On Words with the Zero Palindromic Defect

We study the set of finite words with zero palindromic defect, i.e., words rich in palindromes. This set is factorial, but not recurrent. We focus on description of pairs of rich words which cannot occur simultaneously as factors of a longer rich word

Monte Carlo evaluation of the external gamma, neutron and muon induced background sources in the CUORE experiment

CUORE is a 1 ton scale cryogenic experiment aiming at the measurement of the Majorana mass of the electron neutrino. The detector is an array of 988 TeO2 bolometers used for a calorimetric detection of the two electrons emitted in the BB0n of 130Te. The sensitivity of the experiment to the lowest Majorana mass is determined by the rate of background events that can mimic a BB0n. In this paper we investigate the contribution of external sources i.e. environmental gammas, neutrons and cosmic ray muons to the CUORE background and show that the shielding setup designed for CUORE guarantees a reduction of this external background down to a level <1.0E-02 c/keV/kg/y at the Q-value, as required by the physical goal of the experiment.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figure

Vertical distribution of aerosol optical properties in the Po Valley during the 2012 summer campaigns

Studying the vertical distribution of aerosol particle physical and chemical properties in the troposphere is essential to understand the relative importance of local emission processes vs. long-range transport for column-integrated aerosol properties (e.g. the aerosol optical depth, AOD, affecting regional climate) as well as for the aerosol burden and its impacts on air quality at the ground. The main objective of this paper is to investigate the transport of desert dust in the middle troposphere and its intrusion into the planetary boundary layer (PBL) over the Po Valley (Italy), a region considered one of the greatest European pollution hotspots for the frequency that particulate matter (PM) limit values are exceeded. Events of mineral aerosol uplift from local (soil) sources and phenomena of hygroscopic growth at the ground are also investigated, possibly affecting the PM concentration in the region as well. During the PEGASOS 2012 field campaign, an integrated observing–modelling system was set up based on near-surface measurements (particle concentration and chemistry), vertical profiling (backscatter coefficient profiles from lidar and radiosoundings) and Lagrangian air mass transport simulations by FLEXPART model. Measurements were taken at the San Pietro Capofiume supersite (44°39′ N, 11°37′ E; 11 m a.s.l.), located in a rural area relatively close to some major urban and industrial emissive areas in the Po Valley. Mt. Cimone (44°12′ N, 10°42′ E; 2165 m a.s.l.) WMO/GAW station observations are also included in the study to characterize regional-scale variability. Results show that, in the Po Valley, aerosol is detected mainly below 2000 m a.s.l. with a prevalent occurrence of non-depolarizing particles ( > 50 % throughout the campaign) and a vertical distribution modulated by the PBL daily evolution. Two intense events of mineral dust transport from northern Africa (19–21 and 29 June to 2 July) are observed, with layers advected mainly above 2000 m, but subsequently sinking and mixing in the PBL. As a consequence, a non-negligible occurrence of mineral dust is observed close to the ground (  ~7 % of occurrence during a 1-month campaign). The observations unambiguously show Saharan dust layers intruding the Po Valley mixing layer and directly affecting the aerosol concentrations near the surface. Finally, lidar observations also indicate strong variability in aerosol on shorter timescales (hourly). Firstly, these highlight events of hygroscopic growth of anthropogenic aerosol, visible as shallow layers of low depolarization near the ground. Such events are identified during early morning hours at high relative humidity (RH) conditions (RH  > 80 %). The process is observed concurrently with high PM1 nitrate concentration (up to 15 µg cm−3) and hence mainly explicable by deliquescence of fine anthropogenic particles, and during mineral dust intrusion episodes, when water condensation on dust particles could instead represent the dominant contribution. Secondly, lidar images show frequent events (mean daily occurrence of  ~ 22 % during the whole campaign) of rapid uplift of mineral depolarizing particles in afternoon–evening hours up to 2000 m a.s.l. height. The origin of such particles cannot be directly related to long-range transport events, being instead likely linked to processes of soil particle resuspension from agricultural lands

