Recently, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) successfully encapsulated a new generation of medical grade Cf-252 sources having intensities and size comparable to that of the widely used high-dose-rate (HDR) Ir-192 brachytherapy sources. Advent of the new sources, therefore, marked a new era for Cf-252-based neutron brachytherapy (NBT). As part of source calibration and characterization process, a study has been conducted at Georgia Tech lately on determining the neutron and gamma dose rates in water surrounding the new Cf-252 source. A Lucite-walled water phantom was built for this study. The neutron and gamma dose rates were determined both by ion chamber measurements and by Monte Carlo code MCNP. The results show that the measured neutron absorbed dose rates were approximately 25% lower than that predicted by MCNP for all dose positions in water, suggesting that the Cf-252 content of the new source is actually 25% lower than the ORNL's estimate. The measured gamma absorbed dose rates in water, on the contrary, are higher than that predicted by MCNP. The differences between the measured and MCNP-predicted gamma doses are not uniform for all dose positions; they are most pronounced (~a factor of two) at the distance of 1 cm, and fall to approximately 30% at distances 2 cm and beyond. These results suggest that the spectrum of gamma rays emitted from the new Cf-252 source may contain significantly more low-energy gamma rays than the previously published spectrum used in MCNP.

Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 2008. / Also available in print.

A radiação gama é uma das tecnologias aplicadas para a esterilização de sistemas de embalagens contendo produtos para a saúde. No processo de esterilização, é fundamental que as propriedades das embalagens sejam mantidas. Neste estudo, duas amostras de embalagens comerciais, no formato de envelope compostas por papel grau cirúrgico de um dos lados e filme plástico laminado do outro, foram irradiadas com raios gama com doses de 25 kGy (taxa de dose de 1,57 kGy/h) e 50 kGy (taxa de dose de 1,48 kGy/h). Uma das amostras de embalagem era constituída por papel de fibras de coníferas e filme plástico laminado de poli(tereftalato de etileno) (PET)/polietileno (PE) e a outra por papel de fibras de coníferas e de folhosas e filme plástico laminado de poli(tereftalato de etileno) (PET)/polipropileno (PP). Os efeitos da radiação nas propriedades físicas e químicas dos papéis e dos filmes plásticos, assim como nas propriedades da embalagem foram estudados. O papel foi o material mais sensível à radiação, sendo a alvura, o pH e as resistências ao rasgo, ao arrebentamento e à tração os parâmetros nos quais foram observadas maiores modificações, em ambas as amostras. Todavia, dos dois tipos de papel, o efeito foi mais pronunciado para a amostra com fibras de conífera e de folhosas. A porosidade dos papéis foi alterada com 50 kGy. No caso dos filmes plásticos, a propriedade com maior modificação foi a resistência à tração, em ambas as amostras. No caso das embalagens, a irradiação diminuiu a resistência da selagem. Os efeitos observados para a dose de 50 kGy foram em média mais pronunciados quando comparados com as modificações nos valores das amostras tratadas com 25 kGy, que é a dose usualmente empregada para esterilização de produtos para a saúde. A dosimetria deste estudo foi realizada nos materiais irradiados com 25 kGy, 40 kGy e 50 kGy, demonstrando sua importância à medida que a variação média para as três doses estudadas foi de 20 %. / Gamma radiation is one of the technologies applied for the sterilization of packaging systems containing products for health. During sterilization process it is critical that the properties of packages are maintained. In this study two samples of commercial pouch packaging comprised of surgical grade paper on one side and the other side multilayer plastic film were irradiated with gamma rays. The following doses were applied 25 kGy (1,57 kGy/h) and 50 kGy (1,48 kGy/h). One packaging sample was paper formed by softwood fibers and multilayer plastic film based on poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET)/polyethylene (PE). The second type of paper sample was made by a mixture of softwood and hardwood fibers and multilayer plastic film based on polyethylene terephthalate (ethylene) (PET)/polypropylene (PP). The effects of radiation on the physical and chemical properties of papers and multilayer plastic films, as well as the properties of the package were studied. The paper was the more radiation sensitive among the studied materials and radiation effects were more pronounced at brightness, pH, tearing resistance, bursting strength and tensile strength. Nonetheless, worst comparatively effects were noted on the sample made by a mixture of softwood and hardwood fibers. The porosity of paper was enhanced by 50 kGy. In the case of plastic films, radiation effects on tensile strength was the most pronounced property for both samples. In the case of the packaging the sealing resistance decreased with radiation. The effects observed for the treatment at 50 kGy were more pronounced when compared to 25 kGy. This last is the dose which is usually applied to sterilize health products. A dosimetry study was performed during irradiation at 25 kGy, 40 kGy and 50 kGy and its importance may be reported by the average dose variation 20 %.

