Environmental radioactivity of soils and sediments: Egyptian sector of the Nile valley

The activity concentrations of natural ⁴⁰K, ²³²Th, and ²³⁸U in 89 soil and 84 sediment samples collected over the entire Egyptian Nile River basin including the Nile delta are reported based on the results of epithermal neutron activation analysis. The average activity concentrations of ⁴⁰K, ²³²Th, and ²³⁸U equal to 15.3?±?6.6, 15.6?±?11.1 and 220?±?31 Bq/kg, respectively, are significantly lower than those reported for the Upper Continental Crust, World Average Sediments as well as World Average Soils, suggesting the presence of a considerable portion of mafic material, most probably originating from the Ethiopian High Plateau. Their average activity concentrations are statistically the same in soil and sediments, indicating that the Nile sediments and soil material are of the same origin. The main goal of this study was not only to estimate the radiological hazards but also to show the influence of sedimentary material transportable by the Blue Nile from the Ethiopian High Plateau. The different hazard indices like the radium equivalent, gamma index, external hazard as well as the internal hazard show a low radiological exposure either on direct contact or if local mud bricks are used in the construction of dwellings.     

Identification of source terms in wave equation with dynamic boundary conditions

This paper studies an inverse hyperbolic problem for the wave equation with dynamic boundary conditions. It consists of determining some forcing terms from the final overdetermination of the displacement. First, the Fréchet differentiability of the Tikhonov functional is studied, and a gradient formula is obtained via the solution of an associated adjoint problem. Then, the Lipschitz continuity of the gradient is proved. Furthermore, the existence and the uniqueness for the minimization problem are discussed. Finally, some numerical experiments for the reconstruction of an internal wave force are implemented via a conjugate gradient algorithm.     

Analysis of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons extracted from air particulate matter using a temperature programmable injector coupled to GC–C–IRMS†

Compound specific isotopic analysis (CSIA) can provide information about the origin of analysed compounds – in this case, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). In the study, PAHs were extracted from three dust samples: winter and summer filter dust and tunnel dust. The measurement was performed using the method validated in our laboratory using pure, solid compounds and EPA 610 reference assortment.

CSIA required an appropriate clean-up method to avoid an unresolved complex in the gas chromatographic analysis usually found in the chromatography of PAHs. Extensive sample clean-up for this particular matrix was found to be necessary to obtain good gas chromatography–combustion–isotope ratio mass spectrometry analysis results. The sample purification method included two steps in which the sample is cleaned up and the aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons are separated.

The concentration of PAHs in the measured samples was low; so a large volume injection technique (100 μl) was applied. The δ_VPDB ¹³C was measured with a final uncertainty smaller than 1 ‰. Comparison of the δ_VPDB ¹³C signatures of PAHs extracted from different dust samples was feasible with this method and, doing so, significant differences were observed.     

Study of the critical current density and the thermodynamic critical field in deuterated κ-(BEDT-TTF)2Cu[N(CN)2]Br organic superconductor

ABSTRACT

We have studied the reversible and irreversible part of the hysteresis loops as a function of slow cooling rate through the order–disorder transformation near 80?K for the deuterated (κ-D₈-Br) κ-(BEDT-TTF)₂Cu[N(CN)₂]Br organic superconductor. We estimated the critical current density J_C and the thermodynamic critical field H_C from the magnetic hysteresis loops. Temperature dependence of the critical current density derived from the irreversible part using Bean’s model. The thermodynamic critical field H_C has been obtained from the reversible part of the hysteresis loops.     

Structural study of NiXMg1–XFe2O4 ferrites

The ferrite system Ni _x Mg_1-x Fe₂O₄ with 0≤x≤1 was prepared using the usual ceramic technique. The prepared samples were studied by X-ray diffraction and IR spectroscopy. X-ray diffraction analysis proved that all the samples were single-phase with the cubic spinel structure. The lattice constant, radius of the tetrahedral ion, unshared octahedral edge, tetrahedral bond and tetrahedral edge decrease while the bulk and theoretical densities, radius of octahedral ion, octahedral bond and shared octahedral edge increase as nickel ion substitution increases. The positions and intensities of the four bands of IR absorption spectra characterizing ferrites are composition dependent.     

