Hot Quark Matter with an Axial Chemical Potential

We analyze the phase diagram of hot quark matter in presence of an axial chemical potential, $\mu_5$. The latter is introduced to mimic the chirality transitions induced, in hot Quantum Chromodynamics, by the strong sphaleron configurations. In particular, we study the curvature of the critical line at small $\mu_5$, the effects of a finite quark mass and of a vector interaction. Moreover, we build the mixed phase at the first order phase transition line, and draw the phase diagram in the chiral density and temperature plane. We finally compute the full topological susceptibility in presence of a background of topological charge.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figures. Few references added, short discussion included. Final version appearing on Phys. Rev.

GREEN LOANS EXPERIENCES AS INVESTMENT MULTIPLIER SCHEMES

In recent years Italian national and regional governments have been active in promoting energy efficiency and renewable energies. The most effective measures are focused on the residential sector: feed-in tariffs for photovoltaic systems (higher tariffs for building integrated small plants), 55% tax credits for energy efficiency investments (windows or boilers substitutions, walls and roof insulations or even complete building refurbishments). Recent surveys show that in some cases the customers are informed but cannot afford to pay for the needed investments and they prefer not to ask for loans, paying interests. In this situation the final customer may decide to opt for low quality refurbishments, not necessarily affecting the building energy consumption. For these reasons there can still be some room left for some local supporting initiatives. In the Province of Milan the Mutuo A-profitto provided green loans with no interest to the consumers to all those who want to perform an energy efficient refurbishment of their house: local banks provided the third party financing interest were paid half by the bank itself and half by the province administration the project designer or the installer had to declare the expected energy savings In this way the customer obtained an interest-free loan up to 7 years: since the amount of the instalment could not exceed the amount of the expected economic savings, even the annual cash flow will be positive. Eligible measures include: glaze substitutions, walls and roof insulation, heating systems, solar water heater, heat pumps. Since 2007, the Milanese Province administration has provided 1,35 million Euro funding, which mobilized 16\ua0million Euro of total investments. The Piedmont Region has recently introduced a similar scheme addressed to households and companies. The paper provides an in depth description of the schemes adopted in Milan, an evaluation of the results and a comparison with the Piedmonts\u2019 experience and the "\ue9co-pr\ueat \ue0 taux z\ue9ro" (zero interest green loans) recently introduced in France by the Minist\ue8re du D\ue9veloppement Durable

Progress on the implementation of Energy Performance Certificates in EU

Energy performance certificates (EPCs) are a key policy tool to inform about and to foster improvements to the energy performance of the building stock. Since their introduction in 2002 by the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD), EPCs have been implemented across Member States (MSs) in different ways, depending on the political and legal context, the available technical capacities, as well as the characteristics of the buildings stock and buildings market in general. In 2021, in the context of ?Fit for 55? legislative package, the European Commission proposed the third revision of the EPBD. The proposal improves the provisions on EPCs, their issuing and display, and their databases. In particular, it pursues harmonisation across MSs through a mandatory template for EPCs and a harmonised scale of energy performance classes. This report presents the results of a survey conducted by JRC among MSs to collect information on how each MS has implemented the EPC scheme. It highlights differences among MSs regarding the energy uses included in the calculation, the floor area considered, the definition of energy classes, the main indicator(s), the number of EPCs issued, the availability of a national register, the mechanisms in place to ensure the quality of EPCs

LCA DI MATERIALI ISOLANTI IN CALCECANAPULO PER EDILIZIA SOSTENIBILE

La necessita\u300 di ridurre le emissioni derivanti dal settore dell\u2019edilizia ha portato alla ricerca di soluzioni per migliorare la sostenibilita\u300 e la performance energetica degli edifici. Una soluzione efficace e\u300 l\u2019utilizzo di mate- riali isolanti di origine naturale. Il calcecanapulo e\u300 un biocomposito ottenuto dalla miscela di una fibra natura- le (canapulo) e di un legante (calce) con ottime capacita\u300 isolanti e igrometriche. L\u2019obiettivo dello studio e\u300 quello di valutare la sostenibilita\u300 in termini di Life Cycle Assessment di tre diverse miscele del biocomposito prodotte dall\u2019azienda italiana Equilibrium: Natural Beton 200 (con un rapporto calce canapa 1:1), Natural Be- ton 300 (con rapporto 2:1) e Biomattone (2:1). L\u2019approccio dello studio e\u300 \u201cdalla culla al cancello\u201d. Per tutte le miscele la fase di produzione della calce e della canapa risultano essere quelle con impatti maggiori. Gli im- patti derivanti dal trasporto della calce possono essere ridotti cambiando il sito di approvviggionamento

On the neutrality issue in the Polyakov-loop NJL model

We elucidate how the color neutrality is harmed in the Polyakov Nambu-Jona Lasinio (PNJL) model at finite density within the adopted mean field approximation. Also we point out how usual assumption about the diagonal form of the Wilson loop may fail in the presence of the diquark condensate on several grounds.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figure. Introduction enlarged, several comments about the adopted mean field approximation and the relation with Elitzur's theorem added. Version to appear on Phys. Rev.

