Shedding Light on the Origin of ^{204}Pb, the Heaviest s-Process-Only Isotope in the Solar System.

Asymptotic giant branch stars are responsible for the production of most of the heavy isotopes beyond Sr observed in the solar system. Among them, isotopes shielded from the r-process contribution by their stable isobars are defined as s-only nuclei. For a long time the abundance of ^{204}Pb, the heaviest s-only isotope, has been a topic of debate because state-of-the-art stellar models appeared to systematically underestimate its solar abundance.

The half-life re-measured: consolidating the chronometer for events in the early Solar System.

The half-life of the extinct radiolanthanide , important for both geochronological and astrophysical applications, was re-determined by a combination of mass spectrometry and -decay counting. Earlier studies provided only limited information on all potential factors that could influence the quantification of the half-life of . Thus, special attention was given  here to a complete documentation of all experimental steps to provide information about any possible artifacts in the data analysis.

Determination of the activity and nuclear decay data of Tb.

Terbium-157 was radiochemically extracted from an irradiated tantalum target. Since the resulting material contained a significant impurity of Tb, Tb was isotopically purified using laser resonance ionization at the RISIKO mass separator in Mainz and then implanted on an aluminum (Al) foil. The implanted Tb was measured by two different calibrated gamma-ray spectrometers to determine photon emission rates.

Single and multiple breath nitrogen washout compared with the methacholine test in patients with suspected asthma and normal spirometry.

Background: Methods used to assess ventilation heterogeneity through inert gas washout have been standardised and showed high sensitivity in diagnosing many respiratory diseases. We hypothesised that nitrogen single or multiple breath washout tests, respectively nitrogen single breath washout (NSBW) and nitrogen multiple breath washout (NMBW), may be pathological in patients with clinical suspicion of asthma but normal spirometry. Our aim was to assess whether NSBW and NMBW are associated with methacholine challenge test (MCT) results in this population.

Measurement of the ^{140}Ce(n,γ) Cross Section at n_TOF and Its Astrophysical Implications for the Chemical Evolution of the Universe.

^{140}Ce(n,γ) is a key reaction for slow neutron-capture (s-process) nucleosynthesis due to being a bottleneck in the reaction flow. For this reason, it was measured with high accuracy (uncertainty ≈5%) at the n_TOF facility, with an unprecedented combination of a high purity sample and low neutron-sensitivity detectors. The measured Maxwellian averaged cross section is up to 40% higher than previously accepted values.