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Africa is one of the most vulnerable continents to climate change. In the upcoming decades the occurrence of longer, hotter and more frequent heat waves could have a strong impact on human mortality and crop production. Here, by applying the heat wave magnitude index daily to temperature reanalysis data, we quantify the magnitude and the spatial extent of the most extreme heat waves experienced in Africa between 1979 and October 2015 across different seasons. Results show that in the recent years Africa experienced hotter, longer and more extent heat waves than in the last two decades of the 20th century. In the future, 50% of regional climateprojections suggest that heat waves that are unusual under present climate conditions will occur on a regular basis by 2040 under the most severe IPCC AR5 scenario (i.e. RCP8.5).

We investigate the ability of GPS to detect volcanic plumes at Mt. Etna, Italy. We use a robust statistical approach to highlight whether the presence of a volcanic plume in the atmosphere may really affect the GPS undifferenced post-fit phase residuals. The proposed method has been tested for the September 4–5, 2007 activity of Mt. Etna. This eruption produced powerful lava fountains forming a weak, a few kilometers high plume for several hours, representing typical activity at Etna over the last 5 years. We analyzed data from nineteen Etna permanent GPS stations located on the volcano flanks at different heights and applied a statistical test based on four main steps: (a) realization of a simplified model representing the volcanic plume in atmosphere; (b) evaluation of the GPS satellite and station couples intersecting the plume; (c) calculation of the volcanic plume region crossed by the GPS signal; (d) application of a robust statistical test in order to see whether the volcanic plume affected the GPS signals. Results show that during the September 4–5, 2007 explosive activity, the GPS residuals definitely include the contribution of the volcanic plume. Our analysis shows that values of the GPS residuals are ten times smaller than those found for the Miyakejima eruption (Japan), highlighting a likely relationship between residuals and eruption intensity. In the future, data derived from the GPS stations located on Etna’s flanks could be used to improve the alerting system of volcanic ash, already operating at the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Osservatorio Etneo.

This is a collection of invited talks and oral contributions presented by the leading scientists in their fields, summarizing the most recent progress of, and new prospects for, nuclear physics research.It covers a broad range of the recent developments in nuclear physics: reactions between massive nuclei leading to superheavy element formation; radioactive beams and neutron-rich systems; exotic nuclei and nuclear astrophysics; new states of nuclear matter.

PurposeLocalization and quali-quantitative characterization of radionuclide-contaminated soils are essential for healthcare and remediation activities. However, characterization activities are at the moment mainly based on very complex activities, generally dangerous for workers’ health. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) can be considered for this purpose, but the absence of data does not permit their use for a quantitative analysis. The main goal of this work is to obtain scientific information for successfully using UAVs in quali-quantitative characterization activities.Materials and methodsThe influence of the main flight UAV condition parameters on the detection efficiency and minimum detectable activity (MDA) concentration was assessed at lab-scale, considering 241Am and 152Eu as simulated soil contaminants. Obtained data were compared with reference to clearance levels. Specifically, the altitude (h) and inclination (θ) with respect to the soil surface of a small size γ-ray semiconductor CdTe detector and detection time were investigated as flight parameters. h and θ were adopted in the range 0–70 cm and 0°–60°, respectively.Results and discussionMain results reveal that in the case of 241Am contamination, a duration time of about 13 and 20 min is required for an altitude of 60 and 70 cm, respectively, if an inclination of zero is considered, whereas inclinations higher than 15° lead to much longer times, up to 40 min. In the presence of 152Eu, results reveal a more marked influence of the variables h and θ on the minimum detection time, with values higher for 241Am. In terms of MDA, in the case of 241Am, all the concentration values, with the exception of the highest θ investigated (60°), are below the Italian regulatory limit for altitudes lower than 35 cm and a detection time of 30 min. Higher h up to 50 cm can be considered, reducing the inclination up to 0°, whereas even higher altitudes make the detection of 241Am not possible. On the other hand, for 152Eu, the observed MDA values always make the contaminant detection possible.ConclusionsAll achievements and the calculated fitting parameters are useful preliminary data in the quantitative characterization of soil surface contamination, representing a valuable tool in knowing the soil surface γ-ray activity of 241Am and 152Eu for each given detected value. In general, obtained results will allow a better understanding of the technique limits and operating methods required for characterization activities by UAVs with vertical take-off and landing system.

This is a collection of invited talks and oral contributions presented by the leading scientists in their fields, summarizing the most recent progress of, and new prospects for, nuclear physics research.It covers a broad range of the recent developments in nuclear physics: reactions between massive nuclei leading to superheavy element formation; radioactive beams and neutron-rich systems; exotic nuclei and nuclear astrophysics; new states of nuclear matter.Contents:Opening Talk: Nuclear Structure at Border Lines (Yu Ts Oganessian)Hard Photons: A Probe of Dynamical Effects in Heavy Ion Collisions at Intermediate Energy (R Alba et al.)Studying Exotic Nuclei Through Direct Reactions (Y Blumenfeld)Isospin Effects on Instabilities and Fragmentation Mechanisms (M Colonna et al.)New Opportunities with Beams of Rare Isotopes in the US (C K Gelbke)Preliminary Results and Future Activities at the GARFIELD Apparatus (F Gramegna et al.)Mean-Field Calculations of Super-Heavy Elements (P H Heenen)Recent Experiments and Plans for the Synthesis of Superheavy Elements at the GSI SHIP (S Hofmann)Nuclear Fission at Border Lines (M G Itkis et al.)Many-Body Theory at Extreme Isospin (H Lenske et al.)Probing Correlations in Many-Body Haloes (F M Marqués Moreno)Theoretical Approaches and Experimental Evidences for Liquid-Vapor Phase Transitions in Nuclei (L G Moretto et al.)Study of Halo-Structure in Radioactive He and Li Nuclei with Proton Elastic Scattering (A V Dobrovolsky et al.)Effects of the Shell Structure in Reactions Leading to the Same Compound Nucleus or Different Isotopes (A K Nasirov et al.)New Magic Number, N=16, Near the Neutron Drip Line (A Ozawa)Experiments on Super-Heavy Nuclei at GANIL (J Péter et al.)Thermodynamics of Hot Nuclei: Multifragmentation and Phase Transition (M F Rivet)Structure and Properties of Superheavy Nuclei (I Muntian A Sobiczewski)Backtraced Neutron Multiplicities and Capture Dynamics in the Superheavy Region (L Stuttgé et al.)Astrophysical S Factors from Asymptotic Normalization Coefficients (R E Tribble et al.)and other papersReadership: Researchers in nuclear physics and astrophysics.

This is a collection of invited talks and oral contributions presented by the leading scientists in their fields, summarizing the most recent progress of, and new prospects for, nuclear physics research. It covers a broad range of the recent developments in nuclear physics: reactions between massive nuclei leading to superheavy element formation; radioactive beams and neutron-rich systems; exotic nuclei and nuclear astrophysics; new states of nuclear matter.