We present a laser-based neutron source that produces 1.8 × 10^5 neutrons/s with a conversion rate of 7.8 × 10^5 neutrons/J. Laser pulses of 12 fs and 23 mJ were focused onto a 430-nm-thick heavy water liquid sheet at a 10 Hz repetition rate. The resulting peak intensity of 4 × 10^18 W/cm^2 accelerated deuterium ions from the target rear side to a kinetic energy of 1 MeV. This deuteron beam induced ^2H(d,n)^3He fusion reactions in a deuterated polyethylene target, producing fast neutrons. The neutron yield was measured using two independent detection systems: the LILITH time-of-flight spectrometer, consisting of eight plastic scintillators covering nearly 180^∘, and a calibrated bubble detector spectrometer. The neutron yield per laser shot is 35 times higher than that recently achieved by lasers with comparable pulse energies, while the conversion rate is the highest ever achieved by continuously operating, sub-100 fs lasers. The generated neutrons are emitted from an area of 0.65 cm^2 corresponding to the deuteron beam spot on the catcher. Their angular distribution is peaked in forward and backward directions in agreement with the literature data on the angular distribution of ^2H(d,n)^3He reaction. The system operated continuously for several hours per day with an unprecedented stability of 5

The extreme light infrastructure (ELI) is emerging as a state-of-the-art facility providing international users with open access to ultrashort laser-driven particle bunches, ranging from a few femtoseconds to a few nanoseconds, for advanced radiobiology studies. ELI offers femtosecond-class laser pulses and ultrafast ionizing radiation characterized by extremely high instantaneous dose rates (107–1012 Gy/s). The versatility of ELI’s cutting-edge technologies enables the generation of high repetition rate (1 Hz–1 kHz) secondary sources (protons, ions, electrons, and neutrons) with energies from a few MeV to several hundred MeV, achieved over sub-millimetre to millimetre-scale acceleration lengths, along with fundamental research in the field of ultrahigh intensity laser-matter interaction based on the use of the highest peak power laser pulses available worldwide. Harnessing these laser-driven particle sources for radiobiology and medical research demands a coordinated international effort, with a strong focus on advancing scientific instrumentation and refining experimental methodologies to support progress in ultrafast laser-driven radiation biology. This roadmap underscores the need for systematically designed experiments across ELI facilities, supported by preparatory research at users’ home laboratories, alongside the ongoing development of instrumentation and infrastructure. These efforts are critical to rigorously assess and validate the therapeutic potential of these novel sources, paving the way for a transformative shift in radiation biology and medicine.

This paper deals with the study of long-lived nuclear molecules, consisting of heavy nuclei - products of the (p, He-2) nuclear reactions on Tb-159 and Ta-181 - and He-2 in a bound state. The lighter nucleus He-2 is localised within the potential well of a heavy one, but both of them keep their identity and constitute an equivalent nucleus of the atom, which does not recognise the complex structure of such a nuclear molecule. We identified this unique configuration based on processing results of instrumental gamma-ray spectra of Tb and Ta foil samples irradiated with protons of energies below the thresholds of the corresponding (p, 2p) nuclear reaction. Then we experimentally determined the half-lives of He-2 decaying by positron emission and electron capture for the Fermi and Gamow-Teller transitions and calculated the phase space factors as well as the binding energy and the radius of He-2 to be equal 402 keV and 10.2 fm, respectively.

Laser-driven deuterons generate neutrons with a mean energy of 2.5 MeV, through the 2H(d,n) fusion reaction in a deuterated polyethylene (dPE) tablet. The deuterium ions are accelerated by 12 fs, 21 mJ laser pulses interacting with a 0.2 µm thin dPE foil at a peak intensity of 1018 W/cm2. The laser was operated at 1 Hz repetition rate in bursts of 75 shots. The interaction was characterized and recorded for each laser shot. The ion spectra were measured in the forward and backward directions by Thomson ion spectrometers. Neutron events were detected by a time-of-flight (ToF) system consisting of four plastic scintillators positioned at various angles around the experimental chamber. The maximum cut-off energy of the forward accelerated protons and deuterons was close to 1.4 MeV and 1 MeV, while the mean values are 428 ± 63 keV and 433 ± 80 keV, respectively. Analysis of ToF distributions from 3128 shots resulted in an average yield of 1142 ± 59 neutrons per shot in the energy range of 1.5-4 MeV. The energy distribution of forward-directed neutrons peaks between 3 and 3.5 MeV. Angular dependence analysis showed a perpendicular minimum and a maximum along the deuteron beam, consistent with the expected distribution from the literature and our simulation results.

