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International audience; We propose a confidence-based design approach robust to turbulence closures model-form uncertainty in Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes computational models. The Eigenspace Perturbation Method is employed to compute turbulence closure uncertainty estimates of the performance targeted by the optimizer. The magnitude of the uncertainty estimates is exploited to establish an indicator parameter associated to the credibility of numerical prediction. The proposed approach restricts the optimum search only to design space regions for which the credibility indicator suggests trustworthy RANS model predictions. In this way, we improve the efficiency of the design process, potentially avoiding designs for which the computational model is unreliable. The reference test case consists in a two-dimensional single element airfoil resembling a morphing wing section in a high-lift configuration. Results show that the prediction credibility constraint has a non negligible impact on the definition of the optimal design.

Background: Anakinra might improve the prognosis of patients with moderate to severe COVID-19 (ie, patients requiring oxygen supplementation but not yet receiving organ support). We aimed to assess the effect of anakinra treatment on mortality in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19. Methods: For this systematic review and individual patient-level meta-analysis, a systematic literature search was done on Dec 28, 2020, in Medline (PubMed), Cochrane, medRxiv, bioRxiv, and the ClinicalTrials.gov databases for randomised trials, comparative studies, and observational studies of patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19, comparing administration of anakinra with standard of care, or placebo, or both. The search was repeated on Jan 22, 2021. Individual patient-level data were requested from investigators and corresponding authors of eligible studies; if individual patient-level data were not available, published data were extracted from the original reports. The primary endpoint was mortality after 28 days and the secondary endpoint was safety (eg, the risk of secondary infections). This study is registered on PROSPERO (CRD42020221491). Findings: 209 articles were identified, of which 178 full-text articles fulfilled screening criteria and were assessed. Aggregate data on 1185 patients from nine studies were analysed, and individual patient-level data on 895 patients were provided from six of these studies. Eight studies were observational and one was a randomised controlled trial. Most studies used historical controls. In the individual patient-level meta-analysis, after adjusting for age, comorbidities, baseline ratio of the arterial partial oxygen pressure divided by the fraction of inspired oxygen (PaO2/FiO2), C-reactive protein (CRP) concentrations, and lymphopenia, mortality was significantly lower in patients treated with anakinra (38 [11%] of 342) than in those receiving standard of care with or without placebo (137 [25%] of 553; adjusted odds ratio [OR] 0·32 [95% CI 0·20–0·51]). The mortality benefit was similar across subgroups regardless of comorbidities (ie, diabetes), ferritin concentrations, or the baseline PaO2/FiO2. In a subgroup analysis, anakinra was more effective in lowering mortality in patients with CRP concentrations higher than 100 mg/L (OR 0·28 [95% CI 0·17–0·47]). Anakinra showed a significant survival benefit when given without dexamethasone (OR 0·23 [95% CI 0·12–0·43]), but not with dexamethasone co-administration (0·72 [95% CI 0·37–1·41]). Anakinra was not associated with a significantly increased risk of secondary infections when compared with standard of care (OR 1·35 [95% CI 0·59–3·10]). Interpretation: Anakinra could be a safe, anti-inflammatory treatment option to reduce the mortality risk in patients admitted to hospital with moderate to severe COVID-19 pneumonia, especially in the presence of signs of hyperinflammation such as CRP concentrations higher than 100 mg/L. Funding: Sobi. © 2021 Elsevier Ltd

External Quantum Efficiency (EQE) and Current-Voltage (I-V) measurements of a monolithic quadruple junction (4J) space solar cell AlGaInP (J1)/ AlInGaAs (J2) / InGaAs (J3) / Ge (J4) manufactured by CESI (Milano, Italy) have been performed at INTA-Spasolab. In order to determine electrical cell performance of this 4J solar cell type under AM0 irradiance and cell temperature standard conditions, the external quantum efficiency (EQE) measurement system and steady-state solar simulators at the cell testing laboratory INTA-Spasolab are to be upgraded. The purpose of this work is to present both the upgrading of INTA-Spasolab facilities and the results of the characterization of a 4J solar cell under development.