In this licentiate thesis, I report a search for GeV γ rays towards the location of Galaxy clusters. I mainly discuss the results of a search for cosmic-ray (CR) induced γ-ray emission but also briefly elaborate on a related study, searching for Dark Matter (DM)-induced γ-ray emission from Galaxy clusters. In addition, I provide a detailed discussion on the analysis tools that were used and discuss some additional tests that are not included in the papers this licentiate thesis is based on. In a comprehensive search almost covering the entire sky, we find no statistically significant evidence for either DM or CR induced γ rays from galaxy clusters. Thus we report upper limits on CR quantities that exclude emission scenarios in which the maximum hadronic injection efficiency is larger than 21% and associated limits on the maximum CR-to-thermal pressure ratio, <XCR>. In addition, we update previous flux upper limits given a new set of modeling and taking the source extension into account. For a DM masses below 100 GeV, we exclude annihilation cross sections above ∼ 10−24 cm3 s−1 into bb. For decaying DM, we exclude decay times lower than 1027 s over the mass range of 20 GeV– 2 TeV.

Methods for testing commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) digital devices at varying levels of complexity is presented and discussed as well as the results for testing a COTS SRAM, FRAM, and SoC using these methodologies in a pulsed dose rate environment at Little Mountain Test Facility (LMTF) and neutron testing at Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANSCE). Investigations at LMTF revealed a dependence in all three devices on the integrated dose of a single pulse of radiation, implying that the duration of radiation plays a significant role in the response. The test infrastructure necessary to dynamically access an FRAM at LMTF and time the access with the pulse of radiation allowed for the discovery of a new FRAM failure mode where an entire word of the FRAM becomes corrupted as well as selecting between two different failure modes based on the timing of the pulse. A novel component-based testing methodology for testing complicated SoCs is presented and used to report on the cross-sections of several components on the Xilinx MPSoC, including its DMA which has not previously been reported.

No description available.

