Measurement of the atmospheric neutrino induced muon flux at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory

This work presents a measurement of the neutrino induced through-going muon flux in a 337.25 day exposure at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory. Due to the 6km w.e. depth and the flat overburden of the SNO detector, cosmic muons range out at a zenith angle near &thetas;z = 66°. A total of 149 neutrino induced through-going muon candidate events were observed in the range −1 \u3c cos &thetas;z \u3c 0.4, corresponding to a muon flux of 2.54 ± 0.21(stat) ± 0.08(syst) × 10−13,μ/(cm2 s sr). A maximum likelihood parameter estimation is used to extract the best fit neutrino flux and two-flavor neutrino oscillation parameter Δm 2. The data are found to be most consistent with a flux of 1.2 times that predicted by the Bartol group, with Δm2 ≈ 3 x× 10−3eV2. Due to the limited statistics of this data set it is not possible to rule out the no-oscillation hypothesis. The depth to vertical intensity relationship for cosmic muons at the SNO site is studied, and is found to be consistent with the results of past experiments. The expected seasonal variation of the cosmic muon flux is observed over a period of almost four years. A sinu soidal fit to this annual variation is found to have an amplitude of 2.4 ± 0.6%. A study of neutron events that occur within 200ms after the passage of muons through the SNO D 2O is performed in two phases of the SNO experiment. It is found that for muons with energy loss below 400MeV/m the production of neutrons increases linearly with muon radiative energy loss

The Value of Citizen Participation in Technology Assessment, Responsible Research and Innovation, and Sustainable Development

The participation of citizens in scientific research has a long tradition, and in some disciplines, especially medical research, it is even common practice. In Technology Assessment (TA), Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI), and Sustainable Development (SD), the participation of citizens can be of considerable value. In this paper, we explore this value for three concepts, based on the researcher’s insights from three participatory research projects. The first project is the citizen science project TeQfor1, which was conducted with, for, and on the type 1 diabetes community, who do not feel adequately supported by the conventional health care system. In the second project, citizens with vision impairments participated in the technological development of an audio-tactile navigation tool in the TERRAIN project. The third project (Nachtlichter) dealt with light pollution. Based on the three projects presented, we show that citizen participation makes specific contributions to TA, RRI, and SD. We also investigate the specificity of citizen engagement and motivation by differentiating between existing and emerging involvement. In conclusion, we discuss the benefits that may be added by participatory approaches for the three concepts of TA, RRI, and SD

Skyglow relieves a crepuscular bird from visual constraints on being active

Artificial light at night significantly alters the predictability of the natural light cycles that most animals use as an essential Zeitgeber for daily activity. Direct light has well-documented local impacts on activity patterns of diurnal and nocturnal organisms. However, artificial light at night also contributes to an indirect illumination of the night sky, called skyglow, which is rapidly increasing. The consequences of this wide-spread form of artificial night light on the behaviour of animals remain poorly understood, with only a few studies performed under controlled (laboratory) conditions. Using animal-borne activity loggers, we investigated daily and seasonal flight activity of a free-living crepuscular bird species in response to nocturnal light conditions at sites differing dramatically in exposure to skyglow. We find that flight activity of European Nightjars (Caprimulgus europaeus) during moonless periods of the night is four times higher in Belgium (high skyglow exposure) than in sub-tropical Africa and two times higher than in Mongolia (near-pristine skies). Moreover, clouds darken the sky under natural conditions, but skyglow can strongly increase local sky brightness on overcast nights. As a result, we find that nightjars' response to cloud cover is reversed between Belgium and sub-tropical Africa and between Belgium and Mongolia. This supports the hypothesis that cloudy nights reduce individual flight activity in a pristine environment, but increase it when the sky is artificially lit. Our study shows that in the absence of direct light pollution, anthropogenic changes in sky brightness relieve nightjars from visual constraints on being active. Individuals adapt daily activities to artificial night-sky brightness, allowing them more time to fly than conspecifics living under natural light cycles. This modification of the nocturnal timescape likely affects behavioural processes of most crepuscular and nocturnal species, but its implications for population dynamics and interspecific interactions remain to be investigated.</p

Correction: Citizen Science Terminology Matters: Exploring Key Terms

This article details a correction to the article: Eitzel, M.V. et al., (2017). Citizen Science Terminology Matters: Exploring Key Terms. Citizen Science: Theory and Practice. 2(1), p.1. DOI: http://doi.org/10.5334/cstp.9