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Metamaterial has become a hotspot in many research fields, including electromagnetism, thermodynamics and mechanics, as it can offers additional design freedom for material to obtain novel properties. Especially for the electromagnetic devices, various interesting electromagnetic properties which cannot be found in nature materials can be realized, such as negative refraction, invisible cloak, etc. Herein, we provide an overview of paper-based metamaterial for microwave application. This work reviews the metamaterial realized on paper substrate, including the fabrication techniques, application fields, as well as the outlook on future directions of the paper-based metamaterial for the readership.

This proceeding summarizes the talk given at the opening of the UHECR 2022 conference in L’Aquila on the whitepaper ‘Ultra-High-Energy Cosmic Rays: The Intersection of the Cosmic and Energy Frontiers’ [Astroparticle Physics 149 (2023) 102819 - arXiv:2205.05845] that has been prepared for the Snowmass survey in the USA. The whitepaper provides an overview of recent progress and open questions regarding the particle physics and astrophysics related to ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECR) and outlines the connections between the particle and astrophysics aspects of cosmic rays. It also discusses what instrumentation is needed to address the major scientific questions in ultra-high-energy cosmic-ray physics. While the upgraded Pierre Auger Observatory and Telescope Array will remain the workhorses at the highest energies in the current decade, new experiments with significantly higher exposure are needed in the coming decade. Ground arrays featuring simultaneous detection of the position of the shower maximum and the size of the muonic component will enable particle astronomy by measuring the rigidity of individual events. They should be complemented by other detectors maximizing the total exposure. This can be achieved by a few next-generation experiments using the latest developments in detection and analysis techniques: GRAND as a ground-based radio array, and POEMMA as a space-borne stereo fluorescence telescope will feature complementary approaches to provide maximum exposure; IceCube-Gen2 with its surface array, and GCOS aim at increased statistics with high accuracy for particle physics and rigidity-based galactic and extra-galactic astrophysics. While designed to discover the astrophysical cosmic-ray sources at the highest energies, the same experiments also contribute to particle physics, e.g., by studying the muon puzzle in cosmic-ray air showers, and by their discovery potential for exciting new physics, such as certain Dark Matter candidates. With the full whitepaper available as a reference, this proceeding will briefly present the science cases of the experiments, highlighting their individual strengths and outlining how they complement each other.

The bibliographic science papers with high citations rates are often used as an indication of the science impact of an observatory. These high impact papers are presented as examples of the best science being done with an observatory’s data. But, is the number of citations by itself a good indicator of the scientific impact of the paper, and is impact a good indicator of the scientific impact of the observatory? In this paper we will present results from a recent study of Chandra high impact papers and suggest some alternative methods for identifying such papers. This work has been supported by NASA under contract NAS 8-03060 to the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory for operation of the Chandra X-ray Center.

Despite a large variety of facilities helping to either select or manipulate data from Web interfaces, it remains diffcult to provide users with relevant scientific or technical annotations for those data. Introducing such content by hand into a Web interface is a tedious job with a risk of providing in complete or inadequate content. To overcome this diffculty, we are exploring the possibility of using the names of exposed quantities to index a text corpus. This index can be used to show the most relevant text snippets in a given context. The full text can be displayed by user request and automatically scroll down to that snippet. Our approach is based on the conversion of PDF papers into machinereadable files that are indexed by a search engine. Index entries are reported as PDF annotations that are used to control the display. This workflow has been tested on the IVOA standard corpus as a proof of concept. It has then been applied to the XMM-Newtonuser guides for our catalog interface. Finally, it has been adapted to find resources within portals exposing a lot of various data collections.

Astronomy is the oldest of the natural sciences. It is well known that the period covering about seven centuries, from Aryabhata to Bhaskaracharya II (c. 476-1150), was the golden age of Indian astronomy. In the present study, we identify research trends and the growth of knowledge in the field of astronomy science research. The study is an essential tool to measure the scientific publications in the field. This study analyses the publications of astronomy research in India published during 1991-1995 and 2011-2015. The study assesses how astronomy progresses in India and its impact is reflected in the science citation index over the period 1991-1995 and 2011-2015. The publication output has been analyzed using quantitative and qualitative indicators, such as progress in research article publishing, change in authorship patterns, citation patterns during 1991-1995 and 2011-2015, articles that received the most citations, and international collaboration with other countries. Further, the study investigated highly prolific authors and highly preferred journals. The author is from one of the FORSA institutes, therefore the study includes a separate ranking for FORSA institutes in term of output as well citations.

The contributions on technology are summarized.

A total of 14 contributions were presented in the Theory and Modelling sessions at EC-17. One Theory and Modelling paper was included in the ITER ECRH and ECE sessions each. Three papers were in the area of nonlinear physics discussing parametric processes accompanying ECRH. Eight papers were based on the quasi-linear theory of wave heating and current drive. Three of these addressed the application of ECCD for NTM stabilization. Two papers considered scattering of EC waves by edge density fluctuations and related phenomena. In this summary, we briefly describe the highlights of these contributions. Finally, the three papers concerning modelling of various aspects of ECE are reported in the ECE session.

