Il Progetto INAF Online Lab

Gli INAF Online Lab sono un progetto nato nell’ambito del Gruppo DD INAF per essere ospitato su EduINAF, la rivista online dedicata alla Didattica e Divulgazione dell’INAF. Il progetto è nato nell’epoca dell’emergenza COVID19 e della successiva trasformazione online dei Festival della Scienza e dei laboratori didattici normalmente ospitati in queste manifestazioni. La chiusura delle scuole e il crescente ricorso all’online hanno esteso il progetto facendo diventare questi laboratori delle possibili proposte di didattica online per le scuole, da inserire in percorsi di didattica in presenza o di didattica a distanza (DAD). In questo documento descriviamo il progetto e le sue possibili applicazioni ed evoluzioni

IAU Office of Astronomy for Education, OAE Center Italy - Annual Report 2022

Annual report 2023 of the the IAU OAE Center Italy, an international office addressed to education and hosted and financed by Inaf. OAE Center Italy was established on the 3rd of March 2021, thanks to a Memorandum of Understanding signed by three parties: IAU, the Office of Astronomy for Education and INAF. OAE Center Italy is a joint project of a consortium of Italian partners, led and represented by INAF and of the IAU OAE, and is operated by INAF. The Italian partners are INAF, the Italian Astronomical Society (SAIt) and the University of Rome Tor Vergata (ToV). Index of contents 1. Professionalize astronomy education 11 1.1 The 4th Shaw-IAU workshop of Astronomy for Education 12 1.2 “Officina degli Errori” Pilot Programme 14 1.3 Educational path for transversal skills and professional orientation through Game-Based Learning 16 2. Provide access to good resources 18 2.1 astroEDU 19 2.2 Shared astronomical Glossary 21 2.3 Astrophotography contest 23 3. Promote astronomy in curricula 24 3.1 MIRTO - Mediterranean Informal Round Table – online 25 3.2 STEAM-MED - Lampedusa workshop on Astronomy Education 2022 27 3.3 Teacher Training Pilot Program (TTPP) 35 3.4 Organisation and delivery of the 16 hour-course for PhD students "Designing innovative public-engagement activities", at the University of Padova. 36 3.5 Castellaro Lagusello Astronomy Festival 37 4. OAE Networking 38 4.1 Participation in Expo 2020, Dubai, Italian Pavilion 39 4.2 Under the same Moon: building bridges through sky and astronomy 40 5. Spread the news 41 5.1 Under the same sky: an exhibition in Rome 42 5.2 Il Cielo itinerante – Italy shines 42 5.3 Universe World / EduINAF column 43 5.4 Time machines, an astronomy exhibition 43 5.5 Workshops 43 5.6 Press release, announcements and new

IAU Office of Astronomy for Education OAE Center Italy - Quarterly Report 1 January-March 2022

The IAU O!ce of Astronomy for Education Center Italy (I-OAE) is a joint project of a consortium of Italian partners led and represented by Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF, National Institute for Astrophysics), the International Astronomical Union (IAU) and the IAU O!ce of Astronomy for Education. The Italian consortium is constituted by: INAF, the Italian Astronomical Society (SAIt) and the University of Rome Tor Vergata (ToV). I-OAE HQ are hosted by the INAF - Rome Astronomical Observatory, in Monteporzio. Personnel is selected on voluntary bases according to their interests and competence, in agreement with the Institutes they work for. Brochure of the 2021 activities: https://www.flipsnack.com/eduinaf/oaei-brochure.htmlQuarterly Report 1 January-March 2022 is the report of the activities from January to March 2022 of the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education OAE Center Italy Attachment: brochure of the activities and project 202

Report EduINAF anno 2021/2022

Il periodo a cui fa riferimento questo Report (Anno scolastico 2021/2022: Settembre 2021-Agosto 2022) è stato caratterizzato dal protrarsi dell’emergenza COVID in Italia con conseguenti difficoltà delle scuole e periodi di ricorso alla Didattica a Distanza (DaD). Il 2021/2022 è stato anche il terzo anno di attività della testata registrata EduINAF, il magazine di Didattica e Divulgazione dell’Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica. In questo periodo, la redazione di EduINAF, oltre a pubblicare risorse didattiche e contenuti informativi sul mondo della Didattica e Divulgazione della scienza, ha organizzato e contribuito a organizzare numerose iniziative a sostegno della scuola e della società, come le dirette osservative della Serie “Il Cielo in Salotto”, i concorsi per le scuole e altre campagne di engagement. In questo Report si presentano le attività svolte nell’arco di tempo indicato e si analizzano i risultati ottenuti in termini di audience, di comportamento e di gradimento del pubblico. L’obiettivo è quello di fornire il contesto per strutturare il Piano Editoriale 2022/2023 che conterrà le linee guida per la programmazione del prossimo anno scolastico

