PNNL Results from 2010 CALIBAN Criticality Accident Dosimeter Intercomparison Exercise

This document reports the results of the Hanford personnel nuclear accident dosimeter (PNAD) and fixed nuclear accident dosimeter (FNAD) during a criticality accident dosimeter intercomparison exercise at the CEA Valduc Center on September 20-23, 2010. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) participated in a criticality accident dosimeter intercomparison exercise at the Commissariat a Energie Atomique (CEA) Valduc Center near Dijon, France on September 20-23, 2010. The intercomparison exercise was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Nuclear Criticality Safety Program, with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory as the lead Laboratory. PNNL was one of six invited DOE Laboratory participants. The other participating Laboratories were: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Savannah River Site (SRS), the Y-12 National Security Complex at Oak Ridge, and Sandia National Laboratory (SNL). The goals of PNNL's participation in the intercomparison exercise were to test and validate the procedures and algorithm currently used for the Hanford personnel nuclear accident dosimeters (PNADs) on the metallic reactor, CALIBAN, to test exposures to PNADs from the side and from behind a phantom, and to test PNADs that were taken from a historical batch of Hanford PNADs that had varying degrees of degradation of the bare indium foil. Similar testing of the PNADs was done on the Valduc SILENE test reactor in 2009 (Hill and Conrady, 2010). The CALIBAN results are reported here

Start Making Sense: Predicting confidence in virtual human interactions using biometric signals

This is volume 1 of the Measuring Behavior 2020-21 Conference. Volume 2 will follow when the conference takes place in October 2021. www.measuringbehavior.orgPublisher PD

A farm transmission model for Salmonella in pigs, applicable to EU members states

The burden of Salmonella entering pig slaughterhouses across the European Union (EU) is considered a primary food safety concern. In order to assist EU Member States with the development of National Control Plans, we have developed a farm transmission model applicable to all Member States. It is an individual-based stochastic Susceptible-Infected model, that takes into account four different sources of infection of pigs (sows, feed, external contaminants such as rodents and new stock) and various management practices linked to Salmonella transmission/protection (housing, flooring, feed, All-In-All-Out production). A novel development within the model is the assessment of dynamic shedding rates. The results of the model, parameterized for two case study Member States (one high and one low prevalence) suggest that breeding herd prevalence is a strong indicator of slaughter pig prevalence. Until a Member States’ breeding herd prevalence is brought below 10% then the sow will be the dominant source of infection to pigs raised for meat production; below this level of breeding herd prevalence, feed becomes the dominant force of infection

Hanford Technical Basis for Multiple Dosimetry Effective Dose Methodology

The current method at Hanford for dealing with the results from multiple dosimeters worn during non-uniform irradiation is to use a compartmentalization method to calculate the effective dose (E). The method, as documented in the current version of Section 6.9.3 in the 'Hanford External Dosimetry Technical Basis Manual, PNL-MA-842,' is based on the compartmentalization method presented in the 1997 ANSI/HPS N13.41 standard, 'Criteria for Performing Multiple Dosimetry.' With the adoption of the ICRP 60 methodology in the 2007 revision to 10 CFR 835 came changes that have a direct affect on the compartmentalization method described in the 1997 ANSI/HPS N13.41 standard, and, thus, to the method used at Hanford. The ANSI/HPS N13.41 standard committee is in the process of updating the standard, but the changes to the standard have not yet been approved. And, the drafts of the revision of the standard tend to align more with ICRP 60 than with the changes specified in the 2007 revision to 10 CFR 835. Therefore, a revised method for calculating effective dose from non-uniform external irradiation using a compartmental method was developed using the tissue weighting factors and remainder organs specified in 10 CFR 835 (2007)

Characterization of the Human Risk of Salmonellosis Related to Consumption of Pork Products in Different E.U. Countries Based on a QMRA

In response to the European Food Safety Authority's wish to assess the reduction of human cases of salmonellosis by implementing control measures at different points in the farm-to-consumption chain for pork products, a quantitative microbiological risk assessment (QMRA) was developed. The model simulated the occurrence of Salmonella from the farm to consumption of pork cuts, minced meat, and fermented ready-to-eat sausage, respectively, and a dose-response model was used to estimate the probability of illness at consumption. The QMRA has a generic structure with a defined set of variables, whose values are changed according to the E.U. member state (MS) of interest. In this article we demonstrate the use of the QMRA in four MSs, representing different types of countries. The predicted probability of illness from the QMRA was between 1 in 100,000 and 1 in 10 million per serving across all three product types. Fermented ready-to-eat sausage imposed the highest probability of illness per serving in all countries, whereas the risks per serving of minced meat and pork chops were similar within each MS. For each of the products, the risk varied by a factor of 100 between the four MSs. The influence of lack of information for different variables was assessed by rerunning the model with alternative, more extreme, values. Out of the large number of uncertain variables, only a few of them have a strong influence on the probability of illness, in particular those describing the preparation at home and consumption

Assessing the effect of on-farm and abattoir interventions in reducing human salmonellosis from pig meat consumption in the EU

Pigs are commonly infected with Salmonella spp. at the slaughterhouse, and the consumption of pig meat is hypothesised to be an important contributor to human salmonellosis. The European Union (EU) will shortly set targets for the reduction of Salmonella in pigs at slaughter for each Member State (MS), and each MS is expected to put in place a National Control Plan (NCP) in order to achieve their targets. If MSs are to realise their targets then practical interventions that consistently work must be identified

Unexpected patterns of global population structure in melon-headed whales Peponocephala electra

Foraging specialization, environmental barriers, and social structure have driven the development of strong genetic differentiation within many marine species, including most of the large dolphin species commonly referred to as ‘blackfish’ (subfamily Globicephalinae). We used mitochondrial sequence data (mtDNA) and genotypes from 14 nuclear microsatellite loci (nDNA) to examine patterns of genetic population structure in melon-headed whales Peponocephala electra (MHWs), poorly known members of the blackfish family for which genetic structuring is unknown. MHWs are globally distributed in tropical and subtropical waters, and have formed resident populations around oceanic islands. They frequently mass strand, suggesting strong social cohesion within groups. Based on these characteristics, we hypothesized that MHWs would exhibit strong regional genetic differentiation, similar to that observed in other members of the Globicephalinae subfamily. Instead we found only moderate differentiation (median mtDNA ΦST = 0.204, median nDNA FST = 0.012) among populations both within and between ocean basins. Our results suggest that populations of MHWs that are resident to oceanic islands maintain a higher level of genetic connectivity than is seen in most other blackfish. MHWs may be more behaviorally similar to delphinids from the Delphininae subfamily (particularly the spinner dolphin Stenella longirostris), which are known to form coastal and island-associated resident populations that maintain genetic connectivity either through occasional long-distance dispersal or gene flow with larger pelagic populations. Our results suggest that differences in social organization may drive different patterns of population structure in social odontocete