Historical solar Ca II K observations at the Rome and Catania observatories

Here we present the little explored Ca II K archives from the Rome and the Catania observatories and analyse the digitised images from these archives to derive plage areas.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, to be published in "Nuovo Cimento C" as proceeding of the Third Meeting of the Italian Solar and Heliospheric Communit

The Atlantic blue crab Callinectes sapidus in southern European coastal waters: distribution, impact and prospective invasion management strategies

[EN] The native distribution of the blue crab Callinectes sapidus in the western Atlantic extends from Nova Scotia to Argentina. Introduced to Europe at the beginning of the 20th century, it is currently recorded almost ubiquitously in the Mediterranean and in the Black Sea. An overview of the occurrence, abundance, and ecological impact of the species in southern European waters is provided; additionally, we present a pragmatic assessment of its management scenarios, explicitly considering the dual nature of C sapidus as both an invasive species and a fishery resource. We emphasise that the ongoing expansion of C sapidus in the region may represent a stimulating challenge for the identification and implementation of future strategies in the management of invasive crustaceans. The impact of the invader could be converted into an enhancement of the services delivered by southern European coastal ecosystems, while mitigation costs could be transformed into profits for local populations. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Funding from FUR 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 to G. M. is acknowledged. The European Fisheries Fund (FEP) Puglia Region (Italy) supported L. C. (CIP 04/OPI/010) as the scientific head of the MOLEVAR project (Pilot Project for the production of soft crabs from Carcinus aestuarii in Varano lagoon). The Portuguese Science Foundation (FCT) supported F. R. (SFRH/BPD/46761/2008) with a post-doctoral research grant from the Programa Operacional Potencial Humano/Fundo Social Europeu (POPH/FSE). F. R. and P. C. were also supported by the strategic MARE plan - Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre (UID/MAR/04292/2013).Mancinelli, G.; Chainho, P.; Cilenti, L.; Falco, S.; Kapiris, K.; Katselis, G.; Ribeiro, F. (2017). The Atlantic blue crab Callinectes sapidus in southern European coastal waters: distribution, impact and prospective invasion management strategies. Marine Pollution Bulletin. 119(1):5-11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2017.02.050S511119

Correlation function of weakly interacting bosons in a disordered lattice

One of the most important issues in disordered systems is the interplay of the disorder and repulsive interactions. Several recent experimental advances on this topic have been made with ultracold atoms, in particular the observation of Anderson localization, and the realization of the disordered Bose-Hubbard model. There are however still questions as to how to differentiate the complex insulating phases resulting from this interplay, and how to measure the size of the superfluid fragments that these phases entail. It has been suggested that the correlation function of such a system can give new insights, but so far little experimental investigation has been performed. Here, we show the first experimental analysis of the correlation function for a weakly interacting, bosonic system in a quasiperiodic lattice. We observe an increase in the correlation length as well as a change in shape of the correlation function in the delocalization crossover from Anderson glass to coherent, extended state. In between, the experiment indicates the formation of progressively larger coherent fragments, consistent with a fragmented BEC, or Bose glass.Comment: 16 pages, 8 figure

Is it really useful the harmonic scalpel in axillary dissection for locally advanced breast cancer? A case series

Background. The seroma is one of the most common complications in the axillary lymph nodal dissection (different surgical approaches have been tried to reduce the seroma incidence). In our study we evaluate the outcome of patients using or not the ultrasonic scalpel (Harmonic scalpel) according to a standardized surgical technique. Patients and Methods. From January 2011 to December 2015 120 patients underwent axillary dissection for breast cancer. Patients were divided in two groups: patients belonging to the first group underwent Harmonic scalpel dissection and patients belonging to the second group underwent classical dissection. Each group consisted of 60 patients. Quadrantectomy (QUAD) was performed in 54 patients, 66 women underwent mastectomy. In all patients axillary dissection included the I, II and III level. We compared two groups in terms of: time of surgery, hematoma, drainage volume, days of sealing drainage, seroma formation, number of post-seroma aspirations, upper limb lymphedema, wound infections, post-operative pain. Results. Statistically significant results were obtained in terms of the total volume of the breast and axillary drainage in the two techniques. There were no significant differences in the two samples in terms of operative time incidence of seroma, post-operative hematoma, wound infection, and lymphedema of the upper limb. Conclusion. The small number of cases did not allow us to reach definitive conclusions. The use of Harmonic scalpel seems to show smaller incidence of seroma and reduction of the amount of both breast and axillary drainages. Further studies are needed to define the real advantage in terms of cost benefit of using these devices in the axillary surgery