Local structure of liquid 3d metals under extreme conditions of pressure and temperature

Pour comprendre les phénomènes physiques du noyau externe de la Terre, il est nécessaire d’étudier les propriétés structurelles et thermodynamiques des matériaux liquides qui y sont présents. Ainsi, les courbes de fusion du nickel et du cobalt permettent de contraindre la température à la frontière entre le noyau externe et le noyau interne (ICB). Cette Thèse présente l’étude de la courbe de fusion et de la structure locale du nickel et du cobalt liquide en conditions extrêmes de pression et température. L’analyse expérimentale a été effectuée par spectroscopie d'absorption des rayons X (XAS), technique bien adaptée à l’étude de la structure locale de la matière. Des calculs ab-initio permettent de valider le critère de fusion utilisé et de fournir une fonction de distribution radiale initiale pour l’analyse de la structure locale.Les courbes de fusion sont déterminées à partir des données d’absorption en utilisant un critère de fusion récemment proposé pour le fer. Ce critère est appliqué au cas du nickel et du cobalt. Le critère de fusion est basé sur la disparition de l’épaulement situé dans le seuil d’absorption des métaux 3d, et sur la disparition simultanée des deux premières oscillations du spectre d’absorption. Une sonde ionique focalisée (FIB) couplée à un microscope électronique à balayage (SEM) sont utilisés pour détecter post mortem les changements d’état de l’échantillon et confirmer ainsi le critère de fusion. Les courbes de fusion du nickel et du cobalt sont présentées jusqu’à des pressions de 1 Mbar. L’utilisation du critère de fusion est généralisable à tous les métaux 3d. La comparaison entre les courbes de fusion du nickel et du cobalt et celle du fer montre que la présence de ces deux matériaux dans le noyau externe de la Terre peut être négligée pour la détermination du profil de température dans la planète.Les calculs ab-initio montrent que la disparition des deux premières oscillations XANES est due au changement de densité des états électroniques p lors de la fusion et à la perte de l’ordre structural dans le liquide. Les calculs ab-initio valident le critère de fusion empirique utilisé lors des mesures XAS. Ces calculs permettent également d’évaluer la compression du cobalt liquide à 5000 K en fournissant une fonction de distribution radiale initiale pour l’analyse expérimentale du spectre d’absorption.Les oscillations EXAFS de la phase liquide du nickel et du cobalt sont analysées, permettant ainsi de déterminer la distance des premiers voisins en fonction de la pression. Les résultats expérimentaux montrent une compressibilité inférieure à celle prévue par les calculs ab-initio. Cette différence peut être interprétée comme une liaison atomique plus rigide entre premiers voisins ou comme une augmentation de 10 à 20% de la coordinence. Nos observations expérimentales, combinées aux calculs ab-initio, semblent montrer que la structure locale du nickel et du cobalt liquide dévie du model des sphères rigides.En conclusion, nous avons développé un protocole expérimental et théorique qui permet de valider le critère de fusion d’une structure donnée. Nous l’avons appliqué aux métaux 3d fcc afin de déterminer les courbes de fusion du nickel et du cobalt. La similitude entre ces courbes de fusion et celle du fer montre que la présence du cobalt et du nickel dans le noyau externe de la Terre peut être négligé pour la détermination de la température à l’ICB. L’étude des oscillations EXAFS des liquides à haute pression et haute température permet de déterminer la distance entre premiers voisins. Ces méthodes peuvent maintenant être appliquées à des liquides d’alliages complexes, plus pertinents pour les applications géophysiques.Understanding the physical phenomena of our planet requires the capability to investigate the structural and thermodynamic properties of liquid-state materials present in the Earth's outer core. Thus, the melting curves of nickel and cobalt allow to constrain the temperature at the inner core boundary (ICB).This Thesis presents the study of the melting curves and the local structure of nickel and cobalt under extreme conditions. The experimental analysis was performed by X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS), technique ideal for the study of the local structure. Ab-initio calculations were performed as well in order to validate the melting criterion adopted and to provide starting radial distribution function for the analysis of the local structure.The melting curves of nickel and cobalt were determined with the XAS melting criterion recently proposed for iron. The criterion consists in the flattening of the shoulder and the disappearance of the first two oscillations in the X-ray Absorption Near Edge Structure (XANES). It has been validated with Focused Ion Beam (FIB) coupled with Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) analysis on the recovered samples, by means of a detection of textural changes in the sample. The melting temperature was detected for nickel and cobalt at different pressures, thus providing a measurement of the melting curve up to 1 Mbar for the two materials.A comparison of the melting curves of nickel and cobalt with iron shows that the presence of these two materials in the outer core of Earth gives a negligible contribution for the determination of the geotherm at the inner core boundary.Ab-initio calculations performed on cobalt provided an additional confirmation of the XAS melting criterion adopted. Moreover they permitted to understand that the flattening of the oscillations in the XANES is due to the smearing of the structures in the density of the p states linked to the different environments surrounding each absorbing atom in the liquid.These calculations allowed as well to evaluate the compression of liquid cobalt at 5000 K and provided a starting radial distribution function for the analysis of the experimental Extended X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (EXAFS) extracted from the measured XAS.The EXAFS of the liquids along the melting curve was analysed providing a measurement of the first neighbour distance in the liquid as a function of pressure for both nickel and cobalt. In the two cases our experimental results show slightly less compression than theoretically predicted. This can be interpreted as a first neighbour bond that at higher pressures is slightly more rigid than predicted or as due to an increase of 10-20% of the coordination number.Combined to theory, our experimental observation suggests that the local structure of liquid Co and Ni increasingly deviates from a hard sphere model with P and T along the melting curve.In conclusion, we have developed a protocol that allows validating the melting criterion for a given solid structure. In this work it has been applied to 3d metals with fcc structures and it can be applied to other structures.The presence of nickel and cobalt in the outer core of Earth was found to be irrelevant for the determination of the temperature at the ICB.XAS was shown to be an adequate technique to measure the first neighbour bond under extreme conditions, although both experiment and theory have large margin for improvement. The application of this method to more complex liquid alloys opens the way to investigation of relevant geophysical systems

