Alvin Sashala Naik - Log Records of my activities throughout the ARDENT training
Trainings
2013, 1st quarter
3 January 2013: Introduction to the physics of solid state track detectors and the applications of the CR-39 polymers to radiation dosimetry at CNAO by Ing. Michele Ferrarini.
28-31 Jan 2013: Introduction to LabView programming language through an online course provided by National Instruments. The politrack software is written in labview and mastering this code will help me to improve the algorithms used for image processing and machine control.
March-April 2013: Introduction to FLUKA monte carlo code for neutron transport by Sofia Rollet from AIT. The code is meant to be used to simulate neutron interactions with matter in CR-39 track detectors.
Conferences
2013, 1st quarter
Venue: Pavia, Italy
Date: 19 October 2012
Description: This workshop was held at the CNAO hadron-therapy centre for cancer treatment. Besides comprising lectures on medical physics and radiation protection, this event was aimed at discussing a collaboration between CNAO and ARDENT. The goal was to obtain enough beam time to perform measurements for interested research group from ARDENT and CNAO. It was definitely an excellent conference to begin the adventure within the ARDENT project.
Venue: Vienna, Austria
Date: 20-23 November 2012
Description: This workshop was the first annual workshop organised by ARDENT. It's goal was to gather all ESRs and the respective supervisors in order to have an overview of the evolution in the different research projects. It was a good occasion to meet all the representatives from the different institutions and an excellent opportunity for us ESRs to know each other better. This workshop was highlighted by the visit to the MedAustron Cancer treatment facility which is actually in construction near Vienna.
Venue: Barcelona, Spain
Date: 3-8 February 2013
Description: The EURADOS annual symposium was definitely an excellent conference on radiation dosimetry. It was my first big meeting with the experts in the field of Radon and Neutron dosimetry working in Europe. I was able to attend to the different working groups composing the EURADOS The winter school held during this conference was very interesting as I could attend lectures focused on my PhD project.
Venue: Ispra, Italy
Date: 18-22 March 2013
Description: The 10th ESARDA workshop on non-proliferation and nuclear safeguards was an excellent training on technologies used for radiation detection but was also an excellent introduction to the international policies put in place to control the traffic of nuclear materials around the globe. It was also an excellent opportunity to expand my network of experts in the field of radiation protection.
Graduate school courses
2013, 1st quarter
Date: January 2013
Description: This course is focused on public, scientific and technical communication. I chose this course to further develop my communication skills for presenting my research results to a general public as well as to a professional and technical audience.
Date: February 2013
Description: The aim of this course is to prepare a proposal for a European project in any field of science. The goal is to have some practice is organising and managing a multi-million Euro research project on an international level. We had to make groups of 3 students and make a research proposal for a call from the 7th framework programme. We chose a theme focused on medical physics and further description on this proposal is found in the 2nd quarterly logbook as this course ends in July 2013.
Date: March 2013
Description: This course is focused on advanced measurement techniques used in engineering.
Trainings
2013, 2nd quarter
3 January 2013: Training for using a Mcnp code for the simulation of neutron interactions with matter.
Graduate school courses
2013, 2nd quarter
Date: April 2013
Description: This course is focused on developing skills in organising and managing a research project.
Date: April 2013
Description: This course is focused on the Physics of radiation protection and the Physics of the different detector technologies.
Date: May 2013
Description: This course is focused on innovation specifically in the collaboration of Universities and private companies.
Conferences
2013, 2nd quarter
Date: June 2013
Description: Neutron and ion dosimetry is of great importance for radiation protection purposes in various fields of activity and situations such as the use of accelerators for research and medical applications, the operation of reactors and fuel cycle facilities, and activities onboard aircraft leading to exposure to cosmic rays. The general aim of the symposium is to share knowledge, to exchange experience and to promote new ideas in the field of neutron and ion dosimetry between scientists from research bodies, regulatory authorities and industry worldwide. We presented a poster presentation at the 12th NEUDOS symposium
Date: June 2013
Description:
Activities
2013, 3rd quarter
July 2013: Neutron irradiation experiment using a PuBe source at the CERN.
July 2013: FLUKA simulations of former calibration campaigns performed at the PTB and Ithemba labs, at the Austrian Institute of Technology in Vienna, under the coordination of Dr. Sofia Rollet.