We study the evolution of mechanical properties of paper samples during cyclic experiments. The issue is to look at the sample-to-sample variation, and we try to predict the number of loading cycles to failure. We used two concurrent methods to obtain the deformation: the strain was calculated from vertical displacement measured by laser interferometer sensor, as well as, computed by digital image correlation technique from pictures taken each 2s by a camera. Acoustic emission of fracture was also recorded, and an active ultrasonic wave method using piezoelectric transducers is used to follow the viscoelastic behaviour of each sample. We found that a sharp final increase of different variables like deformation, strain rate and fluctuations, are signs of an imminent rupture of the paper. Moreover looking at the evolution of these quantities during the first cycle only is already an indicator about the lifetime of the sample.

We have studied experimentally the dynamics of the separation of a sheet of paper into two halves in a peeling configuration. The experimental setup consists of a peeling device, where a fracture front is driven along the plane of the paper, with a constant force. The theoretical picture is how an elastic line interacts with a random landscape of fracture toughness. We compare the results with theoretical simulations in several aspects. One recent finding concerns the autocorrelation function of the average front position. The data from the experiments produces so-called cusps or singularities in the correlation function, as predicted by the functional renormalization group theory for elastic lines. Comparisons with simulations with either a short range or a long range elastic kernel demonstrate that the latter agrees with the experimental observations, as expected.

The presentations on ECRH experiments presented in EC-17 are summarized.

The contributions on technology are summarized

The article studies the elastic and locomotive properties of Miura-ori-type paper origami. The mechanics of a single paper crease is studied experimentally, and its non-elastic properties turn out to be crucial. The entire origami construction is then described as a collection of individual creases, its capability to launch small objects is evaluated, and the equation of motion is found. Thus, the height of the launched ball is studied theoretically and experimentally as a function of governing parameters.

Context. The physics and chemistry of planet-forming disks are far from being fully understood. To make further progress, both broad line surveys and observations of individual tracers in a statistically significant number of disks are required. Aims. Our aim is to perform a line survey of eight planet-forming Class II disks in Taurus with the IRAM NOrthern Extended Millimeter Array (NOEMA), as a part of the MPG-IRAM Observatory Program PRODIGE (PROtostars and DIsks: Global Evolution; PIs: P. Caselli and Th. Henning). Methods. Compact and extended disks around T Tauri stars CI, CY, DG, DL, DM, DN, IQ Tau, and UZ Tau E are observed in ~80 lines from > 20 C-, O,- N-, and S-bearing species. The observations in four spectral settings at 210–280 GHz with a 1σ rms sensitivity of ~8–12 mJy beam−1 at a 0.9″ and 0.3 km s−1 resolution will be completed in 2024. The uv visibilities are fitted with the DiskFit model to obtain key stellar and disk properties. Results. In this first paper, the combined 12CO, 13CO, and C18O J = 2–1 data are presented. We find that the CO fluxes and disk masses inferred from dust continuum tentatively correlate with the CO emission sizes. We constrained dynamical stellar masses, geometries, temperatures, the CO column densities, and gas masses for each disk. The best-fit temperatures at 100 au are ~ 17–37 K, and decrease radially with the power-law exponent q ~ 0.05–0.76. The inferred CO column densities decrease radially with the power-law exponent p ~ 0.2–3.1. The gas masses estimated from 13CO (2–1) are ~0.001–0.2 M⊙. Conclusions. Using NOEMA, we confirm the presence of temperature gradients in our disk sample. The best-fit CO column densities point to severe CO freeze-out in these disks. The DL Tau disk is an outlier, and has either stronger CO depletion or lower gas mass than the rest of the sample. The CO isotopologue ratios are roughly consistent with the observed values in disks and the low-mass star-forming regions. The high 13CO/C18O ratio of ~23 in DM Tau could be indicative of strong selective photodissociation of C18O in this disk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sensitivity of the reactivity of a fast reactor core to changes in its geometry and/or fuel relocation calls for particular attention with regard to criticality events. A category of these events, the so-called Core Disruptive Accidents (CDAs), are intensively studied in the safety assessment of Sodium-cooled Fast Reactors (SFRs), and more recently also in the case of other systems. Differences between SFRs and Heavy Liquid Metal Fast Reactors (HLMFRs) are significant and therefore warrant an understanding of phenomena and the development of models specific to HLMFRs. This paper provides a qualitative overview of the physics relevant to the investigation of a CDA in HLMFR, with a particular application to the Multipurpose hYbrid Research Reactor for High-tech Applications – MYRRHA. At first, a core compaction mechanism viable for an HLMFR has been postulated. In what follows, simulation by an already existing severe accidents code, as well as modelling based on fundamental physics and engineering, have been performed. It is demonstrated that, for a linear insertion of reactivity due to hypothetical core compaction, the reversal of reactivity evolution happens due to the Doppler effect and the thermal expansion of core materials. Subsequent expansion by fuel melting terminates the prompt-critical event and makes the system delayed-supercritical. Successive fuel and/or coolant boiling is responsible for the hydrodynamic disassembly of the core and it therefore effectively terminates the transient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The generation of accurate kinetic parameters such as mean generation time Λ and effective delayed neutron fraction βeff via Monte Carlo codes is established. Employing these in downstream deterministic codes warrants another step to ensure no additional error is introduced by the low-order transport operator when computing forward and adjoint fluxes for bilinear weighting of these parameters. Another complexity stems from applying superhomogenization (SPH) equivalence in non-fundamental mode approximations, where reference and low-order calculations rely on a 3D full core model. In these cases, SPH factors can optionally be computed for only part of the geometry while preserving reaction rates and K-effective, but the impact of such approximations on kinetics parameters has not been thoroughly studied. This paper aims at studying the preservation of bilinearly-weighted quantities in the Serpent–Griffin calculation procedure. Diffusion and transport evaluations of IPEN/MB-01, Godiva, and Flattop were carried out with the Griffin reactor physics code, testing available modeling options using Serpent-generated multigroup cross sections and equivalence data. Verifying Griffin against Serpent indicates sensitivities to multigroup energy grid selection and regional application of SPH equivalence, introducing significant errors; these were demonstrated to be reduced through the use of a transport method together with a finer energy grid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The constructs of diversity, equity, and inclusion are complex and the DEI movement evokes a variety of strikingly different feelings and responses. One of the challenges to diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives is that people often have very different views on these endeavors. In this short paper, I offer a concise, global perspective on the conceptualization of diversity, equity, and inclusion that might provide a method for communicating across differences. Though the DEI movement, and associated movements such as the DEI and belongingness movement and the DEI and access movements are important, the length of this paper does not allow for a discussion of these topics. I conclude this paper with a defense of diversity, equity, and inclusion and a discussion of implications for the physics community.