Kinetic parameters,collision rates,energy exchanges and transport coefficients of non-thermal electrons in premixed flames at sub-breakdown electric field strengths

The effects of an electric field on the collision rates, energy exchanges and transport properties of electrons in premixed flames are investigated via solutions to the Boltzmann kinetic equation. The case of high electric field strength, which results in high-energy, non-thermal electrons, is analysed in detail at sub-breakdown conditions. The rates of inelastic collisions and the energy exchange between electrons and neutrals in the reaction zone of the flame are characterised quantitatively. The analysis includes attachment, ionisation, impact dissociation, and vibrational and electronic excitation processes. Our results suggest that Townsend breakdown occurs for E/N = 140 Td. Vibrational excitation is the dominant process up to breakdown, despite important rates of electronic excitation of CO, CO₂ and N₂ as well as impact dissociation of O₂ being apparent from 50 Td onwards. Ohmic heating in the reaction zone is found to be negligible (less than 2% of peak heat release rate) up to breakdown field strengths for realistic electron densities equal to 10¹⁰ cm^?3. The observed trends are largely independent of equivalence ratio. In the non-thermal regime, electron transport coefficients are insensitive to mixture composition and approximately constant across the flame, but are highly dependent on the electric field strength. In the thermal limit, kinetic parameters and transport coefficients vary substantially across the flame due to the spatially inhomogeneous concentration of water vapour. A practical approach for identifying the plasma regime (thermal versus non-thermal) in studies of electric field effects on flames is proposed.     

Propagation characteristics of Bessel-like beams through ABCD optical system

Based on the Collins diffraction integral formula, this work focus to the study of the propagation properties of a Bessel-like beam through an ABCD optical system. As it is not easy to develop an analytical expression describing the transformation of the Bessel-like beams by an ABCD optical system, numerical integration method was indispensable to conduct this research. The characteristics of the transformation of Bessel-like beams by three optical systems: free space, Fourier transform, Fractional Fourier transform system and quadratic graded-index system are numerically examined and treated as examples of optical systems in this investigation. Some numerical results are carried-out to show how the superposition of multiple Airy beams propagates and transforms by an ABCD optical system.     

First-principle calculations of structural,electronic, optical,elastic and thermal properties of $$\hbox {MgXAs}_{2}$$ ($$\hbox {X}=\hbox {Si}, \hbox {Ge}$$X=Si,Ge) compounds

First-principle calculations on the structural, electronic, optical, elastic and thermal properties of the chalcopyrite \(\hbox {MgXAs}_{2}\) (\(\hbox {X}=\hbox {Si}, \hbox {Ge}\)) have been performed within the density functional theory (DFT) using the full-potential linearized augmented plane wave (FP-LAPW) method. The obtained equilibrium structural parameters are in good agreement with the available experimental data and theoretical results. The calculated band structures reveal a direct energy band gap for the interested compounds. The predicted band gaps using the modified Becke–Johnson (mBJ) exchange approximation are in fairly good agreement with the experimental data. The optical constants such as the dielectric function, refractive index, and the extinction coefficient are calculated and analysed. The independent elastic parameters namely, \(C_{11}\), \(C_{12}\), \(C_{13}\), \(C_{33}\), \(C_{44}\) and \(C_{66 }\) are evaluated. The effects of temperature and pressure on some macroscopic properties of \(\hbox {MgSiAs}_{2}\) and \(\hbox {MgGeAs}_{2}\) are predicted using the quasiharmonic Debye model in which the lattice vibrations are taken into account.     

The Significance of Mobilization and Immobilization of Specific Radionuclides for Optimum Bioleaching Conditions Using Aspergillus lentulus

Physics of Particles and Nuclei Letters - Gamma spectrometry is applied for measurement of natural radioactivity by Hyper-pure germanium (HPGe) systems during the application of bioleaching optimum...     

EPR on Medically Relevant NO Adsorbed to Zn-LTA

For medical purposes, materials are required that store and target specifically deliver exogenous nitric oxide (NO). Partially zinc-exchanged Na-LTA (Linde type A) zeolite (Zn-LTA) has high potential in this respect due to its non-toxicity and adsorption capacity for NO. In contrast to NO adsorbed to LTA zeolites prepared for catalytic purposes, lower dehydration temperature prior to NO adsorption is used to achieve a balance between production cost and high activity. In order to study the interaction of NO with the metal sites in the samples prepared under these medical conditions, continuous-wave X-band electron paramagnetic resonance has been applied. In contrast to Na-LTA with only one weakly interacting NO monomer, three different monomers, having stronger interaction to the metal sites than in Na-LTA, were observed in Zn-LTA. To improve the storage capacity of Zn-LTA, higher dehydration temperatures would be necessary.