Comparative study on the thermal behavior of structural concretes of sodium-cooled fast reactor

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - Thermal behaviors of two different siliceous concretes used in a sodium-cooled fast reactor were comparatively investigated in a temperature range from...     

Laser terahertz-emission microscope for inspecting electrical faults in integrated circuits

A laser terahertz-emission microscope (LTEM) system is proposed and developed for inspecting electrical faults in integrated circuits (IC). We test a commercial operational amplifier while the system is operating. Two-dimensional terahertz-emission images of the IC chip are clearly observed while the chip is scanned with a femtosecond laser. When one of the interconnection lines is cut, the damaged chip has a LTEM image different from that of normal chips. The results indicate that the LTEM system is a potential tool for IC inspection.     

Determination of erythromycin A in rat plasma and urine by high-performance liquid chromatography with chemiluminescence detection using Tris(2,2'-bipyridine)ruthenium(II)

A simple and sensitive method was developed for the determination of erythromycin A (EA), decladinosyl erythromycin A (dClEA) and erythromycin B (EB) in rat plasma and urine by high-performance liquid chromatography with electrogenerated chemiluminescence detection using Tris(2,2'-bipyridine)ruthenium(II). The recovery rates of EA, dClEA and EB were 97, 94 and 85% from rat plasma and 89, 83 and 93% from rat urine, respectively. The calibration curves were linear over the concentration ranges 0.05-5 microg/mL for plasma and 0.5-50 microg/mL for urine. The precision and accuracy for all analytes in rat plasma were < or =9.0 and -6.3-7.2%, and those in urine were < or =9.4% and -6.1-7.6%, respectively. This method proved to be a powerful tool for determination of EA, dClEA and EB concentrations in samples from rats.     

Average electron radii in many-electron atoms

In many-electron atoms, the average electron radius r represents the mean distance of a single electron from the nucleus when all the interelectronic interactions are averaged. If the electron-electron interaction is explicitly considered, the average radius r splits into two different radii, inner radius r(<) and outer radius r(>). For the 102 atoms He through Lr in their ground states, the radii r(<) and r(>) are systematically examined at the Hartree-Fock limit level. The effect of electron correlations on r(<) and r(>) is also discussed for the He atom and its isoelectronic ions.     

Influences of evolved gases on the thermal decomposition of zinc carbonate hydroxide evaluated by controlled rate evolved gas analysis coupled With TG

The influences of atmospheric CO₂ and H₂O on the kinetics of the thermal decomposition of zinc carbonate hydroxide, Zn₅(CO₃)₂(OH)₆, were investigated by means of controlled rate evolved gas analysis (CREGA) coupled with TG. Although CO₂ and H₂O were evolved simultaneously in a single mass-loss step of the thermal decomposition, different effects of those evolved gases on the kinetic rate behavior were observed. No distinguished effect of atmospheric CO₂ was detected within the possible range of self-generated CO₂ concentration. On the other hand, apparent acceleration effect by the increase in the concentration of atmospheric H₂O was observed as the reduction of reaction temperature during the course of constant rate thermal decomposition. The catalytic effect was characterized by the decrease in the apparent activation energy for the established reaction with increasing the concentration of atmospheric H₂O, accompanied by the partially compensating decrease in the pre-exponential factor.     

Thermal decomposition of copper(II) and zinc carbonate hydroxides by means of TG-MS

Summary For the quantitative analyses of evolved CO₂and H₂O during the thermal decomposition of solids, calibration curves, i.e. the amounts of evolved gases vs. the corresponding peak areas of mass chromatograms measured by TG-MS, were plotted as referenced by the reaction stoichiometry of the thermal decomposition of sodium hydrogencarbonate NaHCO₃. The accuracy and reliability of the quantitative analyses of the evolved CO₂and H₂O based on the calibration curves were evaluated by applying the calibration curves to the mass chromatograms for the thermal decompositions of copper(II) and zinc carbonate hydroxides. It was indicated from the observed ratio of evolved CO₂and H₂O that the compositions of copper(II) and zinc carbonate hydroxides examined in this study correspond to mineral malachite, Cu₂CO₃(OH)₂, and hydrozincate, Zn₅(CO₃)₂(OH)₆, respectively. Reliability of the present analytical procedure was confirmed by the fairly good agreement of the mass fraction of the evolved gases calculated from the analytical values with the total mass-loss during the thermal decompositions measured by TG.     

Potentiometric flow-injection determination of boron by using a flow-through tetrafluoroborate ion-selective poly(vinyl chloride) membrane electrode

A highly sensitive tetrafluoroborate ion-selective poly(vinyl chloride) membrane electrode was constructed and applied to a detector in the flow-injection determination of boron. Boron at the 10 ng ml^?1 level can be determined by converting it to tetrafluoroborate ion in a flow of hydrofluoric acid. A sampling rate of 30 h^?1 was achieved with a relative standard deviation of less than 2%.