Measurement of the 235U(n,f) cross section relative to the 6Li(n,t) and 10B(n,a) standards from thermal to 170 keV neutron energy range at n_TOF

The 235U(n,f) cross section was measured in a wide energy range at n_TOF relative to 6Li(n,t) and 10B(n,alpha), with high resolution and in a wide energy range, with a setup based on a stack of six samples and six silicon detectors placed in the neutron beam. This allowed us to make a direct comparison of the reaction yields under the same experimental conditions, and taking into account the forward/backward emission asymmetry. A hint of an anomaly in the 10÷30 keV neutron energy range had been previously observed in other experiments, indicating a cross section systematically lower by several percent relative to major evaluations. The present results indicate that the evaluated cross section in the 9÷18 keV neutron energy range is indeed overestimated, both in the recent updates of ENDF/B-VIII.0 and of the IAEA reference data. Furthermore, these new high-resolution data confirm the existence of resonance-like structures in the keV neutron energy region. The new, high accuracy results here reported may lead to a reduction of the uncertainty in the 1÷100 keV neutron energy region. Finally, the present data provide additional confidence on the recently re-evaluated cross section integral between 7.8 and 11 eV.Preprin

First results of the140ce(N,ү)141ce cross-section measurement at n_tof

An accurate measurement of the140Ce(n,ү) energy-dependent cross-section was performed at the n_TOF facility at CERN. This cross-section is of great importance because it represents a bottleneck for the s-process nucleosynthesis and determines to a large extent the cerium abundance in stars. The measurement was motivated by the significant difference between the cerium abundance measured in globular clusters and the value predicted by theoretical stellar models. This discrepancy can be ascribed to an overestimation of the140Ce capture cross-section due to a lack of accurate nuclear data. For this measurement, we used a sample of cerium oxide enriched in140Ce to 99.4%. The experimental apparatus consisted of four deuterated benzene liquid scintillator detectors, which allowed us to overcome the difficulties present in the previous measurements, thanks to their very low neutron sensitivity. The accurate analysis of the p-wave resonances and the calculation of their average parameters are fundamental to improve the evaluation of the140Ce Maxwellian-averaged cross-section. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland

Inhalation therapy in the next decade : Determinants of adherence to treatment in asthma and COPD

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High accuracy, high resolution 235U(n,f) cross section from n_TOF (CERN) from 18 meV to 10 keV

he version of record os available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1140/epja/s10050-022-00779-7U(n,f) cross section was measured in a wide energy range (18 meV–170 keV) at the n_TOF facility at CERN, relative to 6Li(n,t) and 10B(n,a) standard reactions, with high resolution and accuracy, with a setup based on a stack of six samples and six silicon detectors placed in the neutron beam. In this paper we report on the results in the region between 18 meV and 10 keV neutron energy. A resonance analysis has been performed up to 200 eV, with the code SAMMY. The resulting fission kernels are compared with the ones extracted on the basis of the resonance parameters of the most recent major evaluated data libraries. A comparison of the n_TOF data with the evaluated cross sections is also performed from thermal to 10 keV neutron energy for the energy-averaged cross section in energy groups of suitably chosen width. A good agreement, within 0.5%, is found on average between the new results and the latest evaluated data files ENDF/B-VIII.0 and JEFF-3.3, as well as with respect to the broad group average fission cross section established in the framework of the standard working group of IAEA (the so-called reference file). However, some discrepancies, of up to 4%, are still present in some specific energy regions. The new dataset here presented, characterized by a unique combination of high resolution and accuracy, low background and wide energy range, can help to improve the evaluations from the Resolved Resonance Region up to 10 keV, also reducing the uncertainties that affect this region.Peer ReviewedAquest article està escrit per 130 autors/autores: Simone Amaducci, Nicola Colonna, Luigi Cosentino, Sergio Cristallo, Paolo Finocchiaro, Milan Krtiˇcka, Cristian Massimi, Mario Mastromarco, Annamaria Mazzone, Alberto Mengoni, Stanislav Valenta, Oliver Aberle, Victor Alcayne, Józef Andrzejewski, Laurent Audouin, Victor Babiano-Suarez, Michael Bacak, Massimo Barbagallo, Samuel Bennett, Eric Berthoumieux, Jon Billowes, Damir Bosnar, Adam Brown, Maurizio Busso, Manuel Caamaño, Luis Caballero-Ontanaya, Francisco Calviño, Marco Calviani, Daniel Cano-Ott, Adria Casanovas, Francesco Cerutti, Enrico Chiaveri, Guillem Cortés, Miguel Cortés-Giraldo, Lucia-Anna Damone, Paul-John Davies, Maria Diakaki, Mirco Dietz, Cesar Domingo-Pardo, Rugard Dressler, Quentin Ducasse, Emmeric Dupont, Ignacio Durán, Zinovia Eleme, Beatriz Fernández-Domínguez, Alfredo Ferrari, Valter Furman, Kathrin Göbel, Ruchi Garg, Aleksandra Gawlik, Simone Gilardoni, Isabel Gonçalves, Enrique González-Romero, Carlos Guerrero, Frank Gunsing, Hideo Harada, Stephan Heinitz, Jan Heyse, David Jenkins, Arnd Junghans, Franz Käppeler, Yacine Kadi, Atsushi Kimura, Ingrid Knapova, Michael Kokkoris, Yuri Kopatch, Deniz Kurtulgil, Ion Ladarescu, Claudia Lederer-Woods, Helmut Leeb, Jorge Lerendegui-Marco, Sarah-Jane Lonsdale, Daniela Macina, Alice Manna, Trinitario Martínez, Alessandro Masi, Pierfrancesco Mastinu, Emilio-Andrea Maugeri, Emilio Mendoza, Veatriki Michalopoulou, Paolo Milazzo, Federica Mingrone, Javier Moreno-Soto, Agatino Musumarra, Alexandru Negret, Francisco Ogállar, Andreea Oprea, Nikolas Patronis, Andreas Pavlik, Jarosław Perkowski, Luciano Piersanti, Cristina Petrone, Elisa Pirovano, Ignacio Porras, Javier Praena, José-Manuel Quesada, Diego Ramos-Doval, Thomas Rauscher, René Reifarth, Dimitri Rochman, Carlo Rubbia, Marta Sabaté-Gilarte, Alok Saxena, Peter Schillebeeckx, DorotheaPostprint (published version

