The European Radiation Dosimetry Group-a 40 year success story.

The European Radiation Dosimetry Group (EURADOS) was founded in 1982. Since then, the group has continuously developed and is currently a network of 80 institutions and more than 600 individual scientists across Europe, including exchange with the scientific community outside of Europe. EURADOS supports research and development of dosimetry and harmonising dosimetric practices.

EURADOS education and training activities.

This paper provides a summary of the Education and Training (E&T) activities that have been developed and organised by the European Radiation Dosimetry Group (EURADOS) in recent years and in the case of Training Courses over the last decade. These E&T actions include short duration Training Courses on well-established topics organised within the activity of EURADOS Working Groups (WGs), or one-day events integrated in the EURADOS Annual Meeting (workshops, winter schools, the intercomparison participants' sessions and the learning network, among others). Moreover, EURADOS has recently established a Young Scientist Grant and a Young Scientist Award.

Overview of diagnostic performance and results for the first operation phase in Wendelstein 7-X (invited).

Wendelstein 7-X, a superconducting optimized stellarator built in Greifswald/Germany, started its first plasmas with the last closed flux surface (LCFS) defined by 5 uncooled graphite limiters in December 2015. At the end of the 10 weeks long experimental campaign (OP1.1) more than 20 independent diagnostic systems were in operation, allowing detailed studies of many interesting plasma phenomena.

EURADOS strategic research agenda: vision for dosimetry of ionising radiation.

Since autumn 2012, the European Radiation Dosimetry Group (EURADOS) has been developing its Strategic Research Agenda (SRA), which is intended to contribute to the identification of future research needs in radiation dosimetry in Europe. The present article summarises-based on input from EURADOS Working Groups (WGs) and Voting Members-five visions in dosimetry and defines key issues in dosimetry research that are considered important for the next decades. The five visions include scientific developments required towards (a) updated fundamental dose concepts and quantities, (b) improved radiation risk estimates deduced from epidemiological cohorts, (c) efficient dose assessment for radiological emergencies, (d) integrated personalised dosimetry in medical applications and (e) improved radiation protection of workers and the public.

Status of the diagnostics development for the first operation phase of the stellarator Wendelstein 7-X.

An overview of the diagnostics which are essential for the first operational phase of Wendelstein 7-X and the set of diagnostics expected to be ready for operation at this time are presented. The ongoing investigations of how to cope with high levels of stray Electron Cyclotron Resonance Heating (ECRH) radiation in the ultraviolet (UV)/visible/infrared (IR) optical diagnostics are described.

Monitoring of the neutron production at the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator.

The stellarator Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X), presently under construction at the Max-Planck-Institute for Plasma Physics in Greifswald, will be equipped with a set of neutron monitors to measure the total annual neutron emission for official documentation and to provide information for plasma diagnostics purposes. The authors performed MCNP calculations to design and optimise the moderator geometry of the monitors to exhibit a nearly energy-independent response as well as particular angular responses for one central and two peripheral monitors. The monitors were designed with up to five neutron detector tubes with different sensitivity to thermal neutrons to cover the expected neutron emission rates of W7-X from 10(11) s(-1) to 10(16) s(-1).

The individualized genetic barrier predicts treatment response in a large cohort of HIV-1 infected patients.

The success of combination antiretroviral therapy is limited by the evolutionary escape dynamics of HIV-1. We used Isotonic Conjunctive Bayesian Networks (I-CBNs), a class of probabilistic graphical models, to describe this process. We employed partial order constraints among viral resistance mutations, which give rise to a limited set of mutational pathways, and we modeled phenotypic drug resistance as monotonically increasing along any escape pathway.

Drainage days-an independent risk factor for serious sternal wound infections after cardiac surgery: a case control study.

Background: Postoperative sternal wound infections are a potentially devastating complication following cardiac surgery. The aim of our study was to determine risk factors associated with patients' baseline characteristics and peri- and postoperative management for the development of surgical site infections (SSIs) after cardiac surgery involving sternotomy.

Methods: Since 2009 the University Hospital of Basel, a tertiary care center in Switzerland, has participated in the national SSI-surveillance program by conducting postdischarge surveillance.

Characterization of single crystal chemical vapor deposition diamond detectors for neutron spectrometry.

Detectors made from artificial chemical vapor deposition single crystal diamond have shown great potential for fast neutron spectrometry. In this paper, we present the results of measurements made at the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt accelerator using neutron fields in the energy range from 7 MeV to 16 MeV. This study presents the first results of the characterization of the detector in this energy range.

The compact neutron spectrometer at ASDEX Upgrade.

