11. |
- Ghazi Moradi, Farnaz, et al.
(author)
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Spectroscopy of the neutron-deficient N=50 nucleus Rh-95
- 2014
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In: Physical Review C. Nuclear Physics. - 0556-2813 .- 1089-490X. ; 89:4, s. 044310-
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The neutron-deficient semimagic (neutron number N = 50) Rh-95 nucleus has been produced at high spins using the projectile-target system Ca-40 + Ni-58 at 125 MeV beam energy. The gamma-decays of levels populated by the 3p fusion evaporation reaction channel were studied using gamma-gamma coincidences, and 20 new gamma-ray transitions involving 15 new positive-and negative-parity states were observed. Spin and parity for many of the excited states were firmly deduced for the first time using the combined directional angular correlation and direction-polarization techniques. The observed structures are discussed within the framework of large-scale shell model calculations. E1 transition strengths were deduced and used together with the results of the shell model calculations to study the contribution of different particle-hole configurations, in particular for analyzing contributions from core-excited configurations.
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12. |
- Dussel, G. G., et al.
(author)
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Collective excitations in the continuum
- 2009
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In: Physical Review C. Nuclear Physics. - 0556-2813 .- 1089-490X. ; 80:6, s. 064311-
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Pairing (particle-particle) giant resonances are analyzed within a shell-model formalism in the complex energy plane with the aim of understanding why they have not been observed so far. A comparison is made with the equivalent particle-hole mode by applying the formalism to the analysis of the well-understood particle-hole giant resonance. It is found that because of the proper treatment of the continuum intrinsic to the formalism, giant pairing resonances lie much higher than previously predicted and that some of them may be too wide to be observed, whereas others are meaningful excitations. For these, new experimental searches are proposed.
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13. |
- Dussel, G. G., et al.
(author)
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One- and two-quasiparticle states in the complex energy plane
- 2007
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In: Nuclear Physics A. - : Elsevier BV. - 0375-9474 .- 1873-1554. ; 789, s. 182-200
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- One- and two-quasi particle states are studied in the complex energy plane. It is found that the pairing interaction does not change the character of the complex state. If a normal state is a physically meaningful resonance, then it will remain as such throughout the shell and if it is unphysical it will also remain as such throughout the shell. An important consequence of this is that it justifies the use of bound representations to evaluate many-body systems within the shell-model in cases where the single-particle states are narrow resonances. The character of two-quasiparticle states may oscillate between meaningful resonances and unphysical complex excitations as the number of particles increases.
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14. |
- Ghazi Moradi, Farnaz, 1976-, et al.
(author)
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Character of particle-hole excitations in Ru-94 deduced from gamma-ray angular correlation and linear polarization measurements
- 2014
-
In: Physical Review C. Nuclear Physics. - 0556-2813 .- 1089-490X. ; 89:1, s. 014301-
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Linear polarization and angular correlations of gamma-rays depopulating excited states in the neutron-deficient nucleus Ru-94(44)50 have been measured, enabling firm spin-parity assignments for several excited states in this nucleus. The deduced multipolarities of strong transitions in the yrast structure were found to be mostly of stretched M1, E1, and E2 types and, in most cases, in agreement with previous tentative assignments. The deduced multipolarity of the 1869 keV and the connecting 257 and 1641 keV transitions indicates that the state at 6358 keV excitation energy has spin parity 12(1)(-) rather than 12(3)(+) as proposed in previous works. The presence of a 12(1)(-) state is interpreted within the framework of large-scale shell-model calculations as a pure proton-hole state dominated by the pi(p(1/2)(-1)circle times g(9/2)(-5)) and pi(p(3/2)(-1) g(9/2)(-5)) configurations. A new positive-parity state is observed at 6103 keV and is tentatively assigned as 12(2)(+). The 14(1)(-) state proposed earlier is reassigned as 13(4)(-) and is interpreted as being dominated by neutron particle-hole core excitations. The strengths of several E1 transitions have been measured and are found to provide a signature of core-excited configurations.