Thesis (MSc)--Stellenbosch University, 2005. / Some digitised pages may appear illegible due to the condition of the original hard copy. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Airborne gamma-ray spectrometry is used for exploration and environmental monitoring over large areas. Such datasets of 7-ray are acquired using large 16l NaI(T1) detector crystals mounted in an aircraft. The response of these detectors to naturally occurring radioactive isotopes is a function of detector volume, efficiency and resolution. This response is modelled using the Monte Carlo method. A photon-electron transport computer code, NIPET, is written to calculate the intrinsic efficiency and photofraction of these large prismatic crystals. The intrinsic efficiency indicates the number of incident photons that interact in some way with the detector resulting in a deposition of energy in the crystal. The photofraction, on the other hand, indicates how many of these photons that impinge on the detector are actually recorded with their full initial energy. This study presents explicity calculated photofraction values for 16l NaI(Tl) crystals. Comparison of these new values, calculated with this computer program, with that of published values for small 3" x 3" crystals shows good agreement. However, for large crystals, the calculated values differ from those in the literature by almost 15%. The study also finds that for the gamma-ray energy range between 0.2 - 3.0 MeV, these detectors have an intrinsic efficiency above 90%, whereas the photofraction values range from 80% for low energy photons to above 40% for high energy photons in the case of large crystals. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Lug gamma-straal spektroskopie is nuttig vir eksplorasie en omgewings ondersoeke oor groot areas. Metings word tipies gedoen met 16l NaI(T1) detektors wat monteer is in ’n vliegtuig. Die respons van hierdie detektors ten opsigte van natuurlike radioaktiewe isotope is ’n funksie van detektorvolume, doeltreffendheid en oplosvermoë. Hierdie respons word gemodeleer deur gebruik te maak van ’n Monte Carlo tegniek. ’n Rekenaarprogram, NIPET, is geskryf om die intrinsieke doeltreffendheid en fotofraksie vir hierdie groot prismatiese kristalle te bereken. Die intrinsieke doeltreffendheid dui die breukdeel van die invallende fotone aan wat ’n interaksie ondergaan binne die detektor kristal en sodoende energie deponeer. Die fotofraksie, daarenteen, dui die breukdeel invallende fotone aan wat absorbeer word deur die kristal met hul voile invallende energie. In hierdie tesis word eksplisiete fotofraksiewaardes vir 16l NaI(T1) kristale bereken. Goeie ooreenstemming word gevind tussen fotofraksie waardes bereken met hierdie program en die waardes gepubliseer in die literatuur vir klein 3" x 3" kristalle. Vir groter kristalle is daar egter swakker ooreenstemming. Berekende fotofraksie waardes verskil met 15% van die waardes in die literatuur. Daar word ook bevind dat vir gamma-energie tussen 0.2 - 3.0 MeV, die intrinsieke doeltreffendheid vir hierdie tipe detektors bo 90% is en dat fotofraksiewaardes wissel tussen 80% vir lae energie tot bo 40% vir hoë foton energie.

J'ai effectué une étude des éléments C, N, et O dans les atmosphères d'étoiles chimiquement particulières de la séquence principale, où ils sont sous-abondants et répartis de manière inhomogène. J'ai recensé les processus physiques qu'il faut inclure dans les calculs d'accélération radiative et montré leur importance relative. Des améliorations majeures par rapport aux approximations usuelles ont été obtenues grâce à l'utilisation systématique des données atomiques du projet OPACITY. Elles permettent de calculer précisément la dépendance en fréquence des opacités, et d'améliorer l'évaluation des largeurs de raies. Les contributions des raies et de la photoionisation sont calculées pour chaque ion et l'accélération totale sur un élément donné est obtenue grâce à un modèle prenant en compte les réactions rapides entre ions. Les accélérations radiatives calculées pour le carbone, l'azote, et l'oxygène, les poussant vers le haut, apparaissent inférieures à la gravité dans tous les modèles d'enveloppe considérés (étoiles de type A à F), pour une large gamme de paramètres, expliquant leurs