Steiner systems and configurations of points

The aim of this paper is to make a connection between design theory and algebraic geometry/commutative algebra. In particular, given any Steiner System S(t, n, v) we associate two ideals, in a suitable polynomial ring, defining a Steiner configuration of points and its Complement. We focus on the latter, studying its homological invariants, such as Hilbert Function and Betti numbers. We also study symbolic and regular powers associated to the ideal defining a Complement of a Steiner configuration of points, finding its Waldschmidt constant, regularity, bounds on its resurgence and asymptotic resurgence. We also compute the parameters of linear codes associated to any Steiner configuration of points and its Complement

Size and asymmetry of the reaction entrance channel: influence on the probability of neck production

The results of experiments performed to investigate the Ni+Al, Ni+Ni, Ni+Ag reactions at 30 MeV/nucleon are presented. From the study of dissipative midperipheral collisions, it has been possible to detect events in which Intermediate Mass Fragments (IMF) production takes place. The decay of a quasi-projectile has been identified; its excitation energy leads to a multifragmentation totally described in terms of a statistical disassembly of a thermalized system (T$\simeq$4 MeV, E$^*\simeq$4 MeV/nucleon). Moreover, for the systems Ni+Ni, Ni+Ag, in the same nuclear reaction, a source with velocity intermediate between that of the quasi-projectile and that of the quasi-target, emitting IMF, is observed. The fragments produced by this source are more neutron rich than the average matter of the overall system, and have a charge distribution different, with respect to those statistically emitted from the quasi-projectile. The above features can be considered as a signature of the dynamical origin of the midvelocity emission. The results of this analysis show that IMF can be produced via different mechanisms simultaneously present within the same collision. Moreover, once fixed the characteristics of the quasi-projectile in the three considered reactions (in size, excitation energy and temperature), one observes that the probability of a partner IMF production via dynamical mechanism has a threshold (not present in the Ni+Al case) and increases with the size of the target nucleus.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication on Nuclear Physics

Comparazione di metodi termovisivi per l’identificazione di aree umide su materiali dell’edilizia storica

Water content inside building materials (plaster, brick, stone) is usefull to evaluate their decay level. Passive and active termography are compared, in order to define the most reliable procedure, firstly to map the moisture diffusion and secondary to evaluate the moisture content in the surfaces. Laboratory researches carried out in the last decades and scientific literature permitted to determine that the superficial decay in porous materials is more related to the evaporative speed of the surfaces and the presence of soluble salts than to their absorption capability. Moreover, evaporative fluxes were studied at different environmental conditions and water content in order to find out a correlation between moisture content, evaporation and boundary conditions. The thermal characteristics of timber are highly different from the characteristics of porous materials such as brick and stone and mortar, particularly the thermal capacity of wood is lower. Nevertheless, because of the lower heat capacity of wood, the presence of water greatly affects the wood thermal capacity: the active procedure, guarantees the best results. Lab tests and study case permit to evaluate the sensitivity of the method

Steiner configurations ideals: Containment and colouring

Given a homogeneous ideal I ⊆ k[x0, …, xn ], the Containment problem studies the relation between symbolic and regular powers of I, that is, it asks for which pairs m, r ∈ N, I(m) ⊆ Ir holds. In the last years, several conjectures have been posed on this problem, creating an active area of current interests and ongoing investigations. In this paper, we investigated the Stable Harbourne Conjecture and the Stable Harbourne–Huneke Conjecture, and we show that they hold for the defining ideal of a Complement of a Steiner configuration of points in Pnk. We can also show that the ideal of a Complement of a Steiner Configuration of points has expected resurgence, that is, its resurgence is strictly less than its big height, and it also satisfies Chudnovsky and Demailly’s Conjectures. Moreover, given a hypergraph H, we also study the relation between its colourability and the failure of the containment problem for the cover ideal associated to H. We apply these results in the case that H is a Steiner System

Aerobic growth of Rhodococcus aetherivorans BCP1 using selected naphthenic acids as the sole carbon and energy sources

Naphthenic acids (NAs) are an important group of toxic organic compounds naturally occurring in hydrocarbon deposits. This work shows that Rhodococcus aetherivorans BCP1 cells not only utilize a mixture of eight different NAs (8XNAs) for growth but they are also capable of marked degradation of two model NAs, cyclohexanecarboxylic acid (CHCA) and cyclopentanecarboxylic acid (CPCA) when supplied at concentrations from 50 to 500 mgL-1. The growth curves of BCP1 on 8XNAs, CHCA, and CPCA showed an initial lag phase not present in growth on glucose, which presumably was related to the toxic effects of NAs on the cell membrane permeability. BCP1 cell adaptation responses that allowed survival on NAs included changes in cell morphology, production of intracellular bodies and changes in fatty acid composition. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis of BCP1 cells grown on CHCA or CPCA showed a slight reduction in the cell size, the production of EPS-like material and intracellular electron-transparent and electron-dense inclusion bodies. The electron-transparent inclusions increased in the amount and size in NA-grown BCP1 cells under nitrogen limiting conditions and contained storage lipids as suggested by cell staining with the lipophilic Nile Blue A dye. Lipidomic analyses revealed significant changes with increases of methyl-branched (MBFA) and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) examining the fatty acid composition of NAs-growing BCP1 cells. PUFA biosynthesis is not usual in bacteria and, together with MBFA, can influence structural and functional processes with resulting effects on cell vitality. Finally, through the use of RT (Reverse Transcription)-qPCR, a gene cluster (chcpca) was found to be transcriptionally induced during the growth on CHCA and CPCA. Based on the expression and bioinformatics results, the predicted products of the chcpca gene cluster are proposed to be involved in aerobic NA degradation in R. aetherivorans BCP1. This study provides first insights into the genetic and metabolic mechanisms allowing a Rhodococcus strain to aerobically degrade NAs

Isotopic composition of fragments in multifragmentation of very large nuclear systems: effects of the chemical equilibrium

Studies on the isospin of fragments resulting from the disassembly of highly excited large thermal-like nuclear emitting sources, formed in the ^{197}Au + ^{197}Au reaction at 35 MeV/nucleon beam energy, are presented. Two different decay systems (the quasiprojectile formed in midperipheral reactions and the unique source coming from the incomplete fusion of projectile and target in the most central collisions) were considered; these emitting sources have the same initial N/Z ratio and excitation energy (E^* ~= 5--6 MeV/nucleon), but different size. Their charge yields and isotopic content of the fragments show different distributions. It is observed that the neutron content of intermediate mass fragments increases with the size of the source. These evidences are consistent with chemical equilibrium reached in the systems. This fact is confirmed by the analysis with the statistical multifragmentation model.Comment: 9 pages, 4 ps figure