BiodosEPR-2006 consensus committee report on biodosimetric methods to evaluate radiation doses at long times after exposure

The requirements for biodosimetric techniques used at long times after exposure, i.e., 6 months to more than 50 years, are unique compared to the requirements for methods used for immediate dose estimation. In addition to the fundamental requirement that the assay measures a physical or biologic change that is proportional to the energy absorbed, the signal must be highly stable over time to enable reasonably precise determinations of the absorbed dose decades later. The primary uses of these biodosimetric methods have been to support long-term health risk (epidemiologic) studies or to support compensation (damage) claims. For these reasons, the methods must be capable of estimating individual doses, rather than group mean doses. Even when individual dose estimates can be obtained, inter-individual variability remains as one of the most difficult problems in using biodosimetry measurements to rigorously quantify individual exposures. Other important criteria for biodosimetry methods include obtaining samples with minimal invasiveness, low detection limits, and high precision. Cost and other practical limitations generally prohibit biodosimetry measurements on a large enough sample to replace analytical dose reconstruction in epidemiologic investigations. However, these measurements can be extremely valuable as a means to corroborate analytical or model-based dose estimates, to help reduce uncertainty in individual doses estimated by other methods and techniques, and to assess bias in dose reconstruction models. There has been extensive use of three biodosimetric techniques in irradiated populations: EPR (using tooth enamel), FISH (using blood lymphocytes), and GPA (also using blood); these methods have been supplemented with luminescent methods applied to building materials and artifacts. A large number of investigations have used biodosimetric methods many years after external and, to a lesser extent, internal exposure to reconstruct doses received from accidents, from occupational exposures, from environmental releases of radioactive materials, and from medical exposures. In most applications, the intent has been to either identify highly exposed persons or confirmed suspected exposures. Improvements in methodology, however, have led many investigators to attempt quantification of whole-body doses received, or in a few instances, to estimate organ doses. There will be a continued need for new and improved biodosimetric techniques not only to assist in future epidemiologic investigations but to help evaluate the long-term consequences following nuclear accidents or events of radiologic terrorism.     

Analysis of MIR-18 results for physical and biological dosimetry: radiation shielding effectiveness in LEO.

We compare models of radiation transport and biological response to physical and biological dosimetry results from astronauts on the Mir space station. Transport models are shown to be in good agreement with physical measurements and indicate that the ratio of equivalent dose from the Galactic Cosmic Rays (GCR) to protons is about 3/2:1 and that this ratio will increase for exposures to internal organs. Two biological response models are used to compare to the Mir biodosimetry for chromosome aberration in lymphocyte cells; a track-structure model and the linear-quadratic model with linear energy transfer (LET) dependent weighting coefficients. These models are fit to in vitro data for aberration formation in human lymphocytes by photons and charged particles. Both models are found to be in reasonable agreement with data for aberrations in lymphocytes of Mir crew members: however there are differences between the use of LET dependent weighting factors and track structure models for assigning radiation quality factors. The major difference in the models is the increased effectiveness predicted by the track model for low charge and energy ions with LET near 10 keV/micrometers. The results of our calculations indicate that aluminum shielding, although providing important mitigation of the effects of trapped radiation, provides no protective effect from the galactic cosmic rays (GCR) in low-earth orbit (LEO) using either equivalent dose or the number of chromosome aberrations as a measure until about 100 g/cm 2 of material is used.     

OH-radical formation by ultrasound in aqueous solution--Part II: Terephthalate and Fricke dosimetry and the influence of various conditions on the sonolytic yield

Terephthalate and Fricke dosimetry have been carried out to determine the sonolytic energy yields of the OH free radical and of its recombination product H2O2 in aqueous solutions under various operating conditions (nature of operating gas, power, frequency, temperature). For example, in the sonolysis of Ar-saturated terephthalate solutions at room temperature, a frequency of 321 kHz, and a power of 170 W kg-1, the total yield [G(.OH) + 2 G(H2O2)], equals 16 x 10(-10) mol J-1. This represents the total of .OH that reach the liquid phase from gas phase of the cavitating bubble. The higher the solute concentration, the lower the H2O2 production as more of the OH free radicals are scavenged, in competition with their recombination. Fricke dosimetry, in the absence and presence of Cu2+ ions, shows that the yield of H atom reaching the liquid phase is much lower, with G(H.) of the order of 3 x 10(-10) mol J-1. These sonolytic yields are smaller in solutions that are at the point of gas saturation, and increase to an optimum as the initial sonication-induced degassing and effervescence subsides. The probing of the sonic field has shown that the rate of sonolytic free-radical formation may vary across the sonicated volume depending on frequency and power input.     

