Massive Pions, Anomalies and Baryons in Holographic QCD

We consider a holographic model of QCD, obtained by a very simple modification of the original construction, which describes at the same time the pion mass, the QCD anomalies and the baryons as topological solitons. We study in detail its phenomenological implications in both the mesonic and baryonic sectors and compare with the observations.Comment: 31 pages, 2 figures; v2: Version published in Nucl. Phys.

Improving biological production of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV) co-polymer: a critical review

AbstractAlthough poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV) is the most promising biopolymer for petroleum-based plastics replacement, the low processes productivity as well as the high sale price represent a major barrier for its widespread usage. The present work examines comparatively the existing methods to enhance the yield of the PHBV co-polymer biologically produced and/or reduce their costs. The study is addressed to researchers working on the development of new biological production methods and/or the improvement of those currently used. At this aim, the authors have considered the analysis of some crucial aspects related to substrates and microorganism's choice. The production strategies have been individuated, presented and discussed, either based on a single aspect (type of substrate or microorganism) or based on combined aspects (type of substrate and microorganism). Process operating conditions have been discussed as well. The analysis indicates that the addition of 3HV precursors is capable to dramatically enhance the hydroxyvalerate fraction in the produced biopolymers. On the other hand, due to the high costs of the 3HV precursors, the utilization of wild bacterial species capable to produce the hydroxyvalerate fraction from unrelated carbon sources (i.e. no 3HV precursors) also can be considered a valuable strategy for costs reduction. Moreover, metabolic engineering techniques can be successfully used to promote 3HV precursors-independent biosynthesis pathways and enhance the process productivity. The use of mixed cultures or extremophile bacteria avoids the need of sterile working conditions, and therefore favours the process scale-up. The utilization of the organic waste as substrate plays a key role for a sharp reduction of production costs. Finally, the selection of the most suitable substrate-microorganism combination cannot be separated by the adoption of an appropriate choice of reactor configuration and abiotic factors. Graphic abstrac

Finite Gluon Fusion Amplitude in the Gauge-Higgs Unification

We show that the gluon fusion amplitude in the gauge-Higgs unification scenario is finite in any dimension regardless of its nonrenormalizability. This result is supported by the fact that the local operator describing the gluon fusion process is forbidden by the higher dimensional gauge invariance. We explicitly calculate the gluon fusion amplitude in an arbitrary dimensional gauge-Higgs unification model and indeed obtain the finite result.Comment: 15 pages, final version to appear in MPL

Effective Action and Holography in 5D Gauge Theories

We apply the holographic method to 5D gauge theories on the warped interval. Our treatment includes the scalars associated with the fifth gauge field component, which appear as 4D Goldstone bosons in the holographic effective action. Applications are considered to two classes of models in which these scalars play an important role. In the Composite-Higgs (and/or Gauge-Higgs Unification) scenario, the scalars are interpreted as the Higgs field and we use the holographic recipe to compute its one-loop potential. In AdS/QCD models, the scalars are identified with the mesons and we compute holographically the Chiral Perturbation Theory Lagrangian up to p^4 order. We also discuss, using the holographic perspective, the effect of including a Chern-Simons term in the 5D gauge Lagrangian. We show that it makes a Wess-Zumino-Witten term to appear in the holographic effective action. This is immediately applied to AdS/QCD, where a Chern-Simons term is needed in order to mimic the Adler-Bardeen chiral anomaly.Comment: 37 pages; v2, minor changes, one reference added; v3, minor corrections, version published in JHE

Occurrence of Microplastics in Tap and Bottled Water: Current Knowledge

none5noA narrative review was carried out to describe the current knowledge related to the occurrence of MPs in drinking water. The reviewed studies (n = 21) showed the presence of microplastics (MPs) in tap (TW) and bottled (BW) water, increasing concerns for public health due to the possible toxicity associated with their polymeric composition, additives, and other compounds or microorganism adsorbed on their surface. The MP concentration increase by decreasing particles size and was higher in BW than in TW. Among BW, reusable PET and glass bottles showed a higher MP contamination than other packages. The lower MP abundance in TW than in natural sources indicates a high removal rate of MPs in drinking water treatment plants. This evidence should encourage the consumers to drink TW instead of BW, in order to limit their exposure to MPS and produce less plastic waste. The high variability in the results makes it difficult to compare the findings of different studies and build up a general hypothesis on human health risk. A globally shared protocol is needed to harmonize results also in view of the monitoring plans for the emerging contaminants, including MPs, introduced by the new European regulation.Gambino I.; Bagordo F.; Grassi T.; Panico A.; De Donno A.Gambino, I.; Bagordo, F.; Grassi, T.; Panico, A.; De Donno, A

Tests of Universality of Baryon Form Factors in Holographic QCD

We describe a new exact relation for large $N_c$ QCD for the long-distance behavior of baryon form factors in the chiral limit, satisfied by all 4D semi-classical chiral soliton models. We use this relation to test the consistency of the structure of two different holographic models of baryons.Comment: 4 pages. Talk presented by MN at Light Cone 2009: Relativistic Hadronic and Particle Physics, 8-13 Jul 2009, Sao Jose dos Campos, Brazi

Ethical issues in assistive ambient living technologies for ageing well

Assistive Ambient Living (AAL) in ageing refers to any device used to support ageing related psychological and physical changes aimed at improving seniors’ quality of life and reducing caregivers’ burdens. The diffusion of these devices opens the ethical issues related to their use in the human personal space. This is particularly relevant when AAL technologies are devoted to the ageing population that exhibits special bio-psycho-social aspects and needs. In spite of this, relatively little research has focused on ethical issues that emerge from AAL technologies. The present article addresses ethical issues emerging when AAL technologies are implemented for assisting the elderly population and is aimed at raising awareness of these aspects among healthcare providers. The overall conclusion encourages a person-oriented approach when designing healthcare facilities. This process must be fulfilled in compliance with the general principles of ethics and individual nature of the person devoted to. This perspective will develop new research paradigms, paving the way for fulfilling essential ethical principles in the development of future generations of personalized AAL devices to support ageing people living independently at their home

Thermal Modeling of a Historical Building Wall: Using Long-Term Monitoring Data to Understand the Reliability and the Robustness of Numerical Simulations

Thermal modeling of building components plays a crucial role in designing energy efficiency measures, assessing living comfort, and preventing building damages. The accuracy of the modeling process strongly depends on the reliability of the physical models and the correct selection of input parameters, especially for historic buildings where uncertainties on wall composition and material properties are higher. This work evaluates the reliability of building thermal modeling and identifies the input parameters that most affect the simulation results. A monitoring system is applied to a historic building wall to measure the temperature profile. The long-term dataset is compared with the result of a simulation model. A sensitivity analysis is applied for the determination of the influential input parameters. A two-step optimization is performed to calibrate the numerical model: the first optimization step is based on an optimized selection of the database materials, while the second optimization step uses a particle swarm algorithm. The results indicate that the output of the simulation model is largely influenced by the coefficients describing the coupling with the boundary conditions and by the thermal conductivities of the materials. Very good results are obtained already after the first optimization step ((Formula presented.) while the second optimization step improves further the agreement ((Formula presented.). The parameter values reported in the datasheets do not match those found through optimization. Even with extensive optimization using an algorithm, starting with monitoring data is insufficient to identify material parameter values