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Nitrite and nitrate salts are widely used as curing agents to preserve meat and meat products. Despite the benefits of using these salts in meat processing, it has some adverse health effects. The high concentration of these salts produces nitric oxide through various metabolic reactions followed by the generation of carcinogenic nitrosamines. In this study, a chromatographic method was developed for the simultaneous determination of nitrite and nitrate level in meat and meat products. Samples were collected from four different locations in Dhaka, Bangladesh and analysed by ion-exchange chromatography. Most relevant validation parameters were evaluated using the standard validation procedure. The linearity was more than 0.995 and recoveries for nitrite and nitrate were more than 96% and 97%, respectively. The Limit of detection (LOD) for nitrite and nitrate was 0.10 and 0.26 mg/L, respectively. Results showed that the highest nitrite and nitrate content was 66.04±0.55 and 55.02±1.4 mg/kg, respectively. However, nitrite and nitrate levels were lower than the prescribed value by international guidelines. Besides, temperaturebased recovery revealed that 80°C was the optimum temperature for recovering the nitrite and nitrate from meat and meat products. This developed method applying ion-exchange chromatography can monitor the content of nitrite and nitrate in meat and meat products to ensure food safety.

Non-communicable diseases (NCD) contribute to most health problems worldwide and are the main drivers for causing disability (Global Burden of Disease Study, 2017). An increase in disability globally was observed due to metabolic conditions such as type-2 diabetes (T2D) (Global Burden of Disease Study, 2017). Besides disability, diabetes is today also one of the top ten causes of death worldwide (Ahmed et al., 2020); thus, it has become a common disease which needs health emergencies. A rapid burden of diabetes in adults is observed in the UK and the prevalence is increasing over time (Diabetes UK, 2019). The higher risk group of T2D includes ethnic populations such as South Asian or Black Afro-Caribbean people (Diabetes UK, 2019).\ud \ud Jointly genetic, epigenetic, and environmental factors related to T2D (Prasad and Groop, 2015; Ahmed et al., 2020; World Health Organization, 2021). Environmental means modifiable factors include dietary behaviour and physical activity (Prasad and Groop, 2015). Ethnic minorities such as South Asians genetically carry fewer β-cells, and over the life-course failure of those cells leads to diabetes (Bhopal, 2013). Thus, to reduce CVD risk and improve health in adults, prevention of T2D demands priority by enhancing a healthy diet and lifestyle globally (Hu, 2011). It is because more than half of the T2D cases are possible to prevent or delay by maintaining a healthy lifestyle and dietary habits (Diabetes UK, 2019). \ud \ud In general, unhealthy dietary habits triggered the global burden of disease (GBD 2016 Risk Factors Collaborators, 2017), causing diabetes, cardiovascular disease ("CVD"), and certain cancers. Dietary habits are dynamic and are influenced by individual choice, health benefits, and culture, where the people grow and live for a long time (Pieroni et al., 2007). Thus, the choice of fruits and vegetables, amount of daily consumption of those, and the cooking style differ due to acculturation and affect T2D diabetes prevention and development.\ud \ud The changing pattern of such modifiable factors like dietary behaviour for different generations in ethnic populations is unclear yet in literature, particularly in the UK, as some evidence exists for the immigrant population in the US. Research in the US demonstrated that an unhealthy dietary habit such as low fruit and high fast food existed due to long-time acculturation in Latina immigrants in the USA (Kasirye et al., 2005). Acculturated first-generation Chinese Americans consume more sweets, fatty foods, and soft drinks, and thus were advised to reduce such unhealthy diets; while the second generation was advised to follow a healthy lifestyle including more fruit and vegetable consumption (Lv and Cason, 2004). \ud \ud The fourth prominent risk factor for mortality worldwide is deemed as sedentary activity (Ranasingheet al., 2013). A lower level of physical activity was stated by South Asians born population outside the UK (1st generation) than those born inside the UK (2nd generation). This difference can be partly explained by cultural differences (Williams et al., 2011). Past studies show that North African, South Asian, African Caribbean, and Mexican immigrants in Europe are less prone to taking sufficient physical exercise due to acculturation and are more likely to be overweight and obese and developing diabetes (Gilbert and Khokhar, 2008; Gualdi-Russo et al., 2014). \ud \ud Socio-cultural factors influence the likelihood of becoming a smoker or drinker (Best et al., 2001). Among the Indians, Pakistanis, and Black Caribbeans, smoking and alcohol drinking habits are reported more by the second generation than the first (Wang and Li, 2019). Either active or passive smoking (Zhang et al., 2011) and alcohol drinking enhance the earlier onset of T2D (Johnson, Bazargan and Cherpitel, 2001).\ud \ud Despite such importance, to the author's knowledge and research, no study focused on the generational effect on the onset of T2D in dietary and healthy lifestyle habits in Asian, African, and Caribbean adults living in the UK. Thus, the study aims to investigate whether these changing dietary and lifestyle habits affect the onset of T2D in terms of generations. Moreover, whether generation of Asian, African and Caribbean, living in the UK differs in terms of onset of T2D.

