Study of pre-equilibrium effects on α-induced reactions on copper

A stack of natural copper was bombarded with -particles. Cumulative cross-sections for⁶⁵Ga,⁶⁶Ga and⁶⁵Zn production, and the excitation functions for⁶⁸Ga and⁶⁷Ga production, were measured using high resolution gamma-ray spectroscopy. The data are compared with the theoretical result provided by equilibrium and pre-equilibrium reaction model, for this purpose we used the code ALICE of Blann. The overall agreement with theory is good. Besides, we present the experimental data obtained by other authors.     

Analytical and semipreparative separation of the enantiomers of new acetylcholinesterase inhibitors by high-performance liquid chromatography

Summary The resolution of the enantiomers of new acetylcholinesterase inhibitors by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was investigated on stationary phases containing cellulose tris-(3,5 methylphenylcarbamide) (Chiralcel OD). The effects of the mobile phase on retention, enantioselectivity and resolution were also studied. Ethanol and isopropanol were tested as organic modifiers and the influence of diethylamine was investigated. The effect of temperature on chiral separations was also studieded.     

Localization of carboxyl groups at surface layer of carboxylated polymer emulsion particles by alkali treatment

For the purpose of localizing carboxyl groups from inside to particle surface, styrene — butyl acrylate — methacrylic acid (74.3/17.0/8.7, mol ratio) terpolymer emulsion was kept under pH 9 at different temperatures. The amount of carboxyl groups at the particle surface, As, was remarkably increased by the alkali-treatment above 35 °C. On the other hand, As value of the alkalitreated emulsion was decreased by keeping under ph 3 above 45 °C, although in the case of the original emulsion without the alkalitreatment, it was not changed by the acid-treatment. These results suggest that a part of polymer segments which have ionized carboxyl groups is dragged out at the surface by an increase in the affinity of the groups against water, and the dragged segments turn back into the inside again when the carboxyl groups are deionized.Part 97 of the series Studies on Suspension and Emulsion.     

Biocompatible water-in-oil emulsion as a model to study ascorbic acid effect on lipid oxidation

A biocompatible water-in-oil (W/O) emulsion has been used as a model to study the effect of ascorbic acid (AA) on the oxidation of the oil (glycerol trioleate, GTO) continuous phase. The model system consisted of 3 wt % water dispersed in GTO containing 0.5 wt % sodium oleate (NaO)/oleic acid (OA) mixture (NaO/OA = 20/80 mol/mol %) as a stabilizer. To study the ascorbic acid effect on GTO light-promoted oxidation, we added aqueous solutions of ascorbic acid to GTO in place of distilled water. Results obtained as peroxide values show that ascorbic acid activity depends on its concentration and it is affected by the characteristics of the W/O interface. In the presence of ascorbyl palmitate (AP) or sorbitan trioleate (Span 85) in the continuous phase, ascorbic acid activity increases in the first few hours of oxidation. The effect of ascorbic acid has been related to emulsion structure by calculating characteristic parameters of the droplet size distributions by means of optical microscopy.     

Detection of biliary complications after orthotopic liver transplantation with MR cholangiography.

To assess the diagnostic value of magnetic resonance cholangiography (MRC) when evaluating biliary complications in the follow-up of liver transplant patients. One hundred and thirteen patients prospectively underwent MR imaging and MR cholangiography at 1.5-T unit after orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT). After the acquisition of axial T1- and T2-weighted sequences, MRC involved a coronal, non breath-hold, respiratory-triggered, fat-suppressed, two-dimensional, thin-slab, heavily T2-weighted fast spin-echo sequence, and coronal breath-hold, thick-slab, single-shot T2-weighted sequences. The images and maximum intensity projections were evaluated by two readers in order to determine biliary anatomy and the presence of complications, whose final diagnosis was based on endoscopic retrograde cholangiography (ERC) in 50 patients, percutaneous trans-hepatic cholangiography (PTC) in five, and by integrating clinical follow-up with ultrasound and MR findings in 58 cases. MRC had a sensitivity of 93%, a specificity of 92%, a positive predictive value of 86%, a negative predictive value of 96%, and a global diagnostic accuracy of 93% in detecting all types of biliary complications in OLT patients. MRC is a reliable technique for detecting post-OLT biliary complications. We now restrict the use of ERC to patients for whom therapeutic procedures are advocated or whose MRC results are equivocal.     