déficits marquées à la surface de la plupart des étoiles chimiquement particulières. Des tables donnant d'une part l'opacité de ces éléments, d'autre part leur accélération radiative sur une grille contenant de nombreuses conditions de plasma permettent d'effectuer des calculs d'évolution stellaire prenant en compte tous les aspects de la diffusion des éléments C, N, et O, les plus abondants après H et He. <br /> <br />Je me suis ensuite intéressé aux étoiles de type lambda Bootis, un petit sous-groupe singulier d'étoiles chimiquement particulières, dont les anomalies d'abondance ne sont pas expliquées par le modèle de la diffusion radiative. Il s'agirait plutôt d'étoiles jeunes, encore entourées des restes du disque à partir duquel elles se sont formées, et dont elles accrèteraient un gaz appauvri en éléments lourds, ceux-ci s'étant condensés en grains. Afin de vérifier cette hypothèse, nous avons recherché la signature de matière circumstellaire dans le spectre de ces étoiles. Peu d'étoiles de notre échantillon montrent un tel indice et nos résultats suggèrent une anti-corrélation entre la présence de gaz ou de poussières, pouvant caractériser deux états différents dans l'évolution du disque protostellaire. Au cours de cette étude, nous avons découvert par hasard le premier cas de pulsations non radiales dans une étoile de type lambda Bootis, puis montré qu'elles sont communes dans ce groupe. L'identification des modes de pulsation permet de remonter à la structure interne de ces étoiles et à leur état d'évolution, permettant ainsi de tester le modèle d'accrétion. <br /> <br />Mon étude des environnements circumstellaires des étoiles lambda Bootis m'a conduit à m'intéresser aux disques protoplanétaires. Jusqu'à récemment, nous n'avions observé qu'un seul système solaire (le nôtre) dans lequel nous pouvions tester notre compréhension du processus de formation de planètes. Maintenant, plus d'une centaine de planètes ont été découvertes autour d'autres étoiles et les contraintes sur les modèles théoriques sont devenues très serrées. Nous savons que, dans la nébuleuse solaire, les particules de poussière de la taille du micron se sont agglomérées pour former des planètes, objets 10^13 à 10^14 fois plus grands. Bien qu'il y ait beaucoup de travail réalisé sur les dernières étapes de cette formation, et sur la migration de planètes déjà formées, peu de travail a été fait pour développer des modèles hydrodynamiques décrivant l'interaction du gaz et de la poussière dans les disques proto-planétaires. Nous développons un code hydrodynamique SPH permettant de modéliser cette interaction, principalement par la force de friction, entre deux phases: du gaz et des grains de poussière d'une taille donnée. Nous obtenons ainsi la répartition spatiale des grains dans le disque en fonction de leur taille. Ce travail correspond à la thèse de Laure Barrière-Fouchet, qui se termine en 2005. Nous projetons ensuite d'ajouter les mécanismes de coagulation, croissance, et évaporation des grains de poussière en modélisant plusieurs phases pour différentes tailles de grains et la variation du nombre de particules dans chaque phase qui en résulte. Ceci permettra de caractériser les zones du disque les plus favorables à la formation de planétésimaux. Ensuite, il s'agira d'explorer plus profondément les mécanismes de formation de planètes. En effet, si l'on arrive assez bien à faire croître les grains microscopiques jusqu'à une taille de l'ordre du centimètre, les collisions entre ces gros grains les refragmentent et empêchent de dépasser cette taille. Plusieurs solutions sont à envisager pour permettre de passer ce cap: diminution des vitesses de collisions dans les régions plus denses, rôle de la turbulence, etc... <br /> <br />Un peu à part de mes travaux précédents, avec mes collègues de l'ESO, j'ai observé et pris le premier spectre de la contrepartie optique du sursaut gamma GRB980425, qui s'est avéré être une supernova très particulière: SN1998bw. Son spectre en évolution rapide ne permettait pas de classer cette supernova, la première à être associée à un sursaut gamma, dans les types connus. Notre équipe a suivi régulièrement l'évolution de sa courbe de lumière et de son spectre, la somme de données recueillie ayant conduit à un modèle d'hypernova.

