Contrasting properties of particle-particle and hole-hole excitations in ²⁰⁶Tl and ²¹⁰Bi nuclei

A complete-spectroscopy investigation of low-lying, low-spin states in the one-proton-hole and one-neutron-hole nucleus 206Tl has been performed by using thermal neutron capture and γ-coincidence technique with the FIPPS Ge array at ILL Grenoble. The new experimental results, together with data for the one-proton-particle and one-neutron-particle nucleus 210Bi (taken from a previous study done at ILL in the EXILL campaign), allowed for an extensive comparison with predictions of shell-model calculations performed with realistic interactions. No phenomenological adjustments were introduced in the calculations. In 210Bi, state energies, transition multipolarities and decay branchings agree well with theory for the three well separated multiplets of states which dominate the low-lying excitations. On the contrary, in 206Tl significant discrepancies are observed: in the same energy region, six multiplets were identified, with a significant mixing among them being predicted, as a consequence of the smaller energy separation between the active orbitals. The discrepancies in 206Tl are attributed to the larger uncertainties in the determination of the off-diagonal matrix elements of the realistic shell-model interaction with respect to the calculated diagonal matrix elements, the only ones playing a major role in the case of 210Bi. The work points to the need of more advanced approaches in the construction of the realistic interactions

The mutable nature of particle-core excitations with spin in the one-valence-proton nucleus ¹³³Sb

The γ-ray decay of excited states of the one-valence-proton nucleus ¹³³Sb has been studied using cold-neutron induced fission of ²³⁵U and ²⁴¹Pu targets, during the EXILL campaign at the ILL reactor in Grenoble. By using a highly efficient HPGe array, coincidences between γ-rays prompt with the fission event and those delayed up to several tens of microseconds were investigated, allowing to observe, for the first time, high-spin excited states above the 16.6 μs isomer. Lifetimes analysis, performed by fast-timing techniques with LaBr₃(Ce) scintillators, revealed a difference of almost two orders of magnitude in B(M1) strength for transitions between positive-parity medium-spin yrast states. The data are interpreted by a newly developed microscopic model which takes into account couplings between core excitations (both collective and non-collective) of the doubly magic nucleus ¹³²Sn and the valence proton, using the Skyrme effective interaction in a consistent way. The results point to a fast change in the nature of particle-core excitations with increasing spin

Reflections on the 'History and Historians' of the black woman's role in the community of slaves: enslaved women and intimate partner sexual violence

Taking as points of inspiration Peter Parish’s 1989 book, Slavery: History and Historians, and Angela Davis’s seminal 1971 article, “Reflections on the black woman’s role in the community of slaves,” this probes both historiographically and methodologically some of the challenges faced by historians writing about the lives of enslaved women through a case study of intimate partner violence among enslaved people in the antebellum South. Because rape and sexual assault have been defined in the past as non-consensual sexual acts supported by surviving legal evidence (generally testimony from court trials), it is hard for historians to research rape and sexual violence under slavery (especially marital rape) as there was no legal standing for the rape of enslaved women or the rape of any woman within marriage. This article suggests enslaved women recognized that black men could both be perpetrators of sexual violence and simultaneously be victims of the system of slavery. It also argues women stoically tolerated being forced into intimate relationships, sometimes even staying with “husbands” imposed upon them after emancipation

A look at inpatients' experience of mental health rehabilitation wards.

Research into patients’ experience in mental health hospitals has focused on acute settings. The authors of this study have explored the experience of patients on rehabilitation wards. Data were collected through focus groups led by service users acting as experts by experience. This helped to encourage participation by this group, which can be difficult to engage. Themes from the data were identified from the perspectives of staff, carers and service users. Two primary themes were identified by all reviewers – inflexible, authoritarian regimes on the wards and patients’ fears about being unable to cope in the future after leaving the rehabilitation ward. The implications of the findings and suggestions for improving care in rehabilitation wards are discussed

L’area sepolcrale della Terramara di Santa Rosa di Poviglio (RE). Contesto, materiali, Riti.

During the 2000 field season, several fragments of calcined human bone were recovered in the excavation of a modern ditch around 300 m to the east of the edge of the terramara of Santa Rosa. These brought to light the location of a funerary area related to the site. During the following years (2001 and 2002) a 7000 sq m area was investigated in detail through trenches and excavation pits. The archaeological structures recovered were related to a soil that was also in use during the Iron Age and Roman period and was later buried below Medieval alluvial deposits. The archaeological evidence consists of four cinerary urns, two secondary deposits of parts of a single skull included in two different pits, and several holes of different shapes, many of which containing organic material. Furthermore, the buried soil is cut by irrigation ditches and includes, dispersed in it, several calcined human bones fragments, very few animal bones and some pottery sherds. The cinerary urns - two of which are related to an anomalous burial ritual - contain the remains of two adults and two children. Three phases are distinguishable in the use of the area, ranging from the Middle to the Recent Bronze Age: during the earliest phase, the ditches were excavated to irrigate the area, which was devoted to an agrarian use; after that, the four cinerary urns were deposited; later, probably after the dispersal of pyre remains on the surface of the soil, the holes were opened in part to host wooden posts, and two of them included skull fragments, deposited as votive offer

La terramara Santa Rosa di Poviglio: strutture tra Villaggio Piccolo e Villaggio Grande Nuovi dati dallo scavo 2015

