A Long Baseline Neutrino Oscillation Experiment Using J-PARC Neutrino Beam and Hyper-Kamiokande

Document submitted to 18th J-PARC PAC meeting in May 2014. 50 pages, 41 figuresDocument submitted to 18th J-PARC PAC meeting in May 2014. 50 pages, 41 figuresDocument submitted to 18th J-PARC PAC meeting in May 2014. 50 pages, 41 figuresHyper-Kamiokande will be a next generation underground water Cherenkov detector with a total (fiducial) mass of 0.99 (0.56) million metric tons, approximately 20 (25) times larger than that of Super-Kamiokande. One of the main goals of Hyper-Kamiokande is the study of $CP$ asymmetry in the lepton sector using accelerator neutrino and anti-neutrino beams. In this document, the physics potential of a long baseline neutrino experiment using the Hyper-Kamiokande detector and a neutrino beam from the J-PARC proton synchrotron is presented. The analysis has been updated from the previous Letter of Intent [K. Abe et al., arXiv:1109.3262 [hep-ex]], based on the experience gained from the ongoing T2K experiment. With a total exposure of 7.5 MW $\times$ 10$^7$ sec integrated proton beam power (corresponding to $1.56\times10^{22}$ protons on target with a 30 GeV proton beam) to a $2.5$-degree off-axis neutrino beam produced by the J-PARC proton synchrotron, it is expected that the $CP$ phase $\delta_{CP}$ can be determined to better than 19 degrees for all possible values of $\delta_{CP}$, and $CP$ violation can be established with a statistical significance of more than $3\,\sigma$ ($5\,\sigma$) for $76$ ($58$) of the $\delta_{CP}$ parameter space

Designing Affordances for Health-Enhancing Physical Activity and Exercise in Sedentary Individuals.

Ideas in ecological dynamics have profound implications for designing environments that offer opportunities for physical activity (PA), exercise and play in sedentary individuals. They imply how exercise scientists, health professionals, planners, designers, engineers and psychologists can collaborate in co-designing environments and playscapes that facilitate PA and exercise behaviours in different population subgroups. Here, we discuss how concepts in ecological dynamics emphasise the person-environment scale of analysis, indicating how PA environments might be (re)designed into qualitative regions of functional significance (affordances) that invite health-enhancing behaviours according to individuals' capacities and skills (effectivities)

In silico assessment of biomedical products: the conundrum of rare but not so rare events in two case studies

In silico clinical trials, defined as “The use of individualized computer simulation in the development or regulatory evaluation of a medicinal product, medical device, or medical intervention,” have been proposed as a possible strategy to reduce the regulatory costs of innovation and the time to market for biomedical products. We review some of the the literature on this topic, focusing in particular on those applications where the current practice is recognized as inadequate, as for example, the detection of unexpected severe adverse events too rare to be detected in a clinical trial, but still likely enough to be of concern. We then describe with more details two case studies, two successful applications of in silico clinical trial approaches, one relative to the University of Virginia/Padova simulator that the Food and Drug Administration has accepted as possible replacement for animal testing in the preclinical assessment of artificial pancreas technologies, and the second, an investigation of the probability of cardiac lead fracture, where a Bayesian network was used to combine in vivo and in silico observations, suggesting a whole new strategy of in silico-augmented clinical trials, to be used to increase the numerosity where recruitment is impossible, or to explore patients’ phenotypes that are unlikely to appear in the trial cohort, but are still frequent enough to be of concern

Scintillator ageing of the T2K near detectors from 2010 to 2021

The T2K experiment widely uses plastic scintillator as a target for neutrino interactions and an active medium for the measurement of charged particles produced in neutrino interactions at its near detector complex. Over 10 years of operation the measured light yield recorded by the scintillator based subsystems has been observed to degrade by 0.9–2.2% per year. Extrapolation of the degradation rate through to 2040 indicates the recorded light yield should remain above the lower threshold used by the current reconstruction algorithms for all subsystems. This will allow the near detectors to continue contributing to important physics measurements during the T2K-II and Hyper-Kamiokande eras. Additionally, work to disentangle the degradation of the plastic scintillator and wavelength shifting fibres shows that the reduction in light yield can be attributed to the ageing of the plastic scintillator. The long component of the attenuation length of the wavelength shifting fibres was observed to degrade by 1.3–5.4% per year, while the short component of the attenuation length did not show any conclusive degradation

An outstanding Saharan dust event at Mt. Cimone (2165 m a.s.l., Italy) in March 2004

