Planning and designing an integrated management of coastal hypoxia in the Emila Romagna region water (Northern Adriatic Sea)

Abstract The design of an integrated monitoring network useful for the early-warning, the management and mitigation of both the environmental and socio-economic costs of hypoxia/anoxia events in the Northern Adriatic coastal zone, south of the mouth of the Po river, is described in the contribute. It has been developed within the EMMA research project (Environmental Management through Monitoring and Modelling of Anoxia; LIFE04ENV/IT/0479) (2004-2007). Over the past few decades, hypoxia events have recurrently affected the coastal zone of Emilia Romagna Region (Italy). Data collected by the C.Z. lying in the Province of Rimini, because of its economic importance, are presented. The area is subjected to intense anthropogenic pressure due to its high population (416 000 equivalent inhabitants) with tourist seasonal peaks of up to 973 110 equivalent inhabitants (in summer time), to industrial and agricultural activity, to maritime traffic and nutrient river discharges (about 600 tons y-1 of nitrogen and 300 tons y-1 of phosphorus, in 2002). Hypoxia and anoxia have a negative effect on the quality of bathing waters as well as on fishing and mussel farming, which are important activities for the economy of the area. The planning of the monitoring network has been carried out by analyzing the scientific knowledge on hypoxia in the local area; its integration with other existing monitoring activities, available facilities and data resources was considered in order to optimize cost effectiveness of the network

Locality hypothesis and the speed of light

The locality hypothesis is generally considered necessary for the study of the kinematics of non-inertial systems in special relativity. In this paper we discuss this hypothesis, showing the necessity of an improvement, in order to get a more clear understanding of the various concepts involved, like coordinate velocity and standard velocity of light. Concrete examples are shown, where these concepts are discussed.Comment: 23 page

The CSF in neurosarcoidosis contains consistent clonal expansion of CD8 T cells, but not CD4 T cells

The tissue-specific drivers of neurosarcoidosis remain poorly defined. To identify cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) specific, antigen-driven T and B cell responses, we performed single-cell RNA sequencing of CSF and blood cells from neurosarcoid participants coupled to T and B cell receptor sequencing. In contrast to pulmonary sarcoidosis, which is driven by CD4 T cells, we found CD8 T cell clonal expansion enriched in the neurosarcoid CSF. These CSF-enriched CD8 T cells were composed of two subsets with differential expression of EBI2, CXCR3, and CXCR4. Lastly, our data suggest that IFNγ signaling may distinguish neurosarcoidosis from other neurological disorders

KASCADE-Grande Limits on the Isotropic Diffuse Gamma-Ray Flux between 100 TeV and 1 EeV

KASCADE and KASCADE-Grande were multi-detector installations to measure individual air showers of cosmic rays at ultra-high energy. Based on data sets measured by KASCADE and KASCADE-Grande, 90% C.L. upper limits to the flux of gamma-rays in the primary cosmic ray flux are determined in an energy range of ${10}^{14} - {10}^{18}$ eV. The analysis is performed by selecting air showers with a low muon content as expected for gamma-ray-induced showers compared to air showers induced by energetic nuclei. The best upper limit of the fraction of gamma-rays to the total cosmic ray flux is obtained at $3.7 \times {10}^{15}$ eV with $1.1 \times {10}^{-5}$. Translated to an absolute gamma-ray flux this sets constraints on some fundamental astrophysical models, such as the distance of sources for at least one of the IceCube neutrino excess models.Comment: Published in The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 848, Number 1. Posted on: October 5, 201

On noise treatment in radio measurements of cosmic ray air showers

Precise measurements of the radio emission by cosmic ray air showers require an adequate treatment of noise. Unlike to usual experiments in particle physics, where noise always adds to the signal, radio noise can in principle decrease or increase the signal if it interferes by chance destructively or constructively. Consequently, noise cannot simply be subtracted from the signal, and its influence on amplitude and time measurement of radio pulses must be studied with care. First, noise has to be determined consistently with the definition of the radio signal which typically is the maximum field strength of the radio pulse. Second, the average impact of noise on radio pulse measurements at individual antennas is studied for LOPES. It is shown that a correct treatment of noise is especially important at low signal-to-noise ratios: noise can be the dominant source of uncertainty for pulse height and time measurements, and it can systematically flatten the slope of lateral distributions. The presented method can also be transfered to other experiments in radio and acoustic detection of cosmic rays and neutrinos.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figures, submitted to NIM A, Proceedings of ARENA 2010, Nantes, Franc

KCDC - The KASCADE Cosmic-ray Data Centre

KCDC, the KASCADE Cosmic-ray Data Centre, is a web portal, where data of astroparticle physics experiments will be made available for the interested public. The KASCADE experiment, financed by public money, was a large-area detector for the measurement of high-energy cosmic rays via the detection of air showers. KASCADE and its extension KASCADE-Grande stopped finally the active data acquisition of all its components including the radio EAS experiment LOPES end of 2012 after more than 20 years of data taking. In a first release, with KCDC we provide to the public the measured and reconstructed parameters of more than 160 million air showers. In addition, KCDC provides the conceptional design, how the data can be treated and processed so that they are also usable outside the community of experts in the research field. Detailed educational examples make a use also possible for high-school students and early stage researchers.Comment: 8 pages, accepted proceeding of the ECRS-symposium, Kiel, 201

The wavefront of the radio signal emitted by cosmic ray air showers

Analyzing measurements of the LOPES antenna array together with corresponding CoREAS simulations for more than 300 measured events with energy above $10^{17}\,$eV and zenith angles smaller than $45^\circ$, we find that the radio wavefront of cosmic-ray air showers is of approximately hyperbolic shape. The simulations predict a slightly steeper wavefront towards East than towards West, but this asymmetry is negligible against the measurement uncertainties of LOPES. At axis distances $\gtrsim 50\,$m, the wavefront can be approximated by a simple cone. According to the simulations, the cone angle is clearly correlated with the shower maximum. Thus, we confirm earlier predictions that arrival time measurements can be used to study the longitudinal shower development, but now using a realistic wavefront. Moreover, we show that the hyperbolic wavefront is compatible with our measurement, and we present several experimental indications that the cone angle is indeed sensitive to the shower development. Consequently, the wavefront can be used to statistically study the primary composition of ultra-high energy cosmic rays. At LOPES, the experimentally achieved precision for the shower maximum is limited by measurement uncertainties to approximately $140\,$g/cm$^2$. But the simulations indicate that under better conditions this method might yield an accuracy for the atmospheric depth of the shower maximum, $X_\mathrm{max}$, better than $30\,$g/cm$^2$. This would be competitive with the established air-fluorescence and air-Cherenkov techniques, where the radio technique offers the advantage of a significantly higher duty-cycle. Finally, the hyperbolic wavefront can be used to reconstruct the shower geometry more accurately, which potentially allows a better reconstruction of all other shower parameters, too.Comment: accepted by JCA