Searches for new particles at LEP: a summary report

We review the progress made at LEP in the quest for new particles.Comment: 10 pages, latex, 1 figure, summary talk given at `13th Convegno sulla Fisica al LEP (LEPTRE 2001)', Rome, Italy, 18-20 April 200

Full QCD on APE100 Machines

We present the first tests and results from a study of QCD with two flavours of dynamical Wilson fermions using the Hybrid Monte Carlo Algorithm (HMCA) on APE100 machines.Comment: 23 pages, LaTeX, 13 PS figures not include

Editorial: The Association of Other Autoimmune Diseases in Patients With Thyroid Autoimmunity

Autoimmune thyroid diseases (AITD) are T cell-mediated organ-specific autoimmune disorders resulting from an immune dysregulation leading to a thyroid immune attack (Antonelli and Benvenga). Graves’ disease and Hashimoto’s thyroiditis are the two main clinical presentations of AITD, and their clinical hallmarks are thyrotoxicosis and hypothyroidism, respectively. In many cases, AITD may be associated in the same patient with other organ-specific autoimmune attacks (such as in the case of type II autoimmune polyglandular syndrome, or type I diabetes, etc). Furthermore, AITD and thyroid function abnormalities have been frequently described in patients with systemic rheumatologic autoimmune diseases. Conversely, patients affected with the above mentioned autoimmune disorders are more frequently affected by AITD.In this Research Topic, constituted by nineteen papers, we review and discuss new evidence about the association of other autoimmune diseases in patients with AITD. Among other organ-specific autoimmune disorders, the associations of AITD with chronic autoimmune gastritis (Cellini et al.), vitiligo (Baldini E et al.), lichen (Guarneri et al.), psoriasis (Ruffilli et al.), myasthenia gravis (Lopomo and Berrih-Aknin) and glomerulopathies (Santoro et al.) have been treated. Also the associations of AITD, in systemic autoimmune diseases have been treated (as Sjögren’s syndrome, Baldini C et al.; systemic sclerosis, Fallahi et al.; systemic lupus erythematosus, Ferrari et al.; Antiphospholipid syndrome, Versini; sarcoidosis, Fazzi et al.; the autoimmune/inflammatory syndrome induced by adjuvants, Watad et al.; rheumatoid arthritis, Bliddal et al.; Hepatitis C Virus and mixed cryoglobulinemia, Ferri et al.; and, psoriathic arthritis, Ruffilli et al.). Furthermore peculiar aspects associated with post partum thyroiditis have been reviewed too (Di Bari et al., Le Donne et al.).The exact pathogenetic mechanisms underlying the above reported associations are not completely known. It has been hypothesized that the influence of genetic (Coppedè), and environmental factors (Antonelli and Benvenga), could lead to the onset of autoimmune phenomena in different organs in the same subject, characterized by predominance of a Th1 immune pattern at the beginning, and in the active phase of these disorders.In conclusion, an association of other autoimmune diseases in patients with thyroid autoimmunity has been shown, and this Research Topic provides an extensive update of the literature, and suggests interesting points for new investigations

Self-Regulated Learning Characteristics of First Generation College Students

The purpose of this study was to explore the characteristics of first generation (FG) college students in terms of the SRL components upon which many college student success courses (SSC) are designed. Using an ex post facto research design, the author analyzed the archival records of 914 full-time degree-seeking undergraduate students who had self-enrolled in a required SSC at a large, demographically diverse university over six consecutive semesters (Fall 2012 - Spring 2015). Defined as a student for whom neither parent had any type or quantity of education beyond high school, FG college students (n = 288) comprised 31.5% of the total data sample. The web-based Learning and Study Strategies Inventory (LASSI) 2nd edition was used to measure students’ SRL characteristics by generational status at course entry. Analyses were conducted in two phases. First, descriptive statistical analyses of the archived LASSI data revealed that FG college students did not score universally higher or lower than non-FG college students. Moreover, both FG and non-FG undergraduate students scored lower than 50% of the national norming sample on most scales, suggesting several productive areas for intervention. Second, findings from ten independent samples t tests revealed that FG students were significantly more interested in and had better attitudes toward achieving academic success than non-FG students, though both groups scored at a level indicating an area of relative weakness. No other statistically significant differences were found. Results suggest that college students’ FG status and its relationship to SRL are complex. These findings have important implications for students, administrators, policymakers, and practitioners. Strengths and limitations of the study are discussed and a professional development action plan is advanced for the purpose of improving postsecondary outcomes and opportunities for all students.Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, Department o

