In vivo tibial lead measurement to assess the health hazard of Venezuelan workers

Gamma-ray induced X-ray emission (GIXE) technique for elemental lead in-vivo tibial measurement using a large volume hyper pure germanium detector is presented with the most convenient source-sample-detector geometry. The system operates advantageously when several parameters are considered for a lower dead time operation. The detection limit (DL) is better that 3.5 μg/g of Ca. Results of in-vivo average tibial lead concentration for some of the monitored groups are: control 7 μg of lead per g of Ca; gasoline filling attendants 6 μg/g of Ca; custom office workers near the DL; industrial workers range from DL up to 84±3 μg/g of Ca, suggesting that lead accumulation in the bone does not represent a major health risk This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Dynamics of Multisection Semiconductor Lasers

We consider a mathematical model (the so-called traveling-wave system) which describes longitudinal dynamical effects in semiconductor lasers. This model consists of a linear hyperbolic system of PDEs, which is nonlinearly coupled with a slow subsystem of ODEs. We prove that a corresponding initial-boundary value problem is well posed and that it generates a smooth infinite-dimensional dynamical system. Exploiting the particular slow-fast structure, we derive conditions under which there exists a low-dimensional attracting invariant manifold. The flow on this invariant manifold is described by a system of ODEs. Mode approximations of that system are studied by means of bifurcation theory and numerical tools.     

Search for the emission of π<Superscript>0</Superscript> mesons from the neutron-induced fission of <Superscript>235</Superscript>U nuclei

A nuclear-reactor experiment on the search for the emission of neutral pions from the neutron-induced fission of ²³⁵U nuclei has been carried out. To this end, an experimental setup for searching for the emission of π⁰ mesons with high sensitivity to this process has been designed and produced. This setup consisted of two Cherenkov total-absorption spectrometers for the detection and measurements of the energy of two gamma-ray photons from π ⁰-meson decay. The spectrometers were placed at the exits of two coaxial horizontal experimental channels. To protect the detectors from low-energy β and γ rays and neutron fluxes, 3.5-m-long water filters were situated in the channels. To reject the cosmic background, large-area scintillation counters operating in the anticoincidence mode were placed over each spectrometer. The energy and time resolution of the spectrometers, as well as the efficiency of detecting charged particles by scintillation counters, were tested on the secondary electron beam of the Tomsk electron synchrotron Sirius. Runs of measurements of the effect on the operating reactor (duration of 805 h) were alternated with runs of measurements of background on the stopped reactor (duration of 403 h). Statistical processing of the experimental results yields an upper limit of ≤5.3×10 ^?12 with a 90% confidence level for the probability of the emission of neutral pions from the neutron-induced fission of ²³⁵U nuclei. This result and results of other works carried out with sources of spontaneously fissioning ²⁵²Cf nuclei show that the probabilities of the emission of π⁰ mesons from spontaneous fission and fission induced by fission-spectrum neutrons are equal to each other.     

Density Profiles in a Quantum Coulomb Fluid Near a Hard Wall

Journal of Statistical Physics - Equilibrium particle densities near a hard wall are studied for a quantum fluid made of point charges which interact via Coulomb potential without any...     

Qualitative Theory and Identification of Dynamic System with One Degree of Freedom

Dynamic systems described by nonlinear differential equations of the second order are studied. It is assumed that certain preliminary information on the dissipative or elastic characteristics of systems is known. A new approach is demonstrated to obtaining full information on unknown or partially known characteristics of a system from measurements of not only displacements but also velocities and accelerations __________ Published in Prikladnaya Mekhanika, Vol. 41, No. 6, pp. 139–143, June 2005.     

Limit Regimes of Braking of Disc-Type Composite Flywheels Made by Filament Winding

A set of invariants describing the limit regimes of braking disk-type wound composite flywheels is suggested. The limit regime is determined by using a linear failure criterion. It is shown that, for generating short-time impulses of very high power, a set of small identical flywheels is more effective than one large flywheel with an equivalent mass. Particular examples illustrating the theory considered are discussed.     

Nonlinear electrohydrodynamic instability of a finitely conducting cylinder: Effect of interfacial surface charges

The nonlinear electrohydrodynamic stability of cylindrical interface, supporting surface charge, among two conducting fluids is investigated. The two fluids are subjected to a radial electric field. The analysis based on the multiple scale technique. It is shown that the evolution of the amplitude is governed by two partial differential equations. These equations are combined to yield two alternate Schrödinger equations with cubic nonlinearity. One of which calculates the nonlinear cutoff electric field, separating stable and unstable disturbances, while the other is used to analyze the stability of the system. The stability criteria are analytically discussed and numerically confirmed. Numerical calculations resulted in set of graphs to indicate the stability picture of the considered system.     

First order dynamic inclusions on time scales

In this paper, we study existence of solutions of first order dynamic inclusions on time scales with general boundary conditions. Both the ∇-derivative and Δ-derivative cases are considered. Examples are presented to illustrate that the Δ-derivative case needs more restrictive assumptions.