• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.142-146
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• 2020

Background: Tritium (³H) analysis in groundwater was difficult because of its low activity. Therefore, the electrolytic enrichment method was used. To improve the detection limit and for performing simple analysis, a high-volume counting vial with the available liquid scintillation counter (LSC) was investigated. Further, it was compared with a conventional 20-mL counting vial. Materials and Methods: The LSC with the electrolytic enrichment method was used ³H analysis in groundwater. A high-volume 145-mL counting vial was compared with a conventional 20-mL counting vial to determine the counting characteristics of different LSCs. Results and Discussion: When a Quantulus LSC was used, the counting window between channels 35 and 250 was used. The background count was approximately 1.86 cpm, and the counting efficiency increased from 8% to 40% depending on the mixing ratio of the volume of sample and cocktail solution. For LSC-LB7, the optimum counting window was between 1 and 4.9 keV, which was selected by the factory (Hitachi Aloka Medical Ltd., Japan) by considering quenching using a standard external gamma source. The background count of LSC-LB7 was approximately 3.60 ± 0.29 cpm when the 145-mL vial was used and 2.22 ± 0.17 cpm when the 20-mL vial was used. The minimum detectable activity (MDA) of the 20-mL vial was greater for LSC-LB7 than for Quantulus. The MDA with the 145-mL vial was improved to 0.3 Bq/L when compared with the value of 1.6 Bq/L for the 20-mL vial. Conclusion: The counting efficiency when using the 145-mL vial was 27%, whereas it was 18% when using the 20-mL vial. This difference can be attributed to the vial volume. The figure of merit (FOM) of the 145-mL vial was four times greater than that of the 20-mL vial because the volume of the former vial is approximately seven times greater than that of the latter. Further, the MDA for ³H decreased from 1.6 to 0.3 Bq/L. The counting efficiency and FOM of LSC-LB7 was slightly less than those of Quantulus when the 20-mL vial was used. The background counting rate of the Quantulus was lower than that of the LSC-LB7.

• Communications of Mathematical Education
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.469-486
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• 2022

Counting occupies a fundamental and important position in mathematical learning due to its relation to number concepts and numeral operations. In particular, counting up to large numbers is an essential learning element in that it is structural counting that includes the understanding of place values as well as the one-to-one correspondence and cardinal principles required by counting when introducing number concepts in the early stages of number learning. This study aims to derive didactical implications by investigating the possibility of and the strategies for counting large numbers that is expected to have no students' experience because it is not composed of current textbook activities. To do this, 89 second-grade elementary school students who learned the three-digit numbers and experienced group-counting and skip-counting as textbook activities were provided with questions asking how many penguins were in a picture where 260 penguins were irregularly arranged and how to count. As a result of analyzing students' responses in terms of the correct answer rate, the strategy used, and their cognitive characteristics, the incorrect answer rate was very high, and the use of decimal principles, group-counting, counting by one, and partial sum strategies were confirmed. Based on these analysis results, several didactical implications were derived, including the need to include counting up to large numbers as textbook activities.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.18-24
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• 2012

