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This paper reports on the instrumentation and expertise developed within the INFN-CHNet network for X-ray and neutron imaging, which enable non-invasive identification of materials and production processes in the field of cultural heritage. INFN-CHNet is the network of the Italian National Institute of Nuclear Physics specifically dedicated to the development and application of scientific methods and technologies to cultural heritage. This article focuses on portable MA-XRF scanners, often complemented by additional techniques, PIXE imaging on a newly developed portable accelerator, X-ray radiography and tomography, exploited to their full potential also through the use of portable systems, and neutron radiography and tomography, which require large-scale facilities. In many respects, the information obtained from X-ray and neutron-based methods is complementary, facilitating a comprehensive characterisation of materials, structures, and manufacturing techniques.

This work highlights recent application of energy-selective neutron imaging at the ISIS Neutron and Muon Source, specifically focusing on the development of Neutron Resonance Transmission Imaging (NRTI) at the INES instrument. NRTI is a nuclear technique based on resonant neutron absorption reaction, which combines the sensitivity to elemental and isotopic composition with detailed morphological information, using the epithermal portion of the neutron flux available on the INES instrument at the ISIS facility. Unlike standard neutron radiography and tomography methods, NRTI preserves detailed time and energy information for each detector pixel, enabling enhanced visualisation of elemental distribution inside an object’s volume, with the potential for quantitative elemental analysis. These features combined with the non-destructiveness of NRTI make the method promising for applications in the field of Cultural Heritage, especially when it is employed in a multi-technique approach to provide complementary information about the composition and the crystalline structure of archaeological artefacts. A study related to Heritage Science is presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of NRTI in non-destructive investigations of inhomogeneous artefacts, specifically focusing on the excavation finds related to the first evidence of ancient brass production in Milan, Italy, during Roman times.

PURPOSEAllogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) improves outcomes for patients with AML harboring an internal tandem duplication mutation of FLT3 (FLT3-ITD) AML. These patients are routinely treated with a FLT3 inhibitor after HCT, but there is limited evidence to support this. Accordingly, we conducted a randomized trial of post-HCT maintenance with the FLT3 inhibitor gilteritinib (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT02997202) to determine if all such patients benefit or if detection of measurable residual disease (MRD) could identify those who might benefit.METHODSAdults with FLT3-ITD AML in first remission underwent HCT and were randomly assigned to placebo or 120 mg once daily gilteritinib for 24 months after HCT. The primary end point was relapse-free survival (RFS). Secondary end points included overall survival (OS) and the effect of MRD pre- and post-HCT on RFS and OS.RESULTSThree hundred fifty-six participants were randomly assigned post-HCT to receive gilteritinib or placebo. Although RFS was higher in the gilteritinib arm, the difference was not statistically significant (hazard ratio [HR], 0.679 [95% CI, 0.459 to 1.005]; two-sided P =.0518). However, 50.5% of participants had MRD detectable pre- or post-HCT, and, in a prespecified subgroup analysis, gilteritinib was beneficial in this population (HR, 0.515 [95% CI, 0.316 to 0.838]; P =.0065). Those without detectable MRD showed no benefit (HR, 1.213 [95% CI, 0.616 to 2.387]; P =.575).CONCLUSIONAlthough the overall improvement in RFS was not statistically significant, RFS was higher for participants with detectable FLT3-ITD MRD pre- or post-HCT who received gilteritinib treatment. To our knowledge, these data are among the first to support the effectiveness of MRD-based post-HCT therapy.

This work highlights the significant advances in neutron imaging at the ISIS Neutron and Muon Source, specifically focusing on the development of the nuclear technique Neutron Resonance Transmission Imaging (NRTI). NRTI combines the sensitivity to elemental and isotopic composition with detailed morphological information, utilizing the epithermal portion of the neutron flux. Unlike standard neutron radiography/tomography, NRTI allows for the identification and localization of specific elements and isotopes within an object's volume without physical sampling. The technique preserves detailed time and energy information for each pixel of the detector, enabling enhanced analysis and visualization of elemental distribution and composition. A case study related to Cultural Heritage is presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of NRTI in non-destructive investigations of inhomogeneous artefacts, specifically focusing on the excavation finds related to the first testimony of ancient brass production in Milan, Italy.

