J/psi production as a function of charged-particle pseudorapidity density in p-Pb collisions at root s(NN)=5.02 TeV

We report measurements of the inclusive J/ψ yield and average transverse momentum as a function of charged-particle pseudorapidity density dNch/dη in p–Pb collisions at sNN=5.02TeV with ALICE at the LHC. The observables are normalised to their corresponding averages in non-single diffractive events. An increase of the normalised J/ψ yield with normalised dNch/dη, measured at mid-rapidity, is observed at mid-rapidity and backward rapidity. At forward rapidity, a saturation of the relative yield is observed for high charged-particle multiplicities. The normalised average transverse momentum at forward and backward rapidities increases with multiplicity at low multiplicities and saturates beyond moderate multiplicities. In addition, the forward-to-backward nuclear modification factor ratio is also reported, showing an increasing suppression of J/ψ production at forward rapidity with respect to backward rapidity for increasing charged-particle multiplicity

Performance of two innovative stress sensors imbedded in mortar joints of new masonry elements

Many historical cities enjoy the presence of masonry buildings with inestimable historical, artistic and cultural value. Old masonry buildings often suffer structural deficiencies, design faults and materials aging process. In recent years, many researchers focused their attention on the opportunities that structural health monitoring (SHM) can ensure for the health state of existing masonry structures, where damage can be difficult to be promptly predicted, pontentially causing abrupt collapses, with high risks for the community. This paper presents an experimental study on the effectiveness of two types of stress sensor for SHM of new masonry elements. Ceramic piezoelectric sensors and capacitive sensors were installed in mortar joints of two series of specimens made of calcarenite stone masonry and clay brick masonry. All specimens were tested under uniaxial compression with displacement control, to assess the effectiveness of sensors in recording pressure variation within the different types of masonry and therefore testing their potential use for SHM applications. Even though both the ceramic and capacitive sensors were designed as stress sensors for concrete structures, their installation within mortar joints provided a good response, based on the comparison with standard measurement devices. Results demonstrate the suitability of the sensors even for SHM of masonry structures

Operational Experience with the TRIGA Mark II Reactor of the University of Pavia

The Laboratory of Applied Nuclear Energy (LENA) is an Interdepartmental Research Centre of the University of Pavia which operate a 250 kW TRIGA Mark II Research Nuclear Reactor, a Cyclotron for the production of radioisotopes and other sources of ionizing radiations. The reactor is in operation since 1965 and many home-made upgrading were realized in the past years in order to assure a continuous operation of the reactor for the future. The annual reactor operational time at nominal power is in the range of 300 - 400 hours depending upon the time schedule of some experiments and research activities. The reactor is mainly used for NAA activities, BNCT research, samples irradiation and training. In specific, few tens of hours of reactor operation per year are dedicated to training courses for University students and for professionals. Besides the LENA Centre hosts every year in visit more than one thousand high school students. Lately, LENA was certified ISO 9001:2008 for the "operation and maintenance of the reactor" and for the "design and delivery of the irradiation service". Nowadays the reactor shows a good technical state and, at the moment, there are no political or economical reason to consider the reactor shut-down

Understanding the patterns of car travel

Are the patterns of car travel different from those of general human mobility? Based on a unique dataset consisting of the GPS trajectories of 10 million travels accomplished by 150,000 cars in Italy, we investigate how known mobility models apply to car travels, and illustrate novel analytical findings. We also assess to what extent the sample in our dataset is representative of the overall car mobility, and discover how to build an extremely accurate model that, given our GPS data, estimates the real traffic values as measured by road sensors