Etude de la structure locale des métaux 3d liquides en conditions extrêmes de pression et température

Understanding the physical phenomena of our planet requires the capability to investigate the structural and thermodynamic properties of liquid-state materials present in the Earth's outer core. Thus, the melting curves of nickel and cobalt allow to constrain the temperature at the inner core boundary (ICB).This Thesis presents the study of the melting curves and the local structure of nickel and cobalt under extreme conditions. The experimental analysis was performed by X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS), technique ideal for the study of the local structure. Ab-initio calculations were performed as well in order to validate the melting criterion adopted and to provide starting radial distribution function for the analysis of the local structure.The melting curves of nickel and cobalt were determined with the XAS melting criterion recently proposed for iron. The criterion consists in the flattening of the shoulder and the disappearance of the first two oscillations in the X-ray Absorption Near Edge Structure (XANES). It has been validated with Focused Ion Beam (FIB) coupled with Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) analysis on the recovered samples, by means of a detection of textural changes in the sample. The melting temperature was detected for nickel and cobalt at different pressures, thus providing a measurement of the melting curve up to 1 Mbar for the two materials.A comparison of the melting curves of nickel and cobalt with iron shows that the presence of these two materials in the outer core of Earth gives a negligible contribution for the determination of the geotherm at the inner core boundary.Ab-initio calculations performed on cobalt provided an additional confirmation of the XAS melting criterion adopted. Moreover they permitted to understand that the flattening of the oscillations in the XANES is due to the smearing of the structures in the density of the p states linked to the different environments surrounding each absorbing atom in the liquid.These calculations allowed as well to evaluate the compression of liquid cobalt at 5000 K and provided a starting radial distribution function for the analysis of the experimental Extended X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (EXAFS) extracted from the measured XAS.The EXAFS of the liquids along the melting curve was analysed providing a measurement of the first neighbour distance in the liquid as a function of pressure for both nickel and cobalt. In the two cases our experimental results show slightly less compression than theoretically predicted. This can be interpreted as a first neighbour bond that at higher pressures is slightly more rigid than predicted or as due to an increase of 10-20% of the coordination number.Combined to theory, our experimental observation suggests that the local structure of liquid Co and Ni increasingly deviates from a hard sphere model with P and T along the melting curve.In conclusion, we have developed a protocol that allows validating the melting criterion for a given solid structure. In this work it has been applied to 3d metals with fcc structures and it can be applied to other structures.The presence of nickel and cobalt in the outer core of Earth was found to be irrelevant for the determination of the temperature at the ICB.XAS was shown to be an adequate technique to measure the first neighbour bond under extreme conditions, although both experiment and theory have large margin for improvement. The application of this method to more complex liquid alloys opens the way to investigation of relevant geophysical systems.Pour comprendre les phénomènes physiques du noyau externe de