Gamma, X-ray and neutron shielding properties of polymer concretes

We have studied the X-ray and gamma radiation shielding parameters such as mass attenuation coefficient, linear attenuation coefficient, half value layer, tenth value layer, effective atomic numbers, electron density, exposure buildup factors, relative dose, dose rate and specific gamma ray constant in some polymer based concretes such as sulfur polymer concrete, barium polymer concrete, calcium polymer concrete, flourine polymer concrete, chlorine polymer concrete and germanium polymer concrete. The neutron shielding properties such as coherent neutron scattering length, incoherent neutron scattering lengths, coherent neutron scattering cross section, incoherent neutron scattering cross sections, total neutron scattering cross section and neutron absorption cross sections in the polymer concretes have been studied. The shielding properties among the studied different polymer concretes have been compared. From the detail study, it is clear that barium polymer concrete is good absorber for X-ray, gamma radiation and neutron. The attenuation parameters for neutron are large for chlorine polymer concrete. Hence, we suggest barium polymer concrete and chlorine polymer concrete are the best shielding materials for X-ray, gamma and neutrons

Estimating global injuries morbidity and mortality: methods and data used in the Global Burden of Disease 2017 study

BACKGROUND: While there is a long history of measuring death and disability from injuries, modern research methods must account for the wide spectrum of disability that can occur in an injury, and must provide estimates with sufficient demographic, geographical and temporal detail to be useful for policy makers. The Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2017 study used methods to provide highly detailed estimates of global injury burden that meet these criteria. METHODS: In this study, we report and discuss the methods used in GBD 2017 for injury morbidity and mortality burden estimation. In summary, these methods included estimating cause-specific mortality for every cause of injury, and then estimating incidence for every cause of injury. Non-fatal disability for each cause is then calculated based on the probabilities of suffering from different types of bodily injury experienced. RESULTS: GBD 2017 produced morbidity and mortality estimates for 38 causes of injury. Estimates were produced in terms of incidence, prevalence, years lived with disability, cause-specific mortality, years of life lost and disability-adjusted life-years for a 28-year period for 22 age groups, 195 countries and both sexes. CONCLUSIONS: GBD 2017 demonstrated a complex and sophisticated series of analytical steps using the largest known database of morbidity and mortality data on injuries. GBD 2017 results should be used to help inform injury prevention policy making and resource allocation. We also identify important avenues for improving injury burden estimation in the future