Alignment of the ALICE Inner Tracking System with cosmic-ray tracks

ALICE (A Large Ion Collider Experiment) is the LHC (Large Hadron Collider) experiment devoted to investigating the strongly interacting matter created in nucleus-nucleus collisions at the LHC energies. The ALICE ITS, Inner Tracking System, consists of six cylindrical layers of silicon detectors with three different technologies; in the outward direction: two layers of pixel detectors, two layers each of drift, and strip detectors. The number of parameters to be determined in the spatial alignment of the 2198 sensor modules of the ITS is about 13,000. The target alignment precision is well below 10 micron in some cases (pixels). The sources of alignment information include survey measurements, and the reconstructed tracks from cosmic rays and from proton-proton collisions. The main track-based alignment method uses the Millepede global approach. An iterative local method was developed and used as well. We present the results obtained for the ITS alignment using about 10^5 charged tracks from cosmic rays that have been collected during summer 2008, with the ALICE solenoidal magnet switched off.

Acidentes provocados por Millipede com manifestacoes dermatologicas: Relatos de dois casos

This study is based on the two case reports of accidents provoked by arthropods (Millepede) in human beings. The authors present this type of accident, the insect specie that caused the accidents, the aggressive mechanism, which is poorly studied in Brazil, and the bibliography.

Alterations in the fat body cells of rhinocricus padbergi (Diplopoda) resulting from exposure to substrate containing sewage sludge

Abstract The final disposal of residues generated at sewage treatment plants (STPs) has become a major problem for cities, due to the increase in the amount of treated sewage. One of the alternatives for the residue, labeled sewage sludge, is its reuse in agriculture and in degraded soil. However, not all pathogens and metals present in it are eliminated during treatment. Diplopods have been used as bioindicators in ecotoxicological tests as they are constantly in close contact with the soil. Owing to this fact, the purpose of this study was to expose specimens of the diplopod Rhinocricus padbergi to substrate containing sewage sludge collected at STPs to analyze morphological alterations in their parietal and perivisceral fat body, where substances are stored. The exposures were held for 7, 15, or 90 days at different concentrations of sewage sludge (control, 1%, 10%, and 50%). The parietal fat body showed no alterations in any of the three exposure periods or concentrations. Alterations in the perivisceral fat body were observed for all exposure periods. According to the results, we suggest that the sludge used has toxic agents responsible for changing the animal's perivisceral fat body. © 2012 Microscopy Society of America.