The determination of lead and nickel by atomic-absorption spectrometry with a flameless wire loop atomizer

In an extension of studies of flameless atomizers for atomic-absorption spectrometry, an electrically heated tungsten-rhenium alloy wire loop was examined. Reduction of metallic salts to ground-state metal atoms was accomplished with the high temperature produced by the loop. Lead and nickel were investigated. Experimental parameters such as wavelength, slit width, atomization temperature and sheathing gas flow rate were optimized. Absolute detection limits of 6.6·10^?10 and 1.2·10^?10, and absolute sensitivities of 7·10^?10 and 8·10^?11 g of lead, were established for unenclosed and enclosed cells, respectively. The interferences of twenty cations and sixteen anions were studied; foreign cations generally enhanced the lead absorption by retarding its vaporization, allowing the slow detection system to respond more efficiently. Nickel was investigated as a representative less volatile metal; an absolute detection limit of 1.6·10^?9 and an absolute sensitivity of 9·10^?10 g of nickel were established.     

An automatic controlled-potential coulometer

The design and operation of an automatic controlled-potential coulometer is described. It was primarily designed for use with mg quantities of uranium, neptunium and plutonium but can in principle be used on any element possessing more than one valency state in solution. It is capable of an accuracy and precision of ±0.25% and can analyse up to 20 samples on a set programme without operator attention.     

Inverse gas chromatography in the study of polymer degradation. Part 2. Oxidation of sulphurated squalene as a model for the oxidative degradation of natural rubber vulcanizates

Summary Inverse gas chromatography with sulphurated olefinic stationary phases and air as carrier gas has been found to yield characteristic shifts of retention data. The resulting plots of retention index versus reaction time obtained for a range of squalene vulcanizates have been found to be similar to those given by oxygen absorption measurements. Furthermore the chromatographic oxidation curves have been found to be consistent with the known oxidation behaviour of the various sulphur networks formed on vulcanization. This paper is dedicated to the memory of Dr.Graham Moore (1924–1968).     

Review

Abstract

Scattering Theory (Aspects of Scattering Processes in Atomic, Nuclear and Particle Physics) Edited by A. O. Barut Gordon and Breach Science Publishers Inc., 1969, pp. viii + 431.     

Exploiting barrier distributions to investigate breakup effects in the fusion of 9Be+208Pb

The availability of precisely measured fusion excitation functions have allowed the determination of experimental fusion barrier distributions. This concept is utilised in ⁹Be+²⁰⁸Pb reaction, to reliably predict the expected complete fusion cross-sections. However, the measured cross-sections are found to be only 68% of those predicted. The large cross-sections observed for incomplete fusion products support the interpretation that this suppression of fusion is caused by ⁹Be breaking up into charged fragments before reaching the fusion barrier.     

Deformations of 2k-Einstein structures

It is shown that the space of infinitesimal deformations of 2k-Einstein structures is finite dimensional on compact non-flat space forms. Moreover, spherical space forms are shown to be rigid in the sense that they are isolated in the corresponding moduli space.     

Controlled hydrothermal growth of ZnO nanostructures by sequestering the Zn metal ions with the chelating agent EDTA

In the present work, a controlled growth of ZnO nanostructures by manipulating Zn metal ion concentration by the chelating action of ethylene diaminetetra acetic acid in hydrothermal method is studied. EDTA produces metal–chelate complex by the formation of bidentate ligand with Zn²⁺ in the solution and diminishes the reactivity of Zn metal cations. Concentration of EDTA in the mother solution was varied in different ranges like 3, 5 and 10 mM while retaining the zinc metal salt and the NaOH concentration the same. Three different morphologies of wurtzite structured ZnO nanostructures such as nanorods-bunch, separate/discrete uniformly sized hexagonal nanorods and tapered flower petals like shapes are achieved by 3, 5 and 10 mM strengths of EDTA, respectively. The medium concentration 5 mM of EDTA is found to have moderate control over producing ZnO nanostructures of uniform diameter and a high aspect (length to diameter) ratio. An array of vertically aligned free standing ZnO nanorods with uniform spacing is successfully achieved by the addition of 5 mM of EDTA in the mother solution and the same is studied for its fluorescence property at an excitation of 325 nm and it has exhibited a characteristic UV emission of ZnO around 383 nm.     

Fusion around the barrier for 7Li+12C

Fusion cross-sections for the ⁷Li + ¹²C reaction have been measured at energies above the Coulomb barrier by the direct detection of evaporation residues. The heavy evaporation residues with energies below 3 MeV could not be separated out from the α-particles in the spectrum and hence their contribution was estimated using statistical model calculations. The present work indicates that suppression of fusion cross-sections due to the breakup of ⁷Li may not be significant for ⁷Li + ¹²C reaction at energies around the barrier.     

Point-splitting regularization for gauge theories: Quantum electrodynamics

As a method of regularization, point splitting has played an essential role in the recent theoretical determination of the masses of the Higgs boson and the top quark. It is the purpose of this paper to put this pointsplitting regularization on a firm basis. The result turns out to be extremely simple: replace the usual vertex factor-ieγ ^µ in quantum electrodynamics by $$ - ie(\gamma _\mu - \frac{{\not p}}{{p \cdot \delta }}\delta _\mu ),$$ wherep is the momentum of the photon line, andδ ^µ is the distance for point splitting. No additional vertices are needed.     

Notes on the dynamics of pension funding

The authors follow up some previous work on the dynamics of pension funding by three notes. The first of these concerns contribution rates consisting of the normal cost plus a generalized amortization method for unfunded supplemental present value (actuarial accrued liability). The second note examines aggregate cost funding for active members when there exist consistent difference between the assumed and the actual rates of interest and of growth. The third note explores the operation of a variable annuity system in the context of our general model for pension funding dynamics.