Evaluation of As,Se and Zn in octopus samples in different points of sales of the distribution chain in Brazil

Three CRMs of different matrix composition were analysed, representing an environmental matrix sample (BCR–320R Channel Sediment), a botanical matrix sample (SRM 1547 Peach Leaves) and a zoological matrix sample (SRM 1566b Oyster Tissue). The element mass fractions were obtained using the KayWin program. Analytical measurement uncertainty was determined by two approaches: (1) the routine procedure applying combination of the overall uncertainty u(m) = 3.5 % and statistical uncertainty of the peak area determination and (2) the procedure applying the dedicated ERON program for calculating uncertainty. Performance of altogether 31 certified values was tested by means of calculating E _n numbers. For the remaining 52 non-certified values, comparison between uncertainties obtained by the two approaches was made. When using the first approach, the E _n number showed satisfactory performance in 28 cases; by using the second approach, the E _n number showed satisfactory performance in 27 cases. None of the unsatisfactory performances (E _n  > 1) appeared to be of systematic nature. The uncertainties obtained by applying the two approaches revealed a big extent of consistency. As the present nuclear database lacks lot of data that serve as input to the ERON program, in particular uncertainties of Q ₀ factors, estimates need to be introduced for the missing values, emphasising the urgent need to upgrade the database with missing data.     

Radioanalytical assessment of environmental contamination around non-remediated uranium mining legacy site and radium mobility

During the past century extensive uranium mining took place in Portugal for radium and uranium production. One such uranium mine was the Boco Mine, in operation during the 1960s and 70s. Mining waste and open pits were left uncovered since mine closure. During the nineties a quarry for sand extraction was operated in the same site and water from a local stream was extensively used in sand sieving. Downstream the mine area, agriculture soil is used for cattle grazing. Water from the stream, water wells, soil, pasture and sheep meat were now analyzed for radionuclides of uranium natural series. The U-series radionuclide ²²⁶Ra was generally the highest in concentrations especially in soil, pasture, and in internal organs of sheep. ²²⁶Ra concentrations were 1,093 ± 96 Bq/kg (dry weight, dw) in soil, 43 ± 3 Bq/kg (dw) in pasture, and 193 ± 84 mBq/kg (wet weight, ww) in muscle tissue of sheep. Other sheep internal organs displayed much higher ²²⁶Ra concentrations, such as the brain and kidneys with 1,850 ± 613 mBq/kg (ww) and 6,043 ± 6,023 mBq/kg (ww), respectively. Results of analyses of tissue samples from sheep grown in a comparison area were 2 to 16 times lower, depending on the organ. Absorbed radiation doses for internal organs were computed and may exceed 5.2 mGy/y in the case of kidneys, near three times higher than in animals from the reference area, but below the threshold for biological effects. Radionuclide transfer in the terrestrial food chain and radiation exposure of the human population is discussed.     

Quantum Cosmological Perfect Fluid Models

Perfect fluid Friedmann-Robertson-Walker quantum cosmological models for an arbitrary barotropic equation of state p = are constructed using Schutz's variational formalism. In this approach the notion of time can be recovered. By superposition of stationary states, finite-norm wave-packet solutions to the Wheeler-DeWitt equation are found. The behaviour of the scale factor is studied by applying the many-worlds and the ontological interpretations of quantum mechanics. Singularity-free models are obtained for < 1. Accelerated expansion at present requires –1/3 > > – 1.     

A comment on the stochastic quantization of friction

It is shown that Hashimoto's recent construction of a nonlinear wave equation on the basis of stochastic mechanics for a dissipative system submitted to a general velocity-dependent frictional force is not valid, except for the trivial one-dimensional case.     

A sharp bound on the size of a connected matroid

This paper proves that a connected matroid in which a largest circuit and a largest cocircuit have and elements, respectively, has at most elements. It is also shown that if is an element of and and are the sizes of a largest circuit containing and a largest cocircuit containing , then . Both these bounds are sharp and the first is proved using the second. The second inequality is an interesting companion to Lehman's width-length inequality which asserts that the former inequality can be reversed for regular matroids when and are replaced by the sizes of a smallest circuit containing and a smallest cocircuit containing . Moreover, it follows from the second inequality that if and are distinct vertices in a -connected loopless graph , then cannot exceed the product of the length of a longest -path and the size of a largest minimal edge-cut separating from .

     

Effects of temperature on the relaxation to equilibrium and stationary nonequilibrium states of some Langevin systems

We investigate the effects of temperature on the properties of the time relaxation to equilibrium and nonequilibrium steady states of correlation functions of some Langevin harmonic systems. We consider commonly used dissipative and conservative Langevin dynamics, and show that the time relaxation rate depends on the temperature in the case of thermal reservoirs at different temperatures connected to the system, but it does not happen in the case of relaxation to equilibrium, i.e., if all the heat bath are at the same temperature. Our formalism maps the initial stochastic problem on a noncanonical quantum field theory, and the calculations of the relaxation rates are based on a perturbative analysis. We argue to show the reliability of the perturbative computation.     

Non-separating cocircuits in matroids

In this note, we obtain a lower bound for the number of connected hyperplanes of a 3-connected binary matroid M containing a fixed set A provided M|A is coloopless.