14 MeV neutron activation analysis of gold jewellery

Samples of nominal 18 carat and 21 carat gold jewelleries from the local market were non-destructively bulk analyzed using neutron activation analysis. Neutrons of 14 MeV energy were used with a fast pneumatic sample transfer system. The actual gold contents, as well as the composition of the base metals in these samples were determined. The fast neutron activation was found to be an efficient, quick and accurate method of characterizing the precious metal objects routinely in bulk, with a large sample throughput. The results demonstrate the commercial availability of the technique for non-destructive bulk analysis of precious metal objects.     

Stereochemical Analysis of an Aromatic Triplet Di-π-methane Rearrangement

It is shown that (−)-(S)-N,N-dimethyl-2-(1′-methylallyl)aniline ((−)-(S)- 4 ), on direct irradiation in MeCN at 20°, undergoes in its lowest-lying triplet state an aromatic di-π-methane (ADPM) rearrangement to yield (−)-(1′R,2′R)- and (+)-(1′R,2′S)-N,N-dimethyl-2-(2-methylcyclopropyl)aniline ((−)-trans- and (+)-cis- 7 ) in an initial trans/cis ratio of 4.71 ± 0.14 and in optical yields of 28.8 ± 5.2% and 15 ± 5%, respectively. The ADPM rearrangement of (−)-(S)- 4 to the trans- and cis-configurated products occurs with a preponderance of the path leading to retention of configuration at the pivot atom (C(1′) in the reactant and C(2′) in the products) for (−)-trans- 7 and to inversion of configuration for (+)-cis- 7 , respectively. The results can be rationalized by assuming reaction paths which involve the occurrence of discrete 1,4- and 1,3-diradicals (cf. Schemes 10, 12, and 13). A general analysis of such ADPM rearrangements which allows the classification of these photochemical reactions in terms of borderline cases is presented (Scheme 14). It is found that the optical yields in these ‘step-by-step’ rearrangements are determined by the first step, i.e. by the disrotatory bond formation between C(2) of the aromatic moiety and C(2′) of the allylic side chain leading to the generation of the 1,4-diradicals. Moderation of the optical yields can occur in the ring closure of the 1,3-diradicals to the final products, which may take place with different trans/cis-ratios for the individual 1,3-diradicals. Compounds (−)-trans- 7 as well as (+)-cis- 7 easily undergo the well-known photochemical trans/cis-isomerization. It mainly leads to racemization. However, a small part of the molecules shows trans/cis-isomerization with inversion of configuration at C(1′), which is best explained by a photochemical cleavage of the C(1′)–C(3′) bond.     

Isolation of xylose reductase gene ofPichia stipitis and its expression inSaccharomyces cerevisiae

Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology - A NADPH/NADH-dependent xylose reductase gene was isolated from the xylose-assimilating yeast,Pichia stipitis. DNA sequence analysis showed that the gene...     

Inorganic arsenic speciation in various water samples with GFAAS using coprecipitation

A simple, economic and sensitive method for selective determination of As(III) and As(V) in water samples is described. The method is based on selective coprecipitation of As(III) with Ce(IV) hydroxide in presence of an ammonia/ammonium buffer at pH 9. The coprecipitant was collected on a 0.45 µm membrane filter, dissolved with 0.5 mL of conc. nitric acid and the solution was completed to 2 or 5 mL with distilled water. As(III) in the final solutions was determined by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (GFAAS). Under the working condition, As(V) was not coprecipitated. Total inorganic arsenic was determined after the reduction of As(V) to As(III) with NaI. The concentration of As(V) was calculated by the difference of the concentrations obtained by the above determinations. Both the determination of arsenic with GF-AAS in presence of cerium and the coprecipitation of arsenic with Ce(IV) hydroxide were optimised. The suitability of the method for determining inorganic arsenic species was checked by analysis of water samples spiked with 4–20 µg L^?1 each of As(III) and As(V). The preconcentration factor was found to be 75 with quantitative recovery (≥95%). The accuracy of the present method was controlled with a reference method based on TXRF. The relative error was under 5%. The relative standard deviations for the replicate analysis ( n?=?5) ranged from 4.3 to 8.0% for both As(III) and As(V) in the water samples. The limit of detection (3σ) for both As (III) and As(V) were 0.05 µg L^?1. The proposed method produced satisfactory results for the analysis of inorganic arsenic species in drinking water, wastewater and hot spring water samples.     

Evaluation of Pomegranate (Punica Granatum L.) Pulps for the Removal of Copper(II) Ions: Kinetic,Equilibrium, and Desorption Studies

Pomegranate pulp has been used as novel adsorbent for removing Cu(II) ions from aqueous solution. The optimum conditions for removal of Cu(II) ions were found to be pH 5.32, biosorbent dose 0.1 g, contact time 120 minutes, initial concentration 50 mg/L, and temperature 30°C. The kinetic data were well fitted to the pseudo-second-order model. The biosorption process agreed with the Langmuir isotherm model. Maximum monolayer biosorption capacity was 7.30 mg/g. Thermodynamic parameters suggest that the biosorption process is spontaneous and exothermic. Desorption studies were carried out with different desorbing agents.      

On dynamic plane elasticity problems of 2D quasicrystals

In this Letter, the dynamic plane elasticity problems of 2D quasicrystals is considered. By use of the Fourier transform and matrix transformations the system is reduced to uncoupled ordinary differential equations. Fourier images of Green's functions for dynamic plane elasticity problems of 2D dodecagonal, pentagonal and decagonal quasicrystals are obtained explicitly by the suggested method.     

The Turkish accelerator complex IR FEL project

Turkish accelerator complex (TAC) project was approved by State Planning Organization (DPT) of Turkey in 2006. The complex will contain a linac-ring type electron–positron collider as a particle factory and different accelerator based light sources. As a first step to the national center, the construction of an IR FEL facility is planned until 2011. It is also planned that the technical design report for TAC will be completed in 2010. The TAC IR FEL facility will consist of an electron linac in the range of 15–40 MeV energy to obtain FEL in 2–185 microns range. In this study, the preliminary parameters of TAC IR FEL facility were presented. The possible using of the obtained FEL in material science, nonlinear optics, semiconductors, biotechnology, medicine and photochemical processes were discussed.     

Über periodizitätseigenschaften spieltheoretischer lernprozesse

Ohne ZusammenfassungBesonders bedanken möchte ich mich bei Herrn Prof. K.Jacobs fÜr sein dauerndes Interesse an meinen BemÜhungen.     

Accurate SVDs of weakly diagonally dominant M-matrices

Summary. We present a new O(n³) algorithm which computes the SVD of a weakly diagonally dominant M-matrix to high relative accuracy. The algorithm takes as an input the offdiagonal entries of the matrix and its row sums.Mathematics Subject Classification (1991): 65F15Revised version received September 19, 2003This material is based in part upon work supported by the LLNL Memorandum Agreement No. B504962 under DOE Contract No. W-7405-ENG-48, DOE Grants No. DE-FG03-94ER25219, DE-FC03-98ER25351 and DE-FC02-01ER25478, NSF Grant No. ASC-9813362, and Cooperative Agreement No. ACI-9619020.