Caesium-137 is one of the major artificial radioactive elements, whose sources are atmospheric nuclear tests carried out in the 20th century and nuclear power plant incidents such as Chernobyl. Because of uneven precipitation, there were significant differences in radioactive fallout levels in different areas of the Czech Republic during the passage of the radioactive cloud from Chernobyl. Due to the high solubility of Caesium-137 in water and easy distribution in the environment, there is contamination of the lower soil levels where the plant root systems are located. The aim of this work is to collect soil samples from selected localities, where in 1986 significant contamination was detected as originating from Chernobyl, determination of their Caesium-137 content by gamma semiconductor spectrometry and comparison depending on the type of soil. The research question was set as: Does Caesium-137 content differ in different soil types? As part of this study, samples of uncultivated agricultural land and forest land were collected from layers 0-5, 5-10 and 10-15 cm in Kvilda, Zadov and Churanov. For comparison, results were also collected from a locality where the radioactive fallout was not so significant. This locality is around the village Straz nad Nezarkou, which is found on the protected nature reserves of Trebon. From the results of measuring the soil it was found that even after thirty years since the Chernobyl disaster occurred, Caesium-137 is still found in the upper layers of soils, specifically to depths of 5 cm. The highest specific activity of Caesium-137 was measured in the forest soils in Zadov at depths of 0-5 cm (364 Bq.kg-1) from the total range of all samples, 2,24 Bq.kg-1 to 364 Bq.kg-1. The highest specific activity of potassium K-40 was measured in uncultivated agricultural land in the locality of Kvilda at depths of 0-5 cm (883 Bq.kg-1).

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are short, intense flashes of 0.1-1 MeV electromagnetic radiation that are routinely observed by Earth orbiting satellites. The sources of GRBs are known to be extragalacitic and located at cosmological distances. Due to the extremely high isotropic equivalent energies of GRBs, which are on the order of Eiso~1054 erg, the gamma-ray emission is believed to be collimated, making them observable only when they are directed towards Earth. The favored progenitor models of GRBs are also believed to emit gravitational waves that would be observable by the current generation of ground-based interferometric gravitational wave detectors. The LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory) and Virgo instruments operated near design sensitivity and collected more than a year of triple coincident data during the S5/VSR1 science run, which spanned the two year interval between November 2005 and October 2007. During this time, GRB detections were being made by the NASA/Goddard Swift Burst Alert Telescope at a rate of approximately 0.3 per day, producing a collection of triggers that has since been used in a coincident GRB-GW burst search with data from the LIGO-Virgo interferometer network. This dissertation describes the search for gravitational waves using the times and locations of 123 below-threshold potential GRB triggers from Swift over the same time period. Although most of the below-threshold triggers are likely false alarms, there is reason to believe that some are the result of actual faintly-observed GRB events. Recent GRB observations indicate that the local rate of low-luminosity GRBs is much higher than previously believed. This result, combined with the possibility of discovering a rare nearby GRB event accompanied by gravitational waves, is what motivates this search. The analysis results indicate no evidence for gravitational waves associated with any of the below-threshold triggers. A median distance lower limit of ~16 Mpc was derived for a typical neutron star-black hole coalescence progenitor assumption.