In this paper, NICHE (Neutron Imaging for Cultural HEritage), the new neutron imaging facility of the Italian National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN) is shortly presented. We report on the main features of the beamline, the specifications of the detection set-up, and the performances of the imaging system. NICHE is installed at the TRIGA reactor of LENA (Laboratorio Energia Nucleare Applicata) Pavia University laboratory (Italy). The imaging facility was designed during 2020, installed in the spring 2021, and has been in operation since May 2021. NICHE is the first Italian neutron imaging station open to national external users through the INFN-CHNet network application system. NICHE allows users to obtain neutron radiographies and tomographies, thus allowing for morphological characterisation of samples. First results to highlight the potential of the facility are reported. In particular, we show the first results about spatial resolution measurement and 3D reconstruction to provide morphological analysis capabilities.

A total of 100 investigated coloured/colourless opaque and transparent glass-gems of the National Archaeological Museum of Aquileia (Italy) have been analyzed with a non-invasive approach, at the AGLAE facility (Centre de Recherche et Restauration des Musées de France - C2RMF), located at the Palais du Louvre in Paris (France). The collection represents a "unicum"in terms of number of finds and richness of typologies. Almost all the glass-gems were discovered in the Roman site of Aquileia, known as an important center of glass working, and are dated between the 2nd century BCE to the 2nd century CE. Their safe provenance from the city and cemeteries of Roman Aquileia, and their number, offer an unparalleled statistical sample. Most of the objects belong to the natron-glass group. The families of HIMT glass and glass made from plant ashes are also represented. This compositional variety of glass supports the hypothesis that Aquileia was an important glass working center in the Roman age.

Aquileia, in northeastern Italy, is one of the most important ancient Roman archaeological sites worldwide. Its museum, among the other cultural heritage materials, holds one of the most important and rich collections of gemstones, counting more than 6000 gems, dated between the 2nd century BC and the 2nd century AD and mainly discovered both in the ancient city and in its cemeteries. In other words, the collection principally counts stones with a known archaeological origin. Unfortunately, this is not true for all the gems. Due to this peculiarity, the chance to study this amazing collection represents a scientific privilege. In the present paper, the characterization project focused on the Roman glass-gems study, and a case study of the expected results will be preliminarily reported.

We present a completely non-destructive study of the crystalline phases present in the vitreous matrix of ancient mosaic glass tesserae, based on the application of the time-of-flight neutron diffraction (ToF-ND) technique. In contrast, standard phase analysis techniques may involve a sample preparation step, which is not compatible with the requirement of damage prevention of archaeological artefacts. Moreover, superficial or spot investigation by standard methods may not provide a complete description of the samples, especially in the case of inhomogeneous materials such as mosaic glasses, whereas ToF-ND can investigate the whole glass composition at the centimetre scale. The present study aims to obtain a bulk characterization of the glasses in terms of their mineralogical phase composition. Six glass specimens of ancient mosaic glass tesserae, that had been previously analysed with other non-destructive techniques to obtain their chemical and phase composition, were investigated by ToF-ND. These tesserae come from archaeological excavations or mosaics under restoration from different archaeological sites and geographical areas (Italy, Greece, and Syria) and date from the 1st to the 11th century AD. Several crystalline phases based on Ca, Sb, Sn, Cu and Pb minerals were identified, confirming the mineralogical phases identified with Raman spectroscopy in previous analyses. In addition, several other phases were identified for five of the samples. It is concluded that ToF-ND is an extremely important complementary tool for non-destructive bulk investigations of mosaic glass tesserae, which can overcome the heterogeneity of this kind of archaeological material.