Cette thèse présente le travail réalisé par l'auteur consacréà l'étude de l'influence des vents magnétosphériques des pulsars sur leur environnement. Le problème du vent magnétosphérique des pulsars est étudié dans le contexte des pulsars classiques, qui forment des nébuleuses de pulsar. L'observation de ces nébuleuses fournit des informations importantes sur leurs conditions physiques et dynamiques. Le vent magnétosphérique des pulsars milliseconde est également étudié. La contribution des pulsars millisecondeà l'émission gamma des amas globulaires est étudiée par des simulations numériques.Dans la première partie, les résultats des observations infrarouge du vestige de supernova G21.5-0.9 sont présentées. Les données utilisées comprennent des observations du Very Large Telescope de l'ESO, du télescope Canada-France-Hawaï (CFHT) et du télescope spatial Spitzer. La détection de la nébuleuse compacte autour du pulsar PSR J1833-1034, avec l'instrument CFHT/AOB-KIR (bande K') et la caméra IRAC/Spitzer (toutes les bandes), est présentée. La valeur moyenne de la fraction de polarisation linéaire de l'émission détectée est estiméeà $P_{rm L}^{avg} simeq 0.47$. Une oscillation du vecteur champ électrique dans la nébuleuse compacte peut être observée. Le spectre infrarouge de la nébuleuse compacte est bien décrit par une loi de puissance d'indice $alpha_{rm IR} = 0.7 pm 0.3$, et suggère un aplatissement spectral entre les domaines infrarouge et X. La détection de la raie d'émission [Fe II] à 1.64 $mu$m est présentée. La spectroscopieà moyenne résolution permet d'estimer l'extinction par le milieu interstellaire de l'émission infrarouge de l'objet, ainsi que la vitesse d'expansion de la matière émettant la raie du [Fe II], ce qui conduità une estimation de la distanceà G21.5-0.9 de $3.9 pm 1.2$ kpc.La deuxième partie présente une étude de l'activité magnétosphérique des pulsars milliseconde dans le contexte de l'émission gamma des amas globulaires. Une base de données des caractéristiques d'émission des pulsars milliseconde et des spectres d'éjection des électrons est créée sur la base du modèle pair starved polar cap de la magnétosphère des pulsars. Le concept de facteur de biais est introduit et étudié. Des spectres synthétiques d'amas globulaires sont simulés dans la gamme d'énergie allant du GeV au TeV. Ils consistent en une composante d'émission magnétosphérique des pulsars milliseconde résidant dans l'amas, et une composante Compton inverse résultant de la diffusion des photons ambiants (le champ stellaire des photons provenant des étoiles de l'amas, et le fond diffus cosmologique) par les leptons relativistes diffusant dans l'amas. Enfin, les spectres synthétiques des amas globulaires sont comparés et contrastés avec les observationsà haute et très haute énergie des amas globulaires sélectionnés: Terzan 5 et 47 Tucanae. / This PhD thesis presents the results of the studies on the influence of magnetospheric pulsar winds on the surroundings of these objects. The problem of the magnetospheric pulsar wind is studied in the context of classical pulsars, which power prominent pulsar wind nebulae. Observations of these nebulae yield important information on their physical and dynamical conditions. The magnetospheric winds of millisecond pulsars are also investigated. The contribution of millisecond pulsars to the gamma-ray emission of globular clusters is studied through numerical simulations. In the first part of the thesis, the results of infrared observations of the supernova remnant G21.5-0.9 are presented. The observational material includes data obtained with the ESO Very Large Telescope, the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope and the Spitzer Space telescope. The detection of the compact nebula around the pulsar PSR J1833-1034, through imaging with both the CFHT/AOB-KIR instrument (K' band) and the IRAC/Spitzer camera (all bands), is reported. The average value of the linear polarisation fraction $P_{rm L}^{avg} simeq 0.47$ of the detected emission is estimated. A swing of the electric field vector across the compact nebula is observed. The infrared spectrum of the compact nebula is best described as a power law of index $alpha_{rm IR} = 0.7 pm 0.3$, and suggests its flattening between the infrared and X-ray bands. The detection of [Fe II] 1.64 $mu$m line emitting material is reported. Through medium resolution spectroscopy the infrared interstellar extinction to the object is estimated, and also the expansion velocity of the iron-line emitting material is determined, which in turn leads to estimating the distance of $d = 3.9 pm 1.2$ kpc to G21.5-0.9. The second part presents a study of the magnetospheric activity of millisecond pulsars in the context of the gamma-ray emission of globular clusters. Based on the pair starved polar cap model of the pulsar magnetosphere the database of the millisecond pulsar emission characteristics and the electron ejection spectra is created. The modelled electron ejection spectra are single-peaked for mildly inclined and fast rotating pulsars, while double-peaked for slowly rotating pulsars. The concept of the bias factor is introduced and studied. Synthetic spectra of globular clusters, stretching from MeV up to TeV energies, are simulated. They consist of the magnetospheric contribution from the millisecond pulsar population residing in the cluster, and an inverse Compton scattering (ICS) component resulting from up-scattering of the ambient photon fields (cosmic microwave background and optical photons from stellar population in the cluster) on the relativistic electrons diffusing through the cluster. The spectral characteristics of the ICS component depends on the composition of the ambient photon fields and also on the magnitude of the cluster magnetic field $B_{rm GC}$. For low $B_{rm GC} sim 1 mu$G the spectra are double-peaked. For the high $B_{rm GC} gtrsim 10 mu$G the ICS spectra are single-peaked. The level of ICS emission increases with the increase of $B_{rm GC}$, but it saturates for $B_{rm GC} sim 10 ~mu$G. Finally, the simulated synthetic spectra of globular clusters are confronted with the existing gamma-ray data for selected clusters: Terzan 5 and 47 Tucanae.