A project has been launched for the development of a laser-based neutron source with the few-cycle lasers available at ELI ALPS. Here we show the first experiments, when deuterons were accelerated from ultrathin deuterated foils at 1 Hz repetition rate with the use of 12 fs, 21 mJ laser pulses. The energy spectra of the accelerated deuterons were measured with Thomson ion spectrometers both in forward and backward directions. The accelerated deuterons induced 2H + 2H fusion reaction in a deuterated polyethylene disk. The resulting fast neutrons were measured with a time-of-flight (ToF) detector system, within which each detector consisted of a plastic scintillator and a photomultiplier, at four different angles relative to the normal of the neutron converter disk. We found good agreement with the simulated angular distribution and energy spectra. Here, we also present preparations for the next phases when the repetition rate is increased to 10 Hz. The developed flat liquid jet was demonstrated to accelerate protons over 0.6 MeV cutoff energy with a stability better than 4

Growing cover crops (CC) is considered an excellent way to enhance the health of soils, usually done in the off-season. Production of leaving biomass on the field provides lots of benefits for the agroecosystem, including reduction of erosion, controlling potential pathogens in addition to managing nutrients in the soil. Cover crops are used to improve the efficiency of added fertilizers whether they are organic or mineral, by increasing the biological activity of soils. Our examinations were carried out in pot experiments in a greenhouse designed with five CC species, selected as single-, double- or non-symbiont plants: Phacelia tanacetifolia (P.t.), Brassica carinata (B.c.), Vicia faba (V.f.), Avena strigosa (A.s.), Vicia benghalensis (V.b.). A mixture of the five species was also used, placed in sandy soil (arenosol) in plastic pots in 4 repetitions. We measured soil biological activity, which may be the first step toward healthy soils. We evaluated soil electrical conductivity (EC) and NH4-N and NO3-N, which are considered an indicator of soil fertility. A mixture of all CC tended to have the highest EC activity. The frequency (F %) of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) infection was good in all CC, except mustard (B.c.), which is a non-symbiotic plant. Double symbiont vetch responded the most positive way to inoculation with AM fungi. AM fungi are known to enhance phosphorus uptake and growth performance of host plants. CC with better symbiotic performance proved to be important in maintaining soil quality and aggregation (secondary structure) stability. Vetch (V.b.) was found to have the highest capacity to maintain glomalin concentration, followed by the CC mixture. Mineral Nstatus of soil was improved by using CC, as we saw for oat (A.s.), and mustard (B.c.). Oat showed a significantly higher amount of ammonium fixation than other crops. The benefits of mycorrhizal symbiosis, and the double symbiont plants (with AMF and N-2-fixing bacteria) could be realized in improving secondary soil-structure and growth parameters of cover crops.

This paper presents a validation exercise for a natural circulation cooled, light-water moderated and cooled pool-type reactor system. Measurements were performed in the 100 kW Training Reactor of the Budapest University of Technology and Economics, which facility can be easily instrumented for neutronic and thermal-hydraulic experiments. During the performed transients, the reactor was cooled solely by natural circulation and the coolant temperature was measured by thermocouples in several axial and radial positions. The corresponding numerical simulations were carried out with the U.S. NRC system code TRACE. The 3D/1D calculation model was prepared with the SNAP graphical interface, then transient simulations were carried out for each performed experiment. The measurement and simulation results showed good agreement for the analyzed transients, which suggests that TRACE might be an appropriate simulation tool for small-size, natural circulation cooled pool-type reactor calculations.

Abstract Pyrolysis technology facilitates the heating of organic waste biomass in a very low oxygen environment to temperatures over 400 °C. The high carbon content and surface area of the char produced via slow pyrolysis makes it suitable for a range of purposes that would sequester the carbon it contains. For example, there is a growing interest in its use as a soil amendment, which enhances plant growth and nutrient use efficiency.

The objective of the present study was to monitor the soil biological parameters.We used the bean as a test plant, grown in five soils with different texture and organic-matter content and estimated them (biomass production and shoot length).The seeds of the test plants were inoculated by combined strains.Results have shown that the treatments influence the counts of microorganisms.This study, therefore, was highlighting the importance of soil physical-chemical parameters, so as to result in a successful application of the biofertilizers in the different soil-plant systems.

