The prehistoric (< 7 ka) Zaro eruption at Ischia island (Southern Italy) produced a lava complex overlaying a pyroclastic deposit. Although being of low energy, the Zaro eruption might have caused ...casualties among the neolithic population that inhabited that area of Ischia, and damages to their settlements. A similar eruption at Ischia with its present-day population would turn into a disaster. Therefore, understanding the magmatic processes that triggered the Zaro eruption would be important for volcanic hazard assessment and risk mitigation, so as to improve a knowledge that can be applied to other active volcanic areas worldwide. The main Zaro lava body is trachyte and hosts abundant mafic and felsic enclaves. Here all juvenile facies have been fully characterized from petrographic, geochemical and isotopic viewpoints. The whole dataset (major and trace element contents; Sr–Nd isotopic composition) leads to rule out a genetic link by fractional crystallization among the variable facies. Thus, we suggest that the Zaro mafic enclaves could represent a deep-origin mafic magma that mingled/mixed with the main trachytic one residing in the Ischia shallow magmatic system. The intrusion of such a mafic magma into a shallow reservoir filled by partly crystallized, evolved magma could have destabilized the magmatic system presumably acting as a rapid eruption trigger. The resulting processes of convection, mixing and rejuvenation have possibly played an important role in pre- and syn-eruptive phases also in several eruptions of different sizes in the Neapolitan area and elsewhere in the world.
Ionic polymer metal composites (IPMCs) are electroactive materials made of ionic polymer thin membranes with platinum metallization on their surfaces. They are interesting materials due to not only ...their electromechanical applications as transducers but also to their electrochemical features and the relationship between the ionic/solvent current and the potential field. Their electrochemical properties thus suggest the possibility for exploiting them as compact fractional-order elements (FOEs) with a view of defining fabrication processes and production strategies that assure the desired performances. In this paper, the experimental electrical characterization of a brand new IPMC setup in a fixed sandwich configuration is proposed. Two IPMC devices with different platinum absorption times (5 h and 20 h) are characterized through experimental data: first, a preliminary linearity study is performed for a fixed input voltage amplitude in order to determine the frequency region where IPMC can be approximated as linear; then, a frequency analysis is carried out in order to identify a coherent fractional-order dynamics in the bode diagrams. Such analyses take the first steps towards a simplified model of IPMC as a compact electronic FOE for which the fractional exponent value depends on fabrication parameters as the absorption time.
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FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
A search is presented for a Higgs-like boson with mass in the range 45 to 195
GeV
/
c
2
decaying into a muon and a tau lepton. The dataset consists of proton-proton interactions at a centre-of-mass ...energy of 8
TeV
, collected by the LHCb experiment, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 2
fb
-
1
. The tau leptons are reconstructed in both leptonic and hadronic decay channels. An upper limit on the production cross-section multiplied by the branching fraction at 95% confidence level is set and ranges from 22
pb
for a boson mass of 45
GeV
/
c
2
to 4
pb
for a mass of 195
GeV
/
c
2
.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
A comprehensive set of azimuthal single-spin and double-spin asymmetries in semi-inclusive leptoproduction of pions, charged kaons, protons, and antiprotons
from transversely polarized protons is ...presented. These asymmetries include the previously published HERMES results on Collins and Sivers asymmetries, the analysis of which has been extended to include protons and antiprotons and also to an extraction in a three-dimensional kinematic binning and enlarged phase space. They are complemented by corresponding results for the remaining single-spin and double-spin asymmetries for transverse target-polarization orientation.
A
bstract
The cross-section for inelastic proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV is measured with the LHCb detector. The fiducial cross-section for inelastic interactions ...producing at least one prompt long-lived charged particle with momentum
p
> 2 GeV/
c
in the pseudorapidity range 2 <
η
< 5 is determined to be
σ
acc
= 62.2 ± 0.2 ± 2.5 mb. The first uncertainty is the intrinsic systematic uncertainty of the measurement, the second is due to the uncertainty on the integrated luminosity. The statistical uncertainty is negligible. Extrapolation to full phase space yields the total inelastic proton-proton cross-section
σ
inel
= 75.4 ± 3.0 ± 4.5 mb, where the first uncertainty is experimental and the second due to the extrapolation. An updated value of the inelastic cross-section at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV is also reported.
