Search for Free Decay of Negative Pions in Water and Light Materials

We report on a search for the free decay component of pi- stopped in water and light materials. A non-zero value of this would be an indication of anomalous nu_e contamination to the nu_e and nu_mu_bar production at stopped-pion neutrino facilities. No free decay component of pi- was observed in water, Beryllium, and Aluminum, for which upper limits were established at 8.2E-4, 3.2E-3, and 7.7E-3, respectively

Metabolic Transformations in the Area of Municipal Solid Waste Management in Russian Megalopolises: The City of Moscow Case

Received 15 June 2022. Accepted 23 December 2022. Published online 30 December 2022.Based on secondary data analysis and semi-structured expert interviews (n = 90), the study analyses metabolic transformations in the area of municipal solid waste (MSW) management in Russian megalopolises using the city of Moscow as a case study. The findings suggest that the key node that triggered numerous interdependent processes involved the changes introduced in the legislation on MSW management and the decision to shut down several large MSW landfills without the simultaneous implementation of other landfills. These actions affected the health of the population and contributed to environmental inequality. The authors provide recommendations for the mitigation of risks associated with MSW generation, recycling, and storage in large Russian cities.The research was supported by the Russian Science Foundation under Grant No. 22-28-00392 “Waste production and disposal in the megalopolises of Russia: multisectoral and interdisciplinary analysis”

Studies of Genetic Diversity of Yersinia pestis Strains Isolated in Central-Caucasian High-Mountain Natural Plague Focus

Studied have been Yersinia pestis strains isolated in Central-Caucasian high-mountain natural plague focus within the period of 1971–2012 using MLVA typing on 25 VNTR-loci. Analysis of dendrogram cluster association with certain areas, objects, and periods of the strain isolation has been carried out by means of Arc GIS 10.1 software. Established has been the connection between 25 MLVA Y. pestis types and spatial and temporal characteristics of strains isolation in the Central-Caucasian high-mountain natural plague focus, and proline requirement too. Clusters, groups and subgroups of the strains are confined to particular territories as it follows: groups are attributed to landscape-epizootiological regions, subgroups – to mountain souslik settlements. Occasionally groups of the strains disseminate onto the other landscape-epizootiological regions of the focus. Genetic variations of plague agent strains within the limits of mountain souslik settlements evolve over time which can be viewed as indirect evidence of microevolution mechanism effect

White paper: CeLAND - Investigation of the reactor antineutrino anomaly with an intense 144Ce-144Pr antineutrino source in KamLAND

We propose to test for short baseline neutrino oscillations, implied by the recent reevaluation of the reactor antineutrino flux and by anomalous results from the gallium solar neutrino detectors. The test will consist of producing a 75 kCi 144Ce - 144Pr antineutrino source to be deployed in the Kamioka Liquid Scintillator Anti-Neutrino Detector (KamLAND). KamLAND's 13m diameter target volume provides a suitable environment to measure energy and position dependence of the detected neutrino flux. A characteristic oscillation pattern would be visible for a baseline of about 10 m or less, providing a very clean signal of neutrino disappearance into a yet-unknown, "sterile" state. Such a measurement will be free of any reactor-related uncertainties. After 1.5 years of data taking the Reactor Antineutrino Anomaly parameter space will be tested at > 95% C.L.Comment: White paper prepared for Snowmass-2013; slightly different author lis