Consistent empirical physical formula construction for recoil energy distribution in HPGe detectors by using artificial neural networks

The gamma-ray tracking technique is a highly efficient detection method in experimental nuclear structure physics. On the basis of this method, two gamma-ray tracking arrays, AGATA in Europe and GRETA in the USA, are currently being tested. The interactions of neutrons in these detectors lead to an unwanted background in the gamma-ray spectra. Thus, the interaction points of neutrons in these detectors have to be determined in the gamma-ray tracking process in order to improve photo-peak efficiencies and peak-to-total ratios of the gamma-ray peaks. In this paper, the recoil energy distributions of germanium nuclei due to inelastic scatterings of 1–5 MeV neutrons were first obtained by simulation experiments. Secondly, as a novel approach, for these highly nonlinear detector responses of recoiling germanium nuclei, consistent empirical physical formulas (EPFs) were constructed by appropriate feedforward neural networks (LFNNs). The LFNN-EPFs are of explicit mathematical functional form. Therefore, the LFNN-EPFs can be used to derive further physical functions which could be potentially relevant for the determination of neutron interactions in gamma-ray tracking process.     

Strategies and Approaches for Discovery of Small Molecule Disruptors of Biofilm Physiology

Biofilms, the predominant growth mode of microorganisms, pose a significant risk to human health. The protective biofilm matrix, typically composed of exopolysaccharides, proteins, nucleic acids, and lipids, combined with biofilm-grown bacteria’s heterogenous physiology, leads to enhanced fitness and tolerance to traditional methods for treatment. There is a need to identify biofilm inhibitors using diverse approaches and targeting different stages of biofilm formation. This review discusses discovery strategies that successfully identified a wide range of inhibitors and the processes used to characterize their inhibition mechanism and further improvement. Additionally, we examine the structure–activity relationship (SAR) for some of these inhibitors to optimize inhibitor activity.     

A coupled WC-TL SPH method for simulation of hydroelastic problems

A coupled weakly compressible (WC) and total Lagrangian (TL) smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) method is developed for simulating hydroelastic problems. The fluid phase is simulated using WCSPH method, while the structural dynamics are solved using TLSPH method. Fluid and solid components of the method are validated separately. A sloshing water tank problem is solved to test the WCSPH method while oscillation of a thin plate and large deformation of a cantilever beam are simulated to test the TLSPH method. After validating each component, the coupled WC-TL SPH scheme is used to simulate two benchmark hydroelastic problems. The first test case shows the evolution of water column with an elastic boundary gate, and the second one investigates the breaking water column impact on elastic structures. The agreement between WC-TL SPH results and literature data shows the ability of the proposed method in simulating hydroelastic phenomena.     

The dispersion polymerization of unsaturated monomers initiated by the macromonomeric initiator

The dispersion polymerizations of styrene (St) and methyl methacrylate (MMA) initiated by poly(oxyethylene) macroinimer (PEO-MIM) in ethanol/water were investigated at 50, 60 and 80°C. The polymerisation rate vs. conversion dependence was described by with a maxim at the beginning of polymerisation. Polymerization was faster with MMA than with St. The limiting conversion was inversely proportional to temperature and was much more pronounced with St. The rate of polymerization increased with temperature. The overall initial activation energy increased with conversion and reached value ca. 25 kJ.mol⁻¹ for MMA and 50 kJ.mol⁻¹ for styrene at ca. 60% conversion. The particle size was observed to decrease with increasing the macroinimer concentration. The polymer dispersions were unstable and a large amount of coagulum appeared during the polymerisation especially in the styrene-containing reaction system.     

CP violation in gauge theories and the electric dipole moment of the neutron

A nonvanishing contribution to the neutron electric dipole moment in CP-violating gauge theories of the weak interactions, arising from interaction of the photon with two-quark subsystems of the three-bound-quark neutron system, is calculated. In the Kobayashi-Maskawa model the resulting value of the moment is estimated as O(10^?32) e cm; however, strong interaction corrections (gluonic radiative corrections) give quark moment contributions which may be numerically larger (possibly 10^?30±1 e cm). Either case clearly distinguishes gauge-sector CP violation from Higgs-sector CP violation which typically gives a neutron moment of order 10^?24 e cm.