Negli ultimi anni, l'imaging neutronico (NI) ha affermato i suoi punti di forza e la sua straordinaria versatilità per le indagini non distruttive di molte proprietà morfologiche e microstrutturali dei materiali, espandendo la sua tecnologia presso le principali sorgenti neutroniche in tutto il mondo. Il rapido sviluppo dei metodi di NI e dei rivelatori associati ha portato a un notevole miglioramento della risoluzione sia spaziale che temporale, nonché allo sviluppo di nuove tecniche basate su un'ampia gamma di meccanismi di contrasto, rendendo l’imaging neutronico indispensabile nella ricerca moderna. L'attuale stato dell'arte delle tecniche NI è particolarmente avanzato. Questa tesi, quindi, intende fornire ulteriori progressi in questo settore con le seguenti attività: l'implementazione della prima facility italiana di tomografia neutronica (NT) presso il reattore di ricerca LENA dell'Università di Pavia, e lo sviluppo di un protocollo affidabile di analisi per la tecnica di Neutron Resonance Transmission Imaging (NRTI) condotta presso la beamline INES della sorgente a spallazione ISIS (UK), puntando a delineare un protocollo per la calibrazione quantitativa di questa tecnica. La NT è una tecnica di imaging ben ottimizzata. Pertanto, sulla base delle conoscenze condivise dai ricercatori in questo settore, è stata progettata e installata la prima facility italiana di NT presso il reattore LENA nell'ambito del progetto INFN CHNet-NICHE (Neutron Imaging for Cultural HEritage), specificatamente progettata per condurre analisi nel campo dei Beni Culturali. Il mio contributo al progetto NICHE consiste in simulazioni Monte Carlo dell'intero Reattore TRIGA ed in particolare nella ricostruzione delle principali caratteristiche del Canale B, e nella ricostruzione delle acquisizioni tomografiche utilizzando un software basato sul linguaggio Python. Per tecniche analitiche consolidate, può essere naturale estendere le loro potenzialità all’ imaging. Questo è il c, In recent years, neutron imaging (NI) established its strengths and extraordinary versatility for non-destructive investigation of many kinds of morphological and microstructural properties of materials expanding its availability at neutron sources worldwide. The rapid development of NI methods and detection systems has led to a striking improvement of both spatial and time resolution as well as of techniques based on a broad range of contrast mechanisms, making imaging with neutron beams indispensable in modern research. The current state-of-art of NI techniques is particularly advanced. This thesis, therefore, aims to provide further advances in this sector, giving a particular account for Cultural Heritage applications, with the following activities: the implementation of the first Italian neutron tomography facility at the LENA research reactor of the University of Pavia and the development of a reliable protocol of analysis for resonant transmission imaging experiments conducted at the INES beamline of the ISIS spallation source (UK), with a particular focus on a first approach for quantitative calibration of this imaging technique. Neutron tomography (NT) is a well-optimised imaging technique. Therefore, based on the knowledge in the field of NT shared by researchers, the design and installation of the first Italian NT facility at the LENA TRIGA reactor have been carried out within the INFN CHNet-NICHE (Neutron Imaging for Cultural HEritage) project, aiming to specifically design the imaging beamline for conducting Cultural Heritage analyses. My contribution to the NICHE project consists of Monte Carlo simulations of the entire TRIGA Reactor and in particular the reconstruction of the main characteristics of the B Channel, and of the reconstruction of the tomographic acquisitions using a Python-based software. For well-established analytical techniques, it may be natural to extend their potentiality to imaging applications. This is the case of the Neutron Reso

We present a completely non-destructive approach to analyse a set of historical glass mosaic tesserae. Aim of the study is to obtain a qualitative and quantitative characterization of the glass matrix in terms of elements and mineralogical phases. Several non-destructive techniques have been applied like Particle-Induced X-ray Emission, Particle-Induced Gamma-ray Emission, micro-Raman spectroscopy, neutron resonance capture analysis and neutron activation analysis in order to combine different technique strengths and to explore the effect of different range sizes for the analysis. Yet, best practices require the use of combined analysis and different skills. The paradigm of a non-destructive multi-analytical approach is suggested for a comprehensive investigation in non-homogeneous real samples, like historical glass mosaic tesserae.