XAI.it 2020 - Preface to the first italian workshop on explainable artificial intelligence

Artificial Intelligence systems are increasingly playing an increasingly important role in our daily lives. As their importance in our everyday lives grows, it is fundamental that the internal mechanisms that guide these algorithms are as clear as possible. It is not by chance that the recent General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) emphasized the users’ right to explanation when people face artificial intelligence-based technologies. Unfortunately, the current research tends to go in the opposite direction, since most of the approaches try to maximize the effectiveness of the models (e.g., recommendation accuracy) at the expense of the explainability and the transparency. The main research questions which arise from this scenario is straightforward: how can we deal with such a dichotomy between the need for effective adaptive systems and the right to transparency and interpretability? Several research lines are triggered by this question: building transparent intelligent systems, analyzing the impact of opaque algorithms on final users, studying the role of explanation strategies, investigating how to provide users with more control in the behavior of intelligent systems. XAI.it, the first Italian workshop on Explainable AI, tries to address these research lines and aims to provide a forum for the Italian community to discuss problems, challenges and innovative approaches in the various sub-fields of XAI

Anxiolytic-like effects of nociceptin/orphanin FQ in the elevated plus maze and in the conditioned defensive burying test in rats

Different reports suggest that nociceptin/orphanin FQ (N/OFQ) may have either anxiolytic- or anxiogenic-like effect in rodents. Since N/OFQ elicits hypolocomotion, which undergoes rapid tolerance, and hypolocomotion may be associated to emotional consequences, the present study was designed to investigate the effect of N/OFQ on anxiety after development of tolerance to its hypolocomotor effect. The effect of single or double intracerebroventricular (i.c.v.) injection of N/OFQ was evaluated on anxiety-related behaviors in rats, in the elevated plus maze (EPM) and conditioned defensive burying (CDB) tests. After single administration, N/OFQ displayed an anxiogenic-like pattern of response on the elevated plus maze but hypolocomotion was also observed. Conversely, in the CDB test, N/OFQ induced a clear-cut anxiolytic pattern. To produce tolerance to N/OFQ-induced hypolocomotion the peptide was administered by two i.c.v. injections separated by 120 min; in these conditions it decreased the expression of anxiety-related behaviors in both tests without affecting locomotor activity. The nociceptin/orphanin FQ peptide (NOP) receptor antagonist UFP-101 significantly reduced the effects of N/OFQ to control values in either tests. Corticosterone levels were significantly increased after a single N/OFQ administration (not in a dose-dependent manner) but this increase did not reach significance after double administration (1 nmol/rat). Our results support the idea that N/OFQ may act as an anxiolytic-like agent in the rat; the apparent anxiogenic-like effect observed following its single administration in the EPM may be consequent to its, effect on locomotion. (c) 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved

Adaptability and Stability of Alfalfa Cultivars

Yield adaptability and stability of thirty five alfalfa genotypes (Medicago sativa L.) were evaluated at Sertãozinho, SP, Brazil, considering different environments (seasons of year) from 1996 to 1999. A randomized complete block design with three replications was used. Scott-Knott’s test was performed to compare genotypes averages. Adaptability and stability were determined by Eberhart and Russell\u27s procedures. Two diverse groups of genotypes with mean dry matter yield were identified: Araucana, F686, MH4 e BR2 were more responsive under favorable environments, but SW 8210, Alto, Monarca SP, Victoria SP, Florida 77, P5888, MH15, BR1, BR3, SW 9210A presented broad adaptability and high predictive stability for diverse environments. It was concluded that several studied genotypes compared to cv. ‘Crioula’, which is traditionally used in Brazil, and these genotypes can be grown in these environments, showing high yielding and broad adaptability associated to phenotypic stability

High-order discrete ordinate transport in hexagonal geometry: A new capability in ERANOS

This paper presents the implementation of an arbitrary order discontinuous Galerkin scheme within the framework of a discrete ordinate solver of the neutron transport equation for nuclear reactor calculations. More precisely, it deals with non-conforming spatial meshes for the 2D and 3D modeling of core geometries based on hexagonal assemblies. This work aims at improving the capabilities of the ERANOS code system dedicated to fast reactor analysis and design. Both the angular quadrature and spatial scheme peculiarities for hexagonal geometries are presented. A particular focus is set on the spatial non-conforming mesh and variable order capabilities of this scheme in anticipation to the development of spatial adaptiveness algorithms. These features are illustrated on a 3D numerical benchmark with comparison to a Monte Carlo reference and a 2D benchmark that shows the potential of this scheme for both h- and p-adaptation

Chiral crossover, deconfinement and quarkyonic matter within a Nambu-Jona Lasinio model with the Polyakov loop

We study the interplay between the chiral and the deconfinement transitions, both at high temperature and high quark chemical potential, by a non local Nambu-Jona Lasinio model with the Polyakov loop in the mean field approximation and requiring neutrality of the ground state. We consider three forms of the effective potential of the Polyakov loop: two of them with a fixed deconfinement scale, cases I and II, and the third one with a $\mu$ dependent scale, case III. In the cases I and II, at high chemical potential $\mu$ and low temperature $T$ the main contribution to the free energy is due to the Z(3)-neutral three-quark states, mimicking the quarkyonic phase of the large $N_c$ phase diagram. On the other hand in the case III the quarkyonic window is shrunk to a small region. Finally we comment on the relations of these results to lattice studies and on possible common prospects. We also briefly comment on the coexistence of quarkyonic and color superconductive phases.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figures, RevTeX4. Some typos corrected, references adde