Relevance of ICRP metabolic model of Th in bio-assay monitoring

This paper compares the urinary excretion levels of Th obtained in bio-assay monitoring using the neutron activation technique with those predicted by applying the ICRP metabolic model to the measured Th activity in chest and total body of a group of Thorium plant workers. The results indicated much lower urinary Th excretion as compared to what was expected on the basis of the ICRP model. Lower urinary excretion in occupational subjects is explained in terms of negligible contribution of skeleton and soft tissue to the activity excreted in urine. It is suggested that the existing model should be modified to enable it to be applicable to the bio-assay monitoring of occupational workers.     

Studies on the coulometric determination of uranium and plutonium employing a graphite electrode

Summary Graphite has been employed as a working electrode in the controlled potential coulometric determination of uranium and plutonium. The couples U(VI)/U(IV) and Pu(IV)/Pu(III) employed for analysis have diverse redox potentials and commonly the working electrodes employed are mercury and platinum. A graphite electrode in the shape of a beaker showed satisfactory performance for the quantitative reduction of U(VI) to U(IV) and Pu(IV) to Pu(III) and also for quantitative oxidation of Pu(III) to Pu(IV). Studies on the levels of the background current, blank values and their reproducible behaviour in acid media have been carried out with a view to achieve good precision and accuracy. A software-based predictive evaluation technique of end-point charge has been investigated. The results have shown that the graphite electrode can be used for the determination of both uranium and plutonium in the presence of each other with a precision and accuracy of better than ±0.5%.     

Structure of CdS/SiO2 Nanocomposites: Influence of the Precursor and Cd Concentration

The influence of using TMOS or TEOS in the formation of CdS quantum dots in a silica matrix have been studied by X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS). The amount of Cd-S bonds have been monitored as a function of the nominal Cd concentration. The relative amount of CdS crystals depends on the precursor. The use of TEOS is not recommended because it gives a poor yield, especially for high Cd concentration. A discussion of the influence of CdS concentration in matrices from TMOS is carried out from structural models created from their pore volume distribution. The mean pore size becomes smaller and the size distribution more uniform when CdS concentration increases but the nanocrystals of low CdS nominal content present a more efficient quantum confinement.     

Superconductivity in Bi2.2Ca2.8−x Sr x Cu2O y system and effect of rare earth substitution

The oxide system Bi_2.2Ca_2.8−x Sr _x Cu₂O _y has been investigated for superconductivity as a function of Ca/Sr ratio withx=0.7, 1.0, 1.4 and 1.8. All these compositions are found to be superconducting with onset temperature in the range of 80–90 K implying a large homogeneity range between Sr and Ca for the superconductivity to occur in this system. Effect of partial replacement of Bi by rare earths has been studied and it is observed that 20% replacement of Bi by Nd and Eu does not significantly affect the superconducting transition temperature.     

Composite Anderson-Newns model and density of states due to chemisorption: Quasi-chemical approximation

In this paper a variation in density of states (DOS) of the substrate due to chemisorption of hydrogen on transition metals using composite Anderson-Newns model has been investigated for different coverages in quasi-chemical approximation of Fowler and Guggenhiem, which in the limitz→∞ gives the Bragg-Williams approximation as a special case. Variation in density of states has been studied for one-dimensional periodic substrate with change in adatom interaction energy and coverage. With increase in coverage, the bonding and antibonding (B-AB) peaks are found to shift towards higher energies and at the same time relative height of the peaks also increases. The interesting feature to observe is that both approximations for a particular coverage, give split-off states with different height for both (B-AB) peaks. It particularly indicates change in B-AB states, representing amount of chemisorption, with the change in interaction energy between adatoms. At the same time bond strength is also found to decrease with interaction between adatoms.     

Density isomerism and the Primakoff effect

We show that the decay width for π⁰→2γ in nuclear matter could be used as a signal for phase transitions in nuclear matter. The decay width of the π⁰ is experimentally measured using pion photoproduction off heavy nuclei by observing the Primakoff peak in the differential cross sections. We present calculations for the differential cross section with corrections to the γ?γ?π⁰ vertex arising from the nuclear medium within the nuclear radius when the medium is in the abnormal matter phase.     

Lattice dynamical analysis of β ↔ γ phase transformation in silicon under high pressure

β-tin and the one-atom primitive hexagonal structure (γ phase), the two high-pressure polymorphs of Si, are related to each other by correlated displacement of atoms. This is interpreted in terms of a zone boundary mode softening $\text{1}\text{2}\text{(101)}{}_{\mathrm{\gamma }}$. It is confirmed by detailed lattice dynamical calculations.