A novel ceramic GEM used for neutron detection

Zhou, Jianrong,Zhou, Xiaojuan,Zhou, Jianjin,Jiang, Xingfen,Yang, Jianqing,Zhu, Lin,Yang, Wenqin,Yang, Tao,Xu, Hong,Xia, Yuanguang,Yang, Gui-an,Xie, Yuguang,Huang, Chaoqiang,Hu, Bitao,Sun, Zhijia,Chen, Korean Nuclear Society 2020 Nuclear Engineering and Technology Vol.52 No.6

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.

Efficiency calculation of the ⁿMCP with ¹⁰B doping based on mathematical models

Yang, Jianqing,Zhou, Jianrong,Zhang, Lianjun,Tan, Jinhao,Jiang, Xingfen,Zhou, Jianjin,Zhou, Xiaojuan,Hou, Linjun,Song, Yushou,Sun, XinLi,Zhang, Quanhu,Sun, Zhijia,Chen, Yuanbo Korean Nuclear Society 2021 Nuclear Engineering and Technology Vol.53 No.7

The ⁿMCP (Neutron sensitive microchannel plate) combined with advanced readout electronics is widely used in energy selective neutron imaging because of its good spatial and timing resolution. Neutron detection efficiency is a crucial parameter for the ⁿMCP. In this paper, a mathematical model based on the oblique cylindrical channel and elliptical pore was established to calculate the neutron absorption probability, the escape probability of charged particles and overall detection efficiency of ⁿMCP and analyze the effects of neutron incident position, pore diameter, wall thickness and bias angle. It was shown that when the doping concentration of the ⁿMCP was 10 mol%, the thickness of ⁿMCP was 0.6 mm, the detection efficiency could reach maximum value, about 24% for thermal neutrons if the pore diameter was 6 ㎛, the wall thickness was 2 ㎛ and the bias angle was 3 or 6°. The calculated results are of great significance for evaluating the detection efficiency of the ⁿMCP. In a subsequent companion paper, the mathematical model would be extended to the case of the spatial resolution and detection efficiency optimization of the coating ⁿMCP.

Study on the neutron imaging detector with high spatial resolution at China spallation neutron source

Jiang, Xingfen,Xiu, Qinglei,Zhou, Jianrong,Yang, Jianqing,Tan, Jinhao,Yang, Wenqin,Zhang, Lianjun,Xia, Yuanguang,Zhou, Xiaojuan,Zhou, Jianjin,Zhu, Lin,Teng, Haiyun,Yang, Gui-an,Song, Yushou,Sun, Zhiji Korean Nuclear Society 2021 Nuclear Engineering and Technology Vol.53 No.6

Gadolinium oxysulfide (GOS) is regarded as a novel scintillator for the realization of ultra-high spatial resolution in neutron imaging. Monte Carlo simulations of GOS scintillator show that the capability of its spatial resolution is towards the micron level. Through the time-of-flight method, the light output of a GOS scintillator was measured to be 217 photons per captured neutron, ~100 times lower than that of a ZnS/LiF:Ag scintillator. A detector prototype has been developed to evaluate the imaging solution with the GOS scintillator by neutron beam tests. The measured spatial resolution is ~36 ㎛ (28 line pairs/mm) at the modulation transfer function (MTF) of 10%, mainly limited by the low experimental collimation ratio of the beamline. The weak light output of the GOS scintillator requires an enormous increase in the neutron flux to reduce the exposure time for practical applications.

A hybrid identification method on butterfly optimization and differential evolution algorithm

Hongyuan Zhou,Guangcai Zhang,Xiaojuan Wang,Pinghe Ni,Jian Zhang 국제구조공학회 2020 Smart Structures and Systems, An International Jou Vol.26 No.3

Modern swarm intelligence heuristic search methods are widely applied in the field of structural health monitoring due to their advantages of excellent global search capacity, loose requirement of initial guess and ease of computational implementation etc. To this end, a hybrid strategy is proposed based on butterfly optimization algorithm (BOA) and differential evolution (DE) with purpose of effective combination of their merits. In the proposed identification strategy, two improvements including mutation and crossover operations of DE, and dynamic adaptive operators are introduced into original BOA to reduce the risk to be trapped in local optimum and increase global search capability. The performance of the proposed algorithm, hybrid butterfly optimization and differential evolution algorithm (HBODEA) is evaluated by two numerical examples of a simply supported beam and a 37-bar truss structure, as well as an experimental test of 8-story shear-type steel frame structure in the laboratory. Compared with BOA and DE, the numerical and experimental results show that the proposed HBODEA is more robust to detect the reduction of stiffness with limited sensors and contaminated measurements. In addition, the effect of search space, two dynamic operators, population size on identification accuracy and efficiency of the proposed identification strategy are further investigated.