In recent years, EEG based biometric systems have received great interest from researchers. With ever increasing cases of various types of spoof attacks, and due to vulnerabilities present in the existing systems different biometric modalities have been explored and EEG is one of them. EEG based biometric systems are resilient against cases of forgery and theft as these systems do not work under stress and coerced conditions of users. Due to these favorable characteristics, EEG has been studied as a potential “biomarker” for behavioral analysis of a user. Despite all these favorable features, EEG systems face challenges in the development of on-the-go biometric systems which are needed to be resolved. This paper aims to present recent trends of EEG based biometric systems and discusses major issues faced in the development of these systems.

Background\ud The social support provided or given to others play a key role in healthy ageing. Empirical and anecdotal evidence suggests that walkable neighbourhoods can positively influence social support given. Higher health self-consciousness may strengthen the positive association between walkability and social support provided.\ud \ud Aim\ud This study investigated whether the association between walkability and social support provided is moderated by health self-consciousness.\ud \ud Methods\ud A cross-sectional design with sensitivity analysis and recommended procedures against common methods bias was employed. The study's population was community-dwelling older adults living in Accra, Ghana. Data from 923 participants were analysed using the hierarchical linear regression analysis.\ud \ud Findings\ud The study found a positive association between walkability and social support provided after adjusting for the ultimate confounding variables. Health self-consciousness positively moderated the association between walkability and social support provided.\ud \ud Conclusion\ud The study concludes that social support provided in older adults may be higher in more walkable neighbourhoods. Health self-consciousness can enhance the contribution of walkability to social support provided. Our results reinforce the importance of campaigns aimed at improving walkability of neighbourhoods.

As an underdeveloped country, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic has posed a major risk to the health and economy of Pakistan. The SIR (susceptible–infected–recovered) model of epidemiologic analysis predicts that there should have been more cases since late March 2020 in Pakistan. We therefore sought to investigate COVID-19's prevalence and epidemiologic trends in Pakistan. Research for COVID-19 is still in its early stages, so data were collected from official websites and research journals, then analyzed for the disease's prevalence, epidemiology, mortality and recoveries. The results indicated that a rapid increase had indeed occurred in the number of COVID-19 infections in Pakistan, with the first case reported on 25 February, 2020. From 25 February 25 to April, 2020, COVID-19 infected 11,155 people in Pakistan, with 237 deaths (2.12%) and 2527 recoveries (19.96%). We found a statistically significant positive correlation between the prevalence of COVID-19 and the mortality ratio (r = 0.983, r2 = 0.966; p ≤ 0.05). We concluded that proper management must be undertaken to improve the quarantine system, and the World Health Organization guidelines must be closely followed to cope with COVID-19. There is no vaccine for COVID-19, so antiviral drugs (interferon alfa, ribavirin) may be useful to prevent COVID-19; however, severe control measures implemented in China have significantly mitigated the spread of COVID-19. Suspected and confirmed cases must be treated in separate rooms. Staying home and social distancing are the safe way to proceed., Highlights • A novel coronavirus emerged in December 2019. • Yet there is limited knowledge and information regarding COVID-19 transmission. • Bat and Snake may be possible carrier of COVID-19. • Flu, sore throat, fever and fatigue are the initial signs and symptoms.

