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We present the status of the ASPECT-BET (An sdd-SPECTrometer for BETa decay studies) project which is aimed at developing a new detection strategy to perform high-precision, high-accuracy measurements of the energy spectra of beta decays of interest for the physics community, in particular in the field of nuclear physics, double beta decay and reactor neutrinos. The aim is to exploit a relatively novel spectroscopic technique based on Silicon Drift Detectors. An SDD-spectrometer, equipped with all the ancillary detectors required to reject events with only a partial energy deposition in the main sensitive elements, will provide high-statistics and virtually zero-background data. In order to isolate and study the systematic uncertainties, the statistical error on the measured spectra has to be reduced to a negligible level, balancing source activity, measurement duration and background. Reliable and well understood Montecarlo simulations are a key component of this application, as they provide a model for the response functions of the spectrometer, to be deconvolved from the data in order to correctly reconstruct the original spectral shapes. Thanks to the flexibility of the SDD detector technology, the here presented spectrometer could be coupled to a variety of beta sources, ranging from nuclei deposited on the surface of SDDs to minimise source self-absorpion to short-lived isotopes created and collected at unstable isotope beams like ISOLDE at CERN or the exotic beams at LNS, Catania. The current status of the technology, as well as some preliminary sensitivity studies, are presented and discussed.

Circus activities are emerging as an engaging and unique health intervention. This scoping review summarises the evidence on this topic for children and young people aged up to 24 years to map (a) participant characteristics, (b) intervention characteristics, (c) health and wellbeing outcomes, and (d) to identify evidence gaps. Using scoping review methodology, a systematic search of five databases and Google Scholar was conducted up to August 2022 for peer-reviewed and grey literature. Fifty-seven of 897 sources of evidence were included (42 unique interventions). Most interventions were undertaken with school-aged participants; however, four studies included participants with age ranges over 15 years. Interventions targeted both general populations and those with defined biopsychosocial challenges (e.g., cerebral palsy, mental illness, or homelessness). Most interventions utilised three or more circus disciplines and were undertaken in naturalistic leisure settings. Dosage could be calculated for 15 of the 42 interventions (range one-96 h). Improvements in physical and/or social-emotional outcomes were reported for all studies. There is emerging evidence of positive health outcomes resulting from circus activities used in general populations and those with defined biopsychosocial challenges. Future research should focus on detailed reporting of intervention elements and increasing the evidence base in preschool-aged children and within populations with the greatest need.

Double charge exchange (DCE) reactions induced by heavy ions are crucial tools to access information relevant for neutrinoless double beta decay nuclear matrix elements. In this context the NUMEN project aims to investigate, for each system of interest, the DCE reaction channel together with the whole set of reactions promoted by the same projectile/target interaction in the same experimental conditions and within the same theoretical framework.

Background: Charge-exchange (CE) reactions offer a major opportunity to excite nuclear isovector modes, providing important clues about the nuclear interaction in the medium. Moreover, double charge-exchange reactions are proving to be a tempting tool to access nuclear transition matrix elements (NMEs) related to double beta-decay processes. The latter are also of crucial importance to extract neutrino properties from the half-life of the hypothetical neutrinoless double beta decay and to search for physics beyond the standard model. Purpose: Through a multichannel experimental analysis and a consistent theoretical approach of the 116 Cd ( 20 Ne , 20 F ) 116 In single charge-exchange (SCE) reaction at 306 MeV, we aim at disentangling from the experimental cross section the contribution of the competing mechanisms associated with second- or higher-order sequential transfer and/or inelastic processes. Methods: We measured excitation energy spectra and absolute cross sections for elastic + inelastic, one-proton transfer and SCE channels by using the MAGNEX large acceptance magnetic spectrometer to detect the ejectiles. For the first two channels, we also extracted the experimental cross-section angular distributions. The experimental data are compared with theoretical predictions obtained by performing two-step distorted-wave Born approximation and coupled reaction channel calculations. We employ spectroscopic amplitudes for single-particle transitions derived within a large-scale shell-model approach and different optical potentials for modeling the initial- and the final-state interactions. Results: The present study significantly mitigates the possible model dependence existing in the description of these complex reaction mechanisms thanks to the satisfactory reproduction of several channels at once. In particular, our work demonstrates that the two-step transfer mechanisms produce a non-negligible contribution to the total cross section of the 116 Cd ( 20 Ne , 20 F

Silicon carbide (SiC) is a compound semiconductor, which is considered as a possible alternative to silicon for particles and photons detection. Its characteristics make it very promising for the next generation of nuclear and particle physics experiments at high beam luminosity. Silicon Carbide detectors for Intense Luminosity Investigations and Applications (SiCILIA) is a project starting as a collaboration between the Italian National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN) and IMM-CNR, aiming at the realization of innovative detection systems based on SiC. In this paper, we discuss the main features of silicon carbide as a material and its potential application in the field of particles and photons detectors, the project structure and the strategies used for the prototype realization, and the first results concerning prototype production and their performance.

