A database for QA/QC in neutron activation analysis and gamma-ray spectrometry

A database has been designed for storing, retrieving and analyzing information about samples, experimental conditions and results obtained by neutron activation analysis and gamma-ray spectrometry. It has been created using Microsoft ACCESS 2002 under a Windows operating system. The database has been designed not only for saving information but also for quality assurance and quality control purposes. The structure of the relational design has been discussed and demonstrated with a new graphical feature of ACCESS 2002 called PIVOTCHART.     

Retention of alkali,alkaline earth and transition metals on an itaconic acid cation-exchange column. Eluent pH,ionic strength and temperature effects upon selectivity

The unusual selectivity of a methylene succinic (itaconic) acid modified polymeric column was investigated for the separation of alkali, alkaline earth, transition and heavy metals employing non-chelating inorganic eluents. The retention of selected metal ions on the column was investigated with simple HNO3 eluents and eluents prepared from KNO3 and KCl salts of varying pH (adjusted using HNO3). From these studies both the effect of eluent ionic strength and pH upon retention was evaluated for the itaconic acid stationary phase. The results obtained showed that despite slow exchange kinetics causing poor efficiencies, acceptable baseline separations of selected alkaline earth and transitions could be obtained under optimum conditions (the baseline separation of Mg(II), Ca(II), Mn(II), Cd(II), Zn(II) and Co(II) was possible using a 15 mM KNO3-5 mM KCl eluent at pH 3.50 in under 25 min). The use of an simple ionic strength step gradient was shown that facilitated the addition of Pb(II) to the above group of metal ions. An investigation into the effect of temperature upon peak efficiency and retention showed increased column temperature could be used to improve the resolution of closely eluting metal ions such as Ca(II) and Sr(II) and Ca(II) and Mn(II).     

Synergistic extraction of Ce(III), Eu(III) and Tm(III) with a mixture of picrolonic acid and benzo-15-crown-5 in chloroform

Summary The synergistic mixture comprising picrolonic acid (HPA) and benzo-15-crown-5 (B15C5) in chloroform has been used for the extraction of Ce(III), Eu(III) and Tm(III) as representatives of lanthanide(III) ions from pH 1-2 solutions having ionic strength of 0.1 mol^. dm^-3(K⁺/H⁺, Cl^-). The composition of the extracted species has been determined as M(PA)₃^. nB15C5 where M is Ce, Eu and Tm and n=1 or 2. The influence of various anions and cations on the extraction of these ions has also been studied and only oxalate, cyanide and tartrate have some deleterious effect. The extraction equilibrium constants have been evaluated and discussed.     

Performance evaluation of k 0-instrumental neutron activation analysis and flame atomic absorption spectrophotometry in the characterization of various types of alloys

Certified alloys of Ni–Cu based, Fe based and Cu–Sn based were analysed by semi-absolute, standardless k ₀-instrumental neutron activation analysis (k ₀-INAA) and flame atomic absorption spectrophotometry (FAAS) aiming at evaluating their comparative performances. In k ₀-INAA measurements, the irradiations were performed at miniaturized neutron source reactor having thermal neutron flux of about 1 × 10¹² cm^?2 s^?1. The experimentally optimized parameters for INAA suggested a maximum of three irradiations for the quantification of 21 elements within 5 days. The same experiments also produced quantitative results of 13 elements not reported in the certificates of the reference materials. AAS was, however, unable to determine any of those elements. Accuracy of the two techniques was assessed by comparing their average root mean squared errors. The data analysis concluded that k ₀-INAA had better sensitivity and accuracy than FAAS.     

Synthesis and biological evaluation of benzimidazole pendant cyanopyrimidine derivatives as anticancer agents

Thirteen new benzimidazole pendant cyanopyrimidine derivatives were synthesized. The compounds were synthesized through multistep reaction protocol. The structures of synthesized derivatives were studied by EI-MS, ¹H NMR, FT-IR and elemental analysis. All the compounds were studied for their anticancer activity at National Cancer Institute. Except compound 7j , all the compounds unveiled cytotoxicity against cancer cells. The most active compound 7a had shown highest value of growth inhibition of 88.44% and 84.19% against HOP-92 and T-47D cancer cell lines.     

On symmetrized stochastic convexity and the inequalities of Hermite–Hadamard type

Aequationes mathematicae - In this paper the concept of symmetrized convex stochastic processes is introduced. Some characterizations involving Hermite–Hadamard type inequalities and a...     

On the temperature dependence of the fundamental absorption edge in CuInSe2

The temperature dependence behaviour of the energy gap of Cu-III-VI₂ chalcopyrite compound semiconductors is explained by a model which, besides the thermal expansion contribution, takes into account the effect of the electron-phonon interaction by considering the influence of all twenty four vibrational acoustic and optical modes. The results are in good agreement with the experimental data reported for CuInSe₂.