CLIC Muon Sweeper Design

There are several background sources which may affect the analysis of data and detector performans at the CLIC project. One of the important background source is halo muons, which are generated along the beam delivery system (BDS), for the detector performance. In order to reduce muon background, magnetized muon sweepers have been used as a shielding material that is already described in a previous study for CLIC [1]. The realistic muon sweeper has been designed with OPERA. The design parameters of muon sweeper have also been used to estimate muon background reduction with BDSIM Monte Carlo simulation code [2, 3].Comment: Talk presented at the International Workshop on Future Linear Colliders (LCWS15), Whistler, Canada, 2-6 November 2015, 7 pages, 6 figure

Experimental Determination of the Characteristics of a Positron Source Using Channeling

Numerical simulations and `proof of principle' experiments showed clearly the interest of using crystals as photon generators dedicated to intense positron sources for linear colliders. An experimental investigation, using a 10 GeV secondary electron beam, of the SPS-CERN, impinging on an axially oriented thick tungsten crystal, has been prepared and operated between May and August 2000. After a short recall on the main features of positron sources using channeling in oriented crystals, the experimental set-up is described. A particular emphasis is put on the positron detector made of a drift chamber, partially immersed in a magnetic field. The enhancement in photon and positron production in the aligned crystal have been observed in the energy range 5 to 40 GeV, for the incident electrons, in crystals of 4 and 8 mm as in an hybrid target. The first results concerning this experiment are presented hereafter.Comment: 3 pages, 6 figures, submitted to Linac200

Successful new product development by optimizing development process effectiveness in highly regulated sectors: the case of the Spanish medical devices sector

Rapid development and commercialization of new products is of vital importance for small and medium sized enterprises (SME) in regulated sectors. Due to strict regulations, competitive advantage can hardly be achieved through the effectiveness of product concepts only. If an SME in a highly regulated sector wants to excell in new product development (NPD) performance, the company should focus on the flexibility, speed, and productivity of its NPD function: i.e. the development process effectiveness. Our main research goals are first to explore if SMEs should focus on their their development process effectiveness rather than on their product concept effectiveness to achieve high NPD performance; and second, to explore whether a shared pattern in the organization of the NPD function can be recognized to affect NPD performance positively. The medical devices sector in Spain is used as an example of a\ud highly regulated sector. A structured survey among 11 SMEs, of which 2 were studied also as in in-depth case studies, led to the following results. First of all, indeed the companies in the dataset which focused on the effectiveness of their development process, stood out in NPD performance. Further, the higher performing companies did have a number of commonalities in the organisation of their NPD function: 1) The majority of the higher performing firms had an NPD strategy characterized by a predominantly incremental project portfolio.\ud 2) a) Successful firms with an incremental project portfolio combined this with a functional team structure b) Successful firms with a radical project portfolio combined this with a heavyweight or autonomous team structure.\ud 3) A negative reciprocal relationship exists between formalization of the NPD processes and the climate of the NPD function, in that a formalized NPD process and an innovative climate do not seem to reinforce each other. Innovative climate combined with an informal NPD process does however contribute positively to NPD performance. This effect was stronger in combination with a radical project portfolio. The highest NPD performance was measured for companies focusing mainly on incremental innovation. It is argued that in highly regulated sectors, companies with an incremental product portfolio would benefit from employing a functional structure. Those companies who choose for a more radical project portfolio in highly regulated sectors should be aware\ud that they are likely to excell only in the longer term by focusing on strategic flexibility. In their NPD organization, they might be well advised to combine informal innovation processes with an innovative climate

Record deflection efficiencies measured for high energy protons in a bent germanium crystal

New experimental results on the deflection of high energy protons in a bent germanium crystal are presented. At 450 GeV/c, the 50 mm long crystal gave record deflection efficiencies up to 60% for small angles (1 mrad), while at angles as large as 12 mrad, the efficiency is about 25 times larger than for a silicon crystal of the same size. The experimental results are in good agreement with a model for channeling and deflection developed by Ellison and give - together with a similar comparison for a 200 GeV/c beam - confidence in extrapolations to higher energies (e.g. to LHC), other crystal materials or different deflection angles

First observation of the deflection of a 33 TeV Pb ion beam in a bent silicon crystal