The quark structure of the f_{2}(1270) meson has, for many years, been assumed to be a pure quark-antiquark (qqover ¯) resonance with quantum numbers J^{PC}=2^{++}. Recently, it was proposed that the ...f_{2}(1270) is a molecular state made from the attractive interaction of two ρ mesons. Such a state would be expected to decay strongly to final states with charged pions due to the dominant decay ρ→π^{+}π^{-}, whereas decay to two neutral pions would likely be suppressed. Here, we measure for the first time the reaction γp→π^{0}π^{0}p, using the CEBAF Large Acceptance Spectrometer detector at Jefferson Lab for incident beam energies between 3.6 and 5.4 GeV. Differential cross sections, dσ/dt, for f_{2}(1270) photoproduction are extracted with good precision due to low backgrounds and are compared to theoretical calculations.
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CMK, CTK, FMFMET, IJS, NUK, PNG, UL, UM
Maternal co-infection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has been implicated as a potentially important co-factor for enhanced vertical transmission of hepatitis C virus (HCV). In previous ...reports, however, methodological issues (notably small sample sizes) have limited accurate evaluation of the contribution of maternal co-infection with HIV on the risk of vertical transmission of HCV.
A systematic review and subsequent meta-analysis of current published and unpublished reports was performed. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% CI for individual studies were calculated with maternal HIV serostatus as the exposure measure and HCV vertical transmission as the outcome measure. Overall summary estimates were then calculated using a random effects model that estimates a weighted average of OR from individual studies.
In total, 2382 infants from 10 studies were included in an analysis of HCV-infected mothers (defined by anti-HCV+ antibody assays) with and without concomitant HIV infection. The risk estimate (OR) of HCV vertical transmission was 2.82 (95% CI: 1.78-4.45; P = 0.00001) from anti-HCV+/HIV+ co-infected mothers compared with anti-HCV+/HIV- mothers. In a subanalysis of 1327 infants born to viraemic (HCV RNA+) mothers, the risk estimate of HCV vertical transmission was 1.97 (95% CI: 1.04-3.74; P = 0.04) from HCV viraemic/HIV+ co-infected mothers compared with HCV viraemic/HIV- mothers.
Results from this meta-analysis of observational studies suggest that the risk of HCV vertical transmission is higher in infants born to HIV co-infected mothers.
A
bstract
Beam-helicity and beam-charge asymmetries in the hard exclusive leptoproduction of real photons from an unpolarised hydrogen target by a 27.6 GeV lepton beam are extracted from the H
ermes
...data set of 2006-2007 using a missing-mass event selection technique. The asymmetry amplitudes extracted from this data set are more precise than those extracted from the earlier data set of 1996-2005 previously analysed in the same manner by H
ermes
. The results from the two data sets are compatible with each other. Results from these combined data sets are extracted and constitute the most precise asymmetry amplitude measurements made in the H
ermes
kinematic region using a missing-mass event selection technique.
Double-spin asymmetries in exclusive electroproduction of real photons from a transversely polarized hydrogen target are measured with respect to the product of target polarization with beam helicity ...and beam charge, and with respect to the product of target polarization with beam helicity alone. The asymmetries arise from the deeply virtual Compton scattering process and its interference with the Bethe–Heitler process. They are related to the real part of the same combination of Compton form factors as that determining the previously published transverse target single-spin asymmetries through the imaginary part. The results for the double-spin asymmetries are found to be compatible with zero within the uncertainties of the measurement, and are not incompatible with the predictions of the only available GPD-based calculation.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
A probabilistic approach based on the available volcanological data on past Somma‐Vesuvius eruptions has been developed to produce hazard‐zone maps for fallout, pyroclastic density currents (PDCs), ...and secondary mass flows by using numerical simulations. The hazard maps have been incorporated in a GIS, making them accessible to casual and expert users for risk mitigation and education management. The results allowed us to explore the hazard related to different scenarios from all possible eruptions, ranked according to volcanic explosivity index (VEI) class, in the Vesuvius area and its surroundings including Naples. Particularly, eruptions with VEI ≤ 3 would produce a fallout hazard within about 10 km mostly east of the volcano and a PDC hazard within about 2 km from the crater. Large‐scale events (4 ≤ VEI ≤ 5) would produce a fallout hazard up to 80 km from the vent and a PDC hazard at distances exceeding 15 km. Particularly, the territory northwest of Vesuvius, including metropolitan Naples, featuring a low hazard level for fallout accumulation, is exposed to PDCs also consistent with field evidence and archeological findings. Both volcano flanks and surrounding plains, hills, and mountains are exposed to a moderate–high level of hazard for the passage of secondary mass flows. With the present level of uncertainty in forecasting future eruption type and size on the basis of statistical analysis as well as precursory activity, our results indicate that the reference scenario in the emergency plan should carefully match the worst‐case VEI 5 probabilistic scenario.
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