First published in the Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society in Vol.71, 1965, published by the American Mathematical Society

Orientador: Daniel Marcos Bonotto / Banca: Francisco Yukio Hiodo / Banca: Wanilson Luiz Silva / Banca: Rosemarie Rohn Davis / Banca: Antônio Carlos Artur / Resumo: O gás radônio, resultado do decaimento radioativo do 238U e 232Th, é motivo de grande preocupação para o homem. Ele é uma das mais importantes fontes de radiação ionizante de origem natural que as pessoas estão expostas, sendo considerado pela OMS (Organização Mundial da Saúde) como o segundo maior causador de câncer de pulmão. O carvão mineral como qualquer outro combustível fóssil está associado a materiais radioativos naturais, devido principalmente ao seu conteúdo de 238U e 232Th. Para a compreensão do comportamento do gás radônio em área de mineração de carvão e determinar o grau de exposição das pessoas ao gás nesta área, foram determinadas a taxa de exalação de radônio de amostras de carvão, cinza, siltito e tufo vulcânico coletadas na mina Amado Simões PI-08 (Companhia Carbonífera do Cambuí), em Figueira (PR), a concentração de radônio no ar do interior da mina e a concentração de radônio, parâmetros físicos e químicos dos solos próximos à mina. As taxas de exalações foram obtidas por curvas experimentais da concentração de radônio em função do tempo, e variaram de 0,064 a 0,717 Bq/kg.h. Observou-se que o gás radônio entrou em equilíbrio radioativo após 180 horas de análise. A concentrações de radônio dissolvido no ar do interior da mina variaram de 7,2 a 770,5 Bq/m³, observou-se que o radônio tem maior escape das rochas por fraturas presentes nas frentes de lavra e que maior taxa de exalação vem das rochas encaixantes, remetendo em um problema radiológico à área de d... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: Radon gas, the result of the radioactive decay of 238U and 232Th, is a matter of great concern to man. It is one of the most important sources of naturally occurring ionizing radiation that people are exposed to and is considered by the World Health Organization (WHO) to be the second largest cause of lung cancer. Mineral coal like any other fossil fuel is associated with natural radioactive materials, mainly due to its content of 238U and 232Th. In order to understand the behavior of the radon gas in the coal mining area and determine the degree of exposure of the people to the gas in this area, the radon exhalation rate of samples of coal, ash, silt, and volcanic tuff collected at the Amado mine Simões PI-08 (Companhia Carbonífera do Cambuí), in Figueira (PR), the radon concentration in the air inside the mine and the radon concentration, physical and chemical parameters of the soils near the mine. The exhalation rates were obtained by experimental curves of the radon concentration as a function of time, and ranged from 0.064 to 0.717 Bq / kg.h. It was observed that the radon gas entered into radioactive equilibrium after 180 hours of analysis. The concentrations of radon dissolved in the air inside the mine varied from 7.2 to 770.5 Bq / m³, it was observed that the radon has greater escape of the rocks by fractures present in the mining fronts and that higher exhalation rate comes from encasing rocks, sending in a radiological problem to the area of discard. The concentrat... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

