scholarly journals Volcanoes in Italy and the role of muon radiography

Author(s):  
Raffaello D'Alessandro ◽  
F. Ambrosino ◽  
G. Baccani ◽  
L. Bonechi ◽  
M. Bongi ◽  
...  

Cosmic-ray muon radiography (muography), an imaging technique that can provide measurements of rock densities within the top few 100 m of a volcanic cone, has now achieved a spatial resolution of the order of 10 m in optimal detection conditions. Muography provides images of the top region of a volcano edifice with a resolution that is considerably better than that typically achieved with other conventional methods (i.e. gravimetric). We expect such precise measurements, to provide us with information on anomalies in the rock density distribution, which can be affected by dense lava conduits, low-density magma supply paths or the compression with the depth of the overlying soil. The MUon RAdiography of VESuvius (MURAVES) project is now in its final phase of construction and deployment. Up to four muon hodoscopes, each with a surface of roughly 1 m 2 , will be installed on the slope of Vesuvius and take data for at least 12 months. We will use the muographic profiles, combined with data from gravimetric and seismic measurement campaigns, to determine the stratigraphy of the lava plug at the bottom of the Vesuvius crater, in order to infer potential eruption pathways. While the MURAVES project unfolds, others are using emulsion detectors on Stromboli to study the lava conduits at the top of the volcano. These measurements are ongoing: they have completed two measurement campaigns and are now performing the first data analysis. This article is part of the Theo Murphy meeting issue ‘Cosmic-ray muography’.

Author(s):  
G. Saracino ◽  
F. Ambrosino ◽  
L. Bonechi ◽  
L. Cimmino ◽  
R. D'Alessandro ◽  
...  

Muon radiography, also known as muography, is an imaging technique that provides information on the mass density distribution inside large objects. Muons are naturally produced in the interactions of cosmic rays in the Earth's atmosphere. The physical process exploited by muography is the attenuation of the muon flux, that depends on the thickness and density of matter that muons cross in the course of their trajectory. A particle detector with tracking capability allows the measurement of the muons flux as a function of the muon direction. The comparison of the measured muon flux with the expected one gives information on the distribution of the density of matter, in particular, on the presence of cavities. In this article, the measurement performed at Mt. Echia in Naples (Saracino 2017 Sci. Rep. 7 , 1181. ( doi:10.1038/s41598-017-01277-3 )), will be discussed as a practical example of the possible application of muography in archaeology and civil engineering. This article is part of the Theo Murphy meeting issue ‘Cosmic-ray muography’.


Universe ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guglielmo Baccani ◽  
Lorenzo Bonechi ◽  
Massimo Bongi ◽  
Debora Brocchini ◽  
Nicola Casagli ◽  
...  

Muon absorption radiography is an imaging technique based on the measurement of the absorption of cosmic ray muons. This technique has recently been used successfully to investigate the presence of unknown cavities in the Bourbon Gallery in Naples and in the Chephren Pyramid at Cairo. The MIMA detector (Muon Imaging for Mining and Archaeology) is a prototype muon tracker for muon radiography for application in the fields of archaelogy and mining. It is made of three pairs of X-Y planes each consisting of 21 scintillator bars with a silicon photomultiplier readout. The detector is compact, robust, easily transportable, and has a low power consumption: all of which makes the detector ideal for measurements in confined and isolated environments. With this detector, a measurement from inside the Temperino mine in the San Silvestro archaeo-mining park in Tuscany was performed. The park includes about 25 km of mining tunnels arranged on several levels that have been exploited from the Etruscan time. The measured muon absorption was compared to the simulated one, obtained from the information provided by 3D laser scanner measurements and cartographic maps of the mountain above the mine, in order to obtain information about the average density of the rock. This allowed one to confirm the presence of a partially accessible exploitation opening and provided some hints regarding the presence of a high-density body within the rock.


Author(s):  
Guglielmo Baccani ◽  
Lorenzo Bonechi ◽  
Massimo Bongi ◽  
Debora Brocchini ◽  
Nicola Casagli ◽  
...  

