The threat of a Radiological Dispersal Device (RDD) detonation arouses the concern of contaminated victims of all ages. The purpose of this study was to investigate the dose to a uniformly contaminated five-year old male. It also explores the exposure rates surrounding the victim to be used by first receivers to estimate their exposure from the victim. The victim was modeled as an anthropomorphic phantom using the BodyBuilder program. A thin layer of source material was added to the surface of the phantom’s skin to simulate whole-body contamination. The computer code MCNP5 was used to tally the doses to the individual organs of the phantom and create a mesh to generate contour exposure rate lines. Using an activity of 37 GBq m-2, the five-year-old victim received an effective dose 158.23 mSv in one hour. Contour lines were produced that showed the exposure rates around the victims ranging from 0.5 to 10 R/h. The contour exposure-rate contour lines were also generated after the removal of contaminated clothing. Removing the victim’s clothing reduced the exposure rates by eighty percent.

A Radiological Dispersal Device (RDD) is any device that releases radioactive material into the environment (e.g. Dirty Bomb). Depending on the size of the explosion, location, and the weather conditions the affected area could be several city blocks. In such an event there could be hundreds, even thousands of contaminated victims seeking medical treatment. One concern in the healthcare industry is the uncertainty of the level of radiation exposure to the healthcare providers from these contaminated patients. The intention of this study is to estimate the levels of skin contamination for victims arriving at the hospital needing conventional medical treatment. Given a skin contamination of the victim the effective dose rate to the healthcare providers can be estimated in certain scenarios. The effective dose rate will determine how long the healthcare provider would be able to care for the victims.

As radiation specialists, one of our primary objectives in the Navy is protecting people and the environment from the effects of ionizing and non-ionizing radiation. Focusing on radiological dispersal devices (RDD) will provide increased personnel protection as well as optimize emergency response assets for the general public. An attack involving an RDD has been of particular concern because it is intended to spread contamination over a wide area and cause massive panic within the general population. A rapid method of triage will be necessary to segregate the unexposed and slightly exposed from those needing immediate medical treatment. Because of the aerosol dispersal of the radioactive material, inhalation of the radioactive material may be the primary exposure route. The primary radionuclides likely to be used in a RDD attack are Co-60, Cs-137, Ir-192, Sr-90 and Am-241. Through the use of a MAX phantom along with a few Simulink MATLAB programs, a good anthropomorphic phantom was created for use in MCNPX simulations that would provide organ doses from internally deposited radionuclides. Ludlum model 44-9 and 44-2 detectors were used to verify the simulated dose from the MCNPX code. Based on the results, acute dose rate limits were developed for emergency response personnel that would assist in patient triage.

An RDD attack against the U.S. is something America needs to prepare against. If such an event occurs the ability to quickly identify the source of the radiological material used in an RDD would aid investigators in identifying the perpetrators. Spent fuel is one of the most dangerous possible radiological sources for an RDD. In this work, a forensics methodology was developed and implemented to attribute spent fuel to a source reactor. The specific attributes determined are the spent fuel burnup, age from discharge, reactor type, and initial fuel enrichment. It is shown that by analyzing the post-event material, these attributes can be determined with enough accuracy to be useful for investigators. The burnup can be found within a 5% accuracy, enrichment with a 2% accuracy, and age with a 10% accuracy. Reactor type can be determined if specific nuclides are measured. The methodology developed was implemented into a code call NEMASYS. NEMASYS is easy to use and it takes a minimum amount of time to learn its basic functions. It will process data within a few minutes and provide detailed information about the results and conclusions.

The detonation of a radiological dispersal device (RDD) may result in casualties receiving exposure of radioactive materials. Assessments of potentially contaminated personnel are necessary to determine the level of contamination received in order to prioritize and treat individuals. The use of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and the number of orphan sources in deployed and combat areas such as Iraq, present an opportunity for terrorists to use an RDD against deployed ground forces. There is limited capability in Iraq to assess radiological casualties, as the process of obtaining and analyzing bioassays is time consuming and not readily available in country. Military units are equipped with AN/VDR-2 and AN/PDR-77 radiac detectors which are capable of detecting gamma radiation. Therefore, a study of the use of these radiac sets in assessing internal contamination was conducted. A model of the detector probe was created using the Los Alamos National Laboratory Monte Carlo N-Particle transport code, MCNP Version 5. This model was experimentally validated and used in conjunction with both reference male and reference female computational Medical Internal Radiation Dose (MIRD) phantoms to compute internal dose. The instrument model was evaluated at the following locations, the posterior upper right torso, the anterior upper right torso, the lateral upper left thigh and the anterior of the neck. Nuclides were distributed throughout the phantoms using the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Dose and Risk Calculation (DCAL) software for inhalation pathways. Based on the likelihood for use in RDDs and the capabilities of the instrument, Co-60, Cs-137 and Ir-192 were evaluated.