The simulation of Small Break Loss-of-Coolant Accident (SBLOCA) experiments in the RD-14M integral test facility is performed under the auspices of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as an International Collaborative Standard Problem (ICSP) with the objective to benchmark and validate the in-house developed system thermal–hydraulic neutronic computer code ‘ATMIKA’, extensively used to analyze postulated events in Indian PHWRs. RD-14M is an 11 MW, full-elevation-scaled extensively instrumented thermal hydraulic Canadian test facility, possessing most of the key components of a CANDU (CANada Deuterium Uranium) primary heat transport system (PHTS). The loop configuration is similar to figure-of-eight geometry of a typical CANDU circuit and it is intended to reproduce the important geometric features of a reactor PHTS and the appropriate operating conditions. ‘ATMIKA’ prediction and its comparison against SBLOCA experimental results are compared in this paper. A specific SBLOCA experiment ‘B9006’ is selected for the Computer code ‘ATMIKA’ predictions. Test B9006 is a 7-mm inlet header break experiment with pressurized accumulator emergency coolant injection (ECI) and represents most complete SBLOCA test conducted in RD-14M that includes all the phases of the transient (blow-down, high-pressure ECI, secondary pressure ramp (crash cool), refill, low pressure ECI, exponential pump ramp, and natural circulation). This simulation demonstrates that ‘ATMIKA’ is adequately capable of predicting the break discharge, PHTS depressurization, channel flow rate, channel voiding, fuel sheath temperatures and high pressure core injection flow through ECCS accumulator and initiation of low pressure ECI for test B9006. ‘ATMIKA’ predicted results are compared with experimental results and it is seen that predicted results for all phases of transient are in good agreement with experimental results.

Introduction: Schizophrenia is one of the severe mental health problem and its guarded treatment response and association with as the stigma makes it a chronic debilitating personal, family and social problem of all the psychiatric illness. Timely Identification and management of this condition is important as early diagnosis and management gives better treatment response.Methods: This is a descriptive study done in patients attending psychiatry OPD of Nepalgunj Medical College, Kohalpur for 12 months from June 2013 to May 2014.Results: Out of the 86 study subjects (n=86), males were 54 in number followed by 32 females. The most common age group was 21-40 years representing 46(53.4%), followed by 41-60 years 24(28%), 60 years 4(4.7%). The most common first contact of the patient with schizophrenia was with faith healers 54 (62.8%) followed by consultation with psychiatrist 18(20.9%). Among the study population, 38(44.2%) visited to the psychiatrist after >41 weeks of the beginning of the illness followed by 34(39.5%) visited in

Background: The three primary headaches, tension-type headache, migraine and cluster headache, occur in both genders, but all seem to have a sex-specific prevalence. These gender differences suggest that both male and female sex hormones could have an influence on the course of primary headaches. This review aims to summarise the most relevant and recent literature on this topic. Methods: Two independent reviewers searched PUBMED in a systematic manner. Search strings were composed using the terms LH, FSH, progesteron, estrogen, DHEA, prolactin, testosterone, androgen, headach, migrain, "tension type" or cluster. A timeframe was set limiting the search to articles published in the last 20 years, after January 1st 1997. Results: Migraine tends to follow a classic temporal pattern throughout a woman's life corresponding to the fluctuation of estrogen in the different reproductive stages. The estrogen withdrawal hypothesis forms the basis for most of the assumptions made on this behalf. The role of other hormones as well as the importance of sex hormones in other primary headaches is far less studied. Conclusion: The available literature mainly covers the role of sex hormones in migraine in women. Detailed studies especially in the elderly of both sexes and in cluster headache and tension-type headache are warranted to fully elucidate the role of these hormones in all primary headaches. © 2018 The Author(s).