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:33:32Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2008-02-22Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T20:25:11Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 leonel_fr_dr_jabo.pdf: 842838 bytes, checksum: 7e58ff8a68976255ea5f2cb9969dcd21 (MD5) / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) / A busca por alimentos seguros faz da irradiação umas das técnicas de tratamentos de alimentos mais promissoras nos dias atuais, porém, a falta de informações por parte dos consumidores tem sido algo a se destacar. O objetivo do trabalho de pesquisa foi avaliar o efeito da irradiação nas características físicoquímicas, sensoriais e microbiológicas da carne de peito (Pectoralis major) de frangos de corte congelada e armazenada. Foram utilizados 96 bandejas plásticas de polietileno expandido, com aproximadamente 650 gramas de filés por bandeja, das quais 48 bandejas foram recobertas por filme plástico (PVC) e a outra metade (48) foram recobertas por sacolas plásticas e submetidas a vácuo. As bandejas foram submetidas ao congelamento, em túnel por cerca de 9 horas a -36°C e mantidas sob congelamento (-20°C). A irradiação foi realizada em um irradiador comercial de grande porte, por meio de raios gama, provenientes do radioisótopo Cobalto-60 utilizado como fonte, a uma taxa de dose de 4 kGy/h. O delineamento experimental utilizado foi o inteiramente casualizado, com 4 repetições, 24 tratamentos de acordo com um esquema fatorial 2 x 3 x 4, dois tipos de embalagens (filme e vácuo), três doses de radiação (0; 1,5 e 3,0 kGy) e quatro períodos de armazenamento (0, 2, 4 e 6 meses). Os resultados mostram que com a irradiação houve aumentou significativo na oxidação do músculo (TBARS), alterações na cor com aumento na luminosidade e intensidade de vermelho e redução no amarelo. O vácuo promoveu redução nos valores de TBARS, força de cisalhamento,... / The search for safety foods makes the irradiation one of the most promising treatments of food, but a lack of information from consumers is something that has to be seen. The aim of this study was to evaluate the radiation effects on physics, chemicals, sensorial and microbiological characteristics of frozen and stored broiler breast meat (Pectoralis major). It was used 96 plastic trays of expanded polyethylene, with approximately 650 grams of filets (breast meat) per tray, 48 trays were covered with plastic film (PVC) and the other half (48 trays) were covered with plastic bags and submitted to vacuum. The trays with the samples were frozen in freezing tunnels for about 9 hours to -36°C and then maintained under freezing temperatures (-20°C). The radiation was accomplished in a commercial reactor, using high-energy gamma radiation, given off by a radioactive source (radioisotope Cobalt-60 - 4 kGy/h).A completely randomized experimental design was used, in a factorial arrangement 2 x 3 x 4 - 2 packing types (plastic film and vacuum), 3 irradiation levels (0; 1,5 e 3,0 kGy) and 4 storage periods (0, 2, 4 e 6 months).The results showed that meat radiation process took to an oxidation increase (TBARS) and to a color alteration, increasing brightness and red values and decreasing the yellow intensity. Vacuum action reduced the TBARS values, shear force, volume and protein of exudates liquid and weight loss during cooking. Radiation reduced the sensorial characteristics, mainly when the radiation level used was 3,0 kGy. However, the use of vacuum was positive, increasing sensorial parameters. The radiation use was effective in the elimination of fecal/totals coliforms, independently of the storage.

abstract: High-energy explosive phenomena, Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) and Supernovae (SNe), provide unique laboratories to study extreme physics and potentially open up the new discovery window of Gravitational-wave astronomy. Uncovering the intrinsic variability of GRBs constrains the size of the GRB emission region, and ejecta velocity, in turn provides hints on the nature of GRBs and their progenitors. We develop a novel method which ties together wavelet and structure-function analyses to measure, for the first time, the actual minimum variability timescale, Delta t_min, of GRB light curves. Implementing our