The Gamow-Teller strength distributions of 116Sb and 122Sb were measured with the 116,122Sn(3He,t)116,122Sb charge-exchange reactions at 140 MeV/u. The measurements were carried out at the Research Center for Nuclear Physics (RCNP) at Osaka University in Osaka, Japan using the Grand Raiden spectrometer. The data were analysed by Multipole-Decomposition Analysis (MDA). The Gamow-Teller strengths summed up to 28 MeV are (38 +/- 7)% and (48 +/- 6)% of the Ikeda sum rule for 116Sb and 122Sb, respectively, if the quasi-free scattering (QFS) contribution is not subtracted. These percentages are (29 +/- 7)% and (35 +/- 5)%, respectively, if the QFS contribution is maximally subtracted. These results were compared to those from previous measurements of the same isotopes, to recent measurements of 150Pm, and to a Quasi-particle Random-Phase Approximation (QRPA) calculation with Quasi-Particle Vibration Coupling (QPVC). The data suggest that the true QFS contribution is small for 116Sb, but are inconclusive about whether the QFS contribution is small or significant for 122Sb. Therefore, these data may provide an interesting test for the general quenching phenomenon of the Gamow-Teller Resonance (GTR). However, more research to reveal the nature of the QFS contribution is still needed on both the experimental and the theoretical side.

Nuclear matrix elements (NMEs) for double beta decays (DBDs) are crucial for studying the neutrino mass and other neutrino properties beyond the standard electro-weak model by measuring neutrino-less DBDs. The spin-dipole (SD) J(pi) = 2(-) NME is one of the major components associated with the DBD NME. The SD NME for Ge-76 was derived for the first time by using the (74,76) Ge (He-3, t) at RCNP Osaka. The obtained SD NME for the Ge-76 -> As-76 ground-state transition is divide M EXP-(SD) ivide = 1.5 x 10-3 k 0.2 with respect to the quasi-particle model NME divide MQP-(SD) divide

The article describes the main achievements of the NUMEN project together with an updated and detailed overview of the related R&D activities and theoretical developments. NUMEN proposes an innovative technique to access the nuclear matrix elements entering the expression of the lifetime of the double beta decay by cross section measurements of heavy-ion induced Double Charge Exchange (DCE) reactions. Despite the two processes, namely neutrinoless double beta decay and DCE reactions, are triggered by the weak and strong interaction respectively, important analogies are suggested. The basic point is the coincidence of the initial and final state many-body wave-functions in the two types of processes and the formal similarity of the transition operators. First experimental results obtained at the INFN-LNS laboratory for the 40Ca(18O,18Ne)40Ar reaction at 270 MeV, give encouraging indication on the capability of the proposed technique to access relevant quantitative information. The two major aspects for this project are the K800 Superconducting Cyclotron and MAGNEX spectrometer. The former is used for the acceleration of the required high resolution and low emittance heavy ion beams and the latter is the large acceptance magnetic spectrometer for the detection of the ejectiles. The use of the high-order trajectory reconstruction technique, implemented in MAGNEX, allows to reach the experimental resolution and sensitivity required for the accurate measurement of the DCE cross sections at forward angles. However, the tiny values of such cross sections and the resolution requirements demand beam intensities much larger than manageable with the present facility. The on-going upgrade of the INFN-LNS facilities in this perspective is part of the NUMEN project and will be discussed in the article.

We examine the physics motivations to search for lepton number violations in the laboratory, in particular by studying the important nuclear transition called neutrinoless double beta decay, which consists in the creation of a pair of electrons. We address some major shortcomings of the Standard Model of electroweak interactions, arguing that most of them can be solved simply within extended models with Majorana neutrinos. At the same time, we discuss the difficulties of obtaining precise predictions for the neutrinoless double beta decay rate and strengthen the case of probing Majorana neutrino masses of about 10 meV.

Clustering phenomena are well known in nuclear physics for stable nuclei, both α-conjugate (N=Z, A=2N), like8Be,16O,20Ne, and non-α-conjugate, like6Li and7Li. In general, it is expected that light exotic nuclei may also exhibit cluster behavior. Moving out of the valley of stability configurations can be found where at least one of the clusters is unbound or weakly bound, thus not satisfying the strong internal correlation requirement of classical clusters. This is so-called exotic clustering. The study of such systems presents many difficulties, due, mainly, to the low intensities typical of radioactive ion beams. Therefore, few significant experimental studies have been performed so far. In this work we searched for α-cluster states in19Ne above its α-decay threshold measuring, for the first time, the15O(4He,4He) elastic scattering excitation function. Moreover, this study classified low-energy states in Ne in the astrophysically important region in this HCNO-break-out nucleus.