Background: Depression is the most common mental health problem but its presentation may not be the same all the time. Presentation of depression in the form of somatic symptoms makes it difficult to identify by untrained eyes which needs detailed investigations before labeling them as having a psychiatric problems. Methods: This is a descriptive study done in patients attending psychiatry OPD of Nepalgunj Medical College, Kohalpur, for six months from the month of May to October 2014. Results: Out of the 240 study subjects, the most common age group is 21-30 years, 90(37.5%), followed by 11-20 years, 50(20.83%). Among the physical symptoms, Generalized weakness 145(29.84%), loss of appetite 106(21.81%), vague pain (joint/abdomen) 84(17.28%), headache 80(16.46%), burning and tingling sensation 71(14.61%).Conclusions: Depression is a common psychiatric entity but may present in the form of physical symptoms. The commonest being generalized weakness 145(29.84%), followed by loss of appetite 106(21.81%).JNGMC Vol. 12 No. 2 December 2014, Page: 17-19

This systematic review summarizes the existing data on headache and pregnancy with a scope on clinical headache phenotypes, treatment of headaches in pregnancy and effects of headache medications on the child during pregnancy and breastfeeding, headache related complications, and diagnostics of headache in pregnancy. Headache during pregnancy can be both primary and secondary, and in the last case can be a symptom of a life-threatening condition. The most common secondary headaches are stroke, cerebral venous thrombosis, subarachnoid hemorrhage, pituitary tumor, choriocarcinoma, eclampsia, preeclampsia, idiopathic intracranial hypertension, and reversible cerebral vasoconstriction syndrome. Migraine is a risk factor for pregnancy complications, particularly vascular events. Data regarding other primary headache conditions are still scarce. Early diagnostics of the disease manifested by headache is important for mother and fetus life. It is especially important to identify “red flag symptoms” suggesting that headache is a symptom of a serious disease. In order to exclude a secondary headache additional studies can be necessary: electroencephalography, ultrasound of the vessels of the head and neck, brain MRI and MR angiography with contrast ophthalmoscopy and lumbar puncture. During pregnancy and breastfeeding the preferred therapeutic strategy for the treatment of primary headaches should always be a non-pharmacological one. Treatment should not be postponed as an undermanaged headache can lead to stress, sleep deprivation, depression and poor nutritional intake that in turn can have negative consequences for both mother and baby. Therefore, if non-pharmacological interventions seem inadequate, a well-considered choice should be made concerning the use of medication, taking into account all the benefits and possible risks. © 2017, The Author(s).

The working environment in carpet industry was assessed for fungal contamination in Gwalior (India). The sampling was carried out in five carpet units that were selected randomly. The Petri plates containing potato dextrose agar (PDA) medium was exposed for a period of 15 min near the workplace (exposed) and outside environment (control). They were covered again with aluminium foil before transporting them to the laboratory for further analysis. It was found that various types of fungal species viz., Aspergillus niger, A. parasitics, Fusarium sp., Alternaria sp., Penicillium sp., Trichoderma sp., Curvularia sp., Cladosporium sp., and yeast were present at the work place, which may cause various types of diseases among the weavers. Therefore, we recommended good housekeeping and workplace design, which is necessary for control of fungal contamination at the work place, that may not only reduce the disease among workers but may also increase productivity and efficiency of the workers.

Automatic onset detection and picking algorithm has been proposed by applying the spectro-ratio on time-frequency sub-band. The proposed algorithm does not need any parameter settings as it will work on data generated by either short or very broad band seismometers. Our algorithm is applied on local events from Cairo region recorded by three stations of the Egyptian National Seismic Network (ENSN). Maximum standard deviation is observed to be 0.113 s of the corresponding manual picks made by analysts.

Amendments of oil-cakes, bone and horn meals in soil increased tomato-plant growth and reduced the nematode multiplication. Highest improvement in plant growth and reduced reproduction factor and root galling were recorded in neem-cake amended soil. The least effect was with sesame-cake. The integration of oil-cakes (except mahua-cake), bone and horn meals with P. lilacinus, resulted in increased plant growth and reduced population build up of nematodes and root gallings. The groundnut-cake with P. lilacinus was most effective. The organic amendments increased the parasitism of P. lilacinus on root-knot nematodes.

