Lock-in detection using a cryogenic low noise looped current preamplifier for the readout of resistive bolometers

We implemented a low noise current preamplifier for the readout of resistive bolometers. We tested the apparatus on thermometer resistances ranging from 10 Ohm to 500 Mohm. The use of current preamplifier overcomes constraints introduced by the readout time constant due to the thermometer resistance and the input capacitance. Using cold JFETs, this preamplifier board is shown to have very low noise: the Johnson noise of the source resistor (1 fA/Hz1/2) dominated in our noise measurements. We also implemented a lock-in chain using this preamplifier. Because of fast risetime, compensation of the phase shift may be unnecessary. If implemented, no tuning is necessary when the sensor impedance changes. Transients are very short, and thus low-passing or sampling of the signal is simplified. In case of spurious noise, the modulation frequency can be chosen in a much wider frequency range, without requiring a new calibration of the apparatus.Comment: 18 pages, 7 figures, Accepted in NIM

Analysing Port Community System Network Evolution

Ports have played an important role in facilitating exchanges among countries since the day when inland transportation was poor. As ports become hubs for global supply chain, they have to maintain their competitiveness not only by reassuring their efficiency, reliability, accessibility to hinterland, and sustainability. In addition, there is a constant challenge from all operational parties of the port to acquire needed information or to trust information received, due to multiple legacy systems and platforms that do not integrate with each other, and to the lack of real time updates. There are differing agendas between parties and, sometimes, distrust within the multi-stakeholder ecosystem leads to working in silos. This jeopardises seamless data exchange and cooperation across the port value chain, resulting in significant inefficiencies. Port community system (PCS) can enhance communication and simplify administrative process resulting economic and environmental benefit for actors in the supply chain. The invisibility of the benefit, actors’ heterogeneity and significant investment to develop the system resulting a reluctance in implementing PCS. This chapter aims to study the evolution mechanism behind the process of PCS network development using lessons learned from industrial symbiosis network development and network trajectories theory. The PCS network development follows a serendipitous and goal-oriented process that can be categorised into three stages: pre-PCS network, PCS network emergence, and PCS network expansion. This chapter contributes to the exploration of network evolution and documents lesson learned to foster PCS implementation.© 2020 Springer. This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published in European Port Cities in Transition: Moving Towards More Sustainable Sea Transport Hubs. The final authenticated version is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-36464-9_10fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

La vie après une embolie pulmonaire : évaluation du vécu des patients âgés de moins de 50 ans au moment du diagnostic

National audienc

La dosimétrie à l’IRSN

Les activités de recherche et d’expertise en dosimétrie de l’Institut de radioprotection et de sûreté nucléaire (IRSN) sont les héritières de celles commencées dans les années soixante au CEA. Les premiers laboratoires créés dans les années soixante étaient destinés à développer les techniques dosimétriques des rayonnements externes pour la protection du personnel. Aujourd’hui, les laboratoires de dosimétrie externe et interne de l’institut couvrent assez largement les différentes problématiques liées à la dosimétrie des rayonnements ionisants, que ce soit pour la mesure et le suivi des doses en situation normale d’exploitation ou pour la reconstitution des doses à la suite d’une situation accidentelle. En 1984, la création des LARD est intervenue sous l’impulsion du chef du service de dosimétrie Portal et de Blanc dans le but de favoriser les contacts entre les divers laboratoires et notamment de les aider à pénétrer les arcanes de la commission européenne pour s’intégrer aux programmes de recherche soutenus par la commission. Après un bref rappel historique, trois des champs d’activité actuellement traités par l’IRSN sont présentés, la reconstitution dosimétrique suite à une irradiation externe accidentelle, la caractérisation dosimétrique et spectrométrique des postes de travail exposés aux neutrons et la recherche pour l’amélioration de la mesure directe en dosimétrie interne

Use of ICT for More Efficient Port Operations: The Experience of the EASYLOG Project

The 4.0 revolution in the shipping industry is growing fast and ports are requested to constantly innovate and evolve. Ports need to become not only smarter to implement more efficient, sustainable, and safer operations but also interconnected with each other. This paper presents the experience of the Easylog Project – Optimized logistics for ports and intermodal transport – funded under the Interreg IT-FR Maritime 2014–2020 program. Easylog aims to improve the mobility of rolling cargo between Italian and French regions by taking advantage of ICT technologies to increase the performance of intermodal transport chains and the overall quality of the services offered by ports. The project involves five ports in the upper Tyrrhenian area for which it proposes the shared adoption of integrated ICT devices for optimized and secure management of port operations between the operators involved in the cross-border (trans)port chain. The driving idea is to move from a non-integrated and fragmented management and control system of port events and flows to a common and connected ICT system. Easylog may represent a useful case study potentially replicable in many port contexts

Improvements in routine internal monitoring— an overview of the IDEA project.

