[en] A common laboratory facility for creating glowing flying plasmoids akin to a natural ball lightning, allowing a number of experiments to be performed to investigate the main properties of ball lightning, is described. (methodological notes)

[en] In the Laboratory for Low-Level Radioactivity at the Institute Rudjer Boskovic, archaeological, geological and hydrological samples have been dated using the 1^4C method. Gas proportional counter (GPC) has been used for more than thirty years to measure 1^4C activity, as well as a liquid scintillation counter (LSC) Quantulus 1220 since 2001. Two methods have been developed to prepare chemical samples: benzene synthesis (LSC-B) and CO₂ absorption (LSC-A). Here we present benzene synthesis and compare it with GPC. CO₂ obtained by combustion of organic samples or by dissolving inorganic samples in hydrochloric acid is the basic reactant for all three methods. Benzene synthesis from CO₂ consists of several stages: reaction between CO₂ and Li (production of Li₂C₂), Li₂C₂ hydrolysis (production of C₂H₂) and C₂H₂ trimerisation into C₆H₆. Optimisation of individual processes resulted in total reaction yield of 80%. Optimal parameters for measurement in LSC were also determined: counting in 45-50 cycles of 30 minutes, the counting window between 219 and 525 channels, the total efficiency of 1^4C measurement of 82%. 1^4C activities measured by LSC were compared with those measured by GPC and a good agreement was achieved (slope of the regression line was 1.0 and the correlation coefficient r=0.997). When compared with GPC and LSC-A methods, LSC-B method had the highest sensitivity and precision and the lowest detection limit (i.e., the maximal age that can be determined is about 52000 years). Therefore, the LSC-B method is suitable for dating archaeological samples and monitoring environmental 1^4C fluctuations. The disadvantage of the LSC-B method is relatively complex sample preparation.(author)

[en] Jaw fractures in children form a small percentage of the total jaw fractures which occur in the population. The principles involved in the treatment of facial trauma are the same, whatever the age of the patient. However, for children, the techniques used are necessarily modified by certain anatomical, physiological, and psychological factors especially related lo childhood. The aim of this paper is to describe the use of a versatile splint for fixation of displaced fractures of the mandible in children, who are less than one year of age. (author

[en] A coplanarity of most energetic subcores of nuclear-electromagnetic cascades, which was found in the experiments on the X-ray-emulsion chamber, is considered. It is shown that the phenomenon cannot be explained with cascade development fluctuations and external fields within the framework of present-day versions of the quark-gluon string models, as well as without assuming the manifestation of a new hadron-interaction process characterized by large transverse momenta in the laboratory system at energies √ s ≳ 4 TeV.

[en] The US Department of Energy (DOE) manages the world's largest nuclear laboratory system, which is not only the birthplace of the US nuclear research, but current is also the biggest nuclear research base in the US. The US Department ol Energy's National Laboratories are financed primarily by the government and based on the National and DOE΄s Program. Since the purpose of the article is to provide some reference for China's energy strategy and nuclear development, the annual budgets of DOE from 2011 to 2017 are analyzed with Trend Analysis Approach to understand the trends ol the US' energy strategy, the emphases of the nuclear energy projects and basis scientific research. The analysis is mainly concerned on the budgets about energy project, nuclear project and scientific research. Furthermore, the budgets of some National Laboratories are also analysed for the trends of its research in nuclear field. (author)

[en] The forthcoming FINUDA experiment at DAΦNE is presented

No abstract available

[en] A virtual laboratory system for nuclear fusion researches in Japan known as SNET run by the National Institute for Fusion Science has been in development for the past seven years. Twenty-one remote sites have participated in SNET, which reached a speed of 1 Gbps in April 2009. The SNET is a closed network system based on L2 and L3VPN provided by SINET3, which is a national academic network operated by the National Institute of Informatics. SNET has been successfully supporting the remote participation of various sizes and types of experimental equipments and has also been supporting the remote use of a supercomputer. In this paper, we describe the configuration of SNET, which is overcoming the challenges that arise in virtual laboratories; we mainly explain the remote participation in the experiment. Remarks about the remote participation regarding the ITER activity, massive data transfer, and GRID are also discussed. A data transfer experiment between Japan and France was performed, with the average throughput reaching 880 Mbps on 1 Gbps of bandwidth.

[en] This document contains the top-level requirements and design specification for the HAMMLAB 2000 Integration Platform (H2k IP). The system architecture for the IP is described, and the various modules are identified. The tasks of each module are described from an overall perspective, details are left for the various unit design documents. The document clearly identifies the boundary of the H2k IP, what modules are regarded to be part of the IP and what modules are regarded as external units. It is stressed that the IP will be a set of general modules that are reused for each simulator system implemented in HAMMLAB. External units must interface to the IP in order to retrieve simulator data or issue simulator actions. The document describes how the IP will arrange for external units to interface. A separate chapter discuss how the general IP modules will be configured in order to operate correctly and efficiently for a given simulator system. Finally the document presents an overview of the H2k IP development process until the implementation phase (author) (ml)

[en] Equilibrium and monoenergetic distribution functions in the laboratory frame are derived from first principles. Thermodynamically consistent macroscopic properties of relativistic beam systems are defined and discussed as a foundation for specific applications. Characteristics of superpinched relativistic electron beams such as isotropy in the lab frame, rms cone angle of the electrons with respect to the beam axis, and the energy flux across a unit surface at an arbitrary angle to the beam axis are obtained. These properties provide important information on the expected symmetry of irradiation of fusion targets by focused electron beams. A linearized kinetic theory is outlined which leads to an integral expression for the general form of the relativistic plasma dispersion function