Experimental and FLUKA study relevant to the production of <Superscript>124</Superscript>I through <Superscript>nat</Superscript>Te(p,xn) reaction at a medium-sized cyclotron

A radiochemical methodology for the determination of ⁹⁴Nb in low-level radioactive wastes from nuclear power plant was proposed. Although ⁹⁴Nb is a strong gamma emitter, its concentration in radioactive waste samples is usually several orders of magnitude lower than that of other β–γ emitters, whose emissions interferes in the detection of the emission lines of ⁹⁴Nb. The procedure involves acid digestion, precipitation, cation exchange chromatography by using Amberlite IRA120 resin, extraction chromatography by using TEVA resin to isolate the Nb and the gamma spectrometry to its measurement. The chemical yield was 70% in average. Samples of evaporator concentrate and spent resin were analyzed. For the samples of the evaporator concentrate, the results obtained were below L _D = 9.59 × 10^?4 Bq g^?1. For the spent resin an average result of 1.54 × 10² Bq g^?1 was obtained.     

Incorporation of Sulfate or Selenate Groups into Oxotellurates(IV): III. Compounds with Magnesium or Zinc

The mixed oxochalcogenate compounds Mg₂(SO₄)(TeO₃)(H₂O), Mg₃(SO₄)(TeO₃)(OH)₂(H₂O)₂, Zn₂(SeO₄)(TeO₃), and Zn₄(SO₄)(TeO₃)₃ were obtained under hydrothermal conditions (210 °C, autogenous pressure). Structure analyses using single‐crystal X‐ray data revealed tellurium in all four compounds to be present in oxidation state +IV, whereas sulfur or selenium atoms exhibit an oxidation state of +VI. In the crystal structures of the two magnesium compounds, [MgO₅(H₂O)] octahedra [Mg₂(SO₄)(TeO₃)(H₂O) structure, isotypic with the Co and Mn analogues] or [MgO₄(OH)₂] and [MgO₄(OH)₂(H₂O)₂] octahedra [Mg₃(SO₄)(TeO₃)(OH)₂(H₂O)₂ structure, novel structure type] as well as trigonal‐pyramidal TeO₃^2– anions make up metal oxotellurate sheets, which are bridged by SO₄^2– anions. The polar crystal structure of Zn₂(SeO₄)(TeO₃) is isotypic with Zn₂(MoO₄)(TeO₃) and consists of [ZnO₄] tetrahedra, [ZnO₆] octahedra, SeO₄^2– and TeO₃^2– anions as principal building units that are connected into a framework structure. Such a structural arrangement, with basically the same coordination polyhedra as in Zn₂(SeO₄)(TeO₃) but with SO₄^2– instead of SeO₄^2– anions, is also found in the tellurium‐rich compound Zn₄(SO₄)(TeO₃)₃ that crystallizes in a novel structure type.     

The investigation of the destructive effects of high-energy hydrogen ions on molybdenum and copper

Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry - The effects of high-energy protons produced in the plasma focus device on molybdenum and copper metals were studied. Molybdenum and copper samples...     

Fabrication of inorganic alumina particles at nanoscale by a pulsed laser ablation technique in liquid and exploring their protein binding,anticancer and antipathogenic activities

The interaction of nanoparticles with biological systems can provide useful information about their therapeutic applications. The aluminum nanoparticles (Al₂O₃ NPs) were synthesized by laser ablation technique and well-characterized by different methods. Fluorescence spectroscopy, circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy, and molecular docking studies were employed to evaluate the effect of Al₂O₃ NPs on the protein structure. Growth inhibitory and apoptotic effects of the Al₂O₃ NPs against K562 cancer cells and lymphocyte cells were assessed using [3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide] (MTT), flow cytometry, and real time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays. The antipathogenic activity of Al₂O₃ NPs against a diverse range of Gram-negative and Gram-positive pathogens was explored through a disk diffusion method. The characterization techniques determined that the Al₂O₃ NPs were successfully synthesized in the nanoscales. Intrinsic, 1-anilino-8-naphthalenesulfonate (ANS) and acrylamide fluorescence spectroscopy studies disclosed that Al₂O₃ NPs can partially change the tertiary structure of human serum albumin (HSA), whereas CD spectroscopy investigation depicted that the secondary structure of HSA remained intact. Molecular docking investigation also manifest that the Al₂O₃ nano-clusters preferably bind to electrostatic residues. Al₂O₃ NPs exhibited promising and selective anticancer features through reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, apoptosis induction, and elevation of Bax/Bcl-2 mRNA ratio. Furthermore, the Al₂O₃ NP showed a remarkable antibacterial activity against both Gram-negative and Gram-positive pathogens. In conclusion, it may be suggested that the synthesized Al₂O₃ NPs can be integrated in the development of anticancer and antipathogenic agents.     