Conferences
2013, 3rd quarter
Venue: Recife, Brazil
Date: 23-28 September 2013
Description: The 17th International Solid State Dosimetry symposium is held every 4 years and was organized this time by the Brazil Dosimetry community. The 1 week conference was an excellent congress where the networking opportunities were considerable for our future research plan.
Graduate school courses
2013, 3rd quarter
Date: September 2013
Description: This 1 week crash course was very compact and allow me to develop considerable skills in risk management and modelling in the case of radiation protection and nuclear safety. During this course, a collaboration between students from Ecole Centrale Paris has been set up in order to realise a 6-month research project, which will be the subject of the exam. The 2 best research project will be proposed for publication in a significant Risk Modelling journal.
Articles Published
2013, 4th quarter
Date: November 2013
Description: M. Caresana, M. Ferrarini, A. Parravicini., A. Sashala Naik, "Evaluation of a Personal and Environmental Dosimeter based on CR-39 Track Detectors in Quasi-monoenergetic Neutron Fields.", Radiation Protection Dosimetry, DOI:10.1093/rpd/nct320, 14 November 2013, click here for abstract.
Date: December 2013
Description: F. Trompier et al., "Comparison of the Response of PADC Neutron Dosimeters in High Energy Neutron Fields", Radiation Protection Dosimetry, 1 December 2013, click here for abstract.
Activities
2013, 4th quarter
October 2013: I attended the official FLUKA workshop held in Dresden, Germanry. I was able to master the functionalities of the Monte Carlo code and the technique learned will be definitely useful for my current and future research activities
October 2013: This outreach event consisted of a lecture at the Omodeo high school at Mortara, Italy, in order to promote radiation science to young students. Practical sessions will also be held during the month of December to help them grasp the concept of radiation detection. The presentation given to the high school students can be found on this link.
November 2013: Progress on the application of Monte Carlo simulations to evaluate the detection limits of the CR-39 track detectors used for neutron dosimetry.
Conferences
2013, 4th quarter
Venue: Milan, Italy
Date: 14-18 October 2013
Description: The 2nd ARDENT workshop is a special workshop meant for the members of the ARDENT project. I had to present the evolution of my work since I started with ARDENT.
Venue: Seoul, South Korea
Date: 28 Oct -2 Nov 2013
Description: Click here for more information on this conference
Graduate school courses
2013, 4th quarter
Date: November 2013
Description: Examinations and practical sessions.
Activities
2014, 1st quarter
February 2014: Experiments in the frame of the beam-time allocated at the CNAO hadron-therapy centre in Pavia, Italy. The CR-39 based dosimeter were placed around the proton-irradiated phantom and the dose due to recoil neutrons was successfully measured.
March 2014: Successfull LET measurements in the protons beam of CNAO. The LET profile was measured until the Bragg peak. Secondary doses to healthy tissues could be estimated on the PADC detector.
Conferences
2014, 1st quarter
Venue: Ispra, Italy
Date: 31 March to 4 April 2014
Description: The workshop was focused on the application of passive and active neutron detection systems for homeland security applications.
Graduate school courses
2014, 1st quarter
Date: January 2014
Description: Theory and practice of Project management. The exam is based on a multiple choice test of 3 hours on 150 questions.
Date: February/March 2014
Description: 50 hours course on the Physics of energy conversion principle. The exam is based on a project to be submitted in May 2014.
Outreach
2014, 2nd quarter
Venue: CERN, Cessy site, France
Date: May 2014
Description: ARDENT outreach event at the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment of the LHC at the CERN Cessy site for the 60th Anniversary of the CERN organisation.
Activities
2014, 2nd quarter
April 2014: Characteristion of the LET response of the CR-39 detectors in Carbon ion beam at the CNAO facility in Pavia, Italy. The LET measurement allowed to characterise the response of the detector to hadrons until the Bragg peak.
May 2014: 1 week course delivered by STS management institute on business administration.
June 2014: The secondment carried out at the Austrian Institute of Technology - AIT was focused on the training in Monte Carlo simulation codes (FLUKA and MCNP). The research work has been completed and the objectives of the secondment achieved.