In this study we present the effect of elevated temperatures from 300K to 400K on the electrical properties of copper Phthalocyanine (CuPc) based organic field effect transistors (OFET). Thin films of organic semiconductor CuPc (40nm) and semitransparent Al (20nm) were deposited in sequence, by vacuum evaporation on a glass substrate with previously deposited Ag source and drain electrodes with a gap of 40 μm. Under resistive mode of operation, where gate was suspended it was observed that drain current of this organic field effect transistor (OFET) show an increase with temperature. While in grounded gate condition metal (aluminum) – semiconductor (Copper Phthalocyanine) Schottky junction dominated the output characteristics and device showed switching effect from low to high conduction states like Zener diode at higher bias voltages. This threshold voltage for switching effect has been found to be inversely proportional to temperature and shows an abrupt decrease after knee temperature of 360K. Change in dynamic resistance (Rd = dV/dI) with respect to temperature was observed to be -1%/K., {"references":["C.D. Dimitrakopoulos, D.J. Mascaro, \"Organic thin-film transistors: A\nreview of recent advances\", IBM J. Res. & Dev, vol. 45, pp. 11, 2001.","H.L. Gomes, P. Stallinga, F. Dinelli, M. Murgia, F. Biscarini, D.M. de\nLeeuw, T. Muck, J. Geurts, L.W. Molenkamp, V. Wagner \"Bias-induced\nthreshold voltages shifts in thin-film organic transistors\", Applied\nPhysics Letter, vol. 84, pg. 3184, 2004.","P. Stallinga, H.L. Gomes, F. Biscarini, M. Murgia, D.M. de Leeuw\n\"Electronic transport in field-effect transistors of sexithiophene\",\nJournal of Applied Physics, vol. 96, pg. 5277, 2004.","H.L. Gomes, P. Stallinga, F. Dinelli, M. Murgia, F. Biscarini, D.M. de\nLeeuw, M. Muccini, J. Moulien, Polym. Adv. 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In this study, the photocapacitive behavior of organic semiconductor, photosensitive material, poly-N-epoxypropylcarbazole (PEPC) doped with tetracyanoquinodimethane (TCNQ) and copper phthalocyanine (CuPc) were investigated. A sandwich type CG/PEPC-TCNQ/Al photocapacitive detector was fabricated by screen printing technology. Thin films of the copper phthalocyanine (CuPc) were deposited by vacuum evaporation on glass substrates with silver surface-type electrodes and a Ag/CuPc/Ag photo capacitive detector was fabricated. It was shown that under filament lamp illumination up to 2000 lx the capacitance of the CG/PEPC-TCNQ/Al photocapacitive detectors increased up to 5 % with respect to the dark condition . Similarly the capacitance of the Ag/CuPc/Ag photocapacitive detectors increased continuously up to 20% at 1000 lx relative to the dark condition. It is assumed that photocapacitive response of the detectors is associated with polarization due to the transfer of photo-generated electrons and holes.

A thin film of organic p-type semiconducting copper phthalocynanine (CuPc) and a semitransparent Al film were deposited by vacuum evaporation on a glass substrate with Ag film source and drain electrodes. Organic field effect transistor with metal (aluminum)-semiconductor (copper phthalocyanine) Schottky type junction was fabricated. Investigations were made for the effect of modulated LED's irradiation on its characteristics at frequency ranging from 10 Hz-100 kHz. Drain current of organic phototransistor (OPT) was observed to .increase quasi-linearly with illumination. Organic field effect transistor was observed to be sensitive at frequency range from 16 Hz to 316 Hz (AC current) and from 16 Hz to 10 kHz (DC current). A block diagram of optical instrumentation with OPT as a sensor is also proposed.

A thin organic film of p-type semiconducting copper phthalocynanine (CuPc) was deposited by vacuum evaporation on an n-type GaAs single-crystal semiconductor substrate. The fabricated Ag/CuPc/n-GaAs/Ag sensor was carried through an ageing process to stabilize the parameters. Voltage-current characteristics and photoelectrical response of the sensor were investigated at a wide temperature interval of 82 K to 350 K. Photoelectric characteristics were measured under nonmodulated filament-lamp illumination. It was observed that sensor parameters such as: rectification ratio; threshold voltage; junction, shunt and series resistances; open-circuit voltage and short circuit current are temperature dependent. It was found that wide-range voltage-current characteristics of the sensor may be described similar to that of a Schottky barrier diode. Using the experimental data on voltage-current characteristics and absorbance of the CuPc films the energy-band diagram of the p-CuPc/n-GaAs heterojunction was developed. It was shown that data obtained from simulation of an equivalent circuit of photoelectric sensor agreed with experimental results.