Dust outbreaks are very common throughout the year, with a peak frequency in spring (March, April, May) towards the Atlantic Ocean, or in late spring/summer (May, June, July) towards the Mediterranean Sea (even if winter and especially autumn events, though less frequent, are usually very intense). Every year strong winds blowing over the Sahara desert lift hundreds of millions of tons of dust high into the sky over North Africa. In 2004, from 13 to 15 March, a severe PM episode was observed at Mt. Cimone. Figure 1, showing the trend of PM10, 210Pb, number of fine and coarse particles, for the year 2005, highlights a clear increase of all these parameters during the Saharan Dust episode. In particular, PM concentration exceeded 80 μg/SCM, a value seven times greater than the mean level during the preceding and subsequent days, and the maximum PM10 concentration recorded at Mt Cimone in more than 12 years observations. This episode has been ascribed to a long lasting Saharan dust outbreak, starting at the beginning of March, and first impacting the Atlantic Ocean and then the Mediterranean area. This event originated from the Bodele depression in northern Chad, a remarkable as well as well recognized source of mineral dust, and the analysis of aerosol optical depth revealed that dustiness conditions occurred along the entire ITCZ. On 5th March 2004 images from the visible channel of the SeaWIFS satellite show a huge, dense, meridionally oriented dust plume off the northwestern African coast from west of Madeira to Cape Verde, sustained by hazy and prolonged Harmattan conditions. This plume spreads laterally, moves westward and formed an arc more than 5000 km long from Guinea to the northern tip of Morocco. The plume crossed the Atlantic Ocean and impacted onto the Caribbean region. At the end of this extraordinary episode, the sequence of two main meteorological patterns: 1) the penetration of an upper-level trough to low latitudes with a minimum centered over the North-western Algerian coast; and 2) a Sahara high extending all over the Mediterranean Sea with an elongated north-eastward tongue, mobilized dust to the south of the northern Atlas Mountains in Morocco and western Algeria. The development of a steep gradient between a trough and a Saharan high along the Western Sahara and the western Mediterranean basin is a typical condition during which dust is rapidly transported toward the central Mediterranean. The aerosol optical depth at the beginning of the second dust outbreak (on 13th March, 2004) and the average over the period 10-15 March 2004 clearly show the severe dust outbreaks across the Atlantic and the Northern part of Italy: during this event the monitoring site at Mt. Cimone has found along the main axis of the dust plume, and recorded a concentration as high as 80 μg/SCM. Detailed analysis of the event is discussed and presented

Mixing height determination by tethered balloon-based particle soundings and modeling simulations

Vertical profiles of particle number concentration, potential temperature and relative humidity were measured in the Po Valley using an optical particle counter and a portable meteorological station attached to a tethered balloon. The field campaign covered the period 2006-2008, providing an extended dataset of vertical profiles in both stable and convective boundary-layer conditions. These vertical profiles were used to estimate an experimentally retrieved mixing height (MH).The MM5 meteorological model was also used to simulate the atmospheric dispersion characteristics for the same period, using a variety of different boundary-layer and land surface parameterization schemes (Medium-Range Forecast; high-resolution Blackadar; Gayno-Seaman; and Pleim-Chang). The model simulated MHs were compared among themselves, and then with that measured from balloon soundings. MRF parameterization represented the best compromise solution to simulate increasing MHs in the Po Valley. The MM5 simulations showed the regional character of meteorological forcing on PM ground-concentrations in the Po Valley

Measurements for indoor air quality assessment at the Capodimonte Museum in Naples (Italy)

The state of works of art exhibited inside museums can be strongly influenced by indoor air quality, due to chemical activity of gaseous pollutants and particulate matter. For that reason it is important to carry out periodic air quality controls to check if the concentration levels of air pollutants comply with the limits specified by the national laws. In this work we show results obtained in a monitoring campaign carried out at the Museum of Capodimonte in Naples, one of the most important museums in Southern Italy. Results concern indoor monitoring of inorganic and organic gaseous pollutants and PM10 and PM2.5 fractions; moreover we also present the comparison between indoor and outdoor particulate matter concentration. From this analysis emerged a satisfying indoor condition with respect to gaseous pollutants, without any limit exceedance; in contrast particulate matter exhibits high concentration levels with frequent exceedances. Comparison with outdoor concentrations demonstrates the influence of dust and organic matter transported from the park surrounding the museum due to wind and visitors stamping

Short-term climatology of PM10 at a high altitude background station in Southern Europe

The paper analyzes PM10 data from Mt. Cimone observatory (44°11' N, 10°42' E) in the period 1998-2011. Mt. Cimone is the highest peak of the Italian northern Apennines (2165 m asl) which hosts a high altitude background station in Southern Europe. The dataset is discussed in the framework of the main atmospheric meteorological and territorial features, representative of the central Mediterranean free troposphere. The overall geometric mean of PM10 mass concentration in the period investigated is 6.0 μg m-3 (arithmetic mean 8.8 ± 8.0 μg m-3), with large variability at the synoptic time-scale. At Mt. Cimone station the PM10 mass load features a strong seasonal fluctuation with a winter minimum (0.1 μg m-3, average winter value: 4.1 ± 4.8 μg m-3) and a summer maximum (45.7 μg m-3, average summer value: 13.7 ± 7.2 μg m-3). Influence of surface source areas upon PM10 is discussed by comparison of simultaneous PM10 data collected at ground stations to the north and south of the Northern Apennine range in order to investigate transport connections at the regional scale. PM10 data collected from the Environmental Protection Agencies networks of Emilia Romagna and Tuscany mostly cover urban stations and a few rural and semirural stations usually at ground level. In general PM10 mass load exhibits a vertical negative gradient with altitude, with Mt. Cimone displaying the least average value. Nevertheless exceptions can be observed on an event basis, while direct comparison of concentration data is not advisable due to the remoteness of Mt. Cimone as compared even to rural or semirural stations. Analysis of PM10 time series in conjunction with fine and coarse particle number densities reveals the influence of transports from source regions such as the Northern African desert, the Po valley and the European continent including the Balkan area. Source apportionment of PM10 is achieved applying a methodology based on Hysplit back-trajectories calculation