Muon radiography is an imaging technique based on the measurement of the absorption of cosmic ray muons. This technique has recently been used successfully to investigate the presence of unknown cavities in the Bourbon Gallery in Naples and in the Cheops Pyramid at Cairo. The MIMA detector (Muon Imaging for Mining and Archaeology) is a muon tracker prototype for the application of muon radiography in the Archaeological and Mining fields. It is made of three couples of X-Y planes each consisting of 21 scintillator bars with silicon photomultiplier read-out. The detector is compact, robust, easily transportable and has a low power consumption: all of that makes the detector ideal for measurements in narrow and isolated environments. With this detector we have performed a measurement from inside the Temperino mine in the San Silvestro archaeo-mining park in Tuscany. The park includes about 25 km of mining tunnels arranged on several levels that have been excavated since the Etruscan time. The measured muon absorption was compared to the simulated one, obtained from the information provided by 3D laser scanner measurements and the cartographic maps of the mountain above the mine, in order to obtain information on the average density of the rock. This allowed to confirm the presence of a partially accessible exploitation opening and gave some hints on the presence of a high density body within the rock.


2020 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 795-806 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth J. Short ◽  
Rachael Cooper Schindler ◽  
Rita Obeid ◽  
Maia M. Noeder ◽  
Laura E. Hlavaty ◽  
...  

Purpose Play is a critical aspect of children's development, and researchers have long argued that symbolic deficits in play may be diagnostic of developmental disabilities. This study examined whether deficits in play emerge as a function of developmental disabilities and whether our perceptions of play are colored by differences in language and behavioral presentations. Method Ninety-three children participated in this study (typically developing [TD]; n = 23, developmental language disorders [DLD]; n = 24, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder [ADHD]; n = 26, and autism spectrum disorder [ASD]; n = 20). Children were videotaped engaging in free-play. Children's symbolic play (imagination, organization, elaboration, and comfort) was scored under conditions of both audible language and no audible language to assess diagnostic group differences in play and whether audible language impacted raters' perception of play. Results Significant differences in play were evident across diagnostic groups. The presence of language did not alter play ratings for the TD group, but differences were found among the other diagnostic groups. When language was audible, children with DLD and ASD (but not ADHD) were scored poorly on play compared to their TD peers. When language was not audible, children with DLD were perceived to play better than when language was audible. Conversely, children with ADHD showed organizational deficits when language was not available to support their play. Finally, children with ASD demonstrated poor play performance regardless of whether language was audible or not. Conclusions Language affects our understanding of play skills in some young children. Parents, researchers, and clinicians must be careful not to underestimate or overestimate play based on language presentation. Differential skills in language have the potential to unduly influence our perceptions of play for children with developmental disabilities.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Andi Samsu Rijal ◽  
Andi Mega Januarti Putri

The essence of language is human activity. Communication with language is carried out through two basic human activities; speaking and listening during the interaction in a group of people. Immigrants in Makassar city communicate with immigrant communities and Makassar people. They used English and Indonesia to communicate with others. The aims of this article were to find out determinant factors of English as language choice among Unaccompanied Migrant Children (UMC) in Makassar and why they used English as their language choice to communicate with other people out of them. The data were taken from UMC in the shelter under the auspices of Makassar’s Social Office and in the public area of Makassar. This research was a qualitative approach; it was from a sociolinguistic perspective and focuses its analysis with the language choice among UMC. This research showed that most immigrants chose English as their language choice since they were in Makassar because they have acquired better than other international language and it has been mastered naturally by doing social interaction among themselves and people outside their community. UMC had more difficulties to socialize with Indonesian than the adult of Immigrants. Other than their lack of language mastery, they also have the anxiety to adapt to other immigrants and Makassar people. English was used by UMC to show their status as a foreigner who lived in a multicultural situation. Language becomes a power for a human being and it becomes a social identity for language user in one community. During the interaction of UMC in Makassar city, the role of English as an International language is shown.


2019 ◽  
pp. 58-62
Author(s):  
Vlad Stegariu ◽  
Simona Andreea Popușoi ◽  
Beatrice Abălașei ◽  
Nicolae Lucian Voinea ◽  
Ioan Stelescu ◽  
...  

