Design of Active-Type Personal Dosemeter for High-Energy Neutrons
*In order to design an active-type personal dosemeter having sufficient sensitivity to high-energy neutrons up to 100 MeV, the characteristic response of several types of silicon (Si) semiconductor detectors has been investigated experimentally and theoretically. At first, the response of each detector has been checked to protons accelerated by a Van de Graff accelerator installed at Kobe University. A fully-depleted Si detector was selected as a promising detector element owing to a simple structure and comprehensive characteristics. In the next step, neutron irradiation experiments were carried out in a monoenergetic reference field in JAEA. On the other hand, theoretical distributions of the deposited energy were estimated in a simplified geometry consisting of Si and PE layers. An agreement in the relative shape was confirmed between the theoretical and experimental results. Applying this calculation procedure to other neutron energies and various thickness of sensitive layer, it was found that the energy dependence could be improved by the two-window technique by setting different discrimination levels on the pulse height. Another important characteristic of the angular dependence was also discussed for practical application of a personal dosemeter for high energy neutrons.
Application of Monte Carlo Simulation to Design of Sampler and Detector in Radiation Monitoring System
In this study, the applicability of Monte Carlo code particle and heavy ion transport code system (PHITS) [Sato et al. (2013, “Particle and Heavy Ion Transport Code System PHITS, Version 2.52,” J. Nucl. Sci. Technol., 50(9), pp. 913–923)] to the equipment design of sampler and detector in the radiation monitoring system was evaluated by comparing calculation results with experimental results obtained by actual measurements of radioactive materials. In modeling a simulation configuration, reproducing the energy distribution of beta-ray emitted from specific nuclide by means of Fermi Function was performed as well as geometric arrangement of the detector in the sampler volume. The reproducing and geometric arrangement proved that the calculation results are in excellent matching with actual experimental results. Moreover, reproducing the Gaussian energy distribution to the radiation energy deposition was performed according to experimental results obtained by the multi-channel analyzer. Through the modeling and the Monte Carlo simulation, key parameters for equipment design were identified and evaluated. Based on the results, it was confirmed that the Monte Carlo simulation is capable of supporting the evaluation of the equipment design.
Rubik's for cryptographers
Hard mathematical problems are at the core of security arguments in cryptography. In this paper, we study mathematical generalizations of the famous Rubik’s cube puzzle, namely the factorization, representation and balance problems in non-Abelian groups. These problems arise naturally when describing the security of Cayley hash functions, a class of cryptographic hash functions with very interesting properties. The factorization problem is also strongly related to a famous long-standing conjecture of Babai, at the intersection of group theory and graph theory. A constructive proof of Babai’s conjecture would make all Cayley hash functions insecure, but on the other hand it would have many positive applications in graph theory and computer science. In this paper, we classify existing attacks against Cayley hash functions and we review known results on Babai’s conjecture. Despite recent cryptanalytic progress on particular instances, we show that the factorization, representation and balance problems presumably remain good sources of cryptographic hard problems. Our study demonstrates that Cayley hash functions deserve further interest by the cryptography community.