Upgraded Cherenkov time-of-flight detector for the AFP project.

We present the results of our performance studies of the upgraded Cherenkov time-of-flight (ToF) detector for the AFP (ATLAS Forward Proton) project. The latest version consists of solid L-shaped fused silica bars, new customized ALD-coated micro-channel plate photomultipliers (MCP-PMTs) miniPlanacon XPM85112-S-R2D2 with an extended lifetime which operate at low gains (order of 103), and an updated construction. The improvements were aimed to increase the efficiency, the lifetime as well as the radiation hardness of the detector which has been designed to operate in high radiation areas (above 400 kGy/year). The detector was finally tested at the CERN-SPS test-beam facility (120 GeV π+ particles) in August 2021 prior to its installation at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. Measurements proved the detector kept its inner timing resolution of 20 ps despite the rather low gain of its photodetector and reduced optical throughput caused by inevitable changes in the detector geometry.

Temporomandibular disorders after orthognathic surgery in patients with mandibular prognathism with depression as a risk factor.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the prevalence of temporomandibular disorders (TMD) after orthodontic-surgical treatment in patients with mandibular prognathism and analyze psychosocial variables related to TMD. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The case-control study comprised 40 patients with mandibular prognathism who underwent combined orthodontic-surgical treatment (orthognathic surgery group). Forty-two patients with untreated mandibular prognathism served as a control group. Research diagnostic criteria for temporomandibular disorders was used in order to assess the clinical diagnosis of TMD (Axis I) and to estimate depression, somatization and patient's disability related to chronic pain (Axis II). RESULTS: The overall prevalence of TMD was not significantly different between the groups. Myofascial pain was significantly higher, while arthralgia, arthritis and arthrosis was significantly lower in the orthognathic group compared with the controls (90.5% vs 50.0%, 0.0% vs 27.8%, respectively) (p < 0.05). Females in orthognathic surgery group showed higher prevalence of TMD (p < 0.05) and myofascial pain (p < 0.01) and increased level of chronic pain (p < 0.05) in comparison with post-operative males. No significant difference in chronic pain, somatization and depression scores was found between investigated groups. With respect to presence of TMD within the groups depression was higher in untreated subjects with dysfunction (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Prevalence of TMD immediately after completion of orthodontic-surgical treatment for mandibular prognathism is similar to frequency of dysfunction in untreated subjects, is significantly higher in females and is most commonly myogenic. Furthermore, females show an increased level of chronic pain post-operatively. Somatization and depression levels do not differ between patients with corrected prognathism and untreated prognathic patients.

Determination of the Actual Stress-Strain Diagram for Undermatching Welded Joint Using DIC and FEM.

This paper presents new methodology for determining the actual stress-strain diagram based on analytical equations, in combination with numerical and experimental data. The first step was to use the 3D digital image correlation (DIC) to estimate true stress-strain diagram by replacing common analytical expression for contraction with measured values. Next step was to estimate the stress concentration by using a new methodology, based on recently introduced analytical expressions and numerical verification by the finite element method (FEM), to obtain actual stress-strain diagrams, as named in this paper. The essence of new methodology is to introduce stress concentration factor into the procedure of actual stress evaluation. New methodology is then applied to determine actual stress-strain diagrams for two undermatched welded joints with different rectangular cross-section and groove shapes, made of martensitic steels X10 CrMoVNb 9-1 and Armox 500T. Results indicated that new methodology is a general one, since it is not dependent on welded joint material and geometry.