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- Blanco, A, et al.
(author)
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Progress in timing Resistive Plate Chambers
- 2004
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In: Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A. - 0168-9002 .- 1872-9576. ; 535:1-2, s. 272-276
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Timing RPCs are Resistive Plate Chambers made with glass and metal electrodes separated by precision spacers. Typical gas gaps are a few hundred micrometers wide. Such counters were introduced in 1999 and have since reached timing accuracies below 50 ps sigma with efficiencies above 99% for MIPs. Applications in high-energy physics have already taken place with several more under study. Some recent developments include the extension of the counting rate capability by over one order of magnitude, to 25 kHz/cm(2), with time resolutions below 100 ps sigma. A prototype RPC-based Positron Emission Tomograph yielded a reconstructed point-source resolution of 0.6 mm FWHM and a modified timing RPC design, featuring 50 mum pitch anode strips, allowed to reach extremely good position resolution for hard X-rays in digital readout mode. An analytically solvable model has allowed us to clarify the basic factors influencing the time resolution.
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| 2. |
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| 3. |
- Lopes, L, et al.
(author)
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Development of high-rate timing RPCs
- 2004
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In: Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A. - : Elsevier BV. - 0168-9002 .- 1872-9576. ; 533:1-2, s. 69-73
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- For many applications of RPCs to time-of-flight counters in heavy ion experiments the expansion to much higher values of the counting rate capability, so far limited to around 2 kHz/cm(2) is of fundamental importance. To address this issue we developed single-gap timing RPCs with resistive electrodes made from a commercially available plastic material. Tests performed in photon beams yielded a time resolution around 90 ps sigma, essentially unchanged from 2 kHz/ cm(2) to 27 kHZ/cm(2). This result establishes the basic feasibility of timing measurements with RPCs at rates of tens of kHZ/cm(2), keeping a time resolution below 100 ps a and using plastic electrode materials.
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| 4. |
- Marques, Marcia, et al.
(author)
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Water environments : Anthropogenic pressures and ecosystem changes in the Atlantic drainage basins of Brazil
- 2004
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In: Ambio. - : Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. - 0044-7447 .- 1654-7209. ; 33:1-2, s. 68-77
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Densely occupied drainage basins and coastal zones in developing countries that are facing economic growth are likely to suffer from moderate to severe environmental impacts regarding different issues. The catchment basins draining towards the Atlantic coast from northeastern to southern Brazil include a wide range of climatic zones and diverse ecosystems. Within its borders lies the Atlantic rain forest, significant extensions of semiarid thorn forests (caatinga), vast tree and scrub woodlands (cerrado) and most of the 6670 km of the Brazilian coast and its marine ecosystems. In recent decades, human activities have increasingly advanced over these natural resources. Littoralization has imposed a burden on coastal habitats and communities. Most of the native vegetation of the cerrado and caatinga was removed and only 7% of the original Atlantic rainforest still exists. Estuaries, bays and coastal lagoons have been irreversibly damaged. Land uses, damming and water diversion have become the major driving forces for habitat loss and aquatic ecosystem modification. Regardless of the contrast between the drought-affected northeastern Brazil and the much more prosperous and industrialized southeastern/southern Brazil, the impacts on habitat and communities were found equally severe in both cases. Attempts to halt environmental degradation have not been effective. Instead of focusing on natural resources separately, it is suggested that more integrated environmental policies that focus on aquatic ecosystems integrity are introduced.
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