Analysis of some medicinal plants in South-western Nigeria using PIXE

Summary Analysis of thirteen medicinal plants of various biological activities commonly used in South-western Nigeria was carried out using PIXE technique. Nine of these plants are anti-cancer while four are antimicrobial. PIXE measurements were carried out using collimated proton beams delivered by the 2. 5 MV AN 2000 Van de Graaff accelerator at the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), (LNL) Legnaro, (Padova), Italy. The results showed the presence of twenty three different elements in the plants and none of them contains any toxic heavy metals. Only Chenopodium ambrosioides showed detectable levels of selenium which is considered important in cancer prevention.     

Advances in constant-velocity Mössbauer instrumentation

A prototype of a programmable constant-velocity scaler is presented. This instrument allows the acquisition of partial Mössbauer spectra in selected energy regions using standard drivers and transducers. It can be fully operated by a remote application, thus data acquisition can be automated. The instrument consists of a programmable counter and a constant-velocity reference. The reference waveform generator is amplitude modulated with 13-bit resolution, and is programmable in a wide range of frequencies and waveforms in order to optimize the performance of the transducer. The counter is compatible with most standard SCA, and is configured as a rate-meter that provides counts per selectable time slice at the programmed velocity. As a demonstration of the instrument applications, a partial Mössbauer spectrum of a natural iron foil was taken. Only positive energies were studied in 512 channels, accumulating 20 s per channel. A line width of 0.20 mm/s was achieved, performing with an efficiency of 80%.     

Critical dynamics of the Potts model in several dimensionalities

We study critical dynamics of general q-state Potts models on d-dimensional hypercubic lattices. The master equation is formulated according to a theory recently presented by the author. A simple bond moving technique, followed by decimation, is used to obtain the dynamical exponents. Although this approximation yields poor results for the static exponents, the dynamic behaviour is closer to Monte Carlo simulations. We compare our results with those obtained with a different formulation of dynamics. A final discussion is included.     

Coupled Thermo-Hydro-Mechanical and Chemical Analysis of Expansive Clay Subjected to Heating and Hydration

A fully coupled formulation combining reactive transport and an existing thermo-hydro-mechanical (THM) code is presented. Special attention has been given to phenomena likely to be encountered in clay barriers used as part of containment systems of nuclear waste. The types of processes considered include hydrolysis, complex formation, oxidation/reduction reactions, acid/base reactions, precipitation/dissolution of minerals and cation exchange. Both kinetically-controlled and equilibrium-controlled reactions have been incorporated. The total analytical concentrations (including precipitated minerals) are adopted as basic transport variables and chemical equilibrium is achieved by minimizing Gibbs Free Energy. The formulation has been incorporated in a general purpose computer code capable of performing numerical analysis of engineering problems. A validation exercise concerning a laboratory experiment involving the heating and hydration of an expansive compacted clay is described.     

Time interval distributions of atoms in atomic beams

We report an experimental investigation of two-particle correlations between neutral atoms in a Hanbury Brown and Twiss experiment. Both an atom laser beam and a pseudo-thermal atomic beam are extracted from a Bose–Einstein condensate and the atom flux is measured with a single atom counter. We determine the conditional and the unconditional detection probabilities for the atoms in the beam and find good agreement with the theoretical predictions. PACS 03.75.Pp; 05.30.Jp; 07.77.Gx; 42.50.Pq     

Signed degree sets in signed graphs

The set D of distinct signed degrees of the vertices in a signed graph G is called its signed degree set. In this paper, we prove that every non-empty set of positive (negative) integers is the signed degree set of some connected signed graph and determine the smallest possible order for such a signed graph. We also prove that every non-empty set of integers is the signed degree set of some connected signed graph.     

On almost-sure versions of classical limit theorems for dynamical systems

The purpose of this article is to support the idea that “whenever we can prove a limit theorem in the classical sense for a dynamical system, we can prove a suitable almost-sure version based on an empirical measure with log-average”. We follow three different approaches: martingale methods, spectral methods and induction arguments. Our results apply, among others, to Axiom A maps or flows, to systems inducing a Gibbs–Markov map, and to the stadium billiard.     

Pressure recovery system for a high-power HF/DF laser: implementation practice

The matter of development of a high-performance pressure recovery system (PRS) for a high-power HF/DF laser is discussed. A sequence of design steps is proposed, which involves estimation of basic characteristics of PRS components with the help of one-dimensional integral and semi-empirical procedures; simulation, to be performed using three-dimensional non-stationary Navier — Stokes equations; experimental modelling aimed at verification of the calculation procedures and at refinement of obtained parameters; and a fullscale experiment. An ejector-type system providing for recovery of pressure from 12 Torr to atmospheric pressure in the gas-dynamic system of an HF/DF laser of several-tens-kilowatt power is developed. Matching conditions for parameters of individual PRS components as well as joint functioning of the PRS with a continuous chemical laser in an integral complex are analysed. Conditions for minimization of mass-dimensional characteristics of the laser-PRS complex necessary for the development of ground-based mobile systems are identified.     

Photoemission studies of oxygen adsorbed on a LiAl(1 1 0) alloy surface: Role of Li segregation

We investigated that the effect of the number of segregated Li atoms on the rate of oxidation on a LiAl alloy surface. Oxygen molecules adsorbed on the LiAl alloy react with the surface atoms to form stable oxides. The segregated Li atoms at reconstructed surfaces (c(2×2) and (2×1)) enhance the oxidation rate and form stable LiAlO_x and Li₂O. The degree of enhancement of oxidation by segregated Li atoms varies as a function of O₂ exposure and annealing temperature, where the latter is directly related to the mode of surface reconstruction by Li segregation.