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15. |
- Id Betan, R., et al.
(author)
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Assessment of the importance of the pairing interaction in the continuum
- 2008
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In: Physical Review C. Nuclear Physics. - 0556-2813 .- 1089-490X. ; 78:4, s. 044325-
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- A pairing interaction fitted to be applied in nuclei with active particles moving close to the continuum threshold or even immersed in the continuum itself is introduced. It is found that the effects of the nonresonant continuum upon physically meaningful quantities is unimportant. We applied the theory to heavy tin isotopes and good agreement between theory and the very few available experimental data is found.
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16. |
- Liotta, G, et al.
(author)
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Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) of the Short Functional Geriatric Evaluation (SFGE) to Assess the Multidimensionality of Frailty in Community-Dwelling Older Adults
- 2023
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In: International journal of environmental research and public health. - : MDPI AG. - 1660-4601. ; 20:5
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The Short Functional Geriatric Evaluation (SFGE) is a multidimensional and short questionnaire to assess biopsychosocial frailty in older adults. This paper aims to clarify the latent factors of SFGE. Data were collected from January 2016 to December 2020 from 8800 community-dwelling older adults participating in the “Long Live the Elderly!” program. Social operators administered the questionnaire through phone calls. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was carried out to identify the quality of the structure of the SFGE. Principal component analysis was also performed. According to the SFGE score, 37.7% of our sample comprised robust, 24.0% prefrail, 29.3% frail, and 9.0% very frail individuals. Using the EFA, we identified three main factors: psychophysical frailty, the need for social and economic support, and the lack of social relationships. The Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin measure of sampling adequacy was 0.792, and Bartlett’s test of sphericity had a statistically significant result (p-value < 0.001). The three constructs that emerged explain the multidimensionality of biopsychosocial frailty. The SFGE score, 40% of which is social questions, underlines the crucial relevance of the social domain in determining the risk of adverse health outcomes in community-dwelling older adults.
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17. |
- Meani, F, et al.
(author)
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Investigation of the Ovarian and Prostate Cancer Peptidome for Candidate Early Detection Markers Using a Novel Nanoparticle Biomarker Capture Technology
- 2010
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In: AAPS Journal. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1550-7416. ; 2:4, s. 504-518
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Current efforts to identify protein biomarkers of disease use mainly mass spectrometry (MS) to analyze tissue and blood specimens. The low-molecular-weight "peptidome" is an attractive information archive because of the facile nature by which the low-molecular-weight information freely crosses the endothelial cell barrier of the vasculature, which provides opportunity to measure disease microenvironment-associated protein analytes secreted or shed into the extracellular interstitium and from there into the circulation. However, identifying useful protein biomarkers (peptidomic or not) which could be useful to detect early detection/monitoring of disease, toxicity, doping, or drug abuse has been severely hampered because even the most sophisticated, high-resolution MS technologies have lower sensitivities than those of the immunoassays technologies now routinely used in clinical practice. Identification of novel low abundance biomarkers that are indicative of early-stage events that likely exist in the sub-nanogram per milliliter concentration range of known markers, such as prostate-specific antigen, cannot be readily detected by current MS technologies. We have developed a new nanoparticle technology that can, in one step, capture, concentrate, and separate the peptidome from high-abundance blood proteins. Herein, we describe an initial pilot study whereby the peptidome content of ovarian and prostate cancer patients is investigated with this method. Differentially abundant candidate peptidome biomarkers that appear to be specific for early-stage ovarian and prostate cancer have been identified and reveal the potential utility for this new methodology
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18. |
- Poscia, A., et al.