Weak solutions to problems involving inviscid fluids

We consider an abstract functional-differential equation derived from the pressure-less Euler system with variable coefficients that includes several systems of partial differential equations arising in the fluid mechanics. Using the method of convex integration we show the existence of infinitely many weak solutions for prescribed initial data and kinetic energy

Non-factorizable contributions to Bd0ˉ→Ds(∗)Ds(∗)ˉ\bar{B^0_d} \to D_s^{(*)} \bar{D_s^{(*)}}

It is pointed out that decays of the type $B \to D \bar{D}$ have no factorizable contributions, unless at least one of the charmed mesons in the final state is a vector meson. The dominant contributions to the decay amplitudes arise from chiral loop contributions and tree level amplitudes generated by soft gluon emissions forming a gluon condensate. We predict that the branching ratios for the processes $\bar B^0 \to D_s^+ D_s^-$, $\bar B^0 \to D_s^{+*} D_s^-$ and $\bar B^0 \to D_s^+ D_s^{-*}$ are all of order $(3- 4) \times 10^{-4}$, while $\bar B^0 \to D_s^{+*} D_s^{-*}$ has a branching ratio 5 to 10 times bigger. We emphasize that the branching ratios are sensitive to $1/m_c$ corrections.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures. Based on talk by J.O. Eeg at BEACH 2004, 6th international conference on Hyperons, Charm and Beauty Hadrons, Illionois Institute of Technology, Chicago, june. 27 - july 3, 200

Extragalactic gamma-ray background from AGN winds and star-forming galaxies in cosmological galaxy formation models

We derive the contribution to the extragalactic gamma-ray background (EGB) from AGN winds and star-forming galaxies by including a physical model for the gamma-ray emission produced by relativistic protons accelerated by AGN-driven and supernova-driven shocks into a state-of-the-art semi-analytic model of galaxy formation. This is based on galaxy interactions as triggers of AGN accretion and starburst activity and on expanding blast wave as the mechanism to communicate outwards the energy injected into the interstellar medium by the active nucleus. We compare the model predictions with the latest measurement of the EGB spectrum performed by the Fermi-LAT in the range between 100 MeV and 820 GeV. We find that AGN winds can provide ~35$\pm$15% of the observed EGB in the energy interval E_{\gamma}=0.1-1 GeV, for ~73$\pm$15% at E_{\gamma}=1-10 GeV, and for ~60$\pm$20% at E_{\gamma}>10 GeV. The AGN wind contribution to the EGB is predicted to be larger by a factor of 3-5 than that provided by star-forming galaxies (quiescent plus starburst) in the hierarchical clustering scenario. The cumulative gamma-ray emission from AGN winds and blazars can account for the amplitude and spectral shape of the EGB, assuming the standard acceleration theory, and AGN wind parameters that agree with observations. We also compare the model prediction for the cumulative neutrino background from AGN winds with the most recent IceCube data. We find that for AGN winds with accelerated proton spectral index p=2.2-2.3, and taking into account internal absorption of gamma-rays, the Fermi-LAT and IceCube data could be reproduced simultaneously.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in A&

Neutrino and astroparticle physics

We report on the neutrinos and astroparticle session of this workshop and discuss the present status and future perspectives of this research field

The X-ray afterglow of GRB 081109A: clue to the wind bubble structure

We present the prompt BAT and afterglow XRT data of Swift-discovered GRB081109A up to ~ 5\times 10^5 sec after the trigger, and the early ground-based optical follow-ups. The temporal and spectral indices of the X-ray afterglow emission change remarkably. We interpret this as the GRB jet first traversing the freely expanding supersonic stellar wind of the progenitor with density varying as $\rho \propto r^{-2}$. Then after approximately 300 sec the jet traverses into a region of apparent constant density similar to that expected in the stalled-wind region of a stellar wind bubble or the interstellar medium (ISM). The optical afterglow data are generally consistent with such a scenario. Our best numerical model has a wind density parameter {$A_{*} \sim 0.02$, a density of the stalled wind $n\sim 0.12 {\rm cm}^{-3}$, and a transition radius $\sim 4.5 \times 10^{17}$ cm}. Such a transition radius is smaller than that predicted by numerical simulations of the stellar wind bubbles and may be due to a rapidly evolving wind of the progenitor close to the time of its core-collapse.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, 2 tables, MNRAS accepted for publicatio