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To assess parental preferences for dental caries treatment and its association with socio-demographic conditions and beliefs about the primary dentition.Study design: Cross-sectional study. This study was conducted among 512 parents of 2- to 5-year-old children in the State of Tocantins, in the North Region of Brazil. A self-administered questionnaire on preferences for dental caries treatment, socio-demographic conditions and beliefs about the primary dentition was responded by parents considering two hypothetical clinical scenarios: if their child had one or more asymptomatic caries lesions (without pain), one or more symptomatic caries lesions (toothache). Poisson regression models fitted the association between explanatory variables and the preference to conservative interventions.It can be concluded that parental preferences for dental caries treatment in preschool children depend on mother's age and education level, as well as on beliefs about the primary dentition.

Transfer is an excellent tool to get insights into the short-range correlations on nucleons in a nuclear state. Within the context of direct reactions, the double charge exchange reactions have recently gained attention once their matrix elements might be associated with the double-beta decay rates. This class of reaction can occur from two completely distinctive mechanisms. They can take place by nucleons exchange or driven by mesons exchange between the projectile and target nuclei. Once the double charge exchange driven by multi-nucleon or mesons exchanges can compete with each other, it is crucial to analyze the contribution of the multi-nucleon transfer in this type of reaction to verify its relevance on the measured cross sections.

The recent increase in demand for electric energy and different ways of harvesting and generating it has been a key research stream in transportation infrastructure in Brazil. Since pavement structures are subjected to the mechanical load of millions of vehicles, the application of piezoelectric sensors is adequate, transforming deformations and vibrations on its layers into electric power. The general objective of this study was to investigate the use of piezoelectricity as a source of renewable energy applied to roadways using computational simulations and laboratory tests. The results indicate that factors such as frequency, load, the number of piezo cells, and spacing all affect the amount of power harvested. Regarding power generation in the simulation and laboratory characterization, the highest values obtained were 648.8 mW and 226.9 mW, respectively. The analysis indicates there is a correlation between the laboratory tests and the computational simulations, enabling the prototype application to capture up to 76.56 MWh of energy per month. Usage of piezoelectricity has been demonstrated to be a promising alternative to complement the Brazilian energy matrix and reduce the environmental impact.

Two-nucleon transfer reactions are essential tools to investigate specific features of the nuclear structure, such as the correlation among valence particles in the transfer process. Besides, transfer reactions may be an important channel to take into account in charge-exchange processes since they can represent a competing contribution to the final cross section. The two-proton pickup transfer reaction $^{40}\mathrm{Ca}(^{18}\mathrm{O},^{20}\mathrm{Ne})\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}^{38}\mathrm{Ar}$ has been measured at 270 MeV, and the angular distributions for transitions to different excited states extracted. This paper shows the analysis of the data performed by finite-range coupled reaction channel and coupled-channel Born approximation methods. Extensive shell-model calculations are performed to derive the one- and two-proton spectroscopic amplitudes for the projectile and target overlaps. The role of the simultaneous and sequential two-proton transfer mechanisms to populate the measured final states or groups of states, mainly characterized by a high collectivity, is also discussed.

Resumen Introduccion La RT-qPCR es la prueba de referencia para la deteccion de la infeccion por SARS-CoV-2; sin embargo, en la actualidad se dispone de pruebas rapidas de deteccion de antigenos (PRDA). En este trabajo se evaluo la validez interna de la PRDA en el contexto de un brote en una residencia de mayores. Metodos Se analizaron muestras de exudado nasofaringeo mediante PRDA y RT-qPCR de 61 residentes de una residencia de mayores. Se calculo la sensibilidad y especificidad de la PRDA con respecto a la RT-qPCR. Resultados La especificidad fue del 100% (IC 95% 54,1-100,0), mientras que la sensibilidad en asintomaticos fue del 70,3% (IC 95% 53,0-84,1) y en los sintomaticos del 83,3% (IC 95% 51,6-97,9). Conclusiones Las PRDA son lo suficientemente sensibles y especificas para ser utilizadas como pruebas de cribado en las residencias de mayores, especialmente es situacion de brotes o sospecha del mismo por la presencia de sintomaticos.