The paper builds on the results so far within the research project focused on conceptual design of an innovative safety system for a Gas-Cooled Nuclear Reactors. The paper focuses on a description of the design methodology of the gas turbine flow path, which is part of the secondary circuit of the proposed safety system. The aim is to propose the design of the last stage turbine blading and then to extract a special bucket blade profile that will match the expected flow direction during deep off-design modes. The extracted blade profile will then be subsequently assembled into a blade row which will be tested in the suction-type high-speed wind tunnel in the Aerodynamic Laboratory of the Institute of Thermomechanics Czech Academy of Science in Nový Knín.

Conditions data is the subset of non-event data that is necessary to process event data. It poses a unique set of challenges, namely a heterogeneous structure and high access rates by distributed computing. The HSF Conditions Databases activity is a forum for cross-experiment discussions inviting as broad a participation as possible. It grew out of the HSF Community White Paper work to study conditions data access, where experts from ATLAS, Belle II, and CMS converged on a common language and proposed a schema that represents best practice. Following discussions with a broader community, including NP as well as HEP experiments, a core set of use cases, functionality and behaviour was defined with the aim to describe a core conditions database API. This paper will describe the reference implementation of both the conditions database service and the client which together encapsulate HSF best practice conditions data handling.Django was chosen for the service implementation, which uses an ORM instead of the direct use of SQL for all but one method. The simple relational database schema to organise conditions data is implemented in PostgreSQL. The task of storing conditions data payloads themselves is outsourced to any POSIX-compliant filesystem, allowing for transparent relocation and redundancy. Crucially this design provides a clear separation between retrieving the metadata describing which conditions data are needed for a data processing job, and retrieving the actual payloads from storage. The service deployment using Helm on OKD will be described together with scaling tests and operations experience from the sPHENIX experiment running more than 25k cores at BNL.

The Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO) [1] is a multipurpose neutrino experiment and the determination of the neutrino mass hierarchy is its primary physics goal. JUNO is going to start data taking in 2024 and plans to use distributed computing infrastructure for the data processing and analysis tasks. The JUNO distributed computing system has been designed and built based on DIRAC [2]. Since last year, the official Monte Carlo (MC) production has been running on the system, and petabytes of massive MC data have been shared among JUNO data centers through this system. In this paper, an overview of the JUNO distributed computing system will be presented, including workload management system, data management, and condition data access system. Moreover, the progress of adapting the system to support token-based AAI [3] and HTTP-TPC [4] will be reported. Finally, the paper will mention the preparations for the upcoming JUNO data-taking.

To better understand experimental conditions and performances of its experiment, the LHCb collaboration executes tens of thousands of looselycoupled and CPU-intensive Monte Carlo simulation workflows per hour. To meet the increasing LHC computing needs, funding agencies encourage the collaboration to exploit High-Performance Computing resources, and more specifically supercomputers, which offer a significant additional amount of computing resources but also come with higher integration challenges. This state-ofpractice paper outlines years of integration of LHCb simulation workflows on several supercomputers. The main contributions of this paper are: (i) an extensive description of the gap to address to run High-Energy Physics Monte Carlo simulation workflows on supercomputers; (ii) various methods and proposals to maximize the use of allocated CPU resources; (iii) a comprehensive analysis of LHCb production workflows running on diverse supercomputers.

ATLAS Metadata Interface (AMI) is a generic ecosystem for metadata aggregation, transformation and cataloging. Each sub-system of the stack has recently been improved in order to acquire messaging/telemetry capabilities. This paper describes the whole stack monitoring with the Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT) protocol and Node-RED, a tool for wiring together hardware/software devices. Finally, this paper shows how Node-RED is used to graphically define metadata aggregation tasks, in a pipelined way, without introducing any single point of failure.

