This comment on proton decay -or rather transformation - comes from a previously unpublished note from Professor Sergio Focardi. Translated from Italian of course -fairly badly by me, but the meaning is -I hope- clear.
.....N = P + e^- + av,where e ^-is a negative electron and av is an antineutrino; radiation persists for a few minutes in the system, then they annihilate into thermal energy, no radioactivity. To determine the transformation of (elements), transforming the Proton, with emission of energy corresponding to the loss of matter is the particle that Enrico Fermi called W, which was later identified by Carlo Rubbia, work that earned him the Nobel Prize. On this system the W particle is triggered by the excitement of hydrogen atoms..... The energy provided is sufficient, taking into account that the interaction of the W particle, an intermediate boson which respects the Bose-Einstein statistics, for weak nuclear interactions....
Regarding: "N = P + e^- + av,where e ^-is a negative electron and av is an antineutrino;"
Beta decay and reverse beta decay caused by the weak force is nothing new. This change of protons into neutrons and neutrons into protons happens when there are a very large mismatch between the number of protons and neutrons in the nucleus.
The Widom-Larsen theory of LENR is based on this electron based proton conversion to the neutron.
The meson driven theory is new and comes from my prediction and verified by Holmlid's experiments.