The first neutron spectrometer of ASDEX Upgrade (AUG) was installed in November 2008. It is a compact neutron spectrometer (CNS) based on a BC501A liquid scintillating detector, which can simultaneously measure 2.45-MeV and 14-MeV neutrons emitted from deuterium (D) plasmas and γ radiation.

Extended daily on-line high-volume haemodiafiltration in septic multiple organ failure: a well-tolerated and feasible procedure.

Background: The outcome of patients with septic multiple organ failure (MOF) remains poor. There are experimental and clinical data indicating a beneficial effect of high-volume haemofiltration. Delivering high-volume therapy is only cost effective using on-line devices because of high costs for additional solution bags in conventional continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT).

Workplace monitoring of mixed neutron-photon radiation fields and its contribution to external dosimetry.

Workplace monitoring is a common procedure for determining measures for routine radiation protection in a particular working environment. For mixed radiation fields consisting of neutrons and photons, it is of increased importance because it contributes to the improved accuracy of individual monitoring. An example is the determination of field-specific correction factors, which can be applied to the readings of personal dosemeters.

A co-ordinated network for radiation dosimetry (CONRAD): an overview.

The European Radiation Dosimetry Group (EURADOS) carried out a co-ordinated action, supported within the 6th Framework Programme of the European Commission entitled 'A Co-ordinated Network for Radiation Dosimetry (CONRAD)'. The project, executed from January 2005 to March 2008, yielded a large number of scientific results in different areas of dosimetry. This paper describes the objectives and general aspects of the project while the results are given in several contributions in this volume.

Intercomparison on measurements of the quantity personal dose equivalent Hp(d) in mixed (neutron-gamma) fields--an IAEA project.

Within its occupational radiation protection programme, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) initiated and funded an international intercomparison exercise of personal dosemeters to determine the quantity personal dose equivalent in mixed neutron-photon radiation. The objectives of the intercomparison are to assess the capabilities of the dosimetry services in measuring the quantity Hp(10) in mixed neutron-gamma fields; to assist IAEA member states in achieving sufficiently accurate dosimetry; and, if necessary, to provide guidelines for improvements (not simply a test of the performance of the existing dosimetry service). The intercomparison is directed to passive dosemeters to determine, in mixed neutron-gamma radiation fields, either these two components separately or the total personal dose equivalent.

Interspecific hybridization and restricted trans-Pacific gene flow in the Tropical Eastern Pacific Pocillopora.

Coral reefs in the Tropical Eastern Pacific (TEP) are among the most isolated in the world. This isolation has resulted in relatively low species diversity but comparatively high endemism. The dominant reef-building corals of the TEP are the Pocillopora corals, a ubiquitous Indo-Pacific genus commonly regarded as inferior reef-builder.

Application of workplace correction factors to dosemeter results for the assessment of personal doses at nuclear facilities.

Ratios of H(p)(10) and H*(10) were determined with reference instruments in a number of workplace fields within the nuclear industry and used to derive workplace-specific correction factors. When commercial survey meter results together with these factors were applied to the results of the locally used personal dosemeters their results improved and became within 0.7 and 1.

Characterisation of mixed neutron photon workplace fields at nuclear facilities by spectrometry (energy and direction) within the EVIDOS project.

Within the EC project EVIDOS, 17 different mixed neutron-photon workplace fields at nuclear facilities (boiling water reactor, pressurised water reactor, research reactor, fuel processing, storage of spent fuel) were characterised using conventional Bonner sphere spectrometry and newly developed direction spectrometers. The results of the analysis, using Bayesian parameter estimation methods and different unfolding codes, some of them especially adapted to simultaneously unfold energy and direction distributions of the neutron fluence, showed that neutron spectra differed strongly at the different places, both in energy and direction distribution. The implication of the results for the determination of reference values for radiation protection quantities (ambient dose equivalent, personal dose equivalent and effective dose) and the related uncertainties are discussed.

Neutron area survey instrument measurements in the EVIDOS project.

Neutron survey instruments have been exposed at all the measurement locations used in the EVIDOS project. These results have an important impact in the interpretation of the results from the project, since operationally the survey instrument will be used for an initial assessment of and routine monitoring of the ambient dose equivalent dose rate. Additionally, since the response of these instruments is in some cases very well characterised, their systematic deviations from the reference quantities provide an important verification of the determination of those quantities.

Achievements in workplace neutron dosimetry in the last decade: lessons learned from the EVIDOS project.

The availability of active neutron personal dosemeters has made real time monitoring of neutron doses possible. This has obvious benefits, but is only of any real assistance if the dose assessments made are of sufficient accuracy and reliability. Preliminary assessments of the performance of active neutron dosemeters can be made in calibration facilities, but these can never replicate the conditions under which the dosemeter is used in the workplace.