la Terre, il est nécessaire d’étudier les propriétés structurelles et thermodynamiques des matériaux liquides qui y sont présents. Ainsi, les courbes de fusion du nickel et du cobalt permettent de contraindre la température à la frontière entre le noyau externe et le noyau interne (ICB). Cette Thèse présente l’étude de la courbe de fusion et de la structure locale du nickel et du cobalt liquide en conditions extrêmes de pression et température. L’analyse expérimentale a été effectuée par spectroscopie d'absorption des rayons X (XAS), technique bien adaptée à l’étude de la structure locale de la matière. Des calculs ab-initio permettent de valider le critère de fusion utilisé et de fournir une fonction de distribution radiale initiale pour l’analyse de la structure locale.Les courbes de fusion sont déterminées à partir des données d’absorption en utilisant un critère de fusion récemment proposé pour le fer. Ce critère est appliqué au cas du nickel et du cobalt. Le critère de fusion est basé sur la disparition de l’épaulement situé dans le seuil d’absorption des métaux 3d, et sur la disparition simultanée des deux premières oscillations du spectre d’absorption. Une sonde ionique focalisée (FIB) couplée à un microscope électronique à balayage (SEM) sont utilisés pour détecter post mortem les changements d’état de l’échantillon et confirmer ainsi le critère de fusion. Les courbes de fusion du nickel et du cobalt sont présentées jusqu’à des pressions de 1 Mbar. L’utilisation du critère de fusion est généralisable à tous les métaux 3d. La comparaison entre les courbes de fusion du nickel et du cobalt et celle du fer montre que la présence de ces deux matériaux dans le noyau externe de la Terre peut être négligée pour la détermination du profil de température dans la planète.Les calculs ab-initio montrent que la disparition des deux premières oscillations XANES est due au changement de densité des états électroniques p lors de la fusion et à la perte de l’ordre structural dans le liquide. Les calculs ab-initio valident le critère de fusion empirique utilisé lors des mesures XAS. Ces calculs permettent également d’évaluer la compression du cobalt liquide à 5000 K en fournissant une fonction de distribution radiale initiale pour l’analyse expérimentale du spectre d’absorption.Les oscillations EXAFS de la phase liquide du nickel et du cobalt sont analysées, permettant ainsi de déterminer la distance des premiers voisins en fonction de la pression. Les résultats expérimentaux montrent une compressibilité inférieure à celle prévue par les calculs ab-initio. Cette différence peut être interprétée comme une liaison atomique plus rigide entre premiers voisins ou comme une augmentation de 10 à 20% de la coordinence. Nos observations expérimentales, combinées aux calculs ab-initio, semblent montrer que la structure locale du nickel et du cobalt liquide dévie du model des sphères rigides.En conclusion, nous avons développé un protocole expérimental et théorique qui permet de valider le critère de fusion d’une structure donnée. Nous l’avons appliqué aux métaux 3d fcc afin de déterminer les courbes de fusion du nickel et du cobalt. La similitude entre ces courbes de fusion et celle du fer montre que la présence du cobalt et du nickel dans le noyau externe de la Terre peut être négligé pour la détermination de la température à l’ICB. L’étude des oscillations EXAFS des liquides à haute pression et haute température permet de déterminer la distance entre premiers voisins. Ces méthodes peuvent maintenant être appliquées à des liquides d’alliages complexes, plus pertinents pour les applications géophysiques

Phase diagram and thermo-elastic properties of Fe-S compounds up to 15 GPa: Thermodynamic constraints on the core of medium-sized telluric planets

