Introduction to Particle and Astroparticle Physics : Multimessenger Astronomy and its Particle Physics Foundations -2/E

This book introduces particle physics, astrophysics and cosmology starting from experiment. It provides a unified view of these fields, which is needed to answer our questions to the Universe–a unified view that has been lost somehow in recent years due to increasing specialization. This is the second edition of a book we published only three years ago, a book which had a success beyond our expectations. We felt that the recent progress on gravitational waves, gamma ray and neutrino astrophysics deserved a new edition including all these new developments: multimessenger astronomy is now a reality. In addition, the properties of the Higgs particle are much better known now than three years ago. Thanks to this second edition we had the opportunity to fix some bugs, to extend the material related to exercises, and to change in a more logical form the order of some items. Last but not least, our editor encouraged us a lot to write a second edition. Particle physics has recently seen the incredible success of the so-called standard model. A 50-year long search for the missing ingredient of the model, the Higgs particle, has been concluded successfully, and some scientists claim that we are close to the limit of the physics humans may know

Effect of airborne particle abrasion on microtensile bond strength of total-etch adhesives to human dentin

Aim of this study was to investigate a specific airborne particle abrasion pretreatment on dentin and its effects on microtensile bond strengths of four commercial total-etch adhesives. Midcoronal occlusal dentin of extracted human molars was used. Teeth were randomly assigned to 4 groups according to the adhesive system used: OptiBond FL (FL), OptiBond Solo Plus (SO), Prime & Bond (PB), and Riva Bond LC (RB). Specimens from each group were further divided into two subgroups: control specimens were treated with adhesive procedures; abraded specimens were pretreated with airborne particle abrasion using 50 mu m Al2O3 before adhesion. After bonding procedures, composite crowns were incrementally built up. Specimens were sectioned perpendicular to adhesive interface to producemultiple beams, which were tested under tension until failure. Data were statistically analysed. Failure mode analysis was performed. Overall comparison showed significant increase in bond strength (p < 0.001) between abraded and no-abraded specimens, independently of brand. Intrabrand comparison showed statistical increase when abraded specimens were tested compared to no-abraded ones, with the exception of PB that did not show such difference. Distribution of failure mode was relatively uniform among all subgroups. Surface treatment by airborne particle abrasion with Al2O3 particles can increase the bond strength of total-etch adhesive

Is type 2 diabetes really resolved after laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy? Glucose variability studied by continuous glucose monitoring

The study was carried out on type 2 diabetic obese patients who underwent laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG). Patients underwent regular glycemic controls throughout 3 years and all patients were defined cured from diabetes according to conventional criteria defined as normalization of fasting glucose levels and glycated hemoglobin in absence of antidiabetic therapy. After 3 years of follow-up, Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) was performed in each patient to better clarify the remission of diabetes. In this study, we found that the diabetes resolution after LSG occurred in 40% of patients; in the other 60%, even if they showed a normal fasting glycemia and A1c, patients spent a lot of time in hyperglycemia. During the oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT), we found that 2 h postload glucose determinations revealed overt diabetes only in a small group of patients and might be insufficient to exclude the diagnosis of diabetes in the other patients who spent a lot of time in hyperglycemia, even if they showed a normal glycemia (&lt;140 mg/dL) at 120 minutes OGTT. These interesting data could help clinicians to better individualize patients in which diabetes is not resolved and who could need more attention in order to prevent chronic complications of diabetes

METHODS FOR OBTAINING. HOLLOW NANO-STRUCTURES

Methods are provided for obtaining hollow nano-structures which include the steps of providing a Suspended film starting layer on a Support Substrate, depositing on the starting layer a sacrificial layer, performing, in progressive sequence, a com plete erosion phase of said Support Substrate and starting layer and performing an at least partial erosion phase of the sacri ficial layer previously deposited on the starting layer so as to obtain holes passing through the starting layer and passing or non passing through the sacrificial layer, depositing, on the side of the support substrate opposite to that where the start ing layer is put, at least one covering layer arranged to inter nally cover the holes created by the progressive erosion. Hol low nano-structures formed by Such methods are also provided

The consequence of different loading rates in elasto/viscoplasticity

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Betting on bitcoin: a profitable trading between directional and shielding strategies

In this paper, we come up with an original trading strategy on Bitcoins. The methodology we propose is profit-oriented, and it is based on buying or selling the so-called Contracts for Difference, so that the investor’s gain, assessed at a given future time t, is obtained as the difference between the predicted Bitcoin price and an apt threshold. Starting from some empirical findings, and passing through the specification of a suitable theoretical model for the Bitcoin price process, we are able to provide possible investment scenarios, thanks to the use of a Recurrent Neural Network with a Long Short-Term Memory for predicting purposes

Impact of soil moisture over Palmer Drought Severity Index and its future projections in Brazil Avaliação da umidade do solo e do Índice de Severidade de Seca de Palmer no Brasil e suas projeções futuras

Soil moisture is a main factor for the study of drought impacts on vegetation. Drought is a regional phenomenon and affects the food security more than any other natural disaster. Currently, the monitoring of different types of drought is based on indexes that standardize in temporal and regional level allowing, thus, comparison of water conditions in different areas. Therefore, in order to assess the impact of soil moisture during periods of drought, drought Palmer Severity Index was estimated for the entire region of the territory. For this were used meteorological data (rainfall and evapotranspiration) and soil (field capacity, permanent wilting point and water storage in the soil). The data field capacity and wilting point were obtained from the physical properties of soil; while the water storage in soil was calculated considering the water balance model. The results of the PSDI were evaluated during the years 2000 to 2015, which correspond to periods with and without occurrence of drought. In order to assess the future drought projections, considering the set of the Coupled Model Intercomparison rainfall data Project Phase 5 (CMIP5). Climate projections precipitation in CMIP5 for the period 2071-2100 was extracted generating entitled forcing scenarios Representative Concentration Pathways - RCPs, and referred to as RCOP 8.5, corresponding to an approximate radiative forcing the end the twenty-first century of 8.5 Wm-2. The results showed that the PDSI is directly associated with climatological patterns of precipitation and soil moisture in any spatial and temporal scale (including future projections). Therefore, it is concluded that the PDSI is an important index to assess soil moisture different water conditions, as well as the association with economic and social information to create risk maps for subsidies to decision makers.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Retinoic Acid Specifically Enhances Embryonic Stem Cell Metastate Marked by Zscan4

Pluripotency confers Embryonic Stem Cells (ESCs) the ability to differentiate in ectoderm, endoderm, and mesoderm derivatives, producing the majority of cell types. Although the majority of ESCs divide without losing pluripotency, it has become evident that ESCs culture consists of multiple cell populations with different degrees of potency that are spontaneously induced in regular ESC culture conditions. Zscan4, a key pluripotency factor, marks ESC subpopulation that is referred to as high-level of pluripotency metastate. Here, we report that in ESC cultures treated with retinoic acid (RA), Zscan4 ESCs metastate is strongly enhanced. In particular, we found that induction of Zscan4 metastate is mediated via RA receptors (RAR-alpha, RAR-beta, and RAR-gamma), and it is dependent on phosphoinositide-3-kinase (PI3K) signaling. Remarkably, Zscan4 metastate induced by RA lacks canonical pluripotency genes Oct3/4 and Nanog but retained both self-renewal and pluripotency capabilities. Finally we demonstrated that the conditional ablation of Zscan4 subpopulation is dispensable for both endoderm and mesoderm but is required for ectoderm lineage. In conclusion, our research provides new insights about the role of RA signaling during ESCs high pluripotency metastate fluctuation