A model of the effects of authority on consensus formation in adaptive networks: Impact on network topology and robustness

Opinions of individuals in real social networks are arguably strongly influenced by external determinants, such as the opinions of those perceived to have the highest levels of authority. In order to model this, we have extended an existing model of consensus formation in an adaptive network by the introduction of a parameter representing each agent’s level of ‘authority’, based on their opinion relative to the overall opinion distribution. We found that introducing this model, along with a randomly varying opinion convergence factor, significantly impacts the final state of converged opinions and the number of interactions required to reach that state. We also determined the relationship between initial and final network topologies for this model, and whether the final topology is robust to node removals. Our results indicate firstly that the process of consensus formation with a model of authority consistently transforms the network from an arbitrary initial topology to one with distinct measurements in mean shortest path, clustering coefficient, and degree distribution. Secondly, we found that subsequent to the consensus formation process, the mean shortest path and clustering coefficient are less affected by both random and targeted node disconnection. Speculation on the relevance of these results to real world applications is provided.     

Retardation and nonstationarity effects on the generation of terahertz radiation by the e-h plasma in a semiconductor

Radiative processes in a nonequilibrium e-h plasma are theoretically studied using a self-consistent solution of the kinetic equation and Maxwell’s equations. The terahertz emission from a finite-thickness semiconductor sample is due to the retardation and nonstationarity of the electromagnetic interaction of the photocurrent in the e-h plasma and the radiation field. The duplex waveform of the terahertz electromagnetic pulse for an arbitrary ratio of the radiation formation length and the plate thickness originates due to coherent radiative processes accompanying the generation of the e-h plasma at the input boundary and its extinction at the output boundary of a semiconductor plate through which a weakly absorbed ultrashort laser pulse propagates. The theoretical conclusions show analogies with the radiative phenomena accompanying the start-stop motion of external currents (Tamm problem) and the nonlinear interaction of optical waves in a finite-thickness medium.     

High-order harmonic generation by atoms in a two-color laser field: Phase control of recombination radiation spectrum and duration

The feasibility of phase control over above-threshold tunnel ionization and subsequent recombination emission in two-frequency laser fields is studied. It is shown that, in such fields, we can control the instants of ionization t₀ (within optical cycle T) and recombination t _k . The conditions that minimize the characteristic times δt₀?T and δt _k ?T, within which effective ionization and recombination occur, were found. Phase control allows recombination radiation to be generated with the selection of a narrow spectral range, while additional high-frequency “background illumination” sets up high harmonic “amplification” conditions. It was shown that special two-frequency pumping with elliptically polarized radiation can generate coherent electromagnetic pulses of attosecond width. The width of the pulses decreases as the intensity of pumping increases and can reach subattosecond values. Experimental generation of such pulses may lead to a breakthrough in the development of new methods for femto-and attosecond diagnostics of fast processes.     

3D periodic structures grown on silicon by radiation of a pulsed Nd:YAG laser and their field emission properties

Periodic three-dimensional structures were successfully grown on single crystal Si wafers either bare or Au-covered under their exposure to a pulsed radiation of a Nd:YAG laser in vacuum. The structures protrude above the initial wafer surface for 10 μm while their spatial period is about 70 μm. The coupling of the laser radiation to Si surface is related to the thermal non-linear absorption of the near band gap radiation. The structures exhibit an efficient field emission with an average emission current of 5 mA/cm² and is sensitive to the post-treatment of samples. The drawbacks of the emission current densities are discussed.     