technique to the largest sample of GRBs collected by Swift and Fermi instruments reveals that only less than 10% of GRBs exhibit evidence for variability on timescales below 2 ms. Investigation on various energy bands of the Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) onboard Fermi shows that the tightest constraints on progenitor radii derive from timescales obtained from the hardest energy channel of light curves (299--1000 keV). Our derivations for the minimum Lorentz factor, Gamma_min, and the minimum emission radius, R = 2c Gamma_min^2 Delta t_min / (1+z), find Gamma < 400 which imply typical emission radii R ~ 1 X 10^14 cm for long-duration GRBs and R ~ 3 X 10^13 cm for short-duration GRBs (sGRBs). I present the Reionization and Transients InfraRed (RATIR) followup of LIGO/Virgo Gravitational-wave events especially for the G194575 trigger. I show that expanding our pipeline to search for either optical riZ or near-infrared YJH detections (3 or more bands) should result in a false-alarm-rate ~1% (one candidate in the vast 100 deg^2 LIGO error region) and an efficiency ~90%. I also present the results of a 5-year comprehensive SN search by the Palomar Transient Factory aimed to measure the SN rates in the local Luminous Infrared Galaxies. We find that the SN rate of the sample, 0.05 +/- 0.02 1/yr (per galaxy), is consistent with that expected from the theoretical prediction, 0.060 +/- 0.002 1/yr (per galaxy). / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Astrophysics 2017

Orientador: Antonio Cesar Germano Martins / Resumo: A utilização de elementos radioativos se estende hoje a diversos ramos da ciência e tecnologia, exigindo maneiras eficientes, precisas e sustentáveis de monitoramento para a preservação ambiental e a saúde humana. Uma técnica eficiente e não-destrutiva de análise de elementos emissores de raios gama é a espectrometria gama. No entanto, os softwares atuais de análise se deparam com certos empecilhos quando tratam de amostras ambientais, cujas concentrações de radioatividade são próximas do limite de detecção, ou quando certos radionuclídeos de interesse estão sujeitos a interferências. Este trabalho desenvolveu algoritmos de análise através de ferramentas do campo da inteligência artificial, de forma a obter um desempenho superior do que os métodos empregados em softwares clássicos de análise radiométrica. Três classificadores do campo da inteligência artificial foram testados; árvores de decisão (AD), máquinas de vetores de suporte (MVS) e redes neurais artificiais (RNA). Em testes com uma fonte de chumbo-210 de baixa atividade, a MVS obteve acurácia de 0,93, enquanto os métodos tradicionais obtiveram acurácia máxima de 0,73. Em testes com amostras reais de nitrato de uranila, a acurácia de classificação da RNA foi de 0,91, enquanto a acurácia dos métodos tradicionais foi de 0,70. Observou-se que os modelos baseados em inteligência artificial tiveram desempenho superior aos métodos tradicionais em todos os experimentos. Entretanto, esta vantagem diminui à medida que a relaçã... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: Usage of radioactive elements is present in several areas of science and technology, requiring efficient, accurate, and sustainable ways of environmental conservation and human health monitoring. Gamma-ray spectrometry is an efficient and non-destructive analysis technique for identification of gamma-ray emitting elements. Nonetheless, current analysis softwares have certain limitations regarding environmental samples, whose radioactivity concentration is often close to the detection limit, or when certain radionuclides of interest are subject to interference. This work aims the development of analysis algorithms based on the field of artificial intelligence in order to achieve better performance than the methods in classical radiometric analysis software. Three artificial intelligence classifiers were tested; decision trees (DT), support vector machines (SVM) and artificial neural networks (ANN). In tests with a low-activity lead-210 source, SVM obtained an accuracy of 0.93, while the traditional methods obtained a maximum accuracy of 0.73. In tests with real samples of uranyl nitrate, the accuracy of ANN classification was 0.91, while the accuracy of the traditional methods was 0.70. It was observed that artificial intelligence-based models performed better than traditional methods in all experiments. However, this advantage decreases as the signal-to-noise ratio of the spectra increases, becoming negligible when the signal-to-noise ratio exceeds the detection limit. / Mestre

Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:35:50Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T14:03:40Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Dissertação (Mestrado) / IPEN/D / Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares - IPEN-CNEN/SP

Submitted by EDER QUEIROZ BARBOSA (ederqb_eaunesp@hotmail.com) on 2017-08-25T17:41:03Z No. of bitstreams: 1 DISSERTACAO MESTRADO BARBOSA, E. Q. FINAL CORRIGIDA.pdf: 9658662 bytes, checksum: 8ed25992d35956a209ef71c55c30f430 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Monique Sasaki (sayumi_sasaki@hotmail.com) on 2017-08-25T17:57:43Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 barbosa_eq_me_rcla.pdf: 9658662 bytes, checksum: 8ed25992d35956a209ef71c55c30f430 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-08-25T17:57:43Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 barbosa_eq_me_rcla.pdf: 9658662 bytes, checksum: 8ed25992d35956a209ef71c55c30f430 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-10-03 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / O presente trabalho descreve etapas realizadas para a viabilização de novas metodologias de calibração de sistemas radiométricos portáteis utilizados no LABIDRO (Laboratório de Isótopos e Hidroquímica) do DPM (Departamento de Petrologia e Metalogenia) do IGCE (Instituto de Geociências e Ciências Exatas) da UNESP, Campus de Rio Claro. Dentre os tópicos abordados estão a determinação de tempos de detecção de maior precisão, curvas de calibração dosimétrica e a aquisição de dados de dosimetria no ar, para ambientes indoor e outdoor, por intermédio de gamaespectrômetros portáteis. Os modelos geoestatísticos gerados a partir da conversão de dados em dose efetiva para os locais analisados nos departamentos do Curso de Geologia da UNESP de Rio Claro (SP), demonstraram que apesar de existirem alguns valores situados acima daqueles recomendados pela ICRP e norma CNEN-NN-3.01 de 1 mSv.ano-1, não há a necessidade de intervenção nos locais onde ocorreram (Museu Heinz Ebert; Litoteca do DPM) pois, não são de uso frequente e, além disso, situam-se abaixo do limite recomendado de 20 mSv.ano-1 para indivíduos ocupacionalmente expostos. / The present work describes steps undertaken for the viability of new radiometric methodologies of the portable systems calibration used in the LABIDRO (Isotopes and Hydrochemistry Laboratory) of DPM (Petrology and Metalogeny Department) of IGCE (Geoscience and Exact Sciences Institute) at UNESP, Rio Claro Campus. Among the topics covered are the determination of detection times with greater accuracy, dosimetric calibration curves and dosimetry data acquisition in the air, for indoor and outdoor environments, through gamma spectrometer detectors. Geostatistical models generated from the conversion of data, to the sites analyzed in the departments of Geology Course at UNESP, in effective dose, have shown that although there are some values set above those recommended by ICRP and by legal norm CNEN-NN-3.01 of 1 mSv.year-1, there is no need to intervene in places where it occurred (Heinz Ebert Museum; Deposit of rocks and minerals - DPM), Since these sites are of short period of visit time and, in addition, are below the recommended limit of 20 mSv.year-1 for occupationally exposed individuals. / CAPES: 00.889.834/0001-08