For LHC Run3 the ALICE experiment software stack has been completely refactored, incorporating support for multicore job execution. Whereas in both LHC Run 1 and 2 the Grid jobs were single-process and made use of a single CPU core, the new multicore jobs spawn multiple processes and threads within the payload. Some of these multicore jobs deploy a high amount of shortlived processes, in the order of more than a dozen per second. The overhead of starting so many processes impacts the overall CPU utilization of the payloads, in particular its System component. Furthermore, the short-lived processes were not correctly accounted for by the monitoring system of the experiment. This paper presents the developed new methodology for supervising the payload execution. We also present a black box analysis of the new multicore experiment software framework tracing the used resources and system function calls issued by MonteCarlo simulation jobs. Multiple sources of overhead in the lifecycle of processes and threads have thus been identified. This paper describes how the source of each was traced and what solutions were implemented to address them. These improvements have impacted the resource consumption and the overall turnaround time of these payloads with a notable 35% reduction in execution time for a reference production job. We also introduce how this methodology will be used to further improve the efficiency of our experiment software and what other optimization venues are currently under research.

In 2022, CERN ran its annual simulated phishing campaign in which 2000 users gave away their passwords. In a real phishing incident, this would have meant 2000 compromised accounts, unless they were protected by Two-Factor Authentication (2FA). In the same year, CERN introduced 2FA for accounts with access to critical services. The new login flow requires users to always authenticate with a 2FA token, either with Time-based one-time password (TOTP) or WebAuthn. This introduces a significant security improvement for the individual and for the laboratory. The previous flow enforced 2FA to access a small number of applications. In this paper, we will discuss the rationale behind the 2FA deployment, as well as the technical setup of 2FA in the CERN Single Sign-On system, Keycloak. The paper will give a detailed overview of the architecture for this new 2FA flow and compare how it differs from the legacy 2FA system which was in place since 2019. We share statistics on how users are responding to this change in the login flow, and the actions we have taken to improve the user experience. Finally, we briefly describe our custom extensions to Keycloak for specific use cases, which include adding roles in the user token, overriding the default Keycloak session, and modifying the user login flow.

The BABAR experiment collected electron-positron collisions at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC) from 1999-2008. Although data taking has stopped 15 years ago, the collaboration is still actively doing data analyses, publishing results, and giving presentations at international conferences. Special considerations were needed to do analyses using a computing environment that was developed decades ago. A framework is required that preserves the data, data access, and the capability of doing analyses using a well defined and preserved environment. Also, BABAR’s support by SLAC ended at the beginning of 2021. Fortunately, the High Energy Physics Research Computing group at the University of Victoria (UVic), Canada, offered to provide the new home for the main BABAR computing infrastructure, the Grid Computing Centre Karlsruhe offered to host all data for access by analyses running at UVic, and CERN and the IN2P3 Computing Centre offered to store a backup of all data. This paper presents what was done at BABAR to preserve the data and analysis capabilities and what was needed to move the whole computing infrastructure, including collaboration tools and data files, away from SLAC. It will be shown how BABAR preserved the ability to continue to do data analyses and also have a working collaboration tools infrastructure. This paper will describe on BABAR’s experience with such a big change in its infrastructure and what was learned from it, which may be useful to other experiments which are interested in long term analysis support and data preservation in general.

High Energy Physics experiments at the Large Hadron Collider generate petabytes of data per year that go through multiple transformations before final analysis and paper publication. Recording the provenance of these data is therefore crucial to maintain the quality of the final results. While tools are in place within LHCb to keep this information for the common experiment-wide transforms, analysts have had to implement their own solutions for the steps dealing with ntuples. This gap between centralised and interactive processing can become problematic. In order to facilitate the task, ntuples extracted by LHCb analysts via so-called “Analysis Productions” are tracked in the experiment bookkeeping database and can be enriched with extra information about their meaning and intended use. This information can then be used to access ntuples more easily: a set of Python tools allow querying of ntuple file locations with associated metadata, and integrate their processing within analysis workflows. The tools are designed with the intention of ensuring analysis code continues to be functional into the future and are robust against evolutions in how data is accessed. This paper presents the integration of these new tools into the LHCb codebase and demonstrates how they will be used in LHCb data processing and analysis.

In this paper, we discuss the development of a nuclear data evaluation pipeline, based around the TALYS code system. The pipeline focuses on the evaluation of the fast neutron energy range, above the resolved resonances. A strong focus in development lies on automation and reproducibility, as well as the efficient use of large-scale computational infrastructure, to enable rapid testing of new algorithms and modified assumptions. Several novel concepts for nuclear data evaluation methodology are implemented. A particular problem in evaluating the neutron-induced reaction cross-section using TALYS, relates to the intermediate energy range. While TALYS only predicts the smooth energy-averaged cross-section, experiments reveal unresolved resonance-like structures. In this paper, we explore ways to treat this type of model defect using heteroscedastic Gaussian processes to automatically determine the distribution of experimental data around an energy-averaged cross-section curve.

