A fragment-based approach towards <Emphasis Type="Italic">ab-initio</Emphasis> treatment of polymeric materials

The present study deals with hypersurface-homogeneous cosmological models with anisotropic dark energy in Saez–Ballester theory of gravitation. Exact solutions of field equations are obtained by applying a special law of variation of Hubble’s parameter that yields a constant negative value of the deceleration parameter. Three physically viable cosmological models of the Universe are presented for the values of parameter K occurring in the metric of the space–time. The model for K = 0 corresponds to an accelerating Universe with isotropic dark energy. The other two models for K = 1 and ?1 represent accelerating Universe with anisotropic dark energy, which isotropize for large time. The physical and geometric behaviours of the models are also discussed.     

Characterization of serpentine: a potential nuclear shielding material

The use of serpentine as a potential nuclear shielding material necessitates a chemical quality control of the samples before its use in reactors. With this in view, characterization of these mineral samples was carried out using inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) and Instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) methods. The analytical results obtained by both ICP-AES and NAA techniques were found to be comparable. Na, Cr, Co, Zn, and Cu were found to be present in all samples of Indian origin while Ga, Ag, Ni, and Cd were found to below the limits of detection. A comparison on the detection limits of elements of interest was also carried out by both the analytical techniques and found to be in good agreement. An infrared spectroscopic investigation was also carried out on all the mineral samples. Bands at 3,689 and 3,648 cm⁻¹ were attributed to inner and outer hydroxyl stretching of Mg–OH, respectively. The weak and broad band centered around 3,416 cm⁻¹ was assigned due to the stretching vibrations of the adsorbed water molecules while three bands at 1076, 1022 and 968 cm⁻¹ were prescribed to the vibrations of the SiO₄ tetrahedra.