The Terramara S. Rosa di Poviglio (Reggio Emilia, Po Plain of Northern Italy) whose excavation started in 1984, consists of two dwelling areas indicated as “Villaggio Piccolo” (VP) and “Villaggio Grande” (VG), dating back to the Middle Bronze Age (MBA) and to the Recent Bronze Age (RBA), respectively. The two areas are separated by a moat which, according to recent geophysical prospections, is crossed by a passage connecting the VP to the VG. This structure was investigated in the 2015 field operation by opening a long excavation trench. The bottom of the moat was found to have been in use for a long period, from the late MBA to the RBA. Evidence of huge wooden structures, consisting of regular alignments of post holes, were found at the fringe of the VP. The margin of the moat close to the VP was covered by thick dumps, dating mostly to the RBA, discarded from the dwelling areas of the village into the moat. However inside these deposits, an exceptional quantity of small bronze items was recovered which probably have to be related to an area of metallurgic activities

Concentration of exhaled breath condensate biomarkers after fractionated collection based on exhaled CO2 signal

A standard procedure for exhaled breath condensate (EBC) collection is still lacking. The aim of this study was to compare the concentration of several biomarkers in whole (W-EBC) and fractionated EBC (A-EBC), the latter collected starting from CO2 ≥ 50% increase during exhalation. Forty-five healthy non-smokers or asymptomatic light smokers were enrolled. Total protein concentrations in W-EBC and A-EBC were overlapping (median: 0.7 mg l(-1) in both cases), whereas mitochondrial DNA was higher in A-EBC (0.021 versus 0.011 ng ml(-1)), indicating a concentration rather than a dilution of lining fluid droplets in the last portion of exhaled air. H2O2 (0.13 versus 0.08 µM), 8-isoprostane (4.9 versus 4.4 pg ml(-1)), malondialdehyde (MDA) (4.2 versus 3.2 nM) and 4-hydroxy-2-nonhenal (HNE) (0.78 versus 0.66 nM) were all higher in W-EBC, suggesting a contribution from the upper airways to oxidative stress biomarkers in apparently healthy subjects. NH4(+) was also higher in W-EBC (median: 590 versus 370 µM), with an estimated increase over alveolar and bronchial air by a factor 1.5. pH was marginally, but significantly higher in W-EBC (8.05 versus 8.01). In conclusion, the fractionation of exhaled air may be promising in clinical and occupational medicine

Early molecular diagnosis of lung cancer: A method to rule out the disease [Diagnosi molecolare precoce del tumore polmonare: Un metodo per escludere Ia malattia]

Aim of this study was the determination of new markers for the diagnosis of lung cancer. 61 patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and 42 controls were enrolled. In the NSCLC patients the following markers were increased: H2O2 in exhaled breath condensate, pentane, hexane, nonenal, trans-2-heptanal, trans-2-nonenal in exhaled breath, while pentanal was decreased. Using multivariate statistical models, a sensitivity of 73.8% and a specificity of 76.8% were calculated. This study shows that with this non-invasive test followed by a most powerful test on positives (e.g. PET) it is possible to decrease the number of false positives

The site of San Michele di Valestra: new evidence of Apennines exploitation during the Bronze Age (XV\u2013XII century BC, N Italy)

The expansion and especially the collapse of the Terramare culture in the Po Plain (Northern Italy) between the Middle and the Recent Bronze Age (XVI\u2013XII century BC) has been a subject of interest to archaeologists for a long time (Barfield 1994; Bernab\uf2 Brea et al. 1997; Cardarelli 2009). Their extensive network of trades and traffics had by no doubt a strong influence on the nearby mountain settlements in the northern Apennine, to which they were probably tightly related in lasting commercial relationships. Nevertheless, the nature and extent of Bronze Age human exploitation of the northern Apennine is poorly known, as well as the consequences of the disappearance of the neighbouring Terramare culture on these settlements. The principal reason for this knowledge gap is the scarcity of archaeological excavations in the area, with the few promising sites related to this period left largely ignored during the last decades. San Michele di Valestra, located in the territory of Carpineti (RE), is one of the few Bronze Age settlements investigated in the last decades, but the old studies (Bellodi et al. 1979; Tirabassi 1979) did not highlight the full archaeological potential of the site. In 2017 the archaeological sequence has been re-investigated in the framework of the SUCCESSO-TERRA Project (PRIN20158KBLNB). ... The site of San Michele di Valestra is probably the longest and best-preserved sequence for the Bronze Age in the Apennines, and offers the opportunity to understand the subsistence strategies in this environment. Evidence shows how the climate event accompanying the Terramare crisis had little influence on Apennine settlements: despite the spatial proximity (only about 20 km), in the site of San Michele di Valestra no hiatus or interruption in the archaeological sequence can be found relative to that event, in opposition to the substantial impact it had on the populations of the Po Plain. It can be speculated that adaptations to the peculiarities of the mountain environment were a key factor in the higher resilience of these settlements, and that a responsible strategy in the exploitation of the natural resources probably allowed their survival. The palaeobotanical analysis of the sequence and the palaeoclimatic studies on speleothems will explain the main climatic changes affecting the area and possibly shed light on the kind of response adopted by human groups to a changing environment