Exclusive breakup measurements have been performed for the Li6+p system in inverse kinematics at Li6 incident energies of 25 and 29 MeV. The results are considered in the Continuum Discretized Coupled-Channels framework, together with elastic scattering data at 16, 20, 25, and 29 MeV, obtained simultaneously in the same experiment and reported previously. Good agreement between data and theory is observed, interpreted as evidence for strong coupling to the continuum. The direct and sequential (via the Li631+ resonance) breakup cross sections are found to be equally large at the higher incident energies but the dominant effect on the elastic scattering is due to coupling to the sequential breakup. This effect remains dominant even at the lowest energy of 16 MeV, despite the negligible cross section for excitation of the resonance at this low incident energy.

The elastic scattering excitation function for 15O on 4He was measured - for the first time - by using the Inverse Kinematic Thick Target scattering method. The obtained spectrum was analysed in an R-matrix framework providing spectroscopic information for several states in the excitation energy of the nucleus 19Ne from 4.8 to 9 MeV. Eight of them are newly observed states. The set-up and the experimental technique will be described in detail and the results will be shown and discussed.

Nuclear fragmentation processes are relevant in different fields of basic research and applied physics and are of particular interest for tumor therapy and for space radiation protection applications. The FIRST (Fragmentation of Ions Relevant for Space and Therapy) experiment at SIS accelerator of GSI laboratory in Darmstadt, has been designed for the measurement of different ions fragmentation cross sections at different energies between 100 and 1000 MeV/nucleon. The experiment is performed by an international collaboration made of institutions from Germany, France, Italy and Spain. The experimental apparatus is partly based on an already existing setup made of the ALADIN magnet, the MUSIC IV TPC, the LAND2 neutron detector and the TOFWALL scintillator TOF system, integrated with newly designed detectors in the interaction Region (IR) around the carbon removable target: a scintillator Start Counter, a Beam Monitor drift chamber, a silicon Vertex Detector and a Proton Tagger for detection of light fragments emitted at large angles (KENTROS). The scientific program of the FIRST experiment started on summer 2011 with the study of the 400 MeV/nucleon 12C beam fragmentation on thin (8mm) carbon target.

Elastic-scattering measurements have been performed for the Li6+p system in inverse kinematics at the energies of 16, 20, 25, and 29 MeV. The heavy ejectile was detected by the large acceptance MAGNEX spectrometer at the Laboratori Nazionali del Sud in Catania, Italy. The results are considered in a Jeukenne-Lejeune-Mahaux and a continuum discretized coupled-channel calculation framework.

Elastic scattering measurements have been performed for the 6Li+p system in inverse kinematics at the energies of 16, 20, 25 and 29 MeV. The heavy ejectile was detected by the large acceptance MAGNEX spectrometer at the Laboratori Nazionali del Sud (LNS) in Catania, in the angular range between ∼20 and 120 in the laboratory system, giving us the possibility to span almost a full angular range in the center of mass system. Results will be presented and discussed for one of the energies.

KENTROS (Kinetic ENergy and Time Resolution Optimized on Scintillator) is a relatively compact detector that has been projected and constructed in the framework of the INFN FRAG and TPS experiments. KENTROS has been designed for energy deposition and time of flight measurements of charged particles. The detector ensures an angular coverage from about 5 degrees up to about 90 degrees polar angle in the laboratory frame. Recently KENTROS has been used as part of the FIRST experiment, devoted to measure double differential fragmentation cross sections, with the aim to detect light fragments produced in the nuclear fragmentation process.

Il contributo - segmento di un più ampio lavoro condotto con A. Vento e dal titolo "Sulle "rotte di Ulisse". Percorsi di indagine sulla "geografia omerica" a partire da uno studio di Lorenzo Braccesi" - analizza il frammento del mito di Orione legato al suo operato nello Stretto di Messina e ne propone una rilettura contestualizzandolo in modo più ampio.

Il contributo segue il percorso di Ulisse riflettendo su alcuni percorsi di geografia omerica e si articola in due sezioni, la prima a firma di A. Vento dedicata a "Sulle rotte di Odisseo: dal mito alla storia. I sistemi chiusi della geografia omerica"; la seconda a "Sulle rotte di Odisseo e oltre. Il caso di Orione al Peloro".

