This study experimentally determines the half-value layers (HVL) for RQR 3, RQR 4, and RQR 5 X-ray beams at Romania's Secondary Standard Dosimetry Laboratory (SSDL). RQR beams, standardized by the IEC for radiology calibration, correspond to specific tube voltage and filtration settings, simulating clinical conditions. Simplified parameters like tube voltage and HVLs describe the beam’s spectral distribution. HVL measurements ensure compliance with international standards in radioprotection and medical imaging. Following guidelines from IAEA TRS-457 and ISO/IEC 61267, the results confirm alignment with published data and improve calibration processes in radiology.

"We compute theoretically the loss function in a three layer silicene structure within random phase approximation (RPA) at zero temperature in the homogeneous and inhomogeneous cases. We get analytical expressions for the loss function restricted to the acoustic and optical plasmon branches in the long wavelength approximation. Numerical computations show that as we increase the interlayer distance between the silicene layers the broadened peaks in the loss function associated with the damped plasmons start to merge. Another important effect that we observe numerically is that the plasmonic spectral weight of the loss function associated with undamped plasmonic branches is dominated by the acoustic plasmons."

"Against the backdrop of global warming and the necessary reduction of CO2, the material wood is experiencing a renaissance as a result of increasing social acceptance. However, questions of harmless reforestation also come to the forefront. Ultimately, plantation cultivation of wood is unavoidable in order to meet the increasing demand for wood in the coming years. Agroforestry is the focus of economic and technical interest in this regard. Paulownia or Kiri tree belongs to the Paulowniaceae family and is the tree with the highest growth rate in the world. It has a large leaf area that can absorb correspondingly high amounts of CO2. Originally from China, it is now planted worldwide and is considered a climate tree. However, it must face the accusation of invasiveness. Therefore, less invasive varieties of Paulownia are of interest. However, these should also have appropriate mechanical properties. One of these material properties is damping, which significantly affects the acoustic behaviour. In this study, the strain-dependent damping was investigated by measuring the logarithmic decrement of free decaying bending oscillations. The measurements were carried out on a common Paulownia species (obtained from plantations in Georgia, Italy and Spain) and a new species of Paulownia obtained from a plantation in Germany. It is worth mentioning that the new wood variety was harvested for the first time in Germany. Since damping is strongly influenced by microstructure, which is in turn influenced by site-specific nutrient supply, this study examined how damping behaviour develops with strain and the extent of its variation. It was found that the damping curves exhibited a strain-independent and a strain-dependent area. The bending modulus was calculated from the oscillation frequency and showed that the values range from about 1024 N/mm2 to 5873 N/mm2 . This large variation appears to stem from the fiber orientation of the tested samples, which also affects the damping values. "

In this paper we present the effects of fringing on the measurement of the tip-sample capacitance for Kelvin probes driven by a harmonic backing potential. Moreover, we show that in this case it is still possible to obtain good estimations of operational parameters that allow for the fully controlled operation of harmonically driven Kelvin probes.

The effects of casting procedure and ageing time on the tensile properties of Pb–0.7%Sn–0.08%Ca positive grid alloy for lead-acid batteries were investigated. As a preheating temperature of a mold during casting increases from 40°C to 170°C, ultimate tensile strength decreases, but elongation increases due to the changes in the grain structure of the alloy. Prolongation of ageing time up to 32 days causes the increase in strength and decrease in elongation, with higher ageing rate observed during first 15 days.

The improvement of heat transfer in MEMS remains today a major challenge because its importance in many engineering applications and industry. The objective of this paper is to analyze heat transfer and irreversibility in micro flows. The case of heated horizontal microchannel filled with nanoliquid in the slip flow regime is investigated by means of the LBM method. The slip velocity and the temperature jump conditions are applied to lower and upper walls. The flow is induced by wall injection. The effects of quadratic combination of several design factors such as Reynolds number (Re), Knudsen number (Kn), volume fraction (Vf) and nanoparticles diameter (Dp) on heat transfer enhancement and volumetric entropy generation were reported and a polynomial regression for the interaction between these parameters is determinate based on response surface methodology.

The statistical moment method has been applied to investigate the temperature effects on the lattice parameters and elastic properties of the zinc-blende CdX (X = S, Se, Te) compounds. The analytical expressions of thermal-induced atomic displacement, lattice constant, elastic moduli (Young’s modulus, bulk modulus and shear modulus) and elastic constants (including C11,C12 and C44) of the zinc-blende compounds have been derived. We have pointed out that the temperature effects on the elastic properties of CdS and CdSe are almost the same. And the elastic quantities of CdS and CdSe are more strongly dependent on temperature than those of CdTe semiconductor. This phenomenon is caused by the weaker coupling force of Cd-Te bonds compared to those of Cd-S and Cd-Se bonds. Furthermore, from the calculated Debye temperatures of CdX (X = S, Se, Te) compounds we conclude that CdS has higher phonon thermal conductivity and is therefore more thermally conductive among the three semiconductor compounds. The calculations of present work can be used as an appropriate reference for the experiments in future.

"Different empirical and theoretical methods are used to precisely determine radionuclide activity concentrations. This study used Monte Carlo simulation MCNP5 code and EFFTRAN software (Efficiency Transfer) to determine the HPGe detector Full-Energy Peak (FEP) efficiency. A set of point sources (133Ba, 152Eu, 137Cs, 60Co, and 22Na) fixed on the top of the standard geometry plastic container were measured in order to obtain the calibration curve. Because of the importance of chemical composition parameters, the detector behavior due to different matrices was investigated. Experimental verification of the calibration was obtained using IAEA-TEL-2021-03 quality control water sample spiked with 152Eu and 133Ba, and the results were compared with reported results. A set of Certified Standard Reference samples were used for method validation. The obtained results were compared with the experimental results. The comparison clarified the advantages and disadvantages of both methods and their precision to demonstrate and suitable method for matrix types."

"Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) have been, for a long time, the best, and sometimes only, option when there was a need for high performance electronics while operating with tight constraints regarding communication bandwidth, speed and/or latency, low power consumption and other, more specialized requirements, such as radiation hardness. To make sure that all ASICs that are going to be used in electronics parts installed on experimental physics detectors are working properly, they need to be thoroughly tested and their testing results need to be stored and used for manufacturing traceability purposes. A test bench solution which allows identifying and eliminating sources of errors during the integration of ASICs in detector electronics based on machine vision and test automation procedures has been designed for this purpose and is being presented."