Physics in Melbourne

I survey highlights of the practice of physics and allied sciences in Melbourne,Australia, from the 1850s, soon after Europeans first settled in the area, to the present. I note recognizable sites of past and current physical-science activity that may be visited, as well as exhibits of historic items of physics apparatus. I trace the role of physics, in the course of a century and a half, in the evolution of a pioneering settlement into a large city embedded in a modern industrial economy.     

Studies on recoil proton tracks in NTA films with the T(d,n)He reaction

Recoil proton tracks in nuclear emulsion are counted by scanning them using strip, square or circular field of view of optical microscope. In this paper, the overestimate due to the edge effects in counting recoil proton tracks at different neutron energies produced from the T(d,n)⁴He reaction has been determined by measuring the true track density in NTA film. The overestimate has also been calculated using the measured value of the mean projected track length (L) in the film. The percentage of measured overestimates has been compared with those obtained by calculation and the results agree reasonably well. Fading effect in NTA film has been studied and found to be 22% more in the summer than in the winter season. A great reduction in fading rate could be achieved if the films are desiccated and sealed in highly pure dry nitrogen maintained at an over-pressure of 1000 Pa to reduce water vapour ingress. After the edge effect correction, the sensitivity of NTA film has been calculated from (1.72±0.08)×10⁻³ tracksn⁻¹ to (1.97±0.16)×10⁻³ tracksn⁻¹ in the neutron energy ranges from 15.91 to 18.88 MeV. The response was found to be from 0.24±0.02 trackscm⁻² permSv to 0.26±0.01 trackscm⁻² permSv in the same energy range.     

A Review of the Dawn of Benchtop EPR Spectrometers—Innovation That Shaped the Future of This Technology

By the early 1980s, unique devices appeared in the USSR: a series of benchtop specialized EPR spectrometers. This equipment was quickly accepted not only in science but also in medicine and in many technical and economic areas including chemical industries and geologic exploration. The appearance of these devices was perceived as a salvation for the Soviet magnetic resonance (MR) scientific instrumentation by those who worked in the field of EPR spectroscopy in the USSR. (However, the program of MR scientific instrumentation ceased to exist along with the USSR a few years later). The Belarusian State University in Minsk was the center of these developments. At that moment and for many years afterwards, these devices were unique with no analogues in the worldwide EPR industry. They remained the only mass-produced MR spectrometers on the territory of the former USSR after its collapse. For the first time, based on archival materials, patents, and our personal memoirs, we describe the development of these EPR spectrometers and discuss the most original technical solutions and the scientific tasks solved with this equipment We also remember the participants of the work, showing the historical context of these events.     

Electron Spin Resonance Dosimetry Studies of Irradiated Sulfite Salts

The study of new materials for radiation dosimetry is important to improve the present state of the art and to help in cases of accidents for retrospective dosimetry. Sulfites are compounds that contain a sulfur ion, widely used in the food industry. Due to the significant application of these compounds, sulfites are interesting candidates for accidental dosimetry, as fortuitous radiation detectors. The presence of the SO₃⁻ anion enables its detection by electron spin resonance (ESR) spectroscopy. The Dose–Response behavior, signal stability and other spectral features were investigated for sodium sulfite, sodium bisulfite, sodium metabisulfite and potassium metabisulfite, all in crystalline forms. The ESR spectrum of salts presented stability and proportional response with dose, presenting potential for dosimetry applications.     

Improvement of plant parameters of the ROBO gamma irradiation facility due to design modification

Two industrial scale, “ROBO” type ⁶⁰Co gamma irradiation facilities have recently been put into operation in Syria and Peru, and the dosimetry commissioning of both plants have been carried out to determine dose distribution within products and to calculate plant parameters such as efficiency, dose uniformity ratio and throughput. There are some design modifications between the two plants in connection with the location of the carriers with respect to the source plaque and also to each other. The effect of these construction modifications on the plant parameters is discussed in the analysis of the dose distribution data measured in the carriers with depth and height among the four irradiation rows on both sides of the source plaque. The plant parameters were also calculated for different product densities using the technical data of the facilities, and the calculated and measured results were compared to each other.     

