Prokaryote cells were exposed to ultra violet (UVc) radiation and to proton beams in order for the induced effects to be studied. Morphological and physiological alterations occurred in Escherichia coli (E. coli) cells exposed to the beams were investigated. The measurements using UVc radiation were made at the Biology Department of CEFET-PR while the measurements using proton beams were made at the Pelletron Accelerator of the Physics of the University at São Paulo. An exposition time of 3 to 15 seconds for UVc radiation and dose ranging from 0.2 to 10.0 Gy for protons was used. A cellular survival curve versus exposition time and absorbed dose was built for each case. After the irradiation the cells were submitted to a series of biochemical tests. It was observed that the E.Coli cells lost some basic biochemical properties when the received doses were in the range of 0.2 to 0.7 Gy. By microscopic observations it was noticed that the E.Coli cells elongated after irradiation with UVc as well as with proton beam.

Recent development and studies of physical and chemical properties of the conducting polymers have been calling the interest of many scientists. Among this group of materials, the polyaniline (PANI) deserves special attention because of its high chemical and thermal stability under normal conditions, simple process of polymerization and low cost. This polymer is also known due to its strongly pronounced and well studied electrochemical characteristics. In the present work, the variations of the electrical resistance of polyaniline caused by X-rays radiation have been studied. The polymer has been synthesized by electrochemical method in stainless steel and graphite electrodes. The data concerning the electrical resistance of PANI were measured just after the synthesis. This has been performed in the water solution of sulfuric acid within monomer of aniline where the polyaniline has been submitted to the applied voltages in the range from 200mV to 600mV. Polymeric samples have been irradiated using the X-rays with the energy 50keV and 100keV. After the irradiation, the electrical measurements have been repeated. The whole experimental procedure was performed several times. The obtained results have clearly shown the potential of polyaniline as a dose sensitive material that could be applied as a radiation sensor.

The use of protons instead of X-rays for computerized tomography (CT) studies has potential advantages, especially for medical applications in proton treatment planning. However, the spatial resolution of proton CT is limited by multiple Coulomb scattering (MCS). We used the Monte Carlo simulation tool GEANT4 to study the resolution achievable with different experimental arrangements of a proton CT scanner. The passage of a parallel 200MeV proton beam through a virtual cylindrical aluminum phantom with 50mm external diameter was simulated. In our study, the phantom contained a set of cylindrical holes with diameters ranging from 4mm to 0.5mm. The GEANT4 simulation consisted of a series of 180 projections at 2 degree intervals with 350 proton track histories for each one. The fi ltered back projection algorithm was used to reconstruct a 2D tomographic image of phantom.