• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.402-407
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• 2009

In this study, plastic optical fiber sensors which can measure thermal neutron dose in a mixed neutron-gamma field are developed and characterized. Using $^{252}Cf$ and $^{60}Co$ sources, the scintillators suitable for thermal neutron detection, are tested and the scintillating lights generated from a plastic optical fiber sensor in the Kyoto University Critical Assembly (kuca) core are measured. Also, the distributions of thermal neutron and gamma-ray are measured in a mixed field as a function of the distance from the center of the reactor core at KUCA and the distribution of thermal neutron is obtained using a subtraction method. Sensitivity of the fiber-optic radiation sensor system is about 0.49 V/mW according to power of the KUCA core and its relative error is about 1.2 %.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2007.06a
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• pp.533-533
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• 2007

The stress effect of SiGe p-type metal oxide semiconductors field effect transistors(MOSFETs) has been investigated to compare device properties using Si bulk and partially depleted silicon on insulator(PD SOI). The electrical properties in SiGe PD SOI presented enhancements in subthreshold slope and drain induced barrier lowering in comparison to SiGe bulk. The reliability of gate oxides on bulk Si and PD SOI has been evaluated using constant voltage stressing to investigate their breakdown (~ 8.5 V) characteristics. Gate leakage was monitored as a function of voltage stressing time to understand the breakdown phenomena for both structures. Stress induced leakage currents are obtained from I-V measurements at specified stress intervals. The 1/f noise was observed to follow the typical $1/f^{\gamma}$ (${\gamma}\;=\;1$) in SiGe bulk devices, but the abnormal behavior ${\gamma}\;=\;2$ in SiGe PD SOI. The difference of noise frequency exponent is mainly attributed to traps at silicon oxide interfaces. We will discuss stress induced instability in conjunction with the 1/f noise characteristics in detail.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.1
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• pp.164-169
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• 2020

Use of SiPM has been considered as an alternative to PMT, because of its compact size, low-operating voltage, non-sensitive to electromagnetic, low costs and so on. The main limitation for the use of SiPM is due to its small sensitive area compared to PMT that limits the light collection, and therefore the sensor energy resolution. In this article we studied the effect of increasing the number of SiPM by connecting them in parallel to increase the active detection area. This allowed us to compare the different energy resolution measurements. ¹³⁷Cs has been selected as reference to study the energy resolution for 662 keV gamma-rays. Another investigation was to compare the minimum detectable gamma energy under various SiPM configurations. It has been found that the use of 4 SiPM arrays can greatly improve the energy resolution up to 4% than only one SiPM array, meanwhile use of more than 2 SiPM arrays does not increase the energy resolution significantly. Thus we can conclude that for a large area of cylindrical scintillator (3 × 3 inches), the use of SiPMs are limited to a certain number or certai active area depending on the commercial SiPMs, and its cost should be less than traditional PMT for the cost-effective and compact size considerations. It is well known that the gain of SiPM varies with temperature. In this article, we also calibrated gain to guarantee the same position of photoelectric peak in response of different temperatures.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.123-137
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• 2001

Background: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the accuracy of measurements obtained from 3-dimensional computerized tomography and 3-dimensional cephalogram constructed by using the frontal and lateral cephalogram of six human dry skulls. Materials and Methods: After CT scans and each cephalograms were taken, 3-dimensional coordinates (X, Y, Z) of landmarks were obtained using computer programs. In this study, the accuracy of both methods were determined by means of 14 linear measurements compare with caliper measurements. Results: The standard deviation of landmarks of 3-dimensional CT and 3-dimensional cephalogram were 0.23 mm, and 0.30 mm in X axis, 0.27 mm and 0.25 mm in Y axis, and 0.27 mm and 0.31 mm in Z axis. In both methods, the standard deviation were less than 0.5 mm in all landmarks, and the most of landmarks showed less than 1 mm in range. Concerning the accuracy, the mean difference between 3-dimensional CT and manual measurements was 0.33 mm, and 1.13 mm between 3-dimensional cephalogram and manual measurements. The distance between RGo and LGo showed the largest difference (2.03 mm). There were highly significant, and large correlation with manual measurements in both methods (p<0.01). Conclusion: It is concluded that closeness of repeated measures to each skulls reveal the precision of both methods. Computerized tomography and cephalogram for 3-dimensional measurement of maxillofacial structure are equivalent in quality to caliper measurements.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.59-67
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• 2023

Background: This study aims to reevaluate natural radiation exposure, following up on our previous study conducted in 2019, and to assess the associated risk of lung cancer to the public residing in the gold mining areas of Betare-Oya, east Cameroon, and its vicinity. Materials and Methods: Gamma-ray spectra collected using a 7.62 cm×7.62 cm in NaI(Tl) scintillation spectrometer during a car-borne survey, in situ measurements and laboratory measurements performed in previous studies were used to determine the outdoor absorbed dose rate in air to evaluate the annual external dose inhaled by the public. For determining internal exposure, radon gas concentrations were measured and used to estimate the inhalation dose while considering the inhalation of radon and its decay products. Results and Discussion: The mean value of the laboratory-measured outdoor gamma dose rate was 47 nGy/hr, which agrees with our previous results (44 nGy/hr) recorded through direct measurements (in situ and car-borne survey). The resulting annual external dose (0.29±0.09 mSv/yr) obtained is similar to that of the previous study (0.33±0.03 mSv/yr). The total inhalation dose resulting from radon isotopes and their decay products ranged between 1.96 and 9.63 mSv/yr with an arithmetic mean of 3.95±1.65 mSv/yr. The resulting excess lung cancer risk was estimated; it ranged from 62 to 216 excess deaths per million persons per year (MPY), 81 to 243 excess deaths per MPY, or 135 excess deaths per MPY, based on whether risk factors reported by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, United Nations Scientific Committee on the effects of Atomic Radiation, or International Commission on Radiological Protection were used, respectively. These values are more than double the world average values reported by the same agencies. Conclusion: There is an elevated level of risk of lung cancer from indoor radon in locations close to the Betare-Oya gold mining region in east Cameroon. Therefore, educating the public on the harmful effects of radon exposure and considering some remedial actions for protection against radon and its progenies is necessary.

