Evaluation of the radiological risk in cargo scanning by comparison with known biological consequences

This study proposes a quick, easy, and low-cost method that can be used to assess the radiological safety of an irradiation line used for cargo and container inspection facilities. The radiation-emitting equipment used was a Smiths Heimam particle accelerator model HCVP4029 operating at 4.5 MeV. The radiation dose measurements were performed using a personal radiation monitor Ultra Radac mod MRAD 111 (Geiger–Muller). The ambient equivalent dose H*(10) was estimated for two facilities: A (real) (1.12E-03 mSv per scan) and B (fictitious) (3.25E-03 mSv per scan). The dimensionless factor R, which represents a ratio between two specific scanning (Ss) quantities regarding the facilities A and B, is introduced as a reference for assessing the level of radiological safety. This study compares facilities A and B by using a simple alternative safety assessment based on the R factor. The dimensionless R-value appears to be able to facilitate both the personnel’s and the general public’s perception of risk levels, even with no fixed scale.

Industry 4.0: A Proposal of Paradigm Organization Schemes from a Systematic Literature Review

Currently, the concept of Industry 4.0 is well known; however, it is extremely complex, as it is constantly evolving and innovating. It includes the participation of many disciplines and areas of knowledge as well as the integration of many technologies, both mature and emerging, but working in collaboration and relying on their study and implementation under the novel criteria of Cyber–Physical Systems. This study starts with an exhaustive search for updated scientific information of which a bibliometric analysis is carried out with results presented in different tables and graphs. Subsequently, based on the qualitative analysis of the references, we present two proposals for the schematic analysis of Industry 4.0 that will help academia and companies to support digital transformation studies. The results will allow us to perform a simple alternative analysis of Industry 4.0 to understand the functions and scope of the integrating technologies to achieve a better collaboration of each area of knowledge and each professional, considering the potential and limitations of each one, supporting the planning of an appropriate strategy, especially in the management of human resources, for the successful execution of the digital transformation of the industry.

Thermodynamic Scaling of the Shear Viscosity of Lennard-Jones Chains of Variable Rigidity

In this work, the thermodynamic scaling framework has been used to emphasize the limitations of fully flexible coarse grained molecular models to yield shear viscosity of real liquids. In particular, extensive molecular dynamics simulations have confirmed that, while being reasonable to describe the viscosity of short normal alkanes, the fully flexible Lennard-Jones and Mie chains force fields are inadequate to capture the density dependence of shear viscosity of medium to long alkanes. In addition, it is shown that such a weakness in terms of coarse grained molecular models can be readily quantified by using the thermodynamic scaling framework. As a simple alternative to these force fields, it is demonstrated that the insertion of a variable intramolecular rigidity in the Lennard-Jones chains model exhibits promising results to model medium to long chain-like real fluids from both thermodynamic and viscosity points of view.

On determinantal recurrence relations of banded matrices

We provide an algorithm based on a less-known result about recurrence relations for the determinants of banded matrices. As a consequence, we prove recent conjectures on the determinants of particular classes of pentadiagonal matrices and simple alternative proofs for other results.

A simple alternative to the relativistic Breit–Wigner distribution

First, we discuss the conditions under which the non-relativistic and relativistic types of the Breit–Wigner energy distributions are obtained. Then, upon insisting on the correct normalization of the energy distribution, we introduce a Flatté-like relativistic distribution -denominated as Sill distribution- that (i) contains left-threshold effects, (ii) is properly normalized for any decay width, (iii) can be obtained as an appropriate limit in which the decay width is a constant, (iv) is easily generalized to the multi-channel case (v) as well as to a convoluted form in case of a decay chain and - last but not least - (vi) is simple to deal with. We compare the Sill distribution to spectral functions derived within specific QFT models and show that it fairs well in concrete examples that involve a fit to experimental data for the $$\rho $$ ρ , $$a_1(1260)$$ a 1 ( 1260 ) , and $$K^*(982)$$ K ∗ ( 982 ) mesons as well as the $$\varDelta (1232)$$ Δ ( 1232 ) baryon. We also present a study of the $$f_2(1270)$$ f 2 ( 1270 ) which has more than one possible decay channels. Finally, we discuss the limitations of the Sill distribution using the $$a_0(980)$$ a 0 ( 980 ) -$$a_0(1450)$$ a 0 ( 1450 ) and the $$K_0^*(700)$$ K 0 ∗ ( 700 ) -$$K_0^*(1430)$$ K 0 ∗ ( 1430 ) resonances as examples.

Negation and Denial

It is assumed that we can assert that something is not the case. A simple alternative would be to deny that thing instead. The equivalence thesis, however, says that denial is simply equivalent to asserting the negation, and hence we do not need a separate act of denial in addition to assertion. We have seen, however, that such a move leads directly to an insoluble problem of finding truthmakers for negative truths. Instead, the equivalence thesis could be rejected, and there are some reasonable grounds to do so. Denial has distinct functions from the functions of assertion. Assertion requires a truthmaker and is relatively determinate. Denial, in contrast, is conventionally responsive and directly registers incompatibility. This suggests that denial is prior to negation, though the latter has become the standard way of marking the former. The account tells us that, rather than assert not-P, we are better simply denying P.

Akaby - cell-free protein expression system for linear templates

Cell-free protein expression is increasingly becoming popular for biotechnology, biomedical and research applications. Among cell-free systems, the most popular one is based on Escherichia coli (E. coli). Endogenous nucleases in E. coli cell-free transcription-translation (TXTL) degrade the free ends of DNA, resulting in inefficient protein expression from linear DNA templates. RecBCD is a nuclease complex that plays a major role in nuclease activity in E. coli, with the RecB subunit possessing the actual nuclease activity. We created a RecB knockout of an E. coli strain optimized for cell-free expression. We named this new strain Akaby. We demonstrated that Akaby TXTL successfully reduced linear DNA degradations, rescuing the protein expression efficiency from the linear DNA templates. The practicality of Akaby for TXTL is an efficient, simple alternative for linear template expression in cell-free reactions. We also use this work as a model protocol for modifying the TXTL source E. coli strain, enabling the creation of TXTL systems with other custom modifications.

Appointments: A More Effective Commitment Device for Health Behaviors

Health behaviors are plagued by self-control problems, and commitment devices are frequently proposed as a solution. We show that a simple alternative works even better: appointments. We randomly offer HIV testing appointments and financial commitment devices to high-risk men in Malawi. Appointments are much more effective than financial commitment devices, more than doubling testing rates. In contrast, most men who take up financial commitment devices lose their investments. Appointments address procrastination without the potential drawback of commitment failure, and also address limited memory problems. Appointments have the potential to increase demand for healthcare in the developing world.