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.     

Model for nucleon valence structure functions at allx,allp ⊥ and allQ 2 from the correspondence between QCD and DTU

We propose a simple parametrization of the nucleon valence structure functions at allx, allp _⊥ and allQ ². We use the DTU parton model to fix the parametrization at a reference point (Q ₀ ² =3 GeV²) and we mimic the QCD evolution by replacing the dimensioned parameters of the DTU parton model by functions depending onQ ². Excellent agreement is obtained with existing data.     

Dual model foru,d, s andc quark fragmentation functions

In the dual topological unitarization scheme, we derive a model for theu, d, ands quark fragmentation into mesons by considering the parton interpretation of planar one particle inclusive cross sections. A good agreement with experiment is obtained. Relying on these results, we generalize the model in order to include the charm fragmentation functions into any meson and again get a nice agreement with data.     

Quantum Discord in Optical Coherent States

We study the dynamics of quantum correlation of optical coherent-state qubits affected by the environment. It consists in sending these states via a decohering quantum channel. The states used as the support of the encoding information are affected by an amplitude damping channel. The quantum discord is one of type of quantum correlations between the qubits. The discord and its dynamics of two qubits in non-Markovian environments are evaluated.     

Optimizing constrained subtrees of trees

Given a treeG = (V, E) and a weight function defined on subsets of its nodes, we consider two associated problems. The first, called the rooted subtree problem, is to find a maximum weight subtree, with a specified root, from a given set of subtrees.The second problem, called the subtree packing problem, is to find a maximum weight packing of node disjoint subtrees chosen from a given set of subtrees, where the value of each subtree may depend on its root.We show that the complexity status of both problems is related, and that the subtree packing problem is polynomial if and only if each rooted subtree problem is polynomial. In addition we show that the convex hulls of the feasible solutions to both problems are related: the convex hull of solutions to the packing problem is given by pasting together the convex hulls of the rooted subtree problems.We examine in detail the case where the set of feasible subtrees rooted at nodei consists of all subtrees with at mostk nodes. For this case we derive valid inequalities, and specify the convex hull whenk 4.Research supported in part by Nato Collaborative Research Grant CRG 900281, Science Program SC1-CT91-620 of the EEC, and contract No 26 of the programme Pôle d'attraction interuniversitaire of the Belgian government.     

Particle size distribution, magnetic permeability and dc conductivity of nano-structured and bulk LiNiZn-ferrite samples

Nanoparticles of Li_0.1(Ni_1−xZn_x)_0.8Fe_2.1O₄ (x=0-1.0) were prepared by a chemical co-precipitation method. A part of the precipitated powders was sintered at 1473 K for 2 h to obtain bulk samples via increasing the particle sizes. The particle size distribution, dc conductivity and magnetic permeability were investigated for the nano-structured samples and their bulk counterparts. The permeability as a function of temperature revealed the size effect of nano-structure in agreement with the literature. In some of the samples the permeability was almost constant over a considerable range of temperature, which may be useful in practical applications that require stability. Moreover, the nano-size structure caused a significant decrease in dc conductivity values.     

Error estimates for three-dimensional Stokes problem with non-standard boundary conditions

This work is devoted to the optimal and a posteriori error estimates of the Stokes problem with some non-standard boundary conditions in three dimensions. The variational formulation is decoupled into a system for the velocity and a Poisson equation for the pressure. The velocity is approximated with curl conforming finite elements and the pressure with standard continuous elements. Next, we establish optimal a posteriori estimates.     

Adaptive Diagnosis for Fault Tolerant Data Fusion Based on α-Rényi Divergence Strategy for Vehicle Localization

When applying a diagnostic technique to complex systems, whose dynamics, constraints, and environment evolve over time, being able to re-evaluate the residuals that are capable of detecting defaults and proposing the most appropriate ones can quickly prove to make sense. For this purpose, the concept of adaptive diagnosis is introduced. In this work, the contributions of information theory are investigated in order to propose a Fault-Tolerant multi-sensor data fusion framework. This work is part of studies proposing an architecture combining a stochastic filter for state estimation with a diagnostic layer with the aim of proposing a safe and accurate state estimation from potentially inconsistent or erroneous sensors measurements. From the design of the residuals, using α-Rényi Divergence (α-RD), to the optimization of the decision threshold, through the establishment of a function that is dedicated to the choice of α at each moment, we detail each step of the proposed automated decision-support framework. We also dwell on: (1) the consequences of the degree of freedom provided by this α parameter and on (2) the application-dictated policy to design the α tuning function playing on the overall performance of the system (detection rate, false alarms, and missed detection rates). Finally, we present a real application case on which this framework has been tested. The problem of multi-sensor localization, integrating sensors whose operating range is variable according to the environment crossed, is a case study to illustrate the contributions of such an approach and show the performance.     

A survey of surface tension,molar volume and density for Sn–Ag–Cu–Bi–Sb quinary alloys as lead-free solders

ABSTRACT

By applying the geometric models and the theoretical equation, the surface tension, the molar volume and the density were studied. The empirical calculations were carried out in temperature range 623?K?≤?T?≤?1123?K. Only few thermophysical properties were estimated for eight quinary alloys: Sn3.55Ag0.5Cu3Bi3Sb, Sn3.48Ag0.5Cu3Bi5Sb, Sn3.48 Ag0.5Cu5Bi3Sb, Sn3.40 Ag0.5Cu5Bi5Sb, Sn3.53Ag1Cu3Bi3Sb, Sn3.46Ag1Cu3Bi5Sb, Sn3.46Ag1Cu5Bi3Sb, Sn3.38Ag1Cu5Bi5Sb. The results show that surface tension and density have a linear appearance for all temperatures. We have also studied the influence of the composition and temperature in the studied alloys. The obtained theoretical results are compared with the experimental ones and with the conventional Pb–Sn welds.