This book deals with gamma radiation in many fields, which encompasses diverse factors that affect human and animal life inside an environment. These fields include nuclear and medical physics, industrial processes, environmental sciences, radiation biology, radiation chemistry, radiotherapy, agriculture and forestry, sterilization, the food industry, and so on. The book covers an overview of gamma background radiations and measurements, radioactive decay, radioecological applications in environmental gamma dosimetry, gamma-ray interaction, monocolor gamma, influence of gamma radiation on dynamical mechanical properties, influence of low-dose gamma irradiation treatments on microbial decontamination, gamma-ray ionization enhancement in tissues, gas-filled surge arresters, modeling plastic deformation located in irradiated materials, radiotherapy, application of radiation and genetic engineering techniques, and gamma-ray measurements using unmanned aerial systems. This book is expected to benefit undergraduate and postgraduate students, researchers, teachers, practitioners, policy makers, and every individual who has a concern for a healthy life.

The preservation of world cultural heritage is a key issue for maintaining national identity and understanding the influences or exchanges among civilizations throughout history. Development of appropriate preservation techniques that do not compromise longevity or authenticity are therefore of utmost importance. Radiation techniques have demonstrated significant success in the disinfestation and preservation of cultural heritage artefacts, and national and international research programmes have developed harmonized methodologies for such radiation treatment. This publication provides state of the art knowledge on radiation technology applied to the conservation and consolidation of items of cultural heritage and will be of use to collection curators, conservators, restorers, registrars, art historians, archaeologists and conservation scientists active in the various fields of cultural heritage in museums, libraries, archives, archaeological institutions, historical buildings and conservation workshops.

This book deals with gamma radiation in many fields, which encompasses diverse factors that affect human and animal life inside an environment. These fields include nuclear and medical physics, industrial processes, environmental sciences, radiation biology, radiation chemistry, radiotherapy, agriculture and forestry, sterilization, the food industry, and so on. The book covers an overview of gamma background radiations and measurements, radioactive decay, radioecological applications in environmental gamma dosimetry, gamma-ray interaction, monocolor gamma, influence of gamma radiation on dynamical mechanical properties, influence of low-dose gamma irradiation treatments on microbial decontamination, gamma-ray ionization enhancement in tissues, gas-filled surge arresters, modeling plastic deformation located in irradiated materials, radiotherapy, application of radiation and genetic engineering techniques, and gamma-ray measurements using unmanned aerial systems. This book is expected to benefit undergraduate and postgraduate students, researchers, teachers, practitioners, policy makers, and every individual who has a concern for a healthy life.

The study of radiation effects has developed as a major field of materials science from the beginning, approximately 70 years ago. Its rapid development has been driven by two strong influences. The properties of the crystal defects and the materials containing them may then be studied. The types of radiation that can alter structural materials consist of neutrons, ions, electrons, gamma rays or other electromagnetic waves with different wavelengths. All of these forms of radiation have the capability to displace atoms/molecules from their lattice sites, which is the fundamental process that drives the changes in all materials. The effect of irradiation on materials is fixed in the initial event in which an energetic projectile strikes a target. The book is distributed in four sections: Ionic Materials; Biomaterials; Polymeric Materials and Metallic Materials.

The series Topics in Current Chemistry Collections presents critical reviews from the journal Topics in Current Chemistry organized in topical volumes. The scope of coverage is all areas of chemical science including the interfaces with related disciplines such as biology, medicine and materials science. The goal of each thematic volume is to give the non-specialist reader, whether in academia or industry, a comprehensive insight into an area where new research is emerging which is of interest to a larger scientific audience. Each review within the volume critically surveys one aspect of that topic and places it within the context of the volume as a whole. The most significant developments of the last 5 to 10 years are presented using selected examples to illustrate the principles discussed. The coverage is not intended to be an exhaustive summary of the field or include large quantities of data, but should rather be conceptual, concentrating on the methodological thinking that will allow the non-specialist reader to understand the information presented. Contributions also offer an outlook on potential future developments in the field.

World population is growing at an alarming rate and is anticipated to reach about six billion by the end of year 2050. On the other hand, agricultural productivity is not increasing at a required rate to keep up with the food demand. The reasons for this are water shortages, depleting soil fertility and mainly various abiotic stresses. The fast pace at which developments and novel findings that are recently taking place in the cutting edge areas of molecular biology and basic genetics, have reinforced and augmented the efficiency of science outputs in dealing with plant abiotic stresses. In depth understanding of the stresses and their effects on plants is of paramount importance to evolve effective strategies to counter them. This book is broadly dived into sections on the stresses, their mechanisms and tolerance, genetics and adaptation, and focuses on the mechanic aspects in addition to touching some adaptation features. The chief objective of the book hence is to deliver state of the art information for comprehending the nature of abiotic stress in plants. We attempted here to present a judicious mixture of outlooks in order to interest workers in all areas of plant sciences.

Ionizing radiation can be found everywhere; in the Earth, inside buildings, in space, in the food we eat, and even inside our bodies. It is of much importance to know more about radiation and how it can improve human life, including how to make use of it and how to avoid its harm. This book covers several topics on ionizing radiation to enrich our knowledge about its applications and effects.

This book reevaluates the health risks of ionizing radiation in light of data that have become available since the 1980 report on this subject was published. The data include new, much more reliable dose estimates for the A-bomb survivors, the results of an additional 14 years of follow-up of the survivors for cancer mortality, recent results of follow-up studies of persons irradiated for medical purposes, and results of relevant experiments with laboratory animals and cultured cells. It analyzes the data in terms of risk estimates for specific organs in relation to dose and time after exposure, and compares radiation effects between Japanese and Western populations.

This publication is a comprehensive study that reviews the current situation in a great number of applications of research reactors. It revises the contents of IAEA TECDOC-1234, The Applications of Research Reactors, giving detailed updates on each field of research reactor uses worldwide. Reactors of all sizes and capabilities can benefit from the sharing of current practices and research enabled via this updated version, which describes the requirements for practicing methods as diverse as neutron activation analysis, education and training, neutron scattering and neutron imaging, silicon doping and radioisotope production, material/fuel irradiation and testing, and some others. Many underutilised research reactors can learn how to diversify their technical capabilities, staff and potential commercial partners and users seeking research reactor services and products. The content of the publication has also been strengthened in terms of current issues facing the vast majority of research reactors by including sections describing user and customer relations as well as strategic planning considerations.