An introduction to radiation chemistry

Abstract

Education seems always to be in the midst of a crisis-or even simultaneously in several. One of those in which it is involved just now does nothappily-particularly concern science education. But although the heat has been generated in the social and political areas there is no telling when the fever will spread to others. It came to a head in the recent "Pasadena incident," the details of which need not be recounted. A superintendent was brought in to reorganize and improve the school system. He proved too "progressive" for his constituency; the principal complaint was that his innovations ignored the rights of the home and prepared pupils for a life of social regimentation rather than one of intelligent individualism. Bloodhounds thought they detected a vague scent of communism. Public furor and the failure of a bond issue to implement the new program led to the superintendent's resignation. The wild debates brought out the clear issue: to what extent is the younger generation to be subject to the "educational experts"; what, if anything, shall the home and the rest of society have to say about educational policies, the curriculum, etc.? This is not a new issue, by any means.The question is always being asked: "Who tells the teacher what to teach?" The school and the home are not always at peace, although society must of necessity charge the school with the responsibility for education of the child.

Gonorrhoea in women and exposure to risk.

“…If the study clinic is representative of other clinics, these results suggest that the clinic for STD should be regarded as an important focal point for health education and preventive advice. Burton (1969) has discussed the roles of the genito-urinary physician and the health worker in contact tracing and stressed their importance in health education; Alkhateeb, Lukeroth, and Riggs (1975), who compared three educational techniques used in a clinic, found the interview technique to be the most effective.…”

Limitations of the radioactive tracer method

“…The yield of a radiation chemical reaction is denoted by the symbol G which is defined as the number of molecules of reactant decomposed or of a particular product formed for 100 ev. of energy absorbed in the system (8). The number of molecules of the compound which will be decomposed by the absorbed radiation in t hours is then 1.23 X 101J M VNS X 3600 t X G/100 = 4.44 X 10ia MVNSGt molecules.…”

The radiolysis of some organic liquids

“…At the same time the direct effect on the reactive material must be either kept small by its low concentration or else must be n:easurable independently, with the assumption that no protective effect through excitation or ionization transfer is operative. 3 Let us consider the possibility of trapping the radicals R formed by radiation through addition of some stable free radical F, whose disappearance through the reaction F + R + F R (1) could be easily followed. Such a radical could be, e.g., the diphenyl picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) which is highly coloured even in very dilute solutions, thus making colorimetric measurement of concentration easily feasible.…”