Chess playing has a significant role in participants’ resources allocation, both at a psychological level, but mostly concerning the cognitive resources. The aim of the present study was to examine the effect of chess playing on the intellectual development of primary-class students. 67 children were tested using the Raven Standard Progressive Matrices and were distributed in three different groups according to their experience with chess, namely: the control group (formed by students with no experience with chess playing), the beginners group (students with less than one year in chess playing training) and the advanced group (children with more than two years experience with chess). Results indicated that chess playing had a significant effect on the SPM performance, indicating that those in the advanced group performed significantly better than those in the control or in the beginners group. Conclusions of this study tap into the benefits of playing chess with a focus on the children’s’ cognitive development.


Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 206
Author(s):  
Pål Ketil Botvar

The Norwegian National Day (17 May, also referred to as Constitution Day) stands out as one of the most popular National Day celebrations in Europe. According to surveys, around seven out of every 10 Norwegians take part in a public celebration during this day. This means that the National Day potentially has an impact on the way people reflect upon national identity and its relationship to the Lutheran heritage. In this paper, I will focus on the role religion plays in the Norwegian National Day rituals. Researchers have described these rituals as both containing a significant religious element and being rather secularized. In this article, I discuss the extent to which the theoretical concepts civil religion and religious nationalism can help us understand the role of religion, or the absence of religion, in these rituals. Based on surveys of the general population, I analyze both indicators of civil religion and religious nationalism. The two phenomena are compared by looking at their relation to such items as patriotism, chauvinism, and xenophobia. The results show that civil religion explains participation in the National Day rituals better than religious nationalism.


Proceedings ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 77 (1) ◽  
pp. 15
Author(s):  
Hernan Mondani ◽  
Amir Rostami ◽  
Tina Askanius ◽  
Jerzy Sarnecki ◽  
Christofer Edling

This presentation summarizes a register-based study on women who have been identified as belonging to three violent extremist milieus in Sweden: violent Islamic, violent far-right, and violent far-left extremism. We studied the women in these milieus along a number of analytical dimensions, ranging from demographic and educational to criminal background and network relationships, and compared them to three reference groups: (i) non-extremist biological sisters to female extremists in the study population; (ii) men in the respective extremist milieus; and (iii) female members of other antagonistic milieus such as organized crime. Our results showed that there are both similarities and differences between groups. In some cases, like age and region of birth, there are commonalities between violent far-right and violent far-left women. Regarding region of birth and migration background, women affiliated to violent far-right and violent far-left extremism are predominantly born in Sweden. Women affiliated to violent Islamic extremism tend to be born in Sweden to a greater extent than men in the same milieu, but to a much lesser degree than women in the violent far-right and violent far-left. When it comes to education, women in the violent Islamic milieu are closer to women in violent far-right extremism. Women in violent far-left extremism perform best at school, with consistently higher grades. The average score of women in violent far-left extremism is identical to that of their sisters, and women in violent far-left extremism perform on average substantially better than men in the same milieu. Women in violent Islamic extremism, in contrast, perform on average similarly to men in violent far-left extremism, and they perform better than their biological sisters. Regarding labor market attachment, violent Islamic extremists have the weakest attachment and the highest dependency upon financial assistance as well as a low employment share (36 percent in 2016), but also a relatively high share of individuals with a high number of unemployment days, suggesting that women in violent Islamic extremism experience higher social exclusion. We find the highest employment share among women in violent far-left extremism, where 89 percent are gainfully employed in 2016 (80 percent for at least three of the last five years) and about a 20 percent unemployment share. Men in violent far-left extremism have an employment share around 10 percent below that of the women in far-left extremism for 2016. The highest fractions of individuals that have not been in contact with the health system due to mental disorders are among violent Islamic extremism, with the women’s fraction at 84 percent, compared to their non-extremist sisters and men in the same milieu that are just above 79 percent. Women in violent far-left extremism have the highest share of in-patient major mental disorders among the extremist milieus (3 percent), higher than men in the same milieu (less than 1 percent) as well as than women and their sisters in the other categories. During the period 2007–2016, 68 percent of individuals in the extremist milieus are covered by the register of suspected individuals. The coverage is substantially higher for men, 72 percent than for women, 43 percent. Compared to their sisters, women in all three milieus are criminally active to a much higher extent. However, women in all three milieus are less criminally active than women in other antagonistic milieus, among whom 67 percent have been suspected at least once. In all three milieus, the share of men with a criminal record is about twice as large as that of women. As far as the gender aspect is concerned, we know that extremist milieus generally have a conservative view of the role of women in society. In our results, this is reflected in the low rates of crime in women compared to men, and relatively marginal positions in the co-offending networks. The fact that women in violent far-left extremism have stronger positions in their networks than the other women in the study population is expected, given that the ideology of this milieu allows for greater equality. This means that women in violent far-left extremism participate more often than, e.g., women in violent far-right extremism, in political actions where violence is common. This pattern of gender roles and criminal involvement also holds concerning women in violent Islamic extremism. This milieu has a more traditional view of the role of women than views among even violent far-right extremists. Women in violent Islamic extremism are less involved in crime and, in particular, violent crime.


