Measurement and comparison of individual external doses of high-school students living in Japan, France, Poland and Belarus -- the "D-shuttle" project --

Twelve high schools in Japan (of which six are in Fukushima Prefecture), four in France, eight in Poland and two in Belarus cooperated in the measurement and comparison of individual external doses in 2014. In total 216 high-school students and teachers participated in the study. Each participant wore an electronic personal dosimeter "D-shuttle" for two weeks, and kept a journal of his/her whereabouts and activities. The distributions of annual external doses estimated for each region overlap with each other, demonstrating that the personal external individual doses in locations where residence is currently allowed in Fukushima Prefecture and in Belarus are well within the range of estimated annual doses due to the background radiation level of other regions/countries

Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) study of the short - living radicals generated thermally in phosphorylated maize starch with different amounts of amylose

Quantitative electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy was used for the determination of a number and properties of short-living radicals generated thermally in maize starch with various amounts of amylose. The EPR spectra of radical adducts with N-tert-butyl-α-phenylnitrone (PBN) spin trap reveal the presence of three types of radicals of mobility related with their localization in the zones of various degree of crystallinity. Hylon VII, which represents a matrix with a high content of amylose, offers better conditions for free rotation of radical species, whereas waxy maize, containing almost exclusively amylopectin, exhibits more restricted dynamics