Multi-parameter Acquisition System Research Articles

Alter Game: A Study Protocol on a Virtual "Serious Game" for Relapse Prevention in Patients With Gambling Disorder.

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is the most successful protocol in gambling disorder (GD) treatment. However, it presents some weaknesses, especially concerning relapse prevention (RP). RP is one of the most important therapeutic steps, aiming at managing cravings and to avoid future relapse increasing perceived self-efficacy. Encouraging results come from the blending of psychotherapy and virtual reality (VR), containing gambling cues. The goal of Alter Game (approved by the Ethical Commission, Prot. No. 69346) is verifying the efficacy of an innovative psychological treatment for GD based on the integration of traditional CBT therapy and an immersive VR cue exposure therapy using a serious virtual game, which is a game designed for purposes other than entertainment. RP in virtual cue-exposure therapy allows pathological gamblers to manage the urge to gamble and to avoid relapse by becoming aware of which internal and external triggers are related to craving. We hypothesize that the integrated intervention will be more effective than simple CBT with regard to self-efficacy, craving, and gambling-related distortions. Four virtual ecological environments were developed, and a virtual app, Exludo, interfaced with a computerized multiparametric acquisition system for biofeedback, was created. A sample of about 60 patients aged between 18 and 65 with GD referring to the Addiction Medicine Unit of Verona (Rossi Hospital) will be recruited. Patients will be randomly assigned to the CBT group (16 CBT sessions) or the CBT + VR group (8 CBT sessions + 8 VR cue-exposure therapy sessions). The MCMI-III, the BIS-11, and the SOGS will be used to evaluate inclusion and exclusion criteria, while the Gambling Related Cognitions Scale and the Multidimensional Gambling Self-Efficacy Scale will be used to verify changes as a function of the treatment. Craving will be evaluated through VAS, and psychophysiological variables will be assessed through biofeedback. A pre-test/post-test experimental design with a 1-month follow-up will be conducted. This study will examine an innovative psychotherapeutic protocol for GD treatment, and it will help in identifying new virtual tools to increase the efficacy of traditional therapeutic approaches that could also be applied to treat other addictions.

Design of the Time of Flight ERDA system for 6 MV tandem ion accelerator

At present, the Ion Beam Laboratory MTF STU in Trnava [1] uses the basic Ion Beam Analysis (IBA) methods, namely Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometry (RBS), Particle Induced X-ray Emission (PIXE), in limited extend Nuclear Reaction Analysis (NRA) and Elastic Recoil Detection Analysis with He beam (He ERDA). The development of the Heavy Ion Elastic Recoil Detection Analysis (HI ERDA) system for our laboratory was initiated. The supposed analysing projectiles will be from O to Au with energies ∼ 1 MeV/u. HI ERDA is ideal for measuring the depth concentration profiles of all elements lighter than the mass of the primary ions, present in near surface layers in heavy base material. During the HI ERDA experiment, the high energy heavy ions impinge on the sample at an acute angle, atoms of the sample are elastically recoiled, and their energy and mass has to be determined. We have chosen the detection system consisting of the Time of Flight (ToF) telescope in combination with silicon charge particle detectors. Two time gates will be used to acquire the two time stamps. The fast acquisition electronics has to collect the coincidence energy/ToF/yield multi parametric spectra. The proposed ToF ERDA signal processing system consists from combination of analogue nuclear electronics and the fast digital multi-parameter acquisition system. The first draft of the ToF HI ERDA for Trnava IBA laboratory is presented.

High precision measurement of the Ne19β -decay half-life using real-time digital acquisition

The half-life of $^{19}$Ne has been measured using a real-time digital multiparametric acquisition system providing an accurate time-stamp and relevant information on the detectors signals for each decay event. An exhaustive offline analysis of the data gave unique access to experimental effects potentially biasing the measurement. After establishing the influence factors impacting the measurement such as after-pulses, pile-up, gain and base line fluctuations, their effects were accurately estimated and the event selection optimized. The resulting half-life, $17.2569\pm0.0019_{(stat)}\pm0.0009_{(syst)}$~s, is the most precise up to now for $^{19}$Ne. It is found in agreement with two recent precise measurements and not consistent with the most recent one [L.J. Broussard {\it et al.}, Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf112}, 212301 (2014)] by 3.0 standard deviations. The full potential of the technique for nuclei with half-lives of a few seconds is discussed.

Research on Test System for Disease Aided Diagnosis

A real-time multi parameter acquisition system is designed in this paper. Sensors collect physiological parameter data. The parameters are transmitted to the main processor module via a wireless sensor network. The main processor processes the data. The results reflect the current physiological condition of the monitored person.If the physiological condition is abnormal, alarm measures will be initiated to inform the monitor. Wavelet analysis method is used to denoise data. The wavelet transform and least squares support vector machines are used to predict the information, and the model is corrected by the statistical results of the measured data. Experiments show that the modified method is effective.

