Northern JHK Standard Stars for Array Detectors

We report J, H and K photometry of 86 stars in 40 fields in the northern hemisphere. The fields are smaller than or comparable to a 4x4 arcmin field-of-view, and are roughly uniformly distributed over the sky, making them suitable for a homogeneous broadband calibration network for near-infrared panoramic detectors. K magnitudes range from 8.5 to 14, and J-K colors from -0.1 to 1.2. The photometry is derived from a total of 3899 reduced images; each star has been measured, on average, 26.0 times per filter on 5.5 nights. Typical errors on the photometry are about 0.012.Comment: 10 pages including 3 figures, one separate figure on four pages. The finding chart of the AS-30 field and a few coordinates have been corrected. GIF finding charts can also be found at http://www.arcetri.astro.it/~hunt/std.htm

Signatures of supernova neutrino oscillations in the Earth mantle and core

The Earth matter effects on supernova (SN) neutrinos can be identified at a single detector through peaks in the Fourier transform of their ``inverse energy'' spectrum. The positions of these peaks are independent of the SN models and therefore the peaks can be used as a robust signature of the Earth matter effects, which in turn can distinguish between different neutrino mixing scenarios. Whereas only one genuine peak is observable when the neutrinos traverse only the Earth mantle, traversing also the core gives rise to multiple peaks. We calculate the strengths and positions of these peaks analytically and explore their features at a large scintillation detector as well as at a megaton water Cherenkov detector through Monte Carlo simulations. We propose a simple algorithm to identify the peaks in the actual data and quantify the chances of a peak identification as a function of the location of the SN in the sky.Comment: 17 pages, 9 figure

The TNG Near Infrared Camera Spectrometer

NICS (acronym for Near Infrared Camera Spectrometer) is the near-infrared cooled camera-spectrometer that has been developed by the Arcetri Infrared Group at the Arcetri Astrophysical Observatory, in collaboration with the CAISMI-CNR for the TNG (the Italian National Telescope Galileo at La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain). As NICS is in its scientific commissioning phase, we report its observing capabilities in the near-infrared bands at the TNG, along with the measured performance and the limiting magnitudes. We also describe some technical details of the project, such as cryogenics, mechanics, and the system which executes data acquisition and control, along with the related software.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, compiled with A&A macros. A&A in pres

Geo-neutrinos: A systematic approach to uncertainties and correlations

Geo-neutrinos emitted by heat-producing elements (U, Th and K) represent a unique probe of the Earth interior. The characterization of their fluxes is subject, however, to rather large and highly correlated uncertainties. The geochemical covariance of the U, Th and K abundances in various Earth reservoirs induces positive correlations among the associated geo-neutrino fluxes, and between these and the radiogenic heat. Mass-balance constraints in the Bulk Silicate Earth (BSE) tend instead to anti-correlate the radiogenic element abundances in complementary reservoirs. Experimental geo-neutrino observables may be further (anti)correlated by instrumental effects. In this context, we propose a systematic approach to covariance matrices, based on the fact that all the relevant geo-neutrino observables and constraints can be expressed as linear functions of the U, Th and K abundances in the Earth's reservoirs (with relatively well-known coefficients). We briefly discuss here the construction of a tentative "geo-neutrino source model" (GNSM) for the U, Th, and K abundances in the main Earth reservoirs, based on selected geophysical and geochemical data and models (when available), on plausible hypotheses (when possible), and admittedly on arbitrary assumptions (when unavoidable). We use then the GNSM to make predictions about several experiments ("forward approach"), and to show how future data can constrain - a posteriori - the error matrix of the model itself ("backward approach"). The method may provide a useful statistical framework for evaluating the impact and the global consistency of prospective geo-neutrino measurements and Earth models.Comment: 17 pages, including 4 figures. To appear on "Earth, Moon, and Planets," Special Issue on "Neutrino Geophysics," Proceedings of Neutrino Science 2005 (Honolulu, Hawaii, Dec. 2005

