Strangeness Production in pp,pA,AA Interactions at SPS Energies.HIJING Approach

In this report we have made a systematic study of strangeness production in proton-proton(pp),proton-nucleus(pA) and nucleus- nucleus(AA) collisions at CERN Super Proton Synchroton energies, using$\,\,\, HIJING\,\,\, MONTE \,\,\,CARLO \,\,\,MODEL$ \\ (version $HIJ.01$). Numerical results for mean multiplicities of neutral strange particles ,as well as their ratios to negatives hadrons($$) for p-p,nucleon-nucleon(N-N),\,\,p-S,\,\,p-Ag,\,\,p-Au('min. bias')collisions and p-Au,\,\,S-S,\,\,S-Ag,\,\,S-Au ('central')collisions are compared to experimental data available from CERN experiments and also with recent theoretical estimations given by others models. Neutral strange particle abundances are quite well described for p-p,N-N and p-A interactions ,but are underpredicted by a factor of two in A-A interactions for $\Lambda,\bar{\Lambda}, K^{0}_{S}$ in symmetric collisions(S-S,\,\,Pb-Pb)and for $\Lambda,\bar{\Lambda}\,\,$in asymmetric ones(S-Ag,\,\,S-Au,\,\,S-W). A qualitative prediction for rapidity, transverse kinetic energy and transverse momenta normalized distributions are performed at 200 GeV/Nucleon in p-S,S-S,S-Ag and S-Au collisions in comparison with recent experimental data. HIJING model predictions for coming experiments at CERN for S-Au, S-W and Pb-Pb interactions are given. The theoretical calculations are estimated in a full phase space.Comment: 33 pages(LATEX),18 figures not included,available in hard copy upon request , Dipartamento di Fisica Padova,report DFPD-94-NP-4

Overview of organic standards globally, Trends in standard development

We are in a period of rapid development of organic standards globally. Most of the development is in terms of the number of standards, including regulations. Especially for countries with a quasi non-existent organic sector, the trend is towards fast regulatory development, which poses a number of problems. In the private standards, there is a continued trend for differentiation, however balanced by a harmonization trend as a result of the IFOAM Family of Standards

How Social Norms Can Make the World More Regular and Better

Is there any difference between social norms and mere regularities emerging spontaneously from the behaviours of entities that have no norm-based cognition? And if so, which effects do we expect to observe in a world in which agents are endowed with such a type of cognition? The agent-based simulations presented here are aimed to understand what would happen in a world populated by normative agents, able to recognize norms and to reason upon them, compared to other, cognitively, less complex agents, following only their own individual goals

A convention or (tacit) agreement betwixt us: on reliance and its normative consequences

The aim of this paper is to clarify what kind of normativity characterizes a convention. First, we argue that conventions have normative consequences because they always involve a form of trust and reliance.We contend that it is by reference to a moral principle impinging on these aspects (i.e. the principle of Reliability) that interpersonal obligations and rights originate from conventional regularities. Second, we argue that the system of mutual expectations presupposed by conventions is a source of agreements. Agreements stemming from conventions are "tacit" in the sense that they are implicated by what agents do (or forbear from doing) and without that any communication between them is necessary. To justify this conclusion, we assume that: (1) there is a salient interpretation, in some contexts, of everyone\u27s silence as confirmatory of the others\u27 expectations (an epistemic assumption), and (2) the participating agents share a value of not being motivated by hostile attitudes (a motivational assumption). By clarifying the relation between conventions and agreements, the peculiar normativity of conventions is analyzed

Baryon anomaly and strong color fields in Pb+Pb collisions at 2.76A TeV at the CERN Large Hadron Collider

With the HIJING/BBbar v2.0 heavy ion event generator, we explore the phenomenological consequences of several high parton density dynamical effects predicted in central Pb+Pb collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) energies. These include (1) jet quenching due to parton energy loss (dE/dx), (2) strangeness and hyperon enhancement due to strong longitudinal color field (SCF), and (3) enhancement of baryon-to-meson ratios due to baryon-anti-baryon junctions (JJbar) loops and SCF effects. The saturation/minijet cutoff scale p0(s)and effective string tension kappa(s,A) are constrained by our previous analysis of LHC p+p data and recent data on the charged multiplicity for Pb+Pb collisions reported by the ALICE collaboration. We predict the hadron flavor dependence (mesons and baryons) of the nuclear modification factor RAA(pT)$ and emphasize the possibility that the baryon anomaly could persist at the LHC up to pT=10 GeV, well beyond the range observed in central Au+Au collisions at RHIC energies.Comment: 25 pages, 8 figures, revtex4, text modifications, added references, accepted for publication Phys. Rev. C (2011

From anarchy to monopoly : how competition and protection shaped mafia's behavior