Today, the III–V compound semiconductor solar cells represent the most promising photovoltaic technology to achieve the grid parity, thanks to their proven capability to work at high concentration factors (H-CPV: high concentration photovoltaics) with demonstrated conversion efficiencies higher than 40% in the spectral conditions typical of the Earth surface (AM1.5D). One of the issues to be investigated in the H-CPV systems is the reliability of the solar cell receivers. In fact in concentration conditions the thermal and mechanical stress on the solar cell, mounted on receivers, is very significant with respect to flat panel technology. This paper proposes a method, typically used in the LED industry, to test, in accelerated conditions, the H-CPV solar receivers. The receivers, based on III–V solar cells, size 2.1 × 2.1 mm2 from CESI, were built by chip on board technology at CRP labs, and characterized for 800 h to simulate 20 years of in-field operation in concentration regime (500×).

In the framework of national (PNRA) and international (ESF HOLOCLIP project - Holocene climate variability at high-Southern latitudes: an integrated perspective) projects, several marine cores were retrieved from the Antarctic continental margin, in the Indian sector of the Antarctic Ocean (CB2010 A, George V Basin; WEGA 26PC12, WEGA 17PC02, WEGA 11GC03, Wilkes Basin) and in the Western Ross Sea (cJ5, Joides Basin; c20, Cape Hallett; c43, Wood Bay). By using 210Pb activities measured at the EPOC (Univ. Bordeaux I) and 14C measurements (Univ. Trieste), a tentative age scale was achieved indicating that the temporal frame of the cores spans the last centuries (CB2010 A) to the whole Holocene (cJ5). Here we present the main results achieved from the chemical elemental analysis performed by ICP-AES technique on the above mentioned cores, in order to point out specific environmental features such as oxic and anoxic conditions, bioproductivity, lithogenic content of the sediments. Several major and trace elements were measured (Al, Ba, Be, Ca, Co, Cu, Dy, Eu, Fe, K, La, Mg, Mn, Mo, Na, Ni, Sc, Sr, Ti, V, Y, Yb, Zn), including some Rare Earth Elements and some relevant chemical paleomarkers such as Ba, Mo and Mn. At this purpose, a devoted method for sample mineralization was developed, consisting in an acidic (HF+HNO3+HCl) digestion in microwave oven, aiming to destroy the silicic as well as the organic matrix. Afterwards, the samples were treated with H3BO3, in order to neutralize possible remaining HF, whose presence is not recommended for ICP-AES measurements. The method performances were tested on certified marine sediment materials (MESS-3) showing recoveries always within the certified uncertainty. The obtained elemental stratigraphies allowed pointing out interesting environmental features. As an example, considering the cJ5 core, the trend of the Ba/Al concentration ratio and Baexcess content, still debated markers of paleoproductivity were shown to finely match the one of Fragilariopsis curta relative abundance along the Holocene, suggesting that, once corrected for the crustal contribution, Ba can be used as a specific marker of bioproductivity at this site.

The production of drawings is a basic activity in restoration, archeology and cultural heritage (CH) didactics. The manual production of technical drawings is a complex process, both in terms of time and skills required. In this paper we present a computer-aided methodology to produce technical drawings of CH artifacts. A pre-requisite of our methodology is the acquisition of an accurate digital 3D model of the artifact, which is now possible at affordable costs using 3D scanning technology. We discuss the specific needs that a drafting system oriented to the CH domain should satisfy and we present the design, features and performances of a computer-aided drafting system, called Cavalieri . Cavalieri allows to manage the huge digital models produced with 3D scanning devices and supports easy specification of orthographic drawings and cut-through sections, which are given in output as very high-resolution images (with user-selected reproduction scale and printer resolution). We conclude with some results of Cavalieri 's assessment in the framework of two restoration projects.

