Graphene tests of Klein phenomena

Graphene is characterized by chiral electronic excitations. As such it provides a perfect testing ground for the production of Klein pairs (electron/holes). If confirmed, the standard results for barrier phenomena must be reconsidered with, as a byproduct, the accumulation within the barrier of holes.Comment: 8 page

Tuning the magnetic and structural phase transitions of PrFeAsO via Fe/Ru spin dilution

Neutron diffraction and muon spin relaxation measurements are used to obtain a detailed phase diagram of Pr(Fe,Ru)AsO. The isoelectronic substitution of Ru for Fe acts effectively as spin dilution, suppressing both the structural and magnetic phase transitions. The temperature of the tetragonal-orthorhombic structural phase transition decreases gradually as a function of x. Slightly below the transition temperature coherent precessions of the muon spin are observed corresponding to static magnetism, possibly reflecting a significant magneto-elastic coupling in the FeAs layers. Short range order in both the Fe and Pr moments persists for higher levels of x. The static magnetic moments disappear at a concentration coincident with that expected for percolation of the J1-J2 square lattice model

Modeling eating disorders of cognitive impaired people

Millions of people all around the world suffer from eating disorders, known as anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, pica, and others. When eating disorders coexist with other mental health disorders, eating disorders often go undiagnosed and untreated; a low number of sufferers obtain treatment for the eating disorder. Unfortunately, eating disorders have also the highest mortality rate of any mental illness, upwards of 20%. This paper focuses on monitoring eating disorders of cognitive impaired people as patients with the Alzheimer’s disease. The proposed approach relies on the application of Ambient Intelligence (AmI) technologies and a new method for the detection of abnormal human behaviors in a controlled environment

Clustering of vertically constrained passive particles in homogeneous, isotropic turbulence

We analyze the dynamics of small particles vertically confined, by means of a linear restoring force, to move within a horizontal fluid slab in a three-dimensional (3D) homogeneous isotropic turbulent velocity field. The model that we introduce and study is possibly the simplest description for the dynamics of small aquatic organisms that, due to swimming, active regulation of their buoyancy, or any other mechanism, maintain themselves in a shallow horizontal layer below the free surface of oceans or lakes. By varying the strength of the restoring force, we are able to control the thickness of the fluid slab in which the particles can move. This allows us to analyze the statistical features of the system over a wide range of conditions going from a fully 3D incompressible flow (corresponding to the case of no confinement) to the extremely confined case corresponding to a two-dimensional slice. The background 3D turbulent velocity field is evolved by means of fully resolved direct numerical simulations. Whenever some level of vertical confinement is present, the particle trajectories deviate from that of fluid tracers and the particles experience an effectively compressible velocity field. Here, we have quantified the compressibility, the preferential concentration of the particles, and the correlation dimension by changing the strength of the restoring force. The main result is that there exists a particular value of the force constant, corresponding to a mean slab depth approximately equal to a few times the Kolmogorov length scale, that maximizes the clustering of the particles

The heuristic strategies for assessing wireless sensor network: an event-based formal approach

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are increasingly being adopted in critical applications. In these networks undesired events may undermine the reliability level; thus their effects need to be properly assessed from the early stages of the development process onwards to minimize the chances of unexpected problems during use. In this paper we propose two heuristic strategies: what-if analysis and robustness checking. They allow to drive designers towards optimal WSN deployment solutions, from the point of view of the connection and data delivery resiliency, exploiting a formal approach based on the event calculus formal language. The heuristics are backed up by a support tool aimed to simplify their adoption by system designers. The tool allows to specify the target WSN in a user-friendly way and it is able to elaborate the two heuristic strategies by means of the event calculus specifications automatically generated. The WSN reliability is assessed computing a set of specific metrics. The effectiveness of the strategies is shown in the context of three case studies

Signals of Warped Extra Dimensions at the LHC

We discuss the signatures of the spin-2 graviton excitations predicted by the Randall-Sundrum model with one warped extra dimension, in dilepton and diphoton production at LHC. By using a specific angular analysis, we assess the ranges in mass and coupling constant where such gravitons can be discriminated against competitor spin-1 and spin-0 objects, that potentially could manifest themselves in these processes with the same mass and rate of events. Depending on the value of the coupling constant to quarks and leptons, the numerical results indicate graviton identification mass ranges up to 1.1-2.4 TeV and 1.6-3.2 TeV for LHC nominal energy of 14 TeV and time-integrated luminosity of 10 and 100~${\rm fb}^{-1}$, respectively.Comment: 8 pages, Talk given at QCD@Work - International Workshop on QCD - Theory and Experiment, 20 - 23 June, 2010, Martina Franca Ital

Destination Online Communication: Why Less is Sometimes More. A Study of Online Communications of English Destinations

This research investigates the relationship between Web site design and the Web site end-user experience of a vast number of English tourism destinations, both local and regional ones. Following recent research in the field, this paper evaluates destinations' online communication based on the implemented Web site features and on the effectiveness of the communication itself, borrowing its research methodology from different domains. After content and functionality analysis, a user-experience, scenario-based investigation has been carried out, which demonstrated that complex Web sites do not always serve end-users' needs properly; in other words, Web site complexity is not directly related with good user experience. This research may help destination managers to foster their online communication if they have fewer content and functionalities but are better focused and clearly user-oriented. © 2014 Taylor & Francis

A geobotanical survey on acidophilous grasslands in the Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise National Park (Central Italy)

The acidophilous grasslands of the south-eastern part of the Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise National Park was studied by the phytosociological method and analyzed from a synecological viewpoint with the help of soil analysis. Four clusters of relevés resulted from the numerical classification. Syntaxonomically they were ascribed to the following associations: Poo violaceae-Nardetum strictae, Potentillo rigoanae-Festucetum paniculatae, Nardo strictae-Brachypodietum genuensis and Potentillo rigoanae-Brachypodietum genuensis. Since the original proposal of all the syntaxa identified in the present study were affected by nomenclatural mistakes, they were corrected in accordance with the rules of ICPN. The occurrence of Anthoxanto-Brachypodietum in central Apennines, is excluded since this association falls in syntaxonomical synonymy with Potentillo-Brachypodietum. The synecological analysis proved that the distribution of the different communities identified within the study area to be correlated with topographic, geomorphological and soil factors. Among these latter, the ratio H+/basic cations, pH behave as the most influencing parameters in the distribution of the communities identified

Partial purification and MALDI-TOF MS analysis of UN1, a tumor antigen membrane glycoprotein.

UN1 is a membrane glycoprotein that is expressed in immature human thymocytes, a subpopulation of peripheral T lymphocytes, the HPB acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) T-cell line and fetal thymus. We previously reported the isolation of a monoclonal antibody (UN1 mAb) recognizing the UN1 protein that was classified as "unclustered" at the 5th and 6th International Workshop and Conference on Human Leukocyte Differentiation Antigens. UN1 was highly expressed in breast cancer tissues and was undetected in non-proliferative lesions and in normal breast tissues, indicating a role for UN1 in the development of a tumorigenic phenotype of breast cancer cells. In this study, we report a partial purification of the UN1 protein from HPB-ALL T cells by anion-exchange chromatography followed by immunoprecipitation with the UN1 mAb and MALDI-TOF MS analysis. This analysis should assist in identifying the amino acid sequence of UN