Higher total energy expenditure in free living conditions, regardless of any activity, has been strongly associated with a lower risk of mortality in healthy older adults. Also, a good performance in physical and functional tests is a marker of good functional prognosis. However, it is not yet clear what is the association between total energy expenditure and the performance in physical and functional tests. The objective of this study was to verify the association between the total energy expenditure of older adults measured by doubly labelled water and the performance in functional tests. Cross-sectional study. Fifty-six older people were recruited from health services linked to the participating institutions. Socio-demographic, anthropometric and clinical characteristics were assessed through the application of a structured questionnaire. Body composition was evaluated by isotopic dilution of deuterium oxide and functional status was assessed by the gait speed test, 6-minute walk test and handgrip strength. Total energy expenditure (GET) was assessed using the doubly labelled water method and the physical activity profile was verified using an activity monitor based on accelerometery. The results showed that the highest total energy expenditure correlated with the best performance in the gait speed tests (r = 0.266; p = 0.047), 6-minute walk test (r = 0.424; p = 0.001) and maximum handgrip strength (r = 0.478; p = 0.000). Multivariate regression analysis in a model adjusted for sex and fat-free mass revealed an association between total energy expenditure and the 6-minute walk test (β = 1.790; t = 2.080; p = 0.044) and the number of sedentary events (β = 6.389; t = 2.147; p = 0.038). The results of this study suggest that, in clinical practice, older individuals with lower gait speed, worse performance in the 6-minute walk test and lower handgrip strength, may have lower total energy expenditure, being the stimulus for its increase important for the prevention of possible problems related to low energy expenditure.

Gamma-ray angular distributions in oriented $$^{92}$$ Mo produced via the $$^{6}$$ Li+ $$^{89}$$ Y reaction were studied in this work. The characteristic $$\gamma $$ rays in $$^{92}$$ Mo were measured by means of the GALILEO array, which is composed of 25 Compton-suppressed HPGe detectors arranged in a nearly 2 $$\pi $$ geometry. A detailed analysis of the spin-alignment attenuation factors ( $$\alpha _2$$ ) for different excited states in $$^{92}$$ Mo was performed, by analyzing the measured angular distribution coefficients of several pure-E2 transitions. The relationship between $$\alpha _2$$ and the spin was established in $$^{92}$$ Mo and the 244-keV transition between the 5 $$^-_1$$ and 4 $$^+_1$$ states resulted to have a E1 + M2 character with a mixing ratio ( $$\delta $$ ) of $$-0.05^{+0.05}_{-0.06}$$ , consistent with shell model calculations.

The mechanism of reactions with weakly-bound proton-rich nuclei at energies near the Coulomb barrier is a long-standing open question owing to the paucity of experimental data. In this study, a complete kinematics measurement was performed for the proton drip-line nucleus 17F interacting with 58Ni at four energies near the Coulomb barrier. Thanks to the powerful performance of the detector array, exhaustive information on the reaction channels, such as the differential cross sections for quasielastic scattering, exclusive and inclusive breakup, as well as for fusion-evaporation protons and alphas, was derived for the first time. The angular distributions of quasielastic scattering and exclusive breakup can be described reasonably well by the continuum-discretized coupled-channels calculations. The inclusive breakup was investigated using the three-body model proposed by Ichimura, Austern, and Vincent, and results indicate the non-elastic breakup is the dominant component. The total fusion cross sections were determined by the fusion-evaporation protons and alphas. Based on the measured exclusive breakup data, the analysis of the classical dynamical simulation code PLATYPUS demonstrates that the incomplete fusion plays a minor role. Moreover, compared with 16O+58Ni, both the reaction and total fusion cross sections of 17F+58Ni exhibit an enhancement in the sub-barrier energy region, which mainly arises from couplings to the continuum states. This work indicates that the information of full reaction channels is crucially important to comprehensively understand the reaction mechanisms of weakly bound nuclear systems.

