The OPERA experiment

The OPERA experiment was designed to study oscillations in appearance mode using the CERN to Gran Sasso high energy neutrino beam. From 2008 to 2012, 19505 CNGS neutrino interactions were recorded in the OPERA detector. At the present status of the analysis, 4 candidate events have been observed, establishing the oscillation mechanism in the atmospheric sector with a significance of 4.2 σ. The oscillation analysis will be presented in detail and the candidate events will be described. The final measurement of the atmospheric muon charge ratio in the TeV region will be also reported

Lacunarity, lexicography and beyond: integration of the introduction of a linguo-cultural concept and the development of L2 learners’ dictionary skills

The paper discusses the integration of presenting theoretical linguocultural knowledge and developing dictionary skills in advanced students of a foreign language. The proposed approach allows showing students the interdisciplinary character of various issues, one of which is cross-linguistic lacunarity. It is given as an example of a phenomenon, whose introduction can be combined with the development of students’ dictionary use abilities. Lacunarity consists in the lack of some source language elements in the target language. Two main kinds of lacunae are distinguished: linguistic and referential ones. The focal issue of the paper is how the information on the lacunary character of words can be presented to advanced students of English as a foreign language, in this paper Polish learners, so that they could consider the phenomenon in terms of bilingual lexicography: first, becoming aware of the specifics of their description; second, practising their dictionary skills by analysing entries for selected lacunary lexical and phraseological units; third, combining the information and skills in doing creative tasks, related to lacunarity and its bilingual lexicographic descriptions. Furthermore, additional activities are proposed for revising the acquired knowledge on lacunarity and advancing dictionary use. Offering students tasks, which require them to adopt a different perspective, aims to increase their involvement in the learning process and to foster their autonomy as learners. Encouraging learners to reflect on lacunae and their lexicographic description is expected to familiarize them with the phenomenon and simultaneously to develop their dictionary skills by doing especially designed [email protected] University of Bialystok101-11

Directional Observation of Cold Dark Matter Particles (WIMP) in Light Target Experiments

For the last 10 years, the search for dark matter (DM) was carried out taking into account the fact that the DM particles are WIMPs (Weakly Interacted Massive Particles) which were introduced in supersymmetric extensions of the Standard Model. Many experiments such as XENON1T, DarkSide, CRESST, etc. set the constraints on the WIMP-nucleon elastic interaction cross sections for different assumed WIMP masses. Methods for detecting WIMPs could play a special role, allowing one to determine the directions of the tracks of recoil nuclei and, therefore, to determine the preferred direction of the WIMP flux. In this work, we analyze the capabilities of such direct detection experiments through analyzing the lengths and directions of the tracks of recoil nuclei. Taking into account the existing experimental constraints, we conclude that the optimal target would be a lower density target containing nuclei of the CNO group, for example, liquid propane

Morphological Analysis of Poly(4,4′-oxydiphenylene-pyromellitimide)-Based Organic Solvent Nanofiltration Membranes Formed by the Solution Method

Poly-(4,4′-oxydiphenylene) pyromellitimide or Kapton is the most widely available polyimide with high chemical and thermal stability. It has great prospects for use as a membrane material for filtering organic media due to its complete insolubility. However, the formation of membranes based on it, at the moment, is an unsolved problem. The study corresponds to the rediscovery of poly(4,4′-oxydiphenylene–pyromellitimide)-based soluble copoly(urethane-imides) as membrane polymers of a new generation. It is shown that the physical structure of PUI films prepared by the solution method becomes porous after the removal of urethane blocks from the polymer, and the pore size varies depending on the conditions of thermolysis and subsequent hydrolysis of the membrane polymer. The film annealed at 170 °C with a low destruction degree of polycaprolactam blocks exhibits the properties of a nanofiltration membrane. It is stable in the aprotic solvent DMF and has a Remasol Brilliant Blue R retention coefficient of 95%. After the hydrolysis of thermally treated films in acidic media, ultrafiltration size 66–82 nm pores appear, which leads to an increase in the permeate flow by more than two orders of magnitude. This circumstance provides opportunities for controlling the membrane polymer structure for further optimization of the performance characteristics of filtration membranes based on it. Thus, we proposed a new preparation method of ultra- and nanofiltration membranes based on poly(4,4′-oxydiphenylene–pyromellitimide) that are stable in aprotic solvents