This paper describes the current status of GALILÉE-1 [1], the verification and processing system for evaluated data, developed at CEA. It consists of various components respectively dedicated to read/write the evaluated data independently of the format, to diagnose inconsistencies in the evaluated data and to provide continuous-energy and multigroup data as well as probability tables for particle transport and depletion codes. All these components are written in C++ language and share the same objects. In this paper, we detail the main advances made in GALILÉE-1: Unresolved Resonance Range (URR) treatment and anisotropy data production.

In this paper we present the European Low Frequency Survey (ELFS), a project that will enable the detection of primordial B-mode polarization by measuring the Galactic and extra-Galactic foregrounds in the 5– 120 GHz frequency window. Indeed, the main difficulty in measuring the Bmode polarization comes not just from its sheer faintness, but from the fact that many other objects in the Universe also emit polarized microwaves, which mask the faint CMB signal. The first stage of this project will be carried out in synergy with the Simons Array (SA) collaboration, installing a 5.5–11 GHz coherent receiver at the focus of one of the three 3.5m SA telescopes in Atacama, Chile (“ELFS on SA”). The receiver will be equipped with a fully digital backend based on the latest Xilinx RF System-on-Chip devices that will provide frequency resolution of 1MHz across the whole observing band, allowing us to clean the scientific signal from unwanted radio frequency interference, particularly from low-Earth orbit satellite mega-constellations. This paper reviews the scientific motivation for ELFS and its instrumental characteristics, and provides an update on the development of ELFS on SA.

So-called thunderclouds, which are large dark clouds that are able to generate thunder and lightning, can act as natural particle accelerators, producing complex high-energy phenomena such as terrestrial gamma-ray flashes (TGFs) and gamma-ray glows. These events are often described through the mechanism of relativistic runaway electron avalanches (RREAs), cascades of high-energy electrons accelerated by atmospheric electric fields. Since the energies of the RREAs are up to several tens of MeV, they can also trigger nuclear reactions with atoms of the air and in the soil while entering the ground. Although these phenomena are intriguing, their lack of precise measurement and still not completely understood origins pose a significant challenge for assessing their impact on aviation safety. This paper introduces the project Research Centre of Cosmic Rays and Radiation Events in Atmosphere (CRREAT), aimed at providing measurements of TGFs, thunderstorm ground enhancements (TGEs), and other ionizing radiation phenomena during thunderstorms, as well as at aviation altitudes, stratosphere, and low Earth orbits (LEO). The paper argues that without accurate data on the origins and physical characteristics of TGEs and TGFs, it is impossible to reliably simulate their impact on aircraft crews and passengers. The paper also mentions how the general-purpose 3D Monte Carlo (MC) code PHITS can be used for future simulations and comparisons with measurements related to ionizing radiation phenomena in the atmosphere.

The National Center for Nuclear Energy, Sciences and Technology (CNESTEN) located in Rabat, Morocco, operates a 2 MW TRIGA Mark II research reactor. This type of reactor is specially designed to effectively implement the various fields of nuclear research such as neutron activation analysis, neutron radiography, detectors testing, radioisotopes production as well as education and training. In the last few years, a collaboration between the French Atomic Energy and Alternative Energies Commission (CEA) and the CNESTEN was established to expand the utilization of the TRIGA computational model by carrying out new in-situ measurements in order to characterize neutron and photon fields within and beyond the TRIGA reactor core. These new measurements will consolidate the knowledge of neutron and photon fluxes in different irradiation and instrumentation channels. The results of these experiments will also be used to extend the experimental validation of the new developed TRIPOLI-4® computational model of the reactor and to quantify the uncertainties and biases. This paper focuses on the neutron and photon flux characterization of two irradiation channels inside the TRIGA reactor core. Neutron measurements are ensured by activation dosimetry whereas photon measurements are ensured by thermo-luminescent detectors (TLD400 – CaF2: Mn). Based on these techniques, the experiments were carried out during an experimental campaign conducted in June 2022. Preceding the implementation of these measurements, two experimental devices were specifically designed and manufactured to ensure a reproducible positioning of the detectors in the selected irradiation channels. This paper presents the experimental results analysis and the associated uncertainty quantification. These results will be then compared to the calculation ones obtained by the computational models of the TRIGA reactor.

Radioactive Ion Beams (RIBs) of large intensity (106 pps or higher) are at the frontier in nuclear physics. We designed a novel detection system for RIBs diagnostics and tagging based on Silicon Carbide detectors and on custom frontend electronics ready to be coupled with a Real Data Management Unit. The full detection system is designed to measure the spatial distribution of the beam intensity and trajectory with sufficient spatial resolution (of the order of 1-2 mm). In addition, the detection system has to determine the RIB composition that can be obtained from the joint measurement of the energy loss (>E) of the ions passing through the sensors and the time of flight between two sensors or with respect to a given reference signal as the RadioFrequency signal of a Cyclotron. In this paper we present the full design of the proposed system together with the results of the first experimental qualification of the first mini-prototype. The paper also shows the steps towards the final detection system, housed in a DN160 spherical cross and able to cover an active area of 30 mm × 60 mm.

