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## Meet the editors

Ahmed M. Maghraby graduated from Cairo University, Faculty of Science, Egypt, in 1995, and started his career as a scientist at the National Institute of Standards (NIS), Egypt. He received his MSc in 1999 and his Ph.D. from Cairo University in 2003 for his study on the calibration and characterization of organic material for use in radiation dosimetry using electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR). In 1999, Dr. Maghraby worked as a guest

researcher at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Maryland, USA, and as a visiting scientist at Dartmouth College (EPR center of viable system) in New Hampshire, USA, in 2008. In 2006, he worked as a guest researcher for the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), Germany's national metrology institute. He has led and participated in several international research projects on radiation measurements. His research interest is ionizing radiation metrology, especially ionization chambers, EPR, and thermoluminescence dosimetry (TLD). He is a reviewer for several peer-reviewed journals and has supervised a number of master's and Ph.D. theses, and was elected as the vice president of the National Committee of Physics (NPC) in Egypt.

Dr. Basim Almayahi is currently a professor in the College of Science, University of Kufa, Iraq. His fields of interest include radiation biophysics; radiation medical physics; the natural radioactivity of the environment; treatment of prostate cancer using gold nanoparticles; synthesis and applications of silver nanoparticles on bacterial pathogens; biosensors for detecting radon and lead; the natural radioactivity of gamma rays, radon,

and alpha particles in tissue, blood, teeth, bones, soil, water, air, food, fertilizer, and building materials; radiation detection and measurements (scintillation detector (Na I (Tl)); high-purity Germanium (HPGe) detector, Exploranium GR-135; 1029 Continuous Radon Monitor; RAD 7 System; SSNTDs CR-39; radiation protection; statistical physics; and environmental statistics (GenStat, SPSS, OrginLab, Sigmaplot). He was a lecturer in the Department of Physics at Babylon University, Iraq, from 2001 to 2004, before taking up a post as a teacher in the Atomic and Nuclear Lab at the University of Kufa from 2005 to 2008. He is Head of the Department of Environment and Director of Scientific Affairs and Cultural Relations at the College of Science, University of Kufa. He has mentored four master's theses and one Ph.D. dissertation. He is the editor and author of three books and a reviewer for more than 200 journals. He is an editorial board member of twenty-three boards, and a member of various institutions. He has published ninety-five scientific papers in domestic and international journals and participated in forty-three scientific congresses and conferences.

Contents

**Section 1**

and Theoretical Approach

*and Asghar Mesbahi*

**Section 2**

Radon in Foods

*B.K. Sapra and Narayana Yerol*

*by Dolchinkov Nikolay Todorov*

Natural Radioactive Decay *by Entesar H. Elaraby*

*by Ali Farhan Nader Alrekabi*

State of Radiation Protection in Bulgaria

*by Tayseer I. Al-Naggar and Doaa H. Shabaan*

Mathematical Expressions of Radon Measurements

**Preface XI**

Radiation Protection **1**

**Chapter 1 3**

**Chapter 2 17**

**Chapter 3 27**

Natural Radioactivity **39**

**Chapter 4 41**

**Chapter 5 57**

**Chapter 6 71**

Biologically Effective Dose (BED) or Radiation Biological Effect (RBEf)?

*by Terman Frometa-Castillo, Anil Pyakuryal, Amadeo Wals-Zurita* 

Relative Biological Effectiveness Studies Using 3 MeV Proton Beam from Folded Tandem Ion Accelerator: An Experimental

*by Rajesha K. Nairy, Nagesh N. Bhat, K.B. Anjaria, Usha Yadav, Rajesh Chaurasia, Kapil Shirsath, Utkarsha Desai, S.K. Gupta,* 

## Contents



Preface

Ionizing radiation is the energy released by atoms either in the form of electromagnetic waves (gamma rays and X-rays) or in the form of particles (alpha, beta, and neutrons). In 1895, Wilhelm Roentgen discovered X-rays and one year later in 1896, Henry Becquerel discovered natural radioactivity. Marie Sklodowska Curi chose radioactivity as the subject of her doctoral thesis. She worked with uranium and thorium and cooperated with her husband Pierre in the successful discovery of two new radioactive

elements. Consequently, many scientists paved the way for radiation research.

Ionizing radiation research continued extensively to define that new form of

energy, to discover the biological effects of radiation, and to find out methodologies for radiation detection and measurements. New applications for ionizing radiation have emerged including cancer treatment and several diagnostic techniques. In industry, many applications involving radioactive isotopes are now used daily.

It seems that there is always a need for collecting new ideas about a certain subject, especially when it is active, growing, and spreading; nowadays, this is the case with radiation research. This book presents several new subjects about and related to ionizing radiation. Nine authors with nine different topics composed this book, which we hope will add value in the long way of ionizing radiation research.

As editors of this book, we are very thankful to the authors and team members who worked with us for their efforts and patience during the preparation of this text. We hope this book will be useful for undergraduate and postgraduate students, researchers, teachers, practitioners, and every individual who has concerns for a

**Ahmed M. Maghraby**

**Basim Almayyahi** University of Kufa Email,

Egypt

Iraq

National Institute of Standards,

healthy and better life.