Output-only structural damage detection under multiple unknown white noise excitations

Pinghe Nia,Xiaojuan Wang,Hongyuan Zhou 국제구조공학회 2021 Structural Engineering and Mechanics, An Int'l Jou Vol.79 No.3

Most of the existing output-only damage detection methods require the number of sensors should be larger than the number of unknown excitation force, and the force location should be available. This paper presents a novel output-only damage detection method without these requirements. The proposed method is based on the correlation function of acceleration responses. When the structure is under white noise excitations (or ambient excitations), the correlation function of acceleration responses can be treated as free vibration responses with unknown initial conditions. The unknown structural parameters and initial conditions can be simultaneously identified by minimizing the difference between the measured and calculated correlation functions. The unknown initial conditions are identified with state space method and the unknown structural parameters are updated with sensitivity method. Numerical studies of a 2D truss and a five-bay 3D frame structure are conducted to demonstrate the accuracy, effectiveness, and robustness of the proposed method. Experimental studies on an eight-floor steel frame are further carried out. Results show that the proposed method is not only insensitive to environmental noise but also applicable when the number of sensors is less than that of unknown excitations. Also, the proposed method can be used for damage detection when the force location is unknown.

Structural Imbalance of Housing Supply for Rural Migrant Workers

Lu Ping,Zhou Tao,Zhi Xiaojuan 한국주거학회 2007 한국주거학회 국제학술대회논문집 Vol.2007 No.8

Synthesis and Characterization of Folic Acid Labeled Upconversion Fluorescent Nanoprobes for in vitro Cancer Cells Targeted Imaging

Ming Huang,Lijun Wang,Xiaojuan Zhang,Jin Zhou,Lihua Liu,Yuefang Pan,Bin Yu,ZHANGSEN YU 성균관대학교(자연과학캠퍼스) 성균나노과학기술원 2017 NANO Vol.12 No.5

Upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) are widely used in the field of biomedicine, such as biosensing, cell labeling and medical multimodal imaging because of their unique optical properties. In this paper, we demonstrated the synthesis of polyethylenimine-modified NaLuF4:Yb,Er (RE = Lu 0.78, Yb 0.18, Er 0.02) UCNPs in three different solvents, such as water, ethylene glycol and diethylene glycol. The as-prepared UCNPs were characterized and the experimental results showed that the UCNPs synthesized in ethylene glycol had excellent properties. The obtained UCNPs in ethylene glycol had the smallest particle size and uniform size distribution, and the pure cubic phase of crystallization and Dynamic light scattering and particle dispersion index (DLS/Pdi) were the smallest. What's more, the upconversion fluorescence intensity was 7 and 52 times greater than that of UCNPs synthesized in diethylene glycol and water, respectively. In addition, the factors of reaction solvent that had an impact on the particle size, morphology, crystalline phase, DLS and upconversion fluorescence intensity of the synthesized UCNPs were discussed. Moreover, in order to obtain the targeted nanoprobe, we used an EDC/NHS covalent coupling method to modify folic acid to the NaLuF4:Yb,Er/PEI UCNP surface. The NaLuF4:Yb, Er/PEI–FA upconversion fluorescent nanoprobes had low cytotoxicity and were suitable for the application in HeLa cells targeted fluorescent imaging.

Structural and component characterization of the B4C neutron conversion layer deposited by magnetron sputtering

Zhu Jingtao,Liu Yang,Zhou Jianrong,Yang Zehua,Zhu Hangyu,Zhou Xiaojuan,Tan Jinhao,Cui Mingqi,Sun Zhijia 한국원자력학회 2023 Nuclear Engineering and Technology Vol.55 No.9

Neutron conversion detectors that use 10B-enriched boron carbide are feasible alternatives to 3 He-based detectors. We prepared boron carbide films at micron-scale thickness using direct-current magnetron sputtering. The structural characteristics of natural B4C films, including density, roughness, crystallization, and purity, were analyzed using grazing incidence X-ray reflectivity, X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry, and scanning electron microscopy. A beam profile test was conducted to verify the practicality of the 10B-enriched B4C neutron conversion layer. A clear profile indicated the high quality of the neutron conversion of the boron carbide layer.