Purpose : Although lung ventilation SPECT (LV-SPECT) has a good sensitivity in detection of deep lung lesions, it is difficult to apply the LV-SPECT to patients having breathing problems due to limited examination time. In this study, we evaluated the usefulness of LEAP collimator, which provides high detection sensitivity and tolerable resolution, for the LV-SPECT in terms of diagnostic accuracy and examination time. Materials and Methods : Four volunteers inhaled Technegas (370 MBq) and the lung ventilation planar scan (LVPS, 300 counts/view (cpv)) with LEHR collimator was performed using Siemens E.cam scanner as a reference test. LV-SPECT scans were performed with three collimators, LEHR, LEUHR, and LEAP, in low (7 kcpv) and high (70 kcpv) counting modes. The count ratios of left (LT) and right (RT) lung segments were calculated on the geometric mean view of anterior and posterior images for LVPS and on the summed coronal images of LV-SPECT, respectively. Comparing to LVPS, the usefulness of three different collimators for LV-SPECT was evaluated through statistical analysis (paired t-test), on count ratios of lung segments. Results : The average LT:RT ratio in LVPS was 47:53. For LV-SPECT, there were negligible difference of the LT:RT ratios (48:52 on average) among three different collimators in low and high counting modes. Comparing to standard LVPS with LEHR, all LV-SPECTs with different collimators resulted in similar diagnostic accuracy through paired t-test (p>0.05). The scan time in LVPS (6 views) was 17.3 min. For LV-SPECT (128 views) in low counting mode, it took 18.7 (LEUHR), 15.0 (LEHR), and 12.3 min (LEAP), respectively. Conclusion : Comparing to standard LVPS, the LV-SPECT with LEAP in low counting mode provided the comparable diagnostic accuracy in addition to shortened scan time.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.269-273
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• 2004

The hybrid dead time model adopting paralyzable (or extendable) and non-paralyzable (or non-extendable) dead times has been introduced to extend the usable range of G-M counters in high counting rate environment and the relationship between true and observed counting rates is more accurately expressed in the hybrid model. GMSIM, dead time effects simulator, has been developed to analyze the counting statistics of G-M counters using Monte Carlo simulations. GMSIM accurately described the counting statistics of the paralyzable and non-paralyzable models. For G-M counters that follow the hybrid model, the counting statistics behaved in between two idealized models. In the future, GMSIM may be used in predicting counting statistics of three G-M dead time models, which are paralyzable, non-paralyzable and hybrid models.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.51 no.6
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• pp.1616-1625
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• 2019

Measuring occurrence times of random events, aimed to determine the statistical properties of the governing stochastic process, is a basic topic in science and engineering, and has been the subject of numerous mathematical modeling approaches. Often, true statistical properties deviate from measured properties due to the so called dead time phenomenon, where for a certain time period following detection, the detection system is not operational. Understanding the dead time effect is especially important in radiation measurements, often characterized by high count rates and a non-reducible detector dead time (originating in the physics of particle detection). The effect of dead time can be interpreted as a suitable rarefied sequence of the original time sequence. This paper provides a limit theorem for a high rate (diffusion-scale) counter with extendable (Type II) dead time, where the underlying counting process is a renewal process with finite second moment for the inter-event distribution. The results are very general, in the sense that they refer to a general inter arrival time and a random dead time with general distribution. Following the theoretical results, we will demonstrate the applicability of the results in three applications: serially connected components, multiplicity counting and measurements of aerosol spatial distribution.

• Proceedings of the IEEK Conference
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• 2002.06e
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• pp.47-50
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• 2002

An extended-counting analog to digital converter (ADC) is designed to have a high resolution(14bit) with low power consumption and small dia area. First order sigma-delta modulator with a simple counter for incremental operation eliminates the need of big decimation filter in conventional sigma-delta type ADC. To improve the accuracy and linearity, extended mode of successive approximation is followed. For 14-bit conversion operation, total 263 clocks(1 clock for reset, 256 clocks for incremental operation and extended 6 clocks for successive approximation operation) are needed with the sampling rate of 10 Ms/s This ADC is implemented in a 0.6um standard CMOS technology with a die area of 1 mm ${\times}$ 0.75 mm.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.111-117
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• 1997