International audienceThe Fe-FeS binary is largely seen as the archetypal system to model the properties of the core of small to medium-sized telluric planetary bodies. Noteworthy, while both at the low pressures characteristic of the Moon, and at the very high pressure pertinent to the Earth or Venus, the Fe-FeS is a simple binary eutectic, in the intermediate range relevant for planets such as such as Mercury or Mars, or satellite such as Ganymede, Io, and Europa, the Fe-S phase diagram is quite complex, with intermediate compounds of narrow stability field that incongruently melt.Properties of Fe-FeS compounds have been here studied using in situ X-ray diffraction in the pressure range of 11–15 GPa, between room temperature to solidus (around ∼1100 K). Results show that Fe + FeS mixture transforms to Fe3S2 at 850 K and 12.1 GPa, adopting an orthorhombic crystal structure. Fitting the unit-cell volumes at 940 K to 2nd order Birch-Murnaghan and Vinet equation of state yields to V$_{0}$ = 372.2 ± 0.8 or 367.3 ± 0.6 Å3 and K$_{0}$ = 130 ± 4 or 185 ± 4 GPa, respectively, with K$_{0}$ fixed to 4. The thermal expansion around 14 GPa has been estimated to be 26.6 × 10−5 K−1 based on the temperature evolution of the unit-cell volume from 850 K to 1100 K. Moreover, the lattice parameters of FeS were obtained in the range 11–15 GPa between 470 K and 1100 K, and the compressional behavior was studied.To model the properties of the solid portion of the cores of telluric planets or exoplanets in the 12–21 GPa range, Fe3S2 should be used as the end-member together with Fe or FeS depending on whether the S content is below or above 27 wt%. While Fe3S2 is a potential crystallizing product of S-rich telluric bodies, it is not expected to form in the core of Europa, Io, or Ganymede as too small, nor in that of Mercury as most likely too poor in S. When found in a meteorite, the Fe3S2 phase could be used to infer the size and temperature of the parent body

Endometrial hyperplasia with berrylike squamous metaplasia and pilomatrixomalike shadow cells - Report of an intriguing cytohistologic case

The usefulness of endometrial cytology as a diagnostic method in asymptomatic women, especially in postmenopause, in the interpretation of composite pictures characterized by borderline features between atypical hyperplasia and well-differentiated adenocarcinoma, especially if associated metaplastic features are present, is somewhat controversial. CASE: An asymptomatic, 50-year-old, postmenopausal woman underwent a Pap smear and endometrial cytology for routine screening, disclosing three-dimensional, sometimes pseudopapillary groupings of hyperplastic endometrial glandular cells with focal atypia in direct continuity with large, squamoid cells of the keratinizing type and shadow cells. Histologic examination of endometrial tissue was advised, and two subsequent endometrial biopsies and hysteroscopic ablation were performed. The borderline character of the lesion (complex atypical hyperplasia vs. well-differentiated adenocarcinoma) with concomitant squamous metaplasia and pilomatrixomalike shadow cells prevented diagnostic agreement between several pathologists. CONCLUSION: Diagnostic cytology with direct endometrial sampling represents a valuable diagnostic screening tool for the differential diagnosis between normal and pathologic endometrium, a mucosal picture that deserves a subsequent (histologic) diagnostic procedure. In a few cases, as in the one presented above, even histologic examination, especially of so-called borderline lesions, reveals squamous or other types of metaplasia that can lead to interobserver discrepancies

Melting line and thermal equation of state of fcc-cobalt: A combined experimental and computational approach

International audienceThe melting line of cobalt has been investigated both experimentally, using synchrotron X-ray diffraction coupled with laser-heated diamond anvil cells, and theoretically, using ab initio simulations. Over the investigated pressure and temperature range - between 30 and 100 GPa and from ambient temperature up to 4000 K - the hexagonal close-packed structure, stable at ambient conditions, is replaced at high temperature by the face-centred cubic structure, observed stable till melting. The melting temperatures obtained by the two methods are in remarkable agreement and the melting line can be well described by a Simon-Glatzel equation of the form Tm = 1768(K )(P(GPa)/35.62+1)ˆ0.64. Finally, from the obtained results it was possible to determine a thermal equation of state for the cubic face-centred phase of Co

Thermal and magnetic anomalies of \u3b1-iron: An exploration by extended x-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy and synchrotron x-ray diffraction

The local structure and dynamics of \u3b1-iron have been investigated by extended x-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) spectroscopy and x-ray diffraction (XRD) in order to shed light on some thermal and magnetic anomalies observed in the last decades. The quantitative EXAFS analysis of the first two coordination shells reveals a peculiar local vibrational dynamics of \u3b1-iron: the second neighbor distance exhibits anharmonicity and vibrational anisotropy larger than the first neighbor distance. We search for possible distortions of the bcc structure to justify the unexplained magnetostriction anomalies of \u3b1-iron and provide a value for the maximum dislocation of the central Fe atom. No thermal anomalies have been detected from the current XRD data. On the contrary, an intriguing thermal anomaly at about 150 K, ascribed to a stiffening of the Fe\u2013Fe bonds, was found by EXAFS