Branching fractions and charge asymmetries in charmless hadronic B decays at BABAR

We present measurements of branching fraction, polarization and charge asymmetry in charmless hadronic B decays with eta, eta', omega, and b_1 in the final state. All the results use the final BABAR dataset.Comment: 4 pages, contributed to the Proceedings of the EPS HEP 2009 Conferenc

Measurements of Time-Dependent CP Asymmetries in b\to s Penguin Dominated Hadronic B Decays at BaBar

We report measurements of Time-Dependent CP asymmetries in several $b\to s$ penguin dominated hadronic B decays, where New Physics contributions may appear. We find no significant discrepancies with respect to the Standard Model expectations.Comment: 4 pages, contributed to the Proceedings of SUSY0

L'influenza dei sistemi elettorali nella stabilita' dei governi

The aim of this paper is to study the consequences of different electoral systems in terms of stability of the executive branch, through their influence on the structure of the party system. The main purpose is to examine whether plurality systems cause stability while proportional ones give rise to instability. I carried out some simulations by using the program Alex4.1. I processed the data concerning the results of the 2006 Italian general election and I defined the Italian political space on the grounds of Benoit and Laver's expert survey. Stability was then evaluated by using Schofield's and Shepsle's theories. The use of the two theories led to different conclusions, which deserve further investigation.

Tinnitus, medial olivocochlear system and music exposure in adolescents

The most common cause of tinnitus is the exposure to noise; in the case of adolescents, music is the main sound source they are exposed to. Currently, one of the hypotheses about the genesis of tinnitus is related to the deterioration in the functioning of the medial olivocochlear system (MOCS). The aim of this study was to determine the presence or absence of tinnitus in adolescents with normal hearing and to relate it to: (a) the functioning of the MOCS, by the contralateral suppression of the transient evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAEs) and (b) the musical general exposure (MGE). A cross-sectional descriptive correlational study was conducted. The sample was composed by adolescents with ages between 14 and 15. Two questionnaires were administered, one in relation to the subjective report of tinnitus and the other in relation to recreational activities to know the MGE. The results showed that the amplitude of frequencies (1000, 1500, 2000, and 3000 Hz) and global amplitude of TEOAEs, with and without acoustic contralateral stimulation, were higher in the group without tinnitus, with a statistically significant difference (P < 0.05). The suppressive effect was higher in the group without tinnitus; however, there was no statistically significant difference. Contrastingly, a significant association (P < 0.05) between exposure to music and tinnitus was observed; 72.41% of the adolescents with high exposure to music had tinnitus.Discussion and Conclusion:The results of the present investigation provide a contribution to the hypothesis of "the participation of the MOCS." Furthermore, a high MGE can be considered a risk factor for the onset of tinnitus.Fil: Hinalaf, María de Los Angeles. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Medicina; Argentina. Centro de Investigación y Transferencia en Acústica; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Maggi, Ana Luz. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Centro de Investigación y Transferencia en Acústica; ArgentinaFil: Hug, Mercedes Ximena. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Psicología; Argentina. Centro de Investigación y Transferencia en Acústica; ArgentinaFil: Kogan, Pablo. Centro de Investigación y Transferencia en Acústica; ArgentinaFil: Perez Villalobo, Jorge Alejandro. Centro de Investigación y Transferencia en Acústica; ArgentinaFil: Biassoni, Ester Cristina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Centro de Investigación y Transferencia en Acústica; Argentin

Pediatric extraspinal sacrococcygeal ependymoma (ESE): an Italian AIEOP experience of six cases and literature review

Background: Primary pediatric extraspinal sacrococcygeal ependymoma (ESE) is a very rare disease, poorly described in literature, whose diagnostic, therapeutic, and follow-up approach is still controversial. Methods: We describe six cases of pediatric ESE treated at Associazione Italiana Ematologia Oncologia Pediatrica (AIEOP) centers in Italy since 1983, with a review of the literature. Results: All six patients had primary sacrococcygeal disease (two presacral and four subcutaneous) with median age of 10 years. Three patients were males, and two of them are metastatic at diagnosis; 3/6 had myxopapillary ependymoma grade I and 3/6 had classic ependymoma grade II. Five patients underwent surgical resection with complete removal only in one case with coccygectomy. Adjuvant chemoradiotherapy was administered to one metastatic patient obtaining a complete remission. Two patients relapsed at 3 and 8 years from diagnosis: they were treated with salvage chemotherapy (high-dose sequential chemotherapy with myeloablative regimen in one case), surgery, and radiotherapy achieving complete remission (CR). All six patients are in complete continuous remission (CCR) at a median follow-up of 12.8 years. Conclusions: Pediatric patients with this peculiar disease need to be referred to specialized pediatric cancer centers that can provide multidisciplinary treatment after a centralized pathology review. Our experience highlights the role of chemotherapy and radiotherapy in adjuvant and relapse setting. The final prognosis is relatively optimistic, but with a careful follow-up due to the high risk of recurrence

Solar hydrogen production with cerium oxides thermochemical cycle

This paper discusses the hydrogen production using a solar driven thermochemical cycle. The thermochemical cycle is based on nonstoichiometric cerium oxides redox and the solar concentration system is a solar dish. Detailed optical and redox models were developed to optimize the hydrogen production performance as function of several design parameters (i.e. concentration ratio, reactor pressures and temperatures) The efficiency of the considered technology is compared against two commercially available technologies namely PV + electrolyzer and Dish Stirling + electrolyzer. Results show that solar-to-fuel efficiency of 21.2% can be achieved at design condition assuming a concentration ratio around 5000, reduction and oxidation temperatures of 1500°C and 1275 °C. When moving to annual performance, the annual yield of the considered approach can be as high as 16.7% which is about 43% higher than the best competitive technology. The higher performance implies that higher installation costs around 40% can be accepted for the innovative concept to achieve the same cost of hydrogen

Analysis of heavy spin--3/2 baryon--heavy spin--1/2 baryon--light vector meson vertices in QCD

The heavy spin--3/2 baryon--heavy spin--1/2 baryon vertices with light vector mesons are studied within the light cone QCD sum rules method. These vertices are parametrized in terms of three coupling constants. These couplings are calculated for all possible transitions. It is shown that correlation functions for these transitions are described by only one invariant function for every Lorenz structure. The obtained relations between the correlation functions of the different transitions are structure independent while explicit expressions of invariant functions depend on the Lorenz structure.Comment: 17 Pages, 6 Figures and 4 Table

The 4 K outer cryostat for the CUORE experiment: construction and quality control

The external shell of the CUORE cryostat is a large cryogen-free system designed to host the dilution refrigerator and the bolometers of the CUORE experiment in a low radioactivity environment. The three vessels that form the outer shell were produced and delivered to the Gran Sasso underground Laboratories in July 2012. In this paper, we describe the production techniques and the validation tests done at the production site in 2012.Comment: 11 pages, 13 figures; to appear in NIM