The PERCIVAL detector: first user experiments.

The PERCIVAL detector is a CMOS imager designed for the soft X-ray regime at photon sources. Although still in its final development phase, it has recently seen its first user experiments: ptychography at a free-electron laser, holographic imaging at a storage ring and preliminary tests on X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy. The detector performed remarkably well in terms of spatial resolution achievable in the sample plane, owing to its small pixel size, large active area and very large dynamic range; but also in terms of its frame rate, which is significantly faster than traditional CCDs.

DECAL: A Reconfigurable Monolithic Active Pixel Sensor for Tracking and Calorimetry in a 180 nm Image Sensor Process.

In this paper, we describe DECAL, a prototype Monolithic Active Pixel Sensor (MAPS) device designed to demonstrate the feasibility of both digital calorimetry and reconfigurability in ASICs for particle physics. The goal of this architecture is to help reduce the development and manufacturing costs of detectors for future colliders by developing a chip that can operate both as a digital silicon calorimeter and a tracking chip. The prototype sensor consists of a matrix of 64 × 64 55 μm pixels, and provides a readout at 40 MHz of the number of particles which have struck the matrix in the preceding 25 ns.

Characterization of the Percival detector with soft X-rays.

In this paper the back-side-illuminated Percival 2-Megapixel (P2M) detector is presented, along with its characterization by means of optical and X-ray photons. For the first time, the response of the system to soft X-rays (250 eV to 1 keV) is presented. The main performance parameters of the first detector are measured, assessing the capabilities in terms of noise, dynamic range and single-photon discrimination capability.

Evaluation of a pixelated large format CMOS sensor for x-ray microbeam radiotherapy.

Purpose: Current techniques and procedures for dosimetry in microbeams typically rely on radiochromic film or small volume ionization chambers for validation and quality assurance in 2D and 1D, respectively. Whilst well characterized for clinical and preclinical radiotherapy, these methods are noninstantaneous and do not provide real time profile information. The objective of this work is to determine the suitability of the newly developed vM1212 detector, a pixelated CMOS (complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor) imaging sensor, for in situ and in vivo verification of x-ray microbeams.

Formula-feeding and hypertrophic pyloric stenosis: is there an association? A case-control study.

Background: The etiology of infantile hypertrophic pyloric stenosis (HPS) is not fully understood. The objective of this study was to determine whether formula-feeding is associated with increased incidence.

Methods: This case-control study included HPS cases and controls admitted between 1992 and 2012.

Benefits and costs of ecological restoration: Rapid assessment of changing ecosystem service values at a U.K. wetland.

Restoration of degraded land is recognized by the international community as an important way of enhancing both biodiversity and ecosystem services, but more information is needed about its costs and benefits. In Cambridgeshire, U.K.

Fast sensors for time-of-flight imaging applications.

The development of sensors capable of detecting particles and radiation with both high time and high positional resolution is key to improving our understanding in many areas of science. Example applications of such sensors range from fundamental scattering studies of chemical reaction mechanisms through to imaging mass spectrometry of surfaces, neutron scattering studies aimed at probing the structure of materials, and time-resolved fluorescence measurements to elucidate the structure and function of biomolecules. In addition to improved throughput resulting from parallelisation of data collection - imaging of multiple different fragments in velocity-map imaging studies, for example - fast image sensors also offer a number of fundamentally new capabilities in areas such as coincidence detection.

The application of the fast, multi-hit, pixel imaging mass spectrometry sensor to spatial imaging mass spectrometry.

Imaging mass spectrometry is a powerful technique that allows chemical information to be correlated to a spatial coordinate on a sample. By using stigmatic ion microscopy, in conjunction with fast cameras, multiple ion masses can be imaged within a single experimental cycle. This means that fewer laser shots and acquisition cycles are required to obtain a full data set, and samples suffer less degradation as overall collection time is reduced.

Multimass velocity-map imaging with the Pixel Imaging Mass Spectrometry (PImMS) sensor: an ultra-fast event-triggered camera for particle imaging.

We present the first multimass velocity-map imaging data acquired using a new ultrafast camera designed for time-resolved particle imaging. The PImMS (Pixel Imaging Mass Spectrometry) sensor allows particle events to be imaged with time resolution as high as 25 ns over data acquisition times of more than 100 μs. In photofragment imaging studies, this allows velocity-map images to be acquired for multiple fragment masses on each time-of-flight cycle.

The ageing entero-insular axis.

Ageing is one of the major risk factors for glucose intolerance including impaired glucose tolerance and Type II (non-insulin-dependent) diabetes mellitus. Reduced insulin secretion has been described as part of normal ageing although there is no information on age-related changes in the secretion of the major insulinotropic hormones, glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) and glucagon-like peptide (7-36 amide) (GLP-1). We assessed the entero-insular axis in 6 young premenopausal and 6 older postmenopausal women following treatment with oral carbohydrate.