Regio- and stereoselective synthesis of functionalized oxazolidin-2-ones from the reaction of α-epoxyketones with urea

A regio- and stereoselective synthesis of functionalized 4,5-disubstituted oxazolidin-2-ones is reported with moderate to good yields from the reaction of α-epoxyketones with urea in the presence of p-toluenesulfonic acid as the catalyst.     

A robust-CVaR optimization approach with application to breast cancer therapy

We present a framework to optimize the conditional value-at-risk (CVaR) of a loss distribution under uncertainty. Our model assumes that the loss distribution is dependent on the state of some system and the fraction of time spent in each state is uncertain. We develop and compare two robust-CVaR formulations that take into account this type of uncertainty. We motivate and demonstrate our approach using radiation therapy treatment planning of breast cancer, where the uncertainty is in the patient’s breathing motion and the states of the system are the phases of the patient’s breathing cycle. We use a CVaR representation of the tails of the dose distribution to the points in the body and account for uncertainty in the patient’s breathing pattern that affects the overall dose distribution.     

Convergence of distributed optimal control problems governed by elliptic variational inequalities

First, let u _g be the unique solution of an elliptic variational inequality with source term g. We establish, in the general case, the error estimate between $u_{3}(\mu)=\mu u_{g_{1}}+ (1-\mu)u_{g_{2}}$ and $u_{4}(\mu)=u_{\mu g_{1}+ (1-\mu) g_{2}}$ for ????[0,1]. Secondly, we consider a family of distributed optimal control problems governed by elliptic variational inequalities over the internal energy g for each positive heat transfer coefficient h given on a part of the boundary of the domain. For a given cost functional and using some monotony property between u ₃(??) and u ₄(??) given in Mignot (J.?Funct. Anal. 22:130?C185, 1976), we prove the strong convergence of the optimal controls and states associated to this family of distributed optimal control problems governed by elliptic variational inequalities to a limit Dirichlet distributed optimal control problem, governed also by an elliptic variational inequality, when the parameter h goes to infinity. We obtain this convergence without using the adjoint state problem (or the Mignot??s conical differentiability) which is a great advantage with respect to the proof given in Gariboldi and Tarzia (Appl. Math. Optim. 47:213?C230, 2003), for optimal control problems governed by elliptic variational equalities.     

Modeling semiconductor devices by using Neuro Space Mapping

In this paper a new method for modeling semiconductor devices by use of the drift-diffusion (DD) model and neural networks is presented. Unlike the hydrodynamic (HD) model which is complicated, time consuming with high processing cost, the proposed method has lower complexity and lower simulation time. In this method the RBF neural network has been used for correcting parameters in the drift-diffusion model. Therefore solving approximate model (DD) causes to obtain accurate response. The proposed method is first applied to a silicon n-i-n diode in one dimension, and then to a silicon thin-film MOSFET in two-dimensions, both for interpolation and extrapolation. The obtained results for basic variables, i.e., electron and potential distribution for different voltages, confirm the high efficiency of the proposed method.     

Lower-semicontinuity result for the two-scale convergence

Let (m, n) ∈ ℕ², Ω an open bounded domain in ℝ^m , Y = [0, 1]^m ; u^ε in (L²(Ω))ⁿ which is two-scale converges to some u in (L²(Ω × Y))ⁿ . Let φ: Ω × ℝ^m × ℝⁿ → ℝ such that: φ(x, ·, ·) is continuous a.e. x ∈ Ω φ(·, y, z) is measurable for all (y, z) in ℝ^m × ℝⁿ , φ(x, ·, z) is 1-periodic in y, φ(x, y, ·) is convex in z. Assume that there exist a constant C₁ > 0 and a function C₂ ∈ L²(Ω) such that