Characteristics of dosemeter types for skin dose measurements in practice

A growing number of papers report deterministic effects in the skin of patients who have undergone interventional radiological procedures. Dose measurements, and especially skin dose measurements, are therefore increasingly important. Methods and acceptable dosemeters are, however, not clearly defined. This paper is the result of a literature overview with regard to assessing the entrance skin dose during radiological examinations by putting a dosemeter on the patient's skin. The relevant intrinsic characteristics, as well as some examples of clinical use of the different detector types, are presented. In this respect, thermoluminescence, scintillation, semiconductor and film dosemeters are discussed and compared with respect to their practical use.     

Removal of heavy metal ions from aqueous solutions using various low-cost adsorbents

The removal of single heavy metals Co and Zn from aqueous solutions using various low-cost adsorbents (Fe(2)O(3), Fe(3)O(4), FeS, steel wool, Mg pellets, Cu pellets, Zn pellets, Al pellets, Fe pellets, coal, and GAC) was investigated. Experiments were performed at different solution pH values (1.5-9) and metal concentrations (0.67-333 mg/l). The effect of solution pH on metal adsorption using Fe(2)O(3) and Fe(3)O(4) was significant, but was negligibly small using steel wool, Mg pellets, Fe pellets, and Al pellets over the entire pH range. Steel wool and Mg pellets were the most excellent adsorbents; for example, the removal of Zn and Co from dilute solutions (<35 mg/l) was greater than 94% at an adsorbent dose of 1.7 g/l. A mass transfer model, which involves two parameters tau (50% breakthrough time) and k (proportionality constant), was proposed to describe breakthrough data of Co in the fixed beds packed with steel wool and Mg pellets. The calculated breakthrough curves agreed well with the measured data (standard deviation < 6%). The value of tau decreased with increasing the flow rate. The effects of flow rates on the value of k and adsorption capacity are discussed.     

Multicomponent aerosol mass efficiency with various mixture types for polydispersed aerosol

Based on the filter-sampled chemical composition data the seasonal variation of the optical properties of polydispersed aerosols, extinction, scattering, and absorption coefficient, are estimated for various types of aerosol mixtures. The mixtures considered in this study are the internal mixture, elemental carbon (EC)/non-EC external mixture, and fully external mixture. This study also evaluated the sensitivity of the aerosol optical properties for different size distributions. The results show that the extinction coefficient can be mostly accounted for scattering and generally shows a good agreement with each mixture type in this case study. However, the absorption coefficient shows a different tendency for internal and external mixtures. This study also shows that the aerosol optical properties vary as a function of particle diameter at the same composition and mass concentration. This means that mass extinction, scattering, and absorption efficiencies, which were considered as constants in general, should be reassessed and more specifically described as a function of particle size.     

The use of fast heavy ions to improve thin film adhesion

Fast heavy ions from the Uppsala tandem accelerator were used to irradiate various film/substrate systems such as metal/glass, metal/polymer and metal/metal. Adhesion is in some cases substantially improved by this method. Semiquantitative evaluation by the scratch method was made of the dose dependence of the improvements and also to facilitate comparison with conventional adhesion- promoting treatments. At present, no satisfactory explanation for the effects exists. Copper-coated aluminium was used to demonstrate the importance of the natural oxide layer.It is evident that intense irradiation causes a temperature rise. The film temperature was therefore monitored during irradiation using an IR thermometer. No abnormal heat effects were found although some polymers deteriorated due to the irradiation. For metals the temperature rise is less than 1 °C.     

Relative thermoluminescence efficiency of TLD-600 and TLD-700 dosemeters irradiated with 59.8 MeV per nucleon krypton-86 ions

A batch of LiF thermoluminescence dosemeters (TLDs), each containing five TLD-600 and TLD-700 thermoluminescence dosemeter chips, was irradiated with 59.85 MeV per nucleon 86Kr20+ ions from the K1200 superconducting cyclotron at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory (NSCL). Michigan State University, USA. The average linear energy transfer of the accelerated 86Kr ions and the resulting dose imparted to the TLD chips were calculated to be 3343 keV.microm(-1) per ion and 1.68 Gy respectively. A similar batch of TLD chips was irradiated with 1.3 MeV gamma rays from a 60Co source to 1.0 Gy. The TLD chips were evaluated at a ramp heating rate of 10 degrees C.s(-1) to 400 degrees C using a hot-finger type TLD reader. The thermoluminescence efficiency of the TLD-600 and TLD-700 dosemeters, relative to 60Co gamma rays was calculated to be 0.0025 and 0.0027 respectively     

