Medium effects in K^+ nucleus interaction from consistent analysis of integral and differential cross sections

Self consistency in the analysis of transmission measurements for K^+ on several nuclei in the momentum range of 500-700 MeV/c is achieved with a "t_{eff}(rho)rho" potential and new results are derived for total cross sections. The imaginary part of the t_{eff} amplitude is found to increase linearly with the average nuclear density in excess of a threshold value. This phenomenological density dependence of the K^+ nucleus optical potential also gives rise to good agreement with recent measurements of differential cross sections for elastic scattering of 715 MeV/c K^+ by Li^6 and C.Comment: 11 pages, RevTeX, 2 Postscript figures, submitted Phys. Lett.

Saturation properties of nuclear matter in a relativistic mean field model constrained by quark dynamics

We have built an effective Walecka-type hadronic Lagrangian in which the hadron masses and the density dependence of the coupling constants are deduced from the quark dynamics using a Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model. The parameters of this Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model have been determined using the meson properties in the vacuum but also in the medium through the omega meson mass in nuclei measured by the TAPS collaboration. Realistic properties of nuclear matter have been obtained.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, to appear in the Proceedings of "Quark Confinement and the Hadron Spectrum VII

Dirac sea effects in K+K^+ scattering from nuclei

The ratio $R_T$ of $K^+-^{12}C$ to $K^+-d$ cross sections has been calculated microscopically using a boson-exchange $KN$ amplitude in which the $\sigma$ and $\omega$ mesons are dressed by the modifications of the Dirac sea in nuclear matter. In spite of the fact that this dressing leads to a scaling of the mesons effective mass in nuclear matter, the effect on the $R_T$ ratio is found to be weak.Comment: 8 pages, LaTeX, 2 figures available upon request, LPTB-93-

Polarization of the nuclear medium and RPA-type calculations in K+K^+ scattering from nuclei

In the calculation of the $K^+$-nucleus cross sections, the coupling of the mesons exchanged between the $K^+$ and the target nucleons to the polarization of the Fermi sea has been taken into account. This polarization has been calculated in the one-loop approximation but summed up to all orders (RPA-type calculation). This effect is found to be rather important but does not improve the agreement with experiment.Comment: 11 pages, LaTeX, 3 figures available upon request, LPTB-93-

Saturation properties of nuclear matter in a relativistic mean field model constrained by the quark dynamics

We have built an effective Walecka-type hadronic Lagrangian in which the hadron masses and the density dependence of the coupling constants are deduced from the quark dynamics using a Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model. In order to stabilize nuclear matter an eight-quark term has been included. The parameters of this Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model have been determined using the meson properties in the vacuum but also in the medium through the omega meson mass in nuclei measured by the TAPS collaboration. Realistic properties of nuclear matter have been obtained.Comment: 14 pages, 2 figures, submitted to Nuclear Physics

The Microbiology of Community-acquired Peritonitis in Children

BACKGROUND: microbiologic data are lacking regarding pediatric community-acquired peritonitis (CAP). METHODS: we conducted a 2-year retrospective single center study. Consecutive children undergoing CAP surgery were included. Microbiology and antimicrobial susceptibility of peritoneal isolates were analyzed. RESULTS: a total of 70 children from 3 months to 14 years of age were included. A total of 123 bacterial isolates were analyzed. Escherichia coli was the predominant aerobic organism (51% of isolates); 54.8% were susceptible to amoxicillin whereas 90.3% were susceptible to amoxicillin-clavulanate. Anaerobes accounted for 29% of isolates, and 94.3% of strains were susceptible to amoxicillin-clavulanate and 68.5% were susceptible to clindamycin. Pseudomonas aeruginosa was present in 6% of isolates and in 10% of children. The presence of E. coli resistant to amoxicillin or to amoxicillin-clavulanate was the only independent risk factor associated with postoperative peritonitis. CONCLUSION: microbiology of pediatric CAP is similar to adult CAP with a predominancy of E. coli and anaerobes. P. aeruginosa in peritoneal samples had no apparent influence on the outcome

Stratospheric Ozone Changes From Explosive Tropical Volcanoes: Modeling and Ice Core Constraints

Major tropical volcanic eruptions have emitted large quantities of stratospheric sulphate and are potential sources of stratospheric chlorine although this is less well constrained by observations. This study combines model and ice core analysis to investigate past changes in total column ozone. Historic eruptions are good analogues for future eruptions as stratospheric chlorine levels have been decreasing since the year 2000. We perturb the pre-industrial atmosphere of a chemistry-climate model with high and low emissions of sulphate and chlorine. The sign of the resulting Antarctic ozone change is highly sensitive to the background stratospheric chlorine loading. In the first year, the response is dynamical, with ozone increases over Antarctica. In the high HCl (2 Tg emission) experiment, the injected chlorine is slowly transported to the polar regions with subsequent chemical ozone depletion. These model results are then compared to measurements of the stable nitrogen isotopic ratio, δ15N(NO−3), from a low snow accumulation Antarctic ice core from Dronning Maud Land (recovered in 2016-17). We expect ozone depletion to lead to increased surface ultraviolet (UV) radiation, enhanced air-snow nitrate photo-chemistry and enrichment in δ15N(NO−3) in the ice core. We focus on the possible ozone depletion event that followed the largest volcanic eruption in the past 1000 years, Samalas in 1257. The characteristic sulphate signal from this volcano is present in the ice-core but the variability in δ15N(NO−3) dominates any signal arising from changes in UV from ozone depletion. Prolonged complete ozone removal following this eruption is unlikely to have occurred over Antarctica.National Environment Research Council (NERC) Standard Grant (NE/N011813/1