Conferences
2014, 2nd quarter
Venue: Aachen, Germany
Date: June 2014
Description: The Position Sensitive Neutron Detectors was a very interesting conference on neutron detection and the new advanced materials developed for this purpose.
Graduate school courses
2014, 2nd quarter
Date: May 2014
Description: Validation of the ESARDA course for 3 ECTS.
Date: May 2014
Description: 50 hours course on the Physics of Electromagnetic Radiation.
Conferences
2014, 3rd quarter
Graduate school courses
2014, 3rd quarter
Date: September 2014
Description: ADVANCED MULTIMODAL IMAGING FOR RADIATION THERAPY (5 ECTS)
Activities
2014, 4th quarter
November 2014: Characteristion of the LET response of the CR-39 detectors in 62 MeV/amu Carbon ion beam at the LNS Facility of the INFN Catania, Italy. The LET measurement allowed to characterise the response of the detector to hadrons until the Bragg peak.
December 2014: Evaluation of the 2nd year the PhD research work by the PhD school representatives.
Conferences
2014, 4th quarter
Venue: Port Douglas, Australia
Date: October 2014
Description: The MMND workshop focused on the current status of research and radiation detectors for mini, micro and nano-dosimetry in hadron therapy and space.
Activities
2015, 1st quarter
January-February 2015: The Business and Administration secondment of 2 months was successfully carried out at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) within the Knowledge and Transfer (KT) group under the supervision of Dr. Zoe Lawson.
February 2015: Some of our CR-39 detectors were irradiated by Benedikt Bergmann (ESR 9) at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center. The intercomparison between the Timepix detector and the CR-39 detector is under way.
March 2015: Successfull LET measurements in the protons beam of the INFN-LNS laboratory in Siciy, Italy. The LET profile was measured until the Bragg peak. Secondary doses to healthy tissues could be estimated on the PADC detector.
Activities
2015, 2nd quarter
May 2015: Calibration experiment performed at the Czech Technical University (CTU) in Prague, Czech Republic for the fast neutron dosimeter in mono-energetic neutron beams.
June 2015: The design of the prototype of the fast neutron dosimeter was completed and a sample was produced using a 3D printer from CAM3D Srl.
Trainings
2013, 1st quarter
3 January 2013: Introduction to the physics of solid state track detectors and the applications of the CR-39 polymers to radiation dosimetry at CNAO by Ing. Michele Ferrarini.
28-31 Jan 2013: Introduction to LabView programming language through an online course provided by National Instruments. The politrack software is written in labview and mastering this code will help me to improve the algorithms used for image processing and machine control.
March-April 2013: Introduction to FLUKA monte carlo code for neutron transport by Sofia Rollet from AIT. The code is meant to be used to simulate neutron interactions with matter in CR-39 track detectors.
Conferences
2013, 1st quarter
Venue: Pavia, Italy
Date: 19 October 2012
Description: This workshop was held at the CNAO hadron-therapy centre for cancer treatment. Besides comprising lectures on medical physics and radiation protection, this event was aimed at discussing a collaboration between CNAO and ARDENT. The goal was to obtain enough beam time to perform measurements for interested research group from ARDENT and CNAO. It was definitely an excellent conference to begin the adventure within the ARDENT project.
Venue: Vienna, Austria
Date: 20-23 November 2012
Description: This workshop was the first annual workshop organised by ARDENT. It's goal was to gather all ESRs and the respective supervisors in order to have an overview of the evolution in the different research projects. It was a good occasion to meet all the representatives from the different institutions and an excellent opportunity for us ESRs to know each other better. This workshop was highlighted by the visit to the MedAustron Cancer treatment facility which is actually in construction near Vienna.
Venue: Barcelona, Spain
Date: 3-8 February 2013
Description: The EURADOS annual symposium was definitely an excellent conference on radiation dosimetry. It was my first big meeting with the experts in the field of Radon and Neutron dosimetry working in Europe. I was able to attend to the different working groups composing the EURADOS The winter school held during this conference was very interesting as I could attend lectures focused on my PhD project.
Venue: Ispra, Italy
Date: 18-22 March 2013
Description: The 10th ESARDA workshop on non-proliferation and nuclear safeguards was an excellent training on technologies used for radiation detection but was also an excellent introduction to the international policies put in place to control the traffic of nuclear materials around the globe. It was also an excellent opportunity to expand my network of experts in the field of radiation protection.