Advances and new ideas for neutron-capture astrophysics experiments at CERN n_TOF

The version of record of this article, first published in [The Europen Physics Journal A], is available online at Publisher’s website: http://dx.doi.org/10.1140/epja/s10050-022-00876-7This article presents a few selected developments and future ideas related to the measurement of (n,¿) data of astrophysical interest at CERN n_TOF. The MC-aided analysis methodology for the use of low-efficiency radiation detectors in time-of-flight neutron-capture measurements is discussed, with particular emphasis on the systematic accuracy. Several recent instrumental advances are also presented, such as the development of total-energy detectors with ¿ - ray imaging capability for background suppression, and the development of an array of small-volume organic scintillators aimed at exploiting the high instantaneous neutron-flux of EAR2. Finally, astrophysics prospects related to the intermediate i neutron-capture process of nucleosynthesis are discussed in the context of the new NEAR activation areaPeer ReviewedArticle escrit per 139 auors/autores C. Domingo-Pardo, V. Babiano-Suarez, J. Balibrea-Correa, L. Caballero, I. Ladarescu, J. Lerendegui-Marco, J. L. Tain, A. Tarifeño-Saldivia, O. Aberle, V. Alcayne, S. Altieri, S. Amaducci, J. Andrzejewski, M. Bacak, C. Beltrami, S. Bennett, A. P. Bernardes, E. Berthoumieux, M. Boromiza, D. Bosnar, M. Caamaño, F. Calviño, M. Calviani, D. Cano-Ott, A. Casanovas, F. Cerutti, G. Cescutti, S. Chasapoglou, E. Chiaveri, N. M. Chiera, P. Colombetti, N. Colonna, P. Console Camprini, G. Cortés, M. A. Cortés-Giraldo, L. Cosentino, S. Cristallo, S. Dellmann, M. Di Castro, S. Di Maria, M. Diakaki, M. Dietz, R. Dressler, E. Dupont, I. Durán, Z. Eleme, S. Fargier, B. Fernández, B. Fernández-Domínguez, P. Finocchiaro, S. Fiore, F. García-Infantes, A. Gawlik-Ramięga , G. Gervino, S. Gilardoni, E. González-Romero, C. Guerrero, F. Gunsing, C. Gustavino, J. Heyse, W. Hillman, D. G. Jenkins, E. Jericha, A. Junghans, Y. Kadi, K. Kaperoni, F. Käppeler, G. Kaur, A. Kimura, I. Knapová, U. Köster, M. Kokkoris, M. Krtička, N. Kyritsis, C. Lederer-Woods, G. Lerner, A. Manna, T. Martínez, A. Masi, C. Massimi, P. Mastinu, M. Mastromarco, E. A. Maugeri, A. Mazzone, E. Mendoza, A. Mengoni, P. M. Milazzo, I. Mönch, R. Mucciola, F. Murtas, E. Musacchio-Gonzalez, A. Musumarra, A. Negret, A. Pérez de Rada, P. Pérez-Maroto, N. Patronis, J. A. Pavón-Rodríguez, M. G. Pellegriti, J. Perkowski, C. Petrone, E. Pirovano, J. Plaza, S. Pomp, I. Porras, J. Praena, J. M. Quesada, R. Reifarth, D. Rochman, Y. Romanets, C. Rubbia, A. Sánchez, M. Sabaté-Gilarte, P. Schillebeeckx, D. Schumann, A. Sekhar, A. G. Smith, N. V. Sosnin, M. Stamati, A. Sturniolo, G. Tagliente, D. Tarrío, P. Torres-Sánchez, J. Turko, S. Urlass, E. Vagena, S. Valenta, V. Variale, P. Vaz, G. Vecchio, D. Vescovi, V. Vlachoudis, R. Vlastou, T. Wallner, P. J. Woods, T. Wright, R. Zarrella, P. ŽugecPostprint (published version