We calculate the pairing gap in the inner crust of neutron stars, taking into account both the proximity effects associated with the coexistence of the nuclear lattice with the sea of free neutrons, and the polarization effects associated with the exchange of density and spin fluctuations. It is found that the presence of the nuclei attenuates the quenching of the gap produced by the polarization.

We develop a consistent formalism in order to explore the effects of density and spin fluctuations on the quasi-particle properties and on the pairing critical temperature of a trapped Fermi gas on the attractive side of a Feshbach resonance. We first analyze the quasi-particle properties of a gas due to interactions far from resonance (effective mass and lifetime, quasi-particle strength and effective interaction) for the two cases of a spherically symmetric harmonic trap and of a spherically symmetric infinite potential well. We then explore the effect of each of these quantities on $T_c$ and point out the important role played by the discrete level structure., 28 pages, 17 figures

The effective pairing interaction induced by the exchange of phonons between pairs of nucleons moving in time-reversal states close to the Fermi energy in deformed nuclei modifies in a sizeable manner the superfluid properties of these systems, accounting for about half of the pairing gap.

The ground state correlation energies associated with collective surface and pairing vibrations are calculated for Pb- and Ca-isotopes. It is shown that this contribution, when added to those predicted by one of the most accurate modern nuclear mass formula (HFBCS MSk7 mass formula), reduces the associated rms error by an important factor, making mean field theory, once its time dependence is taken into account, a quantitative predictive tool for nuclear masses., Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, RevTeX4

26th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition; 676-680, In this paper we report the experimental results obtained from the manufacturing and characterization of III-V solar cells based on single junction, dual junction and triple junction structures. The main solar cell materials are GaAs and (Al)InGaP compounds. A test plan for qualification of “bare” solar cells for concentration systems is presented with its results. The test plan was derived from the space experience and it is based on the European Standards ECSS-E ST20-08, modified keeping into account the terrestrial standard for CPV modules (IEC 62108). The solar cells performances and their reliability is discussed with emphasis to the particular operation conditions induced by the CPV approach. These solar cells were then used and tested in two different CPV approaches: one based on standard concentrators and the other based on spectrum splitting concentrators. The systems, designed for standard concentration, need very high efficiency solar cells, therefore triple junction solar cells InGaP/GaAs/Ge are preferable. HCPV (High Concentration Photovoltaic) systems, based on this approach, have demonstrated efficiencies as high as 29%. The limit of this approach is that the multi junction solar cell structure is optimised for a specified incident spectrum (generally AM1.5D). During the day the spectrum is changing and the efficiency cannot be maintained, especially in the early morning and in the late afternoon. Spectrum splitting systems divide the light in several wavelength regions and use single or dual junction solar cells, optimised on each wavelength region. In this case a very high efficient system can be obtained that is less affected by spectrum variation. The use of standard concentrator and spectrum splitting systems is compared from a theoretical, experimental and economical point of view. The first results of outdoor performances are presented and discussed.

We investigate the role the interweaving of surface vibrations and nucleon motion has on Cooper pair formation in spherical superfluid nuclei. This is done solving self-consistently the Dyson equation with the normal and anomalous density Green functions. Effective and realistic nucleon-nucleon interactions are used. It is found, that the pairing gap receives about equal contributions from the bare and from the induced interaction. It is furthermore found that the self-energy processes reduce the pairing gap by about 20%. The extreme cases of the 11 Li and 12 Be nuclei are also discussed.

The exchange of low-lying collective vibrations between pairs of nucleons moving in time reversal states close to the Fermi energy provides a conspicuous contribution to the nuclear pairing interaction, which accounts for 30-50% of the pairing gap in the case of nuclei along the stability valley, and to essentially all of the pairing correlations of the most loosely bound nucleons in the case of halo nuclei.

The induced pairing interaction arising from the exchange of low-lying collective surface vibrations among nucleons moving in time reversal states close to a Fermi energy is found to lead to values of the pairing gap which constitute a large fraction of those experimentally observed.