Orientador : Vladimir Antonio Paulon / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Civil / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-01T21:59:21Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Burke_AlineKatiusciaMateusJoaquim_M.pdf: 6239126 bytes, checksum: 09aa14bf73f3bb37b877b2d2e227cd11 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2002 / Resumo: O radônio-222 é um gás nobre e radioativo presente na cadeia de decaimento do urânio238. Os componentes do concreto (cimento e agregados) têm suas matérias-primas extraídas da crosta terrestre que contêm o urânio como impureza. O 238U presente nesses componentes irá decair segundo a sua série radioativa até o 206Pb, passando pelo radônio que pode difundir-se para o interior das edificações. A emanação de 222Rn proveniente do concreto depende de dois fatores: do teor de 226Ra e do comprimento de difusão do radônio no material. O presente trabalho teve por objetivo avaliar a influência das propriedades do concreto na emanação de radônio. Para tal, efetuou-se um estudo sistemático sobre a emanação de radônio em amostras de concreto com tipos de cimento e composições diferentes. A emanação de 222Rn foi determinada em campânulas plásticas vedadas empregando detectores sólidos de traços nucleares (LR-115). Para obtenção de informações relativas ao comprimento de difusão do concreto determinou-se sua resistência mecânica, absorção e ascensão capilar, porosidade e permeabilidade. O teor de 226Ra também foi determinado. Os resultados indicaram correlações positivas entre o coeficiente de emanação de radônio e absorção e ascensão capilar, permeabilidade e diâmetro de poros; e negativas entre o coeficiente de emanação de radônio e a resistência à compressão. Analisando-se os resultados obtidos concluiu-se que a ordem hierárquica das propriedades que afetam a emanação de radônio é: permeabilidade, diâmetro de poros, porosidade total e por fim, a absorção e ascensão capilar / Abstract: The radon-222 is a noble radioactivity gas present in uranium-238 decay chain. The concrete components (cement and aggregates) have their raw materials extracted from crust that contains uranium as impurity. The 238U contained in these components will decay following its decay chain until 206Pb, passing by radon that can diffuse to indoor air of dwellings. The 222Rn emanation from concrete depends upon two factors: 226Ra content and diffusion length. The main objective of this work was to assess the influence of the concrete proprieties in radon emanation. For this purpose, it was carried out a systematic study about radon emanation from concrete samples that have different mix proportions and that were produced with different cement types. The 222Rn concentration was determined in sealed plastic chamber employing solid state nuclear track detectors (LR-11S). The mechanical strength, water absorption, sorptivity, porosity and air permeability of concrete were determined to obtain information about diffusion length. The 226Ra concentration was also determined. The results indicated positive correlation between radon emanation coefficient and water absorption, sorptivity, air permeability and pore diameter; and negative between radon emanation coefficient and compressive strength. After the result analysis, it is concluded that the hierarchical order of the properties that affected the radon emanation is: air permeability, pore diameter, porosity, and finally water absorption and sorptivity / Mestrado / Edificações / Mestre em Engenharia Civil

Magister Scientiae - MSc / The prospect of unconventional shale-gas development in the Karoo Basin (South Africa) has created the need to obtain baseline data on natural radioactivity in Karoo groundwaters. The Karoo Basin groundwater radiological baseline developed through this study could serve as a reference to research potential future radiological contamination effects due to hydraulic fracturing. The major naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM) studied was radon (222Rn), in particular in-water activity concentrations; however, supplementary radium (226Ra and 228Ra) in-water activity concentrations and uranium (238U) in-water concentrations measurements were also made. A total of 53 aquifers across three provinces were sampled for groundwater and measured, with three measurement series from 2014 to 2016. The aquifers were categorized as shallow, mixed, or deep source. The radon-in-water baseline of the Karoo Basin can be characterised by a minimum of 0.6 ± 0.9 Bq/L, a maximum of 183 ± 18 Bq/L and mean of 41 ± 5 Bq/L. The radon-in-water levels from shallow sources (with water temperature < 20 °C) were systematically higher (40 Bq/L) than for deep sources (with water temperature > 20 °C). The natural fluctuations in radon-in-water levels were predominantly associated with shallow aquifers compared to almost none observed in the deep sources. The uranium in-water baseline can be characterised by a minimum of below detection level, a maximum of 41 μg/L, and the mean of 5.10 ± 0.80 μg/L. Similar to radon-in-water levels, uranium in-water levels for shallow sources were systematically higher than for deep sources. The limited (six aquifers) radium (228Ra and 226Ra) in-water activity-concentration measurement results were very low, with a maximum of 0.008 Bq/L (226Ra) and 0.015 Bq/L (228Ra). The 228Ra/226Ra ratio baseline were characterised by a minimum of 0.93, a mean of 3.3 ± 1.3, and a maximum of 6.5. The radium isotopes’ activity concentration ratio is an isotopic tracer for hydraulic fracturing wastewater. Pollution and contamination (radiological), due to unconventional shale gas development, in water resources has been noticed in the Marcellus Basin (United States). Consequently, developing and improving continuous baseline monitoring are of importance to study the environmental radiological effect of hydraulic fracturing.