為了「減輕家庭負擔，使3歲以下兒童獲得適切的健康照顧，促進其身心正常發展」，內政部兒童局自2002年起實施「三歲以下兒童醫療補助計畫」，並且已有研究證實此政策確實有效以免除部分負擔的方式降低兒童就醫門檻，增加兒童的醫療利用。然而，在我國面臨醫療資源分布不均與貧富差距逐漸擴大的同時，政策效果的分配是否公平有待商榷。由於兒童一旦滿三歲即不再受政策補助，本研究使用2004年至2009年健保資料庫中就醫年紀滿三歲前後二十週的兒童為樣本，依其居住地區與在固定居住地區下依其家庭所得條件分組，觀察各組兒童滿三歲前後醫療利用的變化並比較組間差別，使用RDD (regression discontinuity design) 分析政策在兒童滿三歲時造成的斷點是否顯著。 實證結果顯示，在依居住地區分組下，兒童滿三歲不受補助後，西醫門診以醫療資源不足區醫療利用的下降最為顯著；西醫急診以醫療資源過剩區醫療利用下降最為顯著，而不論西醫門診或西醫急診，皆以醫療資源不足區的價格彈性最大，其中西醫門診與急診間的替代關係對估計結果有一定的影響。在固定居住地區下依家庭所得條件分組下，各居住地區均以低所得組受政策效果較顯著，醫療資源不足區的低所得組以西醫門診政策效果最為顯著；過剩區的低所得組則以西醫急診政策效果最為顯著。兩種分組依據下的結果均顯示，醫療資源分布不均造成的低落醫療可近性無法以兒童醫療補助計畫消弭。

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-29T14:23:37Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Karina Buttignon.pdf: 2998214 bytes, checksum: 29e7a72d8e08d7a68e766e6ee13e1ba1 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-09-01 / This study was designed with the desire to propose new approaches to teaching and learning process, modeling a teaching methodology that could support the teacher and the student, leading them to a more interactive experimentation for teaching in the course of computing by means of narratives as a way to teach using the OCC-RDD technique widely discussed in GEMS (Study Group on Software Modeling) of the TIDD at PUC / SP, supported by cognitive levels of Bloom's Taxonomy. The research proposes the development of a prototype for creating and manipulating stories within the educational context dealing conjectured scenarios scenes "objective," "mishap" and "Catastrophe", provided for in the OCC-RDD technique already mentioned. The literature review still permeates the work of Mieke Bal on the dynamics of functioning of fables, including guiding the entries used in this study. The motivation for this study, in addition to everyday observation arising from the unrest in the teaching practice, took breath in contact with the dropout data recorded in the area of computing, especially in the learning point of view. Among the situations mentioned by bibliographic studies, no understandings of the disciplines that require proficiency in logic, are the most incidents. Having done this formation process guided by the tenets found in the literature review, we understand the importance of bringing the creation of a prototype that could give plasticity ace mental conceptions formatted in the process of understanding of all these variables. The dissertation this separated into six chapters the first corresponds to contextualize the work, the second chapter deals with the theoretical framework of the relationship of computing with cognitive science, the OCC-RDD technique and its characteristics, the third chapter is based on the theories of Mieke Bal to construct fables in an attempt to create OCC-RDD fables scenarios in the fourth chapter presents three case studies applied at a college in the course of computing, chapter five describes and presents the model of a prototype and sixth chapter completion and collaborations for future work / Este estudo foi concebido com o anseio de propor novas abordagens no processo ensino e aprendizagem, modelando uma metodologia de docência que pudessem apoiar o professor e o aluno, levando-os a uma experimentação mais interativa quanto ao ensino no curso de computação, por meio do uso de narrativas como uma forma de ensinar, utilizando a técnica OCC-RDD amplamente discutida no GEMS (Grupo de Estudos em Modelagem de Software) do TIDD na PUC/SP, apoiada pelos níveis cognitivos da Taxonomia de Bloom. O trabalho de pesquisa propõe o desenvolvimento de um protótipo para criação e manipulação histórias dentro do contexto de ensino tratando cenários conjecturados de cenas Objetivo , Contratempo e Catástrofe , previstos na técnica OCC-RDD, já mencionada. A revisão bibliográfica ainda permeia o trabalho de Mieke Bal sobre a dinâmica de funcionamento das fábulas, orientando inclusive os verbetes utilizados neste estudo. A motivação para este estudo, além das inquietações oriundas da observação cotidiana na pratica docente, tomaram fôlego em contado com os dados de evasão escolar registrados para a área da computação, principalmente no ponto de vista da aprendizagem. Dentre as situações apontadas pelos estudos bibliográficos, o não entendimento das disciplinas que exigem uma proficiência em lógica, são os mais incidentes. Tendo feito esse itinerário formativo norteado pelos postulados encontrados na revisão bibliográfica, entendeu-se a importância da propositura da criação de um protótipo que pudesse dar plasticidade ás concepções mentais formatadas durante o processo de entendimento de todas essas variáveis. A dissertação esta separada em seis capítulos, o primeiro corresponde à contextualização do trabalho, o segundo capítulo trata da fundamentação teórica sobre a relação da computação com a ciência cognitiva, a técnica OCC-RDD e suas características, o terceiro capítulo fundamenta-se nas teorias de Mieke Bal para a construção de fábulas, na tentativa de criar cenários de fábulas OCC-RDD no quarto capítulo apresentam-se três estudos de casos aplicados em uma faculdade no curso de computação, o capítulo cinco descreve e apresenta o modelo de um protótipo e no sexto capítulo a conclusão e colaborações para trabalhos futuros