The IDEA project aimed to improve the assessment of incorporated radionuclides through developments of advanced in vivo and bioassay monitoring techniques and making use of such enhancements for improvements in routine monitoring. Many of these findings are not new in the sense that they are being already employed in advanced laboratories or for specialised applications. The primary goal was to categorise those new developments regarding their potential and eligibility for the routine monitoring community. Attention has been given to in vivo monitoring techniques with respect to detector characteristics and measurement geometry to improve measurement efficiency with special attention to low energy gamma emitters. Calibration—specifically supported by or through methods of numerical simulation—have been carefully analysed to reduce overall measurement uncertainties and explore ways to accommodate the individual variability based on characteristic features of a given person. For bioassay measurements at low detection limits, inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy offers significant advantages both in accuracy, speed, and sample preparation. Specifically, the determination of U and Th in urine and the associated models have been investigated. Finally, the scientific achievements have been analysed regarding their potential to offer benefits for routine monitoring. These findings will be presented in greater detail in other papers at this conference, whereas this paper intends to give an overview and put both the scientific achievements as well as the derived benefits into perspective

Implementation of bioassay methods to improve assessment of incorporated radionuclides.

The present work which was carried out in the framework of an EU project (IDEA: Internal Dosimetry—Enhancements in Application; Contract Number: FIKR CT2001 00164) shall provide commonly acceptable guidelines for optimum performance of ICP-MS measurements with focus on urinary measurements of uranium, thorium and actinides. From the results of this work it is recommended that, whenever feasible, 24 h urine sampling should be conducted to avoid large uncertainties in the quantitation of daily urinary excretion values. For storage, urine samples should be acidified and kept frozen before analysis. Measurement of total uranium in urine by ICP-MS at physiological levels (<10 ng·l–1) requires no sample preparation besides UV photolysis and/or dilution. For the measurement of thorium in urine by ICP-MS, it can be concluded, that salt removal from the urine samples is not recommended. For the measurement of actinides in urine it is shown that ICP-MS is well-suited and a good alternative to alpha-spectrometry for isotopes with T1/2>5x104 years. In general, ICP-MS measurements are an easy, fast and cost-saving methodology. New improved measuring techniques (HR-SF-ICP-MS) with detection limits in urine of 150 pg·l–1 (1.9 µBq·l–1) for 238U, 30 pg·l–1 (2.4 µBq·l–1) for 235U and 100 pg·l–1 (0.4 µBq·l–1) for 232Th, respectively, meet all necessary requirements. This method should therefore become the routine technique for incorporation monitoring of workers and of members of the general public, in particular for uranium contamination

Practical implications of procedures developed in IDEA project—comparison with traditional methods.

The idea of the IDEA project aimed to improve assessment of incorporated radionuclides through developments of more reliable and possibly faster in vivo and bioassay monitoring techniques and making use of such enhancements for improvements in routine monitoring. In direct in vivo monitoring technique the optimum choice of the detectors to be applied for different monitoring tasks has been investigated in terms of material, size and background in order to improve conditions namely to increase counting efficiency and reduce background. Detailed studies have been performed to investigate the manifold advantageous applications and capabilities of numerical simulation method for the calibration and optimisation of in vivo counting systems. This calibration method can be advantageously applied especially in the measurement of low-energy photon emitting radionuclides, where individual variability is a significant source of uncertainty. In bioassay measurements the use of inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) can improve considerably both the measurement speed and the lower limit of detection currently achievable with alpha spectrometry for long-lived radionuclides. The work carried out in this project provided detailed guidelines for optimum performance of the technique of ICP-MS applied mainly for the determination of uranium and thorium nuclides in the urine including sampling procedure, operational parameters of the instruments and interpretation of the measured data. The paper demonstrates the main advantages of investigated techniques in comparison with the performances of methods commonly applied in routine monitoring practice