Raindrop size distributions, measured in the warm sector of convective clouds over Camaguey, Cuba, are analyzed; a wide range of rainfall rates is present in the dataset. Mean spectra are presented and examined separately for updrafts and downdrafts, with additional information about vertical velocities and cloud water content. Large drop sorting has been detected; its sense and degree depend on rainfall rate and cloud dynamic characteristics. No significant small drop sorting has been found. Mean spectra for individual clouds and for groups of clouds with the same rainfall rate category have been calculated and fitted by different models; the best fits have been obtained with a least square gamma function model. An alternate analytical procedure has been presented, resulting appropriate to estimate rain water content and accurate in the sense of mean error. Negative form factors, associated with upward concavity are obtained in most cases, because of the presence of relatively high concentrations of small and large drops.

Summary Upon request of the families caring Alzheimer patients at home, a Day Care Center (DCC) was instituted in Florence (Italy), especially for demented people with disturbing behavior. The task of DCC was, therefore, to analyze, understand and work with these behavioral problems, in order to improve the well-being of the patients and to decrease the stress of the families. The realization of this task has been possible focusing our attention on (i) the creation of a homelike environment in the DCC; (ii) the promotion of simple activities enabling the patients to socialize and enjoy the company of each other; and (iii) the introduction of a continuous informal education for the staff. In the DCC, we intend to establish a research activity aimed at evaluating the effect of the treatment on the patients, the feelings of the families and the stress on the care-giving staff.

High intrathecal levels of anti-myelin basic protein (MBP) IgM were previously found to be significantly associated with early favorable course in a cohort of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). A mAb to MBP 105–120 recognizing the 222–228 epitope of the extracellular domain of high affinity immunoglobulin gamma Fc-receptor I (CD64) was isolated from EBV + B cell clones of long-term stable RRMS patients. This mAb exerted immunosuppressive activity on MS-derived T cell lines through induction and release of high amounts of interleukin-10 and decreased levels of interleukin-12 from activated monocytes providing the biological basis for a potential new treatment for MS and other immune-mediated neurological disorders.

The Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression was employed to assess the severity of somatic and psychological symptoms of depression in 42 outpatients with dementia of the Alzheimer type. The severity of somatic symptoms increased in the more severe stages of dementia whereas the severity of psychological symptoms did not vary. Psychological symptoms were more severe in female patients and in patients with a better awareness of cognitive decline. In contrast, the degree of cognitive dysfunction was the only significant predictor of the severity of somatic symptoms. These results suggest that, in Alzheimer's disease, somatic symptoms are secondary to dementia rather than manifestations of a coexistent depressive disorder and point to the limited value of the Hamilton scale for detecting depression in demented patients.

Cetuximab is a human/mouse chimeric IgG1 monoclonal antibody (mAb) to epidermal growth factor receptor, approved for colorectal carcinoma treatment in combination with chemotherapy. The immune-mediated effects elicited by its human fraction of crystallization moiety might critically contribute to the overall anti-tumor effectiveness of the antibody. We therefore investigated cetuximab ability to promote colon cancer cell opsonization and phagocytosis by human dendritic cells (DCs) that are subsequently engaged in antigen-cross presentation to cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL) precursors. Human colon cancer cell lines were evaluated for susceptibility to DC-mediated phagocytosis before and after treatment with chemotherapy ± cetuximab in vitro. Human DCs loaded with control or drug-treated cetuximab-coated colon cancer cells were used to in vitro generate cytotoxic T cell clones from peripheral blood mononuclear cells of human leucocyte antigen-A(*)02.01 + donors. T-cell cultures were characterized for immune-phenotype and tumor-antigen specific CTL activity. The results confirmed that treatment of tumor cells with irinotecan + L-folinate + 5-flurouracil (ILF) or with gemcitabine + ILF increased tumor antigen expression. Moreover, malignant cells exposed to chemotherapy and cetuximab were highly susceptible to phagocytosis by human DCs and were able to promote their activation. The consequent DC-mediated cross-priming of antigens derived from mAb-covered/drug-treated cancer cells elicited a robust CTL anti-tumor response. On the basis of our data, we suggest a possible involvement of CTL-dependent immunity in cetuximab anti-cancer effects. Copyright © 2011 UICC.

