Radionuclide partitioning coefficients in the Sava River ecosystem

The radionuclides⁵⁴Mn,⁶⁰Co,⁹⁰Sr,⁹⁵Nb,⁹⁵Zr,¹⁰³Ru,¹⁰⁶Ru,¹²⁵Sb,¹³¹I,¹³⁴Cs,¹³⁷Cs,¹⁴⁰Ba,¹⁴⁴Ce,²²⁶Ra and²²⁸Ac have been studied in the Sava River environment since the Chernobyl accident in 1986. The measured periphyton concentration ratios (CR) for each radionuclide were correlated with the measured sediment distribution coefficients (K_d) for that radionuclide. The K_d-CR relationships obtained were defined by the equation ln K_d=–0.5 ln CR +7.4. These K_d-CR relationships were assumed to be referable to the Sava River ecosystem and were used to predict the missing soil K_d values and/or the missing CR values for the wide range of radionuclides, respectively. Moreover, the K_d-CR relationship characteristic for the Sava River ecosystem was compared with the K_d-CR relationship proposed by Baes¹ and by Shepard². The characterization of the partition coefficients in the Sava River environment and understanding of the mechanisms affecting radionuclide retardation and bioaccumulation are required for the planning of radioactive waste depositories in the area.     

The development of a versatile field program for measuring tritium in “real-time”

Robust sample handling and liquid scintillation counting (LSC) procedures have been developed to routinely monitor tritium in the field relative to the 20,000 pCi/L drinking water standard. This procedure allows tritium to be monitored hourly during 24 hour drilling operations at depths in the saturated zone potentially contaminated by sub-surface nuclear weapons testing at the Nevada Test Site. Using retrofitted, shock hardened, vibration damped counters and strict analytical protocols, tritium may be measured rapidly in the field under hostile conditions. Concentration standards and dead tritium backgrounds are prepared weekly in a central laboratory and delivered to remote drilling locations where they are recounted daily as a check on counter efficiency and calibration. Portable LSC counters are located in trailers and powered off a battery pack and line filter fed by mobile generator. The samples are typically groundwaters mixed with drilling fluids returned after circulation through a drill string. Fluids are aerated and de-foamed, filtered, mixed with scintillation cocktail and dark adapted before counting. Real-time monitoring affords drilling and field personnel early warning against intercepting down-gradient plumes of radioactivity. For routine operations, the tritium activity may not exceed a 10,000 pCi/L threshold.     

The tangent bundle of a Calabi-Yau manifold-deformations and restriction to rational curves

The tangent bundle _X of a Calabi-Yau threefoldX is the only known example of a stable bundle with non-trivial restriction to any rational curve onX. By deforming the direct sum of _X and the trivial line bundle one can try to obtain new examples. We use algebro-geometric techniques to derive results in this direction. The relation to the finiteness of rational curves on Calabi-Yau threefolds is discussed.     

Lyoluminescence of luminol in aqueous amines

Lyoluminescence of luminol induced by -irradiated NaCl has been studied in aqueous amines. The emission spectra of lyoluminescence are recorded on 400 ASA Kodak film using a Fuess spectrograph. A broad continuous emission band appears in the visible region from 390 to 500 nm. The emission band showed two peaks centered at 430 and 470 nm. The 430 nm peak is more intense in secondary amines while the 470 nm band is more intense in primary amines. The mechanism of light emission is based on the comparative study of lyoluminescence, fluorescence and chemiluminescence of luminol in aqueous amines.     

Investigation of the electrochemical production and doping of soluble electrically conducting poly(3-methyl-4-phenylthiophene)

The electrochemical production and doping of soluble, as well as the physicochemical properties of a soluble electrically conducting polymer based on 3-methyl-4-phenylthiophene were studied.Translated from Teoreticheskaya i Éxperimental'naya Khimiya, Vol. 29, No. 2, pp. 143–148, March–April, 1993.The authors would like to express gratitude to the State Committee of the Ukraine on questions of science and technology for financial support for this work within the framework of the State Scientific and Technical Program 7.1. Materials for Electronic Technology, as well as to V. P. Kandilenko and V. Ya. Chernov for aid in recording the fluorescence spectra of the P3M4PT films.     

Bioelectrochemical determination of lactic and malic acids in wine

Electroanalytical methods based on biosensor technology and differential pH measurement for the determination of l-lactic and l-malic acids in wine were developed. Lactic acid was determined according to two procedures consisting of the use of two lactate electrochemical biosensors, one based on a Clark O(2) probe and the other based on the H(2)O(2) probe. The two probes were assembled employing a polymeric membrane where the enzyme lactate oxidase was previously immobilized. Both sensors exhibited high storage and operational stabilities, and good reproducibility when used in wine matrix. Measurement of lactate was carried out using two different flow-through cells assembled with the lactate probes. The low detection limit of these probes and the relatively high concentration of lactate in wine samples required a serial dilution in the range 1:100 to 1:200, thus eliminating all potential electrochemical or enzyme interferences present in the sample. Malic acid was determined using a differential commercially available pH-meter and an enzymatic procedure. For this analysis, we employed the malic enzyme (EC 1.1.1.40) and the NADP(+) cofactor. The pH variation due to the action of this enzyme on malic acid was found to be proportional to the malic acid present in the sample. Experimental parameters such as pH, temperature, and co-factor concentration were optimized, resulting in malate determination in less than 1 min with good reproducibility. Various samples of wine and wine musts were assayed for lactate with the two biosensor procedures, and for malate with differential pH-metry. The results when compared with those obtained with the commonly used spectrophotometric procedure correlated well.     

Conjectures on the Quotient Ring by Diagonal Invariants

We formulate a series of conjectures (and a few theorems) on the quotient of the polynomial ring in two sets of variables by the ideal generated by all S _n invariant polynomials without constant term. The theory of the corresponding ring in a single set of variables X = {x ₁, ..., x _n} is classical. Introducing the second set of variables leads to a ring about which little is yet understood, but for which there is strong evidence of deep connections with many fundamental results of enumerative combinatorics, as well as with algebraic geometry and Lie theory.     

Trace Inequalities,Maximal Inequalities,and Weighted Fourier Transform Estimates

In the spirit of work of Kerman and Sawyer, a condition is given that is necessary and sufficient for the Fourier transform norm inequality $\Big(\int_{{\Bbb R}_d} \vert\hat{f}\vert^q d\mu\Big)^{1/q} \leq C\Big(\int_{{\Bbb R}_d} \vert f\vert^p v\Big)^{1/p}$ provided v is a radial weight for which v^?1/p is convexly decreasing and μ is a suitable measure. We also establish alternative conditions for such inequalities by proving corresponding trace type inequalities and maximal function inequalities that underlie the Fourier transform estimates. Our conditions are relatively simple to compute. Among applications we give extensions of a Sobolev restriction theorem.