1,362 research outputs found

    Sievert or Gray: Dose Quantities and Protection Levels in Emergency Exposure

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    Mitigation or even elimination of adverse effects caused by ionizing radiation is the main scope of the radiation protection discipline. The interaction of radiation with living matter is quantified and correlated with biological effects by dose. The Sievert is the most well-known quantity, and it is used with the equivalent and effective dose to minimize stochastic effects. However, Gray is the reference quantity for sizing tissue reactions that could occur under high-exposure conditions such as in a radiation emergency. The topics addressed in this review are the choice to move from Sievert to Gray, how the operational quantities for environmental and individual monitoring of the detectors should consider such a change of units, and why reference levels substitute dose levels in emergency exposure

    Circuit quantum acoustodynamics with surface acoustic waves

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    The experimental investigation of quantum devices incorporating mechanical resonators has opened up new frontiers in the study of quantum mechanics at a macroscopic level1,2^{1,2}. Superconducting microwave circuits have proven to be a powerful platform for the realisation of such quantum devices, both in cavity optomechanics3,4^{3,4}, and circuit quantum electro-dynamics (QED)5,6^{5,6}. While most experiments to date have involved localised nanomechanical resonators, it has recently been shown that propagating surface acoustic waves (SAWs) can be piezoelectrically coupled to superconducting qubits7,8^{7,8}, and confined in high-quality Fabry-Perot cavities up to microwave frequencies in the quantum regime9^{9}, indicating the possibility of realising coherent exchange of quantum information between the two systems. Here we present measurements of a device in which a superconducting qubit is embedded in, and interacts with, the acoustic field of a Fabry-Perot SAW cavity on quartz, realising a surface acoustic version of cavity quantum electrodynamics. This quantum acoustodynamics (QAD) architecture may be used to develop new quantum acoustic devices in which quantum information is stored in trapped on-chip surface acoustic wavepackets, and manipulated in ways that are impossible with purely electromagnetic signals, due to the 10510^{5} times slower speed of travel of the mechanical waves.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figures, 1 tabl

    Focus on diffusion MR investigations of musculoskeletal tissue to improve osteoporosis diagnosis: A brief practical review

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    Nowadays, a huge number of papers have documented the ability of diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (D-MRI) to highlight normal and pathological conditions in a variety of cerebral, abdominal, and cardiovascular applications. To date, however, the role of D-MRI to investigate musculoskeletal tissue, specifically the cancellous bone, has not been extensively explored. In order to determine potentially useful applications of diffusion techniques in musculoskeletal investigation, D-MRI applications to detect osteoporosis disease were reviewed and further explained
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