Threonine-FX dosimeter for food irradiation

A detailed study for the spectrophotometric readout method for L-threonine powder, [CH₃CH(OH)CH(NH₂)COOH], was done. In this method, 400 mg unirradiated/irradiated L-threonine powder was dissolved in 10 ml of a solution which contains 3×10⁻⁴ mol dm⁻³ ferrous ammonium sulphate and 1.7×10⁻⁴ mol dm⁻³ xylenol orange (XO) in aerated aqueous 0.17 mol dm⁻³ sulphuric acid (FX). The peroxy radicals produced from irradiated threonine oxidize ferrous ions and XO forms a complex with ferric ions as well as controls the chain length of ferrous ion oxidation. The plot of absorbance at 556 nm against dose is linear in the dose range 20–400 Gy and doses down to about 1 Gy can be measured using 10-cm path cells. Response of the dosimeter is independent of irradiation temperature above 20. A dose of 50 Gy–10 kGy can be measured dissolving 50 mg threonine powder in 10 ml of a solution which contains 3×10⁻⁴ mol dm⁻³ ferrous ammonium sulphate and 1.3×10⁻⁴ mol dm⁻³ XO in aerated aqueous 0.06 mol dm⁻³ sulphuric acid (FX). The plot of absorbance at 552 nm against dose is non-linear. However dosimeter shows linear dose response up to 1000 Gy. Irradiated threonine powder is stable for about 3 months. The reproducibility of the method is better than ±2%. This dosimeter is very useful as transfer dosimeter for food irradiation programme.     

Studies of Tertiary Amine Oxides. Part1 15. Carbon - 13 nuclear magnetic resonance spectra of some N-(4-substituted phenyl) piperidine,the corresponding N-oxides,and their thermal-rearrangement product

The carbon-13 chemical shifts of seven N-(4-substituted phenyl) piperidine; the corresponding N-oxides, and their thermal rearrangement products were analyzed and assigned. The N-oxidation effect on the carbon-13 chemical shift is discussed, a correlation of N-oxidation effect with substituent constant (σ_p, σ_m, σ_I and σ_R) has been studied; dual substituent-parameter equation produce better correlation.     

Radiation induced polymerization of Vinylbenzoate–II. Study of the molecular weights of polymers

Abstract

In this study, the molecular weights of the polymer from vinyl benzoate has been reported for different dose rates and different temperatures. The mol.wt. remains around 4000. With increasing dose, the molecular weight increases to about 14,000. The degrees of polymerization and the kinetic chain lengths calculated from the experimentally determined G _R values have been compared which show that the kinetic chain length is larger than the D ^? Pn.

From a plot of the (D ^? Pn)^?1 vs. R _p , an intercept is obtained which is equal to 3.25 × 10^?2 which is higher than obtained in conventional polymerization. By examining the effect of temperature on mol.wt., the dependence of R _p on dose rate and the absence of induction period it has been concluded that chain transfer occurs to impurities that are generated during radiolysis.     

Biodosimetry versus physical dosimetry for emergency dose assessment following large-scale radiological exposures

Existing data on intercomparisons involving biodosimetry or physical dosimetry methods are analyzed and the results interpreted regarding their efficacy in triage in emergency dosimetry following mass casualty radiological events. The biodosimetry technique examined is dicentric chromosome aberrations (DCA). The physical dosimetry techniques include electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) of biological material (teeth) and physical material (smartphone screen glass), and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) of electronic components (surface mount resistors) from mobile phones. Issues relating to calibration and interpretation of the data are discussed. An important conclusion of the analysis is that more research is critically needed to interpret the efficacy of the various methods. Included in this needed research are intercomparisons of the various methods in controlled experiments and the need to harmonize protocols.     

A regularised boundary element formulation for contactless SAR evaluations within homogeneous and inhomogeneous head phantoms

This work presents a Boundary Element Method (BEM) formulation for contactless electromagnetic field assessments. The new scheme is based on a regularised BEM approach that requires the use of electric measurements only. The regularisation is obtained by leveraging on an extension of Calderón techniques to rectangular systems leading to well-conditioned problems independent of the discretisation density. This enables the use of highly discretized Huygens surfaces that can be consequently placed very near to the radiating source. In addition, the new regularised scheme is hybridised with both surfacic homogeneous and volumetric inhomogeneous forward BEM solvers accelerated with fast matrix–vector multiplication schemes. This allows for rapid and effective dosimetric assessments and permits the use of inhomogeneous and realistic head phantoms. Numerical results corroborate the theory and confirms the practical effectiveness of all newly proposed formulations.