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Simple Summary: The loss of biodiversity is a matter of great concern worldwide. In the agricultural sector, the industrialization of livestock farming and the wide-spread use of highly selected hybrids, especially in developed countries, has led to the progressive extinction of many native breeds in these contexts. Nowadays, safeguarding poultry biodiversity is a key objective in all developed countries, Italy included. As a part of a large cross-sectional national project called 'Conservation of biodiversity in Italian poultry breeds', a questionnaire was designed to evaluate the diffusion of native chicken breeds and their relative product markets. The data reveal the poor diffusion of native breeds despite the existence of a niche market for their products. Indeed, increasing consumer concern about conventional production practices and the growing demand for alternative poultry products, which can fetch high retail prices, should be leveraged to encourage the diffusion of native chicken breeds in alternative poultry farming. An important knock-on effect would be the preservation of biodiversity. The intensive use of high-performing strains in poultry production has led to the extinction of several autochthonous chicken breeds and, consequently, loss of genetic variability. Interest in saving biodiversity is growing rapidly and has become a major objective worldwide. The aim of this study was to shed light on the production trends of native Italian poultry breeds and the related market. A questionnaire, which asked about the production cycles, the number of animals and table eggs produced per year and their retail prices was completed by 121 breeders across Italy. The surveyed breeders were divided into two categories: breeders conducting an agrozootechnical farm, referred to as 'farmers' (F); and breeders keeping chickens as backyard poultry, referred to as 'fancy breeders' (FB). Analysis of the data acquired indicated that animals were mainly slaughtered between 6 and 12 months of age, with F processing more animals per year. The same production trend was observed for table eggs. The recorded retail prices of native chicken products were higher than those for conventional products, but similar to those reported for valuable niche poultry products, such as the Poulet de Bresse in France and organic eggs. Knowledge about these highly valuable markets should be used to encourage the use of local breeds in alternative poultry farming and help protect biodiversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The LHCf experiment is one of the LHC forward experiments. The aim is to measure the energy and the transverse momentum spectra of photons, neutrons and ''s at the very forward region (the pseudo-rapidity range of ), which should be critical data to calibrate hadron interaction models used in the air shower simulations. LHCf successfully operated at and proton–proton collisions in 2009 and 2010. We present the first physics result, single photon energy spectra at proton–proton collisions and the pseudo-rapidity ranges of and . The obtained spectra were compared with the predictions by several hadron interaction models and the models do not reproduce the experimental results perfectly. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The inclusive photon energy spectra measured by the Large Hadron Collider forward (LHCf) experiment in the very forward region of LHC proton–proton collisions at are reported. The results from the analysis of 0.30 nb−1 of data collected in May 2010 in the two pseudorapidity regions of and are compared with the predictions of the hadronic interaction models DPMJET 3.04, EPOS 1.99, PYTHIA 8.145, QGSJET II-03 and SIBYLL 2.1, which are widely used in ultra-high energy cosmic ray experiments. EPOS 1.99 and SIBYLL 2.1 show a reasonable agreement with the spectral shape of the experimental data, whereas they predict lower cross-sections than the data. The other models, DPMJET 3.04, QGSJET II-03 and PYTHIA 8.145, are in good agreement with the data below 300 GeV but predict harder energy spectra than the data above 300 GeV. The results of these comparisons exhibited features similar to those for the previously reported data for collisions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Energy resolution and linearity of the LHCf calorimeters for electromagnetic showers were measured at the SPS H4 beam line in 2007 using electron beams of 50–200GeV and muon beams of 150GeV. The absolute energy scale was determined in these data. The results that were obtained ( energy resolution) are well understood by using Monte Carlo simulations and are good enough for the requirements of the LHCf experiment. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In early 2010, the Large Hadron Collider forward (LHCf) experiment measured very forward neutral particle spectra in LHC proton–proton collisions. From a limited data set taken under the best beam conditions (low beam-gas background and low occurrence of pile-up events), the single photon spectra at and pseudo-rapidity (η) ranges from 8.81 to 8.99 and from 10.94 to infinity were obtained for the first time and are reported in this Letter. The spectra from two independent LHCf detectors are consistent with one another and serve as a cross check of the data. The photon spectra are also compared with the predictions of several hadron interaction models that are used extensively for modeling ultra-high energy cosmic-ray showers. Despite conservative estimates for the systematic errors, none of the models agree perfectly with the measurements. A notable difference is found between the data and the DPMJET 3.04 and PYTHIA 8.145 hadron interaction models above 2 TeV where the models predict higher photon yield than the data. The QGSJET II-03 model predicts overall lower photon yield than the data, especially above 2 TeV in the rapidity range . [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The LHCf experiment aims to improve knowledge of forward neutral particle production spectra at the LHC energy which is relevant for the interpretation of air shower development of high energy cosmic rays. Two detectors, each composed of a pair of sampling and imaging calorimeters, have been installed at the forward region of IP1 to measure π 0 energy spectra above 600GeV. In this paper, we present a Monte Carlo study of the π 0 measurements to be performed with one of the LHCf detectors for proton–proton collisions at TeV. In approximately 40min of operation at luminosity during the beam commissioning phase of LHC, about 1.5×104 π 0 events are expected to be obtained at two transverse positions of the detector. The backgrounds from interactions of secondary particles with beam pipes and interactions of beam particles with residual gas in the beam pipes are expected to be less than 0.1% of the signal from π 0s. We also discuss the capability of LHCf measurements to discriminate between the various hadron interaction models that are used for simulation of high energy air showers, such as DPMJET3.03, QGSJETII-03, SIBYLL2.1 and EPOS1.99. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: LHCf is a high-energy physics experiment designed to study the forward production of neutral particles in proton–proton collisions at the LHC. The set-up consists of two small calorimetric systems symmetrically placed 140m away on both the sides of the ATLAS interaction point. Results from the experiment will provide valuable information to the calibration of the nuclear interaction models used in the Monte Carlo codes for air-shower simulations, which are of great importance for present and future ground-based cosmic-ray experiments. In particular, since LHCf will start taking data in the first phase of operation of the LHC (during the beam commissioning phase at energy) and will complete its data taking at the beginning of the runs (laboratory equivalent collision energy ), it will span an energy range up to the region between the “knee” and the GZK cut-off of the cosmic-ray spectrum. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]