QGP Theory: Status and Perspectives

The current status of Quark-Gluon-Plasma Theory is reviewed. Special emphasis is placed on QGP signatures, the interpretation of current data and what to expect from RHIC in the near future.Comment: 20 pages, invited overview talk at the 4th International Conference on the Physcis and Astrophysics of the Quark-Gluon-Plasma, November 2001, Jaipur, India, to appear in Praman

Prevalência de enteroparasitoses na população do município de Maria Helena, Paraná Prevalence of enteroparasitosis in the population of Maria Helena, Paraná State

O estudo epidemiológico dos parasitas intestinais tem por objetivo determinar as principais doenças e seus respectivos agentes etiológicos que se encontram distribuídos por todo o mundo, de forma endêmica ou epidêmica. O objetivo desta pesquisa foi avaliar a prevalência de infecção por enteroparasitoses, em qual idade há sua maior prevalência, relacionando a infecção com a idade, o sexo e a região em que a pessoa vive, no município de Maria Helen (PR). A coleta de dados foi realizada de junho de 2004 a maio de 2006. Foram analisadas 431 amostras de fezes pelo método de sedimentação espontânea e centrífugo-flutuação. A prevalência de enteroparasitoses foi de 16%, sendo os enteroparasitas mais frequentes: Endolimax nana (6,5%), Entamoeba coli (3,5%), Giardia intestinalis (6,3%), Ascaris lumbricoides (1,4%), Strongyloides stercoralis (0,7%), Entrobius vermicularis (0,7%), Ancilostomídeo (0,2%), Entamoeba hystolitica e Taenia sp (0,2%). O poliparasitismo foi detectado em 3,2% das amostras. A faixa etária que apresentou maior prevalência foi de zero a nove anos, porém não houve diferença estatística entre os fatores analisados, uma vez que p>0,05. Diante desses resultados, conclui-se que o município apresenta características similares em relação à zona rural e urbana.<br>The epidemiological study on intestinal parasites has the purpose of determining the main diseases and their respective etiologic agents, which are endemically or epidemically spread worldwide. The aim of this study was to evaluate the enteroparasitosis infection prevalence, in which age group they prevail, relating the infection with age, gender, and the region in which the person lives, in the city of Maria Helena - PR. Data collection was performed from June of 2004 to May of 2006. 431 samples of feces were analyzed through the spontaneous sedimentation and centrifugal fluctuation methods. The enteroparasitosis prevalence was of 16%, being the most frequent enteroparasitosis: Endolimax nana (6.5%), Entamoeba coli (3.5%), Giardia lamblia (6.3%), Ascaris lumbricoides (1.4%), Strongyloides stercoralis (0.7%), Entrobius vermicularis (0.7%), Anchylostomiasis (0.2%), Entamoeba hystolitica and Taenia sp (0.2%). Poly-parasitism was found in 3.2% of the samples. The age group from 0 to 9 years presented the highest prevalence, however there was no statistical difference among the analyzed factors since p>0.05. From these results, it was possible to conclude that the city presents similar characteristics both in rural and urban zones

ALICE: Physics Performance Report, Volume II

ALICE is a general-purpose heavy-ion experiment designed to study the physics of strongly interacting matter and the quark-gluon plasma in nucleus-nucleus collisions at the LHC. It currently involves more than 900 physicists and senior engineers, from both the nuclear and high-energy physics sectors, from over 90 institutions in about 30 countries. The ALICE detector is designed to cope with the highest particle multiplicities above those anticipated for Pb-Pb collisions (dN(ch)/dy up to 8000) and it will be operational at the start-up of the LHC. In addition to heavy systems, the ALICE Collaboration will study collisions of lower-mass ions, which are a means of varying the energy density, and protons (both pp and pA), which primarily provide reference data for the nucleus-nucleus collisions. In addition, the pp data will allow for a number of genuine pp physics studies. The detailed design of the different detector systems has been laid down in a number of Technical Design Reports issued between mid-1998 and the end of 2004. The experiment is currently under construction and will be ready for data taking with both proton and heavy-ion beams at the start-up of the LHC. Since the comprehensive information on detector and physics performance was last published in the ALICE Technical Proposal in 1996, the detector, as well as simulation, reconstruction and analysis software have undergone significant development. The Physics Performance Report (PPR) provides an updated and comprehensive summary of the performance of the various ALICE subsystems, including updates to the Technical Design Reports, as appropriate. The PPR is divided into two volumes. Volume I, published in 2004 (CERN/LHCC 2003-049, ALICE Collaboration 2004 J. Phys. G: Nucl. Part. Phys. 30 1517-1763), contains in four chapters a short theoretical overview and an extensive reference list concerning the physics topics of interest to ALICE, the experimental conditions at the LHC, a short summary and update of the subsystem designs, and a description of the offline framework and Monte Carlo event generators. The present volume, Volume II, contains the majority of the information relevant to the physics performance in proton-proton, proton-nucleus, and nucleus-nucleus collisions. Following an introductory overview, Chapter 5 describes the combined detector performance and the event reconstruction procedures, based on detailed simulations of the individual subsystems. Chapter 6 describes the analysis and physics reach for a representative sample of physics observables, from global event characteristics to hard processes