Thermal analysis of milling products and its implications in self-ignition

Thermal degradation of soft wheat, durum wheat, and maize as well as native starch and maize dextrin used to make fireworks, under nitrogen atmosphere, was studied by differential scanning calorimetry and thermogravimetric analysis. The results indicate that bran-free products give rise to a decomposition via transglycosylation-volatilization. On the contrary, wheat products containing bran or ligno-cellulosic residues decompose via exothermic reaction of dehydration-charring. For each product, the curve is determined as a function of its physical form, i.e., flour, ground product, and grain. The comparison of the conversion calculated as a first-order kinetics and the experimental, exhibits a very low mean square error. On this basis, the pyrolysis was assumed to obey first-order kinetics. The kinetic results were then used to estimate the temperature of spontaneous combustion, when these products are stored in silos. In particular, Frank-Kamenetskii theory is applied to prove how the products, under particular conditions, can become extremely explosive.     

A potential for Th from inversion of cohesive energy: Elastic constants

An interatomic pair potential for Th was derived by using the Chen–Mobius lattice inversion of cohesive energy for fcc Th as a starting point to develop a free-parameter potential suitable to be used in molecular dynamic calculations for predicting microstructure evolution and thermal properties in multicomponent nuclear fuel. The cohesive energy versus lattice parameter of Th was computed from first principles electronic structure calculations. The elastic constants for fcc Th were calculated by applying different types of strain to the starting crystal. Based on this information, the shear modulus, the Youngs modulus and the Poissons ratio were obtained. The computed elastic constants of fcc Th are found to be in a good agreement with experiments and previous theoretical results.     

DLTS characterization of silicon nitride passivated AlGaN/GaN heterostructures

Passivating the ungated surface of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs with silicon nitride (SiN) is effective in improving the microwave output power performances of these devices. However, very little information is available about surface states in GaN-based HEMTs after SiN passivation. In this work we investigate AlGaN/GaN HEMTs structures having either metal–semiconductor or metal–SiN–semiconductor gate contacts. In short gate devices conductance DLTS measurements point out a hole-like peak that shows an anomalous behaviour and can be ascribed to surface states in the access regions of the device. In insulated gate HEMTs a band of levels is detected and ascribed to surface states, whose energy ranges from 0.14 to 0.43 eV. Capacitance–voltage measurements allow us to point out the existence of a second band of interface states deeper in energy than the former one. This band is responsible for slow transients observed in the characteristics of the insulated gate FAT-HEMT.     

Effect of grain-size on the ethanol vapor sensing properties of room-temperature sputtered ZnO thin films

We have investigated the gas sensing properties of ZnO thin films (100 to 200 nm thickness) deposited by room-temperature radio frequency magnetron sputtering. The sensitivity of the films to ethanol vapor was measured in the 10 to 50 ppm concentration range at operating temperatures between 200 and 400 °C. A synergetic effect of decreasing grain size and increasing operating temperature was observed towards the improvement of the sensitivity, reaching a value of 54 and a limit of detection as low as 0.61 ppm. The decrease in the grain size resulted in prolonged response time but faster recovery. In any case, both response time and recovery time are < 400 s. The results demonstrate that room-temperature magnetron sputtering is a viable approach to enhance the performances of ZnO films in sensors for ethanol vapor.

Sensor response for ZnO films in presence of 50 ppm ethanol as a function grain size and temperature

     

Skeletons and Central Sets

Let be an open proper subset of Rⁿ. Its skeleton is the setof points with more than one nearest neighbour in the complementof its central set is the set of centres in maximal open ballsincluded in . Intuitively, if we think of as a land mass inwhich height is proportional to distance from the sea, its skeletonand central set can be thought of as corresponding to ridgesin the mountains of . In this note I discuss the metric andtopological properties of such sets. I show that any skeletonin Rⁿ is F, and has dimension at most n – 1, by any ofthe usual measures of dimension; that if is bounded and connected,its skeleton and central set are connected; and that separatesRⁿ iff its skeleton does iff its central set does. Any centralset in Rⁿ is a G set of topological dimension at most n –1. In the plane, I show that both skeletons and central setsare locally path-connected, and indeed include many paths offinite length. For any , its central set includes its skeleton;I give examples to show that the central set can be significantlylarger than the skeleton. 1991 Mathematics Subject Classification:54F99.