The first operational tests of a low-cost, reconfigurable mini-array for cosmic rays are here reported. Such facility is intended mainly as an educational tool for master and PhD students, to carry ...out quantitative investigations in cosmic ray physics. Each detection module is based on a small scintillator tile, optically coupled to a Wavelength Shifter (WLS) bar and a Silicon photomultiplier for light collection and readout. An Arduino MEGA board is used for trigger, data acquisition and storage. GPS time stamping of the events is also provided. The tests carried out with a set of 30 detection modules, spread over an area of about 50 m2, are here reported. About 300k shower events were collected during a period of 13 days, with a trigger involving at least a three-fold coincidence between the modules. Individual rates of the modules, together with environmental data (pressure and temperature) were also measured along the acquisition period. Multiplicity distributions in stand-alone mode and in coincidence with an additional detector located some distance apart were extracted from the data. The dependence of the shower rate on the atmospheric pressure was also investigated.
The Muon Portal Project has built a prototype of a real size detector (6m×3m×7 m) for the inspection of containers by muon tomography. This technique may provide 2D and 3D images of the interior of a ...container, to identify the presence of high-Z materials. In the present Project, 4800 extruded scintillator strips were arranged such as to cover four X–Y detection planes (6m×3 m), two placed above and two below the container to be inspected. Silicon photomultipliers were used as photosensors, to collect the light transported by Wave Length Shifter (WLS) fibres embedded in the scintillator strips. First tomographic images are here presented.
Cosmic ray tomography is a technique which exploits the multiple Coulomb scattering of highly penetrating cosmic ray-produced muons to perform non-destructive inspection of high-Z materials without ...the use of artificial radiation. A muon tomography detection system can be used as a portal monitor at border crossing points for detecting illegal targeted objects. The Muon Portal Project is a joint initiative between Italian research and industrial partners, aimed at the construction of a real size detector prototype (6×3×7m3) for the inspection of cargo containers by the muon scattering technique. The detector consists of four XY tracking planes, two placed above and two below the container to be inspected. After a research and development phase, which led to the choice and test of the individual components, the construction and installation of the detection modules is almost completed. In this paper the present status of the Project is reported, focusing on the design and construction phase, as well as on the preliminary results obtained with the first detection planes.
Coincidence measurements between cosmic ray detectors placed some distance apart are the standard way to detect the arrival of extensive air showers created in the Earth atmosphere by the interaction ...of a high energy primary particle. In this project we tried to exploit the potential of a detector array based on the use of several small area individual detectors, which could be easily re-configured in different detection geometries and employed in basic and applied physics investigations. Such low-cost facility is also intended as an educational tool for master and Ph.D. students in a cosmic ray physics laboratory. Each module is based on a small size scintillator tile, with a Wavelength Shifter bar and a Silicon photomultiplier for light collection and readout. Individual signals from SiPMs are sent to an Arduino MEGA board for trigger, data acquisition, GPS time stamping and storage. This paper will report the design of the project and a few physics cases, resulting from the outcome of several measurements campaigns carried out with different geometrical configurations.
The Muon Portal Project 1 is a joint initiative between research and industrial partners, aimed at the construction of a real size detector protoype (6×3×7 m3) for the inspection of containers by the ...muon scattering technique, devised to search for hidden high-Z fissile materials and provide a full 3D tomography of the interior of the container in a scanning time of the order of minutes. The muon tracking detector is based on a set of 48 detection modules (size 1 m × 3 m), each built with 100 extruded scintillator strips, so as to provide four X-Y detection planes, two placed above and two below the container to be inspected. Two wavelength shifting (WLS) fibres embedded in each strip convey the emitted photons to Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPM) which act as photosensors. After a research and development phase, which led to the choice and test of the individual components, the construction of the full size detector has already started. The paper describes the results of the mass characterization of the photosensors and the construction and test measurements of the first detection modules of the Project.
N.Cimento C29(2006)381 Experiments concerning the physics of cosmic rays offer to high-school
teachers and students a relatively easy approach to the field of research in
high energy physics. The ...detection of cosmic rays does not necessarily require
the use of sophisticated equipment, and various properties of the cosmic
radiation can be observed and analysed even by the use of a single Geiger
counter. Nevertheless, the variety of such kind of experiments and the results
obtained are limited because of the inclusive nature of these measurements. A
significant improvement may be obtained when two or more Geiger counters are
operated in coincidence. In this paper we discuss the potential of performing
educational cosmic ray experiments with Geiger counters. In order to show also
the educational value of coincidence techniques, preliminary results of cosmic
ray experiments carried out by the use of a simple coincidence circuit are
briefly discussed.
Experiments concerning the physics of cosmic rays offer to high-school teachers and students a relatively easy approach to the field of research in high energy physics. The detection of cosmic rays ...does not necessarily require the use of sophisticated equipment, and various properties of the cosmic radiation can be observed and analysed even by the use of a single Geiger counter. Nevertheless, the variety of such kind of experiments and the results obtained are limited because of the inclusive nature of these measurements. A significant improvement may be obtained when two or more Geiger counters are operated in coincidence. In this paper we discuss the potential of performing educational cosmic ray experiments with Geiger counters. In order to show also the educational value of coincidence techniques, preliminary results of cosmic ray experiments carried out by the use of a simple coincidence circuit are briefly discussed.
We analyzed the long-term outcome of 4865 patients treated in Studies 82, 87, 88, 91 and 95 for childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) of the Italian Association of Pediatric Hematology and ...Oncology (AIEOP). Treatment was characterized by progressive intensification of systemic therapy and reduction of cranial radiotherapy. A progressive improvement of results with reduction of isolated central nervous system relapse rate was obtained. Ten-year event-free survival increased from 53% in Study 82 to 72% in Study 95, whereas survival improved from 64 to 82%. Since 1991, all patients were treated according to Berlin-Frankfurt-Muenster (BFM) ALL treatment strategy. In Study 91, reduced treatment intensity (25%) yielded inferior results, but intensification of maintenance with high-dose (HD)-L-asparaginase (randomized) allowed to compensate for this disadvantage; in high-risk patients (HR, 15%), substitution of intensive polychemotherapy blocks for conventional BFM backbone failed to improve results. A marked improvement of results was obtained in HR patients when conventional BFM therapy was intensified with three polychemotherapy blocks and double delayed intensification (Study 95). The introduction of minimal residual disease monitoring and evaluation of common randomized questions by AIEOP and BFM groups in the protocol AIEOP-BFM-ALL 2000 are expected to further ameliorate treatment of children with ALL.
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