Neste trabalho são apresentados os resultados obtidos do estudo da estrutura do núcleo \'ANTPOT. 58 CO\' utilizando a técnica de espectroscopia de raios gama em linha. Este núcleo foi produzido a partir da reação de fusão-evaporação \'ANTPOT. 51 V\'(ANTPOT. 10 B\', p2n), com energia de feixe de 33 MeV incidindo em três alvos de 200\'mü\'g/\'cm POT. 2\', realizada no acelerador Pelletron da Universidade de São Paulo. Foram feitas medidas em coincidência \'gama\'\'gama\'-partícula com o espectrômetro de raios \'gama\' Saci-Pererê, composto de 4 detectores de GeHP com blindagem Compton, e um sistema auxiliar para detectar partículas carregadas, consistindo de 11 telescópios cintiladores \'delta\'E-E tipo phoswich. Foram encontradas quarenta e sete transições novas que depopulam trinta e sete novos estados. O esquema de níveis proposto foi estendido até uma energia de excitação de 8 MeV e momento angular de \'J POT. pi\'=\'11 POT. +\'. A atribuição dos valores de spins foi baseada na razão DCO (Correlação Direcional de Estados Orientados). Os resultados experimentais foram comparados com os calculados pelo Modelo de Camadas em Larga Escala (LSSM) utilizando os códigos MSHELL e Antoine, assim como a interação residual GXPF1, desenvolvida para ser usada na camada pf Foram interpretados dezenove estados excitados a partir do LSSM. Foram medidas também as vidas médias para treze estados excitados do \'ANTPOT. 58 CO\' utilizando o Método de Deslocamento Doppler Atenuado (DSAM). Para este estudo, o núcleo \'ANTPOT. 58 CO\' foi produzido a partir da reação \'ANTPOT. 51 V\'(ANTPOT. 10 B\', p2n) com energia de feixe de 36 MeV, usando um alvo de 770\'mü\'g/\'cm POT. 2\' prensado em um suporte de Pb. Os valores experimentais também foram comparados aos cálculos do LSSM. Probabilidades de transição reduzidas B(Ml), e portanto as vidas médias, foram bem reproduzidas pelo modelo teórico para cinco níveis identificados. Os níveis de energia observados apresentaram funções de onda com grande mistura de configurações sendo a principal dada por \'pi\'\'f POT -1 IND. 7/2\' (PRODUTO VETORIAL) v \'p POT 2 IND. 3/2\' \'f POT 1 IND. 5/2\',. Os resultados indicam que a maior parte dos estados excitados do núcleo \'ANTPOT. 58 CO\' tem um comportamento esférico e são bem reproduzidos considerando excitações de partícula única / The excited states in the doubly odd nucleus \'ANTPOT. 58 CO\' have been studied using inbeam gama-ray spectroscopy. The \'ANTPOT. 58 CO\' nucleus has been produced with the fusionevaporation reaction \'ANTPOT. 51 V\'(ANTPOT. 10 B\', p2n) at 33 MeV bombarding energy, using the SMV Pelletron accelerator of the University of São Paulo. Gamrna-gamma-charged particle coincidences were measured with the Saci-Pererê gama-ray spectrometer composed of 4 Compton-suppressed GeHP and an ancillary charged-particle detector system composed of 11 plastic phoswich scintillator ~E-E telescopes. We have found 47 new gama-transitions de-populating 37 new excited states. A level scheme extending up to an excitation energy of about 8.0 MeV and spin \'J POT. pi\'=\'11 POT. +\' has been proposed. The spin assignments were based on the DCO (Directional Correlation from Oriented States) ratios. The experimental results were compared with Large Scale Shell Model (LSSM) calculations performed with the MSHELL and Antoine codes using the GXPFl effective interaction, developed for use in the pf shell. We have interpreted 19 excited states in the frame of the LSSM. We have measured also the lifetimes for 13 excited states of the \'ANTPOT. 58 CO\' nucleus. The lifetimes were measured with the Doppler Shift Attenuation Method (DSAM). For this study the \'ANTPOT. 58 CO\' nuclei were populated with the reaction \'ANTPOT. 51 V\'(ANTPOT. 10 B\', p2n) at 36 MeV bombarding energy, using a target consisting of a 770\'mü\'g/\'cm POT. 2\' foil with Pb backing. The experimental values were also compared with the LSSM calculations. Experimental B(M1) reduced transition probabilities, and thus the lifetimes, are well reproduced by the theoretical model for fi v e o f the identified levels. The observed levels presented wave functions with large configuration mixing with the main configuration being \'pi\'\'f POT -1 IND. 1/2\' (PRODUTO VETORIAL) v \'p POT 2 IND. 3/2\' \'f POT 1 IND. 5/2\',. The results indicate that most of the excited states in the \'ANTPOT. 58 CO\' nucleus has a spherical behavior and is well reproduced considering single-particle excitations.