Salinity stress is a brutal environmental stress which decreases the yield production of plants. Questions rise on which of the ionic stress or lack of water has deleterious effects on plants forage dry yield. Also, questions remain on whether the K+ reduction or Na+ accumulation is more important in forage dry yield reduction under salinity stress. The present experiment was conducted to answer the above questions in four alfalfa ecotypes. To do so, 6-7 weeks seedlings were irrigated with high salty water (EC=20dS m-1) and RWC, MSI, height, forage dry yield, Na+ and K+ were measured 1, 3, 6, 10, and 16 days after the salt shock. The results showed that one day after irrigation with saline water, all measured traits changed adversely. Salinity stress by decreasing K+ and increasing Na+ content reduced the growth of alfalfa plants. RWC reduction was less than K+ reduction or Na+ accumulation, so ionic stress had more deleterious effects on forage dry yield of alfalfa plants. Root cells had a higher content of K+ and Na+ ions compared with leaves, hence, they had a major defensive role against salinity stress. The K+/Na+ ratio reduction in saline condition was the main element for decreasing plant forage dry yield. The application of high salty water for irrigation of alfalfa plants is possible if there is a good subsoil drainage system to remove the leached saline water regularly from the soil. It is also suggested that foliar application of potassium may be ameliorate harmful effects of salinity stress in plant growth.

Basil species are highly sensitive to exterior environmental conditions and its consequences lead to great economic and agronomic losses. In this research, a mutation method was optimized out for creating a new variety of Ocimum basilicum L., which could tolerate the extreme/extraordinary climatic circumstances or biotic stresses, such as fungal diseases. Fast neutron irradiation was performed on the Hungarian commercial variety seeds with doses of 5 to 60 Gray and grown into fully developed plants. Numerous phenotypical changes like deformed congestion, leaf mutation, and low growth occurred, especially at higher dosages. Then to confirm whether the plantlets had mutation or not, and to detect the molecular variation and relationship, fingerprinting profiles of the developed mutant regenerants and donor plant have been assessed using ISSR markers. 115 loci were yielded, ranging from 0.2 to 1.5 kb, out of which 110 loci were polymorphic in nature, representing 95.6% polymorphism. The most suitable primer to determine the genetic diversity within the Ocimum species was the UBC-856 with 0.42 PIC and 4.1 MI values.

The effects of radiation damage in silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) from gamma rays have been measured and compared with the damage produced by neutrons. Several types of multipixel photon counters from Hamamatsu were exposed to gamma rays and neutrons at the Solid State Gamma Ray Irradiation Facility (SSGRIF) at the Brookhaven National Laboratory and the Institute for Nuclear Research (Atomki) in Debrecen, Hungary. The gamma ray exposures ranged from 1 krad to 1 Mrad and the neutron exposures ranged from 10(8) to 10(12) n/cm(2). The main effect of gamma ray damage is an increase in the noise and leakage current in the irradiated devices, similar to what is seen from neutron damage, but the level of damage is considerably less at comparable high levels of exposure. In addition, the damage from gamma rays saturates after a few hundred krad, while the damage from neutrons shows no sign of saturation, suggestive of different damage mechanisms in the two cases. The change in optical absorption in the window material of the SiPMs due to radiation was also measured. This paper was carried out in order to evaluate the use of SiPMs for particle physics applications with moderate levels of radiation exposures.

PURPOSE:The recent rapid increase of hadron therapy applications requires the development of high performance, reliable in vivo models for preclinical research on the biological effects of high linear energy transfer (LET) particle radiation. AIM:The aim of this paper was to test the relative biological effectiveness (RBE) of the zebrafish embryo system at two neutron facilities. MATERIAL AND METHODS:Series of viable zebrafish embryos at 24-hour post-fertilization (hpf) were exposed to single fraction, whole-body, photon and neutron (reactor fission neutrons () and (p (18 MeV)+Be, = 3.5 MeV) fast neutron) irradiation. The survival and morphologic abnormalities of each embryo were assessed at 24-hour intervals from the point of fertilization up to 192 hpf and then compared to conventional 6 MV photon beam irradiation results. RESULTS:The higher energy of the fast neutron beams represents lower RBE (ref. source LINAC 6 MV photon). The lethality rate in the zebrafish embryo model was 10 times higher for 1 MeV fission neutrons and 2.5 times greater for p (18 MeV)+Be cyclotron generated fast neutron beam when compared to photon irradiation results. Dose-dependent organ perturbations (shortening of the body length, spine curvature, microcephaly, micro-ophthalmia, pericardial edema and inhibition of yolk sac resorption) and microscopic (marked cellular changes in eyes, brain, liver, muscle and the gastrointestinal system) changes scale together with the dose response. CONCLUSION:The zebrafish embryo system is a powerful and versatile model for assessing the effect of ionizing radiation with different LET values on viability, organ and tissue development.

