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Natural alpha-radioactivity in bone, liver and blood samples from the various species

In this thesis, samples from the various species are studied for alpha-radioactive content. The experimental technique used is one of thick source "total" alpha counting with "fast pair" scaling enabling separation of "Thorium" series contribution. A study of the change in count rate over a time per...

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Main Author: Shay, Malcolm MacGregor
Other Authors: Cherry, R D
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Department of Physics 2016
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access_status_str Open Access
author Shay, Malcolm MacGregor
author2 Cherry, R D
author_browse Cherry, R D
Shay, Malcolm MacGregor
author_facet Cherry, R D
Shay, Malcolm MacGregor
author_sort Shay, Malcolm MacGregor
collection Thesis
description In this thesis, samples from the various species are studied for alpha-radioactive content. The experimental technique used is one of thick source "total" alpha counting with "fast pair" scaling enabling separation of "Thorium" series contribution. A study of the change in count rate over a time period enables Po-210 activity to be determined. Additional alpha spectroscopic techniques are used to identify specific alpha emitting isotopes in the samples. Bone tissue alpha-activity levels are used as a basis for comparing levels between the species. Liver is studied as it shows interesting features, and blood is also studied. The method of sample preparation involves the removal of water from the samples at low temperatures and no additional chemical techniques are used. Thirty-six different species from four groups of animals were studied (herbivores, carnivores, omnivores and marine environment). Man shows very low levels of alpha-activity compared with other species of which the group "herbivores" show highest levels of alpha-activity, including large amounts of Po-210. The marine environment species show a large accumulation of Po-210 in liver.
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institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:31:47.142Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2016
publishDateRange 2016
publishDateSort 2016
publisher Department of Physics
publisherStr Department of Physics
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source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/22311 Natural alpha-radioactivity in bone, liver and blood samples from the various species Shay, Malcolm MacGregor Cherry, R D Physics In this thesis, samples from the various species are studied for alpha-radioactive content. The experimental technique used is one of thick source "total" alpha counting with "fast pair" scaling enabling separation of "Thorium" series contribution. A study of the change in count rate over a time period enables Po-210 activity to be determined. Additional alpha spectroscopic techniques are used to identify specific alpha emitting isotopes in the samples. Bone tissue alpha-activity levels are used as a basis for comparing levels between the species. Liver is studied as it shows interesting features, and blood is also studied. The method of sample preparation involves the removal of water from the samples at low temperatures and no additional chemical techniques are used. Thirty-six different species from four groups of animals were studied (herbivores, carnivores, omnivores and marine environment). Man shows very low levels of alpha-activity compared with other species of which the group "herbivores" show highest levels of alpha-activity, including large amounts of Po-210. The marine environment species show a large accumulation of Po-210 in liver. 2016-10-25T13:39:36Z 2016-10-25T13:39:36Z 1969 Master Thesis Masters MSc http://hdl.handle.net/11427/22311 eng application/pdf Department of Physics Faculty of Science University of Cape Town
spellingShingle Physics
Shay, Malcolm MacGregor
Natural alpha-radioactivity in bone, liver and blood samples from the various species
thesis_degree_str Master's
title Natural alpha-radioactivity in bone, liver and blood samples from the various species
title_full Natural alpha-radioactivity in bone, liver and blood samples from the various species
title_fullStr Natural alpha-radioactivity in bone, liver and blood samples from the various species
title_full_unstemmed Natural alpha-radioactivity in bone, liver and blood samples from the various species
title_short Natural alpha-radioactivity in bone, liver and blood samples from the various species
title_sort natural alpha radioactivity in bone liver and blood samples from the various species
topic Physics
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/22311
work_keys_str_mv AT shaymalcolmmacgregor naturalalpharadioactivityinboneliverandbloodsamplesfromthevariousspecies