• Fibers and Polymers
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.135-140
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• 2001

Organic-inorganic hybrid composites consisting of poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) and SiO$_2$ were prepared through a sol-gel process and the crystallization behavior of PVDF in the presence of $SiO_2$ networks was investigated by spectroscopic, thermal and x-ray diffraction measurements. The hybrid composites obtained were relatively transparent, and brittleness increased with increasing content of tetraethoxysilane (TEOS). It was regarded from FT-lR and DSC thermal analyses that at least a certain interaction existed between PVDF molecules and the $SiO_2$ networks. X-ray diffraction measurements showed that all of the hybrid samples had a crystal structure of PVDF ${\gamma}$-phase. Fresh gel prepared from the sol-gel reaction showed a very weak x-ray diffraction peak near 2$\theta$=$21^{\circ}$ due to PVDF crystallization, and Intensity increased grade-ally with time after gelation. The crystallization behavior of PVDF was strongly affected by the amount of $SiO_2$ networks. That is, $SiO_2$ content directly influenced preference and disturbance fur crystallization. In polymer-rich hybrids, $SiO_2$ networks had a favorable effect on the extent of PVDF crystallization. In particular, the maximum portent crystallinity of PVDF occurred at the content of 3.7 wt% $SiO_2$ and was higher than that of pure PVDF. However. beyond about 10 wt% $SiO_2$, the crystallization of PVDF was strongly confined.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.6
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• pp.1252-1258
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• 2020

This study explores the ability of non-destructive assay techniques to detect a partial material defect in which 100 g of plutonium are diverted from the center of a 1000 g can of PuO₂ powder. Four safeguards measurements techniques: neutron multiplicity counting, calorimetry, gravimetry, and gamma ray spectroscopy are used in an attempt to detect the defect. Several materials are added to the partial defect PuO₂ can to replicate signatures of the diverted material. ²⁵²Cf is used to compensate for the doubles neutron counts, ²⁴¹Am is used to compensate for the decay heat, and aluminum is used to compensate for the weight. Although, the doubles and triples difference before and after diversion are statistically indistinguishable with the AWCC in fast and thermal mode, the difference in the singles counts are statistically detectable in both modes. The relatively short half-life of ²⁵²Cf leads to a decrease (three sigma uncertainty) in the doubles neutron counts after 161 days. Combining this with the precise quantity of ²⁴¹Am needed (10.7 g) to mimic the heat signature and the extreme precision in ²⁵²Cf mass needed to defeat neutron multiplicity measurements gives reassurance in the International Atomic Energy Agency's ability to detect partial material defects.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.7
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• pp.1355-1366
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• 2020

A review of the documentation and an interpretation of the NEA-1517/74 and NEA-1517/80 shielding benchmarks (measurements of photon leakage flux from a hollow sphere with a central 14 MeV neutron source) from the SINBAD database with the Monte Carlo code MCS and the most up-to-date ENDF/B-VIII.0 neutron data library are conducted. The two analyzed benchmarks describe satisfactorily the energy resolution of the photon detector and the geometry of the spherical samples with inner beam tube, tritium target and cooling water circuit, but lack information regarding the detector geometry and the distances of shields and collimators relatively to the neutron source and the detector. Calculations are therefore conducted for a sphere model only. A preliminary verification of MCS neutron-photon calculations against MCNP6.2 is first conducted, then the impact of modelling the inner beam tube, tritium target and cooling water circuit is assessed. Finally, a comparison of calculated results with the libraries ENDF/B-VII.1 and ENDF/B-VIII.0 against the measurements is conducted and shows reasonable agreement. The MCS and MCNP inputs used for the interpretation are available as supplementary material of this article.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.203-206
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• 2001

The mathematical processing (unfolding) of pulse height spectra from a scintillation detector helps to calculate the photon fluence rate energy distribution in a measured photon field. The data processing is based on the knowledge of detection system response function and directional dependence respectively. The experimental results of the photon fields measurements in the vicinity of the spent fuel temporary storage and inside the storage hall are presented. The containers Castor 440 are used for temporary storing of the burnt up fuel assemblies in the Czech nuclear power plant Dukovany. A set of periodical measurements was performed in order to get basic information on the time dependence of the photon fields spatial distributions and spectral characteristics in the temporary storage hall and its vicinity. The photon fields were measured by the scintillation system. The obtained photon fields spatial distributions and spectral characteristics present the information on the radiation hazard in the storage.

• Geotechnical Engineering
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.27-46
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• 1994

It has been demonstrated in plane strain compression tests performed on dense Toyoura sand and Silver Leighton Buzzard sand, that the newly developed instrumentation for small strain measurements was capable of measuring the altering stiffness of sands for a wide range of shear strain from ($10^{-6}$to $10^{-2}$. It was found that for the range of shear strain($\gamma$) from $10^{-5}$ to those at peak, the Rowe's stressiilatancy relation seemed to be a good approximation for Toyoura sand and Silver Leighton Buzzard sand. However, the value of K and Poisson's ratio(at elastic range:${\nu}_{psc}^e$) varied with sand types. It was also found that the value of ${\nu}_{psc}^e$ and stress -dilatancy relation was irrespective of overconsolidation ratio(OCR).