Activation method was employed to measure the cross section for the 58Ni(n,pα)54Mn and 63Cu(n,pα)59Fe reactions in the energy range from the threshold up to 21 MeV. The quasi-monoenergetic neutrons ...in the energy range from 14 to 21 MeV were produced via the 3H(d,n)4He reaction at 1, 2, 3 and 4 MeV incident deuteron energies. High purity Ni and Cu samples with natural isotopic composition and dimensions of ϕ12x5 mm and ϕ20x5 mm respectively were utilized. The gamma-ray spectrometry using HPGe detector was utilized to measure the activity induced in the sample. The cross sections were determined relative to the standard cross section the 27Al(n,α)24Na reaction. The results for the 63Cu(n,pα)59Fe reaction cross section were obtained for the first time.
Summary
Background
Studies have been performed suggesting that administration of probiotics may have therapeutic and/or preventive benefits in the development of sensitization and atopic disease, ...particularly in infants with atopic dermatitis (AD).
Objective
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the clinical and immunological effects of supplementation of a hydrolysed formula with two probiotic strains of bacteria on symptoms of AD in infancy.
Methods
We conducted a randomized, double‐blind, placebo‐controlled study. After 4–6 weeks of baseline and double‐blind, placebo‐controlled challenges for diagnosis of cow's milk allergy (CMA), infants less than 5 months old with AD received a hydrolysed whey‐based formula as placebo (n=17), or supplemented with either Lactobacillus rhamnosus (n=17) or Lactobacillus GG (n=16) for 3 months. Before, during and after intervention, the clinical severity of AD was evaluated using SCORing index Atopic Dermatitis (SCORAD). Allergic sensitization was evaluated by measurement of total IgE and a panel of food‐specific IgEs as well as skin prick testing for cow's milk. Inflammatory parameters were blood eosinophils, eosinophil protein X in urine, fecal α‐1‐antitrypsin and production of IL‐4, IL‐5 and IFN‐γ by peripheral blood mononuclear cells after polyclonal stimulation.
Results
No statistically significant effects of probiotic supplementation on SCORAD, sensitization, inflammatory parameters or cytokine production between groups were found. Only four infants were diagnosed with CMA.
Conclusion
We found no clinical or immunological effect of the probiotic bacteria used in infants with AD. Our results indicate that oral supplementation with these probiotic bacterial strains will not have a significant impact on the symptoms of infantile AD.
A comprehensive set of Monte Carlo simulations was performed with the MCNP5 code to provide a generic characterisation of the neutron and photon fluxes for time-of-flight measurements at all flight ...paths of the GELINA facility. Simulations were performed for the direct flux configuration (DFC, 10
keV–20
MeV) and the moderated flux configuration (MFC, 10
meV–1
MeV). Fluxes and flux energy spectra were obtained for both neutrons and photons. For neutrons, additionally, detailed resolution functions and figures of merit were obtained. The validity of the approach for the photon spectra is shown by comparison with a dedicated measurement. Also, a verification is presented of the validity of the neutron resolution function by comparison with measured capture and transmission data for
103Rh and
56Fe in the incident neutron energy range from 70
eV to 50
keV. This comprehensive overview will facilitate the planning and analysis of measurements at the GELINA facility with an improved knowledge of its physical characteristics.
The challenge for any nuclear data evaluation project is to periodically release a revised, fully consistent and complete library, with all needed data and covariances, and ensure that it is robust ...and reliable for a variety of applications. Within an evaluation effort, benchmarking activities play an important role in validating proposed libraries. The Joint Evaluated Fission and Fusion (JEFF) Project aims to provide such a nuclear data library, and thus, requires a coherent and efficient benchmarking process. The aim of this paper is to present the activities carried out by the new JEFF Benchmarking and Validation Working Group, and to describe the role of the NEA Data Bank in this context. The paper will also review the status of preliminary benchmarking for the next JEFF-3.3 candidate cross-section files.
The Working Party on International Nuclear Data Evaluation Cooperation (WPEC) of the Nuclear Science Committee under the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA/OECD) established a Subgroup (called “Subgroup 33”) ...in 2009 on “Methods and issues for the combined use of integral experiments and covariance data.” The first stage was devoted to producing the description of different adjustment methodologies and assessing their merits. A detailed document related to this first stage has been issued. Nine leading organizations (often with a long and recognized expertise in the field) have contributed: ANL, CEA, INL, IPPE, JAEA, JSI, NRG, IRSN and ORNL. In the second stage a practical benchmark exercise was defined in order to test the reliability of the nuclear data adjustment methodology. A comparison of the results obtained by the participants and major lessons learned in the exercise are discussed in the present paper that summarizes individual contributions which often include several original developments not reported separately.
The paper provides the analysis of the most important results of the adjustment of the main nuclear data of 11 major isotopes in a 33-group energy structure. This benchmark exercise was based on a set of 20 well defined integral parameters from 7 fast assembly experiments. The exercise showed that using a common shared set of integral experiments but different starting evaluated libraries and/or different covariance matrices, there is a good convergence of trends for adjustments. Moreover, a significant reduction of the original uncertainties is often observed. Using the a–posteriori covariance data, there is a strong reduction of the uncertainties of integral parameters for reference reactor designs, mainly due to the new correlations in the a–posteriori covariance matrix. Furthermore, criteria have been proposed and applied to verify the consistency of differential and integral data used in the adjustment. Finally, recommendations are given for an appropriate use of sensitivity analysis methods and indications for future work are provided.
A new suite of evaluations for 54,56,57,58Fe has been developed in the framework of the CIELO international collaboration. New resolved resonance ranges were evaluated for 54Fe and 57Fe, while ...modifications were applied to resonances in 56Fe. The low energy part of the 56Fe file is almost totally based on measurements. At higher energies in 56Fe and in the whole fast neutron range for minor isotopes the evaluation consists of model predictions carefully adjusted to available experimental data. We also make use of the high quality and well experimentally-constrained dosimetry evaluations from the IRDFF library. Special attention was dedicated to the elastic angular distributions, which were found to affect results of the integral benchmarking. The new set of iron evaluations was developed in concert with other CIELO evaluations and they were tested together in the integral experiments before being adopted for the ENDF/B-VIII.0 library.
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