Dedalo: looking for clusters explanations in a labyrinth of Linked Data

We present Dedalo, a framework which is able to exploit Linked Data to generate explanations for clusters. In general, any result of a Knowledge Discovery process, including clusters, is interpreted by human experts who use their background knowledge to explain them. However, for someone without such expert knowledge, those results may be difficult to understand. Obtaining a complete and satisfactory explanation becomes a laborious and time-consuming process, involving expertise in possibly different domains. Having said so, not only does the Web of Data contain vast amounts of such background knowledge, but it also natively connects those domains. While the efforts put in the interpretation process can be reduced with the support of Linked Data, how to automatically access the right piece of knowledge in such a big space remains an issue. Dedalo is a framework that dynamically traverses Linked Data to find commonalities that form explanations for items of a cluster. We have developed different strategies (or heuristics) to guide this traversal, reducing the time to get the best explanation. In our experiments, we compare those strategies and demonstrate that Dedalo finds relevant and sophisticated Linked Data explanations from different areas

Unusual Skin Toxicity after a Chemotherapic Combination

As known calciphylaxis (CPX) is a rare condition involving subcutaneous vascular calcification and cutaneous necrosis, mostly observed in patients with renal failure. However CPX may also appear in patients affected by polymyositis, Sjogren syndrome, Lupus Erythematosus systemicus, Sarcoidosis and rheumatoid arthritis, especially in children. Clinically CPX can present itself as subcutaneous nodules, infiltrate plaques or purpuric-like and livedo-like plaques, while in the late stages necrotic ulcers (with a bizarre shape and severe pain) may be the main cutaneous manifestations

Day-night asymmetry of high and low energy solar neutrino events in Super-Kamiokande and in the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory

In the context of solar neutrino oscillations among active states, we briefly discuss the current likelihood of Mikheyev-Smirnov-Wolfenstein (MSW) solutions to the solar neutrino problem, which appear to be currently favored at large mixing, where small Earth regeneration effects might still be observable in Super-Kamiokande (SK) and in the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO). We point out that, since such effects are larger at high (low) solar neutrino energies for high (low) values of the mass square difference \delta m^2, it may be useful to split the night-day rate asymmetry in two separate energy ranges. We show that the difference \Delta of the night-day asymmetry at high and low energy may help to discriminate the two large-mixing solutions at low and high \delta m^2 through a sign test, both in SK and in SNO, provided that the sensitivity to \Delta can reach the (sub)percent level.Comment: 6 pages (RevTeX) + 4 figures (PostScript). Final version, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Super-Kamiokande data and atmospheric neutrino decay

Neutrino decay has been proposed as a possible solution to the atmospheric neutrino anomaly, in the light of the recent data from the Super-Kamiokande experiment. We investigate this hypothesis by means of a quantitative analysis of the zenith angle distributions of neutrino events in Super-Kamiokande, including the latest (45 kTy) data. We find that the neutrino decay hypothesis fails to reproduce the observed distributions of muons.Comment: 6 pages (RevTeX) + 2 figures (Postscript

Ribosomal stress activates eEF2K-eEF2 pathway causing translation elongation inhibition and recruitment of Terminal Oligopyrimidine (TOP) mRNAs on polysomes

The synthesis of adequate amounts of ribosomes is an essential task for the cell. It is therefore not surprising that regulatory circuits exist to organize the synthesis of ribosomal components. It has been shown that defect in ribosome biogenesis (ribosomal stress) induces apoptosis or cell cycle arrest through activation of the tumor suppressor p53. This mechanism is thought to be implicated in the pathophysiology of a group of genetic diseases such as Diamond Blackfan Anemia which are called ribosomopathies. We have identified an additional response to ribosomal stress that includes the activation of eukaryotic translation elongation factor 2 kinase with a consequent inhibition of translation elongation. This leads to a translational reprogramming in the cell that involves the structurally defined group of messengers called terminal oligopyrimidine (TOP) mRNAs which encode ribosomal proteins and translation factors. In fact, while general protein synthesis is decreased by the impairment of elongation, TOP mRNAs are recruited on polysomes causing a relative increase in the synthesis of TOP mRNA-encoded proteins compared to other proteins. Therefore, in response to ribosomal stress, there is a change in the translation pattern of the cell which may help restore a sufficient level of ribosomes

Super-Kamiokande atmospheric neutrinos: Status of subdominant oscillations

In the context of the recent (79.5 kTy) Super-Kamiokande atmospheric neutrino data, we concisely review the status of muonic-tauonic flavor oscillations and of the subdominant electron or sterile neutrino mixing, in schemes with three or four families and one dominant mass scale. In the three-family case, where we include the full CHOOZ spectral data, we also show, through a specific example, that ``maximal'' violations of the one-dominant mass scale approximation are not ruled out yet.Comment: 8 pages + 10 figure