Uncertainty on radiation doses estimated by biological and retrospective physical methods

Biological and physical retrospective dosimetry are recognised as key techniques to provide individual estimates of dose following unplanned exposures to ionising radiation. Whilst there has been a relatively large amount of recent development in the biological and physical procedures, development of statistical analysis techniques has failed to keep pace. The aim of this paper is to review the current state of the art in uncertainty analysis techniques across the ‘EURADOS Working Group 10— Retrospective dosimetry’ members, to give concrete examples of implementation of the techniques recommended in the international standards, and to further promote the use of Monte Carlo techniques to support characterisation of uncertainties. It is concluded that sufficient techniques are available and in use by most laboratories for acute, whole body exposures to highly penetrating radiation, but further work will be required to ensure that statistical analysis is always wholly sufficient for the more complex exposure scenarios

Dragutin Mayer and Božo Metzger: Leaders in Radiation Science and Radiation Protection in Croatia

Ubrzo nakon što je Röntgen krajem godine 1895. sustavno u literaturi opisao tzv. X-zrake, po njemu nazvane i rendgenskim zrakama, spoznaja o mogućnosti njihove uporabe u medicini i znanosti gotovo odmah dolazi u Hrvatsku te su prvi rendgenogrami i rendgenske cijevi nabavljeni već početkom godine 1896. Iste godine, prikazom prvog rendgenograma kao prve primjene rendgenskog zračenja na području Hrvatske označen je efektivni početak znanosti o zračenju u nas. U članku je prikazano školovanje, službovanje i javno djelovanje nedavno preminulog Dragutina Mayera i Bože Metzgera kao velikana iz područja znanosti o zračenju u Hrvatskoj. Istaknuta je njihova jedinstvena uloga u širenju visokoškolske nastave fizike na područje zaštite od zračenja u Hrvatskoj. Također, njihova svjedočanstva i kazivanja otkrila su brojne nepoznate detalje važne za povijest znanosti o zračenju i zaštite od zračenja u Hrvatskoj.Soon after Röntgen described X-rays (in many languages also known as Röntgen-rays) in end 1895, information about their use in medicine and science came to Croatia and first roentgenograms and Röntgen tubes were acquired by the beginning of the year 1896. That same year saw the first demonstration of Xrays and the effective beginning of radiation science in Croatia. This article speaks about, the work of Božo Metzger and the late Dragutin Mayer, two remarkable radiation scientists from Croatia. Both had a unique role in teaching radiation protection and physics at a university level. Their recollections reveal many unknown details about the history of radiation science and radiation protection in Croatia

Gamification elements on social live streaming service mobile applications

Social live streaming services (SLSSs), a kind of synchronous social networking service, are slowly but surely becoming a part of people’s daily lives. To keep users interested, a wide range of gamification elements are implemented on these services, increasing the user engagement and changing their behavior. This study examined 20 different SLSS mobile applications and the applied gamification elements. A literature review as well as a content analysis were used to find appropriate SLSS apps and game elements. What kind of mechanics can be found on SLSS mobile apps and how many are implemented on each system? On three of the observed apps we could identify all game elements. Chinese SLSS apps are the most gamified ones. On Ustream, no game element is implemented. The game mechanics following others as well as customization are the most often applied; capturing a moment of a stream is the least often implemented

Detection of correlated conformational fluctuations in intrinsically disordered proteins through paramagnetic relaxation interference

Functionally relevant conformational states of intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) are typically concealed in a vast space of fast interconverting structures. Here we present a novel methodology, NMR-based paramagnetic relaxation interference (PRI), that allows for direct observation of concerted motions and cooperatively folded sub-states in IDPs. The proposed NMR technique is based on the exploitation of cross correlated electron-nuclear dipolar relaxation interferences in doubly spin-labeled proteins and probes the transient spatial encounter of electron-nucleus spin pairs