The program DYANA, for calculation of solution structures of biomolecules with an algorithm based on simulated annealing by torsion angle dynamics, has been supplemented with a new routine, PSEUDYANA, that enables efficient use of pseudocontact shifts as additional constraints in structure calculations of paramagnetic metalloproteins. PSEUDYANA can determine the location of the metal ion inside the protein frame and allows to define a single tensor of magnetic susceptibility from a family of conformers. As an illustration, a PSEUDYANA structure calculation is provided for a metal-undecapeptide complex, where simulated pseudocontact shifts but no NOE restraints are used as conformational constraints.

Aim of this work, is the study of the properties of Aluminium Gallium Indium Phosphide for the realization of the next generation high-efficiency multi-junction (MJ) solar cells. (Al x Ga 1-x ) 0.50 In 0.50 P (AlInGaP) is a semiconductor with a high direct bandgap that can be tuned between 1.81eV and 2.00eV varying the Al content in the range 0≪x≤0.12. This makes AlInGaP one of the most promising candidates for the manufacture of the top junction layers in multi-junction solar cells. In a five junction structure AlInGaP/InGaP/AlInGaAs/InGaAs/Ge, the use of AlInGaP with high Al content may lead to solar cells with maximum theoretical efficiencies above 40% in AM0 conditions. In this paper, we report the results of the material characterization we have carried out on AlInGaP single junction (SJ) solar cells grown by MOCVD, highlighting its electrical and optical behaviour as a function of the Aluminium content. The best performing cell we have obtained so far showed an open circuit voltage of 1.473V, and a short circuit current of 15mA/cm2.

Raindrop sampling instruments such as disdrometers and optical array probes, have been used by researchers to observe raindrop-size distributions. Estimates of raindrop-size distribution (RSD) can be made from these instruments, which can subsequently be used to study several derived parameters such as liquid-water content, rainfall rate, and radar reflectivity. These instruments have limited sampling volume, which affects the estimates of raindrop-size distribution and the derived integral parameters. Although fluctuations in the derived parameters obtained from the same disdrometer samples are correlated, estimates from independent disdrometers are not. This paper addresses the issues involved in comparing data from disdrometers. Data from four disdrometers sampling the same rain volume are analyzed to study the measurement fluctuations in a single disdrometer with time and between disdrometers at the same time interval. Theoretical analysis and data show that the correlation between deceived p...

A pH sensor based on optical fibres was developed. The analysed sample is the interstitial fluid drawn from the adipose tissue by means of a microdialysis catheter. The pH sensing layer is constituted by a pH indicator, phenol red, directly immobilised onto the internal wall of a glass capillary. The interrogation of the glass capillary is performed by an optoelectronic unit, developed in our laboratory, which makes use of a light emitting diode at 590 nm as source and a photodiode as detector. A suitable animal model was developed and in-vivo tests on pigs were carried out.

Atypical physiological symptoms can be developed in healthy people under critically ill conditions. pH, pO2 and pCO2 are informative indicators of the conditions of a living system and can be valuable in determining the physiologic status of the critically ill patients. The continuous monitoring of these small molecules into the interstitial fluid (ISF) is a promising approach to reduce diagnostic blood loss and painful stress associated with blood sampling. Microdialysis is the approach followed for the extraction of the sample from the subcutaneous adipose tissue; the drawn interstitial fluid flows through a microfluidic circuit formed by the microdialysis catheter in series with a glass capillary on the internal wall of which the appropriate chemistry for sensing is immobilised. Absorption changes for pH sensor and modulation of the fluorescence lifetime for pO2 and pCO2 are the working principle. Phenol red covalently bound into the internal wall of a glass capillary by means of the Mannich reaction and platinum(II) tetrakis-pentafluorophenyl-porphyrine entrapped within a polymerised polystyrene layer are the chemical transducers used for pH and oxygen detection; the ion pair 8- hydroxypyrene-1,3,6-trisulfonic acid trisodium salt/ tetraoctylammonium hydroxide, dissolved in a silicon-based polymeric matrix, is used for the carbon dioxide detection. A suitable hemorrhagic shock model was developed in order to validate clinically the developed sensors in the condition of extreme stress and the obtained results show that the adipose tissue can become an alternative site for the continuous oitoring of pH, pO2 and pCO2.

