Is it premature to formulate recommendations for policy and practice, based on culture and health research? A robust critique of the CultureForHealth (2022) report

Introduction: Arts and health practice and research has expanded rapidly since the turn of the millennium. A World Health Organization scoping review of a large body of evidence claims positive health benefits from arts participation and makes recommendations for policy and implementation of arts for health initiatives. A more recent scoping review (CultureForHealth) also claims that current evidence is sufficient to form recommendations for policy and practice. However, scoping reviews of arts and health research—without critical appraisal of included studies—do not provide a sound basis for recommendations on the wider implantation of healthcare interventions. Methods: We performed a detailed assessment of 18 Randomised Controlled Trials (RCTs) on arts-based interventions included in Section 1 of the CultureForHealth report using the Joanna Briggs Institute Critical Appraisal Tool for RCTs (2023). Results: The 18 RCTs included demonstrated considerable risks of bias regarding internal and statistical conclusion validity. Moreover, the trials are substantially heterogeneous with respect to settings, health-issues, interventions, and outcomes, which limits their external validity, reliability, and generalisability. Conclusions: The absence of a critical appraisal of studies included in the CultureForHealth report leads to an overinterpretation and overstatement of the health outcomes of arts-based interventions. As such, the CultureForHealth review is not a suitable foundation for policy recommendations, nor for formulating guidance on implementation of arts-based interventions for health

Study of Deformation Effects in the Charged Particle Emission from 46Ti

The 46Ti compound nucleus, as populated by the fusion-evaporation reaction 27Al + 19F at the bombarding energy of 144 MeV, has been investigated by charged particle spectroscopy using the multidetector array ICARE at the VIVITRON tandem facility of the IReS (Strasbourg). The light charged particles have been measured in coincidence with evaporation residues. The CACARIZO code, a Monte Carlo implementation of the statistical-model code CASCADE, has been used to calculate the spectral shapes of evaporated alpha-particles which are compared with the experimental spectra. This comparison indicates the possible signature of large deformations of the compound nucleus.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, Proceedings od the Zakopane 20004 Symposium, to be published in Acta Phys. Pol. B36 (2005

GDR Feeding of the Highly-Deformed Band in 42Ca

The gamma-ray spectra from the decay of the GDR in the compound nucleus reaction 18O+28Si at bombarding energy of 105 MeV have been measured in an experiment using the EUROBALL IV and HECTOR arrays. The obtained experimental GDR strength function is highly fragmented, with a low energy (10 MeV) component, indicating a presence of a large deformation and Coriolis effects. In addition, the preferential feeding of the highly-deformed band in 42Ca by this GDR low energy component is observed.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, Proceedings of the Zakopane2004 Symposium, to be published in Acta Phys. Pol. B36 (2005

Strong Deformation Effects in Hot Rotating 46Ti

Exotic-deformation effects in 46Ti nucleus were investigated by analysing the high-energy gamma-ray and the alpha-particle energy spectra. One of the experiments was performed using the charged-particle multi-detector array ICARE together with a large volume (4"x4") BGO detector. The study focused on simultaneous measurement of light charged particles and gamma-rays in coincidence with the evaporation residues. The experimental data show a signature of very large deformations of the compound nucleus in the Jacobi transition region at the highest spins. These results are compared to data from previous experiments performed with the HECTOR array coupled to the EUROBALL array, where it was found that the GDR strength function is highly fragmented, strongly indicating a presence of nuclei with very large deformation.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, Proceedings of the Zakopane Conference on Nuclear Physics, to be published in Acta Phys. Pol. B (2007

Oscillations above the barrier in the fusion of 28Si + 28Si

Fusion cross sections of 28Si + 28Si have been measured in a range above the barrier with a very small energy step (DeltaElab = 0.5 MeV). Regular oscillations have been observed, best evidenced in the first derivative of the energy-weighted excitation function. For the first time, quite different behaviors (the appearance of oscillations and the trend of sub-barrier cross sections) have been reproduced within the same theoretical frame, i.e., the coupled-channel model using the shallow M3Y+repulsion potential. The calculations suggest that channel couplings play an important role in the appearance of the oscillations, and that the simple relation between a peak in the derivative of the energy-weighted cross section and the height of a centrifugal barrier is lost, and so is the interpretation of the second derivative of the excitation function as a barrier distribution for this system, at energies above the Coulomb barrier.Comment: submitted to Physics Letters

Core-coupled states and split proton-neutron quasi-particle multiplets in 122-126Ag

Neutron-rich silver isotopes were populated in the fragmentation of a 136Xe beam and the relativistic fission of 238U. The fragments were mass analyzed with the GSI Fragment separator and subsequently implanted into a passive stopper. Isomeric transitions were detected by 105 HPGe detectors. Eight isomeric states were observed in 122-126Ag nuclei. The level schemes of 122,123,125Ag were revised and extended with isomeric transitions being observed for the first time. The excited states in the odd-mass silver isotopes are interpreted as core-coupled states. The isomeric states in the even-mass silver isotopes are discussed in the framework of the proton-neutron split multiplets. The results of shell-model calculations, performed for the most neutron-rich silver nuclei are compared to the experimental data