Design study of a HPGe detector array for β-decay investigation in laboratory ECR plasmas

In the frame of the PANDORA project, a new experimental approach aims at measuring in-plasma β-decay rate as a function of thermodynamical conditions of the environment, namely a laboratory magnetized plasma able to mimic some stellar-like conditions. The decay rates (expected to change dramatically as a function of the ionization state) will be measured as a function of the charge state distribution of the in-plasma ions. The new experimental approach aims at correlating the plasma environment and the decay rate. This can be performed by simultaneously identifying and discriminating—through an innovative multi-diagnostic system working synergically with a γ-ray detection system —the photons emitted by the plasma and γ-rays emitted after the isotope β-decay. In this study, the numerical simulations supporting the design of the γ-ray detector array, including a statistical significance study to check the feasibility of measuring the in-plasma decay rates, are presented. Geant4 simulations focused on the design of the array of γ-ray detectors and the evaluation of total efficiency depending on the detector type and the optimal displacement of detectors around the trap (including collimation systems and shielding). The simulation results showed that, due to technical limitations in the number of apertures that can be created in the magnetic trap, the best compromise is to use 14 HPGe (70% of relative efficiency) detectors surrounding the magnetic trap. The HPGe detectors were chosen for their excellent energy resolution (0.2% @ 1 MeV), since the harsh environment (the background is represented by the intense plasma self-emission) strongly affects the signal-to-background ratio. Once determined the total photopeak efficiency (0.1–0.2%), the sensitivity of the PANDORA experiment was checked in a "virtual experimental run," by exploring the measurability of isotope decay rates for the first three physical cases of PANDORA: 176Lu, 134Cs and 94Nb. The preliminary results demonstrated the feasibility of the measurement in terms of the signal-to-background ratio and significance that it is possible to reach. The results indicated that experimental run durations could take from several days to 3 months, depending on the isotope under investigation, thus shedding new light on the role of weak interactions in stellar nucleosynthesis