The following article consists of two parts; one part is about house construction and the other is a specialization about radon. The house construction part describes how to project a house from start. It contains the conformation of the house, the installations needed, calculations considering the strength of the construction, energy calculation and what materials were chosen. Calculations considering the costs of building and operate the house has been carried out. The result showed that the house would cost approximately two million Swedish kroner to build and thirteen thousand kronor a year to operate. We feel very happy about the resulting house and content about the fact that it fulfills all the demands of BBR19. The specialization about radon is integrated in the article as a report from a consult considering the radon emanation in the house. The report has a wide informative base about what radon emanation is, how it works and what laws there are in the subject. The specialization of the report is about a quite current topic; when we have stopped using aerated concrete in houses, are there still risk that ordinary concrete emanates radon and gives of radon gas in our homes? Is it possible to reassure that this does not happen? What we have concluded is that it is very likely that the concentrations of radon in a room will be high if the wrong kind of ballast is used in the concrete. It is possible to reassure that this does not happen, but at the moment there are no clear guidelines about tolerated values from building materials. Also there is yet no money to earn by doing quality controls on ballast. If the demand for radon safe ballast increases due to a gathered effort to lower the requirements considering radon concentrations, the development of quality controls will go faster.

Radon gas may be a major air quality hazard issue inside the home. Radon (222Rn) comes from the natural breakdown of radioactive uranium (238U) via radium (226Ra) in soil, rocks, and water. Radon and its progeny contribute more than 50% of the total radiation dose to the human population due to inhalation; it can result in severe and fatal lung disease. This investigation has determined the radon concentrations in seventy-seven domestic houses in a mountainous area of Hamadan in Iran which were monitored using track-etch detectors of type CR-39 exposed for three month periods. The arithmetic mean radon concentration in Hamadan buildings was determined to be 80 Bqm-3 and also an average indoor annual effective dose equivalent for the Hamadan city population was calculated as 1.5 mSv. Maximum radon concentrations were noted during the winter and spring season. In addition to this, 28 water wells were monitored by utilizing a Sarad Doseman detector at hourly intervals over extended periods. Radon measurements were also carried out in the nearby Alisadr show cave, using Solid State Nuclear Track etch Detectors (SSNTDs) during the winter and the spring periods. In the cave, the average annual effective geometric and arithmetic mean dose for guides was 28.1 and 34.2 mSv respectively. The dose received by visitors was very low. Hamadan city is built on alluvial fan deposits which are the source of the local water supply. The data from the wells shows that the groundwater in these alluvial deposits influences the flux of radon. The atmospheric radon concentration measurement in wells above the water surface ranged from 1,000 Bqm-3 to 36,600 Bqm-3. There is evidence that radon-rich ground waters play a significant role in the transport of radon through the alluvial fan system. There is evidence that the radon concentrations in homes in Hamadan are greatly influenced by the porous nature of the underlying geology and the movement of groundwater within the alluvial fan. / The Ministry of Health and Education; the University of Hamadan in Iran: University of Bradford: University of Kingston