Radon mitigation during the installation of the CUORE 0νββ0\nu\beta\beta decay detector

CUORE - the Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events - is an experiment searching for the neutrinoless double-beta ($0\nu\beta\beta$) decay of $^{130}$Te with an array of 988 TeO$_2$ crystals operated as bolometers at $\sim$10 mK in a large dilution refrigerator. With this detector, we aim for a $^{130}$Te $0\nu\beta\beta$ decay half-life sensitivity of $9\times10^{25}$ y with 5 y of live time, and a background index of $\lesssim 10^{-2}$ counts/keV/kg/y. Making an effort to maintain radiopurity by minimizing the bolometers' exposure to radon gas during their installation in the cryostat, we perform all operations inside a dedicated cleanroom environment with a controlled radon-reduced atmosphere. In this paper, we discuss the design and performance of the CUORE Radon Abatement System and cleanroom, as well as a system to monitor the radon level in real time.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, 1 tabl

A variational approach to strongly damped wave equations

We discuss a Hilbert space method that allows to prove analytical well-posedness of a class of linear strongly damped wave equations. The main technical tool is a perturbation lemma for sesquilinear forms, which seems to be new. In most common linear cases we can furthermore apply a recent result due to Crouzeix--Haase, thus extending several known results and obtaining optimal analyticity angle.Comment: This is an extended version of an article appeared in \emph{Functional Analysis and Evolution Equations -- The G\"unter Lumer Volume}, edited by H. Amann et al., Birkh\"auser, Basel, 2008. In the latest submission to arXiv only some typos have been fixe

ACE-inhibition ameliorates vascular reactivity and delays diabetes outcome in NODmice.

Recently, we have demonstrated a direct correlation among hyperglycaemia, vascular dysfunction and eNOS post-translational regulation in non non-obese diabetic mice (NOD). Here, we evaluate the impact of two ACE-inhibitors therapy, zofenopril and enalapril in NOD mice. Insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) development was monitored weekly through glycosuria measurement. Zofenopril and enalapril were dosed at 0.5 mg/kg/die orally. Animals were sacrificed at different points and aortas used for western blotting or for tissue bath experiments. Bovine aortic endothelial cells in high glucose medium are treated with zofenoprilat or enalaprilat. Cells and supernatant were utilised for western blot analysis and for nitrite/nitrate determination, respectively. In ex-vivo experiments chronic administration of both drugs restored PE-induced contraction but not Isop-induced vasodilatation, however only zofenopril reduced caveolin-1 expression. In vitro, both drugs inhibited caveolin-1 expression and increased NOx production. However, zofenopril caused inhibition of both parameters at a concentration 200 fold lower than enalalpril. In vivo, zofenopril delays the onset of diabetic conditions of about 50%, and ameliorates polyuria. In conclusion our data suggest that ACE-inhibitor therapy may be useful in IDDM, in particular sulphydrylated inhibitor would display a better efficacy especially if administered early on the development of diabetes

Time evolution in linear response: Boltzmann equations and beyond

In this work a perturbative linear response analysis is performed for the time evolution of the quasi-conserved charge of a scalar field. One can find two regimes, one follows exponential damping, where the damping rate is shown to come from quantum Boltzmann equations. The other regime (coming from multiparticle cuts and products of them) decays as power law. The most important, non-oscillating contribution in our model comes from a 4-particle intermediate state and decays as 1/t^3. These results may have relevance for instance in the context of lepton number violation in the Early Universe.Comment: 19 page