Use of Low-Cost Acquisition Systems with an Embedded Linux Device for Volcanic Monitoring.

This paper describes the development of a low-cost multiparameter acquisition system for volcanic monitoring that is applicable to gravimetry and geodesy, as well as to the visual monitoring of volcanic activity. The acquisition system was developed using a System on a Chip (SoC) Broadcom BCM2835 Linux operating system (based on DebianTM) that allows for the construction of a complete monitoring system offering multiple possibilities for storage, data-processing, configuration, and the real-time monitoring of volcanic activity. This multiparametric acquisition system was developed with a software environment, as well as with different hardware modules designed for each parameter to be monitored. The device presented here has been used and validated under different scenarios for monitoring ocean tides, ground deformation, and gravity, as well as for monitoring with images the island of Tenerife and ground deformation on the island of El Hierro.

Low [formula omitted] activity measurement of meteorites using HPGe–NaI detector system

The radioactivity in natural samples like cosmogenic isotopes in meteorites, in Moon samples, in earth and ice in Antarctica, produced by protons, neutrons, μ mesons and other charged particles, is very low, usually below 0.001 disintegration per minute per gram. Therefore, very special techniques are required, particularly if the sample cannot be destroyed for chemical separation and system must have possibility of counting large amount of sample. For this purpose we have developed a highly selective Ge–NaI coincidence spectrometer, operating in the underground Laboratory of Monte dei Cappuccini (INAF) in Torino. We have then improved it by developing a multiparametric acquisition system, which allows better selectivity of the coincidence windows (e.g., in meteorites, to disentangle cosmogenic 44Ti signal from overlapping 214Bi, originated by naturally occurring 238U). Applications of this system to the study of meteorites (chondrite, achondrite and iron samples) are described.

Positron annihilation lifetime study of Ag-ion exchanged and heat treated soda lime glass

Slabs of soda lime silica glass (15% Na 2O) were subjected to Ag +/Na + ion exchange process and subsequent heat treatment. The change in glass structure and Ag states accompanied with these processes were studied using the positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy. The positron annihilation lifetime measurements were performed with a fast–fast coincidence spectrometer employing a multi-parameter acquisition system. The lifetime parameters showed that the Ag + ion reduction process takes place through two processes; the oxidation reduction reaction with Fe 2+ impurities in the glass at heat treatment temperatures <500 °C, whereas at heat treatment ⩾500 °C the reduction takes place through the polymerization reaction. The results also indicated that the heat treatment at 600 °C enhanced the formation of Ag metal nanoparticle crystals through the structural relaxation revealed by the free volume defects.

An optimization of energy window settings for positron annihilation lifetime spectrometers

An optimization of energy window settings for a positron annihilation lifetime spectrometer is necessary for high performance. A spectrometer employing the fast–fast coincidence technique with a pair of plastic scintillation detectors was used in this study. In the present spectrometer, the data are acquired in event-by-event list mode with a multi-parameter acquisition system. A fuzzy approach is applied for determination of the optimal values of the energy windows using the minimum-type and product-type fuzzy decisions. The performance of the used spectrometer is obviously improved with the optimal widths of the energy windows of both start and stop γ -rays.

The influence of environmental parameters in electrostatic cell radon monitor response

To better understand the influence of air parameters such as pressure, humidity and temperature on the counting efficiency of a radon monitor based on solid state silicon detectors and radon daughter electrostatic collection, a number of experimental and theoretical studies have been performed. This study has been carried out using a multiparameter acquisition system used to monitor radon, temperature, pressure and relative humidity. Results show that air humidity and temperature inside the cell influence radon daughter collection in a significant way. For the tested cell, a decrease of the 218Po counting efficiency vs. humidity and temperature increase was measured in the ranges from 10% to 90% and from 15°C to 35°C, respectively. These effects were also theoretically studied by using Monte-Carlo software, which takes into account electrostatic collection of radon daughters in the cell, by considering the recombination process as a function of climatic parameters. A satisfactory agreement was obtained between experimental measurements and theoretical calculations.

A compact multiparameter acquisition system for radon concentration studies

A compact device suitable to acquire and display, at the same time, radon concentrations in a given atmosphere, and the environmental parameters characterising the atmosphere, is presented and described. It consists of two main blocks: (i) a detection section including a set of sensors for measuring pressure, humidity and temperature, and a set of silicon surface barrier detectors mounted in electrostatic cells collecting the ionised radon daughters; (ii) a single NIM module featuring an eight channel 12 bit ADC and the linear electronics to shape the signals from the silicon detectors. The system is controlled by a computer via a RS232 port. The software, implemented in Visual Basic, allows to display the energy distribution of the pulses coming from the alpha detectors and to initialise and control all phases of the acquisition. The results of preliminary tests show the high reliability of the system.