Hesterunderwood1030

In modern radiotherapy techniques, to ensure an accurate beam modeling process, dosimeters with high accuracy and spatial resolution are required. Therefore, this work aims to propose a simple, robust, and a small-scale fiber-integrated X-ray inorganic detector and investigate the dosimetric characteristics used in radiotherapy.

The detector is based on red-emitting silver-activated zinc-cadmium sulfide (Zn,Cd)SAg nanoclusters and the proposed system has been tested under 6 MV photons with standard dose rate used in the patient treatment protocol. The article presents the performances of the detector in terms of dose linearity, repeatability, reproducibility, percentage depth dose distribution, and field output factor. A comparative study is shown using a microdiamond dosimeter and considering data from recent literature.

We accurately measured a small field beam profile of 0.5×0.5cm

at a spatial resolution of 100µm using a LINAC system. The dose linearity at 400 MU/min has shown less than 0.53% and 1dose distribution hence it can be a suitable candidate for beam characterization and quality assurance of LINAC system.The effects of atmospheric pollution on plant species richness (nsp) are of widespread concern. We carried out a modelling exercise to estimate how nsp in British semi-natural ecosystems responded to atmospheric deposition of nitrogen (Ndep) and sulphur (Sdep) between 1800 and 2010. We derived a simple four-parameter equation relating nsp to measured soil pH, and to net primary productivity (NPP), calculated with the N14CP ecosystem model. Parameters were estimated from a large data set (n = 1156) of species richness in four vegetation classes, unimproved grassland, dwarf shrub heath, peatland, and broadleaved woodland, obtained in 2007. The equation performed reasonably well in comparisons with independent observations of nsp. We used the equation, in combination with modelled estimates of NPP (from N14CP) and soil pH (from the CHUM-AM hydrochemical model), to calculate changes in average nsp over time at seven sites across Britain, assuming that variations in nsp were due only to variations in atmospheric deposition. At two of the sites, two vegetation classes were present, making a total of nine site/vegetation combinations. In four cases, nsp was affected about equally by pH and NPP, while in another four the effect of pH was dominant. The ninth site, a chalk grassland, was affected only by NPP, since soil pH was assumed constant. Our analysis suggests that the combination of increased NPP, due to fertilization by Ndep, and decreased soil pH, primarily due to Sdep, caused an average species loss of 39% (range 23-100%) between 1800 and the late 20th Century. The modelling suggests that in recent years nsp has begun to increase, almost entirely due to reductions in Sdep and consequent increases in soil pH, but there are also indications of recent slight recovery from the eutrophying effects of Ndep.Sludge incineration technology is facing the problem of gaseous pollutant discharge. The control of NOx emissions is the key to reducing the impact of sludge combustion on environmental pollution. In this study, Fenton/CaO was used to condition municipal sludge, which was subsequently mixed with rice husk to fabricate briquette fuel for combustion experiments. The effects of the conditioner dosages, mass ratios of the rice hull to sludge, and the combustion temperatures on NOx emissions from briquette combustion were studied. LY3039478 concentration The results showed that the NOx emissions decreased with increasing doses of conditioned sludge. In addition, with an increase in the rice husk ratio in the briquette, the NOx emissions decreased and the conversion rate increased. Additionally, with an increasing combustion temperature, the combustion of molded fuel became more complete. The NOx emission of conditioned sludge combustion was reduced by approximately 1.3 times compared with that of the sludge alone. Using the response surface methodology, the optimized conditions were obtained as follows the rice husk mixing ratio is 43.8%, the Fenton/CaO conditioner dosage is 220 mg/g, and the temperature is 829 °C. The minimum NOx emission concentration was predicted to be 0.845 mg/g. The NOx emission laws observed from the combustion of mixed fuel pellets are believed to provide basic data for a new sludge treatment method.Maternal exposure to air pollution has been associated with a higher birth defect (BD) risk. Previous studies suffer from inaccurate exposure assessment methods, confounding individual-level variations, and classical analytical modelling. This study aimed to examine the association between maternal exposure to criteria air pollutants and BD risk. A total of 553 cases and 10,214 controls were identified from private and public databases. Two subgroups were then formed one for a matched case-control design, and another for Feature Selection (FS) analysis. Exposure assessment was based on the mean air pollutant-specific levels in the mother's residential area during the specific BD gestational time window of risk (GTWR) and other time intervals. Multivariate regression models outcomes consistently showed a significant protective effect for folic acid intake and highlighted parental consanguinity as a strong BD risk factor. After adjusting for these putative risk factors and other covariates, results show that ma risk prediction model.Biochar may variably impact nitrogen (N) transformation and N-cycle-related microbial activities. Yet the mechanism of biochar amendment on nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from agricultural ecosystems remains unclear. Based on a 6-year long-term biochar amendment experiment, we applied a dual isotope (15N-18O) labeling technique with tracing transcriptional genes to differentiate the contribution of nitrifier nitrification (NN), nitrifier denitrification (ND), nitrification-coupled denitrification (NCD) and heterotrophic denitrification (HD) pathway to N2O production. Then the field experiment provided quantitative data on dynamic N2O emissions, soil mineral N and key functional marker gene abundances during the wheat growing season. By using 15N-18O isotope, biochar decreased N2O emission derived from ND (by 45-94%), HD (by 35-46%) and NCD (by 30-64%) compared to the values under N application. Biochar increased the relative contribution of NN to total N2O production as evidenced by the increase in ammonia-oxidizing bacteria, but did not influence the cumulative NN-derived N2O.