Background: Heavy-ion induced two-nucleon transfer reactions are powerful tools to reveal peculiar aspects of the atomic nucleus, such as pairing correlations, single-particle and collective degrees of freedom, and more. Also, these processes are in competition with the direct meson exchange in the double charge exchange reactions, which have recently attracted great interest due to their possible connection to neutrinoless double-beta decay. In this framework, the exploration of two-nucleon transfer reactions in the 20Ne+116Cd collision at energies above the Coulomb barrier is particularly relevant since the 116Cd nucleus is a candidate for the double-beta decay. Methods: We measured the excitation energy spectra and absolute cross sections for the two reactions using the MAGNEX large acceptance magnetic spectrometer to detect the ejectiles. We performed direct coupled reaction channels and sequential distorted wave Born approximation calculations using the double folding S\~ao Paulo potential to model the initial and final state interactions. The spectroscopic amplitudes for two- and singleparticle transitions were derived by different nuclear structure approaches: microscopic large-scale shell model, interacting boson model-2 and quasiparticle random phase approximation. Results: The calculations are able to reproduce the experimental cross sections for both two-neutron and twoproton transfer reactions. The role of couplings with the inelastic channels are found to be important in the two-proton transfer case. A competition between the direct and the sequential process is found in the reaction mechanism. For the two-proton transfer case, the inclusion of the 1g7/2 and 2d5/2 orbitals in the model space is crucial.

The purpose of this survey is to examine the crystal packing of bent metallocenes, namely, group IV, V and VI biscyclopentadienyl dihalides and dihydrides, first synthesized in the late 1950s. This analysis is based on the present knowledge on new types of intermolecular contacts such as halogen and C–H⋯π interactions as well as dihydrogen bonds. Results are also supported by ab initio calculations that provide information on electrostatic charge distributions, in particular the effect of two V-shaped metal–halogen bonds on the molecular electron density distribution. Type I halogen interactions do not appear to be affected by this feature, specifically the geometric parameters and variation of atom polarizability, but the resultant electronic density distribution precludes the presence of Type II halogen bonds. Special attention is given to the competition among hydrogen and halogen interactions, in particular its influence on the nature and geometric orientations of the different supramolecular motifs and, ultimately, on the space groups observed for each crystal.

We propose a reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexer (ROADM) architecture for an elastic optical networks (EON) that allows the traffic of all optical orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (O-OFDM) signals. This new ROADM setup is validated by a point-to-point simulation of a 100 Gb/s 4-subcarrier O-OFDM signal traveling through the light paths of an 8-node mesh network performing one add/drop operation at each node along the traveled distances.

Background: Double charge exchange (DCE) nuclear reactions have recently attracted much interest as tools to provide experimentally driven information about nuclear matrix elements of interest in the context of neutrinoless double-β decay. In this framework, a good description of the reaction mechanism and a complete knowledge of the initial and final-state interactions are mandatory. Presently, not enough is known about the details of the optical potentials and nuclear response to isospin operators for many of the projectile-target systems proposed for future DCE studies. Among these, the Ne20+Ge76 DCE reaction is particularly relevant due to its connection with Ge76 double-β decay. Purpose: We intend to characterize the initial-state interaction for the Ne20+Ge76 reactions at 306 MeV bombarding energy and determine the optical potential and the role of the couplings between elastic channel and inelastic transitions to the first low-lying excited states. Methods: We determine the experimental elastic and inelastic scattering cross-section angular distributions, compare the theoretical predictions by adopting different models of optical potentials with the experimental data, and evaluate the coupling effect through the comparison of the distorted-wave Born approximation calculations with the coupled channels ones. Results: Optical models fail to describe the elastic angular distribution above the grazing angle (≈9.4∘). A correction in the geometry to effectively account for deformation of the involved nuclear systems improves the agreement up to about 14∘. Coupled channels effects are crucial to obtain good agreement at large angles in the elastic scattering cross section. Conclusions: The analysis of elastic and inelastic scattering data turned out to be a powerful tool to explore the initial and final-state interactions in heavy-ion nuclear reactions at high transferred momenta.