Anderson localization in Bose-Einstein condensates

The understanding of disordered quantum systems is still far from being complete, despite many decades of research on a variety of physical systems. In this review we discuss how Bose-Einstein condensates of ultracold atoms in disordered potentials have opened a new window for studying fundamental phenomena related to disorder. In particular, we point our attention to recent experimental studies on Anderson localization and on the interplay of disorder and weak interactions. These realize a very promising starting point for a deeper understanding of the complex behaviour of interacting, disordered systems.Comment: 15 pages review, to appear in Reports on Progress in Physic

HAT-P-56b: An inflated massive Hot Jupiter transiting a bright F star followed up with K2 Campaign 0 observations

We report the discovery of HAT-P-56b by the HATNet survey, an inflated hot Jupiter transiting a bright F type star in Field 0 of NASA's K2 mission. We combine ground-based discovery and follow-up light curves with high precision photometry from K2, as well as ground-based radial velocities from TRES on the FLWO 1.5m telescope to determine the physical properties of this system. HAT-P-56b has a mass of $2.18 M_J$, radius of $1.47 R_J$, and transits its host star on a near-grazing orbit with a period of 2.7908 d. The radius of HAT-P-56b is among the largest known for a planet with $M_p > 2 M_J$. The host star has a V-band magnitude of 10.9, mass of 1.30 $M_\odot$, and radius of 1.43 $R_\odot$. The periodogram of the K2 light curve suggests the star is a $\gamma$ Dor variable. HAT-P-56b is an example of a ground-based discovery of a transiting planet, where space-based observations greatly improve the confidence in the confirmation of its planetary nature, and also improve the accuracy of the planetary parameters.Comment: 13 pages, 11 figures, accepted by A

HAT-P-55b: A Hot Jupiter Transiting a Sun-like Star

We report the discovery of a new transiting extrasolar planet, HAT-P-55b. The planet orbits a V = 13.207 +/- 0.039 sun-like star with a mass of 1.013 +/- 0.037 solar masses, a radius of 1.011 +/- 0.036 solar radii and a metallicity of -0.03 +/- 0.08. The planet itself is a typical hot Jupiter with a period of 3.5852467 +/- 0.0000064 days, a mass of 0.582 +/- 0.056 Jupiter masses and a radius of 1.182 +/- 0.055 Jupiter radii. This discovery adds to the increasing sample of transiting planets with measured bulk densities, which is needed to put constraints on models of planetary structure and formation theories.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in PAS

Bose-Einstein Condensate in Weak 3d Isotropic Speckle Disorder

The effect of a weak three-dimensional (3d) isotropic laser speckle disorder on various thermodynamic properties of a dilute Bose gas is considered at zero temperature. First, we summarize the derivation of the autocorrelation function of laser speckles in 1d and 2d following the seminal work of Goodman. The goal of this discussion is to show that a Gaussian approximation of this function, proposed in some recent papers, is inconsistent with the general background of laser speckle theory. Then we propose a possible experimental realization for an isotropic 3d laser speckle potential and derive its corresponding autocorrelation function. Using a Fourier transform of that function, we calculate both condensate depletion and sound velocity of a Bose-Einstein condensate as disorder ensemble averages of such a weak laser speckle potential within a perturbative solution of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation. By doing so, we reproduce the expression of the normalfluid density obtained earlier within the treatment of Landau. This physically transparent derivation shows that condensate particles, which are scattered by disorder, form a gas of quasiparticles which is responsible for the normalfluid component