Conventional code acquisition techniques don't exploit the entire available information for decision making but only use a part of it. A maximum a posteriori probability (MAP) code acquisition scheme is proposed which efficiently utilizes all the available information by exploiting statistical properties of spreading codes. Computer simulations show significant performance improvements over conventional schemes

The fundamental problem that confronts Pakistani software industry is that they have very limited experience in software process improvement strategies. We hardly find any Capability Maturity Model (CMM) level 3, 4 or 5 certified company in our software industry. It is therefore, necessary to find out the problems that are faced by companies in adopting CMM or its components. As a first step software configuration management (SCM), which is one component or key process area of CMM level 2, is focused in this research for evaluation. This paper is based on an auditor-based survey of 38 Islamabad based software companies. The goal was to find our adherence of these companies to SCM strategies. Some issues are identified, that need to be resolved for successful implementation of SCM. This paper also highlights where Islamabad based software companies rank them with respect to CMM.

In terms of bit error rate (BER) and synchronization performances, Markovian codes are superior to i.i.d. codes in asynchronous mode, for the single-user case. Their BER performance is better than i.i.d. codes also in the case of multiuser detection (MUD). The paper shows that a simple code acquisition scheme based on the statistical properties of spread spectrum (SS) codes efficiently makes the performance of Markov codes superior to i.i.d. codes in asynchronous MUD systems. Hence, Markov codes are a strong candidate for being SS codes in the MUD case as well. Furthermore, the proposed code acquisition scheme significantly outperforms conventional schemes.

Exact and approximate methods, based on an a posteriori probability threshold rule for multiuser code acquisition, utilizing interference cancellation, in the base station reverse link of a DS/CDMA system are proposed. Expectation and variance of the correlator output corresponding to a synchronization chip and otherwise are derived, including effects of data and timing estimation errors. By applying a central limit theorem, density functions for the two cases are obtained and this leads to formulation of a joint density function of correlator output data. After receiving an output, the conditional probability of the corresponding chip being the synchronization chip is updated and compared with a threshold value. If the updated value of a posteriori probability is greater than or equal to a threshold value, acquisition is declared; otherwise, the next correlator output is examined and the process carries on until acquisition is declared. Hence, an upper bound on acquisition error probability is guaranteed beforehand. Accumulated data is used for decision making, unlike conventional threshold rules that use only current data. Computer simulations show significant gains in mean acquisition time and correct acquisition probability compared to a similar multiuser system with a conventional threshold rule. An approximate method with substantially less complexity than the exact method is derived. Instead of the exact value of correlator output variance, an approximation is used. Consequently, the joint density function of the correlator output is considerably simplified; however, performance is only slightly degraded.

A multiuser code acquisition system based on interference cancellation (IC) is proposed for the reverse link of the base station of direct sequence code division multiple access (DS/CDMA) systems. Explicit expressions for the variance and density function of the correlator output are derived incorporating data and timing estimation errors. Consequently, a threshold rule based on a posteriori probability can be applied which guarantees beforehand an upper bound on acquisition error probability, a very important system performance criterion. Computer simulation results show that acquisition error probability is below the upper limit; system capacity and mean acquisition time performance are also promising.

SS codes generated by a Markov chain are shown to be superior to LFSR-based codes and IID codes in asynchronous DS/CDMA systems in terms of the following two common performance measures: 1) success rate of acquisition; and 2) bit error rate of the correlator using an accumulated version of the serial search acquisition.

This is the fifth volume in a series of reports that provide information on dose reduction research and health physics technology or nuclear power plants. The information is taken from two of several databases maintained by Brookhaven National Laboratory`s ALARA Center for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The research section of the report covers dose reduction projects that are in the experimental or developmental phase. It includes topics such as steam generator degradation, decontamination, robotics, improvements in reactor materials, and inspection techniques. The section on health physics technology discusses dose reduction efforts that are in place or in the process of being implemented at nuclear power plants. A total of 105 new or updated projects are described. All project abstracts from this report are available to nuclear industry professionals with access to a fax machine through the ACEFAX system or a computer with a modem and the proper communications software through the ACE system. Detailed descriptions of how to access all the databases electronically are in the appendices of the report.

