GEANT4 simulation of phase rotation for neutrino factory

We discuss a GEANT4 simulation of the phase rotation system for a neutrino factory. The comparison with the beam transport code PATH shows a good agreement. Preliminary results for the energy disposition in the cryostat of the superconducting 1.8 T solenoid are briefly presented

Nuclear and Non-Ionizing Energy-Loss for Coulomb Scattered Particles from Low Energy up to Relativistic Regime in Space Radiation Environment

In the space environment, instruments onboard of spacecrafts can be affected by displacement damage due to radiation. The differential scattering cross section for screened nucleus--nucleus interactions - i.e., including the effects due to screened Coulomb nuclear fields -, nuclear stopping powers and non-ionization energy losses are treated from about 50 keV/nucleon up to relativistic energies.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Proceedings of the ICATPP Conference on Cosmic Rays for Particle and Astroparticle Physics, Villa Olmo (Como, Italy), 7--8 October, 2010, to be published by World Scientifi

GEANT simulation of energy losses of slow hadrons

The algorithm of the simulation of energy losses for hadrons with kinetic energy down to few eV is described. The details of its implementation in Geant4 are discussed. The comparison of the results of simulation with the experimental data is presented

The TNG Near Infrared Camera Spectrometer

NICS (acronym for Near Infrared Camera Spectrometer) is the near-infrared cooled camera-spectrometer that has been developed by the Arcetri Infrared Group at the Arcetri Astrophysical Observatory, in collaboration with the CAISMI-CNR for the TNG (the Italian National Telescope Galileo at La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain). As NICS is in its scientific commissioning phase, we report its observing capabilities in the near-infrared bands at the TNG, along with the measured performance and the limiting magnitudes. We also describe some technical details of the project, such as cryogenics, mechanics, and the system which executes data acquisition and control, along with the related software.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, compiled with A&A macros. A&A in pres

Mother-to-child transmission of KPC-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae: Potential relevance of a low microbial urinary load for screening purposes

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GIANO-TNG spectroscopy of red supergiants in the young star cluster RSGC2

The inner disk of the Galaxy has a number of young star clusters dominated by red supergiants that are heavily obscured by dust extinction and observable only at infrared wavelengths. These clusters are important tracers of the recent star formation and chemical enrichment history in the inner Galaxy. During the technical commissioning and as a first science verification of the GIANO spectrograph at the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo, we secured high-resolution (R~50,000) near-infrared spectra of three red supergiants in the young Scutum cluster RSGC2. Taking advantage of the full YJHK spectral coverage of GIANO in a single exposure, we were able to identify several tens of atomic and molecular lines suitable for chemical abundance determinations. By means of spectral synthesis and line equivalent width measurements, we obtained abundances of Fe and other iron-peak elements such as V, Cr, Ni, of alpha (O, Mg, Si, Ca and Ti) and other light elements (C, N, Na, Al, K, Sc), and of some s-process elements (Y, Sr). We found iron abundances between half and one third solar and solar-scaled [X/Fe] abundance patterns of iron-peak, alpha and most of the light elements, consistent with a thin-disk chemistry. We found a depletion of [C/Fe] and enhancement of [N/Fe], consistent with CN burning, and low 12C/13C abundance ratios (between 9 and 11), requiring extra-mixing processes in the stellar interiors during the post-main sequence evolution. Finally, we found a slight [Sr/Fe] enhancement and a slight [Y/Fe] depletion (by a factor of <=2), with respect to solar.Comment: Paper accepted on A&

Identification of a novel plasmid lineage associated with the dissemination of metallo-&#946;-lactamase genes among pseudomonads

Acquisition of metallo-\u3b2-lactamases (MBLs) represents one of most relevant resistance mechanisms to all \u3b2-lactams, including carbapenems, ceftolozane and available \u3b2-lactamase inhibitors, in Pseudomonas spp. VIM-type enzymes are the most common acquired MBLs in Pseudomonas aeruginosa and, to a lesser extent, in other Pseudomonas species. Little is known about the acquisition dynamics of these determinants, that are usually carried on integrons embedded into chromosomal mobile genetic elements. To date, few MBL-encoding plasmids have been described in Pseudomonas spp., and their diversity and role in the dissemination of these MBLs remains largely unknown. Here we report on the genetic features of the VIM-1encoding plasmid pMOS94 from P. mosselii AM/94, the earliest known VIM-1-producing strain, and of related elements involved in dissemination of MBL. Results of plasmid DNA sequencing showed that pMOS94 had a modular organization, consisting of backbone modules associated with replication, transfer and antibiotic resistance. Plasmid pMOS94, although not typable according to the PBRT scheme, was classifiable either in MOBF11 or MPFT plasmid families. The resistance region included the class I integron In70, carrying blaVIM-1, in turn embedded in a defective Tn402-like transposon. Comparison with pMOS94-like elements led to the identification of a defined plasmid lineage circulating in different Pseudomonas spp. of clinical and environmental origin and spreading different MBL-encoding genes, including blaIMP-63, blaBIM, and blaVIM-type determinants. Genetic analysis revealed that this plasmid lineage likely shared a common ancestor and had evolved through the acquisition and recombination of different mobile elements, including the MBL-encoding transposons. Our findings provide new insights about the genetic diversity of MBL-encoding plasmids circulating among Pseudomonas spp., potentially useful for molecular epidemiology purposes, and revealed the existence and persistence of a successful plasmid lineage over a wide spatio-temporal interval, spanning over five different countries among two continents and over 20-years

Rapid detection of intestinal carriage of Klebsiella pneumoniae producing KPC carbapenemase during an outbreak

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The relative absorption of fatty acids in brown trout (Salmo trutta) fed a commercial extruded pellet coated with different lipid sources

The objective of the present study was to investigate the fatty acid absorption capabilities of brown trout (Salmo trut- ta) fed commercial extruded diets. Five commercial extruded pellets, different only in the lipid sources used for fat coat- ing, were tested on juvenile brown trout for 45 days. The trout were reared in fresh water at 14.6 ± 0.4° C and 7.7 ± 0.3 mg/l, temperature and dissolved oxygen, respectively. The tested lipid sources were fish oil, canola oil, oleine oil, swine fat and poultry fat. After the adaptation period faeces were collected by gently stripping from anaesthetized fish. Fatty acid analysis was performed on experimental diets and on collected faeces to evaluate the relative absorption capabilities of the trout digestive system with respect to each detected fatty acid. The use of the relative absorption efficiency (rAE) was opted to evaluate the intrinsic capability of each fatty acid to be absorbed. Brown trout showed a specific preferential order of absorption of the fatty acids, preferring shorter over longer chain fatty acids and prefer- ring the more unsaturated to the more saturated fatty acids. The fatty acid that showed the best relative absorbability was the C18:4n-3 (rAE = 5.14 ± 0.72), which has a fairly short carbon chain, but at the same time a high unsatura- tion level, followed by the C18:3n-3 (rAE = 3.38 ± 0.30). The fatty acid that showed the worst relative absorbability (rAE = 0.21 ± 0.02) was C24:1n-9