This paper presents the preliminary characterization of a new reduced-height CALORRE differential calorimeter designed and fabricated for the irradiation in the MITR within the framework of the CALOR-I program. The paper begins by focusing on the preparation of the irradiation campaign, providing a brief and concise description of the MITR core and the newly fabricated differential calorimeter assembly. Next, the paper presents the preliminary experimental characterization conducted under laboratory conditions. This section includes a detailed presentation of the updated experimental set-up and the key metrological characteristics of the sensor response obtained from the first experimental results. Furthermore, the paper estimates and highlights the responses of the calorimeter calculated by means of a 3-D numerical thermal model under real conditions considering local heat sources determined by the NRL of the MIT using MCNP code. In conclusion, the paper offers some final remarks and prospects to realize the irradiation campaign successfully.

It is known that the device MOSFET works as a dosimeter in radiation beams for cancer radiotherapy. Basically, the radiation beam generates defects in a way that produces in the MOSFET the variation in its threshold voltage, VT, which is proportional to the accumulated radiation dose. Recently, MOSFETs were also tested under X-ray beams commonly used in the energy range applied to medical diagnoses, which is lower energy than radiotherapy. Indeed, it was already shown that the MOSFET drain current varies with the radiation dose for energies in the range applied to diagnostic radiology. In this paper, an innovative method based on a differential amplifier circuit with two electronically matched MOSFETs is presented. Therefore, before irradiation the differential output voltage signal, Vdif = 0. Actually, it is a differential amplifier circuit with one of the MOSFETs shielded from the ionizing radiation beam. Therefore, if such a circuit is irradiated the difference between ID1 and ID2, from MOSFET1 and MOSFET2 respectively, will result Vdif ≠ 0. To evaluate the response of this electronic dosimeter it was tested under a diagnostic radiology beam typically used in clinics to take radiography of patients. The results showed that the proposed dosimeter works and varies linearly with the radiation dose. The technology developed in this paper will allow research to be carried out for optimizing such electronic dosimeter to make it a wearable device and can be able to use it by workers exposed to ionizing radiation in nuclear power plants or even in outer space.

As part of the activities for developing experimental devices for research reactors and associated test loops, some concern the development and qualification of instrumentation. The on-board instrumentation makes it possible to monitor online the evolution of physical parameters of samples and/or components subjected to different stresses (thermal, hydraulic, chemical and nuclear, etc.). In addition to the so-called “classic” instrumentation implemented in this type of equipment (pressure, temperature, flow, elongation), R&D actions are in progress in order to propose innovative instrumentation, able to improve the experimental offer and describe the physical phenomena with more accuracy. This is the case of optical measurements which present many advantages (compactness, insensitivity to EM waves, complex measurements by optical interrogation of a single fiber). In addition, actions are underway for the selection of optical fibers that can be used for applications in a nuclear reactor (in particular resistance to the irradiation). The tests presented in this paper relate to the behavior of sealed feedthroughs for optical fibers to the thermal hydraulics conditions of light water reactors. These tests are part of the safety demonstration in so-called degraded operating cases i.e. corresponding to a configuration where the optical fiber is placed directly in the process fluid (pressurized water). One note that in normal operation, the optical fiber is isolated from the process fluid by a jacket consisting of a metal capillary. After an introduction and a brief presentation of the use of optical fibers in experimental equipment, the paper describes the tightness feedthroughs used, the tests carried out, indicate the main results obtained and opens up some perspectives for future development phases.

Neutron imaging provides additional information to X-ray imaging and can be used in many applications, for example, nuclear engineering, non-industrial diagnostics and homeland security. This paper presents the latest development results of a new 3D structured pixel detector for thermal neutron detection and imaging. The device is based on Medipix/Timepix read-out chip family. The detector, without converter materials, was initially tested in the laboratory with a 241Am source, to simulate events that are induced by reaction products of active material in the silicon bulk. Thanks to the analysis of the size of event clusters and deposited energy, α particles and noise signals were discriminated. The detector was also tested with β and γ sources, to study the effect of other radiation on the device. These results can be useful as a starting point for future experiments, where a neutron source will be used, after filling the cavities with active materials, such as 6Li or 10B. In this paper, the results of the characterization and a comparison between experimental data and Monte Carlo simulations are shown.

In Pressurized Water Reactors (PWRs), boron10 (10B) is added to the primary fluid as boric acid to regulate criticality and power distribution within the core. Indeed, 10B possesses a significant neutron absorption cross-section of approximately 3845 barns for thermal neutron energy (around 25.3 meV). Thus, under certain circumstances, even a slight variation in boron concentration could lead to criticality issues. This paper addresses the problems regarding the accuracy and real-time measurement of Boron Concentration Online Monitoring Systems (BCOMS) in PWRs. First, the paper focuses on presenting BCOMS’s key performance and qualification criteria to ensure a real-time, accurate response during normal operation, operational transients, and accidental events. Then, we evaluate the influence of different dimensioning parameters on the overall measuring performance through Monte Carlo simulations using the MCNP6.2 code. Finally, we investigate, combining theoretical knowledge and simulation results, the physical phenomena involved in the measurement accuracy of BCOMS. This analytical approach not only fosters a deeper comprehension of the underlying phenomena but also facilitates the identification of potential areas for improving measurement accuracy, thereby enhancing the safety of nuclear reactors.

