433 research outputs found
Novel Approach to Rainfall Rate Estimation based on Fusing Measurements from Terrestrial Microwave and Satellite Links
Reliable, cheap and accurate measurements of rainfall rate are growing to be more and more important in many sectors as: meteorology, agriculture, flood warning, and weather forecasting. Recently, indeed, the development of novel competitive techniques has been pushed in order to improve accuracy and reliability performance, such as commercial microwave links and broadcast satellite links. The aim of the current paper is to extend previous works of the literature based on land wireless links only. The basic idea consists in synergically employing both land and satellite based approaches together, by collecting and properly fusing the corresponding measurements. To this end, an iterative optimization procedure has been developed. As shown by numerical results, the proposed procedure gives the estimated rainfall map with a considerable accuracy and improved performance respect to the conventional algorithm based on terrestrial link only
Impact of local energy markets integration in power systems layer: A comprehensive review
In recent years extensive research has been conducted on the development of different models that enable energy trading between prosumers and consumers due to expected high integration of distributed energy resources. Some of the most researched mechanisms include Peer-to-Peer energy trading, Community Self-Consumption and Transactive Energy Models. To ensure the stable and reliable delivery of electricity as such markets and models grow, this paper aims to understand the impact of these models on grid infrastructure, including impacts on the control, operation, and planning of power systems, interaction between multiple market models and impact on transmission network. Here, we present a comprehensive review of existing research on impact of Local Energy Market integration in power systems layer. We detect and classify most common issues and benefits that the power grid can expect from integrating these models. We also present a detailed overview of methods that are used to integrate physical network constraints into the market mechanisms, their advantages, drawbacks, and scaling potential. In addition, we present different methods to calculate and allocate network tariffs and power losses. We find that financial energy transactions do not directly reflect the physical energy flows imposed by the constraints of the installed electrical infrastructure. In the end, we identify a number of different challenges and detect research gaps that need to be addressed in order to integrate Local Energy Market models into existing infrastructure
New MACRO results on atmospheric neutrino oscillations
The final results of the MACRO experiment on atmospheric neutrino
oscillations are presented and discussed. The data concern different event
topologies with average neutrino energies of ~3 and ~50 GeV. Multiple Coulomb
Scattering of the high energy muons in absorbers was used to estimate the
neutrino energy of each event. The angular distributions, the L/E_nu
distribution, the particle ratios and the absolute fluxes all favour nu_mu -->
nu_tau oscillations with maximal mixing and Delta m^2 =0.0023 eV^2. A
discussion is made on the Monte Carlos used for the atmospheric neutrino flux.
Some results on neutrino astrophysics are also briefly discussed.Comment: Invited Paper at the NANP03 Int. Conf., Dubna, 200
The Borexino detector at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso
Borexino, a large volume detector for low energy neutrino spectroscopy, is
currently running underground at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso,
Italy. The main goal of the experiment is the real-time measurement of sub MeV
solar neutrinos, and particularly of the mono energetic (862 keV) Be7 electron
capture neutrinos, via neutrino-electron scattering in an ultra-pure liquid
scintillator. This paper is mostly devoted to the description of the detector
structure, the photomultipliers, the electronics, and the trigger and
calibration systems. The real performance of the detector, which always meets,
and sometimes exceeds, design expectations, is also shown. Some important
aspects of the Borexino project, i.e. the fluid handling plants, the
purification techniques and the filling procedures, are not covered in this
paper and are, or will be, published elsewhere (see Introduction and
Bibliography).Comment: 37 pages, 43 figures, to be submitted to NI
Results from the first use of low radioactivity argon in a dark matter search
Liquid argon is a bright scintillator with potent particle identification
properties, making it an attractive target for direct-detection dark matter
searches. The DarkSide-50 dark matter search here reports the first WIMP search
results obtained using a target of low-radioactivity argon. DarkSide-50 is a
dark matter detector, using two-phase liquid argon time projection chamber,
located at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso. The underground argon is
shown to contain Ar-39 at a level reduced by a factor (1.4 +- 0.2) x 10^3
relative to atmospheric argon. We report a background-free null result from
(2616 +- 43) kg d of data, accumulated over 70.9 live-days. When combined with
our previous search using an atmospheric argon, the 90 % C.L. upper limit on
the WIMP-nucleon spin-independent cross section based on zero events found in
the WIMP search regions, is 2.0 x 10^-44 cm^2 (8.6 x 10^-44 cm^2, 8.0 x 10^-43
cm^2) for a WIMP mass of 100 GeV/c^2 (1 TeV/c^2 , 10 TeV/c^2).Comment: Accepted by Phys. Rev.