In an event of a radiological dispersion device (RDD) detonated by terrorists in a high population density area, the hospitals and other medical facilities will be overwhelmed by people who may or may not have been contaminated by radioactivity. Under such circumstances, it would be desirable to identify people who have inhaled radioactive particles and direct them immediately for further treatment. A portable 3 by 3 NaI detector, which is widely available at most universities, was studied as a tool to identify and calculate the activity of unknown radioisotopes for such an RDD event.

It remains unlikely that a terrorist organization could produce or procure an actual nuclear weapon. However, the construction of a radiological dispersal device (RDD) from commercially produced radioactive sources and conventional explosives could inflict moderate human casualties and significant economic damage. The vast availability of radioactive sources and the nearly limitless methods of dispersing them demand an inclusive study of the acquisition pathways for an RDD. A complete network depicting the possible acquisition pathways for an RDD could be subjected to predictive modeling in order to determine the most likely pathway an adversary might take. In this work, a comprehensive network of RDD acquisition pathways was developed and analyzed utilizing the Bayesian network analysis software, Netica. The network includes variable inputs and motivations that can be adjusted to model different adversaries. Also, the inclusion of evidence nodes facilitates the integration of real-time intelligence with RDD plot predictions. A sensitivity analysis was first performed to determine which nodes had the greatest impact on successful completion of RDD acquisition. These results detail which portions of the acquisition pathways are most vulnerable to law enforcement intervention. Next, a series of case studies was analyzed that modeled specific adversarial organizations. The analysis demonstrates various features of the constructed Bayesian RDD acquisition network and provides examples of how this tool can be utilized by intelligence analysts and law enforcement agencies. Finally, extreme cases were studied in which the adversary was given the maximum and minimum amount of resources in order to determine the limitations of this model. The aggregated results show that successful RDD acquisition is mostly dependent on the adversary’s resources. Furthermore, the network suggests that securing radiological materials has the greatest effect on interdicting possible RDD plots. Limitations of this work include a heavy dependence on conditional probabilities that were derived from intuition, as opposed to actual historical data which does not exist. However, the model can be updated as attempted or successful RDD plots emerge in the future. This work presents the first probabilistic model of RDD acquisition pathways that integrates adversary motivations and resources with evidence of specific RDD threats.

In the event that a radiological dispersal device (RDD) is detonated in the U.S. or near U.S. interests overseas, it will be crucial that the actors involved in the event can be identified quickly. If irradiated nuclear fuel is used as the dispersion material for the RDD, it will be beneficial for law enforcement officials to quickly identify where the irradiated nuclear fuel originated. One signature which may lead to the identification of the spent fuel origin is the isotopic composition of the RDD debris. The objective of this research was to benchmark a forward model methodology for predicting isotopic composition of spent nuclear fuel used in an RDD while at the same time optimizing the fidelity of the model to reduce computational time. The code used in this study was Monteburns-2.0. Monteburns is a Monte Carlo based neutronic code utilizing both MCNP and ORIGEN. The size of the burnup step used in Monteburns was tested and found to converge at a value of 3,000 MWd/MTU per step. To ensure a conservative answer, 2,500 MWd/MTU per step was used for the benchmarking process. The model fidelity ranged from the following: 2-dimensional pin cell, multiple radial-region pin cell, modified pin cell, 2D assembly, and 3D assembly. The results showed that while the multi-region pin cell gave the highest level of accuracy, the difference in uncertainty between it and the 2D pin cell (0.07% for 235U) did not warrant the additional computational time required. The computational time for the multiple radial-region pin cell was 7 times that of the 2D pin cell. For this reason, the 2D pin cell was used to benchmark the isotopics with data from other reactors. The reactors from which the methodology was benchmarked were Calvert Cliffs Unit #1, Takahama Unit #3, and Trino Vercelles. Calvert Cliffs is a pressurized water reactor (PWR) using Combustion Engineering 14??14 assemblies. Takahama is a PWR using Mitsubishi Heavy Industries 17??17 assemblies. Trino Vercelles is a PWR using non-standard lattice assemblies. The measured isotopic concentrations from all three of the reactors showed good agreement with the calculated values.