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Neutrinoless double beta decay (0v\b{eta}\b{eta}) is considered the best potential resource to access the absolute neutrino mass scale. Moreover, if observed, it will signal that neutrinos are their own anti-particles (Majorana particles). Presently, this physics case is one of the most important research "beyond Standard Model" and might guide the way towards a Grand Unified Theory of fundamental interactions. Since the 0v\b{eta}\b{eta} decay process involves nuclei, its analysis necessarily implies nuclear structure issues. In the NURE project, supported by a Starting Grant of the European Research Council (ERC), nuclear reactions of double charge-exchange (DCE) are used as a tool to extract information on the 0v\b{eta}\b{eta} Nuclear Matrix Elements. In DCE reactions and \b{eta}\b{eta} decay indeed the initial and final nuclear states are the same and the transition operators have similar structure. Thus the measurement of the DCE absolute cross-sections can give crucial information on \b{eta}\b{eta} matrix elements. In a wider view, the NUMEN international collaboration plans a major upgrade of the INFN-LNS facilities in the next years in order to increase the experimental production of nuclei of at least two orders of magnitude, thus making feasible a systematic study of all the cases of interest as candidates for 0v\b{eta}\b{eta}.

MicroBooNE experiment will use a ~ 100 ton Liquid Argon (LAr) Time Projection Chamber (TPC) detector, presently under construction, to observe interactions of neutrinos from the on-axis Booster Neutrino Beam and off-axis NuMI Beam at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. The experiment will address the low energy excess observed by the MiniBooNE experiment, measure low energy neutrino cross sections, and serve as the necessary next step in a phased program towards massive Liquid Argon TPC detectors. An overview of the front end readout architecture of the MicroBooNE experiment will be presented. The design, prototypes and the production electronics system, comprised of cold CMOS electronics, warm interface electronics and TPC digitizing electronics will be described in some detail. The results of extensive tests on the noise versus temperature and of the uniformity of response will be presented.

We are developing a modular Silicon Drift Detector (SDD) X-Ray Spectrometer (XRS) for measuring the abundances of light surface elements (C to Fe) fluoresced by ambient radiation on remote airless bodies. The value of fluorescence spectrometry for surface element mapping is demonstrated by its inclusion on three recent lunar missions and by exciting new data that have recently been announced from the Messenger Mission to Mercury. The SDD-XRS instrument that we have been developing offers excellent energy resolution and an order of magnitude lower power requirement than conventional CCDs, making much higher sensitivities possible with modest spacecraft resources. In addition, it is significantly more radiation resistant than x-ray CCDs and therefore will not be subject to the degradation that befell recent lunar instruments. In fact, the intrinsic radiation resistance of the SDD makes it applicable even to the harsh environment of the Jovian system where it can be used to map the light surface elements of Europa. In this paper, we first discuss our element-mapping science-measurement goals. We then derive the necessary instrument requirements to meet these goals and discuss our current instrument development status with respect to these requirements.

A step improvement in X-ray fluorescence imaging performance is demonstrated through close integration of a large detector array, dedicated data acquisition, stage control and real-time parallel data processing, to achieve efficient elemental imaging with