The ePIC experiment at the future Electron-Ion Collider (EIC) aims to use silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) as the photodetector technology for the dual-radiator ring-imaging Cherenkov detector (dRICH). Despite their advantages for this low light application and insensitivity to high magnetic fields, SiPMs are sensitive to radiation and require rigorous testing to ensure that their single-photon counting capabilities and dark count rate are kept under control over the years of operation. The presented results show the successful use of a complete prototype readout chain based on the ALCOR chip for SiPM characterization measurements and assembled in an optical plane for test-beam measurements using the dRICH prototype.

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) techniques are widely used in food science, mainly because they are non-invasive techniques. MRI, as a non-destructive technique, allows the study of intact samples and without any preparation of the samples before analysis. In food processing, the monitoring of distribution and water content is a consolidated analysis technique, frequently used on the market in order to preserve appropriate nutritional and health characteristics of food according to quality standards. In a food matrix, the variation of the water content is related to the changes in the internal structure and in the physico-chemical properties that occur during the transformation process. In this study MRI technique is used to evaluate the variation of the water content as a function of the drying time. Pumpkin samples are analyzed at four different drying temperatures of 50, 60, 65, and 70°C. The transverse relaxation time, T 2 , is used to assess the hydration level of the samples by comparing the information extracted from MR images with the drying kinetics measured by gravimetric method. Moreover, T 2 maps are used to correlate the change in water distribution with the change in T 2 values. The results show that the global weight loss curves obtained with the standard gravimetric method and with the MRI data are in excellent agreement. This work indicates that monitoring changes in the T 2 profile of food (i.e., pumpkin) is a useful method for evaluating moisture profiles and changes induced on the sample during the drying process.

The existence of independent, yet time correlated, Extensive Air Showers (EAS) has been discussed over the past years, with emphasis on possible physical mechanisms that could justify their observation. The detector network of the Extreme Energy Events (EEE) Collaboration, with its approximately 60 cosmic ray telescopes deployed over the Italian territory, has the potential to search for such events, employing different analysis strategies. In this paper, we have analyzed a set of EEE data, corresponding to an approximately five month observation period, searching for multi-coincidence events among several far telescopes, within a time window of 1 ms. Events with up to 12 coincident telescopes have been observed. Results were compared to expectations from a random distribution of events and discussed with reference to the relativistic dust grain hypothesis.