Fusion Hindrance and Quadrupole Collectivity in Collisions of A≃50 Nuclei: The Case of 48Ti + 58Fe

International audience; The fusion excitation function of Ti-48 + Fe-58 has been measured in a wide energy range around the Coulomb barrier, covering 6 orders of magnitude of the cross sections. We present here the preliminary results of this experiment, and a full comparison with the near-by system Ni-58 + Fe-54 where evidence of fusion hindrance shows up at relatively high cross sections. The sub-barrier cross sections of Ti-48 + Fe-58 are much larger than those of Ni-58 + Fe-54. Significant differences are also observed in the logarithmic derivatives, astrophysical S-factors and fusion barrier distributions. The influence of low-energy nuclear structure on all these trends is pointed out and commented. Coupled-channels calculations using a Woods-Saxon potential are able to reproduce the experimental results for Ti-48 + Fe-58. The logarithmic derivative of the excitation function is very nicely fit, and no evidence of hindrance is observed down to around 1 mu b. The fusion barrier distribution is rather wide, flat and structureless. It is only in qualitative agreement with the calculated distribution

Fusion of 28Si + 28Si: oscillations above the barrier and the behavior down to 1μb

Fusion excitation functions of light heavy-ion systems show oscillatory structures above the Coulomb barrier, caused by resonances or due to the penetration of successive centrifugal barriers well separated in energy. In heavier systems, the amplitude of oscillations decreases and the peaks get nearer to each other. This makes the measurements very challenging. We have performed a first experiment for 28Si + 28Si, by measuring fusion cross sections (σ) in an energy range of ≃15 MeV above the barrier, with a small ΔElab = 0.5 MeV step. Three regular oscillations are clearly observed, which are best revealed by plotting the energy-weighted derivative of the excitation function. The excitation function has been recently measured down to cross sections ≤1μb with larger energy steps. Coupled-channel (CC) calculations based on a shallow potential in the entrance channel are able to reproduce the oscillations. A further analysis will provide a stringent test for the calculations, in particular for the choice of the ion-ion potential, because the subbarrier excitation function has to be reproduced as well. Coupled-channel (CC) calculations based on a shallow potential in the entrance channel are able to reproduce the oscillations. A further analysis will provide a stringent test for the calculations, in particular for the choice of the ion-ion potential, because the subbarrier excitation function has to be reproduced as well

Isotopic effects in sub-barrier fusion of Si + Si systems

Background: Recent measurements of fusion cross sections for the 28Si+28Si system revealed a rather unsystematic behavior ; i.e., they drop faster near the barrier than at lower energies. This was tentatively attributed to the large oblate deformation of 28Si because coupled-channels (CC) calculations largely underestimate the 28Si+28Si cross sections at low energies, unless a weak imaginary potential is applied, probably simulating the deformation. 30Si has no permanent deformation and its low-energy excitations are of a vibrational nature. Previous measurements of this system reached only 4 mb, which is not sufficient to obtain information on effects that should show up at lower energies. Purpose: The aim of the present experiment was twofold: (i) to clarify the underlying fusion dynamics by measuring the symmetric case 30Si+30Si in an energy range from around the Coulomb barrier to deep sub-barrier energies, and (ii) to compare the results with the behavior of 28Si+28Si involving two deformed nuclei. Methods: 30Si beams from the XTU tandem accelerator of the Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro of the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare were used, bombarding thin metallic 30Si targets (50 μg/cm2) enriched to 99.64% in mass 30. An electrostatic beam deflector allowed the detection of fusion evaporation residues (ERs) at very forward angles, and angular distributions of ERs were measured. Results: The excitation function of 30Si+30Si was measured down to the level of a few microbarns. It has a regular shape, at variance with the unusual trend of 28Si+28Si. The extracted logarithmic derivative does not reach the LCS limit at low energies, so that no maximum of the S factor shows up. CC calculations were performed including the low-lying 2+ and 3− excitations. Conclusions: Using a Woods-Saxon potential the experimental cross sections at low energies are overpredicted, and this is a clear sign of hindrance, while the calculations performed with a M3Y + repulsion potential nicely fit the data at low energies, without the need of an imaginary potential. The comparison with the results for 28Si+28Si strengthens the explanation of the oblate shape of 28Si being the reason for the irregular behavior of that system

Mass correlation between light and heavy reaction products in multinucleon transfer 197Au+130Te collisions

We studied multinucleon transfer reactions in the 197Au+130Te system at Elab=1.07 GeV by employing the PRISMA magnetic spectrometer coupled to a coincident detector. For each light fragment we constructed, in coincidence, the distribution in mass of the heavy partner of the reaction. With a Monte Carlo method, starting from the binary character of the reaction, we simulated the de-excitation process of the produced heavy fragments to be able to understand their final mass distribution. The total cross sections for pure neutron transfer channels have also been extracted and compared with calculations performed with the grazing code