Dosimetry of heavy charged particles with thermoluminescence detectors--models and applications

Lithium fluoride thermoluminescent (TL) detectors, with Li-7 isotope and various activators (MTS-7 LiF:Mg,Ti, MTT-7 LiF:Mg,Ti with enhanced Ti concentration and MCP-7 LiF:Mg,Cu,P) were used for dosimetry of heavy charged particles, within the ICHIBAN experiment. The microdosimetric model has been applied to calculate detection efficiency, eta, relative to gamma-ray dose, of these detectors after proton and heavy charged particle (HCP) irradiation for ion charges ranging from Z = 1 to Z = 6 and in the energy range from 0.3 to 20 MeV amu(-1). The calculated ratio eta(MCP-7)/eta(MTS-7) lies in the range between 0.2 and 1.0 for protons and between 0.2 and 0.4 for HCP with Z > 1. The calculated value of eta(MTT-7)/eta(MTS-7) for protons was found range between 1.0 and 1.45 and, for Z > 1, between 1.3 and 2. These relationships can be applied to derive information about the 'effective LET' in an unknown HCP field and to correct the TLD readings for dose evaluation.     

LET dependence of bubble detector response to heavy ions

A series of experiments have been recently performed at the Heavy Ion Medical Accelerator in Chiba (HIMAC) laboratory to study the response of bubble detectors to high-mass high-energy (HZE) particles. The motivation for this study was to improve our ability to interpret measurements of neutron energy spectra in space. A recent analysis showed that emulsions of light halocarbons display common properties when they are characterised by a quantity called 'reduced superheat'. This quantity evolved from the examination of neutron and gamma responses of many types of detectors. In this study, we describe direct irradiations with N, Ar and Kr charged particles at HIMAC. It was observed that when the linear energy transfer (LET) corresponding to bubble formation was plotted vs. reduced superheat, different curves were obtained for a particular ion for detectors at different temperatures. Different curves were also obtained when data from different ions were plotted. These results confirm that bubble nucleation is not a simple function of particle LET and that an analysis based on track-structure appears warranted.     

Use of neutron activation analysis for evaluating the efficiency of water treatment to remove heavy metal ions by zone freezing

The efficiency of zone freezing for potable water treatment to remove inorganic impurities was examined. The content of impurities in model solutions before and after zone freezing was evaluated by neutron activation analysis with the formation of ⁵⁶Mn, ^116m In, and ¹⁹⁸Au radionuclides. The zone freezing procedure is the most efficient at low ice front velocities (no greater than 0.15 cm h⁻¹).     

Response of high resolution drift tubes to relativistic heavy ions

We report the results of various tests undertaken in a program to develop a drift tube hodoscope for a cosmic ray balloon experiment intended to search for extragalactic antimatter. Included are studies of mechanical integrity, electron drift velocity, tube gain, space charge saturation effects as measured for relativistic iron nuclei, and delta ray backgrounds associated with signals from iron projectiles. Implications of the results of these studies with regard to the use of drift tubes on baloon borne experiments are discussed. It is found that a spatial resolution of σ ～ 300 μm can be achieved over a dynamic range from Z = 20 to 30 with little degradation from delta ray effects for suitably chosen tube gains and discriminator threshold settings.     

Response of the GLAST LAT calorimeter to relativistic heavy ions

The CsI calorimeter of the Gamma-Ray Large-Area Space Telescope (GLAST) will be calibrated in flight with cosmic-ray heavy ions. In order to determine the response of the calorimeter to relativistic heavy ions lighter than Fe, an experiment was carried out at the GSI heavy ion facility using the Fragment Separator (FRS). The measured response exhibits an unexpected feature for light ions, opposite to that observed at low incident energy: for a given deposited energy, the observed signal is greater for these ions than for protons (or more generally Z=1 minimum ionizing particles). Pulse shapes are found to be almost identical for carbon ions and Z=1 particles, with a significant slow scintillation component, which constitutes another departure from the low-energy behavior. Data on the energy resolution for the individual CsI crystals and on the loss of ions due to nuclear reactions in the calorimeter are also presented.     