The total tannin concentration was determined, using two different SPF methods, in 35 dust powdered wood species, both hard and softwood. Using direct reading-method (280 nm) the concentration varied from 2485 mg/g for Swedish pine to 35,843 mg/g for European oak (quercus robur, hardwood). The data obtained with the second method (Folin-Chocalteau) were well correlated (y = 0.9885x + 4.3373; r = 0.84; n=35) with the data obtained with the first method. The measured concentrations are usually higher in hardwood than softwood tested. Finally, a simple HPLC-DAD method was tested for gallic acid (GA), recently proposed as a marker for oak dust.

In order to validate specific personal selectors for the collection of fine particles, 65 double measurements of PM10 and PM2.5 were carried out at the same collection site; thus allowing a comparison between two different methods of sampling. The first method was that normally used by ARPAV in order to sample the above-mentioned granulometric fractions in outdoor environment. The second method was chosen by us for personal sampling (PEM working at 2 l/min and at 4 l/min). In both cases the filters gravimetric analysis conformed to the expectations of D.M. 60 of 2/4/2002. The comparison between the two methods showed a good correlation in both the granulometric fractions: correlation coefficients r for the PM2.5 are equal to 0.96 and 0.99 for the PEM working at 2 l/min and at 4 l/min respectively; r for the PM10 are equal to 0.98 and 0.99 for the PEM working at 2 l/min and at 4 l/min respectively. The analysis of results in terms of fine particles concentration and difference between methods against their mean, shows a slight overestimate of the particles concentration with PEM working at 2 l/min, compared to those working at 4 l/min. Nevertheless, considering the good results obtained even with a flow of 2 l/min, we believe that using PEM working at 2 l/min to monitoring 24 hours-personal exposure assures an improved capacity in the battery-operated pumps.

Oscillations of mainly surface character ($S=0$ modes) give rise, in atomic nuclei, to an attractive (induced) pairing interaction, while spin ($S=1$) modes of mainly volume character generate a repulsive interaction, the net effect being an attraction which accounts for a sizeable fraction of the experimental pairing gap. Suppressing the particle-vibration coupling mediated by the proton degrees of freedom, i.e., mimicking neutron matter, the total surface plus spin-induced pairing interaction becomes repulsive.

The coupling of single-particle motion and of vibrations in $_{4}^{11}\mathrm{Be}$ produces dressed neutrons which spend only a fraction of the time in pure single-particle states, and which weighing differently from the bare neutrons lead to parity inversion. The interaction of the two least bound neutrons in the ground state of $_{4}^{12}\mathrm{Be}$ mediated by the ${v}_{14}$ Argonne nucleon-nucleon potential and by the exchange of surface vibrations of the core $^{10}\mathrm{Be}$ gives rise to a strongly correlated state, where the two valence neutrons are distributed over ${s}^{2},{p}^{2}$, and ${d}^{2}$ configurations, resulting in the breaking of the $N=8$ shell closure.

Medium polarization effects induce an effective pairing interaction between nucleons which renormalize the nucleon‐nucleon bare potential. We assess the importance of these renormalization processes concerning pairing correlations in both exotic nuclei as well as nuclei lying along the stability valley.

Cylindrical waves, i.e. the product of a Hankel function of integer order times a sinusoidal angular factor, often occur in diffraction theory. We derive the expansion of a cylindrical wave into plane waves and we give some examples of applications.

