Validation through HVSR measurements of a method for the quick detection of site amplification effects from intensity data: an application to a seismic area in Northern Italy

An instrumental validation is attempted of an innovative approach devoted to the quick individuation, from macroseismic data, of site amplification phenomena able to significantly modify seismic hazard levels expected on the basis of average propagation effects only. According to this methodology, two evaluations of hazard are performed at each investigated locality: the former, obtained by epicentral intensity data ‘reduced’ at the site through a probabilistic attenuation function and, the latter, computed by integrating such data with seismic effects actually observed at the site during past earthquakes. The comparison, for each locality, between these two hazard estimates allow to orientate the identification of those sites where local amplifications of earthquake ground motion could be significant. In order to check such methodology, indications obtained in this way from macroseismic data are compared with the estimates of transfer functions performed through the HVSR technique applied to microtremors. Results concerning municipalities located in a seismic area of Northern Italy indicate a good agreement between macroseismic and instrumental estimates.     

The Parkes Multibeam Pulsar Survey – VI. Discovery and timing of 142 pulsars and a Galactic population analysis

We present the discovery and follow-up observations of 142 pulsars found in the Parkes 20-cm multibeam pulsar survey of the Galactic plane. These new discoveries bring the total number of pulsars found by the survey to 742. In addition to tabulating spin and astrometric parameters, along with pulse width and flux density information, we present orbital characteristics for 13 binary pulsars which form part of the new sample. Combining these results from another recent Parkes multibeam survey at high Galactic latitudes, we have a sample of 1008 normal pulsars which we use to carry out a determination of their Galactic distribution and birth rate. We infer a total Galactic population of  30 000 ± 1100  potentially detectable pulsars (i.e. those beaming towards us) having 1.4-GHz luminosities above 0.1 mJy kpc². Adopting the Tauris & Manchester beaming model, this translates to a total of  155 000 ± 6000  active radio pulsars in the Galaxy above this luminosity limit. Using a pulsar current analysis, we derive the birth rate of this population to be  1.4 ± 0.2  pulsars per century. An important conclusion from our work is that the inferred radial density function of pulsars depends strongly on the assumed distribution of free electrons in the Galaxy. As a result, any analyses using the most recent electron model of Cordes & Lazio predict a dearth of pulsars in the inner Galaxy. We show that this model can also bias the inferred pulsar scaleheight with respect to the Galactic plane. Combining our results with other Parkes multibeam surveys we find that the population is best described by an exponential distribution with a scaleheight of 330 pc. Surveys underway at Parkes and Arecibo are expected to improve the knowledge of the radial distribution outside the solar circle, and to discover several hundred new pulsars in the inner Galaxy.     

A new mask-antimask coded-aperture telescope for hard X-ray astronomy

A new imaging balloon-borne telescope for hard X-rays in the energy range from 30 to 100 keV is described. The imaging capability is provided by the use of an extended URA-based coded-mask. With only one motor and suitable stop pins, we can rotate a carbon-fiber wheel with most of the mask elements attached to it by 180°, and a bar, which is also part of the mask pattern and is allowed to rotate freely over the wheel, by 90°; this combined rotation creates an antimask of the original mask, except for the central element. This is a novel and elegant manner of providing an antimask without additional weight and complex mechanical manipulations. We show that the use of antimasks is a very effective method of eliminating systematic variations in the background map over the position-sensitive detector area. The expected sensitivity of the instrument for the 30–100 keV range is of the order of 7 × 10^-5 photons cm^-2 s^-1 keV^-1, for an integration time of 10⁴ seconds at a residual atmosphere of 3.5 g cm^-2. This telescope will provide imaging observations of bright galactic hard X-ray sources with an angular resolution of 2° in a 10° by 10° FOV, which is defined by a collimator placed in front of the detector system. We are particularly interested in the galactic center region, where recent imaging results in X-rays have shown the presence of an interesting source field. Results of computer simulations of the imaging system are reported.     

Outline of the Somalian basement

A sequence of events which has been recognized in the two basement regions of Somalia is outlined on the basis of new field and petrographic data and pre-existing published and unpublished reports. The evolution of the Somalian basement took place during the Pan-African event, However, much detailed work is necessary before the history of the basement can be integrated into the more detailed Pan-African picture recognized in the neighbouring regions.

