Glassforming Liquids, Amorphous and Semicrystalline Polymers: Exploring their Energy Landscape and Dynamical Heterogeneity by Multi-frequency High-Field EPR

We review past and recent work carried out on viscous liquids, amorphous and semicrystalline polymers by multifrequency high-field electron paramagnetic resonance (HF-EPR) facility in Pisa. The emphasis is on the enhanced ability to provide fine details of the reorientation process of the paramagnetic guest, the spin probe, revealing features driving the dynamics of the host system, including the energy-barrier distribution of glassy polymers, the dynamical heterogeneity of semicrystalline polymers, and the dynamical changes occurring at the critical temperature predicted by the ideal mode-coupling theory

Glassforming Liquids, Amorphous and Semicrystalline Polymers: Exploring their Energy Landscape and Dynamical Heterogeneity by Multi-frequency High-Field EPR

AbstractWe review past and recent work carried out on viscous liquids, amorphous and semicrystalline polymers by multifrequency high-field electron paramagnetic resonance (HF-EPR) facility in Pisa. The emphasis is on the enhanced ability to provide fine details of the reorientation process of the paramagnetic guest, the spin probe, revealing features driving the dynamics of the host system, including the energy-barrier distribution of glassy polymers, the dynamical heterogeneity of semicrystalline polymers, and the dynamical changes occurring at the critical temperature predicted by the ideal mode-coupling theory

A study of the deep structure of the energy landscape of glassy polystyrene: the exponential distribution of the energy-barriers revealed by high-field Electron Spin Resonance spectroscopy

The reorientation of one small paramagnetic molecule (spin probe) in glassy polystyrene (PS) is studied by high-field Electron Spin Resonance spectroscopy at two different Larmor frequencies (190 and 285 GHz). The exponential distribution of the energy-barriers for the rotational motion of the spin probe is unambigously evidenced at both 240K and 270K. The same shape for the distribution of the energy-barriers of PS was evidenced by the master curves provided by previous mechanical and light scattering studies. The breadth of the energy-barriers distribution of the spin probe is in the range of the estimates of the breadth of the PS energy-barriers distribution. The evidence that the deep structure of the energy landscape of PS exhibits the exponential shape of the energy-barriers distribution agrees with results from extreme-value statistics and the trap model by Bouchaud and coworkers.Comment: Final version in press as Letter to the Editor on J.Phys.:Condensed Matter. Changes in bol

Benefits of using digital thoracic drainage systems for post-operative treatment in pediatric populations: personal experience and review of literature

introduction: the digital chest drainage monitoring system (Medela Thopaz+), unlike analogical systems, reliably regulates the pressure applied to the patient's chest and digitally and silently monitors critical therapeutic indicators (volume of fluid and/or drained air). Its use in adulthood has been widely described, but there is still little experience in the pediatric field. the aim of this study is to test this new device in the pediatric population. materials and methods: we conducted a retrospective study of 160 patients undergoing chest surgery at our hospital. these patients were divided into 82 treated with the Thopaz system in the period from January 2021 to April 2023 and 78 in whom pleurevac, had been used in the time period from January 2020 to april 2023. results: the average age of patients was 10.45 years (range: 3.1–17.2) for the thopaz Group and 10.71 years for Pleurevac Group. The groups were homogeneus also by weight and type of intervention. the device was held in place for 10.64 days (mean) for thopaz group, compared to 16.87 days (mean) for pleurevac group (p < 0.05). The median number of postoperative x-rays before the closure of the chest tube was 4.29 in the digital drainage group compared to 8.41 in the traditional draining group (p < 0.05). conclusions: the digital chest monitoring device provides objective measurement, allows for rapid patient mobilization (with good pain control and increased compliance). in addition, the use of Thopaz in the paediatric population seems to be safe (there is no statistically significant difference in terms of complications such as prolonged air leaks and pneumothorax after the chest tube closure) and potentially beneficial

Prevalence of pain in the departments of surgery and oncohematology of a paediatric hospital that has joined the project "Towards pain free hospital"

Background. Among hospitalized adults and children pain is undertreated. This study wants to assess the effectiveness of pain therapy in two departments of a large children's hospital. Materials and Methods. During a single day work three committees, administering a questionnaire to patients or parents, have evaluated the adherence to international recommendations (JCI and WHO) in the management of analgesic therapy. Patient demographics, prevalence and intensity (moderate and/or severe) of pain (during hospitalization, 24 hours before and at the time of the interview), analgesia (type, route, duration and frequency of administration) and Pain Management Index (=analgesic score-pain score) were recorded. Results. 75 patients participated in the study (age: 2 months up to 24 years, mean 7.8 ± 6). During hospitalization 43 children (57%) had no pain while 32 (43%) have experienced pain. 22 children (29 %) had pain 24 hours before and 12 (16%) at the time of the interview. The average value of the PMI was -0.8±1.3 with a minimum of -3 and a maximum of +2: 60% (19) of the children had a PMI less than 0 (undertreated pain) while 40% (13) had a value=or > 0. Out of 32 patients who needed an analgesic therapy 14 (44%) received an around-the-clock dosing, 8 (25%) an intermittent therapy and 10 (31%) no treatment.17 (77 %) were the single drug therapy and 5 (23%) the multimodal ones. Conclusion. The prevalence of pain in the two departments is high. The main cause is that knowledge is not still well translated into clinical practice

Measurement of Branching Fractions of Hadronic Decays of the Ωc0\Omega_c^0 Baryon

Using a data sample of 980 ${\rm fb}^{-1}$ of $e^+e^-$ annihilation data taken with the Belle detector operating at the KEKB asymmetric-energy $e^+e^-$ collider, we report the results of a study of the decays of the $\Omega_c^0$ charmed baryon into hadronic final states. We report the most precise measurements to date of the relative branching fractions of the $\Omega_c^0$ into $\Omega^-\pi^+\pi^0$, $\Omega^-\pi^+\pi^-\pi^+$, $\Xi^-K^-\pi^+\pi^+$, and $\Xi^0K^-\pi^+$, as well as the first measurements of the branching fractions of the $\Omega_c^0$ into $\Xi^-\bar{K}^0\pi^+$, $\Xi^0\bar{K}^0$, and $\Lambda \bar{K}^0\bar{K}^0$, all with respect to the $\Omega^-\pi^+$ decay. In addition, we investigate the resonant substructure of these modes. Finally, we present a limit on the branching fraction for the decay $\Omega_c^0\to\Sigma^+K^-K^-\pi^+$

Invariant-mass and fractional-energy dependence of inclusive production of di-hadrons in e+e−e^+e^- annihilation at s=\sqrt{s}= 10.58 GeV

The inclusive cross sections for di-hadrons of charged pions and kaons ($e^+e^- \rightarrow hhX$) in electron-positron annihilation are reported. They are obtained as a function of the total fractional energy and invariant mass for any di-hadron combination in the same hemisphere as defined by the thrust event-shape variable and its axis. Since same-hemisphere di-hadrons can be assumed to originate predominantly from the same initial parton, di-hadron fragmentation functions are probed. These di-hadron fragmentation functions are needed as an unpolarized baseline in order to quantitatively understand related spin-dependent measurements in other processes and to apply them to the extraction of quark transversity distribution functions in the nucleon. The di-hadron cross sections are obtained from a $655\,{\rm fb}^{-1}$ data sample collected at or near the $\Upsilon(4S)$ resonance with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric-energy $e^+ e^-$ collider.Comment: 21 pages, 18 figures plus 25 figures in supplemental material, submitted to PR