Investigation of lifetimes in dipole bands of 142Gd

Lifetimes have been measured for dipole bands in ¹⁴²Gd using DSAM. The deduced B(M1) and B(E2) values as well as B(M1)/B(E2) ratios are compared with calculations in the framework of the TAC (Tilted Axis Cranking) and SPAC (Shears mechanism with Principal Axis Cranking) models. The dipole bands DB1 to DB4 can be interpreted as magnetic rotational bands.     

Connection between backbending and high-spin isomer decay in 179W

A new 710 ns isomer in ¹⁷⁹W is found to decay directly into backbending region of the $\text{7}\text{2}{}^{\mathrm{-}}\text{(514)}$ gorund-state band. The $\text{i}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>13</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}$ band is observed up to spin $\text{41}\text{2}$ and shows no evidence for backbending at core rotational frequencies, where the effect is observed in the ¹⁷⁹W and ¹⁸⁰W ground-state bands.     

FT-IR study of the effect of zinc exposure on the biochemical contents of the muscle of Labeo rohita

Heavy metal pollution is a major environmental problem in the modern world due to increasing human activities. Zinc is an essential element involved in a wide variety of cellular processes. However, it becomes toxic when elevated concentrations are introduced into the environment. The goal of the present study is to investigate the effect of zinc exposure on the biochemical contents of the muscle tissues of freshwater species Labeo rohita using Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. Since the muscle constitutes the greatest mass of the fish that is consumed, the present study has paid particular attention to muscle component. The result reveals that the zinc exposure causes significant changes in the biochemical contents of the L. rohita muscle tissues. In addition, it causes an alteration in the protein secondary structures by decreasing the α-helix and increasing the β-sheet contents of muscle tissues. Further, it has been observed that the administration of chelating agent D-penicillamine improves the protein and lipid contents in the muscle tissues compared to zinc exposed tissues. This result shows that D-penicillamine is the effective chelator of zinc in reducing the body burden of L. rohita fingerlings.     

Extreme nuclear deformations studied at the GASP spectrometer

Very exotic shapes can be assumed for the nuclei at high angular momenta. Their study has become possible with the advent of the last generation high-resolution γ-ray spectrometers. In this talk results are presented on superdeformed nuclei of theA=140 mass region where a detailed spectroscopy in the second minimum is now possible. Hyperdeformed rotational bands, expected in the third minimum, lie at even higher spins where their observation is very difficult from the experimental point of view. We have up to now only weak signals of their presence. The status of the search for hyperdeformation in¹⁵²Dy is reported.     

Investigation of <Emphasis Type="Italic">γ</Emphasis>-ray fold distributions in N ≤ 82 Gd,Eu and Sm nuclei: Observation of a double-humped fold distribution

Cross-sections and γ-ray fold distributions have been measured for the ⁹⁷Mo+⁵¹V, ¹⁰⁰Mo+⁴⁸Ti and ¹¹⁴Cd+³⁶S reactions at energies of 238, 215 and 182 MeV of the ⁵¹V, ⁴⁸Ti and ³⁶S projectiles, respectively. For the ⁹⁷Mo(⁵¹V, α2n ¹⁴²Eu reaction channel a double-humped fold distribution has been observed. This fold distribution can only be understand if an incomplete-fusion reaction mechanism associated with the α-particle emission is assumed. The ⁹⁷Mo(⁵¹V, α n ¹⁴³Eu reaction channel represents an incomplete-fusion reaction channel as well and its single-humped fold distribution can be described on the same footing as that of the α2n channel. The fold distributions associated with xn and pxn channels can be explained assuming complete-fusion reactions. For the calculations in terms of an incomplete-fusion reaction mechanism a narrow angular momentum window, ranging from ≈ 68 to 82ℏ has been assumed for the ⁹⁷Mo(⁵¹V, αn and α2n reaction channels. The complete-fusion reaction mechanism is considered to be negligible in this angular-momentum range.     

Synthesis of gold nanoparticles using herbal Acorus calamus rhizome extract and coating on cotton fabric for antibacterial and UV blocking applications

Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) have been synthesized by greener method using chloroauric acid as precursor and extract of Acorus calamus rhizome as reducing agent. Formation of AuNP was confirmed by the presence of Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) peak in UV–Visible spectral analysis. XRD and FT-IR spectral analyses were performed for characterization. SEM images show spherical morphology and HR-TEM images reveal nanosize of AuNPs. The AuNPs were then coated on cotton fabric by pad-dry-cure method and characterized by SEM with EDAX technique. The results reveal the deposition of AuNPs on the surface of cotton fabric. Uncoated cotton, neat extract coated cotton and extract containing AuNPs coated cotton fabrics were then tested for antibacterial activity against Gram positive (Staphylococcus aureus) and Gram negative (Escherichia coli) bacterial strains by AATCC 100 test method. It showed that the extract containing AuNPs coated cotton fabric had higher antibacterial activity than other test samples against E. coli. UV-DRS analysis performed on extract containing AuNPs coated cotton fabric showed improved UV-blocking property than uncoated cotton fabric and neat extract coated cotton fabric.     

Investigation of lifetimes in the dipole band of 139Sm

Lifetimes have been measured for a dipole band in ¹³⁹Sm using DSAM. The deduced B(M1) and B(E2) values as well as B(M1)/B(E2) ratios are compared with calculations in the framework of the TAC (Tilted Axis Cranking) and SPAC (Shears mechanism with Principal Axis Cranking) models. The dipole band in ¹³⁹Sm can be considered as a magnetic rotational band with a prolate or triaxial nuclear deformation.     

Bayesian stratified random sampling using auxiliary information

Summary Smith (1976,J. R. Statist. Soc., A,139, 183–204) has argued that survey statisticians should attempt to model finite population structures in the same way that statisticians in other disciplines have to provide models of finite or infinite populations. Following this argument, we suggest in this paper that an obvious model for a stratified population when auxiliary information regarding variate values is available, is the one way analysis of covariance model with unequal variances and we consider the problem of estimating the finite population mean. Finally a possible extension of this result is discussed.     

Investigation of lifetimes in quadrupole bands of 142Gd

For a level scheme investigation of ¹⁴²Gd an experiment with the γ -spectrometer EUROBALLIII has been carried out and lifetimes have been measured with EUROBALL IV using the Doppler-shift attenuation method. The high-spin states have been populated in these experiments by means of the ⁹⁹Ru(⁴⁸Ti, 2p3n) reaction at a beam energy of 240MeV and the ¹¹⁴Sn(³²S, 2p2n) reaction at 160MeV, respectively. Reduced E2 transition probabilities B(E2) were determined for 15 members of four quadrupole bands. For the interpretation of the positive-parity even-spin quadrupole bands, calculations in the cranked Nilsson-Strutinsky as well as interacting boson models have been performed. From the former calculations it was concluded that the high-spin states of the (+ , 0)₁ band in ¹⁴²Gd represent a triaxial nucleus rotating around the longest principal axis.