Mafia-like organizations are highly dynamic and organized criminal groups characterized by their extortive activities that impact societies and economies in different modes and magnitudes. This renders the understanding of how these organizations evolved an objective of both scientific and applicationoriented interests. We propose an agent-based simulation model - the Extortion Racket System model - aimed at understanding the factors and processes explaining the successful settlement of the Sicilian Mafia in Southern Italy, and which may more generally account for the transition from an anarchical situation of uncoordinated extortion to a monopolistic social order. Our results show that in situations of anarchy, these organizations do not last long. This indicates that a monopolistic situation shall be preferred over anarchical ones. Competition is a necessary and sufficient condition for the emergence of a monopolistic situation. However, when competition is combined with protection, the resulting monopolistic regime presents features that make it even more preferable and sustainable for the targets

Undeclared animal species in dry and wet novel and hydrolyzed protein diets for dogs and cats detected by microarray analysis

Abstract Background Although the European Pet Food Industry Federation (FEDIAF) stated that labels must be accurate and provide detailed information on the ingredients, mislabeling of pet food has been documented by several authors. This phenomenon is of particular concern when related to products used as elimination diets for the diagnosis of adverse food reaction (AFR) in dogs and cats because the presence of undeclared ingredients may negatively interfere with the trial and prevent the veterinarian from making an appropriate diagnosis. The aim of this study was to shed light upon the problem of contamination and mislabeling in both dry and wet novel protein diets (NPDs) and hydrolyzed protein diets (HPDs) using a microarray-based commercial kit which tests for the presence of 19 animal species. Results Of the 40 analyzed products (9 dry NPDs, 22 wet NPDs, 6 dry HPDs and 3 wet HPDs), ten presented a content that correctly matched the label, while five did not contain the declared animal species, twenty-three revealed the presence of undeclared animal species, and two had a vague label that did not allow the evaluation of its accuracy. The most frequently contaminants identified in both dry and wet pet foods were pork, chicken and turkey. The presence of undeclared animal species was higher in dry than wet pet foods; furthermore, a lower number of contaminating animal species was identified in HPDs than NPDs (4 vs 10), and a lower number of contaminated HPDs (6 out of 9, 67%) than contaminated NPDs was detected (24 out of 31, 77%). Thirteen out of 14 brands tested presented at least one mislabeled product. Conclusions Mislabeling seems to be a widespread issue in pet foods used as elimination diets. Contamination can occur in all types of products used for the purpose, although dry NPDs are the main issue. Due to the high risk of contamination, particular attention should be given to both the selection of raw material suppliers and the production process

Emergence In the Loop: Simulating the two way dynamics of norm innovation

In this paper we will present the EMIL project, "EMergence In the Loop: Simulating the two-way dynamics of norm innovation", a three-year project funded by the European Commission (Sixth Framework Programme -Information Society and Technologies) in the framework of the initiative "Simulating Emergent Properties in Complex Systems". The EMIL project intends to contribute to the study of social complex systems by modelling norm innovation as a phenomenon implying interrelationships among multiple levels. It shall endeavour to point out that social dynamics in societies of intelligent agents is necessarily bi-directional, which adds complexity to the emergence processes. The micro-macro link will be modelled and observed in the emergence of properties at the macro-level and their immergence into the micro-level units. The main scientific aim of the EMIL project is to construct a simulator for exploring and experimenting norm-innovation

Punish and Voice: Punishment Enhances Cooperation when Combined with Norm-Signalling

Material punishment has been suggested to play a key role in sustaining human cooperation. Experimental findings, however, show that inflicting mere material costs does not always increase cooperation and may even have detrimental effects. Indeed, ethnographic evidence suggests that the most typical punishing strategies in human ecologies (e.g., gossip, derision, blame and criticism) naturally combine normative information with material punishment. Using laboratory experiments with humans, we show that the interaction of norm communication and material punishment leads to higher and more stable cooperation at a lower cost for the group than when used separately. In this work, we argue and provide experimental evidence that successful human cooperation is the outcome of the interaction between instrumental decision-making and the norm psychology humans are provided with. Norm psychology is a cognitive machinery to detect and reason upon norms that is characterized by a salience mechanism devoted to track how much a norm is prominent within a group. We test our hypothesis both in the laboratory and with an agent-based model. The agent-based model incorporates fundamental aspects of norm psychology absent from previous work. The combination of these methods allows us to provide an explanation for the proximate mechanisms behind the observed cooperative behaviour. The consistency between the two sources of data supports our hypothesis that cooperation is a product of norm psychology solicited by norm-signalling and coercive devices

Morphological and functional effects of graphene on the synthesis of uranium carbide for isotopes production targets

AbstractThe development of tailored targets for the production of radioactive isotopes represents an active field in nuclear research. Radioactive beams find applications in nuclear medicine, in astrophysics, matter physics and materials science. In this work, we study the use of graphene both as carbon source for UO2 carbothermal reduction to produce UCx targets, and also as functional properties booster. At fixed composition, the UCx target grain size, porosity and thermal conductivity represent the three main points that affect the target production efficiency. UCx was synthesized using both graphite and graphene as the source of carbon and the target properties in terms of composition, grain size, porosity, thermal diffusivity and thermal conductivity were studied. The main output of this work is related to the remarkable enhancement achieved in thermal conductivity, which can profitably improve thermal dissipation during operational stages of UCx targets.</jats:p