Recentemente, o Observatório Pierre Auger tem medido espectro de energia de Raios Cósmicos Ultra Energéticos (Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays - UHECR) (E &gt; 1019 eV) com grande acurácia. No entanto, o estudo de raios cósmicos ultra energéticos na Terra tem uma forte dependência do estudo de sua propagação no Universo. Neste trabalho, abordamos o estudo da propagação de raios cósmicos em diferentes aspectos. Núcleos em alta energia interagem com os campos de radiação no caminho da fonte à Terra. A interação mais importante é a fotodesintegração. Na primeira parte, implementamos de maneira analítica e numérica a solução da razão de fotodesintegração e fizemos uso da solução numérica em um programa de Monte Carlo. Mostramos soluções baseadas na parametrização das seções de choque por uma função Gaussiana e por uma função Lorenztiana. Comparamos nossos resultados com trabalhos prévios da literatura. O seguinte estudo mostrou que sob a hipótese de propagação quase-linear e utilizando várias distribuições de fontes no céu, a latitude do observatório: tem influência no fluxo total medido por um observatório; impõe um limite na capacidade de medida de anisotropia e tem um efeito negligenciável na medida do XMax. No terceiro estudo, um limite superior na integral do fluxo de raios gama em GeV-TeV é usado para obter um limite superior na luminosidade total de UHECR de fontes individuais. A correlação entre o limite superior na integral do fluxo de raios gama e o limite superior na luminosidade total de UHECR é estabelecida através do processo de cascatas de partículas geradas durante a propagação de raios cósmicos nos campos de radiação. / Recently, the Pierre Auger Observatory has measured the energy spectrum of Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECR) (E &gt; 1019 eV) with an unprecedented accuracy. However, the study of ultra-high energy cosmic rays at Earth depends on the models used to describe the propagation of the particle in the Universe. In this work, we present a study of propagation of cosmic rays on different aspects. Nucleus at this high energy interacts with the radiation fields on the way from the source to Earth. The most important interaction is the photodisintegration. In the first part, we implemented analytical, numerical and Monte Carlo simulation solutions for the photodisintegration rate. We show solutions based on parameterizations of the cross-section using Gaussian and Lorenztian functions. We compare our results with previous works. The following study shows that under the assumption of quasi-linear propagation and using several sources distributions of sky, the latitude of the observatory: has influence on the total flux measured by an observatory; imposes a limitation on the capability of measuring an anisotropic sky and has a negligible efect on the Xmax measurement. In the thirdy study, an upper limit on the integral flux of GeV-TeV gamma-rays is used to extract the upper limit on the total UHECR luminosity of individual sources. The correlation between upper limit on the integral GeV-TeV gamma-rays flux and upper limit on the UHECR luminosity is established through the cascading process that takes place during propagation of the cosmic-rays in the background radiation fields.