Coupling the solar surface and the corona: coronal rotation, Alfv\'en wave-driven polar plumes

The dynamical response of the solar corona to surface and sub-surface perturbations depends on the chromospheric stratification, and specifically on how efficiently these layers reflect or transmit incoming Alfv\'en waves. While it would be desirable to include the chromospheric layers in the numerical simulations used to study such phenomena, that is most often not feasible. We defined and tested a simple approximation allowing the study of coronal phenomena while taking into account a parametrised chromospheric reflectivity. We addressed the problems of the transmission of the surface rotation to the corona and that of the generation of polar plumes by Alfv\'en waves (Pinto et al., 2010, 2011). We found that a high (yet partial) effective chromospheric reflectivity is required to properly describe the angular momentum balance in the corona and the way the surface differential rotation is transmitted upwards. Alfv\'en wave-driven polar plumes maintain their properties for a wide range of values for the reflectivity, but they become bursty (and eventually disrupt) when the limit of total reflection is attained.Comment: Solar Wind 13: Proceedings of the Thirteenth International Solar Wind Conferenc

Global extraction of the parton-to-pion fragmentation functions at NLO accuracy in QCD

In this review, we discuss the results on the parton-to-pion fragmentation functions obtained in a combined NLO fit to data of single-inclusive hadron production in electron-positron annihilation, proton-proton collisions, and lepton-nucleon deep-inelastic scattering. A more complete discussion can be found in Ref. [1].Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure. To be published in Journal of Physics Conference Series (IOP). Joint Proceedings of the XV Mexican Workshop on Particles and Fields & the XXX Annual Meeting of the Division of Particles and Fields of the Mexican Physical Societ

Monitoring thermal ablation via microwave tomography. An ex vivo experimental assessment

Thermal ablation treatments are gaining a lot of attention in the clinics thanks to their reduced invasiveness and their capability of treating non-surgical patients. The effectiveness of these treatments and their impact in the hospital's routine would significantly increase if paired with a monitoring technique able to control the evolution of the treated area in real-time. This is particularly relevant in microwave thermal ablation, wherein the capability of treating larger tumors in a shorter time needs proper monitoring. Current diagnostic imaging techniques do not provide effective solutions to this issue for a number of reasons, including economical sustainability and safety. Hence, the development of alternative modalities is of interest. Microwave tomography, which aims at imaging the electromagnetic properties of a target under test, has been recently proposed for this scope, given the significant temperature-dependent changes of the dielectric properties of human tissues induced by thermal ablation. In this paper, the outcomes of the first ex vivo experimental study, performed to assess the expected potentialities of microwave tomography, are presented. The paper describes the validation study dealing with the imaging of the changes occurring in thermal ablation treatments. The experimental test was carried out on two ex vivo bovine liver samples and the reported results show the capability of microwave tomography of imaging the transition between ablated and untreated tissue. Moreover, the discussion section provides some guidelines to follow in order to improve the achievable performances

Built environment recovery and maintenance: researches in post-graduate education

The comparison between building and environmental recovery and sustainable development has generated, in recent years, a broad debate on the role that technological innovation plays in triggering processes of sustainable rehabilitation, aimed toward economic efficiency, social equity, environmental protection and preservation of the cultural identity of existing settlements. The text develops the issues related to the urban and environmental recovery, dealing with a new scientific approach to mitigate the vulnerability of the cities, using conservation and transformation actions, compatible with the heritage to be recovered. Furthermore, the text addresses Ph.D. training, responding to the demand for researchers and professionals, able to plan the recovery and maintenance design

Procedure e strumenti innovativi per la gestione e la manutenzione degli edifici

Il contributo illustra l'elaborazione di strumenti innovativi in grado di implementare la gestione integrata delle fasi del processo manutentivo, dalla programmazione fino al controllo tecnico-amministrativo degli interventi. Nel quadro di tale obiettivo, è stato elaborato uno strumento innovativo: la Carta della vulnerabilità, con lo scopo di incidere in maniera significativa sugli esiti tecnici, funzionali ed economici delle attività di manutenzione. Tale strumento consente di individuare componenti tecnologici ad Alta Priorità Manutentiva, analizzati attraverso schede, che integrano la documentazione richiesta dalla normativa vigente e di consiglio, incidendo sullo Scadenzario e sul Cronoprogramma. La Carta della Vulnerabilità ha lo scopo di supportare la capacità di programmare la manutenzione, prevedendo con maggiore affidabilità i guasti, ottenendo un risparmio relativo ai costi e limitando i disagi degli utenti, dal momento che diversi gradi di interferenza li coinvolgono nel corso dell'intervento

Symmetry Aspects in Nonrelativistic Multi-Scalar Field Models and Application to a Coupled Two-Species Dilute Bose Gas

We discuss unusual aspects of symmetry that can happen due to entropic effects in the context of multi-scalar field theories at finite temperature. We present their consequences, in special, for the case of nonrelativistic models of hard core spheres. We show that for nonrelativistic models phenomena like inverse symmetry breaking and symmetry non-restoration cannot take place, but a reentrant phase at high temperatures is shown to be possible for some region of parameters. We then develop a model of interest in studies of Bose-Einstein condensation in dilute atomic gases and discuss about its phase transition patterns. In this application to a Bose-Einstein condensation model, however, no reentrant phases are found.Comment: 8 pages, 1 eps figure, IOP style. Based on a talk given by R. O. Ramos at the QFEXT05 workshop, Barcelona, Spain, September 5-9, 2005. One reference was update