Evaluating vacuum phototriodes designed for the PANDA electromagnetic calorimeter

In this work properties of a vacuum phototriode (VPT) and preamplifier unit designed for the electromagnetic calorimeter of the PANDA experiment being built at FAIR are investigated. With the use of lead tungstate and lanthanium bromide scintillators the VPT properties are studied at low photon energies, from tens of key in the lanthanium bromide measurements and between 10 MeV and 60 MeV in the lead tungstate measurements. At these energies the noise of the VPT unit can be expected to influence its performance significantly. It is shown that the noise contribution to the measured energy resolution, under optimal conditions, is consistent with a fluctuation of (one standard deviation) approximately 200 electrons at the VPT anode. For a lead tungstate crystal this is equivalent to a noise of 1.2 MeV. For lanthanium bromide this makes it possible to use VPTs for gamma ray spectroscopy above a few hundreds of keV without noticeable effects on the energy resolution compared to measurements with a standard photomultiplier. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Incorporação de indicadores de sustentabilidade na priorização de áreas para restauração florestal na bacia do rio Corumbataí, SP Incorporating sustainability indicators on site selection for forest restoration in the Corumbataí river basin

Na bacia do rio Corumbataí, a vegetação natural ocupa menos de 3% de sua área total, e a ausência dessa vegetação florestal tem levado ao aumento dos processos erosivos e ao desequilíbrio do regime hídrico de seus rios, causando diversos problemas no abastecimento de água de várias cidades, como Piracicaba e Rio Claro. Desse modo, existe a necessidade de um reflorestamento criterioso em áreas dessa bacia. No entanto, devido à limitação de recursos, é necessário que sejam realizados estudos de seleção de áreas prioritárias para que, com os recursos disponíveis, o ganho ambiental das áreas restauradas seja máximo. O objetivo deste trabalho foi desenvolver um método de priorização de áreas para restauração florestal baseado no uso de indicadores de sustentabilidade em microbacias. Cinco indicadores foram utilizados: porcentagem de mata nativa na APP; descontinuidade da vegetação nativa na bacia; diversidade da paisagem; variação média do uso da terra; e suscetibilidade à erosão. A seleção das microbacias para restauração das áreas de APP foi realizada por meio da ponderação linear dos indicadores e ordenamento das microbacias. Simulação inicial foi realizada para a seleção de 1.000 ha para restauração, e os resultados indicaram que os indicadores representam diferentes aspectos de sustentabilidade das microbacias. O método foi considerado útil na seleção de microbacias em condições extremas, diferenciando aquelas que necessitam de ações de conservação daquelas que necessitam de ações de restauração.<br>In the Corumbataí river basin, State of São Paulo, forest remnants occupy less than 3% of the original total area, and the absence of this natural vegetation has been increasing erosion and disturbing hydrological regime of its streams, causing many problems on water supply in urban areas like Piracicaba and Rio Claro. This situation shows the need of a well planned reforestation in areas of this watershed. However, since the funds are limited, it is necessary a site selection study to use available fund on reforestation projects considering the maximum environmental gain. This study aims to develop a site selection method for reforestation based on sustainable indicators of catchments. Five indicators were considered: native forest proportion in the Permanent Preservation Areas (APP); native forest discontinuity in the basin; mean variation of land-use; Shannon landscape diversity index; and mean erosion susceptibility. Catchment areas were selected using linear weighting of indicators and ranking of catchments. An initial simulation was made to select the best 1.000 ha for reforestation and the results showed that the indicators were able to capture distinct aspects of catchment sustainability. The method was considered useful for selecting catchments at extreme conditions, differentiating those that need conservation actions from those that need restoration actions

Mixing Eucalyptus and Acacia trees leads to fine root over-yielding and vertical segregation between species

The consequences of diversity on belowground processes are still poorly known in tropical forests. The distributions of very fine roots (diameter < 1 mm) and fine roots (diameter < 3 mm) were studied in a randomized block design close to the harvest age of fast-growing plantations. A replacement series was set up in Brazil with mono-specific Eucalyptus grandis (100E) and Acacia mangium (100A) stands and a mixture with the same stocking density and 50 % of each species (50A:50E). The total fine root (FR) biomass down to a depth of 2 m was about 27 % higher in 50A:50E than in 100A and 100E. Fine root over-yielding in 50A:50E resulted from a 72 % rise in E. grandis fine root biomass per tree relative to 100E, whereas A. mangium FR biomass per tree was 17 % lower than in 100A. Mixing A. mangium with E. grandis trees led to a drop in A. mangium FR biomass in the upper 50 cm of soil relative to 100A, partially balanced by a rise in deep soil layers. Our results highlight similarities in the effects of directional resources on leaf and FR distributions in the mixture, with A. mangium leaves below the E. grandis canopy and a low density of A. mangium fine roots in the resource-rich soil layers relative to monospecific stands. The vertical segregation of resource-absorbing organs did not lead to niche complementarity expected to increase the total biomass production