In 2009 United Arab Emirates (UAE) has engaged in an ambitious nuclear power program with the construction of four 1400 MWe pressurized water reactor units at the Barakah site. Fourteen years later, three units are in commercial operation, and the fourth one is in the final steps of commissioning. The four units will produce up to 5600 megawatts of electricity, supplying approximately 25% of the UAE’s electricity requirements. To ensure in such a short period of time the building of the nuclear capabilities and support to the program, Khalifa University has been, since 2010, a key contributor to education and training activities as well as the development of R&D capabilities in the field of nuclear technology. This paper provides an overview of Khalifa University’s activities implemented within the Nuclear Engineering Department, the Gulf Nuclear Energy Infrastructure Institute and the Emirates Nuclear Technology Center (ENTC). This joint Center, which embarks the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation and the Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation, is a hub that addresses the research requirements of the nuclear stakeholders for the delivery of safe and efficient nuclear energy as well as the deployment of advanced nuclear technologies in the UAE. The paper briefly describes the current research projects implemented at the ENTC and gives reference related recent publications.

This is a transcript of my talk for Nuclear Data for Science and Technology conference, ND2022. The talk is available on YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_WYcTHco00. This work is derived from a 2021 paper I wrote in the American Nuclear Society’s journal Nuclear Technology 207, S24 (2021). It was published in a special issue together with twenty-three other papers, for the 75th Anniversary of the culmination of the Manhattan Project. It would be better to watch the video than read this transcript!

The objective of this paper is to present the main results of the keff inter-comparison exercise performed in 2019-2022 by LANL, LLNL, ORNL and IRSN on a set of common benchmarks. The paper includes a description of the methodology to make the inter-comparison, presents the set of selected cases along with the main tendencies that could be at-tributed to nuclear data. In addition, it identifies some issues on the processing and interpretation of nuclear data done by the various codes of the intercomparison.

The characterization of the uncertainty in radiation damage metrics presents many challenges. This paper examines the current approaches to characterizing radiation damage metrics such as hydrogen and helium gas production, material heating, trapped charge in microelectronics, and lattice displacement damage. Critical uncertainty aspects go beyond just the material cross sections and involve the consideration of energy-dependent cross reaction correlations, the recoil ion energy spectrum, and models used for the partitioning of the recoil ion energy into various forms of energy deposition. This paper starts with a review of terminology and then examines the current approaches in the characterization of uncertainty in radiation damage metrics for several applications. The major deficiencies in the uncertainty of the damage metric characterization are also identified.

The heat transfer coeffcient is one of the most important parameters in the design of apparatuses in which convective heat transport takes place. Classical direct methods based on determining basic thermal quantities can be used for measuring heat transfer coeffcients. Another option is to measure concentrations, electric current or other quantities that can be transformed to thermal quantities using the analogy between heat and mass transport. The temperature-oscillation method is less frequently used, although the theoretical basis of the method dates back to 1997, and although the method has the major advantage that the heat transfer coeffcients can be measured without making any contact with the heat transfer surface. In the temperatureoscillation method, the heat transfer surface is exposed to an oscillating heat flux, and the temperature response on this surface can be measured by a contactless method (e.g. infra-red thermography). The heat transfercoeffcients can be determined on the basis of mathematical relations between the oscillating heat flux and the temperature response. However, the method depends on an appropriate method for processing the measured data when it is necessary to correct some conditions that are not included in the mathematical model. This paper evaluates the impact of processing the experimental data on the resulting heat transfer coeffcients in one of the basic geometrical configurations – the flow of a liquid in a pipe with a circular cross section. In this paper, we present the results of a comparison of real experiments based on the temperature oscillation method and numerical modeling of the heat transfer in this geometry, using the ANSYS CFD commercial system.

Measurement of velocity fields by PIV method is often limited by the scale of the measured model. This is doubly true for the stereo PIV method. Problems of measurement in small (but still macroscopic) scales are associated with optical distortions in the optical path of the camera. Additionally, there is a calibration problem for stereo PIV. Therefore, this paper is devoted to the description of PIV methodology for measurement in small geometrical scales. The idealized transparent model of hemodialysis vascular access was used in this paper. This model had realistic vascular access dimensions (6 mm in diameter). A special working blood-mimicking fluid (BMF) was mixed with a refractive index matching that of the model. The refraction and distortion of light passing through the interface between the model and the fluid was so small, that it was possible to calibrate the stereo PIV outside the measured model. The accuracy of this calibration is discussed and verified by measuring the velocity field on a straight section of the vascular access model for laminar flow.

This paper deals with CFD incorporation in a process of designing inducer with variable pitch. The introductory part is devoted to the theory of centrifugal pumps, cavitation and inducer itself followed by a description of the mathematical models of turbulence, multiphase fluid and cavitation. The main part of this paper consists of CFD evaluation, first, of inducer itself, later in application with centrifugal pump with regards to cavitation properties with and without the aplication of inducer, for interest, the comparison with different type of inducer, with constatnt pitch, is also included. At the end of this paper the advantages and some disadvantages are given for CFD based design of the hydrodynamic machines.