The conservation and preservation of cultural heritage need by now non-destructive analytical methods for the characterisation of materials, detection of degradations and authenticity assessment. The interaction properties of neutrons with matter make neutron-based techniques suitable for nondestructive studies of ancient artefacts since they cannot be replaced. A quantitative bulk characterisation of the chemical composition of ancient mosaic tesserae, dating from 2nd to the 11th century AD and coming from different geographical areas (Greece, Italy, and Syria) has been conducted through Neutron Resonance Capture Analysis (NRCA) combined with Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA). The NAA analysis returns the bulk composition in terms of major, minor and trace elements, while NRCA reveals the presence of particular elements, like antimony, in agreement with NAA results.

Persistence of drug-resistant quiescent leukemic stem cells (LSC) and impaired natural killer (NK) cell immune response account for relapse of chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML). Inactivation of protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) is essential for CML-quiescent LSC survival and NK cell antitumor activity. Here we show that MIR300 has antiproliferative and PP2A-activating functions that are dose dependently differentially induced by CCND2/CDK6 and SET inhibition, respectively. MIR300 is upregulated in CML LSCs and NK cells by bone marrow microenvironment (BMM) signals to induce quiescence and impair immune response, respectively. Conversely, BCR-ABL1 downregulates MIR300 in CML progenitors to prevent growth arrest and PP2A-mediated apoptosis. Quiescent LSCs escape apoptosis by upregulating TUG1 long noncoding RNA that uncouples and limits MIR300 function to cytostasis. Genetic and pharmacologic MIR300 modulation and/or PP2A-activating drug treatment restore NK cell activity, inhibit BMM-induced growth arrest, and selectively trigger LSC apoptosis in vitro and in patient-derived xenografts; hence, the importance of MIR300 and PP2A activity for CML development and therapy. SIGNIFICANCE: Tumor-naïve microenvironment–induced MIR300 is the only tumor suppressor miRNA that induces CML LSC quiescence while inhibiting NK cell antitumor immune response, and CML LSC/ progenitor cell apoptosis through its anti-proliferative and PP2A-activating functions, respectively. Thus, the importance of MIR300 and PP2A-activating drugs for formation/survival and eradication of drug-resistant CML LSCs, respectively.

Business world has reached a complexity tipping point, increasing the risk of disruption consequences not to remain localised in a single company but to reverberate on the entire Supply Chain. Literature now pays great attention to studying this ripple effect, which can critically undermine resilience of the entire Supply Chain. This work further investigates ripple effect by analysing the presence of cycles among these chain reactions using Fuzzy Cognitive Maps. This methodology allows to link multidimensional and multidisciplinary concepts: by unveiling this information, managers and policymakers are provided with more details about the system behaviour. The research method exemplified uncovers the causal relationships among factors influencing Supply Chain Resilience, providing necessary insight to break or reinforce such connections. A case study of an automotive industry Supply Chain is presented to show the application of the proposed methodology into an operating context: 15 different cycles have been enumerated, explaining how connections among these factors ultimately impact Supply Chain Resilience., QC 20221019

The study provides a portrait of teachers' stress experience in the face of the needed introduction of information systems (IS) during COVID-19-related emergency remote teaching. Researchers contacted the headmasters at several Italian schools, who choose teacher's representatives. The latters shared the online questionnaire among colleagues; the teachers voluntarily decided to participate. The cross-sectional study involved 237 Italian teachers (81.5% female; M-age = 50.20; SDage = 8.87). This survey wanted to detect information systems-related distress and eustress on the job, and technostress creators and inhibitors. Descriptive statistics, correlational analyses, and a multiple regression model using structural equation modeling were run. As according to the model, IS-related distress and eustress on the job were the dependent variables, technostress creators and inhibitors the independent ones, and respondents' gender and age the control ones. Both technostress creators and inhibitors showed significant relationships with IS-related distress and eustress. Technostress creators showed a positive relationship with IS-related distress and a negative one with IS-related eustress; conversely, technostress inhibitors showed an opposite pattern of relationships. Only technostress creators significantly associate to both age and gender in the model, suggesting that older, female teachers tended to experience more technostress creators. Due to the increases in remote work, the awareness of IS-related stress experiences represents a key factor to evaluate work-related risks and prevent stress-related problems. The results from this study suggest that using technologies can represent both a threat to one's well-being, highlighting the need to provide adequate trainings and support, but also a resource for personal enrichment.