The effects of radiation damage in SiPMs from gamma rays has been measured and compared with the damage produced by neutrons. SiPMs from Hamamatsu were exposed to $^{60}$Co gamma rays and MeV equivalent neutrons at the Solid State Gamma-Ray Irradiation Facility (SSGRIF) at Brookhaven National Lab and the Institute for Nuclear Research (Atomki) in Debrecen, Hungary. The gamma ray exposures ranged from 1 krad to more than 1 Mrad and the neutron exposures ranged from 10$^9$ n/cm$^2$ to 10$^{12}$ n/cm$^2$. The main effect of gamma ray damage is an increase in the noise and leakage current in the irradiated devices, similar to what is seen from neutron damage, but the level of damage is considerably less at comparable high levels of exposure. In addition, the damage from gamma rays saturates after a few hundred krad, while the damage from neutrons shows no sign of saturation, suggestive of different damage mechanisms in the two cases. The change in optical absorption in the epoxy window of the SiPMs due to radiation was also measured. These various effects due to radiation and a comparison between neutrons as gammas are discussed in this paper, as well as discussion of the possible mechanisms for producing this damage in both cases.

Salinity stress is one of the most significant factors affecting seed germination of alfalfa. In this study, we considered whether it is possible to reduce the deleterious effects of salinity by inoculating seeds with beneficial salt-tolerant bacteria. Seeds of nine alfalfa cultivars were inoculated with two beneficial bacteria, Pseudomonas sp. Proradix and Hartmannibacter diazotrophicus. Salinity stress reduced the germination indices in all nine alfalfa cultivars significantly. Inoculation with either bacteria could improve germination performance through increasing germination percentage, germination index, radicle length, plumule length, seed vigour and seedling fresh weight. Germination indices decreased in most cultivars at >10 dS m(-1) salt concentration (without inoculation), but were high at 20 dS m(-1) (inoculation with either bacteria). Germination indices were improved by both the bacteria, however, germination percentage, germination index, plumule length and seed vigour were most improved by inoculation with Pseudomonas sp. Proradix; seedling fresh weight and radicle length were most improved by Hartmannibacter diazotrophicus. It is suggested that the bacteria could be used to inoculate alfalfa seeds and solve the problem of germination under saline conditions.

Biologically active compounds, sugars, acids and antioxidants are key-important ingredients of healthy tomato food. Objective of the study is to investigate if specific industrial bioeffector products are improving the taste and some quality parameters of tomato fruits and how those results are appearing in pots and among organic field conditions? Spore-forming industrial Bacillus amyloliquefaciens FZB42 (Rhizo Vital) as single inoculums and combinations either with other Bacillus strains (Biorex-1), or with N-2-fixing-siderophore-producing strains (Biorex-2) were applied on Solanum lycopersicon Mill. var. Mobil test plant. Soil microbial counts, phosphorus availability and fruit quality, such as total soluble solids (TSS), content of some essential organic acids (citric-, maleic) and sugars (glucose, fructose) were assessed. The results found, that single industrial inoculums of FZB42 product had positive effect on P-availability and fruit quality in the pots, combinations of other biofertilizers, however, did not give additional results. Fruit quality parameters, TSS content, soluble sugars and organic acids were significantly improved (p<0.05) at both experimental conditions. Such better fruit taste was correlated significantly by the most probable number (MPN) total microbial counts with greater positive values in pot experiment, compared with more variable environmental field condition. The recommendation of using such bioeffector products is supported by the positive interrelation among measured soil characteristics and inside healthy quality parameters of organically grown tomato fruits.

Agricultural application of anaerobic digestates can play an important role in plant nutrition. The effects of digestate treatment were studied in pot experiments, using sandy and loamy textured soils with distinct characteristics. Three different treatments were studied and compared: control, digestate, and irrigation treatments. Nitrogen loading was calculated on the bases of the digestate analysis. The same amounts of digestate and irrigation water were applied in the different treatments before sowing and at the V4-V6 stages of maize. Besides the conventional soil chemical analysis, invertase, dehydrogenase, catalase, and the abundance of some cultivable microbes were measured in two consecutive years. According to our results, irrigation and digestate treatments had greater impact in the case of sandy soils than in loamy textured soils. Digestate provides more effective phosphorus and potassium sources than nitrogen. Based on the results of discriminant analysis, the digestate application had a greater influence on soil chemical properties, followed by microbiological parameters.

The results of a comparative study of two samples of the rhizobacterium Azospirillum brasilense (strain Sp245) prepared in different conditions and of human liver ferritin using Mössbauer spectroscopy with a high velocity resolution demonstrated the presence of ferritin-like iron (i.e. iron similar to that found in ferritin-like proteins) in the bacterium. Mössbauer spectra of these samples were fitted in two ways: as a rough approximation using a one quadrupole doublet fit (the homogeneous iron core model) and using a superposition of quadrupole doublets (the heterogeneous iron core model). Both results demonstrated differences in the Mössbauer parameters for mammalian ferritin and for bacterial ferritin-like iron. Moreover, some differences in the Mössbauer parameters were observed between the two samples of A. brasilense Sp245 related to the differences in their preparation conditions.