Homotopy, monopoles and 't Hooft tensor in QCD with generic gauge group

We study monopoles and corresponding 't Hooft tensor in QCD with a generic compact gauge group. This issue is relevant to the understanding of color confinement in terms of dual symmetry.Comment: 15 pages. Accepted for publication in JHE

Oreste tra mito e tradizione (nel continente greco)

2011 - 2012This PhD thesis is a collection and analysis of all mythical and cultual traditions about Orestes in the Greek world, which are alternatives to Attic versions, i.e. staged at the theatre in the fifth century. B. C. and related to the Delphic purification and the process at the Areopagus in Athens (e.g. Aeschylus). The main objective is a contextual study of each tradition, both in relation to the community that preserves it and to a possible origin and evolution over time. The study is conducted by integrating the tools of philological, anthropological and historical-religious research, by drawing, where possible, also the iconography. [edited by Author]XI n.s

Monopoles, abelian projection, and gauge invariance

A direct connection is proved between the Non-Abelian Bianchi Identities(NABI), and the abelian Bianchi identities for the 't Hooft tensor. As a consequence the existence of a non-zero magnetic current is related to the violation of the NABI's and is a gauge-invariant property. The construction allows to show that not all abelian projections can be used to expose monopoles in lattice configurations: each field configuration with non-zero magnetic charge identifies its natural projection, up to gauge transformations which tend to unity at large distances. It is shown that the so-called maximal-abelian gauge is a legitimate choice. It is also proved, starting from the NABI, that monopole condensation is a physical gauge invariant phenomenon, independent of the choice of the abelian projection.Comment: 9 pages, no figur

Analytical evaluation of Radiometer ABL90 FLEX PLUS enzymatic creatinine assay

Background: The diagnosis of kidney disease strongly relies on accurate and reproducible measurements of creatinine, even when performed with point of care testing (POCT) devices. Therefore, this study aimed at performing a comprehensive evaluation of the analytical performance of a creatinine enzymatic assay on the Radiometer ABL90 FLEX PLUS. Methods: This analytical evaluation encompassed the assessment of intra-assay, inter-assay and total imprecision, along with linearity on routine lithium-heparin plasma samples. Method comparison was also carried out using results generated with Radiometer ABL90 FLEX PLUS in heparinized whole blood and those obtained in paired heparinized plasma with a reference enzymatic creatinine assay and a Jaffe method, both assayed on Roche Cobas c702. Results: The intra-assay imprecision of Radiometer ABL90 FLEX PLUS creatinine enzymatic assay was between 0.33\u20131.26%, the inter-assay imprecision between 0.64\u20131.78%, thus yielding a total imprecision of 0.79\u20131.99%. The linearity of the assay was excellent (r=1.000; P<0.001) in a range of plasma creatinine concentrations between 47 and 445 \ub5mol/L. An excellent correlation was found between creatinine measured on heparinized whole blood using Radiometer ABL90 FLEX PLUS enzymatic assay and plasma creatinine assayed on the same centrifuged samples using both Roche Cobas c702 creatinine enzymatic assay (r=0.99 and r=0.98; both P<0.001). Compared to both Roche Cobas assays the percent bias was 641% and the agreement at chronic kidney disease (CKD) diagnostic thresholds was 6594%. Conclusions: The results of this analytical evaluation confirm that Radiometer ABL90 FLEX PLUS creatinine enzymatic assay is at least as suitable as a conventional clinical chemistry enzymatic technique for routine and urgent diagnosis of kidney diseases