2020 ◽  
Vol 500 (3) ◽  
pp. 3414-3424
Author(s):  
Alec Paulive ◽  
Christopher N Shingledecker ◽  
Eric Herbst

ABSTRACT Complex organic molecules (COMs) have been detected in a variety of interstellar sources. The abundances of these COMs in warming sources can be explained by syntheses linked to increasing temperatures and densities, allowing quasi-thermal chemical reactions to occur rapidly enough to produce observable amounts of COMs, both in the gas phase, and upon dust grain ice mantles. The COMs produced on grains then become gaseous as the temperature increases sufficiently to allow their thermal desorption. The recent observation of gaseous COMs in cold sources has not been fully explained by these gas-phase and dust grain production routes. Radiolysis chemistry is a possible non-thermal method of producing COMs in cold dark clouds. This new method greatly increases the modelled abundance of selected COMs upon the ice surface and within the ice mantle due to excitation and ionization events from cosmic ray bombardment. We examine the effect of radiolysis on three C2H4O2 isomers – methyl formate (HCOOCH3), glycolaldehyde (HCOCH2OH), and acetic acid (CH3COOH) – and a chemically similar molecule, dimethyl ether (CH3OCH3), in cold dark clouds. We then compare our modelled gaseous abundances with observed abundances in TMC-1, L1689B, and B1-b.


2015 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-17
Author(s):  
Jolanta Korycka-Skorupa

Abstract The author discuss effectiveness of cartographic presentations. The article includes opinions of cartographers regarding effectiveness, readability and efficiency of a map. It reminds the principles of map graphic design in order to verify them using examples of small-scale thematic maps. The following questions have been asked: Is the map effective? Why is the map effective? How do cartographic presentation methods affect effectiveness of the cartographic message? What else can influence effectiveness of a map? Each graphic presentation should be effective, as its purpose is to complete written word, draw the recipients’ attention, make text more readable, expose the most important information. Such a significant role of graphics results in the fact that graphic presentations (maps, diagrams) require proper preparation. Users need to have a chance to understand the graphics language in order to draw correct conclusions about the presented phenomenon. Graphics should demonstrate the most important elements, some tendencies, and directions of changes. It should generalize and present a given subject from a slightly different perspective. There are numerous examples of well-edited and poorly edited small-scale thematic maps. They include maps, which are impossible to interpret correctly. They are burdened with methodological defects and they cannot fulfill their task. Cartography practice indicates that the principles related to graphic design of cartographic presentation are frequently omitted during the process of developing small-scale thematic maps used – among others – in the press and on the Internet. The purpose of such presentations is to quickly interpret them. On such maps editors’ problems with the selection of an appropriate symbol and graphic variable (fig. 1A, 9B) are visible. Sometimes they use symbols which are not sufficiently distinguishable nor demonstrative (fig. 11), it does not increase their readability. Sometime authors try too hard to reflect presented phenomenon and therefore the map becomes more difficult to interpret (fig. 4A,B). The lack of graphic sense resulting in the lack of graphic balance and aesthetics constitutes a weak point of numerous cartographic presentations (fig. 13). Effectiveness of cartographic presentations consists of knowledge and skills of the map editor, as well as the recipients’ perception capabilities and their readiness to read and interpret maps. The qualifications of the map editor should include methodological qualifications supported by the knowledge of the principles for cartographic symbol design, as well as relevant technical qualifications, which allow to properly use the tools to edit a map. Maps facilitate the understanding of texts they accompany and they present relationships between phenomenon better than texts, appealing to the senses.


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