Elastic scattering and transfer cross sections for the $^{7}\mathrm{Be}+^{9}\mathrm{Be}$ system have been measured at ${E}_{\mathrm{lab}}=23.1\phantom{\rule{0.28em}{0ex}}\mathrm{MeV}$ using the $^{7}\mathrm{Be}$ radioactive secondary beam produced at Radioactive Ion Beams in Brazil facility at the University of S\~ao Paulo. The elastic scattering has been measured by detecting the $^{7}\mathrm{Be}$ scattered at forward angles in the laboratory system. The transfer reaction $^{9}\mathrm{Be}(^{7}\mathrm{Be},^{9}\mathrm{Be})^{7}\mathrm{Be}$ was identified by detecting the $^{9}\mathrm{Be}$ scattered at the same laboratory angles. The elastic angular distribution has been analyzed by optical model calculations using a Woods-Saxon form factor whose parameters have been varied to best reproduce the experimental data at forward angles. Coupled reaction channels calculations (CRC) have been performed to describe the transfer, considering the coupling to the transfer channel and including contributions to the ground state and to the first excited state of $^{7}\mathrm{Be}(1/2\ensuremath{-};429\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}\mathrm{keV}$) in the final state. The spectroscopic amplitudes used in the CRC calculation have been derived from shell-model calculations. Similar CRC calculations were applied to existing $^{9}\mathrm{Be}(p,t)^{7}\mathrm{Be}$ data to check the consistency of our results results for the ($^{7}\mathrm{Be},^{9}\mathrm{Be}$) transfer reaction.

In this work, we revisit the experimental data for elastic, inelastic and $\alpha$-transfer in the 12C + 16O system at 80 and 84 MeV using the coupled reaction channel method to analyze the angular distributions. The spectroscopic amplitudes relevant for the $\alpha$-transfer channel have been calculated from the semi-microscopic algebraic cluster model. The imaginary term of the optical potential was fitted to the experimental elastic scattering data at forward angles. Our calculations describe reasonable well the absolute cross sections for the inelastic scattering and $\alpha$-transfer. We discuss the effect of couplings on the transfer channel.

An updated overview of recent results on Heavy-Ion induced reactions of interest for neutrinoless double beta decay is reported in the framework of the NUMEN project. The NUMEN idea is to study heavy-ion induced Double Charge Exchange (DCE) reactions with the aim to get information on the nuclear matrix elements for neutrinoless double beta (0νββ) decay. Moreover, to infer the neutrino average masses from the possible measurement of the half- life of 0νββ decay, the knowledge of the nuclear matrix elements is a crucial aspect. Uma visão geral atualizada dos resultados recentes sobre reações induzidas por íons pesados ​​de interesse para o decaimento beta duplo sem neutrinos é relatada na estrutura do projeto NUMEN. A ideia do NUMEN é estudar reações de Double Charge Exchange (DCE) induzidas por íons pesados ​​com o objetivo de obter informações sobre os elementos da matriz nuclear para o decaimento beta duplo sem neutrinos (0νββ). Além disso, para inferir as massas médias dos neutrinos a partir da possível medição da meia-vida do decaimento 0νββ, o conhecimento dos elementos da matriz nuclear é um aspecto crucial. 1308 012002

In this work, we study the effect of paring correlation on the two-neutron transfer reaction \(^{28}\)Si(\(^{18}\)O,\(^{16}\)O)\(^{30}\)Si at 84 MeV incident energy in the laboratory frame. For this, coupled reaction channel (CRC) and coupled channel Born approximation (CCBA) calculations were performed considering the cluster, independent coordinates and sequential transfer models for two-neutron transfer. For the calculation of the spectroscopic amplitudes the NuShellX (http://www.garsington.eclipse.co.uk/, [1]) code was used.

