7-INFRASTRUCTURES – 2007-1) in 2008. The purpose of this two year work is to study the feasibility of the considered experiments and prepare a conceptual design of the required underground infrastructure. It is due to deliver a report that allows the funding agencies to decide on the realization of the experiment and to select the site and the technology. The result of this work is the first step towards fulfilling the goals of LAGUNA. The work will continue with EU funding to study the possibilities more thoroughly. The LAGUNA project is included in the future plans prepared by European funding organizations. (Astroparticle physics in Europe). It is recommended that a new large European infrastructure is put forward, as a future international multi-purpose facility for improved studies on proton decay and low-energy neutrinos from astrophysical origin. The three detection techniques being studied for such large detectors in Europe, Water-Cherenkov (like MEMPHYS), liquid scintillator (like LENA) and liquid argon (like GLACIER), are evaluated in the context of a common design study which should also address the underground infrastructure and the possibility of an eventual detection of future accelerator neutrino beams. The design study is also to take into account worldwide efforts and converge, on a time scale of 2010, to a common proposal.