Recently, the conclusion of Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty(CTBT) is globally constructing a network system for nuclear test monitoring. The radionuclide experts of the Conference on Disarmament recommended that the detection of nuclear debris in the atmosphere was an essential factor of nuclear test monitoring and proposed the technical requirements. Based on those requirements, atmospheric radionuclide monitoring system to detect nuclear debris generated from the nuclear explosion test was composed. The system is comprised of high volume air sampler(HVAS), filter paper presser and high purity germanium detector(HPGe). Minimum detectable concentrations(MDCs) of the key nuclides requiring in CTBT monitoring strategies are determined by considering of decay time, counting time and flow rate of the high volume air sampler for the rapid explosion and the optimum measurement condition. The results were selected $10{\pm}$2h, $20{\pm}$2h and $850{\pm}50m^3$/h as parameters, respectively. The relation between the natural air-borne radionuclide concentration of $^{212}Pb$ and MDC were calculated which gave effect in the Compton continuum baseline due to those nuclides in the gamma-ray spectroscopy. These results can be used as an actually tool in the CTBT monitoring strategies.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.11
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• pp.3798-3807
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• 2021

Tritium extraction from radioactively contaminated cement mortar samples was performed using heating and liquid scintillation counting methods. Tritiated water molecules (HTO) can be present in contaminated water along with water molecules (H₂O). Water is one of the primary constituents of cement mortar dough. Therefore, if tritium is present in cement mortar, the buildings and structures using this cement mortar would be contaminated by tritium. The radioactivity level of the materials in the environment exposed to tritium contamination should be determined for their disposal in accordance with the criteria of low-level radioactive waste disposal facility. For our experiments, the cement mortar samples were heated at different temperature conditions using a high-temperature combustion furnace, and the extracted tritium was collected into a 0.1 M nitric acid solution, which was then mixed with a liquid scintillator to be analyzed in a liquid scintillation counter (LSC). The tritium extraction rate from the cement mortar sample was calculated to be 90.91% and 98.54% corresponding to 9 h of heating at temperatures of 200 ℃ and 400 ℃, respectively. The tritium extraction rate was close to 100% at 400 ℃, although the bulk of cement mortar sample was contaminated by tritium.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.175-179
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• 1986

In order to develope a protoplast fusion of the genus Cellulomonas having high assimilibility of cellulose, the optimum conditions for the protoplast formation of Cellulomonas flavigena NCIB 12901 was investigated and observed by means of Scanning Electron Microscope. The results suggested that the susceptibility of the cell wall by lysozyme treatment on protoplast formation was considerably depend on the cultural periods of the cells. Cells of C. flavigena at mid exponential phase could more efficiently convert to protoplast cells than those at late exponential phase did. The rate of the protoplast formation was 95%, even though the rate was over 99.9% on counting by indirect method after osmotic shock treatment, when cells of the organism at mid exponential phase were treated with lysozyme (400$\mu\textrm{g}$/$m{\ell}$) for 6 hours and observed by SEM. In the evaluation of protoplast formation of the genus Cellulomonas, direct method of the observation under Scanning Electron Microscope was much more reliable than the counting method of protplasts after osmotic shock treatment. Because defferences between the number of spheroplast and protoplast were not able to be figured out on counting the number of protoplast after osmotic shock treatment.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.6
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• pp.1277-1281
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• 2020

A novel ceramic Gas Electron Multiplier (GEM) has been developed to meet the demand of high counting rate for the neutron detection which is an alternative to ³He-based detector at China Spallation Neutron Source (CSNS). An experiment was performed to measure the neutron transmittance of ceramic-GEM and FR4-GEM at the small angle neutron scattering (SANS) instrument. The result showed the ceramic-GEM has higher transmittance and less self-scattering especially for cold neutrons. One single ceramic GEM could give a gain of 10²-10⁴ in the mixture gas of Ar and CO₂ (90%:10%) and its energy resolution was about 27.7% by using ⁵⁵Fe X ray of 5.9 keV. A prototype has been developed in order to investigate the performances of the ceramic GEM-based neutron detector. Several neutron beam tests, including detection efficiency, spatial resolution, two-dimensional imaging, and wavelength spectrum, were carried out at CSNS and China Mianyang Research Reactor (CMRR). The results show that the ceramic GEM-based neutron detector is a good candidate to measure the high intensity neutrons.