This work proposes a reflection on the circulation of ideas, uses, customs, roles and social problems, political ideologies and existential solutions through the analysis of archaeological, epigraphic, numismatic, literary and historiographical documents. The volume contains space for the iconography of the warrior and an essay on Odyssian geography which anticipates a historical re-reading of the myth of Orion, the music of young people in classical Athens and their education in the Roman Empire, the creation of welfare structures and the formulation of ideologies functional to the consolidation of political power; it's still, the historical analysis of the coinage which attests to relations between Cyrene and the East; the role of Sicily in age late antiquity and the problems of small Isauria. The varied picture of the volume is completed by the reports of the excavation campaigns conducted at the Kyme eolica site by Massimo Frasca of the University of Catania and the research conducted in Phrygian Hierapolis by Francesco D'Andria of the University of Salento, both with the collaboration of researchers and doctoral students from the University of Messina.

The transcription factor Sox2 is active in neural stem cells, and Sox2 'knockdown' mice show defects in neural stem/progenitor cells in the hippocampus and eye, and possibly some neurons. In humans, heterozygous Sox2 deficiency is associated with eye abnormalities, hippocampal malformation and epilepsy. To better understand the role of Sox2, we performed in vitro differentiation studies on neural stem cells cultured from embryonic and adult brains of 'knockdown' mutants. Sox2 expression is high in undifferentiated cells, and declines with differentiation, but remains visible in at least some of the mature neurons. In mutant cells, neuronal, but not astroglial, differentiation was profoundly affected. beta-Tubulin-positive cells were abundant, but most failed to progress to more mature neurons, and showed morphological abnormalities. Overexpression of Sox2 in neural cells at early, but not late, stages of differentiation, rescued the neuronal maturation defect. In addition, it suppressed GFAP expression in glial cells. Our results show an in vitro requirement for Sox2 in early differentiating neuronal lineage cells, for maturation and for suppression of alternative lineage markers. Finally, we examined newly generated neurons from Sox2 ;knockdown' newborn and adult mice. GABAergic neurons were greatly diminished in number in newborn mouse cortex and in the adult olfactory bulb, and some showed abnormal morphology and migration properties. GABA deficiency represents a plausible explanation for the epilepsy observed in some of the knockdown mice, as well as in SOX2-deficient individuals.

The Sox2 transcription factor is expressed early in the stem cells of the blastocyst inner cell mass and, later, in neural stem cells. We previously identified a Sox2 5'-regulatory region directing transgene expression to the inner cell mass and, later, to neural stem cells and precursors of the forebrain. Here, we identify a core enhancer element able to specify transgene expression in forebrain neural precursors of mouse embryos, and we show that the same core element efficiently activates transcription in inner cell mass-derived embryonic stem (ES) cells. Mutation of POU factor binding sites, able to recognize the neural factors Brn1 and Brn2, shows that these sites contribute to transgene activity in neural cells. The same sites are also essential for activity in ES cells, where they bind different members of the POU family, including Oct4, as shown by gel shift assays and chromatin immunoprecipitation with anti-Oct4 antibodies. Our findings indicate a role for the same POU binding motifs in Sox2 transgene regulation in both ES and neural precursor cells. Oct4 might play a role in the regulation of Sox2 in ES (inner cell mass) cells and, possibly, at the transition between inner cell mass and neural cells, before recruitment of neural POU factors such as Brn1 and Brn2.

In many species, the Sox2 transcription factor is a marker of the nervous system from the beginning of its development, and we have previously shown that Sox2 is expressed in embryonic neural stem cells. It is also expressed in, and is essential for, totipotent inner cell mass stem cells and other multipotent cell lineages, and its ablation causes early embryonic lethality. To investigate the role of Sox2 in the nervous system, we generated different mouse mutant alleles: a null allele (Sox2beta-geo 'knock-in'), and a regulatory mutant allele (Sox2DeltaENH), in which a neural cell-specific enhancer is deleted. Sox2 is expressed in embryonic early neural precursors of the ventricular zone and, in the adult, in ependyma (a descendant of the ventricular zone). It is also expressed in the vast majority of dividing precursors in the neurogenic regions, and in a small proportion of differentiated neurones, particularly in the thalamus, striatum and septum. Compound Sox2(beta-geo/DeltaENH) heterozygotes show important cerebral malformations, with parenchymal loss and ventricle enlargement, and L-dopa-rescuable circling behaviour and epilepsy. We observed striking abnormalities in neurones; degeneration and cytoplasmic protein aggregates, a feature common to diverse human neurodegenerative diseases, are observed in thalamus, striatum and septum. Furthermore, ependymal cells show ciliary loss and pathological lipid inclusions. Finally, precursor cell proliferation and the generation of new neurones in adult neurogenic regions are greatly decreased, and GFAP/nestin-positive hippocampal cells, which include the earliest neurogenic precursors, are strikingly diminished. These findings highlight a crucial and unexpected role for Sox2 in the maintenance of neurones in selected brain areas, and suggest a contribution of neural cell proliferative defects to the pathological phenotype.