Abstract: Two novel blends containing a low-density polyethylene (LDPE) and a neat polyamide (PA) or a polyamide nanocomposite (PAN) layers were fabricated and their technological potential was evaluated during the refrigeration of cooked ham in modified atmospheres (MAP). Nanoclays were homogeneously distributed and nearly exfoliated, and they lowered significantly the oxygen transmission rate (OTR) of the PAN films. Due to the lower OTR, the headspace oxygen level in PAN pouches do not rise above 0.26% but it approached 2% in PA pouches at day 20. The residual oxygen levels were key for colour change during MAP storage of cooked ham. Cooked ham redness and reflectivity were stable during 27 days in PAN pouches while a strong colour deterioration took place after day 7 in PA pouches. Other parameters such as moisture content and water activity remained unaltered, and pH development was related to microbial growth and independent of the packaging polymer. The evolution of cooked ham colour in PAN was comparable to a high-barrier commercial polymer, and was acceptable for commercial sale for 27 days, showing excellent perspectives for polyamide nanocomposites in the storage of cooked ham.

Abstract: Starting from a molecular picture for the X(3872) resonance, this state and its J(PC) = 2(++) heavy-quark spin symmetry partner [X-2(4012)] are analyzed within a model which incorporates possible mixings with 2P charmonium (c (c) over bar) states. Since it is reasonable to expect the bare chi(c1)(2P) to be located above the D (D) over bar* threshold, but relatively close to it, the presence of the charmonium state provides an effective attraction that will contribute to binding the X(3872), but it will not appear in the 2(++) sector. Indeed in the latter sector, the chi(c2)(2P) should provide an effective small repulsion, because it is placed well below the D*(D) over bar* threshold. We show how the 1(++) and 2(++) bare charmonium poles are modified due to the D-(*)(D) over bar ((*)) loop effects, and the first one is moved to the complex plane. The meson loops produce, besides some shifts in the masses of the charmonia, a finite width for the 1(++) dressed charmonium state. On the other hand, X(3872) and X-2(4012) start developing some charmonium content, which is estimated by means of the compositeness Weinberg sum rule. It turns out that in the heavy-quark limit, there is only one coupling between the 2P charmonia and the D-(*)(D) over bar ((*)) pairs. We also show that, for reasonable values of this coupling, leading to X(3872) molecular probabilities of around 70-90%, the X2 resonance destabilizes and disappears from the spectrum, becoming either a virtual state or one being located deep into the complex plane, with decreasing influence in the D*(D) over bar* scattering line. Moreover, we also discuss how around 10-30% charmonium probability in the X(3872) might explain the ratio of radiative decays of this resonance into psi(2S) gamma and J/psi gamma Finally, we qualitatively discuss within this scheme, the hidden bottom flavor sector, paying a special attention to the implications for the X-b and Xb(2) states, heavy-quark spin-flavor partners of the X(3872).

Abstract: The results of a search for gluinos in final states with an isolated electron or muon, multiple jets and large missing transverse momentum using proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of root s = 13 TeV are presented. The dataset used was recorded in 2015 by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 3.2 fb(-1). Six signal selections are defined that best exploit the signal characteristics. The data agree with the Standard Model background expectation in all six signal selections, and the largest deviation is a 2.1 standard deviation excess. The results are interpreted in a simplified model where pair-produced gluinos decay via the lightest chargino to the lightest neutralino. In this model, gluinos are excluded up to masses of approximately 1.6 TeV depending on the mass spectrum of the simplified model, thus surpassing the limits of previous searches.

Abstract: Charged Higgs bosons produced in association with a single top quark and decaying via H-+/- -> tau nu are searched for with the ATLAS experiment at the LHC, using proton-proton collision data at root s = 13 TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3.2 fb(-1). The final state is characterised by the presence of a hadronic tau decay and missing transverse momentum, as well as a hadronically decaying top quark, resulting in the absence of high-transverse-momentum electrons and muons. The data are found to be consistent with the expected background from Standard Model processes. A statistical analysis leads to 95% confidence-level upper limits on the production cross section times branching fraction, sigma (pp -> [b]tH(+/-)) x BR(H-+/- -> tau nu), between 1.9 pb and 15 fb, for charged Higgs boson masses ranging from 200 to 2000 GeV. The exclusion limits for this search surpass those obtained with the proton-proton collision data recorded at root s = 8 TeV.

Abstract: The result of a search for pair production of the supersymmetric partner of the Standard Model bottom quark ((b) over tilde (1)) is reported. The search uses 3.2 fb(-1) of pp collisions at root s = 13 TeV collected by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider in 2015. Bottom squarks are searched for in events containing large missing transverse momentum and exactly two jets identified as originating from b-quarks. No excess above the expected Standard Model background yield is observed. Exclusion limits at 95 % confidence level on the mass of the bottom squark are derived in phenomenological supersymmetric R-parity-conserving models in which the (b) over tilde (1) is the lightest squark and is assumed to decay exclusively via (b) over tilde (1) -> b (chi) over tilde (0)(1), where (chi) over tilde (0)(1) is the lightest neutralino. The limits significantly extend previous results; bottom squark masses up to 800 (840) GeV are excluded for the. (chi) over tilde (0)(1) mass below 360 (100) GeV whilst differences in mass above 100 GeV between the (b) over tilde (1) and the (chi) over tilde (0)(1) are excluded up to a (b) over tilde (1) mass of 500 GeV.