The application of amorphous track models to study cell survival in heavy ions beams

In a study of amorphous track models, in the local effect model (LEM), the Kellerer algorithm was used, which folds radial dose distributions from different ion tracks. In representative set of 10 experimental cell survival curves of normal human skin fibroblast cells irradiated with carbon ions, the method that applies the Kellerer algorithm was found to be more accurate and 10(4) times faster than the usual Monte Carlo summation method based on a regular grid.     

Surface efficiency of various types of heat exchangers in an He3He4 dilution refrigerator

Using the continuous counterflow heat exchanger as a standard of comparison, the surface efficiencies of the parallel flow heat exchanger and a discrete heat exchanger element are defined and computed. The results are generalized to chains of heat exchanging elements and a method for optimizing the efficiency of such a chain is discussed. The importance and means of avoiding several deletérious effects such as gravitational instabilities, intrinsic heat conductivities, and viscosity are discussed.     

Theory of heavy charged particle thermoluminescence response: the extended track interaction model

The theory of heavy charged particle TL response is described in the framework of the extended track interaction model (ETIM) which includes an enhanced understanding of the role/parameters of the individual track (i.e. the track structure) which influence the track interaction effects, a more sophisticated treatment of track interaction effects as well as a revised analytical treatment of saturation effects based on knowledge of the dose-filling constants of the TCs and LCs.     

The effective stopping of relativistic structural heavy ions colliding with atoms

A nonperturbative method is developed for calculating the energy losses upon collisions of relativistic structural large-Z ions with atoms. By structural ions are implied those containing partly occupied electron shells. Usually possessing a large charge, such projectiles (e.g., fully or partly stripped uranium ions) are frequently employed in the experiments on modern heavy-particle accelerators.     

The absolute detection efficiency of vacuum electron multipliers,to keV protons and Ar+ ions

The single-ion detection efficiency of two types of electron multipliers is provided for incident energies reaching 10 keV. Absolute efficiencies above 90% were measured for a discrete dynode electron multiplier (DDEM), in response to Ar⁺ ions and protons, above an energy of 5 keV. The efficiency to detect protons is consistently higher than that of Ar⁺ ions, due to a higher secondary electron emission yield. For a channel electron multiplier we have measured a similar maximal detection efficiency for Ar⁺ ions; though strongly varying across the detector surface.     

Cellular effects of energetic heavy ions: from DNA breaks to chromosomal rearrangements

Risk from exposure to energetic heavy ions is considered one of the main problems for human space exploration. Late stochastic risk estimates, particularly cancer, are affected by large uncertainties. Basic cell biology studies to elucidate the mechanisms involved in genetic damage are necessary to reduce the uncertainty and eventually design effective countermeasures. To study the influence of nuclear architecture on the formation of chromosomal rearrangements, normal diploid human fibroblasts have been exposed to heavy ions in horizontal and vertical positions. Analysis of chromosomal aberrations by arm-specific mFISH shows that, at the same radiation dose, the yield of chromosomal damage is modified by the irradiation geometry. A clear difference is seen in the fraction of aberrant cells, owing to the different nuclear cross sections.     

The response of a CsI(Tl) scintillator with photodiode readout to light particles and heavy ions

The response of a small (1 cm³) CsI(Tl) crystal coupled to a silicon photodiode to light particles and heavy ions has been investigated using proton, alpha and oxygen beams in the energy range 10–25 MeV/n.Pulse-height resolution of 1.2 and 2.9% [fwhm] have been measured for 98 MeV ⁴He and 278 MeV ¹⁶O. The use of CsI(Tl)-photodiode assembly in nuclear physics experiments with intermediate energy heavy-ions beams is envisaged     

The implementation in routine of the ENEA new personal photon dosemeter

The ENEA photon dosemeter, introduced in 1995, consisting of two differently filtrated LiF(Mg,Cu,P) detectors, has been modified recently. The ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene) plastic support has been replaced by a new aluminium card supporting the same two detectors (LiF(Mg,Cu,P) GR200). The new card, fully developed at the ENEA-Radiation Protection Institute (which is going to be patented), can now be processed through a Harshaw Model 6600 Automated TLD Reader, a hot gas reader. This paper reports the results of the individual calibration of approximately 60,000 LiF(Mg,Cu,P) GR200 detectors inserted on the new aluminium cards. Before the implementation in routine of the new cards, the reader has been characterised. Steps and tests to be made to use the card in routine (i.e. reader stability, linearity, reproducibility, etc.) are reported. The whole dosimetric system now combines the very good performances of the Harshaw Model 6600 reader and that of LiF(Mg,Cu,P) thermoluminescent material.