Charmonium Cross Sections and the QGP

In this short review we summarize experimental information and theoretical results for the low-energy dissociation cross sections of charmonia by light hadrons. These cross sections are required for the simulation of charmonium absorption through collisions with comovers in heavy ion collisions, which competes with quark-gluon plasma production as a charmonium-suppression mechanism. If the cross sections are sufficiently large these dissociation reactions may be misinterpreted as an effect of quark-gluon plasma production. Theoretical predictions for these RHIC-related processes have used various methods, including a color-dipole scattering model, meson exchange models, constituent interchange models and QCD sum rules. As the results have been largely unconstrained by experiment, some of the predictions differ by orders of magnitude, notably in the near-threshold regime that is most relevant to QGP searches.Comment: 7 pages, 11 figures. Expanded and updated version of a presentation to QNP-2002 (Juelich, 9-14 June 2002

Deoxynivalenol content in italian organic durum wheat: Results of a six-year survey

Deoxynivalenol (DON) contamination was investigated of Italian durum wheat from organic agriculture. A number of 661 samples from 13 genotypes were collected within the national organic durum wheat network variety trials during the six-year period between 2007–2012 in five different growing areas across Italy (Northern Italy, Marches, Central Apennines, West-Central Italy, Apulia). Mean temperatures and total rainfalls in April, May and June were collected nearby the study sites. Average DON contamination value along the whole study period was 67 μg/kg, and DON was detected only in 36% of the samples. Noteworthy, 95% of the analyzed grain revealed a DON contamination lower than 334 μg/kg. Maximum allowed DON level for unprocessed durum wheat set by European Union (1750 μg/kg) was exceeded only in four samples (0.6%). The highest mean DON values were detected in Northern Italy (175 μg/kg) and Marches (131 μg/kg). The same was for the percentage of positive samples (80% and 58%, respectively). Lower mean values and percentages of contaminated samples were found in West-Central Italy (22 μg/kg and 29%, respectively), Apennines (3 μg/kg and 8%, respectively) and Apulia (2 μg/kg and 7%, respectively). Statistical analysis (Generalized Linear Model, GLZ) was carried out to highlight the effect of factors like cultivation year, growing area and genotype. It revealed a huge effect of year, growing areas and their interaction, while the effect of genotype resulted significantly but quite less than the other main factors. The effect of the year could be explained by climatic data, which suggested an influence of rainfall and temperature at heading on both DON concentration values and percentage of contaminated samples. Results of this study put in evidence a low DON contamination in Italian organic durum wheat

Simultaneous Softening of sigma and rho Mesons associated with Chiral Restoration

Complex poles of the unitarized pi-pi scattering amplitude in nuclear matter are studied. Partial restoration of chiral symmetry is modeled by the decrease of in-medium pion decay constant f*_{pi}. For large chiral restoration (f*_{pi}/f_{pi} << 1), 2nd sheet poles in the scalar (sigma) and the vector (rho) mesons are both dictated by the Lambert W function and show universal softening as f*_{pi} decreases. In-medium pi-pi cross section receives substantial contribution from the soft mode and exhibits a large enhancement in low-energy region. Fate of this universality for small chiral restoration (f*_{pi}/f_{pi} ~ 1) is also discussed.Comment: 5 pages, 4-eps figures, version accepted by Phys. Rev. C (R) with minor modification

Industrial Ceramics: From Waste to New Resources for Eco-Sustainable Building Materials

Today, the need to dispose of a huge amount of ceramic industrial waste represents an important problem for production plants. Contextually, it is increasingly difficult to retrieve new mineral resources for the realization of building materials. Reusing ceramic industrial waste as precursors for building blocks/binders, exploiting their aluminosilicate composition for an alkaline activation process, could solve the problem. This chemical process facilitates the consolidation of new binders/blocks without thermal treatments and with less CO2 emissions if compared with traditional cements/ceramics. The alkali-activated materials (AAMs) are today thought as the materials of the future, eco-sustainable and technically advanced. In this study, six different kind of industrial ceramic waste are compared in their chemical and mineralogical composition, together with their thermal behaviour, reactivity in an alkaline environment and surface area characteristics, with the aim of converting them from waste into new resources. Preliminary tests of AAM synthesis by using 80%–100% of ceramic waste as a precursor show promising results. Workability, porosity and mechanical strengths in particular are measured, showing as, notwithstanding the presence of carbonate components, consolidated materials are obtained, with similar results. The main factors which affect the characteristics of the synthetized AAMs are the precursors’ granulometry, curing temperature and the proportions of the activating solutions

First determination of the one-proton induced Non-Mesonic Weak Decay width of p-shell {\Lambda}-Hypernuclei

Previous studies of proton and neutron spectra from Non-Mesonic Weak Decay of eight Lambda-Hypernuclei (A = 5-16) have been revisited. New values of the ratio of the two-nucleon and the one-proton induced decay widths, Gamma_2N/Gamma_p, are obtained from single proton spectra, Gamma_2N/Gamma_p = 0.50 +/- 0.24, and from neutron and proton coincidence spectra, Gamma_2N/Gamma_p = 0.36 +/- 0.14stat +0.05sys -0.04sys , in full agreement with previously published ones. With these values, a method is developed to extract the one-proton induced decay width in units of the free Lambda decay width, Gamma_p/Gamma_Lambda, without resorting to Intra Nuclear Cascade models but by exploiting only experimental data, under the assumption of a linear dependence on A of the Final State Interaction contribution. This is the first systematic determination ever done and it agrees within the errors with recent theoretical calculations.Comment: 16 pages, 3 figures, 2 table

Fifteen-year results of a randomized phase III trial of fenretinide to prevent second breast cancer

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Σ−p\Sigma^- p emission rates in K−K^- absorptions at rest on 6^6Li, 7^7Li, 9^{9}Be, 13^{13}C and 16^{16}O

An experimental study of the $K^-_{stop}A\rightarrow \Sigma^- p A'$ reaction on $A=^6$Li, $^7$Li, $^9$Be, $^{13}$C and $^{16}$O $p$-shell nuclei is presented. The data were collected by the FINUDA spectrometer operating at the DA$\Phi$NE $\phi$-factory (LNF-INFN, Italy). Emission rates for the reaction in the mentioned nuclei are measured and compared with the few existing data. The spectra of several observables are discussed; indications of Quasi-Free absorptions by a $(np)$ pair embedded in the $A$ nucleus can be obtained from the study of the missing mass distributions.Comment: Version accepted by PR