Study of vertex silicon detectors for LHC experiments

This thesis deals with the development of pixel and microstrip silicon detectors, to be used in the vertex system of LHC experiments. The presented chip for the readout of hybrid pixels is the baseline of the one foreseen for the ALICE experiment. The microstrip detector is the prototype for the VErtex LOcator of the LHCb experiment. The main aspects of the work related to a vertex detector are discussed, being the two sensor options in some sense complementary in covering the vertex system problems and requirements

The Global Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Individuals’ and Couples’ Sexuality

The COVID-19 pandemic and its related restrictions significantly impacted individuals' health, wellbeing, and security. Isolation, limitation of movement, social distancing, and forced cohabiting have had a strong influence on all areas of people's lives as well as on their sexuality. Investigating how the COVID-19 outbreak and its consequences impacted people's sexuality was the primary aim of this review. Particularly, we focused on: (1) the variables associated with the improvement or the deterioration of individuals' and couples' lives during the pandemic; (2) the use of sex as a coping strategy; (3) the impact of COVID-19 outbreak on LGBT people. Results have shown that the worsening of sexual life seems to be related to couples' conflict, emotions and psychological difficulties, being female, being single or away from the partner, being a health care worker, and having children. Moreover, a detrimental effect on sexuality was associated with stress, forced cohabitation, routine, anxiety and worry about the job and the pandemic, feeling partner distance, being unhappy with their partner, and lack of privacy. On the other hand, improvements in sexuality were associated with living happily with a partner, being happy and satisfied with a partner, feeling less stressed and more bored, having more free time, having fewer recreation opportunities, and having minor workload. During the pandemic, there was an increase in using sex toys, pornography consumption, masturbating, and trying sexual experimentations. Among LGBT people, an increase was found in the number of casual sexual partners potentially due to the perceived lower likelihood of transmission through sex. Moreover, the increase in sexual activity may have represented a coping strategy to quarantine-related distress

Durum wheat growth analysis in a semiarid environment in relation to crop rotation and nitrogen rate

SUMMARY – A research on durum wheat growth analysis was carried out at Sparacia farm (37°37’N-13°42’E) during the 2000-2001 and 2001-2002 seasons in a typical semi-arid environment. The objective of this research was to determine the effects of crop rotation (continuous wheat and wheat-pea rotation) and N fertilizer rates (0, 60 and 120 Kg ha-1) on growth of four durum wheat varieties, characterized by different productive ability and adaptation. A split- split-plot design with three replications was used. The study highlighted the role of the CGR index in order to enable a better knowledge of the relationship among crop techniques and wheat yield respons

Green manuring as sustainable management for southern Italy extensive cultivated areas

In the extensively-managed agricultural areas of Sicily, rainfall is often so limited that economically effective annual productions are not feasible. Bare fallow, the most extreme dry-farming technique, seems to be, under such conditions, the only suitable strategy. The introduction in these cropping systems of an annual legume to put early into the soil, as an alternative to bare fallow, may represent a technique able not only to prevent soil erosion, but also to improve the low soil organic matter reserves, with a direct benefit on the following yields and on the whole environment. The trial was aimed to verify the bioagronomical and qualitative behaviour of durum wheat managed under different cropping systems. Results, heavily influenced by very low rainfall (320 mm), stressed the extraordinary productive response of durum wheat cultivated after the green manure legume

Properties and Structural Studies of Multi-Wall Carbon Nanotubes-Phosphate Ester Hybrids

Long chain phosphate esters bearing at least one or two aryl groups have been synthesized and used for the preparation of stable multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) hybrids. The non-covalent interaction ester/MWCNT has been in- vestigated by several techniques (SEM, UV-vis, 31P-NMR, RAMAN). The used phosphate ester derivatives demon- strated the ability to produce an excellent dispersion of MWCNT in CHCl3. The obtained dispersions showed a great stability from one to at least three weeks in the range of concentration considered. Thermal analysis showed an increase in the decomposition temperature for the hybrids with respect to pristine MWCNT

An efficient and stereoselective dearylation of asarinin and sesamin tetrahydrofurofuran lignans to acuminatolide by methyltrioxorhenium/H2O2 and UHP systems

The synthesis of stereoisomers of acuminatolide is rare and requires complex and time-consuming multistep procedures. Asarinin (1) and sesamin (2), two diasteromeric tetrahydrofurofuran lignans, are efficiently mono-dearylated by methyltrioxorhenium (MTO, I) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) or urea hydrogen peroxide adduct (UHP) as primary oxidant to give (-)-(7R,8'R,8R)-acuminatolide (3A) and (+)-(7S,8R,8'R)-acuminatolide (3B), respectively, in high yield and diastereoselectivity (de > 98%). The oxidation of 1 was also performed with novel heterogeneous catalysts based on the heterogenation of MTO on poly(4-vinylpyridine) and polystyrene resins. In these latter cases 3A was obtained with a different yield and selectivity depending on the physical-chemical properties of the support. Cytotoxic effects of 3A and 3B in mammalian cell lines in vitro are also reported

Crop rotation, nitrogen fertilization and genotype effects on durum wheat productive characteristics

A field trial was performed in 2000/01 and 2001/02 in the experimental farm “Sparacia” (Cammarata – AG – Sicily) in order to evaluate the qualitative and quantitative response of four varieties of durum wheat when grown after a legume crop (field pea) or in rotation with itself and when submitted to different N-fertilization levels: no fertilization (N0, control), 60 kg ha-1 (N 60, rate advised by the EC n. 2078/92 for the Sicilian territory) and 120 kg ha-1 (N 120, fertilization rate commonly used under the “traditional” cropping technique). In the first trial year, the fertilized trial expressed a better yield performance than the control, but in 2001/02, characterized by severe and prolonged dry periods, the effect of crop rotation and variety was shown to be more important