For the first time, the deflection of an ultra-relativistic, fully stripped Pb82+ ion beam in a bent silicon crystal has been observed. The ions were provided by the CERN-SPS in the H4 beam at a momentum of 400 GeV/c per unit of charge. A 60 mm long silicon crystal, bent over 50 mm to give a 4 mrad deflection angle, was used in this experiment. The measured Pb ion deflection efficiency is comparable to the one obtained with protons at an equivalent ratio of momentum per charge, and is found to be about 15\% for a beam with a divergence of 35 microradians (FWHM). The interaction rate observed in a background counter is found to drop when the crystal is well aligned with the beam. This corroborates further the channeling model, which predicts that channeled ions are steered away from regions of high electron densities as well as the nuclei in the crystal

A facility for the test of large area muon chambers at high rates

Operation of large area muon detectors at the future Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will be characterized by large sustained hit rates over the whole area, reaching the range of kHz/\scm. We describe a dedicated test zone built at CERN to test the performance and the aging of the muon chambers currently under development. A radioactive source delivers photons causing the sustained rate of random hits, while a narrow beam of high energy muons is used to directly calibrate the detector performance. A system of remotely controlled lead filters serves to vary the rate of photons over four orders of magnitude, to allow the study of performance as a function of rate

Enriching strategic variety in new ventures through external knowledge

To build profitable market positions, new ventures have to address multiple challenges on several fronts. These ventures can compete by being simple (focused) or applying varied ways to compete. The likelihood of these ventures remaining competitive depends on their ability to build novelty into their products and operations, an activity that requires infusing knowledge into their operations. Most ventures, however, have limited knowledge bases and the reach (scope) of their external connections is limited, a factor that prompts them to tap into different external sources in their local areas. This article reports an empirical study of 140 new ventures located in seven regional clusters in Spain. The results show that new ventures can enrich the variety of their strategic repertoire by accessing diverse sources of external knowledge and being exposed to external novel knowledge, while absorptive capacity moderates this relationship. The degree of social development of these clusters also has a positive impact on the strategic variety of new ventures, exhibiting an inverted U-shape curve

Measurement of the branching ratio of the decay Ξ0→Σ+μ−νˉμ\Xi^{0}\rightarrow \Sigma^{+} \mu^{-} \bar{\nu}_{\mu}

From the 2002 data taking with a neutral kaon beam extracted from the CERN-SPS, the NA48/1 experiment observed 97 $\Xi^{0}\rightarrow \Sigma^{+} \mu^{-} \bar{\nu}_{\mu}$ candidates with a background contamination of $30.8 \pm 4.2$ events. From this sample, the BR($\Xi^{0}\rightarrow \Sigma^{+} \mu^{-} \bar{\nu}_{\mu}$) is measured to be $(2.17 \pm 0.32_{\mathrm{stat}}\pm 0.17_{\mathrm{syst}})\times10^{-6}$

Recent NA48/2 and NA62 results

The NA48/2 Collaboration at CERN has accumulated and analysed unprecedented statistics of rare kaon decays in the $K_{e4}$ modes: $K_{e4}(+-)$ ($K^\pm \to \pi^+ \pi^- e^\pm \nu$) and $K_{e4}(00)$ ($K^\pm \to \pi^0 \pi^0 e^\pm \nu$) with nearly one percent background contamination. It leads to the improved measurement of branching fractions and detailed form factor studies. New final results from the analysis of 381 $K^\pm \to \pi^\pm \gamma \gamma$ rare decay candidates collected by the NA48/2 and NA62 experiments at CERN are presented. The results include a decay rate measurement and fits to Chiral Perturbation Theory (ChPT) description.Comment: Prepared for the Proceedings of "Moriond QCD and High Energy Interactions. March 22-29 2014." conferenc

Prospects for K+→π+ννˉK^+ \to \pi^+ \nu \bar{ \nu } at CERN in NA62

The NA62 experiment will begin taking data in 2015. Its primary purpose is a 10% measurement of the branching ratio of the ultrarare kaon decay $K^+ \to \pi^+ \nu \bar{ \nu }$, using the decay in flight of kaons in an unseparated beam with momentum 75 GeV/c.The detector and analysis technique are described here.Comment: 8 pages for proceedings of 50 Years of CP