(author)
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Methodological issues in the observational studies conducted in older population : a narrative review
- 2017
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In: Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Public Health. - 2282-2305 .- 2282-0930. ; 14:2
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Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Introduction: Well-conducted observational studies may represent valuable tools for getting insight to disease etiology, detecting the effect of age-related changes, and providing an important perspective on health risk factors and disabilities in an aging population. Nevertheless, this kind of research poses several challenges for researchers. The main aim of this narrative review was to address the potential methodological issues in performing the observational studies in the elderly, the factors that influence their participation, and the possible solutions for overcoming the barriers to research in this population.Methods: Comprehensive search for the papers published in the period from January 1st 1980 until 31st July 2016 in English or Italian was conducted through MEDLINE, Scopus and Web of Science electronic databases. Findings from the included papers were finally summarized.Results: In cohort studies, the following barriers were addressed: sample size calculation, ascertainment of the target population, frequency of data collection, exposure determination, multifactorial loss to follow-up (drop-outs), cognitive impairment, definition of confounders, and ethical aspects. Case-control studies were reported to be prone to the issues like ascertainment of cases and controls, willingness to participate, data accuracy, recall bias, issues related to patients' multimorbidity, and cognitive impairment.Conclusions: Important factors to consider in research in elderly people include: precise definition of the study population, well conducted recruitment process, engagement with family and home care staff, cognitive impairment assessment and the consequent relevant ethical and legal issues, relief of participant burden in order to minimize withdrawal, and engagement with the media.
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19. |
- Bobrowski, N., et al.
(author)
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Plume composition and volatile flux of Nyamulagira volcano, Democratic Republic of Congo, during birth and evolution of the lava lake, 2014–2015
- 2017
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In: Bulletin of Volcanology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0258-8900 .- 1432-0819. ; 79:12, s. 90-
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Very little is known about the volatile element makeup of the gaseous emissions of Nyamulagira volcano. This paper tries to fill this gap by reporting the first gas composition measurements of Nyamulagira’s volcanic plume since the onset of its lava lake activity at the end of 2014. Two field surveys were carried out on 1 November 2014, and 13–15 October 2015. We applied a broad toolbox of volcanic gas composition measurement techniques in order to geochemically characterize Nyamulagira’s plume. Nyamulagira is a significant emitter of SO2, and our measurements confirm this, as we recorded SO2 emissions of up to ~ 14 kt/d during the studied period. In contrast to neighbouring Nyiragongo volcano, however, Nyamulagira exhibits relatively low CO2/SO2 molar ratios ( 92% of total gas emissions). Strong variations in the volatile composition, in particular for the CO2/SO2 ratio, were measured between 2014 and 2015, which appear to reflect the simultaneous variations in volcanic activity. We also determined the molar ratios for Cl/S, F/S and Br/S in the plume gas, finding values of 0.13 and 0.17, 0.06 and 0.11, and 2.3·10?4 and 1·10?4, in 2014 and 2015, respectively. A total gas emission flux of 48 kt/d was estimated for 2014. The I/S ratio in 2015 was found to be 3.6·10?6. In addition, we were able to distinguish between hydrogen halides and non-hydrogen halides in the volcanic plume. Considerable amounts of bromine (18–35% of total bromine) and iodine (8–18% of total iodine) were found in compounds other than hydrogen halides. However, only a negligible fraction of chlorine was found as compounds other than hydrogen chloride.
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20. |
- Bäck, Torbjörn, et al.
(author)
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Lifetime measurement of the first excited 2(+) state in (108)Te
- 2011
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In: Physical Review C. Nuclear Physics. - 0556-2813 .- 1089-490X. ; 84:4, s. 041306-
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The lifetime of the first excited 2(+) state in the neutron deficient nuclide (108)Te has been measured for the first time, using a combined recoil decay tagging and recoil distance Doppler shift technique. The deduced reduced transition probability is B(E2;0(g.s.)(+) -> 2(+)) = 0.39(-0.04)(+0.05)e(2)b(2). Compared to previous experimental data on neutron deficient tellurium isotopes, the new data point constitutes a large step (six neutrons) toward the N = 50 shell closure. In contrast to what has earlier been reported for the light tin isotopes, our result for tellurium does not show any enhanced transition probability with respect to the theoretical predictions and the tellurium systematics including the new data is successfully reproduced by state-of-the-art shell model calculations.
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