[en] Sampling requirements related to lichen biomonitoring include optimal sampling density for obtaining precise and unbiased estimates of population parameters and maps of known reliability. Two available datasets on a sub-national scale in Italy were used to determine a cost-effective sampling density to be adopted in medium-to-large-scale biomonitoring studies. As expected, the relative error in the mean Lichen Biodiversity (Italian acronym: BL) values and the error associated with the interpolation of BL values for (unmeasured) grid cells increased as the sampling density decreased. However, the increase in size of the error was not linear and even a considerable reduction (up to 50%) in the original sampling effort led to a far smaller increase in errors in the mean estimates (<6%) and in mapping (<18%) as compared with the original sampling densities. A reduction in the sampling effort can result in considerable savings of resources, which can then be used for a more detailed investigation of potentially problematic areas. It is, however, necessary to decide the acceptable level of precision at the design stage of the investigation, so as to select the proper sampling density. - An acceptable level of precision must be decided before determining a sampling design

[en] The syntheses of ³H- and ¹⁴C-labelled cabergoline and its analogues are described. Tritiated cabergoline ([³H]cabergoline), namely N-(3-di-methylaminopropyl)-N-(ethylaminocarbonyl)-6-(2-[2,3-³H]-propenyl)ergoline-8β-carboxamide, was obtained, by catalytic reduction with tritium gas, according to two different synthetic procedures: A- a three step route, starting from 6-(2-propargyl)-dihydro lysergic acid-methyl ester gave [³H]cabergoline, B - a one step route, starting from 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethyl-aminopropyl)-3-[6'-(2-propargyl)ergoline-8'-carbonyl ]-urea 5' yielded [³H]cabergoline. A modification of this last procedure also gave [³H]dihydro cabergoline. The synthesis of [¹⁴C]cabergoline was carried out, in a three step route, by addition of potassium [¹⁴C]cyanide to 6-(2-propenyl)-8-chloroergoline to give the expected N-(dimethylaminopropyl)-N-(ethylaminocarbonyl)-6-(2-propenyl)-ergoline-8-[¹⁴C]carboxamide, 97% radiochemically pure with a specific radioactivity of 2.09 GBq/mmol and an overall radiochemical yield of 16%. (author)

[en] We analytically show that it is possible to perform coherent imaging by using the classical correlation of two beams obtained by splitting incoherent thermal radiation. A formal analogy is demonstrated between two such classically correlated beams and two entangled beams produced by parametric down-conversion. Because of this analogy, the classical beams can mimic qualitatively all the imaging properties of the entangled beams, even in ways which up to now were not believed possible. A key feature is that these classical beams are spatially correlated both in the near field and in the far field. Using realistic numerical simulations the performances of a quasithermal and a parametric down-conversion source are shown to be closely similar, both for what concerns the resolution and statistical properties. The results of this paper provide a scenario for the discussion of what role the entanglement plays in correlated imaging

[en] We investigate the spatiotemporal structure of the biphoton entangled state produced by parametric down-conversion (PDC) at the output face of the nonlinear crystal. We analyze the geometry of biphoton correlation for different gain regimes (from ultralow to high), different crystal lengths, and different tuning angles of the crystal. While for collinear or quasicollinear phase matching a X-shaped geometry, nonfactorizable in space and time, dominates, in the highly noncollinear conditions we observe a remarkable transition to a factorizable geometry. We show that the geometry of spatiotemporal correlation is a consequence of the angle-frequency relationship imposed by phase matching and that the fully spatiotemporal analysis provides a key to control the spatiotemporal properties of the PDC entangled state and in particular to access a biphoton localization in time and space in the femtosecond and micrometer range, respectively.

[en] The authors describe the trigger system for the L3 Forward Backward (F/B) Muon Detector which make use of Resistive Plate Counters. Using 192 double gas gap chambers covering an area of more than 300 m², this system is the largest built up to now and its operation will constitute an important test of industrially produced detectors of this kind

[en] We present a theoretical study of ghost imaging based on correlated beams arising from parametric down-conversion, and which uses balanced homodyne detection to measure both the signal and idler fields. We analytically show that the signal-idler correlations contain the full amplitude and phase information about an object located in the signal path, both in the near-field and the far-field case. To this end we discuss how to optimize the optical setups in the two imaging paths, including the crucial point regarding how to engineer the phase of the idler local oscillator as to observe the desired orthogonal quadrature components of the image. As is well known, the near-field image resolution is inherently linked to the far-field bandwidth of the image, determined by the bandwidth of the source of the correlated beams. We show how to circumvent this limitation by using a spatial averaging technique which dramatically improves the imaging bandwidth of the far-field correlations as well as speeds up the convergence rate. The results are backed up by numerical simulations taking into account the finite size and duration of the pump pulse

[en] We study the spatial correlations of quantum fluctuations that can be observed in multimode parametric down-conversion in the regime of high gain. We investigate both a type-I and a type-II phase-matching configuration: in the latter case spatial correlations at the quantum level are shown to exist both in the near-field and in the far-field zones of the down-converted light. In the stationary and plane-wave approximation we treat the problem analytically. A stochastic model is solved numerically to obtain quantitative results beyond this approximation. The finite transverse size and pulse duration of the pump beam and other features of the system, such as spatial walk-off and diffraction are taken into account, and we show that correlations beyond the standard quantum limit exist for values of parameters consistent with realistic experiments

[en] By using the ghost imaging technique, we experimentally demonstrate the reconstruction of the diffraction pattern of a pure phase object by using the classical correlation of incoherent thermal light split on a beam splitter. The results once again underline that entanglement is not a necessary feature of ghost imaging. The light we use is spatially highly incoherent with respect to the object (≅2 μm speckle size) and is produced by a pseudo-thermal source relying on the principle of near-field scattering. We show that in these conditions no information on the phase object can be retrieved by only measuring the light that passed through it, neither in a direct measurement nor in a Hanbury Brown-Twiss (HBT) scheme. In general, we show a remarkable complementarity between ghost imaging and the HBT scheme when dealing with a phase object

[en] The prognosis of stage III non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) can be improved by a combination of radiotherapy (RT) and chemotherapy (CT). In this study, the GOTHA group evaluated the feasibility, tolerance, tumour response, pattern of failure and effect on survival of a combination alternating accelerated hyperfractionated (AH) RT and CT in patients with tumour stage III NSCLC. Toxic effects were leucopenia, nausea and vomiting, mucositis, diarrhoea, alopecia and peripheral neuropathy. Alternating CT and AHRT, as used in this study, were well tolerated and allowed full dose delivery within less than 12 weeks. Initial response was not predictive of survival. The survival curve is encouraging and the 5 year survival is superior to the 5% generally observed with conventionally fractionated radiotherapy. (author)

[en] A prospective analysis of results of computed tomography (CT) compared with those of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) was conducted in 61 patients with bronchogenic carcinoma who were operated (mediastinoscopy, thoracotomy or both). No statistically significant difference was found between the two imaging methods for the evaluation of node involvement (N2) and tumor extension (direct invasion of chest wall or mediastinum). The study, with comparison of CT, MRI and trans-cervical mediastinoscopy (50 patients) confirms that the latter is the most accurate method for staging and classifying of mediastinal lymph node involvement