Microbiological stability of canned tuna produced in italy and in non-european countries

The results of a study on the microbiological stability of canned tuna produced by Italian companies and similar canned products manufactured in countries outside Europe are reported herein. The study involved 38 samples of canned tuna of various brands, of which 14 were produced by companies outside Europe and 24 by Italian companies. Qualitative and quantitative microbiological tests were conducted for the following parameters: bacterial colony counts at 30\ub0C, total coliforms, total Enterobacteriaceae, sulphite-reducing anaerobes, Salmonella spp., Bacillus cereus, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, yeasts and molds. Bacterial loads and mold contamination were respectivelyin found in 8/14 (57%) samples from outside EU and 7/24 (29%) Italian samples. The bacterial flora was represented by Gram-positive bacteria (Staphylococcus warneri, Staphylococcus lentus, Streptococcus mitis, Enterococcus faecalis, Leuconostoc mesenteroides), Gram-negative bacteria (Sphingomonas paucimobilis, Acinetobacter iwoffii, Rhizobium radiobacter), spore-forming bacteria (Bacillus vallismortis), while the fungal species was represented by Penicillium spp., Rhizopus spp., Rhodotorula spp. and Alternaria spp. Excluding anomalies in the thermal treatment process of products and any contamination after treatment, the contaminations encountered in both cases were most likely due to insufficient production quality standards and the quality of the raw material used. These results may require a redefinition of the concept of commercial stability as hitherto stated

The Low Energy Tagger for the KLOE-2 experiment

The KLOE experiment at the upgraded DAFNE e+e- collider in Frascati (KLOE-2) is going to start a new data taking at the beginning of 2010 with its detector upgraded with a tagging system for the identification of gamma-gamma interactions. The tagging stations for low-energy e+e- will consist in two calorimeters The calorimeter used to detect low-energy e+e- will be placed between the beam-pipe outer support structure and the inner wall of the KLOE drift chamber. This calorimeter will be made of LYSO crystals readout by Silicon Photomultipliers, to achieve an energy resolution better than 8% at 200 MeV.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, in the proceedings of "Frontier detectors for frontier physics", isola d'Elba, Italy, May 200

Enhanced shot noise in resonant tunneling: theory and experiment

We show that shot noise in a resonant tunneling diode biased in the negative differential resistance regions of the I-V characteristic is enhanced with respect to ``full'' shot noise. We provide experimental results showing a Fano factor up to 6.6, and show that it is a dramatic effect caused by electron-electron interaction through Coulomb force, enhanced by the particular shape of the density of states in the well. We also present numerical results from the proposed theory, which are in agreement with the experiment, demonstrating that the model accounts for the relevant physics involved in the phenomenon.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Status of the Cylindical-GEM project for the KLOE-2 Inner Tracker

The status of the R&D on the Cylindrical-GEM (CGEM) detector foreseen as Inner Tracker for KLOE-2, the upgrade of the KLOE experiment at the DAFNE phi-factory, will be presented. The R&D includes several activities: i) the construction and complete characterization of the full-size CGEM prototype, equipped with 650 microns pitch 1-D longitudinal strips; ii) the study of the 2-D readout with XV patterned strips and operation in magnetic field (up to 1.5T), performed with small planar prototypes in a dedicated test at the H4-SPS beam facility; iii) the characterization of the single-mask GEM technology for the realization of large-area GEM foils.Comment: 4 pages, 10 figures, Presented at Vienna Conference on Instrumentation (Feb 15-20, 2010, Vienna, Austria). Submitted to the Proceeding

A global fit to determine the pseudoscalar mixing angle and the gluonium content of the eta' meson

We update the values of the eta-eta' mixing angle and of the eta' gluonium content by fitting our measurement R_phi = BR(phi to eta' gamma)/ BR(phi to eta gamma) together with several vector meson radiative decays to pseudoscalars (V to P gamma), pseudoscalar mesons radiative decays to vectors (P to V gamma) and the eta' to gamma gamma, pi^0 to gamma gamma widths. From the fit we extract a gluonium fraction of Z^2_G = 0.12 +- 0.04, the pseudoscalar mixing angle psi_P = (40.4 +- 0.6) degree and the phi-omega mixing angle psi_V = (3.32 +- 0.09) degree. Z^2_G and psi_P are fairly consistent with those previously published. We also evaluate the impact on the eta' gluonium content determination of future experimental improvements of the eta' branching ratios and decay width.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures to submit to JHE

Study of the process e+e- -> omega pi0 in the phi-meson mass region with the KLOE detector

We have studied the e+e- -> omegapi0 cross section in the sqrt(s) interval 1000-1030 MeV using the pi+pi-pi0pi0 and pi0pi0gamma final states with a sample of ~600 pb^-1 collected with the KLOE detector at DAFNE. By fitting the observed interference pattern around M_phi for both final states, we extract the ratio of the decay widths Gamma(omega->pi0gamma)/Gamma(omega->pi+pi-pi0) = 0.0897 +- 0.0016 and derive the branching fractions BR(omega -> pi+pi-pi0)= (90.24 +- 0.19)%, BR(omega -> pi0gamma) = (8.09 +- 0.14)%. The parameters describing the e+e- -> omegapi0 reaction around M_\phi are also used to extract the branching fraction for the OZI and G-parity violating phi -> omegapi0 decay: BR(phi->omegapi0) = (4.4 +- 0.6)x10^-5.Comment: 12 Pages, 4 figures, submitted to Physics Letter

Search for the K_S -> e+e- decay with the KLOE detector

We present the result of a direct search for the decay K_S -> e+e-, obtained with a sample of e+e- -> phi -> K_S K_L events produced at DAFNE, the Frascati phi-factory, for an integrated luminosity of 1.9 fb^-1. The search has been performed using a pure K_S beam tagged by the simultaneous detection of a K_L interaction in the calorimeter. Background rejection has been optimized by using both kinematic and particle identification cuts. We find BR(K_S -> e+e-) < 9x10^-9 at 90% CL, which improves by an order of magnitude on the previous best limit.Comment: 13 pages, 11 figures, submitted to Physics Letters

Study of the a_0(980) meson via the radiative decay phi->eta pi^0 gamma with the KLOE detector

We have studied the phi->a_0(980) gamma process with the KLOE detector at the Frascati phi-factory DAPhNE by detecting the phi->eta pi^0 gamma decays in the final states with eta->gamma gamma and eta->pi^+ pi^- pi^0. We have measured the branching ratios for both final states: Br(phi->eta pi^0 gamma)=(7.01 +/- 0.10 +/- 0.20)x10^-5 and (7.12 +/- 0.13 +/- 0.22)x10^-5 respectively. We have also extracted the a_0(980) mass and its couplings to eta pi^0, K^+ K^-, and to the phi meson from the fit of the eta pi^0 invariant mass distributions using different phenomenological models.Comment: 17 pages, 6 figures, submitted to Physics Letters B. Corrected typos in eq.

Performance of the Muon Identification at LHCb

The performance of the muon identification in LHCb is extracted from data using muons and hadrons produced in J/\psi->\mu\mu, \Lambda->p\pi and D^{\star}->\pi D0(K\pi) decays. The muon identification procedure is based on the pattern of hits in the muon chambers. A momentum dependent binary requirement is used to reduce the probability of hadrons to be misidentified as muons to the level of 1%, keeping the muon efficiency in the range of 95-98%. As further refinement, a likelihood is built for the muon and non-muon hypotheses. Adding a requirement on this likelihood that provides a total muon efficiency at the level of 93%, the hadron misidentification rates are below 0.6%.Comment: 17 pages, 10 figure