A review of the most recent results on diffraction and exclusive production at HERA and LHC is presented. These include the combination of the cross section results with a leading proton at HERA, the ...measurement of the inelastic cross section at ATLAS and CMS and diffractive dijets and exclusive processes at CMS.
Charred botanical finds from the excavation of the Early Bronze Age city of Jericho (Tell es-Sultan), one of the earliest urban centers of 3
rd
millennium BC Palestine, were collected during the ...2015-2017 excavation seasons carried out by Sapienza University of Rome and the Palestinian MoTA-DACH. Among other plant macro-remains, a round fruit was found in the subsidiary room behind the throne room of Royal Palace G, next to a vase, in the burnt filling overlying the platform. It was identified as a drupe of a dwarf palm, through classical archaeobotanical techniques and computed tomography scan. Two dwarf palms were taken into consideration: the Mediterranean dwarf palm (Chamaerops humilis L.) and the Mazari palm (Nannorrhops ritchiana (Griff.) Aitch. native to the Saharo-Indian region), both with small, round/oval fruits, none of which currently grows in the area of Jericho. A detailed analysis of iconography, archaeobotanical literature and herbarium samples of both species stored in Rome (RO), Florence (FIAF) and Edinburgh (E), has allowed to identify the charred drupe as Nannorrhops ritchiana. Its presence in the palace suggests the existence of an overland commercial track to the south-east, across the desert of Saudi Arabia, which only recent excavations and other finds have revealed.
Selected ceramic samples from the archeological site of Khirbet al-Batrawy (north-central Jordan), unearthed in the “Palace of the Copper Axes” (Early Bronze Age III, 2500–2300 BC), were analyzed ...with the aim to address their technology. These ceramics were characterized by means of a combined use of optical microscopy (OM), X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD) and electron microscopy (SEM–EDS). The results indicate that the main mineral inclusions are quartz and calcite, with minor amount of feldspar, pyroxene, olivine and gehlenite. Fragments of igneous and sedimentary rocks as well as grog (crushed ceramics) and fossil shells have also been identified. The mineral assemblage indicates that the maximum firing temperature of these sherds falls in the 700–850°C thermal range. The presence of hematite supports the hypothesis of an oxidizing atmosphere of firing. The occurrence of sedimentary and magmatic rocks supports a local provenance of raw materials as these rocks outcrop in the vicinity of the archeological site. Concerning the microstructure, it is established the occurrence of ceramic fabrics not identified until now at the site, suggesting that they were exclusively produced for the Palace.
Context: Urinary S-phenylmercapturic acid (SPMA) and benzene (U-Ben) are usually measured at the end of the work shift (ES), although their kinetic of elimination is not clearly known.
Objective: To ...investigate SPMA and U-Ben elimination 16 h after the ES, in 93 coke production workers exposed to low benzene concentrations.
Materials and methods: Airborne benzene (A-Ben) was measured by passive samplings, while SPMA, U-Ben, methyl-tert-butyl ether (U-MTBE), cotinine (U-Cot) and creatinine were determined on urine samples collected at ES and before the beginning of the next work shift (next BS).
Results: Median A-Ben concentrations were 17.2 µg/m
3
in the personal and 34.7 µg/m
3
in the stationary samplings. SPMA was always detectable, whereas U-Ben was below the limit of quantification in 26.7% of the ES and 35.6% of the next BS samples, and U-MTBE in more than the 80.0% of the samples. At both the sampling times, SPMA and U-Ben showed a positive dependence on personal A-Ben, as well as on creatinine and U-Cot values.
Discussion and conclusion: SPMA and U-Ben at the next BS were dependent on the exposure to low benzene concentrations suffered in the previous work shift, prompting a reconsideration of the urine sampling time recommended by the American Conference Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH).
To assess, by means of biological monitoring, exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and to metallic elements in Italian Navy workers operating near the industrial area in Taranto, and ...thereby estimate the health risk.
A total of 450 workers in the Italian Navy were examined; they had office type jobs, and 150 of them worked near the industrial area in Taranto (exposed group), 150 in Taranto but far from this area (internal control group) and 150 in Brindisi (external control group). The recruited workers were administered a questionnaire inquiring about current and previous working activities, personal medical history, lifestyle and dietary habits, and their residence location. Then they collected a urine sample for the determination of 1-hydroxypyrene, 2-naphthol, cotinine and the metallic elements As, Cd, Co, Cr, Mn, Ni, Pb, Cu, Zn and Hg. The latter were measured in 110 workers in each group. In addition, in some of the work sites of the three groups, environmental samplings were carried out to determine PAHs and the 10 metallic elements, also taking into account the wind direction.
Airborne benzo(a)pyrene concentrations at the different sampling sites ranged from 0.02 to 0.06 ng/m3 and naphthalene between <25 and 65.3 ng/m3, regardless of the wind direction. Among the metallic elements, As, Cd, Co, Cr, Hg, Pb, Cu and Zn were present at concentrations below or just above the limit of detection (LOD). Mn and Ni were slightly higher in the work sites of the exposed group. The urinary concentrations of 1-hydroxypyrene, 2-naphthol and the single metallic elements were not higher in the exposed workers group than in the other 2 groups. Smokers had significantly higher urinary 1-hydroxypyrene and 2-naphthol concentrations, whereas cigarette smoking did not condition a higher urinary elimination of metallic elements in the three groups with the exception of Cd and Pb. Moreover, residence location conditioned Mn, Hg and As urinary excretion, consumption of shellfish and/or crustaceans in the 72 hours before urine collection conditioned As elimination, and consumption of legumes in the 72 hours before urine collection conditioned Ni elimination.
This research did not find a higher urinary excretion of 1-hydroxypyrene, 2-naphthol and As, Cd, Co, Cr, Mn, Ni, Pb, Cu, Zn and Hg in the exposed workers group as compared to the internal control group working far from the industrial area of Taranto, nor in the group working in another city far away from Taranto, Brindisi. Therefore, it indicated that workers in the Italian Navy operating near the industrial area in Taranto were not exposed to a greater risk attributable to exposure to PAHs and metallic elements than the two control groups.
The hadron collider phase of the Future Circular Collider (FCC-hh) is a proton-proton collider operating at a center-of-mass energy of 100 TeV. It is one of the most ambitious projects planned for ...the rest of this century and offers ample opportunities in the hunt for new physics, both through its direct detection reach as well as through indirect evidence from precision measurements. Extracting a precision measurement of the Higgs self-coupling from the Higgs pair production cross-section will play a key role in our understanding of electroweak symmetry breaking, as the self-coupling gives insight into the nature of the Higgs potential. With the large data set of in total 30 \(\text{ab}^{-1}\) which is envisioned to be collected during the FCC-hh runtime the Higgs self-coupling will be determined down to the percent level. This paper presents prospect studies for Higgs self-coupling measurements in the \(b\bar{b}\gamma\gamma\) and \(b\bar{b}\ell\ell + E_{\text{T}}^{\text{miss}}\) final states, with the combined, expected precision on the Higgs self-coupling modifier \(\kappa_{\lambda}\) reaching 3.2-5.7% at 68% confidence level, assuming all other Higgs couplings follow their Standard Model expectations and depending on the systematic uncertainties assumed. This high precision is mostly driven by the \(b\bar{b}\gamma\gamma\) final state analysis, while the \(b\bar{b}\ell\ell + E_{\text{T}}^{\text{miss}}\) final state - newly studied for its FCC-hh prospects in this document - on its own reaches a maximum precision of roughly 20% on \(\kappa_{\lambda}\).
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