O método nuclear gamaespectrométrico vem ganhando espaço em diversas aplicações como fornecer a informação médica em um paciente ou de uma galáxia distante, detectar radioatividade para fins de segurança e medir a concentração de radioelementos em um mineral ou rocha. Esta dissertação apresenta um projeto e implementação de um espectrômetro gama digital conectado a um conjunto detector contendo cristal cintilador de iodeto de sódio dopado com tálio. O hardware é baseado em um dispositivo lógico programável da família CoolRunner II da Xilinx e um conversor analógico-digital de 80 MHz da Analog Devices. A aquisição de dados é executada em um computador pessoal comum. As linguagens de programação utilizadas foram VHDL e C#. O objetivo desta dissertação é apresentar todas as etapas necessárias para o desenvolvimento de um gamaespectrômetro digital e inclui pesquisa bibliográfica, estudo do equipamento, modelagem dos cristais, simulação do projeto de um gamaespectrômetro, montagem do circuito eletrônico, desenvolvimento do processamento e lógica do circuito, criação do software de aquisição dos dados em tempo real e apresentação dos resultados obtidos. / The gammaspectrometric method has been used for diverse applications as to supply the medical information in a patient or a distant galaxy, to detect radioactivity at airport and to measure the concentration of radioelements in a mineral or rock. This work presents a digital gammaspectrometer project and implementation for acquisition of radiometric data, the spectrometer is connected to a gamma-ray detector NaI(Tl). The two main components in hardware are complex programmable logical device of the family CoolRunner II Xilinx and an 80 MHz analog to digital converter of brand Analog Devices. The acquisition of data is executed in a common personal computer. The programming languages used are VHDL and C#. The objective of this work is to present all the needful stages for the digital gammaspectrometry development that includes theorem, equipment studying, crystal modeling, gammaspectrometry modeling and simulation, electronic circuit assembly, processing and logic circuit development, data acquisition software in real time development and presentation of results.

Submitted by Irene Nascimento (irene.kessia@ufpe.br) on 2017-06-09T18:11:57Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 811 bytes, checksum: e39d27027a6cc9cb039ad269a5db8e34 (MD5) Dissertação - final.pdf: 1733080 bytes, checksum: f7cb6d19b01ccf4cefdfe6261cb2a5eb (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-06-09T18:11:57Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 811 bytes, checksum: e39d27027a6cc9cb039ad269a5db8e34 (MD5) Dissertação - final.pdf: 1733080 bytes, checksum: f7cb6d19b01ccf4cefdfe6261cb2a5eb (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-01-14 / Capes / Este trabalho apresenta simulações de Monte Carlo com objeto com forma de meia-lua, densidade e material conhecidos. Foi colocado dentro de um tubo de aço como arranjo de teste para simulação pelo código MCNPX, a fim de ser validada pelas medidas em experimentos estáticos de transmissão de raios gama e com comparação com dados teóricos. O MCNPX requer uma geometria definida para cada trajetória de fótons. Isto oferece empecilhos para o uso do código em simulação de tomografia. A solução desse problema foi escrever um programa para criar os arquivos de entrada para cada trajetória. Trabalhando nesta sequência, foi criado um banco de dados para organização da grande quantidade de dados gerados. A instalação experimental utiliza um único par fonte-detector, com fonte radioativa isotópica de Césio-137 e o detector de Nal (Tl) de cintilação acoplado a um analisador de multicanal. A análise de erros foi feita com a métrica do RMSE para avaliação da qualidade das simulações. As simulações foram validadas pelos dados experimentais e também pelos dados analíticos com erros satisfatórios segundo a métrica utilizada. / This work presents Monte Carlo simulations with object shaped like a half moon with density and material knowns. It was placed inside a steel tube as a test arrangement for simulating the MCNPX code, for validation by static experiments measurement of gamma ray transmission and compared with theoretical data. The MCNPX requires a geometry defined for each photon trajectory. This offers trammels to use the code for tomography simulation. The solution of this problem was developing a program to create input files for each trajectory. Working in this sequence, a database was created to organize large amount of data has been generated. The experimental setup uses a single source-detector pair, with a radioactive isotope Cesium source 137 and the detector NaI (Tl) scintillation coupled to a multichannel analyzer. The error analysis was made with the RMSE metric for evaluating the quality of the simulations. The simulations were validated by experimental data and also by comparison with theoretical data with satisfactory errors according to the metric used.