外电场对SBN：Cr晶体二波耦合特性的影响及应用

对固液同成分SBN：Cr(Sr0.61Ba0.39Nb2O.6：Cr)晶体在外加直流电场作用下的光折变二波耦合特性及其应用进行了实验研究，分析了晶体的二波耦合强度增益 系数随外电场变化的趋势，并给出了实验测量结果.发现在适当的外电场作用下，晶体的光折变二波耦合增益和响 应速度可以得到一定程度的提高.进一步的研究表明，这种电场响应特性有助于改善SBN：Cr晶体的某些应用性能.利用该晶体通过光折变二波耦合非线性放大原理实现光学图像边沿增强时，通过给晶体沿轴向施加适当的外电场，可进一步提高图像边沿增强效果；在基于光 折变边沿增强预处理的联合变换相关器中，适当的外加电场可进一步改善联合变换相关器的相关识别性能. 关键词： SBN：Cr晶体 光折变二波耦合 边沿增强 联合变换相关器     

Sono-physical and sono-chemical effects of ultrasound: Primary applications in extraction and freezing operations and influence on food components

Ultrasound is an advanced non-thermal food-processing technology that has received increasing amounts of interest as an alternative to, or an adjuvant method for, conventional processing techniques. This review explores the sono-physical and sono-chemical effects of ultrasound on food processing as it reviews two typical food-processing applications that are predominantly driven by sono-physical effects, namely ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) and ultrasound-assisted freezing (UAF), and the components modifications to food matrices that can be triggered by sono-chemical effects. Efficiency enhancements and quality improvements in products (and extracts) using ultrasound are discussed in terms of mechanism and principles for a range of food-matrix categories, while efforts to improve existing ultrasound-assist patterns was also seen. Furthermore, the progress of experimental ultrasonic equipments for UAE and UAF as food-processing technologies, the core of the development in food-processing techniques is considered. Moreover, sono-chemical reactions that are usually overlooked, such as degradation, oxidation and other particular chemical modifications that occur in common food components under specific conditions, and the influence on bioactivity, which was also affected by food processing to varying degrees, are also summarised. Further trends as well as some challenges for, and limitations of, ultrasound technology for food processing, with UAE and UAF used as examples herein, are also taken into consideration and possible future recommendations were made.     

Detection of correlated dynamics on multiple timescales by measurement of the differential relaxation of zero- and double-quantum coherences involving sidechain methyl groups in proteins

Multiple effects may lead to significant differences between the relaxation rates of zero-quantum coherences (ZQC) and double-quantum coherences (DQC) generated between a pair of nuclei in solution. These include the interference between the anisotropic chemical shifts of the two nuclei participating in formation of the ZQC or DQC, the individual dipolar interactions of each of the two nuclei with the same proton, and the slow modulation of the isotropic chemical shifts of the two nuclei due to conformational exchange. Motional events that occur on a timescale much faster than the rotational correlation time (ps-ns) influence the first two effects, while the third results from processes that occur on a far slower timescale (mus-ms). An analysis of the differential relaxation of ZQC and DQC is thus informative about dynamics on the fast as well as the slow timescales. We present here an experiment that probes the differential relaxation of ZQC and DQC involving methyl groups in protein sidechains as an extension to our recently proposed experiments for the protein backbone. We have applied the methodology to (15)N, (13)C-labeled ubiquitin and used a detailed analysis of the measured relaxation rates using a simple single-axis diffusion model to probe the motional restriction of the C(next)H(next) bond vector where C(next) is the carbon that is directly bonded to a sidechain methyl carbon (C(methyl)). Comparison of the present results with the motional restriction of the C(next)C(methyl) bond (S(axis)(2)) reveals that the single-axis diffusion model, while valid in the fringes of the protein and for shorter chain amino acids, proves inadequate in the central protein core for long chain, asymmetrically branched amino acids where more complex motional models are necessary, as is the inclusion of the possibility of correlation between multiple motional modes. In addition, the present measurements report on the modulation of isotropic chemical shifts due to motion on the mus-ms timescale. Three Leu residues (8, 50, and 56) are found to display these effects. These residues lie in regions where chemical shift modulation had been detected previously both in the backbone and sidechain regions of ubiquitin.