A search for short-lived neutral particles which decay to electron-positron pairs has been carried out using a beam of 275-GeV electrons incident on an instrumented tungsten beam dump. The experiment was sensitive to particles up to 10 MeV/c 2 in mass and down to 4x 10" l6 sec in lifetime.

Muon Radiography allows to map the density of a volcanic cone. It is based on the measurement of the attenuation of the flux of muons present in the cosmic radiation on the ground. The MU-RAY project has developed an innovative detector designed for the muon radiography. The main features are the low electric power consumption, robustness and transportability, good spatial resolution and muon time of flight measurement. A 1 m 2 detector prototype has been constructed. and collected data at Mt. Vesuvius for approximately 1 month in spring 2013. A second campaign of measurement has been performed at the Puy de Dôme, France, in the last four months of 2013. In this article the principles of muon radiography, the MU-RAY detector and the first results from the collected data will be described.

Abstract--An understanding of the costs involved in the production of plastic scintillators and the development of a less expensive material have become necessary with the prospects of building very large plastic scintillation detectors. Several factors contribute to the high cost of plastic scintillating sheets, but the principal reason is the labor-intensive nature of the manufacturing process. In order to significantly lower the costs, the current casting procedures had to be abandoned. Since polystyrene is widely used in the consumer industry, the logical path was to investigate the extrusion of commercial-grade polystyrene pellets with dopants to yield high quality plastic scintillator. This concept was tested and high quality extruded plastic scintillator was produced.The D0 and MINOS experiments are already using extruded scintillator strips in their detectors. An extrusion line has recently been installed at Fermilab in collaboration with NICADD (Northern Illinois Center for Accelerator and Detector Development). This new facility will serve to further develop and improve extruded plastic scintillator. This paper will discuss the characteristics of extruded plastic scintillator and its raw materials, the different manufacturing techniques and the current R&D program at Fermilab.

Abstract--The possibility to produce a scintillator that satisfies the demands of physicists from different science areas has emerged with the installation of an extrusion line at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL). The extruder is the product of the fruitful collaboration between FNAL and Northern Illinois Center for Accelerator and Detector Development (NICADD) at Northern Illinois University (NIU). The results from the light output, light attenuation length and mechanical tolerance indicate that FNAL-NICADD scintillator is of high quality. Improvements in the extrusion die will yield better scintillator profiles and decrease the time needed for initial tuning. This paper will present the characteristics of the FNAL-NICADD scintillator based on the measurements performed. They include the response to MIPs from cosmic rays for individual extruded strips and irradiation studies where extruded samples were irradiated up to 1 Mrad. We will also discuss the results achieved with a new die design. The attractive perspective of using the extruded scintillator with MRS (Metal Resistive Semiconductor) photodetector readout will also be shown.

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