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Zusammenfassung Eine Folge von Ereignissen, die sich in den zwei Basement-Regionen Somalias erkennen lie\en, wird auf der Basis neuer GelÄnde- und petrographischer Daten und früherer publizierter und nicht publizierter Berichte umrissen. Das Basement von Somalia entwickelte sich wÄhrend des Panafrikanischen Ereignisses.Viel Detailarbeit ist jedoch noch zu leisten, bis die Geschichte des Basements in das detailliertere Bild Panafrikas, wie es aus den Nachbarregionen gewonnen wurde, integriert werden kann.

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Résumé Dans les deux régions de la Somalie ou le socle affleure, on a reconnu une succession d'événements sur la base de nouvelles données géologiques et pétrographiques et de travaux pré-existants, publiés et non publiés. L'évolution du socle de la Somalie se déroula pendant l'événement Pan-Africain. Toutefois, beaucoup de travail doit Être encore fait avant que l'histoire du socle somalien puisse Être intégrée dans un cadre Pan-Africain plus détaillé, tel qu'on le connait dans les régions voisines.

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The Parkes Southern Pulsar Survey — III. Timing of long-period pulsars

The Parkes survey of the entire southern sky for millisecond and other low-luminosity pulsars has now been completed. The survey system and initial results were described by Manchester et al. and the final results and population studies are described by Lyne et al. A total of 298 pulsars were detected, including 101 new discoveries of which 17 were millisecond pulsars. Here we report on timing observations at Parkes and Jodrell Bank of the 84 long-period (non-millisecond) pulsars discovered in the survey, including timing solutions for 78 of them. Pulse profiles and arrival times were obtained at several different frequencies over intervals of more than a year, yielding a position, period, period derivative and dispersion measure for each pulsar. Pulse profiles at frequencies near 400 MHz and 600 or 1400 MHz are presented for most of the observed pulsars. Significant timing noise was detected for five pulsars and a glitch was observed in the period of PSR J1123–6259.     

Combining data from a multisensor tag and passive sonar to determine the diving behavior of a sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus)

Reports on the diving behavior of a sperm whale tagged and tracked on September 6, 2000 during the Sirena 2000 cruise in the Ligurian Sea. A total of about 4.5 h of acoustic and nonacoustic sensor data were recorded when a sperm whale was tagged with a Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution developed tag with a hydrophone, motion, and pressure sensors. The animal was simultaneously tracked with a passive sonar system deployed from the NATO research vessel NRV Alliance. By combining data from the tag and passive sonar, we were able to reconstruct a three-dimensional track of the whale, along with its orientation and vocal behavior. While it was tagged, the whale carried out three deep dives to a depth of about 900 m in an area with a bottom depth of about 2600 m. The inter-click intervals of the diving whale were not consistent with ranging on the bottom, but were consistent with the hypothesis that the whale was possibly echolocating on some target(s) near the depth at which it dove to feed. This study demonstrated an ability to track subtle changes in the behavior of diving whales. This ability is important for three areas: 1) basic research, 2) studies of the responses of these animals to controlled exposures of man-made noise, and 3) studies to infer the biological significance of behavioral disruption.     

A fast PC-interface for synchronized sampling of digital data

We describe a high-speed interface unit for a PC-like microcomputer used for pulsar observations at the Northern Cross radiotelescope. The unit allows sampling synchronized to a master UTC clock and asynchronous output to a storage device with a peak data rate of about 2.5 MB/sec.     

A balloon-borne imaging telescope for high-energy astrophysics

We describe an imaging telescope for observations of celestial sources in the energy range between 30 keV and 1.8 MeV onboard stratospheric balloons. The detector is a 41 cm diameter, 5 cm thick NaI(Tl) crystal coupled to 19 photomultipliers in an Anger camera configuration. It is surrounded by a plastic scintillator 15 cm thick on the sides, 0.2 cm thick at the top and 20 cm thick at the bottom. The imaging device is based upon a 19 × 19 element square MURA (Modified Uniformly Redundant Array) coded mask mounted in an one-piece mask-antimask configuration. The detector's spatial resolution is about 10 mm at 100 keV. This is the first experiment to use such a mask pattern and configuration for astrophysical purposes. The expected 3 sensitivity for an on-axis source observed for 10⁴ s at a residual atmosphere of 3.5 g cm^–2 is 1.44 × 10^–5 photons cm^–2 s^–1 keV^–1 at 100 keV and 1.00 × 10^–6 photons cm^–2 s^–1 keV^–1 at 1 MeV. The angular resolution is approximately 14 arcminutes over a 13°field of view. The instrument is mounted in an automatic platform with a capability for pointing and stabilization in both azimuth and elevation axis with 2 arcmin accuracy.Presented at the 2nd UN/ESA Workshop, held in Bogotá, Colombia, 9-13 November, 1992.