On the use of the South-American neutron monitors

Cosmic ray scientific community deserves special attention to the Chacaltaya site for its over 5 km altitude. In this site, a neutron monitor of the IGY type operated from 1960 to 1969, and the one of the NM-64 type since 1966 (16.31◦ S, 291.85◦E, height: about 5200 m a.s.l.). We discuss the relevance of such kind of detector when it is integrated with the other South-American neutron monitors: a) LARC (62.20◦S, 301.04◦E, height: 40 m a.s.l., King George Island, Antarctica; operating since 1991); b) LOS CERRILLOS (33.45◦S, 289.40◦E, height: 570 m a.s.l., Santiago, Chile; to be installed in the near future); c) HUANCAYO (12.03◦S, 284.67◦E, height: 3400 m a.s.l., Huancayo, Peru; hoping to recover its acquired data)

Italia/Chile Collaboration for LARC

An Antarctic Laboratory for Cosmic Rays (LARC) has been opened on the King George Island (Fildes Bay - Ardley Cove) during January 1991. The cosmicray detector is a standard 6-NM-64 type. The present status of the LARC project and relevant scientific goals for Solar-Terrestrial Physics are briefly outlined

Metallic Nanoparticles Generation by Repetitive Pulsed Laser for Applications in Bio-Medicine

A Nd:YAG pulsed laser operating at the 1064 nm wavelength, the 3 ns pulse duration, the 1010 W/cm2 intensity and the 10 Hz repetition rate is employed to irradiate biocompatible metallic targets based on Au, Bi and Ag placed in water. The laser-matter interaction produces nanometric spherical particles. The concentration of the solution with nanoparticles is controllable by the laser parameters, the ablative emission process, the irradiation time and the water’s volume. Generally, nanoparticles of about 10 nm in size and concentrations of the order (0.1 ÷ 10) mg/ml are prepared to be injected in cell cultures or in living systems (mice). The nanoparticles introduction in the extra and intra cellular liquids improves the bio-imaging of the tissue and organs by using fluorescence techniques. Moreover, if these nanoparticles are concentrated in tumour cells, they make possible high efficiency radio-therapy and thermal-therapy treatments, as it will be presented and discussed

Cosmic-ray transparency for a medium-latitude observatory

The access of cosmic-ray particles to a medium-latitude observatory is analysed fromresults coming fromthe numerical solution of the charged-particle motion in the geomagnetic field. Evaluations are performed mainly for the Lomnick´yˇSt´ıt neutron monitor location (LS: 2634 m a.s.l., geographic coordinates 49.20◦ N, 20.22◦ E), but some results for the Antarctic Laboratory for Cosmic Rays (LARC: 40 ma.s.l, 62.20◦ S and 301.04◦ E) are also given. Particular attention is paid to the variability of the magnetospheric screening appearing when the external magnetic field is added to the internal one

Gevrey local solvability in locally integrable structures

We consider a locally integrable real-analytic structure, and we investigate the local solvability in the category of Gevrey functions and ultradistributions of the complex d' naturally induced by the de Rham complex. We prove that the so-called condition Y(q) on the signature of the Levi form, for local solvability of d' u=f, is still necessary even if we take f in the classes of Gevrey functions and look for solutions u in the corresponding spaces of ultradistributions.Comment: 12 page

Influence of the shape of artificial canals on the fatigue resistance of NiTi rotary instruments

To investigate the influence of the trajectory of NiTi rotary instruments on the outcome of cyclic fatigue tests. Ten ProFile and Mtwo instruments tip size 20, taper 0.06 and tip size 25, taper 0.06 were tested in two simulated root canals with an angle of curvature of 60 degrees and radius of curvature of 5 mm but with different shape. Geometrical analysis of the angle and radius of the curvature that each instrument followed inside the two different artificial canals was performed on digital images. The instruments were then rotated until fracture at a constant speed of 300 rpm to calculate the number of cycles to failure (NCF) and the length of the fractured fragment. Mean values were calculated and analysed using two different multivariate linear regression models and an independent sample t-test. The shape of the artificial root canal used in cyclic fatigue studies influenced the trajectory of the instrument. This difference is reflected by the NCF measured for the same instrument in the different artificial root canals and by the impact of the type of canal on both the NCF (St.beta = 0.514) and fragment length (St.beta = -0.920). Small variations in the geometrical parameters of the curvature of an instrument subjected to flexural fatigue could have a significant influence on the results of fatigue tests

ULTRA SECURE HIGH RELIABILITY WIRELESS RADIATION MONITOR

Radiation monitoring in nuclear facilities is essential to safe operation of the equipment as well as protecting personnel. In specific, typical air monitoring of radioactive gases or particulate involves complex systems of valves, pumps, piping and electronics. The challenge is to measure a representative sample in areas that are radioactively contaminated. Running cables and piping to these locations is very expensive due to the containment requirements. Penetration into and out of an airborne or containment area is complex and costly. The process rooms are built with thick rebar-enforced concrete walls with glove box containment chambers inside. Figure 1 shows high temperature radiation resistance cabling entering the top of a typical glove box. In some case, the entire processing area must be contained in a 'hot cell' where the only access into the chamber is via manipulators. An example is shown in Figure 2. A short range wireless network provides an ideal communication link for transmitting the data from the radiation sensor to a 'clean area', or area absent of any radiation fields or radioactive contamination. Radiation monitoring systems that protect personnel and equipment must meet stringent codes and standards due to the consequences of failure. At first glance a wired system would seem more desirable. Concerns with wireless communication include latency, jamming, spoofing, man in the middle attacks, and hacking. The Department of Energy's Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) has developed a prototype wireless radiation air monitoring system that address many of the concerns with wireless and allows quick deployment in radiation and contamination areas. It is stand alone and only requires a standard 120 VAC, 60 Hz power source. It is designed to be mounted or portable. The wireless link uses a National Security Agency (NSA) Suite B compliant wireless network from Fortress Technologies that is considered robust enough to be used for classified data transmission in place of NSA Type 1 devices