Progress in the development of a S RETGEM-based detector for an early forest fire warning system

In this paper we present a prototype of a Strip Resistive Thick GEM photosensitive gaseous detector filled with Ne and ethylferrocene vapours at a total pressure of 1 atm for an early forest fire detection system. Tests show that it is one hundred times more sensitive than the best commercial ultraviolet flame detectors and therefore, it is able to reliably detect a flame of 1.5x1.5x1.5 m3 at a distance of about 1km. An additional and unique feature of this detector is its imaging capability, which in combination with other techniques, may significantly reduce false fire alarms when operating in an automatic mode. Preliminary results conducted with air filled photosensitive gaseous detectors are also presented. The approach main advantages include both the simplicity of manufacturing and affordability of construction materials such as plastics and glues specifically reducing detector production cost. The sensitivity of these air filled detectors at certain conditions may be as high as those filled with Ne and EF. Long term test results of such sealed detectors indicate a significant progress in this direction. We believe that our detectors utilized in addition to other flame and smoke sensors will exceptionally increase the sensitivity of forest fire detection systems. Our future efforts will be focused on attempts to commercialize such detectors utilizing our aforementioned findings.Comment: Presented at the International Conference on Micropattern gaseous detectors, Crete, Greece, June 200

The current progress of the ALICE Ring Imaging Cherenkov Detector

Recently, the last two modules (out of seven) of the ALICE High Momentum Particle Identification detector (HMPID) were assembled and tested. The full detector, after a pre-commissioning phase, has been installed in the experimental area, inside the ALICE solenoid, at the end of September 2006. In this paper we review the status of the ALICE/HMPID project and we present a summary of the series production of the CsI photo-cathodes. We describe the key features of the production procedure which ensures high quality photo-cathodes as well as the results of the quality assessment performed by means of a specially developed 2D scanner system able to produce a detailed map of the CsI photo-current over the entire photo-cathode surface. Finally we present our recent R&D efforts toward the development of a novel generation of imaging Cherenkov detectors with the aim to identify, in heavy ions collisions, hadrons up to 30 GeV/c.Comment: Presented at the Imaging-2006 Conference, Stockholm, Sweden, June 200

Le parole della crisi, le politiche dopo la pandemia. Guida non emergenziale al post-Covid-19

Lo scorso 11 marzo, l'Organizzazione Mondiale della Sanità ha dichiarato il Covid-19 una pandemia. Molti paesi hanno conseguentemente adottato o inasprito le misure di contenimento della mobilità e la sospensione delle attività produttive. Inevitabilmente, la crisi ha coinvolto la sfera economica, quella sociale, il mondo culturale e l'ambito politico-istituzionale, in alcuni casi esacerbando tendenze che erano presenti in nuce nella trama delle relazioni intersoggettive, altre volte lacerando le aspettative, i valori e le percezioni sui quali ciascuno di noi, e la comunità nel suo complesso, definisce e articola la propria esistenza. Il CEST - Centro per l'Eccellenza e gli Studi Transdisciplinari, come associazione di studenti, dottorandi e giovani ricercatori, con diversi background, propone un volume che analizza, in chiave transdisciplinare, la pluralità dei possibili effetti dell'emergenza in corso e indica alcune linee direttrici per immaginare la sua gestione nei prossimi mesi, mediante un approccio specifico e originale: il libro è infatti il frutto della collaborazione tra giovani studiose e studiosi e figure autorevoli del dibattito culturale italiano e internazionale

Aging of large area CsI photocathodes for the ALICE HMPID prototypes

The ALICE HMPID RICH detector is equipped with CsI photocathodes in a MWPC for the detection of Cherenkov photons. The long term operational experience with large area CsI photocathodes will be described. The RICH prototypes have shown a very high stability of operation and performance, at a gain of 10 \5 and with rates up to 2x10 \4 cm-2 s-1. When exposure to air has been avoided, no degradation of the CsI quantum efficiency has been observed on photocathodes periodically exposed to test-beams over 7 years, corresponding to local integrated charge densities of ~ 1 mC cm-2. The results of limited exposures to oxygen and humidity will also be presented

Study of the Quantum Efficiency of CsI Photocathodes Exposed to Oxygen and Water Vapour

The operation of CsI photocathodes in gaseous detectors requires special attention to the purity of the applied gas mixtures.We have studied the influence of oxygen and water vapour contaminations on the performance of CsI photocathodes for theALICE HMPID RICH prototype. Measurements were done through comparison of Cherenkov rings obtained from beamtests. Increased levels of oxygen and water vapour did not show any effect on the performance. The results of this studyfound a direct application in the way of storing CsI photocathodes over long periods nad in particular in the shipment of theHMPID prototype from CERN to the STAR experiment at BNL. (Abstract only available,full text to follow