We considered data of samples collected in the period 1994-2001 in 83 operating rooms of 13 different public and private hospitals in Veneto Region. The anaestetic gases more used in operating rooms were nitrous oxide, isoflurane and, more recently, sevflurane. The mostly polluted positions were those in proximity of anaesthesiologic devices; the gases average concentrations were low in all hospitals examined, although some operating rooms demonstrated concentrations of anasthetic gases exceeding limit values. Lastly, the professional figures had different exposure to the various anaesthetic gases.

The coupling of single-particle motion and of vibrations in $^{11}_4$Be produces dressed neutrons which spend only a fraction of the time in pure single-particle states, and which weighting differently from the bare neutrons, lead to parity inversion. The interaction of the two least bound neutrons in the ground state of $^{12}_4$Be mediated by the $v_{14}$ Argonne nucleon-nucleon potential and by the exchange of the phonon cloud, give rise to a strongly correlated state, where the neutrons spend more than half of the time in (s$^2$+d$^2$)-configurations, resulting in a breaking of the N=8 shell closure.

This article presents a novel approach to the high-level system verification problem based on a hybrid hardware/software virtual emulation tool. Unavailable components or sub-systems are physically replaced on a prototype board by FPGAs whose electrical behavior is driven by software simulations of high-level description models. Such a prototype can smoothly evolve towards the final system as soon as the unavailable parts or the components under manufacturing become available. The simultaneous use of prototyping techniques such as field-programmable circuit boards with software simulation significantly improve the usefulness of our framework. A low-cost verification environment, with multiprocessing and multilanguage capabilities currently in use at University of Bologna, is described.

The three-body description of two-neutron halo systems is extended to allow for core polarization taking into account the associated effects of mass-renormalization (single-particle motion) and induced interaction (density dependent pairing force) in terms of the particle-vibration coupling formalism. This formalism is applied to 10Li and 11Li. Theory reproduces most of the attractive features of Faddeev type calculations providing, in addition, an overall account of the experimental findings.

We discuss the different contributions to the pairing interaction acting among nucleons moving in time-reversal states close to the Fermi energy and the consequences it may have on the transition taking place between superfluid and normal phases as a function of the rotational frequency and of temperature. Special emphasis is set on the induced interaction mediated by the exchange of vibrational modes.

Exposure to dusts and benzene was studied in 65 traffic policemen. Samples of total dusts showed that mean personal exposure was 0.44 (SD = 0.30) mg/m3, with peaks of about 2 mg/m3. Exposure to 1-nitropyrene (1-NP), the main compound occurring in emissions from diesel engines, which was estimated from concentrations in dusts collected with high-flow samplers, was 0.28 (SD = 0.19) ng/m3 (range: 0.06-1.24 ng/m3). The mean concentration of benzene in the breathing zone was 41 (SD = 20) micrograms/m3, although a level of 100 micrograms/m3 was slightly exceeded in one subject. In urine samples collected before and after workshifts, two biological indicators of exposure to benzene were measured, urinary benzene and urinary trans, trans-muconic acid (MA). The mean values of urinary benzene before and after workshift were similar (98, SD = 81 and 83, SD = 55 ng/l; n = 63; Wilcoxon's T-test = not significant), while a moderate increase in the metabolite was observed (MA = 0.08, SD = 0.11; 0.11, SD = 0.09 mg/g creatinine, in pre- and post-shift samples respectively; Wilcoxon's T-test, z = 3.00; p0.01). The levels of exposure to dusts and 1-NP deriving from diesel engine emissions were comparable to those of other occupational groups with this type of risk (garage mechanics, workers operating diesel engine machinery, etc.). Traffic police exposure to benzene was similar to that of the whole population of Padova (40 micrograms/m3, mean annual 24-hour value). However, the values of urinary MA, like those reported by other authors for non-smoker controls, increased after the workshift, indicating low occupational exposure to this pollutant. It should be noted that traffic police exposure to benzene is much lower than that of other occupational categories, e.g., fuel pump distributors.