THERMAL NEUTRON ACTIVATION ANALYSIS—AN IMPORTANT ANALYTICAL TOOL

ABSTRACT

This review is intended to present an introduction to the use of thermal neutron activation analysis (TNAA) as an analytical technique for the determination of elements in almost all kinds of matrices. This method of analysis is generally multi-element and experimental conditions can be designed to be nondestructive to the sample. This review will focus on thermal neutron activation as this technique allows determination of approximately two-thirds of the elements on the periodic chart. There are also more and wider spread facilities in the United States that offer these services. The available facilities are located across the United States and are generally accessible to everyone. The review will also detail the advantages and disadvantages of TNAA compared to other common spectroscopic methods. An outline of the general procedure for performing the analysis of the elements using activation analysis is presented to emphasize the ease of using this technique. The outline is divided into sections that give the general procedure, how to choose the correct nuclear reaction and reaction product, and the main sources of errors that can affect the results of the study. These sources of error are subdivided into general types of errors. The general types of errors are divided into those related to pre-chemistry, problems associated with the irradiation of the samples, errors associated with the use of nuclear constants (cross sections, half-lives, transition probabilities, etc.), the choice of the correct reaction and reaction product, and those associated with the counting of the irradiated samples. The general theory of activation analysis is presented and summarizes the derivation of the equations used and the development of the comparator method of analysis. The comparator method is used to simplify the method by irradiating samples along with standards. This reduces the need for using the nuclear constants and thus reducing errors. The use of radiochemical separations to isolate analytes of choice from the radioactive matrix is also described. Some current literature is also included to give a feel for current applications of the use of thermal neutron activation analyses. The summary also describes some of the different matrices that have been used for analyses.     

Singlet Oxygen Photo‐Oxygenation in Water/Pluronic F‐127 Hydrogels: Increased Reaction Efficiency Coupled with a Switch in Regioselectivity

Pluronic F‐127 hydrogels are highly efficient microenvironments for photochemical reactions, as demonstrated for singlet oxygen reactions of monoalkenes. Nonpolar substrates are localized in the nanosized polymer compartment, which can be visualized by neutron scattering. The efficiency of ¹O₂ reactions is strongly increased for tiglate derivatives and the regioselectivity of the ene reaction of trisubstituted alkenes is completely switched in comparison with solution phase and inverted in comparison with intrazeolite photo‐oxygenations.     

Environmental radioactivity of soils and sediments: Egyptian sector of the Nile valley

The activity concentrations of natural ⁴⁰K, ²³²Th, and ²³⁸U in 89 soil and 84 sediment samples collected over the entire Egyptian Nile River basin including the Nile delta are reported based on the results of epithermal neutron activation analysis. The average activity concentrations of ⁴⁰K, ²³²Th, and ²³⁸U equal to 15.3?±?6.6, 15.6?±?11.1 and 220?±?31 Bq/kg, respectively, are significantly lower than those reported for the Upper Continental Crust, World Average Sediments as well as World Average Soils, suggesting the presence of a considerable portion of mafic material, most probably originating from the Ethiopian High Plateau. Their average activity concentrations are statistically the same in soil and sediments, indicating that the Nile sediments and soil material are of the same origin. The main goal of this study was not only to estimate the radiological hazards but also to show the influence of sedimentary material transportable by the Blue Nile from the Ethiopian High Plateau. The different hazard indices like the radium equivalent, gamma index, external hazard as well as the internal hazard show a low radiological exposure either on direct contact or if local mud bricks are used in the construction of dwellings.     

Moving grid method for numerical simulation of stratified flows

We develop a second‐order accurate Navier–Stokes solver based on r‐adaptivity of the underlying numerical discretization. The motion of the mesh is based on the fluid velocity field; however, certain adjustments to the Lagrangian velocities are introduced to maintain quality of the mesh. The adjustments are based on the variational approach of energy minimization to redistribute grid points closer to the areas of rapid solution variation. To quantify the numerical diffusion inherent to each method, we monitor changes in the background potential energy, computation of which is based on the density field. We demonstrate on a standing interfacial gravity wave simulation how using our method of grid evolution decreases the rate of increase of the background potential energy compared with using the same advection scheme on the stationary grid. To further highlight the benefit of the proposed moving grid method, we apply it to the nonhydrostatic lock‐exchange flow where the evolution of the interface is more complex than in the standing wave test case. Naive grid evolution based on the fluid velocities in the lock‐exchange flow leads to grid tangling as Kelvin–Helmholtz billows develop at the interface. This is remedied by grid refinement using the variational approach. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An optical study of the D-D neutron irradiation-induced defects in Co-and Cu-doped ZnO wafers

Room-temperature photoluminescence and optical transmittance spectroscopy of Co-doped(1×1014,5×1016,and 1×1017cm-2) and Cu-doped(5×1016cm-2) ZnO wafers irradiated by D-D neutrons(fluence of 2.9×1010 cm-2) have been investigated.After irradiation,the Co or Cu metal and oxide clusters in doped ZnO wafers are dissolved,and the wu¨rtzite structure of ZnO substrate for each sample remains unchanged and keeps in high c-axis preferential orientation.The degree of irradiation-induced crystal disorder reflected from the absorption band tail parameter(E0) is far greater for doped ZnO than the undoped one.Under the same doping concentration,the Cu-doped ZnO wafer has much higher irradiation-induced disorder than the Co-doped one.Photoluminescence measurements indicate that the introduction rate of both the zinc vacancy and the zinc interstitial is much higher for the doped ZnO wafer with a high doping level than the undoped one.In addition,both crystal lattice distortion and defect complexes are suggested to be formed in doped ZnO wafers.Consequently,the Co-or Cu-doped ZnO wafer(especially with a high doping level) exhibits very low radiation hardness compared with the undoped one,and the Cu-doped ZnO wafer is much less radiation-hard than the Co-doped one.     

Electronic structure of platinum at ultrahigh pressure

Abstract

Platinum is studied, theoretically, under very high compression. The calculated equation of state is found to agree well with the recent experimental data. At V/V₀ = 0.4, where V₀ is the experimental equilibrium volume, we find a transition from the face centered cubic structure (fcc), found at ambient pressure, to the body centered cubic structure (bcc). The calculated transition pressure is 26 Mbar. The stabilization of the bcc structure is explained by the eigen value sum.