Graduate school courses
2013, 1st quarter
Date: January 2013
Description: This course is focused on public, scientific and technical communication. I chose this course to further develop my communication skills for presenting my research results to a general public as well as to a professional and technical audience.
Date: February 2013
Description: The aim of this course is to prepare a proposal for a European project in any field of science. The goal is to have some practice is organising and managing a multi-million Euro research project on an international level. We had to make groups of 3 students and make a research proposal for a call from the 7th framework programme. We chose a theme focused on medical physics and further description on this proposal is found in the 2nd quarterly logbook as this course ends in July 2013.
Date: March 2013
Description: This course is focused on advanced measurement techniques used in engineering.
Trainings
2013, 2nd quarter
3 January 2013: Training for using a Mcnp code for the simulation of neutron interactions with matter.
Graduate school courses
2013, 2nd quarter
Date: April 2013
Description: This course is focused on developing skills in organising and managing a research project.
Date: April 2013
Description: This course is focused on the Physics of radiation protection and the Physics of the different detector technologies.
Date: May 2013
Description: This course is focused on innovation specifically in the collaboration of Universities and private companies.
Conferences
2013, 2nd quarter
Date: June 2013
Description: Neutron and ion dosimetry is of great importance for radiation protection purposes in various fields of activity and situations such as the use of accelerators for research and medical applications, the operation of reactors and fuel cycle facilities, and activities onboard aircraft leading to exposure to cosmic rays. The general aim of the symposium is to share knowledge, to exchange experience and to promote new ideas in the field of neutron and ion dosimetry between scientists from research bodies, regulatory authorities and industry worldwide. We presented a poster presentation at the 12th NEUDOS symposium
Date: June 2013
Description:
Activities
2013, 3rd quarter
July 2013: Neutron irradiation experiment using a PuBe source at the CERN.
July 2013: FLUKA simulations of former calibration campaigns performed at the PTB and Ithemba labs, at the Austrian Institute of Technology in Vienna, under the coordination of Dr. Sofia Rollet.
Conferences
2013, 3rd quarter
Venue: Recife, Brazil
Date: 23-28 September 2013
Description: The 17th International Solid State Dosimetry symposium is held every 4 years and was organized this time by the Brazil Dosimetry community. The 1 week conference was an excellent congress where the networking opportunities were considerable for our future research plan.
Graduate school courses
2013, 3rd quarter
Date: September 2013
Description: This 1 week crash course was very compact and allow me to develop considerable skills in risk management and modelling in the case of radiation protection and nuclear safety. During this course, a collaboration between students from Ecole Centrale Paris has been set up in order to realise a 6-month research project, which will be the subject of the exam. The 2 best research project will be proposed for publication in a significant Risk Modelling journal.
Articles Published
2013, 4th quarter
Date: November 2013
Description: M. Caresana, M. Ferrarini, A. Parravicini., A. Sashala Naik, "Evaluation of a Personal and Environmental Dosimeter based on CR-39 Track Detectors in Quasi-monoenergetic Neutron Fields.", Radiation Protection Dosimetry, DOI:10.1093/rpd/nct320, 14 November 2013, click here for abstract.
Date: December 2013
Description: F. Trompier et al., "Comparison of the Response of PADC Neutron Dosimeters in High Energy Neutron Fields", Radiation Protection Dosimetry, 1 December 2013, click here for abstract.
Activities
2013, 4th quarter
October 2013: I attended the official FLUKA workshop held in Dresden, Germanry. I was able to master the functionalities of the Monte Carlo code and the technique learned will be definitely useful for my current and future research activities
October 2013: This outreach event consisted of a lecture at the Omodeo high school at Mortara, Italy, in order to promote radiation science to young students. Practical sessions will also be held during the month of December to help them grasp the concept of radiation detection. The presentation given to the high school students can be found on this link.
November 2013: Progress on the application of Monte Carlo simulations to evaluate the detection limits of the CR-39 track detectors used for neutron dosimetry.
Conferences
2013, 4th quarter
Venue: Milan, Italy
Date: 14-18 October 2013
Description: The 2nd ARDENT workshop is a special workshop meant for the members of the ARDENT project. I had to present the evolution of my work since I started with ARDENT.
