Search for neutrino radiative decays during a total solar eclipse

We present the results of the measurements performed in the occasion of the 2001 total solar eclipse, looking for visible photons emitted through a possible radiative decay of solar neutrinos. We establish lower limits for the \nu_2 and \nu_3 proper lifetimes above 10^3 s/eV, for neutrino masses larger than 10^{-2} eV.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, presented at AHEP2003, Valenci

The nuclear track detector CR39: results from different experiments

The nuclear track detector CR39 was calibrated with different ions of different energies. Due to the low detection threshold (Z/beta~6e) and the good charge resolution (sigma_Z ~ 0.2e for 6e < Z/beta <83e with 2 measurements), the detector was used for different purposes: (i) fragmentation of high and medium energy ions; (ii) search for magnetic monopoles, nuclearites, strangelets and Q-balls in the cosmic radiation.Comment: 4 pages, 5 eps figures. Invited talk at the 11th Topical Seminar on Innovative Particle and Radiation Detectors, Siena, Italy, 1-4 October 200

Bioplastics made from upcycled food waste. Prospects for their use in the field of design

In recent years, the negative effects on the environment of the intensive use of synthetic, oil-derived plastics to make products, even those with a limited required duration, have given renewed impetus to the search for biodegradable and/or compostable materials obtained from renewable sources, particularly biopolymers derived from vegetable, animal or microbial matter that could prove a valid alternative in a number of applications: not only in the packaging industry, but also for making objects with a longer required duration. Indeed, as well as offering the possibility of being used as they are, immediately after having undergone traditional-type mechanical processing, it is also possible to mix, supplement and modify them both on a macro- and nanometric scale, allowing us to significantly increase their properties and performance and adapt them to a wide variety of needs. However, the real challenge is to create new materials from food waste and not from specially grown crops, whose production has, in any case, an environmental cost. This allows us to reduce the waste produced when processing foods, which is usually a practical problem and involves a considerable investment in economic terms. It also helps us address one of the worst problems of our time: that of the waste that sees a third of the food produced worldwide lost along the various steps of the food production chain. There is an enormous variety of vegetable, animal and microbial waste that can be used to create biopolymers: from the orange peels left over from fruit juice production to the grapes used to produce wine; from chocolate production waste to egg shells and prawns. We can extract the starches, cellulose, pectin, chitin, lactic acid, collagen, blood proteins and gelatin that form the basis of bioplastics from these materials, either extracting them directly or using mechanical or chemical processes. These are true ‘treasure troves’ of substances that can become useful materials thanks to processes of varying complexity. In recent years, the testing of substances made from food waste has increased significantly; the sheer abundance of raw materials that can be used to make them has encouraged institutional research, as well as an approach to project development that has been widely embraced by many young designers who craft these materials. Nevertheless, there is still no systematic record of the results achieved. This has slowed down their adoption, which in contrast offers enormous potential that is still almost entirely unexplored. This paper considers all aspects of these materials, starting with the most interesting experiments underway, and envisages possible future scenarios

New calibrations and time stability of the response of the INTERCAST CR-39

We present new calibrations of different production batches (from 1989 to 1999) of the INTERCAST CR-39, using the BNL-AGS 1 A GeV iron beam. The comparison with previous results, obtained with the 158 A GeV lead beam from the CERN-SPS shows that, while each production batch has a different calibration curve (mainly due to minor differences in the production conditions), the aging effect is negligible. We also tested the dependence of the CR-39 response from the time elapsed between exposure and analysis (fading effect). The fading effect, if present, is less than 10%. It may be compatible with the experimental uncertainties on the bulk etching rate vB.Comment: 9 pages, 4 EPS figures, .pdf file. Talk presented by M. Giorgini at the 20 Int. Conf. on Nuclear Tracks in Solids, Portoroz (Slovenia), Aug 28-Sep 1, 200

Do CCT Programmes Work in Low-Income Countries?

Conditional cash transfer (CCT) programmes have worked fairly well in large upper middle-income countries such as Brazil and Mexico. But this does not mean that the CCT model can be exported to all countries, especially the poorest. As the table shows, programmes in low-income countries are reaching a much smaller share of their population and of the extremely poor. The number of beneficiaries of CCT programmes in Brazil and Mexico is larger than the number of the extremely poor, whereas in Nicaragua the beneficiaries are equivalent to 7.8 per cent of the extremely poor population. Low-income countries also have a much more limited capacity to spend on these programmes. For instance, Mexico invests 0.44 per cent of its GDP and 4.3 per cent of total social spending in CCTs, while Honduras invests 0.02 per cent of GDP and 0.2 per cent of social spending. (...)Do CCT Programmes Work in Low-Income Countries?

Material culture in Sixteenth Century Venice: a sample from probate inventories, 1510–1615

This paper presents a panel of data about material culture in early modern Venice. The data are taken from three samples of Venetian probate inventories drawn up voluntarily from Venetian widows in the years 1510–1615, at intervals of roughly fifty years. The entire period has been divided into two subgroups of three years each (1511–1513, 1560–1562), and one of six years (1610–1615). The selection of goods tries to reflect the variety of objects appearing in written lists of Venetian interiors (pieces of furniture, paintings, musical instruments, tableware, cloths), though it aims to present a view of domestic interiors in early modern Venice that pays special regard to less essential goods.Material culture, Venice, early-modern economic history, consumption, social orders, dowry legislation, probate inventories