There is the still remaining task to increase the efficiency of power plants and steam turbines. One possibility to increase the thermodynamic efficiency is to apply a suitable exhaust hood. Axial exhaust hoods are mainly designed for small turbines up to 180 MW. They are a very important part of steam turbines and its main purpose is to take away the steam from the last stage outlet to a condenser with minimal loss or even with pressure compression and an increase in the last stage enthalpy drop. This paper concerns experimental measurements on the axial exhaust hood wind tunnel model. The main goal of this paper is to determine how given geometrical and flow parameters affect the resulting pressure recovery coefficient. Main observed parameters are velocity and circumferential angle profiles at the diffuser inlet along with a number, shape and geometrical configuration of internal struts. Several geometrical variants are measured for two types of circumferential angles at the diffuser inlet and for two values of Mach number in the presented work. Multi-hole pneumatic probes and pressure taps are used for flow parameters measurement. The proposed experimental model, along with corresponding CFD (computational fluid dynamics) simulations, will help to optimize the flow parameters in the exhaust hood and allow a decrease in pressure losses in this part.

In this paper, a unique flow control method using a small rod, called the forced reattachment method, is proposed for the control of the flow around a bluff body. As described in previous papers, the forced reattachment method is a type of separated shear layer control that reduces drag and generates lift, and it can only occur under certain conditions. The forced reattachment phenomenon occurs as a result of an interactive flow between a circular cylinder and a small rod. This phenomenon is characterized by many special features, such as a large stagnant region behind the circular cylinder and the reattachment flow, which adheres to the rear face of the circular cylinder. It is also interesting how it reduces the total drag, including that of the small rod. The aim of this study was to elucidate the details of the stagnant region, the properties of the reattachment flow, and the reduction of the total drag.

This paper investigates the effects of material parameters of optical glasses on the polishing rate of these glasses. For this purpose, the material removal of various glasses was determined in laboratory tests under identical polishing conditions with respect to polishing pad and polishing suspension. The material removal was then evaluated for its dependence on material parameters. The goal of this paper is to derive a rule of thumb which allows an estimation of the material removal and the obtainable surface quality based on certain parameters of the workpiece material under comparable conditions. This rule of thumb can provide an initial insight into the polishability of a material and can be used to estimate polishing times and achievable surface qualities.

Exclusive processes are traditionally described by perturbative hard blocks and “distribution amplitudes" (DAs), matrix elements of operators of various chiral structure and twist. One paper (with I.Zahed) calculate instanton contribution to hard blocks, which is found comparable to perturbative one in few-GeV2 Q2 region of interest. Another paper aims at comprehensive wave functions of mesons, baryons and pentaquarks. The last ones are also included as 5-quark component of the baryons. The calculation, using ’t Hooft operator, gives x-dependence and magnitude of the antiquark PDF. It explains long standing issue of strong flavor asymmetry of antiquark sea. The third paper (also with I.Zahed) is semi-review on the instanton-sphaleron processes in QCD and electroweak theories, with emphasis on their possible experimental observation via double diffractive events at LHC and RHIC. Insert your english abstract here.

Valves are integral parts of modern steam turbines. They provide flexible operations and fast load changes which have become more often due to the increasing share of renewable energy. Along with this, the low pressure loss is required for guaranteed operation conditions. This paper is concerned with investigation of pressure losses in the compact valve, which is used as a valve for the intermediate-pressure turbine part, and its geometry modification to lower overall pressure losses. The investigation is based on results of numerical simulations which were carried out in the Doosan Skoda Power Company using a package of ANSYS software tools. Source of increased pressure losses in the compact valve is identified and a way of its reduction is proposed based on the comparison of the current results with data from a typical control valve model. Data analysis is provided in the paper.

This paper focuses on the issue of flow measurement in automotive heat exchangers. The measurement is complicated due to the limited space in the heat exchanger area and the non-uniform velocity profile. Therefore, only some measuring techniques can be used, which must be adapted to the specific conditions. The paper presents the initial stages of the development of a sensor for measuring the flow in a heat exchanger. These are CFD simulations used to determine the nature of the flow around the sensor and verify its effect on the flow field in its surrounding and on the entire heat exchanger. The results of these initial simulations are presented and discussed.

Non-contact optical methods such as digital holographic interferometry are highly suitable in measurements where the phenomena is fast, performed in transparent or semi-transparent environment and mustn’t be obstructed as when applying local contact techniques. Such specific application can be studying dynamic events during transonic and supersonic blade flutter. Fast, sensitive and rather easy access to the phase information make these techniques very attractive in the study of phase objects/phenomena. However, since light’s phase is bounded to a repetitive cycle of 2π radians, the range of measurement is limited to one cycle of the phase, limiting applications to small gradient phenomena. This paper presents a new interesting way of by-passing this limitation, while still keeping noise values low, by introducing a second laser with a close value wavelength, giving rise to a new interferometric pattern with an extended unambiguous range of measurement. Image acquisition is done simultaneously for both wavelengths and all reconstructions are digitally performed. The principle and preliminary results are included in this paper.