Venue: Seoul, South Korea
Date: 28 Oct -2 Nov 2013
Description: Click here for more information on this conference
Graduate school courses
2013, 4th quarter
Date: November 2013
Description: Examinations and practical sessions.
Activities
2014, 1st quarter
February 2014: Experiments in the frame of the beam-time allocated at the CNAO hadron-therapy centre in Pavia, Italy. The CR-39 based dosimeter were placed around the proton-irradiated phantom and the dose due to recoil neutrons was successfully measured.
March 2014: Successfull LET measurements in the protons beam of CNAO. The LET profile was measured until the Bragg peak. Secondary doses to healthy tissues could be estimated on the PADC detector.
Conferences
2014, 1st quarter
Venue: Ispra, Italy
Date: 31 March to 4 April 2014
Description: The workshop was focused on the application of passive and active neutron detection systems for homeland security applications.
Graduate school courses
2014, 1st quarter
Date: January 2014
Description: Theory and practice of Project management. The exam is based on a multiple choice test of 3 hours on 150 questions.
Date: February/March 2014
Description: 50 hours course on the Physics of energy conversion principle. The exam is based on a project to be submitted in May 2014.
Outreach
2014, 2nd quarter
Venue: CERN, Cessy site, France
Date: May 2014
Description: ARDENT outreach event at the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment of the LHC at the CERN Cessy site for the 60th Anniversary of the CERN organisation.
Activities
2014, 2nd quarter
April 2014: Characteristion of the LET response of the CR-39 detectors in Carbon ion beam at the CNAO facility in Pavia, Italy. The LET measurement allowed to characterise the response of the detector to hadrons until the Bragg peak.
May 2014: 1 week course delivered by STS management institute on business administration.
June 2014: The secondment carried out at the Austrian Institute of Technology - AIT was focused on the training in Monte Carlo simulation codes (FLUKA and MCNP). The research work has been completed and the objectives of the secondment achieved.
Conferences
2014, 2nd quarter
Venue: Aachen, Germany
Date: June 2014
Description: The Position Sensitive Neutron Detectors was a very interesting conference on neutron detection and the new advanced materials developed for this purpose.
Graduate school courses
2014, 2nd quarter
Date: May 2014
Description: Validation of the ESARDA course for 3 ECTS.
Date: May 2014
Description: 50 hours course on the Physics of Electromagnetic Radiation.
Conferences
2014, 3rd quarter
Graduate school courses
2014, 3rd quarter
Date: September 2014
Description: ADVANCED MULTIMODAL IMAGING FOR RADIATION THERAPY (5 ECTS)
Activities
2014, 4th quarter
November 2014: Characteristion of the LET response of the CR-39 detectors in 62 MeV/amu Carbon ion beam at the LNS Facility of the INFN Catania, Italy. The LET measurement allowed to characterise the response of the detector to hadrons until the Bragg peak.
December 2014: Evaluation of the 2nd year the PhD research work by the PhD school representatives.
Conferences
2014, 4th quarter
Venue: Port Douglas, Australia
Date: October 2014
Description: The MMND workshop focused on the current status of research and radiation detectors for mini, micro and nano-dosimetry in hadron therapy and space.
Activities
2015, 1st quarter
January-February 2015: The Business and Administration secondment of 2 months was successfully carried out at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) within the Knowledge and Transfer (KT) group under the supervision of Dr. Zoe Lawson.
February 2015: Some of our CR-39 detectors were irradiated by Benedikt Bergmann (ESR 9) at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center. The intercomparison between the Timepix detector and the CR-39 detector is under way.
March 2015: Successfull LET measurements in the protons beam of the INFN-LNS laboratory in Siciy, Italy. The LET profile was measured until the Bragg peak. Secondary doses to healthy tissues could be estimated on the PADC detector.
Activities
2015, 2nd quarter
May 2015: Calibration experiment performed at the Czech Technical University (CTU) in Prague, Czech Republic for the fast neutron dosimeter in mono-energetic neutron beams.
June 2015: The design of the prototype of the fast neutron dosimeter was completed and a sample was produced using a 3D printer from CAM3D Srl.