1,301 research outputs found
Charged lepton flavour violation from low scale seesaw neutrinos
In the work presented here, we have studied the impact of right handed
neutrinos, which are introduced to account for the evidence of neutrino masses,
on charged lepton flavour violating observables. In particular, we have focused
on the loop induced decays of the Z boson into two leptons of different
flavour. We have performed a numerical study of the rates predicted for these
processes within the Inverse Seesaw model, specifically considering scenarios
where transitions are suppressed. Our conclusion, after comparison
with the most relevant experimental constraints, is that branching ratios as
large as can be predicted in the or
channels, together with heavy neutrinos having masses of the TeV order. Such
rates could be accessible at next generation colliders.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures, 3 tables. Proceedings of the Corfu Summer
Institute 2016 "School and Workshops on Elementary Particle Physics and
Gravity", 31 August - 23 September 2016, Corfu, Greec
On the reliability of electrical drives for safety-critical applications
The aim of this work is to present some issues related to fault tolerant electric drives,which are able to overcome different types of faults occurring in the sensors, in thepower converter and in the electrical machine, without compromising the overallfunctionality of the system. These features are of utmost importance in safety-criticalapplications. In this paper, the reliability of both commercial and innovative driveconfigurations, which use redundant hardware and suitable control algorithms, will beinvestigated for the most common types of fault: besides standard three phase motordrives, also multiphase topologies, open-end winding solutions, multi-machineconfigurations will be analyzed, applied to various electric motor technologies. Thecomplexity of hardware and control strategies will also be compared in this paper, sincethis has a tremendous impact on the investment costs
An evaluation of a series of sixth grade compositions to determine growth in originality, elaborative thinking, and vocabulary
Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit
Development of a continuous-flow anaerobic co-digestion process of olive mill wastewater and municipal sewage sludge
BACKGROUND: Olive mill wastewater (OMW) represents an environmental problem due to its high organic load and relevant concentration of phenolic compounds (PCs). OMW treatment and disposal represents a relevant challenge and cost for olive mills and multi-utilities in charge of waste management in Mediterranean countries. The goal of this study was to develop an anaerobic co-digestion (co-AD) process of OMW and sewage sludge (SwS) from municipal wastewater treatment. RESULTS: Different volumetric OMW:SwS ratios up to 100% OMW were fed in continuous 1.7-L bioreactors. The reactors fed with raw OMW (rOMW) performed better than those fed with OMW dephenolized by adsorption (dOMW). At a 23-day hydraulic retention time, the best performances were obtained in the reactor fed with 25% rOMW, with a 105% increase in methane yield in comparison to the 100% SwS test. At a 40-day hydraulic retention time, the reactor fed with 40% rOMW attained a 268 NLCH4/kgvolatile solids methane yield. The conversion of phenolic compoundsreached 70% when the hydraulic retention time was increased from 23 to 40 days. A cost\u2013benefit analysis indicated that both rOMW co-AD in existing digesters and phenolic compounds recovery from OMW followed by co-AD of dOMW can lead to relevant additional revenues for the multi-utilities in charge of wastewater management. CONCLUSION: This work proves that, using the existing network of SwS anaerobic digesters, it is feasible to co-digest the entire OMW production in regions characterized by intense olive oil production, thus attaining a relevant increase in methane production yield (a 144% increase in comparison to 100% SwS)
Fluorescent Light Energy (FLE) Generated through Red LED Light and a Natural Photoconverter Gel as a New, Non-Invasive Approach for Facial Age Control: A Pilot Study
This study, for the first time, evaluated the safety and efficacy of a new natural-based topical gel containing a spirulina extract. This photoconverter gel generates fluorescent light energy (FLE) via a red LED light device, which is proven to be effective for age control of facial skin. This was a one-centre, observational, uncontrolled pilot trial. Eight healthy female subjects aged 35 to 65 years old, with Fitzpatrick skin types II–V were recruited. The duration of the study was five treatment sessions of one treatment every seven days, with a final follow-up at one month after the last treatment session. The images and the related data were acquired with the SONY® Mod. DSCRX10M3, the Canfield VISIA Facial Imaging System®, and QUANTIFICARE 3D® analysis. Patient compliance was excellent (100%) and the treatment was described as warm and pleasant by the patients. After 30 days, VISIA parameters such as wrinkles, texture, red areas, and Trueskin Age® had improved. The safety and efficacy of the FLE treatment assessed in this trial were achieved for overall rejuvenation of facial skin, focusing on wrinkles evaluated via the specific VISIA algorithms
An extremely low-noise heralded single-photon source: a breakthrough for quantum technologies
Low noise single-photon sources are a critical element for quantum
technologies. We present a heralded single-photon source with an extremely low
level of residual background photons, by implementing low-jitter detectors and
electronics and a fast custom-made pulse generator controlling an optical
shutter (a LiNbO3 waveguide optical switch) on the output of the source. This
source has a second-order autocorrelation g^{(2)}(0)=0.005(7), and an "Output
Noise Factor" (defined as the ratio of the number of noise photons to total
photons at the source output channel) of 0.25(1)%. These are the best
performance characteristics reported to date
COVID-19 lockdowns reveal the resilience of Adriatic Sea fisheries to forced fishing effort reduction
The COVID-19 pandemic provides a major opportunity to study fishing effort dynamics and to assess the response of the industry to standard and remedial actions. Knowing a fishing fleet’s capacity to compensate for effort reduction (i.e., its resilience) allows differentiating governmental regulations by fleet, i.e., imposing stronger restrictions on the more resilient and weaker restrictions on the less resilient. In the present research, the response of the main fishing fleets of the Adriatic Sea to fishing hour reduction from 2015 to 2020 was measured. Fleet activity per gear type was inferred from monthly Automatic Identification System data. Pattern recognition techniques were applied to study the fishing effort trends and barycentres by gear. The beneficial effects of the lockdowns on Adriatic endangered, threatened and protected (ETP) species were also estimated. Finally, fleet effort series were examined through a stock assessment model to demonstrate that every Adriatic fishing fleet generally behaves like a stock subject to significant stress, which was particularly highlighted by the pandemic. Our findings lend support to the notion that the Adriatic fleets can be compared to predators with medium-high resilience and a generally strong impact on ETP species
Multiband Software Defined Radar for Soil Discontinuities Detection
A multiband Software Defined Radar based on orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing technique is proposed in this work for an accurate soil discontinuities detection, taking into account also the dispersive behavior of media. A multilayer soil structure is assumed as a validation test to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach, by accurately retrieving the unknown thicknesses and permittivities of the soil layers
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