Determination of the (241)Am activity in real contaminated slag.

One of the main tasks of the EMRP IND04 MetroMetal project "Ionising Radiation Metrology for the Metallurgical Industry" was to develop sets of reference sources in various matrices such as cast steel, slag and fume dust for the calibration of the gamma spectrometric detector prototypes developed in the frame of the project. This work is focused on the characterisation of real contaminated slag material with (241)Am using the transmission measurements in combination with Monte-Carlo simulations. The method and the results are presented and discussed.

A new large-volume metal reference standard for radioactive waste management.

A new large-volume metal reference standard has been developed. The intended use is for calibration of free-release radioactivity measurement systems and is made up of cast iron tubes placed inside a box of the size of a Euro-pallet (80 × 120 cm). The tubes contain certified activity concentrations of (60)Co (0.290 ± 0.006 Bq g(-1)) and (110m)Ag (3.05 ± 0.09 Bq g(-1)) (reference date: 30 September 2013). They were produced using centrifugal casting from a smelt into which (60)Co was first added and then one piece of neutron irradiated silver wire was progressively diluted. The iron castings were machined to the desirable dimensions. The final material consists of 12 iron tubes of 20 cm outer diameter, 17.6 cm inner diameter, 40 cm length/height and 245.9 kg total mass. This paper describes the reference standard and the process of determining the reference activity values.

Dosimetry of secondary cosmic radiation up to an altitude of 30 km.

Dosimetric measurements in the field of secondary cosmic radiation were extensively made during the last years. Since the majority of these measurements were performed on-board passenger aircraft at altitudes between 10 and 12 km, measurements at higher altitudes are desirable for the verification of the legal dose assessment procedures for aircrew. A simple solution is to use a high-altitude balloon that reaches altitudes as high as 30 km. In this work, it is shown that the dose rate profile up to 30 km can be measured with acceptable uncertainties using a Si-detector.

Quality factor of secondary cosmic radiation at flight altitudes.

Dosimetry at aviation altitudes requires instruments that are able to measure the dose contributions of all field components. Tissue-equivalent proportional counters (TEPCs) are well suited for this task. From the measured lineal energy distribution, the absorbed dose and the dose equivalent can be obtained. The ratio of both quantities is named the quality factor, which is a measure of the biological effectiveness of the radiation field. The results of this work show that the mean quality factors obtained by using a TEPC are independent of the altitude, at least at altitudes between flight level (FL) 300 and FL 400, but show a significant dependence on the vertical cutoff rigidity. From a numerical simulation of the radiation field inside an aircraft, the influence of the aircraft structure can be shown.

Measurement of the reaction 2H(e,e') at 180 degrees close to the deuteron breakup threshold.

Inclusive inelastic electron scattering off the deuteron under 180 degrees has been studied at the S-DALINAC close to the breakup threshold at momentum transfers q=0.27 fm;{-1} and 0.74 fm;{-1} with good energy resolution sufficient to map in detail the spin flip M1 response, which governs the starting reaction pn-->dgamma of big-bang nucleosynthesis over most of the relevant temperature region. Results from potential model calculations and (for q=0.27 fm;{-1}) from pionless nuclear effective field theory are in excellent agreement with the data.

High-energy-resolution inelastic electron and proton scattering and the multiphonon nature of mixed-symmetry 2+ states in 94Mo.

High-energy-resolution inelastic electron scattering (at the S-DALINAC) and proton scattering (at iThemba LABS) experiments permit a thorough test of the nature of proposed one- and two-phonon symmetric and mixed-symmetric 2+ states of the nucleus 94Mo. The combined analysis reveals the one-phonon content of the mixed-symmetry state and its isovector character suggested by microscopic nuclear model calculations. The purity of two-phonon 2+ states is extracted.

[Surgical and experimental-biological aspects of inguinal hernia]. / Khirurhichni ta eksperymental'no-biolohichni aspekty pakhvynnoï hryzhi.

In experiment on 57 animals the method of plasty of anterior wall of inguinal channel by forming of the aponeurosis of m. abdominis obliqus ext. and suturing together the aponeurotic edges was simulated. The results of surgical correction of inguinal hernia in 257 patients were analysed. The correlational connection of immunological changes in organism with the degree of destructive changes of hematotesticular barrier (HTB) and spermatogenic epithelium was established. Considering the testicle autoimmunity the application of protective operative methods of pharmacological defense of HTB and spermatogenic epithelium are proposed.