The focus of this research is to develop and extend the application of existing technologies to enhance seismic reservoir characterization. The chapters presented in this dissertation constitute five individual studies consisting of three applications of the Radon transform, one aspect of acoustic wave propagation, and a pilot study of generating a stochastic reservoir model. The first three studies focus on the use of the Radon transform to enhance surface-recorded, controlled-source seismic data. First, the use of this transform was extended to enhance diffraction patterns, which may be indicative of subsurface fractures. The geometry of primary reflections and diffractions on synthetic common-shot-gather data indicate that Radon filters can predict and model primary reflections upon inverse transformation. These modeled primaries can then be adaptively subtracted from the input gather to enhance the diffractions. Second, I examine the amplitude distortions at near and far offsets caused by free-surface multiple removal using Radon filters. These amplitudes are often needlessly reduced due to a truncation effect when the commonly used, unweighted least-squares solution is applied. Synthetic examples indicate that a weighted solution to the transformation minimizes this effect and preserves the reflection amplitudes. Third, a novel processing flow was developed to generate a stacked seismic section using the Radon transform. This procedure has the advantage over traditional summation of normal moveout corrected common midpoint gathers because it circumvents the need to perform manual and interpretive velocity analysis. The fourth study involves the detection of thin layers in periodic layerstacks. Numerical modeling of acoustic wave propagation suggests that the sinusoidal components of an incident signal with a wavelength that corresponds to the periodicity of the material be preferentially reflected. Isolating the different portions of the reflected wavefield and calculating the energy spectra may provide evidence of thin periodic layers which are deterministically unresolvable on their own. Object-based reservoir modeling often incorporates the use of lithology logs, deterministic seismic interpretation, architectural element analysis, geologic intuition, and modern and outcrop analogs. This last project consists of a pilot study where a more quantitative approach to define the statistical parameters currently derived through geologic intuition and analogs was developed. This approach utilizes a simulated annealing optimization technique for inversion and the pilot study shows that it can improve the correlation between synthesized and control logs. / Ph. D.

Radon is a colourless, odourless, inert, radioactive gas found in Group 8 of the Periodic Table; it is formed by the decay of uranium in soils and rocks. The half-life of radon is 3.8 days. Radon, in the built environment, is the second largest cause of lung cancer after cigarette smoking and is responsible for 3-5% of the UK cancer deaths. Radon can accumulate in workplaces to levels (400 Bq.m3), above which action is required under UK legislation by employers to remediate so as to reduce levels and lower the risk to human health. The remediation and post-remediation research programme in the NI-IS properties in Northamptonshire is perhaps the most mature in the UK, commencing in 1993. This thesis includes a review of the main remediation projects in National Health Service (NHS) properties in Northamptonshire. Data has been obtained from a range of sources, post-remediation, to enable a cost-effectiveness assessment. Using direct radon measurements and questionnaires, to determine occupancy, dose reduction has been calculated for all members of staff in the remediated venues. The reduction in dose is lower than the reduction in radon. The trends in radon levels post-remediation have been investigated night-time levels are reduced more than daytime levels and this has a clear implication for dose to staff The effective lifetime of the remediation systems has been investigated. Remediation systems, operated through a clear management system, have been found to remain effective up to eight years after installation. A Decision Support System to support radon management in the workplace is proposed as well as suggestions for future research

published_or_final_version / Radioisotope / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

The essential findings of this study are that, from a known radium source, radon variability in the environment of the buildings studied is an inevitable consequence of the variability of the prevailing surface boundary layer atmospheric conditions. These influences will be modified by the structural characteristics of the building and will vary directly, relative to the mechanically created variation of the atmospheric conditions inside the building. From the findings, a general hypothesis is postulated. It is probable, that the diurnal variation of radon results from the diurnal variation in ambient water vapour pressure. And that the seasonal variation in radon, arises from the changes in the range of this diurnal variation during the course of a year brought about by changing levels of temperature and barometric pressure. This will be varied to the extent, that wind pressure affects directly both the radon path from source to the building and the level of water vapour pressure. Where mechanically induced air-movement in the building creates overriding pressure and air exchange, then this is likely to determine the pattern of variability; and as a result can be used under some circumstances as a mitigation agent; with levels of concentration anticipated in a predictable way. The current practice of reliance on average radon values derived from time-average radon values of a living room and a bedroom, as being representative of the alpha particle dose delivered to an individual, may well significantly overstate the dose actually delivered to that individual at a particular radon level measured. This would follow potentially from a preponderance of radon transported overnight requiring a lower weighting factor for the amount delivered to above-ground-floor sleepers, and the much reduced level of intake to the respiratory system from reduced breathing rate during the sleep mode. Potentially also, from the mechanism postulated which implies the limitation of the impact of alpha particles, related to an association between water vapour pressure, radon and particulates in the atmosphere. Linkage between elevated radon levels and surface geological was identified; but no positive connection was apparent linking respiratory system cancers relative to radon/geology