This issue of the Brookhaven National Laboratory`s Alara Notes includes the agenda for the Third International Workshop on ALARA and specific instructions on the use of the on-line fax-on-demand service provided by BNL. Other topics included in this issue are: (1) A discussion of low-level discharges from Canadian nuclear plants, (2) Safety issues at French nuclear plants, (3) Acoustic emission as a means of leak detection, (4) Replacement of steam generators at Doel-3, Beaznau, and North Anna-1, (5) Remote handling equipment at Bruce, (6) EPRI`s low level waste program, (7) Radiation protection during concrete repairs at Savannah River, (8) Reactor vessel stud removal/repair at Comanche Peak-1, (9) Rework of reactor coolant pump motors, (10) Restoration of service water at North Anna-1 and -2, (11) Steam generator tubing problems at Mihama-1, (12) Full system decontamination at Indian Point-2, (13) Chemical decontamination at Browns Ferry-2, and (14) Inspection methodolody in France and Japan.

This document contains information dealing with the lessons learned from the experience of nuclear plants. In this issue the authors tried to avoid the `tyranny` of numbers and concentrated on the main lessons learned. Topics include: filtration devices for air pollution abatement, crack repair and inspection, and remote handling equipment.

The ALARA Center at Brookhaven National Laboratory publishes a series of bibliographies of selected readings in radiation protection and ALARA in the continuing effort to collect and disseminate information on radiation dose reduction at nuclear power plants. This is volume 7 of the series. The abstracts in this bibliography were selected from proceedings of technical meetings and conferences, journals, research reports, and searches of the Energy Science and Technology database of the US Department of Energy. The subject material of these abstracts relates to radiation protection and dose reduction, and ranges from use of robotics to operational health physics, to water chemistry. Material on the design, planning, and management of nuclear power stations is included, as well as information on decommissioning and safe storage efforts. Volume 7 contains 293 abstract, an author index, and a subject index. The author index is specific for this volume. The subject index is cumulative and lists all abstract numbers from volumes 1 to 7. The numbers in boldface indicate the abstracts in this volume; the numbers not in boldface represent abstracts in previous volumes.

This report provides the US Department of Energy (DOE) and its contractors with information that will be useful for reducing occupational radiation doses at DOE`s nuclear facilities. In 1989 and 1990, health physicists from the Brookhaven National Laboratory`s (BNL) ALARA Center visited twelve DOE contractor facilities with annual collective dose equivalents greater than 100 person-rem (100 person-cSv). The health physicists interviewed radiological safety staff, engineers, and training personnel who were responsible for dose control. The status of ALARA practices at the major contractor facilities was compared with the requirements and recommendation in DOE Order 5480.11 ``Radiation Protection for Occupational Workers`` and PNL-6577 ``Health Physics Manual of Good Practices for Reducing Radiation Exposure to Levels that are as Low as Reasonably Achievable.`` The information and data collected are described and examples of successful practices are presented. The findings on the status of the DOE Contractor ALARA Programs are summarized and evaluated. In addition, the supplement to this report contains examples of good-practice documents associated with implementing the major elements of a formally documented ALARA program for a major DOE contractor facility.

This progress report describes current activities and technical progress in the programs at Brookhaven National Laboratory sponsored by the Division of Regulatory Applications, Division of Engineering, Division of Safety Issue Resolution, and Division of Systems Research of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research following the reorganization in July 1988. The previous reports have covered the period October 1, 1976 through June 30, 1989. 25 refs., 12 figs., 5 tabs.

The β-decay of 96Y has been investigated by the three on-line separators JOSEF, LOHENGRIN and OSIRIS. Evidence for two decay modes is given. The half-lives of the two β-decaying levels are 6.0±0.3 sec and 10.0±0.3 sec. The 6.0 sec state is assumed to be the ground state of 96Y with spin and parity Jπ = 0−. The value of Qβ is 6200±200 keV. The decay scheme of 96Zr, based on coincidence measurements, has been established and is in agreement with the results of the nuclear reaction experiments.