392 research outputs found
The EEE Project
The new experiment ``Extreme Energy Events'' (EEE) to detect extensive air
showers through muon detection is starting in Italy. The use of particle
detectors based on Multigap Resistive Plate Chambers (MRPC) will allow to
determine with a very high accuracy the direction of the axis of cosmic ray
showers initiated by primaries of ultra-high energy, together with a high
temporal resolution. The installation of many of such 'telescopes' in numerous
High Schools scattered all over the Italian territory will also allow to
investigate coincidences between multiple primaries producing distant showers.
Here we present the experimental apparatus and its tasks.Comment: 4 pages, 29th ICRC 2005, Pune, Indi
Use of microbial fuel cells for soil remediation. A preliminary study on DDE
DDE (2,2-bis (p-chlorophenyl)-1,1-dichloroetylene) is a very persistent and bioaccumulative pesticide and its residues are continuously found in the environment. Among the green remediation strategies for soil recovery, terrestrial Microbial Fuel Cells (MFC) are arousing great interest in scientific community. MFCs transform energy stored in the chemical bonds of organic compounds into electrical energy thanks to exo-electrogen microorganisms naturally occurring in soil, which catalyse oxidation and reduction reactions in the area between two graphite electrodes. This work reports preliminary data on the use of MFCs for promoting soil decontamination from DDE. Several experimental conditions (e.g. addition of compost and open/closed circuit) were applied for assessing how to improve MFC performance in favouring DDE removal. MFCs promoted a significant DDE removal (39%) after 2 months, while at the same time any pesticide decrease was observed in the batch condition. Compost addition stimulated microbial activity and improved MFC performance for a longer time
Combined effects of compost and medicago sativa in recovery a PCB contaminated soil
The effectiveness of adding compost and the plant Medicago sativa in improving the quality of a soil historically contaminated by polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) was tested in greenhouse microcosms. Plant pots, containing soil samples from an area contaminated by PCBs, were treated with the compost and the plant, separately or together. Moreover, un-treated and un-planted microcosms were used as controls. At fixed times (1, 133 and 224 days), PCBs were analysed and the structure (cell abundance, phylogenetic characterization) and functioning (cell viability, dehydrogenase activity) of the natural microbial community were also measured. The results showed the effectiveness of the compost and plant in increasing the microbial activity, cell viability, and bacteria/fungi ratio, and in decreasing the amount of higher-chlorinated PCBs. Moreover, a higher number of ff-Proteobacteria, one of the main bacterial groups involved in the degradation of PCBs, was found in the compost and plant co-presence
First CNGS events detected by LVD
The CERN Neutrino to Gran Sasso (CNGS) project aims to produce a high energy,
wide band beam at CERN and send it toward the INFN Gran Sasso
National Laboratory (LNGS), 732 km away. Its main goal is the observation of
the appearance, through neutrino flavour oscillation. The beam
started its operation in August 2006 for about 12 days: a total amount of
protons were delivered to the target. The LVD detector, installed
in hall A of the LNGS and mainly dedicated to the study of supernova neutrinos,
was fully operating during the whole CNGS running time. A total number of 569
events were detected in coincidence with the beam spill time. This is in good
agreement with the expected number of events from Montecarlo simulations.Comment: Accepted for publication by the European Physical Journal C ; 7
pages, 11 figure
On-line recognition of supernova neutrino bursts in the LVD detector
In this paper we show the capabilities of the Large Volume Detector (INFN
Gran Sasso National Laboratory) to identify a neutrino burst associated to a
supernova explosion, in the absence of an "external trigger", e.g., an optical
observation. We describe how the detector trigger and event selection have been
optimized for this purpose, and we detail the algorithm used for the on-line
burst recognition. The on-line sensitivity of the detector is defined and
discussed in terms of supernova distance and electron anti-neutrino intensity
at the source.Comment: Accepted for pubblication on Astroparticle Physics. 13 pages, 10
figure
Study of the effect of neutrino oscillation on the supernova neutrino signal with the LVD detector
We present an update of our previous study (astro-ph/0112312) on how
oscillations affect the signal from a supernova core collapse observed in the
LVD detector at LNGS. In this paper we use a recent, more precise determination
of the cross section (astro-ph/0302055) to calculate the expected number of
inverse beta decay events, we introduce in the simulation also the -{\rm
Fe} interactions, we include the Earth matter effects and, finally, we study
also the inverted mass hierarchy case.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, to appear in the Proceedings of ICRC 200
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