Role of shielding in modulating the effects of solar particle events: Monte Carlo calculation of absorbed dose and DNA complex lesions in different organs.

Distributions of absorbed dose and DNA clustered damage yields in various organs and tissues following the October 1989 solar particle event (SPE) were calculated by coupling the FLUKA Monte Carlo transport code with two anthropomorphic phantoms (a mathematical model and a voxel model), with the main aim of quantifying the role of the shielding features in modulating organ doses. The phantoms, which were assumed to be in deep space, were inserted into a shielding box of variable thickness and material and were irradiated with the proton spectra of the October 1989 event. Average numbers of DNA lesions per cell in different organs were calculated by adopting a technique already tested in previous works, consisting of integrating into "condensed-history" Monte Carlo transport codes--such as FLUKA--yields of radiobiological damage, either calculated with "event-by-event" track structure simulations, or taken from experimental works available in the literature. More specifically, the yields of "Complex Lesions" (or "CL", defined and calculated as a clustered DNA damage in a previous work) per unit dose and DNA mass (CL Gy-1 Da-1) due to the various beam components, including those derived from nuclear interactions with the shielding and the human body, were integrated in FLUKA. This provided spatial distributions of CL/cell yields in different organs, as well as distributions of absorbed doses. The contributions of primary protons and secondary hadrons were calculated separately, and the simulations were repeated for values of Al shielding thickness ranging between 1 and 20 g/cm2. Slight differences were found between the two phantom types. Skin and eye lenses were found to receive larger doses with respect to internal organs; however, shielding was more effective for skin and lenses. Secondary particles arising from nuclear interactions were found to have a minor role, although their relative contribution was found to be larger for the Complex Lesions than for the absorbed dose, due to their higher LET and thus higher biological effectiveness.     

结构非线性对颤振特性的影响

基于描述函数法，对操纵系统的结构非线性问题，提出了用于描述函数法的耦合模态和非耦合的综合计算模型，使用跨音速非定常空气动力，对扑动间隙和旋转间隙进行研究，揭示了全动水平尾翼振动的根源主要是操纵间隙造成的，为其它同类问题提供了可行的工程分析方法。     

The evolution of massive stars

The evolution of stars with masses between 15 M ₀ and 100M ₀ is considered. Stars in this mass range lose a considerable fraction of their matter during their evolution.The treatment of convection, semi-convection and the influence of mass loss by stellar winds at different evolutionary phases are analysed as well as the adopted opacities.Evolutionary sequences computed by various groups are examined and compared with observations, and the advanced evolution of a 15M ₀ and a 25M ₀ star from zero-age main sequence (ZAMS) through iron collapse is discussed.The effect of centrifugal forces on stellar wind mass loss and the influence of rotation on evolutionary models is examined. As a consequence of the outflow of matter deeper layers show up and when the mass loss rates are large enough layers with changed composition, due to interior nuclear reactions, appear on the surface.The evolution of massive close binaries as well during the phase of mass loss by stellar wind as during the mass exchange and mass loss phase due to Roche lobe overflow is treated in detail, and the value of the parameters governing mass and angular momentum losses are discussed.The problem of the Wolf-Rayet stars, their origin and the possibilities of their production either as single stars or as massive binaries is examined.Finally, the origin of X-ray binaries is discussed and the scenario for the formation of these objects (starting from massive ZAMS close binaries, through Wolf-Rayet binaries leading to OB-stars with a compact companion after a supernova explosion) is reviewed and completed, including stellar wind mass loss.     

遥感卫星自截断SPIHT压缩译码技术

链表式SPIHT算法是目前公认最好的压缩方案,但是由于其传输中具有极差的抗误码特性,在遥感图像数据压缩中的应用具有一定局限性。本文提出的自截断式SPIHT压缩算法使得译码器在出现“致使性”误码的情况下能够自动中止该帧数据流译码,使得误码不至于扩散到整幅图像之中。为SPIHT算法在遥感图像数据压缩中的应用提供了理论依据。     

国外卫星的两种检漏方法分析

：介绍了国外卫星“真空检漏法”和“累积检漏法”的检漏原理和主要操作步骤。对这两种方法的检漏特点进行了分析与评估，认为国产卫星选择真空检漏法较妥。     

Soybean cultivar selection for Bioregenerative Life Support Systems (BLSS) – Theoretical selection

The development of plant-based Bioregenerative Life Support Systems (BLSS) is a requirement for the realization of long-duration exploratory-class manned missions in so far as they help fulfilling astronauts’ needs including nutritional demands, air regeneration and psychological support.     

Optimum parameter for estimating phase fluctuations on transionospheric signals at high latitudes

Transionospheric radio signals may experience fluctuations in their amplitude and phase due to irregularity in the spatial electron density distribution, referred to as scintillation. Ionospheric scintillation is responsible for transionospheric signal degradation that can affect the performance of satellite based navigation systems. Usually, the scintillation activity is measured by means of indices such as the normalised standard deviation of the received intensity S₄ and the standard deviation of the received phase σ_? typically calculated over 1 min of data. Data from a GPS scintillation monitor based on 50 Hz measurements recorded at Dirigibile Italia Station (Ny-Alesund, Svalbard), in the frame of the ISACCO project ( De Franceschi et al., 2006) are used to investigate possible adoption of an alternative parameter for the estimate of phase fluctuations: i.e., the standard deviation of the phase rate of change S_?. This parameter is shown to better correlate with S₄ being much less detrending dependent than σ_?. The couple (S₄, S_?) should be then considered a more physical proxy of radio scintillation than the couple (S₄, σ_?).     

Space radiation effects on plant and mammalian cells

The study of the effects of ionizing radiation on organisms is related to different research aims. The current review emphasizes the studies on the effects of different doses of sparsely and densely ionizing radiation on living organisms, with the final purpose of highlighting specific and common effects of space radiation in mammals and plants. This topic is extremely relevant in the context of radiation protection from space environment. The response of different organisms to ionizing radiation depends on the radiation quality/dose and/or the intrinsic characteristics of the living system. Macromolecules, in particular DNA, are the critical targets of radiation, even if there is a strong difference between damages encountered by plant and mammalian cells. The differences in structure and metabolism between the two cell types are responsible for the higher resistance of the plant cell compared with its animal counterpart.     

The Geostationary Earth Radiation Budget Edition 1 data processing algorithms

The Geostationary Earth Radiation Budget (GERB) instrument is the first to measure the earth radiation budget from a geostationary orbit. This allows a full sampling of the diurnal cycle of radiation and clouds – which is important for climate studies, as well as detailed process studies, e.g. the lifecycle of clouds or particular aerosol events such as desert storms. GERB data is now for the first time released as Edition 1 data for public scientific use. In this paper we summarise the algorithms used for the Edition 1 GERB data processing and the main validation results. Based on the comparison with the independent CERES instrument, the Edition 1 GERB accuracy is 5% for the reflected solar radiances and 2% for the emitted thermal radiances.