The TESS Triple-9 Catalog II: a new set of 999 uniformly-vetted exoplanet candidates
The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission is providing the
scientific community with millions of light curves of stars spread across the
whole sky. Since 2018 the telescope has detected thousands of planet candidates
that need to be meticulously scrutinized before being considered amenable
targets for follow-up programs. We present the second catalog of the Plant
Patrol citizen science project containing 999 uniformly-vetted exoplanet
candidates within the TESS ExoFOP archive. The catalog was produced by fully
exploiting the power of the Citizen Science Planet Patrol project. We vetted
TESS Objects of Interest (TOIs) based on the results of Discovery And Vetting
of Exoplanets DAVE pipeline. We also implemented the Automatic Disposition
Generator, a custom procedure aimed at generating the final classification for
each TOI that was vetted by at least three vetters. The majority of the
candidates in our catalog, TOIs, passed the vetting process and were
labelled as planet candidates. We ruled out candidates as false positives
and flagged as potential false positives. Our final dispositions and
comments for all the planet candidates are provided as a publicly available
supplementary table.Comment: 17 pages, 11 figures, 5 tables. Accepted for publication on MNRA
JUNO Conceptual Design Report
The Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO) is proposed to determine
the neutrino mass hierarchy using an underground liquid scintillator detector.
It is located 53 km away from both Yangjiang and Taishan Nuclear Power Plants
in Guangdong, China. The experimental hall, spanning more than 50 meters, is
under a granite mountain of over 700 m overburden. Within six years of running,
the detection of reactor antineutrinos can resolve the neutrino mass hierarchy
at a confidence level of 3-4, and determine neutrino oscillation
parameters , , and to
an accuracy of better than 1%. The JUNO detector can be also used to study
terrestrial and extra-terrestrial neutrinos and new physics beyond the Standard
Model. The central detector contains 20,000 tons liquid scintillator with an
acrylic sphere of 35 m in diameter. 17,000 508-mm diameter PMTs with high
quantum efficiency provide 75% optical coverage. The current choice of
the liquid scintillator is: linear alkyl benzene (LAB) as the solvent, plus PPO
as the scintillation fluor and a wavelength-shifter (Bis-MSB). The number of
detected photoelectrons per MeV is larger than 1,100 and the energy resolution
is expected to be 3% at 1 MeV. The calibration system is designed to deploy
multiple sources to cover the entire energy range of reactor antineutrinos, and
to achieve a full-volume position coverage inside the detector. The veto system
is used for muon detection, muon induced background study and reduction. It
consists of a Water Cherenkov detector and a Top Tracker system. The readout
system, the detector control system and the offline system insure efficient and
stable data acquisition and processing.Comment: 328 pages, 211 figure
Rn contamination mechanisms on acrylic surfaces
In this work, the Rn contamination mechanisms on acrylic surfaces
have been investigated. Rn can represent a significant background
source for low-background experiments, and acrylic is a suitable material for
detector design thanks to its purity and transparency. Four acrylic samples
have been exposed to a Rn rich environment for different time periods,
being contaminated by Rn and its progenies. Subsequently, the time
evolution of radiocontaminants activity on the samples has been evaluated with
and measurements, highlighting the role of different decay
modes in the contamination process. A detailed analysis of the alpha spectra
allowed to quantify the implantation depth of the contaminants. Moreover, a
study of both and measurements pointed out the Rn
diffusion inside the samples
The Italian National Register of infants with congenital hypothyroidism: twenty years of surveillance and study of congenital hypothyroidism
All the Italian Centres in charge of screening, diagnosis, and follow-up of infants with congenital hypothyroidism participate in the Italian National Registry of affected infants, which performs the nationwide surveillance of the disease. It was established in 1987 as a program of the Health Ministry and is coordinated by the Istituto Superiore di Sanità. The early diagnosis performed by the nationwide newborn screening programme, the prompt treatment and the appropriate clinical management of the patients carried out by the Follow-up Centres, and the surveillance of the disease performed by the National Register of infants with congenital hypothyroidism are the components of an integrated approach to the disease which has been successfully established in our country
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