Hepatocellular carcinoma prediction model performance decreases with long-term antiviral therapy in chronic hepatitis B patients

Xiaoning Wu,Xiaoqian Xu,Jialing Zhou,Yameng Sun,Huiguo Ding,Wen Xie,Guofeng Chen,Anlin Ma,Hongxin Piao,Bingqiong Wang,Shuyan Chen,Tongtong Meng,Xiaojuan Ou,Hwai-I Yang,Jidong Jia,Yuanyuan Kong,Hong Yo 대한간학회 2023 Clinical and Molecular Hepatology(대한간학회지) Vol.29 No.3

Background/Aims: Existing hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) prediction models are derived mainly from pretreatment or early on-treatment parameters. We reassessed the dynamic changes in the performance of 17 HCC models in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) during long-term antiviral therapy (AVT). Methods: Among 987 CHB patients administered long-term entecavir therapy, 660 patients had 8 years of follow-up data. Model scores were calculated using on-treatment values at 2.5, 3, 3.5, 4, 4.5, and 5 years of AVT to predict threeyear HCC occurrence. Model performance was assessed with the area under the receiver operating curve (AUROC). The original model cutoffs to distinguish different levels of HCC risk were evaluated by the log-rank test. Results: The AUROCs of the 17 HCC models varied from 0.51 to 0.78 when using on-treatment scores from years 2.5 to 5. Models with a cirrhosis variable showed numerically higher AUROCs (pooled at 0.65–0.73 for treated, untreated, or mixed treatment models) than models without (treated or mixed models: 0.61–0.68; untreated models: 0.51–0.59). Stratification into low, intermediate, and high-risk levels using the original cutoff values could no longer reflect the true HCC incidence using scores after 3.5 years of AVT for models without cirrhosis and after 4 years of AVT for models with cirrhosis. Conclusions: The performance of existing HCC prediction models, especially models without the cirrhosis variable, decreased in CHB patients on long-term AVT. The optimization of existing models or the development of novel models for better HCC prediction during long-term AVT is warranted.

Differential Sensitivity of Target Genes to Translational Repression by miR-17~92

Jin, Hyun Yong,Oda, Hiroyo,Chen, Pengda,Yang, Chao,Zhou, Xiaojuan,Kang, Seung Goo,Valentine, Elizabeth,Kefauver, Jennifer M.,Liao, Lujian,Zhang, Yaoyang,Gonzalez-Martin, Alicia,Shepherd, Jovan,Morgan, Public Library of Science 2017 PLoS genetics Vol.13 No.2

<▼1><P>MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are thought to exert their functions by modulating the expression of hundreds of target genes and each to a small degree, but it remains unclear how small changes in hundreds of target genes are translated into the specific function of a miRNA. Here, we conducted an integrated analysis of transcriptome and translatome of primary B cells from mutant mice expressing miR-17~92 at three different levels to address this issue. We found that target genes exhibit differential sensitivity to miRNA suppression and that only a small fraction of target genes are actually suppressed by a given concentration of miRNA under physiological conditions. Transgenic expression and deletion of the same miRNA gene regulate largely distinct sets of target genes. miR-17~92 controls target gene expression mainly through translational repression and 5’UTR plays an important role in regulating target gene sensitivity to miRNA suppression. These findings provide molecular insights into a model in which miRNAs exert their specific functions through a small number of key target genes.</P></▼1><▼2><P><B>Author summary</B></P><P>MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small RNAs encoded by our genome. Each miRNA binds hundreds of target mRNAs and performs specific functions. It is thought that miRNAs exert their function by reducing the expression of all these target genes and each to a small degree. However, these target genes often have very diverse functions. It has been unclear how small changes in hundreds of target genes with diverse functions are translated into the specific function of a miRNA. Here we take advantage of recent technical advances to globally examine the mRNA and protein levels of 868 target genes regulated by miR-17~92, the first oncogenic miRNA, in mutant mice with transgenic overexpression or deletion of this miRNA gene. We show that miR-17~92 regulates target gene expression mainly at the protein level, with little effect on mRNA. Surprisingly, only a small fraction of target genes respond to miR-17~92 expression changes. Further studies show that the sensitivity of target genes to miR-17~92 is determined by a non-coding region of target mRNA. Our findings demonstrate that not every target gene is equal, and suggest that the function of a miRNA is mediated by a small number of key target genes.</P></▼2>