International audience; NUMEN aims at accessing experimentally driven information on Nuclear Matrix Elements (NME) involved in the half-life of the neutrinoless double beta decay (0νββ), by high-accuracy measurements of the cross sections of Heavy Ion (HI) induced Double Charge Exchange (DCE) reactions. First evidence about the possibility to get quantitative information about NME from experiments is found for the (^18O,^18Ne) and (^20Ne,^20O) reactions. Moreover, to infer the neutrino average masses from the possible measurement of the half-life of 0νββ decay, the knowledge of the NME is a crucial aspect. The key tools for this project are the high resolution Superconducting Cyclotron beams and the MAGNEX magnetic spectrometer at INFN Laboratori Nazionali del Sud in Catania (Italy). The measured cross sections are extremely low, limiting the present exploration to few selected isotopes of interest in the context of typically low-yield experimental runs. A major upgrade of the LNS facility is foreseen in order to increase the experimental yield of at least two orders of magnitude, thus making feasible a systematic study of all the cases of interest.

Background: Recently, a systematic exploration of two-neutron transfer induced by the $(^{18}\mathrm{O},\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}^{16}\mathrm{O})$ reaction on different targets has been performed. The high-resolution data have been collected at the MAGNEX magnetic spectrometer of the INFN-LNS Laboratory in Catania and analyzed with the coupled reaction channel (CRC) approach. The simultaneous and sequential transfers of the two neutrons have been considered under the same theoretical framework without the need for adjustable factors in the calculations.Purpose: A detailed analysis of the one-neutron transfer cross sections is important to study the sequential two-neutron transfer. Here, we examine the $(^{18}\mathrm{O},\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}^{17}\mathrm{O})$ reaction on $^{16}\mathrm{O},\phantom{\rule{0.28em}{0ex}}^{28}\mathrm{Si}$, and $^{64}\mathrm{Ni}$ targets. These even-even nuclei allow for investigation of one-neutron transfer in distinct nuclear shell spaces.Method: The MAGNEX spectrometer was used to measure mass spectra of ejectiles and extract differential cross sections of one-neutron transfer to low-lying states. We adopted the same CRC formalism used in the sequential two-neutron transfer, including relevant channels and using spectroscopic amplitudes obtained from shell-model calculations. We also compare with the one-step distorted-wave Born approximation (DWBA).Results: For the $^{18}\mathrm{O}+^{16}\mathrm{O}$ and the $^{18}\mathrm{O}+^{28}\mathrm{O}$ systems, we used two interactions in the shell model. The experimental angular distributions are reasonably well reproduced by the CRC calculations. In the $^{18}\mathrm{O}+^{64}\mathrm{Ni}$ system, we considered only one interaction, and the theoretical curve describes the shape and order of magnitude observed in the experimental data.Conclusions: Comparisons between experimental DWBA and CRC angle-integrated cross sections suggest that excitations before or after the transfer of a neutron are relevant in the $^{18}\mathrm{O}+^{16}\mathrm{O}$ and $^{18}\mathrm{O}+^{64}\mathrm{Ni}$ systems.

International audience; 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 fact that 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$^{40}$Ca($^{18}$O,$^{18}$Ne)$^{40}$Ar reaction at 270MeV give an encouraging indication on the capability of the proposed technique to access relevant quantitative information. The main experimental tools 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 those 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.

In this paper, we analyze the one-neutron pick-up from the 55Mn target when it is bombarded by 17MeV deuteron, by performing coupled reaction channel (CRC) calculations. Spectroscopic amplitudes for CRC calculations, and structural information such as reduced B(E2) transition probabilities, quadrupole, and magnetic momenta, are obtained from shell-model calculations using the fp-kb3 interaction. The calculated structure quantities are in good agreement with the available experimental data for both target and ejectile. Analyses of angular distributions show the relevance of microscopic information for the description of the higher excited states of 54Mn .

In this study, we analysed ergonomic characteristics of the Metro drivers and their operating position within the cockpit area. Over several weeks, qualitative data was gathered from selected drivers concerning how they use and interact with the space; setting-up their ideal sitting positions.