Constraints on the dipole photon strength for the odd uranium isotopes

Nuclear level densities (NLDs) and photon strength functions (PSFs), also called ¿ -ray or radiation strength functions, represent average properties of the nucleus in the regime of excitation where individual levels and transition probabilities by ¿ decay are not readily accessible by experimental or theoretical means. They are key ingredients for statistical calculations of the reaction cross sections involving ¿ rays via the Hauser-Feshbach approach [1], like inelastic scattering or neutron capture reactions.Peer ReviewedAquest article té 124 autors/autores J. Moreno-Soto, S. Valenta, E. Berthoumieux, A. Chebboubi, M. Diakaki, W. Dridi, E. Dupont, F. Gunsing, M. Krticka, O. Litaize, O. Serot, O. Aberle, V. Alcayne, S. Amaducci, J. Andrzejewski, L. Audouin, V. Bécares, V. Babiano-Suarez, M. Bacak, M. Barbagallo, Th. Benedikt, S. Bennett, J. Billowes, D. Bosnar, A. Brown, M. Busso, M. Caamaño, L. Caballero-Ontanaya, F. Calviño, M. Calviani, D. Cano-Ott, A. Casanovas, F. Cerutti, E. Chiaveri, N. Colonna, G. Cortés, M. A. Cortés-Giraldo, L. Cosentino, Cristallo, L. A. Damone, P. J. Davies, M. Dietz, C. Domingo-Pardo, R. Dressler, Q. Ducasse, I. Durán, Z. Eleme, B. Fernández-Domínguez, A. Ferrari, P. Finocchiaro, V. Furman, K. Göbel, A. Gawlik-Rami, S. Gilardoni, I. F. Gonçalves, E. González-RomeroC. Guerrero, S. Heinitz, J. Heyse, D. G. Jenkins, A. Junghans, F. Käppeler, Y. Kadi, A. Kimura, I. Knapová, M. Kokkoris, Y. Kopatch, D. Kurtulgil, I. Ladarescu, C. Lampoudis, C. Lederer-Woods, S. J. Lonsdale, D. Macina, A. Manna, T. Martínez, A. Masi, C. Massimi, P. Mastinu, M. Mastromarco, E. A. Maugeri, A. Mazzone, E. Mendoza, A. Mengoni, V. Michalopoulou, P. M. Milazzo, F. MingroneA. Musumarra, A. Negret, R. Nolte, F. Ogállar, A. Oprea, N. Patronis, A. Pavlik, J. Perkowski, L. Piersanti, C. Petrone, E. Pirovano, I. Porras, J. Praena, J. M. Quesada, D. Ramos-Doval, T. Rauscher, R. Reifarth, D. Rochman, M. Sabaté-Gilarte, A. Saxena, P. Schillebeeckx, D. Schumann, A. Sekhar, A. G. Smith, N. V. Sosnin, P. Sprung, A. Stamatopoulos, G. Tagliente, J. L. Tain, A. Tarifeño-Saldivia, L. Tassan-Got, P. Torres-Sánchez, A. Tsinganis, J. Ulrich, S. Urlass, G. Vannini, V. Variale, P. Vaz, A. Ventura, D. Vescovi, V. Vlachoudis, R. Vlastou, A. Wallner, P. J. Woods, T. Wright, P. ŽugecPostprint (published version

Systematic versus on-demand early palliative care: results from a multicentre, randomised clinical trial

Background Early palliative care (EPC) in oncology has been shown to have a positive impact on clinical outcome, quality-of-care outcomes, and costs. However, the optimal way for activating EPC has yet to be defined. Methods This prospective, multicentre, randomised study was conducted on 207 outpatients with metastatic or locally advanced inoperable pancreatic cancer. Patients were randomised to receive ‘standard cancer care plus on-demand EPC’ (n = 100) or ‘standard cancer care plus systematic EPC’ (n = 107). Primary outcome was change in quality of life (QoL) evaluated through the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy – Hepatobiliary questionnaire between baseline (T0) and after 12 weeks (T1), in particular the integration of physical, functional, and Hepatic Cancer Subscale (HCS) combined in the Trial Outcome Index (TOI). Patient mood, survival, relatives' satisfaction with care, and indicators of aggressiveness of care were also evaluated. Findings The mean changes in TOI score and HCS score between T0 and T1 were −4.47 and −0.63, with a difference between groups of 3.83 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.10–7.57) (p = 0.041), and −2.23 and 0.28 (difference between groups of 2.51, 95% CI 0.40–4.61, p = 0.013), in favour of interventional group. QoL scores at T1 of TOI scale and HCS were 84.4 versus 78.1 (p = 0.022) and 52.0 versus 48.2 (p = 0.008), respectively, for interventional and standard arm. Until February 2016, 143 (76.9%) of the 186 evaluable patients had died. There was no difference in overall survival between treatment arms. Interpretations Systematic EPC in advanced pancreatic cancer patients significantly improved QoL with respect to on-demand EPC

First Results of the 140^{140}Ce(n,γ)141^{141}Ce Cross-Section Measurement at n_TOF

An accurate measurement of the $^{140}$Ce(n,γ) energy-dependent cross-section was performed at the n_TOF facility at CERN. This cross-section is of great importance because it represents a bottleneck for the s-process nucleosynthesis and determines to a large extent the cerium abundance in stars. The measurement was motivated by the significant difference between the cerium abundance measured in globular clusters and the value predicted by theoretical stellar models. This discrepancy can be ascribed to an overestimation of the $^{140}$Ce capture cross-section due to a lack of accurate nuclear data. For this measurement, we used a sample of cerium oxide enriched in $^{140}$Ce to 99.4%. The experimental apparatus consisted of four deuterated benzene liquid scintillator detectors, which allowed us to overcome the difficulties present in the previous measurements, thanks to their very low neutron sensitivity. The accurate analysis of the p-wave resonances and the calculation of their average parameters are fundamental to improve the evaluation of the $^{140}$Ce Maxwellian-averaged cross-section