Results from 730 kg days of the CRESST-II Dark Matter Search

The CRESST-II cryogenic Dark Matter search, aiming at detection of WIMPs via elastic scattering off nuclei in CaWO$_4$ crystals, completed 730 kg days of data taking in 2011. We present the data collected with eight detector modules, each with a two-channel readout; one for a phonon signal and the other for coincidently produced scintillation light. The former provides a precise measure of the energy deposited by an interaction, and the ratio of scintillation light to deposited energy can be used to discriminate different types of interacting particles and thus to distinguish possible signal events from the dominant backgrounds. Sixty-seven events are found in the acceptance region where a WIMP signal in the form of low energy nuclear recoils would be expected. We estimate background contributions to this observation from four sources: 1) "leakage" from the e/\gamma-band 2) "leakage" from the \alpha-particle band 3) neutrons and 4) Pb-206 recoils from Po-210 decay. Using a maximum likelihood analysis, we find, at a high statistical significance, that these sources alone are not sufficient to explain the data. The addition of a signal due to scattering of relatively light WIMPs could account for this discrepancy, and we determine the associated WIMP parameters.Comment: 17 pages, 13 figure

LINEE GUIDA CLINICHE PER LA PREVENZIONE DELLA CARDIOPATIA ISCHEMICA NELLA IPERCOLESTEROLEMIA FAMILIARE Una patologia sotto-diagnosticata e sotto-trattata

AIMS. Familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH) is a common genetic cause of premature coronary heart disease (CHD) due to lifelong elevated plasma low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels. This paper aims to describe the problem of FH underdiagnosis and undertreatment and to promote CHD prevention providing recommendations for the screening and treatment of patients with FH. Methods and results. In many countries, less then 1% of FH patients are diagnosed, although the estimated prevalence of this condition is about 1/500 for heterozygous FH and the results of FH screening in a general population of Northern Europe suggest a prevalence of 1/200. Studies on FH patients agree on a widespread failure to achieve recommended target of LDL-cholesterol and on a 12-fold increased CHD risk. With a theoretical prevalence between 1/500 and 1/200, it is estimated that 14 to 34 million subjects worldwide have FH. With evidence of plasma cholesterol ≥8 mmol/L (≥310 mg/dL) in an adult or ≥6 mmol/L (≥230 mg/dL) in a child, premature CHD, tendon xanthomas, or sudden premature cardiac death, we recommend the screening for FH of this subject and of all first-degree relatives. The treatment of a patient with diagnosis of FH should have LDL targets of <3.5 mmol/L (<135 mg/ dL) for children, <2.5 mmol/L (<100 mg/dL) for adults, and <1.8 mmol/L (<70 mg/dL) for adults with known CHD or diabetes. Beside life-style and dietary modifications, first line therapies are statins, ezetimibe, and bile acid binding resins in children, and maximal potent statin dose, ezetimibe, bile acid binding resins, and fibrates in adults. Homozygotes FH and in treatment-resistant heterozygotes FH with CHD should be referred for LDL-apheresis. Conclusion. Familial hypercholesterolemia is a common condition that carries a high risk of CHD. The underdiagnosis and undertreatment of FH require a focused intervention that implements the screening and promote the early and aggressive treatment of these patients

CALDER - Neutrinoless double-beta decay identification in TeO2_2 bolometers with kinetic inductance detectors

Next-generation experiments searching for neutrinoless double-beta decay must be sensitive to a Majorana neutrino mass as low as 10 meV. CUORE, an array of 988 TeO$_2$ bolometers being commissioned at Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso in Italy, features an expected sensitivity of 50-130 meV at 90% C.L, that can be improved by removing the background from $\alpha$ radioactivity. This is possible if, in coincidence with the heat release in a bolometer, the Cherenkov light emitted by the $\beta$ signal is detected. The amount of light detected is so far limited to only 100 eV, requiring low-noise cryogenic light detectors. The CALDER project (Cryogenic wide-Area Light Detectors with Excellent Resolution) aims at developing a small prototype experiment consisting of TeO$_2$ bolometers coupled to new light detectors based on kinetic inductance detectors. The R&D is focused on the light detectors that could be implemented in a next-generation neutrinoless double-beta decay experiment.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, added reference to first result